RushingAround Feed

Uncle Josh got a HAIRCUT

Steven Rushing — 2008-02-08T08:01:30-10:00

Okay, maybe only Steven and Märia will be interested in this one. Joshua, who loves his long lovely locks, and doesn't get his hair cut without threats, called us last night from a party with some swimteam friends. Seems they were all buzzing their heads to get ready for distric swim meet and he asked could he do it too. Russ and I were both shocked, and told him 'go for it' if he was sure.

Now I think he looks cute either way, but was getting ready for a group of threats to get a bit of his hair cut off soon. Guess I won't need to bother for quite a while.

Pam Albright

You know what I just realized?

Steven Rushing — 2008-02-07T18:15:16-10:00

In the next 17 days, there will be 1 day where both Steven and I are not working. That's how come we comment on each other's posts. FYI Dad, Steven's still got the Red Lobster gift certificates in his wallet from his birthday, we're working on it, someday we'll get a date.

What do you do with 8 bags of beans?

Steven Rushing — 2008-02-07T10:52:14-10:00

We qualified for WIC for 3 months while I was on maternity leave. It's about $130 worth of groceries a month and I was going to take it dang it. Despite what Steven thinks about government handouts. I actually really liked it. Milk is $4.79 a gallon (at the commissary) and we go though a lot of it, so to have someone else pay for it was nice. They also give out carrots, cheese, eggs, tuna, juice, cereal and evaporated milk. We used all of them.

The one thing we did not use was beans. I have no idea how to cook beans. And after 3 months we had 8 bags of beans that I had no idea what to do with. All they were doing was sitting on the shelf taking up room (that we really don't have).

So what did I end up doing with them? Putting a sheet down on the carpet, putting them in a really big rubbermaid container, throwing in cups and spoons and setting a toddler there to make a mess.

Bumbo Thief

Steven Rushing — 2008-02-07T10:52:14-10:00

Felicity has no toys. Seporah owns all the toys. Every single one of them. We've been tying to help Felicity ever since we were told she has reflux. When she's up right, she's significantly happier. But she gets bored in her swing and Steven and I get tired of holding her. So I decided to get a baby chair. There's 2 brands, Bumbo and Bebe. First I checked out Freecycle and Craig's List to no avail. So I shelled out the cash and bought one (it's funny I thought I wouldn't need to buy more baby equipment after the first one, yeah there goes that thought). Steven and I discussed the fact that we didn't want Seporah to break it because she was too big. Steven said that she would get stuck so there wasn't any worry after the first time.

We brought it home. Placed it on the floor and went to another room. Sure enough, Seporah gets in it and gets stuck. Good, we thought now she'll leave it alone. Yeah well we were wrong. She continues to get stuck and gets mad when Felicity gets into her chair.

Baby Seporah

Steven Rushing — 2008-02-06T15:13:05-10:00

So Seporah has got the baby concept down. She sees babies and calls them 'Baby.' She usually calls Felicity 'Baby.'

The above picture is in a frame at our house. She brought it to me and said "Baby." I said "Yes that is a baby, That's you when you were a baby. That's Baby Seporah." She looked at me like I was crazy to suggest that the baby was her, she shook her head no and then said, "Sorry."

Steven's Ruined Me for Life

Steven Rushing — 2008-02-05T20:08:28-10:00

For our 5 year anniversary he gave me chocolates from www.zchocolat.com Then he gave me some for Christmas this year. They're handmade French chocolates and the best chocolate I've ever tasted. He gets these promotional emails all the time and I see them and my mouth starts watering. I want them, but they're terribly expensive (and no I'm not kidding, when I found out my mouth dropped open). But if you're not broke and you need something to give your woman for Valentine's Day send her these.

If you are broke, blow up a whole bunch of red and pink balloons in her bedroom while she's asleep. Jeremy did this for Heather and their son Ethan. I was like ahh, would you believe Jeremy's a romantic?

In the Blanket Fort

Steven Rushing — 2008-02-02T17:57:03-10:00

Denial

Steven Rushing — 2008-02-01T18:02:57-10:00

So Felicity has reflux, I guessed it around 6 weeks but didn't want to say it out loud. Instead keeping it to myself, in denial, saying there wasn't anything wrong with her. I mean this is MY baby, not someone else's. I initially couldn't even say colicky until someone else said it, I just said fussy. And to say she has reflux means I have to do something about it. As much as I give out medications, the thought of giving my baby medicine on a daily basis isn't so cool. However reflux is fairly easy to treat and she'll outgrow it within 6-12months. So here is a list of diseases that I see in other people's babies on a daily basis that I should be thankful my own don't have (instead of whiny about a little reflux).
Diabetes
Cancer
Sickle Cell
Tracheolmalcia
Recurrent Ear Infections
Recurrent seizures
Being born prematurely with all the crap that goes with that
One of thousands of disorders and syndromes

And we wonder why the Gov't can't balance a budget

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-31T13:56:50-10:00

So I did our tax returns and we are getting a $6100 tax refund from the government. Woo Hoo! That is the best we have ever had, far beating last years $3400. And then I look through the documents, and something kinda weird pops out at me. We only paid $5500 in taxes. So um, how does that even begin to work? Basically having 2 kids is what did it. The government gives "child tax credit" for each of them, and with all our other deductions and credits we ended up getting crazy money back from the government in excess of what we paid.

Now I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. But this gift horse has trillions of dollars of debt that I am going to have to deal with and my children and their children will have to deal with. I don't even believe the government should have ANY right to my income and if I was single at this point, would simply not pay income tax and let the IRS do what it would. But that is no excuse for the government to be giving me a $5500 tax rebate PLUS a $600 welfare check. I mean, we have had a rough couple of months with Märia not working, but overall we pretty good for ourselves. If there has to be an ignorant income tax forced upon the backs of the American people, I want to share at least a little of the burden. And barring my sharing a little of the burden, I sure the heck don't want to jump up on the load and have others carrying me along with it!

The income tax is illegal and immoral. And it just doesn't make sense. The top 1% of American earners pay just over 50% of all income tax. The lower 50% of Americans pay .03% of the national income tax. That is simply unfair and makes zero sense. We should reward success, not penalize it. How can that be considered "equal treatment before the law"?

Here is a statistic that is TRUE that few people ever hear. If you abolish the income tax today, the US government will take in as much revenue as in 2001. That was just 7 years ago! That just shows how much our government has grown out of control. It shows how much spending has gotten out of control.

Abolish the income tax, and eliminate the IRS (as it would become unnecessary) and you have the same amount of income for the government that it took in 2003. Just 5 years ago.

Abolish the income tax. Abolish the IRS. Limit government. National DEfence.

Yeah yeah, I know I sound like a Paul pod. Whatever. Sometimes the crazies are right.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder.. and other nonsense that no one really believes

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-27T23:42:37-10:00

Well.. it's been quite a while since I've talked to all of my adoring fans.. so I figured I'd tell all of you why that is. Unfortunately.. I lost them all in the trunk of my car which looks like a toddler's toy room when left to her own devices. There is SOO much going on over here in my life and I guess I can go ahead and let you in on the first bead in the string of events which will eventually alter the entire way I live my life.

First, I am taking English.. and it's kicking my butt. I'm currently two weeks behind and I'm about to do my regular corner cutting to catch up.. This should be a very interesting two weeks coming up.

Second, Next weekend I am flying up to Oregon to meet up with the guys I've been playing video games with over the last 5 years. Some of which I went to highschool with, but most have been added in the meantime. They do this every year, but this will be the first (and probably the last) year I will ever be able to attend.

Okay.. well that's what I've been busy with kinda.. but this is the REAL secret. You all have to swear to keep it an absolute secret.. even though I know no one who bears the last name Rushing is capable of doing that. So this should shock no one :-). I'm asking Sarah to marry me. This decision and those ensuing afterwards has been an adventure I'd love to share with all of you, but it has to wait til the due time. I obviously can't tell all of you the way I intend to propose, as Sarah might read it, and it would ruin the surprise. But let me tell you about the first step in this adventure, and I will tell you about the finding the ring another time.. (after I've proposed, so I can show you pictures and such).

I am thrilled about this development and am eager to see how in the world I'm going to kickstart this life when I get back to Texas with my wife. Feel free to advise me on the whole furniture adventure..

:-( - getting all the things you need as a married couple.

Next episode:

Asking the Father's blessing

STAY TUNED!

Seporah wants to be like Mommy

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-26T15:43:58-10:00

Yeah, so Seporah knows exactly where eyeliner or mascara or whatever this stuph was (hey, im a guy!) goes. Amazingly enough she didn't get any IN her eye, and didn't even get too upset when I washed it out. For your entertainment. =)

Busy Busy

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-25T17:09:47-10:00

I hope you all will forgive me for how long it has been since I have updated. There is some news out there I guess, but it has been busy busy. So let me start telling what I have been busy with and what I have news about.

1. Two babies. Yeah, Märia catalogues their lives very well, and so you all know they are a handful. Enough about them. =)

2. Super Mario Galaxy. Ok, so I haven't actually played this game in about 2 weeks now, but for about 2-3 weeks I played quite a bit of Wii when this game first came out. I have absolutely no qualms about calling this the best Mario game ever. It has firm roots in the original 2D games but expands them into a totally new way. Gravity is constantly shifting so that you never know which way is up. The soundtrack is great! It takes full advantage of the Wii motion controls. If you own a Wii, and have ever liked Mario, you owe it to yourself to get this game.

3. Rokit Fuel. I have put an incredible amount of time into this new company from my good friend Spencer Taylor. The Albrights will remember him and his family from Thanksgiving 2004, when we invited them over to eat with us. He and his father are starting a cereal company and I have had a large hand in building and refining the webpage for it. Look for an official launch announcement here when the time comes.

4. Vudu. I have had my Vudu for about 7 weeks now, and although I love it, until yesterday I couldn't really recommend it. As of yesterday, the price dropped from $400 to $300 and now I feel it is worth the initial costs. The Vudu is essentially Blockbuster in a box. It allows for purchases and rentals of 5000 (and growing!) standard definition movies directly to the Vudu box, and also 70 (and growing!) high definition movies. Basically it is a convenience box. Just like a microwave doesn't do anything that the oven/stove doesn't do, the Vudu doesn't do anything that running down to Blockbuster wouldn't accomplish. But it is so darned convenient! I can sit in front of my TV with the WONDERFUL Vudu remote, and browse through 5000 movies, and press one button and start watching a movie for as little as $2. It also has TV now (12 shows, full seasons, although it will expand). The only real downfall is the studio mandated 30 day sales only on new releases. That means that when a DVD comes out in Walmart, you can purchase the movie (typically for $15-$20) directly to your Vudu box and own it forever. But you have to wait 30 days to rent it for $3. Anyways, I can now recommend it over at Vudu.com

Yeah, there is more than this, but I have been sitting here typing too long already, and Seporah wants something. Have fun, and until next time,

Steven

Proofread

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-24T15:50:59-10:00

I really should have person proofread business card before I spend the moneys on them.

Even More Random Stuff

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-24T11:13:48-10:00

-Herbal Essence in toddler eyes will make the toddler scream "EYES! EYES! EYES!" for 20 minutes.
-2 sick babies are even more fun than 1 sick baby.
-Baby diarrhea when squeezed out the leg and onto the couch stains the couch.
-When you haven't seen anything but Disney movies in a long time, Toy Story 2 will make you a little teary eyed.
-Washable markers wash out of clothes, Sharpie permanent markers do not.
-The board books with extras like magnets on them are actually more entertaining for adults than toddlers during church.
-Popcorn when mixed with water is really gross and no longer tasty.
-Lincoln Logs make excellent play swords.
-Stickers are the coolest thing sine sliced bread.
-A bag of fruit snacks will shut a toddler up for about 73 seconds, then they'll need another bag.
-Raisins are very difficult to get out of the carpet once they are ground in.
-You may have 10 pacifiers in the house, but when you really need one, you can't find 1 anywhere.
-"A cow goes 'MOOOOOO!' " is the first line of my toddler's favorite book that has unfortunately fallen apart.
-Board books are between $5-15 each, finding them used is a good thing.
-Toys break way too easily.
-The computer is the most expensive toy in the house and perhaps the most fun for a toddler.
-Before children, your topics for conversation include (but are not limited to) politics, the weather, work, real estate, movies, music, religion, entertainment, clothing and celebrity marriages and divorces.
-After children, your topics for conversation include (and ARE limited to) child#1 and child#2.

Goo Cookies

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-20T18:17:46-10:00

So we like to cook, a lot. For those of you that have known me, Märia, in my younger years that may seem crazy. I told Steven when we were married he better like cooking because I doubt I'd ever do it and for the first 4 years of our marriage, he was the chef. Then one day I decided to actually go for it. I now cook and we like to cook. So, we decided that we would make a recipes section.

The first recipe is fun to make with a toddler "No Bake Oatmeal Cookies." These are good because toddlers love cookies and you don't actually have to use the oven. Please be warned however, if you are cooking with a toddler, you will make a mess. It doesn't matter what you're making, the kitchen will be trashed. In the following pictures the kitchen was already trashed to begin with though. Felicity was asleep and Seporah needed attention, I was trying to clean, but it just wasn't working. Seporah needed Mommy. I said ok, let's cook!

First put 1 cup chocolate chips, 4 Tablespoons peanut butter, 3 cups oats, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a mixing bowl.

Then put 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup milk, and 2 cups sugar in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil for 1 minute.

Combine the hot mixture with the oatmeal an chocolate chip mixture and stir well. Then drop by the spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Let cool and harden. You may place in the fridge for faster hardening.

Seporah's Birthday Party

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-20T13:44:49-10:00

Um, Random Stuff

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-20T13:40:03-10:00

After being gone for 75 days, there was a congratulations letter from the Commanding General of the hospital, a box of toothpicks, 4 pennies and 3 VERY large white staples inside of a bubble wrap bag in my mailbox at work.

MADE IT!

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-17T20:30:02-10:00

Just as a FYI, I made it through my first 2 days back to work, it is now 8:30pm though and both girls are asleep. And I've worked 24 of the last 36 hours and spent the rest of the time pumping and taking care of 2 little munchkins, so I am going to sleep.

Wisdom Teeth and updates

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-13T09:15:51-10:00

Well recovery from wisdom teeth extraction, what can I say. It was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Probably because I was so sleep deprived that anymore dings to the body was too much. I'll spare you the details, but my bottle of Vicodin is now empty (unfortunately) and I have a bruise on my face that makes it look like I should go to a woman's shelter (Steven's not too pleased about that).

Thankfully over the past week Felicity has been sleeping a little better. I've been getting 6-7 hours of broken sleep as apposed to 3-5 hours. She can still cry and scream quite well, although it has subsided a bit. I appreciate and like my children and husband significantly more when I don't feel like the walking dead. It's nice to be able to quietly admire their beautiful features, both physical and personality wise (maybe that's the vicodin haze I'm feeling).

For those of you that don't know, I am going to be an aunt again. Jeremy and Heather are expecting and it's going to be a....GIRL!!! I was actually pretty surprised, since as Jeremy puts it "I only have Manly Sperm." I better go, it's time to start our bedtime routine, sometime I'll have to tell you guys about that. Who knew I would have to start at 7pm to get everyone asleep by 9?

Seporah's Words

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-11T09:14:36-10:00

Well, I've been telling people Seporah has about 200-300 words, but I wasn't sure exactly how many. So we decided to write them down. This isn't quite all of them, but it's what we could think of. Apparently we were off on the count. Only about 100.

OBJECTS - box, ball, dog, duck, book, balloons, mommy, daddy, baby, Seporah, Felicity, shoes, tree, flower, moon, car, shirt, bottle, fish, bird, Jesus, Pooh (as in Winnie-the-Pooh), Roo (Pooh again), Avu (TV), crayon, sticker, paper, poop, bubbles, pool, swim, teeth, swing, bed, block, bowl

PHRASES - hi, bye, hello, please, thank you, you're welcome, sorry, let me out, it's all right, you're all right, here, no, yes, me, mine, here you go, side (as in outside), go, I see, yummy, owie, I know, all done, all gone, uh oh, it fell, jump, good morning, good night, stuck, what is this

FOOD - raisin, apple, banana, juice, milk, drink, pop-pop (popcorn), cereal, cheese, fries (as in french), rice, eggs (normally for omelets), pepper (she loves red bell peppers)

NUMBERS - 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 (although not always in that order)

LETTERS - a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,x,y,z (although not always in that order)

MISC - stinky, dirty, bath, cook, help, color, brush, hug, mmmmm (kiss), hot, really really hot (weally weally hot is quite cute =)

Webpage down att

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-11T09:13:46-10:00

All updates for the next 5-7 days will be on this static page. This is due to the Mac being in for service. Good news is that it is getting a brand new logic board (motherboard in mac-speak), power supply and display. All on Apple's dime. It has been acting really funky for a long time (sorry Pam, didn't act so great while you were here) but it has gotten worse and worse over the last 6 months really. Anyway, it seemed like it was due to some lowest-bidder capacitors that were crowning. So basically I get a brand new computer in my 3+ year old case. =) Gotta love Applecare.

Ladeda

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-08T05:56:48-10:00

So they tag teamed it last night. I slept from 10:30-12:30. The rest of the night, one of the two of them was screaming. Security came to talk to me it was so bad. I'm getting my wisdom teeth out this morning. I don't care that it will cost me $515.83. I don't care that it will be drug induced. I don't care that I will wake up with a very sore mouth. I am going to go to sleep for an hour and a half and not wake up to a screaming baby.

Happy Birthday Steven OR The Zoo was a Success

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-07T15:37:37-10:00

Meaning, everyone was happy. See, I have the pictures to prove it. Look again, yes indeed those are smiles.

You'd never believe she's the type of baby that could/would scream/cry for 6 hours straight, but it has happened on more than one occasion. However not today. It was Steven's 27th birthday and we were going to go do something. First Steven went to go donate blood (insert plug to encourage all who can to please donate blood). Then we went to the zoo.

As we were all kinda tired and didn't want to walk around so much, we skipped over most of the big animals and went straight for the petting zoo. Every single animal on 4 legs was a dog according to Seporah. The elephants were dogs, the llamas were dogs, the pigs were dogs, the goats were dogs and the miniature horse was a dog. Thankfully the fish were "shishes." We hung around there for 45 minutes and then went to the playground.

There's actually a pretty decent playground inside the zoo and it is always packed. There must have been 50 kids playing on it (and 30 or so exhausted adults sitting on the benches next to it). Anyway we were there in total about an hour and a half and we didn't get any tears, any crying, any screaming or any fits for the whole time. It was great.

If the Shoe Fits, Buy One in Every Color

Steven Rushing — 2008-01-04T13:07:06-10:00

They were cute
They were comfy
They were on clearance
They look like I can wipe baby spit up and dirt off easily
I had a gift certificate
I still don't like going out to buy real clothes, I've got about 18 more pounds for that
And they may not buy lasting happiness, but with a colicky baby I'll get my kicks where I can

In other fashion news: Seporah's known how to dress and undress herself for awhile (how do you think she ends up naked with poop all over her crib), but now she's really getting into it. She'll dress up in Mommy's clothes and Daddy's ties. Try to fit Felicity's socks on and put her own shirt on the bottom half of her. It's great and often very funny to watch, as long as her diaper stays on.

Things I Should Remember About My Girls When We're Older

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-31T20:06:03-10:00

When we're in the car and Felicity's crying and Seporah can't quite reach her, Seporah will reach over and pat Felicity's carseat and say "Iz awl rite" (It's all right).

When Seporah sees something she wants and I decide to give it to her, her response to tell me that she wants more than one is "2,3,5!"

I don't know if it'll stay that way, so I should write down that Felicity has fine bright red hair (I'm really hoping she'll stay a carrot top, don't know where it came from, Steven jokes it's a good thing the mailman is Hawaiian).

Whenever Seporah comes and sits with Felicity in her baby gym, Felicity stops crying and stays happy (if I could, I'd make Seporah stay there alllllll day).

Seporah has tried to share many things with Felicity including oranges, bread, gapes. candy and cow's milk. She usually tries to smush it into her mouth and Felicity scrunches up her face as if to say "Hey Big Sis, whatcha tryin to pull?"

Seporah hugs and kisses Felicity all the time now. I know you guys have heard the sound, but the kisses are adorable and sound like "mmmmwhaaa!"

We can't pass by a balloon without Seporah going absolutely crazy "BABOON! BABOON!" (even if she has one in her hand)

We can't take out the vacuum without Seporah going a different type of crazy "NO! NO! BYE! BYE! NO! NO! ALL DONE! ALL DONE!"

Whenever Felicity and Seporah are actually sleeping, it's sometimes hard to go to sleep because they're so cute (I have to think, ok time to sleep, both girls sleeping and if I don't sleep, I won't find them cute in a couple of hours).

Seporah's word for popcorn is "pop-pop."

When we yell really loud at Seporah because she's doing something she really, really shouldn't be doing, she makes the biggest frown ever, starts crying and hides behind the curtains in our bedroom (it's really sad and really cute and we don't yell that loud at her very often just when she really needs to stop RIGHT NOW, is that enough "reallys" in one really long run on sentence).

no bragging allowed

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-31T04:41:45-10:00

must not say anything good about felicity's crying or sleeping on blog, even as a footnote. it will come back to bite me. written at 4:42 am.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-29T15:38:44-10:00

So there's this lady at our church who's in her 20's and she gave a talk on Mother's Day. I was really impressed with this talk, maybe because she validated what I was feeling, running around chasing a toddler while having the pregnant morning sickness. I didn't know her name, but I really thought she'd be cool to hang out with. However she didn't have any kids and I've got Seporah, who's not easy to hang around with for women who have kids. Women who don't have kids, well Seporah's an excellent form of birth control, but anyways. I never even figured out her name since she works as a leader in the teenage women's group and I'm in the women's group.

Flash forward to now. I tell every pregnant lady I know about my doula and that she was great and terrific and the best and to hire her (www.laborofloveoahu.com). This lady has become pregnant, I haven't seen her in a couple of weeks and well I'm really tired as you can tell from previous postings. Last Sunday I decided I was going to talk to her so I go to young women's and ask for the skinny pregnant lady who spoke on Mother's Day. They give me her name and tell me she's been on bedrest. Oh, I'll have to give her a call. Putting it off, putting it off.

Today I actually pick up the phone to call her, maybe chat, I know bedrest bites, a lot. "Hi, you really don't know me, I'm Märia Rushing, I'm in your ward at church, I had a baby a few weeks ago, I loved my doula, wanted to tell all the pregnant ladies I know about her, yadayada (lots of rambling)" Her very tired, hesitant response, "Um...I just had my baby yesterday." "Oh sorry, I guess you don't need a doula." Um yeah, I was embarrassed.

New Year's Resolutions

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-29T12:18:16-10:00

Well I realize it's not the first, but I thought I'd tell everyone my resolutions now anyways. Steven says he won't be telling his, I don't even know what they are.

1. 20 pounds in 6 months-I've never had a weight New Year's Resolution before, but since it's the number 1 done (and I just had daughter number 2) I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. I think most people say 6 months because that's when swimsuit season is. That's not the case with me; this is Hawaii, I actually went swimming on Christmas Eve. Actually seeing myself in a swimsuit was probably what really influenced this resolution.

2. I'm going to write at least 1 snail mail card a week-I love to get real mail, Seporah loves to get real mail (seriously, it's like a holiday for her) and I'm sure so does everyone else. So I thought I'd spread the love. I'll tell you what though, writing a thoughtful note to one person is a lot harder than writing cynical blog posts to a number of people. So if you get an early note and you're like, this is the stupidest letter I've ever read, please realize I should get better. If you would like to get snail mail and you don't think I have your address, please email it to us at steven.rushing@gmail.com .

3. Read the Sunday School Lesson before Sunday-Since I've had 2 girls my reading material consists of other mommy blogs, comments on this blog (which I really enjoy), directions to the carseat and the book "The Happiest Baby on the Block." ***see below*** I haven't even read my magazine's I've gotten in the mail or any of the books I've bought. The scriptures are there like every 4, 5, 6, 7 days and then I'm like, where do I read. Steven's 1 of 2 Sunday School teachers, so if I get him on board I should be able to finish at least the lesson by Saturday night at 11:59.

There you have it, my New Year's Resolutions, can I make it past January 31st? We'll see, I'd say this blog makes me somewhat accountable to them. However since I doubt very many people will remember their own resolutions past January 31st, I'm not all that worried about you guys remembering mine and quizzing me on them.

*** "The Happiest Baby on the Block", I only read 4 days ago. I have been applying it's principals and I can now stop Felicity's crying in less than a minute usually. Holy cow! This actually should have a post all to it's self, but I didn't want to jinx myself the first day. I never thought I'd read a how-to-get-your-baby-to-stop-crying book but I have and I am utterly shocked it actually works! She is also starting to understand the difference between night and day and she's actually sleeping at night. True she still gets up every 3 hours to eat, but she's going back to sleep.

Motherhood has it's Moments

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-27T17:24:42-10:00

For all the many, many difficult parts of being the mother to 2 difficult girls under the age of 2, there are some very wonderful, magical moments. A lot of the time they happen while on Mom and Dad's bed. Seporah wakes up and comes to snuggle with us. She tucks herself in (for about 2 seconds), we play peek-a-boo, pillow fight, rough house and get lots and lots of hugs and kisses. Felicity quietly eats, looks and tolerates being squeezed and smushed as her older sister hugs and kisses her. The 4 of us bask in the warmth of each other, ahhh, those are the moments I live for. When they're both unbelievable cute and adorable, yeah that's what makes baby screaming bearable. There ARE moments that look the way Hallmark cards sound.

Some of the Many Things Seporah has Eaten

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-26T10:11:40-10:00

toothpaste
kid's toothpaste
sunscreen
bar soap
shampoo
baby liquid soap
hand sanitizer
desitin
nystatin
deodurant
lanolin
tums
raw onion
raw garlic cloves
chapstick
mascara
lotion
face foundation
room scent makers
markers
glue
dead cockroach
bird poop
Diet Pepsi

This is what you get when your toddler can climb everything and even though you've put it out of her reach, she can still get to it. It's a really good thing all adult meds have child proof lids, she hasn't figured that one out yet. I'm not sure if I should toss the adult meds, I think I should and then I get a headache from her screaming because I took away the toothpaste she climbed onto the bathroom counter to get and well, I really need the tylenol.

You'd think I'd get better results from my parenting considering I'm a pediatric nurse and have seen many children hospitalized for eating something that really wasn't good for them. For example, there was this one 3 year old who ate grandma's meds and his heart rate was like 45 beats per minute and he was pretty lethargic (average is 70-110 and anything but lethargic for a 3 year old).

BTW I have poison control on speed dial in my cell phone.

And to All a Good Night!

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-24T05:44:01-10:00

I will second Märia's post about sleep. Here it is 5:30 and I am up with Felicity. We were both up last night until 10 with her, trying to satisfy whatever she was bellering about (Trusty's word, not mine =). Finally we decided that ONE of us was gonna have to get some sleep and so I got up with her and we hopped and swung and ate bottled breast milk until about 1115 when Felicity finally went to sleep. She was in her swing which was in the living room, and I didn't want to move it for fear of waking her up, so I went to sleep on the couch next to her swing. I slept until about 130 am when she woke up again. Well, I picked her up and took her to her mom and said "tag, your it". Thinking about it this morning with a clearer head and wider, less sleep filled eyes, I probably should have changed her first at a minimum, and perhaps could have warmed up another bottle, but I just wanted to sleep. So I gave the little one to her and am honestly not sure what Märia did or how many times she was up last night, but it was my turn again at 515 this morning. =) You know, it isn't easy typing with a baby in one's arms! But I am up to the task. Left leg is hopping up and down, left arm is falling asleep from the baby, and hands are a typing.

So um, yeah, Merry Christmas to you all! I have a renewed belief in the intrinsic value of sleep. We should transfer our monetary base to it or something. Call it the sleep standard! Ok, yeah, I know, that was an early morning bad political joke. =) Merry Christmas to all and to all a good (eyes closed sleep filled) night!

Last Night

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-23T01:11:11-10:00

Here's one example of a typical night
8:01 Place Seporah to bed after a 30 minute bedtime routine
8:05 I go to bed after brushing my teeth for an unacceptable 15 seconds and going to the the bathroom
8:06 Felicity wakes up, and I don't mean to eat, I mean she wakes up, completely 100%
10:15 Felicity goes to sleep after eating, being changed, being rocked, screaming because Mom put her down to try to sleep after not sleeping all day because her children can not nap at the same time, getting picked back up eating again, changed again, falling asleep for 3 minutes, waking back up and then falling sleep again.
12:23 Felicity wakes up again, change, eat, cry, scream, cry, scream, cry, cry (that one's mom's), screams (op, mom's again), eat, eat, eat
4:30 Felicity asleep
6:00 Felicity awake, eat, eat, eat, scream, please sleep, eat
6:25 felicity did sleep good
6:30 Dad home from work "she went to sleep 5 minutes ago, I don't care that she's on your side of the bed, if you wake her up, you're dead, I'm going to sleep." Dad goes to computer. Mom goes to sleep
7:15 Felicity wakes up, eats and Dad takes her, Mom goes to sleep
8:30 Felicity goes to sleep, Dad goes to sleep, Mom gets up. Seporah watching movie, Mom eats breakfast, checks email, plays with Seporah and stops 3 temper tantrums (and gives a couple spankings)
9:46 Mom fills bathtub and gets in with Seporah, Seporah mostly gets clean, Mom gets shampoo in hair
9:58 Felicity starts screaming, Mom gets soap off of hair, gets out of bathtub, feeds Felicity
10:05 Seporah gets out of bathtub, finds starburst from off of computer table, gets very sticky in about 3 seconds. Mom gets halfway dressed with Felicity screaming on floor. Gets Seporah unsticky and dressed. Seporah throws huge temper tantrum because she would rather be naked and kicks toys at Felicity's head (I should probably not admit how many times that's happened, CPS may come get me)
10:20 Seporah gets a very hard spanking and placed in crib for time out
10:23 Mom, Seporah and felicity all crying, that's it, Dad gets Felicity and Mom gets the couch. I'd say it's only 9 hours, 38 minutes until bedtime, but that's sure a lie.

BTW, I did not send out Christmas Cards.

And this post was written at 1:30 am the next night.

And last Monday I asked for 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep. I went to bed at 8pm, please don't wake me until midnight, there's milk in the fridge. Did I get to midnight, no, I got until 10:09. To be fair Steven was the one not asleep with the not asleep Felicity.

The Good Looking Mac Guy

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-22T09:00:38-10:00

Go here --> www.apple.com/getamac/

Post-Baby Clothes Shopping

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-20T16:38:07-10:00

When you first go clothes shopping after having a baby you should ALWAYS bring a friend. This friend will kindly and secretly rip out the size tags of all items you are trying on and repeatedly tell you how fabulous you look, "No Märia you don't look like you had a baby 5 1/2 weeks ago, in fact you look like you've never had a baby!" I didn't know this after I had Seporah and went shopping alone. I knew it this time around, but forgot it since the first incident occurred 2 years ago. Big Mistake.

3 hours, 8 stores, 8 dressing rooms, and a whole lotta clothes later, I have one shirt to show for the experience. And I didn't even have a child to blame it on, Steven had them... Well tomorrow is my 6 week check up and the treadmill is ready to be used. Now if only I had some exercise clothes to wear...

Hatched!

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-19T15:55:32-10:00

Hatched! The Big Push from Pregnancy to Motherhood by Sloane Tanen

If you are thinking of becoming pregnant, are pregnant, or have a child 2 years old or under, buy this book! It includes 80 pages of pictures with chicks and funny captions.

Baby Uggs: $85.00. Bugaboo Stroller $800.00. Knowing your child is better looking than your best friend's kid: Priceless

Goodnight Moon, hello Martini

Transitional Periods for Transitional People create Transcendental Thought and Throw up

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-18T19:56:32-10:00

Well.. Too all my adoring fans, I say hello once again. It has been quite a while since I have put my fingerprints on the webpage, and for that I apologize profusely. I am thrilled to be an Uncle the second time, and everyone should definitely buy diapers for Seporah's big #2 coming up a couple of weeks! That is.. for Felicity ;-). I imagine Steven is probably spending an expansive amount of time trying to make his oldest handle this aspect of her life on her own. Good luck, Brother!

Well.. it's my favorite month again, and it has brought me to a mild state of anxiety. I am currently taking Humanities 101 and this Art History course is really kicking my butt. Mostly because I'm doing all 8 weeks of it in one week, thanks to conflicting Liberty University and Uncle Sam's Misguided Children (USMC.. haha I made a funny) policy. USMC states that I can not get out of a class due to field activity if they were not made aware of the class before hand (aka.. if they didn't pay for it). Liberty University states that I can not drop a class after the first 10 days OF that class. Well.. I was in Yuma for the entirety of this class, and I only logged in once... to tell my instructor that I couldn't complete the course and needed to be dropped. So.. I didn't get dropped and I'm stuck with the idea that I have to finish the course and pay for it out of pocket.. and get credit for it. Or I can not finish the course, pay for it out of pocket, and not get credit for it. So I took a week of leave and did nothing but work on it full time, and have almost completed it now, and I will pay for it out of my GI Bill... and get credit for it!

Okay.. scary thought.. There is a girl in my life. I promise, I will NOT keep you posted. I drive Maria and Steven crazy with excessive amounts of this kind of information so I will spare all of you details. But.. it is kinda nice :-). I promise... You'd all like her.

Well.. I know what you're all thinking... How much longer until you are no longer a Misguided Child.. NEVER! I will always be a Misguided Child!! But I won't be Uncle Sam's anymore come April the 15th. Four more months, and my 5 year enlistment.. is over. *cues Angelic singing*

So what's next? No idea.. :-( I could stay in California over the summer and goto a Junior College, or I could go back to Texas for the Summer and stay with dad and goto Temple College. I could go straight from here to Lynchburg, Va where I have been accepted at Liberty University, and I have to give them an answer about that by March 1st. I could goto UMHB back in Temple, or Cal State here in California. I could goto Point Loma Nazarene College, or possibly Biola..

A very distant but APPEALING idea might be to go to college with Pete in Northern Arizona.. and I really do like this idea. We could be roomates again, and the college itself seems very appealing as a central ground between Texas, and California. I could travel back and forth easily and see those I care about in both directions. I don't know.. give me advice about college.. because I don't know anything :-(

I have so many decisions to make.. I just think I'm going to vomit due to stress sometimes.. lol

Keep me in your prayers.. and I promise you will be in mine.

Jas

Conclusion

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-18T14:40:37-10:00

I have come to an important conclusion. Seporah has come to the point where she is not allowed out in public with us. Public includes restaurants, movie theaters, anywhere with breakables, the commissary (at least not until we're absolutely starving), and anywhere with breakables (oh wait did I already say that?). Some might say this is harsh. However she'll get her justice. I'm sure in her own time (like when she's 13 years old) she will come to the conclusion that we will not be allowed out in public with her.

My Little Girl's All Grown Up

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-16T18:07:45-10:00

Would you believe my not quite 2 year old can peel an orange all by herself? I was going to peel it for her, but she demanded to do it. I didn't think she would have the dexterity to do it, but hey what do I know, I'm just the mom. She did a good job too, it was nice and neat and she split it down the middle and then ate it section by section.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-07T15:47:07-10:00

According to these pictures, we have 2 little angels. Yeah... right... We have 2 little devils is more like it.

Everyone's probably tired of me saying how active my babies are, but I have witnesses this time. Grandma Pam and Grandpa Russ. They have come for a visit (mostly to see Seporah and Felicity, Steven and I just come with the package). And I got an early Christmas present (probably the best present they could have come up with), family pictures. Last night, I could not fall asleep I was so worried about it, I was imagining all the havoc Seporah could wreak while Felicity screamed her head off. I wasn't far off.

Seporah's dress is older than she is. It's been hanging in the closet for when she was big enough (thanks Grandma Lynda). However, this did not impress her. Both her and Felicity found the dresses to be itchey and not made for tumbling. We tried to explain to them it wasn't time to run around and play, that it was time to sit still and smile to no avail. We thought about bribing them with french fries and cookies but Seporah's really not old enough for negotiating and we would have just had another temper tantrum. And Felicity, well I think they would have been a choking hazard. Instead there are raisins in all the pictures (or a stolen Christmas ornament off a Christmas tree) and a sleep induced Felicity.

But thanks to a 4'11" woman with too much coffee this morning and a surplus of patience (who really scared Steven), there ended up being some really cute shots. They even had a sign that said "We work on baby time, please be patient" (Insert plug for Sears Portrait Studios). We got 3 seconds of angels between the hour of devilness.

(we then paid for the few seconds when we got home and put Seporah down for her nap...she woke up with a crib full of poopies...she was laughing)

Which of These Things Did NOT Happen in the Last 24 Hours?

