All I do is Update anyway...

After some thought, we decided to disconnect from our internet and go to cell phones only. This will save us a fairly significant amount of money each month and considering our rural phone company doesn't have competition (other than cell phones), prices aren't cheap on internet service around here.
It is with deep regret that my blogging days will be very few and I'll probably just be updating when I can (no deep posting, to my regret) until we decide to reconnect with the world wide web again (if a good deal becomes available).
So, for a smallish update....
We had a very busy summer, and a fast one at that. We thoroughly enjoyed church activities such as youth camp and our annual campmeeting, both held at our church. We gardened this year, as usual, having a nice harvest of corn, a reasonable harvest of green beans and even a successful bout of tomatoes (although not enough to can or make sauce). We even took a nice vacation to the beach at the end of August and had a great time (maybe next time I can upload some pictures of our vacation/summer).
At the beginning of summer we announced to our family/friends that our FIFTH baby was on the way! After some complications (the loss of a twin) and some worries, I am now great with child (in my 25th week) and it looks like another 10 pound BOY will join us late December.
The kids are all doing great, in their 3rd week of school and we are honestly having a great school year. The Lord has really helped me to be able to plan our days effectively and given me a sense of peace about the rest of our days happenings. The two littles play and manage well while we do school. I'm really enjoying it and am managing to stay pretty organized with our schooling. Maybe it's the pregnancy? :) I'm already nesting...cleaning out my fridge top to bottom, cleaning out WAY overdue kitchen cabinets, decluttering (nothing like a successful yard sale to motivate one to declutter again). :)
We have just planted a few things for the fall--turnips, collards, kale, spinach, broccoli, lettuce, and a few fall flower seeds to the mix. :) Maybe, just Maybe my 2nd trimester energy will hold through until the third.
My littlest just turned TWO last week and she is such an absolute JOY! I figure I will end up with 15 kids because I just enjoy each child at each stage so much that I sure dread the day when I have no more two year olds!! :) I will try my hardest to update a picture of my sweet two year old mess! :)
Well, that is all for now. If I still have readers/commenters (can't blame anyone for leaving), I will try to blog once weekly if possible. :) I learn so much from my blog friends and feel you are a vital tool to my spirituality and general well being. :)
God Bless richly!

All in A Day

I’m happy to be participating in a new series, I guess you could say, which focuses on what life is like in a large family. Now, my family is probably still on the small-ish side, but I do have four children under the age of eight, so life is a bit busy and full.

Here are the others who are participating:

Carrie @ Our Full House <http://www.ourfullhouse.com/>
Elizabeth @ Yes They <http://yes-theyre-all-ours.blogspot.com/> 're All Ours
Kathy @ Kathy Mom of <http://www.kathymomofmany.blogspot.com/> Many
Kristy @ Homemaker's Cottage <http://www.homemakerscottage.org/>
Lori @ Happy Busy Mama <http://1happybusymama.blogspot.com/>
Renee @ Bakers Dozen <http://bakersdozen.typepad.com/>

Please feel free to link up if you would like to share your full life with us!

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If this is your first time visiting, let me introduce myself. I am Natural Mama, which I use because I still can’t get used to using my real name on the internet. :)

I am happily married and have been for 2 years which translates to 12 years (where has time gone?). I have four children, two boys and two girls, ages 8, 5, 3, and 1.

We live in the South and in the country. I have always lived in the country and absolutely would loathe city life. I just know it. We have an old house that we are remodeling (slowllllly) and it gets a bit drafty in the winter and a bit, hot, in the summer. We have lots of romping grounds on which our kids can, romp, stomp, and just be country kids.

We have chickens and we hope to add a few more small scale livestock to our farm as time progresses. I lived on a farm as a child, but sadly, I could have been found inside with a book most days (which translates as I don’t know as much as I should about raising animals).

We love music in our family, have a singing group (with our best friends) and sing a few dates out of the year. I have played piano since a small child and now currently play at my church. My husband is a songwriter and has written songs for a few Southern Gospel groups. He is an awesome singer, in my opinion (and everyone else’s who knows him) but is truly humble about his ability. We really, really love to sing and play music. I teach piano to 6 students once weekly and he teaches guitar during that time. It gives me some extra money to help decorate our home! :)

We homeschool 3 of our children and I hope to share with you soon about our homeschooling days. I taught school for almost 5 years and felt very convicted to homeschool our children both through reading material God lead me to and as a result of my teaching experience. I also felt convicted to stay at home with our children and have been a stay-at-home-mom for 3 years. I would rather have no earthly calling.

