My littlest girl and my step-daughter happen to have the same birthday. It's so much fun to celebrate two birthdays on one day. It makes it a little more like Christmas because it's not all about one child. Our girls are so cute about wanting to surprise their sisters and be involved in the party preparations. This year we started having the older ones pay for their own gift out of their piggy bank. It's a wonderful experience for them. They are really thoughtful, yet frugal in their choices. Well, here are some pictures of the celebration.

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It was a medical day today.

The Shots

I gave in and got the H1N1 vaccine for two of my daughters (my oldest and youngest) and for me, complete with Thermisol (mercury) for my older daughter and me. I have very well-managed asthma that has occasionally gone totally South on me in the past. Real misery.  30-40% reading on my peak flow meter kind of stuff. And my eight year old has CVS, which she has gotten sick before from a cold and it causes her to not be able to keep things down at all, once for almost a week. So, despite my misgivings, and outrage at them STILL putting things like Thermisol in our vaccines, I got the vaccine. My littlest daughter got the one without thermisol, but it was "unavailable" to us who are older. We even had a flu like thing come through our house, but not everyone got it and it wasn't that strong or long-lasting, so I'm figuring it wasn't H1N1.

In the end I just figured I was going to worry about which was the right decision and I'd just get the vaccine and then put the worry behind me.

Abigail was cute as can be. Kids were there screaming before they even got the shot, just in anticipation. She, at first didn't know what was going on. Then I got a shot and Natalie (8) got a shot and then I picked up Abigail (2) to hold her. What a smarty she is. I pulled her sleeve down to bare it and she immediately grabbed her upper arm muscle to cover it. So smart. We all feel alright so far.

Dentist

Jon went to the dentist. We belong to an HMO. He called for a dental cleaning and they told him it was three months or today. So, he took today. In customary fashion, nothing wrong with his teeth. I tell you, he brushes his teeth so fast and only once a day and isn't consistent about flossing. But, never any cavities or any other problems. He tells them about the difference between him and I. I don't know why Jon tells me these things, but he tells me he says they say it's just how you take care of your teeth. He tells them about how many cavities I have gotten when pregnant. They tell him that extra cavities associated with pregnancy have only to do with being distracted. You have got to be kidding??? These people just frost me! (Am I not supposed to say that on a blog?) I brush my teeth like a maniac when I'm pregnant. They tell Jon there is no nutritional basis for cavities and that teeth cannot have minerals leached from them. What are they smoking??? (Am I not supposed to say that either?) I suppose weak teeth have no possible connection with weak bones either...as in how badly I broke my wrist... Oh...my, I do need to brush my teeth like crazy. That's true. But, it is my belief that I have some genetic thing going on with both my teeth and my bones and my moods that I best do something about. The medical community can be so narrow minded sometimes. Medicine + a thoughtful (rather than bureaucratic) look at nutrition = powerful. Medicine the way it is = unhelpful.

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I am just really enjoying this photo of my middle daughter taken at Red Robin tonight. This one really captures her.

We worked today, but we had a laid back day at the same time. We brought the kids into our place of business towards the end of the day and they played. Then, we went to Red Robin. Actually, I prefer my own cooking now, but it was nice to not have to cook.

We are really just so ambivalent about celebrating the holiday (Halloween) at all as it is so full of, well, evil. I'm so impressed looking at it from an outsider's point of view that this is the center of Halloween. Sure, kids just want to dress up. But, pretty quick it goes beyond that. And why should we be so comfortable with playing around with darkness? Anyhow, not to judge anyone, my kids want to dress up too. And we have before, just not this year.

A lot of the direction on this whole thing I owe to my husband. And I'm glad, really, because it always made me uncomfortable. I want to give my whole heart to the Lord and not to in any way give place to the enemy. It's funny. My husband grew up trick or treating. He doesn't have bad memories. He just matter of factly is grumpy about anything about Halloween. Not so with Christmas or Easter or Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July.

Anyhow, our kids don't want to not feel included in what everyone else is doing. And, I read on someone's blog that this is also Reformation Day. So, we were talking about doing something for that. I was going to make Pumpkin Bread. And I'm not sure how to tie that into Reformation Day. But, with working, I didn't cook that. But, I bought the cans of pumpkins (our pumpkins in the garden never turned orange this year...I'm thinking of putting them in a windowsill...does that work). Tomorrow. So, I feel guilty that I didn't do something for my kids...and my husband says to me, "so that's what we're supposed to teach our kids, that when we don't do what everyone else does, we have to make up for it?" (Tongue in cheek.) Or, he said something like that. Well said. I think.

Well, whether you agree with my judgement of Halloween or not, I hope you can appreciate the angst with which I wrestle things over in my mind.

