George Tiller Shot to Death

Late term abortion doctor, George Tiller, was shot to death this morning.

Not sure what to say...

Unconventional Baby Food

Eleven years ago, when my first child was an infant, I gave him baby cereal from a box when he was ___ months old (I'll save myself the embarrassment of an exact age, but suffice it to say, it was really early!) Since I can't change anything about that, I just have to admit I didn't know any better and move on armed with more and better information.

Now, you will not find me in the camp of those who do not feed solids until their babies are 1 year old. Maybe if I had children with allergies that would be something I would hold to, but as it stands, I have hungry kiddos and stick to the rule of thumb that has yet to lead me astray...

When they start showing interest, start grabbing, and start being hungry more often and on a fairly consistant basis, I offer food. If they turn their nose up at it, I don't push it. I wait a bit and offer it again. Since I've begun following this way of introducing solids, I've had babies eating solids anywhere from 5 months to 7 1/2 months.

However, I have confess something here...

I no longer feed infant cereal as a first food.

What do I feed them?

Well...

one of my favorites is advocado. Avocados are a nice healthy fat (and babies need nice healthy fats in their diet!). It is also easily mashed, making it a quick food to prepare. In the beginning, I take a small sliver (peeled, of course) and mash it in a bowl and offer it to baby. This has always proved to be a favorite with my kiddos.

Another good fat and easily consumed food is...

Once again, a good healthy fat for baby (and mamas too!). I usually only do one small spoonful of coconut oil per day, but you must, must, must use only the extra virgin organic kind. For more information on coconut oil, take a look at Dr. Mercola's site and Coconutoil.com. (and just as a side note, we also use coconut oil for skin rashes and as a wonderful smelling hand lotion)

I don't often give fruit as a first food because I prefer my kiddos avoid a reliance on sweet things to tempt their palate. Not sure if there is any proof to my theory that introducing sweet first makes baby less apt to want the blander tasting veggies later on, but no matter, I tend to steer clear, except for one fruit...the mango!

Mangos have a nice mashable texture and are not as sweet as some fruits. Most of my babies have been pleased with mangos and had no issues eating their veggies.

So, there you have my top 3 favorite unconventional baby foods. The reason this has come up is because Micah is showing interest in food. Here I'll make yet another confession...

I am not consistant in the beginning with feeding solids. If one day they are starving hungry all day long, I feed them; but, if the next day they seem satisfied with just good ole mama's milk then I stick with that. Honestly, nursing is 100 times easier than feeding solids. There comes a point where feeding baby food every day becomes necessary, but rarely in those early days. I also try to make sure they are really wanting food and not just in a growth spurt that will pass within a week or two. If after about a week of consistantly being fussy and nursing round the clock things do not level back out, then I offer food. This is where Micah is. He is nearing 5 months, but he is very tall and very advanced physically for his age (must have been that extra week he spent in utero!), so it really doesn't come as much of a surprise that he is already interested in food.

As I said, I'm not real consistant, but he has had some coconut oil and a bit of advocado this past week. He thought they were great!

Here is a picture of Micah taking his first bite of coconut oil.

(Yikes, mom! Where's the bib!?! Note to self...coconut oil is an OIL...not good to go bib-less!!!)

And as a quick tidbit for all you nursing moms out there...nurse first! You'll encourage a healthy breastfeeding relationship this way. If you aren't careful, you could easily lose what you have.

ENJOY!

How Homeschooling Conventions have Shaped our Homeschool

Someone asked me today how long I've been attending homeschooling conventions such as the one that is going on here in our city this weekend. I believe it was 2002 when I attended my very first homeschooling convention. It was a bit shocking to me to realize I have been going to these for 7 years now! Is that possible???

Since I have apparently passed the homeschooling novice stage (so, tell me when do you stop questioning your curriculum every single year???!!!), I thought I'd share some of the things I've learned through the years.

First of all, all homeschoolers have a story. Each one of us came to homeschooling in a different way. Few of us have remained unchanged in our motives throughout the years. We are one family that has seen a great change in where we came from to where we are to where we are going.

I usually tell people about how my husband was deployed and I did not want to send my son away to school when he'd already had so much upheaval in his life. However, I often leave out the fact that homeschooling, for me, was also a knee-jerk reaction. When my son was young, I was excited to send him off to school, but as he grew closer to school age, I began to remember my experiences. My school years were defined by peer dependency and needs unmet. I wanted no part of that life for my children and I figured my college-educated self could do an equal, if not better, job of teaching academics. So, armed with all the knowledge I could glean from the two homeschooling families I knew (thanks Becky & Candi!), I set out to homeschool my oldest child.

Back then, I had no idea there was a huge market for homeschooling curriculum. I literally bought from the first catalog that showed up (Keepers of the Faith) and ran with it.

I did fairly well with what I had, but then I attended my first ever homeschooling convention. WOW! Talk about drinking from a fire hydrant! Praise the Lord I was poor! I would have bought everything in that vendor hall (and over the years I just about have!)

Thankfully, the board who puts on the convention started a First Time Homeschool Convention Goers meeting the day before the convention starts to try to prepare new homeschoolers as best they can for what they are about to encounter. I sure could have used something like that!

Those early years, I spent a lot of time and energy trying to find my niche. I flitted from one idea to the next and tried hard to piece things together on my own. As time went by I realized the Lord was pulling me away from my initial "reactionary" stage and placing me into a more "visionary" stage. To explain a bit more, here's an excerpt from my first ever blog post over at Homeschool Blogger.

The Beginning
December 12, 2005

For many years I had visions of the big yellow school bus sweeping my children off their feet and taking them to the quaint old red brick schoolhouse whilst I stayed behind baking cookies to delight them upon their arrival home. Now, 3 years later, I realize how faulty my vision was, and here I sit, forever grateful, that God saw fit to give our family a clearer "vision!"

