Just another perspective on a hot-button issue

1. I am a Christian. I stand firm in my faith and my beliefs.
2. I have no problem whatsoever with gay marriage.
3. I don't think my support of gay marriage undermines or negates my Christian beliefs. I don't think that the "Christian" argument (I put that in quotes because I'm sure that opponents of gay marriage aren't only Christian) is a strong one. I have not heard an argument yet that makes any sense to me or is logical enough to convince that gay marriage is wrong.

"Marriage is between a man and a woman." No marriage is between the two people who entered into the union and no one else. My marriage is between me and my husband. It doesn't mean any less because two men or two women get married. My gay friends' relationships have nothing to do with mine. In fact, my straight friends' relationships have nothing to do with mine either.

"Marriage is a Godly union." If this were truly your reason for not wanting gay marriage, then you would also be protesting Atheists getting married as well as agnostics or any other religion that doesn't believe what you believe. Furthermore, you would also be protesting divorce. This argument is the most hypocritical and I think the one that most discredits the opponent's position.

"Gay people cannot naturally procreate." If you really think the whole purpose of marriage is procreate and raise kids then you need to reevaluate what you think marriage is. Does this mean we shouldn't allow people to get married if they don't have any intention of having kids? What about people who had their kids and raised them and now their children are adults? Is there marriage over now that they are no longer raising kids? What about people who get married at an old age? What about people who, for one reason or another, physically cannot have children? Why aren't we protesting those unions?

I read a blog recently that said, in regards to Christians supporting gay marriage, that they are transforming Biblical teachings to accommodate the culture (in this case, gay marriage) and that by doing so they are supporting a "Choose your Adventure" type of Christianity instead of a Bible Christianity. Excuse me, what? Aren't we already practicing a "choose your adventure" Christianity by not applying the Bible to the current culture? To make it easy, go check out the list of practices punishable by death in Deuteronomy. Some we adhere to (murder. Pretty sure there will never be a culture change that will be ok with this) and others we don't (stoning sons for disobeying their parents). Who is choosing? And why can't we throw the one about men lying with other men into the same category as stoning kids for not listening to their mom and dad?

All that being said, I do stand firmly in my faith and I do try to be respectful to those with a different opinion. All I ask is for the same courtesy towards my beliefs. Thanks to the internet, I've been subjected to a number of quippy memes blasting my religion for one reason or another. I read a news article about the protests in Washington and while a group of gay marriage opponents were kneeling on the ground and praying, a "drag queen" (what the article said) dressed up like Satan and carrying a Christian cross was dancing around them. That seems very counterproductive to the stance he was supposedly representing. I have to say that stuff like that is not only offensive but it is also extremely disrespectful. If you want people to listen to you and have a rational and civil dialogue, then you have to be rational and civil as well. And respectful. It doesn't make sense to call someone hateful and ignorant for disagreeing with your position or belief system when you turn around and act the same way. Not all Christians are Westboro. In fact, most aren't. Just like not all gay people are dancing around in Satan costumes (actually most of the memes I mentioned are from straight people supporting the cause). It isn't fair to group all people into one big bunch and paint them with same brush.

It all comes down to respect and decency for a fellow human being and it goes to both sides of the issue.

My Poor Husband

I have been hijacked by pregnancy hormones, and I gotta say, they are making me moody! One minute I'm fine and the next minute I am just so annoyed by every. little. thing. I don't think I was like this when I was pregnant with JJ, but then again, my husband might remember differently (so do me a favor and don't ask him...)

"Do you want to watch [NCIS, How I Met Your Mother?, New Girl, Once Upon A Time or any of the many, many other shows] on our DVR?" my husband says, innocently.
"Yeah, whatever," I say, complete with eye roll, even though I love the show and of course want to watch it. Apparently just him asking is an annoyance I never saw coming.

But heaven forbid he just pick a show and start watching it; my crazy hormonal induced self would throw an eye-roll at that too. Doesn't he know I have a specific show I want to watch at that particular moment in time? And it is not whatever he just picked, regardless of what it is? Can't Parks and Rec or Modern Family just be on all the time? I want to laugh! Or The Good Wife. It is such good drama! Edge of your seat type stuff! Why isn't that on all the time? And what happened to The Office? It isn't funny anymore and that annoys me too. I don't have time for mediocre TV. And sometimes I just want to watch Friends even though I've seen each episode at least 100 times and it is always on some channel or another, except when stupid Roseanne is on and I do not want to watch that. Dear TV executives I've never met, I'm annoyed by you too.

But it isn't just my poor unsuspecting husband (who really doesn't annoy me as much as my hormones would like me to believe). Much of my job is dealing with other people and I just have no patience right now for people's complaints (especially if they aren't really bad) and overall dumbness. And I could tell you some real doozies of work related stories. But for the sake of my job, I have to keep my mouth shut instead of telling others to shut theirs and keep it to myself.

Until I get home and take it out on my poor husband. And the dog. Sometimes he annoys me too.

But what annoys me today may not annoy me tomorrow. Or an hour from now. So it's anyone's guess, really. Good luck to you all and I hope to be back to my normal, less-crazy/bipolar self sometime after June 24.

So proud: JJ's progress

So I sat down and wrote a blog the other day when I was feeling like super frustrated in my mommy abilities. I was in a place I often go where I blame myself for any perceived short-comings in my child. Don't get me wrong; I love JJ more than anything, but he is behind in his speech and sometimes he's a bit of a spaz and needs to calm down and learn to pay attention and listen to direction and somehow in my mind that is all my fault, but he's amazing and I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world. Then I got busy and never posted it. I suppose I probably should have, I mean isn't that what having a blog is for? To be honest about things? In a way, though, I'm glad I didn't post it, because it was just based on my mood that particular day at that particular moment and was not particularly indicative of, well, anything concrete.

Again I suppose that's what this blog is actually about though...

Anyway, in the few days I sat on the original entry--my cooling off period--I was inspired by something else. I don't know if it was a coincidence or if God just smacked me in the back of the head, but I started to see what was happening right before me. Almost daily, JJ's speech is improving and getting better and clearer. He is saying more words at time than he ever has before and my heart leaps when he does it. Just last night we were playing around and my husband was pretending to be asleep. JJ looked at him and said, clear as day, "No sleeping, Daddy! Wake up!" and when we went in the other room he said, "Come with me, Daddy. Come on!" I was so proud in that moment, I couldn't stand it!

JJ's never had a problem really understanding us and what we say, and his ability to soak up information and remember the things he is taught is remarkable. I'm actually a little jealous of that quality because I really think it is going to help him tremendously throughout his schooling, to just be able to remember almost everything he's taught with ease. That is definitely not a quality I had in school! The problem came in his communicating back to us. He said a lot of words one-by-one, but not too clearly and not in sentences or phrases. Over time, the last 5 or so months in particular, he has bloomed in his speech. He is saying more phrases and is pronouncing words more and more clearly.

He still has improving to do (yesterday he got a new train at Grandma's house and when I woke him up from his nap he just said, "Choo choo train. ABCs." He just wanted to show me his train that has ABCs on it.) But my fears about his development are slowing down considerably.

He still a very spirited, independent, fun-loving, friendly, sweet, kind-hearted, funny three-year-old and he is going to be just fine.