IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That, to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed. That, whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such Principles and organizing its Powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the right of Representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the People.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of Peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens, taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions, We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the
united States of America, in GENERAL CONGRESS assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions, DO, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly PUBLISH and DECLARE, That these United Colonies are, and of Right, ought to be
free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that, as FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. AND for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Signed by ORDER
and in BEHALF
of the CONGRESS
JOHN HANCOCK, President
Attest.
CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary
New Hampshire: JOSIAH BARTLETT, WILLIAM WHIPPLE, MATTHEW THORNTON
Massachusetts-Bay: SAMUEL ADAMS, JOHN ADAMS, ROBERT TREAT PAINE, ELBRIDGE GERRY
Rhode Island: STEPHEN HOPKINS, WILLIAM ELLERY
Connecticut: ROGER SHERMAN, SAMUEL HUNTINGTON, WILLIAM WILLIAMS, OLIVER WOLCOTT
Georgia: BUTTON GWINNETT, LYMAN HALL, GEO. WALTON
Maryland: SAMUEL CHASE, WILLIAM PACA, THOMAS STONE, CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON
Virginia: GEORGE WYTHE, RICHARD HENRY LEE, THOMAS JEFFERSON, BENJAMIN HARRISON, THOMAS NELSON, JR., FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE, CARTER BRAXTON.
New York: WILLIAM FLOYD, PHILIP LIVINGSTON, FRANCIS LEWIS, LEWIS MORRIS
Pennsylvania: ROBERT MORRIS, BENJAMIN RUSH, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, JOHN MORTON, GEORGE CLYMER, JAMES SMITH, GEORGE TAYLOR, JAMES WILSON, GEORGE ROSS
Delaware: CAESAR RODNEY, GEORGE READ, THOMAS M'KEAN
North Carolina: WILLIAM HOOPER, JOSEPH HEWES, JOHN PENN
South Carolina: EDWARD RUTLEDGE, THOMAS HEYWARD, JR., THOMAS LYNCH, JR., ARTHUR MIDDLETON
New Jersey: RICHARD STOCKTON, JOHN WITHERSPOON, FRANCIS HOPKINS, JOHN HART, ABRAHAM CLARK
My mother-in-law made these charming dresses for her granddaughter and great-granddaughter to wear on Christmas Eve. She's actually quite an accomplished seamstress. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't do them justice. Elizabeth's dress was a dazzling red trimmed with green beads and Brianna's dress was a gorgeous green trimmed with red beads. The girls looked absolutely beautiful and were able to twirl to their hearts' content. It was a wonderful gift.
Rumor has it that matching has begun, which means the next batch of referrals will soon be here. It's a longshot that our LID of 2/27/06 will be in, but stranger things have happened! 
We took a few days and drove to Gloucester, MA for a mini-vacation. It was a bit past "peak," but the colors were gorgeous. En route to Gloucester, we stopped in Old Sturbridge Village. The largest outdoor history museum in the Northeast, OSV is a journey through time to a rural New England town of the 1830s. There are more than 40 original buildings, each carefully researched, restored, and brought to the museum site from towns throughout New England. These include homes, meetinghouses, a district school, country store, bank, law office, printing office, carding mill, sawmill, gristmill, pottery, blacksmith shop, shoe shop, and cooper shop. Authentically costumed staff carry out the daily activities of an early 19th-century community. Here you may wander country roads and visit with a farmer plowing fields, listen to the blacksmith's rhythmic hammering, or smell the aroma of bread baking in a fireplace oven. I even tried my hand at dipping candles, while Jim and Elizabeth made a tin candle holder for my tapers.
We then moved on to Gloucester, MA. America's oldest seaport, Gloucester is part of Cape Ann and located 30 miles northeast of Boston. The main portion of Gloucester is an island, connected only by two bridges. Other towns making up "Cape Ann" are Rockport, Manchester and Essex. We spent some time shopping in Rockport and visited the Essex Shipbuilding Museum. The rest of our time was spent on the beach flying kites, collecting seashells and building sandcastles. Elizabeth asked us to find a house in Gloucester, so we could go to the beach every day. I think Jim was considering it. We did opt to stay at the oceanfront motel where we'd spent a night on our honeymoon some 17 years ago, and this was the sunrise from our balcony. Worth every penny.
Elizabeth is a great traveler. She passed the hours in the car drawing in her activity books, making rainbows on her Light Brite, and playing Leapster games (as well as an occasional "I Spy" game with Mama). She relished every new experience, well, except for one. The Whale Watch could have gone better. It turns out that our girl gets motion sickness. In all fairness, however, many of the folks on that trip got sick - it was a VERY rough ride (and I've got the bruises to prove it)! Still, after throwing up her toes, she mustered a smile and a "Wow!" when she saw the humpback whale. And it didn't take long for her to recover. As soon as her feet hit solid ground, she was ready to roll again. Looks like she's gonna be a landlubber like her Mama.
Despite the battering, I have to say that I got a real thrill out of seeing the animals in their natural habitat. We started out heading for the popular Stellwagen Bank, but the Captain changed course to Jeffreys Ledge after communicating with other boats. We weren't disappointed. We first saw a group of Atlantic dolphins that came right up alongside the boat. We then met a humpback whale named "Flask" (for a specific marking on his fluke). On the way back to Gloucester, we saw a Minke whale breach twice (or maybe it was 2 whales). The Naturalist on board (from the Whale Center of New England) said they believe that breaching is a form of communication between whales. It seemed logical as we then watched a humpback whale breach in the far distance, seemingly in response to the Minke whale(s).
