Ron Paul American Pie by aravoth

The more I see about Ron Paul the more I am convinced that he would be the right man for president. This is a really cool little tidbit. One of the other things that REALLY impresses me about this man is that he is absolutely pro-life. His voting record lines up with what he says. Unheard of things for a politician. Is he actually an example of a statesman? I do pray for a man like Wilberforce to rise to power. He was a man that no one thought would abolish the slave trade. We are enslaved to the voting-for-the-lesser-of-two-evils mindset just because real men that stand by what they say are not electable. It is time to stand up and take a chance. Maybe God will yet deliver our nation from its ungodliness and spilling innocent blood.

Guess who I am hanging out with.

Yup, Tiny Tim and I are again up late surfing the web. She is just a late nighter. I hope she will outgrow this phase soon. Until then I guess I have plenty of alone time to read, pray and update our blog.

Lies a Homeschool Mom Believes

This is isn't just general. I keep finding that I believe more lies than I ever thought I had. Why is that? Well, because I am a sinner and in need of saving. R.C. Sproul makes the distinction that we aren't sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. Some how I keep forgetting that I may be in Christ, but I have a horrible tendency to trip and fall face first in the mud.

I have a great book of homeschooling cartoons by Todd Wilson.One of these cartoons portrays one homeschool mom running into another homeschool mom in public. The second homeschool mom has 8 children all lined up in matching outfits. The first has one child with his finger crammed up his nose. The caption reads something like: Betty hoped Jane wouldn't see her. Jane's children always say, "Yes, Mom," speak fluent Latin and play three instruments. Betty's son hasn't changed his underwear in 6 days. I had xeroxed this cartoon and colored. I then had it on my refrigerator. It wore off:( I should replace it.

I need to remember that I am not doing things on my own. I am dependent on God. People often say to me, "How do you do it all? I only have two and they drive me crazy." I guess I seem more serene than I am. Some of it is that I feel it is hard to share my true feelings for fear of being seen as a "desperate housewife." I am desperate, but not to escape my family and live in Tahiti with a new man (or something equally lame). I am desperate to know that I am accepted and loved for who I am not for what I do. Now my husband and children are good at telling me I am wonderful. Unfortunately for everyone involved I need to rest in my acceptance by God. I fail and fall short. My husband and children fail and fall short. Some how, though, I seem to forget that and expect that we will be perfect some how. That we will all live "happily ever after."

Part of the problem too is that I care so much about what other people say. I wish I didn't. My friend,Bucca, is such an example to me in this area. She doesn't really care what other people think. Oh I wish to be free of this sin of man-pleasing. It doesn't matter what people think of my clean laundry stacked up. I want my children to look back on their childhood with good memories. I want them to remember that we had fun, that we danced stupid dances in the living room, that they were more important than being able to eat off the floor. DISCLAIMER: Notice I said ABLE to eat off the floor as in clean. I did not say that my children didn't eat off the floor. They do. I just don't consider it clean enough to do so.

I am not making a resolution. I am simply starting to pray that God would graciously help me to relax and enjoy the family He has given me. There are wonderful truths that God hits us with even from movies (gasp!). The mom in the modern Yours, Mine and Ours said, "Home is for self-expression not for good impressions." Lord, help me remember that.

A child not a choice.

I don't think I will ever forget our first ultrasound. I know I will never forget the first one I had with our third daughter. As the wand went over my abdomen we saw an image of two perfect little feet pressed against the wall of my womb. I was eleven weeks pregnant and yet here was a perfectly formed person residing inside. What a blessing!

Thirty-five years ago Roe vs. Wade paved the way to where we are today. Those precious individuals are now only a woman's choice. If she happens to "want" that child there are no ends of the ways to pamper the pregnant woman. You can form your own pregnancy calendars on the web. You can be part of yoga classes designed especially for expecting moms. The list goes on and on. Unfortuntely, if the woman doesn't "want" that child he or she becomes an it that is easily disposed of. The range of options is equally as wide as the pampering options. A woman can take RU-486in the privacy of her own home to "terminating her pregnancy" all the way to right before her due date.

Yes, we have come a long way baby! In a hideous direction that robs women of their true God-given womanhood as well as dehumanizes those wonderful children. When I read the absolutely disgusting way human beings, made in the image of God, were treated under the slave trade and then how people are treated under the enslavement of abortion I can't help but see the links.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if a woman got pregnant under horrible circumstances and she was surrounded by incredibly strong, loving people that encouraged her to embrace her true feminine power and bring forth life? Instead of having people just tell her to get rid of that unwanted piece of flesh. Then turning their backs on her when she is stupid enough to ruin her life by keeping that little leech.