My husband works in Environmental Heath and has a nice state job. He also taught school for a couple of years, but the Lord opened this (way) lower stress job for him and we are so thankful. Thankfully, our environmental disasters have been few and far between since he has been working in this field.

I love to read books, especially books that I feel will help me be a better wife and mother. Second to that, I love to read books about farming, gardening, herbs, crafting, and natural living.

We cook with whole foods, try to eat organically when possible, use natural medicines.

Some of these things I share in past posts, so be sure to surf through my archives.

All in all, I am a woman like you, trying to please God with how I raise my family, trying to keep us unspotted from the world in how we live, act, and dress, and bringing God glory in all we do. We try, we fail, and try again. I am inconsistent a lot of days in bringing God glory, but with God’s grace, I will not quit trying.

For now, I’ve got one who can’t find the Peanut Butter and is most distressed, one who is crying, “Help Me” because he is falling off of the chair, and my two girls are calm as can be. For now.

Welcome.

PS. If you would like to link up to this post, for now, do so using the comments. I forgot to mention in the introductions that I'm not really great with computers.

Scarce…

Whew…let me catch my breath long enough to do what will probably be more of a photo post than anything.

Folks, summer is here. The temps are scorching, the garden is IN, and the summer festivities (Youth Camp, anyone?) are upon us.

My posting may be a bit scarce over this summer, regretfully. I think the garden will be the main reason. I normally blog in the early mornings and I’m afraid that during that time, I will be pickin’ and grinning.

Here are a few things we have been doing:

Horseback riding…Erin and her ‘boyfriend’/cousin, Blake…take note that he became her boyfriend after he rode her on his horse…. More…..

Erin & Evan…

Emory was a bit nervous…I think the older we get, the more nervous we get…

Daddy trying to coax Ella…. :)

Aren’t they beautiful?

They are in the pasture right behind my in-laws house.

More Summer things….

After some Berry Pickin’

Helping Mama de-stem the Mulberries…

Fresh Mulberries! Ready for jam…

All Crushed…I made 2 pints and 1 half-pint jar full of Mulberry jam. It is delicious! I picked more today…

~Summer Babies learning to wave bye-bye~

Cute Kids ready for YOUTH CAMP!! :)

Shucking Corn…

Country Bumpkins!

Looking for worms…

Good Garden Helper!

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I hope you will stop by for a visit this summer! I love to hear from each of you and visit your blogs. Today is Sunday and I must rest (husband’s orders…:o) and recuperate from a week of Youth Camp late hours!

Later, Tater! :) (Sorry, but I’ve sure been digging a lot of potatoes….it’s affecting my speech even. :)

This & That

I guess I have been in a sort of blogging funk for a couple of weeks, but I think it mainly boils down to my not getting up early enough to blog and not taking the time to blog during the day.

My best times to blog are in the early morning when all is quiet. If I blog any other time in the day, it’s stolen time. Time from my housework duties or time from being teacher/mom.

Ella has been in a thing where she is in bed with us every morning during the time I would get up, nursing away. I know this phase will pass soon enough, probably sooner than I will want it to, really.

More and more I find that I am becoming content with the current size of my family. I honestly believe this is the right way for us in determining our family size. I haven’t felt this way with any of my babies (and not that Ella is a terrible baby or anything—she’s absolutely wonderful), but normally I would be already thinking about the next baby. Nowadays, it seems my thoughts are more focused on getting my family raised. Getting them raised right. Helping them grow up in the ways of the Lord. Enjoying them. My current children.

Well, I haven’t put my baby clothes in a yard sale or anything and I haven’t said we won’t have number 5, but I’m more content than ever with my family. And I’m more than happy to let the Lord lead me in that area just as good as any other area of my life. :)

Well, I said this would be This & That, so topics will be very random, I’m sure.

