I'm so excited about starting my doula training! I just got off the phone with Childbirth International and got to ask all of my questions, and I'm even more excited now than I was before (which is barely possible!). The cost of the birth doula program is about $450 and I've discussed it with PG and we agreed that I could keep a quarter of my babysitting and teaching money to go towards the class (up until now, pretty much all of my money has gone straight into the bank to help cover bills). So, after being paid this week, I'm about $100 towards my goal!
My birthday is on Tuesday and any money that I get for that will go straight towards the class as well. Orriginally I had hoped to get started by May 1, but if I go the payment plan route, I might could get started in the next couple of weeks! *squeel!*
On a more sobering note, we are going to have to replace our heatpack downstairs to the tune of $2700 asap. It stopped working Thursday morning and he man who came to look at it said we'd be better off just getting a new one. The one we have has broken down numerous times over he past few years and he was appauled at how high our energy bills are. He said that our utility bills would be so much lower if we got a new, energy efficient model, that it would pay for itself pretty quickly. I was really worried that PG would ask me to put my class off so that all my income could go towards the gaspack, but he said I could keep saving for it. I'm hoping that the sooner I get certified, the sooner I can start finding clients and adding more towards our income.
Prayer requests for now are that we can get financed for the new heatpack and that I can quickly save the money I'll need for the class.
Also, please pray for Ian. He's had an upset tummy all day today. He's been on the potty a LOT, but thankfully no throwing up. I'm going to get him some hot tea to settle his stomach and send him to bed in a few minutes. Please pray that he feels better soon and that it is NOT the stomach virus we all had last year!!!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
What I want to be when I grow up...
I think I've finally figgured it out!
After a year of being a La Leche League Leader, having had 2 wonderful births and attending 2 births as a labor assistant, I am pretty sure I've figgured out what God wants me to do with my life (other than build my family and homeschool my kids, of course...). I feel God calling me to minister to expectant and new mothers as a doula!
I've been researching certifying organizations for a few days now and I've settled on Childbirth International. www.childbirthinternational.org They come highly recomended from a number of women I know from the Christian Moms Forum. To get certified, I'll do an extensive online class, some required reading, a reflective paper, and attend a few births. I really can not wait to get started! I think I should be able to save up enough money to apply to the class in the next couple of months. I'm hoping to start by the first of May - partially because I want to get going and partially because I'm supposed to attend Crystal's birth and would love for hers to count as one of the ones I need for the class.
After I get certified, I'm planning to save up some more money and get a dual certification from Cascade Christian Childbirth Assciation - another organization that certifies doulas, but does so from a distinctly Christian perspecive. I would also love to persue certifications as a childbirth educator and a postpartum doula as well. I feel like there is a HUGE need - especially in our area - for childbirth professionals. Most people around here don't even know what a doula is. Birth is seen as such a medical procedure to be feared and not as a natural and miraculous part of life. There are people, and even members of the medical community, who don't know anyone who has had a natural birth or sucessfully breastfed.
I want to be part of a support network that can reclaim birth from the sterility, timelines and intervenions of a hospital and gift women with the traditional practice of women supporting women through their labors, as has been done for thousands of years, and teach women to trust their bodies again. Pregnancy and birth is a miraculous time...it is our opportunity to take part with God in the creation of one of His children. It breaks my heart to think of the women going through their pregnancy with little or no support, uninformed, scared that their bodies will let them down, and prevented from experiencing the empowerment that comes from naurally birthing a baby like generations of women before them.
I've been talking to my friend Glynis, who also wants to become a doula. We would love to go into buisness together after we both get our certifications. Glynis is an artist by trade (and if you need a portrait done, she is FANTASTIC) and we were discussing her using her skill to do pregnancy and newborn photography and we could work together to do belly casting as well. A long term goal would be to open a boutique where we could showcase Glynis's art, our belly casts, and also sell mother/baby items like blankets, diapers, slings, birth kits...the sky is the limit!
Another part of being a doula and childbirth educator, for me at least ( I don't want to speak for Glynis) is that I would love to volunteer my services to mothers at the women's shelter, crisis pregnancy center, and teenage mother home. I really feel this is a ministry opportunit...to empower and support women and at the same time show them God's love through the miracle of birth.
Please pray for me and Glynis as we embarq on this journey! We will both need to raise the funds to pay for the class and our supplies we will need to run our buisness. Also, I want to praise God for giving both of us such supportive husbands who are standing behind our decision to make this leap.
