Martin Luther King Day and Inauguration Day

Madison learned a little bit about Martin Luther King Jr. today at school. She knows that he said "I have a dream" and that he helped people to see that black and white people--all people should be treated the same. So, she colored a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. - notice the color- and wrote one of her own dreams. She wrote "no one dis." which of course means that she does not want people to die. I wonder if she thought of this herself or if she got the idea from her teacher. It doesn't matter- Madison wrote it- and I am proud of her! My baby is growing up! Today was Inauguration Day- the day after Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday- priceless. Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America. Today is a day history is made- a day that will be written down in history books and children will read about in school. Today is the day that the first African American became President of the United States. That in itself is awesome. Today is a turning point in America, it's the day that all people truly know that "yes, we can- with help from America's people" can come true. It doesn't matter to me now that I did not vote for Obama and that I don't agree with all his politics. God has made this happen and it is part of His plan. I am choosing to stand behind our President and support him- as an American.

I was inspired by his speech today. First of all, the location was perfect- in Washington D.C. in the mall This creates a beautiful parallel to Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech "I have a Dream"- and his dream has come true. What a beautiful picture. In his speech, he talked about how the people of America need to come forward and carry one another's burdens and take responsibility- I agree. He also mentioned how the hard work, the toiling of our forefathers, the deaths of so many people, made it possible for us to be in America and have the freedoms that we have today. That is so easy to forget and I am glad that I was reminded of it. He mentioned that 60 years ago, his father was limited to what he could do and be, because of his race--that is not the case today. I am proud that America has grown in its awareness and is changing its beliefs about what people can do. After all, we are all God's children and we should treat each other the way that we would like to be treated--the Golden Rule. God looks at us with the same eyes and he does not prefer one color over the other. One other thing that stood out to me that President Obama and Vice President Biden said was that they want to measure their success in office by seeing how many more American children will be saying "I can do anything I want to if I work at it" and not being told that they can't do something. This will be giving hope and encouragement to America's people--which is needed; I have seen this need in the children I teach, the future of our country. Of course, I would like to add that I would love it if American children were saying that I CAN'T do it- but with GOD I can do anything--but I don't think that that is their agenda.

I am not sure exactly what CHANGE will look like under Obama and Biden, but I anticipate what the next 4 years will bring and stand in the truth that God is sovereign.

Our Very Own Hill!

Yes, we are back from Florida and all is good. Stories and pictures to come later.

It has been snowing the past few days and the kids have gone out to play, but tonight, we had a special treat. Tonight, the Coleman 5 had their very own sled hill for an hour! Since it was dark already when I returned home from a delicious cup of coffee with a dear friend, Archie and I really didn't want to take the kids sledding. Thinking about getting on the snowsuits, boots, coats, hats, etc. was already making us tired, but since I had already told Madison that we would be going, I didn't want to disappoint her. I am so glad that we followed through.

The last time that we went to "our" sled hill, the hill that I sledded down as a kid, it was like a traffic jam. Kids were jumping in front of us while we were sledding down the hill and we had to wait our turn to go down. Tonight we had free reign and it was awesome. At times we just laid down on the hill looking at the moon and the one star that we could see in the sky, but mostly we sledded. Well, Archie, Madison and I did. Christian wanted nothing to do with the sled- he preferred going down the hill on his bottom or rolling down. This was quite humorous to watch, but since nobody else was there, we let him have his fun. Caleb liked the snow, however he liked to do his own thing, which is not what we were doing. He preferred to walk around at the bottom of the hill away from us. I told myself not to bring the camera tonight because I wanted to just enjoy the moment- and I'm glad that I did.