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-04T10:18:02-10:00

1. After a horrendous trip to the commissary, Seporah would not take a nap, leaving a tired Mommy to continue to be tired.
2. The $1500 water heater which was replaced 2 weeks before Felicity was born started tick tocking like a time bomb, making it so no one got a shower and we all smell like a mixture of sweat, breastmilk, urine, and mud.
3. A huge storm occurred last night, waking Seporah up 5 times screaming, leaving a tired Mommy and Daddy to be even more tired.
4. A tired, scared from the storm Seporah ripped her diaper to shreds to get attention, leaving the crib and nursery smelling nasty (at least there was no poopies).
5. I won $1000 off a radio show, since I'm now a stay-at-home-mom with all the time in the world to listen to radio shows and with nothing better to do.

(as a side note, the day before Steven went back to work we had this conversation):
Steven "You're ready to go back to work aren't you?"
Me "Yeah, how'd you know"
Steven "Because I'm ready, I need a break"

Chorus to the song "The Humour of the Situation" by Barenaked Ladies:
"Come on now, now
Come on now, now
Enjoy the humour of the situation
Come on now, now
Come on now, now
Enjoy the humour of the situation"

I Survived the Commissary...

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-03T14:58:08-10:00

...it was even worse than the day before Thanksgiving. It was the first time out of the house with 2 babies by myself. Holy Cow. At least I fed and changed Felicity before we started.

Somehow Seporah lost one of her shoes before we made it out of the car. I decided to ignore it, she wasn't even going to be touching the ground, just the shopping cart (some mommies would say that's bad enough, but desperate times call for desperate measures).

I always use to call my friend Felice SuperMommy because she would carry both her babies and the diaper bag around. Well I reached SuperMommy stage today by carrying about 50 pounds from the car to inside the commissary between Seporah, Felicity and the diaper bag. I then found the "cool" shopping cart, the one that looks like a car and put Seporah and the diaper bag inside of it and continued to carry Felicity in a sling. Down about 40 pounds, it was much easier to shop.

Then came the I want, I want, I want. By the time we had exited the store, I had opened and Seporah had eaten banana cookies, dehydrated minifruits, prunes, strawberry gum and another lady's in line's pretzels (God bless understanding older ladies in line who don't mind sharing their pretzels with a screaming toddler).

Due to the temper tantrums, I shopped as fast as I could. I only spent $52.96, that's a record for me. Felicity only cried a little bit in the VERY long line that took about 25 minutes. All I could think was it's Monday afternoon, why are all these people shopping, I picked now so I wouldn't have to mess with the line.

When we got to the car I realized Seporah had helped me steal the pack of strawberry gum. I thought about doing the right thing and going back inside and paying for it. But instead I put the girls in the car and decided to chew a piece myself as the girls whined in the backseat.

I Lost my Daughter in Waikiki

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-02T17:44:57-10:00

Some of you will remember these pictures from forever and ever ago. These are of the banyan tree in front of the Honolulu Zoo in Waikiki.

Well, we had a Ron Paul picnic right there about 20 feet from the tree this last Saturday. Seporah and I went, leaving Märia and Felicity at home to get some much needed rest.

We were all set up and most of us were there (about 7 guys although some more came later) when this park guide came up to us and told us we had to take our signs down. We had some signs hanging from the tent. He said they were against some park ordinance or something. We essentially said "Show us the ordinance" and sent him on his way. Well, all this time Seporah was playing with the helium Ron Paul balloons and running in the mud and generally doing what toddlers call "having a good time".

So the park rule enforcer guy comes back with the ordinance and a police officer. We all look at the ordinance and it is absolutely obvious that it is not meant to be applied to political signs. Basically the ordinance says that if you are going to put up "commercial advertisement" like signs or fliers and so forth, you have to go through the park and pay them so much money and so forth. This is obviously meant to make sure that Kapiolani Park (the place where the banyan tree and we were) got it's cut of any sponsorships of say concerts or such things. Basically it was meant to apply to Coke and Pepsi, not Ron Paul, if that makes sense.

So I think I am a half decent dad, honestly. I was looking up every 30 seconds or so to check on Seporah while I was reading the ordinance, but I looked down, and looked up, and she was gone! She had been playing over by the banyan tree and then she was gone! No big deal at first, I try to keep my nerves down. But by the time I had walked all the way around this tree and not seen her, I was totally scared. So we ALL scattered to look for her. 20 minutes or so passed of looking. I was on my way back to the picnic area after scouring the first 2 blocks of Waikiki when Seporah's ball comes rolling out of the banyan tree followed quickly by Seporah.

Now really, I walked all the way aournd this tree, but there must have been a blind spot where she had been. I was so so scared, but happy that she had never been in any danger or anything. Really, she never had even been more than 20 feet from the picnic site. =)

Oh yeah, and the police made us take down the signs. Oppressors!

Ensign Q&A

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-02T17:04:57-10:00

The Ensign is an monthly LDS adult magazine (there's also a teenager and children's magazine). Each month there's a Q&A section that anyone may write in and answer. Apparently one of the next magazine's questions is "I love and am grateful for my young children, but I sometimes get distracted or discouraged by the practical details of raising a family and struggle to remember what an important work it is. How can I better align gospel truths about family with my day-to-day actions and attitudes?" I don't think at the present moment I should write an answer for the question. It would be a long vent about young children right now. Tomorrow Steven is going back to work, so if I wrote it then it might be even longer.

So does anyone else have an answer? They are taking submissions until February 8, I'm hoping by that time I could have an acceptable one or at least one that they wouldn't send social services on me.

By Request...

Steven Rushing — 2007-12-02T05:57:26-10:00

The Return of Ron Paul Balloon Girl, Swingin', Chuck E Cheese and Decorating the Christmas Tree!

This is a longer video... 16 minutes, so find a comfy place to sit before you start! =)

Edit: Actually I ended up cutting it into 3 individual movies. Enjoy!

All Mommy wants for Christmas is a Silent Night...

Steven Rushing — 2007-11-27T16:21:49-10:00

...And Daddy would like a shepherd to watch his flock.

So our tree is up. Seporah did the bottom 2 feet. It was pretty cute, she would be all serious and meticulously put an ornament on a branch that already had 4 ornaments on it. Someone may have to redecorate the bottom 2 feet at 2 am when Seporah's not looking (hey, if I'm gonna be up anyways...).

Felicity went for her 2 week check on Monday, 8lbs 13oz and 20.5in. I guess that's pretty good, most babies lose 5-10% of their birth weight and gain it back at about the 2 week mark (Felicity lost 10.5%, she was at 7lbs 7oz at 3 days). So at 2 weeks most babies are at their birth weight. Felicity was up 9 oz, yeah!

So I know different people read this blog, I don't know everyone, but hey people visit from Brazil, Russia and China as well as all over Europe. I'm not sure why exactly, maybe they think we're funny Americans. I guess the competition isn't so tough since Seinfield and Friends retired. But anyways, if any pregnant women on the island of Oahu read this blog go here --> www.laborofloveoahu.com That's the website of my doula, Tammy Uva and she was great. What you have no idea what a doula is? Well you really need to go there then.

The Last 2 Weeks

Steven Rushing — 2007-11-23T08:54:59-10:00

By my estimates, between Seporah and Felicity, we are going through 20 diapers a day. Wow... We're certainly doing our part to fill up landfills. It almost makes me want to switch to cloth diapers...I said almost. It HAS made us run out and buy a potty for Seporah though. So far we've made it so she'll sit on the potty for 5 seconds without screaming. This is progress. And she gets a sticker for it.

In other news, I can eat 6 cookies a day and still lose weight. Literally, I have come to crave carbs and Cookie Corner cookies. Usually I don't eat a lot of carbs, but I've been starving for them the past 2 weeks. I'm just like yes! Helena Bonham Carter says breastfeeding is nature's liposuction and breast augmentation. And I didn't even say anything about the pudding and Halloween candy being consumed.

Well that pretty much covers the last 2 weeks, diapers and breastfeeding. Well I suppose I could throw in a little sleep deprivation and a lot of toddler tantrums, but if you're a parent you already know that. And if you're not a parent, well you really don't know what sleep deprivation or tantrums really are. You know both of those are used as torture methods some places.

I Forgot to Name my Candidate!

Steven Rushing — 2007-11-22T13:53:04-10:00

I can't believe I forgot! If you haven't read the previous post, scroll on down and read it before you read this...

Ok, so if you are still here, I take it you read the previous post. Having taken all of those arguments into consideration, and having changed my mind on all those policies, I had to search for a candidate that believed the way I have come to believe.

Vote Hillary!

(lots of sarcasm!!!)

Rethinking Ron Paul -OR- What the Huh Were We Thinking?

Steven Rushing — 2007-11-21T12:05:39-10:00

The cliché is that having children makes you rethink life. Well, as I have always said (and been called a racist or sexist because of it) clichés, generalizations and stereotypes exist for a reason. And the reason is that they are generally true. =) This cliché is definitely true, and Seporah and Felicity are making me rethink my political leanings.

So I thought I would start off with why Ron Paul isn't the right candidate for me, and then I would go on to who I am going with now...

1. Ron Paul is against all federal forms of gun control.

If guns were as cheap and easy to get as Ron Paul would like them to be, I would have probably already put a bullet in my head. That is definitely a strike against him.

2. Ron Paul is against the war in Iraq and wants to bring our troops home immediately.

Iraq is looking better and better. The pay is really great and I hear I can't take my kids!

3. Ron Paul is against illegal immigration. He would put up a big wall!

So um... Who would nanny my kids for 13 cents an hour and jump for joy at a $5 Christmas bonus if he deports all the Illegals? Bad idea!

4. Ron Paul if all about home schooling. He rejects allowing the government to determine what and how our children learn. He is also generally for ending the Department of Education as education is not a federal issue.

Come on! You're telling me Ron Paul wants to take away free government day care 9 months out of the year? I want schools to go year round, not go away!

5. Ron Paul wants to end the Federal Income Tax and eliminate the IRS completely. We made it as a nation for well over a hundred years without any income tax he says.

Hey! You can't take away my end of the year paycheck! I have a brand new dependent to claim! What did I have these kids for anyways?

6. Ron Paul is Pro-Life.

The more kids I have, the harder I think about this...

/sarcasm

Spaghetti Seporah and Balloon Girl

Steven Rushing — 2007-11-19T04:44:47-10:00

Babies, Toddlers, Books, Movies, Mario!

Steven Rushing — 2007-11-19T04:39:07-10:00

Well, life has been interesting. We are juggling Seporah and Felicity, watching movies, and playing Super Mario Brothers 3. Yeah, the one for the ORIGINAL Nintendo. Märia is playing the cow, and I am playing the diaper changer and toddler wrangler. Busy busy busy.

The movies we have seen in the last month... :

Meet the Robinsons - very good, a must see for parents and children alike.
Stardust - something of a modern fairy tale. Not modern as in set in the modern day, but modern as in not all fairys and dragons and wizards. It is a story with real meat; it has substance. As I have said before, I am far from a professional reviewer. =)
Hairspray - I actually didn't see it, but Märia laughed all the way through it. =)
My Super Ex-Girlfriend - Highly irreverent. Very very funny at parts, but the sexual humor went over the top at times.
Ratatouille - Best animated movie I have seen in a long long time. I don't know how the pulled off making a movie about rats and frenchmen that I liked, but they did! The rat wants to be a chef and he finds a talentless dish boy to help him do it. And everyone is Jewish =).
The Jane Austen Book Club - Another I didn't see. Märia made it 15 minutes into it, and turned it off. I'll take that as a "don't watch this film".

We are also watching Heroes, although we always seem to be a couple of weeks late. Well, not quite true. Märia always seems to be 2 weeks late, and I tend to be 1 week late. =) Not quite as good as Season 1, but not is all yet lost. The writer's strike will probably do it though.

So, what we've been reading. Well, this will actually just focus on what I've been reading. I just finished Invasive Procedure by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston. As far as I can tell (and I would know), this is OSC's first collaborative work. I know Aaron Johnston from his funny church articles on Nauvoo.com (an OSC domain). Basically he talks about all those things we don't talk about, like screaming babies in sacrament meeting and how we should all have little eject buttons in front of us to eject someone embarrassing themselves or us in fast and testimony meeting. So Invasive Procedure is a thriller about crazy radical genetic scientists who learn to create a virus that replaces bad cells with good cells. I am no professional reviewer, so just trust me when I say I enjoyed it. It is a good book if you are interested in genetic engineering and elite military teams that train constantly in biosuits so that they are ready to hit hot zones, kill the bad guys and neutralize viruses and other biohazards. Fun thriller, but nothing to spin your mind around.

So you want to turn your world upside down? Read The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen. This book will totally change how you think of America and what we are here for, how we were founded and why. Full disclosure: Skousen was a mormon and taught at BYU for years and years as a religion and history teacher. Don't let that scare you away if you aren't mormon. This book has NOTHING to do with a religion in particular, and only a little bit to do with religion in general. It is about the founding of our nation. From the back cover:

The Five Thousand Year Leap tells of the 28 fundamental beliefs of the Founding Fathers which they said must be understood and perpetuated by every people who desired peace, prosperity, and freedom. These beliefs have made possible more progress in 200 years than was made previously in over 5,000 years.

These fundamental beliefs are shockingly unpolitically correct, but this book shows "political correctness" in its true light and history. It was a creation by communism. If you disagreed with the government, you were sent to reeducation camps until your thoughts were politically correct. But now, instead of using camps, we use tenure, shame, and other social pressures to brutalize people into ACTING politically correct regardless of what they know to be right. Funny how shame has fallen so out of favor with regards to children out of wedlock or divorced people (who deserve shame for making marriage so much harder on the rest of us) but we can shame a person for driving an SUV or praying publicly without worrying about the PC police. I completely rewatched all the debates after reading this book. And the choice is absolutely simple. We need a statesman who says he will get out of our way, not tells us what he will do for us. The 5000 Year Leap grounds your being in what government's real job is. It isn't to provide for us, or take care of us, or be the net to catch us. Ron Paul wants to get the Federal Government out of our business. I will write a long post on him later, but I am about to post some Seporah vids, and one has a Ron Paul reference, so I wanted to get that out there. Märia is still somewhat politically apathetic, but less so than she has been. =)Um, anything else? OH yeah, Super Mario Brothers 3. We will probably beat it tomorrow. Still just as fun over the last 2 weeks as it was 15 years ago. Luigi stinks! (Märia plays luigi) =)

Just an FYI

Steven Rushing — 2007-11-14T18:16:45-10:00

Hey, so Steven lost his cell phone about 4 weeks ago and apparently told no one because we keep getting calls asking why he isn't returning messages and that his mailbox is now full. Sorry to those who did not know. Don't feel bad if you weren't in the loop, no one was apparently.

Felicity First Day Video

Steven Rushing — 2007-11-13T08:42:40-10:00

6 minute video. About 20 seconds of breast feeding in there (no nipple). It is amazing to see the last minute, the difference in how Seporah treats Felicity, the best part! =)

Felicity Pictures and Story

Steven Rushing — 2007-11-12T16:57:44-10:00

Felicity Orion Rushing
November 10, 2007
10:47AM
8lbs 4oz
20inches

So we went in because they called us in, as with Seporah. Märia had done a 24 hour urine test, and it came back high in protein. Ugh, Pre-eclampsia again. But she wasn't nearly as sick as she was last time, so it wasn't too bad. They gave us the option of going with an elective cesarian section or inducing labor. Märia decided she wanted to have Felicity vaginally, so we went for the induction! Pitocin started at 5PM on the 9th.

17 hours later, Felicity was born vaginally. This is the first "good" picture taken of her. I took a cell phone picture first to update you guys on that other blog, so it was the first. Märia actually cut the cord and got to hold Felicity for her first 5 minutes of life. After that they took her away and put her under the light to clean her up, suction her out and check her reflexes and such.

Märia actually snapped this picture, probably 1-2 hours into Felicity's life. We were all really exhausted. Märia really amazed me. 4 hours after giving birth her color was back, she was breast feeding and energetic. I mentioned it and she said she was tired and just working on adrenaline. But she sure had me fooled! She really looked great just a few hours later. After her C-section with Seporah she was nearly dead for like 3 days.

Here is one with Märia and Felicity just 1-2 hours after her birth. Felicity went straight to eating and then straight to sleep for nearly 8 hours with only momentary lapses into wakefulness to ask for food.

And another...

We decided to bring Seporah up to meet Felicity at 6PM (7 hours into Felicity's life). She wasn't very happy. She immediately screamed and ran into the corner and hid under a chair. She only visited for like 25 minutes before we decided it was a bad idea. So Seporah and I went out for french fries and ice cream and played at a McDonalds play place for a couple of hours before I took her back to Miss Karen's to spend the night.

I have to tell this story though. After we came home, we put Felicity in a corner in her car seat. She was asleep. Then we brought Seporah home. Seporah was fine with Felicity as long as she was in the corner in her car seat, but as soon as she woke up and Märia got her to feed her, Seporah sprung into action. First, she screamed. Then she decided to take matters into her own hands. She picked up the biggest thing she could pick up (her tricycle) and then came running at Felicity to bash her into mush. Seriously. I was conflicted as to whether to stop her or grab a camera for this memorable moment, but I made the right choice and Felicity is still alive. =) 24 hours later, Seporah likes Felicity fine and when she walks by her, she pats her very gently on the head. =)

Looks like it will be today

Steven Rushing — 2007-11-09T12:00:07-10:00

So Märia is pre-eclamptic again so we will probably be having a baby today. We will post pictures and text on blog.stevenrushing.com to keep you updated. The reason for the change is because we can post there from our mobile phone. Once the baby is born and we are back home everything will be moved over to here and back to normal. Pray for Märia and Felicity and everything. Please refrain from calling, we will let you know when anything happens.

How to Start Your Own Private Eye Agency

Steven Rushing — 2007-11-06T14:53:03-10:00

I know that several of you at home have been feeling that your lives are simply not action filled like you always thought they would be. Well why not become your neighborhood/city private investigator? I mean someone has got to do it right? So here are all the ingredients required to do this:

A tree house... preferably centrally located in the center of your 1a school town.
Two mini notepads that can fit in your back pocket and a few pens.. This is for clue taking.
The complete series of the Hardee Boys.. This is ESSENTIAL! Try and have a little brother, that way this financial burden is not completely on you.
A partner/side-kick/little brother. Very convenient if it is a sibling, as when you need to compare clues you can just walk down the hallway.

Okay.. now just find some mystery to solve. A good one would be to wait til your dog disappears..

Okay, you are all ready, go have fun being a private eye!!

much love to memories and private jokes,
Jas

Lord, I am so Glad There's Only One of Them

Steven Rushing — 2007-11-06T14:11:10-10:00

So I read a lot of mommy blogs, they're fun. Sometimes the only options to motherhood are to laugh or to cry, those blogs help to keep me from crying 24/7. This is a video I found on one of the blogs, the triplets are actually 3 years old now. I thought I'd post it and rewatch in when Felicity's 6 weeks old and think "Good Lord, at least there's only one of them."

Just as a side note, I HATE it when people come up and touch Seporah. It's like hello, that's not yours, get your hands off. They started when she was just itty bitty and it still goes on today, not quite as much, but it still happens and I always want to smack them. So don't touch other people's babies or kids without asking, it's just plain rude.

Breakdown in America

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-29T09:18:45-10:00

Okay.. So I got to go back to Oceanside this last weekend, which was a good break from desert life and I enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time with some of the people who are close to my heart. So I was supposed to meet up with everyone at about 1 so we could all drive back together and be back here in Yuma by 6.. but the guys who took the van were two hours late, so I ended up waiting for them in the parking lot for about two hours before we finally got on the road to head back here. Now about half way between San Diego and Yuma, the van breaks down.. :-) So we sat on the side of the road for about an hour and a half waiting for theguys from Yuma to come retrieve us, and during the wait something odd happened. A state patrolman came up behind us and offered to 'PUSH' the van to the next gas station so we could wait in more safe and comfortable condtions. We give him the okay, and he put his grill to our back bumper and pushes us two maybe three miles to the next shell station. First of all, I'd like to state I've never ever heard of this happening before and am THRILLED that it did.. primarily because there happened to be Subway there :-), but also because the cars passing us were only about a foot away from the van and were going between 80 and 90. Secondly, I wonder if there are some legal liabilities if we had been hit while he pushed us.. or he accidently pushed us off the very steep embankment to our right. I imagine that there would be, which I think is why I have never heard of a policeman pushing a car to an advantageous position, rather than instantly calling a tow truck. I recently heard a story that happened on the east coast, with a doctor who witnessed a bar fight, and used a tracheotomy on the spot to save one of the combatants lives. Apparently one had crushed the other's windpipe (or something) with a pool stick. The Doctor reacted quickly, sterilized his steak knife and cut open his thoat using the head of his pen to hold the air way open. Twenty minutes later the ambulance finally arrives and those on the scene proclaimed he would have died had the doctor not acted. The man sued the doctor, not because of an infection, which there was none, but because the doctor had consumed a level of acohol, which might have put his life at risk. What in the world... who does this?! We in America need to embrace heroes like this.. men who go out of their way to help others, not stab them in the back just because we are able to. I'm kinda interested in what Maria thinks about that scenario (which I'm not sure is a real case, but I have no doubt that in America it could happen).

Well It was Bound to Happen One Day or Another

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-28T08:34:51-10:00

I went to pick up my daughter out of her crib this morning and as I opened the door I took a whiff. It smelled like poop...a lot. Occasionally it smells like poop in her room, but never this bad. And then I saw it, on the crib, on the wall, on the floor, on my baby girl, on her dollies, and on the noise maker. I am really glad Steven didn't go to work last night.

At the Pumpkin Patch

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-27T11:53:41-10:00

3 Weeks of Vacation

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-25T20:29:00-10:00

So Steven's suppose to get 3 weeks off when Felicity's born. All I can think about that is wow, that sounds like an awesome vacation, neither Steven or I will be working for 3 weeks. I know we'll have a newborn, but there's no way we can be more sleep deprived than we already are...or at least I hope not because that would be REALLY bad.

p.s. 3 more working days for mom, yeah!

Steven and Märia as Babies

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-23T07:03:40-10:00

Come on, were we not cute babies? That's how come Seporah came out so gorgeous and Felicity's bound to come out as a knock out.

Music Preferences

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-23T06:30:16-10:00

So I have tickets tonight for a Fountains of Wayne concert. Steven and I bought them last month when we found out they were going to come here. I don't know what I was thinking because there is no way I'm going to a rock concert at 36 1/2 weeks at 8 at night. I'm not even going to go to a orchestra concert with padded seats at 3 in the afternoon at this point.

Yeah, we really like music, a lot, it's playing 24/7 at our house. We have 6,690 songs on our iTunes playlist and the top 12 most played songs are all by the same artist-30 Seconds to Mars. I can listen to the one CD by them over and over and over again. This morning I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't go back to sleep (again). I got out of bed and decided to do some mindless surfing on the internet. Apparently the CD I have is the second CD, they actually have one before that one. All I could think was, why did I not know this?

Kids, yeah, they change your music. No concerts and no unimportant music knowledge stored in your brain. Unless you count the piece of knowledge that the 5th song on the Baby Einstein CD "On the Go" is the song playing during the race scene in Baby Einstein's "Numbers Nursery." Well at least I still know what I like and it's not all from the decade I was born in.

OK, We're Good for Another Year

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-22T15:06:44-10:00

There are many Manly things that Steven is quite good at:
1. Being a Daddy - there's this shirt that I found that says "Real Men Change Diapers," if that's true, Steven's as real as they get.
2. Being a Mr. Mom - the pictures showing the before and after carpet cleaning ought to be enough to prove that one
3. Anything with the Computer - I am so glad I don't have to pay to have someone fix the computer, I just say fix it

However, there's some Manly things that Steven's not so good at:
1. Plumbing - the kitchen sink has leaked the entire time we've lived here
2. Sports - He likes to play, but doesn't watch them on TV, which I am soooo glad for
3. Car Stuff - and that is what this post is actually going to be about

So I've been bugging Steven to do the car stuff for months, literally. You're suppose to have a safety inspection every year and the sticker on the car says it's been expired since April. Since the car needed registered this month, the safety inspection HAD to be done. It's one thing to drive the car illegally by having a safety inspection expired, you can claim ignorance due to being in the military and just really not knowing. It's another thing to drive the car illegally by having an expired registration, I think they can put you in jail for that one. And since we've been pulled over multiple times to get it fixed and our home association keeps putting notes on our windshield (why is it their business anyways), I figured it really better get done.

I had planned on having Steven fix everything sometime this month (I was anticipating Halloween, that would be October 31st, the last day possible), but I lost my driver's license sometime in the last 2 weeks (I think that Seporah threw it away) so I figured I might as well do it since I had to go to the DMV anyways. But first things first, must get the safety inspection because no one will give me anything without it done. I go to a place that looks like a junkyard, pay the $20 and say let's get it started. They check all the lights and everything and say sorry, we can't give you the sticker, you don't have a license plate on your front bumper. There's no place to put a license plate on my front bumper and I only have one anyways. Well you're just going to have to buy another set of plates and a bracket to hold it on, here's a temporary form you can use to get the license plates and thanks for the money. To the DMV I go, however, this was Saturday and it's not open, I have to go to another that's 30 miles away.

I stand in line to get a driver's license as mine is gone. Sorry ma'am, you can't get one since you lost it and such, you need to take a written test, but you can't take it here, you have to take it at the one that's closed today. Ok, well can I have a book to study Hawaii Laws. No ma'am, you have to buy them, they're sold at Borders or Barnes and Nobles. WHO ON EARTH HAS HEARD OF BUYING THE STATE LAW BOOKS? HELLO! THEY'RE SUPPOSE TO BE RIGHT THERE AT THE DMV. Fine whatever, here's $6 at Borders for the dumb book. But while I'm at the DMV, let's get the car re-registered and license plates, that'll be $158, Lord Almighty, you've got to be kidding me.

Now to the Dodge dealership to get a bracket so I can attach the license plate on the front and get a safety inspection. What do you mean parts and services are closed on Saturdays, what am I suppose to do? Back to safety inspection place, would you just sign it, look I've got 2 plates now, but they're closed. Sorry ma'am, you can go to an auto parts store down the road. To there, sorry ma'am you'll have to go to the dealership. ARGGG! Screw that, home I go.

Monday morning, to the commissary I go, we're down on food, pulled over again. Ma'am do you know you're safety inspection is expired. I better get this done today. Calling the dealership because I don't want to drive down there again. Calling the dealership again since they're not answering and it's 10:30am. calling again, and again, and again, and again, and again seven times total. Yes, I need a license plate bracket, hmm let me check, what's your model, year, VIN number. Why do you need my VIN number? Sometimes the models are different, I just wanted to check what yours was. Well why didn't you just ask for that first if you were going to look up my specific car anyways? OK, yes ma'am we have one in stock, it's $46.61 plus installation. WHAT? FOR A PIECE OF PLASTIC? And how much is installation. I don't know let me transfer you to Service....ring....ring....ring.....ring, no one's answering, screw this. STEVEN! make it so I can get the license plate on the front bumper without spending an arm and a leg.

Steven did fix it, it took $4, big screws and bolts and tiny fingers going in between the air intake holes. Good, back to safety inspection place. The guy looks at it and says "Could you have gotten the bolts any bigger?" Haha, just put the sticker on and leave me alone.

So the car's registered and has a safety inspection. I still don't have a driver's license, but after looking over the booklet and decided I didn't want to take a test, I've been out of school for too long, I'd fail it even I knew the stuff in the book. So I sent another check and various things to Washington to get me one. I'm expecting it in the next 5 weeks, I'm just hoping I don't get pulled over again. If anyone would like to take it to go get the oil changed, I would be very grateful. I'm sure we could work out a Manly exchange, like Steven'll fix your computer for you or change your kid's diaper.

1/2 Yuma, 1/3 Army blinkage, 1/6 self proclimation and finger pointing

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-21T13:31:49-10:00

Hello Hello.. I interrupt this message of parenthood with small insignficant details regarding the life of recently desert-ed, Jason Rushing.

I would like to note that there is a distinct - between Desert and the ED part of the word. This is so as not to confuse you with the idea I might have recently been broken up with, evicted, or left entirely by myself. Now you just have to wonder if I've been given a sweet, tasty treat or if I've been brought out to where there is lots of beach and lack of water. Those of you 'in the know' should easily figured out that the correct answer was actually the latter. I am currently in the Yuma Proving Grounds in the desert of Arizona. I am happily hiding away from my parent command for a month here testing out some new vehicles the Army will be using in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom 15-2. Unfortunately due to some kind of secrecy form I unwittingly signed during a medical exam earlier in my career, I can not discuss this any further.

To spend a mere second bringing you up to date I will cover July to October in a few sentences. Was late to work, and got threatened to lose my BAH. Went on vacation with Breanna and saw Ashley up in Wyoming.. stopped by and saw Julie on the way home. She's just as cute as ever. On the way there I ran the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge marathon.. and moaned and cried for days, in which Breanna made fun of me for. I went to the Rifle range and got kicked off because admin marines can't count... darn asvab waivers! Got slated to goto Yuma Sept 5th.. got canceled.. Went BACK to the rifle range and received my all time low score of Marksman, and then my date moved back to the 18th of October to goto Yuma. Was late again, they tried to take away my BAH and the CO told them where they could stick it.. and that he wished he had 20 marines like me.. OH yeah!! Then the next day was brought to Yuma and have been here ever since.

Let me tell you a story about the army guys here in yuma though, okay? :-) So I come into the tiny MWR we have here with 6 computers and a mediocre television with cable and start typing out an email on one of the computers. There is an army guy who has unplugged one of the "marine" computers and dragged the cable to the tv so he can hook up his laptop and play Lord of the Rings Online while watching tv. My SSgt sees this and goes over to yell at him only to find that he is the Company Commander of the army group here. So we lost this fight.. After about twenty minutes he comes back to put the cable back and I asked him why he didn't use the wireless router to play with his own computer.. I pointed at the wireless router being on one of the shelves. He informed me.. quite rudely.. that it wasn't working correctly and he had spent the morning trying to figure it out, but he didn't have the login information for roadrunner to be able to receive the correct domain information. I gave him what must have been a "you have no clue what you're talking about" look and hooked up the router. I then used his laptop and adjusted the settings to distribute ip address to any and all laptops who requested one (he had it set on static instead of dynamic). I pulled the cable and asked him to try and connect via wireless and see if it gave him a working ip address. He tried.. it worked.. and this is what he said...

get ready for this.. it's gonna be good..

"Ya, it's working!! That's what I like to call Joint Task Force!! You definately get the assist on this one" And puts his hand up to high-five me..

*blink* *blink*... joint task force?? the ASSIST??!!

Now I high-fived him because he's a company commander and the biggest geek I know.. more so for the first than the second.. for fear of making enemies. That's your boy, Steven :)

So ya.. I hope everyone is having a blast.. I miss you all terribly, and hope to see you soonish. and HECK no, I'm not going to Florida, Minnesota, or Okinawa for Christmas.. so don't ask!!

Jason Rushing
Supreme Jedi Emperor of the Klingon Nation, engaged to the Child-like Princess, vowed enemy of Gargamel.

(P.S. All spelling and grammar mistakes were added by steven to try and boost his branch of service's image by comparison.. )

Carpet Cleaning!

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-20T15:40:31-10:00

So today has been cleaning and chores day. I did the dishes this morning while Märia went out to take care of car registrations and such things... I will let her tell you that story, it isn't pretty. =) So when she got home we decided to clean our carpet for the first time ever. I mean, we had each spot cleaned it with the spray carpet cleaner several times, but we had never gone all out with a machine. So here are some fun before and after pictures! It really was amazing!

36 Weeks and Counting

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-20T06:48:41-10:00

Yeah so I am 36 weeks today! Less than a month till my due date. I'm telling Felicity anytime is fine with me. I'm like today is fine, tomorrow is fine. If you really wanna hang out till November that's fine too, but Mom's cool with now. Especially now that the only way I sleep is with the aid of tylenol and benadryl and I'm still waking up 3-6 times a night with it. I tell people I was more sleep deprived before giving birth to Seporah than after and they don't believe me. But by the time she was born I literally woke up every 45 minutes to pee, If I made it an 1 1/2 hours straight I was like yes! So I'm just not looking forward to that and I'm like dude you can come out.

Yesterday I got floated to the Pediatric Clinic at work. It was really quite nice, they really didn't need the help, they just needed an RN. So mostly I just sat all day for my title. I was like ahh, this is the life. I want the next 5 shifts to be just like this one (5 more and I'm on maternity leave). Of course, I'm glad nothing went wrong where I would have had to actually use my title. It was just nice. It was twin day down there I swear, I saw 7 sets of twins. Seven?!?!?! I don't think I've ever seen that many sets of twins in one day.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm just plain rambling. It's easier to type and ramble than do actual work, like the dishes or something to that effect. I plan on rambling for the next 2 months. I'll probably say nothing important here for the next 2 months because I'm too pregnancy brain (and then new momma brain) to think of something intelligent or coherent. Good thing for spell check or you wouldn't even be able to read it probably. I kinda feel bad for Jason's friends who come looking at the blog. Instead of seeing what's happening in Southern California, they get to read about some whiny pregnant lady and they're like "what is this, did Jason give me the wrong link?"

Apple Video

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-15T12:26:23-10:00

Okies, So we bribe our daughter to learn new words. Sue us. =)

A New Way to Show Boring Home Videos!!!

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-14T14:15:49-10:00

So we no longer have a still camera due to it getting knocked around....a lot, insert cute toddler fingers. But Dad did get a video camera that's meant to take quick videos for youtube. I've never been one for youtube, but it's pretty easy. Note that there are several videos in this player, when the first video is over, you can select from the others.

A Long, Long Time Ago

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-12T07:34:04-10:00

I'm not exactly sure how old Seporah is in this picture, but I just thought I'd post it to show how much has changed.

1. She's sitting still-that sure doesn't happen anymore
2. The shirt she's wearing has no stains-um yeah right, I just did laundry, she's a messy girl now
3. The carpet's white-I'm now not sure what color to call the carpet
4. All the toys are not only in one room, they're in one place-mmhmm
5. She's cute as cute can be-well that one's still the same

I Could Really Use a Pediatric Nurse Blog

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-11T19:38:33-10:00

Yeah, so today wasn't a good day at work, it had nothing to do with management or pharmacy or dietary or even parents. I had a 13 year old kid that got stuck 6 times, 6 times! And it wasn't like he was a little tiny baby. The veins were there and I just couldn't get them and neither could my co-workers. I hate sticking kids over and over again, it makes me feel really, really pathetic and incompetent and just plain mean. After the 4th nurse tried the 4th time, we called and said hey doc his veins suck, we thought you'd like to know this, we don't have an IV in yet, and he was just like the kid needs it. So again and again.

Anyways I came home and I feel like the bad nurse, even though I actually only stuck him once, but still it just makes me feel bad, and I was like I could use reading about someone else's experiences. So I went looking for a pediatric nurse blog. I found blogs from ER nurses, labor and delivery nurses, OR nurses, student nurses, male nurses, med-surg nurses, but no pediatric nurses. I'm like man, it would just be nice to read someone else's failures and successes who knows what working on a pediatric med-surg floor was like. I just hate to be trying to do good and instead end up being the bad one.

Two Mentos Peas

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-09T20:57:06-10:00

Dad got a new toy:

Feed the Pregnant Lady

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-07T16:37:05-10:00

There are times when living far away from family really sucks. Take when you're 34 weeks pregnant and tired and hungry. Now if I lived close to Grandma and Grandpa, I could drive over say feed the pregnant lady and I'd get food auto-magically, plus someone else would play with the toddler for free (when the going rate is $7/hour, it's just tough to justify getting a sitter to take a nap). Not only that but if I looked really sorry, someone might even offer to come do my dishes. Instead the house is trashed, Seporah is crawling over tired mommy and daddy and daddy is going to get Mexican pick up on a Sunday (FYI, we usually don't do that on Sunday, but I'm like, whatever just as long as it shows up and the only finger I have to lift is the one holding the fork).

The Case of the Missing Fingernail Clippers

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-05T13:39:29-10:00

Fingernail clippers all over the house are disappearing at an alarming rate. I will defend this last pair. I put it down on the dresser next to the bed. I blink. I blink again. They are gone. The Clipper Culprit has struck again!

I will catch her. Suspect: 3 foot 1 inch blonde female, about 28 lbs. Cute, when she wants to be. She denies it of course, but I will catch her.

First step, find another pair of Fingernail clippers. This is a failure, and I am forced to head to the local hardware store and purchase a new pair. I put them down on the foot of the bed, and wait. I go around the corner of the room, and I wait. Ahh, there she is. The Clipper Culprit waddles in, and grabs them. She looks around to see if she is being watched. I look away. She finds the nearest drawer and hides them under some clothes, looking around the whole while. Busted!

10 Things I'm Going to Get Around to Doing This Year (in no particular order)

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-03T07:53:59-10:00

1. Go Surfing-I have lived on this island for over a year and a half, but with a newborn and pregnancy and everything else, I just haven't gone. However I am going to go this summer. Because you just can't live in Hawaii for 3 years and not try surfing at least once (well, Steven has no intention of trying, but that's him).