Also, if you are in Pitt or the surrounding counties, pregnant and looking for a doula, or know someone who might be, contact me! I will need to attend a few births to complete my certification, and will attend those free of charge. My services for those will include 2-3 prenatal visits to discuss your birth plan, relaxation and other natural pain management techniques, and concerns you may have, your expectations of my role at your birth, as well as access to my library, unlimited phone calls, attendance at the birth, and post natal appointments to make sure breastfeeding is going well.
After a year of being a La Leche League Leader, having had 2 wonderful births and attending 2 births as a labor assistant, I am pretty sure I've figgured out what God wants me to do with my life (other than build my family and homeschool my kids, of course...). I feel God calling me to minister to expectant and new mothers as a doula!
I've been researching certifying organizations for a few days now and I've settled on Childbirth International. www.childbirthinternational.org They come highly recomended from a number of women I know from the Christian Moms Forum. To get certified, I'll do an extensive online class, some required reading, a reflective paper, and attend a few births. I really can not wait to get started! I think I should be able to save up enough money to apply to the class in the next couple of months. I'm hoping to start by the first of May - partially because I want to get going and partially because I'm supposed to attend Crystal's birth and would love for hers to count as one of the ones I need for the class.
After I get certified, I'm planning to save up some more money and get a dual certification from Cascade Christian Childbirth Assciation - another organization that certifies doulas, but does so from a distinctly Christian perspecive. I would also love to persue certifications as a childbirth educator and a postpartum doula as well. I feel like there is a HUGE need - especially in our area - for childbirth professionals. Most people around here don't even know what a doula is. Birth is seen as such a medical procedure to be feared and not as a natural and miraculous part of life. There are people, and even members of the medical community, who don't know anyone who has had a natural birth or sucessfully breastfed.
I want to be part of a support network that can reclaim birth from the sterility, timelines and intervenions of a hospital and gift women with the traditional practice of women supporting women through their labors, as has been done for thousands of years, and teach women to trust their bodies again. Pregnancy and birth is a miraculous time...it is our opportunity to take part with God in the creation of one of His children. It breaks my heart to think of the women going through their pregnancy with little or no support, uninformed, scared that their bodies will let them down, and prevented from experiencing the empowerment that comes from naurally birthing a baby like generations of women before them.
I've been talking to my friend Glynis, who also wants to become a doula. We would love to go into buisness together after we both get our certifications. Glynis is an artist by trade (and if you need a portrait done, she is FANTASTIC) and we were discussing her using her skill to do pregnancy and newborn photography and we could work together to do belly casting as well. A long term goal would be to open a boutique where we could showcase Glynis's art, our belly casts, and also sell mother/baby items like blankets, diapers, slings, birth kits...the sky is the limit!
Another part of being a doula and childbirth educator, for me at least ( I don't want to speak for Glynis) is that I would love to volunteer my services to mothers at the women's shelter, crisis pregnancy center, and teenage mother home. I really feel this is a ministry opportunit...to empower and support women and at the same time show them God's love through the miracle of birth.
Please pray for me and Glynis as we embarq on this journey! We will both need to raise the funds to pay for the class and our supplies we will need to run our buisness. Also, I want to praise God for giving both of us such supportive husbands who are standing behind our decision to make this leap.
Also, if you are in Pitt or the surrounding counties, pregnant and looking for a doula, or know someone who might be, contact me! I will need to attend a few births to complete my certification, and will attend those free of charge. My services for those will include 2-3 prenatal visits to discuss your birth plan, relaxation and other natural pain management techniques, and concerns you may have, your expectations of my role at your birth, as well as access to my library, unlimited phone calls, attendance at the birth, and post natal appointments to make sure breastfeeding is going well.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Oh my, folks, I'm just about in tears. I'm so emotionally overwhelmed at the understanding and knowledge God has revealed to me tonight. I want to share this here...but I'm really excited right now, so if I make little to no sense, just let me know and I'll try to explain better! Here we go...
It all started with PG and I deciding to celebrate Passover with a few friends this year. We decided that, since Jesus celebrated it, and no where in the Bible are we told to STOP celebrating it, and since it was one of the feast days God commanded His people to celebrate, that we should celebrate it. So I've been online, doing research, trying to figgure out what all goes into a Sedar meal. As I was reading through the order of the feast, I was struck by a couple of things. First, there is a point in which the leader breaks a piece of matza bread. I thought "Huh, like Jesus did! He broke the bread at the Last Supper!". Then I read about how a blessing is said over a specific glass of wine and thought, "Huh! Just like Jesus did! He blessed the wine at the Last Supper!"
