The Swarrell Life

1) My wife is beautiful and I love this series of photos. 2) Barack Obama is not a socialist. The guy in this video is the actual Socialist Party Candidate for president. Obama a socialist? Um, no.

I received an e-mail this morning from a friend who is big GOP fan. I have included a portion of the original message below my response. I changed his name, in case this might bother him. I hope that I am wrong when I say that I think many people do not know when hyperbole is being employed, or even what it is: Dear Friend, The truth is somewhere in between conservative and liberal, maybe not even on the same plane of existence. I think that often we are asking the wrong question, making any answer at all irrelevant at best. The abortion issue is an example of an issue being over simplified to the point that it is about legality. I think that abortion is wrong. But do I think that making it illegal is going to solve the problem? There is a statistic that says that over half of global abortions happen in places where abortion is illegal. What does that say about the issue? That it is not the law that is going to make the difference. There are numerous studies that show that quality of l...

Only three weeks until the due date of our daughter. I have to say that I am a little nervous, mainly because so much is unknown. I know that it will be okay, but for now I'm a bit apprehensive. But Autumn is looking beautiful, as you can see above! I feel like the luckiest guy on the planet to have her as my wife.

I have voted for a president for exactly the second time in my life. I was raised in a largely right wing environment. I guess that's why voting for Ross Perot in 1992 was such a big deal. I was breaking with tradition, starting to think for myself. I became a bit disillusioned with the two-party system and decided to forgo voting for a while. Then I started regaining an interest in politics. The problem was that you can't speak to something that you are not participating in. So I registered, and here we are. I am not as timid about my views anymore. Thanks to my wife, I have learned to talk about issues in a more articulate way. Sometimes. Okay, maybe I still bludgeon people with them. I guess we all become our parents eventually. Either way, we should not have to vote out of fear. We should be voting FOR something, not simply AGAINST something. Jim Wallis in a blog entry on God's Politics articulates how fear is not what we should be subjected to or subjecting other peop...

Neither am I!

My take on abortion and gay marriage are very similar. Want to hear them? I'm glad you do. Read on; if you are a Christian, read it twice! The basic idea is that making something illegal is akin to winning an argument. You are not going to get someone to change how they feel by winning an argument. For instance: according to the Guttmacher Institute , "Legal restrictions on abortion do not affect its incidence. For example, the abortion rate is 29 in Africa, where abortion is illegal in many circumstances in most countries, and it is 28 in Europe, where abortion is generally permitted on broad grounds. The lowest rates in the world are in Western and Northern Europe, where abortion is accessible with few restrictions." So making something illegal doesn't change people's minds about abortion. It is a highly personal decision, whether you are for it or against it. I would say that marriage is a highly personal decision. If we extend the same logic of the abortion ar...

The time is FLYING by, less than month to go. Today we get to hear the baby's heart beat again. We now are going to weekly doctor's appointments. I know that both of us are a little nervous, simply because it could happen at any time and there is so much that is unknown. We have prepared the best we can, now we just hope that is enough. Should we have read one more book? Maybe, maybe not. No matter how much we read, we'll never be ready. But I am still going to read one more book. Maybe it will have that one thing that will make the reading worthwhile. Meanwhile, our daughter is as big as swiss chard? Weird.

Proposition 8 in California does not erode families and it does not belong in any kind of constitution. Visit: http://www.noonprop8.com/ Proposition 8 is hate.

That was great! One thing I can say is that I haven't seen a Prez/VP nominee with better rhythm than Ms. Palin!

I can not believe that our daughter could be here any day now! I feel a little distracted to say the least. We made a last trip to the big city (Boise, Idaho!) to fill out our list of supplies, so we should be good to go for now. I know that will change soon enough, but for now we just wait. Wow, she is pretty big now. She is approximately the size of a crenshaw melon. We saw a 6lb preemie at a restaurant during dinner that was TINY! To think that our baby is about that big now! Wow!

I watched a little of SNL this weekend, but missed this skit. This is AWESOME. Does she know what they are saying? I think she did SNL on a dare. Meanwhile, enjoy this hilarious rap by Amy Poehler!

