Dear Piper...

http://www.inspiremore.com/why-i-will-teach-my-daughter-not-to-wait/

In a world full of questions of women's worth, sexual assault, he-said-she-saids, a presidential election of crooks, and down right mean people, the above link is worth the read for anyone with daughters and anyone who struggles to impress because they must conform to fit in.

So Dear Piper,

Be your own person.

Be a lady.

Please....
Key word is a lady... Be classy, be kind, be a good person, and love Jesus.

Wear appropriate clothing.
Just because society says these short mini dresses are cute does not mean you should wear them...
I really don't want to see more than a dollar bill's length above your knee without some sort of leggings underneath.
Be modest.
Be lovely.
Be a lady.

Be beautiful from the inside out.

Don't be ashamed to love Jesus.
Don't be ashamed to skip the party to go to church.
Don't be embarrassed to use your parents as an excuse not to go somewhere you know you shouldn't.
You don't have to be the party girl.
You don't have to be the "popular" girl.
Be you.
Be lovely.
Be kind.
Be your own person.
In a world of Kardashians, be a Jojo.
Be your own kind of lovely.
Be your own kind of nice.
Be your own kind of beautiful.

Be raw.
Be real.
Be true to yourself and your emotions.
Be respectful... of yourself, others, and your family.

Here's a hint about these boys you don't have to wait on to give you self affirmation and sweep in and save you.
...if he doesn't respect your parents' rules or your rules for that matter, he's not worth your time nor your tears nor you whatsoever.
Do wait for THE boy- ideally the man- who will respect your parents' rules, boundaries, and requests whether it be that he doesn't wear his hat at the table or curfew, for he will equally respect your worth.
He will respect your time, your heart, and value your true self.
Just ask your daddy... I waited for the man who would respect my parents' rules and requests.
My typical curfew was 10pm under their roof. He had me home by 9:45/9:50.
Simple things like that will hint to their true character and true intentions.

Learn to be fully you before you learn to be someone's other half.

Learn what it's like to be yourself.

Be fully you.
Be completely lovely.
Be utterly beautiful inside and out.
Be undoubtedly real.
Be committed to being classy and kind to others.

You own those descisions to be those things.
That's what I hope for you.
It's your responsibility to own those things along with your emotions.
Own it baby girl.
Rock it.

Above all else, be you...
for you is kind, you is smart, and you is important...

And we will remind you that everyday.

Life

My issue I watch and one that my heart hurts for is abortion.

It was compared to aborting one's husband the other day if he's no longer wanted. So where do you draw the line? Children and babies are "aborted" every year by their parents, yet those same parents typically go to prison. Tell me the difference in a 20 week in utero baby *ahem* 

Excuse me... "Fetus"

I forgot about being politically correct...

And a 2 minute old, living, breathing, screaming, non-fetus baby...

There's not one.

Both have hearts,

fingers and toes that they wiggle and suck on,

feel pain,

cry,

have a beating heart with blood rushing through their veins,

thought processes,

dreams,

and I imagine they have feelings.

At 20 weeks I got to find out with my sweet husband our baby was a beautiful, dainty, active, momma's girl.

As we saw her tiny fingers, toes, tummy, head, nose, eyes, and heard her heartbeat, I wept. I absolutely wept in amazement. This beautiful child was living inside me, depending on me to feed her and take care of myself to provide protection and nourishment until she was ready to make her appearance in this world.  She was whole. Was she by any means complete in growing? Absolutely not. 

But we never are complete in the growing process are we?

In my mind, she was whole and perfect. 

In my mind, I can't fathom how anyone could see their sweet precious child and not see a creation in which there is no proper terminology in how amazing the whole thing is. How do you purposely throw that away? How do you throw away your responsibility to advocate for that baby?

Moms we are our babies' spokesperson. 

Woman up and do your job as their spokesperson. Don't take the "easy" way out. 

In saying that, where will the line be drawn in aborting precious lives that could be future doctors to cure cancer, teachers, or of all things an actual God-fearing, American president? What is the difference in a mother deciding to abort her 16 week old in utero or her 16 month old? I don't understand the justification and the circumstantial evidence in one or the other when they are one in the same. A mother chooses to end the life of her child. 

Same end result. 

Which is where I am led to my next chapter of confusion...

I get it ok? Women's rights, blah blah blah, our body our choice, more crap-o-la, etc. , how can men think they can regulate women's healthcare, more bull, and so on and so forth. 

Wrong. 

I'm a woman. I have a child. I am strong-willed and hard headed as they come. I am convinced I can do anything. 

Ask my people...