This got me to thinking about Communion. How we've pulled just those two parts of the Sedar out as Christians and call it Communion. Why did we pull just those two parts out? Because they were the only ones mentioned by name in those passages of Scripture? What about the rest of the supper...why wasn't it mentioned? Well...the obvious answer is because those passages were written to Jews. They would have understood what went on at a Sedar. They didn't need to have it all spelled out. Those two parts were the only ones written about because something was *different* about them. And what was different? That Jesus was telling His disciples "when you do this...remember Me."
Then I thought, now why would Jesus say that? In the Christian church it seems that we've interpereted it to mean "When you break bread or drink wine (ie, have Communion), remember Jesus and His saccrifice. That's why we have Communion so often...at my church it's once a quarter. In other churches it is weekly. But the more I thought about it, the more that just seemed to not make much sense.
So then I did some more digging. Jesus was clearly pointing out these two parts of the Sedar meal for a reason. There are about 15 parts to the meal. What was it about those two parts...the breaking of the bread and the blessing of the wine...that were significant? So I looked up what the meaning behind those two parts were. That is when the real epiphany came! Are you ready for this? This might change your WHOLE THINKING about Communion! So if you aren't ready to NEVER see Communion the same way again, you should stop here.
Ok...I warned you!
Luke 22:19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."
The bread part of the meal includes 3 pieces of matza bread. In the Sedar meal, the leader blesses the matza and then breaks the middle piece. Up until that night, the matza of a Sedar meal signified the "swift salvation" of the Jews. They were ousted from Egypt so quickly their bread had no time to rise. The Jews are reminded of their salvation from bondage when the matza is eaten. But when Jesus breaks that middle piece of matza (and yes, I think the breaking of the middle of 3 pieces is significant as well because Jesus is the second of the three parts of the Godhead) he is saying "Do this in rememberance of Me." He wants his disciples to know that every time they eat a Sedar meal, when it comes time to break the matza, they are to remember that Jesus's broken body is THEIR salvation. Do this in rememberance of me...not every time you break bread to eat, but every time you break the matza bread - the bread of the salvation of the Jews - remember that Jesus is their salvation.
Luke 22: 20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Matthew 26: 27Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Then there is the wine. It says that after the meal Jesus blessed the wine. This indicates that the passage is talking about the 3rd cup of wine (in a Sedar meal, there are 4 cups). The 3rd cup comes after the meal and is the "Cup of Blessing". Each of the 4 cups of wine signify a promise from God:
Cup 1: I will take you out
Cup 2: I will rescue you
Cup 3: I will redeem you
Cup 4: I will take you to me
Cup 3, the one we are told is the covenant, poured out for the forgiveness of sins...is that not redemption? Jesus, our Great Redeemer! When we do this, we should remember Him and that He has come to redeem us! It also would have made sense to those who were there with Him, because of their Jewish herritage and culture, that Jesus was referring to His relationship with the church as that of a bride and groom. From this site: http://home.comcast.net/~jovial/learn/mc/passover4cups.htm
So, for me, the take home message is that Communion is just a church instituted rite. Jesus wanted us to celebrate the Passover, but to know that His coming and death changed the way we should look at the symbolism of some of the parts of the feast. Jesus didn't mean for us to have Communion often so that we could remember Him. He meant for us to remember Him when we celebrated Passover...to rememeber that HE is our salation and HE is our redeemer!
How amazin is that?!
It all started with PG and I deciding to celebrate Passover with a few friends this year. We decided that, since Jesus celebrated it, and no where in the Bible are we told to STOP celebrating it, and since it was one of the feast days God commanded His people to celebrate, that we should celebrate it. So I've been online, doing research, trying to figgure out what all goes into a Sedar meal. As I was reading through the order of the feast, I was struck by a couple of things. First, there is a point in which the leader breaks a piece of matza bread. I thought "Huh, like Jesus did! He broke the bread at the Last Supper!". Then I read about how a blessing is said over a specific glass of wine and thought, "Huh! Just like Jesus did! He blessed the wine at the Last Supper!"
This got me to thinking about Communion. How we've pulled just those two parts of the Sedar out as Christians and call it Communion. Why did we pull just those two parts out? Because they were the only ones mentioned by name in those passages of Scripture? What about the rest of the supper...why wasn't it mentioned? Well...the obvious answer is because those passages were written to Jews. They would have understood what went on at a Sedar. They didn't need to have it all spelled out. Those two parts were the only ones written about because something was *different* about them. And what was different? That Jesus was telling His disciples "when you do this...remember Me."