Oh, don't get me wrong, there are days when MY vision is still a little hazy. Thankfully, God's isn't! He takes my foggy, less than resourceful, downright unproductive days and turns them into lessons in patience, thankfulness, and faith.

So, for me the beginning was truly a beginning. It was a time when I let go of many of MY visions and let God have His way. I also had to release my fears and doubts as well. Was I really qualified enough to teach a rambunctious and highly intelligent 4 year old? Would my high-needs 1 year old sleep long enough to allow us to do school? What curriculum was the best? How would I ever afford all the curriculum I thought I needed? What if there are gaps? What subjects should I be teaching at what age? Would I put him into public school at a certain age? and on and on and on...

Not all of these questions have been answered definitively and more seem to crop up weekly, but I am no longer a basket-case each time I think of a new "what-if" scenario.

So, join me on my homeschooling journey. I'm not going to guarantee you profound epiphanies on a daily basis and I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers, but I will guarantee you a candid look at my life as a Christian wife and mother.

I think the fact that it took 3 years to really catch this vision is very important to note. The aforementioned Becky had told me that for about 3 years I would flounder. I would buy and be dissatisfied, I would teach and question myself, I would spend copious amounts of time chasing my tail and eventually come out on the other side with a better understanding of homeschooling. I am so glad someone pre-warned me of this because indeed, it did take 3 years to finally come out of the fog of newbie homeschooling to a place where I could catch the vision God had for our family.

Hearing Doug Phillips of Vision Forum speak at a homeschool convention was instrumental in helping our family see that homeschooling must be about much more than academics and reactionary thinking. We cannot waste our time standing in the negative when there is so much positive to stand for. There is no need to be AGAINST public school when we can be FOR discipling and walking beside our children. We have to be heading in some direction rather than wandering aimlessly.

Once again, we were drinking from a fire hydrant, but this time we had purpose. I began to search out a curriculum that kept the Bible at the forefront. I began to be much more intent on teaching the Lord's ways and not man's ways. From time to time I still require a reminder (see Declutter Me and Do They See God?), but these days it is much easier to see when I am letting the world's way of thinking slip in and there is much less backtracking to be done.

Homeschooling conventions have now become more about solidifying our convictions. A couple of weeks ago, Ty and I were talking about how we really needed to be diligent in making Bible first in our school day. We also wanted to make a concerted effort to bathe our children in Scripture all day long. This year's homeschool conference has definitely reiterated this to us in session after session. Definitely a God thing!

I am always surprised when I hear of a family who has homeschooled for several years and never attended a conference. In many respects, this does keep them from the fire hydrant syndrome, but I also think about how much I have gleaned from these once a year informational/encouragement baths. It is well worth the soaking I get.

Not Above Bribery

Perhaps you remember this little potty-trainer...

The 2008 potty training season didn't go so well and my pregnant self just could not do all the clean-up anymore. So, I let it go and put the little lad back in diapers until I was a little less rotund and the simple act of bending over didn't require hours of recovery.

A few months ago I decided I could once again juggle a potty trainer and a new baby and I tried THIS METHOD (which is pretty much what I had done in my original potty training post). However, one day while on a 30 minute errand with my mom on potty-training duty, our darling son managed to go in his shirt (which ultimately means the floor) 5 times!! My mom gave up and put him in a diaper...she was NOT happy. When I asked him about it, he gave me that little Irish smile of his and I knew we had to pull out the big guns!

Look closely at the above picture...see the stuffed toy he is holding? Well, that was a present from his Mimi and Papa and he promptly named it Chee Chee. What does that have to do with anything, you might ask...

Chee Chee in Keian-land means Chuck E. Cheese. We often go there for birthdays (and try to avoid eating their incredibly yucky pizza!) It is a favorite of the kiddos, but especially of little K's.

So....

You guessed it...I bribed him with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's if he would not poop in his pants
for a consistant amount of time.

Folks, let me tell ya, he was the fastest potty-trainer in the West!

Here's a few pictures from our celebration party (and yes, we did manage to avoid the incredibly yucky pizza!)




Daddy doling out the tokens



Blake won the jackpot!

Keian's favorite game...push the button to bounce the balls into the dog's mouth.

Feeding the machine!

We had saved up tickets from the previous trip, so we ended up getting a couple of decent toys the whole family could enjoy and then a few of the customary junk toys that kids love for some reason.

And here's a final picture I could not resist sharing. We had a bit of a storm roll through right before we got to Chuck E. Cheese's and here's the rainbow it left.

Thus concludes my adventures in Potty Training Land...for year or so.

A Hard Holiday

Memorial Day isn't a day at the lake. It isn't hot dogs and hamburgers. It isn't an extra day off.

At least not for me.

Originally, Memorial Day was a day that was set aside to decorate the graves of fallen war heroes. I grew up going to memorial services at cemeteries because my dad was a World War II vet (and my husband is an Operation Nobel Eagle and Enduring Freedom vet). There are many who believe this day should remain just for our war heroes, but it has naturally evolved into a day to decorate all graves and remember all who have died. While I do find it difficult to "celebrate" this holiday in the manner many do (the cookouts and jaunts to the lake), I don't think it will ever go back to being just for the fallen war heroes. And so, I "celebrate" by tending Emily's grave and the graves of others in my family (including my father) who have "gone on before."

Losing a child has made this a hard holiday.

Couple that with Micah being the age Emily was when she first got sick and you can imagine the struggle it was to make it through this weekend.

In fact, I watch Micah very closely these days. Any strange look in his eyes, any time he spits up, any breathing pattern I don't like, anything. I have shaken him from a sound sleep more often than I care to admit. I have worried the lack of a poopy diaper one day was the beginning of intestinal troubles. I wouldn't say I am fearful...just watchful. I'm having a difficult time believing babies grow up even though I have 4 of them to prove they do. Just another day inside my brain.

