Happy Birthday to Karen

8 years old now and one birthday celebration down, one more big one to go! We figure when all the family is together (which is on the horizon, yippee) we'll have a large celebration with the requested "princess" theme with pizza, cake, and ice cream (oh, and the presents -- don't forget them). These have been the same requests throughout the year of what Karen wants for her birthday celebration.

Karen did manage to embarrass me a little when she opened up the card from her Grandma. Upon opening it, she immediately began to shake it around asking, "What, no dollars?" Americanized, yes, and spoiled, maybe, and obviously now needing some fine tuning on her manners. Of course, Grandma thought it was so cute but I was rather embarrassed. That girl was seriously searching that card and envelope for money and wondered how her Grandma could've forgotten to enclose it! Silly girl!

We had a nice little celebration on Karen's birthday Sunday with a cake we baked and a few presents. The overwhelming excitement leading up to her birthday seems to have sparked an emotional side to her. She's cried several times today admitting she misses all those people from Colombia who meant so much to her. She's really expressed missing her birthmom several times in the past 2 days. She is easily the most tender of all of my children. She wondered if I thought her birthmom would remember her or remember it was her birthday. What a loaded question; what a touching time! I can't help but feel the pain their birthmom must truly feel, not really knowing the destiny of her birthchildren and holding their memory only in her heart and within her dreams. Our family prays nightly together for their birthmother, but my prayer to this dear woman is ask God to grant comfort and assuredness that her children are loved and cared for in ways that she wasn't able to fulfill. May she always be blessed by the love and protection of an endearing Father above! I pray my children will forever embrace a special love for their birthmother. On behalf of my children, Mami E -- we send hugs from afar, from a Half A Sky Away, all the way from Alaska to Colombia.

Luis and his Grandma

Luis loves his Grandma, that's for sure. He's going to miss her but knows she'll come for visits. We'll all miss you Grandma!

Hilarious SNL skit

What a hilarious skit put on by Saturday Night Live opening the show on Sept. 13th! Making it even more incredible is knowing how Sarah has joked in the past when asked who she would be for Halloween, and many times the standard answer was she was going as Tina Fey because not too much prep would be involved in pulling it off. How neat to see Tina Fey actually impersonating my friend. What a full twist in how life has played out for Sarah. I'm so proud of her! Back to the SNL skit, what a hoot! I was rolling with laughter! YEAH, and I can see Russia from my house too! (Okay, so that's a stretch from the truth, but it was funny in the skit.)

Great work to the SNL crew who put that together. Funny stuff, and in this election we need to pause momentarily to laugh at the funny stuff, then jump right back into the hard-pressing issues because there are so many of those to deal with this time around.

GO SARAH GO!!!

All this attention in a little town

This town has seen its fair share of reporters milling around, and crawling around in Sarah and Todd's bushes from what they say. They seem to want to find anything, just anything, of substance on Sarah Palin. I'll bet it's just super frustrating to find that she's just an honest, genuine person with brains and attractive looks sporting styling glasses and a well-coifed up 'do (as she prefers most of the time). And as for that Trooper, ex-brother-in-law incident... pretty much all the town will tell you he's a total jerk, just bad news and a loser.

One thing that is neat is the news coverage showing our town. There's so much talk of my little town nowadays and it really has grown so much in the time since Sarah was Mayor here. I'm glad you folks are able to see a bit of the landscape, the beautiful mountain peaks and wonderful lakes here. I'm sure they won't stop filming anytime soon so if you haven't caught one of the news stories showing Wasilla yet, there's still hope. The kids sure think it's neat that everyone around the country is seeing their little Alaskan town.

I see my pastor has posted a little blurb on the church website stating that Sarah and family several years ago attended regularly at Church on the Rock. I'm sure he and the church staff, and the congregation, were getting hounded by reporters. I'm sure the reporters felt duped once the wikipedia site finally listed her home church correctly. It took about 5 days to work that through. Maybe we'll have visitors with big cameras and mics this Sunday, or maybe not. We'll see!

I'm proud of Sarah for doing so well on her speech night. I never doubted her confidence because this is just the challenge she's up for. She's always been known to pull off the most challenging of things with such grace. What a classy woman! My only observation through her speech was that they might have coached her a bit just to get her point across with the few remarks she made upon driving certain Obama issues in. They probably coached her a little on being just a tad bit tougher in her presentation at those times, but it was needed to sell her speech. And it worked! She delivered! What a truly remarkable person she really is.

I'm so thrilled she's now into the hand-shaking, actual meeting one-on-one with the nation's townfolks! She's so gifted in that type of setting. It does shape up for an interesting showdown in the next 2 months.

