So I haven't been great about blogging the past year...

Dear long neglected blog,

I wanted to do a quick catch up on some of the things we have been busy with over the last year.  First in August, we welcomed Mila Love, and she has been pure joy for us.

Nathan worked on his eagle scout project.  We are so proud of his strength and bravery.  He honored his sister and tried to save other children at the same time.  Here is an article on his work.

Nathan's Eagle Scout project-in memory of Abigail

And Michael, Mila, and I travelled to DC to urge our government to issue a rear visibility standard.  The legislation requiring a new standard was signed by the president on 2008.  It passed unanimously with 80 co sponsors and bipartisan support.  The new standard was due out in 2011.  It is 2013 and this is unacceptable.  We bought plane tickets and joined a group of parents in DC on April 11, the 3rd anniversary of losing Abigail.  We interviewed with CNN, spoke to USA Today, participated in a press conference, and met with our senators and representative in their office.  We hope they do the right thing.  Keeping our children in danger because of bureaucracy is simply unacceptable.  With 50 kids hit each week, and 70,000 backover accidents having occurred since this bill was signed, we must do something now.  Blind zones of up to 50 feet behind vehicles is more than dangerous for all of us, but especially the elderly, the disabled, and children.  We must protect them, and ourselves.  We are at risk of causing one of these accidents every time we are behind the wheel because we simply can not see.  The cost of cameras is minimal.  It adds less than $100 to the cost of a new car.  We have done so much to protect passengers inside vehicles.  It is not time to protect those outside the vehicles.  We strongly encourage anyone reading this to contact your members of Congress in Washington today to urge them to make sure this rule comes out immediately and that it is effective in such a way to prevent these accidents.  34% of preventable fatalities in children are caused by backovers.  It is too late for Abigail, but many other lives will be saved because of this standard and rear view cameras on all vehicles.  Here is our interview at CNN and the article at USA Today. 

CNN interview

USA Today article