Despite the difficulty of this weekend, there were also some blessed moments. I spent all day Friday with my mother-in-law and granny-in-law shopping thrift stores (one of my favorite pasttimes!) On Saturday, my mom came to pick me up to visit all her cemeteries. During this time I learned much about my family and am currently working on putting together all the geneology into a notebook so I won't have to rely on my horrible memory. Sunday I sang at my mom's church (my mother-in-law and granny-in-law surprised us by showing up to hear me sing). And finally, on Monday, I went to my father-in-law's for a nice visit with him and Ty's step-mom.

In case you are wondering why I'm saying "I" instead of "we", it is because my husband and oldest son spent the weekend in South Dakota on a Scouting campout. That could be another reason this was a hard weekend. They'd been gone since Wednesday and I was certainly ready for them to come home by the time Monday rolled around. I was thankful for all the visiting time I had with family, though. It made the time pass much more quickly.

Science Curriculum (and an Apologia Giveaway!)

A few years ago I made a second-hand purchase of a science curriculum that was so repleat with errors, I could barely stand to plod through it. A serious editing oversight had occured and while my children enjoyed the format of the curriculum, I knew I could never repeat it again.

From there, I purchased another science curriculum at the recommendation of a friend. While I felt it to be a solid and uniformly error-free curriculum, my children hated it.

How's that for the plight of the homeschooler? Mama likes it, kiddos hate it...Kiddos like it, mama hates it. UGH!

A year ago, our local homeschooling convention hosted Dr. Jay Wile, author of the Apologia Science curriculum. Apologia had recently added an elementary series written by Jeannie Fulbright. Both were receiving rave reviews. In fact, as Kimberly over at Raising Olives said, "I have not heard such universally positive reviews of any other homeschooling resource." I have yet to hear a homeschooling family speak anything but praise for this curriculum.

I happened to mention my desire to get my hands on a copy so I could look it over for myself (because remember, I am a visual person), and lo and behold, another mama in the room graciously offered her copy of Exploring Creation with Astronomy. I borrowed it for a few weeks and the kids LOVED it, I LOVED it, and I have now added my voice to the chorus of Apologia fans.

So when the aforementioned Kimberly blogged about an Apologia giveaway, I had to get the scoop. Apparently, Jeannie Fulbright is graciously giving away the new Notebooking Journals that go along with the elementary curriculum And they sound amazing! Here's a little blurb about them:

These journals are beautiful spiral bound notebooks that will save you time and money. You won't have to print and keep up with your child's notebook pages, buy and maintain page protectors, or purchase and compile binders...everything that makes notebooking time-consuming and labor intensive for mom. Also, your child will adore having their own notebooking journal.
Each of the notebooking journals include:
*A daily schedule for those who like to have a plan or would like their children to complete the book on their own
*Templates for written narrations, the notebooking activities and experiments
*Review Questions
*Scripture
*Copywork, with both print and cursive practice
*Reading lists and additional activities, projects, experiments for each lesson
*An appendix with beautiful, full-color, lapbook-style Miniature Books
*Field Trip Sheets to keep a record field trips
*A Final Review with fifty questions the students can answer either orally or in writing to show off all they remember and know at the end of the course.

So, take a gander at her site (Jeannie's Journal) and learn how you can be entered to win one of these notebooks! Meanwhile, as you gear up for your local homeschooling convention and/or the next school year, consider Apologia for your science curriculum.

The Shame On Me Sea

Have you ever felt totally incompetent? Have you ever looked around and wondered if maybe you didn't get the memo on how to live this life? Have you ever looked at your spouse, your children, your home, your yard, your school books, your kitchen, your laundry room and decided you must be an utter failure. Have you ever wanted to throw a pity party, but didn't because you were afraid no one would come? Have you ever felt like you just didn't measure up?

I've been there. I spend way too much time and energy wading in and out of what I call the Shame On Me Sea. In 2006, I wrote about this all-consuming sea:

Today, I took a look around the office/school room/sewing room/library/tv room/art room (yes, these are ALL the same room! LOL) and said to my husband, "Are you up for a little downsizing again?" Every so often we both get a little clutter-phobic and the only way to relieve this feeling is to pitch things. He was more than happy to grab the trash can for me and give me the green light to pitch to my heart's content.

I started at the school room end and waded through all the books and papers and pens and pencils harbored there, but this was not done without a few serious epiphanies along the way.

I have more educational materials than I will ever be able to use.
It hadn't been all that long ago that I had downsized and boxed up the unused curriculum, but there were still things on the shelves that I had apparently believed would come in handy someday. However, there were so many of these "handy" items, that I would NEVER be able to use them all, let alone REMEMBER they were even there!

I will NEVER be able to REMEMBER that I own some of these materials.
I've never had the greatest memory in the world, so what makes me think that when we get to the chapters on American Revolution that I am going to suddenly remember I have one CD with tons of radio shows on the subject (courtesy of Homeschool Radio Shows), a Vision Forum cassette on Christian controversies surrounding the founding fathers, a video taped off PBS on the war, scads of books, and even a large poster on the subject? I'm not! Plain and simple truth. And even IF I DID...could I possibly squeeze all of it in?

Which brings me to the number one epiphany/crisis of the day...

There are not enough hours in the day
but wait a second...God ordained a 24 hour day...WHY isn't that enough???

As I sat there before my teeming homeschool closet and bookshelf and table and plastic totes, I felt overwhelmed by the massive amount of information I felt compelled to teach my children, knowing full well, I could NEVER manage to teach even half of what I WANTED to. But over-acheiver that I am, I could not accept this as "just the way things are" and move on. I had to analyze it.

My first thought was that I simply had much too much stuff and that no sane person could possibly fit in the amount of information I was hoping to fit in. (Seems plausible...but oh no, I had to dig further )

I started thinking about a friend of mine who seems to be able to do EVERYTHING and still have time to be a great mom! I know she's not perfect, but in my moment of self-pity, I refused to accept this.

From here I jumped off into the great abyss I call the
Shame On Me Sea.

Shame On Me for not being better prepared for each school day.