Our Garden is coming along hugely, I mean, nicely, and I have taken some pictures to show you in a Garden Tour post for the future. We have several rows of peas, corn, one really long row of potatoes (we already have our first pickins’), string beans, okra, tomatoes, and even banana peppers. I really love gardening and while tasks like hoeing are very time consuming, I love harvesting and even shelling peas and putting them up. This year I am going to put up more canned items..Fig preserves, Muscadine Jelly, Pear Jelly/Relish, etc…

My Piano Recital is tomorrow night and I’m really looking forward to my first Piano Recital. My students have been practicing hard and I can’t wait for them to shine. Each student is playing two pieces and I have five participating (one can’t come…), so it shouldn’t last but maybe 30 minutes. I am having a small reception for them afterwards. We are taking the summer months off from piano lessons/guitar and I’m really looking forward to having free Thursday evenings/nights. I know I’ll be ready for the extra money to start back up in September. ;)

We are still doing school. We didn’t start until mid-late Sept because of Ella’s arrival, so we are late finishing up. Last week, I had Em double up on Math and this week we are supposed to be doubling up on Language, but so far because of the things mentioned in one of the below paragraphs, we haven’t done any Language this week.

Speaking of school, I know I have mentioned before, but we love reading here at our home. We love to read aloud to the children and enjoy the books as much as the kids do. A few years ago, I discovered this website of book recommendations: http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html. I ordered the first 2 or 3 books on the 4-6 reading level and read them to the kids. This was pre-Emory-reading. The other day, I discovered that book list in my Home Management Binder and I got excited about reading some of the books on the list. I ordered, The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck, Bright April by Marguerite de Angeli, and Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Brink. We have finished The Big Wave and I’ve started on Caddie Woodlawn with Erin (she begs for more chapters—think “Little House” series). Truly one of the great parts of Homeschooling for me is reading great literature together. What are you currently reading aloud in your home?

We’ve had a bit of sickness in our home lately, but God has given us strength to make it through it. I had two bouts of Mastitis, then I have had 2 sinus infections within a month. Monday evening, Evan woke up with a really high fever, complained with a sore throat, and vomited before bed. Ella woke up in the night with a high fever. I very rarely take my kids to the doctor (I have my reasons for avoiding the dr.) but I knew Evan had Strep Throat from his symptoms. I wasn’t sure about Ella, but if she had it, I knew things wouldn’t be good with her being so little. She checked out okay, but is still running fever this morning. I guess she is just fighting off getting strep? Anyway, I know things could be worse, but I am ready to be well.

Overall, life is happening. I am busy trying to keep my home tidy, washing/hanging out clothes, cooking, & caring for little ones. All with trying to give my honey some attention, but not really the amount he deserves. :/

I’ve been enjoying reading your blogs. My current favorite blog from my blog list is Katy’s from Country Blossom. She has such a sweet spirit and I love to read about her days. She has some good archives too. Check her out.

May your day be filled with God’s love and your daily life be led by His Spirit. :) :)

Simple, Stupendous (?), Stormy Saturday

Although it is now Sunday, and we are all resting:

I wanted to share my great Simple Saturday that my family and I had yesterday. First off, Tornado Warnings/Watches were out practically all day long and it was very stormy. Usually, the weather will set my mood. Isn’t that the way it goes? I was so thankful for the rain (gardening, anyone?) that I did not let the storm invade my mind and ruin my good mood (weird how those 2 words indeed, do not rhyme).

I got the house clean fast (which is rare), we ate a big breakfast and just hung out while the rains fell. Don’t you just love to hang out with your family? :)

After noon, we decided to go up to my in laws to visit and maybe play some board games. I love to hang out with my in laws just as much as my own family and I’m thankful for that. We played Clue and Scrabble and ate and snacked and held babies and ate again and, well, it was just as if it had been a holiday. Fun, fun!

You see, if it had been sunny, we would’ve been busy outside doing this and that and we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of enjoying each other’s company.

So, sometimes Storms are a good thing.

And that was my Simple, albeit, Stormy, Saturday.

PS. Don’t forget to sign up for my Giveaway! Even if you don’t have a blog, sign in as anonymous and give me your Email or tell me who you are and I’ll enter you. I will leave the giveaway up until Wednesday, 10 pm.

