Guppies...

Thank you Adalia, over at Baker's Dozen

Thanks for the guppies..remember?


I know you only gave us like three minute fish, but they were babies. Who woulda thunk?

Our guppies died last year unexpectedly when a then two year old *fed* the fish a large dose of fish food. They were all belly up by the time we came to the rescue.

I cleaned the tank and put it away just in time for Adalai to call with a lovely offer of more guppies(we love guppies!) So she gave us three itsy bitsy fish that were no bigger than the eye of a needle put them in the tank and sprinkled food every so often and hoped they were alive, we rarely saw them because of their size.

Well after they were all big enough to see with the naked eye, they had ALREADY had babies!!! They are STILL small and there are 9 fish living in the bowl...at times there have been 12-15, but the mommy ate them. She was probably hungry with her next pregnancy. Anyone know where you can get a fish spayed? In the meantime, free guppies!

O.k. already...

LOL, wow, did I hit a nerve with some readers! I laugh because I have never had so many calls on a blog post before to inform me how misinformed I am. Thank you for all your help, especially Ruth, who called and gave me great info that I was hoping to find, but never did. I have a lot more reading to do, but I need to sift through the sources where 99% of these homeopathic info sites connect homeopathic medicine and new age mysticism. That is NOT in it's roots. The pendulum, chi, cosmic force stuff all came later, they say. So, I am not disbunking it all, I just looOOoooove being skeptical. How can you learn for yourself if you never question anything you are told? Thanks Ruth and all you other *callers* today, lol, who, even though you had your hackles up, were very sweet, kind and helpful. ;)

Family Healthcare - where do you go?

Why is it so hard to see clearly the facts of a science? Our family has gone from 100% conventional medicine to being skeptics. There is a time and place, for sure, for conventional medical and it is reliable. Like my sons broken arm, or stitches, or sudden medical emergencies. As far as all the vaccinations, antibiotics and common treatments...you just can't believe everything those billion dollar drug companies are pumping into us.

I took over caring for my families health care a few years ago. No more expensive well-child exams on a *well-child* and our doctor even agreed quietly it is nothing more than doctors to set themselves up financially. This doctor stated they do not practice this on their own children. Wow. That speaks mountains.

I have been swimming through info since on how to care for the little problems that arise in daily life. For example, last year Jacob was bit by the Ugly Bug, after three days his foot was still swelling and it was time for the doctor. We went in, he looked at it, totally uninterested in WHAT bit him, though I told him anyway. As I expected, he handed me a prescription for antibiotics and told me to soak his foot in as hot of water as he could stand three times a day for 15 minutes. O.k., THAT made sense. I picked up the antibiotics, jic, and went home. We soaked his foot as prescribed and put the antibiotics in the back of the cupboard on 24 hr stand-by, guess what happened? Soaking his foot did the trick. In 18 hours the swelling stopped and went away rapidly. Anyone want a free bottle of medicine? This was proof enough for me. I have been praying that the Lord would show me how to care for my children through homeopathy, herbalism or whatever He gave us to use to heal.

Last night I went to a 2 hr workshop on Homeopathy at the Food Coop in Bham. It was taught by *the*(as she stated) leading homeopath in Whatcom County. First off, I am disappointed how mystic these people were. We walk in the room and there is a salt lamp on the floor in the middle of the circle of chairs. Hmmm..she explained something about an energy and calming effects a salt lamp gives. O.k., whatever. To make a long story short, all I got out of the evening was it really works...really. Buy the kit here on the table. But she has no idea how, cant explain it but it works with our Vital Force, it really does work. The use of Pendulums(verbally asking a crystal pendulum for answers!). All these make me more a skeptic. I want proof. Hard evidence. Where did my LORD give this to us to provide this as a means of healing in the Bible? Where is it mentioned? We are talking homeopathy, not herbal here....big difference, I've learned. I can not find ANY solid biblical apologetics for homeopathy. Surprisingly, quite the opposite.

I am leaning toward herbalism now, after that workshop. But the problem is even herbalists are referred to as shamans online with new age mingled in, so the info I gathered is skewed. ARG! I do not know what an herbal doctor is called. A naturopath is fully trained in modern medicine and prescribes homeopathy, herbal, acupuncture(another subject I am studying and weirding out over) and many other questionable medicines. What is an herbal doctor called in the Yellow Pages?...that is my big question. My midwife is a homeopath, but works a lot with herbs, so I like this as I can ask for herbs only. Maybe I will talk to her about it next week?

I am still studying and will forever,..probably. I know homeopathic medicine can/does work, and the others I mentioned..but my problem is does it glorify God. Is He pleased and will He bless the health care I use on my family if it is rooted in mysticism/energy forces? The answer is obvious. I don't have all the answers, but I know I want to err on the side of grace and please my Lord and receive His blessing. Any good books on Herbal use, a good herbal doctor...something herbal...anything herbal...would be appreciated. Anyone?

Bathtime

So..right near the end of our pancake, egg and bacon supper, Gracie rubs both hands in the bottom of her bowl with left over syrup and then slicks her hair back. Nice.
Off to the tub we go. Can't help but blog.

And we like baths.

Because afterwards we get to wear our hippo and monkey towels that G-ma bought us!!

And we looOOoove to pose for the camera.

This is for you, Mom. I told you her hair is much longer than it appears!!