Shame On Me for not getting all the school subjects in today.

Shame On Me for not searching out every book listed on the curriculum guide.

Shame On Me for not getting all the dishes/laundry/dusting done today.

Shame On Me for not doing devotions with the children today.

Shame On Me for forgetting to pray for my childrens' future spouses.

Shame On Me for not taking the time to teach my 5 year old the womanly arts.

Shame On Me for not discussing politics with my 7 year old.

Shame On Me for...well, you get the picture.

There really is no end to this Sea. You just keep sailing in self-pity until you either sink, get stuck, or someone reels you in. Thankfully, my husband is a good fisherman!

Once I had rattled off my woes, he smiled and said, "I think you do a fantastic job!" As he drug me to shore, I cried, "Thanks! But I could do better!" So, as we sat on the beach (ok, he was in his recliner and I was in the office chair, but somehow those don't really work with the whole analogy I'm painting here!) we then brainstormed about how both of us could regain the missing hours in our day and use them more efficiently for God's glory.

I feel better. I still have high expectations. I still have goals I want to accomplish that may seem a bit lofty, but I know that God gave me 24 hours--plenty of time to accomplish exactly what HE wants me to accomplish. (Hopefully, I'll have more to share about where I go from here--that is, if I stop trying to dip my toe in the Shame On Me Sea!)

Have I stopped dipping my toe? Sadly, no.

The reason I keep dipping my toe in the water (and sometimes becoming totally submerged) is because I think I see someone on the opposite shore having a beach party. I think if I swim around in a sea of self-pity for a while I will somehow end up over there.

The last few weeks have been trying ones. Not because of anything anyone could see outwardly, but because of all the things I was (am still am) dealing with inwardly. I wrote in my devotional "When You Face the Light," about how we need to keep our faces turned toward the Lord in order to avoid the shadows. I need this admonition more than anyone! I feel I spend far too much time inwardly struggling because of what I see around me and my perceptions of what I see instead of being spurred on and encouraged by how the Lord is working in and through me. Next thing I know, I am caught up in a vicious cycle of comparing myself with others and never being content.

Once again, I have become aware of my utter hopelessness and my utter dependence on Jesus and the Word of the Lord. I have allowed shadows to creep in, I have turned my focus from the Light to my surroundings. I have jumped headlong into that Sea that has no mercy on me.

It is time to wade back to shore. It is time to fall on my face before the Throne of Grace and ask the Lord to guide my footsteps, guard my heart, and keep me focused.

Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Tim 2:14,15

This post is linked to:

When you Face the Light, the Shadows are Behind You

At the 2009 MOMYS Retreat, I was asked to offer the Saturday night Mom's Fellowship devotional. Here is the devotional I wrote edited to speak to a more general audience. I do not know if it spoke to anyone there that night, but it spoke to me. It continues to speak to me as I hash out some personal struggles. I pray it blesses you in the reading as it did me in the writing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

candle6

In a mother's life there are many responsibilities. There are little voices and fingers all bidding for our time and energy. There are diapers to change, mouths to feed, papers to grade, stains to clean, boo-boos to kiss, hair to cut, naughties to discipline, and tummies to tickle.

There are also many distractions. There is laundry to do, rips to repair, floors to mop, beds to make, shelves to dust, toilets to clean, dishes to wash, and rooms to tidy. Twenty-four hours does not seem nearly enough to accomplish all these things.

Yet that is what we have. It is no mistake that the Lord created the earth to make one full rotation on its axis every 24 hours. That allotted amount of time is the perfect amount to accomplish the needed things and get enough rest to start over the next day. IF we use that time wisely.

There are plenty of selfish pursuits and time-wasters out there, but for a mother, it tends to be much more complicated than this. Often our day is filled with worthwhile pursuits that have little to do with ourselves and we still end up feeling hurried, overworked, and exhausted. We look about us and all we see is chaos, and our heart is sad.

In addition to our responsibilities and our distractions, there is another, much more damaging time-consumer. It is that of unrealistic expectations. In this day and age where the internet connects us all and there are more articles and books on homemaking, homeschooling, and organization than you could possible read in a lifetime, we find ourselves comparing ourselves with ourselves...something the Bible strictly prohibits.

For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. 2 Cor 10:12

We are constantly looking for perfection. We are just sure we can attend to our children, attend to our husband, keep an immaculate home, keep up with the laundry, keep a blog, volunteer at church, cook three meals a day, take our children to extracurricular activities, and still have time left over for intensive Bible study and an hour or so or scrapbooking or sewing every single day. We've tried every scheduling system out there. We've color-coded our children, we've color-coded our chores, we've even color-coded our pantry, but to no avail. We just cannot make it work like Susie-so-and-so down the street. She has it all together and we are jealous. We compare ourselves with others and feel like we always fall miserably short.

But the truth is we took our eyes off the Light and the shadows crept in.

In Psalm 27:1, the Bible tells us that the Lord is our light and because of this, we have nothing to fear. In Job, we learn that light and wickedness cannot co-exist (Job 18:5). Proverbs 16:15 talks about how the light of the King's face is life. In Isaiah 58:8, healing follows the light breaking forth. And then there is the famous passage where Jesus is speaking in John 8:12 where He says,

"I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

Because we are Christians, we follow the Light, we trust in the Light, we should always be facing the Light. And while there are many things that try to distract us and cast shadows; ultimately, we have the choice to stay focused on the Light or to turn toward those shadows.

Lest you think I believe this to be some easy cheesy thing, let me go to Ephesians 5:8-10 where it says,

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

The words "finding out" tell me that I might have to really concentrate to make sure I am staying focused on Him. I have to discern if the guilt and frustration I am feeling is something I've put upon myself, something Satan is using to attack me, or something worthy of listening to. It is good to evaluate and examine our lives and often when we feel like something is wrong, something is; however, back to those much too high expectations...