Yet as a woman, I'm typically disgusted with the whole "women's reproductive rights" mess. It's stupid. 

Yea it's your body, with someone else's body growing inside it therefore it is no longer your own body anymore. 

It's "their, our, them". 

Plural pronouns I do believe. 

More than one. 

Therefore there should be a vote. 

Votes only hold if there's a majority and I guarantee that vote would not end that way. 

For lack of better words, it just fuels my hate fire.... 

I mean... My I'ma pray for you kinda attitude. 

Therefore I will be voting for the party that holds closer to my belief on this issue. 

End it. 

Illegalize it. 

Throw the whole thing out. 

Absolutely defund it. 

Reproductive healthcare services my rear end. 

There are plenty of other resource centers that do the same thing. 

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. 

Oops did I step on some toes?

Throw Back

Tomorrow I'm in for a throwback.... along with every other MHS teacher.

Ya'll it's 90's day... (insert wide-eyed emoji)

How did it ever come to this? 90's as a decade dress up day?

What's cracking me up is the students asking what the 90's was? Afros and big glasses?
No honey. Sit down.

Will the real 90's child please stand up?

Ahem.. Cough*Cough*

Remember I said child.

So what did I do?
Got on that handy dandy Amazon.com and ordered the original butterfly clippies for my hair, got me a pair of white keds, non-ankle socks, jacket to tie around my waist, and just going to throw on a pair of skinny jeans- no tight rolling needed.

Yes I was born in 92' but I remember the jean and denim everythings, the butterfly clips in sections of hair, white tennis shoes with EVERYTHING, overalls, Tommy Hilfiger, keds of all kinds, straight leg pants, jackets tied, baggy pants, Spice Girls, NSYNC*, TLC, Cotton Candy-Sweet'n'Low-finish that sentence.

As a math teacher you know we're all about bell to bell baby. Bell to bell.
It's 90's day so one must play it up.
We're going with it tomorrow now.
Everyone loves a good carousel activity to music, so why not do one with 90's inspired tunes? On 90's day. Absolutely.
We're doing transformations of graphs so...
 To the left, to the left, to the right, to the right, now slide, slide....

We just might have to end the day with some Casper Slide  just for kicks.

Tomorrow will be another great day to be a panther as always. Except in classic 90's style.

The Beauty of It

In our great country...

**Disclaimer: America was founded and delegated by the great men who made it great such that we have freedoms such as the 2nd Amendment, and the 1st, and the 19th, and so on and so forth. In my personal opinion there have been leaders of this great nation who have cast dark shadows on our bright and shining lady liberty, giving off a negative vibe and putting bad tastes in peoples mouths.

America has never "not been".... sorry Aunt Michelle.... a great nation. There have simply been people who have given off bad vibes, passed bad laws, and made bad decisions.
There is no sole person or heir to the throne that can "make America great again."
It takes the people; we the people.

It takes we the people, of the United States of America to understand that we're looking to the totally wrong people.

Out of the millions in our country we pick these 2 goobers?
Really? That's the best we have?
Wrong.
In this great nation that's the beauty of the word opinion, it's my right to have one.

So seeing as it's my right here it is.

We as a country are looking to the wrong people, putting our beliefs in the wrong systems, and inputting our faith in the wrong outputs.
What happened to the good ole' boys wanting to make a positive difference without bashing the other half? What happened to the advocate for the people and not the political party?

Ever thought that what's wrong with the people running for president is that they don't remember what it's like to be a real person?
Ever think that real politicians who have been in the business for 30+ years make horrible candidates because they are so good at twisting their words into lies and tricking the general, middle class society into believing their sick "truth."
I believe it takes a stupid person to lie, but a special type of stupid to be able to twist said lies into something people routinely believe.

I think the presidency will take someone inexperienced in politics.
Someone such as Trump- absolutely not. I believe him to be a fool and a big mouth, but Hillary is a genuine crook. Sadly we're at the battle of the lesser of 2 evils. It's genuinely heart breaking that this is the best we could come up with....

We need someone who knows what its like to be a normal human being living paycheck to paycheck.
We as a country need to fall to our knees and fully turn our backs on the idols of society.
We need America to fully face God or it will crumble as it is crumbling before our eyes.

Babies are being murdered.
That's where it ends for me.
Society is corrupt in its view of life and where it begins and where it ends.

This is my big issue I'm watching. Mass murder. Legalized murder.
Along with...
Taxes. Who's taking more money from me?

2nd Amendment. Who thinks they're taking my right to carry and own certain fire arms?

Have I made my choice? Absolutely. Am I proud of it? Not in the least. Picking the lesser of 2 evils is still an evil.
Sad man....sad...