Things kids say ...

Last night Hannah didn't know where her Christmas dress was 30 minutes before we were to leave for church. The children's Chirstmas play was last night and they were in it. Jay said "c'mon Hannah / everyone just settle down and I'll help her find it" as they're walking towards her room. Out of my earshot Hannah says to Jay "SHE'S the one who needs to settle down..." LOL!! (It was true)

The other day it was cold and rainy. Jackson got all reflective as we were riding down the road talking about the weather. He says "I don't like the cold, and being wet. It makes me sad."

He has not worn dress clothes in two years. Last Saturday his best friend spent the night. Sunday I brought in dress clothes for him because his friend had brought dress clothes for church. After he was ready I ask him if he had done ... something (don't remember) and he throws his arms out and says "Mom!" looks down at his shoes and back up, then says "Froo-Froo!" hehe- he calls dressing up getting all "froo-froo". That's my boy.

School lunches- are they safe?

I just read this article from USAToday.com that shares the alarming fact that government provided meat sent to the public schools to be served to students in school lunches do not even meet the quality standards required to be served at McDonalds and other fast food restaurants. That is scary! Or is it?

When I first started reading I was wondering if the issue wasn't more quality versus safety. We WANT our kids to be safe. Chicken that comes from Whole Foods can be equally as safe as chicken from Food Lion on the surface, but there's no denying, there's a difference in quality. There used to be an old saying around here (in NC, home of R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Company) about cigarettes, that the "cheaper" cigarettes are actually the scraps swept up on the floor at the end of the shift, put together and produced into products the next day. Ewww, would you really want to smoke that? Some people enjoyed the cheaper cigarettes more than that more expensive ones. Myself included, when I did smoke. However, I do prefer the higher quality chicken sold by Whole Foods over the chicken served by Food Lion. Some of my family members do not believe there is a difference, and is adamant about buying Food Lion because it costs less.

Cost- definitely a factor when purchasing food for millions of American school children to be served five days a week. Most certainly a factor when approximately 31 million children are participating in the National School Lunch program (NSLP), and 15.4 million of those children qualify for the Federally subsidized free lunch program. Even more a factor when you add in the school breakfast and snack programs available for students.

We want our children to have safe, quality food. Having experienced the lunch program last year in the kid's former charter school, I was NONE too impressed with what was offered and wondered who come up with the menu for these programs. Everything was pre-packaged, and reheated right before serving. Nothing was fresh, so how nutritious could it really be overall? (example) (I admit right now I'm the pot calling the kettle black with what mine are choosing to eat at school right now, but it's their choice, where they had no choice last year.)

The issue at hand:

'Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), the USDA agency that buys meat for the school lunch program, ... buys more than 100 million pounds of beef a year for schools,' ... and what was being questioned is how they determine what is safe for purchase for the nation's school children. The fast food chain Jack In The Box, come up with the "top notch" standards fast food chains strive to adhere to after they experienced a horrid outbreak of E Coli in some of their west coast stores, resulting in 450 people ill, and three deaths of children. As a result, they introduced a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) based system for the management of food safety. The USA Today study compared the food testing of the AMS to the HACCP system, and the result was it failed miserably. Is the government really feeding the children in the NSLP program "scraps"?

from the article:

"For chicken, the USDA has supplied schools with thousands of tons of meat from old birds that might otherwise go to compost or pet food. Called "spent hens" because they're past their egg-laying prime, the chickens don't pass muster with Colonel Sanders— KFC won't buy them — and they don't pass the soup test, either. The Campbell Soup Company says it stopped using them a decade ago based on "quality considerations." ...

"From late November 2008 through January this year, the AMS bought nearly 500,000 pounds of ground beef from Beef Packers and Skylark with unusually high levels of an indicator bacteria known as "generic E. coli." The organism is considered an indicator of whether potential contaminants from the intestines of cattle have gotten into slaughtered meat — a source of the far more dangerous E. coli O157:H7. ...

The indicator bacteria are measured in CFUs, or colony-forming units. Jack in the Box, which pioneered many of the safety standards now used across the fast-food industry, won't accept beef with generic E. coli levels of more than 100 CFUs per gram. The AMS, on the other hand, will buy beef for the school lunch program with generic E. coli counts of up to 1,000 CFUs per gram — 10 times the Jack in the Box limit. ...

E. coli isn't the only indicator bacteria that the AMS allows at higher levels. The government also accepts beef with more than double the limit set by many fast-food chains for total coliform, which is used to assess whether a beef producer is minimizing fecal contamination in its meat. ..."

Can we say "Fast Food Nation", anyone? {For the record, "spent hens" were discontinued in 2003 after reports were made of bones being in the chicken being served.} There's more. How aggressive is AMS in detecting these bacteria?

"On a given manufacturing day, AMS workers testing ground beef bound for schools sample the meat eight times, regardless of how long the production lines are running. Those samples are combined into a single composite sample for testing.

Jack in the Box, McDonald's, Burger King and other more selective buyers sample the ground beef on their production lines every 15 minutes. Some, such as Jack in the Box, combine those samples to create a composite sample for testing every hour during the production run. Others, such as McDonald's and Burger King, combine those samples to create a composite sample for testing every two hours.

That means Jack in the Box would test at least 10 composite samples during a typical 10-hour production run, which could yield 100,000 pounds or more of ground beef. The AMS would test just one sample for the entire 100,000-pound run."

It would not appear that the AMS is truly doing a lot to protect America's schoolchildren. What can parents do? There are a few things that could be done, but they require parents to get involved.

1. The first is simple, pack your child's lunch. This way you KNOW what they are eating. This however, would not help your child's classmate who might not have a good home life, and their school lunch is the most nutritious meal of the day.
2. Second, naturally, would be to contact your representatives about concerns about the safety of the meat being sent to our public school lunchrooms. Find your house representative here, and find your Senator(s) here. Note: Handwritten letters have a considerably stronger impact than emails and typed letters. Typed letters are scanned and tucked away in a file, as well as emails. Handwritten letters require more direct attention by the representative and their staffers.
3. I believe it would be a fun project for schools to see what would be involved in your school having its own garden. Read this example of what an area school is doing with their students.
   Comment from the school: "Our gardens provide a new experience for our students since many live in apartments or areas where gardening is not possible. They are fascinated by the growth of vegetables and excited when we harvest and eat them. They love planting bulbs and seeds and even enjoy pulling weeds."
4. A natural option would be to garden with your own children so they gain an appreciation for fresh foods and the benefits they offer.
5. Check out Farm to School programs.