Sometimes when we feel like something is wrong, it really isn't. Sometimes it is because we have taken our eyes off the Light and are staring at those around us, trying to gain identity from them. One of my favorite phrases is "God doesn't expect cookie-cutter Christians." The Bible tells us that some are feet, some are legs, some are eyes, some are ears. (I Cor. 12:15,16) We are all unique and that is the way it is supposed to be.

I think there are times when mothers look to other mothers for their identity and end up disgusted with themselves. We somehow think there is a standard of perfection that once we have "arrived" we will be just like so-and-so. But, wouldn't that be going against God's standard for us? So-and-so might be an arm while I might be an ankle...both are needed, both are part of God's plan for a body that is whole. So, why would I want to be something other than who I am?

The answer is simple...I turned from the Light and the shadows crept in.

Yes, we can learn from others, but the advice of others should never supercede God's Word. While man (and woman) can illuminate a path for a bit, they can never give the perfect and sovereign Light our Lord offers.

So, just as when you face a candle, you cannot see the shadow it creates behind you, when you face the Light that is our Lord and Savior, you cannot see the shadow of a former life, the shadow of the life you are not meant to live, the shadow of the things that threaten to beat you down, make you feel "less-than", or simply cause you to be too busy. Focusing on the light will keep the shadows in their rightful place.

Many blessings,

A Shave and a Haircut

The first Christmas I spent as a married woman my mom gave me a gift that has proven to be priceless...

A set of hair clippers and lessons on how to cut hair from a friend of hers.

A few weeks later, with my husband dutifully propped on a stool in my mom's friend's garage, I took my first swipes at his head (brave man!) I didn't do too bad if I do say so myself!

She only taught me one cut...high and tight (you military mamas know what I'm talking about), but that was all I needed to know. My husband is former military and a former police officer (both military and civilian), so knowing how to cut this one haircut ended up being an incredible return on my mom's initial investment.

Now, you can quadruple that return since I now have not only a husband, but 3 boys


Saturday night, Super K was the recipient of my haircutting skills.


Usually, I put a towel around his neck to keep the hair off of him, but we were in a serious hurry that night, so I knew he wouldn't have to deal with the yuck of hair being all over him too long.

I use Andis brand clippers (only because the lady at Sally's Beauty Supply talked me into it.) They've been good clippers and have lasted quite a while.

You start by oiling the clippers. These clippers will actually shut off if the oil isn't sufficient.


I use a 1/2" guard on the top of the head first. My boys have a lot of cowlicks, so I have to run the clippers over their heads several times in several different directions in order to get it all (and on occasion I find a stray long hair while I'm sitting next to them in church or in a restaurant..."Note to self...cut that piece of stickin'-up-hair when we get home!")

After I've taken a goodly amount off the top and down the sides a bit, I switch to an 1/8" blade and work my way from the base of the hairline to an imaginary line on the side of their heads. Since I cut "high" and tight not "low" and tight, this imaginary line tends to be very close to where the head curves and becomes the top of the head. My sons have 2 cowlicks on either side of their foreheads which creates a bit of a widow's peak. The imaginary line is level with the widow's peak.

As you near the imaginary line, you rock the clippers out toward you ever so slightly so it creates a "fade" and not a defined line. My husband calls it a "shelf" if I don't fade enough, as in,





"I have a shelf on this side of my head...could you fix that?"

I try to get down eye level and look all the way around this imaginary line to make sure you cannot see where the shorter hair on the sides becomes the longer hair on the top. If you cannot see it, you have successfully created a fade and you can move on to the final stage of the haircut.

This final stage is where you remove the guard and use the bare blades to cut around their ears and do any trimming on their necks to straighten up the hairline back there. K was born with a perfect hairline, so no need to fix anything there.

Then, I brush off my victim son and whisk him to the shower (his least favorite part of this whole ordeal).

One quick pose for sissy's camera!

Lookin' good, Laddy Boy!

(Thanks Mom for the gift that has kept on giving!)

Moccasins for My Mountain Man

My husband has always been an outdoorsman. He loves nature and all things natural. So, it was a "natural" (pun intended) leap from that to his interest in the mountain men of the 1800's.

Last year, on our annual trek to the mountains, we stopped at Bent's Old Fort and my husband's fascination grew. (It really is an awesome and incredibly educational site in case any of you are needing a field trip!)

He decided to grow out his hair and sign up for a summer event at Bent's Fort where he gets to be a trapper for an entire weekend and learn the ways of the mountain men. It is actually considered a continuing education course and he will have to take a pre and post test (been a mighty long time since those college days!)

He is incredibly excited about this opportunity, but there is one very interesting aspect of this trip that has posed a challenge...EVERYTHING visible must be AUTHENTIC. That means that his clothes, razor, canteen, knife, EVERYTHING must be made from the same materials they would have been made from back in the 1800's. No tennis shoes, no jeans, no modern weapons, no modern anything (unless you cannot see it).

Herein lies the challenge...don't know many mountain men with a size 14 foot. Actually, I don't know many men period with a size 14 foot. While my husband has only minimal trouble finding shoes these days (I remember the days when we would walk into the shoe store and ask for whatever they had in a size 14 and be lucky to have more than one style to choose from!), finding authentically crafted 1800's footwear in a size 14 is literally IMPOSSIBLE.

However, my ever-resourceful husband was not deterred. "We'll just MAKE them," he declared!
He settled on making moccasins for a variety of reason and began scouring the internet in search of a do-it-yourself shoe pattern. He spent hours cutting out patterns that were supposed to fit his feet. I would sew them up with a heavy-duty twill to check fit, only to find that every single pair fell short of perfection. In fact, none of what he found online actually worked for his foot.

He finally landed on a simple pattern from a book at our local library (as soon as I find that book, I'll post it here!) He cut it out on a brown paper bag, I sewed up a twill pair, and the shoe fit!

