Tuesday, November 11, 2008

...the fam...

thanks to THE NICKERSONS, we finally have some pictures of US!!! it's so funny being the person on the OTHER end of the camera! i finally understand how it feels to wonder how your pictures turned out, to hope the angle was right, and to get excited about the end result in an entirely different way! we needed some family pictures and they were so sweet to capture the images for us!! here are just a few that i was able to upload before bed :) enjoy!
























Thursday, November 6, 2008

breastmilk, anybody?.....

so we may be in a recession and all...but one member of our family will probably never starve....





guess i can return my hospital-grade pump, now....

the pinto fam!

i had the privilege of shooting some very close family friends!! talk to me about how cute their baby is, puh-lease. PRECIOUS!!! enjoy :)
(hope they dont mind!!!)


Tuesday, November 4, 2008

i swear...he's impartial...










the big day....

An email sent by Huntley Brown:

Dear Friends,
A few months ago I was asked for my perspective on Obama, I sent out an email with a few points. With the election just around the corner I decided to complete my perspective. Those of you on my e-list have seen some of this before but it's worth repeating...

First I must say whoever wins the election will have my prayer support. Obama needs to be commended for his accomplishments but I need to explain why I will not be voting for him.

Many of my friends process their identity through their blackness. I process my identity through Christ. Being a Christian (a Christ follower) means He leads I follow. I can't dictate the terms He does because He is the leader.

I can't vote black because I am black; I have to vote Christian because that's who I am. Christian first, black second. Neither should anyone from the other ethnic groups vote because of ethnicity. 200 years from now I won't be asked if I was black or white. I will be asked if I knew Jesus and accepted Him as Lord and Savior.

In an election there are many issues to consider but when a society gets abortion, same-sex marriage, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning to name a few, wrong economic concerns will soon not matter.

We need to follow Martin Luther King's words, don't judge someone by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I don't know Obama so all I can go off is his voting record. His voting record earned him the title of the most liberal senator in the US Senate in 2007.

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Obama: Most Liberal Senator in 2007 (01/31/2008)
To beat Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton as the most liberal senator, takes some doing. Obama accomplished this feat in 2 short years. I wonder what would happen to America if he had four years to work with.

There is a reason Planned Parenthood gives him a 100 % rating. There is a reason the homosexual community supports him. There is a reason Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, Hamas etc. love him. There is a reason he said he would nominate liberal judges to the Supreme Court. There is a reason he voted against the infanticide bill. There is a reason he voted No on the constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. There is a reason he voted No on banning partial birth abortion. There is a reason he voted No on confirming Justices Roberts and Alito. These two judges are conservatives and they have since overturned partial birth abortion. The same practice Obama wanted to continue.

Let's take a look at the practice he wanted to continue

The 5 Step Partial Birth Abortion procedures:

A. Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby's leg with forceps. (Remember this is a live baby)
B. The baby's leg is pulled out into the birth canal.
C. The abortionist delivers the baby's entire body, except for the head.
D. The abortionist jams scissors into the baby's skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the hole.
E. The scissors are removed and a suction catheter is inserted. The child's brains are sucked out, causing the skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed.

God help him. There is a reason Obama opposed the parental notification law.

Think about this: You can't give a kid an aspirin without parental notification but that same kid can have an abortion without parental notification. This is insane.

There is a reason he went to Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years.

Obama tells us he has good judgment but he sat under Jeremiah Wright teaching for 20 years. Now he is condemning Wright's sermons. I wonder why now?

Obama said Jeremiah Wright led him to the Lord and discipled him. A disciple is one in training. Jesus told us in Matthew 28:19 - 20 'Go and make disciples of all nations.' This means reproduce yourself. Teach people to think like you, walk like you; talk like you believe what you believe etc. The question I have is what did Jeremiah Wright teach him?

Would you support a White President who went to a church which has tenets that said they have a ...

1. Commitment to the White Community
2. Commitment to the White Family
3. Adherence to the White Work Ethic
4. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the White Community.
5. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting White Institutions
6. Pledge allegiance to all White leadership who espouse and embrace the White Value System
7. Personal commitment to embracement of the White Value System.