Pick one, and run with it. I've heard it said a thousand times since I become a parent but it's the truest statement ever: We are our children's strongest advocate, if we don't speak up for them, who will? I'll go a step further considering public schools- there are some children out there who are waiting for you to speak up for them, because their own parents and caregivers are not doing so. Such is the world we live in.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope this finds all of you well. I'm recovering from the strep still. That was rough. God is good though and He has brought me through yet another health trial. Praise Him :) We've been busy planning mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary party this coming Saturday. Their anniversary was last Saturday but we could not get the place we wanted until this weekend, which was fine. We spent last Saturday going through every family photo album we could get out hands on in their house going through pictures for the centerpieces for all the tables, and the powerpoint presentation I'm creating. It's going to be a lot of fun (I hope!). This is the "Golden" anniversary, which works well for a party. They have been season ticket holders for Wake Forest University for 40+ years, so sis and I have done everything in black and gold- Wake Forest colors ;)

Thanksgiving is here again. I love Thanksgiving, so laid back, no one stressing. It's everything Christmas should be, I believe. Not that I don't love Christmas, don't get me wrong. I do! Without Christmas, where would I be? Right? I'm not even 100% sure what is on our menu. Food. Turkey. Hey, as long as we're together it'll work out. Oh, and my mother in law's dressing. That's a holiday must have. I've tried to get my own birthday dinners planned where she makes a batch of it, but I just get eye rolls from Jay. Maybe one day. When we get past Thanksgiving and the party- next weekend is Hannah's surprise birthday party. Sshhh- she, nor her brother, knows about it! The next weekend we have The Nutcracker, which is going to be awesome because Hannah's Christmas outfit is simply stunning this year. Previous years she has not dressed up for our theater date, but last year she noticed all the little girls gussied up and asked if she could this year. She'll be gorgeous. Only thing is we're in the balcony this year, for some reason, in a RECESSION, the Nutcracker tickets doubled! :(

The following weekend is Hannah's "real" birthday weekend. She doesn't know it yet, but that Friday we're going to get her ears pierced. I was going to do it Saturday but the girl at Claire's said it would be better to do it Friday. Then Sunday the 20th is her birthday so we'll so our traditional Sunday lunch at the Mexican restaurant. Maybe I'll get a group together. Then that week is Christmas. We'll have some running to do but not a whole lot I don't think. I'll have a breather until January 2nd which is Jackson's birthday. Somewhere in the middle of all that Ill be planning his birthday ... stuff. We're still not sure what we're going to do with him, lol I just can't believe he'll be 11!

I'll try not to be scarce in the next month, and will come bearing pictures!

In bed w/strep throat

My annual case of strep throat hit yesterday like a ton of bricks. I'm hurting (all over) worse now than that obviously mild case of the flu a month ago. Please pray!

Protest in Chalotte

+++++++++++++

Protest in Charlotte at Convention Center

Monday 11/16/09 5:30-6:30 PM

We are taking vans to Charlotte. Let me know if you can go with us.
We will leave Winston Salem Hanes Mall McDonald's at 3 PM and should be back around 9 PM.

Duke Energy accepted stimulus funds and they are working diligently to help pass Cap and Tax legislation. This legislation will cost all of us. It is considered the biggest tax increase in the history of this country.

Duke will benefit from this legislation. But you and I will pay huge increases in energy costs.

While conservatives have been hard at work to defeat this horrendous legislation, Duke has been promoting legislation that will harm families.

Charlotte Chamber of Commerce is presenting the citizen of the Year Award to Duke Energy CEO.

We want to let them know that we oppose their Cap and Tax efforts and we will not sit by while they promote legislation to harm families.

Respond to this email or call me 336-817-4601

Thanks for all you do,
Joyce Krawiec
NC Grassroots Coordinator

Home with sick little one

Hannah has had cold symptoms for the past couple of weeks now. Yesterday she was crying in class she had gotten to feel so bad, but she got better and was ok through the evening. This morning whenshe woke she was feeling really bad again, complaining mainly about her throat and runny nose. I can't help but to wonder if her throat is hurting because of drainage. The bad part was the ride taking Jackson to school and back- she got sick to her stomach. Twice. However, this is a child who is prone to carsickness. She hasn't gotten sick since we returned home this morning so I'm leaning towards that.

Please pray this turns over quickly. We have the school fall festival tomorrow night that she is greatly looking forward to!

Also, please pray for my Pastor. He is in South Africa preaching in evangelistic services this week at our church-plant there. We have been praying for 100 souls to be saved. As of yesterday, 54 had professed Christ as their Savior (Glory be to God!).

As a parent .... would you?

There's no doubt about it, parents feel for one another when something is not going well with their children. It's a natural, ingrained empathy once you become a mommy or daddy, you can just imagine how you would feel if you were in another parents shoes and they were going through trials with their children. Sometimes we have "been there done that" ("BTDT"), or we can only .... literally imagine. I've never had an autistic child, but if my child had to sit through a reading from his/her kindergarten schoolmates of what they did not like about them, and a teacher leading a vote against them "Survivor style" to kick them out of class, suing would be mild. (Update: said boy is now in a private school and is an honor student.)

I sat here yesterday and watched Dina Thompson in a news conference doing what every mother in her position would do: PLEAD for whoever took her child to return the child safely. Somer, seven years old, was last seen walking home from school with a group of schoolmates and siblings before she disappeared. Last night, her dead body was found in a Georgia landfill. As a parent, that has to be our worst fear, our child dying. Or is it?

The article states:

"The cause of death hasn't yet been released, but the Georgia Bureau of Investigation planned an autopsy Thursday in Savannah.

"We hope to learn the cause and manner of the death that will assist us in the criminal investigation we are actively undertaking at this time," Beseler said. "The early discovery will be tremendously helpful in this investigation to help find the person or people responsible for the death of this beautiful child."

"He wouldn't talk about what evidence police have recovered, or whether investigators believe the crime was committed by one or more people.

He said police have questioned more than 70 registered sex offenders in the area, and that process was continuing."

I think about that last line.

I go to Family WatchDog.us, which is the National Sex Offender registry, and I find: there are 180 sex offenders in my zip code. From the looks of the map, 90% are offenses against children. There are two within a mile of my house.

Then I consider- what really is my worst fear?

If one of my children were murdered, would I want to know HOW they were murdered? What kind of abuse they endured before they took their last breath? The things they saw before it all ended? The things that autopsy will reveal?

It was enough to learn Jordan suffocated to death. He did not die of SIDS, peacefully in his sleep. His trachea folded and his neck muscles were too weak for him to be able to lift his head, to straighten his neck and trachea to allow life giving air to flow to his lungs. (He head wasn't slumped over, either, only turned slightly.) It He was an infant. That is hard enough, but to be a seven year old kidnapped little girl. Hannah is seven. She has experienced joy, laughter, sadness, fear, friendship, gladness, trust, compassion. She come in the living room last night with a sad, concerned look on her face: "Mommy, there was a mommy on TV just now crying because she lost her little girl.", bottom lip pooching. I know what she saw- she saw a replay of Dina's pleads from earlier in the day. I said "I know", and she walked back into the bedroom to change the channel to her shows.

I would NOT want to know. The only thing that would matter for me at this point, if I was Dina Thompson, is to try and rest in the knowledge that Hannah has accepted Christ as her own Savior, and that Jesus was with her each and every second before He carried her home.

You?

Pray for Hannah and me

Both of us have the crud. She's coughing, sneezing, and has a runny nose. I'm coughing, aching, and bordering a low grade fever. Just in the past hour I've started that "fever stretching" that I usually get before I start running one. She's pushing on through, but I just feel awful. I just had the flu three weeks ago, and am not ready for us to make another trip to the doctor.

