It has been forever since I posted to this blog. But since I posted "A's" story here, I must post this one too!
On April 24, 2011, "G" gave her heart to Jesus! Here's what happened:
It was Easter Sunday and we were watching the Mars Hill Church Easter Service that was being broadcast online (we are living in Germany). At the end of the sermon, the pastor invited people to come and be baptized. Now, baptism has been a discussion around our house because "A" wants to be baptized when we go back to Iowa this summer. Usually "G's" response to such discussion is "Not me!". But this day, she turned to me and said, "Mama, I want to be baptized.". I smiled at her and told her that baptism meant that you had asked Jesus to come and live in your heart and take away your sins. And if you haven't done that, then getting baptized would be like telling a lie. I expected her usual response ("I'll ask him when I'm 5." or "I'll do that when I'm bigger."). Instead she looked like she was thinking hard and looked down at her lap. After about a minute she looked up and said, "I want to do that". I said, "Do what?" She said, "I want to ask Jesus into my heart.". At that point the tears spouted and I could barely talk. I tapped "T's"'s knee (he was sitting on the other end of the couch and hadn't heard any of our discussion) and pointed at "G". I handed her to him and watched as she told him what she wanted to do. He asked her several questions to make sure she understood, then led her in prayer. We were both teary messes by the end!
Praise you Jesus! Both of my children have their name written in the Lamb's Book of Life!
Lord help "T" and I to disciple these children well that they might grow up to do the things You have planned for them!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Friday, August 1, 2008
"Come into my heart..."
So this weeks marks a momentous occasion for our family. One "T" and I have been praying for a long time. I will relate it hear as it happened so that I will have it chronicled for future reference.
"A" has been a little bit obsessed lately with good, evil, and sin. It comes out in his play and in his questions. We have been trying to answer him truthfully while at the same time being sensitive to the fact that he isn't quite 5 yet.
So on this particular Monday afternoon, "A" and "G" were playing while I was getting some things done on the computer. All of a sudden, "G" came to me sobbing. Since she isn't quite talking yet (especially when she is crying), I asked "A" what had happened. He replied, "Oh, nothing really. I just told her that Daddy was on a work trip.". What??? Now, you must understand, my husband travels periodically for his job. Sometimes for weeks at a time. The term "work trip" is something I came up with to help the kids understand that Daddy won't be home for many days. So for him to tell "G" that Daddy was on a "work trip" when he was only out at the movies with the teenagers and would be back in a few hours, was a HUGE no no.
I sent "A" to his room while I got "G" calmed down and assured her that Daddy wasn't on a "work trip" but would be home when she got up in the morning. Not an easy thing to convince a 2 year old of when she believes everything big brother says!
Once that was done, I brought "A" back down and explained how what he had done was not only a lie (a big deal in our house) but it was also purposefully hurtful to his sister. I reminded him of our discussions about sin and told him he had just committed 2 and that he needed to pray to God about it. He did and then I had him apologize to his sister.
Whew! Mommy drama!
Skipping ahead a bit, I began fixing supper and had to scold "G" several times to not push buttons on the dish washer (very tempting for her). After I finally had to give her a little hand "thump" to help her remember, "A" chimed in that "G" had sin and he didn't . It doesn't come off quite right when I write it. You have to imagine him saying it in a very sing-songy, put-downish way. So I reminded him that, no, he sinned too (reminding him of what had occurred earlier) and for some reason the phrase "you have sin in your heart" popped out of my mouth. "A's" entire face crumpled and he began to SOB. This was completely new and a little out of left field so I asked him what was happening inside his head. He kept sobbing but managed to say, "You said I have sin in my heart, and I don't want it!". Now, knowing better what I was dealing with, I reminded him about Jesus dying on the cross and that He did that so that we wouldn't have to have sin in our hearts. And that when he wanted to, he could pray and ask Jesus to come into his heart and take the sin away. I waited with bated breath to see what he would say...
"Mom, can I have my ravioli now?" So much for that!
A few hours later, I had "G" tucked into bed and was working on getting "A" settled down for his goodnight story. I asked him to say his prayers first. He did. At first, it was similar stuff to what he uaully prays about (thank you for my good day, that you for my family, please help my have good dreams, etc.). Then out of the blue he said, very matter of factly, "Jesus, please come into my heart." I was dumbstruck. I barely heard the rest of his prayer. When "A" finished, he caught me staring at him and asked me why. I said, "That was just a really good prayer." His reply was, "Really? I didn't think it was one of my better ones." Sigh.
