June 23, 2008

To Adapt:

to make suitable to requirements or conditions; adjust or modify fittingly
to adjust oneself to different conditions, environment, etc
to make suitable to or fit for a specific use or situation.

To Conform:

to act in accordance or harmony; comply
to act in accord with the prevailing standards, attitudes, practices, etc., of society or a group
to be or become similar in form, nature, or character.
to be in harmony or accord.
to make similar in form, nature, or character.
to bring into agreement, correspondence, or harmony.


Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Ezekiel 11:12 And you will know that I am the LORD, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you."

James 4:4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?

John 17:15-16 "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world”


Lately I've been thinking. (Big surprise, huh) And I've talked to people. Christian people. And in the process I've realized that as a whole, we're becoming pretty invisible in the world. Instead of adapting to the world and figuring out how to live in it, I think, sadly, most of us have conformed. We might go to church, we might even get the Bible out once in a while, but what is there about us that makes us different? Is there anything that makes us stand out? If you pass me on the street, is there anything about me that would make you say - hey, she's different. Is there anything that would make you want to ask me what it is that gives me that "something different"?

Paul told us not to give offense, and to become "all things to all people" in order to win them. That tells me pretty clearly that I'm not supposed to stand on a street corner with a sign that says "You're Going to Hell" and beating people with a Bible. ;)

But we are, I am, supposed to stand out. Not offensively, not judgmentally, but with the aim to lovingly inspire people. To make them want to know what it is that makes me different. WHY am I joyful (am I?) - WHY am I content (am I?) - WHY do the trials of life not overwhelm me (do they?)

1 Peter 3:15 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.


A closing thought:

Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

June 11, 2008

We have acquired two new additions to our family this week...

"Super Fishie" - a red male betta who has taken up decorative residence on our dining room table. He doesn't seem to care much for the flake betta food we bought, so I think we may be picking up an alternate food tomorrow. He's nibbling at it, but not with what I would call healthy gusto.

"Super Caterpillar" - a little friend we found in the driveway today while outside and who we're watching in a plastic mini-habitat for a few days to see what happens. He/She seems to be quite content to have an endless supply of bite-size grass and leaves.

The caterpillar will be part of our nature study habit... we're still working on the nature book as well. So far:

A - Alders
B - Buds
C - Clover
D -
E -
F - Feather
G - Grass
H -
I -
J -
K -
L - Leaves
M - Moss
N -
O -
P -
Q -
R -
S - Sticks
T -
U -
V -
W -
X -
Y -
Z -

It's kind of an ongoing project... and some of those letters are going to be tough!



Very cool news on this particular subject! This project is going to be included in the Nature Study E-book being published by The Old Schoolhouse, a homeschool magazine I subscribe to. (Highly Recommended!!!!!!)

http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com

The great (lack of) TV experiment

Today officially marks the start of our foray into the world of no satellite TV. We'll see how it goes. My logic goes like this...

C is the only one who watches TV, except for a weekly episode of Truth Duty Valour, and some nightly so-called entertainment in the form of Family Guy and Futurama.

Most of C's programs are reruns anyway, and all the shows she enjoys are available on DVD.

If I buy her two DVDs a month, I'm ahead about $40 a month, and she can watch the shows she likes as often as she wants with no commercial interruption.

So far, so good, although by the end of today I admit to being pretty tired of the Hello Kitty theme music.

Book Review: The Wonder Weeks

Book Review: The Wonder Weeks

I honestly can't say enough good things about this book. Every time C hit a rough spot as a baby, I found the explanations here.

The Wonder Weeks breaks down the baby's first year or so according to the developmental leaps that occur. Understanding what was going on inside her brain and body helped me to be more sympathetic when she was whining and clingy, or waking up through the night, or just seemed to turn into a different child overnight.

Offering suggestions on how to work through each developmental leap and turn it into an opportunity for learning and for growth, the authors also help to foster a better relationship between parent and child. It is much easier to make it through a particularly difficult week when you realize that your child has suddenly become aware of things like "mommy can leave and I can't stop her" or "I am a distinct person and not just a part of my mommy". Learning new things like motor skills, size & shape relationships, etc changes the baby's perception of the world and leads to a time of confusion - and it takes a little while for everything to settle again. Patience and encouragement from a loving caregiver will help the baby to get through each stage more smoothly and with the best results for everyone.

I highly recommend this book to all new parents, and to anyone going to a baby shower. It honestly made my life SO much better.

A quick update on the family

I guess we can say that A is crawling, as of today. It's a little clumsy, but she is definitely moving forward using both hands and both knees in a semi-coordinated fashion. When she gets close to her goal, she takes a lunge forward... hopefully she doesn't keep this up when she starts walking! LOL

C's sick with another cold. Honestly, the way kids pass around colds and flus is almost enough to make me want to become a hermit for the next five years. She was an insanely healthy kid for the first two years of her life, didn't even have a sniffle until she was over a year old. But since we started going to things like playgroups, classes and birthday parties, she's been sick probably once a month. *sigh* I know we can't really just lock ourselves away, because we'd ALL go crazy, but sometimes it's tempting.