Jays broke toe is healing. They want to remove the entire nail, but he is not afforded time off of work to be able to do so. So we need the Lord to intervene and make sure everything heals sufficiently on its own.

Thanks!

Drunkest Guy Ever Goes for More Beer

This is funny but its not.

You can't help but to giggle though. It's like watching a toddler trying to walk!

EMBED-Drunkest Guy Ever Goes for More Beer - Watch more free videos

Sen Richard Burr in Winston on Monday

Senator Richard Burr will be speaking at the weekly Republican luncheon on Monday, Oct 12th at Golden Corral on Stratford Rd (Winston-Salem). The luncheon starts at noon but I recommend you get there 20-30 minutes in advance.

WINSTON-SALEM –The Republican Candidates for Winston-Salem City Council will sign an agreement based on economic growth and limited government called “The Contract with Winston-Salem” on Monday October 12th at Golden Corral Restaurant at 180 Hanes Mall Circle. The event will begin at noon.

The issues addressed within the Contract include the Baseball Stadium; our local economy; forced annexation; wasteful spending and taxes; and several other issues. The signers will be Ted Shipley from the Southwest Ward; Peter Sorensen from the Northwest Ward; John Hopkins from the North Ward; Claudia Shivers from the Northeast Ward; and Chuck Woolard from the Southeast Ward.

Copies of the Contract will be distributed, during the meeting, and a new website promoting it will be launched the same day.

Nathan Tabor, chairman of the Forsyth County Republican Party, said that the city’s current economic situation calls for the Contract with Winston-Salem.

“Tough economic times call for strong leadership,” Tabor said. “The Contract with Winston-Salem exhibits the type of leadership the city desperately needs.”

Tabor also said that he believes the Contract will have a broad base of support.

“This contract isn’t about republicans and democrats,” he said. “The Contract is about the difference between common-sense government and an out-of-control city council. And hard-working families deserve a city council that knows what it means to balance a budget and live with their means.”

Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize?

I have a few thoughts on this (are you surprised?). From what I understand the committee that decides this is already very liberal: that explains a lot. In a way, I think it's for the fact he is NOT Bush, period. It's not about him. But his ego will be fed because of this, unfortunately. My understand IS that the award was for personal accomplishments, etc- so for me, this cheapens the award.

Three other presidents have received this award- Wilson, Roosevelt, and Carter (in '02). All liberal leaning progressives (I don't like using "progressive", but that's the term so Oh well, right?), which goes back to point above, the political leanings of the NPP committee. It isn't AS much Bush in the extent that history, including today, has shown that no conservative administration- one who does not have a "one world" world view, would EVER be nominated for such thing. That gives me, for one, a great deal of thoughts to chew on to form my personal perspective of the *actual worth* of this award, as I had never truly thought about the process and people that deeply before.

One thought also, is:

"Mr. President, you just won the Nobel Peace Prize- how can you send X thousand additional troops into Afghanistan?" I see it coming.

So my question is: how much of our liberty and freedom will be given up for him to try and live up to this award?

I do however agree with Mike Huckabee's statement:

"There will be an outcry from those on the right who will say that Obama's nomination, made two weeks into his Presidency, is impossible to justify but I think such an outcry will sound like right-wing whining. The better response is simply to allow those on the left to explain what he did in his first two weeks as President that merited such recognition."

and you?

Update:

Apparently conservatives aren't the only ones wondering how Obama has won this award. As reported on Special Report with Bret Baier:

-- "Apparently Nobel prizes now being awarded to anyone who is not George Bush"

Ana Marie Cox- Twitter

Air America Correspondent

-- "He won, but for what?"

Jennifer Loven (full article)

AP Correspondent

-- "Obama also awarded Nobel prize in Chemistry. 'He's just got great chemistry,' says Nobel committee"

Ezra Klein- Twitter

Washington Post Blogger

--- couple other tweets I thought was good ;)-

"How long till the Nobel Committee just gives up the ghost and names "you!" the winner of the peace prize?"
"About to receive the Nobel for hitting 7,000 Twitter followers. Planning to share it with the world."

-- "I like Barack Obama as much as the next liberal, but this is a frace"

Peter Beinart (full article, interesting read)

Political Writer

The Daily Beast

-- "Whatever happened to awarding for deeds actually done?" ... "... giving an Oscar to a young direction for films we hope that he or she will produce"

Michael Russnow (full article)

Huffington Post Writer

Racism, Garofalo, Tea Parties .. what?

Jeanine Garofalo said that the Tea Party attendees were racist ... oh really? Thanks Jeanine, I didn't realize that about myself. Apparently the black people who attend the tea parties didn't know they should be afraid, right. Yes, I know her comment is old news and was said back in April, but catch this~ she has been invited to an upcoming CHICAGO Tea Party (Yes, they're still happening, there's going to be a gathering in Raleigh, North Carolina in November, too, more on that later) this month... and here's her personal invite (gotta watch, this is great):

The Twitter #nestlefamily bru haha

I told myself this morning, I was not going to write anything about the #nestlefamily Twitter drama from this week. I've been following it, and yes, I've tweeted in it. I've been very surprised through this. You see, I DO have two Twitter accounts. My readers know this. I have @CalvaryGirl, where I tweet about politics. Realizing I wanted to follow other bloggers of non-political blogs, I created my "regular" account where I tweet about everything else. To understand my perspective on #nestlefamily, you must know more about me:

I realize the hybrid I am. I recycle a LOT (working towards "pre-cycling", I aim to have as less as possible preservatives and artificial ingredients in our food. I believe wholly in "clean eating", or "whole foods cooking". I foresaw myself getting sick this week and went and bought 25 lbs of carrots, 4-5 lbs of apples, two celery hearts (all organic) and juiced half of it Thursday afternoon and started drinking. Yesterday (Friday) I was at the Dr with the flu (should have juiced earlier, huh?). another post. I believe we should be good stewards of the world God has given us, but I will never consider myself "green"- I do not believe in global warming. Seeing that environmentalism has turned into somewhat of a religion, I try to be careful with my words around people who I speak with that might believe in it. The same respect I'd like for people to give Christians when the topic of God comes up. However, I'm crunchy, for sure.

My online relationships have changed in the past year. For eight years I served as a Community Leader (CL) for iVillage.com (@iVillage), and made many, wonderful friends. Jackson, now 10, was a toddler when I stumbled on the now Christian Family Life board. I conceived Hannah right before I became a leader for the board. As a SAHM, with one vehicle that was with Jay each day, that community of women were my link to the outside world. not only on the board, but the site as a whole because I got to know a number of other Community Leaders of other boards while serving as well. iVillage, was my blogosphere.

There's a dynamic to online life. Sometimes it is hard to project the right emotion into words, sometimes it is not. Writing is an art form when it comes to online relationships and communication because sometimes one needs to get "wordy" to make sure their words are received in the way they were intended.