2. Get My Wisdom Teeth Removed-they really should have come out a long time ago but didn't. I actually had an appointment for it last April, but then I was pregnant and well they won't pull them on a preggo lady. So the plan is this January.

3. Get My Tonsils Removed-they really, really should have come out a long time ago but didn't. I'm planning on May.

4. Breastfeed for a Year-would have maybe done this with Seporah, but I stopped when I got stuck with a dirty needle for fear that I'd give her something.

5. Learn to Make a Quiche-I really love them and I just haven't found a restaurant around here that makes them, so I'm just going to have to learn to make it. I checked out some recipes but haven't found one I like, so if someone has a favorite quiche recipe they use send it my way.

6. Go Camping on the Beach-we've been saying we were going to do this forever, but haven't. It looks like this may be the first one I'm actually doing, this Tuesday in fact (that's actually why I decided to make the list, because there's so much you think hey I'm gonna do that and don't, like EMP and The Space Needle in Seattle, I never went to either and I lived there for 11 years, hello?).

7. Get a Real Family Picture-We never got a real one with the three of us and I kept saying we should, but we didn't. However we're getting one with the four of us. I'd also like to get Seporah, Felicity and I all white dresses and get a mommy/daughter picture. When Felicity is a little older and more photogenic, I was thinking around Easter, plus little white Easter dresses are oh so cute.

8. Put My Hair in a Ponytail-true I've done this before, but not in years, it's been too short. I haven't cut it since last October and I figured 12 months would give me enough time to grow it out for a ponytail, alas that is not the case. Some of my hair is long enough for it, but most of it isn't, it's really layered, there's a good 6 inches between the shortest and longest layers due to the way it's grown, hopefully in the next 12 months it'll be long enough, if it's not, I swear it's getting chopped off.

9. Learn to Juggle 2 Babies, Full Time Work and a Husband in the Military-yeah, um, no explanation needed.

10. Start Potty Training Seporah-becauses 2 kids in diapers is expensive and annoying.

Slight Dilemma

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-02T15:34:29-10:00

So I have a slight dilemma, I am going to have 2 little girls, which means I need "Big Sister/ Little Sister" T-shirts. However I don't want them to just say big sister and little sister, I want them to be humorous. So I need some ideas, cause the ones I'm coming up with are kinda lame ie:

Boss
Grunt

Why?
Because?

I'm the smart one.
That's what she thinks.

You may be the princess, but I'm the queen ~The Big Sister
You may be the queen, but I rule the throne ~The Little Sister

I Gripe Too Much

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-02T07:39:12-10:00

So Steven says I gripe too much about my work, so here I am listing the positives about my work (and there are a lot). I may not have huge flexibility with maternity leave, but as for my schedule, I have serious amounts of flexibility. After Felicity's born, I will work full time and not work Sundays, that just doesn't happen in a hospital position and the only reason I can get it to happen is because I work in a military hospital and they make the soldiers work every Sunday. I like my job and the people I work with with (for the most part), that should be reason enough really since there are so many people who hate their jobs. I get paid good money, I may have to pay a lot for babysitting and such, but I know plenty of women who work and essentially their whole paycheck goes to babysitting or daycare. I don't get called off unless I want to, another really good thing, when I worked in Georgia, I'd sign up for a 40 hour week and sometimes only work 16 hours because of patient census being too low, and when you need the money, that's not cool. Because I work 12 hour shifts, I only have to work 6 days in a 2 week period to be full time, most people have to work 10, I guess this goes along with flexibility, but it's really nice with babies and kids. I work in a great place, I'd take my daughter's there if I had to, the hospital in Georgia I wouldn't have, it was bad. Occasionally (not very often but sometimes), I get to go to work and I get paid to color or play board games with kids (this one may or may not work because some people go to work and surf the internet or play games on the computer all day long). When I go back to work I'll have not only have a hospital grade breast pump at my disposal, but a breastmilk fridge to store breastmilk in (I may not have the time to pump some days, ouch, but it's there, at least I won't have to pump in the bathroom).

So although my maternity leave isn't the greatest (at least it's not like the soldiers), and there are 12 hour days that I literally don't eat (but those don't happen too often), and it gets frustrating when some people treat you like a slave and think nurses don't know anything (BTW, when you're in the hospital you see a nurse for 24 hours a day, a doctor for 10 minutes on average, you're in the hospital for nursing care, not doctor care), and I really don't like our pharmacy or dietary offices (I don't think I have one nice thing to say about them actually), I really do like my job, it's great, I don't have any intention of changing it till we move.

BTW, I think the reason why I write pessimistic blogs is because they turn out funnier usually, plus I think positive ones all sound like I'm bragging, but while we're on a happy-life-is-grand blog I thought I'd tell a cute story that happened yesterday. The past couple months I've been craving mint Mentos, yeah it's weird. Seporah has come to know what the package looks like and she loves them. Well I took a package out yesterday to take with me to work and Seporah saw. She reached up her hand and said "Peas, peas!" (she can't quite say please correctly, it's totally cute). I really didn't want to share, but if you'd seen how cute she was, you would have given her what ever she asked for. So I held up one finger and said, "All right you can have one, but only one." She held up two fingers and said "TWO!"

Maternity Leave

Steven Rushing — 2007-10-01T19:38:43-10:00

So I know I've griped about maternity leave before, but I'm gonna do it again. Yeah, maternal health sucks in this country and maternity leave sucks as well. Do you know Ethiopia has a better maternity leave plan than we do? ETHIOPIA?!?! They get 90 days paid leave, we only get 12 weeks unpaid. And you know what, I don't even get that cause I work in a military hospital and all military people get 6 weeks off. So they're like you want 6 weeks right, and I'm like NO, anyways it ends up being 10 1/2 weeks. But depending on when Felicity decides to show up it could be when she's 6 weeks old. I mean at 6 weeks most infants still wake up 4 times a night. Imagine waking up 4 times a night for 30 minutes each and then going to work a 12 hour shift (and that's on your feet all day, where a lot of times your customers, ie parents and patients, expect you to wait on them hand and foot). Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Everyone needs to pray for me that Felicity is born between November 2-12, I'd really like November 5th if anyone wants an exact date to pray for (she'd be 10 weeks old when I went back to work then). Oh and no c-section, because I have no desire to recover from major abdominal surgery, care for a newborn and go back to work seriously sleep deprived.

320 Days Since Last fatal Accident

Steven Rushing — 2007-09-30T08:02:24-10:00

Whenever you go onto a military base or post, there is this sign that says how many days it's been since that base's last fatal accident. I'm not exactly sure why they post this, it's not talking about the "War in Iraq." No what those signs are talking about is the last time some stupid 18 year old brand new single soldier got really drunk and crashed his vehicle into a wall and killed himself. Now if the post makes it to 100 days, all the soldier's get a holiday for not being stupid (actually Steven doesn't because he has shift work, but that's besides the point). In the 6+ years I've seen these signs I don't think I've ever seen it go above about 120. What happens a lot is the soldiers get their holiday at 100 days and then they do something stupid during that point and it goes all the way back down to 0. The lowest I've seen was 11 days, where it promptly went back to 0. You might think I'm sadistic, but everytime I see this sign go back to 0 I start laughing. All I can think is good, one more stupid soldier down, only about 500,000 to go.

This last time however, the sign didn't go back to 0 at 11 or 120, no it just keeps on going up. Yesterday, I looked and it was at 320! You might think it's because soldiers are getting smarter, but no unfortunately they're not, they're just all being sent overseas. Holy cow, I keep wondering what would actually happen if it reaches 365, a whole year without a stupid soldier killing themselves on base. Maybe the base would get a whole week holiday (that should cause the number to go back to 0 at least once).

I LOST MY DAUGHTER!!!

Steven Rushing — 2007-09-22T10:59:03-10:00

Daddy had just gotten home from work this morning and needed to sleep. So Seporah and I went to Wal-mart. Seporah was having a difficult time staying in the cart (she always does, she just wants to be a-moving). I took her out and we just went walking around. A friend I knew from church said hi and we chatted for a couple of minutes and then I turned around and there was no Seporah. I looked and looked, especially in the clothes carts because she likes to play in those, but I couldn't find her. I was like oh no, I don't even know what to do. I stopped some employee and she said to go to customer service. So I went to customer service and totally interrupted an employee and customer at the desk (for which I got nasty looks). The lady said what's her name, we'll overhead page her. "No, no, she's 1 1/2, she won't answer to it! She's in a blue shirt and khaki shorts!" Then some guy came up and said there was a girl in McDonald's. I ran over there and sure enough there she was eating animal crackers like nothing was the matter, I think she was also asking for some french fries. So she's alive and well, it was significantly more traumatic for me than her.

Toddler Kisses

Steven Rushing — 2007-09-14T19:41:19-10:00

So my last 12 hour shift until after Felicity's born turned into a 13 hour shift with no lunch break and only 3 potty breaks. I was hungry, thirsty, physically and mentally tired and felt like my belly and legs were going to fall off. I got home and went to pick up Seporah from the sitter's. She was so excited ad I got a Hi! Hi! Hi! Then a great big hug and 3 kisses. The sitter got a Bye! Bye! Bye! and hand waves. It's really cool to be a toddler's best friend sometimes.

Swim Diapers

Steven Rushing — 2007-09-13T06:30:29-10:00

So as I get more and more pregnant, I get more and more uncomfortable and about the only place I don't feel like I'm gonna fall apart is the water. So we end up going to the pool everyday. It's way easier than the beach and bigger than the bathtub. One thing I don't particularly care for is the swim diapers. Now you can't put babies in regular diapers when swimming, one because it's against the rules most places but mostly because two, diapers in water get really nasty, they hold all the pool water, get huge and weigh about 3 pounds by the first 10 seconds and if they pop, well you're in for a nasty pool clean up with all that diaper cotton floating everywhere.

So we have to buy these swim diapers that don't come cheap. It's a package with 11 in them that cost $7. Ouch, and when you're going swimming everyday that's a double ouch. But the real kicker is they don't hold in urine, that's right there's lotsa baby urine in the pool (as well as kid and probably adult urine). They're really for holding in poop, usually you only go swimming for 30-60minutes anyways and in that timeframe babies don't usually poop. So you've spent all that money for nothing. I don't think before the last week that Seporah has used them (meaning pooped in them) but twice and it's not because we don't swim either.

Now I don't know what is going through my daughter's head, maybe she's getting ready for potty training and she decided the pool was the best place to go, but in the last week she has pooped 3 times in these swim diapers. Yuck, and poopie swim diapers are about the grossest thing to clean up because it gets all runny from the water. And you have to pull apart the sides and let this runny poopie mess go everywhere, we usually hold her over a trash can. This is just another example of the things you don't know anything about before you have kids. It's pretty gross. I hope you didn't read this post while eating breakfast.

Wendy's

Steven Rushing — 2007-09-11T07:19:53-10:00

I often say if I were President I'd make 9 out of 10 fast food restaurants go away. Steven's reading over my shoulder and saying that's stupid government involvement, but oh well, I like my government involved. I say having so many fast food restaurants takes away valuable tax money. So many fast food restaurants helps increase the obesity rate in America, increasing the many, many health problems of Americans, using up tax money to pay for treatments that these Americans caused themselves, which is why I'll probably never work with adults in nursing, they cause their own health issues. But anyways I'm getting off topic.

When I say 9 out of 10 fast food restaurants, people look at me funny and say, why not all of them. To which I say that fast food actually does have a purpose sometimes. Last night was one of those times. I had worked all day and hardly eaten anything (not good at 7 months pregnant) and Steven had literally been awake 36 hours working. Yeah we were both starving and Wendy's drive through sounded pretty good. I got a loaded baked potato, a caesar salad and a chocolate frosty. It was good. And as I was eating it, all I could think was this is so wrong. It's kinda like a vegetarian who goes and has a piece of chicken.

Response to Jason and Steven

Steven Rushing — 2007-09-08T20:17:15-10:00

I assumed, like probably most people, that breastfeeding in public has become more and more accepted by the general public as time as gone on and people have become less clothed. However I was wrong actually. Our society has grown less tolerant of breastfeeding public as formula companies has increased their hold on people's minds that bottle feeding is better and Barbie and others have sexualized the breasts in the public's eyes. In movies if women are breastfeeding during historical times they are covered up, but come on it's the movies, that's not really the way it was. You can look at older photographs to realize that women breastfeed whenever and wherever they pleased because it was indeed normal and natural.

Besides breastfeeding with a blanket is truly hot and uncomfortable and the kid's gonna bat it away anyways because they're suffocating under it.

(blankets added by Steven)

1898, no blanket there

circa 1930s, no blanket there

no blanket here

1936, no blanket

And of course, WWJD? He'd breastfeed without a blanket over his head.

Pt test routine

Steven Rushing — 2007-09-07T17:28:37-10:00

Ok, here is what I do before a pt test, normally. 3 days prior, I start watching what I eat. I spend roughly an hour in the sauna, sweating off weight, in half hour increments. 2 days prior I eat VERY little, cut back my water consumption by perhaps half, and spend another hour in the sauna, again in half hour increments. I also take a double dose of laxatives before I go to bed, and coat myself in Preparation H and wrap my abdomen in cellophane. The next morning (day before the pt test) I wake up, take the cellophane off (water weight just washing off of me, this REALLY works) and deal with the consequences of the nights laxative. I then take more laxative. =) 2 hours today in the sauna (these are all approximates). No food today whatsoever. The night before the pt test I get more laxatives and wrap myself again. I also drink one bottle of water (to hydrate for the pt test) and go to sleep. By the way, going to sleep all wrapped up is quite uncomfortable. =) The morning of the pt test I will go straight to the sauna, spend maybe 30 minutes in there (however much time I have) and then strip the cellophane off and shower. Then I take the pt test and go get weighed in. That is my normal routine.

So I had a pt test today. I am again on the fat boy program for those of you who don't know. I can't seem to stay within army standards for weight. Last night we had spaghetti for dinner. Märia was shocked that I was eating! She said, "Don't you have a pt test tomorrow?" To which I replied, "I am not going to make weight, and not going to kill myself for it anymore". So I had two servings of spaghetti last night at dinner (and another for a midnight snack!) and I had brownies for breakfast. Strange thing is, this morning I aced my pt test (roughly a 255 out of 300, don't have the exact score) and I had lost 4 lbs since the 27th of Sept and 4% to pass the tape test. I didn't suck my stomach in. I didn't puff my neck up (a painful process of literally beating the crap out of your neck, very common and I normally do it). The most shocked person was me.

So what did I do to lose the weight? not much really. My car died, and for the past 3 weeks I have been riding my bike to work. Riding a bike really cuts down (to zero) the midnight midshift fast food runs and I am just sick of fat boy pt twice a day everyday (even on days off). So yeah, I am off. Say yeah!

Whatever happened to business owner's rights?

Steven Rushing — 2007-09-02T23:43:30-10:00

What does government do better than the private sector? Honestly. Think about it. First thing that will come to mind is probably the military. But come on... I really doubt that the conflict in Iraq would still be going on if a private sector business with half of the resources and half of the manpower had been allowed to fight the war, free of the constraints of Washington politics, political correctness and illogical rules of engagement. But I am starting this off incorrectly. Click Read More... to finish this rant.

What I want to talk about is what the government actually does better than anyone else. And that is interfere where they don't belong. Over regulate. I appreciate that when I go to Chilis or Ruby Tuesdays, I know that the meat they serve is good, and that is in large part due to the fact that the FDA conducts spot inspections and has standards that must be met for the meat to be served. I get that, and I even appreciate it. I get regulating safety and even cleanliness to a certain degree.

But don't shove your government (im)morality down my throat. It just goes to show that the government doesn't know what it's job is when they start telling a business owner that they cannot allow smoking in their establishment. It isn't the gov'ts establishment, it is the business owners! If you don't like it, don't eat there. If you don't like it, don't work their. That is the customer's right! (And as for me, I wouldn't eat at a restaurant that did not provide a nonsmoking section, but that is my choice). Let the free market work it out. The customers will speak. Funny quote I heard once, "A non smoking section of a restaurant is like a non pissing side of the pool". Not really related, but I think it is funny. =)

Ok, so what brought this up? Some silly group of nursing mothers are going to a restaurant to have a "nurse-in". So what is a nurse-in you might ask? Basically some mom refused to show basic respect to the establishments request that she cover up a bit. They didn't ask her to stop breastfeeding, or tell her to go back to the bathroom or anything. Just asked that she put a sheet or napkin or something over the breast while the baby was eating. In this well air conditioned restaurant, her reply was "it's hot". And she proceeded to pull out the law stating that she could breastfeed where she wanted. Seriously, she carried it around in her purse. Well, their reply was that she could breastfeed there if she wanted, but she would have to cover up a bit.

Ignorant women are going to just go to this restaurant and pop them out to annoy the owner and then throw the law in his face! Ugh.

Ok, now here is my view of breastfeeding in public, and you might not have guessed it. I don't mind women breastfeeding in public. I would appreciate some discretion (which is all the restaurant asked) but if it truly IS hot or really uncomfortable or say the mother just has a very difficult child who pulls at the blanket or even has a hard time getting a latch, well, that is fine in my book. In my restaurant that woman can breastfeed all she wants, however she needs to. But this isn't my restaurant. And it isn't the governments restaurant either. But they sure do act like it is.

The Hawaii law of breastfeeding is pretty simply. You can breastfeed anywhere that both the mother and child are legally allowed to be. So basically, if you aren't in a bar or on a roller coaster that the baby is too young for, you can breastfeed. And I am ok with that, with regards to TRULY public places: parks, sidewalks, government buildings, schools, and any business that receives government subsidies or funds (think YMCA and even flippin Planned Parenthood aka Death to America's Young). But a private business shouldn't be seen as a regulatable public place. That simply is not government's job.

Pave a road or fence a border or learn to fight a war why don't you.

I'm Movin' to Sweden

Steven Rushing — 2007-08-25T08:43:42-10:00

Older and Broken "Foot That Is"

Steven Rushing — 2007-08-23T08:54:29-10:00

Well, it has happened; I did not ask for it but it sucks nonetheless...

I went to see a sport's medicine doctor for a pain that I have been having and found that I chipped a bone in my left foot. The x-ray was interesting in that the bone chip was sticking in the Achilles' tendon and causing my a lot of discomfort when I walked, jogged, or ran. It is also difficult to drive a standard transmission when you cannot move your ankle.

Oh well, the remedy is to keep my foot in a boot-type cast for four weeks to see if it heals on its own. If not, I guess I will be looking at some minor surgery to remove the chip.

Of course, all of this is playing havoc with my desire to go out and run. And, I just signed up for a 1/2 marathon on Sept 29th. Maybe I will run it anyway...after all, that is six weeks away.

Love to you all, Grandpa Russ

Riding in Elevators

Steven Rushing — 2007-08-23T07:25:04-10:00

Both these elevator rides actually happened on Monday. I work on the 7th floor, I'm really pregnant, I need to go to the 2nd floor, the 1st floor and the 4th floor usually about 8 times in a 12 hour shift. There is no way I am walking that many stairs.
 
 So I was 27 and a half weeks on Monday and riding in an elevator with an anxious man who's getting off on the 5th floor. I said "oh did you just have a baby?" Because the 5th floor is the mother baby floor. His response was "No, my wife's 27 weeks and the baby's trying to come early." You have to understand I don't really look pregnant in scrubs, they hide a lot and even if I did, this man was far to anxious and self-involved at that moment to realize I was. But all I could think was his wife and I were both 27 weeks and I sure wasn't ready for a baby to come. I mean I am, I'm sick of being pregnant and waiting but I really don't want a premie baby, I want a healthy 9 1/2 pound girl. It kinda made me apprehensive and grateful and scared all at once.

 The other ride was with a man and a woman employee. The man said "I haven't seen you in a while, how are you doing?" Woman: "It's my first day back." Man: "Oh did you go on leave." Woman: "No I just got back from maternity leave." Ah-ha, another woman I was glad I wasn't. Yeah, the first day back from maternity leave sucks. Remember going back after summer break and you're a little rusty, you're excited to see everyone again but you'd prefer to play in the sunshine. It's like that except you're the only one who's rusty, you're still sleep deprived and you'd rather play with your little sunshine baby.

Me? a Lactivist and Birth Junkie?

Steven Rushing — 2007-08-19T16:58:59-10:00

So I'm at work a couple of weeks ago discussing about a baby with failure to thrive with some co-workers (failure to thrive means VERY small baby who's lacking developmentally). One co-worker says something to the effect that formula feeding is better than breastfeeding and another co-worker says don't say that in front of Märia, she's entirely pro-breastfeeding. I went on to state the benefits of breastfeeding and why it was significantly better. It seemed kind of strange to me though, before I had Seporah I knew breast was best and I even knew quite a few reasons why, but that's about as much as I knew about it, I don't think I ever would have been known as a lactivist (lactation or breastfeeding activist). I don't think I ever would have discussed it, it wasn't the most interesting subject in my opinion. I've now read just about every website known to man about it (and boy are there a LOT), read 10 or so books on the matter (with at least 300 others in circulation and waiting to be read) and discussed boobie juice (I think that's the best term, makes me laugh) with literally hundreds of women (most of them helping moms get latched on and such in the pediatric ward). I could tell you just about anything you ever wanted to know about breastfeeding. Seporah and I only breastfed for 4 1/2 months, I thought I knew about breastfeeding before hand, but I never had a clue.

I can not imagine how women who don't prepare for it ever last more than 24 hours. The lack of support for breastfeeding is very unfortunate and the free samples at the hospital, well they seem pretty darn innocent. Occasionally I get sent to work at the Mother-Baby Ward in the hospital and it shocks me how many post-partum nurses will say just give them a bottle at the drop of a hat, it's just no wonder so many women bottle feed. So many women think they can't breastfeed for one reason or another. I didn't have any milk (milk doesn't come in until the 3-7 day postpartum, you're not suppose to have breastmilk until then, you have colostrum). I had twins, you can't make enough (women have successfully exclusively breastfed quadruplets, that's 4). My baby wasn't getting enough because he wanted to eat every hour (some babies do in fact eat every hour, that's just their schedule, every 4 hours is inappropriate). I lost my milk supply (from feeding only every 4 hours, which is again inappropriate). My baby was allergic (HIGHLY unlikely, I'm not even going into this one). There are indeed reasons why women cannot breastfeed, I'm not saying there aren't, but most likely at least 95% of woman can successfully breastfeed.

The same holds true for childbirthing. Before I had Seporah, well labor was slightly more interesting a topic than breastfeeding, but it's not something I would have discussed in detail with anyone. Did you know that the US spends more money on pregnancy, childbirth and post-partum than any other country, but is ranked 40th for maternity morbidity and mortality? We think if we spend more money it must be better, but honey that's just not true. Seporah's birth was by c/section and yes it was necessary, but at least half of c/s in this country are very unnecessary because of "failure-to-progress" and "cephalic-pelvic disproportion." Which means someone wasn't laboring fast enough (it's not a race, and believe me the baby's not gonna stay in there) and that the the baby's too big to come out (I thought this one was true before research, however, believe me it's load of crap). Then there's electronic fetal monitoring and inductions and episiotomies and no food or drink during labor and if your water breaks it's an emergency, yeah it's all crap and lies. It really pisses me off for the women who figure out they were screwed. I'm just really glad I wasn't one of the ones who were seriously screwed. And if you think a c/section is easier than a vaginal birth, well I haven't given birth vaginally yet, but I bet it doesn't hurt after 9 months every single day. If I hadn't needed it and it took 9 months to get rid of the pain, I'd be really pissed.

So I'm a birth junkie now, which is also strange considering I was very ambivalent before Seporah. Yeah I'm pregnant, but I promise there's plenty of pregnant women who don't read a pregnancy book a day and discuss with others the importance of avoiding inductions and hiring a doula.

And just in case someone is wondering uterine rupture in a vaginal birth after cesarean is highly unlikely, in a non-induced labor the chance of wound dehiscence (where the scar separates somewhat) is only 1/200. True medical emergency uterine ruptures only happen in 1/1200 vaginal births after cesareans. Significantly lower than what the public thinks.

Welcoming Jacob Burton Smith!

Steven Rushing — 2007-08-14T09:10:29-10:00

From Erica:

Jacob Burton Smith is finally here!! He was born Saturday, August 11th at 7:28 pm at St. Luke's. He weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and was 19 inches long. We came home last night from the hosptial and are very glad to be home with big sister Hailey!! We are all doing very well, but tired. Here are some photos.

love-Andrew, Erica and Hailey

French Fries, "Um, What Do I Do?" and Boring Registeries

Steven Rushing — 2007-08-08T17:30:18-10:00

When I was pregnant with Seporah I learned that the number one consumed vegetable by children was french fries (as well as adults). I was shocked to say the least. First off potatoes aren't a vegetable, they're a starch. And second off, hello? How many french fries does anyone need, let alone children who's taste buds are unadulterated. Plus they really aren't that good. I said I would never, ever give my daughter french fries, at least until she was in kindergarden or something. I've seen quite a few 9 month olds who chow down on the soft salty french fries that come from McDonald's. Seporah made it to about 14 months, when I was heaving up chunks everyday in the toilet due to the very, very small Felicity. Steven would come home and I'd tell her to take her, take her anywhere, I don't care, just let me be. I wasn't feeding Seporah as much because I couldn't handle the smell of anything, so Steven took her to get french fries, well she loves them, a lot. It's mildly annoying how much she loves them, we drive past a fast food joint and she smells them and she starts whining for french fries. I always tell her no (and Dad tells her yes when I'm not around).

I continued to say I was not buying her french fries...however last week I bought her french fries not once...but twice. The first time was after her throwing up about 30 times in 2 days. She had kept down down some juice and I just wanted her to eat something, anything. She had 1 french fry and then decided she was done with them. She got better within about 5 days (yeah, being thrown up on for a week as well as changing diarrhea diapers every hour really sucks) and then along came teething. It'd been about 6 weeks since the last tooth had come in and the reprieve was nice. But once again it was teething time and that meant temper tantrums. After about 5 temper tantrums in 6 hours I was like fine, whatever you want just stop screaming! So yeah, I've bought my daughter french fries now.

I don't think I was the type of mom to call her mom and dad every hour for advice with a newborn, but toddlerhood is a whole other ballpark. Questions like "How do you get pen markings out of white furniture?" and "How do you get a screaming 20 month old out of her bedroom after she accidently locked the door?" have become an everyday occurrence. I figured that since my parents had gone through 4 toddlers they'd have have a least a couple answers. They do, unfortunately they aren't always the ones I want. ie. "Buy darker furniture." and "There's a hole in the middle of the handle, press that with a pen." (this one would have actually been good except for I'd already taken off half the door handle, but not the half inside because I couldn't). It's said that kids should come with an instruction manuel, I got "What to Expect the Toddler Years" and I really think they should put that sort of stuff in the book.

Lastly I have registered again at Walmart and BabiesRus. I think my registries this time are less than fun. I've been through one baby and so I know what I need. No one needs a wipes warmer or baby bathrobe, if you get them, you will never use them. However Desitin Creamy and hand sanitizer, you will need those, every single day, initially at least 10 times a day. Anyways, we'll see if anyone gets me and Felicity butt cream and germ killer goop.

Seporah has OCD

Steven Rushing — 2007-08-08T14:39:15-10:00

Seporah is a crazy monkey, really. We have always been excited to have a kid that really enjoys helping around the house and cleaning up. When we do clothes she brings them to us, and she understands (and has for a long time) where dirty clothes go and where trash goes. She helps take out the "Seporah sized trash" when I take out the big kitchen trash and she puts it in the garbage chute all by herself. But here is where the OCD kicks in. She pushes on the garbage chute until it closes, even though it is spring loaded to close.

Once when we were eating out we got this little wooden cow with holes in it's back to hold crayons. She pulled the crayons out one at a time, and when she wanted another, she would put the first one back in the hole. We were of course used to this behavior, but Märia's uncle Bob said that this was very peculiar for a 16 month old. And since then, we have noticed all the other little things. Her drawers have a "seat belt" that keep her from strewing the contents everywhere. If we open them to get something for her, she isn't interested in ANYTHING until the "seat belt" is closed again and she can't access it! Trash most definitely goes in the trash can. Doors, drawers and cabinets must be shut. And here is the one that convinced me it was far beyond normal.

She pulled out the milk carton asking for milk. I got her some and put it back. And she wasn't happy. I didn't know what was wrong, but she noticed something that was just wrong. So I let her into the fridge to tell me what she wanted. She kept trying to close the milk carton! You know, those half gallon milk cartons? Well, after they have been opened, they never close to where they look brand new. And that was driving her crazy! She kept trying to close it over and over again. And it never could close closer than say an 8th of an inch. Just not good enough for my little OCD girl. =)

I hope I never have to put my little girl in the monkey house, but Märia tells me to look at the silver lining. We probably won't have a hard time getting her to keep her room clean!

June/July Update from Steven

Steven Rushing — 2007-08-02T08:47:59-10:00

I haven't updated in too long, which is normally when I update! Um, Jason posted a great post on our marathon experience in California, but he left out that small part about how he motivated and pushed me, and seriously laid back so as to finish with me. As proof, he just ran the San Francisco Marathon in 4:40 (we ran ours in 5:38). Congratulations to Jason!

I have spent quite a bit of time recently fighting scammers online. I really hate scammers, who prey on trusting (or ignorant) web shoppers and steal their money. One of the scammers was sending out email that looked like it was from ebay and sent you to a webpage that looked like it was from ebay. It was hosted on a yahoo hosted domain and I contacted Yahoo and got them yanked. I actually tracked them to the middle of Russia and got a call from an FBI rep. It was actually pretty cool.

The second was a CraigsList scam, where people were attempting to have people Western Union them money for computers that they would never get. It was quite a complex setup actually. I tracked them to a guy in Virginia and when I called him up to yell at him and such he played stupid. Well, he was stupid, or computer stupid at least. Just an older guy who had scammers pull his name out of a phone book and register domains under his name and address. I really felt bad for him. So then I contacted his hoster (who happened to be Microsoft Live) and instructed them about the scam, and about how I had talked to the person the domains were registered to and that his identity had been stolen and he wanted them out of his name immediately. So they got shut down by Microsoft and the guy seemed to be grateful.

So that is pretty much been my last couple of weeks. =) Stay tuned for cool stuff from Jason and me. =)

Scars

Steven Rushing — 2007-07-12T16:43:12-10:00

Did you know if you type "c-section" in Google's images pages the most popular picture is Britney Spears climbing out of a car without underwear where you can see her faint c-section scar? Most are edited with a heart or a kitty or an "oops" covering her so it's "decent." Did you also know that in the year 2005 (when Seporah was born) 30.9% of babies were born via c-section? That's essentially 1 in 3 babies. The WHO recommends the c-section rate be no more than 15%, but because of a lot of factors mostly fear of litigation and malpractice rates as well as the preferring of physicians to practice 9-to-5, our country's not listening. When you think about it, that's a lot of women running around with a laughing smiling face scar on their abdomen. A lot of women unhappy about their bodies. Of course in our culture of photo shopped images of perfect women, can any woman really get through life without some animosity towards their bodies wether they have scars or not. So it's not so much the scars but the robbing of the entrance into motherhood. I get a daily reminder or that when ever I get dressed, it's pretty ugly, every single day.

I realized I'd never seen another c-section scar except mine, which prompted the wondering of what other's looked like and finding Britney Spears underwear-less. I did find another site though http://www.theshapeofamother.com/submissions/ This is a site where any women can send in pictures of their bodies to show others that they look pretty normal for post baby. On the front page it says, "It occurred to me that a post-pregnancy body is one of this society's greatest secrets; all we see of the female body is that which is airbrushed and perfect, and if we look any different, we hide it from the light of day in fear of being seen. That makes me want to cry. Sure we all talk about the sagging boobs and other parts, but no one ever sees them. Or if they do, it's in comical form, mocking the beauty that created and nourished our children." There is some nudity, but not pornographic. I thought it was a nice website. I've now seen a few more scars and I know mine is a lot bigger than most, but at least my stretch marks are no where bad as some (or at least not yet).

The Update from Outer Darkness!!

Steven Rushing — 2007-07-10T12:07:47-10:00

Well everyone, it's been quite a while since I have posted anything, so I felt that I needed to make myself known again. I have about two months to cover, so I'll start at the beginning and hopefully you all won't be asleep by paragraph two.

Well, work is going okay. Nothing really exciting is going on, just working hard at doing... nothing. I have been negatively counseled twice in the last two months over things that normally go by with a minor scolding. I showed up to Physical Training one morning without shaving and once I was about a minute and a half late. The former of these two offenses would normally be a very bad thing, except it was PT and not work.. One could argue they are one and the same, but such is really not the case. I shave when I shower.. a habit I developed from my father, and naturally I would not shower prior to going to get sweaty, because I'm going to shower afterwards. This makes perfect sense to me, though apparently... I'm in a minority as I was punished for this action. The second one is completely understandable, though it's a rather unsaid rule that you should receive a warning if you haven't made showing up late an issue prior. So.. One more goof up in the next two months, and I'm looking at administrative action against me. Nothing that bugs me in the slightest, mind you.. since I have already received my good conduct medal, and am realistically 8 months away from FREEDOM. (I need all of you to scream this as if you were William Wallace at your screens as you read this.. I did)

Steven, Maria, and Seporah came down for the San Diego Rock N' Roll Marathon last month, and we really had a blast. During this visit I learned a lot about myself that I was unaware of before. The first of which being that I am not a terribly public person. We went to the San Diego Zoo, and the only redeeming quality of this trip was watching Seporah try and experience everything through all 5 senses available to her all at once. That and Maria having a naturally witty demeanor. She makes me laugh... all the time.
After this trip we went back to the house, and I got the opportunity to have a REAL computer expert install a hard drive in my computer. Steven is definitely WAY more computer pro than I am. So... I have a new 500 gig hard drive I can fill with JUNK now :-). We went to bed way later than planned, and after having some pasta we felt we were definitely ready to run 26.4 miles the coming day.

The San Diego Marathon was AMAZING. We got there super early in the morning and thanks to Russell we were locked, cocked and ready to go. He got us there, to the starting line, and even got us there in time to enjoy some complimentary fruit and bread. Though the three of us were in different number segments, we all started together. They must have taken thousands of pictures of all of us smiling and waving goofily all the time. There were bands every two miles, and the music varied from country to rap, and everything in between. The water points and gel handouts were AWESOME, though I did note that I would not have wanted to be on the cleanup crew that stayed behind... if you were there while reading this... you know what I'm talking about. The three of us stuck together until about mile 20 where Russell decided to go for the gold, and show me and Steven how it was done... Which he definitely did. We had a lot of fun talking the whole time, to each other, and to strangers. It was actually.. A lot of fun. Maria and Pam were waiting for us at the finish line, and that meant more to me than anything else. I definitely think that having a group who actually cares about your accomplishments, waiting for you to finish because they are proud of you... is really awesome. If I find a girl dumb enough to marry me someday.. I hope she's just like Maria and Pam in this regard. Me and Steven finished nose to nose and I was dumb enough to lose my clocking thing.. So I didn't pick up a medal, but Steven insisted I keep his.. unselfish to the last. We finished nose to nose, with our tongue dragging the ground.. but we finished, and that's all that matters.
The next day I played sick and me and Steven sat around all day being stupid, but it was great to spend some time with this family and it's extensions. They are really awesome people.

The 18th of June I got Lasik Eye Surgery and am now contacts and glasses free :-). The entire experience was a little traumatic but I definitely think the end is worth the means. Dad came down and took care of me during this week of light sensitivity and eye drop accountability. I could NOT have lasted this week without him there to take care of me. I have the best dad I could ever ask for. I've been on the list for over a year, but they finally fit me in to get the surgery. Let me describe to you the entire procedure. They bring you in and put some drops in your eyes, and put you on your back in this machine. (I'd like to note the entire time they are hustling as if they are saving your heart, or are getting paid by the patient.. I'm not sure which it is). They hold your eyes open with this funny little metal hook and lower this machine down to your eye. (Imagine the mother ship coming to earth with a little conical piece sticking below it. It snaps and buzzes like a star wars torture device, but you don't really feel a thing. After they have done this to both eyes they bring you to the next room.. And you're completely blind. They lay you down again and make you look back into the spaceship and try and find Scottie's teleportation beam (my nomenclature, not their's). It's a small circle, but they've already cut these flaps in your eyes and are now arranging it so the laser can weld it back to your main eye. They have a machine that tells them when your at 100% and can begin but you have to arrange it first. I was in and out in a total of about 30 minutes but had to stand by and wait for the doctor to come back and tell me that I was good and could go home. The doctor says I was a bad patient.. not joking. I am naturally sensitive to light, so in a case like this.. It's 10x worse. The whole week dad babied me and let me be a whiner. I think he's had it up to his eyebrows with my negative attitude by now :-). He went home on Saturday morning and now, a month later, I am finally capable of tolerating bare light without the assistance of sunglasses or accompanied by tears and whine.

