Aric

Aric has a new "ouchie." It's been a while since the last one, so he was due. He cut his left index finger open with a box cutter. He was taking shrink wrap off new chairs while at work. 3 inches long, to the bone, 9 stitches later. And it is parallel and about 1/2 inch from the scar when he did this when he was 4. He did this on Tuesday.
Then yesterday, he locked his keys in his car. So I had to do 45 miles on I-25, white knuckled all the way, to rescue him.
Good thing I love my children.

Warm Hearts~Warm Babies

I just read the January newsletter for Warm Hearts. The WHWB website is: http://www.warmheartswarmbabies.org/ . If one of your New Year's resolutions included community service or uncluttering, I recommend this charity, which helps those who can't possibly help themselves. If you are uncluttering - material and yarn donations are always welcome - as are donations of other items, as the spring garage sales are just around the corner. WHWB is a 501C charity - which means that you can get a tax receipt for any donations, material or monetary.

This is the current list of most needed items:

© Newborn Boy Burial Items
© Newborn sleepers and gowns
© Sweaters, jackets and buntings
© Preemie gowns, onesies, outfits, and t-shirts
© Receiving blankets
© Gently used boys 3T & 4T clothing and pajamas
© Baby toiletries
© Bottles
© Pacifiers
© Diapers
© Wipes
© Baby friendly yarn
© Baby friendly interlock knits and ribbing
© Postage stamps
© Batting
© Polyfil

I've noticed over the years, that the boys' clothing items are almost always on the list. It couldn't be because the boys who wear 3T-4T don't have gently used clothing. ;)

American Citizen

On Dec. 3, 2008, Kulwant became an American Citizen. I'm so proud of him. He passed the test in November. These pictures are of the Allegiance Ceremony.

Kulwant, waiting for everyone else to be seated. (It took better than an hour.)

This is a picture of the backdrop on the stage.

This Kulwant getting his certificate.

Kulwant with his certificate after it was over.

Kulwant and Radhika.

Kulwant's certificate.

This was the first time that I had witnessed this ceremony. It was wonderful, and heart touching.

When everyone was finally seated, there was some instructions about passports, social security cards, etc. Then they all stood, and repeated the Oath of Allegiance, which is:

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.

Then, one at a time, they all when up on stage to receive their certificate. There were 114 new citizens, coming from 44 different countries. Most were from India or Vietnam; there was only 1 from Mexico. (The Seattle INS department holds this ceremony every day, and twice on Fridays. So in Seattle alone, there are at least 1,000 new citizens per week.)

Then there was a short video with pictures from all over American - both people and places. The background music was Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA." I have it in my music list, if you want to hear it. The last of the video was President Bush welcoming them as fellow citizens. One line was, "You are now as much a citizen as any direct descendant of our Founding Fathers." Then we all stood and said the Pledge of Allegiance.

The whole thing was wonderful and touching. We have so much that we take for granted - so much, that we don't even realize that the rest of the world doesn't have.

A couple of months ago, Reader's Digest had an article about what the rest of the world thinks of America. They had done surveys in like 20-25 countries. Some things they think differently about, but there were alot of things the same. The amazing thing was as a part of this survey, they were asked if they would immigrate to America, if they could. 40-60% would, even snooty France - over half. India was 73%.

Even with a recession, we have more than the rest of the world. Here what you have still depends on what you are willing to work and sacrifice to obtain. We are not held back by caste, birthplace, or father's occupation.

A while ago, someone ran a contest to come up with another motto for the United States, which is "United We Stand, Divided We Fall." Patrick Henry. It had to be 6 words or less. The one that struck me, was - "Our Worst Critics Still Live Here!"

We just had a presidential election. No riots, no fighting. No one was scared to go to work or school the next day because of how they had cast their vote. Think about it.

Seattle Trip

I flew to Seattle the first week of December. Kulwant had passed his citizenship test, and I wanted to be there for his allegiance ceremony.









This is downtown Seattle. There were Christmas lights on the Space Needle - to bad they didn't show up in the picture.








This is Mt. Ranier. It looked like an upside down ice cream cone. And the weird clouds looked like marshmallow cream.






These were pictures of our starfish beach. In the summer, the girls had caught a starfish in the little creek.

This is Mt. Ranier from my plane window going home.

Long Story, Short Version

I graduated from Evanston, WY High School in 1977. Stan served in the U.S. Army, was in Okinawa, and got out in 1973. We were married in 1979. We have 3 children: Cortney, Radhika, and Aric.














Cortney is married to Dean Billings; they have 2 girls: Riley and Alexandra. They live in Westminster, CO.











Cort is a stay at home mom! And being Alexandra's mom is a full time job.








Dean is a sheriff's deputy for Jefferson County.









The girls are sugar and spice: Riley is sweet; and Alexandra is spice - sometimes cinnamon and sometimes jalapeno. :)













Radhika is married to Kulwant Kumar.





They live in Seattle, WA. Radhika works for a car rental. Kulwant drives a taxi.

Aric is single. He works at a Marriott here in Denver. He is in the banquet setup crew. And he attends a diesel mechanic school at night. He will graduate in about a year. I'm so proud of him, he's gotten A's and 1 B.

Stan has been employed in the oil field, trucking, construction, and furniture moving. He's currently doing long haul trucking, again. And we are working on a network marketing business through 5linx.

I did office work until my stroke in 1996. I volunteer for Warm Hearts ~ Warm Babies; their website is: http://www.warmheartswarmbabies.org/ .

I have ulcerative colitis; no medical treatments have been successful. And I've tried them all. So I live with a strict diet and a twice daily handful of pills.

Riley and Alexandra are the light of my life. The saying about grandchildren being your reward for having not killed your children when they were teenagers - it's true! They live about 20 minutes from me, and I get to see them every week. Riley thinks that a day off from school = a Grammy Day. And usually, that is true. Riley is in the 2nd grade and is 7. Alexandra, who is 4, goes to Joy School, twice per week.