Is anyone else bummed out by this or is it just me?

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20202699,00.html

I'm married.

He's way to young for me.

He's about to embark on a wonderful music career.

I'm about to head the kitchen to clean the breakfast dishes.

But still, if he has to have a girlfriend, does it have to be her?

**sulks off to kitchen***

Link Love

I was laying in bed on Thursday night trying to drift off to sleep. Dan was still downstairs watching the end of the Red Sox game and I had the evening news on in the background. I was almost asleep when I heard the newscaster report some shocking statistics:

1 in 4 girls is sexually abused before the age of 18.
1 in 6 boys is sexually abused before the age of 18.

I practically bolted up out of my bed! That can't be right, I thought!

So, the next morning,I searched the Internet. Sure enough, I found those same statistics online at Darkness to Light. I read on to discover the following:

30-40% of victims are abused by a family member.
Another 50% are abused by someone outside of the family whom they know and trust.
Approximately 40% are abused by older or larger children whom they know.
Therefore, only 10% are abused by strangers.

This website also lists seven steps to protect our children.

The newscast that I was listening to, also gave the web address to Family Watchdog. This is the National Sex Offender Registry. You can type in your zip code and it will bring up a map containing all of the sex offenders in your area. It will also give the offender's picture, their address, what they were convicted of, their description, their age, etc.

Of course, these are only the offenders that have been caught and prosecuted, but I guess at least knowing where these people are in relation to your house is a start in protecting your children.

These aren't "fun" links but they are necessary ones, because as mothers it's out job, no, it's our duty to protect our children.

I just can't stop thinking about this story.

I read this story Sunday morning while eating breakfast with my family and I could not get it out of my mind all day. A man threw his four children (all under the age of 3) off an 80 foot bridge after having an argument with his wife.

All day I kept looking at my children trying to figure out what would make someone do that. It doesn't say what the argument with his wife was about but I could never ever imagine being so angry with my husband that I would want to harm my children.

And to do it in such a cruel way? To throw them off of a bridge? I guess that is the part that really makes me so sad. I spent much of the day wondering what was going through their little minds as they went on that bridge with their father. Perhaps they were excited to be on a tall bridge, excited to see the water below. They must have thought they were going on a little adventure with Daddy.

But as he started tossing them over one by one I can only imagine what they felt. I guess this is what bothers me most, the confusion and sadness they must have felt watching as their brothers and sisters were being thrown off the bridge, their excitement turning to horror.

I am hoping that they were too young to realize what was going on and that their suffering was brief. That is my hope. I know they are now resting peacefully in heaven but I just can't shake the images I have in my head.

I'm sure that soon enough another tragedy involving a child will make the headlines and this story will be forgotten. But for now, I am just going to hug my kids a little tighter and thank God that they are safe.