Would you support a President who went to a church like that?

Just change the word from white to black and you have the tenets of Obama's former church. If President Bush was a member of a church like this, he would be called a racist. Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton would have been marching outside.

This kind of church is a racist church. Obama did not wake up after 20 years and just discovered he went to a racist church. The church can't be about race. Jesus did not come for any particular race. He came for the whole world.

A church can't have a value system based on race. The churches value system has to be based on biblical mandate. It does not matter if it is a white church or a black church it's still wrong. Anyone from either race that attends a church like this would never get my vote.

Obama's former Pastor Jeremiah Wright is a disciple of liberal theologian James Cone, author of the 1970 book A Black Theology of Liberation. Cone once wrote: 'Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him.

Cone is the man Obama's mentor looks up to. Does Obama believe this?

So what does all this mean for the nation?

In the past when the Lord brought someone with the beliefs of Obama to lead a nation it meant one thing - judgment.

Read 1 Samuel 8 when Israel asked for a king. First God says in 1 Samuel 1:9 'Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.'

Then God says

1 Samuel 1:18 ' When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.' 19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. 'No!' they said. 'We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.' 21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22 The LORD answered, 'Listen to them and give them a king.'

Here is what we know for sure.

God is not schizophrenic

He would not tell one person to vote for Obama and one to vote for McCain. As the scripture says, a city divided against itself cannot stand, so obviously many people are not hearing from God.

Maybe I am the one not hearing but I know God does not change and Obama contradicts many things I read in scripture so I doubt it.

For all my friends who are voting for Obama can you really look God in the face and say; Father based on your word, I am voting for Obama even though I know he will continue the genocidal practice of partial birth abortion. He might have to nominate three or four Supreme Court justices, and I am sure he will be nominating liberal judges who will be making laws that are against you. I also know he will continue to push for homosexual rights, even though you destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for this. I know I can look the other way because of the economy.

I could not see Jesus agreeing with many of Obama's positions. Finally I have two questions for all my liberal friends.

Since we know someone's value system has to be placed on the nation,

1. Whose value system should be placed on the nation.

2. Who should determine that this is the right value system for the nation?

Blessings, Huntley Brown

Monday, November 3, 2008

oversimplified reasoning for my support of mccain

well, here we are.
it's Election Eve.
and there will be NO love lost over the conclusion of election season...i'm SO ready for it to be behind me. yet. somehow the news is already talking about the 2012 election season, which i know will start on wednesday morning. how foolish of me to think i'll get a break from hearing about it all.

i know this election season has been rather dramatic. first woman VP. first black President. america has come so far, and we pride ourselves on being oh so progressive. yet, i'm incredibly disappointed over how incredibly stupid i feel so much of america is, as well. senseless. emotional. without direction. desperate. maybe i'm just reaching an age where i can recognize it for what it is. maybe i've finally been around enough to compare this election season to those of yesteryear. maybe i've reached an age where i actually care like i haven't before. where i can understand reaping what we sow, as a nation. where i recognize the feeling of aftershock tremors, whenever the earthquake happens in washington....it affects me. it affects you. whether we accept that or not.

politics affects us all.
and we should care.
we should fully understand the repercussions of this election.

and so i'll briefly underscore a few of the reasons why i will vote for John McCain tomorrow.
in a country where the voice is SO LOUD for Barack Obama, i feel it's only fair for me to speak up for my candidate of choice.

and listen, we all relate more to one candidate over another based on WHAT MATTERS to us. no two lives are the same, no two sets of life circumstances, no two minds are the same for how we perceive life.
this is simply my choice based on what matters to me. allison. it may not matter to you. other things may matter more. that's ok.
we all prioritize and vote accordingly.
voting is patriotic. period. no matter who you vote for.
i may REALLY dislike who you've voted for -- but am thrilled you voted. that's democracy. that's how it should be.

