Scriptures and Stories We Rely on For Comfort as Hsing Families

 The Four Moms are: 


Kim at Life in a Shoe

Kimberly at Raising Olives

Connie, at Smockity Frocks




And, of course, me.=)

 I asked some family members for suggestions for this post.

From my husband, who answered without stopping to hem and haw and stammer::

I  have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

I  can do all things through him who strengthens me.

God sets the lonely in families

The Resurrection. Period.  In all things.

For me:

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up

Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes. (NAS)

All of Isaiah 40, particularly verses 21 to the end.

Psalm 127, especially verse 1 and verse 3

Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.

...Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.

All six of Charlotte Mason's books,but especially volume 6.

The Equuschick suggests the KJV of this verse:
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Stressing the word peculiar.

The HG immediately thought of this verse:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

I'm really not sure what the original question-asker meant by 'stories.' that I rely on for comfort as a homeschooling family.  My children's birth and adoption stories, stories of the poverty we once lived in and no longer do, stories of missionaries who persevered, stories like Cheaper by the Dozen, Mary Emma & Company, and Mother Mason .

What about you?

New Year's Resolutions, Week 4

I've been so busy keeping my resolutions I haven't been able to write about keeping them.=)

1.Spiritual:  Five chapters from the Bible every day; Read Isaiah 20 times this year
Progress: Not so great this last week..  How are you doing on regular Bible reading?

2.Family:  Eat more meals in the dining room at the table

Progress:  Yes.not that it's all sweetness and light. There was an incident over somebody dribbling biscuit crumbs into the 2 pound family can of honey that ended in tight lips, beady eyed glares, and mutual resentment.  There's an ongoing elbow fight between the two teens. But better.

We've started reading through a Shakespeare play together on Monday nights after dinner and after Pip gets home from work.  Thursday night we read aloud together- currently, Three Men in a Boat.

3.Health and Nutrition:  Do better, and insist that the progeny actually follow thru, at serving two veggies per meal and not letting produce rot:

Good- although I bought so much produce mid week last week that I think some of it is going to have to rot if I can't figure out a plan quick. We order from our local farmer/CSA online on Monday for pick up Wednesday.  On Wednesday I was in the big city a couple hours away picking up Granny Tea, so I went to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Forgetting about my produce order from the local farmer (which the girls were picking up for me), I totally went overboard on the organic bok choy, baby kale, and other goodies.

  You?  What are your goals for fruits and vegetables in a week?  Or is your goal just to be able to afford to eat?

4. Finances: However I spent my money last year, I resolve to do better this year-

Progress: Overdid it on the produce, as mentioned above.  I did buy my son a brand-new shirt, but it was half off and he does outgrow his wardrobe faster than the rest of the Progency ever did.

You?

5.Mind:  Read some of these worthwhile books. Maybe three of them?

Progress:Not on the list, I've been reading the children's series Fablehaven  I finished the fifth and last book, and I read another book by the same author, A World Without Heroes (Beyonders)

I stalled in reading All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes, which is on my list.

I am making steady progress reading the following books with my youngest two:
The Cloister and the Hearth

Charles I Makers of History

Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves: Book I of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (do NOT order the Kindle version)

Hakluyt's Discoverie of Muscovy

We finished Everyman: A Modern English Version




What about you?  What are you reading these days?


6.Diet:  Low carb regimen and the Atkins induction thing for two weeks.

Progress: Last week I stuck to the regimen very well, as I have thus far for this week, too.  I've lost 7 pounds this month, and that's with an increase in exercise of about, oh, five minutes, and I'm not being funny. I really need to add some exercise. I did add some vitamin D to my supplements. Maybe that will help.

How has your eating been? Healthy?  Meeting your goals?  What hinders you from meeting your goals?

7.Organization: I will give my room a thorough cleaning and reorganizing this month, and my garage will be done before the end of the year.

Progress: I did complete what I wanted to do in the bedroom in January, but I did keep up with laundry and I cleaned out the fridge and freezer in the kitchen and organised them, and reorganized the drawers in the kitchen, getting rid of several things.