I waited until "T" got home that night to make sure what had happened had really happened. "T" said it sounded to him like it did but that we would have to keep teaching "A" about what it meant and he would have to take further ownership of his decision as he got older.
If there was any doubt, it was cleared up the next morning. When Tim asked him about his prayer, "A" confirmed that he had indeed asked Jesus to come into his heart and then said, "See my shirt Dad?", ("A" had chosen to wear his green "Jesus" shirt with the candle on the front that morning), "Yesterday, I had sin in my heart and today I don't!" I seems he understood things pretty well. :-)
So we are so very thankful that God chose to answer our prayers and drew "A" to Himself at a young age. It is an awesome responsiblity given to us as parents and I pray the same will be true for "G" as she gets older.
So to end this I will record that on July 28 of 2008, "A" had his name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Amen and amen!
"A" has been a little bit obsessed lately with good, evil, and sin. It comes out in his play and in his questions. We have been trying to answer him truthfully while at the same time being sensitive to the fact that he isn't quite 5 yet.
So on this particular Monday afternoon, "A" and "G" were playing while I was getting some things done on the computer. All of a sudden, "G" came to me sobbing. Since she isn't quite talking yet (especially when she is crying), I asked "A" what had happened. He replied, "Oh, nothing really. I just told her that Daddy was on a work trip.". What??? Now, you must understand, my husband travels periodically for his job. Sometimes for weeks at a time. The term "work trip" is something I came up with to help the kids understand that Daddy won't be home for many days. So for him to tell "G" that Daddy was on a "work trip" when he was only out at the movies with the teenagers and would be back in a few hours, was a HUGE no no.
I sent "A" to his room while I got "G" calmed down and assured her that Daddy wasn't on a "work trip" but would be home when she got up in the morning. Not an easy thing to convince a 2 year old of when she believes everything big brother says!
Once that was done, I brought "A" back down and explained how what he had done was not only a lie (a big deal in our house) but it was also purposefully hurtful to his sister. I reminded him of our discussions about sin and told him he had just committed 2 and that he needed to pray to God about it. He did and then I had him apologize to his sister.
Whew! Mommy drama!
Skipping ahead a bit, I began fixing supper and had to scold "G" several times to not push buttons on the dish washer (very tempting for her). After I finally had to give her a little hand "thump" to help her remember, "A" chimed in that "G" had sin and he didn't . It doesn't come off quite right when I write it. You have to imagine him saying it in a very sing-songy, put-downish way. So I reminded him that, no, he sinned too (reminding him of what had occurred earlier) and for some reason the phrase "you have sin in your heart" popped out of my mouth. "A's" entire face crumpled and he began to SOB. This was completely new and a little out of left field so I asked him what was happening inside his head. He kept sobbing but managed to say, "You said I have sin in my heart, and I don't want it!". Now, knowing better what I was dealing with, I reminded him about Jesus dying on the cross and that He did that so that we wouldn't have to have sin in our hearts. And that when he wanted to, he could pray and ask Jesus to come into his heart and take the sin away. I waited with bated breath to see what he would say...
"Mom, can I have my ravioli now?" So much for that!
A few hours later, I had "G" tucked into bed and was working on getting "A" settled down for his goodnight story. I asked him to say his prayers first. He did. At first, it was similar stuff to what he uaully prays about (thank you for my good day, that you for my family, please help my have good dreams, etc.). Then out of the blue he said, very matter of factly, "Jesus, please come into my heart." I was dumbstruck. I barely heard the rest of his prayer. When "A" finished, he caught me staring at him and asked me why. I said, "That was just a really good prayer." His reply was, "Really? I didn't think it was one of my better ones." Sigh.
I waited until "T" got home that night to make sure what had happened had really happened. "T" said it sounded to him like it did but that we would have to keep teaching "A" about what it meant and he would have to take further ownership of his decision as he got older.
If there was any doubt, it was cleared up the next morning. When Tim asked him about his prayer, "A" confirmed that he had indeed asked Jesus to come into his heart and then said, "See my shirt Dad?", ("A" had chosen to wear his green "Jesus" shirt with the candle on the front that morning), "Yesterday, I had sin in my heart and today I don't!" I seems he understood things pretty well. :-)
So we are so very thankful that God chose to answer our prayers and drew "A" to Himself at a young age. It is an awesome responsiblity given to us as parents and I pray the same will be true for "G" as she gets older.