The Economy:
i feel there is an assault on capitalism. obama is going to increase taxes on the very entities that create jobs in america, which in turn, will result in more job loss and loss of benefits. hello. joe the plummer. i mean, that interview SAYS IT ALL. "i think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." this should be a window into the future of america, under obama. even the most nonchalant bystander can recognize that for what it is. and i certainly don't like it. an even bigger problem under obama is the filibuster-proof majority in congress. the democrats will hold a super-majority, during a world economic crisis, a situation that is CAUSED by democrats defective ideology. sure, mccain is not the sole solution. i personally believe the economy, at this juncture can only sort itself out. but i firmly believe that obama would horribly magnify this painful experience.

you know, while i'm at it...take a look at both obama and mccain's tax forms for the past 6 years.
guess who gives 6% to charity and guess who gives 27%.
for a guy who does NOTHING but talk about spreading wealth and being his "brother's keeper"....uhm...then why did you give 0% to charitable organizations until you started running for president 2 years ago. obama, you made $1.7 MILLION DOLLARS in 2006 and only gave 6% to non-profits? that's IT? mccain wasn't even RUNNING for president and has consistently been giving 25-27% for as far back as his tax records go.... i just think this speaks VOLUMES about a candidate. obama would rather take other people's money than to simply DONATE his own to causes that are dear to his heart. why are taxes the answer for people who are too selfish to generously donate. he's NOT his brother's keeper and he showed NO interest in spreading his wealth. it makes NO sense to me. it reminds me of a friend i have, a real true friend. real life here. she lost her job this time last year. she decided to work under the table. she's never paid taxes on her "home business." she collects unemployment bc she's just "unsure about going back to an office." and she gives 0% of her money away to charity. (even when she made 6 figures, she didn't either...we would talk about it.) in my eyes, she's a drag on society. she refuses to go to work. she refuses to pay taxes. she refuses to be HONEST with the unemployment office. and she refuses to contribute to non-profits. YET. she looks at me with a straight face and says, "obama SHOULD raise taxes! look at those people who make so much money....they SHOULD help out the middle class...." why do i always feel it's the people that don't GIVE....that want to tax america more? whether it's the millionaire or the friend who lost her job.....it's unamerican to me. until YOU GIVE charitably, how dare you suggest i be taxed MORE, to suit the government's programs that i don't even support!?
WHY should the person who GETS UP every day, heads to a corporate office, sacrifices his OWN TIME to invest in HARD WORK, went to college, makes a COMMITMENT to an employer, WHY should THEY be taxed more b/c they make more? did they not EARN their stature? did they not put in MORE TIME than the friend who'd rather sleep in, and be a leach on society....sucking other's tax dollars so that she can ...."find herself...." please, people. wake up. the business owner should hardly be penalized any more than that waitress who chose to not pursue higher education and potentially create jobs...

(email me if you want the candidates tax forms....i have them.)

National Security:
we are at war. duh.
one candidate has middle-east sympathies, with zero military expertise.
one candidate has been serving his country for 40 years.
this was so easy for me.
obama wants to diminish the military of this country. he wants to dismantle the missile defense shield at a time when russia has 2x the nuclear power that we do.
north korea is working to become nuclear.
iran is spitting in our faces ad doing the same.
china is increasingly their military budget....all while obama wants to shift money away from national security.
obama wants to CUT our military budget by 25%. somebody out there PLEASE help me understand how this is smart. sure, we NEED to cut spending. but is this REALLY the area we should start at? really??? REALLY???
i'm sorry, but i can't vote for a dude during a WARTIME season, who's voting record in Illinois was "present" 97% of the time. great. you showed up for work. and you CHOSE not to take a side 97% OF THE TIME? doesn't this scare people? doesn't this cause SOME nervousness? he refused to make a decision. he KNEW how he felt only 3% of the time. he was willing to take a stand 3% of the time. wow. would i go to a hospital and allow a surgeon to operate on me when he's only been confident of his capability 3% of the time? would i hire a lawyer who was confident in his capability 3% of the time? then how can i vote for a guy when he's only made his opinion clear to the public, 3% of the time? sure, palin may not be ready to be VP...but at LEAST i know what she stands for. at least i can trust her. next point.....