What are your goals for your living space?  

8. This month, I will be in bed and prone  supine by midnight every night. (except I won't be either).


Progress: I am thinking about crossing this one off my resolutions.

9.Learn Something New:  I will improve my sign language this year to the point that I can hold a conversation with the new deaf lady at church without finger-spelling half the words.


I do make some progress on this every week, although my grammar stinks.  I have signed up with DCMP and have some very helpful DVDs to watch. Some of them I can watch online, some they send out as part of their free lending library:

Say, Sing & Sign: Animals [VHS] is a favorite to watch and sign with the Dread Pirate Grasshopper

Beginning American Sign Language Video Course ~ Lesson #1: Meet the Bravo Family - Morning Routine Signs- this series is excellent, and it's shockingly expensive.


Is there something new you've decided to learn this year?  How are you doing with that?

Other goals?  If you didn't make goals for the New Year, how about goals for February?

Great News! Susan B. Komen withdraws from funding Planned Parenthood!!

Susan B. Komen, the breast cancer fighting charity, has, at last, canceled their funding of Planned Parenthood, the baby killing organization.  More here, and the article has some interesting numbers.

Planned Parenthood said the Komen grants totaled roughly $680,000 last year and $580,000 the year before, going to at least 19 of its affiliates for breast-cancer screening and other breast-health services.

I don't know what the 'other breast-health services' are. But Planned Parenthood does not do breast cancer screenings.  Planned Parenthood's published numbers are misleading, at best.They fudge their numbers in a variety of ways- one of them is to count each visit of women seeking birth control pills separately, but to bundle multiple visits by the same woman for abortion as a single visit.

Consider this:

"Though 98 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services to pregnant women are abortion, Planned Parenthood and its political allies have sworn up and down that taxpayer dollars do not to pay for abortion. But of course they do. Planned Parenthood gets one-third of its entire budget from taxpayer funding and performed more than 650,000 abortions between 2008 and 2009. An abortion is expensive. Its cost includes pay for the doctor, supporting medical staff, their health benefits packages and malpractice insurance. As clinic director, I saw how money affiliate clinics receive from several sources is combined into one pot, not set aside for specific services.

Planned Parenthood’s claim that abortions make up just 3 percent of its services is also a gimmick. That number is actually closer to 12 percent, but strategically skewed by unbundling family planning services so that each patient shows anywhere from five to 20 “visits” per appointment (i.e., 12 packs of birth control equals 12 visits) and doing the opposite with abortion visits, bundling them together so that each appointment equals one visit. The resulting difference between family planning and abortion “visits” is striking."

Consider the way PP cynically (and dishonestly) claimed they shouldn't be defunded because of the mammograms they provide- except that they don't provide mammograms.  Look up your local PP office in your directory, call them and ask if you can get a mammogram in their office. They will refer you for one, but they don't do them.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umI-gLEC6C8&feature=related

One out of every four abortions performed in this country happens at a Planned parenthood clinic, and they are now requiring that all of their affiliates *must* have at least one clinic that performs abortions, because it's a very lucrative business.

Out of three million unduplicated clients only 19,700 of them (in the whole country) received primary medical care according to PP. Other options are available, it's just that PP gets the publicity because of their successful lobbyists, and their successful propaganda with a compliant media.  Their lobbying efforts and propaganda are uccessful in spite of things like this, this, this, and this:

Planned Parenthood opposes commonsense measures to protect women and
underage girls. Presently, Planned Parenthood is fighting a bill in Illinois that would
require its staff and volunteers to be mandatory reporters when they suspect the sexual
abuse of minors. They’ve also consistently fought parental notification laws – all the way
to the Supreme Court – which would simply inform a parent if their underage daughter is
seeking an abortion. They’ve opposed state efforts to impose health and safety
regulations for abortion facilities.xi

I see no reason why Susan B. Komen should fund an organization that has a known practice of ignoring mandatory reporting laws put in place to protect minor girls from adult predators in order to provide medical care to fewer than 20,000 women. I bet we can find a better way to do that than funding an organization whose bread and butter is slaughtering babies and protecting abusers of girls.