From there, he had to purchase the materials to make these moccasins. It required:

a glover's needle

a skein of synthetic sinew

leather for the sole

leather for the upper

a leather punch

a Poundo board (optional)

(He chose a hard, but pliable leather for the sole and a leather that resembled deer hide for the upper.)



As you can see, the sole is a traced copy of his foot with a bit extra all the way around. (seeing this makes me think it has to be his oddly shaped foot that kept the other patterns from working!) The upper is the same copy but with extra on the back end and a split up the middle. There is most definitely a Right and a Left and both these he marked in pencil on the inside. Then, he used the leather punch to punch holes all the way around the sole of the moccasin.

Next, came the stitching. That was my job (and what a job it was!)

You start at the toe and whip stitch to the back of the moccasin, then repeat down the other side. This is no easy task. Since he had punched the thicker leather, I was able to pull my needle through there, but the upper leather was not punched (nor could it be since it needs to be eased a little to match as you sew.) I ended up pulling it through with pliers at each stitch. When my hands wore out, I sewed and my husband pulled the stitch through. I did the sewing in bits and pieces because of this. Quite often I had to stop due to pricking myself. One time I stitched halfway down one side before realizing I had the sole on wrong and had to undo the whole thing. This project was most definitely made up of blood, sweat, and tears.

After you sew to the back of the shoe, there is about 4 inches left over. You line the back up and stitch it up to the ankle with a running stitch and then stitch back down with a running stitch that fills in the gaps between the first set of stitches.

You then cut the leather that is leftover on the back to make fringe.

And here's the final product!

You'll notice a bit of discoloration on the toe...he had to get some leather stretcher in order for them to be comfortable in the toe area. He says they are great now and a PERFECT FIT! Yay! Mission accomplished!!!

So, think of him as he's out roughin' it in his new (and authentic) moccasins. It will be interesting to hear if they really prove to be comfortable when he's out there being a mountain man.

My Favorites

Recently, I decided to be brave and try to cull and reorganize something that no one sees but me --



My Favorites file.

You see, when I run my mouse over that seemingly harmless little word "Favorites" at the top of the screen, my entire life spews forth.

I am an information junkie;

therefore, when something piques my interest, I research it through many sources including the internet. Mass quantities of bookmarked sites find their way into this section. Oh yes, I have them neatly catagorized into folders such as

Mom & Baby, Homeschooling, Cooking, Sewing, Christian Issues, etc.

However, within those folders are more folders and sometimes there are even more folders within those folders!

If there is a site that I haven't fully perused, it stays outside it's proper folder until I can give it a thorough looking-through.

You may be wondering how I find the time to look at all these bookmarked sites--

the answer...

I don't!

But, today, I decided to tackle it...
I cautiously moved my mouse over the Favorites section, trying hard not to grimace as all my sites fell across the page, and then I methodically got to work.

First, I looked over the ones that were not in folders and picked one that looked interesting (not only am I an information junkie, I am also fickle--so what looked interesting to me yesterday, may not look so interesting to me today).

Today I felt like reading homeschooling articles and looking at homeschooling sites, so I picked one of those. I glanced over the topics and links and lo and behold, there were several hotlinks within many of the articles on the site. So, naturally, I had to click the links to see where they led me...

Oh wow! What a neat site...I'll bookmark that! Hmmmm...don't know exactly what is on this site, so I'll leave it out of a folder for now. I'll look at it later, I'm sure.

I hit the Back button and I'm off and running again...

Hey, another link--that sounds interesting--let's click on it! Hey, this site is great! And look!! There are more links to more sites! Awesome! Click, click, click...Add to Favorites, Add to Favorites, Add to Favorites.

Hey, wait a second...I don't remember where I started?! Hit the Back button...was it here? Oh dear! I'm lost in cyberspace!

Oh, but wait...that looks interesting...hmmm...guess I'll bookmark it...

MOMYS Retreat

Many of you know I am part of an online forum called MOMYS (Mothers of Many Young Siblings). I joined the MOMYS digest when I had but 2 children and couldn't even post questions because of my "Read-Only" status. When I was pregnant with my 4th child, I joined the forum side of the house and gained some wonderful friendships and advice there over the years.

Three years ago one of the MOMYS put together a retreat that was in my neck of the woods (if you count 5 hours away my neck of the woods!) and we packed up the family and headed over to meet many wonderful women I had only "met" online. (Isn't the 21st century amazing?!)

That first year it was blistering hot and I was immensely pregnant (with Emily). The rooms were not air conditioned and our windows would not open. The mattresses were little better than boards and I seriously entertained the idea of sleeping on the concrete sidewalk outside. To boot, the cafeteria was at the top of the hill, and to a pregnant woman, it might have well been Mt. Everest. Yet despite my discomfort, I walked away from that retreat refreshed. Because I had met these people IRL (in real life) I felt I knew them much better, and friendships were forged that will never be forgotten.

The second year, the retreat moved to a closer (and nicely air conditioned!) location. Many families who had been there the previous year, returned. There were many new faces as well. I came hesitantly because Emily's death was still so fresh in our hearts. In fact, I had already filled out our reservations prior to her death and could not bring myself to remove her name. When I arrived, the ladies had bought me a silver pin with a bow and arrow in honor of Emily. There were many tears shed and hugs shared that weekend.

This year it was like coming home. The MOMYS are an incredible group of ladies. No two are alike and yet we can all come together in Christian unity and worship and fellowship in love. We enjoy our time there so very much.

I do want to share a good laugh we had at the expense of an unsuspecting misspeller...

From the shelf in our room:


I honestly don't know what HEAVEY LOUDS are, but I was very careful to speak softly when standing near this shelf. ;o)

An Answered Prayer

God is the God of big things and God is the God of little things. To some this particular answered prayer may seem little...to me, it is big. To God, it was just another day caring for one of His own.

Those of you who read regularly, remember last Wednesday in THIS POST how I was lamenting our upcoming move and all that entailed. NEVER did I imagine what would take place the very next day and on into the weekend...

