More on Sugar

Thanksgiving Day is pretty much a "free-for-all" when it comes to sugar. You pretty much take the license to eat whatever you want (at least I do...). Now it's back to a sugar-free existence. But with December starting tomorrow, it will be difficult. The entire month of December is tricky for those of us trying to avoid sugar. Of course, I have to make SOMETHING with the kids, right? What's December without Christmas cookies? And what's a stocking without candy in it? Right now we have three family dinners planned. Will I wilt under the stress of staring at one of my sister's yummy sugary concoctions (her chocolate chip cheescake cupcakes were great at Thanksgiving - better than the pumpkin pies, I thought)? Probably. BUT, if I can limit myself to family dinners, and Christmas Day itself, I will be doing well, I think. Plus, I have a RECIPE that helps for those other times. I made this one up myself (couldn't find anything like it on Google):

Pina Colada Yogurt Smoothie
In a blender, blend:
2/3 can of pineapple tidbits
Pineapple juice from the can of pineapple
1 cup ice
1 cup yogurt (plain - no sugar, no flavorings)
1 banana (can be frozen if you want the smoothie to be thicker and tougher on the blender :-)
1/3 cup honey
1/4 tsp. coconut extract

This is so good, and my kids love it too. But then, when I give it to them, I call it a milkshake. Haha.

Just a Question...

I am wondering about those magnetic "ribbons" on the backs of vehicles across the country that say "Support Our Troops" (and there are others with different "causes", as well). Who is making money by selling those things? Somebody must be getting rich, and my guess is that it's not OUR TROOPS. Just curious if anyone knows anything about this company. It's certainly a noble sentiment - of course we want to support our troops, cure breast cancer, honor POW-MIA's, etc. It's just not so noble to make money off of other people's noble sentiments.

My Personal Best

I did ten (count 'em - TEN!) loads of laundry last week. We now average about 1-1/2 dishwasher cycles per day.

Time to go back to school after a week off for the holiday last week. Fortunately I was able to reduce a number of clutter piles around the house last week. We also put up the Christmas tree over the weekend, but didn't remember that last year we threw out our old tree lights, so we'll have to wait and finish the tree tonight.

Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday. We're thankful to God for so many blessings we enjoy. Thank YOU, family, for such a lovely day! :-)

Is "thank" a transitive verb or an intransitive verb? A transitive verb requires a direct object. An intransitive verb does not. The dictionary says that it is transitive. That means that if you are thankful for something, you must be thankful to someone or something. It is curious to me to hear people speak on Thanksgiving of the things they are thankful for. But they do not say to whom they are thankful. How odd it is that people who do not believe in God can be thankful on Thanksgiving day. Maybe they just have thankful "feelings". Why should they feel thankful? Isn't this just another proof that humans have this "God-shaped vacuum" inside themselves?

I read this week that the entire state of Maryland was allowing absolutely no reference to God in its schools' celebrations of Thanksgiving. Do they not see the absurdity of this? (Apparently not). What is the point of celebrating Thanksgiving when you have no one to thank?

With this in mind, I am trying to remind myself to include in my "thankful statements" that I am thankful to God. For example, if I tell my children I am thankful for them, I say "I thank God for you, children." I like the idea of always including God in our thanking. To just say, "I'm thankful for you, children", leaves out an important part, even though it's true either way! ;-)

An Idiotic Quote

"The worst form of censorship is people censoring themselves." -Marilyn Manson

Apparently, "Mr. Manson" lectured at a university on art, and made this statement. It makes NO SENSE AT ALL! It sounds to me like he thinks we should all just say and do any old thing that pops into our head. I think that judicious censorship of our words, actions, and even thoughts is one of the most intelligent, prudent things we can do. Some things you just don't say, even if they're true.