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I am down about our home and our property and how we have been paused in our home building process (see the next couple of entries). I also read this article on facebook this morning:

Basically, in England they are talking about parents teaching their children about hell and about a Victorian perspective as being something the state needs to stop. They are proposing a yearly meeting with children to assess this and other issues, WITHOUT the parents present. They compare this to the American divorce court case that sent a homeschooling girl back to school because it was the father's wish that she be exposed to other viewpoints. We are in for a battle. This court case, now, is really just a biased judgment for the father in a divorce case, but there are those that will try to use this case as precedence for so much more, such as is happening in England.

I sat down to talk to my husband about all of this, this morning. He had turned on praise and worship. And he shared with me that he was impressed that the Israelites tooks God's praise into battle and when they praised Him they were victorious and when they didn't they weren't. We were further talking about how all the events happening in the world...and Jon said that any leader trying to address threats to our freedom, best understand that this battle is spiritual, because if they don't they will be devoured. If they do, well, God will go before them.

I love the leaders that God has made our men. Pray for your husbands and your sons and pray for our country and pray that God will go before us.

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Here is my oldest waiting at the door for me to get her a plastic bag. She is heading out to the freezer in our garage to get us some meat. Don't you just love her little jacket? The arms are supposed to be short, although I think I'd like them better long. The jacket actually fits her correctly. It's like a Little Red Riding Hood jacket without the red. I wish I was a good enough seamstress to make something like that. I think I'd make them red ones just for fun.

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Here is a sweet picture of our just weaned calves being sweet on each other. Is that too sweet?

And here is another picture of the falls. This time at dusk. I took the shot without a tripod. It turned out because of a steady hand and a great lens. I love the feel of this picture. It's funny, but I have a hard time with this time of year, the darkness, wetness, and cold...but going to a special place like this and soaking in how the fog and the water and the dusk interact, soothes over all that.

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Our family never grows tired of going here. The girls never want to leave. I love raising my girls with a love for God's creation, like what I have. If you look closely, you'll see a bald eagle on the rocks. He is there for a lazy lunch. There are probably about 50 salmon in the waters under those falls hoping to be able to jump up them. I think some of them actually make it. Other spawn down below. Incredible. Just like our Creator.

Pray for us if you will. The Bonneville Power Administration is talking of coming through our little area with those really, really big transmission lines. Maybe even straight through our property. And to give you an idea our property is at least five times as long as it is wide. And, if the transmission lines went through our property, they could take 20-30% of the width of our property, plus be TOTALLY UNSIGHTLY. We live in a pristine beautiful little valley, which is probably why they are thinking of coming through our way (because the chunks of land are 20 and 40 acres and BPA wouldn't have to deal with AS MANY irrate people when putting in the power lines). It could totally devalue our land in an already down economy. I pray they will get some sense, however, and not take the power lines through such beautiful land. The power lines, by the way, would go right past this pristine park that I have a picture of too, if it were to go through our property. How could they do that?

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Don't want to read all my thoughts? Scroll down below for some weekend at the beach pictures.

Do you ever just experience those God gifts? We all do, I must say, or else we wouldn't be homeschooling. But, little-er gift than those. When, you are at your wits end, or almost there, and living there for a while. And He reaches down to you and helps. Oh...that's nice. I know when I don't experience those gifts for a while, it must be because I'm not really open and ready for them.

This morning I had a God gift. My God gift this morning was being awake at seven in the morning. Seven in the morning is really early for me. You have to understand that by the time I got to bed last night it was one in the morning. And, six hours of sleep, is really not very much for me. I'm more like an eight or eight and a half hour sleeper. But, today I'm fine. I know I better not do such a short sleep very many days in a row - or I get wired and it is not a pleasant kind of wired. I've been really having a hard time keeping my house clean this last week. And, have had a hard time directing the kids to have them help keep it clean. I got nearly two hours of cleaning done before the kids woke up. I can't do that at night. I don't have the brain for it then. But, now my house is (mostly) clean. :)

Plus, an idea dropped into my head. This may seem obvious to some, but to me sometimes when I'm in the middle of my frustrations, the obvious things don't seem obvious. My toddler is really impatient with our reading time. She likes to climb on my head, scream loudly, and be generally obnoxious when we are trying to read. She's that way when I try and cook. She's that way when I try and type. She's that way when I try and load the dishes (she thinks thats water play time). So, we have one of those big, round, circular gates. Today, when we were reading I put her in it, along with some toys. She protested loudly for several minutes, but soon settled down and played. And we read...Ahhhh.

