From Zucchini Seeds Come..... Pumpkins????

This year we planted yellow summer squash, zucchini, and tomatoes. The tomatoes are doing great! The summer squash isn't doing very well, but we're hoping that it'll start growing better here soon. We're not sure what the problem is, but as soon as they're the size of a grape they fall off. The zucchini is HUGE!!! Well, actually, the zucchini aren't really zucchini. Somehow, our packet of zucchini seeds is growing pumpkins???? What do you think? Orange zucchini? or pumpkins???

Protecting our most precious gift

While at Babies R Us I over hear a young man disciplining his 3 year oldish daughter. He says to her, "Why are you touching things? Didn't I tell you that if you touch things I will burn your fingers off and whip you with my belt?" I think I have whiplash from my head turning around so fast to look at the person who used such painful words to a child. I feel it's one thing to paddle your child, but a completely different thing to whip them. The emotions behind it are so different. The whole burning your fingers off is just child abuse. I couldn't believe it. Then, during this same shopping trip Pea whined a little when I told her that we weren't going to get a toy. This man had the audacity to tell me that she wouldn't whine at me if I took off my belt and whipped her with it. He said, "I have 5 kids, and they wouldn't dare whine at me. They know the consequences of that!" I picked Pea up, hugged her, and told the man that my child will obey me out of respect, not out of fear, and walked away. I kept hugging her and kissing her until she was completely over all the touchy-feely. Then I sat down with her and talked with her about punishment, discipline and consequences... as much as I could with a 3 year old. I just couldn't believe this man... I felt so sorry for his children. I wish I would have had the clarity to call 911 or DCS on him. It was a horrible day.
But, through this experience I was once again reminded of how our children are not ours, they are God's. He blesses us with them and trusts us to raise them for HIM. They are not ours! They are HIS! All the more reason that we need to protect them and raise them the best that we can. Why would you knowingly expose your child to pain or harm? The world will pollute their young minds enough, why would you want to add to it? We should be their safe haven, the place where they are protected and know that they are loved. Just as Christ is our sheild, so we should be our children's, as we teach them to love and depend on Jesus.

Baby Boy's Black Eye :(

Bumps and Bruises!

Back to Basics

"God cares about the creation. He displays himself in nature, and so the more that people are distanced from the creation itself and the more people become accustomed to treating the creation as something that is disposable, the more distanced they are from understanding who God is." -Dr. Russell D. Moore

I don't know... maybe it's a generational thing, or one of those cycles that just seem to occur; but, it seems as though this generation is going back to the roots, back to nature, back to pure living. I am glad to be part of it, learning how to change for the better, learning how to feed my family healthier, clean with less chemicals, and in general put less crap in and on our bodies. Most of the people I know feel that the chemicals/crap in our homes/food/medicine/etc "hasn't killed us yet"... so why is it a big deal? Why would I change anything? To quote my sister, "I am all for the advances in chemistry that make my life easier." And, I agree. There have been so many amazing discoveries in the sciences that have aided in better lives for many of us. But, why do we have to keep having these discoveries in science? Why do we have to keep finding cures/solutions to problems/illnesses? I think it's another never ending cycle. We insert crap into our bodies, most of it unknown... I mean, really, what is in that cheeseburger, french fry and Diet Coke? Then, after years of ingesting crap, we need medicine/medicinal procedures to fix us when we have an illness from the crap we've subjected our bodies to, but then there's crap in the medicine that healed us, and we go back to inserting more crap hours later. (Sorry... crap is the only word that I can think of to describe the crap in today's food/cleaners/etc)


So, what do we do? Do we go, leave everything behind except our organic underwear and live in the woods? No... it's not feasable, it's overboard. Do we just dump everything and live on the food/cleaners/etc that we can grow and create? No, once again, it's just not feasable. I think that there is a delicate balance with this. It's not always about elimination as much as it is about reduction. We honestly cannot eliminate everything that could possibly be harmful from our environment. We'd have to find new air... (if you know how to do this, you'd make a pretty penny). People need to get the crap out of their houses and out of their bodies (and out of their minds, if I can just add that in right here), but it's a process; it takes time... and it's an adjustment.


We (Nathaniel and I) started this journey by realizing the high amount of harmful chemicals in city water, and deciding to do something about it. Now, we have gone from the only change being that we have reverse-osmosis water to a family that has an organic garden, eats *mostly* organic real food (minus my daily starbucks/diet coke addiction), using green cleaners, and more! But, it's taken us a while to get here. Not only because it takes time to change, but because at first, all of these things weren't important to us, but the more we started down this path, the better we felt and the more excited we got about going back to the basics! Take a look at a bag of food in your freezer. Do you know what the ingredients are? Really... do you? I didn't have a clue! Now, I do. And I feel better feeding my family wholesome food instead of fillers and chemicals and solutions. (not that it's 100% of the time-- we still enjoy dining out and we have our favorite junk foods.)


