Easter pictures

Here are the pictures I promised in the previous post. On Saturday we painted eggs. The kit came with faces that you could stick to the eggs to make silly eggs. I remember having a great time doing this as a kid.
Here is the finished project.

Here are my three girls all dressed up in their Easter dresses (the pink ones were used once before in a wedding last August) and ready to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Resurrection Sunday

On Sunday we Christians celebrated Easter, otherwise known as Resurrection Sunday. We celebrate our Lord's miraculous supernatural resurrection from the grave after his horrible gruesome death on the cross.
By having church on Sunday morning, we celebrate His resurrection every Sunday, but this particular one is special because our services revolve around the celebration.
We started out with a service at 8:30 (called our Sunrise service--which was not truly at sunrise). Then at 9:00 we had a great breakfast. There were all kinds of egg dishes, potato dishes, and various types of breads. It was delicious.
Then we had a wonderful service after that where the choir sang several numbers and a special group sand a couple of songs, along with several congregational songs all about our Savior's glorious resurrection. All that praise time was followed by a great message on the power, pardon, and the promise found in salvation from Jesus Christ through his death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.
After the service we had family over for dinner and the NCAA basketball tournament. We had a great time of fellowship in the afternoon.
When we download the pictures from my camera, I hope to post a couple of pictures of my kids all dressed up in their Easter clothes.

Down on the Farm

Last Thursday our homeschool group went to the Fountain of Life farm in the Pecatonica Illinois area. It is owned by a Christian family who also homeschools their 6 children. They had this dream for 10 years before it became a reality 5 years ago. They do their best to live off the land when possible by selling their cow/goat milk, eggs, honey, and lamb meat.
I thought it was a real eye opening experience. We started out with the dairy cows. They try to keep a calf nursing all the time so the cows produce milk. I did not realize that cows stopped producing milk as I figured that since they were dairy cows, they produced milk 24/7 365. Oh well, I'm just a city slicker, what do I know?!
There have over a hundred chickens wandering all over the farm. They believe in free range chickens and get their eggs daily that way. They walk all over the acreage looking for eggs once a day. The chickens usually use the same nest daily, so the eggs really aren't that hard to find most days.
I also learned that we have cougars around here. I thought I left that threat way behind in the mountains of Washington and Idaho. They keep two large dogs around to chase the cougars and coyotes away from the animals.
Then we went to the goat pen. They have an orphan goat, and the children got to see the baby nurse on the foster mom. I think they enjoyed that. The mama goat does not take other babies usually, but if they distract her with food and tie her down, she will feed the orphan baby. Because of this situation, though, they did not have any goat milk to sell.
On to the bee hives. My dad had bees and I had my own set of bee keeper garb and would help him on several occasions. It was interesting listening to how she takes care of her bees and the fond memories it brought back. Yes, I have been stung a few times, but if you care for them correctly and wear the proper garb, the stings are at a minimum.
Then we went to the sheep pasture. They had several lambs that they will eventually sell for meat. I love the lambs. They are so cute. It was amazing though when you watch them how the scriptures describe sheep so vividly. They truly are dumb follower animals and obviously need a Shepherd to watch them.
The last animals we saw were a pair of pea fowl. She had been given the set from a friend and was later given pea fowl babies.
Finally the kids were all given turns on the butter churn and made their own butter and butter milk. I think the kids all enjoyed that. To end the day they each had a piece of sour dough bread with the butter they had made and some of us sampled some of the fresh milk. I don't think the kids really enjoyed the sour dough bread though as it was really sour. I know my bread is not as sour as hers was.
We ended the day with a "healthy" lunch at Burger King. yummy.

You might be a ... .

This is a fun little post I am doing for those of us who are free from this part of your past. Enjoy.

You might be a traditonal Independent Fundamental Baptist if... you heard the phrase "if you can't do it in coulottes, you shouldn't do it at all."

You might be a traditional Independent Fundamental Baptist if... the letters NKJV together is a 4 letter word.

You might be a traditional Independent Fundamental Baptist if... you didn't ram Christianity down people's throats, you didn't care about souls.

You might be a traditonal Independent Fundamental Baptist if... pants on women are a sure sign of being out of fellowship with God.

You might be a traditional Independent Fundamental Baptist if... contemporary Christian music is a sure sign of being backslidden.

You might be a traditional Independent Fundamental Baptist if... the pastor preaches on pet peeves and not the true inner soul needs of the church.

You might be a traditional Independent Fundamental Baptist if... facial hair is a sure sign of rebellion.

You might be a traditional Independent Fundamental Baptist if... you are not in church every time the doors are open (which was rain, hail, sleet, snow, tornado, etc...) you are out of fellowship with God.