Then I thought, now why would Jesus say that? In the Christian church it seems that we've interpereted it to mean "When you break bread or drink wine (ie, have Communion), remember Jesus and His saccrifice. That's why we have Communion so often...at my church it's once a quarter. In other churches it is weekly. But the more I thought about it, the more that just seemed to not make much sense.
So then I did some more digging. Jesus was clearly pointing out these two parts of the Sedar meal for a reason. There are about 15 parts to the meal. What was it about those two parts...the breaking of the bread and the blessing of the wine...that were significant? So I looked up what the meaning behind those two parts were. That is when the real epiphany came! Are you ready for this? This might change your WHOLE THINKING about Communion! So if you aren't ready to NEVER see Communion the same way again, you should stop here.
Ok...I warned you!
Luke 22:19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."
The bread part of the meal includes 3 pieces of matza bread. In the Sedar meal, the leader blesses the matza and then breaks the middle piece. Up until that night, the matza of a Sedar meal signified the "swift salvation" of the Jews. They were ousted from Egypt so quickly their bread had no time to rise. The Jews are reminded of their salvation from bondage when the matza is eaten. But when Jesus breaks that middle piece of matza (and yes, I think the breaking of the middle of 3 pieces is significant as well because Jesus is the second of the three parts of the Godhead) he is saying "Do this in rememberance of Me." He wants his disciples to know that every time they eat a Sedar meal, when it comes time to break the matza, they are to remember that Jesus's broken body is THEIR salvation. Do this in rememberance of me...not every time you break bread to eat, but every time you break the matza bread - the bread of the salvation of the Jews - remember that Jesus is their salvation.
Luke 22: 20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Matthew 26: 27Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Then there is the wine. It says that after the meal Jesus blessed the wine. This indicates that the passage is talking about the 3rd cup of wine (in a Sedar meal, there are 4 cups). The 3rd cup comes after the meal and is the "Cup of Blessing". Each of the 4 cups of wine signify a promise from God:
Cup 1: I will take you out
Cup 2: I will rescue you
Cup 3: I will redeem you
Cup 4: I will take you to me
Cup 3, the one we are told is the covenant, poured out for the forgiveness of sins...is that not redemption? Jesus, our Great Redeemer! When we do this, we should remember Him and that He has come to redeem us! It also would have made sense to those who were there with Him, because of their Jewish herritage and culture, that Jesus was referring to His relationship with the church as that of a bride and groom. From this site: http://home.comcast.net/~jovial/learn/mc/passover4cups.htm
Note that the 4th cup is "I will take you to me". This is what happens when two people get married. The bride is taken to the groom - they are together. Note how the 3rd and 4th cups parallel the wedding betrothal process of ancient Jewish custom. When a man proposed to a women in ancient Israel,
At a betrothal...
* The man would negotiate a bride price Y'shua paid the Bride price when He died for us and rose again. (Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24 , Luke 22:20)
* He would hand the bridal candidate cup of wine and say "This is the cup of my covenant" Y'shua did this at the last supper - said these exact words! (recorded in same verses as listed above)
*If she drank it, it meant "I do" She had all the rights of a wife, but no marital
intimacy until the wedding night
At the wedding...
*They’d drink of another cup
So, for me, the take home message is that Communion is just a church instituted rite. Jesus wanted us to celebrate the Passover, but to know that His coming and death changed the way we should look at the symbolism of some of the parts of the feast. Jesus didn't mean for us to have Communion often so that we could remember Him. He meant for us to remember Him when we celebrated Passover...to rememeber that HE is our salation and HE is our redeemer!
How amazin is that?!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Snow Day!
We FINALLY are having a snow day! It hasn't snowed here in YEARS! Ian was so excited. He stood by the window all day watching it fall. I told him we couldn't go out until the grass was covered, so he waited (pretty patiently) and then we got all bundled up and went out in it. It's so beautiful. It's been snowing (very fine fine flakes) all day. We probably have about 4 inches right now. We even had snow cream for dessert!
On the political front, I'm very glad that we had a smooth transition of power and that it was a safe day for everyone involved. I thought Obama's speach was very well done. I disagree with pretty much all of his platforms, but I'm still praying that God will be able to use him to get His will acomplished.
