Who Knew Bill Gates Was So Selfish?

I love, love, love quotes and lil sayings. I have always loved listening to people speak and be able to back their thoughts/arguments with a cool quote or neat statistic followed by a quick mention of the person who said it or the source it was taken from. Unfortunately, my brain doesn't work that way and I am usually left jumbling up famous saying, having no clue who said it, when it was said or where I heard it. Sigh. It totally sucks.

Today I read this article on cnn.com - how cool is this? Bill Gates and his wife (don't forget the wife!) are pledging $10 billion towards the fight of many illnesses and AIDS. Wow. I am blown away. I love hearing about the ridiculously wealthy who have no problem sharing their wealth with the world. This donation is estimated at being able to save nearly nine million lives! Giving $10 billion!! Saving nine million lives!!

So why do I think he's so selfish? I once saw an interview with President Bill Clinton, which had to do with a book that he had recently published titled "Giving." Basically it was a book encouraging the poor and rich, young and old to take up volunteerism and to give of their money to worthy causes. I can't remember (of course!) if it was his own quote or if he was quoting someone else, but he said that "Giving is one of the most selfish things anyone can do." Something like that. :)

He explained that the feeling you get from helping someone is greater than the feelings of those who have just been helped, that giving of yourself and money was selfish because you were benefiting more than those that were being helped. I couldn't agree more. I have walked thru a food pantry in Dallas and know what it's like to be truly thankful for the generosity of others. I have also been in a position to help others, granted I've never had $10 billion to give, but the two feelings really don't compare.

I want to always remember and crave that feeling - the feeling of just being nice to someone. Isabella told me last week that she wants to be a "hospital doctor" and she will keep "half of her money and give me the other half so that I can help the poor people." I loved that.

I don't need my kids the be the smartest, the neatest or the cutest. I just want them be "selfish" beings - kinda how Bill Gates is behaving these days.

Wordless Wednesday

A True Saints Fan

The whole city is sooo excited about the Saints. And excited is an understatement. We've already remixed songs about how the Saints are going to the Superbowl and people are already asking off so they can tailgate all the way to Miami.

I've been happy, too. If the Saints would win a game, great! If they didn't win, I wouldn't lose much sleep over it. I called myself the fair-weather Saints fan. :) But all that has changed.

This morning, Isabella had to pick a hat for Crazy Hat Day. And this morning is when I realized, after bribing my 5 yr-old, that I am a true Saints fan.

(PS: Our grass is yellow & dead, the bright grass you see is thanks to a few Photoshop tricks!)

Our Trip to the P.A.

Lucia is obsessed with changing clothes. She insists on wearing dresses any chance she can and goes through 2-3 outfit changes in a day. It may sound cute but it really can be quiet annoying.

This past Friday, I was scrambling to get a newsletter out when she walked into the office announcing that it was time for an outfit change. Her current dress had apparently become "boring." I told her that if she wanted to change, she had to go find the outfit and bring it to me because I was too busy to look (again!) for the perfect outfit.

A few seconds later, just as I had sent off my email, I hear a loud boom and crash. I flew out the door and ran into Harold in the hallway - as we both tried to make it into Lucia's room in 0.3 seconds. This is what we saw. With a bloodied Lucia next to it.
What is it with my kids and dressers falling on them? Another dresser fell on Isabella last year. I quickly scooped up Lucia and ran into the bathroom. Luckily, it seems as if the dresser pushed her back but it did not land on her. However, see that snow globe up there? The one that still hadn't been put away? It fell off the dresser and broke on Lucia's forehead. We put Lucia into the tub and showered her off. Her forehead was bleeding a good amount and she had a nose bleed, too. She really wasn't crying anymore but we decided to bring her to the E.R. since she looked as if she had a bad cut over her eye.
Turned out it was just dried up blood. Thanks to her full eyebrows, blood started drying up over her eye and it only needed to be cleaned up. I thought for sure she'd need stitches! So all weekend, when someone asked her what happened, she'd say that a dresser fell on her "and we had to go to the P.A.!" If I'd correct her, she's then say, "We went to the P.R.!"

I'm thinking we should have gotten her hearing checked while we were at it! :)

Praying for Haiti

For the past few days, I have been wanting to write about Haiti and the tragedy they are living, the tragedy they will continue to live for a long time. I just can't seem to do any of it any justice.

I wanted to write about stupid comments made by ignorant people re: the earthquake but realized, how will that help the Haiti people?

I wanted to write about how seeing these people suffering reminded me of Katrina and how I still feel so much anger towards those days back in 2005, but again thought, how will this help the Haiti people?

As many of you know, I follow way too many blogs and this one here is the best one I have read. A direct way that we can all help Haiti. And I just saw here that the Red Cross has raised record numbers ($5 million dollars!!) in a matter of days, thanks to so many social networks working towards a good cause. Amazing.

And if you can't help monetarily, then just take a second to join our brothers and sisters in prayer. Unity in prayer is pretty amazing, too.