So to end this I will record that on July 28 of 2008, "A" had his name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Amen and amen!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Our school adventure is about to begin
There seem to be 2 schools of thought when it comes to schooling young children. OK, there are probably a lot more than 2, but for the purposes of this blog, let's just go with these:
Now, for those of you who know us in real life will undoubtedly point out, we did decide to put "A" in Belgium preschool last fall. However, this had nothing whatsoever to do with academics. In Belgium, preschool is mostly one big, social art class with gym once a week. Yes, he's learned how to hold a crayon/pencil and how to follow directions a bit better, but those are just happy side-effects. Our purpose for enrolling him had to do with his begging to have more play time with kids his own age. This was something that was very difficult when we first arrived and this seemed to be the easiest solution. We also thought it would be good for him to learn some French. OK, so that's a little academic... Anyway, this was never "Plan A".
The plan was that we were going to wait for this coming fall to begin a gentle version of American preschool at home. He is still going to attend Belgium preschool for one more year, but we wanted to begin the gentle transition to what the true "Plan A" is: homeschooling full-time.
"T" and I decided to homeschool our children in the first years of our marriage. There were a lot of reasons that would take up WAY too much room in this already long blog. But after nearly 13 years of knowing it was going to happen, I expected to spend the next couple of months ironing out what exactly we would do and planning on how to introduce things as gently as possible so as not to "spook" him about schooling with mom.
Enter "Plan B", aka my son. He is BEGGING for me to start teaching him things. Not just casual observational talks like we normally have. He wants to learn how to read. He wants to learn how to write. "Mom, I want YOU to teach me!".
So, I have spent the last few days doing what I had planned to spend the next couple of months doing. My brain is fried, but I did it. I ordered everything this morning (from Sonlight, in case anyone is interested). I can breathe for a few weeks. Then everything will arrive and the grand planning of it all will begin. I hope to start the first couple of weeks in June.
Whew! I need a nap!
Oh, and you know what this means... future homeschool posts! You have been warned!
- "The earlier the better". Start as early as possible and throw as much information at your child as you possibly can. They are little sponges at this age and you have to take advantage of it.
- "Better late than early". Especially with boys. When young, yes they are sponges, but they are also kids and need the freedom to be fidgety, silly little piles of energy.
Now, for those of you who know us in real life will undoubtedly point out, we did decide to put "A" in Belgium preschool last fall. However, this had nothing whatsoever to do with academics. In Belgium, preschool is mostly one big, social art class with gym once a week. Yes, he's learned how to hold a crayon/pencil and how to follow directions a bit better, but those are just happy side-effects. Our purpose for enrolling him had to do with his begging to have more play time with kids his own age. This was something that was very difficult when we first arrived and this seemed to be the easiest solution. We also thought it would be good for him to learn some French. OK, so that's a little academic... Anyway, this was never "Plan A".
The plan was that we were going to wait for this coming fall to begin a gentle version of American preschool at home. He is still going to attend Belgium preschool for one more year, but we wanted to begin the gentle transition to what the true "Plan A" is: homeschooling full-time.
"T" and I decided to homeschool our children in the first years of our marriage. There were a lot of reasons that would take up WAY too much room in this already long blog. But after nearly 13 years of knowing it was going to happen, I expected to spend the next couple of months ironing out what exactly we would do and planning on how to introduce things as gently as possible so as not to "spook" him about schooling with mom.
Enter "Plan B", aka my son. He is BEGGING for me to start teaching him things. Not just casual observational talks like we normally have. He wants to learn how to read. He wants to learn how to write. "Mom, I want YOU to teach me!".
So, I have spent the last few days doing what I had planned to spend the next couple of months doing. My brain is fried, but I did it. I ordered everything this morning (from Sonlight, in case anyone is interested). I can breathe for a few weeks. Then everything will arrive and the grand planning of it all will begin. I hope to start the first couple of weeks in June.
Whew! I need a nap!
Oh, and you know what this means... future homeschool posts! You have been warned!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Procrastination
Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.
2 things:
1. I hate to clean. I avoid it when I can and muddle through it when I can't. This week "T" was gone, the kids were sick, the house was a mess, and my in-laws were coming over from the US for a visit. No choice. Cleaning ensued.
2. Taxes. Yes, I know, everyone hates paying them. I'm talking about preparing them. I am a reasonably smart woman. I can generally take care of all the family paperwork and financial matters. Taxes have, however, eluded me. I even took a free tax preparation class once. I dropped out after the third class. The whole thing was giving me a migraine. Tax preparation has now been placed under the category of "things I am willing to pay others to do for me". So, here's to our accountant. Do your thing, sir.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
My Rainbow
Ok, so I had great plans of writing an amazing blog about my family's visit last month. It was going to be awesome! You were going to be blown away!