Here's more from the article above:

Planned Parenthood has been a perennial target of protests, boycotts and funding cutoffs because of its role as the largest provider of abortions in the United States. Its nearly 800 health centers nationwide provide an array of other services, including birth control, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer screening.

According to Planned Parenthood, its centers performed more than 4 million breast exams over the past five years, including nearly 170,000 as a result of Komen grants.

It's good that the article admits Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of abortions in the US.  It's also interesting that even with their inflated and dishonest figures about breast exams, they can only claim that the more than half a million dollars annually from Susan B. Komen grants paid for 170,000 breast exams  over the last five years. That means, even if PP's numbers are correct, which I don't believe, Susan B. Komen spent over 500,000 dollars a year so 34,000 women could pay PP to refer them to have a breast exam elsewhere.

PP has a billion dollars in assets and takes in as much as Susan B. Komen was giving them in profits each year.  They don't need Susan B. Komen's (or taxpayer) funding.

Boys

Monday my son regaled me with stories of hunting fatalities and severe accidents. Mostly, he said, hunting accidents happen when hunters fall out of their tree stands. They fall to the ground, have broken many bones, and if they are alone, they die there. Or they break their spine and never walk again. Or.....
He's a boy. I hope you understand the sort of stories he told me.

As a by the by he mentioned various harnesses that keep these accidents from happening, and explained how much they cost. Shh, don't look too hard, there's a subtle hint hiding there.

Tuesday, he was at his sister the Equuschick's house (an easy mile to walk from our house), cleaning out a shed with a concrete floor. His sister called and began the phone call with:

"The Boy is really okay."

And he pretty much is. He was hanging from the rafters of the shed. There was a ladder, and his feet were in near proximity to the ladder. He fell, flat on his back, on the concrete floor at least six feet below him. He had the wind knocked out of him, which is one of the worst feelings ever. When he could breathe again he hobbled into his sister's house for water, but still planned to walk back home. It was after dark, and she says he was pale and clammy and she didn't want to be responsible, so she called us.

He will probably have a bruise on his back, and one elbow is definitely swollen and he says it's sore and stiff.

He's taken a pain killer, put the elbow and back on ice (he first tried using two frozen baby teethers), and then he took a bath. We've also applied comfrey ointment quite liberally.

"So," I said, eyebrows raised, looking stern when I really just wanted to curl his nearly six foot frame into my lap and hug him closely to me forever, or at least ten minutes. He would never forgive me, and he may well be annoyed that I mention such a shamefully motherly urge here on the blog. "You were just telling me about all those horrible hunting accidents, and then you take a plunge of your own. This does not make me confident about the tree stands on the property."

"Oh, Mom," he said. "This is totally different. I didn't fall off a tree. I fell from the rafters of the shed."

"To a concrete floor," I said.



You don't think he did it on purpose to help give a little encouraging nudge to the little 'buy me a harness' seeds he'd planted, do you?

It's a lame name, buuuuut....

... I've been using it for months now and I really want to recommend it: DealChicken.com. It's another deals site, like LivingSocial and Groupon, but DealChicken is actually in my town and (in my experience) offers slightly better deals than the other two. For instance, Groupon often offers 50% off at an *extremely* nice sushi bar in a town about an hour away. Even at 50% off, the cost is high, and I'm pretty sure Strider and I would look very much like we came from the Wrong Side of The Tracks if we showed up there. DealChicken, on the other hand, once offered $7.50 for $15 worth at a small restaurant we love that's also close to home. That $7.50 paid for an entire lunch date for us (including ordering a beverage besides water, which we almost never do). $3.25 a piece is not bad, folks.

