20/365 What a Day!!

Today I am thankful for our new President, Barack Obama. It was a moving thing to watch him get sworn in and hear the people cheer and cry tears of joy. I felt extremely proud today. Proud of our choice as a country to elect this man. I think he is going to do great things for us all. I pray that he is able to achieve every single one of his lofty goals of where we should be as a country. I hope that life gets better for everyone, as a whole, due to his visions for this country and changes he makes. I wish, for just a moment, that everyone could put aside their political views. Maybe you don't agree with President Obama's politics, but we all should be able to agree that this was a special day in United States' history. The thing that makes me so happy is how this will affect my children as they grow older and start to notice things like who our President is. Growing up, all we have ever seen to this point as we studied the Presidents in history class, was white man after white man after white man. To us, this was the norm. There was no diversity. As a child, I certainly never gave two seconds worth of thought to this. Again, this was the norm and why would it stand out to me - I was also caucasian and was at a predominantly caucasian school. No one would have even thought to question such a thing at any of my schools. But now, I notice. I have two daughters who would have most definitely noticed. And I am busting at the seams with pride that when they are old enough to study American History and learn the Presidents, they will see that the first President elected after they were born was an African American man. That for the first time in our history, we were able to look past something as silly as the color of someone's skin and make a decision based on what was right for our country. The majority of Americans spoke out and said, "This is the right man for the job. I don't care that he has darker skin than me or parents who are different than mine. This country needs to see some major change and this is the man to do it." That, for my girls and all of our children, is awesome! They won't have to have ideas put into their head without someone even saying it that only a caucasian man is worthy of the job of President of the United States. No, they get to know that our country has finally made a huge step in the right direction. I hope that this really helps deter racism. I truly believe that it will make a difference in the life of my girls. And that, is so enormous. I am so, so proud. I hope that everyone, even those who have different beliefs, can at least see the importance that this will make in the lives of our children and the worth they put on themselves and others. I have real hope that it will.

A good friend of mine, Shawna, lives and works in Washington D.C. She works with the media and got to be right up front today. How cool is that?!?! Last I checked, she had not had the time to update her blog with pictures yet, but she has already told us that she got so many and will definitely be posting them. I can't wait to see it all from her viewpoint. I am so jealous that she got to witness it all up close and personal, but really happy for her that she did!!

Today we did at least get out of the house for about an hour. Yeah! Still not 100% healthy, but getting better. I had to get out for at least a bit. Does anyone have exciting plans for Tet?? We do this year and I am so excited about it. This weekend we are having a get together with 8 families from our area with Vietnamese children. I have not met several of them in person and I just can't wait! Oh, the pictures are going to be greatness. All of those cuties running wild. I hope both of my littles handle it okay. Sometimes Lucy gets overwhelmed in this kind of setting. We'll see. Louis will be there so hopefully she will just stay happy since her love is there. We are also going to a local Tet festival the next weekend. We don't know anyone who has ever been to it, so we aren't sure what to expect, but hopefully it will be great! I am really excited to have something planned for the girls.

Too many cute pictures from today to choose just one. So here are bunches.













I worked so hard to get this picture of the new teethies!


I can't believe that I forgot to comment on Annie's hair in the last post and I giggled every time one of y'all mentioned it. It is getting really wild and fluffy. This is the best I can do to let you see the longer, wild hairs mixed in the fluff. They are so funny. They just point all over the place and are crazy. I really like her spikey hair, I just wish we could get a little more coverage!


You've almost got that toe pumpkin.




Mom, don't even mention the fact that she is still in her pjs at noon and Halloween pjs at that. You should be proud that I got both girls in clothes today. :)








And just to prove that they did in fact get dressed today!


Annie, get back up here.