Character:
i feel like mccain makes sound judgements. obama doesn't.
obama has somehow surrounded himself with the likes of William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, Rashid Khalidi, Samantha Powers, and Acorn, etc.

it seems that obama has made alot of friendships that were for convenience, because i love how he claims he hardly knew any of them, despite contrary evidence. he discards his "friends" when they become a liability. where are his true friends? where are the friends of his childhood that will speak of his character? tried and true friends? he's only supported by supporters of his campaign. mccain, on the other hand has many lifelong friends dating back to his time as a prisoner. people who can really give testimony toward his loyalty and faithfulness. not to mention, he's got a public track record. we know how he values his priorities, how he votes, we know so much more about it bc he's been around so much longer.

Sanctity of Life:
mccain - prolife.
obama - pro choice.
i'll spare you any additional in-depth discussion on this...but i do feel this speaks to the moral fabric of our country. we should protect all life. even when it's inconvenient. i'm INCREDIBLY disturbed that obama (in that 3% of the time he voted up or down) was one of the few congressmen who voted in support of partial birth abortion. horrific. another easy choice for me.
(i'm sorry, but when you justify a procedure that pulls the entire body of a full-term baby out of a women, just shy of delivering the head and procede to crack the skull open to suck out the brain and then deliver a dead human being...i just can't vote for you. i just cannot. sorry...but i have standards. obama -- that makes you a sick, sick human being. to stand on the senate floor and FIGHT for the right to take away a child's right to LIVE. a breathing, kicking, living baby...and to fight for the right of a 16 year old to undergo this procedure w/o the consent of her parents, well....this presents some serious character issues, folks. pro-choice is one thing. i disagree but can UNDERSTAND the panic of a woman who's pregnant at 6 weeks. no less murder. but. i am not beyond seeing their point. but a 40-week old infant?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?)

you know...i could go on all day. we could discuss education, healthcare, borders, judicial nominees and the protection of our Constitution, 2nd amendment, national service, and more....but it'll get tedious and overbearing.

so let me just say this.
in the event of a national crisis -- and since they happen every other day, these days -- which is a real possibility:
who do you trust with the crisis.
obama?
mccain?
honestly.
i'll leave you with a piece written by Krauthammer:

"Who do you want answering that phone at 3 a.m.? A man who's been cramming on these issues for the last year, who's never had to make an executive decision affecting so much as a city, let alone the world? A foreign policy novice instinctively inclined to the flabbiest, most vaporous multilateralism (e.g., the Berlin Wall came down because of "a world that stands as one"), and who refers to the most deliberate act of war since Pearl Harbor as "the tragedy of 9/11," a term more appropriate for a bus accident? Or do you want a man who is the most prepared, most knowledgeable, most serious foreign policy thinker in the United States Senate? A man who not only has the best instincts, but has the honor and the courage to, yes, put country first, as when he carried the lonely fight for the surge that turned Iraq from catastrophic defeat into achievable strategic victory? There's just no comparison. Obama's own running mate warned this week that Obama's youth and inexperience will invite a crisis -- indeed a crisis "generated" precisely to test him. Can you be serious about national security and vote on Nov. 4 to invite that test? And how will he pass it? Well, how has he fared on the only two significant foreign policy tests he has faced since he's been in the Senate? The first was the surge. Obama failed spectacularly. He not only opposed it. He tried to denigrate it, stop it and, finally, deny its success. The second test was Georgia, to which Obama responded instinctively with evenhanded moral equivalence, urging restraint on both sides. McCain did not have to consult his advisers to instantly identify the aggressor. Today's economic crisis, like every other in our history, will in time pass. But the barbarians will still be at the gates. Whom do you want on the parapet? I'm for the guy who can tell the lion from the lamb."

no, mccain is not perfect. yes, i disagree with him on many things....but at least he's got a track record. a resume thicker than one page. and claims Christ as his Savior. i may disagree with him, but i sleep better at night when my Commander in Chief recognizes who he will ultimately answer to. and it's not just the voters....

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to end on a humorous note, please look at the face of a kid who hasn't pooped in 4 days: