Coffi

I was going to read the speech too and then I found the video. I can't wait until you actually hear her speaking her own words. I just feel this strong sense of sincerity in both of them (Michelle and Barack). I feel like they care so much about everyone. Seeing them in each others presence makes me feel so good inside. I do not have the same feeling when I hear McCain speak...I do not feel like he cares as much. Cindy McCain's speech gave me the wrong kind of chills. I just can't wait until this is all over. Hopefully Michelle will be the first lady.

I missed Michelle Obama's speech at the DNC in August, but just finished watching today. OMG...if you have not seen it yet, here it is. I cried 3 times during her speech. Michelle Obama - Speech at Democratic National Convention - Video and Transcript - The New York Times - Election Guide 2008 - The New York Times

I am also pro-choice. I personally do not think that I could have an abortion, but I do think that this tough decision needs to be made by the woman involved. So victims of rape and incest should they have a child against their will? What about situations where the mother's life is at risk? What if the mother has other kids at home to take care of? What if your 12 year old daughter was raped and came crying to you scared about being pregnant? I see you would force her to have the child? I did a report in high school about abortion. There was a story of a little 15 year old girl who went to have an illegal back alley abortion (abortion was illegal at the time), and 3 days later died of an infection. So what is cruel? Where do you draw the line and where do people find it their right to tell others what they can do with their bodies? People are going to do what they want to do whether it is right or wrong. People will still be getting abortions legally or illegally. My friend is a social worker for a woman who had a child when she was 8. She has some sort of mental/physical condition...I am not sure if it is downs or not. She had her first menstrual period at 5. She was raped...she was not able to take care of her kid. She is now 26 and her daughter is 18. If my 8 year old was rapped, I do not know that I could force her to have the child...I just don't know. I think early abortions are fine. Some religions believe that spermicides and condoms are killing life as well. Are they life killers too? How would your law be written for pro-life? Would there be conditions? I just don't get it.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LbLxja4UHY]YouTube - Colin Powell Discusses His Endorsement of Barack Obama[/ame]

thought those were interesting

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Yes, there are tons of kids out there that need homes. The agencies exploit kids...charging insane amounts of money to adopt. And if you go through the dcfs...the legal fees are insane. You have to meet strict health guidelines and the process takes a lot of time. When my husband and I were looking at children to adopt online, it kind of reminded me of classified ads. One line would be an add saying "hi I am Anita, I am 10 years old, I love Barbies and playing outside. I would love to be a part of your family. I have 2 brothers that need to be adopted along with me. Mike who is 14 and John who is 7." lots of posts along those lines. My husband and I coiuld never afford to take 3 older children. We had a foster son in his last year of high school and that was such a huge challenge for us. Taking older children with their own pasts and histories is so difficult. I could not imagine being able to take an older child for adoption even though I would want to somehow be able to help. My husband and I felt like we would like to start out whth a baby or toddler that we could raise by our standards. Someone that we could try and help be preparred for life as best we could. I know it sounds bad, but it was really difficult with our older foster son. He is one of 6 siblings that are in the system. None of the brothers and sisters are together. If there is an abundance of adoptive parents out there who are able to take children like these...where are they? It takes a very special person to be able to successsfully take care of older children who have the burdens of past troubles. I had to take my son to therapy sessions a couple times a week. My son was on probation from "tagging" and I had to make sure that he went to his community service, my son had run away from all of his previous foster parents, my son had threatened to hit my mother when my mother tried being his foster mom a few years before. I thought that I could change his life...move him down to the suburbs and give him this whole new wonderful and safe life. I was sick of seeing him be passed along from foster mom to foster mom. Since he knew me from when he was younger and I loved him so much, I thought that this could really work. He went from sharing bedrooms with other foster kids and their own situations, to having his own bedroom with us. He got suspended for fighting at his new school. I was in contact with his teachers almost daily, just to make sure he did not fall behind. I found a used condom wrapper in his room. I had to take him to adult school each night to try and help him catch up. He had meeting with a wrap around program that was once a week. It was so dang hard. He got to the point where he started yelling at me and lying to me, so I told him that I could not allow him to be this way in our home. He was so close to turning 18 that the social worker allowed him to be moved into a teen home. After being there for a couple of days, he called me to tell me that he appreciates what my husband and I did for him and that he loved us. I cried of course. We are still in contact. I send him text messages and call him to stay in contact. He kept me as a top friend on his myspace, hahaha! I had to join because I wanted to know what he was up to. He considers me his sister and family so I am happy that he doesn't hate me. I still worry about him and his future...he is now in Oregon selling phones...no degree, hardly any education. I hope he makes it. He frightened me when he told me that he thought that he was going to be a dad...I thought Oh nooooooooooooo! But thankfully his gf was not pregnant. she is only 16 and he is 18. I told him that he better not get his gf pregnant...I told him to try and learn from his biological mother's mistakes. There is a mess out there. There has got to be a way to make things better. My foster son did not ask to be born into this situation, but how has he been raised all of his life. He started out with his grandparents doing his elementary homework for him. Ughhhh, just frustrating.

I am still sad...crying over here. LOL!

That is wonderful that you are so generous!