On the political front, I'm very glad that we had a smooth transition of power and that it was a safe day for everyone involved. I thought Obama's speach was very well done. I disagree with pretty much all of his platforms, but I'm still praying that God will be able to use him to get His will acomplished.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
God always provides!
I mentioned in my last post a prayer request for PG because (among other reasons) our finances have been really tight recently. I have been praying for God to give me another child to watch in my home, but I didn't think it would happen any time soon due to my weird schedule. I teach on Mondays and Wednesdays and the HOME co-op will meet on Fridays, so the only real days I can watch a child are Tuesdays and Thursdays. What are the odds that anyone will *only* need a sitter on Tuesdays and Thursdays?
Well, God cares about the details, that's for sure. I got an email the day after I posted that prayer request from a wonderful woman at my church. Her son is in preschool M/W/F and daycare T/Th. She is unhappy with the daycare situation and is looking for someone to watch her son...you guessed it...on Tuesdays and Thursdays! I am SO excited to get this opportunity! She's even hoping that I can include her son with our homeschool activities. All I can say is YAY GOD! She's coming by Sunday afternoon so her son can see our house and we can talk about all the details.
On another note, I just finished reading a really interesting book. It's The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. I've read some reviews online about it and they are mixed. Some feel the book is pure hipocracy, others say it's spiritually eye opening. I'm in the latter group. There were a couple of things in the book that I'm not sure were Biblically accurate, but for 99% of the book, I thought it was very revealing. It gave me a look into the Trinity unlike any I've ever had before, and the first one that actually made sense. It gave me a renewed interest in fostering relationships and how important they are. And it gave me good insight into what forgiveness actually means, which for me was significant, since that is something I've struggled with for years in reference to a family situation. I would definately recomend this book. I would caution the reader to remember that the book is a work of fiction, but the plot sucks you in and you fall in love with the characters. Give it a read, but, as with all things theological, test the idea you take from it against the Bible.
Praises: Praise God for putting this babysitting opportunity in my lap! And for a really fun playgroup this morning with some of my Natural Mama friends.
Prayer requests: Pray that all the details work out well for me to keep this little boy (we'll probalby have to add a rider onto our insurance to cover him). Also, keep praying for PG's anxiety, as well as our homeschool journey.
Well, God cares about the details, that's for sure. I got an email the day after I posted that prayer request from a wonderful woman at my church. Her son is in preschool M/W/F and daycare T/Th. She is unhappy with the daycare situation and is looking for someone to watch her son...you guessed it...on Tuesdays and Thursdays! I am SO excited to get this opportunity! She's even hoping that I can include her son with our homeschool activities. All I can say is YAY GOD! She's coming by Sunday afternoon so her son can see our house and we can talk about all the details.
On another note, I just finished reading a really interesting book. It's The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. I've read some reviews online about it and they are mixed. Some feel the book is pure hipocracy, others say it's spiritually eye opening. I'm in the latter group. There were a couple of things in the book that I'm not sure were Biblically accurate, but for 99% of the book, I thought it was very revealing. It gave me a look into the Trinity unlike any I've ever had before, and the first one that actually made sense. It gave me a renewed interest in fostering relationships and how important they are. And it gave me good insight into what forgiveness actually means, which for me was significant, since that is something I've struggled with for years in reference to a family situation. I would definately recomend this book. I would caution the reader to remember that the book is a work of fiction, but the plot sucks you in and you fall in love with the characters. Give it a read, but, as with all things theological, test the idea you take from it against the Bible.
Praises: Praise God for putting this babysitting opportunity in my lap! And for a really fun playgroup this morning with some of my Natural Mama friends.
Prayer requests: Pray that all the details work out well for me to keep this little boy (we'll probalby have to add a rider onto our insurance to cover him). Also, keep praying for PG's anxiety, as well as our homeschool journey.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
We're off and running! Or at least, walking quickly...
I officially started homeschooling preschool with Ian this week! I was nervous about getting him excited about school - Ian rarely does things (without a significant battle) unless he *wants* to do it, so for the past couple of weeks, PG and I have really been talking it up. "Oh Ian!" says daddy, "I hear you get to start school with mommy next week!" and so on and so forth. It must have worked, at least enough to pique his curiosity.
We're using the Weaver Interlock (their Preschool book) for our spine. It includes Bible lessons, stories with comprehension questions, intro to math (shapes, counting, etc) letter recognition and writing readiness, art projects, nature projects...all sorts of things. It's set up to go 3 days a week, so since my Mondays are booked with Great Worth and teaching at Roseleaf, and Fridays are always iffy in case we are out of town, I've decided to do school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I also found a GREAT preschool worksheet book at Sam's Club for about $7.50, so that is providing coloring sheets and tracing letters and shapes for us.