This week…

Just thought I’d share a bit of what’s going on this week at our home…

*The kids have all had some sort of bug this week. I know the three youngest have had ear infections (Dr. Mom’s always-accurate-diagnosis) and at least two has had a throat infection (one w/fever…strep?). Anyway, I have started several times to take them to the doctor, but I haven’t. I know exactly what they will do/give them. I’ve got to the point where we don’t go to the doctor unless it’s something we haven’t seen before.

Oh, and the pink eye. Two currently have the pink eye and one who currently looks favorable for having it. I am giving them Homeopathic Pink Eye drops from Similasan.

Basically Easter left us with her colors: Yellow for Pollen. Pink for Pink Eye. Green for Snot Mucous. Fun, Fun.

*We have some out-of-town relatives camping out right down the road (actually, through the woods) from us this week, so we are enjoying visiting with them. Last night they had a BBQ, so we had a good time visiting around the campfire. Evan started running a fever and just really being whiney, so I had to cut the visit short. Nevertheless, the kids have been enjoying riding the go-cart and four wheeler with their cousin.

*My hubby took Monday off to help me with the sick babies, so basically we had a late Saturday (since our Sat was spent ruining someone’s wedding singing/practicing at a wedding). We had an awesome day together as a family. We got the grass mowed, I worked in my flowers (have lots of daylilies this yr), had a nice lunch together, etc. I wish I could pay my hubby to stay home w/us, but I haven’t come up with enough funds…:o)

*Kindergarten is going great for Erin. It is really fun seeing her learn! Also, Ella is crawling and saying, “Hey, Da-da”. :) She has really advanced faster than my others. Whew! How can I keep up? :) She is sooooo sweet.

*We were planning to go to KY with our youth to a conference, but we cancelled at the last minute. Our trip was basically paid for, but we came up with more reasons not to go than to go. :) We are such homebodies. :) But really, it is hard work taking young babies on long trips! Especially young sick babies.

*Today we are headed to Birmingham, my husband has to go for a checkup. We always turn these trips into a fun, family outing. I plan to let the kids play at a nearby park while he has his appointment (yea, I know, the pink eye..so shoot me—really it is a huge playground, so I don’t we will be near anyone). Then we will get to eat out which is sort-of rare for us.

*We had a good Easter. I took a few pics but I’ve got to get new batteries for my camera before I can upload them. We got to see a few family members we don’t get to see very often.

Well, that’s what is going on with us this week! You?

Porn in the checkout

Yikes, I feel sinful even posting this picture!

You know, ladies, do you ever have those moments where something happens and you just want to say, “Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus”? I did today.

I took my kids shopping with me (keeps me an humble mother, ya know, taking all 4 to Wal Mart) and as I got into the checkout line I noticed right off, three immodest magazine covers. One had a super, sexy, skinny, bikini- clad model on it; the second one had a very provocatively-posed, scantily clad (Cosmopolitan, anyone?) young woman (I just can’t say lady); and the third one was just talking about ‘how to bring intimacy to your bed’, yada, yada. I mean, my kid can read, ya know?

I immediately turned the magazines over where the back faced frontwards, but my son saw what I was doing (I mean, a woman can only work so fast turning three magazines around) and when I wasn’t looking, he turned one back around. Yuck. I felt so sick to my stomach. I mumbled something about my turning them for a reason, her body was for her to see only, etc. Not sure what I said, but I wanted to scream and yell and send hate messages to Wal Mart and these magazines for putting these indecent (to put it very mildly) women on the fronts of their magazines for men to gaze upon. I mean, they are women’s magazines, people. What woman wants to see a woman dressed provocatively in a magazine for women? I don’t. Certainly these magazines have underlying ‘messages’ they want to get out to our men. Our innocent boys.

This is my first encounter with trying-to-cover-up-the-mags-at-the-counter-so-my-son-won’t-think-that-there-are-people-who-dress-differently (or don’t dress at all)-than-the-women-he-knows. I hope it’s my last.

I know my children will eventually find out about the dreaded 3 letter word. I know they will find out that there are people who have unnatural affections. I know they might see body parts that were not meant to be seen. But, with God’s help, I’m going to do everything in my (our) power to keep my little ones’ minds as innocent and pure (I like that word better). If it means ordering my groceries online for heaven’s sakes or going at 11pm or whatever it takes, I will do it.

