Sunday, December 23, 2007

Dear Santa


Dear Santa'
I hope you are enjoying loading your sleigh and getting ready for your big trip tomorrow night.
I know it's kinda late but I thought I better get my letter to you fast.
I know you are busy right now but hope you can remember a few things for the Big Dawg this year.
1. Give everyone the ability to believe in your magic for another year.
2. Give Nash the gift of continuing to believe in his abilities and to dream big audacious dreams and to achieve them all.
3. May those that are sick feel better.
4. May those that frown again smile and let loose a deep belly busting laugh.
5. Give me the strength to be a better Dad, husband and person.
6. Give our nation the belief again that all men are created equal.
7. Give the power to those that are not with us anymore the ability to watch over us on Christmas morning and know they are still loved and remembered.
8. And finally Santa let everyone that reads this note know that WE BELIEVE and hope all their Christmas wishes come true.
Your Humble Elf
Jeff....aka - Big Dawg...aka - Nash's Daddy
P.S. Have a safe trip Santa and when you are relaxing in Key West next week beware my brother in law will be there.
PEACE DUDE!

Friday, December 21, 2007

Happy Birthday Dave

It's Dave's birthday over at Chewing the Fat. You can click on his blog on the left side of my blog.

It's a great place to read awsome tales of individuals making a difference. And if you go over please take the time to read...So This is Christmas.....

Peace Dude!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Life!

Well it has been quite a week or so around the BigDawg ranch. Dealing with the loss of our good friend Annette, sorting out travel plans for Mauzy, my schedule while Mauzy is out of town and now thoughts and prayers needed for my Step Dad who is in the Hospital.

Well today Life got put back in alignment for a few hours anyway.. I was one of the parents that attended Nash's 1st grade field trip to the Indianapolis Childrens Museum. We are very lucky to have one of the best Children's Museums in the United States right here in Indy.

Well the delight and thrill of 1st graders playing in the museum today reminded me about what is important in life. A few hours of fun, knowledge, excitement and friendship. It was the most fun I have had in awhile.

Peace Dude!

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Update!

Our dear friend Annette passed away early this morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and her friends.

Interesting that as I wright this blog entry Meet the Press is on with Mit Romney talking about Religion. Well here is what I want to know today.....

Why a loving god would allow a lady who never smoked to get lung cancer and die at such a young age leaving a great husband and two wonderful young boys behind. I always here the same answer.....he has a better plan, he knows best.....

Well somebody explain that one to me because I can assure you today that makes absolutely now damn sense.

Annette we will miss you deeply.....

Peace Dude!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Just a reminder!

Please keep sending positive strenght to Annette and her entire family.

Peace Dude!

Indiana has lost a patriot of civil rights issues including those with disabilities!

I was lucky enough to meet with Congresswoma Carson and her staff on the Hill. I can assure you she and her staff were always welcoming and prepared on your issues whether in person or on the phone.

1938 - 2007

Congresswoman Julia Carson dies


By Mary Beth Schneider
marybeth.schneider@indystar.com
December 15, 2007


U.S. Rep. Julia Carson died at home this morning following a battle with lung cancer. She was 69.
Carson’s death comes just weeks after she announced the cancer, which she had beaten before, was back with “terminal vengeance.”
Two days later, she said she would not seek re-election to a seventh term in 2008, saying her time away from Congress would be “a time to weep and a time to laugh,” and she added, “a time to heal.”

But Carson, who was first elected to Congress in 1996, never healed.

“Who knows the future, who knows god’s will,” she said in the statement announcing her decision not to run again. “I want very much to return to Washington and continue representing the good people of Indianapolis with my vote. I can only request your prayers that I might gain the strength to continue my service.”

Gov. Mitch Daniels' office said tentative plans were under way to have Carson’s body lie in state at the Rotunda in the Indiana State House. Daniels ordered that flags be lowered today until sunset on the day of her burial. Calling was tentatively scheduled for Friday, with the funeral service on Saturday.

Former U.S. Rep. Andy Jacobs, who was Carson’s friend and mentor, said he was called about 9:45 this morning and notified she had died at her home about a half-hour earlier.

“I loved her and she loved me,” Jacobs said, his voice cracking. “She was my sister.”

He last saw his friend Friday, he said, and was able to kiss her goodbye.