But, couldn't write it right away. I needed to "decompress" a little bit first. And now it's been long enough that I have had time to think about everything. And the awesome blog is no more. Instead you will get this:
First of all, the visit with my family was amazing. I cannot possibly convey what it meant to see the people closest to me come through the door at the airport. My family and I have a very close bond and it was delightful to introduce them to my new life here in Belgium. The weeks that they were here flew by and, all too soon, it was time for them to go.
Here is the thing that stands out to me, though. After dropping them off at the airport and returning home, I was very out of sorts. Not quite a complete mess yet, but well on my way. "T" and I got into an argument over who was going to go to market to get some items to go with dinner. My mood made it an argument. I lost. Did I mention it was POURING RAIN? Yes. My mood was not helped.
Just as I was returning home, the rain stopped and the sky cleared. Immediately. It was startling. Attention getting.
And there it was: a full rainbow. Complete. Beautiful.
A loving message from my Heavenly Father. In my heart, I could hear that still small voice whisper, "I'm still here. I didn't leave."
I had just put my earthly father (and mother) on a plane. They were gone. But my Heavenly Father was still with me. He always will be.
And that made all the difference.
But, couldn't write it right away. I needed to "decompress" a little bit first. And now it's been long enough that I have had time to think about everything. And the awesome blog is no more. Instead you will get this:
First of all, the visit with my family was amazing. I cannot possibly convey what it meant to see the people closest to me come through the door at the airport. My family and I have a very close bond and it was delightful to introduce them to my new life here in Belgium. The weeks that they were here flew by and, all too soon, it was time for them to go.
Here is the thing that stands out to me, though. After dropping them off at the airport and returning home, I was very out of sorts. Not quite a complete mess yet, but well on my way. "T" and I got into an argument over who was going to go to market to get some items to go with dinner. My mood made it an argument. I lost. Did I mention it was POURING RAIN? Yes. My mood was not helped.
Just as I was returning home, the rain stopped and the sky cleared. Immediately. It was startling. Attention getting.
And there it was: a full rainbow. Complete. Beautiful.
A loving message from my Heavenly Father. In my heart, I could hear that still small voice whisper, "I'm still here. I didn't leave."
I had just put my earthly father (and mother) on a plane. They were gone. But my Heavenly Father was still with me. He always will be.
And that made all the difference.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
First Christmas in Belgium
Well, we did it. We celebrated Christmas in Belgium. And to tell you the truth, it was wonderful. Such a surprise.
I wrote previously that we had never had the opportunity to create our own family Christmas traditions. That wasn't entirely accurate. I was reminded that we did have one tradition.
When Buddy was born, I asked several of the teens in T's youth group what Christmas traditions that they had that they really enjoyed. One of the things that came up was that two sisters always got a new pair of pajamas for Christmas. I rather liked that tradition and so each year, Buddy (and last year Little Miss) has gotten a new pair of pajamas - usually with a Christmas theme - that was opened Christmas Eve before bedtime. This was an easy tradition to implement but also served a practical purpose. We usually traveled very early on Christmas morning to get back to our hometown for Christmas festivities. Since it was a 5 hour car ride and things began at around 9 AM, it was easier to keep the kids in their new pj's for the car trip.
Since this was an established tradition, we decided to continue it here in Belgium. So after attending Chapel services that evening, we came home and both Buddy and Little Miss opened their Christmas Eve pajamas. Buddy was way too fast, but you can see Little Miss opening her present in the picture above.
We also created some new traditions this year. First and foremost, we actually had Christmas morning around our or own Christmas Tree! It was so much fun watching the kids opening their gifts. Relatives had sent many, many packages in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas so they both had quite a lot of gifts to open up. Thank you all!
Once the gifts were all opened, it was time to begin preparing lunch. We had decided to do a special Christmas lunch rather than a breakfast because there would be more time to prepare. Our menu consisted of:
Well, after all of that, the kids settled in to play with their new toys for a while. Then it was time to nap. Whohoo! A Christmas rest for mom and dad!
