Should the private life of a public figure determine the status of their public service?

I have been watching CNN all day and have seen a lot of the Spitzer scandal. For anyone who hasn't been able to read the headlines, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has admitted paying a prostitute $4,300 for one hour in a hotel in Washington DC. Since he is from New York, it is a federal case.

He was a strong Governor who attempted to clean up the city if New York. A list of his orders can be found at: http://www.ny.gov/governor/executive_orders/index.html

It's a shame. I have thought all day about how the Biblical King David screwed up with several woman and yet God calls him his servant and exalts him (David) very high (Ezekial 34:23). Should there be forgiveness for Spitzer? Yes. Is he still capable of doing great things? Yes. Have I lost respect and trust in him? Yes. I've been thinking about what to do in this situation. I think he will resign or be impeached, but he was doing such good things. Should his personal life be the major factor in his ability to govern when none of our personal lives are perfect?

These are just my thoughts for today. I guess my questions too.

Police Chaplaincy

Thursday night I went to the Policy Chaplaincy dinner with Michael, Howard, and Dawn. It was very moving. I didn't realize how important police and fire chaplains were and how much they and their families sacrificed for the job.

One of the testimonies was of a police officer who was on scene for a car accident when the 20 something male died. The police officer than had to go to the home and tell the family. He found a 26 year woman (the wife of the young man) there and at 3:00 in the morning explained to her that her husband had just died in a car accident. Then he heard little feet moving out from the bedrooms and two little kids came running out asking their mom why she was crying.

Police Chaplains also are volunteer. They often are supported by their wives for what they do. That's really impressive and I walked away from the evening with so much respect for them.

http://www.publicsafetychaplaincy.org/

one big happy family

Tomorrow my mom and my brother move in with Michael and I. Her house closes and she moves out for the final time. It's the house I was brought home to from the hospital, so she's been in it for a while. It's good that she moves though. Her and my brother Kyle are going to stay in our extra bedrooms. And my mom will use my office as her home office for her work.

In about 2 weeks they'll move across the street. My mom bought the house that is across and down two from us. It's three bedroom and I am looking forward to having her and my brother so close. Family is such a good thing.

This weekend I am going to a quilt expo with Michael's mom and sister. I am looking forward to it. I will miss Michael terribly though because he'll be training other patrollers on the mountain and I will be apart from him for 2 days. I don't like that.

I am really excited for my mom's new move. I can't wait for her to move into her new house!

Stacey on the Slopes

fessing up

Last week I made mistake a work. My boss asked me to fed ex him something on Friday, so that it would arrive on Saturday. I did, making sure that I checked the 'urgent' box so that it would get there to him promptly. On Sunday I was skiing on the mountain when I came in and checked my phone. I had a voice message. From my boss. He hadn't received the package yet and was wondering if I knew what had happened to it. (It was carrying confidential information.) I realized that I hadn't marked the 'Saturday delivery' box on the package and with the Holiday it didn't end up arriving until Tuesday (after he had left). I called him from the mountain on Sunday and told him it was my fault and that I was sorry. It didn't reach him in time and it wasn't good. It feels great to be in a working relationship where I can honest about my mistakes, working for someone who wants the truth more than anything else.

It sometimes totally freaks me out to be honest. I don't like looking like I have made a mistake. I know, I know. We all make mistakes but I tend to prefer to hide mine. I get scared that if people see them than they will find out something about me and dislike me and I do want people to like me. I have much more respect for someone who is honest than someone who is always saying the right answer. It's just scary to me to always be honest but I am definitely working on it. Just speaking to others honesty and really thinking about everything that I say and everything that could be perceived out of what I say. I have to give homage to God for this. He gave me my job and its the people at my job who are teaching me these simple Biblical truths.

Valentine's Date

Tonight Michael and I went on a Valentine's date. He met me at my office and we drove up together to El Gaucho. It was so tasty and very filling. We had a great time. We each ordered separately and then when our food arrived, we liked the other ones better so we switched. We each had written a letter to the other and then we read them at dinner. We also talked about life and how happy we are to be married. We spoke with the one of the managers because my boss made me promise we would introduce ourselves and talk about a upcoming event where we're sitting at his table. It was a great valentine's night. And now, as Victoria's Secret said on Superbowl Sunday, let the real games begin. Ha!

My Husband

Michael and I have been married for 5 months this Friday. I have never been married before, so it's relatively new to me. I LOVE IT. One of my favorite things about Michael is that he always tells me he loves me. Just now he walked into my office and reached over to my face with his hand and said 'I love you baby' as he stroked my cheek. I always feel like he loves me very much and that brings me so much joy. I like spending time with him so we really spend every second we can together when we're not at work. Tonight he went with me to look at make-up at JC Penny and then helped me pick out a rice cooker. We went grocery shopping and ate dinner at a hot dog place. I loved it.

Life is hard though and I often wonder what happens to couples who are so in love and then go thru such difficult times. I think about how the three year mark is difficult for a lot of couples and so I think through things that I might start to assume about him or us. I think about how we have so many dreams and friends now but how as life goes on, our time for our friends is less and less and how our dreams have to face reality. So, of course, we have made an effort to get together with friends and are studying what we want our company to look like and how we want to be work for us and for others.

I have to go now because it is late so I will try to blog more later.