Tonight I just want you, my readers, to know that I hope that on Judgment Day, the good Lord has some special rubies in your crowns because you were a lady. You were modest. You didn’t cause a young man to fall. You were feminine. Oh, if I could hear him say, “Well done, Child, you were a woman of God”. Praise the Lord. This world is not my home.

God Bless my mom who always took a pen or a marker and literally drew sleeves on the pictures of the ladies in the magazines. She would ‘up’ their necklines. She made bikinis into one-pieces. I rolled my eyes at it then, but now, I say, “I understand, Mom”.

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Speaking of Feminine, don’t forget to join us tomorrow for Feminine Friday. Take a picture of YOU looking feminine and link up with us! PS Don’t go to pangs to get extra spiffed…I’m just wearing what I normally would. :)

My Afternoon & Evening….Monday

If you didn't ready my Morning post, please scroll down and read it below this post...it will make things a lot less confusing!

Sorry for the delay….let’s get back to my day! :)

Kids start school at 12pm. I start my oldest daughter in Kindergarten today as she is now 5 years old. She does really well and is super excited!

In the near future I hope to do a Home School Day post…. Here Erin is doing a shapes worksheet (coloring the shapes that have equal sides) and Emory is doing his Bible Study that he does on Monday. You can’t see Evan, but I think he was playing with Play-Doh.

Around 12:15, I put a chicken in the Crock Pot to thaw and cook for tonight’s unknown supper. I’ll think of something between now and then (I ended up using it to make Chicken Salad Sandwiches for the following day’s lunch).

I am beginning to feel the weak trembles (as my Grandmother use to say) from the empty calorie Honey Bun I ate for Breakfast, so I snack on pecans. I start lunch which consisted of leftover Vegetable Venison Soup and Garlic Toast.

Very yummy and satisfying. I have the picky-est daughter in the world, so she just had toast. Sometimes we will make her eat 2 or 3 bites during our supper meal, but for lunch she can eat fruit or something else healthy instead. I don’t give her a bag of chips or a hot dog while we eat healthy. :)

At 12:30, the Living Room now looks like this:

My motto for this picture is, “We’re not trying to have a clean house, just a lot of fun.” :)

Ella awakes at 12:55 and I feed her somewhere between 1-2pm. (The details start to get sketchy here…)

At 2pm, I read Evan a Max and Ruby story (notice my nice posture and Ella’s hunger for paper pages)

and it is time for his nap. He goes to sleep instantly.

At 3, Ella is back down for her late afternoon nap. The laundry now looks like this (sorry so dark):

I am still washing clothes…lots of cleaning/straightening is still to be done!

Emory is still working on schoolwork at 3:23. He is very distracted today. Not misbehaving, but just very distracted. My husband says that is just how he was. For example, Emory’s chore (I skipped posting about chores somehow) was to sweep their bedroom. It takes him about 10 minutes because he finds sweeping at the light fixture and ceiling fan more entertaining. Distracted.

Erin is supposed to be napping at this time, but we still haven’t done her reading (I’m just starting to teach her to read).

At 3:30, Erin is down for her nap after finishing reading. She is still not thrilled about learning—maybe she was sleepy?

I had a small break here to myself while Emory did his outside chores (his daddy assigns him a different outside job to do daily). Today it was picking up some sticks that had fallen by the house.

While he was outside and the others asleep, I worked on the Living Room and did more laundry.

At 4:00 Emory and I do his Language and History. He learned about the articles, a, an, and the. In History, he learned about Chinese calligraphy/pictograms and how they were the first to write this way.

At this time, my dear husband called to ask if we wanted to eat at the new Mexican restaurant in town. He had received a gift cert from the Home School Asso. at where he spoke.

We were delighted. Sorry, Mr. Chicken, you can wait until tomorrow. :)

Ella is awake at 4:15 and at 4:45 Emory is finally finished with school with the exception of reading. Here he is reading his current favorite books, the Hardy Boys. Check out where his foot is and who might or might not be chewing on his toes…

After this, things become a blur…. I get fixed up a bit, get the kids up and we go eat Mexican.

