Last weekend our baby boy was dedicated to Jesus! He was dedicated at the University Church here in Loma Linda. Our family and friends joined us in this special day and we were so happy to have everyone over for lunch afterwards. We had a really nice afternoon…my Auntie Jean made a really yummy fluffy lemon ice cream pie that we all really enjoyed! It was such a nice weekend and Dale and I were so proud to be able to dedicate our son to Jesus with so many of our family and friends there to witness it.

Wilkinson family portrait on dedication day

Grandma and Grandpa and Ethan

Ethan and Great-Grandma Carr

Ethan's really excited to have his friend over!

Joyce, Laura and Melissa (who's back from Okinawa for a while!)

With the Grandmas! My Great-auntie Jean, Grandma Haynes and Grandma Carr

bff's with baby bff's

So after Ethan’s dedication, my parents stayed over for the weekend and we had a really nice time with them, especially Ethan! It was so nice because they played with him for an hour or two in the afternoon on Sunday which gave me a chance to take a nap! Trust me, that’s like gold! Then they watched him for a couple of hours while Dale and I went to our friend Jenn Verhelle’s wedding in Beaumont. We had a really nice time as we were able to spend some time with our friends Haley and Tyler! We didn’t get to stay to the end of the wedding as we wanted to get home to our baby, but it was nice to get out and about and have a little bit of grown-up time!

Dale and Laura at the wedding

Haley and Laura at the wedding

So, on Dale’s actual 30th birthday, we had another party with some close friends and family at Dale’s favorite restaurant Ravi’s. We had some yummy Indian food and hung out…here are some pictures from Dale’s official first day as a 30 year old!!

At Ravi's

Carrigan, Jacob and Michael

Tim, Caiden and Dave

Ryan, July, Carrigan and Emylee

Here are some pics from a few weeks ago!! These are pictures of Ethan’s biggest blow-out of all time!! I challenge anyone to have seen a bigger blow-out!! He used to have blow-outs at least once a day, sometimes two or three times a day. Luckily now he only goes like every other day, and never has a blow-out…so I guess it was just a phase. They say BF babies can all of a sudden stop going as often and can go without going for up to 14 days!! So I’m happy that Ethan has moved past the daily blow-out stage! I’m sorry, b/c these pictures are kind of gross, but I have to share them as they are too awe-inspiring to keep to myself!! Just be warned…

I feel much better now!!

Wow. That's all I have to say...and you can't even see the half of it in this photo!

When the government proposes to fix our economic woes by intervening in credit markets, A little perspective on what is not seen is in order from Frederic Bastiat, who wrote the the essay What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen over 150 yeas ago. A few choice paragraphs follow:

However, the credit organizations would have to do just this in order for the end of the social reformers to be attained, since these gentlemen aspire to nothing less than to give plows, houses, tools, provisions, and raw materials to everyone who wants them.

And how do they imagine they will do this?

By giving to loans the guarantee of the state.

Let us go more deeply into the matter, for there is something here that is seen and something that is not seen. Let us try to see both.

Suppose that there is only one plow in the world and that two farmers want it.

Peter is the owner of the only plow available in France. John and James wish to borrow it. John, with his honesty, his property, and his good name, offers guarantees. One believes in him; he has credit. James does not inspire confidence or at any rate seems less reliable. Naturally, Peter lends his plow to John.

But now, under socialist inspiration, the state intervenes and says to Peter: “Lend your plow to James. We will guarantee you reimbursement, and this guarantee is worth more than John’s, for he is the only one responsible for himself, and we, though it is true we have nothing, dispose of the wealth of all the taxpayers; if necessary, we will pay back the principal and the interest with their money.”

So Peter lends his plow to James; this is what is seen.

And the socialists congratulate themselves, saying, “See how our plan has succeeded. Thanks to the intervention of the state, poor James has a plow. He no longer has to spade by hand; he is on the way to making his fortune. It is a benefit for him and a profit for the nation as a whole.”

Oh no, gentlemen, it is not a profit for the nation, for here is what is not seen.

It is not seen that the plow goes to James because it did not go to John.

It is not seen that if James pushes a plow instead of spading, John will be reduced to spading instead of plowing.

Consequently, what one would like to think of as an additional loan is only the reallocation of a loan.

Furthermore, it is not seen that this reallocation involves two profound injustices: injustice to John, who, after having merited and won credit by his honesty and his energy, sees himself deprived; injustice to the taxpayers, obligated to pay a debt that does not concern them.

(Bold type added for emphasis)

In light of the looming socialism our country faces as a result of politicians ‘fixing’ our financial crisis, I thought I would post one of my favorite poems:

One From One Leaves Two
	- By Ogden Nash

Higgledy piggledy, my black hen,
She lays eggs for gentlemen.
Gentlemen come every day
To count what my black hen doth lay.
If perchance she lays too many,
They fine my hen a pretty penny;
If perchance she fails to lay,
The gentlemen a bonus pay.

Mumbledy pumbledy, my red cow,
She's cooperating now.
At first she didn't understand
That milk production must be planned;
She didn't understand at first
She either had to plan or burst,
But now the government reports
She's giving pints instead of quarts.