DealChicken also recently offered a voucher for a very nice market/butcher's shop in our town. Our apartment is under massive construction (long story) and we are staying in my in-laws' house until it's done. This construction happened fairly short notice and it has made my deep freezer inaccessible.... the deep freezer with about two weeks' worth of meals that I'd stocked up on to use after Striderling's sister was born. That DealChicken voucher for the meat shop helped me stretch our grocery budget further this week... I got pork chops (quick and easy to fix), excellent bacon (Strider's favorite), and two roasts (several meals' worth for us) for a sweet sum (ie, a cheap sum). These food items are easy to cook in a kitchen not my own and will be a nice treat for us too.

If it's not in your town, the site may not be worth it... but if there is a DealChicken listed for somewhere close to you, I think it's a good site to know! And between now and March 26, if you purchase a deal for $15 or more, they'll automatically apply $10 to your purchase. Also good to know!

Vitamin D (again)

In last week's post on Vitamin D, Heather asked why I went with supplements (Carlsons liquid capsules) over something like cod liver oil. It's a good question, with a multi-tiered response. For one, my levels were actually rather scarily close to the "severe deficiency" category (especially so for a pregnant woman planning on breastfeeding) and the main goal was to have them increase as quickly as possible. One tablespoonful of c.l.o. isn't even a third of the amount I'm on right now. I must admit to finding pills more palatable than approximately four tablespoonfulls of cod liver oil a day (and also probably a bit more affordable). I know the Weston A. Price Foundation holds that the Vitamin A in cod liver oil is not in a toxic form, but considering the levels I'm on it still makes me a little nervous (information on levels of Vitamin D and Vitamin in cod liver oil can be found here).

Once my levels have stabilized at a healthy level, I expect I'll taper down the pills quite a bit and transition over to something like c.l.o for a maintenance dosage. mmm. :)

Bubbles

The premise is here- basically, that there's a new class in America, isolated from the rest of us. I don't know what the author calls them. I call them politicians and lobbyists., but that's probably just personal prejudice.

At any rate, it's always fun to take short quizzes all about yourself. Try it. See what you get.

How Thick Is Your Bubble? Not Provided Score » 14 out of 20 (70% ) Result On a scale from 0 to 20 points, where 20 signifies full engagement with mainstream American culture and 0 signifies deep cultural isolation within the new upper class bubble, you scored between 13 and 16. In other words, you don't even have a bubble. Quiz School Take this quiz & get your score

How Thick Is Your Bubble? » Create A Quiz

Updated to note: It appears to me that according to Murray's premise (he's the author of the book behind this test), being at the lower end of the scale is a good thing.  Those in that lower scoring bubble tend to have a terrific work ethic, strong moral values, and stable families.  The higher your score, the more likely you are to be part of the group that Theodore Dalrymple wrote about, and the less likely you are to have a terrific work ethic, strong moral values, and stable family life.  I could be reading it all wrong, of course, as I've not read Murray's book.

 David Brooks has an interesting review. He has a bizarre conclusion:

I doubt Murray would agree, but we need a National Service Program. We need a program that would force members of the upper tribe and the lower tribe to live together, if only for a few years. We need a program in which people from both tribes work together to spread out the values, practices and institutions that lead to achievement.

Because government programs always fix everything, right?


Darleen at PR notes that you don't really catch these kinds of values,  like a cold, just because the neighbors the government forced to live next door to you hold them:

Principles, values, ethics and morality are taught — just like brushing your teeth or covering your mouth when you sneeze.

And keeping those principles is a conscious decision, otherwise one may forget that Liberty is what the American tribe uses as foundational for freedom of association and banning involuntary servitude.

Of course, government programs can't fix this.

Some seriously muscular Christianity is what we need.

Getting

The Justice We Owe To Others

"I must hurt nobody by Word or Deed.––Justice requires that we should take steady care every day to yield his rights to every person we come in contact with; that is, "to do unto others as we would that they should do unto us: to hurt nobody by word or deed"; therefore we must show gentleness to the persons of others, courtesy to their words, and deference to their opinions, because these things are due. We must be true and just in all our dealing. Veracity, fidelity, simplicity, and sincerity must therefore direct our words. Candour, appreciation, discrimination must guide our thoughts. Fair-dealing, honesty, integrity must govern our actions.

