I've been following the Parental Rights Movement for sometime now and the CRC is pushing hard. I firmly believe that is the God-given right of the parent to be the authority of the child, NOT the Government. There are parents that are not doing their jobs, parentally speaking, and I'm sorry for that. However, that DOES NOT lump us all into the same stew pot, deeming us all unfit to be able to make the proper decisions that we feel are best for our children. The CRC is pushing hard to get the President to bring this to the Senate and have it in place by this November. Please click the provided link to see if your state's senators are for or against it. If they are for it, please contact them and express your opposition to this dangerous radification. Thanks!
http://parentalrights.org/index.asp?SEC={709CEEC0-3C08-450F-B949-1AB87E8E9685}&Type=B_BASIC
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Good bye January!
My stars, is it almost February? With all this warm, spring-like weather we've had this year, I have found it hard to believe it's really wintertime.:-) Bar none, January is nearly over and soooo much has happened this month!
Stephen turned 32 on the 23rd of this month **hmmm, just noticed 32 is 23 backwards** and we had a great celebration with my parents on that day. My parents gave him a gift card to Lowes and he enjoyed going and buying himself some stuff he much needed. Caleb and I "enjoyed" tagging along on that trip...well, after about four rounds around the store, the new wore off for him:-) BUT, Stephen got to do something out of the ordinary just for fun and after all, since it was HIS birthday, he should get to do something fun even if he is a "grown up":-) Mom and I always say that everybody should be able to have a day off on their birthdays.....somehow that never seems to happen after you're married, BUT it's fun thinking about it!! lol!
Audrey is doing very well in her schooling this year. She is halfway through 5th grade (AAAHHHH!!!) and is maintaining a 96-97 average in all her subjects despite the fact that she has had some really tough sections in Language Arts and Science this year. Still, her Math has improved 150% this year and I'm pleased with that. Switched on Schoolhouse has been good for her in many areas and it has been a blessing to be able to use that curriculum this year since we've had a little one in the house who has been very unpredictable with his schedule needs:-) Her favorite aspect of homeschooling is that she can play the piano as much (well, for the most part unless I ask her to let ME play a bit:-) as she wants each day. She is doing very well with her lessons that she takes from Mom and amazes me with her incredible sight reading skills. She pulls out my advanced books all the time and sight reads, slowly but surely, through a lot of them. I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid with my Mom's books, but I was WAY older when I started doing that...lol...Audrey has definitely taken after Mom in the music area and I'm so thankful for that influence in her life! Audrey is my right hand these days and her capability to help run the house for me at times is a blessing! She can clean as good as myself and her cooking skills are improving and is learning how to handle the kitchen tools more skillfully. She is so even tempered, like her Daddy, and she's a blessing to us!
Adalyn is...well...she's Adalyn!!! Never has there been a more dramatic, entertaining, excitable, busy, crazy, noisy, little girl than Adalyn! I was warned before Caleb was born that my quiet, clean house, tidy schedule days were over...OVER??? I'VE NEVER HAD THEM since Adalyn entered our household! She's a nut, but we love her and the house is WAAAYYY quiet when she's not here...lol! She is doing very well in K5 this year **on the days we manage to get the work done** and her reading is really improving. Math is not a problem for her and I'm glad:-) I think having a much older sibling has given her a head start on a lot of things. She is learning how to be responsible for her things and how to maintain tidiness in her room...not perfection, just tidiness:-) She is very creative with her surroundings and as Doc Scovill says "you ALWAYS know right where she is...the trail will always lead you home" HAHAHA! He's got her figured out pretty good:-) She is a good helper though and she is not afraid to tackle a new household job. Sometimes I forget she's only 5 and expect her to do a little more than she's really able to, but she tackles it anyways with a sweet "Yes Ma'am!" and does her best! She loves to help with Caleb and is his greatest entertainment. Since he likes things to be wildly entertaining, she fits the bill to the "T" and does it well! LOL! Her piano was put on hold for a few months while we tried to get through the first few teeth with Caleb, but she started that back up this week and it will be good to see how she takes off with it again. Both girls love music and as my husband said the other night "what other 10 and 5 year old do you know that would be THRILLED to death when their parents brought them home a Brahms CD?" OURS!!! lol! I'm so thankful they love Godly and God-honoring music and that they have had such tremendous influences in that area.
