Living By Daily Grace

All "Tangled" Up

2011-04-08T21:56:00.000-05:00

Tonight was Family Night in our home and we decided to watch Tangled. . .for the THIRD time. We just saw it for the first time on Wednesday while Underdog was on a business trip. Last night I watch it with Underdog for date night so he could see it. That viewing made up decide to watch it tonight with our older children again.

I thought Tangled was a cute little movie. It's one of the better Disney movies that's been made. The animation was fabulous. It's obvious that John Lassiter, who originally started Pixar and was hired b Disney, was running the show. And in my opinion, Rapunzel is the most beautiful princess that Disney was ever created. I am sure the animation helped with that. I think my favorite characters were the horse and the chameleon. The story was a good story but Maximus and Pascal made it even better.

This movie was not without flaw though. It may seem as the movie has just innocent fun but it sending very clear messages to it's audience. Who is the audience? Mostly young girls. My boys enjoyed it but I think Maximus and Pascal helped with that.

If you ask my children, the can tell you about some of the blaring problems with the movie. One of the beginning songs sends a message to young girls that the housework they might be doing at home isn't really living. To me, that just screams of feminism. Homeworking girls and mothers aren't really living when they are at home keeping and making a home and haven. God has given a very clear calling to women to be "keeper AT home" and it's not drugdery to do so.

The second blaring problem with this movie is the very clear rebellion that the young Rapenzel gets involved in. Now, her mother is not the most loving and careing people in the world. But the command in the scripture is not for children to obey if mom and dad are kind to them. It's clear. . ."Children obey your parents in the Lord for this right." There even seems to be a period where she's wrestling within her heart over the rebellion and promise she's broken. The worst part is that Flynn encourages her rebellion. "At little rebellion is good. It's normal." Sounds alot like another very true story that took place in the Garden, doesn't it?

Schmoo got to watch this movie at a birthday party last weekend so she had a few opinions about it. While she liked it (more than I would like for her to like it) she said that it was kind of ruined that Rapunsel didn't save her kiss. I was beaming with pride. She gets it, so far anyway. I think I would agree with her assessment in my third point. Is it really wise for a young girl to fall in love in only a few days and then give her kiss away just like that? Is it any wonder that the teen and young adult culture is all about hooking up and NOT about relationships?

Finally, one aspect of Disney that should never go unnoticed by Christians is their constant emphasis on magic. In the movie (warning, spoiler) her hair is magical and has healing power. Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but there has only been ONE Person with the power to heal people. Christ is our Healer. Magic is simply the attempt by human beings to do things that only God can do. You can't just brush this away as simple magic in movie. it's not real, right? If it's not, real do we see so many children immulating many of the movies that they are watching? They will see the magic and they will copy it unless we are teaching and pointing out the evil.

There is much more to this movie that could be mentioned. I liked it at first and considered getting it to own it. I have changed my mind though. I have the ability to weed through the messages that are being given in this movie (and many more that Disney has put out) but my children do not. I have read in different places that before the age of 8, most children don't have the ability to discern the difference between a show on TV and the commercials played during the show. They also can't tell the difference between what's real and pretend in many cases. We don't hesitate when we do watch movies like this to point out the problems. It might ruin the movie to do so, but personally, I would rather ruin the movie than to allow a wrong worldview to be planted in the hearts of my children.

Do I recommend Tangled? Well, possibly. As I said, I thought it was a good movie. The story was cute. The characters were well developed. It's fun for the children to watch (ok, and the adults.) I would recommend that parents watch it together first. Find the problems with it's worldview first and don't hesitate to have conversation about the movie while it's playing. Ask them questions. Draw them out. Get them thinking about what they are seeing. Use real life opportunities to give them a solid Biblical worldview of life. Teach them to view a movie with discerning eyes and heart. And don't just casually allow the culture to lead your children. It will. Everything in life has a message. It's either a message that will lead them to Jesus or it has a message that will lead them away. The enemy is cunning. He makes the fruit look so yummy knowing all along that if we bite into it, we'll die.

2011-03-17T16:14:00.000-05:00

The blogsphere is hot over this recent interview with Rahna Reiko Rizzuto who left her husband and children in order to "find" herself. It happened after she was sent overseas for a six month period to study in Japan (which no one seems to question as a wise choice in the first place.) She commented that she feels like she if she hadn't left she said. . .

"I don’t think so…I probably would have never looked up and said, ‘Whoa…I did that thing that I didn’t want to do which was give up my life for someone else’ "

I have been reading alot of blogs recently that have brought this story to forefront. It truly is sad that she left. I fear that the media has lifted her up as a model and many more will begin to follow.

The following blogs have had so great things to say:

Disposable Motherhood - Generation Cedar
Redefining Motherhood - True Woman Blog
"Why I Walked Away from Being a Mom" - Your Sacred Calling

While I have appreciated these articles, I can't seem to get something off my mind. Without Christ, I would do the same thing. My sinful heart craves ME time. My sinful heart sometimes resents this calling. I have often heard the siren call to send my kids to school and have more time to pursue what interests me.

I used to be the type of person that needed to "find" myself. I was a Christian sitting in one of those preschool mother's support groups. . .you know the kind that tell you that mom needs to take care of herself in order to take better care of her family. I now understand the futility of that message. At one point, though, I swallowed it whole. This is the Christian version of woman finding herself. It exists and no one seems to want to own it.

The realization in my life that I desperately needed Jesus in my life is what saved me from that life. I finally came to recognize just how bad my sin really was before God. Without Jesus, I really would be this woman in Christian form. But Jesus gripped my heart and began to stit in me to the need to re-evaluate this path. It was hard at first. I had my 2 oldest in a mother's day out program. I enjoyed those days to myself. I felt like a new woman when I picked them up. It didn't last. It seemed that the more time I got to myself, the more I needed to be a "new" woman. They just irritated me. But the conviction to have them home was growing stronger.  I felt convicted to bring them home. But I didn't obey it. God used unemployment to force my hand.  I might add that this all occurred while I was being treated for post-partum depression. Unfortunatley, I found other ways to "find" myself. I spent alot of time on the computer. But I didn't spend that time with my kids. I was "finding" myself so I could be a better mom. I have grown alot since then but I still have my moments.

I mention all this to say that we, as moms at home (or what have you), can sit and critique what this woman did. We ALL have the compacity to walk away though. We are not immune to the desire to "find" ourselves and seek our own. It's the sin of Eve all over again. She wanted her own way. She wanted to "find" herself in the midst of the garden without God. She questioned His best and sought to "find" herself. The enemy hasn't stopped enticing women in this way. It can show up in many different scenerios. The temptation are forever before us.  But for the grace of God go I.

Yes, our society has become one that loves their pets more than they love children. Birth control is not something people even thinking about or (for the Christian) are prayful over.  They automatically assume they will use birth control with little regard the ramifications of what they are doing. They must have their career first (as if motherhood is not a legitimate career choice.) There is little thought as to whether children are even of any value, or morese, blessings from the Lord. In the secular world, it's even worse. Many women are willing to kill their babies so that they can continue to "find" themselves. But I can see so many ways where the Bride of Christ has bought the message of the secular world and seek to find themselves. We can sugar coat this all we want. We can deny the reality. But it's out there. Just search in some of the latest "Christian" bookstores and you'll these message everywhere.

Mothering requires tons of sacrifice. It often does mean losing yourself. But isn't that the message of the cross?

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:39

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? (Luke 9:23-25)

The Christian life, whether you are a man or woman, is about losing yourself in order to bring utmost glory to the Father. There is no ME TIME in motherhood. There is only time to serve the Lord.

And lest we judge, it would be so easy for us to wake up one day and walk away. We can physically walk away but we're more likely to emotional walk away. Let's be very cautious as we look at the life of this woman not to be too quick to jump in and criticize her decisions. Was she wrong? I think so. She has denied her children the beauty of a mother and denied herself the beauty of loving sacrificially. If she knows Jesus and claims Christ, she's denied her calling as a Christian mom. If she doesn't know Jesus, then in reality, she's only acting according to her nature. We shouldn't be so surprised by it. As Christian mom's, however, we need to be vigilant not to fall prey to the different ways the enemy can entice us to seek to "find" ourselvs. We must guard our hearts lest we fall.

Christian moms, eam your hearts. Are you seeking ways to "find" yourself? You are looking for that ever tempting ME TIME? Are you resentful when more is required of you, such as in nursing a sick child, getting up with a baby at time to nurse, or perhaps having to take care of the children more than it seems you husband might be? These should a red flag that we are seeking to "find" ourselves. We don't have to leave as Rahna did. She just acted on the sin in her heart. We must guard against doing this ourselves.

Joy in Sickness?

2011-03-02T12:52:00.000-06:00

Sickness. I have been thinking alot about this recently. It's hard not to think about it when you have a large family and sickness tends to travel in packs and fast. LOL!!! We've had somebody sick in this house since Valentine's Day. It's been rather hard this week as Underdog was out of town. I got sick on Sunday with the crude that's been passed around.   For some reason, we always seems to have extreme sickness when he travels. . .and he doesn't travel often. And the discouragement was growing.

Yesterday we hit the lowest point of it all though. I woke up with a fever (usually it was coming on midway through the day.) I felt Si-Bay about noon and he felt very hot. Sure enough he was running 103.9. It came on so fast. Schmoo was spiking a fever quickly and had terribly watery eyes. Little Leeli has been sick since last Thursday but seems to be getting worse. When I talked to Underdog that morning, he was telling me he was getting sick as well. I took Si-Bay to the doctor in the afternoon because I was afraid of a secondary infection and he seemed to be having trouble breathing. I was worried about pneumonia.  I found out he had the flu. FLU?!!!! That isn't what everyone else had. All they had was a cold. And he had the cold last week.  All I could think at that point was "Round 2 - here we come."

While we were at the doctor, the NP checked Leeli's ears. DOULBE EAR INFECTION!!!!! Let me just say that I can count one hand the number of times any of my kids have had ear infections. All of those times they were older preschoolers. I have never had a baby with ear infections. I felt another blow. As we were driving home I could feel myself getting hotter and hotter. I felt like I had been run over by a Mac truck and I was shivering. Si-Bay and I came home and crashed on the couch.  Underdog texted me on his way home that he was running a temperature and had chills. Could this get any worse? But then he texted me back another question that he always asks. . .what is God trying to teach us?

I had to think about it about it for a while. For me, I think the answer is trust. I struggle with giving God control of our health. I often see it as simply being black and white. . .if you eat right you'll be healthy. If you don't eat right, you'll be sick. Well, we couldn't get our diet any healtier if we tried. God has a purpose in all this sickness. Part of it was for me to realize that I am simply not in control. People get sick. That is the effect of sin on our bodies.

But I think Underdog hit on the greatest lesson this morning. He told me that he kept thinking about joy. Do we have joy in the midst of all this? Nehemiah 8:10 says " the joy of the Lord is your strength." Even though we're sick, we can find strength to get through it because of that joy. We have much to be joyful over. Sure we've been sick for quite a while and yes, it is getting old. But is it really so bad as to lose our joy? We've been in this place before and we always come out stronger on the other side. We don't have any type of chronic illnesses that really stress the body or the family. God provides all that we need to fight disease and in HIS timing always heals our bodies. On top of all these great reasons to be joyful, we should have joy in the Lord because of the salvation He has given to us. There is really no other reason to be joyful than that. If you look at being sick in the grand scheme of things, we don't even deserve to be alive. Our sin is that great. Our sin deserves death. But He doesn't give it. For those of us that belong to the Jesus Christ, we have salvation and death is not our end. That should bring tremendous worship from our hearts and a sense of joy to our lives as we lay around feeling miserable with fevers and runny noses.

This, too, shall pass. All bodies mend. God created the immune system to be very intricate and work very well. We are approaching all of our sickness using God's means from nature - essential oils, herbs, even breastmilk. It always takes longer to feel better. I forget this part.  We actually come out healthier instead of just covering up the symptoms. Covering up the symptoms with pain meds or lowering the fever just hinders the immune system that God created to fight for us. Most importantly, we are trusting His healing hand. He does heal. He will either heal our bodies (temporarily) on this earth OR He will ultimately heal when we stand before Him in heaven.  Now THAT is something to be joyful over.

Boycott the Super Bowl???

2011-02-03T20:13:00.002-06:00

This weekend marks the biggest football weekend of the year. On February 6, Super Bowl XLV will take place in Dallas, TX in the new Cowboy stadium. Since I live in the area, it's all over the news and you can't get away from it.

Recently, some of the news around the Super Bowl is covering the darker side of these types of events. . . human trafficking. This horrible industry is predicted to increase by 80% this week. I am sickened by the thought.

This summer I was introduced to a book called Renting Lacy by Linda Smith. Ms.Smith runs Shared Hope International, an organizataion which "exists to rescue and restore women and children in crisis. We are leaders in a worldwide effort to prevent and eradicate s*x trafficking and slavery through education and public awareness." It was one of the most disturbing books I have ever read. It left me in tears and pushed me into finding steps to get involved in helping with these changes.  I can't get this fictional story out of my mind. The story was set in Las Vegas around some huge event similar to the Super Bowl (although I am sure not as big.) And in this story, there were several very young girls bus into Nevada from other states in order to fill "orders" by the pimps at the event. It was informative, disturbing, and disgusting at the same time.

On Monday, Underdog was visiting with the admininstrative assistent at our church while he waited for me to bring my younger kids to him to take home. (This was during our co-op classes and he takes the littles home while I attend a mother/daughter class with Jennabear.)  He told me later that the ministry she works with has been praying that God would invervene in mighty ways to prevent some of the trafficking from moving forward. When I heard about this I found myself praising God for the sheet of ice He blanketed our area with on Tuesday. Our area is still covered and there is more coming.

What has made me most upset, though, is that the NFL will not join the effort to get the word out and encourage fans not to participate in this criminal behavior. They've remained silent when petitioned by a trafficking survivor's plea for help in a letter she sent asking them to endorse the Traffick911 campaigned called "I'm Not Buying It."   They remain silent.

I don't understand except to assume that it would effect their ability to make money. It's sick and twisted to consider but it's likely that is the case. Even one of their own players and another former player have jumped in to endorse the campaign but the NFL has not responded. There is a part of me that hopes that all the snow and ice we've gotten this week is God moving His hand to prevent alot of money making this week. There have been events cancelled. I even read that a party tent collapsed at one point (don't know if people were hurt.) I have never been a fan of Jerry Jones so in my mind, this is justice at it's best. His dream is falling apart as the God who controls the weather wreaks on his parade.

So why boycott the NFL? Well they make money when we watch this weekend. They make money when we watch all the advertisements and then go vote on our favorite for the night. Their advertisers make money. They are silent by default.  And they all make money off all the sick people that will travel to this area for the game and indulge their sickest fantasies with the baby girls who have been enslaved in this life. And I am really struggling with this. I usually love watching the Super Bowl. I can get into the hype of it like the next person. I can be loud when I cheer even if I know nothing of the team that is playing. But I have lost my football appetite. I have lost my fervor for the game. We don't have access to the game in our home, but my mom has gracious invited us to come watch the game and celebrate my birthday at the same time. I guess that is where my struggle comes in. I want to enjoy the company of my family but I really don't want to do it while endorse an organization so callous to the value of a human life.

I don't know what I will do. But I know that I am fervently praying that all plans for the evil one are thwarted this weekend by the power of my Holy God. He's moved artic weather into a part of the country that is normally mind in the winter. We've seen temps sit below freezing all week. Roads are still covered with ice and schools are once again cancelled for tomorrow, four days in a row!!!! It's a small consolation to think that somehow there are little girls who have escape this weekend. . at least for now. Perhaps that 80% won't be so high.

For those of you even interested in reading this, I am not saying you have to not watch the Super Bowl. I suppose my goal in this writing is that when you are watching, just maybe, you will consider that this organization that is giving you this great entertainment, also endorses a deeper and darker entertainment. The enemy loves this darkness. He loves that men enslave young girls. He loves that people are oblivious to this evil. He loves to see the church sit and do NOTHING!!!!! Remember that when your team makes a touchdown. Remember that when the half-time show is going on. Remember that when you laugh at your favorite commercial. Maybe if you remember it enough, you will feel compelled to start getting involved in fighting human trafficking. Maybe football won't be so important anymore. Maybe, just maybe, once you act, there will be many little girls saved out of exploitation.

Natalie Grant and Tenth Avenue North PSA for Traffick 911 from Nate Bernard on Vimeo.

A New Chapter Has Begun

2011-01-12T21:44:00.000-06:00

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24

It's been over a month since I have posted on my blog. The holidays were quite busy for us. I spent my holiday planning for our new school semester. And with our new year have come many changes for our family.

In Octover 2010, I finally decided to spend the extra money to have Si-Bay tested for food allergies, as well as have his stool and urine tested to see just what exactly was going on in his little body. His eczema has gone from being raised pink itchy patched on the back of his legs to covering most of his legs with tremendously dry, raised, red, and extremely itchy skin. He's also developed asthma with no apparent trigger. Right now he's coughing like his chest is tight but I've already given him a breathing treatment. My little guy is very broken right now.

In addition to all the health issues we've discovered with him, Si-Bay started speech therapy to help with a developing stutter. He's goes twice a week to "play". I am learning alot already.

So this is the driving force behind our new chapter. There are a few other minor changes that have taken place. Underdog and I have prayfully decided that we finishing growing our family naturally. Pregnancies are becoming very hard on my body. So much so that I have ended up on bedrest with the last two and unable to workout because of threaten miscarriages. So that part of our marriage has come to an end close. We have now begun to talk about enjoying our future grandchildren.

Another fairly minor change that was we decided to bring Jenna-bear home from her university school. That has been a hard transition for her because she had grown into a routine and had developed some great friendships. But the drive over there and intensity of her work was becoming a disruption to the rest of the family. So, we felt it was best to bring her home and begin a new chapter in our homeschool.

So just what exactly is involved in this new chapter? For one thing, we're attempting to bring some pretty significant order back into our home. This includes a daily schedule, finishing school each day, consistently doing chores, along with a new diet and new habits for mom and dad.

In the coming weeks, I will be journaling about these changes. I think my greatest change is going to be in the kitchen. Si-Bay's allergies have left little room for convenience. It's been a dream of mine to achieve the ability to cook all my food from scratch as well as learning to eat a real foods diet with fermentation, organic fruits and veggies, pasture raised meat, eggs, and dairy. In the past, I have honestly chicken out and found every excuse under the sun NOT to completely move to this diet, which I am thoroughly convinced is best for us. I have no room for excuses now. Everything we've known about food (even our healthy foods) have been vanished from our diet or changed in significant ways. If I am going to be able to feed Si-Bay a diet that will heal his little body, this is the direction we must go. I have been in denial of that for a few months. But now I am ready to surrender to this and receive this as a gift from God.

So tonight, I took first steps in this process. Several days ago I successfully started a sourdough starter. Yesterday, I started a fresh starter from it. It was ready to go tonight and so I started my first batch of fresh sour dough bread. I have no idea if it will work or not. I'll find out in the morning But it's a place to start. I took the first step which is always my hardest. I have no where to go from here but up toward success.

Win Rosetta Stone Language Software

2010-12-13T08:31:00.001-06:00

From Other Such Happenings:

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Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

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It's Been a While

2010-12-03T22:38:00.000-06:00

I had another post in my head but decided to wait on it until I have more detail. It occurred to me as I was writing that it's been a while since I have posted. I thought I would give a few updates.