Breastfeeding is one of my favorite subjects to discuss. On CFL (Christian Family Life) it was not an uncommon subject to be brought up because it was all mothers. This is just one example of a breastfeeding conversation on that board, and shows the character of the lovely people I have associated myself with. Due to lack of information with Jackson, the experience was cut short to three months (explained within that post / thread). Then I found these ladies (and there's more that did not post in that thread), and the information I needed to successfully bf with Hannah until she weaned herself at almost 17 months. I mourned it. I have friends who have bf for YEARS. I support it. Ask my niece, I supported her as much as I possibly COULD with ^Jordan^, and he still ended up on formula. If I knew then what I know now, I would have probably offered to induce lactation and bf him myself.... well, if my niece accepted the offer ;o)

Where I come from ... even online you should still be respectful to other people. I remember a long time ago, a Christian tried to evangelize the Atheist Parenting board, posting to its members about salvation. Instead of the members of the Atheist board coming to the CFL board and dogging us out posting anti God statements, their CL (Community Leader) contacted me via email and asked if I knew that particular member, and linked me to the posts. NO, this member had never posted on CFL. Right then we made an agreement, "her" members did not post to our board and "mine" would not post to hers. That brought about a nice friendship between the two of us that we might not otherwise have, and I dearly appreciated her contacting me first and discouraging her members from retaliating against "the Christians", because the Christians they would had been retaliating against, had nothing to do with their experience.

The 'Christian' who invaded the Atheist Parenting board was considered trolling.

By definition:

"a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion." *

So the person who said: "It's only "trolling" because you don't agree."- no m'am, you are wrong. It was trolling.

Twitter is not much different than iVillage. iVillage has boards where people of like interests discuss specific topics and broader subjects, Twitter, has the #hashtag. For the non tweeps-you click on the #hashtag and it shows you every tweet/post made on twitter containing said #hashtag, not just the people who you see on your timeline/friends list. Using the message board conversion, it would be like going from the General "iVillage" board where everyone was posting, to the #christian board where people were discussing a Christian topic. Except with twitter, you can use whatever #hashtag you want, as long as others join you and you are not sitting there tweeting with yourself!

This week, Nestle brought in a group of mothers who blog and do product reviews to California and they were to tweet their experience while they were there.

From their Nestle Family Blog:

"Nestlé understands the importance of listening directly to parents. That’s why on September 30 and October 1, we’ve invited 20 Mom and Dad bloggers to our U.S. headquarters to learn firsthand the things that are important to them and their families, and to share a little about us and our brands."

It sounds perfectly fine from a consumer standpoint, very cool as an aspiring blogger hoping to one day have a blog with the span of readership these blogging mothers have. I was already following a couple of these moms, and was reading their individual tweets about Nestle in my timeline. Then I clicked on the #hashtag and was reminded of something that my pro breastfeeding mom friends from iVillage had discussed before: there was a boycott of Nestle happening, and it started about 30 years ago.

I understand the premise of the boycott. I do. I really DO. But what I was seeing was not happiness, and it was NOT respect. The Nestle boycotters were tweeting under the same hashtag as the blogging mothers- judging them for being at Nestle, and basically making Nestle out to be Satan's tool. I understand the issues surrounding the boycott. I DO. But there is a time and place for everything, and overloading the #nestlefamily hashtag with anti Nestle posts, debating the issues, accusing the blogging mothers attending the event of "selling out for a coupon", "killing babies", "supporting child labor" ... NO. That is NOT the way to go about getting your message across.

We live in a free country, with free speech. Yes, it was perfectly "legal" for the boycotters to overload the hashtag, but was it right? I tweeted recommending that the boycotters use #discussnestle, but of course that was not acceptable to them. It was said "I feel the issues are plenty important & am glad 4 a platform where a commercial can turn into a discussion". This was after a Nestle executive started tweeting addressing the boycotters concerns, and every- answer- given- was rejected. NOTHING Nestle was going to say was going to be good enough, so WHY?

What I was looking at, was a group of otherwise women I likely would have followed on twitter under different circumstances, acting like toddlers pitching a fit for their cause. A three year old also is glad for a platform not intended for them to be the center of attention, to BECOME a platform where their issues become the center of attention, too. There's a time and place for everything.

It was said

"The pt of using #nestlefamily was to influence the attendees & their fans. If we used a diff one, it would have gone unnoticed." That's the toddler's point, too. Instead of being patient and waiting until they can get what they want, they pitch a fit. It would have been just as easy to post under #nestlefamily (use twitlonger.com!) "Hey, mom bloggers, we have some serious concerns about Nestle's marketing practices, are you aware of X, Y, & Z? Please join us under #discussnestle to talk about these issues" and go from there. That was the arrangement we had on the iVillage boards. The debate CLs was allowed to post on support boards inviting members to their discussions about heated topics. Then the members were respected by not being forced to be involved in heated discussions.

I say that, then I think of the comments that were made: "Since when did we decide to take choice away from mothers on how they want to feed their babies?" then right after you saw:
"it's easier to make the "right" choice when someone takes away a few of the choices "for you," right?"

I HOPE that was not serious. I HOPE that was sarcastic. But, in light of the disrespect I saw happening, it would make sense that by choosing NOT to use a different hashtag and inviting the mother bloggers to join in the boycott discussion if they chose to, they were left with NO choice. That goes hand in hand with opposing formula samples being sent home in American hospitals, right? When there's NO choice, the "right" one, according to some people, will be made. The thing is, we DO live in America, where there IS choice. You have the ability TO GIVE choice.

Babies dieing in third world countries is a strong enough of a cause for it to bring attention to its self, you do not HAVE to force it on people. But it was.

But what got me today, and what made me decide to write about this, was this comment about the mom bloggers:

"When I asked her why she would ever align herself with this company and attend their blogger junket, her response was that she never said she had a problem with Nestle. Maybe so, but I think she should have a problem with Nestle." *

This is THE problem. It's okay to have an opinion, but to get irate towards another mother because she does not have a problem with a company that YOU do, is DISRESPECTFUL. It's UGLY. It's NOT the attitude I hope today's generation of children are being raised with! We are in America, and we ARE allowed to have an opinion, or lack thereof, of anything, am I wrong for believing this?

My friend (and member of LLL) once said:

"i have made lots of parenting decisions over the last 8 years and almost 4 children, some great, some good and some not so good. that is really between me my husband and God. there are plenty of things i feel strongly about; breastfeeding, vaccination, circumsion, sleeping, epidurals, staying at home etc- but for me to judge someone else or think they are a bad parent because they choose to do things differently is just plain wrong. i have made completely different choices than my parents made. does that make them bad parents? NO. we all hopefully do the best w/ what we have." (~Julie, aka earthmuffinmommy)"

So I'm sitting here at my computer, coming down with the flu, jaw dropped, ashamed. Ashamed because the Nestle boycotters, people I otherwise would have likely enjoyed following, were criticizing other mothers for accepting a good opportunity and experience in their eyes. For not respecting the fact they have the freedom to make such a choice for themselves. For questioning their ethics "because they associate with such a company". Thing is, some of those mothers did not know about the boycott and the issues surrounding it. Those mothers were STILL criticized because "they didn't do their research". The mom bloggers were damned if they did and damned if they didn't.