About a week ago, Jacobs said, “when she still recognized me, she started silently signalling with her right hand, waving it toward her. I bent down — closer, closer, closer — till I was next to her face. And for the first time ever, she reached up and kissing me warmly on the cheek. I knew exactly what she meant. She was kissing me goodbye.”

Now, he said, people will realize the contributions she has made that she never boasted about before, and what he called “a really prodigious career of that huge brain in that cranium.”

“She was a pretty modest person,” he said. “She didn’t say much about her enormous accomplishments.”

Among those accomplishments, he said, were welfare reforms as Center Township trustee, before she succeeded him in Congress.

“Her welfare reforms did not break one child’s heart,” he said.

Instead, he said, she teamed up with former U.S. Attorney Virginia Dill McCarty and “when she found a welfare cheat, she didn’t just take off the rolls. She sued them to get money back for the taxpayer.”

Daniels called Carson “a lioness.”

“There was determination, and resolve, and genuine conviction in Julia, but never meanness. And she was such fun. It was rare to leave her presence without a smile. And after the sadness fades a bit, we’ll still have that. I know I’ll think of her often, and always with a smile.”

U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said Carson “overcame much and accomplished much, and devoted her life to helping other people do the same.”

“She was elected to important public offices, but never forgot who she was, where she came from or who she was there to serve. She had a great sense of humor and a great sense of style, both of which are all too often lacking in public life.
“She has left a great legacy and I will miss her.”

Sarge Visher, who ran Carson’s first campaign for Congress and had worked with her since, said Carson was “proud of every single person she was able to help, even a little bit. Those were almost invisible, but we’d hear about them over the years. I don’t think she was interested in building monuments to herself, but instead doing things fundamentally Christian.”

Before heading to Congress, Carson served in the Indiana House of Representatives for two terms and was then elected to the Indiana Senate, where she served until 1990. Carson then filled the post of Center Township trustee until she went to Washington.

A steadfast Democrat, Carson opposed President Bush’s request for authority to wage war in 2002. In 1999, she won enactment of a measure that awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights figure Rosa Parks.
In 1991 and 1974, she was named by The Star as Woman of the Year.

Carson’s death comes after she took a medical leave from Congress in September after complaining of leg pain and fatigue.

In her last public interview broadcast on Nov. 5 on the WTCL-AM program, “Afternoons with Amos,” Carson expressed frustration over her health problems. “I’m breathing and I feel fine,” she said. Her voice did sound shaky, though, and she had coughing spells during the interview.

“I’ve got bronchitis real bad now and I hope to get over it,” she said, “but you don’t ever know.”

Her health had been an issue almost from the day she was first elected to Congress.

In January of 1997, she took her oath of office at Methodist Hospital where she was recovering from a double-bypass surgery.

The surgery kept her at home during the early days of the 105th Congress and she missed 41 of the 640 floor votes that year.

After winning her sixth term last year, she proclaimed, “People thought I was too sick to run. I’m not too sick for anything.”

A special election would be held to choose Carson’s successor.

Potential Democrats who might run for her seat include Andre Carson, who is Carson’s grandson. Republicans who have said they will run for the seat include state Rep. Jon Elrod and probation officer Wayne Harmon.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Need your Help Gang!

Ok for those that know me or read my blog know this is an unusual post. But I am asking anyway....

If you read my post below you know I talked about friends. Well I have these really neat friends from Canada. They are the best people you could ever meet. Some of you may know who I am talking about. My friends have a blog but I am not asking you to go there. I am only going to ask you to take 1 minute for me today....I don't care what your religion is or if you don't have one.....I am going to ask you to do what you need to.

I am asking each of you to take one minute to send as much energy as you can to Tom and Annette. Annette has just returned home from the hospital and does not have much time left with us on this earth. They have two amazing boys and one happens to have Down syndrome. Yep, if it was not for that pesky extra 21st we would probably not know and love these dear friends.

So, whether it's a prayer, a thought, a chant, a toast or a comment on this blog...please take just a moment and send as much strength and energy you can spare the way of my friends so Annette will have the energy to sit with her men and hold them and love them until the time comes. May we give Tom all the strength and energy we can to get through today, tomorrow, next week, next month and next year.

I know I am asking allot of you for folks you may or may not know but just do it. Send that energy they need it right now and it will be that one Christmas gift you can give just because.

