Ok so let me clear the air from the start…I don’t hate Mike Huckabee. I haven’t met the guy and to be honest I really haven’t checked him out that much (I’m a Ron Paul fan). But I have to say one thing about the guy just really gets on my nerves.

Whether it is by his design or not, it seems like his entire platform for president is, “I’m a Christian.” I know this might sound really weird since I’m a Christian, but follow me for a second.

I have known several people in my life who say they are Christians (and they probably are) and they are just complete jerks/idiots. We need to judge people by their actions…not their words. Therefore I think to vote for a person just because they say they are a Christian, is just plain stupid. The same goes for voting for a person based on their gender or race…it’s just plain dumb.

So I’m not a Huckabee hater (I’ll check him out if he get the Rep. nomination), but I do hate the trend/campaigning that says to vote for him just because he is a Christian. So my recommendation is to look past the words/race/gender and look at the actions of the candidates. You’ll sleep better at night.

Or about the baby’s sex.

So we ended up getting in on Saturday to have Shannon’s ultrasound instead of waiting until the 25th. Shannon and I were so excited because we knew that the baby was now big enough to find out the sex (see my previous baby post to find out my feelings about waiting to find out). So we got up early on Saturday and went to Shannon’s appointment.

The whole morning I was anxious knowing that I was about to find out the big news. The lady that did the procedure was really nice (you got to think that is pretty fun part of her job…getting to tell people what they are going to have). The baby on the other hand wasn’t being very cooperative. They kept moving around and had their legs crossed almost the whole time. The lady doing the procedure was having to do some ultrasound gymnastics just to get the pictures that she needed.

She didn’t get a really clear view, but with the shots that she did get, she was 75% sure that we are having a bouncing baby boy (emphasize the bouncing part…that kid was really moving around a lot). There is a small chance that it could end up being a girl…but I saw something purturding in the pictures that she took. We are both excited and really surprised. Shannon was really set on the fact that she thought we were having a girl. I think she is a little depressed, but we will love him just the same. And there is always a chance for more.

We have already picked out the name at the moment and we are calling him Asa Jackson Qualls. Asa is one of my favorite Bible people, and Shannon really liked the name Jackson to go with it. Things are really starting to sink in now. The nicest thing is that we can stop saying “him or her.” It’s going to be nice to just say “him” from here on out.

Today Shannon and I went to the doctor to have Shannon’s check up for the month of January. Before I tell you about the appointment, I must say that I love our Nurses Midwife. She has this quirky Doogie Howser feel about her. You can also tell that she really loves what she does. I just love people who are passionate about what they do (she seems as excited about finding out the baby’s gender as we are). She is also so nice about listening to all of Shannon’s and my questions and answering them. She’s just top notch.Now back to the baby. Shannon is currently in her 19th week. The baby is doing fine and growing at a normal rate. We got to hear his or her heart beat and it’s beating strong. We have an appointment to get an ultrasound on the 25th (we’re trying to get it scheduled earlier). We should be able to find out the baby’s gender at this time.Don’t give me the whole “Don’t you want to be surprised?!” bit. Here’s the deal. We don’t know what the baby is right now. So at any point that we find out the gender of the baby next week or in June, it will then be a surprise.Incase you are wondering, Shannon really thinks that it is a girl. We’ve kinda got our hearts set on it being a girl now because of that. But if we have a boy, I think we’ll be just as happy. As long as it’s not a donkey, I’m ok.