My husband has to practice with his singing group for an upcoming singing, so the kids and I come back home (he takes the oldest son with him). I let the kids watch a DVD or either play the computer (I don’t remember).

Bath times follow soon after and I start putting away the clothes that now look like this:

The kids are in bed by about 9:30 and I finish picking up—still not tidy as I would like, but at 10:00, I take my bath and got to bed, resisting the temptation to blog about my day. :)

Simple Saturday

I feel like I’m still out of breath on the weekends because my weeks are so busy—filled with serving the ones I love. From sunup to sundown, I’m cooking 3 meals (mostly), washing, washing, washing, straightening, making beds, training kids, playing, sweeping, the list is endless. And I’m sure you’re busy doing all of these things. Things that can get mundane and boring IF we forget for whom we are doing these things.

Speaking of sunup, I have failed miserably on my getting up early this week. Something about the time change and Ella’s teething and cold has me resting too comfortably come 5am. It is my prayer that things get to normal this coming week.

Thus, my lack of blogging. It is close to impossible to blog during the day, so I have to do my blogging in the early am hours. My MIL is keeping Ella for a little while this afternoon while we get our garden up and going, so I have squeezed in a free moment in between supper and Evan’s nap. Whew. Don’t you feel tired? I do. :)

We have started our garden today! I know, I know, there is snow in the forecast for Monday…isn’t that incredulous? But, alas, the potatoes are going in the ground as we (s)speak(/s) type, the corn is being planted, the tractor motor is revving, and the kids and I have already planted a few things.

Here she is, Ms. FIVE year old Gardener, cutting the potatoes, being careful to leave the eyes.

Trying to plant seeds, while Gabby the dog just wants to plant a little love. She planted carrots and I mean, did she plant some. She put about 20+ seeds in each section, so hmm…I just let her do her thang, yk? :)

Evonious, taking a water break from all the hard labor. Whew!

The ensemble (said in French, yk)

A few styrofoam cups for some flower seeds and spinach

Will we see green in a few weeks?!?

A hope you had a wonderful Saturday. God has been so tremendous to me this week. Oh my. Don’t be afraid to seek after the Lord and ask Him the impossible. My cup runneth over. Amen.

I still have so many things to blog about that rolls over in my mind. I believe that every day I actually construct a blog in my mind, but sadly, it never gets to your eyes. :/

Off to retrieve the clothes off of the line and to check on the Venison Stew I’m cooking for supper. Have a Blessed, Blessed Weekend!

On Determining Family Size...

After much thought, I believe I've narrowed the determining factors of family size to 3: 1. Have as many children as you want, 2. Have as many children as you think is convenient for your family or situation, and 3. Have as many children as you think God wants you to have. You can let me know if I've missed one.

Which one is the right factor?

So, how is it that our society has come to the general thought that having more-kids-than-is-popular a *bad* thing? The attitude really isn't, "Well it's their business, they can have as many as they want", rather, it's more like this: "They are trying to get attention" or "That's too many kids" (which was recently said to us, about us, by a woman at a restaurant). What has happened to cause our society to think this way? I really believe it started with the Feminist Movement. Women were influenced to think that they shouldn't have the *burden* of having all those children, they should be given the power to choose! So comes the birth control pill. I really would love to know how Christian women really felt after being some of the first to give in to taking the birth control pill. I wonder if they felt guilt, at first? Now, of course, I'm sure many, many Christian women take the *pill* as did I for a few years when I first married. I know I really didn't feel guilty. But, I wonder how women felt before BC pills became the norm?

Since this is my blog and sort of my journal, I'm just going to blog my feelings about, well...how I feel. However, I would love your input on this topic and hope you'll leave me a comment at the end of this blog.

Back to the topic. Next, of course, came the wonderful (said most sarcastically) media influence. TV and Media affect everything, it seems. Sitcoms began showing 2 or 3 children, max. You never saw (or see) large families in commercials.

Lastly, there is a sense of selfishness in our time. No one can afford large families. You can't give each child adequate attention, you know. It isn't fair for a sibling to have to spend time helping another sibling. Blah, blah, blah... I believe this is the reason that disgusts me the most. I worked with a lady who, upon hearing I was pregnant with #3, would constantly remind me of how expensive her 2 girls are. Surely I didn't know how much car insurance for teenagers costs or Heaven forbid, Prom dresses!

