Decision 2016

This election has been quite the crazy one!  From me being in disbelief that Trump would even run, to having him win the Republican nomination to going all the way and becoming the new President-elect of the United Sates!!  And then Hillary Clinton with the e-mail scandal and FBI investigations and everything else.  What!?  I really have no words.  

I've been reading up on and following all of the presidential campaign happenings (as well as other local candidates and issues) and it's been a wild ride.  I hate the mud slinging.  It's the worst.  We watched all of the debates as a family, which was interesting.  Our kids were making fun of the two candidates for their immaturity.  It's sad when our kids ten and under could pick up on it.  We told them to be nice and respectful even if they'r acting silly or if we don't agree with others, but sometimes it was hard not to laugh when they were doing imitations of the presidential hopefuls.

Cal doing a "Mr. Trump impersonation".  Oh boy!

I told myself I couldn't do it and vote for either of candidates from the major two parties.  So, I looked into other options and found that Gary Johnson from the Libertarian party probably had the best shot for an upset.  So I thought I supported him, but then did more research and there were just too many red flags and too many progressive things he wanted to do.  So, then Evan McMullin came on the scene and I appreciate someone who actually has principle and so I thought I'd vote for him, though he had little chance, at least I could've felt good about my vote.

Election day finally rolled around and I'd been thinking, reading and praying about who to vote for.  I had all of my other candidates and iniatives bubbled in on my sample sheet.  But I didn't have the President picked.  I thought going in, I was going to write in McMullin, but felt last minute to vote for Trump, in order to hopefully keep a more conservative supreme court.  I'm thankful for my right to vote and democracy, but this was a tricky one!

I was explaining to Cov before we went to vote what voting is and why we do it.  He told me right after our talk "I'm going to vote for Randy!" After we got done, he asked "Mom, who did you vote for?"  And I told him the candidates I'd chosen.  He smiled and then informed me "I voted for  Randy!"  Sent that story to him, and Randy got a kick out of it.  #UncleRandy2016  Cov also wanted to wear his Hulk mask to the polls "to scare all the ladies there".  Well, they did scream in delight when we arrived and thought he was so cute, and pretended to be scared, so mission accomplished I guess.

This election also was so much contention, and so when I saw this online, I had to share them to help lighten the mood.  I was laughing out loud, but sadly they were so true to how I felt!  I think another good one would be "I voted and our founding fathers are rolling in their graves".  Lol!

There was so much talk about the election at the school for the kids, I was surprised.  Emma got to do a mock election and vote for her candidates, so that was great.  The kids made some interesting comments they heard at school, like Hillary was going to take away all guns and so then we can't protect ourselves, they wanted to take away all churches out of America, some people were calling her "Killary" because she is pro-choice.   At one point Lucy was crying because she was scared over what she heard.  We have talked about the issues quite a bit and the candidates, and they knew Mom and Dad weren't really happy about either candidate.  But we didn't belittle the candidates or bring up issues that should have scared them.  Cal said "If I were president, I'd build more churches and temples, and give everyone a hoverboard!"  That was cute and I wish he were old enough to run.  ;)  They were quite on edge though and wanted to stay up to see who would be the next president.  But we put them to bed later than normal and they found out in the morning.

Dave and I watched the results come in and were floored...we stayed up until after 1 a.m. to see Trump give his victory speech.  Still can't believe it.  But who knows?  Trump has problems, we all do.  I'm not endorsing his actions and speech, but maybe we need someone who isn't a career politician for once.  Might be a good change, and though I'm still not thrilled about it, we need to look for the best in others and support them.

The morning after the election, I woke up singing the hymn "Rejoice, the Lord is King" by Charles Wesley this morning. "Rejoice, the Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore! Mortals, give thanks and sing And triumph evermore. 2. The Lord, the Savior, reigns, The God of truth and love. When he had purged our stains, He took his seat above. 3. His kingdom cannot fail; He rules o’er earth and heav’n. The keys of death and hell To Christ the Lord are giv’n. [Chorus] Lift up your heart! Lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice! Lift up your heart! Lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!"  I know this was no coincidence but was placed there by Heavenly Father.  As we all and my kids have had a little anxiety over this election, I'm thankful I was able to tell them and know myself that this is God's earth, He is in control no matter what happens and things will all be good if we make the Savior our King.  Now there's a decision we can make every day and feel good about, to make Jesus our King and honor Him through our thoughts, words and actions.  There is still reason to rejoice and knowing our Savior gives me great peace!