Caleb is growing...growing...growing...way too fast. Too fast. The baby days are quickly fading away and he is demonstrating his desire for independence more and more each day. He's not crawling yet, but does scoot around on his little bottom so he can get to things a little bit better on his own:-) In many ways he's been my most challenging baby of the three since he's been teething from 3.5 months old on and has problems sleeping at night still even though he's made to cry himself back to sleep most of the time. Stephen and I still wake up though each time he does so it makes for looonnnggg nights:-) As I write this post it is 5:15 and I've been up with him since 3:15. Daddy had to be at work at 4 am so he couldn't help much tonight:-) Wouldn't have been too bad if Caleb hadn't woken up at 12:30 am:-) Ahhhh, the joys of parenting:-) He's coming along on his teeth though and, if he keeps this pace up, will have a full mouth by the time he's 15 months old. He, like his sisters, loves music and last night Stephen was singing his favorite song "If you're happy and you know it" with him and he finally got his clapping in rhythm. Sometimes he claps, but mostly he sits there and bounces his upper body to the beat. He also like the song "The B-I-B-L-E" and said "bible" for the first time last night as well! "Bible" was one of the words that both girls said before age one so I'm happy to hear him following in their footsteps:-) He is completely enthralled by the piano and begs Audrey to hold him and let him bang out his own tunes. It's funny to watch him because he won't play if there's no music open on the rack. He also bangs on the open book when he's ready for you to turn the page to a "new song":-) Such a silly:-) As of this month he says, "Dadda, Mama, Adda (for audrey and addy) Bible, dum-dum (haven't quite figured out what he means by that yet...lol!), Num-num for when he wants to eat and "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH" for everything else he wants, thinks he wants, or needs:-) He has figured out how to throw things, meaning his toys, around except that he doesn't throw them away from himself frontwards...he throws them backwards behind himself! It's a most entertaining sight to see, but at least he can't hurt anyone by the flying toys yet. We all still sit in front of him, not behind him, while he's playing:-) He's such a joy to have with us even though he doesn't sleep very well still:-) We wouldn't trade him for anything!
I still can't upload new photos as "the man" has not had time to work on it for me yet:-) But I promise to load some as soon as I can! Happy ending to January and blessings to the beginning of February!
Stephen turned 32 on the 23rd of this month **hmmm, just noticed 32 is 23 backwards** and we had a great celebration with my parents on that day. My parents gave him a gift card to Lowes and he enjoyed going and buying himself some stuff he much needed. Caleb and I "enjoyed" tagging along on that trip...well, after about four rounds around the store, the new wore off for him:-) BUT, Stephen got to do something out of the ordinary just for fun and after all, since it was HIS birthday, he should get to do something fun even if he is a "grown up":-) Mom and I always say that everybody should be able to have a day off on their birthdays.....somehow that never seems to happen after you're married, BUT it's fun thinking about it!! lol!
Audrey is doing very well in her schooling this year. She is halfway through 5th grade (AAAHHHH!!!) and is maintaining a 96-97 average in all her subjects despite the fact that she has had some really tough sections in Language Arts and Science this year. Still, her Math has improved 150% this year and I'm pleased with that. Switched on Schoolhouse has been good for her in many areas and it has been a blessing to be able to use that curriculum this year since we've had a little one in the house who has been very unpredictable with his schedule needs:-) Her favorite aspect of homeschooling is that she can play the piano as much (well, for the most part unless I ask her to let ME play a bit:-) as she wants each day. She is doing very well with her lessons that she takes from Mom and amazes me with her incredible sight reading skills. She pulls out my advanced books all the time and sight reads, slowly but surely, through a lot of them. I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid with my Mom's books, but I was WAY older when I started doing that...lol...Audrey has definitely taken after Mom in the music area and I'm so thankful for that influence in her life! Audrey is my right hand these days and her capability to help run the house for me at times is a blessing! She can clean as good as myself and her cooking skills are improving and is learning how to handle the kitchen tools more skillfully. She is so even tempered, like her Daddy, and she's a blessing to us!