Here's a picture of the family at the Alaska State Fair last week when we were there.
It was fun. The kids enjoyed the rides. It was their first time to ride big rides other than the bumper cars they rode in Colombia. Fabian loved the bumper cars at the Fair because he got to drive by himself. He really thought he was tough! The girls loved the CRAZY and WILD rides and Fabian didn't like them too much and would only tolerate them. Karen is clearly my daredevil child. She had her hands up on some of the scariest ones when Fabian was gritting his teeth and making a terrible face with a two-handed death grip on the handlebar. No screams of enjoyment came out of Fabian's mouth, but Karen and Missy -- just the opposite. They were begging for more rides all day long.

We enjoyed all sorts of Fair food. So many firsts for them! They loved the Dippin' Dots and said that surprisingly the Elephant Ears tasted a lot like bread. Hmmm, now imagine that? The biggest hit was the huge bag of Kettle Corn we got just before leaving. Marissa really thought it was cool that the lady who waited on us and bagged our Kettle Corn was one of our friends from church and we talked to her for a while... okay, okay, the real story is that this lady is the Grandma of the guy from church Marissa's had a crush on for almost 2 years now. I guess that's really big stuff to a 10 year old experiencing an outrageous crush on a boy... to talk to his Grandma is just outta- this-world cool!

Back to the Kettle Corn, all my kids love it but one of them inhales it. Luis would grab a huge handful, lean his head back and pop his whole fistful of Kettle Corn in his mouth, all the while using his other hand to scoop up another handful. Both hands were working systematically like a well-maintained machine. He would swat at his sisters and brothers hands to get at the popcorn. I had never seen anything like it. There is no way he ever learned anything of this sort from us. I just don't allow it. But it was interesting for a moment to watch the baby just devouring popcorn like that. Shocking! So many things come so naturally to that little guy that makes me shake my head wondering why. Don't count me out as being weird or anything, but with the high percentage of times I marvel at this little guys wonders, I can't help but question if he has seen life before. Weird, I know, but so many things have happened in such a short time together to raise our eyebrows. Maybe I'll try to better explain it sometime.

Interesting church service today

Okay, for starters, I knew today's church service would be interesting and inspiring just because the hometown's rising star made her national level debut as the VP nomination just 2 days ago. Most all the local folks, myself included, are still riding the wave of elation that particular news brought. We've all known for years she was headed for greatness and the path was paved for her moment to shine. Her admirable leadership qualities were needed at a greater level than that of just a gubernatorial role, and pleasingly so, those attributes were noticed by those officials whom she could best serve on a national level with. With the GOP VP choice made, it certainly has put our town on the map and has brought a flurry of reporters to the area looking for any tidbit of information relating to Sarah Palin. Well, even in church today it didn't slow the flow of reporters. They were there taping. There were a few present and recording during the worship portion and special prayer led to pray wisdom and guidance be granted to our country's leadership, and for those coastal communities and the safety of the people of the Gulf Coast areas who may be impacted by Hurricane Gustav.

In the past 2 days I had run across several news stories, bio information, internet articles and blog entries claiming that the home church of the Palin family is the same one I attend. If so, I certainly didn't know it and I've attended there for over 3 years. Cool though! I had always thought her family attended locally at another bible-based church. Apparently not, unless someone has miscommunicated the information leaked to the media. Whatever the case, we don't mind the coverage and exposure. (And to set the record straight, our church is a non-denominational bible-believing church where all faiths are welcome! I continue to read reports pegging her affiliation as a Pentecostal and a so-called "holy roller", which is not an accurate description. Hopefully a few reporters gathered a little bit of actual insight today in order to more appropriately set that record straight.) With the many new faces and growth within our church congregation it certainly would not be surprising to have her in regular attendance when she's here in the area. Then there's the fact that she could very likely attend the early morning service, one I've attended only a handful of times in the past few years. I like my late church service and with several kids to get ready, it's almost necessary to have that extra idle time to prepare ourselves and the kids on Sunday mornings.

Now onto another subject:

Please, please pray for those people who may be in harms way from Hurricane Gustav. Pray that this powerful storm diminish before landfall to lighten the devastation it could very well cause. Please Lord, we ask that you protect and keep watch over the many people in that region. May those who need you turn to you in their time of trouble, dear Savior. May they find comfort in knowing You are a faithful God, and to find peace in all that may be lost, that it will be restored, but according to Your plan and Your timing, dear Father!

(I actually took a few moments today following prayer just to reflect on what it might have been to endure the hardships caused from Hurricane Katrina. The pictures from the devastation played through my mind repeatedly. I could not even begin to understand what and how those individuals felt then, and continue to feel just 3 years later. My prayers go out to everyone in that region over this Labor Day holiday.)

