Birthday Weekend: Party #1

Abby's 3rd Birthday is tomorrow.  I can't believe it, 3 years old!  We are so blessed to have so many family and friends here in AZ.  Last night, both sides of our family came over to our new place for a big birthday bash!  Abby is old enough now to understand that it is her birthday and to know what she wants.  She wanted to go swimming first, then have pizza, princess cake, and princess hats.  I took that to mean that she wanted a princess party!  It was so much fun!  Thank you to all of our family who share in our love and adoration of our little princess!
Anticipating her guest's arrival!

Swimming Fun!



Princess Cake!

Couldn't quite get that last candle!

Presents, Presents, Presents!


"Look at my beautiful necklace!"

Trying out her new flapper dress!


Katie stole the show at the end by being so cute and funny with these pool toys!

Happy Birthday our dear Abigail!

Why Politics?

So, I have never posted about politics or issues of government before on this here little blog of mine.  Why now?  The past few years, Jason has had the absolute pleasure to serve the Alliance Defense Fund by playing music for worship for several of their events.  Also, through my Dad's contribution, we had the pleasure to attend a Center for Arizona Policy dinner a while back.  Having a chance to sit and listen to both of these honorable organizations has taught me a lot and spurred a lot of self-reflection and question asking.  Jason and I had the chance to attend an ADF banquet last week and we had a great conversation at our table about current issues and the role of a christian citizen.  I have thought a lot about how I know next to nothing, about how much all this stuff affects me, my family, my church, and our future.  So, for me, I have found the easiest way to stay informed is to be on the email lists for ADF and CAP.  I am so thankful for these organizations and how they faithfully serve our Great Sovereign God!

As a sidenote, I have no intention for this blog to turn into some kind of politics blog.  I have no real credibility for that!  But I have posted about two issues I care a lot about.  Two issues that came up this week in AZ government.  So, for an update, the good news is that the marriage amendment was voted on again and it passed!  It will be on this November ballot!  Praise God!  For the bad news, the Governor vetoed the Partial-Birth Abortion ban this week.  This makes the tenth pro-child, pro-woman, pro-life bill that she has vetoed during her time as Governor.  Though trusting in a Sovereign God, this is very sad!    

Continue to Pray for the Marriage Amendment!

I copied and pasted this from The Center for Arizona Policy website. I am praying that another vote will occur, all 16 Senators are present to vote yes, and that the marriage amendment will make it on the November ballot. You can email your Senator through azpolicy.org.

Breaking News
from
The Center for Arizona Policy

June 25 , 2008
Breaking News - Marriage Amendment Fails on Senate Vote

This morning, the Arizona Senate failed by one vote to pass the Arizona marriage amendment (SCR 1042). No Democrat supported the marriage amendment while one Republican opposed the marriage amendment. Several senators missed the vote, including Sen. Karen Johnson who has been a strong supporter of traditional values.

The meaning of today's vote: while it's not over until the legislature adjourns, today's vote puts the marriage amendment on life support. For the amendment to be on the November ballot, 16 senators have to vote yes.

Our CAP policy team along with our pro-marriage allies will continue to seek ways to have 16 senators present to vote yes so that Arizona's courts and politicians don't redefine marriage for us. We continue to consider it a top priority for the people to decide the definition of marriage, not the courts and not the politicians.

Note: Under Senate Rules, a senator can move to have a vote reconsidered only if the senator was on the prevailing side. One of our strongest marriage amendment supporters, Sen. Linda Gray, therefore, voted no today so that she then could move to have the vote reconsidered. Sen. Gray then successfully made the motion to have the vote reconsidered. This keeps the door open for another vote on the marriage amendment before the legislature adjourns.

CALL TO ACTION:

Check the recorded vote by clicking here. If your senator supported the marriage amendment, email them to thank them for their support. If your senator missed the vote or voted no, email and call them TODAY to ask for their support for the marriage amendment.

Pray that the marriage amendment still makes it to the November ballot.
Yours for Arizona Families,

Cathi Herrod, Esq.
President
The Center for Arizona Policy

Write the Governor: Partial-Birth Abortion Ban

The House had the final approval of the new Partial-Birth Abortion Ban and sent it to the Governor to sign. The Center for Arizona Policy has service on their website where you can email the Governor and ask her to sign the new bill. There is also information regarding the bill and the act of partial-birth abortions. Just in case anyone out there would like to know.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

My Daddy! I love and appreciate you more than I can express! Thank you for being a Dad of all Dads! Thank you for how you selflessly and sacrificially serve your family! Thank you for how you have continued over the years to faithfully teach and model the gospel and the goodness of God! Thank you for loving my family as much as you love me! Thank you for reason upon reason for being such a GREAT DAD! Jason, myself, Abby, and Katie all wanted to say thank you and we love you!
Look at these old pictures of Papa and Abby I found on a CD in the move. So cute! Had to share!

Happy Father's Day Jason!

To my love who never ceases to amaze me! What an amazing Daddy you are! Your three girls want to take this opportunity to thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you for your leadership, love, selflessness, patience, provision, and support. Thank you for enjoying your family! The highlight of all of our days is when Daddy comes home! God is so good to give us you as the Daddy in our home!
For this special day, I attempted to make the Hansen family Norweigan Pancakes. I have helped his mom and sisters before, but I have not attempted it all on my own. So I thought I would give it a go! The trickiest part is getting them paper thin. I did my best but let's just say I could use some more practice! At breakfast, we all tried to tell Daddy how much we loved him. Katie just blew him kisses, appropriate! Abby said that she loved Daddy because she just loved him. Straight and to the point! I love you for myriad upon myriad of reasons! Let's just say you are God's gift to me and I treasure you!

Katie's Baby Dedication

This past Sunday for Father's Day, our church did baby dedications.  We were very excited to dedicate our little miss Katie to the Lord and our lives to teaching and modeling the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Our deepest desire and prayer for her and Abby is that God would have mercy on them and ransom their souls, that they would join us in singing the glories of Calvary for all of eternity!  We love you Katie!