Children are a blessing. I am convicted to remember that pro-life doesn't stop with being anti-abortion. It is a way of life. The children in my womb are as precious as are the ones that old enough to help around the house. I have a couple of children that weren't conceived and born necessarily convenient for me. I couldn't dream of not having those children. I look at their sweet faces, their beautiful hands and sweet little feet and feel like weeping that I was so blessed with them. My heart breaks for those women that have bought the lie and the only thing their womb has held is death. On this anniversary (I am posting a day late) of Roe v. Wade I remember and encourage other pro-lifers to continue to pray and fight for the unborn. William Wilberforce did not give up fighting against the horrors of the slave trade and was one day triumphant. May God see fit to raise up such a leader to fight for the unborn and end the travesty. May we never grow weary of fighting for life.

Whining and Dining

I just had to get a picture of this. The Ole Daddy Rabbit bought some IBC Creme Soda when he went out shopping the other day. We enjoyed it as a treat last night. It was sooooooo good. I had to drink 2, one for me and one for our nursing baby. We looked like a bunch of beer-swillers (not that I am against drinking, but each child having their own bottle might be a little extreme:). We also are saving those bottles so when we make Root Beer we can use them. I always hope that our children have fun memories from growing up and I hope this is one of them.

I AM married to Mr. Incredible

Since we have a two and a half week old baby the Ole Daddy Rabbit did our once a month shopping yesterday. I made a list out. I tried to make it in order that the items are found in the stores. He successfully got everything on the list. He didn't make it home by one o'clock, but he made it home for dinner. He took our oldest daughter and they seemed to have a good time together:) I love that our girls are so loved by their daddy. When they got home everyone pitched in and we got all the groceries put away. Yesterday was just one example of how the Ole Daddy Rabbit has been incredible by leading and loving his family in the past couple of weeks.

Mr. Heath, you are my favorite husband and I am blessed that I am married to you. Don't give up! I know God is using you!

John Piper is Bad - extended video

Here is a really funny video on one of our favorite theologians.

What Next?

When you have children...okay...correct that...
Since I have been blessed with the children I have been life can be kind of exciting once and a while.

I had one lady remark on how incredibly calm I was as a mother. I have even had poison control thank me for being calm and acting quickly. I don't particularly think I am that calm. I just know that if I freaked out about everything I would have died from a heart attack long ago. It might, however, explain the gray hair:)

For example, one day last week the Fireball bloodied her nose. She was racing with her sister and ran face first into a wall partition. We iced it, stopped the bleeding from her nose and administered some Motrin pain reliever. I wish I could say that taught her to not run in the house, but alas I cannot. That same day our oldest son came shrieking in the house that his brother had been bitten by a raccoon. We have one sneaky, surviving raccoon in the vicinity. We had the victim come inside. He had indeed come across a raccoon. I was relieved to find out that the animal bit his rather too large rubber boot. It didn't get him hard enough to go through the boot. I have been told that raccoons are one of the worst rabies carriers. So twice in one day I had heart stopping incidents. Thankfully both without major trips to the ER necessary.

I know my children are keen on adventure, but some days boring is just fine. I probably would have darker hair. I still wouldn't trade any of them for the world or a bottle of Clairol.

New pictures and other odds and ends

Here are some cute pictures of the kiddos. Tiny Tim is adored by her brothers and sisters. They argue over who gets to hold her. They are all very helpful. They also got to play in the snow. It is getting to where only the big piles and remains of snow forts are left. All the children had fun (including the big ones:)

We had a quiet and uneventful New Year. After all of the adventures we have been having it is good to be boring for a bit. We hope everyone is having a great 2008 so far.

Christmas Adventures

Here are some pictures from the past few days. We have had quite the adventuresome Christmas this year.

We currently have about 6 inches of snow and it is still snowing. We have had snow off and on since Christmas day. Our beautiful new baby decided to arrive at 8:30a.m. on the 26th.

Christmas saw us celebrating at Oma's house. Our oldest boy went home with family to spend the night at their house. We got home and got sort of organized with stuff. You know how sort of must be with six children's Christmas presents, left overs and snowsuits to put away. We were getting ready for bed that night when the power went out due to downed trees. We put the big girls and remaining son downstairs on the sleeper sofa because they had no night lights in their room. That Samboy did an awesome job of staying calm and helped his sisters too. We got power back around midnight.