I must be Just to all other Persons.––This justice to the persons, property, words, thoughts, and actions of others, I must show to my parents, teachers, rulers, and all who are set in authority over me and over my country, because it is their right and my duty. In the same way, I must be just to the words, thoughts, and actions of my brothers, sisters, friends, and rieighbours, and all others who are my equals, in my own words, thoughts, and actions. I must be just, too, in word, thought and deed to servants, to all people who are employed by me or mine, to all who work for

me, whether in my own home or in the world. I must be fair, that is, just, to all persons whose opinions and ways of life differ from my own, even to all who offend against the laws of God and man. It is my duty to be just in this way to the persons, the reputation, and the property of all other persons, so far as I have anything to do with them. Therefore, "I must bear no malice or hatred in my heart, must keep my hands from picking and stealing, my tongue from evil-speaking, lying, and slandering," and "I must not covet nor desire other men's goods, but must learn and labour truly to get mine own living and do my duty in that state of life to which it hath pleased God to call me."

We are able to pay the Dues of Justice.––It is quite plain that to think fairly, speak truly, and act justly towards all persons at all times and on all occasions, which is our duty, is a matter requiring earnest thought and consideration––is, in fact, the study of a lifetime"

Charlotte Mason, Ourselves

Yes, But.....

Here's an article (link now fixed; profanity warning) on how being poor locks you into bad habits, and then, even after you are no longer poor, you still have those bad habits and those failed ways of thinking about things.  This is true. It doesn't always have to be true, though.  You're best chance of escaping these traps is to know they are out there and be forewarned..  And as a reminder, we have so been there, and while we did not rely on many convenience foods, we did over-rely on carb heavy foods.  Here's what I think.

Premise:  Because you get your food stamps reloaded once a month and you're poor, you can only go shopping once a month so you can only get food that is cheap and won't spoil, and that's junk, like canned vegetables and the only fruit you get is canned fruit loaded with syrup. Then, having grown up that way, once you are no longer poor, your kids won't eat good, fresh food.

And:

 If it wasn't canned, it was frozen. TV dinners, pot pies, chicken nuggets ... meals that can be frozen forever, and preparation isn't more complicated than "Remove from box. Nuke. Eat." Because of that, by week two, half of everything we bought would be freezer burned. Just like with the canned food, you grow up thinking that this is the way it's supposed to taste. It's not that you grow to like it, necessarily, but you do grow to expect it.

Yes, but....

Once you know this, then:

You can occasionally buy frozen vegetables and fruit. I checked at my grocery store today, and the frozen vegetables, to my surprise, did not cost any more than the canned. In fact, once you factored in the amount of water in the cans, some of the frozen vegetables were actually cheaper because you got more servings of vegetables per ounce. But a lot of people, poor and otherwise, do not ever check the number of servings you get from a can, or the price per ounce.

Buy plain frozen chicken, ground beef, pork chops and other meats on sale instead of  TV dinners.They don't take that much time to fix, especially if you have a crockpot.

You can buy fruit in a can in its own syrup, no added sweeteners. Even when I was buying canned food because we couldn't afford more, that is what I chose.

Once you know this happens, you make a point of buying something fresh and good to have the first week, or even the first day. You make it a treat, something to celebrate, to look forward to. Teach your kids to take joy in small things.  We once bought a single starfruit and cut it up into 9 pieces so we each got a small bite. We often bought a single item for a special treat, splitting it up nine ways.This wasn't deprivation, it was exquisite pleasure, and the single item was less than a t.v. dinner.

You can plan it so that your kids recognize fresh fruits and vegetables are the good stuff, and the canned as the fall back at the end of the month.

You can also buy the fresh foods and make a few frozen meals. This is particularly easy if you have a crockpot.

