WHY I'M SO HAPPY

I pray pretty regularly. I pray "officially" morning and night, in personal prayers, but I pray pretty much all the time in my mind and in my heart.

Lately, I find myself thanking my Father in Heaven for many things that make my life so enjoyable. Here's just a short list:

• I have such a wonderful family. Starting with my wife, Karen. She is such a good wife and mother. No matter where we've lived, she has made our house a home. As I wandered through the house this morning, I was struck at the beauty (and scariness) of our home. Scariness? Yep! Typical of Karen, our home is decorated to the max with Halloweenie things. Magically, when Halloween is over, I'll notice the scary stuff is gone and the Thanksgiving and fall stuff will take its place. Then, as if while I'm asleep, those decorations will disappear and our home will take on a Christmas/winter theme. I love what she does for our home. She keeps it beautiful. She keeps it clean...surprisingly and amazingly clean, considering we have 6 cats and me living here, along with having our local grandkids visiting regularly. And, despite her aversion to mornings, she starts my day with a beautiful smile, even when her hair is sticking up all over and her eyes are a bit puffy and she's whining that she wants to get back in bed and sleep for the day.
  

• My kids. I have 6 wonderful and diverse kids. All are successful in their own right. All married well. The boys married UP, which is the only reason they are successful. The girls married down, but I still love Mitch and Jared. Of course, no boys or men could ever be good enough for Joni and Jenna!! My kids are all talented, beautiful, strong, and as far as I know, still love me. They must love me, because they bring me such joy.

• My kids spouses are absolutely perfect for my kids. Each of those six wonderful men and women add so much to our family. Each of them complete our kids and make our family better.
  

• Grandkids are the weirdest things. They somehow make me soft and squishy. I love to be gruff with them, but they melt my heart. I like them to think I'm a troll or an ogre or a monster. And I think they pretty much do, but they also weasel their way into my heart and make me feel tender and weepy.

• My other family members, like parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, and in-laws and other people who are family add to my joy. Though distant in miles or relationship, they have an impact on my life, as if they were living by my side. My Mother, the saint, is still with me, as I'm sure she his with her other family members and friends. I'm finding that the longer she's gone, the better she was.
  

• And, lastly, for this blog, I'm so thrilled and grateful that I live in America, where we can have completely differing ideas as to who should run our country, yet when the person and/or party is elected, regardless of the side they represent or the distaste we might have for their politics, we can say without a doubt that we still live in the most wonderful country in the world. Nowhere else do you find the freedoms that we enjoy (and sometimes take for granted) here in the United State of America. I promise to all that whether we have a President McCain (my hope) or a President Obama (my fear), I will still love, honor, and respect the Office of the President and I will still be a proud American. And I will still be grateful that I am an American. Too many of our brave brothers and sisters have given their lives or their health, fighting for our freedoms, for me to ever turn against this great country.
  

So, that's it for now. My next blog will be a continuation of the things that I love and that make my life so full and rewarding.

THE RACE RACE

I don't usually let the left-leaning media get me down, but they are so in the tank for Senator Obama for President that I'm finding myself somewhat discouraged. This morning I read two ariticles. One said "socialist" is a codeword for "black." Are you kidding me? How about Sweden and France and Italy, just to name a few. There certainly aren't many blacks living in those countries, which are admittedly socialist. I've never said the word "socialist" and meant "black"in my life, nor have I ever heard it used to mean "black."

Another article said that a Congresswoman who said that she felt that Senator Obama had some anti-American beliefs (on Hardball with Chris Mathews) is now being targeted by the DNC for defeat in the next election, just because she gave her opinion on Mr. Obama's relationships with so many anti-American activists and groups.

Unfortunately, altogether too many unread, illiterate, and people who get most of their news from The Daily Show, MTV, and the nightly talk shows, suck this stuff up and believe it.

Every election, we're told through the mainstream media and through polls, that the Republican nominee is going to be defeated. That, alone, is an attempt to discourage people from voting for the Republican nominee. "Why vote? Your guy is going to lose!" Even the landslide that Reagan had over Carter was predicted to be a loss by Reagan, right up until the day of the election.

If you can't see that the media and most of the pollsters are in the tank for Mr. Obama, you've got your eyes closed.

So, the message for today is, if you criticize Mr. Obama, you're a racist and need to be defeated.

I predicted early on that this election would boil down to nothing but race.

It has.

And I'm still discouraged and disgusted.

PS - After I finished this blog, I went back to the Internet to read miscellaneous articles about McCain, Obama, and the media, etc. I came across this article that really rang true to me:

http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_smears_fact_check/2008/10/20/142379.html?s=al&promo_code=6DC3-1

Oh, yes! It's definitely a right-wing source, but after all the "We love Obama" nonsense that one sees in the mainstream media, ad nauseam, it's a breath of fresh air for this right-winger.