georgia

Right To Life

by oh amanda on January 22, 2008

in baby,faith,family,georgia,God,kids,life,me,moms,motherhood,parenting,photos,pregnancy,pro-life,right to life

Today is the 35th anniversary of the legalization of abortion.

I took Lydia downtown today to join Georgia Right To Life‘s Memorial for the Unborn.

From the time I woke up, I was thinking about how I’d blog this. I don’t want to start an abortion debate. I’m not a good debater. I believe what I believe. I think abortion is murder. You can’t change my mind. I’m saying this with complete frankness because I don’t want this post to be a persuasive piece, I’m just posting on my blog about what I did today. I want to be sensitive to those that might not agree with me…but then again…I don’t. I believe life starts at conception. And I believe abortion is America’s holocaust. Over 40,000,000 children have been aborted in the last 35 years.

40 MILLION.

That is the same amount as the population of the smallest 26 states in America. TWENTY SIX.

So to say this was a solemn event is an understatement. As soon as I rounded the corner and heard the music playing and saw the crowd in front of Georgia’s capital, I got tears in my eyes.

So many people spoke and I was impressed with each one. Especially our Lt. Govenor, Casey Cagle. Wow! What a great man! Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory began with prayer and was wonderful. Sonny Perdue, Georgia’s Governor introduced my favorite speaker of the day, MIKE HUCKABEE.

I may have mentioned that I like famous people. Well, as soon as they announced Mike Huckabee would be speaking next, my mom and I grabbed our stuff (including Lydia) and raced to the front of the crowd. And I have to say, we got pretty close…

What? You didn’t quite see how close we were?

Well, we were very very close. So close in fact…

Governor Huckabee and I got our picture together.

*sigh*

Now, back to the event.

After all the speakers (oh, I wish I had been able to take notes! The facts and statistics they gave were staggering!) we began a silent memorial march through downtown. It was amazing to be in the middle of thousands of people and not hear one word spoken. Everyone was respectful. There was no yelling, no chants not even anyone talking amongst themselves. There weren’t even any big posters or graphic photos. I was impressed at how NORMAL everyone was. I didn’t see one freaky person.

As we marched, we passed several people just walking around downtown. Especially as we walked through Georgia State University. Many of the students stood and watched us walk by. Now, let me say that our crowd was made up of a lot of young people–I saw several groups of kids in matching school uniforms. There were lots of moms with their kids. So, as we walked by these college students, I was shocked at the things they were yelling to us. Yelling at the SILENT marchers. One girl yelled, “Why don’t you guys stop marching and start giving out sandwiches to homeless people? That would be more beneficial!” (I’m not quoting her word for word, she said several things, but that was the gist.) One guy yelled at us, “I am a baby killer!” while his friends chortled around him. Another guy walked right through our crowd and said, “What are you guys trying to do? Brainwash us?” No one responded to them (well, actually, someone threw that girl a wrapped sandwich after they passed…I mean, she did ask for one!), everyone just kept marching. I don’t know why that was so shocking to me. Our college campuses are portrayed as being full of our POLITICALLY CORRECT, TOLERANT, FREE THINKING minds. Why would someone on a college campus yell at someone else SILENTLY exercising their right to assemble? I wonder if they would have yelled the same thing if we were Planned Parenthood, PETA or the Alliance for Climate Protection?

But my favorite part of the day was how the march began. A young woman wearing her infant child and trailed by her toddler, played taps on the trumpet.

Then as we began to walk, trumpeters stood along our path and played taps as we went by. I still have tears in my eyes remembering it. And remembering the 40million children for whom we marched.

And a few more pictures to give you a feel for what it was like to be there today.

The silent march.

One of many signs with similar sentiments.

Lydia during the march.

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Pandas & Owls & Gorillas, Oh my!

by oh amanda on September 4, 2007

in animals,atlanta,beauty,birds,creation,faith,family,georgia,God,Jesus,kids,lydia,me,photos,zoo

We went to the zoo yesterday! Les has been gone so much lately that with this 3 day weekend, we decided to do something fun. Lydia is so into animals right now, we’d knew she’d love the zoo. Plus, Mei Lan, the baby panda turns 1 this week! And since pandas are my special animal, we had to go! (Amanda Panda, get it?)