Um... I'm going the 27th to San Francisco to run the marathon on the 29th.. And am VERY excited to run across the Golden Gate Bridge.. It's going to be awesome :-).

Well, if you are still reading at this point.. Thank you very much for putting up with my nonsense and bad jokes.. I promise I'll update sometime between now and later, it's coming.. I just won't tell you when :-). Watch out! It could be now.... or now.... or now... REFRESH!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Steven Rushing — 2007-07-07T07:11:19-10:00

Yep that's right, we are seriously going to outnumber Dad! I thought I'd be disappointed if it wasn't a boy, but actually I'm pretty excited. I still don't know what I'm going to do with my blue layette, whoever has a boy next is going to be in luck. More than a little worried about when Seporah and the new one are teenagers, they are going to get in so much trouble together. But I don't have to worry about circumcision or getting shot in the eye or how much mud can fit inside jean pockets. We can all go shopping and get pedicures and maybe I'll even learn to french braid. So far though, I've got to do all the sex talks, I think that's unfair, Steven should have to do one. Maybe I'll make him do the drugs and alcohol talks.

We're really working on explaining to Seporah about the new baby. I thought she had it down because when I asked where the baby was she would come up and point to my belly. However apparently she doesn't because when Steven asked her where the baby was, she pointed to his tummy. And then this week Seporah and I went to the aquarium with a friend and her 4month old baby. I said "Look at baby Tosh, we have to be gentle with baby Tosh, etc." She looked at baby Tosh and said "Doll."

New site is live!

Steven Rushing — 2007-07-01T05:31:53-10:00

Heya! The new webpage is live and there are a couple of things we should go over. =)

First of all, there is now a way for everyone else to submit news to Rushing Around. Jason and I originally envisioned Rushing Around as being a place where all our families could keep in touch, submit photos and news and articles and the like. Obviously that hasn't happened and that is really ok. Märia and I and Jason keep the blogs coming in, and Russ comments and we are all happy. =)

Well, commenting is as easy as ever, and hopefully the new system will have significantly less spam. We were getting around 200 spam messages every day with the old system and I was just tired of mucking through it all. So Comment people!

Oh yeah, I was getting to this. So now it is super easy for all of you to submit your own personal or family news, your own blogs or articles or essays or recipes or anything else! Just click Blog, and then under Blog it will say "Submit News". Click that and fill out the form. It is that simple! Same with reviews, which we are sorely needing. =)

Comments and Comment Spam

Steven Rushing — 2007-06-29T06:54:40-10:00

Well, I guess this post is aimed mostly at Russ, but hey, whatever. I haven't posted nearly as much as I should recently. I have been really bugged by comment spam on this blog, and I just get so tired of wading through it. Wordpress (the software that runs this site) is a great system, but it seems spam comments just seem to get through.

So there will be a relaunch soon with a more spam proof system. All of these posts will be backed up and hopefully the comments will as well. Thank you Russ for continuing to read (and anyone else who reads here, but he seems to be the one who comments) and hopefully we can get more readers when we relaunch.

This site will be a little more than just a family news site when we relaunch. I hope to have more reviews (movies, books, games, whatever) and recipes and links to pages and articles we have been reading.

It will be hosted on a new server which I will put a quick nudge in for. If you are looking for affordable webhosting, there is a great deal right now! If you get a ridethebandwagon.com account right now, you get free webhosting on DreamHost for a year!

Details are here.

"Seporah's a Russell"

Steven Rushing — 2007-06-28T15:28:03-10:00

So I was thinking about when we go to Washington in December and I said "Hey, we should go to the Melting Pot!" This is a really good fondue place for those who don't know. It's fun, you go with friends and eat fondue together. It's also kinda nicer, so I asked Steven if he thought Seporah would be mature enough to go. He said, "No, Seporah's a little Russell." Anyone who knew Russell as a child (or heard the many stories ;) knows exactly what he meant.

"Hello, look at me, I'm suppose to be the center of attention!"

Steven Rushing — 2007-06-23T17:51:41-10:00

We all went to the water park today and had a lot of fun. We went in the little kids pool with little slides, water guns, sprinklers and other such children's swim stuff. It was also packed with, you guessed it, kids and their parents. Now Seporah is a very active, very social toddler. She loves to talk and she loves to be the center of attention. The toddler's handbooks say toddler's think the world revolves around them and even though there are several parts of the handbook she obviously has not read, she has that concept down pat. So there were all these new people and Seporah is so excited. She swims around (with her floaties, she's actually quite good at it) and says to everyone "Hi! Hi! Hi!" Except for no one's listening, they're all playing and having fun. Seporah didn't mind initially, but after a while no one was saying hi back or telling her she was the cutest thing in the world and I don't think I have ever seen her more disappointed. It was so sad. Steven and I tried to make up for it the best we could, but Seporah doesn't know she should be more than a little worried about the competition she's going to get in a few months.

Motherhood and Showering

Steven Rushing — 2007-06-21T04:29:40-10:00

If you ask any mom with young children what they consider a good day, most will respond with something along the lines "I got a shower sometime in the last 24 hours and I ate more than leftover cheerios." Before I had Seporah I took ridiculously long baths. Sometimes 2 or 3 a day. They were a way to wind down. I had an arrangement of bubble baths, bath salts, bath cubes, a bath pillow for goodness sakes. So these answers often worried me. Would I even get a shower let alone a bubble bath? Well thankfully, except for the day after Seporah was born when I wasn't allowed out of bed and the week when Steven retiled the bathtub (I did get clean that week, don't worry), I have had a shower or a bath every single day. Usually I get more than leftover cheerios too, so to most moms, I've had 18 months (minus 8 days) of good days.

Now usually in order to get my bath, I take it with Seporah. But I wonder as she's getting bigger and I'm getting bigger how this is going to work when there's 2 of them. We can't all fit in our bathtub (it's on the smaller size and the babes are only getting bigger is my thought). Do I let one scream bloody murder while I try to clean the spit up out of my hair? Or will I most likely be one of those mom's who finally say "I got a shower last Tuesday and macoroni and cheese for lunch, that was a pretty good day."

Weight and Babies

Steven Rushing — 2007-06-07T10:52:42-10:00

Warning: this really is about weight and babies, it could get really boring if you don't care about this. But well, I'm a mom of a 17month old, it's geneticly encoded in me to worry. End of Warning.

I'm a pediatric nurse, I've seen quite a few underweight babies, and also some on the overweight size. My thoughts always were if a baby's underweight according to the growth charts check out Mom and Dad first to see if they're 5'1" or if the baby's truly underweight or just smaller. And big babies, well the bigger the better. As long as parents weren't feeding them steak and potatoes at 3 months, I was cool with that.

Then I had my own baby, if anyone remembers Seporah had rolls upon rolls of fat, a Michelin baby if there ever was one. Out growing her infant carseat at 5 months (and wearing 2T clothes at the time). I loved it, she was a healthy baby. Until her 6 month appointment, I was told she was too fat, her pediatrician said I had to curb the eating. The nurse in me said, whatever, she's 6 months old I am not putting her on a diet, the growth charts are outdated and Dad's 6'3". The mom in me said, I don't want a fat daughter, that's social suicide, it's even worse than a fat son.

I did put her on a 'sudo-diet,' whatever shouldn't have listened but I did. She got all the vegetables and rice cereal she wanted, I think it amounted to about 16oz a day, but she could only have 24oz of formula. So I never let her go hungry, but instead a bottle everytime she got a lot more baby foods then I think she should have gotten at 6 months. I don't agree with the current trend to start giving babies rice cereal at 4 months, it's not good for their digestive tract. Wait until 6 months. That's my thought.

So I was reading and the World Health Organization has developed a new growth chart for children. No it's not edited to include bigger children, it's edited to show the way babies SHOULD grow. The original growth charts were based on white middle class Americans that were bottle-feed. These new charts were developed using children in 6 different countries that were exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months. The WHO found that babies gained more weight initially in the first 6 months and tappered off from there, instead of steady climb in formula-fed babies (FYI: the charts are intended to be used for both breastfeed and bottlefeed babies and through all ethnicities, remember these are charts showing how babies should grow, not how a random group of babies did grow at one point in time).

Looking at Seporah's growth on these new charts, she was right on track. She was indeed right at or above the 95% the whole first year (Steven and I still are pretty big compared to other people), however she wasn't way off the charts like she had been with the old charts. Especially seeing as for the first 4 1/2 months she was brestfeed. I think if these charts had been developed sooner, many mother's would continue to breastfeed longer and wait longer to introduce "real" food to larger (and even smaller) babies. My grandmother, Mom and I were all told our babies were either not gaining enough or had too much weight with at least one baby. And I'm betting every baby was just fine.

In our society we are so worried about weight, before they're even born, weight is an issue. It's far better to let babies be babies and eat what they want. Instead of forcing them to eat more, or stopping them from eating as much.

There's my thoughts for whoever actually read this. I don't think my thoughts are read by any mothers with young children. But if they are and you'd like the link to the growth charts to give to your pediatrician who says your baby's too big or small, here it is:

http://www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/en/

My Thoughts on Voting

Steven Rushing — 2007-05-17T11:19:13-10:00

I do not vote.

Nope, I sure don't. My father's not very proud of that, but there you go. When I tell people this they smile and say, "Well at least you didn't vote for _____." Why you may ask do I not vote, is it because I don't really care and don't have an opinion, well yes partly that. But the real reason, is no one gives it to you straight. Steven likes to listen to Glenn Beck and Dr. Laura Love and a few other people who I can't remember their names. He listens to them because they're just about as conservative as he is and he agrees with them about 98% of the time. He wouldn't listen to the liberal propagada for more than 30 seconds once a month. And then it's just to say they're making it up as they go and they have no idea what they're talking about. He says I've got some liberal ideas, especially for a Mormon chick. I like Ayn Rand and Kurt Vonnegurt, one day I told him so. To which he says no wonder you've got some messed up ideas, you actually read that junk? He thinks colleges are inheritly evil as 95% of instructors are liberal and stuff eager young minds with false ideas.

So either you read Kurt Vonnegurt or listen to Dr. Laura and get a one-sided view. No one gives you an unbiased opinion. When I sit there and listen to someone talk about a polictical candidate, they seem to know what they're talking about and have the facts. But then you talk to another person about another candidate and THEY seem to know what they're talking about and have the facts. It's all far too confusing and I don't feel like wading through the crap for hours and hours on end to vote for someone to sit in the office and make decisions about this country. According to most people the politicians are lieing anyways and it seems to me it'll all end up about the same if Hilary Clinton or Mitt Romney gets the oval office.

Introducing the New SeporahsCrib.com

Steven Rushing — 2007-04-28T00:39:38-10:00

It has been a work in progress for a long time. Basically life has just been too busy and I always take on too many projects. But I completed the new SeporahsCrib tonight. There is still a little fixing up to be done here and there, but the blog is kind of going now. We will try to make sure Seporah keeps it updated. =)

Email Seporah at Seporah@SeporahsCrib.com!

Environmental quote

Steven Rushing — 2007-04-17T21:11:20-10:00

I just loved it!

"There are many reasons to shift away from fossil fuels, and we will do so in the next century without legislation, financial incentives, carbon- conservation programs, or the interminable yammering of fearmongers. So far as I know, nobody had to ban horse transport in the early twentieth century." Michael Crichton, State of Fear

Long overdue realization

Steven Rushing — 2007-04-16T20:07:33-10:00

You know that whole covet commandment? Thou shalt not covet your neighbors wife and all that? It really has little to do with adultery or theft, and everything to do with being content. I always thought of coveting as only being bad insomuch as it led to worse sins (such as the above two), but that simply isn't what it is about.

It is about priorities. About choosing to live within your means. About being happy with what we have. About being grateful.

La la la. Cheese Cheese.

I have a confession to make...

Steven Rushing — 2007-04-12T10:11:04-10:00

Today I bought kid cuisines for my daughter...Yeah, there is just no energy in me to cook. I think they're worse than a McDonald's Happy Meal, and there's no toy to justify the high fat and calorie content.

Easter

Steven Rushing — 2007-04-08T07:41:06-10:00

You may remember the the analogies for the atom given in your 5th grade science class. It was often either a piece of paper with a dot in the middle or a football stadium with a football in the middle. You remember the football or the dot represented the nucleus, and then flies spinning around the stadium would represent the electrons. See, scientifically the atom is 99.99999% empty space. And yet we are all made up of atoms. I can feel things. Everything is made up of atoms. And ALL atoms are almost completely "empty".

It is often said that few people use 10% of their brains. What if we could use more?

What if we could capture the empty space? Use it? What is supposed to be there?

How many of you remember making sugar crystals in science class? Do you remember how it was done? You start boiling water. And start adding sugar. You can actually put 4 cups of sugar in a single cup of water! Certainly not at room temperature, but boiling it, you get a concentration of sugar. What if we could concentrate our atoms? Or our brains? What would we be capable of?

The "Big Bang" theory states that all we know of as matter, all that is in the universe, was once compacted into the size of a needle point. Think one massive (and yet incredibly small) black whole. (puns are fun!=) How concentrated is that?

Not as concentrated as what I am about to tell you about.

You all know the story. Nearly 2000 years ago, the greatest concentration in the history of history occurred. All of the sin, infirmities, wrongs, injustices, and weaknesses in the story of humanity fell upon the shoulders of one man. The weight of it literally crushed him, and his body exuded blood as if it were sweat. It was as if he boiled the sugar of the world into a single drop of water. It was impossible for us to even bear our own sins. And yet he bore them all.

Where does that leave us?

It leaves us taking up our crosses.

Many of you remember the illustration of humanity (you!) on one side of a chasm, and God on the other. The chasm was always labeled sin. We can build and build and build all we want, but without the help of the atonement of the Savior, we can't get to the other side. That doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying. But it does mean we have to accept his help, his atonement.

Remember the poem Footprints in the sand? The Lord will carry us in the hardest times, but when we can, we must walk for ourselves, and walk beside Him.

He has done His part. We must do our part.

Love thy enemies. Love thy neighbor. All that stuph.

Home

Steven Rushing — 2007-03-18T00:03:44-10:00

Well, Everyone.. It's been ENTIRELY too long since you have heard from me, and I figured I'd tell you a bit of a human tale. See Fairy Tales are highly exagerated, fictional stories about real people that the fairies happen to respect, love, or hate. Fairies are quite destinctly the worst liars ever. This is a human tale, it is mildly exagerated (for comical use only of course), truthful story about someone in which the author is well versed with. In this particular case, the author and main character is myself, so please bare with me as fairy tales, for all their heros and glamour, are much more entertaining :-).

So we left Fallujah about a week ago, It was a long seven months and I was definately looking forward to getting home to the states, and enjoy the company of family and non-pre cooked food. So Finally our day arrived and we took a helicopter from Fallujah to TQ and got basic free run of the base as long as we keep the shadow principle. Now I'd like to discuss this 'shadow principal' for a moment. The Marine Corps likes to give nomenclature to terms that could be quite easily described in other words.. and they do this ALOT in a certain circumstance.. When the Army already calls it by it's common sense name. See you are not allowed to go anywhere without a 'shadow' because were we to get attacked, or hurt, there will always be someone there to help you resolve the situation. Just as your shadow is incapable of leaving you, so is your human shadow, he follows you wherever you go, and this way you are 'safer'. So if I might put this another way.. if you ever have a combat or battle oriented situation... you will always have a buddy to witness your demise, as accountability is paramount. In some small instances he might even be able to help you survive whatever mortal situation arises, as in a broken leg.. making this a nonmortal situation... but in most cases, It's usually what I like to call Lion math. If you and a buddy are getting chased by a lion out to kill you... you don't really have to outrun the lion.... you just have to outrun your friend who is running from the lion. Now though we are all knowledgable of a lion which lacks courage.. if the Lion has Pride... you're both kinda screwed. I have regressed... So if you have a Battle situation you have a Buddy to help you out. So the army calls this a 'Battle Buddy'.. makes sense right? Well the marine corps, in the persuit of being NOTHING like the army, calls this the 'shadow principle'. "The shadow principle is in effect." Which we all know means we have to go everwhere with a 'shadow' or buddy.

I know what you're thinking.. why am i really complaining about this? I'm getting there.. okay... I'm here. This system does not bother those who would normally try and travel in packs anyway, this system bothers those of us who are generally turned off the topics of conversation and compulsion to oogle in detail about everything with opposing chromosomes. It actually turns my stomache. So TQ was spent with two friends who are a bit abnormally negative in nature, but are quite opposite to the destructive behavior I find everywhere else with my peers. I spent alot of time running in circles.. as I did not have a 'shadow' willing to go running... and staring at the ceiling :-). So after two days of this we are told to pack our bags.. we are going to Kuwait early.. WOO HOO!!

So we pack our bags and jump on a C-17, being entertained by an Air Force crew which apparentely think immitations of SouthWest employees are blatently hilarious. I would like to state at this point in time that, though this flight was uncomfortable.. it was FAR better then flying in a C-130... for those of you who are unaware of the difference... I do not have the mastry of the English language required to express the level of discomfort provided by a C-130 ride that lasts longer than twenty-two seconds. I would also like to note, that I personally believe there is a conspiracy between the marine corps and the Air Force. The Marine Corps pays pilots on the side to fly in circles making all uncomfortable flights twice as long as they are required to be... I am completely convinced of this... because when you fly on a C-130 and there are only 10 people on board.. you get to your destination in like 10 minutes. When you fly in a C-130 with 75 people on board; with your knees interlocked and the two fat guys on either side of you bleeding into your seat.. bringing on 3 carry-ons, none of which fit under their seat.. THAT flight takes two hours at a minimum :-). So after a mildly uncomfortable flight on a C-130 for about an hour and a half we arrived in Kuwait.

Kuwait... WOW... um I have nothing positive to say about the guys who get stationed here. These army guys wandered around yelling at marines to salute officers.. and just in general... acting very garrison and ultimately acting as if we were 'on their turf' *blink* Okay.. losers.. you just deployed to a NON combat zone with a McDonalds, Pizza Hutt, Subway, a fully staffed USO, and the entire base is covered with ways to call home and tell mom and dad about how much you miss them.. AHHH I was very upset with the locals here.. and will NOT continue in this regard. After three days of getting harassed by the locals and by our own chain of command (this is normal, and a part of being in the military :-) It's to be expected) We are finally packed up and taken to the buses to head back to the airport to go through Customs...
Customs!! oh my gosh! lol, we dump everything, and they make sure we aren't taking back bags of sand to our family back in the states. *blink* I'm going to be honest with you... I think sand would be a lousy gift :-) But that's just me.. So they look through all our stuff to make sure we aren't bringing back guns, knives, or ears.. human or otherwise. After going through my underwear and cd collection I am told to repack both of my bags and go help the x-ray guy. If you guys ever get to look at the x-ray machine that scans baggage.. it's WAY cooler than you'd think it is. You can't exactly tell whatever thing is, but it's alot more fun than you'd imagine. So I got to help the AirForce guys scan everyone's stuff looking for rifle rounds, hand grenades, and thermo-nuclear devices. We found a few of the first, and none of the other two. I was alittle relieved and alittle disappointed.. I think looking at either with the x-ray machine might have been interesting in a non-lethal fashion.

So we load the aircraft up and all smoosh all 400 of us into a twin engine commercial sesna. Now.. some of you reread that sentance a second time.. and that's because you are aware that I just named off a plane which could not have seated a tenth of the given number. This was a joke :-). We were pretty cramped though :-). But at this point.. we're all going home... so you put up with what you have to to get back to the ones that you love. We landed in germany and I got to laugh at the alcoholics who were informed they were not allowed to get drunk. You have never seen anger until you promise a bunch of marines they can get drunk and then take away the ability to drink for ONE more day until you send them back to a four day holiday and all the tax free money they allowed themselves to walk away with... lol very comical :-). After reloading the plane we fly to Baltimore where we dropped off a bunch of Air Force guys, making the plane alot more comfortable until we finished our flight all the way to california. We unloaded the jet and all hopped into buses taking us back to where some people had family waiting for them. We all turned in our rifles and then got to go on a four day holiday.. :-)

Things brings me to where I am today.. I am in California staying with the family which adopted me three years ago. Enjoying civilian clothes, and a completely lack of military personel around me.

I am glad to be home.. and I have come home with all appendages and phelanges attatched. Thank you for your prayers.. I missed you guys!

Just incase someone doesn't know...

Steven Rushing — 2007-03-17T00:09:56-10:00

Seporah's gonna be a BIG sister. We're like 5 weeks along and expecting little Oren (feeling boy vibes) in the middle of November.

Steven in Training

Steven Rushing — 2007-02-26T09:53:46-10:00

As many of you have read on my blog, I recently completed the 8 mile Great Aloha Run. You can read about my experience there, but to be succinct, crossing the finish line with 20,000 other people was absolutely amazing. It literally had me waxing poetic! (ok, so the poem was a requirement of my creative writing class, and NO, you can't read it=) But seriously though, There is nothing quite like running with so many people, and finishing the race.

So many of you know Jason actually challenged me to run the Rock 'n Roll San Diego Marathon with him. 26.2 miles. Whow. I knew I would need some training. So as a practice run, I did the Great Aloha Run. Roughly 1/3 the distance of a marathon.

Well, in this packet that I was given for the GAR, was a flier for Team in Training. So let me tell you a little bit about Team in Training. Team in Training is a branch of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They research and treat blood cancers like Leukemia, lymphoma and Hodgkin's Disease. Forgive me if my facts or spelling are a little off, I am neither a Doctor nor an English Teacher. =)

Team in Training is made up of individuals who want to train with a group for marathons, triathlons, iron man competitions and other such endurance races/events. Endurance is one of the traits cancer patients must have, or learn, to win their battle against cancer. (you will also need it to finish reading this "quick" write up!) Team in Training gives motivation to athletes (I can call myself that if I finish the marathon can't I? =) along with professional training, weekly group runs and lots of discounts at certain stores, similar to a AAA membership.

What members do (read - me!) is commit to raise money towards cancer research. I have committed to raising $4500 towards the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. This number is not arbitrary. Essentially Team in Training calculates how much money it costs to fly me to San Diego, put me in a hotel 3 nights, feed me 3 days, register me for the race, and put on weekly training events until the race (June). Then it multiplies that number by 4, so that you know that 75% of all money donated goes straight to Cancer Research.

I am not hurting for money. M√§ria and I could easily pay to get to San Diego and stay in a hotel (and we planned to! We will still be paying her way). But this is a way for me make a difference to a child with leukemia. This is a way that we can join together and make a difference. In the past 30 years we have gone from 20% survival rate among new leukemia patients to 80%. With more research and treatment, we can cure cancer. People have been saying that for years. Only time and money can make it a reality.

Many of you know that I recently lost my Grandmother to cancer. It was a very different cancer, but I know the pain that families who care for cancer victims go through. I hope to run to ease that pain. 26.2 miles. Really, hundreds and hundreds of miles in preparation for that 26.2 miles.

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission.
Click here to make a donation

All her many words

Steven Rushing — 2007-02-25T05:45:58-10:00

Well since we no longer update Seporah's Crib, just too much to do, I thought I'd give an update on Seporah's many words. First is the words she says and then how they sound:

yes-yeah
no-NO!
Mom-mamama
Dad-dadada
one-wone
two-do (Grandma Pam taught her to count to 2, it's pretty cute)
hi-hi
bye-bye
ball-bal
baby-babie
book-bok
duck-dak
puppy-pee!
Josh-dosh (she's been asking for you since we left)
stop-zope!
bird-bud
milk-mil
juice-jew
owie-owie
look at that-shoe! (we're not sure how this one came about, but when she says shoe it means look at that or look at me)

Yeah, she's so big now. She runs all around the place and she can get on a chair and voice her many opinions and pick out her own books. Steven and I both think having a toddler is significantly better than having a newborn, despite popular opinion. She's not quite 14 months, but I'm already looking forward to potty training (mostly just the stop of diaper changing, she will not sit still for me). She's almost always has a smile for us and is the happiest girl on the block (except for when we went on vacation and got sick, too bad). She loves to laugh and make jokes (she's got quite a sense of humor already). So that's me raving about my daughter.

Well, it wasn't a marathon...

Steven Rushing — 2007-02-19T11:15:02-10:00

But it was fun all the same.

Today I ran the Great Aloha Run. It starts at Aloha Tower and goes to Aloha Stadium, and is 8.13 miles (although I am not sure if they count the part where you run all the way around the stadium=).

Those of you who really know me know I have something of a complex about being on time. M√§ria says I start hyperventilating if it looks like I won't be 30 minutes early, but I don't think it is quite that bad. So the race starts at 7, so I leave the house at 5am. I drive down to the stadium, and get there by about 5:20. I drove ALL OVER, and couldn't find how to get in there! I wasn't even sure that was where I was supposed to be actually. I knew there was a shuttle bus, but wasn't sure if it was from the stadium to the starting line, or from the stadium after the race back to the starting line where you parked your car. It ended up actually being both, so some parked at the stadium and some down by Waikiki, but I didn't know that at the start.

So I am driving around, and EVERYTHING is blocked off. All of Nimitz was blocked off, and most of down town, and all around the stadium, so I couldn't figure out how to get in! So I just decide to drive down to the starting line (or as close as I can get) and everything down there was blocked off too!

Long story short, I ended up driving back to the stadium, getting there at 6:29, and jumping in the LAST shuttle bus headed for the stadium. Barely made it!

So we get to the starting line and everybody is pumped! They said that roughly 20,000 people were running. The cannon went off at 0700, and I didn't get to the starting line until something like 0710, something like that. Plus or minus a minute.

So I ran. It is amazing the people I saw. Lots of Japanese and European tourists. Children (I couldn't keep up with a kid who couldn't have been older than 7). Seniors (a guy who was easily in his 70s breezed by me). Lots of highschool kids and locals. Every quarter mile or so there was a musical group or cheerleaders or a highschool band or choir, cheering us on.

So I know what most of you are probably wondering. "How long did it take you Steven?" Well, longer than it should've. I don't have an official time yet. It will be posted on the race webpage within 72 hours so they say. But my iPod says it took 1 hour, 34 minutes and 51 seconds. I had a playlist of U2 all spooled up, and I press play when the cannon went off. So you can subtract about 10 minutes from that, the time it took me to actually get to the starting line. I guess It took me roughly 1:25 to run 8 miles, or basically 10 mins and change per mile. Kind of slow, but I made it without walking. =)

So Jason and I are going to be running in the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Diego in June! This was just a trial run for that. Wish us luck!

Marathon and Such

Steven Rushing — 2007-01-25T20:43:09-10:00

Hey everybody! Well it's Sunday afternoon in Iraq, about 4:04 pm and the weather out here has been really windy and coldish. I say coldish because it's not really "cold" it's in the lower 60's. I'm sitting here and listening to Big Dismal. Wow, guys.. such a great band. It's a slow day really, though I got to talk on Aim for a lot of it. We're pretty close to coming home now, just a little more time.

Okay, well after a moment of back thought I realize now that I have very little of literal consequence to report, thought my days has been filled with GREAT emotional events. I figure, if you don't mind terribly I'd tell you about the marathon. I completed it! I finished in 4 hours and 35 minutes. The course for a normal marathon is flat and straight, but the course we had, had slants and rocks, off road, on road.. lol.

The person I ran with was a Legal Officer named Chris. And I will not lie.. without him I wouldn't have made it. About 12 miles in, I wanted to quit and he told me that I just had to keep going. The course was about 8 miles around, We did three aps of these 8 mile loops and then ran 2 miles inner perimeter (big circle) to finish at the finish line. It was Chris' best marathon type yet, and I believe it was his 4th. After you complete each lap you get a bracelet to prove you completed that lap, first green, then blue, then black. Then you run the inner perimeter (2.4 miles) and then back to the finish line, where they are playing "Eye of the Tiger."

When I got done, I saw something I've never seen in the marine corps before. EVERYONE, no matter what branch, were hugging, patting each other on the back and having just a general expression of love festival. "You did a great job!" "You kept me going, I couldn't have done it without you!" "No, YOU rock" lol and such. Every person who started the run and completed became a member of the marathon club, which in my opinion is also a great feat. Afterward my legs were DYING, and for two days I did nothing but the absolute minimum of movement. I was a bit of a local celebrity around the ram (my company) as the only guy in our Unit to have participated. There were a lot of people who claimed they were going to run, but I actually did it.

So anyway.. I'm going to run another one in June maybe, and Steven might be joining me! Thank you for everyone who prayed for me, and believed in me! You guys rock! You kept me going! You guys do a great job! :-)

Jason

Grandpa Russ reporting in...

Steven Rushing — 2007-01-19T06:15:55-10:00

I read Lonnie's very first posting today and thought I would follow in his footsteps by posting an entry, too. Just remember Lonnie, spring is on the way.

Pam and I (Märia's mom and dad) just returned from our first-ever cruise. We celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary by doing a 7-day eastern Caribbean cruise. We visited Nassau (Bahamas), St Thomas (US Virgin Islands), and St Martens (Netherlands Antilles). While in our various ports of call we went snorkeling on a coral reef, mountain bike riding, and snorkeling on three ship wrecks. We also enjoyed some of the best food anywhere; we both gained 10 pounds to attest to the quality and quantity of the food.

One of the coolest moments on the cruise happened while we were in Nassau. There was a beautiful 100-foot sail boat at the dock, and it was named, Scheherazade. I knew my granddaughter was special but I did not know she had friends in the Caribbean who named their boat after her.

I highly recommend that everyone go on at least one cruise, if for nothing else than to check it out. We are sold on it and will go on another cruise next year probably the western Caribbean (Cozumel, Belize, Grand Cayman, and Nassau). Maybe we can talk Steven and Märia into joining us; I am sure Seporah‚Äôs Uncle Josh would love taking care of her for a week.

To celebrate our anniversary cruise, we are going to Disneyland. I have not seen my favorite mouse in a couple of years and look forward to it. We are excited that Seporah has talked her mom into coming to visit us in Washington next month. Spoiling my granddaughter is my favorite past time and I guess her mom can have fun, too!

I am pleased to welcome Jason Rushing into the marathon club! When folks ask why on earth we would run 26.2 miles; we just say because it was there. I don‚Äôt think you can properly explain the thrill of crossing the finish line after running for so many hours. My only question to Jason is, when are you going to run your second marathon; once you catch the bug, running becomes a part of you!

Well, here is to everyone having a happy and prosperous new year!

Lonnie's Post

Steven Rushing — 2007-01-17T10:50:10-10:00

Well, this is my first post here so bear with me. I never quite know what to say since my life is so much more boring than everyone elses. I go to work and come home and go to work again. So exciting!!

We have a major new task occuring at work. There is a new program coming on line at work. It will have major changes in how TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice) will conduct business. As Extraditions Unit leader, I have been responsible for working with the programmers and helping them to understand how we conduct business so that they can implement our business model into the new program. Believe me, they have picked my brain and I hope I gave them enough information to make a good new model for us. Tomorrow, I get to demonstrate it and train my unit on the new program. Won't that be fun - NOT!! I hope it goes well tomorrow

For those of you who haven't noticed, Central Texas has been in the grips of an ice storm that has not been seen here in many years. It has been below freezing for almost 60 hours. While we may have a brief respite tomorrow, it will begin again on Friday and continue into next week. For the first time since I have been working for TDCJ, our office has been closed for 2 straight days. Only emergency and essential operations have been working. That is unheard of for our agency. I did go into work for a few hours this afternoon because I knew there would be some things that would need to be handled. All that was at work, as for as non-essential personnel, was myself and my Director. I got some training done on our new system which I really needed to do.

In other news, I am very glad to hear that Jason finished his marathon. Congratulations!! - You are a really sick person (not really - LOL). That is a major accomplishment and I salute you.

Well, nothing else to really report. I hope to write again soon. Hope I didn't bore anyone too much.

Lonnie

Starfish and Sand dollars.

Steven Rushing — 2007-01-10T23:27:36-10:00

lol this won't be another post like the last one. Well, it's been a bit since I posted, so I figured I'd drop another line to let you guys know that I'm still alive and kicking. Well, alot of people have been breaking their laptops lately so i've been pretty busy out troubleshooting and keeping everyone's connection up. You'd be amazed the problems I see. "it won't turn on!" (it's not plugged in) "I can't recieve emails!" (they have it in 'offline mode') "what's my login name?" (it's your first.last name?!! how can you forget your name?!!) AHHHHHH.

Well, I found out that i'm noyt being put in for any recognition on this deployment.. lol no big surprise there. I guess i don't really care, since i'm about a year and 3 months from getting out and never looking back. I find the marine corp has one view point on the measure of a marine. A hard charging devil-dog who wants to destroy the enemy, physically fit enough to fight the dragon in the commercial (btw.. that's why I joined.. but apparently they only bring the dragon out for commercials.. how lame), and is ready to follow his leaders to the moon without deviation... It also helps you to fit in at your own level if you want to be the impersonal father of the entire next generation, can drink your weight in alcohol, and can lie about the previous two activities without any level of believability. In case you are trying to see where I do and don't fit in those requirements.. I'll go ahead and draw an analogy for you.

The marine corps wants to see a strong unified front.. like.. a formation of starfish. Starfish come in all different sizes, and unlike the tv wants you to believe, they sometimes have 6 arms, and sometimes have 4, but the majority have 5. Some are fat and others are skinny, some have large spikes and others have small, they vary in shades of color and in behavior. If you put all those starfish in a gigantic formation.. a big box with equal amounts in all rows and different but equal amounts in all columns.. the point is to look down all the 'starfish' and not really find anything that sticks out to much. The 6 armed starfish would stick 2 arms together and try and make it appear to be just one big, thick arm.. while the lighter shades of colored starfish would hold their breath to become a brighter color. The skiny ones would puff up to appear larger and the larger ones would do ANYTHING to make themselves look smaller.. No one starfish will do anything to draw attention to themselves.. and they will do anything in their power to try and fit in more. In side that formation of starfish... I am a sand dollar. Despite all efforts, There is nothing that I can do to try and fit in.. and though I can be JUST as useful as every other starfish there.. no starfish will ever admit to needing a sand dollar.. even though the sand dollar may have proven to be far more useful than 90% of all the starfish around. Thus is my plight in life.. for another year. Lol.. but someday i'll be free :-)

Um.. I'm taking a Psychology class that I am doing well in, and have only a month left until the final and I can get more credits towards graduation. I'm praying that I'll get my associates in the year that I have left, but alot of that is dependant on the decision that will be made soon. The large troop flux that the President promised to send to Iraq, might end up keeping me here another 7 months, back to back. I guess I wouldn't mind that much except I really had hoped to see the girl that makes my heart go pitter-patter.. when I got home. Well.. everything has it's day, and He promised to make all things new.. so I'll just pray for now, that I am able to go home.. pray with me on that one okay?

Um.. hey I signed up to run a marathon (26 miles) in a few days from now.. Mom says I can't do it because I haven't trained for it, but we'll see. I'm drinking alot of water, and looking forward to the bragging rights when I get back. Pray for me on that one too :-). If I finish I get to have a t-shirt to prove it:-). um.. I weighed in on the 10th at 221, So according to the scale I've lost 21 lbs since I got here. I think their scale is alittle off, but I'm definately gung ho about getting another 10 lbs off so I won't have to worry about anyone trying to stop me from picking up Sergeant. I rate a score now, and am not really even close to having it. I'll probably pick it up about 6 months from now, and will have a good 7 months to yell at people and tell stories about it on here.

So.. I guess I'll close with the comment that I have the best brother on the face of the planet, and his wife is definately the coolest sister-in-law ever. And I'm not just saying that because they are the only ones who read this blog ;-). I wonder if he remember going up on top of the mountain with Dad and flying kites.. good times :-)

I love you guys.. and I'll talk to you in a few days.. after I'm a marathon runner!

To the Big Island

Steven Rushing — 2007-01-05T04:09:13-10:00

We're off to the big island for a couple of days (YEAH!!!) So we probably won't be as accessable. Hope everyone's New Year is going well.
Märia

The Month of December

Steven Rushing — 2006-12-20T13:50:53-10:00

Well, everyone.. it's currently 3:46 am on December 21st, 2006. I always like to add the year whenever I write an intro as compelling as that one.. You all can glance it up and down, and if you are lucky.. turn to the person next to you and say something like, "He must think we don't know what year it is." And the two of you can laugh over something so simple as an unnecessary specification :-). Back onto topic, It's 3:46, three days into Hanukkah and three days from Christmas Eve. It's amazing how you spend enough holidays away from home, that you don't really seem to mind it as much anymore, I know what you're thinking.. if I TRULY didn't mind I wouldn't even be making mention of it in this small update entry, but I honestly felt I needed to make the point that I really don't care about the "Christmas season" before I stated how much I love the month of December.

