My head has been swimming with so many things lately. These are a few of them.

Local control of government has been a strength of America since it's inception, however, that strength is being undermined. The house has passed a bill, "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes prevention Act of 2007" that in spite of it's benign sounding name attempts to take away local jurisdiction of certain crimes against certain individuals. There's more to it than that, but you can read it for yourself at http://thomas.loc.gov/ . (Type in H.R. 1592 when searching by bill #.) Another bill with the same goal is pending a vote in the Senate, S.B. 1105 so it's not too late to oppose that one. And if you want another frightening read, see the Patriot Act (H.R. 3162). I'm sorry to say I didn't give it much thought of it when debate about it was going on, but, upon a cursory reading, I wish I had opposed it. Now it's law.

If you homeschool, you are probabaly aware of the work of HSLDA (www.hslda.org )on a state by state basis to secure the right of parents to educate their children how they see fit. However, it the trend toward a stronger more centralized government continues to the point where the governance of education is completely overseen by Washington, all of the state laws could be overturned by one act of Congress or court case. So the loss of local control is important. The farther away from us the people who make decisions for us are, the less influence we have in those decisions.

No leaders have their office unless it is granted to them by God and so we can rest in His soverignty. However, judgement does begin in the house of God so we should first confess our sin before Him and pray for our leaders and for mercy on our beloved country.

OK, back to life with preschoolers. Mine are dirty. The days have been warm and sunny and lasting longer and longer. By the time the sun sets and we finally corral them all up for the night, we're too tired to give them baths. I actually smelled four year old B.O. last night before bed. Of course, he thought that was hilarious and danced his stinky self  around so I could smell him better. Baths tonight!

And you know you live with preschoolers when:

Sparklers aren't just for the 4th of July.

Hoodie towels are the superhero cape of choice. (Nevermind there's never a clean one for the baby)

Soap is one of your baby's favorite flavors, Blah!

Ranch Dressing (the modern day equivalent of ketchup) is requested as a dip for cookies.

"Butt-weiner" is the curse word of choice. (Although not acceptable, I guess in some strange way I can be thankful.)

Your son sees spilled apple juice and immediately asks, "Is this pee?" (yes, his sister is potty training.)

You are way too familiar with gross bodily functions and their "euphamistic" terms.

Blessings,

Julie