In my eyes, I could go back to the day I realized my milk was dried up with Jackson and a "concerned lactivist" come into MY living room and condemned me for not "doing my research", when I was not aware when everything was happening, that there WAS research to do! Then when I said "thanks for the head's up" they continued to stay and stick their finger in my face.

THAT is what was happening- the boycotters did not appear to truthfully want a dialog because NOTHING Nestle said in the conversation was accepted. Nothing was good enough, If the boycotters humbly wanted to make their issues known, they could have used the different hashtag, invited others to join, and you know what? I'm willing to bet Nestle would have joined that conversation, too. YES, respect is a BIG proponent when opening a conversation over substantial subjects. I know I would have followed both hashtags. It was sad, very sad.

What makes this worse today is, some boycotters are now personally "going after" I know of at least one of the mom bloggers. They are going the "next step" in this attack on a group of women whose only "crime" is they made a decision to do something they disagree with. It's now not OK to make your own choices and not be able to live without fear of retaliation, you have to worry who's going to attack you for your views if you do not do what people think you should based on their opinion.

There's No Liberty In a Society That Lives Like That!

I saw a blog post today where a boycotter is emailing the advertisers of a mom blogger's blog. Lets be real, it is NOT because this person is "concerned" for the advertisers, she wants to hit this blogger personally. It's vindictive. It's wrong. It's sad. What's worse is the message- "Perhaps best to stop reiterating the past bad behavior. What do u think of the issue?" from last night, to learn of the continued attacks on the mom bloggers today. ::sigh::

What do I think of the issues?

I went into my kitchen and have not one Nestle product in it.

Probably because when the Whole Foods boycott started, I joined the BUYcott (2)and haven't went to a conventional grocery store but once and that was for eggs and cheese, and I have not found those on the Nestle list of products yet. No really, I think it was July at the beach with my BFF it might have been a Stouffer's lasagna one night to feed the eight kids we were in charge of. Or was that beach trip of '08? I was with BFF, that I remember.

But no, I'm not boycotting Nestle, I'm buycotting Whole Foods (@WholeFoods, @WFMWinston), and Whole Foods does not carry Nestle.

I am, however, more concerned about babies dieing in America than third world countries. Babies such, who are born alive outside of their mother's womb despite an attempted abortion, and medical workers leaving them to die because of fears of lawsuits- because there wasn't supposed to be a surviving baby. I'm more concerned about these babies, who, President Obama, when offered a chance to defend these babies and give them a chance to live, chose to defend abortion. When a baby is outside the womb, "abortion" doesn't apply. Meet Gianna, a woman who actually survived a third trimester abortion attempt.

I am, however, more concerned about things like this-

"The December issue of Natural Family Online magazine (www.naturalfamilyonline.com) features a new analysis which finds that formula feeding doubles infant death rates for babies in the United States. Health educator and author Dr. Linda Folden Palmer's report, based on several decades of research from the U.S. and across the world, reveals that the use of infant formula costs the lives of an estimated 9,335 U.S. babies each year." * (article based on '04 report, has it gotten better?)

I am concerned about the infants, children, and adults dieing of malaria in Africa, a developing country, because of the increased pressure from environmental organizations pressing for the banning of DDT, which can control malaria when used. The solution is so simple in that case, except .... (shaking head)

Oooohhhhhhhh but WAIT! I don't believe in global warming, but Whole Foods supports a number of causes linked to defeating global warming!! What am I to do? They obviously support causes contrary to my personal beliefs ... and ethics? If you really want to stretch it- I mean, if Whole Foods supports environmental causes, then how am I to know they are not indirectly contributing to the deaths of the infants and children dieing in Africa due to malaria? Oh wow ... what am I left with? Choosing lesser expensive organic food, more humane treatment of animals, fair trade coffee .... or a conventional grocery store where I can't afford their organic food and don't care for processed food?

Oh that's right. I have the right to choose my battles. I can choose to shop at Whole Foods and not support certain "environmental" causes- like the lobbying to ban the use of DDT in Africa.

That's my choice.

Just like it was the mom blogger's choice to make to do what they did.

Things could have went so much better. Just because the mom bloggers smiled and worked with the boycotters does not mean what the boycotters done was right, it means they were appeased, just like the toddler is appeased by getting their piece of candy after pitching a fit in the store. There was a better way, and it was not done, now people are still being personally attacked.

Officially taking a break

Hi everyone,

I know you have noticed I have not posted anything new in a week or so. I have a few new projects open and right now cannot balance those and blogging, so I'm going to take a short break for now. I will continue to post on the Facebook fanpage daily, as well as on Twitter: @CalvaryGirl (for political conversation) and @myflydays (everything else but politics), please join me there so we can keep in touch!

Remembering 9-11

I have decided to show my kids the coverage from that horrific morning. Should you decide today to do the same (if they have not already seen it), here are the clips. I watched it on local NBC at the time but I found CNN so we'll go with that.

This is more than 30 minutes of coverage.

At the very end there's a song to listen to as well.

The Pentagon news:

The falling of the south tower:

Invitation to Remember 9.11 (WS, NC)

Rep. Dale Folwell would like to invite you to attend Remember 9.11 -

A Nation remembers September 11, 2001

5:30-6:30 pm
Friday, September 11, 2009
(reception follows in the Fellowship Hall)

Ardmore United Methodist Church
630 S. Hawthorne Road

All are welcome to join us for a Service of Remembrance.

Stats about me

from a Facebook application:

You have 311 friends, 191 more than average. 26% are male, 74% are female. 41 are single, 201 are dating or married. If you contracted a deadly variant of flu, you would likely infect 11 people, 1 of whom would die. If you died today, an estimated 456 people would try to attend your funeral. Based on your Facebook profile, you have a 91% probability of getting married. You are likely to earn US$2.7 million and have 2.3 children over your lifetime.

Someone better tell Jay about me getting married, he might wanna know about that ;o)

9-11 and kids: the discussion

There's a discussion started on my Facebook-CalvaryGirl page concerning 9-11 and discussing it with kids - are you there?

Jack Webb schools Obama on America

Big thanks to American Thinker for posting it first!

A giant is awakening

Encouragement

"My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. ...it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works." --- Psalm 73:26,28

Prayer requests

We have a few things happening right now:

• Jackson is feeling very cruddy. Normally he does not get sick. I'm not sure if it is because I have been kicking up so much dust in the past week his allergies are aggrivated or not. He looks quite puny. Benedryl helped him sleep last night. I gave him some before school but my fear is that he's going to be sleepy all day. Not to mention school pictures are today, I can only imagine the expression he's going to have *g*
• Jay is working a LOT. His new job is very stressful and requires long hours. The Lord knows what's really needed to get those issues resolved, we're hoping this is a temporary thing and after a while can be remedied. This is a real strain for our family right now, but my biggest concern is him.
• My headaches are becoming more frequent. I'm starting to be in a zone where I'm constantly waiting for a migraine to "kick in", cause all of my headaches feel like they are potential migraines. That's no way to live. I'm wondering if I have me eyes checked and get glasses or contacts if that would make a difference. If thats the case, we need to figure out how to work that in the budget. We need to get Jackson's glasses, first, though.
• I have family traveling from PA to NC (here) Friday. They need travel mercies.