I haven’t been to Zoo Atlanta in forever. It’s actually a very nice zoo. The animals aren’t just in cages, there’s lots of foliage and a natural habitat look. When we first got there we went straight to the panda area. As we turned the corner and I saw the daddy panda, Yang Yang, I think I got tears in my eyes. Is that ridiculous? He was walking around and just amazing. He’s so big! The mama panda, Lun Lun and Mei Lan don’t live with the dad. They were both napping and I didn’t get any pictures of them. I just think they are beautiful. Lydia was really into it. She actually kept signing “bear” and “mouse”. I don’t know why! (If you’re really interested, you can see the live panda cam here. I wish you could see Mei Lan right now, she’s playing on a branch!)

As we were walking around we saw one of the zookeepers with an owl. It was beautiful. Yes, I just said an owl was beautiful. But really, it was. He had feathers all over his legs, and eyelashes and even different color eyelids. Lydia was fascinated by him. Then we went and saw him in the bird show. Lydia signed “bird” the whole time!

The gorillas were also amazing. They have a huge area to live so you can view them from several different locations. One is a building with a huge glass window. We could see the whole family playing. Lots of grown-up gorillas carrying their little babies around. Then the little babies playing with each other, even clapping! It was awe inspiring. Of course, every one else was so intrigued they wouldn’t move. So, I didn’t get a very good picture.

I am just continually amazed at God’s creation. Watching these animals and seeing their beauty is overwhelming. I told Les I can see why people become scientists. Imagine getting to learn and understand how these animals behave! Well, I wouldn’t want to live with gorillas, but I can see why people are fascinated by them!

There is nothing better than being surround by God’s awesome creation and hanging out with your family. I know Lydia had a fun time!

(Lydia stood here and said “cheese”. We did not have our camera out. She just decided this would be a good photo op. This is her…uhm…cheesey smile.)

(I’m sorry these pictures are so jacked up…just a little user error until I figure out how to use this template…)

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I’m Proud to be an…Atlantan!

by ohamanda on August 17, 2007

in atlanta,family,food,friends,georgia,gone with the wind,history,me,memories,movies,the varisty

Last night we went to the Fox! Oh, if you’re ever in Atlanta it is a must! The Fox Theatre is a grandiose theatre originally built as a Shriner’s headquarters in the late 1920′s. It is an amazingly opulent building. I really can’t even describe it. But think of the old movie “palaces” you’ve seen in the old old movies. It’s even better than that. If you get to the movie early, there’s a sing-a-long with “Mighty Mo’” the 4000 pipe theatrical organ. Then the ceiling of the theatre goes from sunrise to sunset and you watch the movie under the “stars”. It’s magical!

I’ve seen lots of movies there and a few concerts and plays. But my favorite memory was in 1989. I was 12. It was the 50th Anniversary of Gone with the Wind. I went with my mom and brother. It was so exciting, going downtown at night, to the Fox. We even rode Marta! I remember so many people were dressed up Gone with the Wind costumes! And Butterfly McQueen who was Prissy in the movie, spoke at the beginning. I remember we got home really late and I felt as if I had just been on an adventure!

It was just so compelling and dramatic. It made me love the Fox, Gone with the Wind and especially Atlanta! I felt like I was actually part of Atlanta’s awesome history. It still gives me a little shiver when I think about it!

Last night, we went to the Fox with my family and friends as a thank you from my parents for some work everyone did on their house when Daddy was in the hospital last year. (Was that a sentence or what?!) We ended up seeing Spiderman 3 because it worked for our schedules. Not exactly Gone with the Wind, but it was still fun.

And no trip to downtown would be complete without a trip to The Varisty. There’s nothing like eating a chili dog and onion rings at 10:30 at night. Heavenly.

What’s the coolest thing about where you live?

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P is for Peach

July 10, 2007 birthday

My husband’s sister is a missionary to Mexico. She has 2 kids and one on the way! And this year she turned 30 (yes, same as me). I wanted to get her a fun present, something that would remind her of home. So, I found a cool magnet from Hallmark that says, “There’s no place [...]

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