Now, there are other reasons couples choose not to have large families, such as health reasons or unable to bear more, but I won't go into those. In fact, I'm not even going to pursue the above reasons, but shift my blog to a more personal level.

Growing up, I rarely played with dolls as did my sister. Babies were okay, but it wasn't me who always had somebodies' baby on her hip. When I got married, I knew I wanted kids, definitely 2, probably 3. We waited about 2 & 1/2 years (thanks to the BC pill) and then my son was born. It wasn't until after my daughter was born and I started reading several Child Training books and books on Natural Health that I began thinking that maybe I wanted more kids. Like 4. My husband and I felt (and still feel) a real calling to be Godly parents who raise our children different from today's norm.

I still don't know how I feel about having a large family, which I guess is interpreted, I still don't know if I'm supposed to have a large family. If I said anything of significance in this blog it would be this: I still don't know how I feel about having a large family. Yes I do, I feel terrified. I feel inadequate. But, one thing is for sure. I honestly feel convicted when I think about stopping my family growth. Which leads me to more thoughts. Thoughts of: Is God convicting me to have a large family because He wants to do something great with us? Which leads to more thoughts of: Does he actually call people to have large families? Or...does the whole world have it all wrong (minus The Duggars) and we should all be just letting God Take Charge of our Fertility? Today I was rocking the baby, contemplating over this post and the scripture came to about God giving us children as gifts. When We take charge of our fertility, aren't we stopping God from giving us gifts in His time? You know, and really it's funny how we ask God to take control of our lives, but yet, we control our family size? Hmm...just some thoughts for you to contemplate.

Most women say that can't handle that many children. "Mine are enough to drive me crazy", they say. I have found the answer to child training and that is in the Bible. I could do a whole post on that, but for now, let's get back to my thoughts, in summary, which are...

1. Are certain women actually convicted to have more children? (Which, in turn, would mean they are sinning if they decide against having more..right?)

2. Are we all really supposed to let God have His way in our fertility, like He does in the rest of our lives?

3. Then, there's the husband. What does He say? Of course, he is our head, so maybe we can just hope he only wants 3 and go with that because, after all, he's the head? :) (Sounds good to me..which is, ultimately, who I consult and who I will obey.:o)

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Especially if you have 2 or 3 kids and feel done. Then maybe that will lead me to think some are just *chosen* to have large families?? If you are done, but have regrets, I would love to hear from you as well. Furthermore, be nice, please, if you think people are loony bins for having large families. I'm sure they feel loony at times without your reminding them. If you don't have a blog, you can leave a comment as "Anonymous". If it doesn't go thru with the first try, repost again.

Off to bed to get ready for tomorrow's SNOW day!! Yea!

Video Recs

In the past few weeks, we have purchased a few videos that we thought would be beneficial to our family. We are focusing on viewing more things individually and as a family that will be educational or spiritual instead of strictly entertaining. For Christmas, we got us (as a family) these Moody Bible Institute Science Videos. If you want yourself or your children to experience God as the Creator, get these videos. With each one you watch, you will be exclaiming over just how awesome your God is. They are very interesting and super informative. Even my 4 year old wants to watch a 'Science video'. Of course, my 7 year old loves them. He has his favorites already.
I got the Homesteading for Beginners Video for Christmas from my husband. I was excited right away because it was Pearl-related and I love products by the Pearls (from No greater Joy Ministries). It is so wonderful and incredibly entertaining. My children love it also because it has children in it. I can't recommend it highly enough. I think I might just be able to butcher a chicken after watching it. Really. Get it now.
Lastly, we got the videos, The Joy of Training and Teaching Responsibility from Michael and Debi Pearl. They are just fantastic. Most of the material covered in the video I had already read in their books/articles, but it was so interesting to see Mike Pearl in action and to see the photographs/videos. Very good child training videos. I just wish every parent in the world could watch and utilize the wisdom imparted in these videos. Wonderful.
Let me know if you have any family friendly video recs or if you have any comments regarding my recommendations.