I (Craig) took the opportunity on Tuesday (20 Jan 09) to watch the inauguration of our new President. Since then I have heard many different opinions about President Obama's speech, ranging from very good to poor.

I have tried to refrain from commenting on it, but today I feel I ought to. I personally enjoyed the inauguration. I love the fact that we can (in theory, and have in the past) transition between two different styles of leadership seamlessly. I missed the first part of it, with the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem. I am thus assuming that they happened and I am still waiting for the day when all the verses to the Anthem are sung.

Other then the fact that we as Americans were swearing in a new President I did not see anything else that was special about the day. I know that most people think that since Pres. Obama has black skin that that made it special, but to me he is just another American. Just to let you know I was hoping the Colin Powell would have run for president in 1996. Either way this is not the point I want to get to.

I now plan to present several points from the Inaugural Address that I feel need to be noticed. Some of these are rather important and others show a desire to portray and image rather then communicate ideas.

1) "America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents." How can this pillar of strength come from the same mouth that said this about the Constitution "... I think it is an imperfect document, and I think it is a document that reflects some deep flaws in American culture, the Colonial culture nascent at that time." If we the people are holding on imperfect and flawed concepts wouldn't those need to be changed?

2) "We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things." To anyone who is familiar with the Bible you know that here he is referencing Paul in 1 Cor 13:11 talking about how Christ came to fulfill the Law of Moses. Of all the good and inspirational things that could pertain to our Nation today he chose this verse to use to reference scripture? Nothing about repaying debts, being kind, loving everyone, lying, adultery, or fearing God. And what childish things are we putting away?

3) "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." Remake America? Please feel free to tell me how we need to remake our nation, rebuild yes but remake? This could be a minor word choice problem but it makes me wonder.

4) "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified." Referring to number one above, no where in the Constitution or the beliefs of the founders are any of these things the responsibility of the government. Also if it is too big and it does work we are not going to make it smaller? That seems to undermine the 'too' word there.

5) "Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government." For those of you who are not aware Pres. Obama has already said that trillion dollar deficits will be the norm for the foreseeable future? Is this spending wisely? The whole of the National budget for 2009 is 3.2 trillion. With a trillion in deficit we are spending 50% more then we are taking in.

6) "Its [the markets] power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control." Please try to remember that the watchful eye was the one who mandated that all of the sub-prime loans be made. The same 'toxic-debt' that we just released 320 billion to buy up (for the second time, because we didn't really do it the first time).

7) "[F]or those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you." Well said, but coming from someone who said that Iraq was wrong, that Saddam Husain could go on killing his own people and sponsoring terrorism abroad and practicing it in his own country, it holds little value.

8) "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy." Does our new President understand these people? Does he know that they believe it is their sacred duty to destroy non-believers? Yes there are many peaceful Muslims but there are also many non-peaceful ones as well.

9) "God bless you. And God bless the United States of America."

Christmas fun....

We had the chance to head over to AZ and visit with all the Gibsons this Christmas. All of Craig's siblings and their families were able to be there and we had a blast playing with each other. It was the first time we've all been together since Matthew returned home from his mission. We got in lots of game-playing, talking, and family pictures. :)We can't wait to see you all again!

Some pics of our "cheater" Christmas....My parents had sent us home with some gifts at Thanksgiving time and rather than have to get them into the car, we let the girls open them up before we left. :) The girls had no complaints!





Some of the snow we hit on the way out there...Needless to say, we took a different route home....




Some of Christmas morning...Abby does have some little pjs matching her sister's, but she just couldn't wait to try on the new outfit Grandma and Grandad got her...







Of course, for us with Christmas, also passes another birthday for my hubby. He turned 30 this year and we loved being able to celebrate it with his family. (Not to mention his Mom makes the best potato cake in the world!)


We were also able to visit with Craig's grandparents who are also there is AZ. We loved seeing you guys!



Some randoms from the visit:

NEWS

Baby Boy Gibson Due:May 1, 2009 :)

Ballet

Last week we got to see Grace in action in her ballet class. She was much improved from last year and it was fun to see her dancing around. Abby didn't enjoy sitting so much--she kept asking to go to Grace, so we kept her distracted with the camera and pictures. :)

Some randomness....

Here are some of the pics that my talented sister Krista snapped for us while we were in Texas. We had a really fun, really quick trip there last week.





How we found the girls' sleeping.. :)


Christmas dresses...Abby was being a bit grumpy...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Today starts a lot of cooking and baking in our house. We hope everyone enjoys a safe and fun holiday!

One of the many things we're grateful for:

Trunk or Treat

This October has been filled with sweets-filled parties...and it's not even Halloween yet! At least we are getting good use of the costumes (except Abby rarely keeps hers on for very long). We had a carnival at Grace's preschool last 2 Saturdays ago, a breakfast/parade at her preschool yesterday, and truck-or-treat this week too. We already have enough candy to last our girls the rest of the year! :)Anyway, here are some pics from the festivities.

The girls ready to trunk or treat- Grace wanted to wear lipstick but didn't like holding still. :) Abby is a pink poodle-Her costume has an adorable little hat that she didn't like wearing.


We "cheated" on our pumpkins this year and used the push in face pieces from Wal-Mart. The girls actually loved doing it and we hope we can keep up this less messy way of decorating for a few more years to come. :) I should also note that the gourd looking thing in the picture is the pumpkin that Miss Abby picked out when we went with Grace on her field trip to Wagner's farm with her preschool. All the other little kids were careful to pick out perfect little round pumpkins and this is the one my 2 year old wanted. Lovely. :)


Playing at the church....


Abby at the carnival-My hair looks really long in this picture.. :)


Grace at the carnival


Grace eating at her preschool breakfast (sitting by BFF Megan in ladybug)


They let Abby hang out too. She's eating by her little bud, Zoe who is Megan's little sis...


Abby pretty much is full-on terrible 2s and spent much of the morning we we at prechool running away from me. She even managed to end up in the other preschool class and the DMV next door a couple of times...


Grace's class and teacher--After this pic they went on "parade" through the nursing home next door.