Would We?

A friend just sent me a letter that was sent to the Editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch on July 7, 2008. I know many of you know that I am Cuban and still have lots of family there. (You can click HERE to read about my trip there in 1997). I digress.

In relation to this letter, just last week I had this same exact conversation with my father, who is now 68 years old. As a young man, he lived the transition of a country being moved from false dreams into what quickly became a despairing communist regime. With a sad tremble in his voice, he shared with me how, with these elections, he is reliving Castro's reign into power back in the 50's. This sentiment is shared by thousands of Cubans who fought against the revolution and are now living in exile.

These elections downright fill my heart with fear, especially for my children, two of whom have been already been blessed to escape a communist country once.

I pray daily that our Lord please spare this great country from what has happened to so many innocent people who now live with shattered dreams stolen by communism.

If you're not familiar with communism and you're thinking this could never happen in the United States, please think again. Cubans in 1958 had the same exact thoughts.

A volunteer worker answering phones with a picture of Che Guevara (Castro's idol and mentor) and the American flag in the background.

Here's the letter:

From Richmond Times-Dispatch, Monday, July 7, 2008

Dear Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate my independence day, and on July 4 I celebrate America's. This year is special, because it marks the 40Th anniversary of my independence.

On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba, and a few months later, I was in the United States to stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress.

I've thought a lot about the anniversary this year. The election-year rhetoric has made me think a lot about Cuba and what transpired there. In the late 1950s, most Cubans thought Cuba needed a change, and they were right. So when a young leader came along, every Cuban was at least receptive. When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. They never demanded answers. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said, 'Praise the Lord.' And when the young leader said, 'I will be for change and I'll bring you change,' everyone yelled, 'Viva Fidel!'

But nobody asked about the change, so by the time the executioner's guns went silent, the people's guns had been taken away. By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education, it was worth nothing. By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him. By the time the change was finally implemented, Cuba had been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status. By the time the change was over, more than a million people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes. You can call those who made it ashore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. And now I'm back to the beginning of my story.

Luckily, we would never fall in America for a young leader who promised change without asking, what change? How will you carry it out? What will it cost America?

Would we?

Manuel Alvarez, Jr.

Here's the description of the word communism as described by Merriam-Webster dictionary:

COMMUNISM - A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people.

Awards, Tags and Games! Oh my!

My new bloggie friend, Katie from This Crazy Life was "feelin' the love" yesterday. And guess what? She started spreading it around. All the way to ME! I'm honored that she chose me for this adorable I Love Your Blog Award. Awww, shucks, Katie! Thank you! You made me smile BIG! It came at a great time since my posts have been pretty controversial lately and I've been a bit stressed over the possibilites of what could happen to this country in a week and half. You guys that have emailed me and commented that you will continue reading and support me on this issue....Thank You! You bless me and I'm definitely feelin' the love, too!

The rules say that I need to pass this on to 7 other bloggers, but since I have a game and I've been tagged twice and those need nominations too, I'm leavin' it up to you guys to decide who wants to play. I nominate all of you on my "Follow Me" and on my blogroll for the I Love Your Blog Awards. I really do and many times in the midst of craziness I stop and think about when I could find some quiet time to see what's happening out in blog land. I really look forward to reading everyone's thoughts.

Now onto some more fun stuff.


This was a double whammy! I was tagged twice (and I apologize to both ladies for having taken so long to do this)! My first tagger was Trish at Hannah, Hailey and Taylor. I've had the immense pleasure of meeting 2 of these beautiful little girls and they are precious!! We are all awaiting Miss Taylor's arrival from China in what hopefully will be the very near future!

Are you ready? Here are 7 of my random/weird thoughts about myself:

1) I very rarely wear sneakers.

2) I research everything (adoption, diseases, ailments, vacation spots, hobbies, etc.).

3) I can't drink soda without ice in it. (very tough for me while in China).

4) I get motion sick really easily.

5) Oxtail stew and pigs feet stew are two of my favorite meals.

6) I love Disney World and watching the parade usually fills me with so much excitement that I cry.

7) I am allergic to cats and ferrets.

There you go. My 7 weird quirks. If anyone decides to do this (since I'm tagging everyone!) please leave me a comment so I can hop on over and read about your weird and quirky things. I love learning about my friends.

My next tag is pretty cool and something I had not seen before. It came from Jill over at Life At Killeny Glen. I love her blog and she totally inspires me with her beliefs and love for the Lord.

The idea of this game is that you go to your picture file and choose the 4th picture in the 4th file. That scared me a bit, but I told myself I'd play by the rules, whatever picture it was, that's what I'd post. Trust me, after THIS post, nothing embarasses me anymore. So without further ado, here's my 4th picture of my 4th file:

For those of you wondering who is the guy with the surprised look on his face holding a newborn. It's my son, Adam. My 2nd to oldest "baby". I laughed when I saw the picture, because I don't even remember seeing it before. Here he is holding my sister's precious bundle, Seth, who was just a few weeks old at the time.

CHANGE IS COMING.....

and as we humble ourselves before our righteous God, we pray that is does!

VOTE FOR LIFE!

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." -

2 Chronicles 7:14

Me again....fighting for those babies!

