A Kinder, Gentler Rant

Every so often, I read political blogs. Unfortunately, they often seem to be rants, and these rants come from all sectors… rants about how the US middle class is causing global warming, and rants about how Al Gore is mistaken (and we shouldn’t believe anything he says because he didn’t really invent the internet anyway); rants about how good things are happening in Iraq and rants about how bad things are happening in Iraq, and both are probably true, just as good and bad things have been happening in that area of the world for at least 4,000 years. Sometimes, I even get caught up in comment threads where people conduct virtual arguments, picking at semantics and occasionally making insightful and even brilliant points. One thing I’ve noticed is the intense contempt some of these writers have for anyone who doesn’t share their opinions… and this in turn makes me respect them less. I try to see their viewpoint, but frankly, it’s hard. I imagine it would be just as hard for them to see mine.

It makes me wonder, as I read a rant with which I disagree, if the labels were reversed, would the content really change? Or would it just be another rant? In other words, I think we would be much better served by constructive problem-solving, rather than by blaming large groups of others for the world’s problems. Instead, the issue at hand is always someone else’s fault.

2007 Christmas Letter and Photo

For those of you whose in-boxes were full, we've devised another way to foist our year-end thoughts upon you... the 2007 Morrison Christmas Letter and Photo. (If you give something a grand title, it makes it that much more auspicious.)


There’s a lot of balancing involved in writing a good Christmas letter: how to avoid sounding boastful without being boring, how to avoid the presumption of assuming you want to know all about our lives without completely ignoring you… it goes on and on. Then, just as I’ve decided not to write, I get a delightful letter from a friend, and I’m encouraged to go ahead and let you know what’s up, despite all the ambiguous feelings I have about this sort of thing. Here goes:

Due to the birth of our sweet son Ethan, the year passed in a blur. I’m not really sure what else happened, but he was definitely a highlight. Ethan weighed in at 8lbs, 7oz, on January 25, sometime after 4 pm. After several weeks of insomnia and resultant psychosis, our lives settled into a nice routine, and we are so grateful to God for the joy of having a little one around. He rolled over early, crawled at about an average age, and said “Dada” for months before finally mouthing the word “Mama”. Music to my ears. His little hugs, smiles and laughs make up for all the spit up and dirty diapers he’s managed to produce over the past 11 months.

Everything else that happened this year seems to be a little overshadowed by the whole firstborn son thing. We’ll try to dredge the recesses of our memories, however:

Both Matt and Ethan were baptized on the same day in April. It brings a sweet ache to my heart even thinking about it now.

Matt graduated from UT Tyler in May with a BS in Computer Information Systems, and went to work for Vann Pumping Systems shortly thereafter. This allowed me to cut back from three to one to two days a week as a labor and delivery nurse. Ethan loves having Mommy at home, but when I’m at work he either stays with Dad, with Marmee, with Grandmommy, or with a family from church. Matt also continues to work as a houseparent one weekend a month at Breckenridge Village, where Ethan charms his special friends with his slobber and smiles.

I reached a big milestone this month by completing half of my 48-hour Master’s degree, an MS in Nursing that will allow me to sit for the Family Nurse Practitioner boards, and bring me a couple of steps closer to an eventual goal of becoming a certified nurse-midwife. Don’t ask how exactly. It’s complicated. I also continued to drill as a Navy Reserve Nurse Corps officer one weekend a month. I enjoy the training, and have memorized more acronyms than should be humanly possible. Not to mention, I finally got dog tags and get to wear camouflage and combat boots.

We so enjoy hearing from all of you throughout the year and especially now when everyone’s so motivated to send letters. What’s up with that anyway?

Matt just read our letter and registered his approval with, “It looks pretty good, actually.” So, I guess my job here is done. We’d like to close with one final thought as we focus on Christ’s birth:

“Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.”
With love and joy,
Matt, Elisa and Ethan Morrison

Ethan Meets Santa

We had other shots, but this one is classic. I'd love to know what Ethan is thinking... "Is that beard real? Should I pull it?"

The Question

My brother Marti has recently (and unwittingly) introduced me to a geeky comic strip called xkcd. In honor of the fact that I have finished half of my Master's, and therefore have time to goof off and do things like this, I offer my own parody, followed by a few favorites:

Checking Out the Tree

No News Is Good News

We haven't posted in a while. No excuse except things like an 11-month-old, Christmas shopping, finishing up Pharmacotherapeutics, raking most of the leaves in the yard into ten huge bags and mulching the rest, preparing scholarship and student loan applications, going to drill one weekend, then Lubbock the next. Yep. Lubbock, as in 8 hours from here with a baby in the back seat. Ethan's actually a good traveler, so we had a nice trip.

A note on the Pharm class: It's not that I didn't learn much about drugs, because I did, but what I really learned was how little I know about medications. I really don't give many on L&D... about the same ten drugs. As for the rest, I'll just have to cozy up to one of those nice little PDA programs.

More Jewelry

Some recent pieces:

Sweepstakes and the Like

I'm a sucker for sweepstakes. Not the Publisher's Warehouse kind, though, the real ones. You know, where you win real things. I have entered countless drawings and giveaways... from Eddie Bauer to the grocery store to Helzberg Diamonds to the HGTV Dream Home, and (more recently) Lexus. And in the past 10 years I have won, um, one $25 gift card to Amazon.com. It was worth it, though, because I bought two great knitting books. So, on a nearly daily basis, I go to HGTV Pro and enter their daily drawing for contractor gadgets... because if I win it and I don't want it, I can always list it on eBay. And besides, they had a GPS for the car up the other day, and I really could use one of those. All this to say, I have added a button for the Cool Mom Picks Holiday Guide. It's a trade-off. They get advertising, and I have the thrill of entering yet another giveaway. I really do like the Cool Mom newsletter (makes me feel cool, too!), and besides, they have these fun little things where you can enter a drawing for some cool item if you go to the other site and find the answer to a question about the product. (I know it! I'm a sucker for advertising!)

Ethan Swings

What I'm Reading or Have Read Lately

Night by Elie Wiesel
Pharmacology for Nursing Care by Richard A. Lehne
The Infinite Plan by Isabel Allende