Ask all your fellow bloggers to help

Thanks

Peace Dude

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Christmas Meme

My wife the infamous Mauzy just reminded me that I was supposed to Tag four people to answer the questions...

But hey it's Christmas....as my gift to you my reader...

YOU ARE TAGGED!

Peace Dude

Tagged with a Christmas Meme

My good friend Kei has tagged me. It's a good thing Kei and Robert are such very good friends or I would not grant them a bye for being Patriot Fans.....

So here we go.....

What is your favorite thing about the Holiday Season?

My favorite thing about the Season is watching Nash really be into Christmas. He totally is into Santa now, he gets the whole Baby Jesus story, and when he woke up the other morning and we had 4" of snow on the ground....he yelled up the stairs as he run up that it had snowed. He came to my side of the bed and said Daddy, get up it snowed....Daddy get up Santa was here I have to open toys.....you gotta love it.


What is your favorite Holiday Memory?

Favorite Holiday Memory....hmm...Ok there are a few. My favorite childhood memory was Christmas at my Grandparents house. When I was little I thought their house was huge. My grandparents had 4 boys but one died in a farm accident so it was my dad and my two amazing uncles. From those three boys my grandparents has 16 grand kids. So every Christmas we all went to their house on Christmas day. Some how we all packed into that house and it never seemed crowded. We ate and played and laughed and the best thing was my grandfather always got a case of Coke in the little glass bottles and it was on the front porch. What a treat it was to get an icy cold little Coke from the porch. Then before we new it the red car pulled up and here came Santa to pass out the gifts. I could not believe he was so happy after such a long nights work but was always so thirsty. He had to head to the kitchen every few gifts for a sip thru a straw of a big glass my grandfather had for him. I was about 13 when I realized the glass was full of Bourbon and Seven-Up. How I wish Nash could have experienced one of those Christmas days....but my grandparents are gone, but every time I get the chance to drive by their little tiny farm house I chuckle and wonder how we got all those people in that damn house...

Another favorite memory was the first time I spent Christmas in California with my Mom and Step Dad. I needed to go get something for them so I drove my Step Dads car with the sunroof open and the windows down as it was in the mid 70's and thought to myself now this is the way Christmas was meant to be....but now I am glad to be back in Indiana.

Another Favorite was when I lived in England. I lived in the small village of Uppingham, which is about 2 hours north of London. I was never their for Christmas as I always flew home before the big day. One night a year they had late night shopping where all the store keepers dressed in Dickens era clothing. The streets were filled with Carolers and vendors were selling things like jacket potato's (baked potato's to us yanks) and when everyone was done we met and closed down The Vaults...The BEST PUB IN ALL OF ENGLAND! Jon I hope you somehow get wind of this and know the picture of the Vaults still hangs proudly in my den and I am sure you have never recovered the financial loss of my moving back home.... Cheers Mate!

And last, now my favorite memories change every year as I watch Nash enjoy the season.


What is the best gift you ever gave?

I am not sure about that.... but I am sure my family could answer that one better.


What is the best gift you ever received?

I get them every year when I receive cards from friends from years gone by that I hardly ever see. I hope each of them know how much their friendship still means. And now to add to that we get all these cards from our friends in the DS community and the T21 board and sometimes I have to ask Jan....who the hell is this...lol


What is your secret Holiday Wish for this year?

My secret wish for this year is that everyone in the world would learn to once again dream....to believe in the power of Santa....and know that the power of belief in a dream can change the world. And I believe in the dream that some day Nash will believe in his Dreams and accomplish everyone of them....and instead of people saying wow....look at what that young man with Down syndrome has done...They would all smile and say...I had no doubt Nash would accomplish that.....

And if the Carpenter from Nazareth had written this I believe he would close with...

PEACE DUDE!

Saturday, December 08, 2007

DADS Update

Hey Everyone'

Sorry about the post below and the links not working. Not sure what I did but can't seem to fix it by editing the post. Instead I am going to add all the links to the side of the page so they are always there and update as needed.

Peace Dude.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

USC Football

Well if you know me you know I am a Notre Dame fan, so if I am putting up a link and a post about University of Southern California Football is must be damn good.

Check out USC's Special Assistant to the Head Coach..

Coach Carrol you are a good man. Now hire this young man as a fulltime member of your staff and lead the way on creating employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

This may be the only time you will ever hear me say...GO TROJANS!

Peace Dude

It's getting close!

Barack Obama Logo