1. I reactivated my Facebook account. It happened back in October when my brother broken his knee. I didn't know what was going on and Underdog had said he was posting on facebook about it. So I reactivated it. I wish I hadn't. I am back into the same old problem as before. . .it's taking up too much time. I am only on it for a few minutes a couple of times a day. It's not even really the time. Sometimes the updates that I give and that I read are rather pointless. Some seem to be seeking attention (mostly mine.) It seems to be that I have much greater priorities than posting on Facebook about how I am living out those priorities. It is allowing me to stay in contact with one particular person so I will stay on it until I don't need it anymore. I guess it's time to start working on my self-discipline.

2. Facebook did come in handy at the beginning of November. My brother had a double pulmonary embolism. It didn't seem so bad at first. Once my parents arrived to access the situation we learned it was really bad. All this took place on a Sunday so we went to church. In the midst of it all I was staying in contact with my parents. I realized around noon that I just couldn't sit here anymore. What if something happened? Let me just say that I go to the most wonderful church in the world. Two families stepped up to take my kids until we got back. Another family took my girls to lunch while the family they were going to stay with got back in town from a trip. Such wonderful people.

My brother was near death. It's a very long story how that all played out but it still makes me cry when I think about it. He was alone for quite a while as he waited to either die or for his girlfriend to be able to take care of the baby so she could come to the hospital. The blood clot came from the knee surgery he had. I guess he had what was called a saddle pulmonary embolism. The clot sat between the two tubes that go to each lung. By all accounts, he should be dead. God took him to the brink and death and speared his life. For that I am very thankful. He will be here for Christmas and it will be a treasure to have him here with us.

3. Jennibear is coming home!!!!! Yea!!!! She's no longer going to attend the university school we put her in in August. This has been such a great experience for her. It gave me time to get my ducks in a row. I have been able to talk to God about why we're homeschooling, what learning looks like, and what I need to be doing with each child. I will post on this more later, but I am thrilled with all that He's taught me. The biggest problem with the school is that it was very disruptive for the rest of the family. If Underdog couldn't take her or pick her up, I had to pack all the children into the van to do it. That would put us out for an hour. We lost so much time for their school. That has actually worked out well because God is taking us in a vastly different direction than where we started with all of them. It's exciting but still a work in progress. I have much to prepare for the coming semester.

4. Thanksgiving was so much fun. I LOVE cooking that meal. I cooked everything from scratch this year. My brother was supposed to come for Thanksgiving but obviously he's still in recovery mode so he didn't get to come. It didn't occur to me until Tuesday before that my parents now had nothing to do. Underdog and I like to reserve this holiday for our family so my parents were going to spend that day with my brother. Somehow I had given the message to my mom that they weren't welcome. I could kick myself for that. So I called her up and told her that they needed to come spend the day with us. It was so much fun. It got really cold that day so we had our first fire in the fireplace. (We've lived in this house for seven years and have never had a fire.) They ate with us, played game with the kids, and even went on our traditional After-Thanksgiving-Day-Walk. I just loved having them here and serving them. I hope to get to do it again in the future. Perhaps this day will be reserved for our family but it would be so much fun to have the rest of our family join us for this time. It's my favorite holiday afterall.

5. Christmas, so far, has been uneventful. Granted, it's only December 3. We have Underdog's work Christmas party tomorrow. The whole family is going. The following week, Jennibear has an event at church with her youth group. The event is actually throwing a party for all the 4 yods through 5th graders at our church. I am not letting my kids go. I know. I am horrible. I have many god reasons for this that I will elaborate on at another time. The weekend before Christmas, the children have their Christmas programs, and then it's Christmas. The weekends are busy as usual. We're making most of our Christmas gifts this year so that will also keep us busy.

So that is our update for now. I will write more on the new diet changes coming our way as well as our new school model.

Season of Gratitude

2010-11-22T15:55:00.000-06:00

Thursday is Thanksgiving. To me, it's the most wonderful time of the year. Over the years I have grown to love this holiday and I am quite protective of it. Football and parades, while fun, just simply don't cut it for this day anymore. This should be a time of year that brings all Christians to their knees in grateful worship of their Provider. (I don't have a problem with football and parades. But if that is all the holiday is to someone, why bother? We can do that on any Saturday or Sunday of the year.)

I strive to bring to my children an understand of all that we have to be thankful each year. We focus on the history mostly. This is our history. We are the only country in the world that can celebrate this day. It's unique to America. Without the Pilgrims we just simply wouldn't be here. It was their heroic journey across the Atlantic that gave birth to this great nation. While Jamestown was already in existence when the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, it was the Pilgrims rich religious life that contributed to our nation being founded on the Christian principles that our founding fathers used to shape our nation. It's this day that we remember all that.

Sadly, we've lost much of it. Christians have many great reasons to celebrate and give thanks to God. Because of the abundance we enjoy, it's very easy to forget the reasons we must be thankful. But I don't want to forget. I don't want my children to forget. This is why I write today.

I have much to be thankful this year.

1. I have a new baby who is very precious.

2. I have a new niece who is beautiful.

3. I have a growing friendship with my niece's mom.

4. God has given me seven wonderful kids.

5. I have a husband who loves and leads me in Christ.

6. I love my church family.

7. The life of my brother. God took him to the brink of death and then spared his life. He will experience his first Christmas with his baby girl this year and, hopefully, many more.

There are little daily things for which we should be thanking God. Food. I get to eat today - THREE times. Many people in the world can't say that. I have an abundance of clothing filling my closet. My children are well. Many families cannot claim that this year. They will be sitting in the hospital with their sick babies. My family owns two cars - what percentage of people in the world can say that? This country that we live in can claim the one of highest percentage of wealth in the world. Sadly, even those who fall below the poverty line in our country can claim they have greater wealth that some people in other nations. I am not making light of those who are in poverty in our country, just trying to shed light for those of us who don't.

Perspective!! We all need perspective as we enter into the holiday season. I would argue that it needs to be carried over into the Christmas season when materialism is rampant. We are in need of nothing and for that, we should be praising God.

Enjoy the football games. Enjoy the parades this year. Enjoy the huge feast with your family. Enjoy the long nap when you're finished. But please, whatever you do, give more thanks and praise to God this year than just the family meal prayer. He's provided much for you and your family this year. Besides, His holiness demands more than the token prayer before everyone dives in.

What are some ways that you and your children can focus on the way God has provided for you this year? My children and I have several traditions that we do each year that bring to light all our blessings. I will be sharing those later, as time allows. Please feel free to share with me. I am always looking for fun ideas to enhance this time of year and our celebrations.

Safe Eyes Internet Safety Filter

2010-09-30T11:09:00.001-05:00

I am going to write a review about the book where I found this filter. In the meantime, after reading one of the chapters and making a big deal about keeping your daughter's heart, I wanted to recommend this internet filter as well. The book is called Six Ways to Keep the Little in Your Girl by Dannah Gresh. I highly recommend this book to all moms with tween girls and those that are almost there. Even if you don't agree with everything that Dannah talks about, you will still glean wisdom from her words. Again, I will be writing a more thorough review of it in the weeks to come but I think it's necessary to get the words about getting a filter on your computer. My kids are not allowed on the computer for anything but typing practice and possible school research they may have. But even looking for pictures on the web for projects was becoming very scary and it was just ME looking for them. That is why I finally decided to get the filter. Oh, and there is a coupon code to get it at 20% off. Here is the link to the code: http://www.filterguide.com/safebrowse.htm

It Starts Young

2010-09-19T20:58:00.000-05:00

photo credit found at http://www.creative-preschool-activities.com/

I few days ago I posted about winning our daughters hearts. I am very passionate about it. So much so that I wish I had opportunities to take young mothers aside and talk with them about it. I am a frustrated Titus 2 woman in that way. I am quite a shy person. In some ways, I probably fight a bit of self-centeredness in that I don't break out of my shell. Often I am worried about how people will think about me and other such nonsense. To be truthful, I have begun to realize that these are the very things that I want to help my daughters work through as young girls. I desperately want them to not struggle with being people pleasers. I must fight my own tendency to people please so that I can model it for them.

When I was a young mom I joined a mother group at church centered specifically around preschoolers. It's a national group that has the goal of encouraging moms through the trenches of raising preschoolers. The basic premise of the group is that mom need to take care of herself so she can take care of her children. The idea still makes me cringe. At first I liked the group. I even sat on the steering committee for a while.

At the same time I was heavily involved in this mom's group, I was receiving message about mothering through some of the homeschool websites I was searching through. These message were quite different. It was basically about dying to my needs and living to meet the needs of my children. The fact is, however, these messages about dying to self for the sake of your children were coming directly from scripture. I couldn't honestly find much in God's Word to support the "take care of yourself first" model. In fact, I began to realize that the more I sought to take care of myself, the more discontent I became with being a mother. I didn't want to be with my kids as much. They were a bother to me. Goodness, I was taking care of myself so I could take care of them. They were in the way. I also began to notice that I wasn't the only one.

By God's Sovereign hand, I ended up in a position where I had to pull my children out of the mother's day out I have put them in so I could take care of myself. Oh the joy of bringing them home. It was awkward at first. But I soon began to find that I really did like having them around. It's taken years for me to truly learn how to die to self in taking care of them all. Truth be told, I am not very good at it. But I pray alot and seek the Father's grace in helping me do the rest that I fail so miserably at when attempted on my own.

So why the title "It Starts Young" and revisiting the idea of winning our daughters hearts. Because it starts early. If moms in this world are receiving messages that they need to look after number one so they can look after number two, that is exactly what they will do. They won't believe in Christ's words that we must die to self. Here are His own words to us.

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:38-39)

How can we justify seeking to take care of ourselves first when we're asked to lose our lives for His sake? Many would ask, "How is possible to do that? I get so tired by the end of my day." The answer:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

This is my favorite verse. If you ever send an email you will see it in the reply. If you look to the side bar of my blog, you will see it there. It is the very center of my blog. . .Living By Daily Grace.

The point I originally wanted to make is simply that winning the hearts of our daughters (or children for that matter) doesn't start when they reach the tween or ever teen stages. It starts from the womb. It start with the attitude in the heart of the mother toward her baby (or children in general.) Generation Cedar has a wonderful thought provoking post on this idea. It's rather sobering to read it. What we believe about children will effect how we raise them.

Being in the trenches shouldn't be about survival. How many times have we met moms just simply trying to survive their little "monsters" until they are ready for kindergarten when they can begin to live again? Oh those conversation break my heart. So many people send the message of survival. I think I probably have in the past but I am rethinking it. Being in the trenches is the hardest work any mom and dad will ever do BUT if they use that time to pursue the hearts of their children and build that relationship they will definitely reap what they have sown. It will be a beautiful relationship. But if a mom is encouraged to pursue her own needs first, she will miss it. It's my passion to help young moms avoid that and run after their children by lovingly embracing the call to lose their lives in order to find it.

Winning Your Daughters Heart

2010-09-17T17:05:00.001-05:00

I am very passionate about winning the hearts of my little girls before they reach a point where they have been deceived into thinking that I no longer matter in their lives. Notice I said deceived. I meant it as well. There is nothing a young girl needs more in her tween and teen years than her mother. Sadly, so many moms have decided that these years are to be survived and that the fight for the hearts of their girls isn't worth it. They leave the raising to the schools and often times the peers of their children. But this is the time to engage their hearts in meaningful conversation that is centered on the gospel and how it will be lived out in their lives. Will they waste these years or will they live them fully for the glory of God? And lest you think that tween and teen can live for the glory of God, I challenge to NOT to find example of this in scripture.

Think if David against Goliath.

Think of Daniel when we stood up boldly against taking the diet of the king. Daniel insisted, instead, on a diet that wouldn't defile his body and in the end he proved to be trustworthy. He did that while still a young man. This strength of character later led to him being able to defy the kings orders to bow to no one but the king. He continued to bow to God. This also found him face to face with a lion.

Think of Jesus in the temple. Is He not our most excellent example?

What about the boy with the fish and loaves?

What about Miriam as she followed after her baby brother and was able to bring him back to mom?

What of Joseph who as a young man served faithfully as a slave? His faithfulness eventually led to the salvation of his family int he midst of a famine.

What of Ester who was thrust into the roll of queen and whose action eventually saved the lives of all of God's people?

These are all young people in the Bible who made a significant impact on the course of history. Unlike most tweens and teens of our day, these young people showed a love for the Lord and was lived out in circumstances that were sometimes frightening and many times dangerous.

Are we winning the hearts of our children and leading them in this direction? Or are we allowing the culture to drive them? If it's culture that drives our children then they will likely have a focus on self. This focus on self will manifest itself in the worship of clothing, make up, teen idols, social media, ungoldy self-centered music, and an empty relationship with you. Instead of handing them over to this culture to be influenced and lead astray, become pro-active in winning their hearts. Be willing to say no, especially to social media too early. Teach them to learn to love letter writing. HA! OK, so maybe that is a bit too far back. But I admit, I don't allow email or cell phones for my young people because I do think it is a good discipline to know how to write a personal letter. Writing is a lost art anymore. There are even schools that are beginning to drop handwriting. So sad. Writing can bring such joy to our children, young and old. I digress.

Ladies, run after your girls. Do not let them get a taste for this culture. Certainly help them understand what is out there but don't let them taste it's deceptive delicacies. Equip them to engage the culture. But I believe it's possible to equip them to engage the culture without throwing them to the wolves in the process.

Perhaps I am naive. My oldest daughter is only now entering her tween years. I am crying out to God in so many ways right now. I may learn along the way that this stance is not realistic. I may learn that my daughter doesn't want me to have her heart. There is so much that can happen. But right now this is my belief and it is what I attempting to practice with my own children.

Your thoughts? Am I naive? Is it possible to keep the hearts of our daughters from this culture? For those of you with older girls. Any advice? I am all ears.

Parenting a Tween

2010-09-17T00:36:00.000-05:00

I feel as if I have been thrust quickly into the throws of parenting tweens and teens in the past few weeks. I have seen my precious little girl begin to say things and act in ways that are foreign to her personality and character. Regardless, this is my favorite season in life. While most moms and dads dread the teen years, I have been waiting for them and I am excited to walk this road with my daughter.

Regardless of my enthusiasm toward this time in her life, I have been very surprised by some of things that I have come out of her mouth recently. Surprised and concerned. Recently I heard her tell me she thought she was fat. WHAT?!!!! I had to think back to my our conversation and remember if I had ever said that about myself. I remember my mom talking about being fat all the time. She still does. She's not fat. She's an beautiful aging woman. She won't listen to me though. The culture has brainwashed her into believing that it all matters.

How did I not turn out like that? Well, my first admit that I do place an emphasis on the opinion of men and woman around me way too much. But I have begun to ground myself in the Word as I have grown in my adult years and so the truths about my worth and even my appearance have begun to take root. I had to face the truth of all this when I suffered some health problems that robbed me of my make-up. I looked like a monster for a good portion of my oldest daughters first year when I developed an allergic reaction to make-up I had been wearing for years. I was so insecure but it started to make me think about it. Through the years I have rested on one particular verse in Proverbs 31.

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. (v.30)

As I have wrestled with that verse and what I knew of this world's values, I have found that I can rest in it's truth. I am not so worried about my weight anymore. Mind you, I will not let myself go or anything. But that is more of a focus on my health as a means of glorifying God than it is vanity. Wrapped up in the little verse is a truth that I am constantly telling my girls. If you are spending more time in front of the mirror than you are in front of the Word of God (thus learning to fear Him) then your priorities are way out of place. That is what I live my life around.

Regardless of what I have preached to my daughter, the enemy has launched an all out attack on my daughter and her heart. She confessed to me tonight that she knows I am trying to win her heart and she just doesn't understand why she won't give it to me. I am seeking the Father to understand if there is something I am doing to push her away despite my efforts. I trust He will show me. But I also know that she's simply fighting and fighting hard. Sending her off to the university school for a couple of hours two days a week has exactly where God has her. But I do believe that some of these ideas and struggles are coming from that situation. She's exposed to friends that are allow certain "priveleges" that she is not. Many of her friends already have phones as well as have email and Facebook accounts. Really?!!!!

That idea blew me away! I got off Facebook for my sanity and to gain extra time for my family. I still wonder what purpose the social networking sites actually have. It's wasted time, in my opinion. I know that people use it to keep in touch with family and such. That is all well and good. But for the vast majority of people, it's not used that way. I am learning that teens are using it to abuse each other with cyber hate mail or simple gossip (as if gossip were that simple.) There are way too many provocative and suggestive pictures posted on others. At times, I wonder if some posts contained a secret language between two people. Many people say they are using it to further the gospel. Really? Is that why people keep posting all those personal pictures of themselves or kids? Does that really glorify God and yourself? This is not a world I ready to introduce to a child that is already self-centered in her very core.

I heart is crying to protect my daughter. I am trying not to tighten the reins too much but that is where my heart wants to go. She's just a little girl. When I was 11 yod, I wanted to still play with my dolls and be a little girl. I moved a suburb of Dallas when I in 5th grade. These girls were wearing make up. They were concerned about boys. They didn't play with dolls anymore. Once I got into 6th grade I realized that I ever wanted to fit in I was going to have to put all that stuff away. What I really wanted was for my mommy and daddy to take me back to a place that I knew as fun and innocent. We thrust our children so quickly into grown up situations. The problem is that we never teach them or equip them in how to respond Biblically in these situations. And the enemy is winning our children.

I don't want this for my daughter. I want to lead her to the cross so that she can find her security in Christ. She belongs to Him. She's a princess of the King of kings. A princess. Have you ever considered that? If you have been bought by the blood of Christ, you are His princess. That idea has impacted my life recently. A princess would be faithful to her father, obedient, trusting. Do I live my life like that toward Christ? Sadly, I act like someone that doesn't want to belong to the King. But I do. This is what I want for my daughter. She doesn't need fancy clothes, phones, social networking. if she's going to place her hope in those, she will be lost and miserable. But if she is courageous enough to follow Christ wholeheartedly even when it's a bit painful to do so, she will find her confidence lies ONLY IN HIM.

21 My son, do not lose sight of these—
keep sound wisdom and discretion,
22 and they will be life for your soul
and adornment for your neck.
23 Then you will walk on your way securely,
and your foot will not stumble.
24 If you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25 Do not be afraid of sudden terror
or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes,
26 for the Lord will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being caught.
(Proverbs 3:21-26)

I love this verse. As one who has fallen prey to the lies of the self-esteem movement, I found great comfort in knowing I know longer had to look to extrenals to find my confidence. God is my confidence. I still struggle as an adult at times not to worry about what others think of me. "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but those who trust in the Lord will be kept safe." (Proverbs 29:25) Ironically I learned that verse while seeing a counselor my first year of marriage. I continually have to remind myself not to make man's opinions into an idol. Unfortunately, I am going to through a major overhaul and reteaching from the Lord because much of my life had become about pleasing man rather than pleasing God.

I digress. I am writing this about my daughter. She's a beautiful young girl. I want her to know, however, that she is beautiful not just on the outside, but that it's the heart that really matters. Her beauty will eventually fade. Where will she be when that happens? If her hope lies in her looks, talents, friends, etc., she will be hopeless. But if her hope lies in Christ, she will be very rich indeed.

What about you? Are you raising a tween/teen girl in these volatile times? How are handling these years with her?

Repentence

2010-09-16T07:34:00.000-05:00

This really spoke to be today as I am being worked over by the Holy Spirit to recognize my sin for what it really is. . .offensive and hurtful to God. As well, my heart for our nation at it stands before has also been growing. I most loved the pray at the end.

Father, forgive me for having a greater concern for myself than for your glory. Forgive me for the hard places of my heart. Lord Jesus, forgive me for venting emotions which hinder others from seeing You in me. Break me where I need greater humbling. Deepen my love for you. Open my eyes to see the hurting around me with Your eyes. Flood my heart with Your compassion.