Another thing to consider- Children (most of the time) don't have much choice what they eat. They eat what they are given, what is available. (There is nothing wrong with this...) My issue is that I feel uncomfortable feeding my children crap, when they have no say about what goes into their bodies. They don't understand that the chicken nugget they are going to eat has a bunch of things in it that aren't even food! And, even if they did know, they wouldn't care- they would just keep eating it. But, I cannot, on a clean conscious, continue to allow my children to unknowingly eat things that may harm them. It's my job to make sure that I feed them wholesome, balanced food that will help their little bodies grow and their brains learn to the best of it's ability. Adults... go ahead and eat whatever you want... you understand what you're eating- and you know the consequences of it, but, the little ones just trust us to give them what is good-- so let's make sure that we do that.


So, now that I've gone completely away from the beginning quote-- My point is this. Christians need to be in nature to fully understand and appreciate who God is. Nature shows us another side of God that so many of us have lived without.... Most of this generation grew up in a city (as opposed to a sustainable farm), watched tv, listened to music, played on the computer, sat in the school building for 8 hours a day, etc. Not all of us were brought up with the understanding that God shows himself to us in his creation, and that since it is our desire as Christians to fully know Christ, we need to seek him out in all areas where he is revealing himself. Even the buggy areas. ;) It is ESSENTIAL that we get back to nature... that we get back to the basics; not only for our health and our livelihood, but also for growth in our relationship with the Creator. He created this earth for us to enjoy and to take care of... but we cannot do that if we view it as something that is disposible and unimportant. It is of the upmost importance... plus, it is amazing!

Getting All Big

Here's an update on the kiddos:

Pea is growing up into such a little lady. All prissy and diva-ish. She loves to dance and listen to music, and doing the Taylor Swift hair flip is one of her new favorites. She also flits around in her ballerina outfit, pretty much daily. Her latest accomplishments are being able to pump herself on the swing (the new greatest day of my life!) and riding her tricycle around the neighborhood. She is very interested in things happening in and under water, and says she wants to be an "ocean person" when she grows up... but she doesn't want to have to touch the sharks. :) She is such a blessing, so sweet and tiny and cuddly. At her last check-up she weighed 24 lbs and was 39 inches tall! She also had her first pedicure, and actually picked a pretty color for her toes--- I was a little worried when she noticed the lime green ;).

Grunt is all boy! Bumps, bruises, noises, dirt, and more! He likes to run, not walk, while cruising around the furniture (hence the bumps and bruises) and still does his famous bear crawl. We don't think that he will ever actually crawl... and the bear crawl is super cute. His hair just keeps growing straight up, we won't cut it until he really starts to look like a rag-muffin. He jabbers ALL the time now, the nonsense gibberish along with Ma-ma, Da-da, Na-na (for Pea), nana (for banana), ba (for all food), this (only when he's holding something doing his funky wrist wiggle), ni-ni (for night-night), bye, and UH-OH... sometimes there are a few extra 'uh's in there. He is the happiest baby, and we are so blessed to have him! He also has his first tooth! and 4 more coming riiiiiight behind this one. Here's to hoping they come quickly and painlessly :) At his last check-up he weighed 23 lbs and was 29 inches tall!

My beautiful babies are getting soooo big!!! Thank you Lord for entrusting your little ones to me!

Blondie in the Back Seat

While driving...

Pea: Why are those orange cones all over the road?

Me: It means that people are fixing the road.

Pea: Why is the road broken?

Me: Because lots of cars drive on it every day, and it is getting worn out.

Pea: When I am under water, I will find a dolphin and it will be a nice dolphin, and it will hug me and I will show it my Taylor Swift hair flip and she will love it and give me a biiiiiig dolphin hug.

Me: HUH?????

How do we go from construction to hair flipping???

Oh my. Sweet Pea. My little blondie. Bless her heart.

Year of the Brat

So, terrible 3's are definitely worse than terrible 2's... Pea goes from happy, smiley, and giggling to crying, pouting, and whining in .000001 seconds. It's ridiculous. It's like she's pre-pubescent... 12, instead of 3. One minute she's my sweet girl, laughing and playing; and the next minute she's losing it, crying over a whole lot of nothing. She has also mastered the art of back-talking. Now, I'm sure that this is all payback for me back-talking my parents... because I was the queen of it. But, either way... it's irritating when my 3 year old can cause me to stare at her, speechless and dumbfounded. Here's the convo from today:

Me: Now that we are home, I want you to go inside and sit in timeout.

Pea: Do you forgive me for being naughty?

Me: Yes, I do forgive you.

Pea: Are you happy with me?

Me: I am always happy with you, but I am NOT happy with your actions and how you behaved today. It is not okay to whine, cry, and throw fits at Mommy.
Pea: (thinks for a moment) Hum.... oh well, that's okay that you're not happy with me. I don't care. (Prances off)

Me: left standing there speechless and dumbfounded....

Arg... now, for those of you sitting there reading this, close your mouth... we took care of it- and she cares now. I just couldn't believe that came out of her. Well, I'm sure that there will be a whole lot more of that over the next 20 years... especially if it's payback.