Thank you!

James 5:15-17

15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

17Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

Where's Wendy?

Is she ever busy?! I thought moms got to cool things off when the kids went back to school? not this school year it seems! I've been trying to declutter since July when we had the huge yard sale. It was a huge success, but we need to have another one. That's been the plan. So much, we put all the tables together and put a tarp over everything and left it in the yard. That was July 4th weekend. Two times my sister and I have set a date for her to bring her stuff over and we do it together, massive fail. I've decided to take the playpen full of adult women's clothes to the Goodwill, and pack up the rest for a bit. Maybe in October? I have a lot of winter kid's clothes, and more adult clothes that are stashed in the garage.

Because everything is shifted around in the garage due to the yard sale, we haven't been parking in there. Since there's more "leeway", I've been able to get stuff out of the house into the garage, which frees up space in the house to rearrange things. And that's what I have been doing! I was starting with Hannah's room late last week when mom called and said some family from out of state that we have not seen in five years is coming down for a visit. She volunteered for my second cousin and her daughter to stay with us since we're about the same age and her daughter and Hannah are. I'm very excited about our upcoming visit, but wwooooowwww wow wow (as Wubzy would say...)- I still have a LOT of work to do in this house!

Seriously, I would be ashamed if anyone come in here right now. Stuff strewn everywhere. If someone offered to help me, I would not know where to start them. Well, that's a lie. I would tell them to put the bunk bed up in Hannah's room and make the beds. (Kristi?) So my goal today is to find the living room and dining room. But, I also have a bunch of cooking to do, too. I done a big grocery trip yesterday and need to process some things.

OK STOP THE PRESSES.
I'm sitting here typing this on my laptop on my bed. The (master) bathroom door is open, the lights in there are on plus the bedroom light. Out of the corner of my eye I see about SIX INCHES of naked white tail headed towards my jacuzzi bathtub!! As I feel my heart jump in my throat I hear a faint flutter sound and it's gone. The front paneling is off due to a leak a while back, so there's a hole in the floor. THERE WAS AN OPOSSUM IN MY BATHROOM JUST NOW!! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Oddly enough, this makes sense. Jay saw one go under the air conditioner unit a few weeks ago but could not tell where it went. Somehow it has gotten under the house and found the hole in the floor that actually leads to underneath the house in the bathroom. Jay just said he didn't realize the hole went all the way through that there was another layer of flooring under the tub. WELL NOW WE KNOW! We just got off the phone, I hope he realizes he is coming home early today! That's one way to get out of work "I got to go home, there's an opossum in my house and my wife is freaking out."

What was I talked about? Food. Yes, food. Whole foods had a great deal on chicken yesterday, $2.99/lb.. so I bought three pounds. I'm going to do Jessica Seinfeld's "Tortilla cigars" and try freezing them for the kid's lunches. It has cream cheese in the recipe, think it will work? I also bought a BIG bag of spinach (3 lbs for $5), and one of cauliflower so cook, puree, and freeze for future Seinfeld recipes. I also have celery and carrots to cut into sticks, and some Amberjack fish to divvy up into individual bags to freeze. That is the only fish Hannah will eat. It's very good if I say so myself. We are LOADED down in tilapia, flounder, and mahi mahi, but she won't touch it. (We were blessed with the contents of a friend's deep freezer when they moved.) It has the texture of a chicken thigh, which I think has a big deal to do with why she likes it. Praise the Lord for Whole Foods and their massive sampling, that's all I'm sayin'! It was on sale for $7.99/lb ($4 off) so I bought four two inch pieces to freeze and use when we have tilapia. (I don't mind fixing a different fish when we're having fish, it's the separate meal all together is what peeves me.)

Right now I'm making yogurt in the crockpot. Yes, it works :) This time I'm going to experiment with adding some vanilla extract to it. I found a recipe for a "clean" (aka healthy) shrimp scampi with orzo and corn, so I'm also going to fix that today and portion it out for Jackson's lunches. That boy LOVES shrimp scampi. So that's the plan. Pray for me today, I'll sure need it!

Jackson strikes again!

"Mom, what do you call it when you put corn on a swan's head?"

:: I have a confused look on my face ::

"Corn on the cob!"

:: I look at him like he has a third eye ::

"MooOOoommm!! A male swan is called a COB. It has CORN on his head, GET IT?"

with this "duuuhh" look on his face.

I ruined it. Sorry bud, mom's just not that smart.

My twitter philosophy

I try to be a good tweep, I really do. I very much enjoy Twitter and if I'm not careful it can dominate huge chunks of time out of my day. Since joining Twitter in march and seeing how everything "works", I have come up with a tweet-relationship policy that works for me. I follow people because I enjoy their tweets. I do not follow people with the expectation that they are going to follow me back. This whole "I'll follow you if you follow me" game frankly, bugs me. I do not want to follow real estate tweets, I am the least interested in real estate. If a real estate representative is a conservative Christian who follows politics, they would LOVE to read my @CalvaryGirl account. A Christian who does not care for politics would enjoy my @myflydays account, as it is "politics free".

I've learned that there are people who will only follow you IF you are following them. I'm sorry, I do not mean offense towards those of you who roll that way, I do not. I find that to be a relationship of forced intentions. Do not make me be your friend, I'll make that decision on my own.

I do get the emails from Twitter saying when someone is following you. I am three weeks behind. At first I was guilting myself for not getting through them fast enough but I learned something. You see I follow @tless, Twitter Less, an application that sends you a weekly email of those who have dropped you. I've found DoesFollow.com, a site in which you enter a user's name, and your name, and it will show if that person is following you or not.

This is my "system":

• When I get my TwitterLess notification, I open that page for "the list". I used to feel bad cause I would look at people's profiles, and possibly start following a couple of profiles- and they would re-follow me. That's when I caught on. That was the game.
• Now, after opening the list, I open DoesFollow, and verify that these people are indeed not following me. If TWO apps says no, I believe it can be accurate.
• I then go to my email, and do a search for that user name. What I have found is that 99% of these people who are dropping me have started following me over the weekend. Since I participate in #followfriday, I realize that it is an opportunity for people to "network". It is also an opportunity for people to play the "I'll follow you if you follow me" game, too. What I realized is when I started following people after they dropped me, that they would happily be my friend again- which makes me doubt whether they actually pay attention to what I tweet in the first place. If they do not, then they really do me no good then, do they? They are just a number in my follower's list, and I do not care about that.

My solution? That "John Doe is following you" email is deleted. So when I DO sit down, and start going through the emails and following new people, I am following people who are more likely following me because they WANT to be following me. If I find their tweets comparable to my interests, then I will follow them back. I do not follow everyone back, and I understand that not everyone who I follow, will want to follow ME back, either.

What liberal leaning "green" mom is going to want to follow a right leaning new political activist who believes in conservation of our resources (and organic freak) but does NOT believe global warming is real? Likely, none. (I realize the hybrid I am!) But depending on the topics of their tweets (organic food 80% of the time, supports @wholefoods despite the stupid boycott, for example), I will follow them. That was a big part in my inspiration in creating a separate account. Us moms can differ on politics and still do our best to be the best parents our children can have, and enjoy foodie and mama talk. Common ground can be found.