The Playland Terror

I just realized that I should have named my last post "The cat on a hot tin roof", but oh well, hindsight is well, you know.
Today my kids and I went to a McDonalds playland with another family for some lunch, catch up, and play time. They just adopted two girls and I had not had time to spend with just them as we have all been busy and it was nice to get out (we were also part of the box packing team for the NIU project with our church). We ordered our meal, sat and ate it. Then we went where every parent with kids goes when there is a playland at the restaurant, the playland of course.
All the kids were playing pretty well until this little bully of a kid started causing trouble. Every couple of minutes one of our kids (we had 6 between us) came out to tell us that this little boy was bothering them in some way. He either pushed them, spit on them, hit them, dominated the slide (he took up the whole thing and he could not have been more than 5), was rude, swore, or bit some other kid in the playland. Usually I leave other kids alone, but at one point I went up to the kid (who was just sitting in the slide) and told him that other kids wanted to play and he needed to share the slide with the others. I know other parents had talked with him too.
Finally, another mom saw her son being hit up in the upper part and went up there herself to protect her son. The bad thing is that the lady was 8 months pregnant. You think the caregiver of that little terror would have done something when the pregnant woman had to protect her kid. NOOOOOOO!
It took a riot on the part of us parents to finally get that kid out of the playland so that our kids could play happily and safely.
One of the other kids grandmother came into the eating area where this terror's caregiver was and told her that her kid was being very bad and this caregiver had the nerve to tell us to talk to him because he would not listen to her. That was completely obvious. I said, "no, we have all ready done that and it is not our job. It is yours."
She immediatly removed her kid, kicking and screaming and slapping her out of the restaurant. She ended up slapping him right there and it did not phase him one bit.
Imagine the peace and happiness that permeated the playland once the bully left. Some parents, sheesh.

Crazy Cat

The other night my husband and I were heading up to bed and we heard strange noises like they were coming from the roof. It had a familiar sound.
This goes back to a couple of years ago when we had raccoons in our attic. That was interesting. I think my husband and I both heard the loud crashing sounds about the same time because we both sat up in bed and looked at each other with that "what is that" look. It was bout 2:00 AM in February.
Initially my husband thought it was a squirrel and I thought that it was an awful big squirrel because I looked up and saw the light bounce up and down with the movements of the animal.
Then that episode of CSI came to mind where the guy was living in the attic of these people's homes and he peeped through holes in the ceilings (back from season 1, I think) and later murdered them. I started looking for little holes in the ceiling.
After waking my brother in law who was staying with us for a couple of days so the he could peek up in the attic since he was taller; and the guys going outside and seeing the raccoon's face in the attic window, it was determined that it was a raccoon looking for a warm place to nest.
We had a trapper come out and set a trap which led to nothing except a poor squirrel which I ended up letting go. We think all our noise and turning on the lights in the attic chased the coons away. We have since fixed the attic window so that hopefully nothing can get in.
How this all fits in with the present story.
We heard the sound coming from the roof and the thought was "oh no, not again". We looked out the window --nothing. We went up to the bedroom and I looked out the window and there was this cat walking along the tin roof above our 3 season porch. I opened the window and it came up and meowed at me. How do we get rid of this thing because we knew that the cat would walk along there all night thus keeping us awake.
After trying to entice it away with a flashlight and laser pointer, I finally went outside and it jumped off all by itself and ran away.

The Music of Our Lives

There is this important part of our lives called music. We really can't live without it. We really can't go anywhere without hearing it. It is played at the mall, stores, the gym and on our evil tv shows (which are strictly for entertainment pursposes). Theme songs from tv shows we have a tendency to remember for a long time. We sometimes quiz each other on the theme song from certain 80's shows because we remember the music.
It is interesting how our music preferences change as we age and our culture changes. I grew up in a very strict legalistic home and church where we were told that if we listened to any other radio station than the church's (boring city), we were not right with God and were in sin. My parents told me that I could either listen to that station or I could listen to tapes that of course, were sold at the church or were sold by music groups that came to our church (i.e. Marshall family, Hyles Anderson College, etc....) A classic is "In the Garden". That song gives me creeps to this day. The argument was always "approved station"vs. CCM. Country music and easy listening was rarely to never mentioned (come to find out, the pastor liked country and listened to it --ah the hypocrisy.)
I of course, did not always listen. I would change my station in the car to country music and change it back to the "approved" station when I came home. It was funny. Sometimes I would forget and run outside to change the station before my parents could find out. I would put my headphones into the radio or listen to country quietly when my parents weren't home. I still remember some of the older songs (by older I mean early 90's). My parents did not even listen to the "approved" station.
It is so funny how legalism has such control over our minds. When our here pastor was looking for a radio station outreach, one of his ideas was to put it on the local Christian pop station. I thought well, I guess I would never hear the sermons on the radio because I don't listen to that station. I remained pretty adamant about it until a few months ago. Both of the local stations would be considered evil in those IFB circles.
We were taught that if you started down the slippery slope of CCM (contemporary Christian music), you fell into complete sin and would end up listening to rock music (which was considered very bad). Well, I guess it is true. I have fallen into complete sin by starting with something basic like Steve Green (mild CCM) and now into the Christian Pop station (only once in a while, you know).
Music is one of those more touchy and personal issues we deal with. What is the purpose of music.? Is all music in all situations supposed to glorify God all the time? What is the timing of the music? What is the goal of the singer/performer? Can secular music be used for good? Obviously if the purpose is to glorify God we should be using good God honoring Christian music; but if it is for pure entertainment purposes, such as sporting events or shopping, good secular music is almost a must. Think a minute, ice hockey to "Great is thy Faithfulness"? A Chicago Bulls game to "In Christ Alone"? Of course, that might change some of the actions of the fans in the stands. (oh oops, I used a CCM style song).
What I never understood about music is why was some music that is God honoring (Steve Green or Michael Card) is bad while others that was written by people with known sinful lifestyles (such as some in the classical genre) is okay. It is something that will be struggled with in our churches until trumpet sounds and judgment day.

