Must-reads for wives

Check out what (link removed), Kristen, and Jenna are working on. Look under "Created to be His Help Meet." And check back every Tuesday for updates!

One thing I'm doing to help the environment:)

Ever since I "met" Not Crunchy and started reading her blog I've renewed my interest in the environment and how we should be taking care of it. So when a friend of my Dad's (who works at a water treatment plant) mentioned to his wife (who mentioned it to my mom who mentioned it to me) that they were finding fish with BOTH male and female reproductive organs possibly due to birth control pills in the water- I was intrigued. Could birth control pills really be an environmental issue? See (deep breath here), my dh and I decided years ago to leave our "family planning" up to God, who is in control anyway. So I already knew that the pill was a faith issue (for us at least). And I've done a lot of research on all the reasons it's a major health issue. But an environmental issue? That could garner some attention. If you don't feel like reading this article (Blogger won't take my link - I'm trying to fix it), let me sum it up a little. All this estrogen we're taking is being "flushed" back into the water system affecting all the fish and other life in our water ways. It's also finding it's way back into our drinking water affecting us. It could cause all sorts of reproductive problems for animals and humans alike. And what about all the other drugs we take? Anyone else wondering about the rapidly climbing rates of antibacterial resistance? So here's my idea of something to do for the environment - stop taking the pill! Just PLEASE don't flush it:)

Is this family insane or do we call this normal now?

With all the talk about simplicity around the bloggerhood, this article seems almost obscene. I can't even imagine this kind of life. Do people actually raise families this way? How are the children even coping on this little rest and what kind of relationships can they possibly have with one another when they never seem to just be together? This is a part of the reason that we've decided to have a one-income household and to homeschool. Although that alone won't do it. I know lots of stay-at-home moms who are actually stay-in-the-road moms. I really believe kids need downtime. I know I do! It is hard to buck the "both parents have to work" system that seems so ingrained these days, but it is so worth it! We wake up relaxed in the morning (unless baby girl has had a rough night!). We cook real breakfast and we dress in comfy play clothes (still working on this area for me) when we get ready to. Most days we don't go anywhere. If we do have to venture out it's for something we enjoy, like story time at the library or church, or something absolutely neccessary, like groceries. And we almost never have to be anywhere before 10 am. Not that we're without stress, of course. We have more than our fair share of the clutter that the article mentions. And my dh works long and hard to support us. But at least I have the time to stop and appreciate what he's doing for us. Our life is far from simple. We have our struggles, disagreements, time constraints, responsibilities, and little emergencies to juggle. But compared to the "average" that this article is talking about we might as well be Amish:) Just reading it made me tired!

Brenna's on a nursing strike!

At nine months old (almost) Brenna already has quite a little personality. I've loving called her "high maintainence" since she was born. But she has suddenly decided not to nurse anymore and it's driving me crazy! She's allergic to milk projects so no regular old formula for my little princess. I'm praying that it's just something like new teeth or something I ate that she doesn't like the taste of, but I'm having to deal with the thought that she might just be weaning herself already. My baby is growing up, but I'm not ready!

Preschool-at-Home Update

Caution: Extreme parental boasting ahead. Proceed with caution:)

We finished up our five (or was it 6?) week unit on good books (see the Jan 22 post). It was a blast! We baked cookies to go along with one of the books with Levi's friend Ryan who comes over on Fridays. I let them lick the beater and you'd have thought I was handing Ryan a bomb or something. He looked at it and me like we came from outer space. When he finally took a lick, he was pleasantly surprised and helped Levi lick the bowl, too. (Yes I know, yucky germs and all that, but they're kids.) When I filled his mom in on what happend she knew what the problem with the beater was - Ryan had never seen one before because she doesn't bake. Ever. There are only store-bought cookies in this kid's future:) But I guess that's what Miss Shannon's is for:)
Anyway. Back to the schooling. We also did a really fun unit about trains, which Levi is fascinated by. He memorized a poem pretty much on his own - A Train Is A Dragon. And we went to see a real train.
But the best part over the last few weeks has been our Bible study. We've been using his story Bible and going through one story per week. And he is memorizing a verse every week to go with the story. I'm so excited at how quickly he can remember them and how well he remembers from one week to the next. I haven't given him rewards or bribes or anything like that because I haven't needed to - he just loves it. I am planning to do some recognition type stuff once he gets to, say, ten. But what thrills me the most is seeing how much of the stories he really comprehends. I guess I'm still a little in awe of the fact that I can actually teach him things. It's just incredible to watch him soak it all in:)
We're doing a unit now on families and next week we're starting an "all about me" unit (mostly because I want to make this adorable little all-about-me book that I found). After that...who knows. So far I've found way more ideas that I'll ever be able to squeeze in anyway, so I'm just sort of flying by the seat of my pants. I'll probably get a little more organized as I go. Let's hope anyway:)

My "baby" brother is getting out of the navy...

so this will be the first time in my life that I won't have a family memeber in the service. I am so relieved. I feel guilty about that - someone's brother has to be the one fighting, why shouldn't it be mine? But I can't help being glad that I can stop carrying that worry in the back of my head. I'm so proud of him. He's always been my "baby" brother even though he's head and shoulders taller than me. But he's grown into a really good man that I'm really proud to have for a brother. He's put in a lot of time for his country and I'm excited for him now to be starting something new.

Parenting

This article just breaks my heart. I can't imagine that so many supposedly Christian parents have their priorities so completely out of whack. I'll admit I have a hard time remembering that an education isn't the end-all, be-all. But as a Christian how can I say that anything is more important than a personal relationship with Christ? If I'm concerned with the spiritual wellfair of a total stranger, how much more concern should I show for my own child? I thought this was very well written and he made an excellant point about not assuming we'll see different results with our "Christian" kids when we're using the same methods. I guess I just really feel like God is calling me to go against the grain in this world. We don't know very many people who homeschool or who really welcome all the children God sends their way. I never imagined that I'd be a "rebel" and I don't think I'm very good at it yet. I really dislike confrontation:) But articles like this remind me that even though I think I'm extremely traditional/conservative, I'm actually quite outside the norm these days.

Vox Apologia - The Least of These

I've been so swamped that I didn't really think I was going to have time to write anything, but you know how it is when a thought pops into your head and won't leave you alone. So I'm just going to get this out of my head and into yours, then maybe I can get to sleep:)

Whatever we do for the least of these... Well, what are we doing for the smallest, most defenseless among us? The ones that certainly seem the least wanted and least appreciated. What are we doing for the unborn children of this world? We're standing by while they're murdered for being less than perfect, for coming at a bad time, for being too much work. And now, with a generation of girls born in the years since it became legal to kill your child before he or she is born, we're seeing a rise in the number of babies killed after they're born, too. And all the while we as Christians haven't done much at all to stop it. We say it's wrong (at least most of us go this far) and we might vote prolife. Some of us may even give our time and money to a pregnancy center or other anti-abortion organization. But how few of us are really out there living a prolife statement. Even within the church, we don't welcome the little children the way He does. Maybe the first child or the second, but what about the tenth? What about when the parents "can't afford the ones they have now"? And how may of us are preaching birthcontrol instead of self-control ? I wonder how God feels when we cast away the blessings he showering down on us? And if we truly will be judged by how we treated the least of these, isn't it time we acted like it?