On Thursday, I packed up my mom and all the kiddos (as my husband was away on business) and looked at two more houses. They both had potential to the tune of $200 more per month than we are currently paying in rent. Not ideal, but doable. I told the landlord I would be back on Monday with my husband in tow so we could finalize which house we wanted.

Upon returning home, I found a message on my answering machine from a friend saying she had a friend looking for an investment property and wondered if I was interested in staying in the house I was in. ARE YOU KIDDING?! You mean no packing, no transferring mail, electric, gas, phone, etc., no extra $200, no asking my brain and body to work overtime? OH YEAH, I'm interested in staying!

Next thing I knew my friend and her friend were on my doorstep. They took a tour of the house and by the next day (Friday), an offer was on the table and over the weekend, the papers were signed! Talk about fast!

And today, I had the express pleasure of calling up the landlord of the other houses and telling him we would not be taking his property after all!

What an awesome God we serve!

Boys in the Kitchen

Once, long ago, I questioned an older mom about whether boys should learn "women's work." Thankfully, she did not scoff or chide me! Her answer was simple and true...

Shouldn't a man know how to cook for himself and sew for himself and clean for himself? What if the Lord does not bring him a wife for many years...or forever? Will mother or sisters always be there to do these things for him? Of course not.
 

Since then, I have never once questioned myself as I give my son full rein in the kitchen.

Today, I want to share with you a moment that truly blessed my mother's heart...

A short time ago, my friend Sarah and her children came to visit. Sarah's husband was in the city on business and was planning to join us that evening for supper at our home. Prior to her family arriving, my son decided he wanted to cook the evening meal for us!

My initial thought was how he might mess it up with all those extra people there. But, I decided this would be a forgiving crowd should that happen and hey, we live in the city...pizza is around the corner! So, with my blessing, he began diligently planning the meal.

He decided to ask Sarah's son to pitch in and he eagerly agreed.



They were dicing and chopping fools!

Blake had planned a taco lasagna (doubled since he would be feeding 10 people!) and sweet cornbread:

TACO LASAGNA
1# ground beef
1/2 c. chopped green pepper
1/2 c. chopped onion
2/3 c. water
1 env taco seasoning
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can Mexican diced tomatoes, undrained
6 8" flour tortillas
1 can refried beans
3 c. shredded Mexican cheese blend

In a large skillet, cook the beef, green peppers, and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add water and taco seasoning; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 2 minutes. Stir in the black beans and tomatoes. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Place 2 tortillas in a greased 9x13" baking dish. Spread with half of the refried beans and beef mixture; sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Repeat layers. Top with remaining tortillas and cheese. Cover and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

SWEET CORN BREAD
1 box jiffy corn bread
1 box jiffy yellow cake mix

Prepare each as directed and then combine. Pour into a 9" square baking dish. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.

The girls (my 8 year old daughter and Sarah's 9 year old daughter) wanted to pitch in, so they made the cornbread while the boys worked hard on the taco lasagna.



The entire time they cooked, Sarah and I scrapbooked and chit-chatted. It was such a blessing to have that time with her and not have to worry about cooking!

And then the moment of truth arrived...



They did it! It was a lovely and yummy meal cooked entirely by children ages 12 and under!

So, yes, boys should learn to cook and children can cook very tasty meals all by themselves...you just have to let them!

Here's a quick pic of another blessing that day...



The two cornbread girls caring for their littlest siblings! So sweet!

Our Newest Family Member...Inca!

There are some of you out there who would have thought this to be a pregnancy announcement had I not included the name "Inca" at the end of the title. I know who you are...don't be shy. ;)

Who might this lovely new member be???



Why, a guinea pig, of course!

We thought we went shopping for a rabbit.
When we got to the pet store and saw that the rabbits were upwards of $30 a piece, we decided we were looking for a hamster.
The pet shop guy told us hamsters bite and that we were actually looking for a rat.
A RAT?!
My husband says, "NO, we are NOT looking for a rat!"
We were actually looking for a guinea pig.
The pet was for my sweet daughter, Megan. There were 3 guinea pigs to choose from, but my Megan knew exactly which one was for her...the quiet and shy little female. (I think she secretly hopes there will be baby guinea pigs in this equation!)



Animal lover that she is, she had already read up on guinea pigs and lead us around the pet store pointing out everything we needed. (Thankfully, we talked her out the designer guinea pig carrier and the guinea pig harness and leash!)



Our family spent the ride home tossing around names for this new addition. Should she have a people name? Should she have a name that pointed to her unique pink ear? What name sounds like a guinea pig?
Once again, my daughter came to the rescue with her wealth of animal knowledge. Supposedly, guinea pigs originated in South America. The Inca Indians kept them in their homes. So, our dear little guinea pig has been christened (no, not really) Inca. I think it is a rather lovely name, don't you?

Moving...again

photo credit

Much of our married life has been spent moving.

We married between our freshman and sophomore years in college and had to rent a tiny apartment for the few months between the wedding and moving back to college. The door of the apartment had a 6 inch gap between it and the carpet through which the smell of Indian food from a neighboring apartment came wafting. Although I have since learned to appreciate those distinct smells, at the time it was something I was unaccustomed to and totally repulsed by. The refrigerator and oven of that apartment were made to be used by Keebler elves. I once baked cookies (since every new and adoring wife bakes cookies) with the door partially ajar because I could not get my cookie sheet all the way in. We ate off a card table and every stick of furniture (and I use that term literally) had been given to us, except the dresser in our bedroom, which had been purchased at a local thrift store and then promptly dropped on the street outside our apartment as it was making its way inside. It is rather difficult to make a once dropped dresser whole again.

A few short months later, we moved back to college and into an upstairs apartment that was fully furnished (and I use that term loosely). The couch was itchy and red and the gas stove was leaky. During the 5 months we lived there I learned to cook one mean meal in the microwave! We even hosted some friends of ours for a spaghetti supper there. They didn't mind one bit that the meal came out in bits and pieces!