Reading List

What I have been reading lately:

Acts
The Black Stallion, by Walter Farley
The Child's Story Bible, by Catherine Vos
Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit, by Teri Maxwell (borrowed from a friend)
Creation Magazine
Family Reformation Magazine
Let My Children Go, by E. Ray Moore, Jr.
The Spiritual Power of a Mother, by Michael Farris
The Busy Woman's Guide to Healthy Eating, by Emilie Barnes Sue Gregg (borrowed from the same friend)
He's Been Faithful, by Carol Cymbala
Nature's Workshop Plus! (catalog I'm ordering many Christmas gifts from)

Web sites:
WorldNetDaily
Fox News
Ladies Against Feminism
NOAA

A Noteworthy Event

I know what you are wondering: sure she has some ideas about education, but are her bathrooms clean? Well, usually, of course, the answer is no. But I finally set aside some time to clean them this week. I spent 2 hours cleaning the boys' bathroom and our bathroom. Yes, it took that long. That's how long it takes when you haven't cleaned them in 2 MONTHS. And let me just say, that even though it had been that long for a major cleaning, you HAVE to do SOME cleaning in a little boys bathroom every day, just out of self-preservation. Enough said on that topic.

What is amazing about this cleaning event was that my children played happily the ENTIRE TIME I WAS CLEANING! I only had to stop once or twice to help them with something. This is something worth noting. Usually I can't even go to the bathroom without hearing (a little louder each time): "mommy. Mommy! MOMMY!!!"

College Education

Here's an article on college education that I read yesterday:
Pomp and strange circumstances, by Burt Prelutsky
In the author's opinion, costs for a college education are way too high, especially for "liberal arts". I agree. I think all employers look at when they hire someone is the actual degree itself. They don't care if the student learned anything to get the degree. What about on-line college credit? I don't know much about it, but I've heard it's cheaper. You'd be less likely (a little) to be inundated with the communist agenda of the professors at public universities, and you could live at home.

A Long Opinionated Post on Education

A recent quote from the President:
"We must ensure that a high school diploma is a sign of real achievement so that our young people have the tools to go to college and to fill the jobs of the 21st century."

The problem is that the "education people" want to give high school diplomas to everyone. If a diploma is to be "a sign of real achievement", there are going to be some who don’t make that achievement. A few are not capable of meeting the objective standards (through no fault of their own, and certainly not for lack of trying), and there are some who don’t try, and don’t want a diploma. This is upsetting to the education people because they want everyone to be an academic success. That is why they keep lowering the standards and adding subjective standards.

Of course, wanting academic success isn’t a problem. But we need to know THE GOAL. What’s the purpose of education? The purpose drives the standards. The people who come up with these standards, policy changes, etc. believe that education is salvation. It is part of the humanistic belief system, that if only people were educated, they wouldn’t (fill-in-the-blank with any number of social wrongs). It’s all about money and education. If the Muslims had money and a good education, they wouldn’t blow themselves up along with other innocent people. If teenagers had a comprehensive, highly funded sex education in school, we’d end teenage pregnancy and STD’s. There are so many examples that could be used to illustrate this. This assumption is so wrong, it just boggles my mind that our federal government continues to put more and more and more money into education. It will not fix the problem - it will only make it larger.

If the government does not continue to lower objective standards and add subjective standards, and if it does not continue to raise the amount of money they allocate for education; then they will have to admit that something is wrong with their system. That is why they continue to do these things. I think that most of them truly want to help children (except maybe for the union people), but their philosophical basis for education is doomed to failure. The only education that is worth working towards, is the education that points children to Jesus Christ. A real education will teach children that sin is the reason we see evil in the world. And a real education will teach children that reliance on God’s grace by faith is the only way we can keep from sliding into the abyss with the rest of the world ourselves.

I was asked today what I thought about the President’s recent selection of Margaret Spellings for Secretary of Education. I think that she probably won’t make any of the changes that need to be made. Testing, standards, and money will continue to increase. The only way to stop these increases is to completely abolish the Department of Education. As far as public education ever changing its philosophical foundation, I don't see it happening anytime soon.

Spelling

There are moments when our oldest son is trying to tell us something, but we are having trouble understanding him. Now that he is a reader, he has taken to spelling out the word he is trying to say. Usually we know what he's talking about once he spells it, even if his spelling is off a little bit.

Our 3-year-old has seen this, and now when we can't understand him, he'll spell out the word. He was trying to tell me something about the computer yesterday, but I couldn't understand him. He was clearly frustrated when he started spelling out the word. "Mommy! It's E-R-F-E!" It's so funny to hear: he just chooses a jumble of random letters and spells out his word.

To Read...

