Sweetheart Tag

What is your husbands name? Jacob Vaughn Johnson

How long have you guys been married? Almost 5 years, CRAZY! [Jan 3 2004]

How long did you date? Tricky Question - We knew one another for almost 9 months before we were married. We met in April, we were already discussing wedding dates in June, he "officially" proposed in October, and we were married in January...All the while I was in Arizona/California and he was in Oklahoma.

How old is he? 23, 24 on Nov 28!

Who is taller? Jake. He's 6 inches taller.

Who can sing best? It's a toss up.

Who is smarter? Both of us.

Who does laundry? Lucky me. Thursday is laundry day.

Who pays the bills? Both of us.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Facing the bed - me.

Who mows the lawn? Someone else mows our lawn for us. One of the perks of renting. Though when we are in charge of our lawn, I hope it's me!

Who cooks dinner? Me.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I'm never wrong. ;) Yeah right, I'm pretty good at stubbornly conceding.

Who kissed who first? I'm pretty sure it was mutual. We were watching I Am Sam. We were wearing pajamas. He still had braces, I was wearing my retainer. Perfect.

Who wears the pants? Both of us...One of the many reasons I like us so much.

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My Baby has SIX teeth

Cora has been working so hard this past week. She went from two teeth to six teeth during that time. Four teeth on top came through all at the same time. Teething equals stuffy nose. Stuffy Nose equals difficulty sleeping...for all parties in the Johnson house. She never cries, but wow, it's like we've been living with a stranger baby. I think she's even a little smaller because her appetite has also been altered. Today was better. I hope she'll continue to return to her normal self now that all four teeth have finally broken through the gum. I have been enjoying her extra cuddles.

She also has a little shiner. She fell into the corner of a safe that we were organizing in the living room. She didn't cry a lot, but man, I felt like it. Rough week. I'm sure she'll be happy that her teeth came in a hurry later this week when we celebrate Thanksgiving!!

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Really?!

I was watching the Today Show this morning and they said that letters with white powder had been sent to LDS temples. I felt like I was watching Weekend Update on SNL, and that any minute Seth and Amy would come out and say "Really?!" as they do with other unbelievable headlines that come across their news desk.

I am baffled. Not by the protests, and not by the fact that they're being directed at the LDS church, but what is it exactly that protesters hope to accomplish by concentrating their efforts on the "mormons?" What can the people in the temples or the church as a whole do to overturn the proposition? I think their energy could be better spent working on coming up with a new idea.

"Mormon bashing" has been going on since the beginning of the church. This tradition of ignorance as to what the church is really about is nothing new. I say ignorance [the condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.] because of the signs I've seen at the protests outside of the Los Angeles temple: "You have 3 wives, I want 1." "Bigots" and something about "Magic Undies." Let me tell you, the only thing magic about my undies are that they never ride up and I never have to worry about panty lines. Bigotry is the complete intolerance of ideas and beliefs that don't align with one's own. The LDS church states that it supports rights for same sex couples "so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the family or the constitutional rights of churches and their adherents to administer and practice their religion free from government interference." Bigots, I think not. I hope that anyone reading this realizes the foolishness in the first sign I brought up. The LDS church does not condone polygamy. I don't know if that will ever fully sink in with society as a whole.

Bigotry, however, is when the idea of tolerance is skewed to mean you're either with us or against us, period. The backlash is out of hand. It's aimed at the wrong crowd. It turns my stomach to see images and read accounts of vandalism, obscenities, and physical abuse against the LDS church and its members who, as a whole, are some of the most peaceful people in the world.

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Definitions

I've been thinking a lot about proposition 8 since it passed last week. I've gone back and forth about it because the church I belong to and love has become the the target of frustration and anger of people I love because of proposition 8's failure to fail. I've been trying to justify both sides, and in doing so I couldn't come up with an answer, until about 2 days ago. Everyone is so riled up (rightfully and wrongfully so on both sides) over what we think is the big issue, but I think that maybe the big answer to this is really simple.

