The Obligatory Pre-election Political Post

You can skip this if politics do not interest you. If you vote Democrat, you will probably want to skip this too. This is mainly for Christian Republican readers. I’m writing this because several people have expressed in interest in my political opinions for some reason, so…you asked for it! Don’t blame me! Here it is.

I must confess, I haven’t been following politics too closely this year. But I am paying attention enough to know that the Republicans are in danger of losing their hold on Congress. Personally, I think it’s their own fault. They have had a number of moral scandals recently and have not been very good about being faithful to what you might call classically conservative principles. Some political pundits are saying the Republicans are about to lose in a landslide. Roberto Rivera (on Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint blog) and Rod Dreher (author of Crunchy Cons - great book, by the way) think that when the Democrats win, the blame will fall on Evangelicals.

I can definitely see something like this happening. No one likes to be “pegged” in a particular group, but if you peg me, you would probably put me in an Evangelical category. I am not particularly thrilled with the Republican party right now (and haven’t been for a while now). Not even sure I would strictly consider myself a Republican any more. I think that many Christian people are getting tired of this whole “voting for the lesser of two evils” thing. We vote this way because we think that the two candidates from the two major parties are the only ones that have a chance of winning, and if we don’t vote for the “better” of the two, then chances are higher that the “worst” candidate will win the election.

Now, I am going to make a sincere observation here, and if anyone has an answer to this conundrum, I would really like to know (all in the interest of truth): is it not lack of faith in the power of God when we do not vote for the best candidate, regardless of party affiliation or endorsement? If I vote for a third party candidate because I think he would be the best person for the job, how is that going to morally incriminate me if the worst candidate ends up being elected? And if the status quo that is upheld by the “moderate” Republicans is evil, then is it not morally incriminating for people who vote for the “moderate” Republicans? How should we vote when there is no one to vote for that we feel will uphold our values? Should we then vote for the lesser of two evils or not at all?

Do you remember the story of Gideon in the book of Judges (chapter 7) when God kept reducing the number of soldiers in his army until there were so few left that there would be no doubt that it was the God of Israel that won the battle? That is what all of this reminds me of. I think we should vote for the best person for the job, and trust God for the rest. He is perfectly capable of working out His will even if all Democrats are elected. What He wants is people who will trust Him to win the battle instead of trusting in our own wisdom.

Having said all of that, I think this election next week is not the best time to start voting for third party candidates. That’s because in our area at least, there really aren’t that many good third party candidates running, and there are a few good Republican candidates running (my opinion, of course - do the research yourself!). The time to research your vote well is for the Primary. When we had our Primary last spring, I researched all the candidates on the ballots and found some real gems. Unfortunately, the gems all lost to the big-name candidates with the money for advertising. That would have been unfortunately unavoidable back in the old days, but now that we all have access to the internet (at the library, if nothing else!), it’s easy to research each and every candidate and to know what they stand for. There are several good sites to start with, and usually you can find a dedicated web page for each candidate. Read each candidate’s platform, and then you’ll know how to compare them with the others.

So there’s my two cents, whether it’s worth two cents or not. Everyone's got an opinion, I know. That's mine. If you want to read about a great third-party option, try this site. I just wish these guys had more candidates on the ballot.

Let's Cut to the Chase

Our three-year-old daughter has entered the “why” phase. Every statement or command to her is met with “why?” Some things are non-negotiable. I don’t always feel the need to answer her whys. When I refuse to answer, it’s usually a matter of teaching her to obey whether she has a reason or not. Other times I humor her and answer all of her why questions. It’s not a bad idea as an exercise for adults - asking yourself "why" as you speak and do things throughout the day. You really get to the bottom of things in a hurry. Here’s a sample conversation:

Me: “Good job. I really appreciate the way you said something nice to your brother.”
Her: “Why?”
Me: “Because it’s important that we are kind to one another.”
Her: “Why?”
Me: “Because it is what God wants us to do.”
Her: “Why?”
Me: “Because God loves us and wants what’s best for us.”
Her: “Why?”
Me: “Because He made us.”
Her: “Why?”

You can see that by asking “why” just four times for every statement you make, you can get to the heart of the matter. If we only just asked ourselves that question more often, we’d eliminate a lot of the gray areas. Things would be much more black and white. If my daughter ever asks you "why" about something, just skip all the formalities and go straight to the bottom line.

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I decided to join the community choir’s rehearsals for a Christmas cantata. It’s fun, and I get to see my grandma every week. As we were practicing tonight, I realized that these songs had so many of the same phrases, over and over again, and we sing them year after year. We sing the same carols every year, and there’s usually a “Mary” song thrown in. Some sentimental song with words that Mary probably would have felt and thought as she was preparing for her baby boy. You would think that we would get tired of these songs, sung year after year. Why don’t we?

