Election 2020

 2020!  What a year!  Brandon and I did in person early voting to avoid long lines on election day.  We were home less than 10 minutes after we left our house.  It felt great to have the task complete, but then all we had to do was wait.  In case my kids are reading this years from now, I want to clarify that everyone did a lot of waiting.  The official election day was Tuesday the 3rd.  On Saturday the 7th we finally learned of the results that Joe Biden would become President in January!  I happened to be on CNN on my phone at 10:26am and noticed that CNN projected the winner just one minute before.  I figured that was worthy of a screen shot! 

CNN official!

I wanted to tell the family right away, but M was busy blowing leaves in the back yard (see previous post), so I went back in the house and turned on ABC news.  I really appreciate ABC news and they are my go to station. 

George and Heidi (ND rep I remember from 20 years ago.  She and I were younger then)

 M was VERY into this election and we spent a lot of time talking and praying about different issues.  This year has been hard for him.  He has processed so many things in this year.  Hard things.  He knows a bully when he sees one, and he understands racism in a more personal way than I do.  I heard him come in from leaf blowing and I called him to "come and see something in the family room."  I had my camera ready to capture his response. This is has actual immediate response.  I do believe this is the most joyful picture I have of him in 2020!  He read the caption and the hope became contagious!

M: I could not believe it!

T has not really cared too much about politics.  We did have a good conversation with her about future VP Harris.  We told her that her mom was born in Southern Asia and we talked about how T was born in Southeastern Asia!  Pretty special for her!  She loves that Kamala looks like her.  In reality, she doesn't exactly look like T, but T identifies as "brown" and feels connected to her.  

T: I was sort of watching and sort of listening to Hamilton.

You might be able to guess my current political leaning from this post.  I am hopeful and excited about the future, though I acknowledge there will be hard days ahead in our divided country.  My political leaning is probably more loaded than you would imagine.  I have voted for Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and Write-In candidates.  I am the the true definition of an Independent.  I am not a one issue voter, and character is very important to me.

I know there might be some who feel that Christians should vote for a particular party.  I want to suggest some great videos that I watched this fall that have helped me greatly in feeling confident in my vote.  Phil Vischer (The man behind Veggie Tales and What's in the Bible) created several excellent, factual, Christ centered videos this year which I found eye opening.  I am including a link in case you want to check them out.

https://www.youtube.com/user/philvischerofficial/videos

Back to the 7th... The evening on the 7th we watched our Saturday night family movie and then were able to watch both Biden and Harris' acceptance speeches.  I was teary eyed the whole time. There was a level of kindness and professionalism and true joy that I have missed more than I realized. M was (and is) so excited.  We are all praying for our country in these very challenging times.