Life is like a box of chocolates

You never know what you are going to get. Now most everyone knows that that is a line from the movie Forest Gump. But what a true statement it is. Even though I'm no longer a spring chicken, I can still be surprised.

This week I've been pleasantly surprised by my oldest daughter's interest and apparent ability to cook. She is a full-time student and works in D.C., and still she puts on some pretty impressive meals. I haven't really cooked anything newsworthy for three years and I'm a stay at home wife. I should really crack open one of my many cookbooks and try a new recipe. I do believe she is inspiring me.

Today I was surprised and delighted that my third daughter finally got her car on the road after 6 long months of waiting. It's been a long road, that I won't go into here, but the car is finally legal. Also, she got her driver's license and passed the test in a Toyota Tundra that she'd never even driven before. Way to go, girl! It was great to see her happiness over her car tonight.

I met a woman.......

...and she was so unassuming. She was in my class today. I secretly named her The Shy One. She was quiet, did what was required and showed proficiency in her skills. Then came the written test. She did not pass it. It did not seem to devastate her, like some of my students, or disappoint her. It seemed more like it confirmed something she already knew.

I waited till the other students were gone to talk with her. I knew that english was her second language, and that is usually where the fault lies in good students who fail written tests. As I talked with her, she shared that she is a cancer survivor. Last year she was diagnosed and she has endured 35 chemo treatments in addition to surgery. She is facing another surgery in May.

She said the chemo has changed her. She cannot focus like she used to. She is weak and her joints hurt. She said during treatment she wanted to give up because it was so awful, but her husband wouldn't let her. He begged her to keep fighting. She teared up as she shared her story. She kept apologizing and said she didn't want me to think she was using her illness as an excuse.

I told her she was a strong woman and a survivor. I shared with her that I didn't think it was a lack of focus, but a language barrier, and I would review the material with her and let her test again. The next time she passed.

Her doctor has told her there are no guarantees for her. She can do everything right, and the cancer can still come back. She has to live with that reality for the rest of her life, which I hope will be a long one.

I must learn not to label. She was not shy at all. She was afraid that the treatment for a killer disease had robbed her of her ability to concentrate. She'd lost confidence in her ability to succeed. I didn't do anything for her I wouldn't have done for any other student. I just let her prove to herself that she can still meet obstacles and succeed. She walked out with a smile on her face, and renewed confidence in herself.

She is a success, and I am humbled to have had her as my student.

Audacity

Let's forget the book Obama wrote called The Audacity of Hope. How about we just talk about audacity. He sure has alot of that. As republican senators worked hard this week on Obama's huge stimulus (SPENDING) package, trying to cut the pork, and stop the salivating democrats who only want big government and their piece of the pie, Obama says "I won, I'll trump you on that," and "I won, not the other guy", meaning John McCain. Now there is audacity. Such arrogance from a man who says "Let's not be bipartisan, the time has come to work together."

How about this one: Obama caps the salaries of executives who took government bailout money and then heavily criticizes the resort conventions they put together for their executives. Okay, I understand that. But the very week he is doing this, he is in Williamsburg, Virginia, at a resort with other democrats, at the cost of half a million taxpayer dollars. The democrats got there by a chartered Amtrak, and he flew in on AirForce One. If we were to put the Federal Government up against any bank or company run by greedy opportunists, I believe the Government would win top dog prize for waste, big payoffs, and bad bookkeeping.

At the National Prayer Breakfast, Obama said "I don't believe God condones the killing of innocent human beings" yet one of the first things he did was support funding for overseas abortion. He has never made any secret of his pro choice stand, and in fact cannot give an answer concerning "When life begins." How many women, upon discovering they are pregnant, wonder if it would be a human baby, or a puppy? The argument of whether or not abortion kills an innocent human being is invalid. But our President, who calls himself a converted christian in adulthood, supports abortion knowing that God does not condone the killing of innocent human beings.

Be careful saying what you believe God condones, and then doing the opposite. Remember the audacious statement "God himself couldn't sink this ship." God Himself can sink this country, faster I might add, than President Obama.