For Christmas we got a new bookshelf for the school area. It has 3 shelves up top and a cabinet down below with 2 shelves in it. I have our school books and puzzles on the shelves and all of the art supplies in the cabinet. Zollie and Ian quickly figgured out that the FUN stuff is in the cabinet, so I need to get some sort of lock for it. Alas! My children are soooo resourceful!
So far we've been doing about half an hour first thing in the morning (I can put Zollie in the high chair with some breakfast and read our Bible lesson and story to Ian while he eats his breakfast, and then maybe get in a coloring sheet before Zollie decides he needs to GET DOWN RIGHT NOW) and another 30 min sometime in the afternoon when and if I can get Zollie down for a little nap. I also considder watching things like Sesame Street, Behind the Lions, and Super Why! to be school-related. *nod* My goal is to hit the library at least once every 2 weeks as well. This week we picked up some books that have the colors and animals in English and Spanish.
Prayer requests: 2 big ones this week...First off, PG has been really stressed out lately. His mom has had brain surgery twice now, his dad had an overnight hospital stay for chest pains, we've had all the lead issues with Zollie and getting the house lead free, he's started his fellowship so there are new schedules and coworkers, and our finances are super tight right now. Please pray for peace for him as his anxiety level is really high right now. Secondly, please pray for a relative of mine. She is young and unmarried and due to give birth to a daughter any day now. Please pray for wisdom in making decisions related to her birth and the care of the baby. We have some serious concerns about what her living conditions will be like as well as how involved the baby's father will be.
Praises: God always provides! Praise God for family who is there for you when you need them! Praise God that my mother in law seems to be doing well. Praise God that Ian has been excited about doing school the past couple of days.
We're using the Weaver Interlock (their Preschool book) for our spine. It includes Bible lessons, stories with comprehension questions, intro to math (shapes, counting, etc) letter recognition and writing readiness, art projects, nature projects...all sorts of things. It's set up to go 3 days a week, so since my Mondays are booked with Great Worth and teaching at Roseleaf, and Fridays are always iffy in case we are out of town, I've decided to do school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I also found a GREAT preschool worksheet book at Sam's Club for about $7.50, so that is providing coloring sheets and tracing letters and shapes for us.
For Christmas we got a new bookshelf for the school area. It has 3 shelves up top and a cabinet down below with 2 shelves in it. I have our school books and puzzles on the shelves and all of the art supplies in the cabinet. Zollie and Ian quickly figgured out that the FUN stuff is in the cabinet, so I need to get some sort of lock for it. Alas! My children are soooo resourceful!
So far we've been doing about half an hour first thing in the morning (I can put Zollie in the high chair with some breakfast and read our Bible lesson and story to Ian while he eats his breakfast, and then maybe get in a coloring sheet before Zollie decides he needs to GET DOWN RIGHT NOW) and another 30 min sometime in the afternoon when and if I can get Zollie down for a little nap. I also considder watching things like Sesame Street, Behind the Lions, and Super Why! to be school-related. *nod* My goal is to hit the library at least once every 2 weeks as well. This week we picked up some books that have the colors and animals in English and Spanish.
Prayer requests: 2 big ones this week...First off, PG has been really stressed out lately. His mom has had brain surgery twice now, his dad had an overnight hospital stay for chest pains, we've had all the lead issues with Zollie and getting the house lead free, he's started his fellowship so there are new schedules and coworkers, and our finances are super tight right now. Please pray for peace for him as his anxiety level is really high right now. Secondly, please pray for a relative of mine. She is young and unmarried and due to give birth to a daughter any day now. Please pray for wisdom in making decisions related to her birth and the care of the baby. We have some serious concerns about what her living conditions will be like as well as how involved the baby's father will be.
Praises: God always provides! Praise God for family who is there for you when you need them! Praise God that my mother in law seems to be doing well. Praise God that Ian has been excited about doing school the past couple of days.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Our Stressful Christmas
We talked in our Sunday School class this week about what, if anything, we would change about Christmas next year compared to this year. Good graceous, what all would I change?