We're fighting over a word. I know this is going to throw some people for a loop, but go with me.

Marriage is just a word - one word in one language. It has traditionally been the word used to define a heterosexual union, a joining of a man and a woman as husband and wife. So why not let marriage officially be defined as that. Then we can come up with another word that is used to define a homosexual union, a joining of a man and a man as husband and husband. We could go even further and come up with new names for husband and wife in this newly coined term. It could be really fun, and if you think I'm joking, I'm absolutely not. I've been thinking of a few things: Skadoodle, Unification, Zeziz, Vieret (okay, the last two I just thought really hard about because it would be super cool if it was a completely new word - and I didn't check to see if those words really do exist - my profound apology if they do and have a super lame-o meaning). The difference in terminology would keep either side of the argument from continuing to step on one anothers constitutional toes.

Even groups who oppose same sex "marriage" support the same rights as "married" couples be given to same sex couples...Like my friend, Barack. Obama also doesn't believe in a constitutional amendment to define marriage. His position would still leave people stuck, despite what would have been his "No" vote on Prop. 8. For so long, same sex couples have been looking to the term marriage as the end all be all in regard to relationship status equality.

"Marriage" means is different to every couple who makes the choice to enter into it. To me it is sanctity, loyalty, a love that is unconditional, understanding silence, potty time is private time, letting go of certain aspects of myself to gain so much more, becoming a sort of expert on 20th century minimalist music, part of motherhood, a blessing of womanhood, a prayer together in the morning, always having a fan of my shenanigans, how I want to spend eternity. I could go on and on. The important part is that it's mine and Jake's. Our relationship belongs to us. I was "married" before our ceremony ever took place. I knew I needed to be with Jake to experience real joy - the biggest kind you can imagine. Instead of calling my union marriage, I might like to call it Orange. And it would still mean the same thing to me.

Definitions have to exist. Our world needs some sort of order, and language is how we do it. It would be easier if we could all be lumped up into a few definitions like people, brothers, sisters, etc, but the world would be far less colorful. White is not black and black is not white, and I celebrate their differences and everything in between. Let "marriage" and "skadoodle" both define a joining of two people, and let both terms carry with them equal rights. I know the term civil union exists, but we can be so way more romantic. If people in 3 states voted to officially define marriage as something between a man and a woman, then let them keep that traditional institution which is sacred to them. Let's make a new tradition. A tradition that will help us all stop being so afraid of and hateful towards one another.

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Some fun facts

I was looking up some info on breastfeeding when I came across this interesting tidbit:

About 25% of energy intake goes towards making milk.
About 20% of energy intake goes towards making the brain function.

So making milk takes more out of me than making my brain work. It all makes sense.


Something else I came across a while ago:
A woman can lose up to 8% on her brain mass when pregnant depending on the amount of good fats she's getting. I knew I was scatterbrained, but I didn't know it was because my brain was shrinking.

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Rina Fitria

A beautiful young woman's spirit left this world last night. She has been in a fight against lymphoma since March 2007. Rina was a student at OSU, and through a devoted effort of friends to raise money for a bone marrow transplant, her story was shared with people, like myself, who have never met her. This kind act has touched my heart.

I hope that many prayers are offered up for her family, who have been in the trenches with her.


This is Rina's personal blog:
http://fitriajourney.blogspot.com/

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America

I am proud. I can't put it into words yet. The easy part is over. I'm ready to get to work. It's more than just voting. It's beyond party affiliation. A shared history, an optimistic vision for the future, unity. Yes we can.

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Halloween Festivities

We carved our Jack-o-lantern.
Cora threw the seeds everywhere.

The seeds stuck everywhere.

After seed clean-up and removal, Cora suited up.



It couldn't be more fitting that my child was a chicken for her first Halloween.

I do, after all, have a great affinity for the word.

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