A Day Of Silence For Sandy Hook

Feeling Grief For Sandy Hook

As I'm sure everyone knows by now, on Friday morning a 20 year old male shot his mother at home and then proceeded to go to an Elementary School to shoot and kill 26 other people, 20 of which were children between the ages of six and seven. He also shot 6 teachers, including the school principal and physcologist. I won't go into all of the details of the horrific massacre but I will include a link here so you can see some of the victims yourself.

I've been trying for the last three days to wrap my head around this tragedy. But what I've come to understand is that there is no good reason for why this happened. It just did. The hardest part for me to deal with is the sheer number of innocent children who were mercilessly killed. I know terrible things happen all of the time, but this one especially really hit home. Maybe because of how young they were, maybe because I'm now a mother myself. But for whatever reason, I am extremely sensitive to this particular indescribably terrible act.

It has been hard for me to be around others since it happened because if I start to talk about it, I break down in sobs. If I'm not talking about it, I'm thinking about it and looking around me as everyone else seems to be just fine. I know that everyone deals with things differently. This is just how I am dealing with it. Learning everything I can about it, crying for those lost and for their families, and then eventually I will need to find peace.

I do find comfort in the knowledge I have that these children (and the adults too) who lost their lives way too early in life are now in the arms of our Heavenly Father. Their family's will all be together again one day. In the meantime, I know that they are being taken care of. I imagine my aunt who raised six children and passed away, and my grandma who raised nine children and also passed away, are both there with open arms for those little children. There is no shortage of comfort for them there and I can only pray that their families who have to live without them now are also being taken care of and find some peace with their loss.

Please continue to keep them in your prayers. Pray also for the first responders (can you imagine?) and even the family of the shooter. I can't imagine what they must be feeling.

Silence and Support for Sandy Hook

To the Blog World and Anyone Else Who Wants to Help,

Yesterday, tragedy struck so many of us in ways we did not foresee. An elementary school and small town in Connecticut was shattered by a mass shooting. We knew we wanted to help and we came up with this:


<img src="https://sites.google.com/site/megoblogdesign/files/sandyhooksupport.png" />
On Tuesday, December 18th, there will be a blogger day of silence. We will post the button and that's it. Please try to not post anything else that day if possible.

 We are also raising money that will go to an organization in the memory of this tragedy. The organization is called The Newtown Family Youth and Family Services. Here is the official description of the support service we are donating to:

"Newtown Youth and Family Services, Inc. is a licensed, non-profit, mental health clinic and youth services bureau dedicated to helping children and families achieve their highest potential. NYFS provides programs, services, activities, counseling, support groups and education throughout the Greater Newtown area.

ANY DONATIONS MADE TO NEWTOWN YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES WILL BE DONATED DIRECTLY TO THOSE EFFECTED BY THE SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING."

Please visit THIS PAGE to make your donation.

We can't imagine how they must be feeling, especially this close to the holidays. We would love for you to spread the word on your own blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Let's make a difference and use blogging in a positive way. Thank you in advance for participating.

Love,
The Blog World

P.S. If you would like to, copy-paste and repost any part of this, please do. Share on.

KONY 2012

I had wanted to blog about something but didn't know what I wanted to write about. Then I saw this video on my friend Tracy's blog. I am so completely moved right now. I want to share this with everyone I can. PLEASE take the time to watch it. It is so important!

Remembering 9/11

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I'll always remember the day our country was attacked. I was 14 and it changed my outlook on our country forever. I am grateful to those who have served to protect us and those who continue to fight for our freedom.

God bless America!

It's Soap Box Time!

Michael and I sat down to watch Diane Sawyers interview with Jaycee Lee Dugard last night on ABC. We had heard the story after she was reunited with her family a couple of years ago but we learned so much more from watching the interview.

The thing that got to me the most was the fact that if the parole officers had done their jobs correctly, they would have been able to save Jaycee so much sooner. She was living in the backyard, which they never checked. One time she even talked to an officer in the house and he didn't do anything about it. HELLO, you are here at a sex offenders house and you see a young girl? Shouldn't that be obvious?

