Sunday, May 28, 2006

Poe-Key-Toes

Caleb, 4: "Mom, I don't like poe-key-toes."

Wendy, 37: "Poe-key-toes?"

Caleb: "Yes, I don't like them."

Wendy: "Poe-key-toes?? Do you mean taquitos?"

Caleb: "No, POE---KEY---TOES. I don' t like them."

Wendy: "Why don't you like poe-key-toes?"

Caleb: "I don't like poe-key-toes because they bite."

Wendy: "Oh, MO-squitoes. It's MO-squitoes. MO-squitoes is how you say it. I don't like them either."

Caleb: "Yeah, poe-key-toes. I don't like poe-key-toes."

Wendy: "I don' t like poe-key-toes either Caleb."

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

The Five Finger Prayer

1. Your thumb is nearest to you. So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you. They are the easiest to remember. To pray for our loved ones is, as C. S. Lewis oncesaid, a “sweet duty.”

2. The next finger is the pointing finger. Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal.This includes teachers, doctors, and ministers. They need support and wisdom in pointing others in the right direction. Keep them in your prayers.

3. The next finger is the tallest finger. It reminds us of our leaders. Pray for the President, leaders in business and industry, and administrators.These people shape our nation and guide public opinion. They need God’s guidance.

4. The fourth finger is our ring finger. Surprising to many is the fact that this is our weakest finger; as any piano teacher will testify. It should remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain.They need your prayers day and night.You can not pray too much for them.

5. And lastly comes our little finger the smallest finger of all which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others. As the Bible says, “The least shall be the greatest among you.” Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself. By the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective and you will be able to pray for yourself more effectively.

-author unknown
******************
"In the sheltered simplicity of the first days after a baby is born, one sees again the magical closed circle, the miraculous sense of two people existing only for each other." Anne Morrow Lindbergh
"My mother was the making of me. She was so true and so sure of me, I felt that I had someone to live for--someone I must not disappoint. The memory of my mother will always be a blessing to me." Thomas A. Edison
The war in Europe was over. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was returning to a hero's welcome in his hometown. A reporter asked his mother if she wasn't proud of her son. "Which one?" she asked.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Book review: Taking Charge of Your Fertility

While I do not care for the title of Taking Charge of Your Fertility, I do feel it is a valuable book that will help women better understand their bodies and self diagnose reproductive health and hormonal problems. While many women buy this book to either decrease or increase their odds for conceiving through the Fertility Awareness Method (this is not the Rhythym Method!!) explained throughout most of the book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility goes far beyond achieving pregnancy. TCOYF can also help you self-diagnose and correct hidden reproductive and hormonal disorders as well as give you a thorough education about how complex our bodies are made. It not only teaches you how to take your basal body temperature, but helps you interpret those temperatures in a way you can understand. It can also help you get a jump start on working with your doctor in solving problems that you have. There is also a little information in this book on men's reproductive health. I have read prenatal and women's health care textbooks consistently for 15 years and this is one of the best. I have learned more about how my body works and stand even more amazed at how fearfully and wonderfully we are created! This is a book I will keep for quite a while.
***********
"A rich child often sits in a poor mother's lap." Danish Proverb
"Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, once entertained a woman from Campania at her house. Since the woman made a great show of her jewels, which were among the most beautiful of the time, Cornelia detained her in conversation until her children came home from school. Then, pointing to her children, she said "These are my jewels." Valerius Maximus

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Stay at Home Mom Values

Salary.com has released it's annual look at how much stay at home mothers are worth in today's job market placing about $134,000 to our credit. The Mom Salary Wizard can break down some of what mothers do each day and show comparative worth in your local area with national averages.

The estimate did not look at how much we save by staying home in areas of car, gas, clothing, convenience foods, restaurants, couponing, making meals from scratch (and their health benefits and health care saving over packaged foods), daycare, etc. Salary.com also left out family historian, librarian, private instruction (for homeschooling mothers), entertainer, health care worker, seamstress, gardener, animal husbandry, accountant and many more hats we stay at home moms wear in the course of our day.

Our personal view of the worth of stay at home mothers should not come from worldly measures. Instead, we should find out what God says about the role of a mother in the home and strive to please Him. The importance He places on obedience to Scripture, the admiration of my grateful husband and the joy of knowing my own children far outweighs any salary I could receive. I often tell people who ask what career path I have chosen that I am paid in hugs and kisses. I'll take those over a paycheck any day. Some things you can't put a value on!
*********
"Any mother could perform the jobs of several air-traffic controllers with ease." ~Lisa Alther