You can read more at True Woman - Repentance Starts with. . .Me!

Taking Charge of My Health

2010-09-07T22:08:00.000-05:00

Photo Credit

I am a bit of a health/nutrition/diet junkie. I love the topic. Sometimes I think I went into the wrong field until I realize that being a mom is the perfect line of work for learning about the body, how it works, what will feed it, and what will keep it healthy. I have been living a life that is very active in my own health care for over 7 years now. Unfortunately, I had grown an unhealthy distrust of doctors in the process. In my mind, they had become too narrow-minded and unwilling to think outside the box. Imagine the humbling I have gone through as I have dealt with the issues around my arm.

I spent weeks trying to find a solution with my chiropractor. This was an effort to avoid the doctors office. It worked out well because it gave Underdog some time to meet our new family doctor. He's great and fairly willing to think outside the box. After several weeks and going no where with my chiropractor, I made an appointment with my GP. It took him all but 10 minutes to determine that he couldn't help me. He was nice enough about it and I appreciate his willingness to admit he couldn't help. So he referred me to neurologist. Things started going down hill for me there.

First of all, I didn't get to the see the great doctor he referred me to. They stuck with the next available doctor. Now, my neurologist is a nice and friendly lady. She's run all the appropriate tests and helped me understand that there is a chance they may find nothing wrong. All my muscles and nerves are strong. There is no sign of MS or anything else neurological that she can see on the surface. She's run my blood work, which came back nearly perfect (just still have a slight case of anemia.) She ran me through a test that shocked my arm and poked my muscles and all looks great. In the meantime, my arms seems to go in and out of being great and not so great. I told her that at my last appointment. I could almost tell you for certain that the good and bad go along with food that I eat but I haven't had time to slow down and see what food is causing it. In the end, she decided that she wanted to see me back in one month and send me for an MRI.

So now we come to the phone call today. The imaging office called to make the appointment. She got me set up and then had to ask a series of questions. Most of the answers were "no" until she got to the one that usually applies to me: "Are you pregnant or nursing?" Since I am quite proud of the fact that I overcame my inability to breastfeed I proudly said "yes." She proceeded to give me instructions.

"The order from the doctor is for you to have the contrast so it's important that you have enough expressed milk to feed the baby for two days. After the MRI, it will be important for you to pump and dumb your milk."

Umm. . . . . . .

Talk about being taken back. This was NEVER explained to me. That would be mistake number 1 that my doctor made. As someone who is highly involved in the healthcare of my family, she should have taken time to talk me through this test. It's very clear in my chart that I am nursing. Why ask the question to be in the chart if you aren't going to apply it when treating patients? She should have known and been able to talk me through all of this. She would have found out that I don't OWN a breast pump. She would have KNOWN that I breastfeed EXCLUSIVELY and give NO BOTTLES. I have always done this. I see no need to bog myself down with pumping when I am available to nurse and this time really only lasts a little over a year. Underdog agrees with me.

I told the lady on the phone that I needed to just cancel the appointment until I could work things out with my doctor. She offered to contact her for me and see if she can send a re-order. She was very nice and very patient with my concerns in all this. It took a little while for the doctor to call her back but she did. Let's just say plainly. . .I AM NOT HAPPY.

The new order is that I can take the MRI without the contrast. Great. BUT if the contract is needed I will HAVE to go back for another one with contrast. Excuse me? That sounded like a a threat in some ways. Now, I don't know if it was a threat but it was the straw that broke the camels back in my book. How useless it will be for me to go do an MRI that may or may not work and possibly end up right back where I am at. My baby's health is very important to me. I will not put it on the line for procedures that I am not so certain I need in the first place. So, I will be calling my doctor's office tomorrow to let them know that I am opting out of the MRI. I know that won't go over well as I am supposed to go back in one month to go over the results. But I just can't do it. She's even leaning more toward the side that there is nothing wrong with me. So I am going to err of that side of it and not put myself through a procedure that isn't necessary and could potential harm my little girl.

This is why I distrust doctors so much. For one thing, they don't consider the ramifications of their orders. My case is not life threatening. I am smart enough to know that if something more serious were going on then I need to go through all this. But it's not. And I think that sometimes doctors don't consider that their actions will have an effect on the lives of their patients. Secondly, I think it's irresponsible not to really talk to a patient about what is expected before giving the orders. She did ask me if I have questions but how was I supposed to know what all this entailed? The last MRI I had I just laid there with my eyes closed for 30 minutes. I think I took a nap. LOL!!! So, once again, my experiences with doctors proves out my ideas and thoughts they are simply stuck in a box. So I am back to square one: self-diagnoses. Underdog is behind me in all this and I am thankful for that. I am also very thankful that this things has proven to be really nothing at all. It's been a sanctifying time for me and I am most thankful for that.

Adventures in Potty Training

2010-09-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

I love this story. Our copy was ruined several years ago when someone was "reading" on the potty and it fell in the bathtub full of water. It's such a cute story of a little princess who won't use the potty. Finally, she's given some special bloomers under her dress and realizes that if she doesn't find a potty. . .Uh Oh. My favorite part is giving special voices to the characters. We have a good time with this book.

As you can probably guess, it's time for another round of potty training with the Underdog Pups. Pinky Poo is only 22 mos but has been showing some signs of being ready to potty train. What are the signs of potty readiness? Here are a few that I read years ago that stuck with me:

1. Waking up dry from a nap or having extended dry periods.

2. Doesn't like dirty hands.

3. Undressing themselves or taking diaper off.

4. Tell us that they need to use the potty and/or are ready to use the potty.

5. Disappearing to "hide" to use the potty.

These are at least the signs I typically look for with small children. So far, they've proven to be mostly true with my kids but at different times. I think potty training has been quite easy in our home. My oldest daughter was the hardest to train but she didn't like to poo on the potty. It took a little longer with her. ALL of my boys have waited until they were 3 yod to tell me they were ready to use the potty. My typical answer to that was "Go for It." I really didn't do alot to train them. We put on underwear and if they got wet with an accident we changed. Going #2 followed quickly behind. After about 4 months, they were all trained except for night training.

My 2nd daughter announced to me after her 2nd birthday that she wanted to use the potty. . .and she did. She did all of it and went straight into wearing panties. That is, until about 1 month before Pee Pooh was born. She decided that diapers were more fun and wanted to go back. Grrrrr!!! I didn't say anything but just put her back in them. A few months after he was born she wanted to go back to panties. She struggled to night train but did eventually outgrow her struggles with that.

Now we're to daughter #3. She's been showing a few signs and I didn't want to lose that window of opportunity so a few weeks ago I put her on the potty just see what would happen. She pottied! She's only 22 mos but she knew enough to simply make herself go on the potty. This morning I caught her poopin' in her diaper. I stopped her and asked if she want to go sit on the potty. She said "yes" and headed for the potty. I got the mess in her diaper cleaned up and put her on the potty. She finished!! It was amazing. In our house, the first few times to poo on the potty is rewarded with an organic lollipop. WooHoo!!! I have no illusions that she's fully potty trained. She can barely talk to me so she can't always tell me coherently when she needs to sit on the potty. But we'll keep work on it.

I typically tell moms who ask me how and when to potty train their kids that I don't potty train. I really do wait until they tell me they are ready. It only takes a small amount of time if they really are ready. All the people who work so hard to train their kids in 3 days work really hard to get it done. I don't like the stress of it all though. Now, that doesn't mean I don't do anything. For instance, with Pinky Poo we've been practicing to sit on the potty. The fact that she used the potty was a fluke to me. But really. I think that working yourself ragged to get a kid ready for the potty is really a waste of time. They are all different as seen with my kids. Don't try to make your child potty train like his friend in playgroup of Sunday school class. Just because your best friend started early doesn't mean you have to. I would not have put Pinky Poo on the potty so early is not for the fact that she's started undressing herself at every chance and asking for her hands to be wiped off in the middle of a meal. So relax. Yes, diapers are not fun and can be expensive. But don't try to move beyond the physical and emotion abilities of your child simply to save a buck. Enjoy these years, even the diapers. They will be gone before you know it.

Three Things Mrs. Underdog Style

2010-09-01T14:56:00.000-05:00

1) My 3 yod keeps bringing me "food" to eat. I love this stage. I love that he and Pink have rediscovered the kitchen cabinet and dishes. I love that they are pretending with their food. It actually motivates me to want to get the felt food made that I had planned to make over the summer. Pink has a birthday coming up in November so that might be a great gift to give her. maybe I'll have one of her sister make it for her for her birthday.

2) I joined the "30 Days of Excellent in Every way!" yesterday. It's being hosted by a friend of mine and it's simply a way of helping us moms remember to encourage and lift up our children. How cool is that!! We get an opportunity to speak truth and love in to the lives of children. Don't forget to speak the truth of gospel. Nothing is more encouraging than knowing that your deserve death but because of Christ you don't get it. This should be an integral part of the speech we speak to our children daily.

3) My 5 yod was supposed to doing his R&R today. R&R stands for "Reading & Rest". It's a 45 minutes period of our day when my littles that don't nap spend time resting. It's not perfect right now. My whole day is a work in progress. But this day, he was supposed to be doing it. Instead he decided that he needed to get a workboard that I use in school and use a dry erase on my brand new bedspread. Notice the BRAND NEW. You guessed it!! He got market on my spread. This marker doesn't come out of material. I know because I accidently marked on an orange shirt with his green marker. I was mad but I didn't lose it. Underdog and I got the spread off the bed and sprayed it with strain removal. Hope springs eternal. I told PeePooh as I went downstairs that he would be disciplined. But I had to think about it. Was I mad that he stained my bed spread? Yes. But I didn't want to discipline over that. He's much more important than a silly bedspread. The reality of this is that he didn't obey me. That is sin I addressed today. It wasn't a sin to strain the bedspread. He was disciplined for going his own way instead of obeying mommy and resting. I am thankful for the grace from God to recognize that I was about to discipline over something foolish and instead turn to his heart with the conviction of sin. Praise God for baby steps!

Adios Amigos!!

2010-09-01T00:20:00.000-05:00

I finally did it. I deactivated my account with facebook. As I was praying tonight and confessing my struggles with staying off of it, I realized that if I loved Jesus, I would shut it down. To be honest, I was a little scared to do it. I have friends that I keep in touch with through FB. I get to see pictures of my niece. I had even reconnected with several of my cousins that I see maybe once a year. I saved several email addresses of those I wanted to keep in touch with as well as saved a few blog sites. But I am done. Now what? There will be the initial withdrawal and the temptation to reactivate. I have gone through all this before. I just need to readjust how I spent my time. My next venture will be my blogs. I think I have whittled those down as far as I need to though. I put them in categories on google reader so all I have to do is close the folder down and I won't be able to see them unless I am want to. This should allow me to read them when I want.

Food is my Enemy

2010-08-31T22:45:00.003-05:00

I was telling a friend one day that I thought the issues with my arm were related to food. Her response to me was that I am more than food. I am still mulling it over as I am not sure what she meant. Of course I am more than food. I suppose I felt, once again, like someone was basically telling me that I was crazy for thinking that food could cause my health problems. And I think what is so frustrating is that is simply the story of my life.

I have always had issues with food but we didn't know it while I was growing up. My first experience with food as a problem came in college when I started having some serious headaches. I went to see a chiropractor but that didn't help like it had in the past. He told me simply to stop eating sugar, so I did. Wallah!! No more headaches. But that didn't last long but headaches never really came back like they had been. I guess I had been off the sugar long enough to make a difference.

When I was first married I ended up in the hospital with what we thought was appendicitis. They diagnosed me with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome.) They gave me some generic information but offered no hope for cure. I tried to follow their ideas but didn't fully understand what I was dealing with. I had never heard of IBS. It obviously wasn't life threatening or they would not have just sent me home. Not sure what happened after that. I guess I just moved on with life and kept living as I was.

The first sign of issues came after I had JB. My right eye swelled up like I had been hit with a baseball. I thought at first is was pink eye. Antibiotics didn't help. Finally went to see a specialist. He started telling me that my right eye was pushed out a bit in the socket and that could be a sign of brain cancer. Um, I had a newborn and a very weak walk with Christ at the time. Not a good combination. I eventually ended up with another specialist. He did a biopsy on my right lachrymal gland and found nothing but scar tissue in there. He put me on steriods to bring down the inflammation (and increase the size of my hind parts in the process - don't get me started on Prednisone.) Some of the swelling went down but it still remained. I had tried everything. I stopped wearing most of my make up. I stopped cleansing my face. I wouldn't put anything on my eye. Nothing helped. Finally, In a last ditch effort I remembered that I will still using a bit of my Mary Kay base make up. I stopped using it. It took 3 days for the swelling to completely disappear.

It was about this time I began to pray about feeding my family healthy foods. I had a new baby and was suddenly very interested in health living and especially healthy foods. I found a book that jump started my journey into whole foods and I began to apply some of the things I was learning. I eventually hired a dietitian who specialized in whole foods to help me out. She introduced me to a product called Juice Plus. I loved taking that stuff but it grew to be too expensive. It probably saved my life though. My dietitian and I suspect that it was actually what caused my appendix to have so much scar tissue on it. The dr that removed that when I was 14 weeks pregnant with my 3rd baby told me he'd never seen so much scar tissue on a appendix. What was happening is that I would start to feel sick and just take a gob of Juice Plus to fight off what I thought might be a cold or infection. It was but it was more internal than I realized.

That turned out not to be a good pregnancy. I lost blood with that surgery and ended up with horrible anemia. I was very stressed out because Underdog was unemployed. My labor and delivery didn't go well and so I ended up in the hospital having the baby (was attempting a home birth.) They put me and her on a ton of antibiotics as well. That was pretty much the straw that broke the camels back. One month after she was born she broke out with horrible thrush - Candida. Several days later I developed the most horrible pains in my breasts when she would nurse - Candida in the milk ducts. Now, I will never understand how a mom can get Candida deep in her milk ducts but not have systemic Candida. I was told it wasn't possible that only people with a suppressed immune system (like those w/ HIV or cancers) could have systemic Candida. Please, someone, explain that to me. I was beginning to have it all over and there was nothing the drs could or would do to help me. I begin to suffer from anaphylaxic reactions to food I had eaten for years. I later learned a concept called leaky gut and I figured that is what I had. It was scary though. I didn't know what food would send me to the ER and possible shock. I literally stopped eating for a while. I lost all my baby weight plus some. My 3rd child is not a strong healthy kid like the rest are and I believe it's because of her first year with me. I wasn't healthy and I didn't offer her much of it either.

A year after she was born I was introduced to a woman who uses Electrodermal Screening to diagnose health issues. What she found was a body ravaged with Candida. She was able to tell me the foods that I was sensitive AND allergic to as well. She started me on several bottles of a homoepathic remedies. It took a few months but by May of 2004, I was on the mend and feeling better than I had when I had my first baby. It was awesome.

Unfortunately, the lifestyle that lead to that healing didn't stick. And I would venture say that it's contributing to many of the problems I am having now. That is why I say it's food related. And I suppose, a bit put off by my friends response to me. It is VERY hard to maintain the type of diet it takes to keep Candida and other health issues at bay. For those that don't have a body that has turned on itself and attacked (which is essentially what an allergy is, especially a severe allergy) they often don't get the whole food thing. But I have walked the road of feeling energetic and well. I do know what that feels like. And being in the state I am in right now, stinks. But what I don't need is people giving the implication that some how I am crazy for thinking it might be food related.

Some people struggle with weight issues. Other people struggle with internal sin struggles. These God uses to sanctify and pure our lives. Food is my issue. That is why the comment bothered me so much. I know my friend doesn't understand that. She doesn't deal with food issues like I do. As a family, they can eat anything they want to eat and be just fine. Not so for my family. My youngest son suffers from pain eczema that is food related but I don't have the money to investigate the causes. My 2nd daughter has allergies to nuts so we have to read food labels everywhere we go. I am allergic to flax seeds so have missed out on the health benefits they hold. All of my children get terrible allergies after eating certain types of food products with wheat in them. Out comes the benedryl when that happens. My 5 yod gets almost a high when he eat anything with food dye in it. he also throws up anything that has food dye in it. His little body can handle the fact that it isn't food. But for people that don't struggle with these things, it's just crazy and madness.

I am sure that I sound just so stupid and crazy. Food and it's effects on the body fascinate me. I am very much in to the Real Food movement right now. I love eating farm fresh eggs and pastured meat. I can tell the difference in taste. I can tell a difference in water as well. Sad that others can't because there is some really good and some really bad water out of there.

Ultimately, I see my experiences with food as a mean to grow with and in the Lord. I have wondered if the comment was meant to tell me to just relax and trust God with all this. Surely, I do want to trust God but I don't think it meant to just throw off all restraint and put anything in my body trust God to keep me safe and healthy. Is that really good stewardship? I think that is the key. I believe that it is good stewardship to know what I am putting in my body and being aware of how it effects me. I can't take Benedryl without it causing mood swings. When I have mood swings I sin against the people that I love most because I become snappy and rude toward them. Now, I know that something causes me to be out of control and sin against people, why would I put it in my mouth? And that is the same issue I am having with food. The struggle is finding just what exactly is causing the problem and be able to get rid of it. It cost money to do that right now and I don't have that luxury.

Although I was frustrated with my friends comment, the reality is that this is God's Sovereign will for my life right now. He's using all this to teach me to trust Him. To trust His timing. To trust His wisdom. To trust His healing some day. I am certainly not all about food but, oh the lessons I have learned through food. and it's been a long hard road. I am thankful for His sanctification through all this. I am thankful for the places that God has brought me from. I would not handle the issues with my shoulder and arm if not for the fact that I have walked down other difficult roads. God's grace is truly amazing and completely undeserved. So amazing.

That is my journal entry for today. Not sure it made sense or not. I can't feel my left arm now so I need to go take some advil and go to bed.

God Chose Me

2010-08-28T21:47:00.001-05:00

Homemaking Link Up!!

I'd like to introduce you to my son. This is PeePooh. He got this name because he used to have exceptionally droopy draws. I used to call him Droopy. For some reason, the Pee of that name stuck and I added Pooh to it.

PeePooh is my true middle child. And like many middle children, he gets kind of lost in fray at times. That has happened alot since his baby sister was born. But I've had my eye on him though. You see, there is something about this boy that has captured my heart. Now I love all my children. I love them all equally. I can't tell you specifically what has caused him to capture so much of my heart, but he has.

Perhaps it's his spaciness. Perhaps it's his hyperactivity. Perhaps it's his inability to sit still for longer than 3 seconds. He struggles. Daddy has a hard time understanding him. He's impulsive, loud, obnoxious, and hard to get along with. But I love him so. My heart breaks every time I see him hurting in some way. I want to protect him as much as possible without crippling him. Nothing make me more angry that to see other children ignore him when he's trying to interact with them. When I think and see the struggles he and daddy have, I cry over it. Don't get me wrong, Underdog really does try. There is just something that makes him a hard one for Underdog. I think every parents has one of those.

PeePooh has absolutely no problem following his sin nature wherever it may lead him. And he doesn't have a problem telling you that he doesn't want to do work and that he hates it. This part Wednesday started out no different. The boy's laundry had not been folded the previous day so I thought we'd just go ahead and knock it out quickly in the morning. That did not sit well with him and he made the biggest mistake of his short 5 yod life. When I asked him to sort the laundry into certain piles, he threw and tantrum and said "I ALWAYS have to do ALL the work." Uh Oh!! He used to very bad words. . .always and all. Rather than the typical discipline for throwing a tantrum, I went on to remind him that although it's not true that he has ALL the work and ALWAYS has to do. . .except TODAY. Let's just say that I go alot accomplished on that day. And since that day, we haven't had as much complaining.

