Hey, it's a good day!

Today was an awesome day. I came down to Eau Claire, and got a lot of stuff done, and now I'm really happy with how the day's turned out. :)

I got my classes figured out- which ones to register for, I got to talk to Lorraine, who was my temporary advisor, who was AWESOME and a lot of help and encouragement... I was able to go to InterVarsity tonight for the first time, and it's kind of funny to me that I finally got there... without being a student this time. LOL

I also discovered Cafe420... a Christian coffee shop in Eau Claire, really close to the university. :) I'm writing this blog post from there, lol.

I also got a new book to read... I'm going to see how long it takes me to read it. lol! "Til We Have Faces", by CS Lewis.

It was a great day... but it really made me wish this was a normal day... meaning that it was a day while I was at school again. I am SO looking forward to fall, when I get to go to school... though it's funny that everyone thinks I'm absolutely crazy because I want to skip summer and just have fall come right away.

However, I guess at the same time, I don't want to do that... because I want to have summer with my family again... to get to canoe down the river, to get to have lots of bonfires, go swimming a couple of times, etc... I miss camp Chetek even, and it's sad that it's changing so much, that I wouldn't feel able to work there, but yet, I miss its familiarity, and the comfort of being there, and not working there just is something that falls short of the plan I had since I was very little, of working there when I got old enough to be a camp counselor.... remembering what it was like to have an awesome counselor like Ruth was, and how much encouraged I came home from camp the one year I had an awesome counselor.

But alas, this summer, I work. And work. And work. And work some more. And I don't know what else the summer holds for me... maybe something, I hope so. A friend gave me a link for a day-camp thing that's happening near madison for special-needs kids, and it sounds kind of cool... after working as a CNA, it's funny how much my perceptions and reactions for things have changed. How a few years ago I would never have considered doing much at all with special needs-kids, because I wouldn't know how to treat them, or how to deal with them... but after working with alzheimers' patients, I think I could handle it well, and probably enjoy it. Though.. I'm pretty sure that I'll probably end up just working... *sigh* I don't know for sure. God does though, and I'm going to wait for him to let me know. :)

I want to get to have fall, and the spring, and finally be a nursing student, partially because I'd love to get to be a camp nurse... :)

Well, I should go now, lol. So... the end. :)

~Danette

The old and the new

I am going back to school in the fall. I am looking forward to being back on campus.. the familiarity of walking down the wooden steps behind McPhee... of sitting in Davies and getting coffee at Jazzman's... and of going to classes. Taking notes. Inhaling the lovely fall air, and admiring the trees... taking pictures like mad when I look around and see how gorgeous everything is... once again feeling like I have the freedom to get up and drive off to wherever I want, whenever I want to- knowing I'll be responsible, but that I'm also responsible for MYSELF- instead of having my parents there trying to be responsible for me...

I also am looking forward to the new things... New friends, new experiences, new... everything. I might try to get involved in the gospel choir or something... and I'll be involved in Lighthouse Society again.. that will be sooo nice.. to be back.

And now... I should go work on my crocheting or my pharmacy tech stuff, or reading... because there are things to do. lol.

~Danette

music!!!

Korismos #0 - Composition 1

my first piano composition....




See what you think? 4 minutes of piano music. :)

Awesome News....

This is AWESOME news...

...from www.LifeNews.com

"Supreme Court Upholds Partial-Birth Abortion Ban on 5-4 Decision"

-- The Supreme Court has reversed a decision it handed down in 2000 and upheld a Congressional ban on the gruesome partial-birth abortion procedure. The ruling indicated that the federal ban on the abortion procedure did not violate the so-called right to abortion established under Roe v. Wade.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion for the Supreme Court and indicated that the abortion advocates who sued to overturn the ban "have not demonstrated that the Act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases."

President Bush signed the national partial-birth abortion ban into law in 2003 and abortion advocates took it to court in three separate lawsuits and federal courts in each case relied on the Supreme Court's decision in 2000 and declared the ban unconstitutional.

Saying the "decision is alarming," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented in the case and said the court should have followed its previous decision on the controversial abortions.

Justices Stephen Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens joined her in the dissent.

The ruling is the first major abortion case in which new Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito have ruled, perhaps giving a clue as to their views on Roe itself.

As they did on the partial-birth abortion decision today, pro-life advocates hope the pair will join Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and a fifth justice in the future who would form a five-judge group giving it the majority on the high court for the first time since the landmark 1973 case.

A fifth judge is needed because Justice Kennedy supports Roe despite his joining the majority in the partial-birth abortion case.

The high court previously invalidated a Nebraska partial-birth abortion ban in 2000 in the Carhart case, which caused other state bans to be unconstitutional.

The decision in the partial-birth abortion case could spark renewed efforts to get state partial-birth abortion bans back on the books or prompt pro-life groups to target other abortion procedures that are used in the middle or later parts of pregnancy.

Applauding the decision, Priests for Life director Father Frank Pavone said, "The United States Congress, and the vast majority of state legislators and American citizens, have made it clear over the last decade that this procedure – by which a child is killed in the very process of delivery – has no place in a civilized society."

”We are grateful to all who worked so hard to pass this law and to educate the public about this unspeakably violent procedure," he added.

Much of the debate revolved around whether a partial-birth abortion is ever medically necessary.

Dr. Anthony Levatino, a Las Cruces, New Mexico OBGYN who formerly did abortions in New York, says a partial-birth abortion is a three day long process and would never be a medical procedure a doctor would need to use to protect a woman's health.

"The way you end a pregnancy to save a woman's life is to deliver the (baby)," Levatino said. "If you wait three days to do a partial birth abortion, she's going to end up in the morgue."

Levatino said the health exception abortion advocates want is a "legal tactic" that has no basis in medical fact.

The cases are Gonzales v. Carhart, 05-380, and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood, 05-1382.

Viennese Ball pictures....

I finally got my viennese ball pictures up for you to all see... Unfortunately.. the ball itself was kind of a disappointment... but... I got to look pretty for it!

:)

~Danette

The Viennese Ball Comes...

Tomorrow or Saturday I will be sure to post pics of the Viennese Ball... It's gonna be beautiful!
This time I'll put my camera in my purse... and take LOTS of pictures. :D