Later on, once everyone was back up and going, we ate some left-overs and then set about having our Birthday Cake for Jesus. You will notice that it is a bunt cake. This was not the original plan. But since I gave away all of my cake pans prior to our move here (a detail I had forgotten until I went looking for one) all I had was my trusty Tupperware silicone fluted cake mold. It did the job. The next problem was the candle(s). I had planned to just use one candle in the center of the cake. Well, bunt cake = no center. Since one candle looked weird on the edge by itself, I asked my wonderful, youth pastor husband for a solution. You can see in the picture that he decided on 3 - one for each part of the Trinity. After all, since the 3 are one, he reasoned, it was kind of all of Their birthdays. Sort of... let's not get too bogged down in the theology - it's cake! Anyway, it worked for us! :-) We now have a tradition of a Happy Birthday Jesus Bunt Cake with 3 candles. Surly that is something completely unique for our family!
We spent the remainder of the afternoon/evening on the phone or computer video chatting with relatives and friends. It was wonderful to feel as if we were there celebrating with them too.
All in all, I am delighted with how everything turned out. Between you and me, I really had very low expectations for the day. I am so happy it turned out so wonderfully! Thanks to all of you who were praying on our behalf!
I wrote previously that we had never had the opportunity to create our own family Christmas traditions. That wasn't entirely accurate. I was reminded that we did have one tradition.
When Buddy was born, I asked several of the teens in T's youth group what Christmas traditions that they had that they really enjoyed. One of the things that came up was that two sisters always got a new pair of pajamas for Christmas. I rather liked that tradition and so each year, Buddy (and last year Little Miss) has gotten a new pair of pajamas - usually with a Christmas theme - that was opened Christmas Eve before bedtime. This was an easy tradition to implement but also served a practical purpose. We usually traveled very early on Christmas morning to get back to our hometown for Christmas festivities. Since it was a 5 hour car ride and things began at around 9 AM, it was easier to keep the kids in their new pj's for the car trip.
Since this was an established tradition, we decided to continue it here in Belgium. So after attending Chapel services that evening, we came home and both Buddy and Little Miss opened their Christmas Eve pajamas. Buddy was way too fast, but you can see Little Miss opening her present in the picture above.
We also created some new traditions this year. First and foremost, we actually had Christmas morning around our or own Christmas Tree! It was so much fun watching the kids opening their gifts. Relatives had sent many, many packages in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas so they both had quite a lot of gifts to open up. Thank you all!
Once the gifts were all opened, it was time to begin preparing lunch. We had decided to do a special Christmas lunch rather than a breakfast because there would be more time to prepare. Our menu consisted of:
- Loaded Baked Potato Soup
- Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
- Christmas Cheese Ball
- Shrimp Dip
Well, after all of that, the kids settled in to play with their new toys for a while. Then it was time to nap. Whohoo! A Christmas rest for mom and dad!
Later on, once everyone was back up and going, we ate some left-overs and then set about having our Birthday Cake for Jesus. You will notice that it is a bunt cake. This was not the original plan. But since I gave away all of my cake pans prior to our move here (a detail I had forgotten until I went looking for one) all I had was my trusty Tupperware silicone fluted cake mold. It did the job. The next problem was the candle(s). I had planned to just use one candle in the center of the cake. Well, bunt cake = no center. Since one candle looked weird on the edge by itself, I asked my wonderful, youth pastor husband for a solution. You can see in the picture that he decided on 3 - one for each part of the Trinity. After all, since the 3 are one, he reasoned, it was kind of all of Their birthdays. Sort of... let's not get too bogged down in the theology - it's cake! Anyway, it worked for us! :-) We now have a tradition of a Happy Birthday Jesus Bunt Cake with 3 candles. Surly that is something completely unique for our family!
We spent the remainder of the afternoon/evening on the phone or computer video chatting with relatives and friends. It was wonderful to feel as if we were there celebrating with them too.
All in all, I am delighted with how everything turned out. Between you and me, I really had very low expectations for the day. I am so happy it turned out so wonderfully! Thanks to all of you who were praying on our behalf!
Merry Christmas!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
CNN/YouTube Debate 11/28/2007
OK, I didn't stay up to watch the debate live because I would have had to stay up until 2 AM for the beginning and until 4 AM to see the end. Way too late! I did, however, watch it this morning on YouTube. If you missed it, I encourage you to take a look for yourself.