The Ole Daddy Rabbit got up to go to work. He was informed that he needed to call our midwife and not go to work. We called the midwife once. We weren't going to go in quite yet. Then we found out we REALLY needed to go. We then lost power again. Our cell phone was down because it hadn't been plugged in. The Ole Daddy Rabbit raced to get Oma to stay with the other children. We called the midwife from the van because the car charger worked. It then took us two hours to make the trip. We passed some downed trees as well as a couple of cars that had slid off the side.

We made it there in one piece. Our midwife never lost power:) The power came back on at home. Timarie Joy arrived with one push. She has eclipsed her brother with the biggest baby status at 9lbs. 3oz. He still holds the record at 23" because she only measured 22".

Everyone is home and safe. We are snowbound right now. The Ole Daddy Rabbit built forts and had snow fights with all the kiddos (except the baby). You seem to have two choices when stuck together like this: You learn to love each other and work as a team or there is chaos. We seem to be choosing the former. All is good and we are thankful to God for that.

Blessed

Some days I get reminded that God is taking care of us even in the little things. Today we were at the store. The store manager walked up to us and handed us a 25 dollar gift certificate for groceries from someone. It was signed Santa Claus, but the children and I all know it was from God:) It was hard not to cry at that simple act of kindness towards us. We have so much to be grateful for. We have always been warm, clothed and fed. We even get some wants as well as needs met. I am always amazed when God shows us that He is real and He does indeed take care of His people.

Late Soccer Pix

This is our soccer team this year. Can you pick our beautiful princess out of the bunch? I will give you a hint: She's the only girl.

Our oldest daughter played soccer this year. This is the whole team (we did have one other girl that showed up sometimes). Even though we had a small team they were undefeated the whole season. They played hard and practiced good sportsmanship. We were very proud of the whole team. Our girl played hard enough to keep up with the boys. She also did so in her modest capri pants and her pink shin guards:) It was worth all the travel time, coaching and other inconveniences. We worked together as a family. I got a certificate for coaching. Our princess got a trophy. We all got cake and goodies. Not a bad deal.

Steamy Gossip

The Ole Daddy Rabbit has a new job! He is still going to be working at the mill, but he has a new position. It is called Fuel Tending. It is working with the Steam Boiler that fuels the kilns. He is going to be challenged with learning new things. He will also get a chance at furthering his schooling. It is a great opportunity for him. We are so proud of him.

The schedule will take some getting used to as well as the extra time he might need for school. I know some people might be surprised, but I am such a rut person. I get things in a system and I have a hard time getting out. This is a good opportunity for me to learn to be more flexible (yet again). That seems to be the big lesson in my life: flexibility. I need to rely on the Lord so much more when life is not static. Life, in general, tends to throw us curves. Since I have six, almost seven, children and live in the backwoods you can imagine how curvy my life can be. Also if you consider that we engage in many atypical activities like homeschooling and homebirthing, we are in for quite the ride. We might as well break out the refreshments and revel in it.

MR. HEATH,
We are soooo very proud of you. You are awesome. Good-on-ya!

Irony

n. a combination of circumstances or a result that is opposite of what might be expected or considered appropriate.

Not too long ago I won some books, wonderful books. The books titles are all something like "Clutter's Last Stand" and "Make Your House Do the Work." I have six children, a medium size house and not a whole lotta storage room. I am constantly recycling to the thrift store, making the children PUT THINGS WHERE THEY BELONG, and assigning various chores to be done. The irony is that these wonderful books are sitting in a pile of to-be-put-away-when-I-find-a-space. They also seem to be wandering since the boys think the cartoons in the book are hysterical.

In my defense, I do have all of my Christmas things finished, delivered or in the mail. I have made cookies with the children. We made goodies to deliver to neighbors. We have read together, played games together etc. I am also due tomorrow with our seventh baby. I am trying not to feel badly that it is 10:00a.m. and I am still in my jammies. I think it is better to observe the irony and laugh rather than compare myself to my perception of other "perfect" homeschool moms. I might have to include some of this stuff in our next poll:)

I Finally Can Do Videos!

My friend, the awesome and wonderful Bucca, has shown me how to post a video to my blog. This one is incredible. I cried the first time I saw it. The message is great!

Well, I got that to work!

I actually got the poll thing to work. I am very exctited. Of course, this blogspot stuff does make things a little easier then some of the other ones I have seen. I am going to see what else I can do with the site. You know, in all my spare time:)

I really don't wanna...