15 Min and a Tissue

In researching adoption agencies, I came across many adoption blogs that I have been following now for a really long time. I love to watch these parents falling in love with their children - it's a beautiful thing to see.

This is the first video I ever watched and cried tears of happiness for this family. This sweet baby reminded me so much of Lucia, beautiful brown eyes just staring back at you and skinny lil legs. :)

(Video and family blog can be seen here.)

And this lil girl has inspired so many adoptions... it's beyond amazing! She reminded me right away of Isabella with her chubby lil cheeks and a smile that melts your heart.

Take a much needed 15 min break from your hectic day to watch these "gotcha videos" and don't forget your tissue! :)

PS: Don't forget to turn on your speakers, too.

Happy 70th Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday, he would have been 70 yrs-old! SE.VEN.TY!!!

I've been thinking about what I would write in this post for a long time. I forgot to mention his birthday last year and have felt quilty since so I wanted this to be a sweet shout-out to what a great dad he was. Here's just a few of the things my dad taught me...
• How to grade high school Spanish quizzes when I was only 11 yrs-old.
• When you lose something, don't say that you lost it. Say that you "misplaced it" - it sounds much better.
• How to balance a checkbook... probably the only time our family's checkbook was ever balanced!
• To love my brother and sister because they would always be my friends.
• How to happily close every pew in the entire church, even if I didn't put it down in the first place.
• It doesn't matter the color of your skin, just the size of your heart.
• How to make a baby smile by tickling their cheeks using just your index and pinky finger of the same hand.
• If you're going to run a red light, do it fast - not slow.
• Rush Limbaugh is stupid.
• Always offer to give someone a ride.
• Don't order delivery or eat out unless you have enough for a good tip because people live off their tips.
• Never lie, it's easier to tell the truth.
• That compared to more than half the world, I have been raised like a queen - with food on the table, a roof over my head, carpet beneath my feet and a tv in the living room.

Happy birthday, dad, you're getting old! ;)

On the Twelth Day of Christmas

I was blessed to have...

twelve inch po-boys on almost every corner,
eleven Saints players I can cheer for,
ten great nieces and nephews,
nine months waiting for two moments,
eight graphic design programs,
seven years married to this guy,
six home appliances,
five countries (with family) I can visit,
four working tires,
three blogging cousins,
two lovely daughters,
and a husband that loves his family!

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas

I was blessed to have...

eleven Saints players I can cheer for,
ten great nieces and nephews,
nine months waiting for two moments,
eight graphic design programs,
seven years married to this guy,
six home appliances,
five countries (with family) I can visit,
four working tires,
three blogging cousins,
two lovely daughters,
and a husband that loves his family!

On the Tenth Day of Christmas

I was blessed to have...

ten great nieces and nephews,
nine months waiting for two moments,
eight graphic design programs,
seven years married to this guy,
six home appliances,
five countries (with family) I can visit,
four working tires,
three blogging cousins,
two lovely daughters,
and a husband that loves his family!

On the Ninth Day of Christmas

I was blessed to have...

nine months waiting for two moments,
eight graphic design programs,
seven years married to this guy,
six home appliances,
five countries (with family) I can visit,
four working tires,
three blogging cousins,
two lovely daughters,
and a husband that loves his family!

On the Eighth Day of Christmas

I was blessed to have...

eight graphic design programs,
seven years married to this guy,
six home appliances,
five countries (with family) I can visit,
four working tires,
three blogging cousins,
two lovely daughters,
and a husband that loves his family!

On the Seventh Day of Christmas

I was blessed to have...

seven years married to this guy,
six home appliances,
five countries (with family) I can visit,
four working tires,
three blogging cousins,
two lovely daughters,
and a husband that loves his family!

Happy Resolutions

Yesterday, I was in the car with both girls so I turned off the radio and told them we had to quickly think of some resolutions now that the year was coming to an end.

Isabella asked me what a resolution was which I found difficult to explain for some reason. I told her it was "when we resolve to do something that will make our year great and happy." Then Isabella cheerfully replied, "Oh, I have one! To go to the swimming pool - that would make my year really great!" :)

I decided to post my resolutions in hopes that it may motivate me to actually keep them past January 3rd! My 2010 resolutions are...
• To not watch tv during the week, except after 7pm.
• To teach our kids Spanish*.
• To use my stove more and the microwave less.
• To exercise more.
• And of course, to bring Isabella swimming.

This year is going to be a great one for us... I can feel it! We will officially be picking (and hopefully working with!) an adoption agency in the next few months. In May, Harold will graduate med school and Isabella will graduate Kindergarten. Thankfully, on separate days, so I don't need to choose which ceremony to attend! ;) Our trip to Costa Rica, for a much needed and talked about family vacation, is already in the works and this fall, Lucia will start school!

I really hope 2010 will be a great and happy year for us... and all of you, too!

* Totally stupid that we've yet to accomplish this task!!