Election Eve Nov. 3, 2008
If you looked at my house the night before the election you might have thought I was a liberal Democrat thanks to this beautiful sign that some teenage girls made and put on our garage door!
It didn't stay there long and quickly found it's way to the trash! As soon as Tess saw it she recognized the handwriting and I sent them a text message letting them know where their sign ended up.
You might have thought I was a pro-gay marriage activist if you saw me before that. I was sneaking around swiping people's Yes on 102 yard signs. This is what the back of my car looked like. I was collecting the few remaining, undamaged signs to take to set up and hold at the polls on election day.
FYI- prop. 102 is very important to me, my family, my church and my country. When people are forced by the gay community to condone homosexuality by deeming it a legal "marriage" we begin to lose our religious freedoms. Across the country God fearing people are being forced by the courts to go against their beliefs and inseminate lesbian women, adopt to gay couples or be punished. Catholic charities in one state was shut down because they stood up for what they believe is right and this is just the beginning. Homosexuals do not seem to be satisfied with just being together and having many of the rights of married couples, they insist it be called "marriage." Why worry about what it is called? They want their chosen lifestyle to be taught as normal in the schools and they want to force all people and all religions to accept an immoral practice as if it was a moral one. Those who cherish their religion and the freedom to practice it as they wish are not willing to stand by and watch this precious freedom be taken away. As Christians we love and tolerate all people, just not immoral practices.
Election Day, Nov. 4, 2008
Russ and I and our youngest 3 kids (Rustin, Chloe and Olivia. Tess has class before school she couldn't miss) arrived at the polling location, the Southeast Regional Library at 6am when the polls opened. There was already a HUGE line wrapping around the building. We put up 10 of our last 15 signs around the border of the parking lot and around the street. Then stood on the street corner waving at cars and waving our signs for about 20 minutes. We got a big honk from a big garbage truck. Turns out it was big Rick Neiner! We got a few mad honks and yells too. Then Bill Norton told us we could come closer to the building. I really didn't want to get in trouble so I had been playing it safe. We had much more contact with people there. At 7:30 Russ took kids to school, piano lessons, meetings etc. and then headed to work. I stayed until 5:30 that night except when I went to lunch and went to pick up Tess from school.
Cassie (a brand new friend) Dennis Day, Anath Hall (and kids) Craig and Leann Cordon, Joy and Armando Martinez and Janae Samuelson (and kids). What a great group we had at lunch time and all day long.
Tess felt pretty good about missing Math class and lunch so I picked her up at 9:30 and let her get in on the excitement. Apparently while I was gone a lesbian couple kissed each other right in front of our group to make their own political statement. Glad we missed that one. Tess was great to have there and we had fun trying to predict which people would take a yes on 102 sticker from us and who would turn us down. We found women with children were almost always a yes, and women kissing each other were usually a no!
Tess was a good sport with her bumper sticker on her back.
One of the greatest moments of the day happened when a lady got real mouthy with Barb Oyler and was telling her how bigoted and close minded she was. To make the point she asked Barb..."Just imagine if your daughter came home and wanted to marry a black man!" Barb had to contain her laughter when she responded, "Well, seeing as how my son is black and my grandkids are black, I wouldn't really have a problem with that." The lady was at a loss for words finally!
Anath came and voted with her youngest two kids and then stayed for over 2 hours with them. They were so good, even helping pass out stickers!
Anath and I had the privilege of being interviewed on live radio by a Swedish news reporter. We were on the air live- in SWEDEN! It was crazy but fun! She asked us the questions ahead of time and we gave her our answers and then we did it for real, live. She asked me what I thought about the McCain campaign. I told her I liked the choice of Sarah
Palin but I wished McCain had been more aggressive in going after Obama about his mentor and friends like Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers. I was frustrated that he didn't explain to the American people during the debate who exactly Ayers was and what he did! I also said I thought it wasn't negativity to bring out the truth about your opponent, especially when he was running for president but probably couldn't even pass a security clearance to work in the FBI, Secret Service or many other government jobs! SCARY!!
Amanda
Neiner came by after school with her Dad and helped us out while she waited. What darling little helpers we had. Grown-up helpers too. Many that were not pictured like the
Goodmans who were there bright and early too. Dan Palmer, Carol Price, Cam
Oyler, and more. Most of us had the privilege of being persecuted for righteous sake. Women would walk by and make snide comments like:
Don't you guys ever give up? NO. Your going to lose anyway! We'll see tonight won't we.
Think about your children! That's why we're here.
You are such bigots and haters! I'm just standing here and your yelling at me and I'm the hater?
One man came up behind us and said to his baby, Look honey, this is what Conservative Nut-jobs look like. We didn't even dignify that with a response. We continued our conversation as if he wasn't there and he just walked away.
I had to look in the mirror when I got home so I could see if I looked like a hater. I didn't feel hate or nutty!
One total psycho came up to Russ and the Cordon's and I wanting a fight. She started spewing ridiculous accusations at us, complaining about how terrible it was that Arizona was so full of hateful conservatives, how we were ruining the constitution, etc. and would not go vote, she kept going and going and nothing we said would get her to leave or shut up. Finally she shoved Russ in the chest. I was proud of him for keeping his cool. He was just there to pick me up for lunch and heard the worst of it.
On the bright side, we had many more people come up and cheer us on with kind words of support than we had detractors. Complete strangers would thank us for our effort and tell us to be strong etc. We saw most of our ward members and neighbors too. They were like little rays of sunshine!!!
What a great feeling I had when I got home from gymnastics at 8:30pm that night and saw that we were winning by a BIG margin. All the long hours and hard work and ridicule from others had been worth it. It would have been worth it anyways but winning feels great!!! Today I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat when I heard a radio news report say that one of the most interesting events was that although liberals and democrats had had a hugely successful election night, Americans in California, Arizona and Florida had made it clear that traditional family values were still very important to them and that dealt a big blow to the pro-homosexual movement. Hearing those words gave me such hope and brought much peace. I know the fight isn't over but the battle was won and the Lord knows we are on His side no matter what. I am SO grateful to those brave people of all faiths in California who endured much worse persecution than we did here. I can't imagine how much worse it would have been to fear for my property or my personal safety. Getting called a judgmental, close-minded, bigoted hater was enough for one day.
Thanks again to all those in our ward who helped make calls, pass out flyers, put up yard signs, stood at the polls and voted YES for marriage between one man and one woman!
We made a difference and I love you!
Just a funny side note; I forced myself to watch Obama's victory speech (gag, sputter) and then went to bed. I dreamed that right after his speech Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi got up on the stage with gavels in hand and started passing new laws right there on the spot. They immediately enacted the "fairness" doctrine which would destroy talk radio (a beacon of light in a dreary media world). What a nightmare!! It took me a few seconds in the morning to realize that is was all in my head- (for now)! Anyways, just goes to show you I can't turn it off!
In case you didn't see it, we are having a victory party at my house on Mon. Nov. 10 from 7-9. Come by and get a family night treat with your family!! If you voted yes or helped on the campaign we'd love to have you!!!
This just in... people in california are protesting on the streets and at LDS temples, lawsuits are being brought against the church because they took a stand on marriage and because members donated to Yes on 8.
They are also suing to get the whole amendment thrown out because it "discriminates" against certain people. Some commentators on Fox News were saying that it would be like saying Brunettes couldn't marry Blondes! GET REAL!
From a rally in California on Nov. 5, 2008.
And they call US "Hateful Bigots!"