Well first off, I would hope that next year my mother in law is NOT in the hospital up until 2 days before Christmas, with no clear knowledge until that very day that she wouldn't in fact spend Christmas on the neuro ward recovering from a somewhat botched brain surgery that left her leaking spinal fluid for weeks before anyone caught it. I mean, seriously, if you just did brain surgery on someone and they suddenly developed a runny nose, wouldn't you at least test to make sure it's actually snot and not spinal fluid before you sent them home? Apparently not my MIL's doctor! *sigh* Praise God, though, that she seems to be doing much better now. We are still praying for all the feeling in her face and her hearing on the right side to be restored.
The next thing I would change is the decorations at my house. I would like to actually HAVE some next year. A few weeks before Christmas this year we found out that Zollie had high lead levels. We had someone from the Health Dept come by and test around our house and all the miniblinds and windows lit up. Apparently vinyl miniblinds are terrible for lead. They use it to stabilize the vinyl and after a few years they start to break down and lead leaches out into the dust. Then your kids pull the blinds back to look outside and get the dust on their hands, and then put them in their mouth and BOOM, lead absorbtion. So the week before Christmas, while the boys and I were at my moms, PG was home replacing blinds and painting windows to keep the cracking paint under control. I guess this is what we get for buying a house that's nearly 100 years old. So, due to all the work PG was doing coupled with the fact that Christmas light wiring is coated in lead paint, all we put up this year was a wreath on the front door. *sigh* All of our extra Christmas money went into that project, so gifts were sparse this year, though no one seemed to mind. Which leads me to my next change...
I wish everyone else in our family would give sparser gifts next year. We seriously had 2 carloads of stuff to bring home between my folks and PG's folks. WHY does Christmas need to be about how much money we can spend at Walmart and Toys R Us??? I'm really starting to hate Christmas...doesn't that sound aweful? But I am! We hear all season from our pastors and Christian radio stations about how the secular world is trying to take the Christ out of Christmas. We are told to write our legislators to tell them that we DO want to be able to put manger scenes on public property and we are told to boldly say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. But then we turn around and buy right into the secular, humanist mentality that Christmas is all about the pressents. It really makes me want to vomit. My kids didn't need all that stuff. We had just weeded through and gotten rid of a ton of toys and they didn't miss them at all. I don't want to sound like I'm ungrateful. I'm not. I TRUELY appreciate the fact that our family wants to help us out and give us things. I LOVE the new pantry shelves my mom gave me. PG and I LOVE the new TV from his parents. And Ian loves all the stuff he got, too. But I just hate the commercialism of Christmas. I hate that I stress every year about whether we've gotten enough for so-and-so or whether we spent the same on both parents. That's not what Christmas is about! Or, at least that's not what it SHOULD be about. My mom buys stuff all year for us for Christmas, and then she still feels guilty about not getting us enough stuff. We don't need ANY stuff! I'm happy just to get to spend the time with her and watch her with my boys. The boys would be happy just to play with her and their grandpa without any gifts at all.
I also worry about what this is setting up in their minds as far as expectations. I do NOT want my kids turning into greedy monsters. In our home, we don't do Santa. Each child gets 3 gifts from mom and dad/siblings. If 3 gifts was good enough for our Lord, 3 gifts can be good enough for my kids. The Santa thing went over like a lead balloon with my grandmother. She couldn't understand why we would NOT do Santa. I can't understand why she would be upset with us for not wanting to lie to our kids. I will have to answer to God one day for the decisions I made when parenting my children, and I don't want to have Him ask me why I thought it was appropriate to celebrate His birthday with a lie. We haven't even told PG's family that we don't do Santa. I dread that about as much as I dreaded her finding out we plan to homeschool. Oh well!
I suppose that's enough whining for one morning. All in all, we had a very nice Christmas. We got to spend time with family, my house looks splendid after all the work PG put into it, and (other than Ian having 2 random pukes Christmas morning from eating too much junk food) no one got terribly sick.
Merry Christmas, everyone! Sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and make sure to tell your kids the REAL Christmas Story.
Praise: That my MIL is doing so much better and got to spend Christmas Day with us. She missed her grandbabies terribly.
Prayer requests: First, please pray for my step dad's uncle Emmit. He has CHF and was hospitalized Christmas Eve. They drew off a lot of fluid and he was doing a bit better, but it's still touch and go. Secondly, please pray for a cousin who is pregnant, unmarried, and getting very little support from her family. Please pray that she has a safe, healthy birth and makes the right decisions. I may write more about this later, as things develop, but for now I want to maintain her privacy so I will just ask for prayer.