I took him to Walmart with me today. He got to pick up a special spiral and was there to help me pick out new comforters for Bronco room that I am working to create. He helped me load my cart with all the things I needed. And he spent a good portion of his time "suggesting" all sorts of things I needed to purchase that I didn't have.

As we were getting in the car I looked in and he was in the backseat standing on his head. Most people would be impatient with that. I have been in the past. This time, though, I felt love. It made me smile. And the Spirit spoke to me. There is no one else in the world that would have had the patience that little boys needs. I was created just so he would have someone on his side. Most kids like him would be labeled. Not my boy. He's just a little boy that needs someone to see his good sides because it's often the bad sides that's seen most clearly. He needs someone to cheer him on when no one else will. He needs someone who will gently remind him that we don't yell at people when we aren't getting our way. And with that reminder, I lifted my head a little higher with the realization that this special little boy is mine. God saw him as so special he gave ME to him. He needed to be protected and God chose me!

How about you? Do you have a child that you know in your heart only YOU could mother as they need? Consider the implications of that. ALL of our children are like that. It's not just the difficult ones that have been given to us. All of our children have very specific needs that only we, as their mothers, can meet. Are we treasuring them as the gifts that they are?

Give Away at Raising Homemakers

2010-08-25T07:20:00.000-05:00

There is a give away for The Girlhood Home Companion over at Raising Homemakers. Remembrance Press is giving away a bundle of the magazine. I love this magazine and have been wanting to get a subscription for JB to read. But it's not just for girls. The pictures are beautiful and articles very relevant to even the seasoned homemakers. Check it out and enter their contest.

Blogging as a Journal

2010-08-24T22:25:00.000-05:00

I can't remember what blog I was on where I read that the owners purpose for blogging started simply as a means of keeping a journal. I thought that was a rather brilliant idea. Duh!!!

I have a tendency to be a people pleaser. I come by it naturally as I watched (still watch) my mom attempt to be a people pleaser as well. I don't think I am as bad as she is though. In her mind, the choices that I have made in life are terribly rebellious. I am still trying to figure out how getting married, having a family (albeit a little larger than average), and homeschooling (still school just not traditional) is rebellious against her. I am learning to love my mom despite our differences. It's a sin I am praying God will walk me through so that I can just at peace with her and accept that she doesn't accept me as I am.

So back to the people pleaser thing. When I was growing up I dreamed of being part of the popular crowd. I don't know if other high schools were like mine but there was, of course, the cast system. There were the popular cheerleaders and football players. There were other groups as well. Girl athletes, band members, drama team, loser, FFA people (they had a name but I can't remember off the top of my head.) Then you had the vast majority of us in the lonely group of nobody. That was me. But, like many teens, I would see teen movies and teen shows and long to be like Brenda Walsh, Donna Martin, and Kelly Taylors of "Beverly Hills 902010". I never watched that show much but I knew of the characters and I wanted to be like them.

Popularity at school was really never an option. I was a good church girl and I had standards. I didn't realize at the time that that was a deterrent to any popularity I might have. I loved going to church though. Singing in the choir and hanging out with my friends. There was, of course, a cast system in my youth group. Looking back, it was BAD. And my youth leaders pushed it (probably without even realizing it.) There wasn't any outright rejection of kids but it was obvious to me and my best friend that some of the youth leaders favored some kids over others.

At one point, I found myself as part of the crowd that was worthy of acceptance. I was hanging out with the fun and popular people at church. I am not sure whatever happened but I found out one day that this group of friends had been doing things without me. Once I confronted some of them about it, that was it. I was NOTHING. They stopped talking to me all together and rumors started flying. I think the pain that of rejection still lingers in my heart to this day. There is nothing worse than being rejected. . .except not knowing WHY you've been rejected. This experience has informed alot of my views of youth groups as well. It's certainly not the driving force but it is the catalyst that set me off to considering their value for kids in general.

So what does all this have to do with being a people pleaser? Well, I have simply never outgrown my desire to be popular. I don't know what it is but I just really want to be known and loved by everybody. God continues to tell me NO but I keep pursuing it. And I think that is where my blog has gone wrong. I was blogging to the possibility of people being impressed with what I wrote. I wanted them to be WOWWED by ME. Oh how simply self-centered I am. Nothing I do should ever be about me. It should all be to bring God utmost glory.

So here, today, I find myself making attempts to walk away from my desire to be well known and popular. It's time to lay down my life for others. It's time to simply live and allow God to use me where He needs me. It's time to leave behind the juvenile desires for popularity and grow up. I don't want to be a man pleaser. I want to be a God pleaser. It is not my desire to be like this world.

So that is journal entry #1. My heart craves to know Jesus more and more. Where to begin? I am not sure. But today I scaled back my goolge reader to just a few blogs. My FB time has decreased significantly. I am really only posting links and a few comments here and there. I find nothing to be fulfilling anymore. So I am going to turn to the only source of fulfillment I know to go to. . .Jesus, my Savior. Baby steps.

Changes Come Way Too Fast Sometimes

2010-08-23T21:10:00.000-05:00

Our Version of the "School" Bus

I put up a post a few weeks ago describing our 2010-2011 curriculum. Well, scratch that. LOL!!! After about 2 weeks I had a mutiny on my hands. Ok, so it wasn't that bad, but after the upheaval that has taken place in the past 3 weeks, it feels a bit like mutiny.

My sweet little JB really struggles with concentrating with everyone around her making noise. That is a problem considering we are a large family with littles one running around. So I was growing a bit frustrated with her lack of concentration after only a week of school. It was taking her forever to get school done.

In the meantime, I had received an email from a friend who started a university school with her husband. The email was regarding some of the different elective they offer on Mondays. I noticed that they had a Spanish class taught by another great friend of mine. We decided that might be kind of fun for the kids.

The further I got into the website of this university school, the more intrigued I became. I noticed the price was totally doable for one child. I began to wonder if perhaps we could enroll JB in just the Language Arts class since that is the one area that I struggle most to teach and teach effectively. So I approached Underdog about the idea and he liked it.

To make a long story a bit shorter, JB started "school" last Tuesday for the first time. She's only taking their Language Arts and History class because they are somewhat connected. This school follows Tapestry of grace (I fave!!!) so I knew that parts of the Language Arts would be centered around some of their work in TOG. Besides, I am also knew both the Language Arts and history teachers fairly well. These are two great ladies that I totally trust with my girl. So, she's going to school.

What I love about our school is that the headmaster considers this a partnership with parents. They aren't out to take the kids. They want to work with parents to help them on this journey. He and his wife (my friend who sent me the original email) also homeschool their children (or they did, HA!!) They understand the in's and out's of homeschooling AND adjusting to a school setting. And they been so helpful in making this transition work for us.

So we got JB set and realized that BroncoFan was also missing a few things. He didn't like his history AT ALL. He's my history buff. I thought for sure he could take the textbook and just build on what he was reading. I suppose it was just simply too dry and stifling to him. He finally begged me to pull TOG back out and offered to plan it for me so I didn't have to do the work. I knew then that we had a problem.

Fortunately, we had a homeschool book fair taking place the weekend following all this. I knew that Language Arts was an area he was going to be seriously missing. He wasn't old enough to attend with JB without making life very complicated so we decided to keep him home. We both agreed that it was probably best to get some help for me in the area of Language Arts so we went to the fair to look. We settled on BJU Press English 5 through video streaming. We got all the information we needed to get our personal site set up. It looks like lots of fun. He's very excited. I am a bit nervous as it requires a bit more time of me than I thought. But I think we can make it work.

BroncosFan did get his TOG pulled off the shelf. We're doing the same year that JB is working on at school - year 1. They can stay together on alot of things and share the books. JB is doing dialectic and BroncoFan is doing mostly Upper Grammar. Those were the books I had at home so I decided that is what we're going to do! He is using some of JB books but only when she's home.

I spent my day yesterday getting an assignment notebook put together for BroncoFan so that his school runs fairly smoothly without much daily direction from mom. We still have meetings to go over his work for the day and make sure he didn't have questions. He pretty autonomous and likes it that way.

This week I am finishing up getting JB adjusted to her work and setting up her assignment notebooks so she can keep track of my assignments at home and her assignments at school. The work has been lighter at the beginning but I expect things to pick up in the next few weeks. In fact, I am gearing up for her to hit a wall pretty soon. Tapestry calls it the "4 Week Fog" for teachers. I expect her to do the same thing with her new situation. But we'll help her move through it and then I expect it will be smooth sailing from there.

My next task is get my middles set up with assignment notebooks as well as get us all on a good daily/weekly schedule with chore cards. We're having some issues with getting our chores done all the way, right away, and with happy hearts. I am going after that very soon though. We're of at the end of that initial adjustment period after a new baby. It's time to get our new normal set in place and begin living in peace again. I am praying alot these days for wisdom.

Construction

2010-08-18T16:01:00.000-05:00

"We must meet the uncertainties of this world with the
certainty of the world to come." A.W. Tozer

One thing about driving around town that many face is road construction. We can be happily driving along when we suddenly see the orange cones or caution signs warning us that traffic is slowing down and we must be careful. And we can encounter just about anything. There may simply be lanes closed down for a period of time. There might be major detours. Sometimes there are even full closures. These are quite irritating but eventually, we find our way back to where we were headed. And they serve a purpose: to make our roads safer to drive on. It's for our own good.

As simple as it may sound, road construction can be a metaphor for our lives. We can be happily gliding along when we run into these caution signs and orange cones. Often there is no warning though.

For many years of my life, I didn't handle these changes and detours well. I did fairly well with the changes I could prepare for, such as a new baby or a shift in daily living. But if something happened abruptly, I usually took a beating in my faith. Even the changes I was "prepared" for didn't often go so well. I questioned God alot. Had I done something to cause this? Is God angry with me? It never occurred to me that perhaps He was allowing certain things in my life to grow and sanctify me.

My family has been experiencing several detours right now. It seems that everywhere we turn we're running into road blocks, lane changes, and at times complete street closures. How we respond to these says alot about who we believe God is though? And I no longer question what God is doing. I am growing. I am becoming more like Christ. He suffered intensely, nothing like the silly detours I am asked to take. He suffered unto death so that I wouldn't have to.

I take great comfort in the following passage.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.. . . For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrew 12:7-8,11)

It is for discipline that I endure that I experience these detours and road blocks in life. All to be trained in righteousness. And the greatest comfort is that He is treating me as His princess. He is King. I am His daughter. He loves me and is growing me up into the image of His Son. And in the midst I see the greatest cause for celebration. Christ shed His blood so that I wouldn't have to. I see that reflected in one of my favorite hymns, "It Is Well". Enjoy!!

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Our 2010-2011 Curriculum

2010-08-02T21:40:00.000-05:00

Many moms are posting about their curriculum this year and so I thought I would jump in. It's been mentioned before that we've made a switch to using textbooks. I didn't realize until we started last week that it's not fully textbooks that I had originally planned. Nonetheless, it's turned out to the be perfect for us.

This is all that we're using for my children from age 5 to 11 yod.

11 yod

Bible - Rod & Staff 5th grade
Math - Math U See Gamma & Delta (we're behind just a little bit here)
Grammar - Rod & Staff 6th
Spelling - Rod & Staff 6th
Handwriting - Spencerian
History - Rod & Staff 7th grade
Science - Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy**
Art - Artpac 6 (Rod & Staff)

**JB is using the Notebooking Journal the Jennie Fullbright designed to go with the Astronomy book this year. I love it because it tells her exactly what to do each week and breaks the chapters in to two weeks just as she requested. It saved me a tone of time trying to plan and give assignments.

9 yod

Bible - Rod & Staff 5th grade

Math - Math U See Delta (we're behind just a little bit here)

Grammar - Rod & Staff 4th

Spelling - Rod & Staff 5th

Handwriting - A Reason for Handwriting E

History - Rod & Staff 5th (Fall) & 6th (Spring)***

Science - Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 3 & Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Biology***

Art - Artpac 5

***BroncoFan is my overachiever. I use that word in a nice homeschool since. He loves to learn and usually does alot of it on his own. He wanted to speed through the history and science this year.

Before I move on, I should explain that although we are using textbooks, I could not bring myself to assign the chapter questions and such with these books. I didn't even do that when I was a teacher. At least it was rare. I require them to read the section of their chapter and do a notebooking page (or two) each week. They are required to answer the geography section at the end of the chapter as well as a few review questions in their science. Besides that, I trust that what they read, they retain what they need. It will all come back around again at a time when they will be able to retain more and do more advanced studies.

7 yod

Bible - this comes through her reading assignment in Rod & Staff
Phonics - Rod & Staff 1st & 2nd
Math - Math U See Beta (my math whiz)
Grammar - Abeka 2nd Grammar
Spelling - Rod & Staff 2nd
Handwriting - A Reason for Handwriting Book B
History - Abeka 2nd Social Studies
Science - Apologia Exploring Creation with Botany (w/ mom)
Art - Artpac 2nd

Schmoo got a late start in the reading/phonics department. We've all been OK with that because she wasn't ready. She's reading so well right now that we double up assignments with her phonics in order to thoroughly introduce a concept but not to linger. She's picking it up quickly.

5 yod

Bible - this comes through the reading assignment in Rod & Staff 1st

Phonics - Rod & Staff 1st

Math - Math U See Primer & Alpha

Grammar - Abeka 1st Grammar

Handwriting - A Reason for Handwriting Book K

History - Abeka 1st Social Studies

Science - Apologia Exploring Creation with Botany (w/ mom)

Art - Artpac 1st

Pee-Pooh has been a bit reluctant to start this year. One minute he tells me he doesn't want to do school, next minute he's excited. Unlike I was with my 1st, I don't push. . .too hard. This morning he didn't want to do school but we did it anyway. I wrote some of the assignment for him. I think it's the writing he doesn't like. He's typical little boy and I respect that. It's important to both Underdog and I that he do something but I usually meet him in the middle. If he had a choice he'd do school standing on his head. I might just let him do it that way one day. We use the desks in our schoolroom but I am not a stickler.

I can already see a few areas that will change after this year. The textbook were a temporary solution to a problem. I want to bring Tapestry of Grace back for our family next year. I'll have more kids that will benefit from it. I will also have two that will be of age to discuss and go deeper. Their science will change next year as I move my two older kids into the upper level sciences that are offered out there.

For right now, this is working beautifully. The workboxes, which I'll discuss more in another post, are getting a slow start for the preschoolers. But things have been very messed up with mom's back bothering her and sick kids last week (the second day of school I might add.) I am going to do into more detail about my day with my preschoolers at another point. I want to actually have a good week of working with them before I post (which may never happen.) It's important to me that I try to guard their day as much as a family with older kids will allow. Plus, I am still working out a few kinks for them.

Alternatives to Wheat Flour

2010-07-27T20:32:00.000-05:00

photo from Nourishing Gourmet

I have begun to manifest symptoms of a sensitivity to wheat again. Periodically, when I have been feeding my body too much wheat, I will start to wake up achy. When I cut out wheat, I stop waking u achy. So today was day one. It has been really hard. Especially when I had two kids with a tummy bug and dad brought home a box of saltines to help settle the tummy. But I did it. I made it through the day without eating anything with wheat in it. But that didn't stop me from having a "bread" with dinner and a dessert afterward.

So what is the secret? COCONUT FLOUR

I found several recipes that substituted coconut flour for wheat. I made honey muffins and brownies. The honey muffins where very good. The brownies were alright. I think it was the cocoa that I used though. I think next time I will use chocolate powder instead of cocoa powder. Hopefully it will have a lighter flavor. Of course, it's also possible that I am looking to make brownies like I used to make from box. Does that tell you how long it's been since I made brownies? Anyway, I'll post the recipes below. I am having so much fun finding all these different alternatives to the foods that I love to eat. I used to be afraid of trying to things. Not anymore.

By the way, I found these recipes at www.tiana-coconut.com.

Honey Muffins

This is a basic coconut flour muffin recipe you can use to make a variety of muffins.

Ingredients

3 eggs
2 tablespoons TIANA Organic Virgin Coconut Oil or butter, melted
2 tablespoons TIANA coconut milk or whole milk
3 tablespoons honey
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup sifted TIANA Organic Coconut Flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder

Method
Blend together eggs, butter, coconut milk, honey, salt and vanilla. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and thoroughly mix into batter until there are no lumps. Pour batter into greased muffin cups. Bake at 205C (400F) for 15 minutes. Makes 6 muffins.

Brownies
Ingredients

1/3 cup TIANA Organic Virgin Coconut Oil or butter, melted
½ cup cocoa powder
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup sifted TIANA Organic Coconut Flour
1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Method
In a saucepan at low heat, blend together butter and cocoa powder. Remove from heat and let cool. In a bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir in cocoa mixture. Whisk coconut flour into batter until there are no lumps. Fold in nuts. Pour batter into a greased 11x7x2 or 8x8x2 inch pan. Bake at 175C (350F) for 30-35 minutes.

The Prodigal Daughter Returns

2010-07-27T12:09:00.000-05:00

I have sick kids today. It's only the second day of school. URGH!!! Being that I committed to allowing God to work all things in our life instead of griping and trying to control things, I am running with it. This is one of the reasons I have scheduled us for 4 days of intense work and one day of art, music, etc. We'll just make up what we can on Friday. My well kids are working through school so they will either get a day off on Friday OR if they end of sick, they won't fall behind either.

As I have been working, I have been thinking about a quote that I read yesterday by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Do you ever get tired of serving others? Maybe picking up after your kids has become a chore. Or maybe you’re caring for an elderly parent who doesn’t seem to appreciate it. Can I encourage you? You’re never more like Jesus than when you surrender your own rights and take the role of a servant.

It worked beautifully into living out what I wrote in another post under my "Don't Waste Your Life" category. It was called "Making the Most of Your Time". I challenged the reader to consider not just that being at home was enough. We must consider how we're using even our time at home. How much computer? How much TV? How much pleasure reading? Then this quote showed up and pierced me further.

I have been considering how I am not surrendering my own rights. I haven't liked what I am finding.

I am addicted to the computer. I LOVE to research different things I am learning. I have blogs that cover some of those things, particularly the real foods diet I am seeking to learn about to serve my family. I have a few blogs that encourage me as a wife and mom. And then there is Facebook. Underdog said last night that he no longer understands the point. I had to be honest, I have wondered that since I first signed up. What purpose does it serve? I know, I know. We can catch up with old friends. We can keep tabs of the latest happenings with our closer friends. Even family can keep up with each other. But I wonder if this has just become another means for the enemy to draw people away from each other. Whether it's a mom spending too much time checking FB or posting (ME!!!!) or simply people who are uncomfortable actually picking up a phone and making a phone call (ME!!!!!!), FB offers us excuses not to relate as human beings on a level that I believe the Creator intended for us.

People need intimacy with each other. FB offers a false intimacy. Even blogs can do that too.
This false intimacy makes me think that I know friends and all about them. Friends I haven't seen in nearly 20 years post about their children and their work andit some how it makes me think that I know them personally. It's easy to think I really know someone at church because of what they are posting on FB. I recently found out a friend of mine with the most upbeat posts is having a really hard time in a new life situation. But I have been content just reading her post than connecting with her through a phone call.

