Wow! It had been forever since I posted on here. I mainly post on facebook so I have completely neglected my blog. I will try to do better and post more often for those that may actually still check here for updates.
since I last posted we have had a lot of changes in our life. Jerek got laid off from his job in Hillsboro in february last year. We put our house up on the market as we didn't know where we were headed financially. We had been given some money and were going to use it to take the kids to disneyland, so we went the first week in April. Went to coquille to leave tait and alison with the grandparent and while we were there, my mom said someone we know and goes to their church said he could get Jerek a job where he works as a civil engineer. We left to go to california and while we were gone we had 2 offers on our house. When we got home Jerek went in to talk to the boss at the civil engineering firm and found out he knew him too. He ended up getting the job and we moved all our stuff into his parents garage by the end of april. We pretty much left to go on vacation and never went back.
We ended up ina house out of town with 23 acres. Pretty much our dream. We have been working hard to improve the land and build fences so we can put some sheep on the land.
I have some goats I am going to milk in the spring and some chickens.
The kids are growing and learning so much by being out here. So am I to be truthful! Jerek is getting a kick out of watching me wrestle the goats down to treat their hooves to give them shots, and I would do that over dishes or laundry any day.
I will try to get some pics of our new life in the country but I am bad about that so no promises.=)

A petition to protect ourselves

Jerek's cousin-in-law created an online petition to sign if you agree in our right to keep (own) and bear (carry) arms in the United States.

http://www.petitiononline.com/SSA2009/petition.html

Once it reaches 3.1 million signatures (only 1% of the US population in Jan. 2009) it will be submitted to Congress. This petition is partially in response to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTq2NEUlhDE

He says:

"I don’t think a little online petition will do much, but it can be a good reminder to our government about what we care about. Like sticking a post-it note on the desk of all 535 members of Congress. (100 Senators, 435 in House of Representatives)

Did you remember that when the states adopted the Constitution they met and drafted amendments to it and sent that list back to the Federal government? Those amendments are called the Bill of Rights. The States stipulated the right to bear arms, and it is well known that at the time the intention was to enable the people to protect themselves from potential tyranny of their government like they had while under British rule.

My Sham-Wow call to action:

I know you probably get email that asks you to forward them on, let’s face it…this is another one. If you don’t feel comfortable forwarding the email, no problem. Maybe you could link to the petition on your website(s) or post a link in a forum or blog you read? The important thing is that you take some kind of action. So many emails come through that say to forward them but what does that really do? Nothing. In this case you’ve got a non-committal option to take action, just sign the petition and maybe let other people know about it too. No flying to DC for a rally, no debate with people whose intellect your not so sure about, just a few clicks here and there."

--Robert Ault

North Bend, Oregon

The constitution can be read in its entirety online at:
http://www.constitution.org/constit_.htm

Along with the full Bill of Rights submitted as explanatory and restrictive clauses to the constitution:
http://www.constitution.org/billofr_.htm

Lastly the additional amendments that have been added over the course of history:
http://www.constitution.org/afterte_.htm