In the spirit of full disclosure, I won't claim to know too terribly much about what's been going on with the healthcare debate back home. Honestly, it's all I can do to listen to it from across The Pond. However, Brian forwarded me an email he received from our State Representative in Florida (which is where we're registered to vote). I found it very interesting:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL-01) issued the following statement following the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:

“After over a year of trying to ram through a trillion dollar government takeover of our health care system, Nancy Pelosi and the majority party waited until the middle of the night to take one of the most important votes in history.  This bill was written behind closed doors using backroom deals to buy enough votes to pass, and puts the future of our great country at great risk.  It does nothing to protect the sanctity of human life, will not lower health care costs for the American family, cuts Medicare by $500 billion, and raises taxes on middle-class Americans.  I strongly denounce the passage of this bill and will work for its swift repeal.”

Call me cynical, but I don't see how anything passed this quickly with this much secrecy can be a positive step forward for our nation. However, having never worked in the health field or political arena, I can only tell you what I know from experience living and working in a nation that has universal health care. It lessens the quality and the quantity of care we all receive.

In our "labor rehearsal" class last week, the nurse midwife explained that those who chose to have their baby on base would receive 24-48 hours of care after the birth. And for those who chose to have their baby at Cambrige Hospital (one of the best in this nation): two hours recovery. Two hours after giving birth, those who chose the NHS (National Health Service) would be asked to pack up and get out of there. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Inconveniences like this are only minor compared to what is likely to come as a result of this bill. I fear that immigrants will soon flock to America they way they come to Britain for "free abortions." Let's just hope that future leaders will be able to undo some of the negative things this current Administration has chosen to implement.

...I know I do!

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1

As the glorious, summer days swiftly fade into crisp, autumn ones, I am grateful for this past season of my life. I learned more about God, my husband and myself this summer than I ever expected or imagined. I experienced a full spectrum emotions:  anger, disappointment, sadness, hopefulness, forgiveness, joy, and gratitude. This season in our lives and in our marriage taught me that the things I work to build in my own strength will only fail, because "He has made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). I learned that this does not read, "I can make everything beautiful in MY time." Fortunately, life doesn't work that way. Just imagine if it did. 

As I mentioned in my last post, Brian and I spent a few months apart this summer to gain some perspective. While it was a difficult time for the two of us, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with many of the people I am blessed to call my family. Brian came to Georgia at the end of July, and it was a precious time of healing and reconciliation for us. Since that time I can honestly say that I experience joy in a way I never did before. I'm not talking about the kind of "happiness" or "self-esteem" the world would want us to believe we should have. Rather, I have the kind of joy that comes from not knowing what tomorrow will hold but knowing full well the One who holds it.

With this newfound joy and gratitude for what God has done, I hopped a plane in early August eagerly anticipating my return home to Brian (and, I'll be honest, I was as excited to see The Chief). But when I arrived home, nothing sounded better to me than my bed. And that was the first place I went. When I didn't get out of bed for the first week, I chalked it up to jet lag. Around the second or third week I started to suspect that something else was seriously wrong. Was I depressed? I didn't think so. Was this narcolepsy? I hoped not! Brian tried his best to coax me out of my sleepy stupor with dinner, salsa dancing, and movies, but I wouldn't budge. I was seriously considering moving my bed into the kitchen - that whole two birds with one stone thing - when I had a revelation...

Sunday, August 30, began the way most Sundays begin in the Morgan household. A little bit late and in a hurry so we wouldn't miss church. It's the story of my life, really. I rolled out of bed and jumped in the shower only to jump right back out as the urge came over me to...well...become ill. And I then did what I suspect every grown woman does after a moment like that. I said to my husband (who had promptly left the bathroom), "I need to call my mom!" Fortunately for her it was the middle of the night. Otherwise, I am certain she would have received this call:

Katy - "Mommy! I'm not feeling well..."
Pam -  (Long pause) "Who is this?"
Katy - "Do you seriously have to ask me this every time? It's your daughter...Katy!"
Pam - "Oh. What's wrong?"
Katy - "I just threw up." (Sniff, sniff)
Pam - "Well, what do you want me to do about it?"
Katy - "Nothing, I just wanted you to know."
Pam - "Oh. Well, thank you so much for informing me." 

Somehow, at 28 years of age, I still feel compelled to call my mommy every time I get sick. Call me crazy, but I believe it's just a bond some mothers and daughters instinctively have. The kind of bond that makes a grown woman say to her mother, "Sure, you cleaned me up my entire childhood, but you're not done yet!" The kind of bond that will one day cause an elderly mother to say to her daughter, "Guess what, you overgrown brat? It's payback time."

