Funniest Video OF THE YEAR

Through a child's eyes

Blast from the Past:

Columbian, The (Vancouver, WA)

November 17, 1997
HOMELESS MEN SLEEP, THANKS TO BOY S HARD WORK
Author: Columbian editorial writer
Section: B section
Page: 8
Estimated printed pages: 2
Article Text:
Imagine spending 300 hours Sheetrocking, sanding and painting walls in the heat of summer.
Now, imagine doing it for free.
Brad Brockbank, a 17-year-old Prairie High School student, had spent months searching for an Eagle Scout project. Nothing felt right. Most possibilities, like building trails or stacking goods at the food bank, felt ordinary and overdone.
Then he heard about Share Houses plan to create a temporary homeless shelter to replace the one destroyed by arson last December. They said they had no labor, and I said, Heres your man. And then I ran home and told my mom I had my project.
The project became an Olympic-sized event: transforming an empty rectangular building into a mens shelter with rooms and a hallway. The slabs of donated wallboard had to be pieced together. The mud could never be too thick or thin. The sanding, Brad said, was endless.
Other than a few odd jobs with his grandfather, he had few construction skills prior to the project. Now I feel like Icould go Sheetrock a skyscraper,he said.
The shelter opened Nov. 3, barely in time for cold nights. Two men stayed that first night; now all 38 beds are full.
About 150 homeless people live in the downtown Vancouver area. Nearly all have local roots, said outreach worker Gina Warren. Some live out of their cars, some have mental or physical disabilities, and some do odd jobs, trying to save rent money. Most lack warm clothes, blankets or sleeping bags.
Brad could have flipped burgers and saved money for a nice car this summer. He could have followed the example of the many adults who dismiss homeless people as vagrants and obstacles to downtown redevelopment. But he and many others in his church and the community did not. As a result, 38 men have temporary refuge from rain, snow, ice and that special form of bitter cold that has little to do with the seasons.
Susan Nielsen, for the editorial board
Copyright (c) 1997 The Columbian Publishing Co., P.O. Box 180, Vancouver, WA 98666.
Record Number: 1997321036

Going Private

I know its annoying, but I need to go private. I just saw an article online that made it clear that its just not as safe out there as we hope. Anyway, send me your email address and I'll add you. I'll be going private in about two weeks or so, so respond with your email(s), thanks guys!

-angel

You know your baby is growing up when she's cleaning her room, listening to teenage girl music like Taylor Swift with the door closed so her sister won't come in. It's pretty crazy how fast she's growing up. I think she's beginning to look like me, what do you think?

Abbie is FIVE!!!

Here are some birthday highlights. We went to build a bear and medieval times, I gotta get back to work, but I thought I'd add these :) It took her about 5 puffs to blow out all the candles, but she did it. I told Brad she was only supposed to have 5 candles, but he wanted to go all out. I took these pics and videos with my new iphone :) Brad dropped my old one twice so I was forced to upgrade, bummer ;)

She's OKAY, Its just a BEETLE!!!

Speaking of Everything is bigger in Texas, I've been meaning to blog about the 4th of July. Last year was a train wreck, we never ended up getting able to see the fireworks. This year we got two nights straight of great location, great fireworks, a fun pool party, and loads of fun. I had a blogworthy moment however on the 4th of July. We were staked out on the lawn of a chase bank about 2 minutes left until the fireworks. It was dark, there were people and policemen EVERYWHERE. We're having a nice chat with our friends when all of the sudden, this DEATHLY SCREAM comes from MY CHILD of course. Yes, Tori is screaming like she's facing the grim reaper himself, it sounded like a siren, AHHHHH AHHHHH AHHHHH, almost steady like a siren, I think she had to breath in there, thus the quick pauses. I was thinking to myself, "WHAT THE HECK!?!" So I got up quickly of course and went over to where she was sitting to find out what caused her to create such a loud scene that EVERYONE was watching now, including the police men. It was a beetle. I picked her up, and she STILL continued to SCREAM! My instant reaction was to cover her mouth so as to mute the sound and then I realized that hundreds of people (and policemen) are now watching me holding up my child with my hand over her mouth as they are listening to muted screaming... I said loudly in my defense, "She's Okay, Its just a beetle!!!" And as I predicted, a quick chuckle was heard throughout the area, and we were back to business as the fireworks started. I'll tell you what, that child has a SET OF LUNGS!!!

Everything's Bigger in TEXAS

Woke up this morning to a nice visitor, Everything's bigger in Texas. Nuff said.