Here's my analysis:
Ranking in Iowa (Rasmussen Poll 11/28)
(28%) Huckabee
(25%) Romney
(12%) Giuliani
(11%) Thompson
(5%) Paul
(4%) McCain
(4%) Tancrado
(1%) Hunter
Ranking Nationally (Rasmussen Poll 11/28)
(24%) Giuliani
(15%) Romney
(14%) McCain
(12%) Huckabee
(11%) Thompson
(Tancrado, Hunter, Paul - less than 2%)
Number of Questions Received per Candidate at CNN/YouTube Debate
(13) Giuliani
(12) Romney
(11) McCain
(10) Thompson
(9) Huckabee
(8) Paul
(7) Hunter
(6) Tancrado
Questions Posed to Huckabee
My Thoughts
I still feel that Mike Huckabee would be the best person to lead our country in the coming years. He is honest, compassionate, tough, and creative. He knows when to get a censuses and he knows when to fight for something even if it is unpopular. I encourage anyone reading this to check out his website and see what his positions are on the issues and see if he lines up with where you think our country ought to be heading. If he does, please consider sending him a donation. He is entering into a very expensive time for any campaign. If you think he has the right ideas for this country, please do your part to make sure he has the money to stay in the fight!
Here's my analysis:
Ranking in Iowa (Rasmussen Poll 11/28)
(28%) Huckabee
(25%) Romney
(12%) Giuliani
(11%) Thompson
(5%) Paul
(4%) McCain
(4%) Tancrado
(1%) Hunter
Ranking Nationally (Rasmussen Poll 11/28)
(24%) Giuliani
(15%) Romney
(14%) McCain
(12%) Huckabee
(11%) Thompson
(Tancrado, Hunter, Paul - less than 2%)
Number of Questions Received per Candidate at CNN/YouTube Debate
(13) Giuliani
(12) Romney
(11) McCain
(10) Thompson
(9) Huckabee
(8) Paul
(7) Hunter
(6) Tancrado
Questions Posed to Huckabee
- Would you favor a federal law requiring states who give tuition breaks to the children of illegal aliens to provide those same breaks to the children of our military families?
- What are the top 3 federal programs would you cut?
- Will you pledge to never raise taxes?
- On the death penalty - what would Jesus do?
- Do you believe every word of the Holy Bible?
- Should gays be able to serve openly in the United States military?
- Do you accept the support of Log Cabin Republicans? (a gay republican group)
- What is your vision for human space exploration?
- Why don't many African-Americans vote Republican?
My Thoughts
- The number of questions posed to the candidates related almost exactly to how they are doing in the national polls. This is entirely understandable. (Personally, of course, I would have liked to have had more questions posed to Huckabee but that is probably true of everyone with a favorite candidate.)
- The nature of the questions did not seem as equitable to me. Giuliani and Romney (and to a lesser degree Thompson and McCain) got a lot of the serious, presidential questions: immigration, national debt, farm subsidies, 2nd Ammendment, the war on terror, etc. Huckabee mainly got questions about issues that have been on the back-burner this election cycle: space exploration, gays openly serving the military, the death penalty.
- I was very pleased with how Huckabee responded on several questions/issues:
- He refused to be bullied by Romney over the controversy about a proposal for children of illegal aliens to receive college scholarships in Arkansas (a proposal that did not go through, by the way). Romney tried very hard to make the issue about giving illegals more rights than ordinary citizens. Huckabee would not be talked over. He made the point that the intention was to reward students who had spent their whole school career in Arkansas schools (and were applying to become citizens) so that they could become educated, tax-suppling Americans instead of tax-taking illegals. Basically his stance is: you do not punish the children for the sins of the parents. (For Huckabee's full explanation of the issue, watch this.)
- When asked if he would accept support from the Log Cabin Republicans (a gay republican group) he said yes, he wanted to be everyone's president and would accept their support. However, he made it clear that he would not change he stance on issues to appease supporters. (The example he gave was that if the Log Cabin Republicans decided to support him, he would not suddenly support gay marriage.)
- I also liked how he responded to the question about African American support of the Republican party. He said that the Republicans needed to reach out the African Americans community (and the the Hispanic community and others) all the time - not just during an election. He did that in Arkansas and was rewarded with their votes.
- All in all, I felt it was a good debate. Not all of the questions were serious (a few were completely irrelevant), but overall it allowed us to get a good look at how each of the candidates saw the issues and what kind of a president they might be.
I still feel that Mike Huckabee would be the best person to lead our country in the coming years. He is honest, compassionate, tough, and creative. He knows when to get a censuses and he knows when to fight for something even if it is unpopular. I encourage anyone reading this to check out his website and see what his positions are on the issues and see if he lines up with where you think our country ought to be heading. If he does, please consider sending him a donation. He is entering into a very expensive time for any campaign. If you think he has the right ideas for this country, please do your part to make sure he has the money to stay in the fight!
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