I think most of us don't want to suffer. I will admit that I don't want to sign up for that one. I am getting closer to our due date and it causes me to think of pain and suffering. We receive the Desiring God e-mail. Today's was about suffering. It is the second time I have seen an article about the same passage recently. I don't know what God is saying. I do know that looking back over my life that all the suffering that I have seen (in a limited scope compared to others) has drawn me closer to the Lord.

I know, just like in childbirth, that suffering is no fun while it endures. I also know that when I hold that precious child in my arms that they are worth it. So it makes me wonder why the idea of suffering makes me fear so much. I know that Jesus will hold me in His arms and it will be worth it. See what happens when I am nine months pregnant? I remember my dreams and I get very deep.

Well, those are my deep thoughts for today. Maybe I should see about embedding a poll on my sidebar. I could see what we should name our new baby. I know some one rooting for Tebecca. Weird!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I am so excited about my Christmas craft projects. I downloaded a free e-book awhile ago. The home made gift ideas all started out with supplies I have laying around my house. We are trying to live within a budget and get ready for Christmas. I made seven presents last night that used left over socks and mittens, ribbon, wood and some paint. I was quite pleased with the results. Unfortunately, I am not able to post pictures or brag too much because some recipients of said gifts are my only avid readers. More importantly my huband was impressed with the results. I think he was doubtful of the end product when looking at my raw materials.

I have pretty much all my Christmas stuff done. I am trying to be cheerful and thankful. I have a great husband. I have Christmas things done. I have indoor plumbing. If anyone thinks the last one is strange talk to our pastor that just spent two weeks in Botswana. I have only 2 weeks left until our due date and I am extremely uncomfortable. I am trying to not grumble and complain. Unfortunately, on this issue as well, I am uncomfortable enough to not try very hard. That is one reason I haven't blogged as much recently. I am usually tired and crabby. So I am either resting or not in the mood to post anything witty. I hope one day soon that we will be posting about our beautiful baby soon. I know I will be feeling better then. That and my family won't laugh at me while I try to tie my shoes!

We will see...

I am still having trouble loading pictures from our camera to anything useful for me. The Ole Daddy Rabbit has gotten it to work. I need to sit down with him and have him show me some things.

This is our little bug baby. She to a glow worm for Christmas last year. It became her lovey toy. It even made it into our friends' wedding pictures! Over the garage sale months we picked up another one. We some how ended up with three. Then we lost one shopping. Now we have two again. She calls them "buggies." She sleeps with both of them. I actually got a good picture of all of them to upload on the web:)

We are getting ready for Christmas. We are going to make our craft projects this Sat. Then we should be about ready for Christmas. That is a good thing because some day soon we SHOULD have a baby. They never check with your schedule though. I remember being sooooo excited with our first born. I had everything washed and stacked and all three weeks before his due date. When that came and went I had to rewash everything and put it back away. Still we need to be prepared.

We now have new glass in our woodstove. I broke it yesterday. We have snow so number two son and I raced to town to get it replaced. We are so thankful for the good weather and Oma's wonderful babysitting.

And I saw her face...

There are so many wonderful things that come with technology. One is the beauty of ultrasound. Our wonderful midwife, Laura, has an ultrasound machine at her office. We get to take a peak at the amazing work going on in my womb every month or so. With five weeks left until our due date there is quite a bit of clarity. We got to see our precious one's little face yesterday. It makes the backaches and the physical discomforts so worth it. After our appointment last night the Ole Daddy Rabbit and I got to go out to eat all by our lonesomes! The beauty of having an easily-bribable babysitter nearby! The Country Cousin has an all-you-can-eat buffet of ribs, fried chicken and the trimmings. Unfortunately, all I can eat is one serving, but it is good stuff.

Another wonderful blessing is having children getting big enough to really be helpful. The older ones rotate duties concerning the dining room. All the children have regular chores to do. I am starting to drag with the last month of pregnancy. This morning my boys started a fire and got the house warm. The oldest daughter made hot chocolate for everyone. I eventually got up to a warm house and minimal breakfast duty. It was such a blessing. It is also a big blessing to have a peaceful, joyous home. It has not always been thus. I have learned that happily ever after is a myth. With diligent commitment, prayer and the Lord's Grace peace that passes all understanding is attainable. I will take that any day over living in Neverland (because Neverland is always a promise of tomorrow and tomorrow never gets here).