If those who have unfollowed me actually have a profile I might enjoy, eventually, I'll run into it. And follow it. and they can follow me back if they choose.

Dear piano knowledgeable friends:

I need your help. We are looking to put Hannah in piano lessons, but need to get a piano. I've seen some ads in the paper for pianos between $300-$500. The one for $500 says "excellent condition". Does this sound like appropriate prices for a piano? I envisioned more than that myself, but I do not know anything about pianos.

Help?

Kitchen conversations epi 1

Hannah: "Mommy!!! I don't WANT vegetables in my chicken!!"

Jackson (as he is standing at the stove stirring the stiry fry): "Hannah don't you want to be healthy? You're gonna get the FLU and be out of school for two months. Then you're gonna have to make up ALL that work!"

:: I snort ::

Jackson: "Whuut? I'm trying to act more like a father ..."

:: I am trying not to lose it, as I'm headed to the bedroom to post this ::

Jackson from the kitchen across the house: "I AM going to be in COLLEGE in eight years ya know!"

553 Cool Verses: Praise Psalm of David

1 Chronicles 16

7Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.

8Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.

9Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works.

10Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.

11Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.

12Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;

13O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

14He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.
________________________________

23Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation.

24Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations.

25For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods.

26For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

27Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place.

28Give unto the LORD, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength.

29Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

30Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.

31Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigneth.

32Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein.

33Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the LORD, because he cometh to judge the earth.

34O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

35And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise.

36Blessed be the LORD God of Israel for ever and ever. And all the people said, Amen, and praised the LORD.

Seek, and you'll find

John 3

15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Something was said today about "seeker sensitive" churches, and I just run across this passage in my reading. I've always doubted the "seeker" movement because God is good just as He is, for the young and old. A four year old thinks a circus is great, and wants to go. But we should not be making our churches proverbial circuses so people might want to come. If a church is presenting the gospel in a clear, loving but straight forward manner, then those who are wanting to find God, IS going to find God.

What happens when they do not accept Him is when they are not ready to give up control in their lives, I believe. That control that makes you feel like you're doing to have to "do-do-do" once you become a Christian. They might accuse the church of being "judgmental" when its completely possible that the holy spirit is convicting them of their sins, and they are trying to deflect the attention of their sinful nature the spirit is bringing to their minds. They know that God looks at sin as evil, bad, but they are too comfortable with their sin to want to acknowledge the fact if they were right with God, they would eventually give it up. Who likes change, anyway? Most people don't. They let fear of the "how -to's" of the "do-do-do's" boggle their mind down to think they must do some cleaning up of their acts before they are "ready" to get saved. (There is never a wrong time to be saved!)

So they put it off. This is when some people become bitter in their refusal to acknowledge the working of the holy spirit on their conscious. I truly believe these are the "Christian-haters". We've all seen them, I'm sure. The ones who jump the gun and insult anything and everything that could possibly have anything to do with God. Public prayer, conservatism (though, hard to believe but not all conservatives are Christian!), so forth. They HATE the light, in truth. They do not HATE Christians, they hate what Christians stand for. God is their kryptonite and if they were truthful with themselves, they could realize the deep rooted reasons behind their response to anything holy.

But those who WANT to know the truth, will find the truth. God will see to it. There are testimonies of people in third world countries who knew there was a creator and called to whoever it was that created them to show Himself to them, and then a missionary arrives to share the gospel with them and they confess their sin and get saved. That's the problem in this country, I believe. People expect entertainment as the world knows it when they go to the place of worship, and somehow, they miss the truth. Churches today need to stop looking at the "do-do-do's" of how to get people to come to church, and they need to start looking at the "how to's" the bible presents us with and run with it.

Acts 1:8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

"God is like electricity, you cannot see him, but you can still see the light"

-- a former "they"

$100 Dicks Sporting Goods giveaway

Feisty, Frugal, and Fabulous is hosting a giveaway for Dick's Sporting Goods. It's very easy, follow Dicks on Twitter (link in giveaway post) and in your comment share what you would buy. Oh how easy that was for me!

I could blow $100 wide open there in hunting supplies alone! I might get Jay a new hunting blind; or maybe some archery targets (for me and Jackson), or perhaps a lot of smaller miscellaneous things that will be needed during the season.

Or some girlie looking outdoors stuff. Or the kid's some new soccer supplies. Oh the possibilities are endless at that store. It's Jay's "happy place".

I can't believe I done that

A few weeks ago I was looking through the upcoming themes for the I Heart Faces contests, and was really excited to see "bubbles" as a category. As you know bubbles has been a big theme on this blog lately. I spent Monday and Tuesday at the kid's school helping the teachers get ready for school open house Tuesday night and school starting on Thursday. Monday night I had visitation, and last night was open house. What did I do? I forgot to put up and enter my entry! I had the perfect picture!-

I love it. Amanda has some darling pictures and her entry up, toodle over there and check hers out!

Message to our children

I love King David. Out of all of the people in the bible, I am drawn to David most. The Lord saw fit to show him at his best, and at his worst. Though David he shows the potential we have as humans to be righteous, pleasing to God, on the mountaintop, as well as in the valleys, at our worst with sin in our lives taking rule. Having clinical depression, I relate with David greatly because after reading about him you can see the same highs and lows in him that a Christian dealing with clinical depression would have in their own lives. David "makes it real".

I'm reading in Chronicles now, and run into David's charge to Solomon for when he will become King over Israel. I am wowed each time I read about David, and this time is no exception. David tells Solomon what we all should be telling our children (and remember for ourselves!):

1 Chronicles 28
9And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

20And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.

What comfort and security is to be found in these verses! David in these verses was leaving a legacy of holiness to his child, assurance of the faithfulness of our God. He not only tells him how good God is, but how HOLY he is as well. Oftentimes we tend to forget to remind our children how HOLY God is.

Lately I have been reminding our children when things are not going well for them, how what they are experiencing could possibly be the result of unconfessed sin in their life that they have not repented from. In my own life it has been hard enough to keep that in the forefront of my own life, I want to train my children to have that thought second nature unlike their mom's experience. I don't want them to forget that our God will not tolerate sin in our lives, and when we walk in sin and with self centered prideful attitudes, we lose our fellowship with God and our prayers will be hindered.

Likewise, I want them to be confident of the faithfulness of our God. This is why it is important to always remind them when God's faithfulness is being revealed in our lives. We experienced the loss of an infant family member just a number of months ago, that we were very close with and spent an unordinary amount of time with. That tragedy was devastating to our family and I've felt as if I lost one of my own children. It's one thing to experience the loss of an infant as an adult, but imagine what goes through the mind of a tender 6 year old girl's heart when thinking about God allowing a baby to die. Imagine feeling helpless as you watch her go through the motions of grief, not really knowing what do to but praying without ceasing! Yet, time heals all hurts. It is when I see her able to look at the baby's picture, and not burst into uncontrollable tears, I am able to show her how God has helped her in her grief. How God has given her peace in her heart to be able to start thinking about how much she loved the baby, without having the overwhelming thoughts of how much she misses it.