The old, old story is never dull. No matter how many times we hear the name of Jesus, it never gets boring. All those familiar phrases are so dear. We’ve heard them a zillion times, but they’re never outdated.

Let’s cut to the chase: it’s all about Jesus.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
There's just something about that name
Master, Saviour, Jesus
Like the fragrance after the rain
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Let all Heaven and Earth proclaim
Kings and kingdoms
Will all pass away
But there's something about that Name.

School Update

We just finished week 6 (out of 36) of second grade and kindergarten. It's fun to see how much things change over time in the way we do school. This spring I started adapting the booklist and schedule over at Ambleside for our school reading. So far this has been a good move.

I have really appreciated the discipline that having a reading schedule has brought to our school routine. I tended to somehow let the reading aloud portion of our school day slide off the day's agenda when things got busy (which was most days). Finally I became alarmed enough to do something about it. I think that reading out loud (and reading in general) should form a major part of the school day. Every school day. The books on the Ambleside list don't have very spectacular covers for the most part, but the stories are so engaging, and I really can't think of any that I didn't enjoy. I think my second grader enjoys them too, although he pretends not to.

One of our favorites so far has been Viking Tales, by Jennie Hall. I'm not sure how much a little girl would enjoy these stories, but my boys love them. Full of adventure, history, and geography. Plenty of violence. We also like Our Island Story, by H.E. Marshall, which is British history told in story form. We're just starting to read about Duke William of Normandy, a.k.a. William the Conqueror. If you read this stuff in a history book it would be dull dull dull. But in a story book, it is sometimes hard to put down.

I am still enjoying our schedule of 3 weeks of school, one week off, year round. I thought I might get tired of it. I think it's a good thing. It brings a certain amount of flexibility to the school year, yet doesn't destroy your momentum to the point where you ever get very far behind. Plus, you tend to not forget what you have learned when you don't have a huge break.

I just looked back over my blog archives and realized that yesterday was my 2-year blogiversary. Let the bells ring out and the banners fly. How about that. ;-)

What a Hoot!

Once again, from Dr. Mercola's collection of funny signs. His title for this sign was "Everything you need for the ceremony". Harrr.

The Organic Myth

For anyone following the organics industry, there's an interesting article in the most recent Business Week magazine, called "The Organic Myth". Many good points were made in this article, although the author doesn't really stop to explain why small and local is better than huge and distant when it comes to growing food on the farm. I'm still processing the whole "local is better" thing myself, but I do think it is better, and one of these days, I'll explain why on my blog. But I'm still mulling things over...

It Snowed Yesterday - BRRR!!!

Furry Bear
by A. A. Milne

If I were a bear,
And a big bear too,
I shouldn't much care
If it froze or snew;
I shouldn't much mind
If it snowed or friz---
I'd be all fur-lined
With a coat like his!

For I'd have fur boots and a brown fur wrap,
And brown fur knickers and a big fur cap.
I'd have a fur muffle-ruff to cover my jaws,
And brown fur mittens on my big brown paws.
With a big brown furry-down up to my head,
I'd sleep all the winter in a big fur bed.

Plantain Ointment

I made my first herbal ointment earlier this week. It's a plantain ointment. Plantain is a "weed" that grows in almost every untreated yard on the planet, from what I've read. Here's a picture:

This stuff grows everywhere. I picked some from our yard and put it in some warm olive oil for 5 or 6 hours and kept it hot on the stovetop (not boiling, just very very warm). Then I used the oil to make the ointment with some beeswax, Vitamin E and evening primrose oil.

It turned out pretty good for my first try. It's a little too hard, so next time I will use less beeswax. But it still works just fine.

Plantain can be used on bug bites, poison ivy, eczema, bleeding wounds, and most other skin problems.

I thought this would be a good place to start with herbs for two reasons: one, plantain grows in my yard, and two, it is a remedy for things that we almost always need a remedy for. It still amazes me that there are actually plants that grow wild that can be as good or better medicine than prescription/over-the-counter synthetic stuff. But I am an eager learner. Hopefully I will have more interesting herbal discoveries to share in the future.

Flu Shot?

Thinking about getting a flu shot this fall? First watch this hilarious Canadian "infomercial". It just might save you some time and money! If you've already gotten one, this probably won't be so funny.