In the end, although the stunning fall foliage and dramatic ocean vistas may have set the stage for a fabulous vacation, I think the 3 things I will remember most are: (1) the absolute pleasure Elizabeth took in building her sandcastle and decorating it with seashells she'd discovered along the shore, (2) watching Elizabeth fly a kite with her Dad, and (3) hearing Elizabeth laugh hysterically as she ran from the waves lapping at her feet. It just doesn't get any better.
As most of you know, there are many hoops to jump through when you decide to adopt a child. Even more so, when you try to adopt internationally. Throw new rules and governmental bureaucracy into that process midstream, and you have a real mess. 
This weekend we celebrated the Autumn Moon Festival with other local families with children from China. In Chinese culture, it is a time to reconnect with family and loved ones, and much like our Thanksgiving, it is a time for gratitude and appreciation. For me (and perhaps for E down the road), it is a symbolic way to connect with a birth family, who, although far away, are held close in our hearts.
While her husband was gone, Chang Er noticed a beam of white light beckoning from the rafter. She followed it and a fragrant perfume, discovered the pill and swallowed it. Immediately, Chang Er found she could fly. Just at that moment her husband returned home. Yi quickly realized what had happened and before he could begin to reprimand his wife, she flew out the window into the sky. Yi sped after Chang Er, bow in hand, and the pursuit continued halfway across the heavens. Finally, Yi had to return to the earth because of the force of the wind. 
To celebrate Hou Yi's and Chang Er’s night of love, the Chinese people celebrate the Moon Festival. They eat Moon Cakes, which have a very special meaning. A long time ago the Mongols took over China and they were very cruel to the people. A brave Chinese man named Liu Fu Tong made little cakes in the shape of the moon. Inside each cake he hid a written message that told the people, "On the 15th night of the 8th month, rise up and fight the Mongols to take back our land," and the Chinese people took back their country.
For most of us 315ers from Oswego County, summer would not be complete without at least 1 trip to "The Loop," where we would go to Rudy's for the best fish sandwich, hamburger hot or Hoffman's coney that you can find. In fact, folks who used to live there (myself included) like to stop by Rudy's when they go back to visit, as we did today.
Inside Rudy's, the atmosphere is controlled chaos. You go up to the counter to place your order, which they write down on the back of a paper plate. You're given a slip of paper with a number on it, then you wait (and watch) while they make your food. And there really aren't any lines to the counter per se, you just kind of join the throng of people and somehow, everyone eventually makes it up there. When you finally get your food, it's loaded into a cardboard box tray. Your soda comes in a can, your beer in a bottle and your milk is the kind you got with your school lunch. There really aren't very many places to sit down inside Rudy's, but that's OK since you don't go there to eat inside. There are dozens of picnic tables lakeside and that is where you really want to eat (if you don't mind an occasional stinky dead fish) because the view is just extraordinary. 
After dinner and rock-skipping, walk on down to the little ice cream stand called "Bev's" and get your ice cream there. Then sit on a bench or at a picnic table and eat your ice cream while the sun sets over the lake. It is just so beautiful, and I've always experienced a sense of peace and contentment there. Maybe it's because it's a memory my parents gave to me. And maybe it's a memory that we can give to our daughters.
I've been a bit lax on the blogging lately. Our usually very healthy girl picked up a Coxsackie virus at preschool and came down with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. What a nasty little bug! Although highly contagious, it's considered a "mild" virus. Mild? It caused such painful ulcerations in her throat, and on her tongue, cheeks, gums and hard palate, that it was difficult for her to eat, sleep or even talk. And although complications are rare, I worried about possible viral meningitis, encephalitis and myocarditis. 
Last weekend, we went to the Corn Hill Arts Festival. Corn Hill is Rochester's oldest residential neighborhood, long known as "The Third Ward." Flour millers and merchants built impressive homes during Rochester's first growth spurt after the building of the Erie Canal in the 1820s & 30s. Rochesterians called the neighborhood "The Ruffled Shirt Ward" because of the prosperity of its residents with their substantial homes & mansions of architectural diversity & style. Founding meetings were held here for the University of Rochester & Rochester General Hospital.
The construction of I-490 cut through the north portion of the Third Ward. Its path cleared many houses standing in the way. Rochester's first mayor and early leaders once lived in the area demolished in the name of "progress."
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
Elizabeth received a "Butterfly Garden" for Christmas from her Aunt Debie. Now this was a really cool gift that we all enjoyed! We chose to wait until the weather warmed up and then sent for the mail-order Painted Lady butterfly larvae. We received a small plastic cup with 5 bristly caterpillars that we watched spin silken webs and eat special food for about a week or so. They then climbed to the top of the container, each suspending themselves from a single silk thread, and formed cocoons. Once all of the caterpillars were in the pupa stage, we carefully removed the top of the container that held the chrysalids and pinned it inside the Butterfly Garden to a mesh wall. And then we waited ... and waited ... and waited ... at least it seemed that way. 
The first 4 butterflies left us without looking back. The last one had to be coaxed out of its artificial habitat and then just sat on our deck seeming to think about things for a bit. When we picked it up to try and encourage it to follow its siblings, it flew to Jim and sat on him for a bit. I was beginnning to think we had a "special needs" butterfly. Finally, it seemed to grasp the concept and took a leap of faith. It didn't follow the others, but instead headed off in its own direction, against the wind and into the sunset. It was odd, but I felt a sense of concern as it initially struggled and then a sense of pride when it finally succeeded. Maybe I've taken this motherhood gig just a bit too far ...
We're now hearing a couple of rumors from agencies that matching has begun and that it may be a bigger batch of referrals this month. We could hear something as early as next week ... or not. Are you beginning to understand how this works?