Another area of illusion in intimacy that certain aspects of the internet can mimic is our walk with Jesus. How many times I have posted links to challenging blogs or have clicked on other links and then felt "good" about myself or somehow felt convicted by what I read. I do this alot. And often I am too foolish to realize that I have spent more time being convicted by the words of human beings than by the very Word of God. These have created the illusion that just because I am convicted it means that I am knowing Jesus through them. FB, blogs, even some of the "Christian" books that I read had made it easy to think I am seeking the Lord and that I know Him. Sure, I can glean wisdom from certain aspects of each of these. But is this really intimacy with the Father? I once read somewhere that people think they have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about certain subjects simply by watching the evening news or reading news magazines. Just as the nightly news and news magazines offer us tidbits of information and give us the illusion that we know alot, FB, blogs, and Christian books create the illusion that we know the Father. But really there is only one way to truly know the Father. . .that is through the Son.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)

If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:7)

When we know the Word, we know the Son.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . .And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1,14)

As I have evaluated my own life, I have come to realize that I have felt an emptiness on my heart for a long time. For a while I blamed it on a bad attitude about being pregnant when I didn't want to be. Then I blamed it on being overwhelmed with a new baby. Recently it's been easy to blame it on not feeling well as I dealing with this pinched nerve in my back. The reality is that my priorities are off. . .WAY off. I am putting my time toward good things and the rest is going toward meaningless things. In the process, I have forgotten my Savior. I have forgotten what He has done for me. I have been missing His call to me to come to Him. And truth be told, I miss my Savior.

As I was folding laundry a while ago, I was praying for the courage to do what I don't want to do. It's time to get off Facebook completely. I have done it once before but went back when I was on bedrest and "bored" just lying around. It doesn't serve much of a purpose for me anymore though. It started as a means of passing time away. . .now it's become a means of wasting time. I have so much about homemaking that I want to learn right now. I feel so drawn to getting back to some of the old fashioned ways of keeping a home. I LOVE cooking from scratch but have found that I "forget" or get behind so I don't get to. Why? Often it's because I have been on FB or reading blogs. This definitely doesn't lend itself to making the most of my time NOR does it make much of Jesus.

I miss my Savior. I miss seeking Him wholeheartedly. I miss the joy that used to come with that. I miss the peace that passes all understanding as I walked along with Him. I am going home. The prodigal returns with a humble heart as she's realized and laments the time she's wasting pursuing something that in the end will only lead to death. And as I post this on Facebook I hope to cause others to think about this. I know it will probably be offensive. So be it. But I do challenge those reading to consider the WHY of Facebook. What purpose does this serve in our lives? And remember how we did actually survive without it 5, 10, and 20 years ago.

One final comment, I am not demonizing the computer or the internet (at least not in this post. HA!!!). Both can either be used for good or evil. I suppose the same can be said for Facebook. But if you have evaluated you life and found that Facebook is truly being used to glorify God and your time is being used to bring Him glory, then there is nothing to fear. But I have found that on a personal level, I am not doing this. I spend more time trying to glorify myself with my comments. Sometimes I fall into the sin of gossip as a share things about my children that might embarrass them if they knew I had posted it. I will be spending the next few days collecting emails and contact information for those friends that I know I want to keep track of. For those of you that I don't, it's been so nice catching up with you all. I pray God's grace in your life.

This weekend I be completely eliminating my account. At least I will attempt to do so. At the very least I'll be changing my password so that I don't have access to it. This doesn't often work as well because it's easy to retrieve it and change it. But I'll try what I can.

God Bless and thank you for reading.

Our "Pre"School Day

2010-07-23T22:28:00.001-05:00

Today is what we are calling our official first day of the new school year. I got the idea from reading Managers of Their Schools so this isn't original with me. I loved the concept and decided to make it work for our family. I began planning this in my head months ago. When I finally set a date for the start of school, my mind went to work.

Underdog gave me the weekend last week to get all my planning done for the year. Now, to be honest, I didn't fully finish it. Being new to the textbook realm as well as new to using a program for planning school, I didn't want to schedule all our work and then have to change everything if I messed up. So only some of our subjects are planned out for the full year. Others have only been given direction for six or 12 weeks. We also ended up making changes in a few areas so I had to figure out how to make those work with a day that is schedule more around textbooks. But I spent my weekend getting as much done as possible and felt such a weight off my shoulders.

The rest of the week was dedicated to getting school ready for my preschoolers. I have already discussed how I don't like to do preschool with my kids BUT they pretty much demanded it of me. I nearly had a mutiny on my hands this afternoon when my 3 yod thought we wasn't going to be included in our "school" day.

So what did I first day of school look like? I will have to use words because we were so busy today we forgot to the take pictures.

We got a late start to our day this morning and I was a bit flustered. I try to follow the ideas of Managers of Their Homes with the schedule BUT I have found I do much better with a routine type schedule than having it done hour by hour. The only part of our day that must stay in line with the time is the early morning. We weren't there though. It hit me later, however, that this was Friday. Once school gets started our Friday will be different so we don't have to be as strict with the morning schedule as we do the rest of the week. That helped me relaxed and I started having more fun.

JB is in charge of breakfast and this morning she came up with the greatest idea. It's based on a recipe that I got off 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray. The recipe is called "Green Eggs & Ham." JB decided it would be fun to take our sausage and fill up muffin tins with it. Then we added a small pat of butter and then cracked a whole egg on top of it all. Then we baked it for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. It was awesome. She's officially named her new breakfast "Sausage & Egg Muffins." Having the muffins bake for 15 minutes allowed us to get started with the next step in the day: cleaning.

Fridays are going to be our House Blessing days. I got the idea from Fly Lady (what little I used from her.) We simply dust, vacuum, and a few other odd jobs around the house. Everyone gets involved, including the toddlers. We had enough time to tag team the downstairs before breakfast was ready. We ate and then moved upstairs to finish. Now, normally I would be fully involved in the cleaning but I realized that I forgot to finish putting my books on hold with the library. So, my kids finished everything out and I got the books placed on hold. We were finished by 9:30am.

Once we finished cleaning we come to the central purpose of the "pre"school day. . .meetings with mom. These are individual meetings with mom to go over their new curriculum, give out school supplies, and discuss the daily schedule along with mom's expectations. Again, this came from Managers for Their Schools. Once we finished with the assignments, we sat down to talk about their concerns for the year. Some of them had more than others. I wrote these down to share with dad later on. And then I prayed over them and for their school year. This was, by far my favorite part of the day. I think next year I will have a special scripture picked out for them that I will use to pray over them throughout the year. I thought of that idea too late this morning.

We continued our day with our typical lunch and naps. Normally, our afternoon consist of everyone but the babies reading for 30 minutes and then playing quietly alone for 45 minutes. After that I do read alouds. But, because of what I had planned the rest of the day, I needed my 3 yod to take a nap today. So I decided to take my reading book into his room and "help" him go to sleep. I was doing well until I decided to get on another bed to read. I ended up napping with him. It felt so good to get a nap in. I have been fighting with a pinched nerve in my shoulder for over a week now. Between that and getting ready for school, I think I was pretty tired. I woke up to a 9 yod trying to get his swim stuff ready without waking the two of us up.

The next part of the day was going to be dedicated to just having fun as a family. We all got our swim suits on and headed to a really fun pool in another city near ours. They have a slide and very cool wading pool for the littles to play in. When we arrived there, it was nearly deserted. After investigating we found out that there had been thunder. Federal law states that when there is thunder and lightening, a public swimming pools must close down for 30 minutes. It can then re-open if there has been no further activity. There was about 15 minutes left on the shut down so we hit the nearby park until they opened. Once they opened up again, we got in and got in the water quickly. Dad and mom each took a turn taking a dip in the big pool and then returned to be with the littles. The bigs all got to go down the slide a few times. Then the thunder came again. By the time they re-opened after this closing it would be time for us to leave. So with much disappointment, we headed home. The plan from that point was to pick up pizza for dinner. The pizza along with a movie would pretty much conclude the "pre" school/family fun day.

It's been several years since I have been this excited about starting a new school year. With the arrival of baby after baby, I just seemed permanently burned out. God has been gracious though. He has allowed Leeli's timing to fit perfectly into how we seem to function as a family. It usually takes about 12 weeks for fully adjust to our new little life. We will get to 12 weeks the 2nd week of school. And it truly does feel like we're finding normal.

This has been such a great day. I think we'll be doing this every year from now on.

Pictures of Desks

2010-07-20T08:52:00.000-05:00

I am justing this for friends who are interesting.

Lift-top desk

(handwriting guide for Peterson Directed Handwriting

can be removed easily)

first student desk

second student desk

(paper can be removed)

Making the Most of My Time

2010-07-08T16:34:00.000-05:00

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

making the best use of the time, because the days

are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16)

When I first became a mom, I joined a mother's group at our church. It's was part of a national organization dedicated to ministering to moms of small children. I was just a willing participant for a while and eventually served on the steering committee of this group. I enjoyed it but there were things that began to bother me. The biggest problem I began to see with this group is what they encouraged in these moms. This groups plug was simply that mom's need time to themselves so they can better serve their families. What I began to observe in myself and other moms, however, is that the more time moms sought for themselves, the less they wanted to serve their families. The reality of this idea is that this concept is contrary to what Jesus teaches about dying to self. At no point in scripture do we find Him saying that we are to take care of ourselves first. (And loving people as we love ourselves doesn't apply here. Often the more self-seeking we are the less we do love people.) It's not about seeking my own. It's about seeking what is best for those around you and dying to what you want.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (Matthew 16:24-26)

How do we bring glory to Christ as wives and mother's? It's not by making sure our cups are filled by going out with friends or meeting for coffee or even making sure we're signed up for the latest Bible study. All that is well and good. It's permissible to do those things. But if you're looking to those things to fill your cup and make you a better mom, you are deceived. This is one of the Satan's ploy to pull mom's even further away from home. Our call is to be HOME more so in our heart than anything. This is God command for our focus. Period. The enemy will do what he can to draw us away from that.

I am going to make an argument against those of us who think we are giving our all to our home. How much time do we spend on the computer each day? How much of our time is spent watching TV or trying to read a book? Again, these aren't necessarily bad things? It's the TIME that we're spending on them that makes the difference.

I have been thinking recently of how I am spending my time. Is it wisely or unwisely? Unfortunately, I would have to answer the latter. Although I am not posting as much personally on Facebook, I am still posting different blogs I find interesting. I also cleaned up my google reader to less blogs only to add several more a few days later. I am still checking my email several times a day. Why? I think it's an attempt to still take care of myself. It's much easier some days to check my email that to follow a child around helping them with chore cards. It's more comfortable to read a blog than to actually apply what I already know the blog is saying. . .because I was convicted about the same thing a few days earlier. It's not as hard to contemplate the most recent blog post or deep meaningful Facebook remark than it is to sit for a period of time and meditate on the Word of God. Not only that, but these make it easier to sleep in rather than sacrifice some of my sleep to spend time meditating on the Word. I don't need it as quiet to meditate on blogs as I do with the Word. And I would say that is key to my time management. It's all about me and not about what I am giving to my Savior so that He can fill me up.

Last night I was reading from the book "Instructing a Child's Heart" by Paul David Tripp. Great book so far. But it was talking about leading our children back to their history in the word. I immediately thought of my 5 yod and how I would love to have more time to read to him about the heroes from the Bible. Then came the unmistakable conviction that I would have more time if I gave up other less important things. . .and would die to myself.

This morning I have felt less like being an advocate for healthy eating or home birthing or natural living (all of which I am part of groups on Facebook to be "informed".) My email suddenly seemed very cluttered with unnecessary newsletters and coupons. I no longer feel the need to set up blog posts that will allow me to post of things that I thought were important. Really, I have a growing desire to just be with my family. I tomato staked my 5 yod today because he needs me to. My email can wait but his sinful heart will only grow more calloused if I don't start addressing the sin now!!! Instead of being an advocate for healthy living, I am practicing it more today.

This afternoon I start new by giving my time to more important things. It's time that the internet became less about making my life easier (which is really just sin in that I "leave" my home to become a busy body - see 1 Timothy 5:13) and more about my family. Today, I give my time back to God instead of seeking for myself. This will be the driving force behind our new normal.

14 Years

2010-06-29T10:21:00.000-05:00

Fourteen years seems like such a long time. Yet, these past years have flown by very quickly. It was this very day, 14 years ago, that I walked down the aisle of a small chapel with my Daddy. He proceeded to give my hand to the man I was to marry that. This man was as young as I was at the time. We were both 22 yod. We graduated from college a month earlier. Neither one of us had a job. We didn't even have money for a honeymoon. We gave each other a big smile and a giggle during the part of our vow where we said "for richer or poorer." We married each other regardless and started a life together.

God gave us a life that we never expected we would have together. Never in our wildest dreams would we have imagine that God would make of the proud parents of SEVEN children. Sure, the first two maybe three children we have. Perhaps the fourth baby. But the last three babies. Never in our wildest dreams.

Life has had it's ups and downs. Sometimes I would say that by the world's standards we've had more downs: hospital visits, car accidents, unemployment that contained one of those hospital visits with no insurance. We have had seasons of life where it seemed like we just couldn't get along. But God has been gracious to bring us through those times as well as grow us up. Outside of parenting, marriage has been the number one sanctifying entity in my life.

I am well blessed by my husband. He's been used by God to teach me so much. I have learned more about theology that I have ever known. I have learned how to have a good fight that doesn't include shouting and, at times, throwing things. Although I couldn't repeat any of it, I have learned more about the sports world than I ever thought I could. Ultimately, he's taught me to keep my eyes on the cross when all seems so discouraging.

As much as I enjoyed learning, I have also enjoyed watching him grow in the Lord. He started as a man with no clue in how to lead a family to one who gives his children a strong foundation in the Lord. He doesn't use books to teach his children. He uses only the Word of God and his own lessons to teach them. I can't do that. It's makes me glad that I don't have to be the one leading.

One of my growing loves over my husband is his love for the church. He didn't grow up in the best church situations. Often, it was abusive. Although he didn't really care for the church, he kept going. Five years ago, God blessed us with an awesome church. It was just what we needed for healing. It so fun to watch him get excited on Sunday morning as we get ready to leave for church. He loves to serve where he can. For several years, he would stay after church (while the rest of us starved, LOL!!!) and help set up the cafeteria in the school where we were meeting.

His love and devotion to me is beyond imagine. We didn't have the best of starts. Mostly that was my fault. I wasn't the easiest person to date and it got worse when we were first married. I listen way too much to the wisdom of this world rather than God. Books, TV, movies all presented an image of men and I ate up this marriage. This included even listening too much to the Christian radio talk shows and reading books. That was probably my greatest problem. I would listen to these shows and think to myself "why doesn't my husband do that?" Or I would read books by the same speakers on these shows and think the same thing. Praise God for the day I finally realized that HE had to make my husband into a leader rather than me nagging him into leadership. Since then he's been allowed to grow in God's grace as a leader. I believe we are happier for it. I finally shut my mouth began to follow quietly (most of the time) and I began to see something in my husband those talk shows never promised.

I can't imagine life without him now. We've been together as a couple for nearly 18 years but have been married for 14 of those years. In those 14 years, I have watched God take him from a young foolish husband to a man that is bold in his faith and growing ever more bold. He inspires me to constantly seek the Lord and be willing to give my life fully to Him. Should God take him from me sooner than later, I would rejoice. Not in losing him, for my heart would break in that manner. But I would rejoice that my husband is finally made whole. He stands exactly where he longs to stand already.

One finally thought. Underdog makes me laugh. I tend to be a melancholy person. He's grown to love the challenge and finding things that make me laugh. He's had to up the ante a bit in the past few years. I am on to him. But he still makes me laugh. His one liners are the best. Even better is the smile that comes when he's succeeded at making me laugh. This is my favorite part about him.

A perfect image of our marriage. I am obviously the more serious one.

Underdog, my love for you is stronger today than the day I realized that I was falling in love with my best friend. I knew in my heart that God had made us for each other. But I had no idea the blessing God intended for both of us. I couldn't ask for anything better.

We had two songs played at our wedding. At the time, it was popular to have the Steven Curtis Chapman song "I Will Be Here." Still love that song and it has such meaning. But I had another songs played that was a bit unconventional for a wedding. It's called "Faithful Friend" by Twila Paris. The original was duet between Twila and Chapman. I felt like this song exemplified just exactly what our relationship was about. The wedding was just the beginning. I didn't want to spend alot of money on it. What I wanted more than anything was a ceremony that would dedicate our marriage to Christ not just create an opportunity for a party. I dedicate that song once again to Underdog. You are my faithful friend and much more. (This song still makes me cry as much as "I Will Be Here.")

And for your listening pleasure.

Rescue The Girl

2010-06-22T21:40:00.000-05:00

(I am sorry but for some reason this doesn't fit on my blog very well. You can watch the full video on the website below.)

This was a new ministry introduced to me today as well. It's called Rescue the Girl. This is a group of college students trying to raise money to go to India to lead up an abolitionist movement on the college campuses over there. Please consider donating some money as they are short the cash they need for plane tickets and much more. And pray for their work. These kids are definitely not wasting their lives.

We CAN and SHOULD Help

2010-06-22T15:50:00.000-05:00

I recently wrote a blog about looking further in the s*x trafficking industry and doing something to help these girls and women. I wanted to share another resource with you to check out further. It's called Shared Hope International. I heard Linda Smith, the founder, on a radio talk show this morning. She was discussing her book Renting Lacy, which is a fictional account of this industry but inspired by the girls that have been rescued. They are giving the book away free or with a small donation. If you want to know more, this book is a good place to start. Also, I do encourage you to give at least a small donation to cover the cost of the book. This will allow the money it would cost to pay for publishing to go toward their ministry work.

They also have a page on this website that explains six ways to take action. I will relist them here.

6 Ways to Take Action Against
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking

1. Be an expert on the topic! You can’t fight unless you know your enemy and the tactics he uses! Read Linda Smith's book, From Congress to the Brothel and get inspired. On the pages of this book you will meet several trafficking victims, hear their heartbreaking accounts, and witness the healing power of God in the lives of these precious girls. Order a complimentary copy of “Renting Lacy." To learn even more watch videos produced by Shared Hope International and read our research on child sex slavery in the USA.

2. Identify Trafficking and Spread the Word. The more people who know how to identify sex trafficking in the United States, the stronger we will be in our fight. Join the nationwide movement and host an Innocence Lost Vigil in your community as part of the End Demand: Kids are NOT for Sale Awareness Campaign. You can also learn more about sex trafficking in your community by getting a copy of the video "Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking - Prostituted Children in the United States" and educate your community.

3. Allow your money to follow your heart! You abhor the fact that children are being raped and tortured - help us help them! We cannot protect or rescue our children without financial support for the services they need. When you give a Gift of Hope with our online giving catalogue, you can also give in a friend or loved one's name - for a birthday or any other occasion. Additionally, they will even receive a hand written card in the mail with a personal message from you. Give a Gift of Hope today and save lives!
4.Take the Pledge - Become a Defender. Join forces with the men who are stepping up to protect their families and communities against the ravages of the commercial sex industry by taking a stand against it.Take the Defenders USA pledge today!
5. Sign a petition and inform your legislators. Shared Hope International is demanding justice... for the innocent girls who are trafficked in America and have no safe place to run... and for stronger penalties for the men who buy children. Sign our petition for justiceand add your voice to the fight against trafficking - When we join together we are powerful!
6. Most importantly, pray. Keep the victims of child sex trafficking, their families and all those individuals working to end this horrible abuse in your prayers. Offer up a weekly prayer petition for an end to child sex trafficking in the United States. You can sign up for our newsletter and get a regular reminder of those who need your prayers most.