America has commercialized Christmas beyond any semblance of what it once was.. It is not longer the celebration of a true gift that Yeshua (Jesus) was to us from the Father. It has become all about getting into the 'spirit of Christmas'. Were the spirit of Christmas, a complete focus on the gifts that the Father has given us.. Yeshua... our families.. our friends... I would be fine. But, we must buy gifts.. we must want gifts... train our children to appreciate what they can rake out of life.. the gifts they can receive.. The symbols of Christmas.. other than a baby in a manger, surrounded by shepherds and wisemen, a virgin and a carpenter, with a star overhead... are all pagan symbols that we incorporated to give this holiday more spice. We even invent mythical creatures and people to add 'life' to the holiday.. (Frosty.. Santa Clause.. Rudolph..) we focus on things with no life to add life to a holiday that is supposed to be about the Gift that gave us true life. Am I the only one that is missing something?

Okay no more ranting and raving about the Christmas Season. I just wanted to make the point that my love for the month of December has nothing to do with said Holiday. If someone were to ask me what my favorite month of the year was, I would always tell them December. December has the chilly weather, but still holds the optimism for what will come. December holds the most memories for me. Memories of my family.. I remember when I was young, it was actually the last year of my childhood in which my brother and I posed for pictures together, This photo still sits in my grandpa's house. Please forgive me for my utter ignoral of grammer and sentence structure during this entry :-). My brother and I got train sets in the living room.. It was a room by the stairs, a room that was never used except for Christmas and as a spare bedroom for guests. I must have played with that train for a week straight, I was probably five or six, but I loved it. I probably broke it at the end of that week, but I do remember that I used the train station as a door bell for my room. Steven was the only one who ever used it.. everyone else would storm right past :-) I mean seriously.. how much privacy does a six year-old need? Steven let me win that fight though, I think for as long as it stood outside my door (which was probably only about as long as Grandma would tolerate hearing my door make choo choo sounds) Steven would diligently ring my doorbell anytime he needed some company on whatever scheme we had come up with that week. Go be hardy boys.. go pick at some bugs.. ride bikes.

When I think of December, I think of the cold.. which I prefer greatly to the hot, and a winter outside of Childress when I was 12. We lived in house outside of town that only had one or two heaters, for the 3 bedrooms. All six of us had to concentrate in one room to enjoy the heating, and I think during those years is when I learned to enjoy the cold. I opted to take the back room rather than sharing a room with my brother. That December we got 4 inches of snow.. in Texas.. that's a lot. I remember this weekend unbelievably well. And that is to say.. that nothing really happened. We went outside and threw snow balls at each other, but that didn't last long. For the remainder of the weekend i got under this gigantic blanket that my dad brought back from Korea, while he was in the service, and read books. No one bothered me.. I don't even remember getting up for meals, though I'm sure I was forced to eat one or two :-). I remember my step-mom going nuts and trying to force us to do chores, but my dad stood his ground and made her leave me alone. For the entire weekend.. I stayed in my room which probably isn't much larger than a walk-in-closet, and with my father's blessing I made a cocoon out of his favorite blanket.. and read stories of dragons.. of mysteries, and magic. :-) You probably are reading this and thinking that I've completely rambled off topic.. but honestly this entry is really about December, even if I do romanticize it a little.. this is truly how I remember the month of December.

Well.. I know you have a few questions.. and I'll even answer one or two of them. "Why write an entry about your favorite month?" or "What is special about this December?" Well, after voting with all present, it was decided I will answer your second question, and I must compliment you on your question asking skills! This December I will spend the month among the sand, among people.. that I'm supposed to love. I won't get to hug my brother.. or joke around with my dad. My grandpa won't get to be passing out the presents, but that's not really what's important. What's important is the act of giving. I'm grateful for my Family.. I have the best one on the face of the planet. But my Father has given me this December to be among men who have little hope.. and still no real Life. And so for December this year each day will be identical to the one prior to it, a goofy smile and an elbow to the ribs of the guy next to me. I'll tease him about his girlfriend, and He'll tell me that I'm whipped by mine. I'll ask him about his wife, and he'll ask me about my sister. I'll tell him he doesn't stand a chance and we'll probably end up wrestling or fake boxing over who gets the last Root Beer in the fridge. Then he'll get on the phone and I'll throw on a movie, or write out another episode of my little short stories. But at the end of the day.. I'll go to sleep knowing I'm the most blessed man alive.. Blessed from the Creator.. who has given me all I could ever ask for. A great dad to ask advice from, a Grandpa who pours out wisdom with every word he speaks, a big brother who, paired with his wife, make up the best fan club ever formed, and the month of December.. which I hope after you've read this.. will bring a smile to your face too.

2 interesting quotes. compare them if you will...

Steven Rushing — 2006-12-10T11:42:37-10:00

Quote 1:

"The function of propaganda is, for example, not to weigh and ponder the rights of different people, but exclusively to emphasize the one right which it has set out to argue for. Its task is not to make an objective study of the truth, in so far as it favors the enemy, and then set it before the masses with academic fairness; its task is to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly.

It was absolutely wrong to discuss war-guilt from the standpoint that Germany alone could not be held responsible for the outbreak of the catastrophe; it would have been correct to load every bit of the blame on the shoulders of the enemy, even if this had not really corresponded to the true facts, as it actually did."

Quote 2:

"There is a temptation for the writer or the teacher Of Church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not. Some things that are true are not very useful...

In an effort to be objective impartial, and scholarly a writer or a teacher may unwittingly be giving equal time to the adversary...

In the Church we are not neutral. We are one-sided. There is a war going on and we are engaged in it. It is the war between good and evil, and we are belligerents defending the good. We are therefore obliged to give preference to and protect all that is represented in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we have made covenants to do it."

Wii!!!

Steven Rushing — 2006-11-20T05:28:50-10:00

Well, I completed this quarter finally. I don't have my grades yet, but I think I got 2 As.

So I got to go to my first launch Saturday night. A friend from work and I were first in line. Out of the first 5 people, 4 had Nintendo DSs, so we all got to play multiplayer together and it was a lot of fun. We were in line about an hour and a half before GameStop opened up and we could pick up our Wiis. So let me give you some first impressions.

This is the console that will turn nongamers into gamers. I brought it home and we played it after church on Sunday, me, Märia and Russ. We all had a blast. And Russ can hardly be called a gamer.

Yeah, not much news. Sorry, check back soon for a highly controversial post. =)

Okies, all done!

Steven Rushing — 2006-11-16T12:21:33-10:00

Yeah, I am all done with the move. Heck, most of you didn't even notice! =) That's just how good I am! Okies, well SeporahsCrib isn't back up yet, but give me a day or two, and it will be back up with updates!

Going down for a bit

Steven Rushing — 2006-11-07T11:30:07-10:00

I have been paying a disgusting amount for web hosting, largely because I had planned for much more than I have been using. I have been paying roughly $60 every 3 months plus $15 a year for each domain. 4 domains makes that another $60 a year. My new hosting will be about $100 a year and free domains for life. Unfortunately it will take about 3 weeks for the domains to move over to the new server, so it looks like this site and SeporahsCrib.com will be down for about 3 weeks starting whenever they start it. Sorry folks, but we will be back and better than ever.

Sorry folks

Steven Rushing — 2006-11-02T06:14:46-10:00

Not that many of you care.

I have been forced to implement a new policy concerning comments. Basically I get too many mortgage, poker and porn spammers on my site to allow anyone to comment. Now you must register on the site to comment.

I would really like more of you to comment though. It makes me feel like someone is actually reading what I write, and cares. You can post a blog here too! All you need to do is click the register link (if you havnt already registered) in the upper right hand of the screen and start a blog! Anyways, the offer is open.

All Saints Day

Steven Rushing — 2006-11-01T05:02:14-10:00

What, you don't know what all Saints day is? Of course you don't. Heck, most American's don't even know what All Hallow's Eve is, even though they celebrate it! Here's a hint, it was yesterday...

Quick history of Halloween from Wikipedia. All Hallow's Eve is the pagan celebration of the dead. It fell on 31 October, the day they believed that the dead could reenter this world. Large communal bon fires were lit to ward off the evil spirits.

Ill give this to the pagan Celts: At least they were smart enough to want to ward off evil spirits. Now we dress our small children like ghosts and goblins and vampires and zombies and devils.

Last night I went "Trunk or Treating" at the church. Basically a bunch of church members show up at the church, park their vehicles, and pop their trunks which have been specially decorated all scary like. Then then give candy out of their trunks to little kids dressed up in costumes.

Well, let me give you my costume list. I didn't see every costume, but this is what I remember. There were at least 6 children with full face masks. Now most will not have an issue with this (myself included) but it was specifically prohibited at this church function, probably for security purposes. All of these face masks were inappropriate in my opinion, ranging from the Scream murderer to zombies to bloody scary people. There were several kids who came bloodied up. There were at least 5 girls wearing sexy costumes with fishnet stockings, ranging from the slutty nurse to the slutty vampire and slutty policeman (woman - gotta be pc here!). These girls were as young as 10 and as old as 16 (guessing).

We wonder why we have such a pedophilia problem in America today. I was talking to someone just a few days ago and she actually told me that she thinks it isn't ANY worse today, it is just more publicized. I think she is wrong. I think we have a pedophilia problem today because we sexualize our children.

Let me tell you women a secret that every man knows, but most will not admit. When we see a girl in a sexy vampire costume that fits tightly and has fishnet stockings, we LOOK before we look away. Shes sexy whether she is 14 or 40. As our culture tears down the modesty barriers that we put up to protect our children and families, pedophilia and divorce will continue to rise.

In any case, I write this to say that if I can't go to a church function without seeing little boys looking like the corpses from the movies their parents won't let them watch, and seeing little girls look worse than prostitutes, something is wrong. If no one at the church in authority has the intestinal fortitude to tell these children's parents that they are out of line and that they need to take their children home, something is wrong. And I don't want to hear anything about punishing the child for the parents mistake. Thats life.

If I can't deny that inappropriately dressed child candy (and tell them it is because of how they are dressed) because I will embarrass the people I am with, something is wrong.

This is most definitely my last trunk or treat. We shouldn't be celebrating this Celtic pagan holiday to begin with, much less at church.

Flippin comment if you have something to say

The Chicken Dance and Don't Eat Yellow Sand

Steven Rushing — 2006-10-24T08:53:08-10:00

Well here we are again. It's a Tuesday morning and I've already run around doing the chicken dance. (This is where I run around trying to figure out what in the world is going on! So now that I have completed said dance, my quota for dancing is over and I can calm down to write more on my short story and write alittle here, so that you all know I am still alive.

So... yeah I have NOTHING to report. Do you know I'm going bald? Seriously, It's really embaressing. I had one of my Corpsman (the medical squad) ask me if I had HIV disease. I was like.. um I am 99% positive there is no way I have HIV. That's a pretty good inside joke.. which most of you will laugh at. He then says.. "Are you sure you don't have 'Hair InVisible' Disease?" *blink*.... okay loser. that was completely unnecessary.. lol but anyway I shaved my head last week to see how I would look bald.. let's just say that I will be growing my hair out as FAST as I possibly can... lol. Some of you have asked me: What would you like as a ëyouíre out of the marine corpsí present? I guess Iíll just get have to think about it and answer that later.

Um, i know most of you are angry because I haven't called recently, but I haven't really touched a phone in over a week, so don't think any of you are being neglected. Because I'm neglecting you all collectively. :-)
Okay.. well we had a 'health and comfort' inspection yesterday. You see this is where someone who gets paid WAY too much money gets to come look through where we live and comment on how we live. It give them an opportunity to look for drugs, see if we are living in pigstyes and most importantly to see if we are peeing in bottles.. lol.

Okay, let's do some math, alright? You put 1 living area 500 yards away from the closest authorized restroom, and inform those 500 marines that they can only pee in the authoried restroom.. what do you get? You get 500 marines who are doing the 500 yard pee sprint at 3 am in the morning :-). Let's add in another issue though... You give those same 500 marines, who live 500 yards away from the closest authorized restroom, a million bottles of drinking water, and inform them that they HAVE to 'hydrate' drinking 6 of them a day. You get 500 marines who live 500 yards away from the closest authorized restroom, with 6 empty bottles that are in the same room with them, at 2 am in the morning when they have to pee VERY badÖ
a. You have a lot of healthy marines who have learned to do the 500 yard dash in 20 seconds.
b. You have 250 marines who pee the bed, and another 250 marines who drop 20 lbs and 2 minutes off their run time.
c. You have 500 bottles of urine come the dawn of the next day.
d. A puppy dog. (a dachshund)

Okay the Correct answer is C. But letís look at your other options.

Okay if you answered A. Then you have been brainwashed by the military.. this is the CORRECT military answer.. this is what they EXPECT to be done. This is what I do. I refuse to pee in a bottle especially while I have two roommates watching me do it.
If you answered B.. than you are º right. There is a small percentage who in fact pee their bed (probably smaller than 1% and there is probably a good 20% who run to the head in the middle of the night. But despite what steven may say with his Army pride.. :-) We as marines donít really wet the bed, at least not as collectively as the Army guys like to say we do ;-).

If you answered D.. um.. you really must have gotten confused. Puppy Dog was the correct answer the question asked immediately before this word problem was issued. How could you possibly have picked D?!

So for those of you who picked C.. yeah the Battalion CO didnít like our math either.. because thatís about what he found when he inspected the rooms. Luckily none in my work section, but some rooms had as many as 22 bottles of urine in their rooms.. Needless to sayÖ thatís gross.. and we are all in A LOT of trouble because of it. So yeah.. weíre having a ton of fun out here :-). I guess I just found the entire situation entirely too funnyÖ like they expected a bunch of lazy 20 year old guys to come up with some other solutionÖ

So yeah.. Thatís it from the front. Iím still alive and I hope that this story I found mildly humorous doesnít shake the confidance on where your tax dollars are going in iraq :-)

Bands on the rise: BLEACH. Ugh.. Iíve been listening to Andyís Doin Time for like the last three days. I canít stop listening to it.. ití so GREAT. That and the song ìCalifornia in Decemberî by Transistor Radio. Great song too.

Artist of the month: Brendan Jamieson.. no words to describeÖ if you can FIND his music. (itís hard to locate) just listen to alittle of it.. and then listen to it some more.. it grows on you. Itís GREAT. (almost like frosted flakes, but not quite as edible.)

Voicemail people! Spam it like you were trying to get a law passed! Make up some personalities, if youíve already called for yourself. Talk about rain, or the way you see life.. or maybe just how you wonder whoís going to win the hushpuppy bowl (thatís where everyone gets together at Long John Silvers and seeís who can eat the most hushpuppysÖ you can find it on ESPN 12.. Iím sure dadís up on the leading contestants this year. (-; lol )

Jason

Steven Rushing — 2006-10-15T16:05:37-10:00

So the earthquake just 10 miles west of the Big Island was a 6.5 earthquake, about 200 miles from us at 7:07 this morning. I'd say it woke us up, but I'd been up for over 3 hours (knew I should have gotten some benadryl somewhere). It's also been crazy rain here for about a week and then there was no electricity and boy was it fun. No fatalities, however there is a missing soldier in Steven's group (please exchange the word 'missing' with 'lazy and not answering the phones'). So it's all good, this would number 2 earthquake that I remember vivadly. Talk later,
Märia

EARTHQUAKE!!!

Steven Rushing — 2006-10-15T10:51:12-10:00

And we're all ok, just an update.

October Iraq Update

Steven Rushing — 2006-10-03T08:28:40-10:00

Hey everyone,
Well, another week has passed and we enter into the month of October. Has anything changed? Well I've moved, I'm still working with the same guy. He's a real easy guy to get along with and I think on some level he considers me a friend. We don't really hang out but we laugh about the same stuff.. (usually how stupid the people we work for are (-: ) We had a guy come in just a few days ago with a laptop to be fixed. He said the thing doesn't power up and then we plugged it in and it loaded right up. So we gave it back to him and told him it wasn't broken. The next day he comes back with it and demands that we fix it. So we took it in the other room waited about two minutes and then came back out and plugged it in for him.. showing that it was working. He says.. "you guys are amazing.' And takes it with him. Click "more" to read the rest...

The next day he comes back and says. 'You didn't fix anything! It still won't load up!" So we do take it in the other room and just kinda look at each other confused.. plug it back in.. and it works FINE. We're like.. okay we show him that it works and then reject it for maint again! So today he comes down to our shop and this is the conversation we have.

Him: I don't know.. we take it back to the shop and it won't load up, and you always make it work here so you guys need to stop messing with us and just keep it working :)
Geist (the computer fixer) : you know our shop isn't "magic" right? My being right here doesn't create some sort of vortex in which this laptop will then allow itself to power on.
Him: You just need to do your job and keep it working, don't make me call my Superiors about this.. this could get ugly
*we just look at each other for a moment confused that this person could be this dumb*
Me: hey are you plugging this into the same outlet everytime? Or have you tried other outlets
Him: ... You think one of our outlets might be bad?
Us: *stare at him like he's absolutely stupid*
Him: I'll give it a try but I don't think that's it..

We called his Sergeant later and found out that He had been plugging it into a power strip that had been unplugged for a week. Wow!

So they made me move though.. I'm living in a different room with 2 LCpls.. this isn't making me happy! They are both really messy, and we don't have enough storage space to put all our stuff so that it won't get stolen. I refuse to pull rank in the room, but I had to tell one of the LCpls that he does not get the single bed.. that the lower ranks would be sharing the bunk beds.. I had a hard time believing I had to explain why this was the way it was.. But who knows.. I was probably just being selfish. I've got the most amazing sister-in-law ever. She leaves me these messages on my voicemail and no joke.. it's the highlight of my day. Every morning I download them and she has the most RANDOM things to say, but it's always entertaining.. so that's my blessing for this week. Hey Maria if you find a single girl who is alittle like you tell them you have a cool brother-in-law. I know you might have to lie to retain her interest, but we gotta do what we gotta do to get me dates you know J.

Highlighted Band : Big Dismal. They only put out one CD but I LOVE their music.. it's so great. Suggested songs are "Just the Same" or "Hanging On" I highly suggest you just buy one of these songs off itunes or something and listen.. I think they have an awesome song.
Highlighted Artist: matthew west: Great guitarist. I really like their song "You Know Where to Find Me" or the song "More" He has a very acoustic sound to him, and He blends it well with some meaningful lyrics. Music for jamming, but not something you can get lost in.

There are no bands on the out right now, but If I have one I'll make sure you know. J

Just know that you are on in my thoughts and on my heart. I pray for you everyday.

Jason

First Assignment for Speech Class

Steven Rushing — 2006-10-02T21:06:07-10:00

Well, my first assignment for Speech class is complete, and I thought I would post it up here for you to see. The assignment was to do a 2-4 minute speech introducing myself. I gave the speech at work in front of 7 guys I work with, but there were so many distractions that we had to refilm the vid for my instructor. Telephones and pagers and such. Anyways, here is what I have submitted to my instructor for my first grade. I will keep you posted when I get my grades. =)

Health care politics

Steven Rushing — 2006-09-29T23:07:26-10:00

I was listening to a radio show and heard some disturbing news. Apparently some very OLD news. The city of San Francisco is paying for city employee's sex changes as a normal part of medical benefits. They called it a civil right! It is costing something like $40000 for hes wanting to be shes, and $80000 for shes wanting to be hes. And that is just the procedure! You have to tack on hormones and counseling and therapy and the list goes on. Click more to read the rest...

This trend is gaining ground (slowly) among cities and more quickly among public and private insurances across America. The American people are being taxed to pay for masochistic procedures for perverts!

But back to the story. As I heard this, what was the first thing that popped into my head? A couple of weeks back I was reading on religious ceremonies and such (I was taking a world religion class in college) and the subject of the hour was circumcision. Cities, government agencies and insurers across the nation are dropping it like hot potatoes, calling it an "elective cosmetic procedure". The average cost of a circumcision is $100.

Now the cynical among you will argue that there are perhaps 5000 circumcisions for every sex change, but the argument still holds: how can we start paying for pervert's "elective cosmetic" surgery at 40k a pop and at the same time quit paying for circumcisions? (I am not convinced that the government or social insurances should be paying for circumcisions ANYWAY, but quitting them while starting sex changes is an inexcusable liberal attack on religious Americans.)

My second thought upon hearing this on the radio was of a conversation I overheard and butted into several years back. I once heard a discussion between two women who worked for a Catholic hospital. They were upset because the insurance provided by their Catholic employers did not cover contraceptives. They felt like the hospital was pushing its beliefs off on its employees. You all know I am Mormon. One of these women was also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My response to this argument was: "How would you feel if an employee at a Mormon hospital wanted the insurance that the hospital provided to pay for an abortion?" The only answer I got was "Well that is different, abortion is wrong." How circular is that argument? But this is how liberals think. They forget the freedoms of others. They feel that whatever they want is a right. They feel their freedom for whatever trumps another's freedom to NOT provide that whatever.

The day the liberals force the Catholic hospitals to stop "pushing their beliefs off on their employees" is one step towards forcing Mormon hospitals to provide their employees with elective abortions. And the day THAT happens, we have lost all semblance of freedom of religion in this country.

So put me on the same level as the sexual pervert if you will. I don't believe the government should have to pay for my child's circumcision. But don't tell me that my child's surgery is unnecessary and that the pervert's is a civil right.

Sitting on the lanai feeding Seporah carrots

Steven Rushing — 2006-09-28T04:40:00-10:00

Diced that is, she's moving up in the world, from glop to dices. She's wondering what the fuss is about and I think would prefer the glop. Unfortunately she has yet to learn the skill of feeding herself anything, not even a cracker. But fortunately she doesn't know that she has the ability to spit things out yet. We are still definitely going to need a bath anyways after this.

Military Ball Pictures

Steven Rushing — 2006-09-17T01:59:11-10:00

Well, the military ball was interesting. Not quite what we imagined it would be. It was quite a bit more formal than we expected. The first hour was a real waste of time, as we did not know anyone and it was mostly a "gathering" hour. The people that we went with smartly skipped this hour and only showed up at the beginning of the second hour, when they seated us in the ballroom.

Yeah, thats right, they seated us according to a seating chart. And not at all with people we knew. We were seated at the "crazy" table with a bunch of crazies. Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad. But lets just say we spent most of our time away from our table in the lobby with the O'Donnells and Christopher Bowen.

Then there was the introduction of a bunch of people we didn't know, all of whom got loud ovations. Uh huh, we clapped like fools for some colonels daughters AFTER we clapped for him! Then there was the toast (long live the queen) and the posting of the colors and a prayer.

After a couple more speakers (short ones) we got to start eating. They started out with a salmon entrÈe with cream cheese and cucumber and bread. It was quite good, and M‰ria ate hers and half of mine. =) Then there was a caesar salad that was pretty good. When the meal came I ended up getting the prime steak and M‰ria ended up getting the stuffed chicken. We both enjoyed our meal.

Then there was another speaker who introduced the nights featured guest. I don't remember his name, but he was a retired lieutenant general who started out a private in WWII and commanded troops through vietnam. He was 87. He also got to cut the cake with the youngest soldier using a sabre.

Um, lets see. What else. I think that is about everything that happened. M‰ria will remember if I forgot something and throw it up here. =)

Update from Iraq

Steven Rushing — 2006-09-10T03:39:20-10:00

Well, all. I have been LONG overdue for an update, and for that I apologize. Things have been busy here and I have been cherishing every tiny bit of free time allotted to me. As you all know Iíve been in Iraq for about three weeks now. I came here with a detachment of Electronics marines and we are already kicking butt and taking names (and by that I mean we are fixing broken stuff.. not shooting people).

I canít give numbers or names, but I share my office with another Cpl who is married with kids. Heís a real calm guy and I enjoy his company most of the time. His music can get annoying but Iím sure my incessant singing can be mildly irritating as well. A quote:

Me: Hey whatís the meaning of life?
Him: 42
Me: terribly original
Him: did you think it was going to be different for me than it would be for Douglas Adams? I mean itís not like itís based on cellular development or divided by our weight..
Me: Ö

So life in my van Is definitely interesting, but sleeping in my two man tin cans is cool too. Iím rooming with another Cpl who works out here and he is a geek as well. We make a good pair, only two major points of conflict. Go ahead and laugh dad, this wonít come as a surprise. I like to keep the Air Conditioning (yes.. climate control in the living areas.. *shock*!!! In another 20 years they might put them on Camp Pendleton) going full blast on itís coldest while in the room, and turned off while not there at all. He likes to have it on medium all day long, even while we arenít there. We donít argue about it. He just waits til I sleep and then gets his way. The other point of contention is that he likes to put a movie on and then goto sleep. I like to sleep, but if there is a movie on.. Iím going to watch it. He typically makes it through the first 10 minutes and is snoozing, but if I get out of bed and turn the tv off, he wakes up and asks me what Iím doing.. because heís watching that. 8)!! What in the world?! So I watch the whole movie and then crash out at like 12 when I should have been sleeping since 10. Needless to say, Iím tired the next day :)

Well Iím going to start my fitness schedule tonight. I can run around the camp when not at work, but our work schedule has been so hectic, that Iíve been fighting just for some ëstay sane timeí. Iím going to start running during lunch and after work. In the mornings I like to come to work and make phone calls. If you want a phone call from me, just drop me a message. My Contact info is on the contact info page. Iím getting a lot of messages from Steven and Maria, and I love those messages! Things to remember if you want to call me. This comes straight to me, you donít have to specify who itís for. And the message only lasts 60 seconds, so you might want to time it if you want to talk for an extended period of time. And if you have A LOT to say, then call back like 6 times I promise you, I will listen to every single message.

Favorite Artist of the week: Bethany Dillon. Wow I really like some of her songs, If you have access you should listen to these two songs. ìlead me onî and ìexodusî Wow.. great songs.

Favorite Band of the lifetime: Switchfoot. You should listen to anything from their first three cds, or select songs from the last 2. some that I suggest are ìAmyís Songî ìPlaying for Keepsî and a song Iíve made a regular part of my daily language ìLife and love and whyî

Artist on the out (artists that were my favorite.. but Iíve listened to them so much Iím kinda tired of them: Phil Joel. Great artist, but donít listen to both of his cds back to back.. for three days straight. You could potentially get sick of hearing ìStrangely Normalî

Band on the out: Waking Ashland, EXCELLENT BAND. But they are definitely on the bottom of the deck during my music listening now.

I love you all, I will see you all when I update again.. which hopefully will be sometime in the next week

I love you all, I will see you all when I update again.. which hopefully will be sometime in the next week.

Jas(on) L(ee) Rush(ing)

My talk on adversity...

Steven Rushing — 2006-09-09T02:04:40-10:00

This talk borrows a little from a lesson by Lynda Needham on Job and a little from a talk by Elder Monte J. Brough titled ìAdversityî, but is mostly original. I will give this talk tomorrow, but you guys get to see it first! (if you get up early enoughÖ) Click more to read the talk...

My brother has never had a major accident with a knife. When he was 4 and I 6, he got on a stool and took my Grandfatherís fish filleting knife from its drawer. I saw him with it and knew that no good could come of him having it. I took it from him and escorted him back into his room, the red room. My room was the green one. My grandmother always color coded the rooms. But I digress. I took him to his room and took one of his crayons. I put it in my hand like this. I explained to him that knives were very dangerous, and this knife in particular was not to be played with. It was very sharp, designed to cut through the bones of fish. To demonstrate how sharp it was, and embed in his mind that it was not a knife to be trifled with, I said, ìSee here, this is how sharp it isî. At which point I sliced the crayon like so.

Of course the knife did not magically stop at the end of the crayon, but sliced me open, severing an artery and nerve, and biting deeply into the bone. I did not cry, and do not know why I did not cry, except to say I was never the sort to cry; I kept emotions far from the surface from a very early age. I ran into the bathroom, flinging my hand as one does when one has a painful hand, and grabbed a towel and wrapped my finger in it. I then cleaned the blood off of myself as best I could, retrieved the knife, cleaned it and put it away. And of course, I threatened my wonderful brother with death should he ever reveal what he had seen.

And then I went on about my business as if nothing had happened. A short order later my grandmother called for me. I came to her, and she asked me what was wrong with my finger. I said nothing much, it was just a cut and I was putting pressure on it. She asked to see it. I said it was unnecessary. She insisted, and so I un-wrapped the towel. Before it was half unwrapped it was obvious that I was still bleeding profusely. She of course took me to the hospital and it was stitched up.

This talk from here will sound a bit like last weeks gospel doctrine lesson, and I apologize for those who must endure it again. The lesson last week taught of three types of adversity: the adversity we bring upon ourselves, the adversity that comes naturally through life as described in Matthew 5:45 concerning the Lord making the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sending rain on the just and the unjust, and adversity that comes when the Lord schools us as described in Mosiah 23:21, ìNevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faithî

The story of my finger is incontestably an example of the first of these adversities. I cut myself. I brought the suffering on myself. The world did not cut me, and the Lord certainly did not cut me. I would like to expound on the three ways that we learn to avoid bringing adversity upon ourselves.

1. We learn from personal experience. I can say that I have one scar on my body that came from a knife. Just one. I learned my lesson the first time. If only I and we all always learned our lessons the first time. This way speaks most to our animal side or carnal side, and least to our spiritual side. I will come back to that.

2. We learn from the observation of others. I started this talk with the sentence ìMy brother has never had a major accident with a bladeî. He learned from my mistake. If we are never taught that drinking alcohol is wrong we can observe the effects of inebriation in the town drunk and vow to avoid the drink. If we are never taught frugality we can still see poverty and wealth amongst us and know which we would prefer.

3. The third way we learn to avoid bringing adversity upon ourselves is to learn from an outside source and then obey it. I knew I shouldnít play with knives. I had been taught by my parents and grandparents. I knew better. If I had but obeyed, I would not have suffered. This way speaks least to our carnal selves and most to our spiritual selves. The Lord reveals his will for us (concerning right and wrong) by way of the scripture and prophets and his spirit. I do not need to quote the thou shalts and the thou shalt nots to tell you that we can learn right and wrong through them and obey them so as not to bring suffering upon ourselves. I will leave a few examples from the scriptures though.

I said I would come back to ìlearning through personal experienceî being the least of the ways we are to learn to avoid adversity. An example is Thomas. Thomas said he would not believe save he put his fingers in the print of his hand and thrust his hand in Christís side. Christ allowed him to do so with a rebuke, telling him not to be faithless, but believing. He said ìThomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.î

In stark contrast to this is Peter. Matt 16:13-17:

13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Here is where Christ makes manifest who will be the leader of the church when he is gone. (Real quick gospel according to Steven warning) But more than that, I believe here is where Christ made the decision as to who would be the leader. What is certain is that Peter had moved beyond ìseeing is believingî. He had moved beyond listening to everyone else. He communed with God. The spirit of the Lord could speak to him, and he heard. Learning from and obeying the scriptures and spirit of the Lord speaks best to our spiritual side and is the best of the ways for us to learn to avoid bringing adversity upon ourselves.

When we do likewise, as much as we can, when we stop believing only what we see and stop learning only from our own mistakes we change from children to men and women. At this point we stop whining about how unfair life is when we go through the second type of adversity, or the common adversities of life. At this point the Lord can start to work in us, perfect our iron in his fires of adversity, making us into steel. But we must first put away childish things. We must (as much as we can) stop learning (or not learning) through personal sins and mistakes. Back to my story.

There have been many symbols in my story so far. Cutting myself is a symbol for us bringing suffering to ourselves, and learning from our own mistakes. My brother is a symbol for learning from the mistakes of others. My grandmother telling me not to play with knives is a symbol of learning from the testimony of others, and from God. And my grandmother here is a symbol of God. She would kill me for blasphemy if she heard that, I think.

I did not know for years how my grandmother knew to call for me, knew that something was wrong. Now that I am older I realize that I must have left the bathroom a bloody mess with how I had been wringing my hands and flailing wildly for a towel. (Come on, that pun deserved at least a little chuckle.) An example of this from the scriptures: When Cain slew Abel the Lord came to him. He told him that the earth had opened its mouth to swallow the blood of his brother, and the blood cried out from the very earth. In other words, the Lord came to Cain because in his sin, he had left the Earth a bloody mess. The Lord came to Adam and Eve because in their transgression they had fundamentally changed the Earth, leaving it a bloody mess. My grandmother came to me because I had left her bathroom a bloody mess and the blood on her carpet and curtains and walls cried out to her.

When you make mistakes do not be fooled into believing that it only affects you. You will leave blood on the walls of your life, often, even mostly made up of those you love the most. This is an example of the second type of adversity. If I am murdered tomorrow, it does not mean that it was the Lords will that I be murdered. It means that it was the Lords will that the man who murdered me have his free will. We being subject to othersí free will is an example of the adversities of life. When a husbandís or wifeís mistake breaks up a family, he or she leaves ìbloodî if you will, on all involved, including the children. Do your best not to leave blood on the walls of your life.

Adversity is going to come brothers and sisters. If you bring as little adversity upon yourself as possible, and if you endure the adversities of life well, then the Lord will start to stretch you through his adversities. Elder Maxwell has said, ìThe soul is like a violin string: it makes music only when it is stretchedî.

There are many examples in the scriptures of great men who were stretched, Job being the most prominent. Paul was also stretched, and said he gloried in it for it worked patience, and patience worked (or causes) experience (Romans 5:3-5) Joseph Smith was stretched by the Lord, and when he inquired, the Lord said it was for his experience. But the greatest example is the example of Christ. Heb 5:8,9 ìThough he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey himî. Even Christ learned through adversity. It isnít that Christ had so much more to learn that he had to suffer so much adversity, but that he was already so far beyond our trifling problems that there was nothing he could learn from them. It is for this cause that the Lord told Joseph Smith, ìThe Son of Man hath descended below them all, art thou greater than he? (D&C 122:8)î

Last symbol from my story. When adversity comes, donít wrap it in a towel. Go to the doctor. Check yourself, see if you caused it. If you did, fix it, repent and move on. Never make the mistake again. Our Heavenly Father is always there to lighten your load, as much as is good for you. He will never turn the fire up so high that you cannot endure it, but he will also not turn it down so low that you learn nothing from it. Our adversities are for our own experience. The only things we take from this life is what we learn and who we become. Some would say that what we learn IS who we become. Endure adversity well and allow them to turn you into the steel the Lord wants you to be.

Elitism gets such a bad rap...

Steven Rushing — 2006-09-04T04:42:05-10:00

Yeah. A friend today said he would buy a Mac, as they are great machines, except that it seemed people who owned Macs were elitist pricks. Lets check out dictionary.com for a nice definition of elitisim...

e?lit?ism? /??lit?z?m, e??li-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[i-lee-tiz-uhm, ey-lee-]

ñnoun

1. practice of or belief in rule by an elite.

2. consciousness of or pride in belonging to a select or favored group.

The definition we are speaking of is clearly the second one. So is there something wrong with being proud of belonging to a select group? I am "elitist" in SO many ways. I am proud to be an American. I am proud to be a Rushing. I am proud to be a Texan. I am proud to be LDS. I am proud of my family. And yes, I am proud to own a Mac. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with any of these things.

Bruce R McConkie to Eugene England

Steven Rushing — 2006-08-26T21:47:15-10:00

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
The Council of Twelve
47 East South Temple Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150
February 19, 1981Mr. Eugene England
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx, xx xxxxxxx

Dear Brother England:

This may well be the most important letter you have or will receive. It is written in reply to an undated letter from you which came in an envelope postmarked, September 4, 1980. Your letter enclosed a 19-page document which you had prepared under the title, "The Perfection and Progression of God: Two Spheres of Existence and Two Modes of Discourse."

In your letter and the article enclosed with it, you set forth the thesis that although God knows all things as pertaining to our sphere of existence, there are nonetheless other spheres beyond ours in which Deity continues to advance and progress in knowledge and truth. In espousing and explaining this philosophy you suppose you are harmonizing quotations from various of the early Brethren. Some of these statements emphatically say that God knows all things and has all power and others of them say that he is advancing in knowledge and understanding and is gaining new truths.

When your letter arrived I was aware of the subject material contained in it and in the enclosed article. Because I do not engage in controversy or discussion of divergent views, either orally or in writing, I simply dropped your letter in a drawer and did not bother to read it. Some four and a half months later, in January of this year, I did read your presentation for the first time. I was not at all pleased, but still thought I would have nothing to say to you on the subject.

Over the months various hearsay reports have come to me indicating that you are presenting and championing the views you sent to me. I have now reached the conclusion that it would be wise for me to depart from my usual custom and send you an answer to your letter. I do so out of respect for your parents, G. Eugene and Dora, and for your own personal well-being and for your guidance where your teachings and discussions with others are concerned.

Mr. Eugene England
February 19, 1981
Page 2

I shall write in kindness and in plainness and perhaps with sharpness. I want you to know that I am extending to you the hand of fellowship though I hold over you at the same time, the scepter of judgment. My office door is open to you and if you feel the need for discussion with me, my secretary will be pleased to set up a mutually convenient time or times for such.

On Sunday, June 1, 1980, I spoke at one of the multi-stake firesides in the Marriott Center on the subject, "The Seven Deadly Heresies." In that talk I said:

"There are those who say that God is progressing in knowledge and is learning new truths.

"This is false -- utterly, totally, and completely. There is not one sliver of truth in it. It grows out of a wholly twisted and incorrect view of the King Follet Sermon and of what is meant by eternal progression.