We lost a family member this week, when Princess decided to yet again place herself in harm's way by bolting across in front of a car. I swear, I don't know why cats and birds have this kamikaze thing going on. Thankfully, I discovered her before C did and quickly removed the evidence. It was just another reminder that living on a blind crest in the middle of this particular road is a hazardous thing. Cars, trucks and bikes go through here at some pretty crazy speeds.



And as for the rest of our life...

Hubby's announcement is out, and the world is discovering that yes, we really are closing up the store, and yes, he really does want to join the military. Not the Army, as some have heard, and not the RCMP, but the Air Force. We're looking forward to it. I won't say I'm excited about the prospect of being a single parent for the better part of a year while he's in training - that would be just crazy. But I am looking forward to the opportunities, to the community activities that will be available to the kids, and oddly enough I'm looking forward to moving. Weird, I know. In the meantime, though... what a lot of work needs to be done!!

I've started an album on my facebook page where I'm posting pictures in and around the house as I get my various projects finished. There are many that I want to do, but I guess only time will tell how many of them actually get done. Currently I'm working on landscaping when the weather is good, and painting when it's not so nice. The master bedroom is halfway through having the plaster repaired, and the bathroom will soon have new wainscotting installed. When these are done, there are more things waiting... the big debate is, which things are necessary and which are pointless. Some things are obvious... the water system needed to be installed, the oil tank needed to be replaced, the plaster needed to be repaired. But others are a little less clear... do I really need to paint over this, or take that paper down? And which projects will I reap a reward from when we agree on a selling price, vs those which will turn out to be money down the drain?

For now, I'm just moving forward a baby step at a time, doing projects as I can afford them, and wondering whether anyone out there would like to trade with me. Come mow my lawn and I'll make business cards for you! :) Paint my house and I'll make you a website!! :)

I'm about fed up

Listening to the news this morning, Nova Scotia Power has put in a request for a 12% rate increase. This just after the gov't removed an 8% rebate they were giving people as a bit of a break on power costs. So if it goes through, we're basically getting a whopping 20% increase in power rates.

Now, I'm the first to admit that I'm not really 100% green. I recycle, I separate organics, but I was motivated by municipal bylaw. I use the least toxic stuff I can find in my house, because I want to keep the kids safe, I don't like the chemical smells, and I don't want to poison my back yard. I'm not at all convinced that there's manmade global warming, and I think a lot of corporations are jumping on the green bandwagon just because there's money to be made.

But this is crazy. Between the escalating costs of gas, oil and electricity, I think we're spending more now on heat, lights and transportation than we are on our mortgage!

So anyway... all venting aside... I want to find some ways to cut the electric bill.

I already use the fluorescent bulbs. Hate them, but I use them. I haven't seen any decrease in the power bill, and two have burned out in the last six months, so I don't know if I'm actually ahead or not.

I wash most of our clothes in cold water, I use warm for towels, sheets and kids' light colored clothes. I have a high efficiency washer and dryer that use less water and less power.

I stopped running the dehumidifier once I realized they burn through about $50/month.

As of today I'm going to do most of the dishwashing by hand instead of running the dishwasher.

I switched to a laptop which goes on standby overnight, removing the always-on desktop from our power consumption.

I'm going to look for some of those LED nightlights and thus eliminate the two lamps we leave on for C all night.

I'm going to go down and turn down the temperature on the hot water heater when I get a chance.

And other ideas as they come to me...

Quick update...

Busy busy with websites, lots of new clients. Very exciting. :-)

The girls are doing great, C is active and bright, and making huge strides of independence. Latest accomplishments are putting on her own shoes, getting dressed with minimal help, putting on her own jacket and actually she can do the zippers about half the time on her own! She has all her letters down and is starting to learn to print some of them, can type her name and is working on learning to print it... she gets so proud :-)

A is an adorable ball of baby chub. She's got two bottom teeth, is starting to get around on the floor, and is sitting up really well on her own. She is still nursing and also starting on some baby foods... so far we've tried and liked rice, oatmeal, wheat, peaches, applesauce, pears, banana, peas, green beans, yellow beens, sweet potato, white potato, and tastes of broccoli and watermelon. Yesterday she had a Farley's biscuit and was utterly enthralled.

Since it's springtime we put out a birdfeeder and have been seeing a lot of activity. We're starting a bird book this week, a little scrapbook where we're going to do a page on every kind of bird we can think of. Art meets science. C already loves doing 'school' work, I think she might take after me just a bit. :-)