I found this post on Myspace Bulliten tonight, it was posted by a young man Darrel who lost his mother unexpectedly earlier this year. I was moved when I read what he had to say, and I hope that this will be a encouragement to who ever reads this blog.

May we never take our Mothers for granted.

Okay everyone, this mothers day i’d just like to say, if you have a mom,
and she is still alive to this day, i just ask you PLEASE!
Cherish your mom and everyone else in your life,
Because Life Is Way too short for you too be playin stupid little games,
If your mom is still alive, You do NOT even know how lucky you are,
you cannot even beggin to feel the pain of loosing your own mother,
it hurts more than anything you can ever imagine!
Ok, so those of you who are mad or arent getting along with your mom,
Suck it up!
Ok! Because you never know how long your going to have her in your life,
it was also my mistake!
The Last time i talked to My Mom we were arguing,
and over something VERRY VERRY Stupid!!
and look i neveer could have even imagined the she would Die that night,
okay so those of you who are fighting or arguing with your mom,
GROW UP!!
Okay that morning when i was driving in town going to church,
My Cell Phoe rang it was a Police officcer asking if,
Lisa A. Romero was my mother,
I answered ‘yea why? whats wrong’
He told me to take a drink of water, i said no just tell me!
and he said, ‘I’m sorry to inform you that your mother has past away’,
that moment was the worst ever!
this is the part no one knew cuz i was alone,
I Had to pull off the road,
i couldnt stop crying!,
Do you know how bad i felt then?!
it took me forever to stop crying,
So if you still have your mom……
Cherish Her, Respect her, and tell her you love her everyday!
If i had the chance to tell my mom i’m sorry one last time,
That would make me sooo happy, Just to know that i told her sorry!
Mom I Love You!
[REST IN PEACE MOM]

 “Saying that single women could be ‘punished with a baby,’ is not only a slap in the face to every child born to a young mother, but it diminishes the great joy that children bring to their families regardless of the circumstances in which they were born.”

Read more here

“In America, we should be working to help young babies that are born in challenging situations and offering assistance and hope to their mothers. We should not be condemning them by saying that somehow it has now become ‘punishment’ to have a child in this country.

“We call upon Senator Obama to issue a public apology for these profoundly misguided statements and also address his anti-child and anti-compassion mind set. Mr. Obama talks about change and justice for the weakest and most vulnerable of our society. However, by saying women are ‘punished’ by having children shows a rigid values system from 100 years ago, one that offers condemnation to those struggling instead of hope.”
The Christian Defense Coalition calls Senator Obama’s comments insensitive, misguided, harsh and insulting to every single mother and their children.
Read their response here

+My Comments

I am not at all condoning the actions and involvement of premarital sex among youth and the unwed. “Those who are without sin shall cast the first stone”, and I am not about to pick up any…Panch and I are examples of this, we got married (May 3, 1997) when Panch was 4 months pregnant with our oldest son Uriah, 8. He was not a “Punishment”. Although, we both mutually have come to terms that there should have been some restraints, which we greatly regret now. The greatest advice that we can offer is, yes, there will be consequences, your plans will be altered, and you may well find yourself raising a child single, but as young parents you have no other choice but to accept personal responsibility for such actions. I do however, sympathize with the many young girls that we have known over the years, whose babies fathers have not stuck around to share and take on that responsibility. I commend them, and thank you for loving and dedicating your self to your children. They are a reward and a blessing!

Theme song for this post is that commercial ” I want it now, I need it now!”

Resource: In 2003, teens spent an average of $103 per week — a total of $175 billion, according to Teen Research Unlimited. That’s $169 billion dollars more than the budget for the state of New Mexico, which is $6 billion, and $36 billion more than the 2006 budget for the state of Texas. And the numbers will keep rising, according to The Census Bureau, which estimated the U.S. teen population at 33 million individuals in 2003 and predicted the population to continue to grow until 2010.
However, for some teens, money is taken for granted because the cash is coming from parents and relatives — they spend money, but are not always aware of how to save money.
When items like iPods, cell phones and even cars are tops on a teen’s wish list, it is important for teens to learn good money habits.

Delayed Gratification - Self Control is the Key to Success.
Young people who can delay gratification can sit through sometimes boring classes to get a degree. They can perform rote tasks in order to, say, master a language. They can avoid drugs and alcohol. For people without self-control skills, however, school is a series of failed ordeals. No wonder they drop out. Life is a parade of foolish decisions: teenage pregnancy, drug use, gambling, truancy and crime. The ability`to delay gratification, like most skills, correlates with socioeconomic status and parenting styles. Children from poorer homes do much worse on delayed gratification tests than children from middle-class homes. That’s probably because children from poorer homes are more likely to have their lives disrupted by marital breakdown, violence, moving, etc. They think in the short term because there is no predictable long term.
Read the The Mischel experiment here in full

Read the Article Here