Robinson Style Homeschooling

My experiment with having the kids teach themselves more (Art Robinson style) is working great. Really, I swear to you, if this style of learning fits you, it will fit your kids. It will work. Most of our country's founding fathers were largely educated this way. Charlotte Mason says it too. Don't coddle your child. Don't do for them what they can do for themselves. I upped Nat's math level this year and she has been teaching herself from Saxon 4/5 all year...AND LOVING IT. I've been using this approach a bit with Rachey (6) too. I encourage her to read her phonics books out loud to herself! Don't get me wrong I spend time with her reading and listening to her read, but instilling in kids the attitude of "wow I can teach myself" really works. So, like Robinson, we are doing Bible reading followed by 1-2 hours of math, 2-4 hours of reading/writing...Most of that is by themselves. Then my goal is to expand on their education, more Charlotte Mason style, in the afternoon. Nature, Art, Languages, Physical Eduction, that sort of thing.

A Weekend Away

We went to the beach this last weekend. I love the beach. I could just sit on the beach, watch the waves, talk to passers by for days on end, I think. I'm not into crowds, which unfortunately comes with the beach. But, usually, you can avoid them, anyhow. This weekend fell a little short, but was still fun. When that happens I'm always trying to analyze what went wrong. My analytical nature is a blessing and a curse. I have to learn to let go sometimes. Well, one thing that went wrong is my step-daughter got quite sick and didn't want to do anything. Poor thing. That was unavoidable. Secondly, the food I ate in restaurants, it just made me feel ill and spacy. I thought this...why when we go camping do we manage to pack our food and prepare it in the outdoors and I think that's impossible when staying in a hotel, unless there is a kitchen. Even though there was a free breakfast, who says I have to take advantage. Some cereal and milk would have been better. I could have brought hard boiled eggs. Salad mixings and chicken. Fruits and veggies. All I'd have to do is keep it cold. I could manage that.

Here are some pics from the weekend.

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Some days are harder than others. The whys and whens and hows all get lost and jumbled up, and it's just survival. I don't know why. But, on those days, God's creation gives me comfort. Did I tell you I live in a beautiful place?

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Here are some pictures I want to share with you. I made Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes this morning. I took Soft White Wheat kernels and ground those last night. I soaked the fresh flour overnight in buttermilk and put in a warm cabinet. Then, I made pancakes this morning. These pancakes, while slightly different than regular pancakes, are very tasty.

Most of us know how many nutrients we are missing when we cook with white flour. I've been doing some research lately and the difference in nutrient levels between white and whole wheat flour really captured my attention. We are only getting 17-40% of the nutrients depending on the nutrient when we eat foods made with white flour. Our society tells us that white flour isn't good because we aren't getting fiber. But, beyond that, when we think about only operating on 17-40% of the nutrients we otherwise would get, we've just got to realize that our diets (especially when you add all that sugar to the equation) are not sufficient.

But that isn't the whole story. Whole grains as they are marketed to us in our grocery stores, really aren't much better than white flour. This is mainly because of two reasons.

One, is that wheat (and other grains) go rancid quickly once they are ground, and also lose their vitamin content. One source tells me that 40% of the B vitamins are lost in 24 hours and 80% are lost in 48 hours. All flour purchased from the store has lost 80+% of its B vitamins!

Additionally, wheat products (and most grains) have a substance in them called phytic acid. Phytic acid binds any minerals (calcium, magnesium, zinc) that you might otherwise get from the grain product you are eating, and probably binds other sources of minerals in the food you are eating with the grain product. Fortunately, God also put a substance called phytase in most whole grains, which can neutralize phytic acid. The grains just need to be soaked.

When breads are eaten that haven't been sprouted or soaked only 1/12 to 1/2 of the nutrients are absorbed (how much is absorbed depends on which nutrient) when compared to eating properly prepared bread. Compounded with the most likely less than fresh flour the store bought bread contains and all the additives added to store bought bread, you can see why we are nutrient deficient in these modern time.

You can neutralize Phytic Acid in a number of ways - you can sprout your grains, then dry them, then grind them. (I have yet to do this myself.) You can soak your grains in buttermilk (or other acidic substance) for 12-24 hours. Or, you can make a long-rise sourdough product. Up until the last hundred years, this was common practice.

Natural food preparation is a favorite topic of mine. I love researching it. But, if you are not as "into" scientific research as I am, don't let that intimidate you. Bottom line, the way I was eating, I was sick all the time and dealt with major depression and anxiety. I needed to find a solution. And, for me, baby steps would move me in the right direction perhaps, but they weren't going to cure my problems. I truly believe, I was suffering from major deficiencies (and probably still am to some degree, but as time goes by it's getting better). If you have health issues don't give up. Nourishing Traditions is a great book and a great cookbook. Another good bread making cookbook is the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. She doesn't soak the grains, but she has great breadmaking instructions and lots of long-soaking recipes. She also explains a lot about using fresh grains. Another great website is Rebuild From Depression. And, this blog entry and blog is also interesting: Reversing Tooth Decay.

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