Child Haters

I was mulling this around last night as it really bothered me. I was reading some news articles on my web browser yesterday and I couldn't get past the angst of children in some of the blog entries at the end of the story (I wouldn't get all worked up if I didn't read them, but sometimes I like to get the feel about how people think of certain ideas). Keep in mind that it is the words of one particular senile old man (at least part of his id number was 65, so I am assuming he was old) that bothered me.
The story was about certain airports testing security lines for families so that families could go through separately from others (sounds like a great idea to me). What people did not get was that it would pull all the strollers, diaper bags, screaming children, etc... out of the regular lines so that they will move faster. Many of the commenters seemed to think that it would mean that families would get through faster and they were being thought of as "handicapped with special priviledges", therefore not fair to the rest of the travellers because families were commonly late and should have to wait in line like everyone else. One senile old man said that families should be waiting behind him. Tell me, would he really want some "snot nosed" kid wiping his snot on his pant leg or bumping him in line or "urping" in his ear or worse yet having some parent change a "poopy" diaper in his line right behind him? Just to spite these people I would be tempted to go through the regular security lines and allow my children to scream and pull everything out of my diaper bag to bag it in plastic bags right there while pretending that I did not know how to fold my stroller. Then they would want me to go through the family security line.
I don't fly with my children very often and I do expect good behavior out of my children, especially when in public. I also try to get there early enough to get through security with some time to spare, but it really taxes children because they have to wait at the airport, then have a 3+ hour flight. There just seemed to be a sentiment that I was getting through some of those people that parents should leave their children at home when they fly. EXCUSE ME!! What am I supposed to do, leave my kids in the house as I fly to Disney world without them? families have every right to fly as the next person. If I am going to fly on vacation it is quite possible that it is a FAMILY vacation which in our family includes my children, thank you very much.
I did notice that it was the people with NO children who had the anger and angst towards families with small children. One person even said that children who were disruptive should be spanked now. Sure try it in public now days. That same person would be the one to call social services complaining of abuse toward children. Some people fail to realize that things are different now than when that senile old man was a little kid. Children were seen and not heard and spanking in public was common and not thought of as abuse.
There was an idea thrown around that families should have their own planes, that is not a bad idea. Give us a flat family rate and we may have a deal.

The Gift of Life

If you get queasy easy, this post might not be for you. It is about donating blood.
Yesterday I had the priviledge of donating blood through our church's blood drive. It is always a good thought to know that you are helping save the lives of up to three people. I hope that blood will be available when I need it. I have a rare blood type, so the blood center hunts me down.

We had numerous blood drives in college and I always managed to come up with some excuse. I didn't have time, wasn't feeling good, time of the month, you name it, I used it. I had these scary thoughts of them not finding my vein and sticking me numerous times. That happened to me on more than one occasion when I went in for physical exams in high school and they had to draw blood. I don't like the idea of being stuck with a needle anyway, much less having to be poked more than once. You get used the needles when you have babies and every other month they have to draw blood or in the hospital they draw it every day (I had surgical birth, so I was in the hospital for several days) so a regular needle is not that bad anymore. These needles are big and hollow. (I hope I am not scaring anyone from giving blood, it really is a good thing).

Yesterday's donation was interesting to say the least. I went into the church and filled out my paperwork. My kids were being watched by someone (thanks, Bill Hunt). Then I went into the bus that they use for drives. Had the mini physical then waited for a seat to open up.
I got in the lounge seat and they put the needle in (a little pinch, not too bad), but the blood did not start flowing, so they had to rotate my arm to get it started. That hurt a little. After I had given about 3/4 of a pint, it stopped. She started moving the needle around, and put it on top of a plastic tube to elevate it. I started to get light headed and cringing in pain. Thankfully she decided to pull it right then. For some reason I had clotted. That never happened to me before. I ended up leaving with an ice pack and have a big bruise to show for it. I will gladly show it off to anyone who wants to see it and I will do it again next time because it was all worth it to give someone else the gift of life. If I ever need it, I hope it will be available to me.