Next was a pit stop in our home town while we waited for our new apartment atop a Bed & Breakfast to come open. We became night managers of that B&B courtesy of my husband's college football coach. We lived there 10 months until we decided that ringing doorbells in the middle of the night and a newborn would be a less than ideal situation.

So, we moved across town to a 2 bedroom apartment in a complex where several of our friends also lived. I have fond memories of living there despite the pink mold that grew in our window sills. The mama who lived downstairs would come up to chit chat with me until her husband beckoned her home by banging a broom handle on the ceiling.

After living there about a year and a half (the longest we'd lived anywhere in case you are keeping track!), college was over for my husband and we moved to a country home we called The Ranch. The house came with his job and I was able to commute for my final semester of college. This house was pretty yuck when we first arrived on the scene. We redid a lot of it and made it a fairly pleasant home for our growing family. However, the house had only a swamp cooler to keep us cool in the summer, which made opening the kitchen cabinet doors a challenge (turned my painted cabinet doors to sludge!). A fellow Christian brother had pity on my pregnant self and took time off work to install an air conditioner he had on hand. What a blessing!

When baby #2 was a few months old, my husband decided it was time to put his degree to work and changed jobs. If you'll remember, The Ranch came with the job. Time to find a new abode.

The next house we moved to will forever be my favorite home. We moved into town (another term I use loosely) and next door to our landlord. Now most people would not be happy with that arrangement, but most people are not my landlord. He became one our dearest friends. A renaissance man in his late 70s living in a house filled to the brim with antiques, he knew EVERYTHING. He had the greenest thumb you ever did see, he could cook like nobody's business, and he had (and still has) a heart the size of Texas. He had purchased the house in the name of neighbor control. I still sometimes wonder if we were what he had in mind. But, he let me paint the walls to my heart's content (oh, how I miss the warmth of my "Summer Pecan" living room walls!) The yard was filled with big old trees that begged me to sit beneath them for hours on end. I lived a charmed life...*sigh*

We lived there longer than we have lived anywhere. I believe that was due, in part, to my husband being deployed for two of the years we lived there. Upon returning from his last deployment in 2004, he decided he needed a change of scenery. He left his previous profession to take on a much more family-friendly career path, and we moved yet again. This time to a ranch style home that doubled our rent. It was so hard for me to love this house after leaving my beloved Talbot Street home, but what ended up making the most memories for me there was meeting my friend, Sarah. When we moved 2 and a half years later, I cried over having to leave Sarah, but gladly left the house behind.

That brings us to our current home (which doubled the previous rent!). It was the only choice we had when moving here because we had very little time to work with from promotion to move-date. The move brought us closer to our extended family and that was a blessing, especially when Emily got sick.

But, the time has come again for us to move. The owner wishes to sell and we do not wish to buy.

It has yet to fully sink in that I will be leaving the home that Emily spent the majority of her days in (she was 1 month old exactly when we moved here). I will be taking the dwarf rose bush we planted in her memory with me, and of course, all our furniture and the memories they hold will go with us, but much will change. The new house will hold no memories of her. There will be new places to put things including her picture on its wrought iron easel, but she will not be a part of the memories we make in this new house...that hurts...

and now the tears flow...

One thing I must remember is that I am but a pilgrim here. Moving over and over again has kept me fully aware that "home" is a relative term. I will reside on this earth but a short time. It really does not matter where I live nor for how long I live there...

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:2

A Consolation Prize

So, the other day my friend's sister somehow convinces me to give up soda (surely she didn't mean forever!)

That was Friday.

Today is Monday and I am pretty sure I can hear Sonic calling my name. Its styrofoam cups filled with that amazing crushed ice swimming in delectable Dr. Pepper are chanting, "Amy! Amy! Amy!" from down the street. Listen closely, you will hear it too!

Well, maybe not, but when you would really like to have something and you've decided you are going to abstain from that something, it seems everywhere you look, there that thing is. Because of this little fact, I have decided to reward myself with a consolation prize (this could be dangerous!)

That consolation prize are these delightful (and as good for you as you can get in a cookie) COOKIE. Mmmmm.....

I've also discovered a wonderful little treat called No-Nut Nutella or Seedtella. We don't have nut allergies here, but the woman who keeps the blog I robbed this little treat from does. My husband actually likes this better than the store-bought stuff.

Might go make myself some coffee too. You know, to make myself feel better for not getting any Dr. Pepper. I could load it up with my favorite syrups or throw some stevia or agave nectar in there, and top the whole thing off with some yummy cream! (Hope I wasn't planning on losing any weight by abstaining from soda!)

Ahhhhhh.....I could get used to doing without. ;o)

Preoccupations

I am preoccupied.

I'll explain more on Wednesday for Wednesday's Walk (so stay tuned!), but suffice it to say that when I am preoccupied I get very little accomplished other than being preoccupied! I sit and think and think and think. I begin to shut everything else out but my preoccupation. It is very difficult to snap out the trance preoccupation seems to put me under.

Quite possibly a better word for what I call "preoccupation" would be worry, care, or anxiety. Hmmmm....now what does the Bible say about those sorts of things??? A LOT!

Matthew 6:25-34:

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Which of you by worrying can add one cubit
to his stature?
So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’
or ‘What shall we wear?’
For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your
heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

And what am I to do with my anxieties?

I Peter 5:7:

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

I used to liken worrying to rocking in a rocking chair...

It never goes anywhere,
but it sure seems soothing.

Something about trying to take matters into our own human hands seems soothing. I control things because I believe no one else will.


But the truth is the things I am preoccupied with are not beyond His control. He cares for me and will not let me fall. I'm not doing myself any favors by sitting here and stewing about things. In fact, my doing this suggests I don't truly believe it is God Who holds the future. And that, my friends, is wrong no matter how you slice it.

So, this is me letting it go, giving it to God, and resting easy. Ahhhhhh....much better.