You love yourself the same way that you love other people. You love yourself and other people by valuing, appreciating, accepting, and protecting.



Now here is where loving yourself gets tricky:

* You like yourself more when you're good to people, especially people you love, and you like yourself less when you're not.

* The only way to love yourself is to be compassionate and loving to others.

Simon had a blast on the plane. He was so good on the flight and I loved how his eyes got super big when we went up in the air. He is enjoying meeting a bunch of new people. Right now we are at the library and he is playing on these things with my mom. I miss Jamie so much. I am glad I am getting to visit Grandma though and that she gets to see Simon. Tomorrow we are going to Dallas, and hopefully actually doing something interesting.

People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun's out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light within.

oh well, I don't have a lot to write just that Simon and Halle were eating a cookie and both falling asleep in the car and it was hilarious. Prayers for Gram and her heart.

If it keeps on raining, levee's going to break,

If it keeps on raining, levee's going to break,

And the water gonna come in, have no place to stay



Well all last night I sat on the levee and moan,

Well all last night I sat on the levee and moan,

Thinking about my baby and my happy home,



If it keeps on raining, levee's going to break,

If it keeps on raining, levee's going to break,

And all these people have no place to stay



Now look here mama what am I to do?,

Now look here mama what am I to do?,

I ain't got nobody to tell my troubles to



I works on the levee mama both night and day,

I works on the levee mama both night and day,

I ain't got nobody, keep the water away



Oh crying won't help you, praying won't do no good,

Oh crying won't help you, praying won't do no good,

When the levee breaks, mama, you got to lose



I works on the levee, mama both night and day,

I works on the levee, mama both night and day,

I works so hard, to keep the water away



I had a woman, she wouldn't do for me,

I had a woman, she wouldn't do for me,

I'm going back to my used to be



It's a mean old levee, cause me to weep and moan

It's a mean old levee, cause me to weep and moan

Gonna leave my baby, and my happy home


It breaks my heart that this could happen in our country. How??

&&you just have to realize
that people you used to know
will stay in your hearts
even if they aren't in your
life anymore.<3
some days i wish i was in
kindergarten again;
where the biggest drama was when
your friend stole your snack.
i finally learned what life's all about
hanging on when your heart's had enough
and giving more when you wanna give up
JUST BE YOURSELF
live the life you want to live.
be the person you would be
proud of. make decisions. make
mistakes. and if you fall, you fell
because you tried. no regrets.
Sometimes. You. Have. To. Learn. To. Forgive. And. Forget...♥

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
wich is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

~e e cummings

Pleasant memory of drinking coconut milk out of a coconut when I was in kindergarten.
My son had a meltdown at Hallmark.
I gave him a bath and we splashed water and laughed together, and he tried to say lotion, which was adorable.
Dealing with emotions is not always the funnest.
My fiance is the most understanding and supporting man ever, and he is my best friend.
I wanted a Quesadilla Explosion Salad from Chili's but never got to have one.
My mom and I did our little inside joke for the first time in a long time, and she said, "You're back."
I am so grateful for everything I have today and the people in my life.

That's So Raven is probably one of the cheesiest shows ever to some people, but it just makes me smile! I'm feeling better now that I watched it. Trying to do some laundry today...which I just totally forgot about until now! Simon is asleep, we went over the color blue today and he seemed like he really grasped the concept. Now he knows one color, can count to three, and puts two words together. Last night when we were in the video parking lot, he was watching this dog in a truck next to us. Then the guy got in the truck and left, I told Simon to say "Bye doggie!" and then when we got like five blocks away he yelled "Bye doggie!" when we saw another white truck! He is the smartest, most adorable baby ever!!

Equality, Cloning and Clonism: Why We Must Clone

by Prof. Julian Savulescu

Professor of Practical Ethics

at the University of Oxford www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk (julian.savulescu @ philosophy.ox.ac.uk)

The following article is archived on The Reproductive Cloning Network (www.ReproductiveCloning.net) with permission from the author.

The first reproductive clone of a human being will inevitably arrive at some time in the future. The first human clone will be the first 'artificial' human, the first true 'test-tube baby' to be created by science, made in a way utterly different to what God or nature ordained for us.

Reproductive cloning could allow new and important options for people with mitochondrial disease, and couples where the male partner has no viable sperm, to create a child genetically related to themselves. IVF couples producing a small number of embryos could also take cells from their embryos (or fetuses) for cloning, to increase the number of available embryos, in case a pregnancy fails. Cloning could produce an embryo, or help create a child, to be a donor of stem cells for a sick sibling or relative. Cloning will become just another reproductive technique, along with sexual reproduction and IVF.