Relief for Colic, Teething, and Other things that Bother Babies

2010-06-22T08:04:00.000-05:00

I wanted to post about a product that I found after I had Pinky Poo but didn't really utilize until after Leeli was born. It's called Colic Calm Gripe Water. I know that alot of people use gripe water but this is different. It's homeopathic and all natural. I can testify that this has almost instant result. Leeli has been having lots of problems with gas and tummy trouble. I can't honestly say that she has colic at this point. I really don't have any experience with true colic. What I do know is that my Leeli gets very uncomfortable with certain foods that I eat and there hasn't been much relief for her. . .until now.

Last evening, she was really hurting after I had drank a new fermented drink that I have been making. She was screaming at me and squirming so much because she hurt. We finally pulled out the colic calm. It has a sweet taste to it so it wasn't hard to get her to take it. She drank it down as best an infant can with their tongue thrust reflex. I burped her and laid her back in my arms. She took her pacifier, buried her nose in my arm, and was out. Instant relief. . .for everyone.

From the website:

Our unique homeopathic gripe water calms the irritation of baby caused by colic, infant gas, stomach pain, hiccups, teething and even reflux. It also helps baby’s digestive system adjust to new foods and relieves stomach upset caused by infant teething.*

Our all-natural, side-effect-free gripe water contains NO alcohol, sugar, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), simethicone, herbal oils or extracts, artificial flavors or colors. In addition, there is NO wheat, gluten, soy, starch or dairy in our formula.

Active Ingredients: A Homeopathic Blend of Chamomile, Fennel, Caraway, Peppermint, Ginger, Aloe, Lemon Balm, Blackthorn and Vegetable Charcoal.

Our nine homeopathic remedies are derived from traditional European formulations. They have proven beneficial for infant colic related symptoms in numerous clinical studies and have been selected for their gentle effectiveness and safety.

And this is great explanation of homeopathic remedies and how they work.

Special Blend of Nine Homeopathic Remedies

Homeopathy is the world's second leading form of medicine (Chinese medicine ranks #1 and Western medicine ranks #4). Conventional drugs rely on strength to overcome symptoms, which often causes side effects and toxicity. Homeopathy is unique in that it utilizes minute doses of natural ingredients to stimulate the body's self-healing abilities. Millions of children around the world take homeopathic medicine, as recommended by their health care practitioners.

With homeopathics, there are no side effects at all; even if you take the wrong remedy for the wrong condition it will cause no harm. Unlike herbs, vitamins and other supplements, homeopathic medicine is regulated in the United States by the FDA as drug products. The individual ingredients have undergone extensive clinical testing to substantiate their safety and effectiveness in order to be listed in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS). The HPUS is one of the official publications cited in the Federal Food and Drug Laws and it contains hundreds of monographs for homeopathic ingredients.

Because of this drug classification, homeopathic medicine is labeled with clear indications for its therapeutic effects. Homeopathic remedies are designed for symptom relief, safety and promotion of healing and are to be used at the onset of symptoms.

If you have babies, no matter what type of personalities or difficulties (or not) with food and such they have, this is great supplement to have on hand. I didn't realize it, but can also be used with teething. This is so much better than constantly giving Tylenol (acetaminophen) and Advil (ibuprofen) which is very hard on the liver. I am quite pleased with the results of Colic Calm and will continue to use. This remedies offers me baby that doesn't fuss at me constantly. . .and that is such a blessing.

Defending Those Who Cannot Defend Themselves

2010-06-11T13:28:00.003-05:00

I felt compelled to write his afternoon about a growing awareness I have in his world. This awareness is of the number of women and girls abused around the world and the manner in which they are abused. It is sickening to hear of girls as young as my two oldest girls being sold into trafficking, sometimes by their own fathers, at other times after having been kidnapped.

I must be honest here and mention that for quite a while I have avoided really thinking about it. Just the images of my girls being used and abused in this way makes me cringe and want to avoid it. But I just don't believe I can avoid it any longer.

Two weeks before Leeli arrived, Underdog and I got to have a weekend to ourselves. I remember Underdog and I talking a bit about our finances and how we wanted to use our money. We have both felt a movement of the Spirit to give our money in ways that have Kingdom meaning. He asked me during this time if I had any ministries to which I wanted to give. At the time I simply told him that what was on his heart was on my heart, and I meant it. As his wife and helpmeet, it is my job to stand behind him and support that which he is involved in. I think I am going to change my answer and I think he will agree.

Recently, Carolyn McCulley posted on her blog Radical Womanhood an interview she did with Hannah Farver of Lies Young Women Believe. This post needs to be read as well as the one at Lies Young Women Believe (it contains the full interview.) Carolyn discusses the view of social justice from a Christian perspective and it needs to be heard.

I am going to get personal here. Christ's message in this world was a very radical one in nature. And His call to Christian was radical as well. American Christians live way too comfortably. I think we've come a point of always feeling that God is obligated to give me certain aspect of the American Dream. If that doesn't happen then feel we are somehow missing out, suffering, or a times being persecuted, depending of the circumstances. There is no guarantee for Christians to have an easy life and there is NOTHING in scripture that dictates the American Dream. Do we expect it though? Have we bought this lie so much that we relegate our giving to only our simple little tithe on a Sunday morning? We give just enough to not be in need ourselves. Do we give more to our retirement fund than we do to Kingdom purposes? It's hard to thinking about but it must be said.

John Piper wrote a book a couple of years ago called Don't Waste Your Life. I was challenged by that book. I need to read it again. In this book he challenges the notions of the American Dream. Fran Chan, as well, in his book Forgotten God and Crazy Love has points where he challenge the Christian to give above and beyond what might be comfortable.

My 11 yod has a passion for India. It came from her repeated reading of YWAM biography about Amy Carmichael. She was a woman who did not waste her life. She spent most of her life saving the children of India, including the young temple prostitutes of that time, and caring for them. She followed a radical God and her life reflected it.

It is my plan to begin investigating ways that she and I ca invest in the lives of these girls and defend these 100 Million girls. Will you join us? Will you pray with us for ways we con impact lives? Will you consider how your life can reflect the radical nature of Christ's message to the church and join with Him to save those He loves so dearly?

Our New Normal

2010-06-07T22:17:00.001-05:00

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb a reward.

Psalm 127:3

The first several weeks of a newborns life are simply chaotic for everyone involved. For one thing you are trying to learn the personality of whole new human being who doesn't even understand how the world around her works. She's hungry. She cries. She's sleepy. She cries. She needs a diaper change. She cries. She wants momma and nothing but momma. . .she screams. That is pretty much life as we know it right now.

Leeli is not the easiest of babies. She's just not really content with anything right now. My diet is causing issues for her. If it's not hurting her tummy, it's causing gas, or it's breaking her out in some pretty ugly baby acne. I am figuring out a few of the culprits but it's just so trial and error at this point. If she's not sleeping (which is sporadic at best) she's screaming at me.

She's not the only one out of sorts. I am struggling with a very disorganized house. There was only so much time to nest before she arrived. After she got here, though, I realized that it just wasn't enough. The house is cluttered and I just can't rest in it right now. This is for another post though.

Leeli's siblings aren't quite sure what to make of all this either. They desperately want me to be a part of them BUT they are also enjoying some of the freedom that comes with chaotic days. I can tell they are restless though. Pink is testing me at every corner. . .losing most of the time but trying nonetheless. The two boys just seem totally bored with life. The three Bigs seem to be at each others throat alot these day as well as bored. I have never been more ready to start a new school year as I am right now. But we're not ready. There is so much to do before that time. When can I do it. It's not easy with Leeli right now.

I am only 4 weeks past her birth day. I have always believed that it takes 12 weeks to fully adjust to a new baby. I have eight to go. I am learning to give myself grace as well. The time will come in a few months when we will hit our new normal. We won't notice how fussy Leeli is anymore. Pink will be talking more. The boys will be doing school with mom and reading tons. The bigs will have accomplished all we set out to do this summer and then learning new things with our new year and new curriculum. We'll be preparing for fall and winter in many different ways. It will suddenly hit me. . . my baby is no longer the littlest baby anymore. She will be big and have fully become part of our new normal.

I have struggled with feeling fully connected with Leeli. Perhaps that is effecting my mood these days. I trust God to guide me in this time. I trusting Him to teach me about this little girl HE gave. I am trusting Him to guide me with each child He's entrusted to me care. I am resting in this truth.

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." Isaiah 43:1-2

Leeli is peaceful right now. My heart is as well. I love that baby. How could I have ever placed myself in a position to not want a baby? How could I, at one point, have been angry that I was pregnant when I didn't want to be? Am I so foolish that I have yet to learn that God's Sovereign will is best? She's so precious, innocent, and small. I love her despite the fact that I don't know anything about her yet. Even her cries confuse me. But it will come. I am trusting the Father for the wisdom needed to meet her needs and love her as He loves her. I am trusting Him for that with all my children.

Before I sign off, I thought of one last thing. Leeli was crying alot this afternoon and I was so frustrated. I ended up losing my temper with Si-Bay. He had been chewing on something and I asked him to throw it away. He didn't obey me. I am always fearful of choking so when I discovered he didn't obey, I lost it. I was very harsh with him and sent him to his bed. I changed Leeli and put her in her bouncy chair to scream while I cooled off (for both their sake.) I little while later I returned to his room in tears. How could I have hurt my little guy?

I repented of my sin and then tried to help him understand why I didn't want him to chew on things. We talked a little bit about death at this point. I explained to him that he had two pipes, one for food and the other for air. I helped him understand what the air did. We pretended to suck on a straw. I explained to him that if the little toys went down his air pipe that helps him suck on the straw, he would close his eyes and never open them. He sort of got that. Then I told him that mommy would not have her Si-Bay anymore. He would have to be buried like the little bunny that the dog killed last month. This is my little guy that makes me giggle when he prays at dinner "God, thank for this so much day." He's the little one that makes funny faces like his daddy for the camera. I would be lost without my guy and I told him that. We cried a little more together. Then he stopped and said, "Mommy, I'm sorry. I was wrong. I hurt you when I chewed on the car tire and you thought to loosed me. Will you please forgive me?" He got it. For the next 2 hours, he kept coming to me and saying he loved me and gave me a special Si-Bay hug. It was great. It made me think. . .normal isn't so far away after all. We've just got to teach Leeli what normal looks like.

Why Is it So Important?

2010-06-04T08:53:00.000-05:00

(Picture borrowed from Raising Homemakers and

taken by Robin of Robin's Blue Egg)

Raising Homemakers is having another giveaway for their first week. The article today is worth the read without the giveaway. It discusses the reasons why it's important that we invest our time raising godly daughters. Along with that, they are giving away a copy of a 9 week online mentoring course called "Evenings With Victoria Botkin." I have enjoyed reading the book that her two daughters wrote several years ago called So Much More. And in my mind, when a woman produces that type of wisdom and maturity in her daughters, then she's probably got something pretty important to offer.

Need a Summer Reading Challenge

2010-06-03T13:55:00.002-05:00

When I was a little girl, I lived within walking distance of my elementary school. They would keep the library opened in the summer for anyone that wanted to participate in summer reading. I don't remember my age but I do remember one summer of walking up to check out books. It was the only summer I remember doing that.

Fast forward 30 years. I LOVE reading. I wish I had more time to read. I try to do read alouds with my kids. Some seasons are better than others. This summer we are working our way back to that.

Every summer I usually take my kids to the library to get involved in their summer reading. For me, this is a disappointing experience. The library requires only a few hours of reading, not books. My older kids usually blow this out of the water within a week or two of summer starting. They get bored and so do I. When we're on top of the read alouds, my little ones can reach their goals quickly as well. This summer will be different though. No more low expectation library reading programs. We're going to follow the Veritas Press Summer Reading Contest. It was announced in the June edition of epistula. Here are the details:

For many of us there are fond memories of summer reading contests, where you could win a prize for doing something that you already loved. Reading has always been a part of my life. You have heard the old adage that books are your best friends, and that was definitely the case for me. Growing up in Miami, I was at the beach quite often, and my favorite thing was sitting on the beach reading a new book for a day. Even now when we go on vacation, one of the first things that I google before going are used book shops. I will ask my poor husband to drive an hour out of the way in hopes of finding that one perfect book. Our shelves are full of those treasured finds. Recently, a good friend of mine was looking for books to interest one of her children. I went to the shelves and found some books that I had read as a child. They were yellowed from age, and some were no longer in print, but I was sure they would pique his interest. I dropped off my treasure, and the next week at church he ran up to me to share about Mad Scientists’ Club, and we now had a treasure to share. That’s how books are: they cause a common bond that crosses any age difference.

This summer Veritas Press is sponsoring a reading contest. It begins immediately and continues through September 15, 2008. Click here to download a reading chart to track your student’s progress. We only ask that you as parents or teachers verify what the children have read, and then after they have met their goals, complete the online entry form. Please encourage them to read good literature, not just look for a book that meets the page count criteria.

Veritas Press Reading Contest Rules
1.       Reading Quantity
a.       K – 2^nd Grade: 40 Easy Readers (ex., Frog and Toad are Friends)
b.       3^rd &; 4^th Grades: 25 books at least 125 pages (ex., The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)
c.        5^th &; 6^th Grades: 25 books at least 150 pages (ex., Treasure Island)
d.       7^th – 12^th Grades: 25 books at least 200 pages (ex., The Fellowship of the Ring)
2.       Entries must be submitted online by 5:00 PM EDT, September 15, 2008.
3.       The first 250 submissions in each age division will be given a $10 gift certificate.
4.       A drawing will be held from all submissions and will be announced in the October epistula. There will be three winners from the drawing.
a.       $150 First Prize
b.       $100 Second Prize
c.        $70 Third Prize

Happy reading!

Laurie Detweiler

(If you can't open the links, please refer to the link I provided above. I can't figure out how to get the downloads link up here.)

I was looking at the list of recommended books and noticed that some of the books in the 7th - 12th grade list are books my older two have already read. So I am going to use some of these recommendations to get them started. They are excited about the challenge this summer. So much better than what the library reading has to offer. They usually offer a twaddle-type book so the 20 hours of reading. These kids can do 20 hours in one week. So I am love that this is going to challenge them as much as it is. Even my early readers can get involved in this. Check it out.

Simplicity is Clothing, Simplicity in Everything

2010-06-02T22:59:00.002-05:00

Underdog and I have taken on the challenge of simplifying our home and family over the summer. We decided to start with the master bedroom, bathroom, and the closets that are attached to the bathroom. The bedroom is half-way de-cluttered. We rearranged the furniture. We purchase a new bedspread for our bed. We will also be painting the bedroom and bath.

One of the biggest jobs we have to do in all this de-cluttering is to tackle our clothes closet. Our clothes fill up a full closet.

As I have prayed and considered ways to simplify our home, my clothing closet kept coming to mind. I have so many seasons of clothing: fall/winter, spring/summer, maternity, nursing, nice dress up, casual, workout, bed clothes, and personal under garments. I also had a huge bin of clothing I put back lat summer when I got pregnant. Most of these clothes I haven't worn in several years. They haven't been touched in ages though.

I finally determined a few months ago that as soon as I was no longer pregnant, I would purge the clothing and scale back. I decided to keep enough outfits to cloth me for 8 days with a couple set aside for church. I have 2 pair of PJs for each season. I needed a few articles of clothing for working out as well as a few grubbies.

I finally got into my closet the other day. When it was all said and done, I filled up four HUGE black garbage sacks of clothing that I just don't need. I did put a few things back to sell on ebay for a later date.

I also decided that if this is something I was going to do, the children would do it with me. After seeing another pair of pants in the laundry this week that I know the owner didn't wear, I knew we had too many clothes. And when our laundry jumped from 5 large loads to 7-8 large loads in over 3 weeks, I knew something had to give.

As I tackled each closet (including my own) I prayed for wisdom and courage to make the right decisions. God was gracious to grant me both. It wasn't hard for me to decide what to keep and what had to go. This was true until I got to JB's clothes. She did not want to put much of anything away despite the fact that she doesn't wear half of it.

As we were trying to decide what JB should keep and what should be put away, I challenge her to consider what is her priority in all this. Is her priority ultimately to love Jesus or is she loving her clothes more? I confessed to her that I have loved my clothes way to much in the past. I pointed to the evidence of this in the bathroom where my four black trash bags await Underdog taking them downstairs and on to Goodwill. I wanted her to understand that I DO understand the struggle against loving things and possessions more than Jesus. But ultimately, we must love HIM more.

I am becoming convinced that what we collect and acquire over time is a reflection of what we love. Up to this point I have been a consumer. I love stuff. And some of that was under the false pretense of being frugal. Sure, I can find great deals are garage sales. But in all honesty, I never stopped to ask myself if I really NEEDED those great deals in the first place. Being frugal doesn't mean we don't fall prey to the consumerism that is running over Americans. I am reminded, though, and 1 John 2:15-17.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

I have been loving the world. This world that will pass away had enticed me in so many ways and I fell for it. Much like the serpent with Eve, I was lured into believing that somehow these "possessions" would make me better, happy, etc. and so I bought them. And in all reality, the love of the Father is not in me. When I am more focused on these possessions, the love of the Father is not in me.

It is my desire to please the Lord though. I am turning from the consumerism. It's the road to simplicity that I want to be on. To turn my back on the possessions this world tell me are so necessary for fulfillment and turning to Father in heaven who is the ONLY ONE that can fulfill me.

I will be blogging more through the summer as we scale back and work toward a life of simplicity in all things. I am taking one step at a time. Yesterday it was my closet. Tomorrow it's my kitchen pantry and learning to "shop" in my kitchen first before I hit the stores. The next day will be full of adventures in simplifying as well. I can feel the weight lifting. The chains that bind are loosening and I am taking steps closer freedom.

Homestead Blessings 10 DVD Set GIVEAWAY!

2010-06-02T14:59:00.001-05:00

I am so excited to announce another giveaway at Raising Homemakers. They are giving away all TEN "Homestead Blessings" videos from Franklin Springs. The set includes:

The Art of Quilting
The Art of Sewing
The Art of Dairy Delights
The Art of Canning
The Art of Gardening
The Art of Herbs
The Art of Cooking
The Art of Soap Making
The Art of Candle Making
The Art of Bread Making

This is a homemaking curriculum priced at $99 all for free. Check out the video preview.

Go to Raising Homemakers to check out the details for the giveaway.

Raising Homemakers

2010-06-01T09:33:00.002-05:00

Raising Homemakers

I am so excited to see the launch of a new website called Raising Homemakers. This is a site for moms and daughters alike to learn the ins and outs of keeping a home for the glory of God. Here is an excerpt from their front page.

To fully understand the purpose of Raising Homemakers, read The Invisible Hope Chest by RH contributor Breezy Brookshire…here is an excerpt:
“As young women not yet married, we have the responsibility to become as well-rounded and useful as we can be. Right now you probably don’t have the full care of running the home—this is an excellent opportunity to prepare yourself for the rest of your life. The more helpful skills we acquire, the more useful, the more of a blessing we will be to our future husbands and families.”
We are the women...the mothers who will be teaching and training our daughters in how to fill their invisible hope chests.

How true this is. We must be using this time in our lives to give them the skills to full succeed at running a home. And from my perspective, I do not desire for them to struggle as I have in learning to run my home. I must be purposeful in teaching them as they are young to find joy in this high calling.

By the way, they are having a give away. Go on over to check it out.

Three Things Mrs. Underdog Style

2010-05-30T23:33:00.000-05:00

Underdog has a regular posting on his blog called "Three Things". Since he's no longer on Facebook it seems to be his way of expressing random thoughts. I think might try doing that a bit as well since I am no longer posting on Facebook (although I am still reading it from time to time).