Adalyn is...well...she's Adalyn!!! Never has there been a more dramatic, entertaining, excitable, busy, crazy, noisy, little girl than Adalyn! I was warned before Caleb was born that my quiet, clean house, tidy schedule days were over...OVER??? I'VE NEVER HAD THEM since Adalyn entered our household! She's a nut, but we love her and the house is WAAAYYY quiet when she's not here...lol! She is doing very well in K5 this year **on the days we manage to get the work done** and her reading is really improving. Math is not a problem for her and I'm glad:-) I think having a much older sibling has given her a head start on a lot of things. She is learning how to be responsible for her things and how to maintain tidiness in her room...not perfection, just tidiness:-) She is very creative with her surroundings and as Doc Scovill says "you ALWAYS know right where she is...the trail will always lead you home" HAHAHA! He's got her figured out pretty good:-) She is a good helper though and she is not afraid to tackle a new household job. Sometimes I forget she's only 5 and expect her to do a little more than she's really able to, but she tackles it anyways with a sweet "Yes Ma'am!" and does her best! She loves to help with Caleb and is his greatest entertainment. Since he likes things to be wildly entertaining, she fits the bill to the "T" and does it well! LOL! Her piano was put on hold for a few months while we tried to get through the first few teeth with Caleb, but she started that back up this week and it will be good to see how she takes off with it again. Both girls love music and as my husband said the other night "what other 10 and 5 year old do you know that would be THRILLED to death when their parents brought them home a Brahms CD?" OURS!!! lol! I'm so thankful they love Godly and God-honoring music and that they have had such tremendous influences in that area.
Caleb is growing...growing...growing...way too fast. Too fast. The baby days are quickly fading away and he is demonstrating his desire for independence more and more each day. He's not crawling yet, but does scoot around on his little bottom so he can get to things a little bit better on his own:-) In many ways he's been my most challenging baby of the three since he's been teething from 3.5 months old on and has problems sleeping at night still even though he's made to cry himself back to sleep most of the time. Stephen and I still wake up though each time he does so it makes for looonnnggg nights:-) As I write this post it is 5:15 and I've been up with him since 3:15. Daddy had to be at work at 4 am so he couldn't help much tonight:-) Wouldn't have been too bad if Caleb hadn't woken up at 12:30 am:-) Ahhhh, the joys of parenting:-) He's coming along on his teeth though and, if he keeps this pace up, will have a full mouth by the time he's 15 months old. He, like his sisters, loves music and last night Stephen was singing his favorite song "If you're happy and you know it" with him and he finally got his clapping in rhythm. Sometimes he claps, but mostly he sits there and bounces his upper body to the beat. He also like the song "The B-I-B-L-E" and said "bible" for the first time last night as well! "Bible" was one of the words that both girls said before age one so I'm happy to hear him following in their footsteps:-) He is completely enthralled by the piano and begs Audrey to hold him and let him bang out his own tunes. It's funny to watch him because he won't play if there's no music open on the rack. He also bangs on the open book when he's ready for you to turn the page to a "new song":-) Such a silly:-) As of this month he says, "Dadda, Mama, Adda (for audrey and addy) Bible, dum-dum (haven't quite figured out what he means by that yet...lol!), Num-num for when he wants to eat and "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH" for everything else he wants, thinks he wants, or needs:-) He has figured out how to throw things, meaning his toys, around except that he doesn't throw them away from himself frontwards...he throws them backwards behind himself! It's a most entertaining sight to see, but at least he can't hurt anyone by the flying toys yet. We all still sit in front of him, not behind him, while he's playing:-) He's such a joy to have with us even though he doesn't sleep very well still:-) We wouldn't trade him for anything!
I still can't upload new photos as "the man" has not had time to work on it for me yet:-) But I promise to load some as soon as I can! Happy ending to January and blessings to the beginning of February!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
No card reader:-(
I have lots and lots of pictures, but the card reader isn't working!! AAAHHH! I'll have to hang tight until the "Man" can fix it:-) Until then though, I do have some very good reads attached....
You know how I am about good food, I mean, GOOD FOOD....Food being the key word here! I like to know that what I'm eating has not been concocted in a laboratory, and neither is it one ingredient or molecular structure away from being pure plastic. Since that makes up for 95% of what is on the shelf at the grocery store, I enjoy hunting down good local FOOD:-)
Recently, my Dad made a job "change" from the Rutherfordton NC farming epic center to Polk County NC Ag. Center. Nice change:-) Boy, have the options and availability for some incredible food opened up!!