Unfortunately (or fortunately for mom), the miles and hours that separate us caused me to reconsider my compulsion to inform my mother of my every visit to the loo. So, I picked myself up by the bootstraps, and we made our way to church. Surprisingly, my rendezvous with the toilet that morning didn't leave me wondering what kind of flu bug I caught this time. Mainly because I felt absolutely FINE after the whole "incident" (Honestly, am I grossing y'all out yet? I promise there's a point to this story.). In fact, I could only think of ONE thing that would have caused that kind of momentary "sickness." That's when it occurred to me to freak out a bit. 

To be honest I was so distracted the entire service, and I couldn't wait to get back home. The suspense was unbearable. If only we hadn't been running late, I could have taken a pregnancy test before church. Must make a mental note to always leave time for unexpected things like sudden illness and peeing on a stick. 

Fortunately, I fake myself out every month, so we had a stockpile of pregnancy tests in the cabinet. I grabbed two of them - thoroughness is key when you're married to a pilot - and shut myself in the "loo" for approximately 6-8 minutes. I was disappointed when I couldn't quite determine if that second line was a figment of my imagination or an indication of a mini-me. I took the test to Brian who was as inconclusive as I was. I drank about a gallon of water and returned to the loo. When the second test displayed similar, inconclusive results, I was (as the Brits say) gutted. Why couldn't they make those things so that fireworks or confetti or something spews out when it's positive? Why does it have to be so confusing? 

With all this drama and uncertainly we found ourselves nearing teatime, and most of the stores around us close early on Sundays. If we were going to have any rest at all, we needed to know for certain. I needed a different kind of test. We found a convenience store in Bury St. Edmunds (about 25 minutes from our house) that was open a bit later on Sundays, so we quickly got ourselves and the Chief in the car to make it there before they closed. Again, my thorough husband insisted on two tests and I insisted on more to drink. I'm not a camel, for crying out loud!

Two minutes after returning home, I emerged from the loo with a huge smile on my face. Sure enough, the Brits know how to make a straightforward, no-nonsense pregnancy test. There was NO mistaking that second line. I didn't even need fireworks or the second test to prove it, but I went ahead and took it anyway for good measure. Brian (ever the cautious one) decided he was more reluctant to believe anything store-bought, so he suggested I go on base for an "official" test. Once again, our suspicions were confirmed, and we started to realize that if five pregnancy tests wouldn't convince us, nothing would. 

So, if our calculations (and the calculations of the nurse on base) are correct, my due date is April 22! I will most likely have a more accurate date once I have my first ultrasound in two weeks. What a wonderful time to have a baby in England. The flowers are blooming, the winter is waning, and the sun is hanging around a bit longer. I can hardly wait to meet Mini-Morgan (or G-baby as my father has already designated it). Whatever you want to call it, please just pray that this baby won't have me in the loo much longer. Oh, and who's the idiot who coined the phrase "morning sickness"? Try "all-day-every-day sickness." Must have been a man. A man without a clue. 

Excuse me, I need to go now...

I'm willing to bet my father is one of the few people reading this blog who would recognize this quote without a moment's hesitation. For the rest of you, this is one of Larry Munson's famous calls back in the "glory days" of Georgia football history. The days my father seems to live over and over again through his countless VHS tapes of recorded games. To be more exact, this was the very first game in which Herschel Walker was introduced to the Bulldog nation. The year was 1980. The opponent was Tennessee at Neyland Stadium. My father, I'm certain, was crying tears of joy as he witnessed this great moment in football history...not to mention the perfect season that followed it.

Georgia hasn't seen a running back of that calibre since Herschel was drafted to the short-lived USFL his junior year. Honestly, the game of football has hardly seen a player of that calibre - both in skill and in character. 

I was reminded of this while Joey and Terri (my in-laws) were visiting us a few weeks ago. We all sat and watched an episode of The Celebrity Apprentice. Ordinarily, I would rather not spend my free time trying to figure out what form of road kill was used to create Donald Trump's toupee. I'd also rather have a root canal without anaesthesia than to listen to Joan AND Melissa Rivers together on the same program. However, I was particularly interested in seeing Herschel interact with that group of Hollywood yahoos.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how his quiet demeanor and humility have made an impact on the others. Did any of you happen to catch Jesse James' comment to Dennis Rodman during the boardroom "intervention" this past week? Jesse was sitting with Herschel to his right and Dennis to his left. He pointed to both men and said, “You have two of the greatest athletes in the history of American sports right here. Look at the contrast.” Well said, Jesse. Contrast, indeed.

America, let's continue to support those athletes who portray great moral character in addition to their physical strength and skill. The more attention we give to jailbird dog-killers (Michael Vick), leg shaving pot smokers (Michael Phelps), and over-pierced crazies (Dennis Rodman), the more we encourage their ridiculous behavior. I say we lock them all in a room together and just see what happens.

