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Yesterday, as we were preparing for our walk, I ended up with one of my shoes and one of Bri's. As Bethi went to find my other shoe Tori mentioned how similar they looked in size and Bri said something along the lines of, "Ya, but they wouldn't fit her.". Just for fun I tried it on. And it went on. I didn't have to curl my toes, or chop any off and it really wasn't all that uncomfortable! I could have done some light shopping in them comfortably enough! When in the world did her feet get just about my size?! Times like these remind me of the fact that I'm quickly running out of time :(. In another ten years she'll be in her twenties and a lot could, and likely will, happen between now and then! There is so much I want to share with her and be sure she knows. From the need to trust in God fully, to grow in her personal relationship with him, to obey His commands, to cooking, sewing and putting her on the path to truly loving her future husband and children. Whew... That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. ~Titus 2:4&5 |
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The girls were looking at pictures the other day and Andrew found a picture with Bri and Tori and their Aunt Tessa in it that was taken at a birthday party a few years ago. He came running to me sooo excited!!! "Car!", he said with a huge grin :). The picture also showed a car parked on the curb ;). |
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It is way old news by now that, after being required to sign some pretty intrusive "service plans", the mothers now have their children back. I thought I should mention it anyway since I had posted about this case a couple or so weeks back. Many families have returned to the ranch but some have decided to stay in the cities instead, mainly because of the fear their children carry of CPS possibly returning to the ranch to conduct yet another mass round-up of children. One family has, for now anyway, won their freedom from CPS intrusion. The judge who ruled on their case said, “I am not going to allow CPS or any other agency to interfere with parents in this state”. There are still just judges out there :). Something that I didn't realize before was that the young girls and ladies they questioned that first day were questioned throughout the night, literally. You know, like investigators do to criminals when they are trying to "break them down"?! Albert Mohler did a very interesting radio program on "Balancing Parental Authority and Government Oversight" here. My view? If an adult is committing a crime the adult needs to be removed from the situation and placed in government custody, not the innocent child! It is statistically proven that a child is actually four times more likely to be abused in foster care than in the care of their own families. The financial costs of this mess to Texans is outrageous, something to the tune of 30 million dollars when all is said and done! Someone (or several someones!) need to be brought accountable for this. It seems very unfair that the people of Texas are going to be financially required through their taxes to cover for CPS, the Governor, unjust judges, etc. I haven't read Elissa Wall's or Flora Jessop's books and I really have no desire to do so. I have heard enough from them in the last few months and their statements have practically always ended up on the untruthful side. In fact, I can't think of a single time they have been proven correct, but I haven't read everything I'm sure so I must give them the benefit of the doubt. You can read some points taken from Elissa Walls own book here. A person seldom reveals the worst things about themselves publicly and she admits in her own book to being unfaithful and out of control. Could she be reformed now? Absolutely! But in my view the facts aren't supporting that idea at this time. Ditto Flora Jessop. Some people still believe they "got what they deserved" because they have bought into the unsubstantiated claims of welfare fraud and "Lost Boys". There are articles blasting the belief that the FLDS on the YFZ ranch were "bleeding" the welfare system here and here, where, "Albert Hawkins, the state's executive commissioner for health and human services, said it was unclear whether members of the sect have private insurance. He also said that officials have found no evidence that anyone from the sect is receiving any sort of public assistance.". There was also a newspaper article that stated that the number of people on welfare in Schleicher county did not go up when the FLDS moved in but I can't find that link right now, if you know where it is I would love to add it! And you will find articles on the supposed "Lost Boys" here and here. One person said it particularly well when they mentioned that when a boy leaves he must have been kicked out, when a girl leaves she's "escaped". Others jump on the polygamy issue saying that they are criminals because of their polygamist lifestyles and criminals don't deserve to raise children. Well, they have not "officially" entered into a marriage contract with more than one woman, so legally they may have found a loophole making them no more a criminal than the man who has fathered three children with three different mothers. Should those mothers lose their children? Imagine how history could have been altered had the "government powers" in the ancient world taken Rachel's, Leah's, Billhah's and Zilpah's children from them because of Jacob's polygamist lifestyle. No, I do not believe that polygamy is not God's best for our families but I also don't believe that it is grounds for the worst possible punishment, losing your children...especially in a country where two homosexuals can adopt children?! As far as the issue of underage marriage, it appears that Warren Jeffs, who is already in jail by the way leaving no one in any possible "immediate danger", may have been the community "criminal". And I say that with a big "may have been" because nothing CPS has said has panned out yet. At this point we have no reason to believe them now except for some pictures that came into their possession in some way that they have yet to disclose. Of course, because of the ridiculous way they have conducted themselves from the beginning they may very well lose the ability to bring some of this into evidence the end result being, if there are any there who would hurt children and haven't already taken the opportunity to flee, the evidence they have could be considered tainted and not admissible in a court case. Lastly, here is a heartbreaking excerpt of a letter to the Governor of Texas from a physician in Alvin, Texas who treated an FLDS baby after she was ("legally") stolen from her mother.. "I’m a physician at a small Emergency Room. Tonight I saw one of the children from the FLDS compound who was recently bused to a nearby community. I want