A neighbor called to complain that there were girls (Jaycee and her two daughters) living in the backyard. A Sheriff Deputy came out, had a conversation with her captors on the front porch, but never even entered the house or backyard to take a look around. What the heck?!

The incompetence is unbelievable. I'm so glad that eventually she was found and saved due to two UC Berkley officers who went with their gut instinct and looked into something they felt was off.

Hearing stories such as this one makes it impossible to not be paranoid. Or rather, overly aware and cautious. I guess it's better to be that way than to be completely naive and unaware. Michael and I talked about how it's so true that when you have a boy, you just have to worry about one weiner. When you have a girl you have to worry about a world of them.

I would rather be considered overprotective and have a safe daughter at home than not care about where she is or who she is with and have something awful happen to her. I remember getting mad at my parents growing up whenever they wouldn't let me go to a friends house for a sleepover if it was just the dad home, not the mom. Or when they wouldn't let me even go to a friends house unless they knew their parents. I don't think I ever walked to and from school by myself. I always had a friend or two to walk with and the school was close to our home. I am so grateful that I had parents to keep me safe and who looked out for my well being.

Stepping off my soap box now. ;-)

Losing Faith In Humanity

I have been thinking a lot lately about how evil people can be. Amber Dubois and Chelsea King were recently murdered here in Southern California. They may have been murdered by the same person, or not, but which would be worse? That this guy, Gardner, would kill at least twice? Or that someone else killed Amber and is still on the loose? I joined a search for Chelsea King group on facebook, and that made my heart ache even more because after seeing the pictures of her living life, it made it all that more real. These girls were my sisters age. It could happen to anybody! It used to be okay to go running by yourself, but now it's not safe to go anywhere it seems.

Then, last night, I was watching a lifetime movie on the story of Natalee Holloway. I remember when she was missing, but I never knew the whole story. I do remember seeing a clip of Van der Sloot in the car with the hidden camera, talking about her. I remember thinking "Why is he not arrested? He is pretty much confessing right here!" But nope. Nobody has been formally charged. Another young, innocent girl- murdered.

It's starting to really just break my heart. I cried for these girls. I didn't know them. I don't know anyone who knows them. I just feel so sorry for the fear and pain they felt. And for the families and friends who are left behind with this loss. I'm so terrified that this will happen to someone I know.

For as long as I can remember, I have always been very paranoid when I have been home alone or walking in the dark alone. I start thinking about what I would do in different scenerios and what I could use around me as a weapon. I now carry pepper spray with me on my key chain. We have a gun in our room for protection because Michael works nights.

It's hard to even want to bring a child into this world where things like this happen. Michael tells me we need to bring more of the "good guys" into the world to fight the good fight. It's just so risky these days. Especially if you have girls.

Please sign this petition. It takes about 60 seconds. It could save a life.

Free The Whales?

I just finished reading this. I love a good debate! After what happened in Orlando's Sea World this week, I have been thinking a lot about wild animals being kept in captivity. They say that a whale in a tank is like a human living in a bath tub their whole life. What kind of life is that? I understand that we have gotten more educated on these animals by capturing and studying them...they have even started doing invetro fertilization with the whales so that some of them never were in the wild. But does that make it any better? In the link above, Mama Kat talks about a wale named Namu who was captured and dragged across the ocean in a bin type thing, all the while crying out for help. On the fourth day 30-40 whales came around trying to help him out. After a while, all of them left except for a female whale and two calves, presumably his mother and siblings. This story really upset me. Here is a picture Mama Kat had of the little cage he was in.

Go check out her blog. She goes more into it, but I wanted to share this with you. I wish there was something we could do to help these creatures be free'd (if that is what's best for them) or make it so they don't live in such a small place. They are wild animals. Born to be free and go with their natural instincts. When people get hurt, I don't believe that it is the animals fault. It's their nature, and they know what they are getting into when they take the job of working with them. This whale Tilicum who just killed this week, has killed twice before. They also said he was showing signs that very morning of being aggravated or acting like a ornary (sp?) child. They should have taken more precautions. Anyway, go read her blog post about it and the comments that were left are interesting too.