Someone sent me an email today asking if I was afraid I might lose readers because of my views/passion about abortion and the right to life. It took me about a mega-second to respond to her, but after some thinking, I thought I'd respond here in case anyone else was wondering the same question.

I first started journaling/blogging after our first adoption attempt failed. I did it mostly for myself. I wanted to keep a record for my child of every emotion that went with bringing him home. One thing led to another and I was seeing how much God was actually being glorified through my words in writing, as opposed to when I opened my mouth. His miracles on paper were very profound to me. Word spread and strangers began writing to me stating that my His words had affected them in one way or another. At the time, I thought no one read my blog except for me, with the exception of the times I'd drag my husband and daughter to the computer to read what I had written and asked their opinions. Although, this didn't happen often.

Most of my life, I've been very passionate about my convictions when I know it is the TRUTH. God's word is the truth. Always. I've never been one that leans towards being "politically correct". I think that phrase is a cop out for those that like to hide behind curtains that they fear and to remain in their comfort zone. I understand everyone has opinions and I certainly respect and invite those opinions as long as they are respectful, but I have rarely, if ever, changed my mind about something that I know is one of God's commandments. Abortion is murder. There is no doubt or question about it. Life begins at conception and this has been documented in medical journals worldwide.

The sixth commandment is very clear: THOU SHALL NOT KILL!

Bottom line is that if my stance on this issue makes my readers cringe and they choose to no longer read my blog, as much as I hate losing them, so be it. It's a risk I need to take. I would prefer to end up with only myself, my husband and my daughter reading my blog, then knowing that I am holding back something I feel so strongly about because I am ashamed of what others may think.

Life is really all about who we are trying to please. As much as I love my readers, when it's all said and done, who do I want to claim loves me? Who do I want to be proud of me? And who do I want to claim me as His own? Jesus is my response to all three of those questions! Anything else I accomplish in life won't mean anything if those three things don't happen when I meet him face to face. So, in case you were wondering, that's my response.

Now onto what I really wanted to say:

This short video is so worth watching. Please take a minute to do so.

Without exception, God's creations should always come first and foremost before any political issues or agendas regardless of partisanship.

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Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. - Psalm 127:3

"Throughout my career, I've been a consistent and strong supporter of reproductive justice, and have consistently had a 100% pro-choice rating with Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America.

"When South Dakota passed a law banning all abortions in a direct effort to have Roe overruled, I was the only candidate for President to raise money to help the citizens of South Dakota repeal that law. When anti-choice protesters blocked the opening of an Illinois Planned Parenthood clinic in a community where affordable health care is in short supply, I was the only candidate for President who spoke out against it. And I will continue to defend this right by passing the Freedom of Choice Act as president." - Excerpt from Senator Barack Obama's statement on 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Decision. For the entire statement, click HERE.

My question is, "What choice is that unborn child given?"

Late...but still Monday. Not Me! Monday

This is a bit late in coming, but I finally got to it. So, you’re wondering what I didn’t do this week? It's time to clean the slate.


I truly did not listen (and try to learn the words) to the Palin Rap over and over and over again. That would be such an immature thing to do, especially when I am such a busy Mama with such limited time.

I absolutely did not, for the 2nd week in a row, beg my sweet husband to break his diet and share a dessert with me. This particular dessert was definitely not the Double Chocolate Cake from R*by Tuesday’s that has mouth-watering melted chocolate in the center and is served with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream. That would be horrible of me to do since he is blowing by me in our diet quest.

I’m not sure who it was, but I know it wasn’t me that had packed animal crackers for AJ to snack on while we waited this morning in the long lines to vote at the election center. I also know that it wasn’t me that realized he had opened the zip lock bag upside down and all of his animal crackers fell on the ground. Nope! There is no way that I would have quickly scooped them up and given them to him because he would have a screaming fit the entire wait if he didn’t have a snack to keep him busy.

It certainly wasn't me that stayed up very late reading about politics and could not get up the next morning when I heard the kids chit-chatting through the monitor. It definitely and absolutely was not me who then rolled over and turn off said monitor so that I could not hear them and therefore, grab a few extra minutes of snoozing. That would be terrible and mean and definitely irresponsible.

It was not me who did not want to have to put the boys in their car seats the day we were at the urgent care center for Kai’s stitches and then have to drive down the street to get them something nutritious for lunch. I did not conveniently find a vending machine down the hall and instead, fed my boys potato chips, a Snickers bar and a soda for lunch while we waited.

Yesterday at church, without a doubt, it was not me who dragged a blue-in-the-face, in-total-tantrum-mode, 4 year old out of church to let him ‘scream it out’ while I watched. Only to find out later, to my horror, that I had not closed the church door completely and had allowed most of the congregation to listen to me encourage him to scream while the priest was consecrating the Eucharist. When the tantrum was over, it was not me whom people approached to say that everyone in the church, (priest included) was laughing listening to the wild screams coming from just outside the door. That would have been totally embarrassing. A good Mama would have gently tried to calm her child down instead of telling him “go ahead and keep screaming all you want now” all the while I did not sit there and serenely watch him do so.

YOU BETCHA!!! (Insert Sarah "wink")

OH YEAH!

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