to express to you my extreme concern about this baby and all of the very young children in this current situation. The child I saw was under two years old, has been separated from her mother and all familiar adults, taken away from familiar surroundings, and been the subject of intense scrutiny which the child can’t understand. Now the child is ill. I have never seen such a listless, subdued, sad toddler in my life. She doesn’t eat well and her caretaker thinks she may have been breastfed at home as she is so much trouble with bottles. She is losing weight. She doesn’t play with things. She is almost non-responsive to the strange adults around her. This is a child in profound mourning for the loss of her mother, who is sick and by all appearances is going to get sicker. Why on earth can this mother not be here to comfort this baby? I am not exaggerating in the least when I say this child looks like she wants to die…. Please do something to reunite at least these small infants with their mothers. This is so wrong." We must continue to pray for the FLDS families, that they would give up the false trappings of their religion and follow Jesus and Jesus only, and that the children would not be irreparably harmed by this experience. We must also stay diligent in upholding the true constitutional rights of all (including parents, children, the elderly and unborn etc.), otherwise we could find ourselves the ones facing persecution the next time. For the best compiled coverage of this situation I would recommend The Common Room. |
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Today, June 7th, 2008, is Protest The Pill Day 2008, because the pill kills babies . I was on the pill for several years between our first and second. I didn't "know any better", though I do take responsibility for that. I swallowed my doctor's and society's mantra that it was the "responsible thing to do" with out researching it myself. Even though I had no idea that I could have been killing my own babies I hated taking it, it felt completely unnatural and I now know that a lot of the depression I felt during that time was directly linked to the pill and the Depo Provera shot, which also kills babies. Spread the news!!! The Pill Kills*. *Incidentally the pill doesn't only kill babies, it has also killed women and at the very least lowered the quality of life of many, many women. See more about that here. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. ~Matthew 18:5 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. ~Psalm 127
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Bri 1997
Tori 2002
Bethi 2005 
Andrew 2006
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Nearly a year ago we ordered the Hymns For a Kid's Heart series and have been enjoying learning the hymns out of these excellent books since then. There are three more books aside from the one I linked to. The books are great and the CD's are of wonderful quality, we listen to them for enjoyment often. This Christmas, instead of singing Jingle Bells our girls were singing Once in Royal David's City, the new variety was refreshing :). Once you have renounced Santa Claus your choice in children's Christmas music becomes somewhat limited ;). I remember when Bri was three her musical repertoire consisted of I'm a Little Tea Pot and the Barney song :P. It brings such a warmth to my heart to hear Andrew belting out "He a-wose! He a-wose!" and Bethi playing with her dolls in the dollhouse singing, "What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus...". It also often brings a smile to my lips ;). Such as hearing Bethi's rendition of At the Cross. The correct version is... |
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"A state appellate court has ruled that child welfare officials had no right to seize more than 400 children living at a polygamist sect's ranch. " |
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Some of you may remember when I did a little series setting forth the reasons that we home educate, if you haven't read it before you can find part one here. Earlier today, prompted by the suggestion in my new issue of The Old Schoolhouse magazine, I asked the girls why they thought we home educate. Bri knew all of the "right" answers and could articulate them even better than I had thought she would be able to! Tori came up with a whole new reason to add to the list :). Her answer..."So you don't get lonely.". |
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See here. I can't comprehend how a judge can say he will be the first to apologize if a man is innocent and in the same conversation admit that there is no proof (after more than six weeks!) that he is anything but innocent and yet he can still hold their children and require them to sign a vague and generic "plan" for reunification! Isn't a judge supposed to "judge" according to the evidence? |
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On May 1st our little May Day baby turned three!
After a hearty pancake breakfast per the birthday girls request, we packed everyone up and headed to the zoo. We got to feed the birds (it was Andrew's first time and Bethi's first time that she remembers)...
Andrew was kind of up tight at first with birds spraying him with water and flying by brushing his head with their wings but before we left even he had calmed down enough to take a turn and have fun with it. Bethi about jumped out of her skin when a fight broke out between a couple of birds right by her head but she recovered quickly and talked about the experience for days afterward and even still occasionally mentions it! Another highlight of the trip was getting to see the new baby koala! Something the girls had all been looking forward to since we had heard of its birth. We even got to see the koalas move, a truly rare occurrence!
After we got home we had an early supper. Bethi wanted pizza and we watched Charlotte's Web (the old animated version). Mommy "cheated" on the cake this year ;). I frosted a cake and decorated it with a Little Pony play set. Hey, she was impressed ;). The play set came with a little plate of muffins that Bethi promptly lost ;). We couldn't find them anywhere and eventually we convinced her to go ahead and finish her cake and we would look again later. A few minutes afterward she went to take a drink and stopped abruptly. With the cutest look of bewilderment on her face she said, "Ummm, guys...what's in my drink?!". Yep, she found her muffins ;).
After cake it was time for baths and night devotions and then bed time. It was a nice day :). We have already planned the rest of the birthdays for the year and will have all of the minimal shopping done very soon. With Baby's due date the day before Lee's and my birthday and three more birthdays within the six weeks after that I know that birthday planning/shopping, etc. is not going to be very practical when the time comes ;). |