"God progresses in the sense that his kingdoms increase and his dominions multiply -- not in the sense that he learns new truths and discovers new laws. God is not a student. He is not a laboratory technician. He is not postulating new theories on the basis of past experiences. He has indeed graduated to that state of exaltation that consists of knowing all things and having all power.

"The life that God lives is named eternal life. His name, one of them, is 'Eternal,' using that word as a noun and not as an adjective, and he uses that name to identify the type of life that he lives. God's life is eternal life, and eternal life is god's life. They are one and the same. Eternal life is the goal we shall obtain if we believe and obey and walk uprightly before him. And eternal life consists of two things. It consists of life in the family unit, and, also, of inheriting, receiving, and possessing the fulness of the glory of the Father. Anyone who has each of these things is an inheritor and possessor of the greatest of all gifts of God, which is eternal life.

"Eternal progression consists of living the kind of life God lives and of increasing in kingdoms and dominions everlastingly. Why anyone should suppose that an infinite and eternal being, who has presided in our universe for almost 2,555,000,000 years, who made the sidereal heavens, whose creations are more numerous than the particles of the earth, and who is aware of the fall of every sparrow -- why anyone would suppose that such a being has more to learn and new truths to discover in the laboratories of eternity is totally beyond my comprehension.

"Will he one day learn something that will destroy the plan of salvation and turn man and the universe into an uncreated nothingness? Will he discover a better plan of salvation than the

Mr. Eugene England
February 19, 1981
Page 3

one he has already given to men in worlds without number?

"The saving truth, as revealed to and taught, formally and officially, by the prophet Joseph Smith in the Lectures on Faith is that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He knows all things, he has all power, and he is everywhere present by the power of his Spirit. And unless we know and believe this doctrine we cannot gain faith unto life and salvation.

"Joseph Smith also taught in the Lectures on Faith 'that three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation. These he named as:

"'The idea that he actually exists';

"'A correct idea of his character, perfections, and attributes; and

"'An actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is according to the divine will.'

"The attributes of God are given as knowledge, faith or power, justice, judgment, mercy, and truth. The perfections of God are named as 'the perfections which belong to all of the attributes of his nature,' which is to say that God possesses and has all knowledge, all faith or power, all justice, all judgment, all mercy, and all truth. He is indeed the very embodiment, personification, and source of all these attributes. Does anyone suppose that God can be 'more honest than he already is? Neither need any suppose there are truths he does not know or knowledge he does not possess."Thus Joseph Smith taught, and these are his words:

'Without the knowledge of all things, God would not be able to save any portion of his creatures, for it is by reason of the knowledge which he has of all things, from the beginning to the end, that enables him to give that understanding to his creatures by which they are made partakers of eternal life; and if it were not for the idea existing in the minds of men that God had all knowledge it would be impossible for them to exercise faith in him.' (Cited, Mormon Doctrine, p. 264.)

"If God is just dabbling with a few truths he has already discovered, we have no idea as to the real end and purpose of creation."

The foregoing quotation is from the published version of the talk. As it was actually given it included the following

Mr. Eugene England
February 19, 1981
Page 4

paragraph: "Will he one day learn something that will destroy the plan of salvation and turn man and the universe into an uncreated nothingness? Will he discover a better plan of salvation than the one he has already given to men in worlds without number? I have been sorely tempted to say at this point that any who so suppose have the intellect of an ant and the understanding of a clod of miry clay in a primordial swamp -- but of course I would never say a thing like that." I deliberately deleted the last quoted sentence because it does not come out in print the way it was expressed by voice. It was said in such a tone as to draw laughter from the congregation and is of course, a normal use of hyperbole.

In that same devotional speech I said; "There are those who believe or say they believe that Adam is our father and our God, that he is the father of our spirits and our bodies, and that he is the one we worship." I, of course, indicated the utter absurdity of this doctrine and said it was totally false.

Since then I have received violent reactions from Ogden Draut and other cultists in which they have expounded upon the views of Brigham Young and others of the early Brethren relative to Adam. They have plain and clear quotations saying all of the things about Adam which I say are false. The quotations are in our literature and form the basis of a worship system followed by many of the cultists who have been excommunicated from the Church. I also received, of course, your material in which you quote from Brigham Young and others of the early Brethren saying that God is progressing in knowledge.

I assume that you were aware of the foregoing quotations when you wrote me in September of 1980. In the October 1980 General Conference, without as yet having read your material, I said the following:

"True religion is found only where men worship the true and living God. False religion always results from the worship of false gods. Eternal life itself, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God, is available to those and those only who know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent.

"It is all the rage in this modern world to worship false gods of every sort and kind. There are those who bow before idols of wood and stone, and others who lisp their petitions to icons and images. There are those who worship cows and crocodiles, and others who acclaim Adam or Allah or Buddha as their Supreme Being.

"There are those who apply the names of Deity to some spirit essence that is immaterial, uncreated and unknowable and

Mr. Eugene England
February 19, 1981
Page 5

that fills the immensity of space and is everywhere and nowhere in particular present.

"And there are even those who champion the almost unbelievable theory that God is an Eternal Student enrolled in the University of the Universe where he is busily engaged in learning new truths and amassing new and strange knowledge that he never knew before.

"How belittling it is -- it borders on blasphemy -- to demean the Lord God Omnipotent by saying he is an idol, or an image, or an animal, or a spirit essence, or that he is ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of all truth.

"It is the first principle of revealed religion to know the nature and kind of being that God is. As for us: 'We know [and testify] that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them.' (D&C 20:17.)

"This great God, the Lord Almighty, is a personage of tabernacle. He 'has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's.' (D&C 130;22.) He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He has all power, knows all things, and, by the power of his Spirit, is in and through all things."

On Tuesday, February 17, 1981, I was the speaker at the BYU Devotional. My subject was "The Three Pillars of Eternity," under which heading I spoke of the creation, the fall and the atonement. With reference to the omnipotence and omniscience of God I said in that talk:

"Who is Elohim? He is God the Eternal Father. He is a glorified and exalted personage. He has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's. In the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He knows all things and has all power -- not simply as pertaining to us or in some prescribed sphere or realm -- but in the absolute, eternal, and unlimited sense. In the ultimate sense, he is the Creator. And anything you may have heard to the contrary, whether in the creeds of Christendom or the mouthings of intellectuals who, in their own eyes, know more than the Lord, is false."

Now may I say something for your guidance and enlightenment. If what I am about to say should be taken out of context and published in Dialogue or elsewhere, it would give an entirely erroneous impression and would not properly present the facts. As it happens, I am a great admirer of Brigham Young and a great believer in his doctrinal presentations. He was called of God.

Mr. Eugene England
February 19, 1981
Page 6

He was guided by the Holy Spirit in his teachings in general. He was a mighty prophet. He led Israel the way the Lord wanted his people led. He built on the foundation laid by the Prophet Joseph. He completed his work and has come on to eternal exaltation.

Nonetheless, as Joseph Smith so pointedly taught, a prophet is not always a prophet, only when he is acting as such. Prophets are men and they make mistakes. Sometimes they err in doctrine. This is one of the reasons the Lord has given us the Standard Works. They become the standards and rules that govern where doctrine and philosophy are concerned. If this were not so, we would believe one thing when one man was president of the Church and another thing in the days of his successors. Truth is eternal and does not vary. Sometimes even wise and good men fall short in the accurate presentation of what is truth. Sometimes a prophet gives personal views which are not endorsed and approved by the Lord.

Yes, President Young did teach that Adam was the father of our spirits, and all the related things that the cultists ascribe to him. This, however, is not true. He expressed views that are out of harmony with the gospel. But, be it known, Brigham Young also taught accurately and correctly, the status and position of Adam in the eternal scheme of things. What I am saying is that Brigham Young, contradicted Brigham Young, and the issue becomes one of which Brigham Young we will believe. The answer is we will believe the expressions that accord with the teachings in the Standard Works.

Yes, Brigham Young did say some things about God progressing in knowledge and understanding, but again, be it known, that Brigham Young taught, emphatically and plainly, that God knows all things and has all power meaning in the infinite, eternal and ultimate and absolute sense of the word. Again, the issue is, which Brigham Young shall we believe and the answer is: We will take the one whose statements accord with what God has revealed in the Standard Works.

I think you can give me credit for having a knowledge of the quotations from Brigham Young relative to Adam, and of knowing what he taught under the subject that has become known as the Adam God Theory. President Joseph Fielding Smith said that Brigham Young will have to make his own explanations on the points there involved. I think you can also give me credit for knowing what Brigham Young said about God progressing. And again, that is something he will have to account for. As for me and my house, we will have the good sense to choose between the divergent teachings of the same man and come up with those that accord with

Mr. Eugene England
February 19, 1981
Page 7

what God has set forth in his eternal plan of salvation.

This puts me in mind of Paul's statement: "There must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you." (1 Cor. 11:19.) I do not know all of the providences of the Lord, but I do know that he permits false doctrine to be taught in and out of the Church and that such teaching is part of the sifting process of mortality. We will be judged by what we believe among other things. If we believe false doctrine, we will be condemned. If that belief is on basic and fundamental things, it will lead us astray and we will lose our souls. This is why Nephi said: "And all those who preach false doctrines, . . . wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell!: (2 Ne. 28:15.) This clearly means that people who teach false doctrine in the fundamental and basic things will lose their souls. The nature and kind of being that God is, is one of these fundamentals. I repeat: Brigham Young erred in some of his statements on the nature and kind of being that God is and as to the position of Adam in the plan of salvation, but Brigham Young also taught the truth in these fields on other occasions. And I repeat, that in his instance, he was a great prophet and has gone on to eternal reward. What he did is not a pattern for any of us. If we choose to believe and teach the false portions of his doctrines, we are making an election that will damn us.

It should be perfectly evident that under our system of church discipline, it would be anticipated that some others besides Brigham Young would pick up some of his statements and echo them. Those who did this, also on other occasions, taught accurately and properly what the true doctrines of the gospel are. I do not get concerned when a good and sound person who. On the over-all, is teaching the truth happens to err on a particular point and say something in conflict with what he has said himself on a previous occasion. We are all mortal. We are all fallible. We all make mistakes. No single individual all the time is in tune with the Holy Spirit, but I do get concerned when some person or group picks out false statements and makes them the basis of their presentation and theology and thus ends up having a false concept of the doctrine, which in reality, was not in the mind of the person whose quotations they are using.

Wise gospel students do not build their philosophies of life on quotations of individuals, even though those quotations come from presidents of the Church. Wise people anchor their doctrine on the Standard Works. When Section 20 says that God is infinite and eternal, it means just that and so on through all

Mr. Eugene England
February 19, 1981
Page 8

of the revelations. There is no need to attempt to harmonize conflicting views when some of the views are out of harmony with the Standard Works. This is what life is all about. The Lord is finding out what we will believe in spite of the allurements of the world or the philosophies of men or the seemingly rational and logical explanations that astute people make.

We do not solve our problems by getting a statement from the president of the Church or from someone else on a subject. We have been introduced to the gospel; we have the gift of the Holy Ghost; we have the Standards Works and it is our responsibility to get in tune and understand properly what the Lord has revealed and has had us canonize. The end result of this course of personally and individually pursuing light and truth is to reach that millennial state of which the scriptures say it will no longer be necessary for every man to say to his neighbor "know the Lord," for all shall know him from the greatest to the least. Joseph Smith says this will be by the spirit of revelation.

If it is true, as I am advised, that you speak on this subject of the progression of God at firesides and elsewhere, you should cease to do so. If you give other people copies of the material you sent me, with the quotations it contains, you should cease to do so. It is not in your province to set in order the Church or to determine what is doctrines shall be. It is axiomatic among us to know that God has given apostles and prophets "for the edifying of the body of Christ," and that their ministry is to see that "we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." (Eph. 4:11-16.) This means, among other things, that it is my province to teach to the Church what the doctrine is. It is your province to echo what I say or to remain silent. You do not have a divine commission to correct me or any of the Brethren. The Lord does not operate that way. If I lead the Church astray, that is my responsibility, but the fact still remains that I am the one appointed with all the rest involved so to do. The appointment is not given to the faculty at Brigham Young University or to any of the members of the Church. The Lord's house is a house of order and those who hold the keys are appointed to proclaim the doctrines.

Now you know that this does not mean that individuals should not do research and make discoveries and write articles. What it does mean is that what they write should be faith promoting and where doctrines are concerned, should be in harmony with that which comes from the head of the Church. And those at

Mr. Eugene England
February 19, 1981
Page 9

the head of the Church have the obligation to teach that which is in harmony with the Standard Works. If they err then be silent on the point and leave the event in the hands of the Lord. Some day all of us will stand before the judgment bar and be accountable for our teachings. And where there have been disagreements the Lord will judge between us. In the meantime if we want to save our own souls we need to strive with all the power we have to be in harmony with the revelations and not to be teaching or promulgating doctrines that suit our fancy.

I advise you to take my counsel on the matters here involved. If I err, that is my problem; but in your case if you single out some of these things and make them the center of your philosophy, and end up being wrong, you will lose your should. One of the side effects of preaching contrary to what the Brethren preach is to get a spirit of rebellion growing up in your heart. This sort of thing cankers the soul spiritually. It drives people out of the Church. It weakens their faith. All of us need all of the faith and strength and spiritual stability we can get to maintain our positions in the Church and to work out our salvation.

Now, I think I have said enough in this letter so that if you are receptive and pliable, you will get the message. If you are not, rebellion will well up in your heart. I pray for your well-being. I repeat: the door to my office is open. Perhaps I should tell you what one of the very astute and alert General Authorities said to me when I chanced to mention to him the subject of your letter to me. He said: "Oh dear, haven't we rescued him enough times already."

Now I hope you will ponder and pray and come to a basic understanding of fundamental things and that unless and until you can on all points, you will remain silent on those where differences exist between you and the Brethren. This is the course of safety. I advise you to pursue it. If you do not, perils lie ahead. It is not too often in this day that any of us are told plainly and bluntly what ought to be. I am taking the liberty of so speaking to you at this time, and become thus a witness against you if you do not take the counsel.

I repeat: I have every good wish for you, pray that the Lord will bless you and hope that things will work out properly and well in your life.

Sincerely,

Bruce R. McConkie

BRM:vh

Mr. Eugene England
February 19, 1981
Page 10

P.S. I am taking the liberty of sending copies of this response to those to whom you sent your communication. THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
The Council of Twelve
47 East South Temple Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150
February 19, 1981

Mr. Eugene England
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx, xx xxxxxxx

Dear Brother England:

This may well be the most important letter you have or will receive. It is written in reply to an undated letter from you which came in an envelope postmarked, September 4, 1980. Your letter enclosed a 19-page document which you had prepared under the title, "The Perfection and Progression of God: Two Spheres of Existence and Two Modes of Discourse."

In your letter and the article enclosed with it, you set forth the thesis that although God knows all things as pertaining to our sphere of existence, there are nonetheless other spheres beyond ours in which Deity continues to advance and progress in knowledge and truth. In espousing and explaining this philosophy you suppose you are harmonizing quotations from various of the early Brethren. Some of these statements emphatically say that God knows all things and has all power and others of them say that he is advancing in knowledge and understanding and is gaining new truths.

When your letter arrived I was aware of the subject material contained in it and in the enclosed article. Because I do not engage in controversy or discussion of divergent views, either orally or in writing, I simply dropped your letter in a drawer and did not bother to read it. Some four and a half months later, in January of this year, I did read your presentation for the first time. I was not at all pleased, but still thought I would have nothing to say to you on the subject.

Over the months various hearsay reports have come to me indicating that you are presenting and championing the views you sent to me. I have now reached the conclusion that it would be wise for me to depart from my usual custom and send you an answer to your letter. I do so out of respect for your parents, G. Eugene and Dora, and for your own personal well-being and for your guidance where your teachings and discussions with others are concerned.

Mr. Eugene England
February 19, 1981
Page 2

I shall write in kindness and in plainness and perhaps with sharpness. I want you to know that I am extending to you the hand of fellowship though I hold over you at the same time, the scepter of judgment. My office door is open to you and if you feel the need for discussion with me, my secretary will be pleased to set up a mutually convenient time or times for such.

On Sunday, June 1, 1980, I spoke at one of the multi-stake firesides in the Marriott Center on the subject, "The Seven Deadly Heresies." In that talk I said:

"There are those who say that God is progressing in knowledge and is learning new truths.

"This is false -- utterly, totally, and completely. There is not one sliver of truth in it. It grows out of a wholly twisted and incorrect view of the King Follet Sermon and of what is meant by eternal progression.

"God progresses in the sense that his kingdoms increase and his dominions multiply -- not in the sense that he learns new truths and discovers new laws. God is not a student. He is not a laboratory technician. He is not postulating new theories on the basis of past experiences. He has indeed graduated to that state of exaltation that consists of knowing all things and having all power.

"The life that God lives is named eternal life. His name, one of them, is 'Eternal,' using that word as a noun and not as an adjective, and he uses that name to identify the type of life that he lives. God's life is eternal life, and eternal life is god's life. They are one and the same. Eternal life is the goal we shall obtain if we believe and obey and walk uprightly before him. And eternal life consists of two things. It consists of life in the family unit, and, also, of inheriting, receiving, and possessing the fulness of the glory of the Father. Anyone who has each of these things is an inheritor and possessor of the greatest of all gifts of God, which is eternal life.

"Eternal progression consists of living the kind of life God lives and of increasing in kingdoms and dominions everlastingly. Why anyone should suppose that an infinite and eternal being, who has presided in our universe for almost 2,555,000,000 years, who made the sidereal heavens, whose creations are more numerous than the particles of the earth, and who is aware of the fall of every sparrow -- why anyone would suppose that such a being has more to learn and new truths to discover in the laboratories of eternity is totally beyond my comprehension.

"Will he one day learn something that will destroy the plan of salvation and turn man and the universe into an uncreated nothingness? Will he discover a better plan of salvation than the

Mr. Eugene England
February 19, 1981
Page 3

one he has already given to men in worlds without number?

"The saving truth, as revealed to and taught, formally and officially, by the prophet Joseph Smith in the Lectures on Faith is that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He knows all things, he has all power, and he is everywhere present by the power of his Spirit. And unless we know and believe this doctrine we cannot gain faith unto life and salvation.

"Joseph Smith also taught in the Lectures on Faith 'that three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation. These he named as:

"'The idea that he actually exists';

"'A correct idea of his character, perfections, and attributes; and

"'An actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is according to the divine will.'

I'm Finally One of Those Crazy Moms

Steven Rushing — 2006-08-24T17:07:40-10:00

Well after 2 weeks of Seporah being sick, I am officially one of those crazy moms ready to pull her hair out. I just want to put her in her room and come back when she's my sweet happy baby again. For the first little while I was sympathetic, but well I don't have much patience and I'm done with all the crying. I really don't have a clue how parents with colicky babies manage (or get around to having another). I swear if anyone was baby happy and needed a good form of birth control all they would have to do was watch Seporah for a couple of the last few days and they would be like nope, I really don't want one of those. I know I don't have a lot of patience, I never acquired that virtue and now it's coming to bite me in the butt. Ouch...

Iraq here I come

Steven Rushing — 2006-08-17T17:17:18-10:00

Well guys, in the near future, I will be deployed so here's my contact info.

†My phone will be passed on come Saturday.. So Saturday is the final day that you can reach me by phone.† Here is my contact information.. I will be lucky to get a phone call from you all. hopefully friday night.

Mailing Address:

Cpl Jason Rushing

CLB-5 Maint Company

Unit 42445

FPO AP 96426-2445

email address: Jasonlrush@hotmail.com

Voicemail: This is where you can leave me voicemessages in iraq, that will get emailed to my email address.† I would LOVE it if all of you left me messages and just told me stupid stuff, like what you are having for dinner,† I don't care just leave me a message!

775-637-4654

But yeah.. i'll miss you guys.. and.. i'll see you†in may or something.

Achoo Syndrome

Steven Rushing — 2006-08-13T22:00:43-10:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7IgKIKMCcOQ

I had a fun story too! (giving blood... yeah)

Steven Rushing — 2006-08-05T18:23:40-10:00

This actually happened within an hour or so of Märia's story from yesterday (which actually happened on the 3rd, but she didn't post it until yesterday) and I am posting mine today).

Well, Josh and Märia left the house so that I could get some sleep as I was tired from work. About a half hour after they left I got a phone call from the blood bank. They told me that they needed my blood. I said I had Saturday off and would come in then. They said no, they needed my blood now. I of course thought this a gimmick; call people up, make them think they HAVE to give blood as a moral matter and you get more blood. So I called her on it, said I have given blood every opportunity I had to give it ever since I was 17. I only didn't give blood for 6 months after Korea because I was deferred, and for 1 year after Iraq. She said it wasn't a gimmick.

She said that a woman had an accident of some sort, and her femoral artery burst, and they were having to amputate the leg. They needed AB- blood NOW and would appreciate it if I came right in.

Well, I got dressed, less skeptical now, and went right in. I walked up behind a couple of other people and they asked every one of us if we were Steven Rushing. I said I was. They gave me all the paperwork prefilled out. All I had to do was answer the 19 common questions (aids, africa, malaria, etc.). When I did, they skipped me through the line over say 4 or 5 people into the interview room. Here they ask all the uncomfortable personal questions about sex, drugs and diseases and take your temperature, blood pressure, and test your blood's weight in water for iron.

I actually came up at 100.1 degrees on my temperature. They said I had to have less than 99.4 to give blood. I explained that I wasn't sick at all; I just had a long drive in an un-airconditioned car in a really hot military uniform. She could see that my uniform was hot and sweaty. She told me to take off my top and we sat there for say 3-5 minutes asking the questions and so forth. She took my temperature again, telling me to not put my tongue down on it firmly and breath through my mouth. Temp came up as 97.3 or something like that and she took it.

Next they flew me through the line again, this time skipping 8-10 people waiting to have their blood drawn. They put me down on a bed and hooked me up quick. Here they did something different from all the other times I had given blood. They took the test samples first, then they hooked up the blood bag. They actually took the test samples back to another room where they tested them for disease and everything. Came out and told me I didn't have any. That was nice to hear. =) 4.5 minutes later I had filled the bags. My body must have sensed the urgency, as they said that was pretty fast to fill them.

I could see lots of bags from other people sitting on the counter waiting to be processed, but they actually packed my bags in ice in front of me, and sent them out to an ambulance which immediately took to the hospital. They didn't even give me a blood receipt. You know that little slip of paper you get with a number to call in case you get sick in a few days or decide your blood wasn't safe after-all? I didn't get one. When I asked why, they said my blood wouldn't last 3 hours and so I wouldn't have the opportunity to call in anyways.

Pretty crazy trip. I have given blood many times, but never anything like this. Give blood peoples! It actually is used and such. Yada yada. yeah.

And it's only getting warmer...

Steven Rushing — 2006-08-04T01:08:18-10:00

Well today I was in a movie...or at least it kinda felt like it.

Josh, Seporah, and I were driving home from the post office when a huge accident happened right in front of us. We almost got in the accident ourselves but Josh told me to stop. A Honda Civic was shredded and flipped around 180 degrees and a red Toyota Tacoma engulfed in flames (literally). So we pulled over to help and this huge Polynesian guy pulled another guy out of the burning truck and then we kinda got him away from the truck, which was leaking gas which was burning down the highway (someone else stoppped it by throwing dirt in it's way).

Josh got to call 911 for the first time and tell the fire department where we were (he had to figure it out, he said 'somewhere on H2, look for smoke').I'm not exactly sure how the people made it out alive. The guy who was pulled from the truck had a severely broken arm, I have never seen an arm bent the way his was. The radius (a bone in your forearm) was sticking out from the elbow and the wrist. I sat there and talked to him (Josh said I was yelling), trying to calm him down and keep him from going into shock. I gave him the once over and was pretty sure there wasn't any massive internal bleeding (causing hypovolemic shock) but psychologically, well don't ask me how psychological shock works, I just don't get it, it makes no sense to me. The other guy just cried and cried (who could blame him).

Another guy stopped, not to help, but to take pictures on his cell phone. I yelled at the guy big time to put his phone away and help. Unfortunately he wasn't any at all.

So the flames were like 20 feet in the air, all the tires exploded, the bumper melted and well it was really done for. The other car was smashed and shredded, spewed out on the road. It was crazy and my heart was pumping the whole time, I was so worried someone was going to be seriously injured and I was the only medical person who stopped to help. Hello, I'm not an EMT, an ER nurse, an ICU nurse or trauma anything, I work in a pretty stable environment (compared to what was going on anyways), if anything had been serious I don't have a clue what I'd do. At least Josh got to mail his coconut to Natalie.

Animusic - Pipe Dream

Steven Rushing — 2006-08-03T20:01:38-10:00

I saw this, and absolutely had to share it...

Welcome to Summer

Steven Rushing — 2006-08-03T02:02:36-10:00

Well summer has officially hit here. School actually just started last week, but the heat, oh my the heat. It's been fine all summer long until the last 3 days. The high has only been 85 and the low 76, but still we're in the middle of the ocean and there's humidity. And with no air conditioning it's been warm.
Maria

RIP WB

Steven Rushing — 2006-07-29T15:09:33-10:00

Yeah, that is right. The WB is gone. The network that brought us Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawsons Creek, Smallville, Felicity, One Tree Hill, 7th Heaven, Charmed, Gilmore Girls, Angel, Everwood, and so many other great shows. Yes, I know there is a lot of teen angst in there, but I was a teen when I these shows were great. I feel all old now. When I talk about "The WB" (and I do, more often that I realize) I will be talking of an extinct creature. My children will not know what I speak of. UGH.

It seems The WB and UPN are merging into a new network called The CW for CBS (which owns UPN) and Warner Brothers. They should have at least kept one of the names I think. Anything but start from scratch.

But such is the corporate world.

Quotables

Steven Rushing — 2006-07-26T13:27:37-10:00

I thought I would do a quick page of quotables, and we can update as needed.† =)

Märia: "Where are the bunny waves?"

Story: We were talking about getting surfing lessons, and I said we didn't need lessons, it was just like skiing.† She said she had never been skiing.† I said, I know you havn't but I mean we can learn like I learned to ski, I didn't need lessons.† I just went to the bunny slope and went up and down until I stopped falling.† To which she replied, Where are the bunny waves?† =)

Steven: "A mall by definition is a circle."

Story:† I can get around ok on this island.† I know how to get to Pearl Harbor, and around Mililani, and from one side of the island to the other.† I can get to Waikiki, up north to where the PCC and Temple are at and to Fort Shafter and The Pink Palace on the Hill.† But I am notorious for my inability to get out of a mall, facing the right direction to get home.† So I was trying to explain why I have such a hard time figuring out how to get out of a mall, and my mind was going blank. I was trying to explain that there are so very many exits from a mall, and normally between 3-5 different roads bordering a mall.† I have a hard time figuring out which way is home with so many choices and of course we never park in the same area or leave the same way.† But all that could come out of my mouth while I was brain fried, trying to get out of the mall was:† "A mall by definition is a circle".† =)

M‰ria: "I can't turn the island upside down!"

Story:† When you look at a map up is North, left is West, right is East and down is South. We live in the middle of the island and to get most anywhere (except for the North Shore) you have to go South. I know Waikiki is to the left of us, so I would go Highway 1 West, when in reality I needed to go Highway 1 East. In my mind the island is like a map, but going South is going North. I said this one morning of it taking an hour and a half to get to work after 2 wrong turns and a lot of traffic.

Update from Jason

Steven Rushing — 2006-07-19T15:24:18-10:00

Well guys, It has been a while so I figured i'd give you a little post to let you know what's going on in my life. In May I got promoted to Cpl, so I am officially a Non Commissioned Officer. It was a HUGE step in my advancement, and I was unbelievably excited at the time of pinning. I had Gabrielle come and pin me up. She is the mom of the local family who has taken me in. Since then I have been given a significant amount of responsibility and an increase in pay and respect. Definately excited about the second part.. makes Jason a much happier person.

Since my promotion I spent a week at RAS (Rear Areas Security) and was basically taken through a revamped course of Marine Combat Training. How to detain prisoners, shooting techniques, First Aid, and Political Prowess.) and then Two weeks on the Rifle range. One week we go through and relearn how to use the rifle, and then the second week, we fire the rifle for score. I got sharp shooter for the 4th time in a row, lol. I can't seem to move up to Expert... but luckily i don't ever move down to Marksman.

I have also moved chains of Command. I was with Combat Logistics Regiment - 17, and am now with Combalt Logistics Battalion - 5 (CLR-17 & CLB-5). My deployment date is set for late August, and I have exact days, but want to keep these to myself for now. My leave days are the 30th until the 17th of August. So you should see me somewhere between these dates.

Right now I'm trying to take care of my finances so they will be easily dealt with while I am away. I feel bad leaving this task to my father, I know he is incredibly busy already. I am basically going to have all my money goto one place and then have it pulled out directly by those billing me. I was going to try and take college courses, but they have moved up the money required per course, and my TA only helps me for 750 a class. Books and the remainder of what TA will not cover comes to about 350$ I have no wish to pay 350 out of pocket, per semester. I wish they would work with me on this, but no news yet.

CLB-5 has little for me to do, so I have alot of free time during the day. I sit here and play online games and browse www.youtube.com. It is very addicting, and I feel like I should have something creative to post.. unfortunately I don't :-( If anyone knows of a good video editing program I can pira.. i mean obtain.. I am open to suggestions. I am going to start taking alot more advantage of my digital camera. Um.. http://www.foreverabove.com is fully operational, so.. you can join us... or die... my master

Until next time

New Phone Numbers!

Steven Rushing — 2006-07-16T10:37:36-10:00

Yeah, we figured we are going to live here several years, so we ought to get local numbers. And our contract was up, so we qualified for $100 off a new phone, and mine was pretty beat up. It was an el cheapo to begin with, plus it was mine. Not a good combination. M‰ria's still looks new and it is 2 years old! But anyways, I got a new phone, and we got new numbers!

home number: 808-447-9237
My cell: 808-753-4464
Märia's cell: 808-753-6624

Some YouTube Videos...

Steven Rushing — 2006-07-14T23:14:23-10:00

Well, I was telling you all about how I am a YouTubeAholic, or addicted to YouTube. I came across a couple of fun videos today I wanted to show you; just examples of what you can find on YouTube.

1 minute 23 seconds, come on, you have that much time to spare don't you? Press the play button to make it start...

Ok, so someone found this video and uploaded it. Someone else saw this video, and wanted to paste a video reply to it. So they dug up another cool juggling movie, and posted it as a reply. Now normally this reply feature is used as a way of communication, ie I post a video blog (video journal), and someone else tells me in a video congradulations, or nice video, or it will be ok, depending on the video blog I put up, and what it was about.

The second video is longer, but much cooler. These juggling feats make your mind go gooey. 5 minutes 14 seconds:

I made weight...

Steven Rushing — 2006-07-14T01:52:16-10:00

Yep, that means my time is much more mine than it was. I am also only averaging 51 hours a week, which is a major improvement over the 72 I averaged in June.

I have somehow become a youtube addict. YouTube.com is a user driven video service. Users post videos of themselves, things they view, or things from TV. There is a bit of copyrighted material there, illegally, but the best of YouTube is by far the Video Blogs. Very fun, Very addictive. And all I have at work is time, so I can surf YouTube for hours.

But right now SSG Nichols and I are watching A Knights Tale. I must've seen this movie 20 times or so. M‰ria and I watched it several times when we were dating, probably 10 times just there. The only movies I know that I have seen more times than this one would be RAD, The Princess Bride and the first Austin Powers movie (It was on during open hours at the pizza place; I think I may have seen it 200-300 times).

Not much news I guess, but I thought it was worth an update. Oh yeah, congratulations to my Mom for her new webpage and new Mac. She purchased a MacBook and a domain name, DebraPoland.com. The name servers have not yet updated, but by tomorrow or so her webpage should be found there, at DebraPoland.com.

Where are you on the political grid?

Steven Rushing — 2006-07-13T01:00:23-10:00

Ok, if you know me at all, you know I take great pride in my ultra-conservatism. I always thought I was off the charts in my extreme right-wingedness, but apparently not. Over at PoliticalCompass.org, they have altered the traditional left-right line chart, creating a grid that plots you with regards to economic, moral and governmental politics. It is a really cool test really. Here are my results, sorry if it shows up weird:
The Political Compass

Economic Left/Right: 0.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.31 So go take the test already, It is short and pretty informative.

PoliticalCompass.org

Hello All

Steven Rushing — 2006-06-20T10:43:36-10:00

I thought I would tell what's going on in here since it looks like I haven't written in a while. I did write a post when we had the other style website, but it got deleted somehow. So life here is good. Mostly a lot of Seporah and Mommy time, which is 99% of the time lots of fun. Seporah's so easy going and happy that it's all good according to her. She's been tetthing the last week and a half. I thought she'd have a tooth by now, but that's not the case. Sorry about the lack of pictures, but in case you hadn't heard, I lost the camera (I am so mad at myself).

Steven almost has his Associate's Degree, he'll have it by the end of August we think, so he's looking on where to go for his Bacherlor's. Exciting stufff. Although with his work schedule it doesn't look like he can attend an actual sit down college, he'll continue with online programs. This slims down the choices when you get to the Bachelor's level. I'd like to go back as well, but I'd have to go to an actual sit dowen college. It would only take 5 part-time quarters, but with working as well I would be gone a lot. So we think I'll wait until Steven gets out of the military. Then maybe University of Hawaii Manoa. Nursing School is much tougher then nursing. I think it's probably the only degree where the schooling is tougher than the job. Maybe not, but there's always these jokes about college kids getting out and having free time. Which is true in nursing. I go to work, work and then I come home.

That's about it, I'll write later, Märia

The Gods of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Steven Rushing — 2006-06-20T05:06:19-10:00

How many times have you heard the statement, ìWe all worship the same godî or ìThere is one god with many namesî? Muslims, Jews and Christians all claim to worship the God of the Old Testament, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, yet they have radically different ideas of who that God is. I write this to say they are all wrong. Abraham worshipped my God. Muslims, Jews and Mainstream Christians worship false gods. Now before you get all offended, hear me out, and know that this is not an attack on anyoneís beliefs, but rather an excercise showing diversity of beliefs, and their incompatibilities. I doubt many will be offended if they read the whole of the post. Click More to read the article

Muslims claim their god as the creator, and we are but ìslaves to the godî. I have heard this exact phrase from many Iraqi translators and soldiers. He is without equal, and is one being. He speaks to us through prophets, the last of which was the prophet Mohammed. A quote from a predominant Muslim website:

ìGod is the ultimate of the existence of the universe. He is the Creator whose essence and form is beyond perception. it is only some of His characteristics that we have knowledge of through experience and prophesy. The Creatorís intrinsic characteristics are infinite and absolute. He is eternal and cannot be limited to space or time, because He is the Creator of both.î

Muslims are highly offended by the very common Christian notion that god has a son, as they feel that god is complete in and of himself, and has no need for offspring; a need or desire for offspring lessens god in their eyes.

Jews have a very similar idea of who/what god is. At the very core of Jewish belief is the idea that ìgod is oneî. Any acceptance of another god, an acceptance even of the possibility of another god, is idolatry. Jewish belief also states that God has no body and any statement otherwise is a ìfigure of speechî (the hand of god, the face of god). A quote about Jewish belief in god:

ìThe Second Foundation is the unity of HaShem, blessed be His Name. In other words, [the Torah teaches us] to believe that this Being, which is the Cause of all, is one. This does not mean one as in one of a pair nor one like a species [which encompasses many individuals], nor one as in one object that is made up of many elements, nor as a single simple object that is infinitely divisible. Rather, HaShem, blessed be His Name, is a unity unlike any other possible unity.î

The main difference between the Muslim god and the Jewish god is in ìwhat they didî rather than in ìwho/what they areî. Muslims believe in a god that gave humanity Mohammed as the ìsealî on prophetdom (I can make up words canít I, if you understand them =), or as a final prophet for all time. Jews believe in a god who is yet to send a final prophet, a messiah to lead them into Zion (although there are many definitions to this word, both physical, political and spiritual).

Christians (at least most who call themselves Christians, not my particular Christian faith) believe that Jesus Christ himself is an incarnation of god. But that he is just one manifestation, one of three. God also manifests himself as the ìHoly Spiritî and as ìGod the Fatherî. They are one god, as Christianity (on the whole) is a monotheistic religion. A quote about the mainstream Christian god:

ìThere is one and only one living and true God. ÖThe eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.î

None of the quotes I provided can speak authoritatively for religions as broad as Christianity, Judaism and Islam, but I believe I have represented them honestly, and they are mostly correct.

What does all this religious babble mean? I simply wish to point out that Jews, Muslims, and Christians do not in any way worship the same god. The gods they worship have different attributes, and have acted differently, and have vastly different wills. They are different gods. Perhaps only one is ìrealî. Perhaps none are. I do not write this to push my personal belief.

Muslims, Jews, and Christians all claim that Abraham worshipped ìtheirî god, even if their lips say ìwe worship the god of Abrahamî.