Three Things Mrs. Underdog Style

1. Today we spent the evening with family celebrating the 11th birthday of my eldest daughter. What I witnessed today was simply evidence of God's grace in this young girl's life. She baked a whole cake by herself. She set it to cool and then removed them from the pans. She made the icing and then iced the cakes. She made one small round cake for herself and then she iced and decorated a small round cake for her uncle's girlfriend, whom she has grown to love very much. She shared her birthday celebration with someone else. Among all of this, she also took initiative to help pack the van so we could get over there. She also helped unloaded it. There were many other mature things I witnessed her do today. I am very proud her. Happy birthday, sweet JB.

2. Family is complicated. It's so hard to find conversation at times. I often leave feeling rather foolish simply because I feel as if some where along the line I have opened my mouth and inserted my foot. I am searching so much for common ground and yet I just can't find much. I usually end of reverting back to telling funny stories (often at the expense of someone else) just to get rid of the uncomfortable silence that shows up. . .and that is when the TV is off, if ever.

3. Underdog and I have been saying for a long time that we are done growing our family naturally. I will admit, however, that I am questioning that idea. There is a permanence to what we are considering and it will be hard to turn around. I believe that the Lord has given me assurance that we are in line with His will. . .if only our hearts are open to other doors. The orphans of this world cry for homes on a daily basis. In many ways, their hearts are so empty that they can't fathom a home with loving parents and siblings. And as I read tonight, God didn't say He would put orphans in orphanages. Those are man's ideas. He said He would put the lonely in families. "God sets the lonely in families. .." (Ps. 68:6 NIV) God wants these children to have homes. I wonder. . .does God have a specific home for all these precious children? Are we listening to the call if He does? I recently heard that if every one family in four in the church would adopt a foster child in America, there would be no more foster children. Can you imagine what would happen if the other three families went overseas and did the same thing? WOW!!!! There is no greater show of the gospel than to adopt for we are all adopted by God. Why isn't the church answering this call? Why aren't we?

Natural Pest Control

2010-05-27T22:16:00.000-05:00

Since I have been blogging recently on going green and natural, I thought I would share a few tips I have for natural pest control. We use an exterminator but we use one that is non-toxic and uses more natural means. This sometimes means that they don't get rid of all the bugs. At least they don't get rid of the ones I want. You could probably guess from the picture that I absolutely hate, despise, and abominate house flies. Yuck!!! My neighborhood knows that I hate flies because every time my children go out the back door you can hear me literally scream "FLIES!!!! CLOSE THE DOOR!!!!!" I own at least 3 fly swatters and have been known to pay my children $0.25 per fly that they can kill for me. I just hate the nasty creatures. Fruits flies run a very close second to the house fly.

Through the years I have found fairly inexpensive ways to deal with these pests. I have tried some frugal ideas and they work to an extent. They don't work the way I NEED them to work though. But I stay true to my desire to be green and non-toxic so I share these ideas with you today.

1. Flyweb Flying Insect Trap

I LOVE this contraption. It serves as a downstairs nightlight with it's florescent light used to attached the flying insects. You place glue boards behind the light, plug it in, and then let it do it's job. This was my first purchase in trapping bugs. It runs about $30 on the web. You can also purchase extra glue boards. They comes 10 to a package. This will last me a full year and sometimes more.

2. Vector Fruit Fly Traps

These are the best traps out there. I have tried many, including my own homemade traps. We do have issues with fruit flies through the summer because most of our produce is organic. There are no pesticides to keep them at bay. There is a brand of that comes in a triangular shape but they just aren't as good in my opinion (sorry, can't remember the name of them.) These traps run about about $13 for two. Mine usually last all summer with no problems. And unless you spill the liquid contents (or your children do) they don't smell at all.

As a side note, you can also make your own fruit fly traps. I use apple cider vinegar in a glass canning jar. I put plastic wrap and then poke holes small enough for the flies to get in but not get out. These do work but I have found it's not as effective as I need them to be.

If you have issues with gnats as well, the best things to do here is to disinfect your disposal. I use ammonia. i know, not as non-toxic as I would prefer but it's the only that will do the job. Just pour some ammonia in the disposal. Let it sit for a few minutes and then turn the hot water on and run the disposal.

3. Non-Toxic Fly Trap

There are many variety on non-toxic fly traps on the market. This is the one I used last year and it was very effective. I hung two of these babies on the fences across the yard from each other. It really did cut down on the amount of flies we got in the house after I hung them up. The nice thing is that they are inexpensive. The can run from $6-10 depending on the brand and how many you purchase.

These are the natural pest control means I use to control the flies in and around our home. As a disclaimer, the links that I have given are simply to point you to places you might purchase these if you desire. The only e-store I have experience with is ePestSolutions.com. Do your research to find the best prices. I am discovering that Amazon carries alot of these items and sometimes you can get the free super saver shipping. I am sorry that I don't have time to point to specific places with the best prices.

Crayon Cakes

2010-05-27T09:37:00.000-05:00

Today I ventured out from my "I don't have any clue how to be adventurous with preschoolers" mode and did something very radical. I melted crayons to create a whole new look and purpose. They were really quite easy. I have been "collecting" crayons for years now. Every summer I would buy new crayons for the kids each year during July and August (when school supplies go on sale ~ my favorite time of year) but I would refuse to throw the old ones away. I just new they would serve a purpose one of these days. Inevitably, we would end up adding the new crayons to the mix of old crayons because someone would destroy their box or lose too many to make them truly useful to their school work. So I had years of broken crayons in a little plastic shoe box. It was finally time to put them to good use.

The first thing I did was determine that I was going to make these for Pinky Poo. She loves to color but her little hands struggle with even the big toddler size crayons. Crayola nows makes crayons that fit toddler hands but they are expensive in my book. So these new crayons cakes belong to Pink.

The second thing I did was get down to business. Here are the supplies you will need:

   * old crayons
   * muffin tins
   * Exacto knife (optional)

Here is the procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Peel all the paper off the crayons. This was much easier and faster to do with the exacto knife. I simply made a slit down the side with the knife and it peeled right off.

3. Break the crayons into smaller pieces.

4. Divide them out into the separate muffin tin slots. You have options here. You can either match all the colors or mix and match for some fun adventurous coloring. I decided to do both. We have some that are all one color and some that are mixed and matched. I decided to do this so that when we work on learning colors she can clearly see the difference.

4. Turn the oven off and simply set the muffin tin in there. The crayons will melt within 10 minutes.

5. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. They will begin to set at this point.

6. Finally, take the muffin tin to the freezer. They will become permanently set within about 30-45 minutes.

Once you remove them from the freezer they should fall right out of the muffin tin (although you might have a few stubborn ones that a small knife could encourage to come out.) Mine came out looking like colorful Reece's Peanut Butter cups.

Just What Exactly Does Seven Kids Look Like?

2010-05-26T22:34:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder what 7 kids looks like?

In order of appearance beginning with the baby and moving clockwise:

Leeli

Schmootzy Poo

Pinky Poo

BroncoFan

JB or Jennabear

Pee-Pooh

Si-Bay

For the record, it took about 9 shots to get this one perfect shot. The rest of them have several blurs to them where different body parts were moving around. Here are a few examples as well as a few of just the boys and just the girls.

Pee-Pooh moving in this one.

I think everyone was told to act surprised. Schmoo got a bit too much unto the part.

Here are the boys and girls alone.

Yes, this is the normally what these 3 Bozos are like. hehehe!!!

Pink is apparently very tired at this point and Leeli has a good grip on JB's hair. JB's got her mouth wide open while Schmoo looks rather smug. How true to life!!!!

One finally shot. This was one that I actually asked to be taken. I NEVER want my picture taken and we have very few pictures of me in them. But I wanted this one taken of the girlies.

The Underdog Girlies

JB, Pinky Poo, Mrs. Underdog, Little Leeli, and Schmoo

Reducing my Paper Usage

2010-05-26T08:56:00.000-05:00

I have been looking for ways to reduce the amount of paper we use in the house and cutting our waste down. I am already there with using cloth diapers. Pink and Leeli were put back in cloth this morning. Yea!!! We're working our way toward have enough cloth napkins to have one per person to use daily. There are even personal ways I have manged to cut down on my paper product usage.

I already own a ton of cleaning cloths and towels for large mess clean up and cleaning day. The closet that holds all those towel is getting a bit crowded and my kids are chaffing at having to fold them all. Today I discovered something that I am going to try and trial bases that might actually allow me to cut back even on these cleaning cloths. It's called Skoy.

This is the description from the website.

The SKOY cloth is a fabulous, absorbent, biodegradable and natural multi-use cloth. Our re-usable earth friendly cloth is perfect in your kitchen, bathroom, and on most surface areas in your home or office. SKOY cloth can be used in place of your sponge, wash cloth or paper towels.

Papers towels are the thing on my list right now that I just hate buying but don't know how to replace. The testimonials on the website give such glowing reviews that I just had to try this. If it works, it will just be one more paper item I don't have to purchase anymore. Not only will I keep the paper out of the dump but I will save money in the long run. A subscription to receive 8 Skoy clothes cost $13.95 with free shipping. I spend more on that for paper towels in a month. I'll post more on it later after I have tried these for a period of time.

Now, I wonder if there is a way to replace toilet paper. Um, personally, that is the one paper product I do intend to replace. But with all the savings I am doing on other paper products, I may be able to afford the more environmentally (and bodily) friendly toilet paper in the long run.

Homeschooling Preschoolers?

2010-05-25T12:40:00.001-05:00

One of the biggest questions that veteran homeschoolers often receive is what to do with your little ones who aren't quite ready for formal schooling. This is known as PRESCHOOL. I know that when I first started researching and reading about homeschooling that was one of my questions. The more I asked the more I was told, don't do it!! That was rather frustrating to me because I really, really wanted to apply what I was learning in all the reading I was doing. I wasn't too far out of having worked in a classroom setting and I was pretty determined NOT to repeat those mistakes that I observed as a classroom teacher.

Life has a way of simply taking over, though, and preschool never really happened for my three older children. That wasn't for lack of trying though. I bought curriculum designed for preschoolers. I made copies and bought supplies. I had three children 3 and under and we just simply lived in survival mode. I couldn't keep up with all that AND preschool work. Part of this was simply that I was unmotivated and sick alot. Part of it was simply not knowing what in the world to do with a preschoolers. I was trained and gifted to work with teenagers. I wasn't one of those mom's that spent alot of time playing with my children. Perhaps I am bit old school in that attitude. I am not designed to be a playmate for my children. I spent time with them but not playing and doing crafts.

I have come to the conclusion that preschool is simply a means of making parents either feel that aren't doing enough for their children. Children learn best by playing, period. Providing toys with a purpose is one of the best educations you can give a preschooler. Play kitchens with felt food is perfect for boys and girls. Dress up clothes allows them time to escape into other worlds. This helps them make sense of the somtimes confusing world around the. Baby dolls gives little girls (and boys sometimes) the opportunity to learn to love being mommies and practice being keepers at home. I have never given my girls bottles to play with their babies. They never needed it. . .they would "breastfeed". (And there is nothing more funny than finding your 3 yod boy breastfeeding as well. hehehe!!!) Cars make great toys for boys (and girls, as if the case with my 18 mod right now.) Blocks of all kind give constant entertainment to all ages. My older kids still play with duplos with their siblings. Even my 3 yod builds with Legos (but he does during reading aloud times so I am supervise him.) And outdoor play is very healthy for children. They can explores not just the real world but can create their own world and adventures. Yesterday my 3 and 5 yod boys were delivering food to Haiti. Precious play and yet they were learning to be servants during that time. Sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and playing the sprinkler I far better for children (and safer) than going to a pool all the time. Hunting down bugs and following them through the grass does wonders for all children in their education. Natural curiosity at it's best and not stifled by sitting at a desk.

One of the most important things you can do for a preschool is to read good, living books to them. What is a living book? According to Simply Charlotte Mason website, a living book is. . .

Living books are usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style. The books pull you into the subject and involve your emotions, so it’s easy to remember the events and facts. Living books make the subject “come alive.”

Reading books to your children is the most valuable time you can spend in these formative years. I may not had done alot of workbooks and such with them but we read alot. I regret that I have missed some reading time recently with my younger children. One of my goals this summer is to get back into reading with them, along with continuing the practice of reading aloud to my older kids. Pick books that are living and challenging challenge their vocabulary. My boys love the Beatrix Potter books. I have even read Charlotte's Web and the Narnia books to my preschoolers. Chapter books challenge their minds and pull them up to levels of thinking that some of the silly preschool books do not do. I have discovered that most library books written in recent decades are nothing but twaddle. What is twaddle? Again from the Simply Charlotte Mason website:

Twaddle. How would you define it? Here are some key thoughts taken from Charlotte’s comments.

Talking down to a child
“Grown-up people who are not mothers talk and think far more childishly than the child does in their efforts to approach his mind. If a child talk twaddle, it is because his elders are in the habit of talking twaddle to him; leave him to himself, and his remarks are wise and sensible so far as his small experience guides him. Mothers seldom talk down to their children; they are too intimate with the little people, and have, therefore, too much respect for them: but professional teachers, whether the writers of books or the givers of lessons, are too apt to present a single grain of pure knowledge in a whole gallon of talk, imposing upon the child the labour of discerning the grain and of extracting it from the worthless flood” (Vol. 1, p. 175).

Diluted
“. . . the sort of diluted twaddle which is commonly thrust upon children” (Vol. 1, p. 176).

Undervaluing the intelligence of a child
“. . . greatly undervaluing the intelligence of her children. I know a person of three who happened to be found by a caller alone in the drawing-room. It was spring, and the caller thought to make himself entertaining with talk about the pretty ‘baa-lambs.’ But a pair of big blue eyes were fixed upon him and a solemn person made this solemn remark, “Isn’t it a dwefful howid thing to see a pig killed!” We hope she had never seen or even heard of the killing of a pig, but she made as effective a protest against twaddle as would any woman of Society” (Vol. 1, p. 187).
“I am speaking now of his lesson-books, which are all too apt to be written in a style of insufferable twaddle, probably because they are written by persons who have never chanced to meet a child. All who know children know that they do not talk twaddle and do not like it, and prefer that which appeals to their understanding” (Vol. 1, p. 229).

Reading-made-easy
“As for what are called children’s books, the children of educated parents are able to understand history written with literary power, and are not attracted by the twaddle of reading-made-easy little history books” (Vol. 1, p. 281).
“They must grow up upon the best. There must never be a period in their lives when they are allowed to read or listen to twaddle or reading-made-easy. There is never a time when they are unequal to worthy thoughts, well put; inspiring tales, well told” (Vol. 2, p. 263).

Second-rate, stale, predictable
“It is not possible to repeat this too often or too emphatically, for perhaps we err more in this respect than any other in bringing up children. We feed them upon the white ashes out of which the last spark of the fire of original thought has long since died. We give them second-rate story books, with stale phrases, stale situations, shreds of other people’s thoughts, stalest of stale sentiments. They complain that they know how the story will end! But that is not all; they know how every dreary page will unwind itself” (Vol. 3, p. 121).

Goody-goody story books or highly-spiced adventures of poor quality, titillating
“What manner of book will find its way with upheaving effect into the mind of an intelligent boy or girl? We need not ask what the girl or boy likes. She very often likes the twaddle of goody-goody story books, he likes condiments, highly-spiced tales of adventure. We are all capable of liking mental food of a poor quality and a titillating nature” (Vol. 3, p. 168).

Scrappy, weak, light reading
“Many who would not read even a brilliant novel of a certain type, sit down to read twaddle without scruple. Nothing is too scrappy, nothing is too weak to ‘pass the time!’ The ‘Scraps’ literature of railway bookstalls is symptomatic. We do not all read scraps, under whatever piquant title, but the locust-swarm of this class of literature points to the small reading power amongst us. The mischief begins in the nursery. No sooner can a child read at all than hosts of friendly people show their interest in him by a present of a ‘pretty book.’ A ‘pretty book’ is not necessarily a picture-book, but one in which the page is nicely broken up in talk or short paragraphs. Pretty books for the schoolroom age follow those for the nursery, and, nursery and schoolroom outgrown, we are ready for ‘Mudie’s’ lightest novels; the succession of ‘pretty books’ never fails us; we have no time for works of any intellectual fibre, and we have no more assimilating power than has the schoolgirl who feeds upon cheese-cakes” (Vol. 5, p. 214).
If we throw in a few adjectives from modern dictionaries, we round out a pretty comprehensive list of what constitutes twaddle:
Silly
Idle
Insignificant
Worthless
Trivial
Feeble
Tedious

I included most of the article from the link above so you didn't have to jump over to their website at this point. The comments at the bottom of that link are well worth a visit though. Ultimately, twaddle talks down to the child (baby talk) and assumes that they aren't intelligent enough to understand higher concepts. I have observed with my own children that they can understand more. My 11 and 9 yod use words in their speech now that I don't even use much as an adult. They also both read on very high levels. My 9 yod is currently reading a book called Doctrine by Mark Driscoll which is a very thorough explanation of different aspects of Christian doctrine that we should all understand. He's getting it. This summer so far he's read two different Civil War books that were designed for adults to read. . .and he understood them. We don't use baby talk with our children and we don't give them baby books that assume they can't fully understand what is being said to them.

So as a more experienced homeschool mom I would say that preschool is simply madness. It can become a trap that the enemy uses to on moms to cause them to fret and worry over things that take care of themselves in other ways. It can also distract them from doing the job that God has called them to. We should definitely be available for our children during this time but it's doesn't have to look like what the daycare centers have turned into education. Preschool is a new concept created by socialism. Socialisms goal is to take the mom out of the home and give the kids to the state to educate. This is NOT what God intended for education for our children. Consider Deuteronomy 6.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Now THAT is a curriculum for all ages. Educating preschoolers should be about training them in the ways of God. They should be learning obedience and respect of parents at this age. There is nothing worse than a preschooler that thinks they are in charge and won't obey. Those preschoolers turn into teenagers that think they are in charge and are no fun to be around. None of us is truly in charge. Ultimately, God is the one Who rules. He is Sovereign. He has placed parents here to lead their children in this concept and it starts with learning to trust and obey parents. If a child can't learn to trust and obey their parents, they will not learn to trust and obey God. Mom's particularly should be spending their time during the day training their children in this way.

Memorizing God's word is another things that should be included in curriculum for preschoolers. Don't think a preschooler can memorize much scripture. Several summers ago my family learned Psalm 1. Several weeks after we mastered the whole psalm, Pee-Pooh, who was 3 1/2 at the time, quoted the whole thing to his Sunday school teachers unprompted. They were blown away (as was I to realized it stayed with him.) These little ones are sponges and can take in so much scripture. What a better way to spend our time than teaching and learning it with them.

The ABCs and 123s can be learned "along the way". Count the forks you put on the table. Better yet, teach them how to put away the silverware and count the forks they put away. While they are taking a bath, sing with them. When you read, take some time to run your finger under the words as you read. Children will not learn to read until they begin to associate the symbols (read letters) with the idea that they make words. For some that happens before 5. For a majority of kids, it will happen between 5 and 9 (sometimes older.) Colors can be learned when you get dressed in the morning. All of learning in preschool is an "along the way" type of learning. It isn't necessary to have a curriculum.

Cooking with preschoolers is also very important. Not only can it get them excited about what they are eating (think of the preschooler who hates veggies), but they learn valuable skills. My preschoolers cut our black olives for salad and nacho night using plastic knives. They help me make pancakes, bread, count beans (there is the counting again), and many other skills that little hands can do.