Here are a couple of good (or at least informative) articles I read this morning, both from WorldNetDaily:
Building a Family of Faith, by Greg Laurie
Where's Bush on overturning Roe v. Wade?

Where I'd Like to Be Next Weekend

How about Washington D.C. for the SepCon2004, a conference sponsored by the Alliance for the Separation of School & State and HonestEdu.org? There will be a number of speakers there I would love to hear: WorldNetDaily's founder and Editor Joseph Farah; Michael Farris of the Home School Legal Defense Association; John Taylor Gatto, New York State teacher of the year, speaking on the "paradox of extended childhood"; and syndicated columnist Joseph Sobran.

Hubris

It seems that everyday I see the word "hubris" in some kind of opinion-editorial. I figured it was high time for me to look it up. It means "exaggerated pride or self-confidence" (from Merriam Webster On-line Dictionary). For some reason, seeing this word in an article ANNOYS me. Maybe because people who use this word like it's a regular part of "everyman's" vocabulary have an aura of hubris themselves? Haha.

Trusting God

Son #1 went to bed last night with an upset stomach. In the last 2 weeks he has been sick twice: once with a stomach flu, and once from something bad he ate (I think). This morning he woke up saying his stomach still hurt. "But Mommy", he said, "God told me I wasn't going to vomit." "Well son, we'll trust that what God said is true," I told him. He just had two pieces of toast with honey. :-)

Adventures in Homeschooling

We did a full day of school today! Yahoo! This was probably the first time in about 2 weeks.

I'm really starting to enjoy the time after our devotions in the morning when we read from the Child's Story Bible (Vos). It is refreshing to re-hear those stories from the Old Testament. It's been a while since I've read them, and to read them as presented to children makes them stick much better in MY mind (no jokes, please). We've recently read about the Amalekites, Gibeonites, Moabites, etc. I'm also benifitting tremendously from our Bible memory program. We've done the first 5 verses of Genesis, and the first 8 commandments so far. I think it's true that you learn more when you are the teacher than when you're the student.

On another, separate school note, I've decided that PRAGMATISM DOESN'T WORK. It sounds strange to say that, because the definition of pragmatism is that you do whatever works. However, to be pragmatic about something means that you have to have a goal - that you are using whatever means required - to reach. In homeschooling, if I have set a goal for the day, and I decide that I will use whatever method I need to in order to reach that goal, by the end of the day I will be a STRESSED person. Discipline is required, and to-do lists are important, but with young children you have to seize those "kairos" moments with them when you can, and not lose focus when they are doing what they do best, which is mainly BEING SLOW ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU WANT THEM TO DO! If it takes 50 minutes in the morning to pick up their toys and we run out of time to do handwriting and phonics, then that's OK. We'll work on our morning routine until we are able to do it quickly, smoothly, and CHEERFULLY (I put cheerfully in CAPS mainly for my own benefit).

Homeschool Blues

We're in a bit of a homeschooling rut. Fortunately, we're only in kindergarten, and we're well ahead of most of our son's age-mates. Last week we were sick, so we took a few sick-days off. Since then, we have only done Bible and math. We haven't done phonics or handwriting in almost 2 weeks. It's not really that big of a deal since we're ahead, BUT I sure wish I (we?) could get a little more motivated.

Sugar

I was doing so well. My (refined) sugar intake was very low. But then I had a birthday. My husband made (from scratch - no mixes here!) a devil's food cake with chocolate icing that was great! I loved it! We finished it off on Monday. Now I'm craving sugar again, and it's that hour of the day when sweets are most appreciated (3:30-ish). Maybe I'll have a banana...

It just goes to show that sugar really is addictive. I suppose it's different for different people, but for me, it takes such willpower to refrain from eating chocolate chips all afternoon. I would probably die during these "withdrawals" if it weren't for honey!

Articles I Have Been Reading Lately

Here are links to a few articles I have read recently that have got me to thinking...