Good advice, I would say. I missed posting yesterday on this, but October 15, 2008 was Global Handwashing Day. The official website has this to say: "The practice of handwashing with soap tops the international hygiene agenda this year with the first-ever Global Handwashing Day, slated for Wednesday 15 October 2008. With 2008 as the UN International Year of Sanitation, the Global Handwashing Day will echo and reinforce its call for improved hygiene practices." There you have it, Don't Eat Poop!

We are all rich and poor, each in our separate ways. People who don't have enough food to eat are poorer than me. People without a roof over their head are poorer than me. People without access to clean water are poorer than me. Poverty is not having less than someone else, it is not having enough of the things that a human being needs to survive. What can I do to help those living in poverty? No, seriously, tell me what to do.

Make for funny stuff on the internet! We're all to blame, not just the bankers. We want stuff and we usually want it now. Instead of saving and then buying, we buy and pay later. It was bound to catch up.

Our daughter is as big as a canteloupe! I have included a picture in case you do not know what that is. I also have a couple other pictures for you. There is a picture of Autumn so that you can see how big she is getting. That baby sure is growing! The big picture on top is ridiculous. That is why we took it. No, that is not a pillow, I was just seeing if my belly could get as big as Autumn's. I think that I can still give her a run for the money! Another month and there is no way, but for now I am still a contender for biggest belly in the house!

I feel like I am losing ground on the posts here and it will not get any better now that I am starting the fall term with not one, but two classes. Yikes. Autumn went to baby shower yesterday afternoon, our second one. This one was given by some of the ladies at church; about 20-25 people came. It was pretty amazing to have all those people, people that we don't know really well, come out and support our daughter. We have been greatly showered with gifts and I am grateful for every single one. The ones that have amazed me are the hand made ones. It is going to sound like favoritism, but it is really not. I just remember the hand made ones more, maybe because they are more rare. I have included a picture of a quilt that was given to us and it is beautiful. I sat on the couch and just looked at it for a few minutes. It is flannel and very pink. It is perfect for a little girl. While Autumn was at the shower, I was helping some friends assemble a lattice tower for a small wind turbine...

So, I'm now into my 34th week of pregnancy and I think I have been very, very lucky. With the exception of my bouts with insomnia, I've felt pretty good this whole pregnancy. I've had so many people tell me stories about morning sickness, back pain, heartburn, fatigue and all the other ills that woman can experience with pregnancy and though I've experirenced short stints with each of these it has not been too bad for me. Each week that goes by that I continue to feel good I count my blessings. I did try running last night with Digby and for the first time I had to hold my belly with both of my hands as I ran about the length of a house. What a sight! Good thing it was dark outside! Maybe it was because we had just eaten dinner but I may have had my last little run until after the baby's born. Up until now I've been able to run/walk with Digby but I don't know now--maybe I'll try one more time before I give up altogether!

Boy, Aaron was all fired up! It almost didn't sound like him but I sure appreciate his enthusiasm! So, from Aaron's post you can see that we did indeed listen to the debate. It was actually fun. Since we don't have TV we just tuned into NPR--a little reminiscent of another era with the family gathered around the radio. Okay, we didn't actually sit down in front of the radio--we ate dinner and cleaned the house as we listened. Multitasking you know--very 21st century. I too thought Biden did an excellent job (of course, maybe I'm a little partial) and I thought Palin skirted many of the questions and simlply answered them the way she wanted to answer them which may or may not have had anything to do with the actual question. The next day I found it interesting that many of the news reports felt she did a good job because she didn't do a bad job. Ah, politics.

Autumn and I listened to the vice-presidential debate last night. I commented how I thought that Sarah Palin did better than I expected. I expected her to look like a fool because she is not ready for the stage she is on. She sounded like a politician trying to NOT screw up. Didn't work. There were several occasions where she basically avoided a question and talked. I assume that is because she didn't know how to answer because she DOESN'T KNOW ENOUGH to be VP of this great nation. If I had her coaching, I could have debated her. Okay, maybe not. Probably not. But Joe Biden could, and did. This was the first time I had heard him speak at length and I thought he was well spoken and he answered the questions. He also never made false or misleading accusations. He spent more time correcting his opponent than actually making his point. Sorry, but I can not believe how anyone can even think that Palin even competed, much less won. What a joke. It is sad that she represents the G...