If I had my way, Herschel would win The Celebrity Apprentice, Donald Trump would shave his head, Joan and Melissa Rivers' faces would permanently un-freeze, Larry Munson would live forever, and Georgia would have another season like they did in 1980.

(Note for G-man: Before watching this video, grab some tissues.)

I couldn't help but laugh when Brian sent me a Sky News article today entitled, "Driver Led to 100ft Cliff Edge By Sat Nav." For our American readers, "sat nav" is satellite navigation, or GPS.

The article begins: "A driver has blamed his sat nav for leaving his car teetering on the edge of a cliff after he followed its instructions."Seriously? It appears as though this society no longer seeks to blame parents, spouses, or employers for irrational behavior. Apparently, any inanimate object will do.

Thus we have, ladies and gentlemen, reached a new level of peer pressure I'd like to call "steer pressure." Apparently, these sat nav devices have progressed to the point of pressuring individuals to do things they would not otherwise do - in this case, crash into a fence on the side of a steep cliff.

Car dragged from cliff top after sat nav 'nightmare'. Pic: Ross Parry/Halifax Courier 

The unbelievable irony of this story is that the man WORKS AS A DRIVER! This "professional" driver told the Halifax Evening Courier: "It kept insisting the path was a road, even as it was getting narrower and steeper, so I just trusted it." He just TRUSTED it? Seriously? Lord help us all...I'm taking the train from now on.

What kind of advantage are we giving terrorists and psychopaths out there if we just blindly follow what our sat nav tells us to do? "But it told me to turn left into the bank parking lot and to rob it at gunpoint...and I TRUSTED it!"

Pork, anyone?

I admit I've hesitated writing another political blog (Remember the controversy the last one caused?), but I'm having a hard time sitting quietly on this side of The Pond and waching my hard-earned income contribute to pig odor research in Iowa. So, I have a great idea. Give me the $1.8 million, fly me first class to Iowa, and I'll let you know all about swine odor. Better yet, fly me to D.C. and I'll give a strikingly similar report (bah dum dum).

Didn't I hear somewhere that "pork ... as a strategy" is over and that this administration would "stop business as usual in Washington"? Someone please explain, then, why lawmakers on BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE (and I want to emphasize that here) have turned a blind eye and an outstreached hand to billions in frivilous spending. Call me cynical, but how exactly will swine odor research "keep the federal government running through the rest of the fiscal year"? Let's be optimistic...maybe they're planning on employing 2.6 million people to conduct that research. Well, sign me up!

I think they ought to change the pet name of these earmarks from "pork" to "mutton." Talk about pulling the wool over our eyes! In the midst of all this madness, apparently our nation's wise leadership has turned to their "How to Reassure the American Public in order to Avoid a Major Depression" (Version 2) handbook and gleaned some wonderful wisdom:

1) Scream, "George made me do it!" Of course it's George Bush's fault...EVERYTHING is George Bush's fault.

He [Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget] argued that the White House had little choice but to support the $410 billion omnibus spending bill, which it inherited from the previous administration. The bill would keep the government running through 2009.

(See article)

2) Claim, "I PROMISE we won't do it again!" Pretend to do better in the future while crossing your fingers behind your back.

"We'll change the rules going forward," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday when asked about the legislation.

(See article)

"[Such bills] will not happen when the president has the full legislative and appropriations process in place," [says] Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. "...this was negotiated last year. We think we should just move on. When we are engaged in the fiscal year 2010 appropriations process, it's going to look a lot different."

(See article)

3) When all else fails, just deny it. "Earmarks? What earmarks?"

In a prime-time address before a joint session of Congress, Obama last week praised the $787 billion stimulus package signed into law, telling the nation, "I'm proud that we passed a recovery plan free of earmarks, and I want to pass a budget next year that ensures that each dollar we spend reflects only our most important national priorities."

But some in the audience found that hard to swallow.

"There was just a roar of laughter -- because there were earmarks," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri.

(See article)

4) Be vague...be VERY vague.

PRESS SECRETARY GIBBS: "The President you will see and hear outline [sic] a process of dealing with this problem in a different way, and that the rules of the road going forward for those many appropriations bills that will go through Congress and come to his desk will be done differently."

REPORTER: "So he'll have a new standard that he's going to lay out for the appropriations bills that will come to his desk that are actually written while he's President?"

MR. GIBBS: "Yes, sir."

REPORTER: "And when is this?"

MR. GIBBS: "Soon."

(See full press briefing)

I have an idea. Let's take just a TINY portion of that "simulus" money and send these crazies to a Dave Ramsey conference. At the very least, they could take a look at some of his ideas for improving this mess.