Thanks to everything who left encouraging and affirming comments after reading of my encounter with the very rude woman at the grocery store.  There were also some thought-provoking comments as well.

One commenter suggested that the woman's experiences growing up might have informed her opinion of large families, and having thought about it, I agree that's probably the case.  She was an older black woman, and we are in an area that is somewhat "depressed".  It is very common here for people to have large families.  The unfortunate part is that these "families" are not really cohesive families.  Quite a few men may have 7 or 10 children (or more), but rarely that many with one woman.  Likewise, a woman might have five children, with each child having a different father.  Our neighbor is one of at least ten children, but both his mother and his father have multiple children with multiple other people.  So, in that context, a large family might well be a big problem.

Also, clearly the woman grew up in an era much different from ours, and certainly must have had experience with segregation and discrimination. Although racism still exists (and always will, likely, in different forms), society has changed, but she may not have recognized that. 

The more I think about it, the gladder I am that I didn't respond unkindly to her.  Clearly, she was speaking out of some hurt in her own life.  I don't think she was correct in her conclusions about us, but I do think she probably had experiences that made those conclusions reasonable, at least to her. 

 My 5 blessings~

 Gotta love these girls!  I couldnt ask for more. They are a blessing to us.

 enough said~

 This is our Lidia delighting in the flowers in our backyard.

As is my usual habit (it may well be a dumb habit), I picked up this book randomly from the library’s new book shelf.  Based on the title, and the summary, I thought it would be interesting.  I realized from the summary that the author certainly held a very, very liberal theology (“bringing back the female side of God”) but I thought there might be a few good points.  I certainly recognize that folks of every stripe have hijacked the name of Jesus to promote their own doctrines, and Christianity is plagued with false teachers, hucksters, and hypocrites.  It was clear that I would end up disagreeing with many of the author’s conclusions.  That is generally not a problem for me, as I love a good debate, even if I’m holding it with a book.  

Unfortunately, what I hoped would be a well thought-out, persuasive, interesting book turned out to be poorly written screed against all things evangelical and conservative.  Mcelvaine either misunderstands or deliberately misinterprets evangelical beliefs and what it means to be a Biblical literalist.  He rightly points out the insanity in certain segments of Christianity which proclaim to the world that “God wants us to be rich!”  He rightly reminds us of the social teachings of the Gospel, a principal one being caring for the poor in a self-sacrificial way.   He is rightly outraged by the hypocrisy of calling something a perversion from the pulpit while engaging in that very behavior in private life.  He is absolutely correct that such things are corruptions of the Gospel.

Sadly, that's as far as reason goes in the book.  The bulk of the book is written with constant, very dull-witted attempts at word play and punning.  He might as well have stamped in red ink “I hate Bush” on every page, for the number of times he manages to work in his disdain for our President (which respectful title is notably missing throughout the book in favor of the sneering ‘George W. Bush’ or ‘thief-in-chief’).  Dr. James Dobson gets similar treatment, oddly (and wrongly) lumped in with televangelist snake-oil salesmen.  Mcelvaine does exactly what he accuses evangelicals of, at the opposite extreme.  His book reads like Anne Coulter’s would if she were liberal instead of conservative.  Grand Theft Jesus is full of the broad-brushed generalizations and name-calling that it condemns from Ms. Coulter and other conservative authors.  He misinterprets (whether it’s intentional or not) beliefs and twists them in order to fit his assumptions of evangelical Christians and social conservatives.  He exaggerates, misrepresents, and denigrates wildly and in many instances undeservedly.  In some cases the book is downright deceptive about the beliefs of certain high-profile Evangelicals.  Anyone who has listened to Focus on the Family or read any of Dr. Dobson’s materials would know that he most certainly does not preach against contraception as a universal evil, and does not believe that women must spend their lives barefoot, pregnant, and miserable.  FotF will not even outright condemn the Pill, asserting that there is no real proof that it is abortifacient (How do I know this?  I emailed and asked them directly)  Yet, reading the book, one would have no choice but to assume that Dobson believes and teaches such things.  

