Was this really a dream

So I woke up this morning thinking that I had a really bad dream. Let me share this "dream" with you because it really was not a dream. It was real.

Last night Jeff and I went to bed like normal. No big deal, right. Sometime in the wee morning hours... okay so let me stop here and explain the way that our house is in conjunction to our neighbors. We live just a few yards away from our neighbors on one side of our house. The other side is a smaller church's parking lot. Great for neighbors. Anyway, the house next to us is pretty close but never a problem. I just don't even really think about it. We both have a small strip of grass that leads to gates to our backyards. They have a door on that side that is rarely used and we just have windows. Our bedroom is on this wall. We have tall ceilings in our bedroom which results in tall windows. Anyway, back to the story...

So in the wee hours of the morning I start hearing voices (not in my head). I hear a mean males voice and a girl scared out of her mind. This house as an older couple living in it with a high school boy. There are always other people around. They speak spanish (and I know English) but always pretend that they don't know English when we try to talk to them. So annoying. They like to have large family/ friends parties and last night they had one. No big deal at all. They are respectful and I know what it is like. When the Hawaiian side of us gets together, I am sure others say a thing or two about it. No big deal. Anyway...

So I hear these voices and they were not good. The guy kept saying stuff like, "You always come home late" or "stay out late" and then it preceded in the girl pleading for him to leave her alone and screams. I listened for about 10 seconds and knew that I needed to call the cops ASAP. I quickly said Jeff (he didn't hear a thing-I don't know how that is possible because it was all so clear) and ran for the phone before he even really got up. From the other side of my house, I could still hear it clearly. I was on the phone so quick and whispering when I got closer to jeff as he was trying to see more or hear more of the situation. This girl was S.C.R.E.A.M.I.N.G. It was sooo loud and he kept yelling at her and she just kept pleading. What a strange situation. The dispatcher was asking all sorts of things. She wanted to know if there were weapons-couldn't tell. She wanted to know what they looked like-we weren't going to stand on our bed to get a view. She wanted to know if this was a normal thing-no, we live on a very quiet, older established street. She wanted to know all sorts of things and I tried to answer as much as possible. As I was on the phone and Jeff was peaking out the windows, the high school boy appeared at the door to stop the situation. Then he headed in to get the older guy and the woman was also standing at the door in a bathrobe. As I was getting off of the phone, Jeff could see the girl leaving on foot we think. The police f.i.n.a.l.l.y. showed up. We live in town, not far from any services. Where were they. There were two and they approached the house. Not sure what ended up happening. Jeff and I were commenting on how long it took them. I still did not look at a clock for the time. So I noticed at this point that it was 4:24am and I was on the phone with 911 for about 5 minutes. It took the police about another minute or two to arrive after I hung up. So insane I tell ya.

Jeff told me that he was thinking of getting down his shot gun and cocking it. Just to scare him off. He also thought that we should have sent out Kaika, our big 97lb lab mix. She would scare the tar out of them. I am serious. She has a scary bark. Our rotti mix just looks mean. The strange thing was that Rusty, the rotti mix, was barking under his breath the entire time. Kaika, the lab mix, was following us around the house. She loved the action. She wanted to be in on it. Thinking about it though, it may have moved the situation somewhere else and maybe nobody would have called it in. It could have been really bad for the girl.

This was, I believe, the 3rd time that I have called 911. One time was when my mom had a stroke and the other was when we were first married and there was a drug raid at the house next door. I really need to share that story. It was quite interesting to say the least and I was not really worried much. Maybe I will write about it tomorrow if I have time.

Now can you see where we both woke up this morning and wondered if we both had the same bad dream.

Make Your Vote!

If you have yet to vote, you need to get out there and vote. I voted this morning to my lineless polling place. I love going to mine because normally I can walk the block down the road to no lines. It is such an easy in and out. Today it was just waaaay too cold. Even if you don't agree with the candidate and what they stand for, voting is still your right that needs to be exercises.

Proposition 8

A lot has been going around about Proposition 8 that is on the ballot in California. Recently, LDS church members have been asked in our area to give of their time by being part of a call center. The call center, being set up by the church, will be calling all voters in California about this proposition. The intent is not to tell them how to vote but to make them aware of what the proposition is saying. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been asked to be part of a coalition of a bunch of other churches and organizations that are in support of the proposition. This is such a BIG deal as it can affect the church (and others) in so many ways. Same-sex couples are beginning to challenge religious organizations and this is where it is becoming a big civil issue. Many view it as just an issue about the definition of marriage but it goes much deeper than that.

Here are several articles to read from the church website: this letter was issued to the members in California. Sad to think that citizens in the state overwhelmingly upheld traditional marriage but 4 Supreme Court judges were able to change that. Now here the issue is again. The article is great, The Divine Institution of Marriage. This article from NPR is fantastic, giving real life situations where this has become such a big issue everywhere, right down to a wedding photographer. If this proposition fails it would require Bishops to perform same-sex marriages. If a Bishop refuses, it would then open the church (and others) up to all sorts of lawsuits. The church website also had another article from the Los Angeles Times that is worth reading.

This issue is big and could potentially impact everyone, not just those in California. This law would allow the government to impact religion greatly. What would be next...laws defining who could be baptized, confirmed, etc.

Check out these two websites about the coalition and Proposition 8. Protectmarriage.com is the official website. iprotectmarriage.com is a site geared more to the younger voters (18-34). It is still really good. The Issue button near the top really breaks down the many aspects of this proposition.

If you are in California, you need to vote YES on 8. If you are elsewhere and asked to help in these efforts, time needs to be made. This issue is very important wherever you may be living. It just makes me sick to think how Satan is trying everything he can to attack the family. I really like the last line in The Family: A Proclamation to the World: "We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society”. This is exactly what we are called to do at this moment in time.