You can check out the new Market/co-op here...
piedmontlocalfood.com
AND you can get seasonal food availability updates, hands on learning classes, and such here...
http://faceonthefood.wordpress.com/
AND you can check out the farmers blog here!!!
http://www.polkcountyfarms.org/agblog.php
You see, buying plastic engineered in a lab to resemble actual food drives up the cost of real food that's grown in dirt. Real food is not expensive when you cut out the truck drivers, shelf stockers at the grocery store, cashiers, packaging solution companies, etc. When the farmer picks it, puts it in a brown paper bag and hands it to you, that doesn't cost you $4.50 for one little measly head of "organic" cabbage that weighs barely a pound. It only costs you around $1-$2 and the cabbage weighs 4-6 pounds! Now the "drawback" to this "field to table" way of eating is that YOU have to go get it. Yep, twice a month you drive around to your local farms and pick up what you've ordered. You might spend 3-4 hours that day collecting your purchases, but from what I hear, a lot of people spend that much 3-4 days a week between clipping and sorting coupons and making multiple trips to multiple stores to get "deals" etc..
Has ANYONE calculated time and gas expenditures into the "savings" aspect? I'd like to hear about that if you have!
Anyways, what I'm saying is this...the price of "food" **I mean stuff in the store** is on the rise at a rapid rate and has been for the last four years or so. Despite that, our grocery budget has not gone up one dollar. Nope! It's the same as it's always been and we eat better and have more put up than we've had in our entire married life of almost 12 years! If you want to bring down your grocery expenses, get rid of chronic illnesses, and have something edible in your freezer for all your "hard work" (driving to pick it up is the easy part...I'm not the farmer so it's not very hard for me:-) BUY LOCAL!!!! Also, buying local will make your life easier for you because it will drive down the cost of the items that you like in the store because someone will start producing locally and providing those items to your store at a very affordable price!
The conclusion is this...on Monday we celebrated my husbands 32nd birthday. I made him a humdinger dinner with steak, apple and feta cheese salad, roasted sweet potatoes, and biscuits. The dessert he requested was dark chocolate pecan brownies with whipped cream. When it was all said and done and we were sitting down to eat, I realized that 99% of what had been fixed was grown locally....RIGHT HERE IN NORTH CAROLINA! We started naming off the farmers who had grown the beef, the salad, apples, the wheat, the sweet potatoes, etc...wow, it was amazing! AND the taste was incredible! I took lots of pictures to attach to this email, but alas, the card reader is not cooperating so you'll have to wait for those another day:-)
Yes, eating in a truly healthy manner is completely available and affordable. You just have to be willing to get up and go get it! Besides, you get to meet some incredibly creative and downright amazing farmers who are brimming over with eagerness to share their knowledge and expertise with YOU! It is an amazing experience to meet these true "service job" individuals who count it a blessing to be able to meet your need while at the same time, doing what they love best - Farming! We need to keep them in business so we can learn from them and teach our own children. THEY, not technology, are the WAVE OF THE FUTURE...the future of food....and good health....and sharp minds....and good work ethic....and the ability to be able to meet the needs of the community on a one on one basis....and provide a great ministry outreach for you and your family....
As my Dad always says, "here's to putting a face on the food"! The next time you eat something, look at it and be honest with yourself. Does the face of a friend you just saw last week or a piece of cardboard and a machine come to mind?? Doing that will help you change your life AND make things easier for your pocketbook:-)
You know how I am about good food, I mean, GOOD FOOD....Food being the key word here! I like to know that what I'm eating has not been concocted in a laboratory, and neither is it one ingredient or molecular structure away from being pure plastic. Since that makes up for 95% of what is on the shelf at the grocery store, I enjoy hunting down good local FOOD:-)
Recently, my Dad made a job "change" from the Rutherfordton NC farming epic center to Polk County NC Ag. Center. Nice change:-) Boy, have the options and availability for some incredible food opened up!!