In this same way, I say that Abraham worshipped my God. I acknowledge that I could be wrong, that I could be worshipping the false god. What I know to be impossible however, is that grossly different religions with grossly different ideas of who/what god is can worship the same god.

Let us define the word Christian. There are two main definitions of this word, and a hybrid between the two. The first is a person who follows the teachings of Christ. The second is a person who attempts to do this, who does everything in their power to find out exactly what the teachings of Christ are, and then does them. The hybrid between the two (and what most people accept as the definition) is a person that accepts ìcoreî Christian beliefs, and does his best with the rest, or the mysteries of the gospel and doctrines of lesser importance.

So if I believe that god is a personage with a body, separate in being from His son and the Holy Spirit, and the mainstream Christian believes god ìreveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or beingî, then who is the Christian?

According to the first definition of Christian, only one of us can be a Christian, as only one of these doctrines can have been taught by Christ. I (of course) believe that I am correct, and so must accept that people who fall into the category of ìmainstream Christianityî are not Christians at all, assuming I accept the first definition.

According to the second definition, as long as both of us truly believe that we are following the teachings of Christ in good faith, we are Christians.

And according to the hybrid definition, I again must state that mainstream Christianity is worshipping a false god and therefore not Christians at all, as WHO god is definitely falls into a ìcore beliefî category. It is precisely on these grounds that mainstream Christianity falls upon to call Mormons non-Christians.

This whole article is written because I am sick and tired of members of my church answering back ìbut of course we are Christians, we worship the same God you worship, we just understand him differentlyî. The best answer commonly given by members with a little backbone is ìWe worship the same God, we just understand him better/correctly/through latter-day revelationî. If that is the best we can do, we have much to learn. In reality, the only real answer that can be given is, ìYou worship a false god, we worship the real God. We are Christians, you are not.î Precisely the answer mainstream Christianity gives to us. They get it. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do not.

And so I leave with what must be said. There is only one true and living God. I worship the God of Abraham. You do not. I am a Christian. You are not. (And I take no offence when you say the same to me, knowing that is the only place logical thought can lead.)

Weight loss...

Steven Rushing — 2006-06-15T03:48:40-10:00

Welcome to my new weekly weight loss article type thingy. I have struggled with my weight for a long time, going through periods of trying hard and not caring. The army says I am fat and takes too much of my time with the fat body program, so it is time I get my act together and lose the weight! I will give a weight loss update weekly as possible. Click "more" to read the rest of the article!

I have several motivating factors, several goals, and several resolutions pertaining to weight loss. Let us start with the resolutions.

I, Steven Rushing, hereby resolve to:

1. Never eat fast food again.

Fast food is hereby defined as:

a. Burger places (McDonalds, Burger King)

b. Places anyplace that can supersize, king size, large size your meals

c. Anyplace that asks, "Would you like fries with that?"

Fast food is NOT

a. Subway

b. Anyplace where they bring your food to your table

c. Anyplace with cloth napkins, water in a glass, or mints on your way out

2. Go to work without food (this leads to eating hotpockets at work)

3. Never drink empty calorie drinks (hereafter refered to as ECDs)

ECDs are hereby defined as:

a. Koolaids of any type

b. Carbonated beverages of any type

c. Anything marketted to people of "small stature"

d. Chocolate Milk

ECDs are NOT:

a. Ovaltine

b. Gatorade/Powerade/sports drinks

c. Milk

4. Drink more water than I do milk (I drink a lot of milk)

Goals:

1. Short term: GET OFF THE FAT BODY PROGRAM

a. 22% body fat to meet army standards (met this goal twice)

b. Get 2% under army stadards (20%) to get off fat man program

2. Long term: Put all weight issues behind me by getting below 200 lbs

My new schedule

Steven Rushing — 2006-05-31T05:17:54-10:00

Well, it is pretty nasty.† Everyone decided to take leave in June, and those that didn't take leave are away at various military schools.† To make things worse, we lost 2 soldiers to another team!† So personnel are low and hours are high.† Here is my new schedule:

I (and everyone else on shift work) work EVERY weekend 24 hours alternating Saturdays and Sundays (I am going to have to ask to be released from my teaching calling).† If I work 24 on Saturday, I am off Friday, If I work Sunday, I am off Monday.

Other than that, I work EVERY weekday 9 am to 9 pm, plus pt from 630-730 (which means I leave the house by 530 to drive forever away to Fort Shafter, and I don't get home until 815 or so).

Really, really nasty.

New Webpages

Steven Rushing — 2006-05-30T18:10:18-10:00

Well, Märia left today. Her and Seporah both, to visit the Grandparents in Washington state. We had a nice visit with my dad and Patricia, and now she is going to visit hers. Not a whole lot else going on here...

I have 3 new websites to announce though...

http://www.rushingaround.com/debra

This is a website chronicling her weight-loss and such, in pictures.

http://www.rushingaround.com/lonnie

This is a website chronicling Dad and Patriciaís vacation here to Hawaii. Lots of Pictures and Movies.

http://www.foreverabove.com

This is Jason's new webpage. This is the page I have been working on for 2 months now, and have been putting a lot of work into. It really has consumed my life over the last 2 months. I am proud of the end result, and hope you guys enjoy it.

I am da wo-man

Steven Rushing — 2006-05-29T10:34:31-10:00

At least I thought so at work yesterday. There was this kiddo who had to get blood drawn, 20 days old, very hard stick. 3 nurses had tried and had not succeeded and I got in the first try. I was like yes! Then I had a 20 month old's IV go bad and I had to restick him. We were in and out of the treatment room in less than 10 minutes, one try and it was in. I was so excited. A lot of times with babies and toddlers it takes more than 1 try because their veins are so tiny and they like to wiggle. Someday's are good and someday's are bad and I was so good yesterday. I just thought I'd share it with everyone.
Märia

Here in Hawaii

Steven Rushing — 2006-05-25T16:13:57-10:00

Well Lonnie and Patricia have been here the past couple of days. We've been doing the tourist stuff with them. We finally went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, it was just as good as I remembered it. The only bad part was it rained so walking around was a little wet. But it really was a lot of fun. We also went to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet, I am officially tired of being thought of as a tourist. I need to develop a tan, everyone treats me like a dumb tourist and I'm like no, I live in Mililani. It was bad at work, another nurse asked if it looked like she had a tan (which she did), so I stuck my leg out to show her the difference. She looked brown compared to my flouescent white. I don't wear pants either. I either wear skirts or capris and I go outside. It's probably that I'm scared I'll burn Seporah, so we don't go out for very long. I'd go to a tanning booth but Steven is adament about no tanning booths (he also puts his foot down about motorcycles, but that's about it, so I figure I have to comply).

Apple came out with the MacBooks, we haven't bought one yet, but I figure it's only a matter of time before we do. Steven's saying no-no, we aren't getting one. But I don't think he drools over me as much as he drools over the new MacBooks ;) It would be nice just for the fact we could have one computer each because they run mac osx and microsoft windows. I guess I'm now a Mac fan, they are definately better than Microsoft computers any day of the week. However Windows is a necessary evil in our Microsoft oriented world (not that I'm drooling over the MacBooks mind you). I get frustrated when I use the Windows machine now, too many flaws and it can't do enough, plus it's slow.

Oh I am also here to advertise for Kodak. We bought the Kodak EasyShare Camera plus Printer the week after Seporah was born (when we realize our camera was terrible) and it's wonderful. Easy to use and you can print photos that are water-proof (like at the store) right at home. It's great when we're sending cards, just pop it on and it takes like 15 seconds and you've got a photo to send with your card. Before we never sent photos, but we're nothing to look at when you compare us to Seporah. Seporah's the real charmer. I guess I'm a regular biased mom, I think my baby is the cutest, smartest, strongest baby in the whole world and if you say anything bad about her I'll kill you, it's that simple ;) It's gonna be tough on me when she actually does something bad.

She's doing great, getting bigger and bigger everyday, really. She's my chucky monkey and we're running out of clothes that fit her, I didn't think we'd have that problem for a while since we've got them up to 18months (a couple that are 24months). She's not even quite 5 months. But she's getting bigger everyday, it shows she's nice and healthy.

That's about it, hope all is going well for everyone else, Märia

They're Making a Movie!!!!!

Steven Rushing — 2006-05-11T00:52:00-10:00

Holy cow! Well some of you may not know this, but at our house Simpsons was the bomb. We all sat down and watched it every night (we didn't watch anything else on tv really, just The Simpsons). And would you believe it, they're finally making a movie!!!! I just had to tell someone, so there we go. I know some of you may be anti-Simpsons, but oh well. Steven wasn't allowed to watch them when he was a kid. But I got all the Seasons on DVD (well 1-7, the ones that are out) and he watched them with me, he thinks they're pretty funny too. Actually in the first 6 seasons I had seen all but 1 episode previously. The one episode I had never seen was apparently banned from television after the first viewing. It made fun of New Orleans and New Orleans got real defensive, so they weren't allowed to show it again (which would explain why I never saw it). The 7th season is where I started tapering off the Simpsons, so I missed like 3 of those episodes, I imagine it's only downhill from there. Especially now, we don't even get Fox. But I don't know what the big deal with New Orleans was, I always thought it was a compliment to get made fun of by The Simpsons. Who knows.

4 years...

Steven Rushing — 2006-05-04T00:58:57-10:00

Well it seems today is our wedding anniversary, 4 years can you believe it? It's been a pretty good 4 years. So for our anniversary, Steven went to the gas chamber...*pause for hesitant chuckles* Well actually he did, but it was for work (nothing to do with me). I spent the day cleaning, you can actually see our living room floor, holy cow.

So I stuck myself with a dirty needle at work (dirty meaning it had touched someone else's blood). Never done that before. When I did, my first thought was Oh My God, I'm gonna get Hepatitis. Kinda funny I didn't think Oh My God I'm gonna get HIV. I felt really stupid about it until I went and talked to the Occupational Health Nurse who said 2 weeks ago another nurse got stuck the same way I did with thte same patient. Don't worry though, the patient was pretty low risk, and even if she wasn't low risk, the probability of me getting anything is pretty small. It was pretty shocking all the same. I practice safe needle procedures to the T so I didn't think I'd ever stick myself, however this particular needle doesn't have safety features and the patient jumped.

Oh dear, Seporah just said it was time for me to finish and take care of her, talk later, M‰ria

Car, PT Test

Steven Rushing — 2006-04-20T15:34:38-10:00

Well, I guess I have a little news. I bought a new old car a few days ago. It is a '93 Dodge Shadow. It only had 64k miles on it, and had been owned by an older lady, so I think I got a good deal. It is in really good shape, better shape than my Kia was in after having it for only 4 years and putting nearly 70k miles on it. I am happy enough with it. Only thing is it doesn't have ac, so we will see how nasty it gets this summer =)

We are enjoying our new home, it is almost presentable now. Friday we will be renting a truck to get rid of boxes and trash and old furniture we dont want anymore.

I took a pt test yesterday. I did 53 pushups (75%), 77 situps (96%) and ran in 15:54 (64%). The run time was the worst I have run in my time in the military by far. My last pt test I ran 14:20, and that was my previous worst in a long time. So I really need to work on my run. I also taped over by .8 %. I weighed in at 229 lbs.

Lets see, any other news... Well, I don't think I ever actually posted this, but I was offered a job at the Apple store, but had to decline it based on a really nasty schedule that is forever changing at work. Such is army life I guess.

Houston, we have internet

Steven Rushing — 2006-04-13T00:47:36-10:00

Well, wow life has been busy, busy, busy lately. We have moved into our new home and are about halfway settled. The other half is still in boxes. We're usual more organized but it seems having a baby changes everything (please see the Johnson&Johnson Ad Compaign). We were right about Seporah's needing her own room. She now sleeps 12 hours at night with 2 eating periods. It's great.We just got the internet today (Steven thought he was going to die). I actually can't write much, there's still about a million things to do.Hopefully all is going well with all of you. Seporah's website may take a couple more days too, sorry. Till then, Märia

That's not quite what I meant

Steven Rushing — 2006-03-28T02:10:55-10:00

When I was saying holy cow about the cell phone bill, I was trying to be funny. You know like those commercials "you used how many minutes?!?!?!" I didn't mean stop calling. Yeah it was a bad bill, but that was mostly talking to real estate agent and esrow people and loan officer and all the other people you call during moves (changing addresses and such). We knew it would be horrible, but figured the house was worth it, we couldn't just tell them now hold on I know I need to talk to you about the house, but I'm out of minutes, could you call back on my next billing cycle, I know I've only got so long to close, but I'm afraid of bad bills.
So look forward to your next call, Märia

College and Apple

Steven Rushing — 2006-03-24T13:59:55-10:00

Well, I just posted my introductions on the two classes I start on Monday.† I am taking Internet/Webpage Development I and Introduction to Philosophy.† I am rocking the boat as always.† =)

You see, a basic study of Microsoft Frontpage does not constitute studying webpage development.† That is like teaching Microsoft Word in a creative writing class.† Yes, you can write a book in Word, but learning Word won't teach you to write a book anymore than learning to drag and drop text and multimedia in Frontpage will teach you about web development.

In other news, I applied at the local Apple Store.† The interview went quite well, but I havn't gotten a call back yet.† The manager said that the Human Resources person who interviewed me had to go on leave on very short notice and would get back with me as soon as she returned.† But I think I will probably have a part time job at the Apple Store soon.† =)

Holy Cow...

Steven Rushing — 2006-03-22T13:04:30-10:00

I just got my cell phone bill.....

Well, here goes...

Steven Rushing — 2006-03-17T15:48:28-10:00

Since we've had multiple requests for our new address, here it is:
95-2040 Waikalani Pl #E405
Mililani, HI 96789
However, please remember we will not be moving in until around the 1st of April.

I took Seporah to her well baby check up this morning and she is a big girl. 14pounds, 11ounces. That's above the 95th percentile. I actually thought she was bigger than that, even though that is big. We've been using size 3 diapers which are for 16-24pound babies and they fit her pretty well (Guess she's just chunks around the middle, I like her that way though). So I guess I'm feeding her pretty well (boy is that ever a full time job). She does have super sensitive skin, even for a baby. We confirmed that. Because when you touch her, she turns red, even if it's just a light touch. And she has a diaper rash that's been there since the day after she was born (and yes we have tried everything we can to get rid of it).

I'm working at getting a job at Tripler Army Medical Center. I'm guessing I'll start work the first week of April or so. Little nervous since I haven't worked since October 24th (wow, talk about your Maternity Leave, that's 5 months). Steven's also working on getting a second job. He wants to work at Apple! He's wanted to for a long time, but now he's got a schedule where he can actually do it.

Still working on house paperwork. Man we're ready for it. We're counting down the days...15 days...Hey! It's St. Patrick's Day! I better find some green, I'm not wearing any!

I'll post later, M‰ria

Dating with Children...

Steven Rushing — 2006-03-14T00:41:06-10:00

What's the classic date everyone with children jokes about? "Where you guys going?" "Costco, we have kids!" Well actually we didn't go to Costco, but we went to somewhere just as good: Sam's Club. We got our first warehouse card there, and we bought it for the diapers. Whew...those get expensive... But anyways it was a lot of fun. We'll go there just for the tasteys next time (Steven says he never used the word tasteys, so that's where people give out samples of cookies or whatever). That's about it, tune it next time to hear about our navel lint.

Märia

P.S. New pictures in the photos.

GO DADDIO!!!!

Steven Rushing — 2006-03-12T23:12:00-10:00

Well Dad (Russell Albright) just called me and he's running a marathon this weekend in Kuwait. However Hawaii cell phone coverage sucks and it went out before I could say Go Dad Go! We're all rooting for you!
So "GO, DAD, GO! WE'RE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!!!"

Märia, Steven, & Seporah

So we're touring around still...

Steven Rushing — 2006-03-12T19:49:46-10:00

Well we now know why Polynesians have a little more fat deposits in general as compared to other people. Food in Hawaii is wonderful. We've eaten Japanese sushi, Korean gyoza, Italian pasta, Hawaii delicacies (except for poi and spam, we stayed away from that :), gourmet pizzas (for those of you that know me know I don't really eat pizza and I ate these) and others, and everything is great. I don't think we would have gone to so many restaurants except for the fact we're living in a hotel and get tired of microwave dinners. Everything we've eaten here is well above average (Actually there is one exception a Chinese restaurant that had to have served the worst food ever, but we won't go back there). So we've got the low down on food here and I've come to grips with no Olive Garden on Oahu.

We've also been all over the island. No, we haven't quite made it to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Mostly because I'm waiting to get a Hawaiian license so I can get the resident price (which is signficantly cheaper). But we will, actually that was the first tourist place I wanted to go to and figured we go there in the first week or so until I saw how much it was, so I said I could wait a couple months. I think that was the best memory of Hawaii when we were younger (except for maybe Russell getting his head sliced open ;). But we have been to the Dole plantation, Waikiki, other beaches, the Lai'e Temple, Poli Lookout, the Bishop Museum, a touristy mall and a non-touristy mall and a few other places. Steven wants to go see the USS Arizona Memorial but it's the most visited place on Hawaii (the Polynesian Cultural Center is the most visited place that you have to pay for) and apparently if you don't go to get a ticket before 8am or so, you won't get in there's that many people wanting to see it. If I'm repeating from previous posts, sorry, I can't remember what I've already said about being here.

We went to our ward's Chili Cook-off last night and I am continued to be amazed at the organizational skills of the people in our ward. The winner got a huge basket of goodies that were all donated from various places (movie passes, chocolates, etc). And I was like dang, I don't cook, but maybe I should start. Steven and I are really enjoying the ward, everyone is very welcoming and friendly . Unfortunately today during church I didn't hear much. Seporah ate 4 different times in 3 hours and I just was like man that is just my chunky monkey. Hopefully that means another growth spurt. Steven said he was playing with this 4 month old yesterday and she was much smaller than Seporah (she's 2 1/2 months) and he was amazed. To which I said, yes, darling, our little girl is a very big girl. We like her that way, she's nice and healthy and super strong. Actually we were holding her hands and she was able to stand on her legs for like 10 seconds. No, we weren't holding her, she was doing it. We were like go Seporah. She rolled over once a couple weeks ago, but she's only done that once, and it wasn't one purpose.

We had the inspector come to our condo and check things out this week. It all looks good, we might even be able to close and move in a few days before March 31st. I hope so. It was so much fun to be there again, Steven and I were like wow, this going to be ours. Like little kids in a candy shop (or mommies in a chocolate shop :). We got a bunch of paperwork about the condo complex and only 42% of people who live in them are the owners, so most other people use the condos as an investment property. We'd been thinking about doing that later on down the road. But anyway the amount of renters in the place was much higher than we thought it would be and we didn't know if that was bad for investment purposes. Who knows (probably realtors, I know).

So all in all life is good. About the worst thing in life right now is the lack of a stove and Seporah not sleeping very well at night, but we think those both'll be remedied when we move. Oh! and not getting any of our mail. We've been here 4 days shy of a month and have not recieved 1 piece of mail, ouch... We're trying to get that remedied but if you've sent us something and we haven't said something that's why. Oh and we're completely out of minutes on our cell phones too, so if you don't have Verizon please either call us on the weekends or wait until the 17th or email us. When you go over minutes it's BAD on Verizon. Actually email is wonderful for us to get the message across. Steven checks it like 4 times a day, we're always getting email there (steven.rushing@gmail.com), hopefully the days of paper mail will draw to a close in the next few years. Well scratch that thought I like paper mail too, just not all the junk mail.

Well Seporah's ready to play, so I'll talk later,

M‰ria

Ramblings

Steven Rushing — 2006-03-05T17:42:47-10:00

Well, someone must have put in a good word for us with The Big Guy because we have been very blessed lately. Seporah is doing wonderfully. Two nights ago she only woke up twice the whole night. We were so excited, we kinda paid for it last though, she woke up 6 times (and we really can't ignore her being in the same room). However we are very hopeful. She continues to grow bigger and stronger everyday. And we get smiles out the ears (however she still won't do it much for the camera). AND eating time has decreased significantly. Only 20 minutes instead of 60-90 (no lie).

Today we went to our ward for the second time. We are in an awesome ward. Everyone's friendly, we have a ward rooster, we were introduced, got candy, a list of babysitters, inivitation for dinner, and even hugs and kisses (Hawaiians are much more touchy-feely). Today was Testimony Meeting, which went very well. Steven and I also enjoyed Gospel Docturine, Elder's Quorum, and Relief Society. So we're happy to be in this ward for 3 years.

We went again to Waikiki yesterday and that went much better than the lst time. We had Seporah so we only stayed in the water for about 25 minutes and then we went up and down the street (which is filled with about a million shops for those of you don't know). We also went to the Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium and had fun. Everyone only took cash and I think it was a good thing the ATM there was out of money or else we might have been out of money by day's end. We also ate a killer Japanese sushi bar, there are quite a lot of Japanese tourists here as well, so there are lots of places to cater to them and that makes the Japanese food a little more authentic (I think).

That's about it, Seporah's site is updated pretty regularly as well, especially with pictures. Her pictures are way more interesting then the one's we'd have without her. So take a look, link at top.

M‰ria

Back From Hiding

Steven Rushing — 2006-03-05T13:26:27-10:00

Hey everyone. I know you guys all thought I dropped off the edge of the planet, but I indeed have yet to find it. My adventures to find this mystic photo site are quite interesting and I thought you might want to hear about it.

Okay. Well, my unit is back from overseas.. so life is starting to return to semi normal. Because of this I had to move rooms again and am now sharing a roomate with a Cpl who is a self labled Satanist.. and I have labled him an alcoholic.. (just not to his face :-) ). The weekend they returned, he and his friends turned my room into a reminescence of a scene from Cocktails. I was less than thrilled. And in a small side note.. I think my digital camera has gone missing.

But my luck has changes since this last weekend I was called to go work at Palomar Mountain Christian Community Center. http://www.pccc.org Wow.. I LOVE my job there. I work hard at doing dishes and anything else they require. I love that the whole time I'm doing dishes.. they are jamming to christian music.. and many of them are singing along. While staying at this lovely establishment I am able to play guitar and study for my college classes in my spare time. My roomate in my tiny shack is named Kyle and I work with his sister Casey in the dining room. He and I both play guitar, (me accoustic and he electric) So we stay up entirely too late everynight and jam together. I love this place.. I work with great people.. doing a job that in any other place would suck.. but because of the environment... I LOVE it. I hate going back down the mountain at the end of the weekend to continue being a marine. I think if I'm given the opportunity in the future.. I'll work at a place like this full time.

Okay, well I have mentioned my college class once during this post and several times at previous intervals.. so I know some of you are wandering what I'm taking and how I'm doing at it. Well.. I'm taking Old Testament Survay 105 at Liberty University stationed in Virginia. I'm taking this course online and it has not been easy.. but very very interesting. I took my midterm last weekend.. *drum roll* and I made a Ninety-Seven. Yes.. out of One hundred questions.. I missed three. I wrote this out so that people scanning the page couldn't pick it out ;-). You gotta read the whole thing guys!

So.. my internet just got hooked up from changing rooms.. and my guitar lessons are going great. I'm learning ALOT.. I hope someday that I"ll be good enough so I can be in a band or something. Not like.. a famous one.. but a great group of guys who want to have fun.. and glorify God. I'm going to get a new recording of the song I've been working on lately... just give me a hint on what you think of "never look away" and "She reminds me" They are posted on the purevolume site. I miss you guys.. and my promise to all of you as my devoted fans... I won't forget the little people :-).

Jason

We're Buying a Condo!

Steven Rushing — 2006-03-01T17:10:24-10:00

Well we're buying a condo, the offers been accepted and everything, we'll close March 31st! YEAH! We are very excited. Not only for buying a home and everything but also to get out of the hotel. Hotels are all right, but if you're actually living in them, that's another story. Plus Seporah definately needs her own room. She's 2 months and the longest she's ever slept at a time is 4 hours (and that's only happened a couple times, usually it averages 2 1/2 hours at a time). We're figuring when she gets her own room she'll sleep longer (don't get us wrong, she's still a great baby, just a bad sleeper).

So the place we're getting is kinda small for mainland comparisions but remember it's Hawaii, real estate is way different. It's 799 square feet plus it has a 97 square feet lanai (like a covered patio), 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, lots of cabinet space. We're putting pictures on the photo page or you can just click on the photo right above this post.

We took a tour of the island yesterday, all day. I had a lot of fun, got to see lots of the countryside and beaches and touristy places. I'm not sure Steven much cared for it though. That's about it, we'll post later.

M‰ria

Update

Steven Rushing — 2006-02-23T17:56:33-10:00

Well the past week has been very busy. We've looked at about 16 condos and townhouses and we think we've found the one we want. Not quite sure yet, but we think. We're still going to look a little bit more. I know it's fast to most people for buying a home, however if we don't buy one before the military finds us housing we have to live on base. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's almost always better to buy than rent.

We've driven quite a bit with our real estate agent and seen parts of the island, but we think we're going to rent a car for a week or so so we can explore more indepth (our car is still on a boat). The military does a free tour of the island for all newcomers so we're going to go to that on Tuesday, it's all day and according to others it's quite thorough.

Seporah is growing bigger everyday. I'm not sure if you guys can tell from the pictures, but she is. She's also able to stay alert and awake at the same time. Which I really like and so does Steven. Before if she was awake she was eating and if she wasn't eating she was asleep. We've actually taken maybe 50 pictures of her awake in the past week, but she's so active and always moving that they're all fuzzy. Smiles are becoming a daily thing, we usually get one or two a day, we're waiting until they're whenever she's happy.

Seporah and I went to a Mom and Baby Yoga class, which was a lot of fun. There are so many classes and things to do on this base it's amazing. I think there's more than other bases, but I'm not sure. Maybe it's just because I never lived on base (currently we're in the Schofield Inn on base). Hawaii is very beautiful, it's very lush with LOTS of variety. Well that's about it, we'll keep you guys updated on house hunting.

M‰ria

Aloha!

Steven Rushing — 2006-02-18T12:51:12-10:00

Aloha! From Hawaii! We have made it here safe and sound (or at least weíve made it here). Seporah was absolutely wonderful for the 10 hour plane ride. We were really worried about that, but she had 2 little crying spells that lasted for less than 5 minutes that werenít even that bad. After the plane ride we had like 20 people say what a good baby she was. So I was like YEAH! It wasnít bad at all (sorry to all those who have had bad plane ride experiences with their babies, especially if we were the babies).

We arrived in Honolulu and were promptly called by my new team chief, Sgt Aslin. Our bags had arrived on an earlier flight, so we didnít even have to wait on them, they were waiting on us! Check this, I didnít even have to go to a replacement/reception battalion. I signed straight into the unit off leave. And then we hit the first snag of this whole move.

Some of you might remember us complaining of the $200 motel rooms in Augusta when we arrived during Masters Golf Tournament week (we stayed in Atlanta by the way). Well, we did it again. We arrived the week of ìThe Great Aloha Runî. Apparently people fly here from the other islands and from all over the world this week to run around the island. Thatís right. They pay an arm, leg and kidney in airfare and motel rooms to RUN. I GET PAID TO RUN! And they are spending bookoo! I just donít understand it. =)

So there were no motel rooms open, we swear, on the entire island. We looked, we called, Sgt Aslin called, the unit called and people at Schofield Inn called. A lot of people calledÖ So we spent our first night in condemned single soldier barracks which are scheduled to be torn down in a couple of years. They put us in the room they stored mops and cleaning supplies in, so it smelled like wet mop and mold. Only 2 lights in the 3 bedroom place worked (bathroom light and kitchen light). All the light bulbs had been cannibalized by soldiers for the other rooms. And our warm reception by Sgt Aslin complete with flowery leis was added to by 7 or 8 inebriated single soldiers who barged into our room and cooed (drunkenly) over Seporah and gave us parenting advice. I finally was able to herd them out after about 15 minutes and we checked and double checked that the door was locked.

The next morning it was revealed that at least one of those soldiers had complained to the First Sergeant about a married couple being in their barracks! Seriously. So Sgt Aslin and the First Sergeant pushed to get us into the first open slot at Schofield Inn. It took awhile but we did get in. So we are staying in the hotel we should be in for a couple of months or until we buy our place.

So all in all our first 24 hours in Hawaii were quite an adventure and we didnít even see any sharks. Hopefully when you visit your first 24 hours will be just the same =).

Märia and Steven

Pictures to come...

We're On the Road! (blogging from Atlanta)

Steven Rushing — 2006-02-16T06:49:27-10:00

Well, I guess this is an official Blog, now that I am posting from the road.† We are in Atlanta.† M‰ria is asleep in bed still, and I am about to go get the car cleaned so that the Port of Atlanta will accept it.† Just 9 hours until we get on a plane for hawaii!† and 18 hours until touchdown.† Märia and I are both super excited and Seporah is even figuring out that something happy is happening.† =)† Well, I have to get to work!† Steven

As crazy as things are around here, there really isn't much news...

Steven Rushing — 2006-02-11T09:59:13-10:00

The movers came and picked up our advance baggage.† That is about 500 lbs of junk that goes to Hawaii via airmail.† It is supposed to arrive within 30 days.† We are finally going to use our last set of dishes we recieved at our wedding reception.† Probably going to just toss the ones we have here.† I think we have 2 half sets we are currently using.† And they have been going fast of late.† We also sent pots and pans and some clothes and our photo printer and other junk.† =)† So even if we wanted to cook, we really couldn't.† Sounds like a good excuse to go to the Olive Garden!† They come back to pack up the rest of the household goods (stuph getting shipped by boat) on Monday.†

I final out (completely out-process) on Wednesday and we fly on Thursday.† 5 days and Counting!† Seporah is getting pretty excited to see Hawaii. We can tell because she eats alot and cries alot.† Not too much Seporah news, kinda slow over at SeporahsCrib.

We are going on our first date tonight, leaving Seporah with a baby-sitter for the first time.† Not quite sure how that will turn out.† But it isn't like the baby-sitter can tell us never again.† =)† Happy Valentines day to all the friends and family who check this place out!

February 16th

Steven Rushing — 2006-02-08T17:30:05-10:00

Well Steven has completely outprocessed. We will be on a plane Feb 16th, it's a 9hour 56minute nonstop flight, whew, we'll see how that goes...

The Kia is Gone...

Steven Rushing — 2006-02-07T19:23:01-10:00

Well we sold the Kia, it was actually very easy with very little effort on our part. My friend Denise told her hairdresser while getting her hair done and her hairdresser bought it when she saw it. Steven's a little sad, he's going to miss it. For me, it's just one more step closer to Hawaii.

Life at Home

Steven Rushing — 2006-02-06T12:02:16-10:00

Well it seems life at home for me is all about feeding Seporah. No one really tells you how much time breastfeeding actually takes. But she just went down for her 2 hour nap (She only has one of those, the rest are 30 minute naps where she wants to be held or she'll wake up). Usually I take this time to clean or eat but I thought I'd write a post today, Steven can do the dishes :) Debra just came here to visit this weekend, you can visit SeporahsCrib.com to see pictures and such with her visit. Seporah also just had her baby blessing yesterday. Actually I'm sitting here and thinking everything I have to say is probably about Seporah, haha. But it's really quite nice. She is a joy and lots of fun. Steven's working on finishing up his classes and we're trying to sell the Kia. Kinda crazy actually, Steven bought the Kia while we were dating so he could drive me on the dates. I complain about it, but the car has memories. I got into a fender bender in it the first time I got behind the wheel when I found out I was pregnant (wasn't quite expecting it). We're also trying to decide what we can and can't live without for 2 months; Steven says he can't live without the iMac, I said I couldn't live without all my clothes :) That's about it, hope all is going well for everyone.
Märia

Update on the move...

Steven Rushing — 2006-02-02T10:28:09-10:00

Just a quick update on our move to Hawaii.† I am going to be stationed in Kunia Tunnel, just south of Schofield Barracks, Just north of the Honolulu Airport.† I will be with the 30th Signal Bn, 369 Signal Company, working in a strategic (read - nondeployable stationary site) satellite communications facility.† I already have a sponser who will run me through inprocessing and give me rides until our vehicle arrives on the boat.†

M‰ria and I will be buying a condo to live in while we are there.† We are excited to purchase our first place, and already have a century 21 representative standing by to show us around.† It is really exciting!

One last thing... I wanted to give one more pointer over towards Seporah's new site.† Really peoples, all the excitement is over there nowadays.† =)† SeporahsCrib.com

We ARE Moving...

Steven Rushing — 2006-01-28T10:39:52-10:00

Well after something like 28 days off, Steven went back to work yesterday (Somehow I made it alone :) AND... *drum roll please*...we are moving to HAWAII!! YEAH! We thought we had lost the spot in November, so we were super excited. We should be moving somewhere between Feb 10-14. Yes that is super short notice. We're a little worried about getting everything ready, esp with Seporah, but I'm sure we'll make it. And Seporah will be raised in the Sands of Paradise....ahhhh! Doesn't that sound nice...

Märia

Introducing Seporah's Crib

Steven Rushing — 2006-01-26T23:22:00-10:00

We are creating a new website, as Seporah has taken over this one mostly. It is currently at SeporahsCrib.com . Please check it out, and come here and leave comments telling me what you like, dislike, and alerting me to links or pictures or anything that doesnt work. I havn't been getting much feedback, and would like some comments! =)

An Update in the Life of the Frustrated

Steven Rushing — 2006-01-18T02:39:44-10:00

Well everyone. Time for another update.

I have been planning my future for the last couple of weeks, and have started putting some of the wheels in motion.

I have been offered a job up at Palomar Mountain Christian Assembly. It's a great Christian camp grounds about an hour from here. I basically will drive up Friday night and then back down Sunday afternoon. I'm praying about this and have had the dickens of a time getting the recommendations and application filled out. Hopefully I will get it all done by Friday. My command doesn't seem to have a hard time with this so far, but they change their minds every two seconds.. you know how the military is.. lol

I have applied and been accepted at Liberty University at their distance learning program. http://www.liberty.edu. I've been told great things about it so far, but once again have been jumping through all kinds of hoops to get that off the ground as well. Tomorrow I have to attend an hour long class at the Joint Education Center just so that I can get the paperwork filled out for Tuition Assistance. So.. my college is in motion.. who knew the day would come :-). So all of you who see me on an Instant messenger.. make sure you bug me to death about doing my homework. My first day of class is the 30th of January :-).

I have signed up for Guitar lessons, which start tomorrow at 5:30. It's only 30 minutes, but it's with a real professional.. maybe he can rub off on me alittle :-) As you guys can listen here with the little red button.. I finally recorded myself with "Never Look Away" Which I wrote on ship. I hope you all enjoyed it, I put alot of everything into it's creation. Literally.. if you listen I think you can hear my roomate laughing at me in the background :-).

I resigned as Youth Director here in Oceanside.. I'm pursuing other ministrys for a while, but I'm not willing to announce those right now.. I'm looking into two or three, and am unsure which one God wants me to partake in. Just keep me in your prayers, and remember whenever I'm the highly educated, Christian rockstar performing live at Palomar Mountain, that Rushingaround.com got the scoop first. You heard it here!

Well this, field agent needs to get some sleep so that he can wake up and save the world again tomorrow. Stay tuned to Rushingaround.com for all the latest news on Seporah, the real star of this show. She and M‰ria really class up the act around here.

Jason

Forever Above

Steven Rushing — 2006-01-12T01:50:54-10:00

I thought I would put a quick notice to a small change some might not have noticed. I have added playlists of some of our favourite songs on the right side bar. Clicking them will launch a popup music jukebox from which you can listen to the music.

Also, in the upper right hand corner there is a blue and red play button. The colors may clash, but the music behind the button is great. The song is called "Never Look Away" and it was written and sung by our very own Jason Rushing.

Happy birthday to me!

Steven Rushing — 2006-01-11T13:33:01-10:00

Okies, so it's not my birthday, that was the 7th. I had a great birthday. We started out by opening presents in the morning. I got serenity the movie (i reviewed it and it is great!), and american mormon (funny if you are lds, will just confuse you if you arn't) on dvd. We had a decent breakfast (taquito's, made by me) and then we ran off to atlanta.

In atlanta we stopped first at the Great Harvest Bread Company. They make the best bread you will ever eat. Probably the most expensive bread you will ever pay for, but well well worth it. =) We got the Popeye (spinach and peppers) and Tomato herb bread. Oh yeah, and the Pecan Swirl. Märia just ate the last piece. All three great loaves of bread.

From there we went to check out the Apple Store! We browsed about for awhile and I came out with a new remote control for my Mac courtesy of Grandma Pam for my birthday! Many thanks and lots of love to Pam, the remote works great. M‰ria especially likes being able to change the volume or switch songs or movies when Seporah is in her lap. =)

In the mall with the Apple Store, there was a carousel and Märia, Seporah and I took our first Carousel ride together. =) Pictures coming soon to a website near you...

From there we took Pam to her hotel and ate dinner and generally chatted and had fun. Pam picked up some cake and I had birthday cake! =) Super fun birthday.

Yesterday we took Seporah to her first movie. We went to see flightplan at the second run theatre. She was super good and didnt make a sound, even though she was awake for lots of it. We just have a great baby!