'Life is Bigger Than Politics', by Rebecca Hagelin

'No Longer a Christian', by Karen Horst Cobb

This second article I think articulates well the left's version of morality that is the core difference between the two major parties this election. I have read several articles and blogs of people who voted for Kerry who don't understand the 'values' that cause people to prefer Bush over Kerry. They seem to feel the same way as this Ms. Cobb. They have no synthesis of the God of the New Testament with the (same) God of the Old Testament. While she points out some legitimate grievances with professing Christians (none of whom I believe would claim to be perfect), and she certainly seems to have a grasp of the New Testament (although Jesus never said that you would know Christians by the fruits of the Spirit), she doesn't recognize that God does indeed allow for capital punishment (Ananias and Sapphira?). I don't doubt that what she has seen and heard from a few Christians is true. But I think she lacks an understanding of the true nature of sin and death.

It's this lack of understanding that is the problem for democrats who can't comprehend this difference in 'moral values' between Kerry supporters and Bush supporters. They are perplexed. They don't acknowledge an absolute literal God, and they base their values on what seems right to them. They think that education will solve the world's problems - witness the failure of sex education in the schools. To them, ignorance is the problem, education is the answer. But the truth is, sin is the problem, and Jesus is the answer.

Doggles?

Got a near-sighted dog? Try doggles!

Elections

Election comments (in bullet form)
Good:
1. Thune over Daschle in one of the Dakotas. I can never remember which one. The senate will be a better place without Tom Daschle.
2. Dr. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma won a senate seat. I haven't researched much on him, but from what I do understand he'll be a great senator.
3. Oregon's marriage amendment passed (as well as all the other states that had them on the ballot). Those opposed to the amendments spent most of their money in Oregon because they thought they had more of a chance to defeat it there.
4. A number of celebrities (Larry Flynt included) have threatened to leave the U.S. permanently if Bush was re-elected. Let's just hope they follow through on that.

Bad:
1. Barak Obama over Alan Keyes in Illinois' senate race. Too bad. Alan Keyes would be great in the senate.
2. California passed it's stem-cell research initiative. California has enough money trouble as it is, without spending $6 billion dollars on something so many people find morally reprehensible.


The jury's still out:
1. Columbus, Ohio voted for a smoking ban in public places. While personally I'm thrilled that more and more restaurants are going smoke-free by force of local law (they'll get more business from our family!), I'm concerned that this is a slippery slope to fascism. Fascism meaning (in my understanding) private ownership of business with government control.
2. George Bush beat John Kerry. Kerry losing goes in the good column, certainly. I will have a better idea if George Bush's winning is good or not in another 4 years. Of course, I think he's doing a fine job in the war on terror (including Iraq). I'm not optimistic about the following, however: government funding for Planned Parenthood, arts, education, etc.; amnesty for illegal aliens; and judges who strictly interpret the Constitution. If the last 4 years are any indication, I'm not sure things will go so well. We'll see. One thing is for sure: with Kerry's record and history, Bush should have beaten him by a LOT MORE than he did.

Following the Returns

I'm blogging as I keep up with the election returns over the internet(mainly Fox and WorldNetDaily). Unfortunately, the vote mentioned previously in this blog did not go in my favor. I think I was disenfranchised. haha. Now we all 5 have or have had this ridiculous stomach virus, which is manifesting itself in every way imaginable. But it hasn't dampened my enthusiasm for following the returns. Looks like our senators' and representatives' races are going well (meaning the ones I voted for are winning). It also looks like the issues I voted for/against are going the way I voted.

I ended up not voting for the third party, although if the race between the two major parties was not so close I may have bolted to the Constitution Party. But honestly, it was more to help keep Kerry out of office than it was to elect Bush into office.

I'm Voting For...

NO MORE STOMACH VIRUSES!!!

Servant Attitude

"How do you know when you have a servant attitude? By how you react when you are treated like one." -Kenneth Gangel

Tie Guy

My husband is not a "tie guy". Therefore, we have MAYBE one tie in the house that belongs to him, only for VERY SPECIAL occasions. Last week, my dad brought over a few of my brother's old clip-on ties from when he was a kid. Son #2 didn't want anything to do with them (other than connecting them to some of his other toys to drag them around on the floor). Son #1, however, became obsessed with wearing these ties. The problem was, he had no buttoned shirts that a tie could be clipped onto. He kept asking us to buy him a shirt he could wear with these ties. So our last trip to Wal-Mart included the purchase of a dark blue, button-down, oxford shirt.

Comfort During Unsettling Times

"I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever = the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day, you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

John 14:16-21