Now I am going to shift something here and mention that I do, indeed, use preschool activities for my children. I have a "curriculum" so to speak. But the reader must understand, I have older children that need me for school. Although our philosophy of education is to lead to independence in learning, I am still not absent from that. My older children are fairly independent in their work. I have two children that are currently learning to read so they requires a lot of my time. I need activities for my preschoolers during this time to occupy them. But this doesn't change what I said above. The best education for my preschoolers is time with mom for reading and learning as we walk along the way. And I will still maintain that their best time will be spent with me. The "activities" I have for are meant to keep them occupied while I give my older kids their education. It's not designed to teach them (although some learning will take place.)

That said, in coming days I will be posting more about what we're doing for "preschool" with my 18 mod and 3 yod. There are different resource that can be use in just the ways I have described above. I also want to be sensitive to the fact that there are some who are just better at working with younger children than I am. They simply need the ideas to get them started so they can work with their children. There is no condemnation in that at all. What I have mentioned above is my opinion based on experience. I have recently witness a tremendous amount of mommies online who are very purposeful about their preschool and they love doing it. It is possible to do preschooler type work with your children and there is nothing wrong with it.

I want to finish with a testimony for those skeptical about simply skipping what we know as preschool. I had two friends in whom their oldest children were one month and 3 weeks older than my oldest child. Both of these moms had only two children at the time and were doing "preschool" work with their children. At this time in my life I was tremendously guilty of comparing myself to others. I would beat myself up so much because I just wasn't doing enough with my oldest. I was so afraid she would be behind. Both of these children were already starting to read small words and JB had nothin'. I stayed the course and didn't start school until after she turned 5. Even the concept of kindergarten is questionable to me now, but we did start her. It took her three months to finally learn to read, making my kindergarten curriculum obsolete by the time we go tot November. The funny thing is that the other two children mastered reading at about the same time. The mom's worked longer to teach reading and we ended up at the same place. This fact gave me more confidence as a homeschool teacher and in God's leading.

Preschoolers are so enjoyable. We don't want to waste their formative years trying to make them sit at a desk coloring, writing (especially when they aren't physically ready), and attempting to learn concepts that are so easy to pick up if we are simply BEING with them. That is why God clearly commanded us to teach along the way. Formal academics really aren't necessary for quite a while.

Please check back over the next few days. I will be posting several different resources for preschool for those interested. There are some great books related to what I am discussed today. There are several great blogs that I will include as well.

Thristy? Drink Water!!

2010-05-21T12:26:00.000-05:00

Why is it that we humans think we can improve everything that God created and think we can remain healthy? This is an interesting post. Pay attention to the sugar content but ignore the substitutes. Drink good clean filtered water, instead.

The Long Story of a Deceptively Short Labor

2010-05-11T13:50:00.001-05:00

At 6:37pm Saturday, May 8, Little Leeli arrived on the scene of our very busy house. I have said all along that she was a surprise and her arrival was no different.

Leeli's due date was two days before the big Arlington Homeschool Bookfair. This is one of my favorite times of the year and I really wanted to go. Since we're changing direction with school next, I was hoping to get there and take advantage of fair discounts and free shipping. There was an added bonus to this year. We were going to meet a family that we had befriended online as they are convention representatives for Rosetta Stone. That was what I really wanted to do. I had been praying for a while that God would allow Leeli to come early so that I could make it to the bookfair for all the reasons mentioned above. That was not His plan but He did answer these in a different way.

We arranged to meet with the mother/daughter team coming to Arlington on Thursday before the bookfair opened. They spent the day setting up and then they were going meet us for dinner. We drove to them so they didn't have to maneuver through too much Dallas rush hour traffic. But the morning of this meeting, I woke up with fairly consistent contractions and bloody show. They weren't hard to work through. Throughout the day, they slowed down so we decided to do anyway. Of course, being in the bumpy van made everything start up again. They weren't hard contractions but they were starting to require a bit of concentration. They stayed fairly consistent through dinner and into the evening but finally fizzled out. I did have trouble sleeping through the night but once I got up there just wasn't any thing left.

When I woke up on Friday morning, I debated going to the bookfair. I had slept on the couch with a few contractions through the night. I didn't want to drive an hour away and then have something happen. But when we finally realized that I really wasn't doing much so we decided to just pack the whole family up and go get our books. This is not something we'll ever do again until everyone is much older but it was kind of fun having everybody there. They all dressed in a green shirt (their choice) in order to help mom and dad keep track of everyone. I was able to get all my books and a few extras and all with no contractions. I was still having bloody show but nothing else.

We came home around lunch and everyone took a nap. As I woke up I started to have contractions start up again but they just weren't regular enough to time them. They were, however, requiring more of me. I was getting irritated with noises around me and just wanted everyone to go away. Underdog started a movie and got dinner for the kids. It was also our date night. We get the kids dinner and sometimes they do a movie. Then they go down a little earlier to bed. Sometimes we cook dinner at home for ourselves and other times we order out. That night, Underdog went to get Jason's Deli so I could have a California Club sandwich and a salad. But as the evening progressed I just didn't want to do anything but sleep. Eating just made me nauseous anyway. About 45 minutes into our movie and a few bites of my meal, I went to bed.

The night was quite restless for me. I didn't sleep much between the contractions. They just simply weren't something I could time though. There was so regularity to them. I would have one then go seven minutes then have another and wait for another 15 minutes. In all reality, that is quite typical of my labors. But once I got up on Saturday there just wasn't much going on. By mid-morning I felt like I was going insane and I called my midwife to tell her so. She wanted me to find a way to relax and get some sleep through the afternoon. I agreed and set out to do that. I was still having contractions and they were taking concentration but still no regularity. I was starting to feel them in my back but not bad enough to need help to get through them. My plan for the day was to relax a bit (shopping on ebay :) and then spent some time with my family, including my parents, brother, his girlfriend, and my baby niece. My brother and his family had come down to visit for Mother's Day and hopefully see the new cousin. I was excited to see them all.

Just before my family arrived, the baby started moving in a way that was causing intense pain. These were not contractions, although the movement often caused a contraction. I got in a warm bath to see if it might calm her down and stop some of the pain. But nothing helped. By that time, the flood gates opened up. I started crying uncontrollably. Underdog finally came in to see if I was alright and I just cried. I wanted the pain to stop. This wasn't labor pain. I could handle that (for the most part.) These were sharp, sharp sensations that wouldn't let up. Then a contraction would come on and make it all even worse.

I finally got most of this to stop so I went down to join my family and hold my niece. She's beautiful and looks alot like I remember her dad looking (at least in my 5 yod memory.) I talked for a bit with my mom and Carrie and then the baby started moving again. I was rather embarrassed and rushed out of the room. I was crying and Underdog had to help me up the stairs. I had another contraction when I got upstairs. I decided to try and start my nap. About 20 minutes into my nap I had a contraction that I didn't think I would make it through. The contractions were still coming so far apart though. I am thinking that they really were at about seven to eight minutes apart. Underdog took the kids out of the house so I could get some quiet but there would be no nap. I finally called him to come home. I needed help. Length between the contractions is typically what you would see in early labor. You definitely wouldn't see that spacing in transition but the contractions felt like transition. I really was beginning to feel like I was insane.

I called Rose Marie, my midwife, she recommended I get in the tub to see if that might slow things down. She felt that perhaps I was just so overly tired from having walked the day before and not sleeping that my body was overreacting. So I got in my birth tub. It didn't help though. Underdog got home and we decided that it would probably we best for the kids to go to my parents house. So they came back to get them and decided without me to take overnight clothes just in case. By this time it was about 5 to 5:30pm. The contractions were so hard. I was just about ready to give up. Underdog called Rose Marie and they decided to put me to sleep with alcohol. YUCK!!!!! I could barely get the drink down. I finally gave up. I was done and I told Underdog so. He was to take me immediately to the hospital so I could get pain relief and sleep!!! He didn't go for it but humored me. He wanted me to take a nap so he got me out. I found out later that he told Rose Marie that he thought I just needed sleep. He was right to think so. That is what I thought as well but the contractions wouldn't let me.

Now there is something I must explain at this point. I have very specific signs of coming to the end of transition and very close to dilating completing. First of all, I am usually done, get me to the hospital for pain relief. Secondly, I hate wearing clothes at this point. I am an extremely modest person but there is something about giving birth in your element that makes me want nothing to do with clothing. Midwives see this alot so they don't think anything of it. So I had hit two of the signs. The third is crying. Well, I had started doing that much earlier in the afternoon. Finally, I get the shakes really bad toward the end. The problem with all this is that I had ALL the signs of transition BUT the contractions were still seven to eight minutes apart. Even my midwife didn't think anything was going on except exhaustion on my part. I just confused and honestly afraid this was all in my head.

So I was on the bed after getting out of the tub and the contractions are coming really hard. I needed pressure on my back which I actually remember hurting more. Then I felt the strangest sensation. . . I felt like I needed to push. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I had no idea where I was in the dilation process and I didn't want to do anything wrong to hurt myself. But it wouldn't go away. The only way to make things feel better was to push just a bit so I did. Then I felt something strange. It was bag of water. Then it broke. That was it. That usually means that labor is imminent. There was no turning back. We called the midwife and I got back in the tub.

You must understand something else. My water doesn't usually break until near the end. Now I was really confused. These are some hard transition like contractions coming every seven to eight minutes. That was the consistant time of them ALL. I got in the tub and suddenly things changed. I wasn't purposely pushing but my body was. I was getting really scared. I thought I could feel a head. Panic begin to set it. Underdog was amazingly calm and he called the midwife.

We found out later that Rose Marie called another midwife, Pam, who lives about 20 minutes from me. My midwife was 20 minutes from me at that time as well. It just so happened that the other midwife had just walked out of the movie with her daughter was 2 minutes from me. I call that God's grace. To be honest, I interviewed this midwife a couple of years ago and was hoping Rose Marie would think to call her. I trusted her very much.

So the weird pushing sensation wouldn't go away, the contraction were changing, my back was screaming at me and I am screaming at baby to stop moving. Yes, the movement from her was starting again. I knew what that movement meant though. She was readjusting for the final decent. I was scared to death. I am home alone with my husband in a full tub of water and this baby was coming with NO MIDWIFE. Pam walked in started getting gloves out and towels ready. Then it hit!!!! That sudden feeling of GET THIS THING OUT OF THERE. There was no stopping now. I had passed transition without even knowing it. Pam barely had time to get her gloves on before I had pushed her out. She was arriving with just as much surprise as when we found out about her coming last summer.

Miss Leeli (that will be her blog name) was wrapped in her cord several times AND holding on to it. Dad was ready to catch if necessary but he was glad he didn't have to. It took a bit to get her unwrapped. The amazing things is that Pam did not bring her up out of the water until she was unwrapped and she floated her to me to grab. Water birth is amazing. Babies don't take a breath until they hit air. As she was coming up her eyes were wide open. Several months ago I was at friends house to help with her older kids while she was birthing to her baby. When we all finally got to go into the room I made a comment about how alert undrugged babies were. She was puzzled at first having had all EIGHT of her babies at home. But her midwife confirmed what I said. The drugs that are given to moms in the hospital do indeed cross the placenta and it makes for VERY tired babies. I have had 3 babies this way. All I remember if that they simply wanted to sleep. Imagine my surprise when I realized that babies really are born very alert and ready to interact with you. Leeli was as alert as any baby I have seen and she's still that way. She's not having to work the drugs out of her body.

Leeli was born at 6:37pm. She weighed 9 1/2 pounds (my prediction) and had a 14 inch head (another one that I called.) She was 21 1/2 inches long. She has a full head of beautiful black hair, much like the color of her daddy's hair right now. When I first saw her I thought she looked alot like Si-Bay. They both have a perfectly round face and pretty little almond eyes. On occasion I will see some of the Pee-Poohs face. And then both my mom and I can see alot of my grandmother's face in her. My grandmother had alot of Cherokee Indian in her so she had really high cheek bones. I see that is Leeli's face. I expect she will change over time but for right now, I am just having fun trying to determine who she looks like and when.

The aftermath of the birth was a bit trying for me. My blood pressure was very low. I lost just a bit more blood than they initially thought. I was very dizzy as well. At one point I ended up getting sick to my stomach. Nothing made me feel better. All I wanted to do was sleep. The one thing I needed to do more than anything was empty my bladder but I couldn't. It simply took me forever. Until I was able to do that I was going to stay sick and dizzy. So I was finally able to "run" with help to the potty and finally to empty my bladder. But I was still so dizzy from the blood loss that I had to crawl back to my bed. I can only imagine the sight. HA!!!

I did eventually get to eat and keep food down. By 10pm I was just simply ready to go to sleep with my baby girl. She had other plans though. When I finally was able to think straight after getting out of the tub, I nursed her for the first time. She is truly a champ. They was very little help needed to get her latched on right. Thus, it's now her favorite past time. And that was all she wanted to do that night. She's good at nursing lying down so I was able to get a little sleep. It also didn't help that Underdog was instructed to get me up every two hours to empty my bladder until my milk comes in. URGH!!! So between that and her wanting to nurse all night, I didn't sleep much.

The recovery hasn't been hard at all. I am still a bit dizzy when I stand up so Rose Marie wants me resting alot. I will go to the chiropractor on Thursday for an adjustment and to get Leeli her first adjustment. The rest of the family is in a bit of teezy but that is to be expected. The next several weeks are going to be quite an adjustment for us all. But I thankful for the timing of her birth. It the start of our summer session so we will use that as a time to do a bit of school as well as adjust to Leeli's new presence in our home. I am so looking forward to her first year with us.

Pink with Daddy helping her hold her future roommate and best friend.

We said this last time with Pinky Poo, but we are done, really. We thought we were after Pink. We are pretty certain unless God has other plans, that we are truly done now. My body is tired. And I am ready to move to my next stage as a mom. It's the first time both of us have been on the same page with a decision long before we ever discussed it. And we believe we are in the will of God. All I can say is that this was one of the best ways to end this stage of my motherhood. I started my motherhood out on a pretty spring evening in May nearly 11 years ago. That one was a surprise birth as well considering her due date was in June. I ended the maternity stage of my motherhood on a beautiful spring evening as well finding a surprise involved. Those in between have been full of fun and adventure. I am so excited to see what God has in store for the next stage of motherhood and fatherhood for us. And I am thankful that I get to do it with the greatest husband in the world and SEVEN of the most awesome children God could possible bring into our lives. Thank you, Jesus, for the blessing of my family.

Laundry Day with Young Children and Preschoolers

2010-05-03T22:28:00.000-05:00

Pink helping mommy hang her skirt on the line.

Doing laundry is actually one of my favorite chores. I love to pull hot clean clothes from the dryer or to bring the clothes in off the laundry line on a hot summer day. Folding clothes is very relaxing to me as well.

I have tried over the years different tactics with our laundry. In the past several years I finally settled on doing it all in one day though. That is much better for me than trying to remember that there are a couple of loads each day that need to be folded.

How We Accomplish Laundry for (almost 9) People

My system is very simple. Everyone has a job to do and we work as a team. They understand that there is no free time in their late afternoon until all laundry is finished. Monday is the official laundry day so they also wake up understanding this will be the busiest day of the week (outside shopping day.)

Here is who laundry works:

1) We sort all laundry (except PJs and stay clothing) the Sunday night before.

2) One person (my oldest) is assigned the job of gathering all PJs and stray clothing on Monday morning.

3) We always start laundry by 8am on Monday.

4) It takes us 5-7 minutes to make a load switch.

a) Always start whites first.

b) Jeans/denim are next. When this load is finished, it gets hung outside to dry.

c) Lights, reds, and darks are washed in that order after the denim. Once the denim is finished we start the lights. When they are finished in the washer, the whites are usually dry and this we can start the next load to wash and dry immediately.

d) When the clothes come out of the dryer, they are piled on the couch and love seat awaiting Laundry game later in the afternoon.

Today we finished out laundry washing by 2:30pm. That is a record for us. We were well pleased.

Laundry Game

Now I borrowed laundry game from a friend with eight children and modified it to fit our family. As I mentioned above, all the laundry is piled on the couch and love seat. We move the coffee table and line the baskets up in the middle of the room. I should quickly mention that every person in our family gets a laundry basket. We put colored stickers on each basket to identify who the basket belongs to. Mom and dad has separate baskets as well. We turn on some fun music and start sorting into the appropriate baskets. The socks are placed in a corner of the couch for my 11 yod to fold. Once it's all divided we take a short break and have a snack. Then it on to folding. Everyone folds their own laundry plus their charge (the little that they are responsible to help mom and dad with certain tasks). Boys hang all shirts and fold pants. The gils han all their dresses and fold everything else. I have written a bit about our family closet and drawer organization here.

How To Train Children to Run A Washer

I trained my two oldest children (9 and almost 11 yod) to run the washer and dryer when they were about 5 yod and reading fairly well. I am just now starting with my 7 yod simply because I had become too dependent on JB and BroncoFan to do it for me. They need to move on so it's time to pull Schmoo and eventually Pe-Pooh into the mix.

Today I came up with an idea that took me a total of 30 minutes to put together. By the end of the day, she was starting all the loads by herself.

This is my washer. (I apologize for the glare. I had trouble capturing the extent of the system without the flash. But I think can get a good idea.) The sheet on the washer lid is simply printed instructions inside a slip cover and attached the to the top of the door. I have listed six steps for starting a load of laundry. I also took those steps and labeled the control panel with numbers for each step. We start with the size of the laundry, move to the temperature, then the type of material (almost always cotton). Finally, they move to starting the water at the right time, adding a scoop of Charlie's Soap, and then putting all the clothes in the washer basin. I included pictures where it was necessary.

This is a closer look at the control panel. You will notice the numbers and picture on the bottom. You will also probably notice the stickers. There are corresponding stickers on the step by step sheet. I included pictures, as well, and what is to be washed at what temperature in step number two. Yellow is hot. Pink and light blue are for lights. Blue, red, and green are for darks and denim. Schmoo has enough reading skill to be able to read the temperature. It's just easier to have the stickers so she can truly become independent and not always need to ask me what temperature to use.

This is the rest of the panel. The #3 is for fabric and it usually stays on "cotton." There is another colored sticker on #4 simply so she will know to start the load on the shorter cycle versus the longer cycle. Numbers 5 and 6 are simply put on there as a visual reminder of what is next.

She caught on to this very quickly today so I don't expect to be needed in the next few weeks to do this anymore. And as I mentioned before, it took me about 30 minutes to pull all this together.

Including Your Preschoolers

I believe it very important to begin teaching preschoolers how to work at an early age. We have a few chores that we start with and laundry takes up a majority of that. On laundry day, they don't do as much until they get to about 4 yod.

We usually start with folding wash clothes and cloth diapers. These are very easy for little hands to fold in half once and stack together. We use alot of cloth in our home so they get lots of practice. I try my best to fold the towels, cleaning clothes, cloth napkins, and cloth diapers so that I can instruct them in how to do this and encourage them along. I have found one of the best motivators for small children are jelly beans. I get my jelly beans at Whole Foods so the sugar is a better type of sugar used. They get a jelly bean for doing the job All the way, Right away, and with a happy heart (the "how" of obedience on our house). They love helping and being part of the family in this way.

Sometimes it can be hard for mommies of very young ones to let go of the perfect and allow them to help. But it really is very important for their development as well as security in the home to be included. I think it's made a world of difference in how my children help around the house.

More than just helping with these areas, I try to include them in as many places as possible. And I'll close with this today. I didn't get too many pictures of them helping me hang out the jeans on the clothes line today, but my 7 yod thought it was really cute that her 18 month old sister was helping. She snapped this picture (as well as the one at the top).