Update on Seporah

Steven Rushing — 2006-01-08T18:47:53-10:00

Well, Steven and I have been parents now for 9 days and we thought we'd give everyone an update. Seporah is a wonderful, happy, fun, and interactive baby. We have been very blessed. She goes with us everywhere. We went to the park twice, and we ate at the the Olive Garden, and we went on a day trip to Atlanta where she went to Great Harvest (an excellent bakery), the Apple store (yesterday was Steven's birthday), and she rode her very first carousel. She's very curious about the world around her and likes to look at everything with her beautiful gray-blue eyes. At the very beginning she was over 9 pounds and with the way she eats it won't be long before she's in double digits. Steven and I are quite enamored with her. We love you all and we'll keep you posted.

Märia

Click on the Picture!

Steven Rushing — 2006-01-04T18:45:54-10:00

Hey this comment is for all those who want to see Seporah with her daddy and others. When you go to the gallery you just have to click on the picture of Seporah and me and you get to a whole other gallery with LOTS of pictures. I got a comment and someone didn't realize that. So actually all those pictures on the gallery main page open up into other galleries. If you can't figure it out, post a comment here. Hope you enjoy them!

Märia

New year, new baby, new pictures

Steven Rushing — 2006-01-02T21:29:26-10:00

Happy new year to you all! I am just sitting at home with a sleepy (and sleeping) wife, 3 day old baby and spare time and energy on my hands. So I put up new pictures in the gallery. Hope you enjoy them!

pictures!

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-31T14:43:26-10:00

Seporah is born!

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-31T11:15:07-10:00

Sorry it took so long to get this posted. Seporah was born last night at 1004 eastern time. She is 20.5 inches long, and weighs 9 lbs 2.8 ounces. She has a full head of short brown hair, and deep dark blue eyes, that will probably change to brown over the next couple of months. She is pretty active, and has a healthy pair of lungs. =) Stay tuned for pictures, pretty quickly! =)

1 hour

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-30T20:42:00-10:00

Märia is going tyo have a c section within the hour. She has severe preeclampsia which is a high blood presure that can be harmful to her. There will be an update within a couple hours showing the baby was born.

Josh Albright

Seporah is On the Way

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-30T17:46:05-10:00

Due to mild complications Märia is having labor induced at the doctors request. She has high blood pressure and the doctor was concnerned. Don't worry. Everything is fine, but Seporah will make her grand enterance this afternoon.

Please do not call regarding Märia, the baby, or labor. Steven will call everyone after the baby has been born to inform everyone of the new blessing.

Stay tuned at Rushingaround.com, our agent in the field will post all future news as they come up to date. :o)

Jason Rushin

t-minus 3 cm and counting!

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-28T12:40:51-10:00

3 down, 7 to go! =) expect big news (and pictures!) in the next 2-5 days =)

A lot of whining...

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-26T03:06:45-10:00

Well, it's currently 2:53AM and I finally tossed and turned enough to kick my husband out of bed and on to the couch. Never thought that would happen, but I've only been asleep from 11pm to 1:40am this night. The rest of the time has been tossing and turning and moaning and groaning. I am truely sick of being pregnant. It's said that pregnancy and labor and delivery causes you to have a greater appreciation for your mother and I'm thinking this is just not true. I only stayed in 28 weeks and came out at just over 3 pounds. Where as Seporah is staying in for 9 months of discomfort (actually, technically it's 10 did you know that) and probably 9 pounds of discomfort (I hope to heavens she's not technically 10). So the way I see it my mom should be showing me extreme amounts of appreciation (well maybe not, I guess 3 months in the NICU was a pretty good scare huh?). You'd think that since I've been in pre-term labor twice, when the time came to actually want her out it would happen at just the thought of it, guess not, darn. Anyways I'm thinking I've got a pretty good trade off, I get my body back, and Seporah gets the world and my breasts. We've been discussing this trade off a lot but she doesn't seem to like it. Well, I guess it's 5 days and counting till D day. Hopefully no more, I'm ready to sleep...

Merry Christmas!

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-25T15:55:00-10:00

We wanted to write and tell everyone Merry Christmas! So Merry Christmas! Last night we had friends over for dinner and we ate duck, tastes less like chicken and more like turkey for those who haven't had it. The friends we had over said we were murderers and it was slightly morbid for us to eat duck since we collect them :) . Just as a side note we have 20 lightbulbs in our house, 12 of them have burned out in the past 2 months (three were yesterday and we'd run out of fresh lightbulbs so it was slightly dark). We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.
Märia, Steven, and Seporah

Life and Love and Why

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-25T12:13:43-10:00

Well, this Christmas season has been entertaining and interesting all around. I have been studying a new religion, Messianic Judiasm, and have learned alot about the bible that I've never really realized before. I spend all day saturdays there with their church and then drive home so I can attend church at the Baptist Church, where I will soon pass on my Youth Leader responsibilities to someone else. Probably at the beginning of the coming year.
I have settled into my new room, in which i have no roomate, and no command to check into.. It has been a great couple of days. I spend most of my time out in town, associating with families from church, but when I am infact in my room.. I can do as I please, which is a wonderful yet temporary situation.
The longer I am away from home the more I realize how important family is, and I miss mine alot. I hope to take leave again in a few months, even if just for a few days to go see Grandpa, Dad and hopefully Steven and Maria. We'll see.. since I am property of the Govt, I sometimes don't get my way :-). Even in the slightest.
Got a call from Gillham back in theatre. They are doing great and are expecting my package soon, I miss them alot and pray that they make it home safely soon. I feel badly posting here, due to the fact that little that i speak of has anything to do with anyone other than myself. I'm praying for you all, and hope that the Christmas season finds you well..

Yours truly
Jason

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-23T17:25:56-10:00

Well life at the Rushing house is anything but rushing. It's more like the waiting house. Countdown to Christmas, countdown to baby being born, countdown to Steven's birthday, countdown to getting out of Augusta, Georgia. Although technically we only have real countdowns for Christmas and Steven's birthday because we don't know when Seporah will make her entrance or when we'll make our departure from Augusta. We were too lazy to do reviews, but watch Narnia and Zathura. Oh and although I gave King Kong an 8/10, Steven gave it a 3 thumbs down (with vomit on the side).

We've been playing pinochle online, Mom's been playing it forever but we just started. And man do we suck. If you'd like to improve your rating just play against us (Of course, it doesn't help that we don't shout our cards across the house =).

Steven's currently on half days, which means he's only working 12 hours a day now. Just kidding, he's only working 8am to noon. Which means we have lots of time to wait together.

Stay Tuned: We'll write in a couple days to tell about Christmas and other such exciting events.

Märia and Steven

Racked with Christmas Card Guilt...

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-20T08:08:52-10:00

Well it's now happened the fourth year in a row (or at least it has almost happened). Christmas has come and gone I have neglected to do my "wifely" duty of sending Christmas cards and a warm greeting to everyone. It's not so bad, except yesterday we recieved a whole bunch in the mail and I thought, "why didn't I do this again?" The first year we were married I had just barely survived my first quarter of nursing school and I didn't feel like sending them out. The second year Steven had just left for Iraq and I didn't feel like sending them out. The third year Steven had just gotten back from Iraq and I really didn't care. And now this year I feel like everything has made life busy, busy, busy (three sets of military orders, being nine months pregnant, a funeral, 2 pre-term labors, etc.). Which is kinda funny I think since I'm not currently working outside the home, but I feel incredibly busy. I'm imagining if I did what retailers did and started getting ready for Christmas right after Independence day, I'd get them out next year. So this webpage will have to take the place of the warm greeting. Of course if you're following this webLog you probably know all about life in the Rushing household. So let's see if we can't make this message a little different.

Well Steven spends his days fixing computers for other people (really and truly). He fixed 4 last week. He's fixed one this week so far, but it's only Tuesday morning, so he's still got time to catch up. He says when we move, we're not allowed to tell anybody he's a computer nerd. However, number one, I doubt they would miss it if they came to our house and saw computers outnumber people 2 to 1 here. And number two, I think he loves it. Just takes a lot of time. Mostly because we no longer live in the Silicon Valley and computer nerds are in short supply here. My husband is a valuable asset to the Augusta, Georgia community. He's also taking online courses, currently Algebra and a Political Science class. I pick up the Algebra book and suddenly realize how my parents felt when I was in 7th grade and asked them for help on my homework. Math is truly one you use or you lose. Steven's enjoying them though. After these 2 classes he's got 4 more for an Associate's Degree and then on to a Bachelor's in Computer Nerdness :)

I hate to say this (since I swore I'd never do it), but it's probably true and I think I'm spending my days nesting (like a bird getting ready for her young). 11 days and counting until D day and really I don't think the house has been in better shape. The freezer is full of casseroles (which is amazing since I don't like to cook). The laundry is done every other day instead of once a week. And the baby books are alphabetized (what was I thinking). Just plotting along until we have a baby now, everything else seems secondary (even Christmas). And very much ready for it for more than one reason. I was reading that as a mother gets closer to her due date her sleeping schedule aligns itself with her baby's. I would have thought that was silly, except for the fact I honestly have not slept for more than 90 minute stretches in the past 3 weeks. I wake up 6 times a night at the minumum. And I've come to discover that as much as the first 8 months or pregnancy are not fun physically, the ninth month is worse. So yes, 11 days and counting.

So that's life at the Rushing house and my Christmas card in a nutshell. Hope life is wonderful for all of you. Best wishes,

Märia

Article on divorce by Orson Scott Card

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-19T15:27:01-10:00

Quoted from here. This is a short excerpt of a much longer must read article.

It's everybody's business. Marriage is a contract, not just between the couple, but between the couple, society at large, and any children they might bear or adopt. And divorce is a disruption, not just of the marriage, but of the children's home and of the contract with society at large.
There is no no-fault divorce, whatever the law says, and no such thing as no-damage divorce, either. Temporary marriage is not doing the job that marriage is needed for in the first place -- especially where children are involved.

RushingFamilyAlbum.com

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-16T14:31:46-10:00

Well, I scanned pictures for an hour last night, finishing two of Grandma's photo albums. Today I set up a new website for all family pictures. Let me just say that it is depressing scanning so many pictures of people that I havn't met, or pictures of loved ones passed on.

The goal of this new website is to consolidate all of the pictures Sue Rushing had, and to add to them any pictures her relatives (and their relatives) would like to add. I do not recognize many of the people in the pictures that Grandma Rushing took. I am sure there are people in your pictures you may not recognize, or places you do not remember. If we consolidate our efforts, we can label these pictures with who is in there, and where and approximately when they were taken.

I think it is a worthy project and invite all who are interested to get involved. Just register at rushingfamilyalbum.com and i will give you admin privilidges so you can upload and edit photos. =)

I'm home from texas

Steven Rushing — 2005-12-08T15:14:36-10:00

The funeral and graveside went ok. Most people think it went well, but it just isn't so. Too much family politics. From my view (and i certainly didnt see everything) it was mainly a side dominating and a side backing down. Not what should have happened at a funeral, and best not happen at my Grandfather's. It was something I wish my Grandfather had not lived to see. Enough about that.

Märia is doing well enough here. Mostly sitting around (she is technically on bedrest still) but she gets around well enough when she wants to. She will elaborate on her condition when shes ready. I've had a wonderful homecoming, and am happy I will be home for Seporah's birth. Shes about ready to pop out afterall... =)

Headed to Texas

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-30T22:15:31-10:00

As most of you have heard, my grandmother died of cancer a couple of days ago. I waited on posting, until I knew Jason had received his red cross message in Iraq. I didnt want him to find out through a webpage. So tomorrow I fly home to Texas to attend the funeral, and see my grandfather, parents, brother, and the rest of the family.

Pray for Märia, that she will not have the baby while I am gone. She is nearly 36 weeks pregnant, and as you all know she had some complications, and is really due any day. I will be gone a week, so it could be interesting. I will keep you updated while I am gone.

Steven Rushing

Clara Sue Rushing

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-30T22:07:47-10:00

Clara Sue Rushing

August 11, 1931 - December 28, 2005

A wonderful woman of love.

A patient mother.

A devoted wife.

Your legacy will live forever in me.

Thoughts on coming home

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-29T08:24:35-10:00

Well, everyone it has been a few days since I've updated.

I am still here and safe. I got pulled to the S-1 shop today and they needed my personal info so they could get the paperwork started on sending me home. That made me smile . And I'm working with the chaplain.. which is definately busy work, but I love the company.. listening to Christian music and ordering things and such.. Great work.. If i ever reinlist.. i'm going to go be a Chaplains Assistant.

I got to talk to Eve the other day.. even if it was just for 30 minutes on aim, it was worth it. It's hard to explain how small pieces of contact can have such an effect on my outlook.. ugh who knows. I was noticing it when I got a simple email from B, the other day. Nothing exciting in it.. just a letter about her week.. and my day just got better.. lol. That probably sounds pretty dumb, but I don't get many letters at all. Kristi sends me a letter a week (snail mail) and I get emails from Eve and B.. and that's about it. I don't hear from anyone else back home unless I call them. I got to talk to Maiya two or three days ago.. I guess it's just nice to be missed.. lol

I miss you all, though. and I can't wait to come home and see my Grandma.. and all of you who are reading this.

My Water Broke...

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-29T08:09:27-10:00

That got your attention didn't it, hehe. Actually it didn't. I went to sleep with an almost full open 16 oz. bottle of water in my hands (not on purpose) and I woke up really wet and cold. So I sat straight up and said "My water broke" to my husband. I thought it was pretty funny, he didn't though.
Lots of other things going on around this house. Mostly trying to get ready for holidays and baby. Steven should write in the next couple days. Just thought I'd give a funny.
Märia

Stained-Glass Masquerade by Casting Crowns

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-23T10:03:32-10:00

Is there anyone that fails?
Is there anyone that falls?
Am I the only one in church today feelin' so small?

Cause when I take a look around..
Everybody seems so strong.
I know they'll soon discover
That I don't belong

So I tuck it all away, like everything's okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I'll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the heart again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them

Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation's open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade

Is there anyone who's been there
Are there any hands to raise
Am I the only one who's traded
In the altar for a stage

The performance is convincing
And we know every line by heart
Only when no one is watching
Can we really fall apart

But would it set me free
If I dared to let you see
The truth behind the person
That you imagine me to be

Would your arms be open
Or would you walk away
Would the love of Jesus
Be enough to make you stay

Wow.. never in my eight years of Christian music have I ever heard a song that describes this so well. You get so used to being the Christian that you are more concerned with being a Christian in the eyes of those who scrutinize, than you are being a follower of Christ for the approval of your Lord.

... We all fall.. and we all fail... This is why I'm the worst follower of Christ that I know... because I know everytime I've fallen and no one was there to witness it.

My First Post

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-22T18:57:06-10:00

Well since Steven's been writing quite a bit about me I thought I'd put in my two cents as well. Let's see, I got back on Saturday, November 19th from Washington. It was quite an eventful trip (a little too eventful as you can see from earlier posts). I had quite a bit of fun though. I saw several people I had not seen in a while, spent time with family, learned Josh outgrew me (sniff, sniff), met my nephew for the first time, went to some fun restaurants, and had a baby shower. BTW I wanted to thank everyone who came to my baby shower and my mom and Lynda for throwing it. It was pretty fun and the gifts were much needed.

So right now Steven and I are indefinitely living in Georgia and we will have Seporah at the Medical College of Georgia. We may or may not move to Hawaii afterwards. I'm doing much better, I'm on a couple oral medications to keep contractions at bay. So hopefully Seporah will stay in for a couple more weeks, hey maybe even make it to New Years Eve, her due date. That'll at least give me time to make it so the house is no longer a bachelor pad ;). I won't be returning to work because that is currently not recommended, a little bummed about that. That's about it for the update at my end, I'll write later.
~Märia

Märia is coming home!

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-18T22:34:28-10:00

Yeah! Somehow Märia fooled the doctors at Madigan into letting her come home! So I will be picking her up at the airport tomorrow, late at night. Say yeah! Here is a quick military joke...

What do you call a doctor that graduated last in his class?

Sir. =)

(and for those of you who don't get military jokes... we call officers sir in the military, and a doctor who graduated last in his class has no where to go but the military, no one else will let him be their doctor. hows that for sucking the humor out of the joke. =)

OK, so again, I don't know how Märia fooled them into letting her come home, but I think I just sufficiently demonstrated the intelligence of military doctors. =) The point is, she is coming home!

So now I am clean clean cleaning, as I have been living like a bachelor for too long! =)

Going home again...

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-18T10:10:05-10:00

They are sending Märia home again with more meds to stop the contractions and delay labor. So I guess I won't be getting on a plane today. Yeah, thats the news.

Märia is back at the hospital...

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-18T07:24:58-10:00

Yeah, I just got off the phone again. She is having contractions again, and this time she can feel them. Last time she couldn't feel them at all; she only knew she was having them because a computer told her so. =) So she is on the way back to the hospital, where she will probably stay until Seporah is born. More news in the next few hours. I will post if I fly home (and give Lynda a call=).

Morning Thoughts

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-18T04:34:19-10:00

Have you ever woken up in the morning.. just looked around and thought to yourself. "i really don't want to get out of bed today" I really wish i could have just slept this day away.. You know.. when hard times are happening to me directly.. it really usually doesn't affect me that much. I personally am usually pretty put together with it all. When it affects the people around me.. i'm usually not that good. I sometimes wake at all hours of the night and just go take a walk outside. Small things amaze me.. big things.. not so much. I kinda just walked around outside in shorts, tshirt and sandles for almost an hour, tried to figure out how everything fits in. I guess sometimes, you aren't privaledged to the big picture until much later in life. I talked to the chaplain about the big decisions in my life.. rolling over.. reenlisting.. college.. when and where.. Eve.. Go home now.. or later.. Grandma.. what it all means. I ended up down by the gym about two blocks away, sitting outside by the sand crevice singing Martyrs and Thieves by Jennifer Knapp.. And I probably sat there for.. longer than I should have. I"m surprised I don't have a cold coming on. I finally sat down with Jason when he asked me why I am the way I am. And I told him the story of how I found Christ. I think he was moved.. and saw alittle of himself in the story i told of my grandparents.. I think he understands me alittle better. This isn't a story I can just write... you have to hear it if you haven't..

I appreciate the emails from you all, try and send them to my work since I can't send emails out again for a couple more days. We are on lock-down for some reason.. I miss you all, and hope that you have a great holiday season.

Less than 30 Days

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-17T17:40:45-10:00

Well guys.. i've been quiet for a while.. and i'm sorry. I've had alot on my plate. I finally finished never look away. It's.. my only musical compositry i've ever written.. and The only people who have heard it is Jason and Roy. They both thought it was great, and Roy even asked to hear it a second and then third time.

well less then 30 days.. just counting down.. I miss you all and pray for you constantly.. I wish I had more to say but I don't.. Just keep me in mind from time to time.

Seporah's in a Hurry =)

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-17T14:30:45-10:00

Märia is safe at her parent's house, technically on bedrest. She says that she is having contractions again, slowly, and there is no way that Seporah is waiting 6 whole weeks for birth. =) I guess she is just in a hurry.

I did the bills for the first time in like 3 years. Ever since the ramp up for Iraq, when I was in the field so much, Märia has done the bills. It was strange doing them, and it is just amazing how fast the money goes. =)

No news from Jason in a little while, I wonder what he is up to...

Märia is home now

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-16T19:20:03-10:00

Well, they let Märia go home after her mom promised to keep her in bed. She is technically on bedrest, and still not allowed to fly, so it will be a bit before we see each other again. She has another appointment on Friday. That is it for news.

Go over to GizmoProject.com, download Gizmo Project and add me, MacStreet. It is a great little program. Excellent voice chat and IM integration. =)

2 more days in the hospital, minimum

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-15T23:35:04-10:00

Well, it looks like Märia's contractions have stopped completely. They have stopped the anticontraction medication, and the contractions are not coming back. They want to hold her for at least 2 more days, and possibly up to 5 more days, just to make sure everything is fine. I don't quite understand why they are holding her. She is terribly bored in the hospital, she says it is driving her crazy in there. They won't let her get up and walk or anything. She is allowed to be wheeled around in a wheel chair if there is a visitor who is willing to move her. 2 more days and we will have more info. =) Call Märia at 12539681322. She is really bored and could use some company. =)

Labor has stopped...

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-14T20:51:00-10:00

Well, it seems the medicine they have been giving her has stopped the labor. They will cease on the medicine tomorrow morning, and possibly hold her another day to make sure the labor doesn't come back. It seems that she isn't having gestational diabetes afterall. Apparently the steroids they gave her just before they took the tests threw them off. So the cause of the preterm labor is really up in the air, possibly just germies. Will update when we get more news.

As of now, we will not be moving to Hawaii after all, at least not until after the baby is born. So I will be putting a crib together over the next few days. =)

Quick Märia Update

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-13T23:30:45-10:00

---Quote---

To Whom It May Concern:

Mrs Märia D Rushing was admitted to Labor and Delivery unit at Madigan Army Medical Center due to preterm contractions and concern for preterm labor. She is currently undergoing treatment to stop labor. She is currently 33+1/7 weeks gestation. She was scheduled to fly to Georgia on 16 Nov 05; however, this is not medically recommended.

(Dr's signature block)

---/Quote---

Ok, so I am going into my appointments tomorrow with this and and email from netcom and a redcross message for my Grandmother, and hopefully that will be justification enough to defer my movement to Hawaii until after Seporah is born. It looks like they will not allow Märia to leave Washington until the baby is born, and if they do, they will certainly not authorize her to make the long long trip to Hawaii. Thats all the news for now.

Well, it's Gestational Diabetes

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-13T17:39:07-10:00

Apparently Märia has had it the whole time, but she eats so well that no one picked up on it. She says that she didn't eat too many sweets yesterday at her baby shower, but I am guessing that is what aggravated everything. So they shot her up with steroids to mature up Seporah's lungs, and they gave her antibiotics to fight the germies that love to swim in sugar water. She has been on drugs to stop the labor for 6 hours now, and we will know if they are working in 12 hours. If the drugs don't work, they will just let her have the baby. Seporah is already 6 lbs (she likes the sugar water too=) and so everything should be ok, one way or another. =)

May be having a baby...

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-13T14:57:37-10:00

... but probably not. If you havn't heard, Märia is in the hospital with pre-term labor. She was having contractions and everything when she woke up this morning. They are trying to stop the contractions. Maybe she will be able to come home, maybe not. They are saying they don't want her flying anymore, so she may have the baby in washington state. I will keep you posted.

This is mostly a test...

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-11T11:10:42-10:00

I found a new little app (known as widget in the mac world) where i can post directly from my desktop, without having to log in or any of that stuph. If you are reading this it worked!

Life is fairly crazy here. Märia is in Washington with her folk, and I am still answering phones for the company. same ol same ol.

Our plane is supposed to fly us to Hawaii on 28 Nov. We are pretty excited to go. I guess I ought to write about a movie I saw a few weeks ago.

I saw zathura a couple of weeks ago, early as it only came out this week. It isn't a must see, but it is good. I dont feel like really writing a review of it so thats it. =)

We have a 4 day weekend so I am off today. I think I will go do something, not sure what yet though. =)

IED Duty

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-11T09:56:48-10:00

Well everyone, you are not going to believe what happened to me today . I got picked for a working party outside the base. Well.. i kinda volunteered.. but that's a different story. I didn't want to!! just know that. It was just the best option.

So, I got up at 4 am this morning, after goingt to sleep at midnight so I cold spend time with Jason G. And then I got on a 7 ton and went outside the wire. We locked and loaded our weapons, and then drove about 2 hours out.. Now you aren't going to believe this part. The roads that people use for convoys are cluttered with trash, and the enemy uses that trash to desguise bombs to blow us up. So my job today.. was to clean up the trash on the side of the road.. and just hope that I don't find a bomb. That was the plan.. mind you we had security around us, and dump trucks to put all the trash in.. but it was just DUMB. One of us could have been KILLED! Luckily we didn't find any, the road we were cleaning isn't a road they put alot of them on. Well.. I'm back now and safe within the base again.. I was hoping to have an email.. but no luck. So.. i'm SUPER tired now.. and I need to get some sleep. Going to write an email to someone special.. but after that.. i'm going back home and going to bed.. my eyes hurt.

Nave: What do you really want out of life?
Jason: Just the words "Well done" when it's all over.

You wont believe what im doing tomorrow

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-10T09:28:02-10:00

keep me in prayer tomorrow.. i'm doing something i can't believe my command has sent me to do.. I'll tell you about it when I get back.. but I love you guys. And I miss you all terribly.

if we're to share this road, for a portion of our way...

Quick Update

Steven Rushing — 2005-11-07T09:04:40-10:00

Well, It's Monday night at 7:50, here in Iraq. And I figured I'd drop you guys a little update on my life. Today I woke up at about 7:30 and quickly dressed for work. I loaded up on my bike and then rode the mile and a half up to my van where I fix radios. I forgot to wake up Jason and Dan though . So they weren't happy with me, but luckily they got their rears in gear in about 10 minutes time, dressed and then rode the 2 minute ride to work. So we all made it (almost) on time. They were minutes late, so no one really noticed. One of my Sgts are angry with me.. a few days ago I was walking into the tent and one of the Sgts yelled out my name and ordered me to go replace one of the other LCpls on NCO Duty. So I grabbed my gear and went, but when word got back to my SSgt (the guy in charge of me) that the Sgts were grabbing guys from his section and putting them on posts, without consulting him... That Sgt got yelled at by my SSgt.. and now that Sgt.. is not a big fan of Jason right now . I wish it wasn't so.. i mean i didn't really do anything.. it was his actions regarding me that got him in trouble.. but he doesn't really accept that. So on to other things..

I'm out of wire radios to fix, so I really sit around and do nothing all day, while the radio side does all their work. I brought my laptop up tonight so as to have something to entertain myself. My heart is troubled again by the rollercoaster ride of my heart lately.. so I found myself writing more. It's so much easier to put my feelings down on paper, than to try and reason through them outloud. I got a letter from MayMay Wow I was happy about that . It's not often I hear from her, and no doubt, she is definately one of my favorite little sisters. Probably the only one who even pays attention to me . Well Jason is still trying to convince me to roll over, but Dan doesn't want me to.. professionally we just don't get along. He wants me to go back to my old unit. I want to do both!! I want to go back to my old unit and be the BEST guy in my field there. Because I have learned ALOT on this float. Or I could stay here, and be with my friend... and get to see all the really cool countries again.. I just don't know.. We'll see. I hope things are going great for all of you. I wanted to put something here to make you all remember my antics with:

Neve: Jason, did you put this cd inside the airconditioner?
Me: um.. i don't think I put a cd inside the airconditioner, what makes you think it was me?
Neve: Jason! It's a Cd with a big cross on it and it says 'Rushing' across the front!
Me: Um.. well.. it might be mine.. I'll take it just incase I meet this "Rushing" fellow.. and can return his property. *looks around to see if anyone is buying this at all*

Yeah... well when the AC guy came through earlier and was working on it, I apparently put it ontop of the AC unit and it fell ontop of the motor box.. so when Neve came through she found it and 'somehow' figured out that it was mine .

God bless!!

Google Maps and Abortion

Steven Rushing — 2005-08-06T00:00:15-10:00

06 Aug 05

Well, I guess I have news. Märia and I are going to Hawaii in October or November to live. =) Pretty exciting huh? Märia is running around singing this song: I'm goin to Havaii, I'm goin to Havaii. I keep telling her its Hawaii, but she says they pronounce it there with a V. I guess I will know in a few months. =) I tested out of SMU today. It is just one of many annexes to the school I am attending right now. Stands for Switching and Multiplexing Unit. Just a big telephone pbx really, with some data capabilities.

We got a camcorder, so pretty soon we will have videos up; certainly when we have a little one to videotape.

For your entertainment, I thought I would rip off some Google Map pictures, to show you where I live and work! All of the following pictures belong to Google, you can find the utility to find satellite pictures of where you live at Google.

This is where I live!
3517A Oakview Pl
Hephzibah, Ga 30815

The apartment building circled up top is where we live, and the pool circled is our complex pool, where all the ants go to cool off. Seriously, the ants invade the pool every day at about noon; residents mostly say they need to get cool just like everyone else! =)

Ok, to keep the colorscheme, yellow is where I live. The blue circled area is Fort Gordon. The white building in the red circle is Vincent Hall, the satellite communications school. It takes about 15 minutes to get to work. =)

This is a blown up picture of where I work. The white building is Vincent Hall again. The Field in purple is Barton Field. It is 3.5 miles around, and we run it at least 3 times a week. The track around it is red clay, and my shoes are totally red from it. And yes, those are football fields inside the track going around Barton Field. It is MASSIVE. You can actually be in the middle of it, and see forever looking up and down it. It makes you feel very small. =)

And just because I could, here is Grandma and Grandpa's house in Texas. I thought they would get a kick out of seeing satellite shots of their house. =)

And that is about it for news for now. I think I will leave with a quote that I have been thinking about recently... It is how I reply when people ask me how I can sympathize with those who bomb abortion clinics.

"Just because they didn't know they were killing human beings doesn't mean they wern't killing human beings" --- Colonel Graff to Ender in Ender's Game

This comes from Ender's Game. Ender asked why Humans were at war with an alien race called the Buggers. Graff explained that to the buggers, losing a few "workers" was no big deal. They had evolved from insects, and had a hive mind. Every worker (used in the same way as ants and bees use the word worker) was just another set of eyes and hands, but without a real life outside the Hive. Only Queens were sentient beings with unique genetic futures. So only killing Queens was murder. Graff explained that the buggers didnt know they were killing thinking sentient beings, they just thought they were shutting off cameras, clipping our fingernails. Ender asked why we attacked them back, why we didnt just try to reason with them. Graff stated that we had the duty to defend Humanity, whether the buggers knew they were killing beings or not.

"Just because they didn't know they were killing human beings doesn't mean they wern't killing human beings" --- Colonel Graff to Ender in Ender's Game

Apply that to abortion, tell me what you think @ steven.rushing@gmail.com.

1st Seporah Ultrasounds

Steven Rushing — 2005-06-22T00:00:24-10:00

Jun 22, 2005

Ok, I will try not to go 6 months without an update again. Actually, as Märia and I are pregnant, I feel I can guarantee updates and pictures on our expected one, starting today. We have had lots of requests for the spelling of the names, so I'm putting it down here in print.

Boy: Oren Palicroval

Girl: Seporah Scheherazade

So we went in for an appointment today, and we had an ultrasound. We are 13 weeks pregnant with one baby, and boy did that thing kick. I thought it was a little early to be training for the olympics, but I am guessing s/he will be a swimmer. =) Must be all the pool water Märia has been drinking. =)

You can see the face on the first picture, and the capital H shows where the heart is. I had to ask Märia if she had any late night visits by aliens mid-april. The radiologist told us all ultrasounds look like alien babies.

Although this may look like your average petshop lizard, this ultrasound shows the spinal cord. The head is on the left, and the rump is on the right. If you look it shows our baby is 6.2 cm long, which calculates out to being 12 weeks 4 days old, which is exactly what we estimated.

And as for the gender, according to all those old wives tales, the heartrate indicates it's a girl. But that is only about 80% accurate, so don't hold us to it or ask for returns of the pink teddys. (Update: Märia made me come back and edit this to make sure EVERYONE knows I meant teddybears. Apparently there were some upturned eyebrows and interesting calls) Just wait to find out what it really is, thats what we are doing. =)

A Story of a Man and His Son

Steven Rushing — 2005-01-17T00:00:28-10:00

Jan 17, 2005

Mostly I have been playing with my new Mac, so I guess nothing much is new in my life. I came across some new pictures. The Disney Land pictures and a picture I took of Mom and I when she came down are up. Did I mention that webpage developement has been completely moved over to the iMac?

I had a wonderful time with my family in Texas. I want to share with you a story my grandfather told me as a younger child, a story that would ultimately change my whole outlook on God, as it has to do with Who and What God is.

Apparently as a child I spoke of Jesus Christ and His Father too "seperately". Kay (my then step-mother) told me I should not seperate them, as they were one being. Of course this was confusing to me, as I remembered Christ praying to the Father, and it seemed all scripture pointed to Christ being the son of the Father, rather than Christ being a different incarnation of the Father. She explained it to me like this... God is God is God, but he has three forms, just as water is water is water, but it can be seen as water and ice and steam, but it has three forms. But they were all the exact same being. This is the idea of the Trinity (a word not found in the Bible I would note).

Which brings me to the story my grandfather told me. My grandfather and I were talking of spiritual things as we often did, and I related my confusion concerning this story to him. He told me it was completely wrong. He told me a story to explain the nature of God, and this is the story he told.

There was a man and his son who ran a store. They needed some help running the store, and so they hired a hand to help them with the store. Now the hand worked well enough, when the man was there to watch him, but he had to be watched or he would slack off. One day the man had to go to town to run some errands, and so he left his son in charge of the store. His son was a little young, 16 or 17, and the hand was somewhat offended that the store would be left in charge of the son rather than him. The hand would not work nearly as well for the son as he did when the father kept a watchful eye on him. The son was patient with the hand, but in time decided he had to let the hand go and so he fired the hand. Upon the return of the store owner, the hand complained that he had been fired by the son. The man replied only "Well, if you're fired, you're fired." This man and son were my grandfather and his son, Edward.

This is the relationship between the Father and the Son as my grandfather taught it to me. They are one in purpose, one in authority, or rather, the Son of God wields God's authority with perfection, and the Father allows him to, as he knows that the Son (Christ) is perfect, and will only use it in a way that the Father would agree that it should be used.

This is in direct opposition with the creeds of the protestant church. "The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being." The key words in this statement are triune (another word not to be found in scripture) and being. You may click these links. The first link is a direct quote from the Southern Baptist Convention's webpage explaining their belief about God. The next two take you to Dictionary.com and give you meanings of the words.

Every Protestant faith believes this, and there is no room for question. I could not in good faith stay united with a church that was so very mistaken as to the nature of the Being they worshiped. I needed to know the nature of my God. It seemed clear to me from scripture. It seemed clear to my grandfather from his Bible study. My grandmother was appalled when I told her the traditional Baptist/Protestant idea of the "Trinity". She had never heard such a thing, and told me people did not believe it.

I joined a church that believes that our Father in heaven is our God, and Jesus Christ is His son. It makes so much more sense. =)

Luther, Phantom of the Opera and Apple!

Steven Rushing — 2005-01-08T00:00:17-10:00

Jan 8, 2005

New year, new opportunities. How many of you have kept your resolutions the first 8 days? Just curious of course.

Yesterday was my birthday. I am 24 now. It is strange and amazing to think that I have been married two and a half years, out of highschool for five and a half. Time moves quickly.

Märia bought me an iMac for my birthday! It took me completely by surprise. She and her mother just came in from shopping, and asked me to help them carry in some stuph from the car, and sitting in the trunk was an iMac box. This page is now being made exlusively on the Mac, using Nvu, iPhoto and Homepage. Nvu is an html editor sponsored by Linspire. iPhoto and Homepage are Mac products, part of iLife suite. I am totally enjoying my Mac, you guys need to head down to an apple store and take one for a test drive. They are very nice and very knowledgeable at the apple stores, and you can sit and play on a Mac for as long as you want.

My other gift came from Pam and Russ, Märia's parents. They bought me the movie Luther. Check it out on DVD if you see it somewhere. It is the story of Martin Luther's struggle with the Catholic Church, himself, and in some cases God. I cannot comment on the historical accuracy of the movie, but I can say that it is moving. You will not believe the actor's/writer's ability to insert wit and jokes without making it feel blastphemous. Those looking for a Catholic bashing movie might as well pass this one over. It is quite respectful of the Catholic faith, considering the subject matter. It tells the story of a man questioning the doctrines of the Catholic church without passing judgement as to whether he was right to question them.

Another movie that we have seen this last week is The Phantom of the Opera. Everyone has heard the music. Well, you havn't. I mean, when I heard it, I recognized every song, but I was caught up in the story by these modern versions in a way that simply was not possible with older renditions, or a live orchestra. We saw it, and plan to see it again in theatre. We purchased the soundtrack, and will probably get the extended edition soundtrack as well. The music is that good. And do not believe the critics. It is hard to find a good review of this movie online. The movie "experts" all seem to feel like this was a movie that should not have been made because it somehow takes away from seeing it on stage. I love stage theatre. It was a huge part of my life in highschool. A story is a story, whether it is told as a book, movie, ballet, play, or song. This was a story that has long needed to be told on film, and this film does it wonderfully. Please go see it.

Let's see, what else? Christmas was great. I went to Texas to see my family. We had a good visit. Grandma fried us up some great fish and Grandpa made his wonderful breakfasts with bacon and saltpork and sausage and good old country gravy. Unfortunately I cannot handle southern food the way I used to be able to, and my bowels are still not quite in order. They feel all tied up in knots. You can see the pictures of Christmas in the gallery. So far they are the only ones I have put up. =) more to come though. This should be an easier page to keep up.