Some of Mcelvaines "facts" are either patent lies or tortuous stretching of the truth.  From reading the book, one might imagine Timothy McVeigh was a fundamentalist or evangelical Christian.  Maggie Gallagher has a good explanation for why that's an untruth.   And even a passing knowledge of McVeigh gives no impression of any kind of Christianity whatsoever.  The statements he made and the literature he was interested in point strongly towards agnosticism.  Likewise, Fred Phelps is presented in the book as only slightly worse than James Dobson, the implication being that Dobson is a quiet but vicious hater, while Phelps takes his hatred to the streets with great noise and gusto. 

Mcelvaine condemns evangelicals for picking and choosing which portions of the Bible they take literally and seriously, while he himself does the very same thing, and worse.  He assumes that “free grace” is “cheap grace” to all of us, and decides that because we believe we cannot be saved by works, we therefore do not believe good works matter at all.  

What I find absolutely fascinating is that Grand Theft Jesus completely ignores some of the most high-profile and well known “name it and claim it” wealth preachers out there.  At first, when I noticed this, I thought, “Surely not!”  I combed through the book, and through the index, looking for names of folks that I know preach that God wants us all to be wealthy.  How odd that I did not see the name of T.D. Jakes, Juanita Bynum, or Eddie Long.  Do you know what the common denominator is?  They’re all “minorities”, or “people of color”.  According to Mcelvaine's definition of “Christianity Lite” these people should be on the top 10 of worst offenders.  Yet somehow, they escape even a mention in the book.  Is Mcelvaine only brave enough to pick on elderly  (in one case, deceased) white males?  Are minorities immune from criticism?  And since he roundly lambasted various right-wing folks for intimating that 9/11 and Katrina might be God’s judgment, why did he not also condemn the Reverend Jeremiah Wright for doing exactly the same thing?  Surely Mcelvaine did not somehow miss the widely broadcast “God #@$% America” sermon from Wright’s pulpit.  

This obvious bias, packaged with the constant forced attempts at humor, twisting of hymns, revision of Scripture (to mirror Mcelvaine’s assumptions of what conservatives believe), and general poor writing made the book not worth reading, unless one likes to chuckle at the literary antics of the ignorant.  Grand Theft Jesus reads more like a series of hate-blog rants than a well-researched and well-considered book.  It’s really a shame, because had Mcelvaine gotten past the fog of his own bias and rage, he could have taken the concept in a very different and much more valid direction.

This is my new favorite Science site.  The
link was sent through on the homefires yahoo group.
www.howtoteachscience.com

The article in homefires was about teaching the
peroidic table to children at a young age. It talks about
how overwhelming Science can be but if a child is
exposed to these things early it will be second nature
to them and not as complicated.

One of the ideas was to have the table out for children
and begin creating a basket with each of the elements
on it. I loved this idea and hope to incooperate more
from her free lesson newsletter that will be sent out
biweekly. You can join the biweekly newsletter too to
help you child learn about the peroidic table.
Click the link above. I think this mom is just starting
out with the site but it really looks like it is going
to be a keeper in my files section.

Nikki

As promised I am finally getting to some of
the new resources that I have come upon. So
sit back , relax and enjoy the links...

Hear history and politics out loud
with these free audios.
www.hpol.org


Need some new worksheets. Creating
your own is easy at this site.
www.worksheetworks.com


Are you teaching a pre reader this year?
You might want to check out this teachers website.
Some of the ideas are obviously classroom setting
only but some can be modifyed and used at home.  
www.jmeacham.com


Also for the prereader..
Click the freebies section at the top for
some printables
www.carriesfamilydaycare.com

Creative Pre K activies and elementary
Creative Make and Takes

Learn basic reading skills online
Online basic skills

Free Phonics worksheets

And last but not least is a resouces
I have talked about time and time again
called math wire. Right now you will
find morning math routine ideas, manipulative
ideas, math mats and much more.
www.mathwire.com

How do you plan you Meals?

At the heart of the Matter this week inquiring minds
want to know how I plan my meals and how you plan
your meals too. If you want to participate hop over
to www.heartofthematteronline.com and tell us all about it.