But it does THIS when it dries. If it wasn't for the blinding white blond hair, I'd think she had African in her. Tight ringlets. We have had a couple kids with curls, but not this bad, and I say bad because it mats if I do not run a comb through it a couple times each day. That is high maintenance for me! Too cute.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I am watching my weight with this pregnancy, as we all do. These have been the weights of my babies...

Jessica - 8 lbs 12 oz

Jacob - 8 lbs 7 oz

Daniel - 8 lbs 12 oz

Emma - 8 lbs 12 oz (yes, three 8.12's, pretty consistant, eh?)

Micah - 9 lbs 8 oz

Grace - 8 lbs 5 oz

After having Micah(>9) I really watch what I eat as subsequent babies *can* get bigger. I did very well with Gracie and her weight showed it but man, I have never been pregnant through the holidays like this pregnancy!! It's not fair! I am doing *o.k.* but it is more than my pregnancy with Grace. Today I went in for a check-up and Winni, my midwife, measured me...she looked at the tape...then measured me again and said "Wow, he had a bit of a growth spurt there".

I was just measured two weeks ago and he has already had a "growth spurt"? So, is that supposed to ease those nightmares I have been having about giving birth again?

I think not.

Hmmm....um....back to cottage cheese and eggs.

Life, Whirling Life...

This is a picture of me(the frog) and life(the bat). Ever feel like this?

I living outside my comfy comfort zone.

I try to live a simple life keeping things for us slow paced and easy to handle. BUT this last month, and the coming month are making my head spin.

Blogging is the first to go for now. I have taxes hanging over my head, which I did wrong last year so I reeeeally need to dive in and figure out all this gobbledee-gook IRS talk.

I am helping to *teach* my first Keepers of the Faith meeting at church and struggling.

Then there is the homeschooling, our guest(which is really too accommodating for us) and two Valentine *gigs* for the children in February at Everson and Ferndale Senior Centers. We have never done a Valentines Day program so there are new songs to be learned by them AND me and let me tell you, after not playing my guitar in months,

my finger tips are rebelliously slow & screaming at me!

On the good news front, my husband is into this whole concept of utilizing our property to it's highest potential. He has been talking to some very intelligent guys at church and reading blogs. He bought a plow last night off CL in Canada and he and my father picked it up. He says it is a big score, all I see is a rusty broken hunk-o-metal..but I am sure in a couple months I will be singing it's praises. Our rabbits are pregnant, our dogs are coming in heat with puppies on the way and the chickens are producing eggs...Spring in coming!!!

So there, I am making excuses to be a lite blogger for a short period of time. The Spring will be a wild exciting one to blog about with the new babe and we decided to butcher about 40-60 meat chickens again this year. My husband also, more than likely? may? buy me my milking goat!!

Oh happy day!

School needs to be started...

The Great Backyard Bird Count

Want something exciting, useful AND educational to do with the children? O.k...WE think this will be a whole lot of fun, but then again I am the one whose heart skips a beat when I see a mushroom and whose children pick her mushrooms for a *floral* arrangement rather than flowers...so you be the judge.

"It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!"
Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count, February 13–16, 2009. You can count for longer than that if you wish! Count birds in as many places and on as many days as you like—one day, two days, or all four days. Submit a separate checklist for each new day. You can also submit more than one checklist per day if you count in other locations on that day.

You can even cheat and use feeders to attract birds! We are looking forward to it! Click on the picture above to bring you to the website. So grab your Audubon book and go find those birds!

Christian Heritage Homeschool Conference

It's coming! The Christian Heritage Home-School Conference. This is the highlight of our year and can not wait to go. As I mentioned before, my biggest goal(o.k., a tad corny,) is to shake Voddie Baucham's hand. I don't idolize the man, he's is just a regular human guy, no more special in the Lord's eyes, yes, I know. :) But boy, has this man taught our family a lot and last year everyone got to shake Doug Philips hand and it made aaaaall those videos and audios with him teaching that much more personal for the children. We are SO excited as we came home last year so inspired and refreshed with vision and a new appreciation for the blessings(our children) God has entrusted to us for these few short years. It wasn't one of those short lived inspirings, it stayed all year.

The cost of attending is not low, and we found it tough to save enough to go last year because of hotel costs, food and tickets. But the cost can not be compared to what we found. We highly encourage any Christian homeschooling family to attend, whether not begun or almost done, for fellowship and strong biblical teaching. The curriculum shopping is awesome!

It's too quiet. I do not have to draw straws for the computer. There is no glass of ice water sitting in front of me, faithfully brought by our 6 yr old daughter for her daddy every night. I was looking forward to sleeping in my now seemingly big bed aaaaall by myself and pushing the dog on *his* side as not to contend with her sleeping on my legs. But alas, I miss him. He is having a well deserved time of refreshment at Cedar Springs with other men from our church. But I miss him. {insert lovesick sigh}

My wonderful friend Debbie came over with her two beautiful daughters(she is a retreat widow too, tonight) a big pot of soup and salad, I made rolls and dessert and we had a wonderful dinner together. Afterwards we made geoboards and the girls learned that you can make really neat marble mazes with them using rubber bands so the geoboards were actually used for something they were never intended to be used for, but I am sure somewhere in there is educational advancement. Somewhere? It sure looked like fun.

My bed is calling...