You can check out the new Market/co-op here...
piedmontlocalfood.com
AND you can get seasonal food availability updates, hands on learning classes, and such here...
http://faceonthefood.wordpress.com/
AND you can check out the farmers blog here!!!
http://www.polkcountyfarms.org/agblog.php
You see, buying plastic engineered in a lab to resemble actual food drives up the cost of real food that's grown in dirt. Real food is not expensive when you cut out the truck drivers, shelf stockers at the grocery store, cashiers, packaging solution companies, etc. When the farmer picks it, puts it in a brown paper bag and hands it to you, that doesn't cost you $4.50 for one little measly head of "organic" cabbage that weighs barely a pound. It only costs you around $1-$2 and the cabbage weighs 4-6 pounds! Now the "drawback" to this "field to table" way of eating is that YOU have to go get it. Yep, twice a month you drive around to your local farms and pick up what you've ordered. You might spend 3-4 hours that day collecting your purchases, but from what I hear, a lot of people spend that much 3-4 days a week between clipping and sorting coupons and making multiple trips to multiple stores to get "deals" etc..
Has ANYONE calculated time and gas expenditures into the "savings" aspect? I'd like to hear about that if you have!
Anyways, what I'm saying is this...the price of "food" **I mean stuff in the store** is on the rise at a rapid rate and has been for the last four years or so. Despite that, our grocery budget has not gone up one dollar. Nope! It's the same as it's always been and we eat better and have more put up than we've had in our entire married life of almost 12 years! If you want to bring down your grocery expenses, get rid of chronic illnesses, and have something edible in your freezer for all your "hard work" (driving to pick it up is the easy part...I'm not the farmer so it's not very hard for me:-) BUY LOCAL!!!! Also, buying local will make your life easier for you because it will drive down the cost of the items that you like in the store because someone will start producing locally and providing those items to your store at a very affordable price!
The conclusion is this...on Monday we celebrated my husbands 32nd birthday. I made him a humdinger dinner with steak, apple and feta cheese salad, roasted sweet potatoes, and biscuits. The dessert he requested was dark chocolate pecan brownies with whipped cream. When it was all said and done and we were sitting down to eat, I realized that 99% of what had been fixed was grown locally....RIGHT HERE IN NORTH CAROLINA! We started naming off the farmers who had grown the beef, the salad, apples, the wheat, the sweet potatoes, etc...wow, it was amazing! AND the taste was incredible! I took lots of pictures to attach to this email, but alas, the card reader is not cooperating so you'll have to wait for those another day:-)
Yes, eating in a truly healthy manner is completely available and affordable. You just have to be willing to get up and go get it! Besides, you get to meet some incredibly creative and downright amazing farmers who are brimming over with eagerness to share their knowledge and expertise with YOU! It is an amazing experience to meet these true "service job" individuals who count it a blessing to be able to meet your need while at the same time, doing what they love best - Farming! We need to keep them in business so we can learn from them and teach our own children. THEY, not technology, are the WAVE OF THE FUTURE...the future of food....and good health....and sharp minds....and good work ethic....and the ability to be able to meet the needs of the community on a one on one basis....and provide a great ministry outreach for you and your family....
As my Dad always says, "here's to putting a face on the food"! The next time you eat something, look at it and be honest with yourself. Does the face of a friend you just saw last week or a piece of cardboard and a machine come to mind?? Doing that will help you change your life AND make things easier for your pocketbook:-)
Thursday, January 5, 2012
2 years and 11 months later...
I opened my mailbox yesterday (email that is:-) and was very happy to see that I had received an email from my lawyer concerning the lawsuit that I've been dealing with for the last 10 months. In it, it contained the paperwork that has put to rest this case and it can no longer be opened EVER AGAIN! Next month will be three years since my accident and I am SO very relieved to have this closed.
It was very satisfying to print out the paperwork, see all the lawyers signatures, and file that away with the other huge stack of paperwork from my case. I shut the drawer on the filing cabinet, smiled, took a moment to once again thank the Lord for handling this for me, and walked out of the room to start a new day! Yesterday marked the end of a chapter of my life, one that I don't think I'd ever like to repeat, but one that I'm thankful the Lord allowed me to experience.
It was very satisfying to print out the paperwork, see all the lawyers signatures, and file that away with the other huge stack of paperwork from my case. I shut the drawer on the filing cabinet, smiled, took a moment to once again thank the Lord for handling this for me, and walked out of the room to start a new day! Yesterday marked the end of a chapter of my life, one that I don't think I'd ever like to repeat, but one that I'm thankful the Lord allowed me to experience.
Monday, January 2, 2012
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