I like to keep things fairly simple. We are sort of a
meat and potatoes type family. Well, most of us are anyway.
Heart and I aren't real big meat fans. We aren't vegan just
like a bit less meat then we actually have. I could live on
pasta alone.  :) Basically I plan  our dinners.

Breakfast through the week the kids make what they
want. I just keep things in stock like pancake mix, muffins,
eggs, and cereal . (and other breaksfast type foods)
Saturdays is the only day we may make a special breaksfast
or try a new recipes. The kids actually really like to make
their own. It gives them a chance to be independent.

Scrambled Eggs in the Microwave..
Add a teaspoon of butter to your bowl.
Microwave the butter till it is soft.
Then crack your egg and wisk it.
Start microwaving the egg and
on occasion stop and stir again.
mircowave until it is no longer runny

Simple enough my 8 year old does this.
My 11 year old likes to make them on the stove. :)

My other favorite on Saturday is the oven omelet

8 Eggs
1 cup of milk
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 cups of shreaded hash
(or you can use cubed potatoes)
1 cup of ham
(you can add bacon or other desired meat)
1 cup of shreaded cheese
1 Tablespoon of onion

In a large bowl beat eggs,milk and seasoned salt.
Stirin remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 8 in.
Square baking pan. Bake uncovered at 350 for
45-50 minutes. Or until knife inserted into the center
comes out clean.


For lunches the children each sandwiches,soups or salads.
Well Spirit and I eat the salads. :)
Most of the time I create extra from the dinner menu
and then freeze it or create mini tv dinners that
they can pull out and heat up.

Dinner is where most of my planning comes in.
My family is fairly picky so we usually have the
same sort of meals within a two week block.
Then I add 1 new meal a week. My meals are
growing to what everyone likes. I just
pick  from the meals the family likes.
I created a sheet in my managment binder
for each meal. At the bottom of each is a
grocery list. So I simply get my calender for the
week. Write in that weeks foods and then
add the items to my grocery list. This took awhile
to create but now it makes life so simple.
When I find a new recipe the family likes
I just add it to the binder. Creating menus is
simple.

Now recently we have had a new problem.
Carl has been diagnosed with Diabetes. So we
have had to rethink our dinners. I had to rework
some of the recipes but it is possible.

Try these Sweet and Sour Carrots

2 cups carrot slices, 1/4 in. thick
1/2 cup celery slices 1/2 in thick
1 can (8onces) pineapple tidbits
(drain and reserve juice)
1 Tablespoon of vinegar
2 teaspoons of cornstarch
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of sliced green onions
1/4 cup Equal spoonful

Cook carrots and celery in meduim saucepan in a small
amount of water until tender about 8 min.
Drain and set aside

Add enough water to reserve pineapple juice to 1/2
cup liquid. Stir in vinegar, cornstarch, soy sauce,salt
Cook in med. sauce pan until liquid thickens

Add butter , drained pineapple, onions and still unitl
heated through. Add carrots, and celeryy, cook about
2 mins. or until heated through stir.


Some of my favorite sites...
www.cooks.com

And if you are into crookpot cooking
you can go to this site and make just about anything
in the crookpot
www.crockpot365.blogspot.com


I'll leave you with my families favorite
ranch pretzel recipe..

Happy cooking
Nikki

Its time for Show and Tell again!! To participate or see other entries in this highlight of the week, visit CanadaGirl

On Monday I took the kids to a mountain lake beach near here.  We went with three other families and it was the perfect beach day in many ways.  Sometimes that beach is quite crowded, especially when busloads of kids from daycamps or schools in the city show up.  But lucky for us, despite the perfectly clear and hot day, no busloads arrived!! So it was relatively quiet, and with fewer people on the north beach, it was also not too difficult for the moms to keep an eye on their kids without having to be right next to them at all times.

Landon volunteered to be buried in the sand (I supervised this very closely, because I knew it could be dangerous - and told them not to do that ever again):

On Tuesday I took Kennady to the playground, and in some ways she is just a teen girl.  Most notably, she likes to take pictures of herself with the digital camera.  LOL  Here she is:

And then she needed a picture of the two of us.  I hate pictures of myself.  But if I can get past the fact that I'm not wearing makeup and my double chin shows in this one, I guess its not too bad. 