Well first off, I would hope that next year my mother in law is NOT in the hospital up until 2 days before Christmas, with no clear knowledge until that very day that she wouldn't in fact spend Christmas on the neuro ward recovering from a somewhat botched brain surgery that left her leaking spinal fluid for weeks before anyone caught it. I mean, seriously, if you just did brain surgery on someone and they suddenly developed a runny nose, wouldn't you at least test to make sure it's actually snot and not spinal fluid before you sent them home? Apparently not my MIL's doctor! *sigh* Praise God, though, that she seems to be doing much better now. We are still praying for all the feeling in her face and her hearing on the right side to be restored.
The next thing I would change is the decorations at my house. I would like to actually HAVE some next year. A few weeks before Christmas this year we found out that Zollie had high lead levels. We had someone from the Health Dept come by and test around our house and all the miniblinds and windows lit up. Apparently vinyl miniblinds are terrible for lead. They use it to stabilize the vinyl and after a few years they start to break down and lead leaches out into the dust. Then your kids pull the blinds back to look outside and get the dust on their hands, and then put them in their mouth and BOOM, lead absorbtion. So the week before Christmas, while the boys and I were at my moms, PG was home replacing blinds and painting windows to keep the cracking paint under control. I guess this is what we get for buying a house that's nearly 100 years old. So, due to all the work PG was doing coupled with the fact that Christmas light wiring is coated in lead paint, all we put up this year was a wreath on the front door. *sigh* All of our extra Christmas money went into that project, so gifts were sparse this year, though no one seemed to mind. Which leads me to my next change...
I wish everyone else in our family would give sparser gifts next year. We seriously had 2 carloads of stuff to bring home between my folks and PG's folks. WHY does Christmas need to be about how much money we can spend at Walmart and Toys R Us??? I'm really starting to hate Christmas...doesn't that sound aweful? But I am! We hear all season from our pastors and Christian radio stations about how the secular world is trying to take the Christ out of Christmas. We are told to write our legislators to tell them that we DO want to be able to put manger scenes on public property and we are told to boldly say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. But then we turn around and buy right into the secular, humanist mentality that Christmas is all about the pressents. It really makes me want to vomit. My kids didn't need all that stuff. We had just weeded through and gotten rid of a ton of toys and they didn't miss them at all. I don't want to sound like I'm ungrateful. I'm not. I TRUELY appreciate the fact that our family wants to help us out and give us things. I LOVE the new pantry shelves my mom gave me. PG and I LOVE the new TV from his parents. And Ian loves all the stuff he got, too. But I just hate the commercialism of Christmas. I hate that I stress every year about whether we've gotten enough for so-and-so or whether we spent the same on both parents. That's not what Christmas is about! Or, at least that's not what it SHOULD be about. My mom buys stuff all year for us for Christmas, and then she still feels guilty about not getting us enough stuff. We don't need ANY stuff! I'm happy just to get to spend the time with her and watch her with my boys. The boys would be happy just to play with her and their grandpa without any gifts at all.
I also worry about what this is setting up in their minds as far as expectations. I do NOT want my kids turning into greedy monsters. In our home, we don't do Santa. Each child gets 3 gifts from mom and dad/siblings. If 3 gifts was good enough for our Lord, 3 gifts can be good enough for my kids. The Santa thing went over like a lead balloon with my grandmother. She couldn't understand why we would NOT do Santa. I can't understand why she would be upset with us for not wanting to lie to our kids. I will have to answer to God one day for the decisions I made when parenting my children, and I don't want to have Him ask me why I thought it was appropriate to celebrate His birthday with a lie. We haven't even told PG's family that we don't do Santa. I dread that about as much as I dreaded her finding out we plan to homeschool. Oh well!
I suppose that's enough whining for one morning. All in all, we had a very nice Christmas. We got to spend time with family, my house looks splendid after all the work PG put into it, and (other than Ian having 2 random pukes Christmas morning from eating too much junk food) no one got terribly sick.
Merry Christmas, everyone! Sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and make sure to tell your kids the REAL Christmas Story.
Praise: That my MIL is doing so much better and got to spend Christmas Day with us. She missed her grandbabies terribly.
Prayer requests: First, please pray for my step dad's uncle Emmit. He has CHF and was hospitalized Christmas Eve. They drew off a lot of fluid and he was doing a bit better, but it's still touch and go. Secondly, please pray for a cousin who is pregnant, unmarried, and getting very little support from her family. Please pray that she has a safe, healthy birth and makes the right decisions. I may write more about this later, as things develop, but for now I want to maintain her privacy so I will just ask for prayer.
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