Of course, many people currently oppose even therapeutic cloning, because of fears of slipping down the slope to reproductive cloning. But what are the reasons to oppose reproductive cloning? When Dolly the sheep was cloned, the German Prime Minister said this would lead to 'xeroxing people'. But the current techniques of cloning could not clone or copy people. They copy a genome, a person's complete DNA sequence. Only a crude genetic determinist could claim that cloning copies people. The DNA of Hitler, Einstein or Mozart in their clones would never produce Hitler, Einstein or Mozart. We are the product of our genes, but also our environment and most importantly, our own free choices.

The European Parliament, UNESCO and WHO all state that reproductive cloning is an 'affront to human dignity'. But identical twins - natural clones - occur at a rate of about 3 per 1000 births. In the past, twins were seen as evil and killed at birth, their existence an affront to human dignity. But today, we see identical twins as ordinary and autonomous individuals. No one is developing drugs to reduce the rate of identical twinning because it is an affront to human dignity, or because it is so terrible to live one's life as a twin.

Some clones would be different to twins, in that the clone might be a copy of a genome of an already-existing person. Accordingly, the European Parliament pronounced that 'the individual has a right to his or her own genetic identity'. But where does a 'right to genetic individuality' come from? It is hard to see the value of 'genetic individuality' especially where an embryo or baby dying very early in life was then cloned. Or, where the person who was cloned is long dead or living in a different country. A clone of that embryo or person being raised by another family would be more like an identical twin being reared apart from its sibling.

But might some clones 'live in the shadow' of the earlier clone, exposed to the expectations and biases people might have from knowing the older clone, closing the new cloned child's future? Oderberg writes of 'identity confusion' and 'unbearable expectations placed on the child's shoulders'. Rather, in my view, what would make clones' lives problematic is the way in which their parents, peers and society might treat them. Negative attitudes towards clones would be a new form of discrimination - clonism - against a group of humans who are different in a non-morally significant way. To say that creating a clone is an affront to human dignity is like saying that deliberately creating a black person, or a woman, affronts human dignity. The statement itself affronts the dignity of cloned people. Misinformed bigotry is not a reason to prevent cloning, rather a reason to drop the attitudes.

Parents already create families for all kinds of private reasons, in a variety of ways, with and without medical assistance. The role of the cloned child's parents would be the same as all of these parents': to love the child and give it a good upbringing. Whether clones have good or bad lives simply depends on society and how we choose to treat them, not on the facts of their DNA. We should not fear cloning technology, but instead should use it rationally and responsibly. And we should continue to treat other people, including clones, when they arrive, with equal concern and respect, making sure others also do the same.

Cloning is currently unsafe and Antinori is playing Russian Roulette. But if reproductive cloning were in future to become safe and successful, or if we attempt cloning by embryo splitting, there would be no moral reason to ban cloning by law. Morality should be about people and their lives - not about any other individual's feelings of repugnance about them. As we speak up for those affected by racism, sexism, homophobia - so we should protect future clones in society. We have nothing to fear from cloning or biological modification of human beings except ourselves.

I threw you the obvious
and you flew with it on your back
a name
in your recollection
down among a million same

difficult not to feel a little bit
disappointed and passed over
when I look right through
I see you naked but oblivious

and you don't see me

but I threw you the obvious
just to see if there's more behind the
eyes of a fallen angel
eyes of a tragedy

here I am expecting just a little bit
too much from the wounded
but I see, see through it all
see through
see you

'cause I threw you the obvious
to see what occurs behind the
eyes of a fallen angel
eyes of a tragedy

oh well
oh well
apparently nothing
apparently nothing at all

you don't
you don't
you don't see me

you don't
you don't
you don't see me

you don't
you don't
you don't see me

you don't
you don't
you don't see me

you don't
see me

you don't
you don't
you don't see me at all

Can I please dedicate this song to everybody in the fucking world?

little tree
by E. E. Cummings

little tree
little silent Christmas tree
you are so little
you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest
and were you very sorry to come away?
see i will comfort you
because you smell so sweetly

i will kiss your cool bark
and hug you safe and tight
just as your mother would,
only don't be afraid

look the spangles
that sleep all the year in a dark box
dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,
the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,

put up your little arms
and i'll give them all to you to hold
every finger shall have its ring
and there won't be a single place dark or unhappy

then when you're quite dressed
you'll stand in the window for everyone to see
and how they'll stare!
oh but you'll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take hands
and looking up at our beautiful tree
we'll dance and sing
"Noel Noel"

Today I discovered this poet, E.E. Cummings. I like this one because it reminds me of Christmas. :)