It is so sad to hear such judgmental people. I am Christian too, but I have grown up to respect people and the choices that they make. There is too much going on in my life to be so concerned about what choices people are making for their own lives. Some of you sound like you have no diversity in your lives. Do you have gay friends that you love and still tell them to their faces that they do not have a right to be together? If it is such a sin and God is frowning upon them, then he is frowning down upon you and me and everyone in that case. Because last I can remember God loves all. We all sin and who is anyone to say that one sin is greater than the other? People are going to continue having abortions legal or illegal. So many stories about women and children who have had illegal abortions and lost their own lives....there go two lives. If abortion is legal and safe, in my opinion it is safer than illegal. If we have the resources for a woman or child to have an abortion, then let that be their choice and their problem to take up with God. Because it is legal doesn't mean that YOU have to go and have it done. I do not know any woman that is happy to go and have an abortion. It is tough for anyone to be in such a situation. Keep your noses out of people's business. If some decides to sin...be glad that it is them and not you if that is how you feel. There is a whole world of people out there different races, religions and upbringings. Be glad that you have come from or have acquired a hard working mentality. Some people unfortunately have not been so lucky. If I made over 250K, I would be happy to be taxed more and "spread the wealth around" that is the kindest act. It just kills me how unfortunate some people are. Besides, who decides what someone should be paid. The hardest workers of all get paid the very least. What about teachers? They are paid pretty poorly, many of my frineds that are teachers have to have 2 jobs!!! Kids are growing up and being raised by teens as parents who offer them no direction...these kids start with a disadvantage from the start. It is not their faults that they do not have strong role models to learn from. There has to be someone out there who is willing to try and get to the root of the problems. Yes education has to be looked at...that is so key! You can't just expect people to change overnight. Everything happens for a reason. It is so sad. People are more concerned with their patronage to their political party than have an open mind. I have voted dem and rep...I am not stuck believing only one way is the way to go. I don't know...this all just makes me sad.

Most of my views are conservative...accidentally voted for Bush. Voting for Obama for sure this time. Have any of you even watched any of the debates? LOL! Why does McCain always try to twist Obama's words. I am so glad that Obama always gets in the corrections. Listen to what the candidates say themselves. Listen! McCain is constantly saying to all that Obama wants to raise your taxes. How many of you on this forum make a quarter of a milllion dollars a year? 80 percent of us have suffered from this down economy. Not to mention Palin. Did anyone see the Katie Couric interview? Pretty sad!

I was banned on Oct. 2nd. I have lost 13 pounds. My first Dr. appointment is tomorrow. I ended up telling everyone that I came across...friends strangers...you name it. I grew up hiding from the world...fat my entire life. I wanted to hide everything...even being fat! Even though it was totally obvious by looking at my large body. Never talked about the struggles I had with over eating. I literally would hide in a corner at clubs, or any public place. I never wanted to be seen. I was always embarrassed of myself and who I was. Tried to hide eating. If I was out, I would eat really fast thinking that people would not notice how much I was eating if I could eat 3 times faster than everyone else. I was obviously only fooling myself. When I started opening up about over eating and just about who I am, I really started to feel less embarrassed about myself in general. I was able to pay closer attention and be more aware of my bad habits. The more honest I become, the more I feel hopeful that I will not be morbidly obese for the rest of my life. I know that everyone knows now. I have little guardian angels surrounding me, supporting me and cheering me on now. Instead of going out to eat, I can do other things with my friends. If I do go out, my friends will understand why I only eat 1/4 of my meal and not bug me about it. I was the one who could easily have 2 plates of food at a buffet and strategically think of how I was going to get up and grab my 3rd plate. So if I go from eating tons to eating a tiny portion and being full...they will all understand instead of ask me what is wrong. I have found the more open I am, the better I feel. I do not need to hide anymore. I did a lot of damage behind closed doors and when no one was looking. It is time for me to just be open and honest about things in my life. I want to come out of my food closet and I am ready to face the world. When certain friends found out what I was doing, I was surprised at how many people opened up to me about the same struggles that I have as well. I have 2 friends who are going through pre-op right now. I want to be there for anyone who needs support and who might be scared. Online support is great, because the amount of people that you can find who are dealing with the exact same things, but face to face and friends and family support is just as important to me. These are the people that I interact with every single day. To each his own, but this is what is keeping me strong, positive and motivated.

(Ummm, pardon my misspelling of liquids...it is not liwuids, LOL!) I was banded on the 4th. I have been so sick of liquids lately. The hunger that I get sometimes just doesn't get satisfied with the dang liquids...so yeah, I have resorted to baby food. Tomato Soup concoction with baby macaroni and cheese or baby meat puree with broth to Water it down. It just feels a little more hearty than broth. I still can only have about 2 oz of the stuff, but discovering something different is well worth it for me. Baby food has been a savior. The first doctor that I went to basically said, "if it pours...it's yours, so I have been going by that rule. I had baby chicken and rice (Gerber's stage 2) with some garlic salt and after I heated it...it poured, so I felt like it was alright to eat. Was that wrong? there were no chunks in it at all...totally smooth. Can I start on puree if it goes down? I really am SO over liquids!