Ode to Cod Liver Oil

I wanted to compose a little poem to sing the praises of cod liver oil in this post, but as it is inching towards midnight it will just have to be in prose. It couldn't be too hard to come up with something. It would probably have rhymes like "true - flu" and "sold - cold". I'll let you know if I come up with something, maybe in the morning whilst I'm doing my chores (by the way, when I say chores, it is always with a hillbilly accent, as for some reason I find the word chores to be hilarious). Anyway, the purpose of this post, as I mentioned earlier, is to sing the praises of cod liver oil.

You may be thinking right about now that you wouldn't touch cod liver oil with a ten foot pole because everyone knows it tastes awful and doesn't do a bit of good. But AH HAH! You would be wrong. Personally, I credit cod liver oil for getting us through the winter last year with a minimal number of colds and flus. We still got sick occasionally, but nothing even remotely close to what it was like the year before. And when we did get sick, it was very mild.

This is because of three things in the cod liver oil: omega 3 essential fatty acids, vitamin D, and vitamin A. Regarding the avoidance of viruses, the vitamin D is the most important. It's also called the "sunshine vitamin". This is why people tend to get sick more often in the winter - less sun exposure. It's also (partially) why some people are more prone to the winter blahs.

Our whole family takes cod liver oil now, even the kids. Believe it or not, they line up to take theirs. I can't say that it tastes great, but it's not awful either. It's more...neutral in taste. In the old days, it used to taste like, well, cod liver oil. Now you can get flavored oil (lemon, mint, cinnamon, etc.). It's actually not bad.

It's important to get cod liver oil that has been verified toxin-free. It is possible that some of the cheaper cod liver oil could be contaminated with mercury. Also, some brands have more vitamin D than others. You might want to compare the amounts if you're looking to buy some.

Cod liver oil also has health benefits other than avoiding colds. It helps with: arthritis, attention deficit, heart disease, high cholesterol, cancer, depression, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and more.

So I say: Praise the Lord for cod liver oil.

Animal News: Do I Hear Wedding Bells?

Yes, folks, it is that time of year - goat breeding season. Our Daisy is not making as much milk as she used to. Goats only breed between August and December each year. We broke down and bought a buck for our girls. So if all goes well, we will have more baby goats next spring. In order to accomplish this, we will be fixing up the "honeymoon suite" out in the pole barn. I'm sure you'd rather not have more information than this, so I'll skip the details.

Our new buck is named "Bill" (*guffaw guffaw*). We were nervous about getting a buck because they are notoriously stinky. This one is smelly enough, but not as bad as we thought. If we could get milk without a buck hanging around we would do it. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

On to other farm news. We also recently had our pole barn extended. It is much bigger now, and we will be able to have several more animal stalls; a place for our chickens to lay eggs and roost; and more room for tractors, tractor implements, and such.

We had 4 pekin ducks which we bought as ducklings in May. 3 males, and 1 female. We were hoping to let the female make a nest next spring and hatch her own ducklings, but she has disappeared. We have little hope that she will be recovered. We have had some ducks take up residence at the neighbor's pond, but I do not think that is the case this time. We suspect she has met up with some sort of hungry varmint.

Our bug population has vastly diminished over the summer as a result of the Mucovy ducks and the guineas. We hope to see a difference next summer too. If you have too many mosquitos, I suggest you try Muscovy ducks. Hopefully we'll have some of our own Muscovy ducklings next spring. Ducks are moderately messy animals, but I gratefully put up with the mess in exchange for mosquito-free summer evening walks.

It's also almost the time of year for our turkey and lamb butchering. We will likely do the turkey ourselves, and send the lamb out. My husband is rather attached to these animals (more than me!), so we shall see how that goes.

Blessings to all of you and your families, and have a beautiful weekend!

That's My Team

I admit that I am a terrible fan. I haven't watched a full baseball game in years (unless t-ball counts). When I say years, I mean that the number of years is inching very close to being in the double digits, which is also pretty much about how long I have been married now (woohoo! our big 10 year anniversary is coming up soon). I don't know if the two facts are related or not.

But hey! That doesn't matter! I'm still a baseball fan in spirit. So I had to mention here that my absolute favorite team in the world, the New York Mets, is in the playoffs this year, and those playoffs start today. I don't know anything about the team this year. Who's their best pitcher? Don't have a clue. Who's got the most RBI's? Don't ask me! But I could probably tell you practically the entire line-up from their 1986 team. Oh yes, I did read that there are a lot of Hispanic players on the team this year, which I think is great!

So, now you know my baseball background. Don't try to engage in a serious baseball discussion with me about this season's teams because you will only get a blank stare. But I do know that I'm rooting for the best team! I don't think we can get the channels in on our tv to watch any of the games, but I will try to follow the scores on the internet. Go Mets!

Wow! What a Story!

I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't seen it in the paper!

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!