God is so good, so faithful, and so true to us. We don't know why God allowed the baby to die, but we do know he done it for His glory. That, we can count on. He started a work in us the day the baby died, and one day we might be able to minister to another family that experienced the same thing we did. One day my daughter might be able to comfort a classmate that does not know Christ, who experienced the loss of an infant in their life. I want my children to understand and be confident that when they seek the Lord, they will find Him. That as long as they are seeking Him, He will finish the work He started in them until the day He returns. *

Originally posted September 16, 2008

New Wallpaper

I am so ready for fall. I believe as soon as school starts it should turn over to fall. However, the Lord didn't design it like that, we have a little while to wait, huh? That doesn't have to stop me from starting on fall designs now though, right? I hope not because I got a darling freebie from Digital Freebies that just screams fall to me, so I created a new wallpaper with it:

View a larger version of it here.

If you like this, you have until this Thursday to download it for yourself here, for free!

I'm also going to be switching my Twitter background to a version of this soon. I thought this was "man" enough for Jay to have as his background for his desktop too- what do you think? I'm planning on offering this (minus our pictures) as a freebie but I thought some wordart would look good where the pictures would be.

What quote would be good for this wallpaper? any suggestions?

Got Purse-onality?

My church had a ladies fellowship called "Got Purse-onality?". Everyone was to bring one (or more) new, or lightly used purse for a purse swap. We had a potluck dinner and our Pastor's wife gave a nice devotion. I had a very good time. The decorations were adorable. We're very fortunate to have such talented, creative ladies in our ladies ministry. I am so grateful for my sisters in Christ!

Our fellowship hall used to be the auditorium until we bought an old grocery store and remodeled it a half a mile from the building shown. The school is behind this building, and they have chapel here every week / day.

The tables were decorated so pretty.

I like that last sentence in the instructions ;-)

lots of PURSES!

me and Lizzy.

Turn and wait

"Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually."
Hosea 12:6

Family Friday: Girls Day Out

It's Family Friday time again! Family Friday is hosted by HomemakerBarbi.com, thank you Danielle! Danielle has also launched two new sites in recent weeks you might want to check out:

And Freebies For All (and)

Mommy Blogger

I'm excited about today. I'm actually behind on my day right now but that's how it's been all week it seems! I learned about Crazy 8 children's clothing a few months ago. We are huge Gymboree fans, and this is a "sister store" of Gymboree. I received an email via Gymboree on Wednesday that a Crazy 8 store was opening in the next city, yay!! Not only that but a $10 off of $30 purchase coupon, too! So Hannah and I are headed off in a little while to do some back to school shopping. The kids are going back to their private Christian school this year. They have went there their whole school careers except for this past year when they went to a charter school, and that was not a very good experience for Jackson.

Hannah and I went shopping last weekend since it was tax free weekend, and I was amazed at how much money we saved in school supplies. We literally spend half as much money, or more (versus what we did last year), not counting book bags. It made me wonder- how is it that this small, private school can accomplish so much more with so much less, than the large public charter school? Of course the answer was easy- God is behind the small private school and is an integral part of its daily operation, He isn't in the public school. We're very excited about the upcoming school year that starts on the 20th. I've been helping Jackson's teacher this week get the classroom ready and its been a great blessing.

We've recent had a big family event happen: Braden turned three! Braden is our great nephew, brother to ^Jordan^.

Check out the recent Braden posts from his birthday and videos from the party:

Happy Birthday Braden!

You might be a redneck IF ...

Braden's birthday (Thomas the train is yummy)

Braden and bubbles

We've also reached a milestone with food. Hannah asked me yesterday if I can get her a Sigg bottle to send her water to school for lunch, because she has started to like drinking water. Praise the Lord! Miracles never cease. Read more about the recent food revelations.

Have a great weekend! I look forward to reading your Family Friday posts, be sure to leave your links with your comments!

Megyn Kelly takes on dep WH Press Secretary

Megyn Kelly, my favorite news anchor, grills deputy White House press secretary concerning the collection of emails this morning on America's Newsroom:

Megyn talking about it on O'Reilly tonight:

I find it interesting in the first clip the gentleman accusing Megyn of getting out of sorts when clearly megyn held control of the interview, focus, and facts on the matter.

You?

Just love God

Deuteronomy 10
12And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

13To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

14Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

15Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

16Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

Why is it we have such a hard time just loving God? Why do we tend to look at him like this big boogey man in the sky ready to strike us down for the least indiscretion? Or worse, only look to Him in times of trial? Or only mention Him when the unexplainable happens, the big things? When those big things happen, and He is mentioned, why is He only looked at as a "mystery"? There's very little mystery to God! If you draw close to him through His Word, you will understand the things of life. You will be able to appreciate not only the big miracles in life, but appreciate the little things that work out as well. You will be able to thank Him after you go to the office fridge hoping there's water in there and not only soft drinks, because He worked that out for you. No, He did not "magically" put it in the fridge as you were walking to it, but he knew you would want water when you had your snack so He saw to it that water was put in the fridge and cold before you even thought of it. YES, that's God!

When you love someone, your thoughts are continually on that person. If there ever was a person we should love with everything we have and continually have our thoughts on, it should be Jesus Christ. He died for our sins. We could be looking forward to an eternal lake of fire when we died, but because He loved us, He died for our sins so we could spend eternity in heaven with Him in glory. God is holy, and cannot be in the presence of sin. We are BORN in sin, and only until we accept that fact and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will not have the assurance of our eternity in heaven when we die. It is only through the blood, it does not matter how good or nice of a person we were when we lived, only that the blood of Christ washed our sins away.

Romans 5:12

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Lets come to a point where we truly appreciate this fact. When we are able to grasp just what was done for us, and just how perfect our God is, we can truly start to love Him. If we focus on getting to know Him better, just like in a relationship, we will continually "fall" deeper and deeper in love. Sin will bother us, because we will be more transformed into His image, and God cannot be in the presence of sin. As a result of being so close to him, the trials will be more bearable, and life will be more peaceable. Our perspectives will change for the wiser, and we will gain a deeper burden for the lost.

Acts 3:19

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

The lost is where God's burden is, that is why He sent His son to die for us. He wants us to be with Him. We need to be His messengers, but until we appreciate what He has done for us, how can we share with others what He can do for them?

How can you convince someone something tastes good, when you have not tasted it yourself? Why would I want to buy an item you have told me was just "ok"?

Psalm 34:8

"O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him"

People need to SEE God in our lives. If we are not loving Him, then people SEE that we are not loving Him. When was the last time you praised Him in someone Else's presence? When was the last time you explained to someone why you do, or do not do something because of your God-lead convictions? How often do you read your bible? How important is church attendance in your life? What are the things you put before church functions ... and serving the Lord? Are you afraid of what others might say when you throw a "monkey wrench" in plans because of your dedication to church and / or ministry? Do not let foolish pride keep you from growing closer to the one who holds your life in His hands.

Love Him. Just love God.