Fiddle de dee, my next-door neighbors,
They are giggling at their labors.
First they plant the tiny seed,
Then they water, then they weed,
Then they hoe and prune and lop,
Then they raise a record crop,
Then they laugh their sides asunder,
And plow the whole caboodle under.

Abracadabra, thus we learn
The more you create, the less you earn.
The less you earn, the more you're given,
The less you lead, the more you're driven,
The more destroyed, the more they feed,
The more you pay, the more they need,
The more you earn, the less you keep,
And now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to take
If the tax-collector hasn't got it before I wake.

Hi everyone!

I don’t think I’m the only one who was recently amazed and impressed by the stunning Sarah Palin! I’ve always liked and admired John McCain, but now there is even more of a reason to support John McCain for President…he has excellent judgment and isn’t afraid to take calculated risks in order to reap great rewards. The choice of Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential candidate (who was my pick from the beginning), has proven that John McCain is serious about this maverick thing. And we need someone like that leading our country NOW, not somebody who woos us with his (empty) words but ultimately and inevitably will lead us down a path to destruction, disillusionment and disappointment. As a country, we cannot afford that and we deserve better!! McCain and Palin are the perfect combination of experience and fresh thinking to take our country in the right direction.

I feel that we all have a chance now to make a huge difference in the future of our country. We have an opportunity to support and elect two people who will surely change the tide of American politics. I normally don’t get involved in politics to this level, but after seeing Sarah Palin speak last night at the RNC, I feel compelled to step up and try to garner support for what I see as the most exciting thing to happen in American politics in recent history. I hope that you share my excitement and will maybe take an extra moment or two to talk about this with your friends or family, register to vote if you aren’t already registered, or even sign up to become a volunteer on the McCain/Palin website as I have done! Trust me, this is outside of my norm, but I think that together, if people like us who are not normally as active in politics, can come together and stand up for McCain/Palin, we will truly be able to take back our country and make a difference!

Vote McCain/Palin, the future of American politics!!

One last post about when Jim was here…

Dale's 30th Birthday Cake

So Dale is turning 30 on the 30th! My husband. 30! Unbelievable!! As you can tell, I’m still in denial about this getting older thing. But this last weekend we had a 30th birthday party and casino night for Dale’s birthday! It was supposed to be a surprise, so I went to great lengths to try and conceal it from him. However, I apparently overplayed my hand because in trying to avert Dale’s suspicions, I evidently actually tipped him off to be suspicious of my activity! So when everyone jumped out and yelled “Surprise” (quite rousingly I might add), he was like, “oh hey guys!” Oh well…I guess he had to be expecting some type of celebration! But we had a fun night! Everyone played either Texas Hold’em or Blackjack. I had a couple of dealers come with poker and blackjack tables and we had some Thai food…overall it was a pretty fun night! The incredible thing was our baby stayed awake almost the whole night! I tried several different times to put him to sleep and he actually did fall asleep a couple of times, but I think it was just too much of a different environment and we were too loud for him because he kept waking up. But he wasn’t fussy at all, he was just wide awake and Mr. Social Butterfly! It was really crazy. We left at 11 and he finally fell asleep on the way home. Anyways, it was a fun night and as Dale keeps on reminding me, he’s not yet 30 until Saturday, so we still have a few more days of being a couple in their late 20′s! Although I, for one, am in my mid-20′s!! : ) Let’s just keep the denial going…

Playing Texas Hold'em at the party...Dale won it all!! It was his night, birthday boy!

Three boys...I mean thirty-year-old men...and a baby! See our baby...totally wide-eyed at 11pm!!

So Jim was here all last week and as I already mentioned, he got to spend a lot of time with Ethan and myself. He got to see what a day in the life of a stay-at-home mom and a four month old is like! I’m not sure if we inspired him to want to have kids or totally petrified him! My guess is the latter. In any case, it was really fun to have Uncle Jim around for a while and both Dale and I are super bummed he’s going up to Washington to start his Physical Therapy program. But he must, and it was a sad farewell on Sunday…but hopefully we’ll be up to visit at some point in the near future (meaning in the next five years!!) So bon voyage Jim!!

Uncle Jim and Ethan

So we’ve been pretty busy the last week or so. The weekend before last we took a drive out to Palm Springs to hang out with Dave, July, Caiden and Carrigan. They were staying out there for the weekend and we wanted to join in the fun! So we packed up Ethan and about a million and one baby things and headed out to Palm Springs. On seeing a sign stating “Now entering Coachella” we realized we had gone a little too far. So after about two hours of driving, we finally arrived in Palm Springs in time for lunch with the fam! We basically hung out by the pool and I spent a good amount of time holed up in the room trying to get my tired baby to sleep. In the evening we headed to downtown Palm Springs and ate at the famous Mexican place there whose name escapes me at the moment! After a nice day with the family, we headed back to Loma Linda hoping our baby would sleep the whole way. Only he didn’t. After several stops for feedings and swinging and rocking, he proceeded to scream bloody murder all the way until Yucaipa when he finally crashed. So it was a bit of a rough drive home, but a totally fun day in the sun in Palm Springs!

Ethan looking very contemplative at the pool

Ethan doing one of his favorite things...sucking fingers!

Dale was having fun throwing the kids up high in the air

Caiden, I promise we'll take this down when you get a little older!! : )