And, really?  Nobody goes past a grocery store any other time but that one time in a month?  NEVER? You don't leave the house?  I realize some people do live in food deserts, but most people, even people on food stamps, leave the house more than once a month.  When you pass a grocery store, run in and buy a head of leafy green lettuce or a bag of seasonal fruit, or whatever is on sale. I know it's easier not to, but doing what's easiest is not always wisest.. Sometimes it's how we got to this bad place, other times, it's why we stay in it..

Premise: you don't have money so you don't know how to handle it, so you spend it on silly stuff as soon as you get it.

Yes, but.

There is no yes, but. It's true that smart people learn from their own mistakes, and when you're poor you can't afford mistakes but you're human so you make them anyway.  It's also true that really wise people do not learn from their own mistakes, they learn from other people's. But that requires a certain amount of foresight and wisdom that most of us lack, regardless of income bracket. Most of us have to learn the hard way to do things the hard way and save that money anyway, but I don't know how to help people in this situation skip the school of hard knocks. How do you know what you don't know when you don't even know enough to know you don't know it? How do you dig yourself out of a pit you don't even know you're in?

Anyway,   Not only is this premise true, but the government also actively works to discourage you from saving money.    How do you do this when every attempt you make turns out to sabotage the 'help' you get from the government?  I've already told you about the person I knew who had a job within walking distance of everyplace she needed to go- and the government moved her to a subsidized apartment 20 to 30 miles away. She had no car, so she had to quit her job.  Or the person whose child is living with the grandmother on welfare. The mother wants her child, the government stepped in and refused to let her have her daughter- not because the government thinks the mother is a bad parent, but because the government took so long to decide the case that the child had, in the government's opinion, 'bonded' with the grandmother. The mother got a job, and the government docked almost all her wages to recoup the money they spend keeping the child in welfare payments. She quit, and she won't look for a job again.  Why should she? If she does nothing, the government pays for her housing, most utilities, gives her a cell phone, feeds her family, and provides medical care. If she goes to work, she's working essentially for free.

You're better off financially, once you're on government programs, never to make any investments or have a savings account at all.  That's just wrong, and is one more example of how the government cripples people it purports to help.

Premise: when you start to dig yourself out of that whole, you overcompensate on the things you never could have before, and sometimes put yourself back in the hole.  This goes along with the previous premise- you don't how to handle money because you did not have any to handle.

Yes, but.  This is true. it's the reason I bought myself a silly pair of pink glasses after I was 30. It's the reason I let my kid buy purple glasses even though I knew she'd be sorry. It's the reason when my first two kids were 3 and 4 they got a little tykes house and a little tykes car for Christmas. But it's also true that this demonstrates a problem with self control. It's not that rich people don't have a similar problem, it's that they can afford it. You can't. Don't be jealous. Learn self control.

Premise: When you're poor you can't plan ahead and save because you don't have enough to do that. You buy what you need. When you're out of the hole, you still don't plan ahead because of that bad habit.

Yeah, but.  I don't see why it *has* to be that way when you're poor. Please remember I have been there, done that. We've kept our food in an ice chest and used candles and a camping lantern because we couldn't afford the electricity turned on. We've had utilities turned off. We've had nothing in the house to eat but two eggs, and I dopped one and broke it- and we had no money for more.  We've had no money and such odds and ends of scraps in the fridge that I made a pot pie using a combination of biscuit dough and some leftover sugar cookie dough for the pie crust, and the filling was whatever leftovers I could scrounge plus a thin white sauce. I've had a good cry when all five of the older kids needed shoes at the same time. I've gone decades without buying a new pair of shoes. Even now, the coat I am wearing this winter is the same blue jean coat I bought before my nearly 16 year old daughter was born- I've milked goats in this coat and we haven't had dairy goats in 14 years.;-)


What I learned to do is ...

Budget to build up my pantry.

Do some drastic budgeting

Eat baked potatoes

Make my own convenience foods

Skip the hamburger helper..  This recipe uses frozen vegetables, barely defrosted ground beef, and you can still get it all in the oven in less than five minutes, and the only pan you dirty is the one you bake in.

It isn't easy.  But it's not impossible.