Authenticated Awakening

PICTURE THIS:

After an already disruptive night of sleep of tossing and turning, checking on the kids and a stupid toy intermittently loudly singing the alphabet song during the night, the phone rings just before 6 A.M. Startling, yes you betcha, and as I gather my senses it appears to be my mother’s cell number. Strangely odd and a bit frightening as I then remember my mother has many flight segments today. Very quickly the answering machine scoops up the call and I hear my mother’s voice say, “I’m in between flights and you might want to go watch the TV!” Still groggy I have so many questions… Why is she calling me this early in the morning? Is everything okay? Why did she say to go watch TV? Then I began to panic remembering the last time she had called that early in the morning hours was on 9/11 years ago, with a very similar message… “You should turn on the TV!”

So I turn on the TV not knowing what the hoopla was all about. What a blessing to see that the breaking news and all the buzz was centered around speculation that our Governor here in Alaska, Sarah Palin, was rumored to soon be named as John McCain’s choice as a running mate in the 2008 presidential candidacy. WOW, what incredible news! Her name had been tossed about from time to time as a potential vice president choice, but lately there hadn’t been much mention of her even being considered.

As the historic events and news coverage began to unravel this morning, and the speculation gave way to authentication, I couldn’t help but take this moment to exclaim how praiseworthy this event truly is for every citizen of this great land we call the United States of America. Not only is Sarah Palin a friend to almost all who know her, but I speak with firsthand knowledge that she’s definitely authentic – the real deal -- raised with family values and holds a true sense of ethics, is a devout Christian woman, and a proud mother and businesswoman, who just happens to have a keen sense of public servanthood and politics among the many other admirable qualities. Her energy adds to the revitalization of the McCain ticket in ways the nation will soon get an opportunity to see, and I couldn’t be more proud of her for being McCain’s choice for vice president. Much credit is due to the McCain camp for following their heart (and obviously their faith) in making this decision. It will be an interesting few months gearing up to the election. You can bet I’ll have a sign pledging my support. How often does one actually know the VP choice? What a day!!! I keep thinking back to my April 18th blog entry devoted to her surprise announcement that she was pregnant and of the birth of Trig, her 5th child. Even then she was a longshot VP choice, but now that’s authenticated.

As the day’s events unraveled, I found myself celebrating victoriously and reflecting back on so many little milestones and moments of faith leading up to this nomination. I thought back a few years ago when myself and Marissa planned to volunteer as sign-wavers in Sarah’s run for Governor. Viewing it from a civics lesson perspective with an added bonus of knowing the candidate, Marissa embraced the opportunity. Marissa cried and cried on voting day when she was too ill and I wouldn’t allow her to participate out in the snow and rain. She proudly hung her PALIN FOR GOVERNOR signs in her bedroom window, in the kitchen window, and for months she would comment as cars drove past, “I wonder if that person driving by noticed the campaign signs?” She would watch attentively as each car passed to see if they had peered at the signs in the window, and if they had, she was ecstatic as she kept a tally! What a joy to witness the innocence of a child so proud of their campaign contribution! She also wanted to write a letter to Sarah Palin telling her how much she admired her and was campaigning for her. The letter never got sent, but upon learning of Marissa’s intentions Sarah embraced Marissa’s deeds with a huge thanks and a warm hug.

Sarah Palin is one tough cookie, has a knack for serving the public, and is well suited for the position of V.P. although her credentials already are being hotly debated. My hopes are that Americans will openly embrace her wholehearted qualities and see that Sarah Palin is ready to lead.

Last year she was a last-minute guest speaker (said she wouldn’t have missed it for the world) at a local ONE LORD SUNDAY service whereby local church services were held in one large convention center and over 20 local churches of differing religious affiliations closed their regular sanctuary doors unite together to worship as a community. The entire ceremony was extremely effective and representive of many faiths and language interpretations were even translated into Russian for their faithful followers. Without a doubt, a moving experience! Sarah’s message was so powerful during her few moments at the podium. Citing mainly from the influential scriptures contained in Psalm 127, she so eloquently explained how her faith and religious principles have contributed to her past and future successes.

Please accept my apologies if I have bored anyone with my political views. I mean nothing offensive to the other parties in this election process. Clearly the U.S. is headed for an energized leadership whomever is voted in. This post is not meant to take on a divisive role in the upcoming election, but is meant to share a personal perspective into the confidence I place in Sarah Palin. She offers an authenticated awakening of the spirit of this great land we live in. God Bless the U.S.

God-given Resemblances

As I look at the last picture I posted of the kids (Marissa, Fabian, and Karen), I have to thank God for matching these children together. There's such an incredible resemblance between Fabian and Karen (our Colombian-born children) to that of our U.S.-born daugther, Marissa. Is it just me or does anyone else see their resemblance?

We do serve an Awesome God because clearly He is to credit for orchestrating such a remarkable resemblance in my childrens' features. Not that it matters how they look because they are my children and I love each of them just the same, but I can't help but marvel at His wonders.