I guess my Show & Tell for this week is not terribly exciting, but to me, it sums up much of our summer experience.  Taking a little extra time to do some fun things and be silly.

Rocks in My Dryer hosted a guest blogger this week.  Jenni is a mom of 12 and has a few things to say about mothering a large family.

Here's a taste of her post:
"In the end, what I’d like for you to know is probably not that much different than what anyone else would say: when in doubt, extend grace. Grace is the Melanie Wilkes to the world’s Scarlett O’Hara: it believes the best even when it doesn’t understand, and is humble enough not to insist on explanations. I don’t know of a single situation where it wouldn’t be welcome!"

In light of my run in with the super offensive woman at the grocery store last week, this post really resonated with me. 

Read more of Jenni's thoughts at her blog: One Thing

And if you're wondering what you can say to a larger family, without offending them, here's my advice: A simple "You have such beautiful children!  What a blessing!" would make any mom's day, no matter how many or how few children she has.

I hope everyone is having a great day today! I went to the doctor today and he said I am right at 33 weeks and all seems well.

I want to have a home pregnancy, but I must admit I am a bit scared, since there is a small risk, because I had a C-section with my last baby. She was breech and I "thought" it would be easier with a C-section, then to have a bit of pain while they tried to turn the baby around. Boy was I wrong!!! I was laid up for almost 4 months after my C-section.

I do not have the money for a mid-wife and I am to afraid to have it here with just me and my girls, SO I am really debating which way I should go, with this. Please pray for me and that God will press upon my heart VERY hard, which way I should go!

I went to my brothers to clean today and we got to swim in his pool again today! I love to be able to swim, but boy does it sure where me out.

Well I'm off to cook dinner now, I just wanted to get on here to say Hello!

In about a week I will have some pictures of our school & the books we will be using this year.

Have a blessed day everyone,

~Kelly~

If you haven't done some research on dyslexia
you may not realize that another big block for a
dylexic person is memory. Most people think of it
more as a writing issue or reading. That letters and numbers
are reversed, backwords, or missing. Which is all true but
there is more. A child with dyslexia my struggle with
remembering math facts, remembering more than one chore,
where their belongs are, the name of simple ojects or
even direction or where they are.

In the past my princess had called tissues--
Those things you wipe your nose with. She often
Reverses the names of two objects if they are similar
such as up and down, or back and forth. She has on
occation even been confused about our location.
We travel through the same area daily but one day I
assume her thoughts were on something else . When
she looked around she thought she was at a local tourist
location that we often visit. Instead we were only about
5 miles from our home. These types of things often scare
me. I worry that one day when she is old enough to drive she
will lose her baring and not know where she is.

And so we work toward helping her memory.....

Here are some techniques I have found to help
a childs memory. You wouldnt have to be dyslexic to
use any of these just a person wishing to improve on
their memory.

1. Use the first letter of the word to create
a silly rhyme,sentence or made up name.. Such as learning
the colors of the rainbow..
Roy G. BIV
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet


2. Story Strategy- Make up a silly story with
all the words you want to remember.
example..
Bird, seed, Corn, nest
The red bird sat smiling in his next
eaching seed and corn.

3. Grouping-
Group words that are similar together.
Animals, kitchen items, etc... When you try
to recall them you can think of the group they were
located in .

4. Images - Draw pictures to go with a word
to help you remember. You can also try highlighting
that particular word for awhile in your writing.
You mind will remember the color then remember
the word and its spelling.

5. Location-    Do this exercise. Close your
eyes and imagine your church. Going through the
doors and any details you can remember along the
way. This one is an exercise in improving your memory.

6. List - If you have to remember a list of 10 items.
Associate the word with the number. 1 - bear
2- dog etc..

7. Visualize - Say the word, look up close your
eyes and picture the word, Write it in the air
and then write it on paper. Visualize what it means
a picture or action.


If you happen to have any other ideas
for helping improve memory please share them.

Nikki