The Pictures Arrived...and other news

Remember the dreaded photo session I told you about a few days ago? The pictures arrived yesterday.

I'm still glad we didn't buy many.

In other news, I am planning a little shopping road trip for some friends on Saturday and I can not wait! I won't spend alot this time because we are going on vacation to my parents soon and I want to shop then too with my sister but there are a few small things on my list of possible acquisitions. It's really all about the friends for me. We are going to 4 scrapbook stores--Memories in Bloom and Scraplanet in Clarksville, TN, Someplace to Remember in Bowling Green, KY and Scrapbook Village in Glasgow, KY!

On a sad and much more serious note: I attended our community watch group meeting on Tuesday. Our neighborhood was recently touched rather violently by crime and this meeting was held in response to that. It was eye-opening, to say the least. It was an intense 2 hours to sit and listen to 2 detectives and 2 first-response officers recount what they saw and did on the day that our neighbor was murdered. I've never had a more physical response to anything in my life. At some points I thought my heart was just going to explode. It was completely overwhelming.

Just a quick back-story: my back yard backs up to the back yard of a lady named Mary Sadler. The neighbors living to the left of Mrs. Sadler--the Angeles' family--are rentors of a small house. They are second generation immagrants from Mexico and don't speak much English. The children in the house--a boy about J's age and a young girl-- do speak English and have played from time-to-time in our backyard with the boys. Apparently, their mother recently married a man--Ivan Moreno-- who is not here legally and he was staying in their house. Moreno is suspected to have beaten Miss Mary to death last Monday morning. You can read about it here if you feel the need.

I have a new admiration for police officers and detectives. They were patient and thorough and answered every question as best they could.

I have, in the past year, written three letters to the President and my congressional representatives on the hill asking that more be done to protect our borders and I am planning to write a few more. I do not habor hatred for the people of Mexico or the people of Canada, however I think our government has been far too careless in monitoring and controlling our borders. It's past time to change that. Not just because my quiet little nice southern neighborhood is suddenly aching for this loss, but because so many neighborhoods in America are being touched by an illegal criminal element that should not exist. We have all the laws we need to protect our communities. We just need the manpower and the authority to enforce the law.

If a quiet 74 year old petite blonde woman can fight back against a rage-filled 30 year old man more than twice her weight inside her own home, why can't Americans find a way to do more to protect others like her and our own neighborhoods?

It's a question worthy of an answer, although it may be a hard answer to find.