Be nice

Yes, this does hang on the wall in my kitchen. I originally bought it for the playroom in the basement, but I hadn't figured out just where and needed it off the table and there was a nail already on the wall so I just hung it and it's now been there for over a year. I like it.

So many things have been on my mind lately and I've had no time at all to blog about it. First of all, I talked to Val and Ali (the cleaning ladies). I was nervous to ask them about anything, but true to my nature and inability to keep my mouth shut, when I opened the door Tuesday morning, the first thing to come out was, "Oh my gosh! You were on Oprah!" I guess that's one way to broach the subject.
I found out that they are sister-wives. I didn't realize that before. They were both so eager to talk about all of it. Val told me that she had been married in a plural marriage before and it didn't work out and she left that marriage and joined her sister and Ali with their husband. Pretty interesting to have a kind of divorce situation in polygamy - not something you'd ever hear about.
They talked about how hard it can be for parents to seek medical help when their kids are sick or hurt. When they go to the hospital and administrators see the polygamist name, the immediately call CPS to do an 'investigation'. Kids are removed from the homes while they 'investigate'. (Understand that I lived in fear of CPS from my boys both falling off bar stools within weeks of each other last summer.)
Ali told me that she had a five-month old daughter die from a heart condition. Two weeks after they had to bury their daughter, CPS showed up to 'investigate'. She was terrified of them taking her kids away from her. They didn't end up taking them, but she was living with that fear and trying to cope with the death of a child.
Both Ali and Val love their lives. I know they are great mothers. They do make a good point that with all the alternative life-styles out there, this is what they have chosen for themselves. They are not followers of Warren Jeffs. They believe in prosecuting child abusers. Both of them are great examples to their children (and others) of standing up for your beliefs.
I am not a polygamist. I don't want my blog to turn into a plight for something that I am not. I just believe in standing up for my friends. When they told me that there are people out there who throw rocks at their kids and devote their lives to tearing them down, I was furious. This is America, where we have religious freedom. Be nice to others!