Happy Birthday, Baba!

Happy 37th birthday!
I are happy to have you as our father.
I hope you have a wonderful time on your special day.
Thank you for being a good father.
-Max



Happy Birthday!
You are the best father in the entire world.
I love you very much.
-Lucas



Happy birthday!
You are the best baba in the whole wide world.
You are so nice and kind.
I love you very very very very very much.
-Josiah






Happy Birthday, Baba!
I love you very much!
You are so nice and kind.
This is a very special day.
~Hana



My dearest Christopher,
Happy birthday!
I love you,
freida

6 weeks old!

My new baby brother

I have a new baby brother. His name is Noble. He is cute and fun to play with. I like to hold my baby brother. If you hold him long enough, he will fall asleep. This afternoon when my mother was taking a nap, I held him in the hammock and he fell asleep. He also likes to be held in a wrap, pushed in a stroller, and sitting outside in the sun. I love my baby brother.
-Lucas

about Piggy

Piggy is my pet. I love Piggy. He is fun to play with. I pull him around on his little wagon upstairs and downstairs. I think he is very cute. He has very soft fur and is fun to pet. Sometimes he is
funny. Other times he is not funny. He likes to eat squash, carrots, lettuce, apples, Timothy hay, corn, and Piggy food. In case you are wondering, he is a guinea pig; not an oversized hamster. I think he is going to get even fatter because I pull him around in his cart so much. sometimes he squeaks and other times he gnaws on the bars of the cage to tell you that he is hungry. He has a hay wheel and I put hay in it. Sometimes he spins it around and plays with it. Sometimes he knocks his wheel off the side of cage. He will eat practically any thing that you put in his cage even newspaper. He came from freecycle. Piggy's cage is huge. If we didn't have our van we wouldn't
have been able to get the cage to our house.

~Josiah

Why vote for the lesser of two evils?

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." -- John Quincy Adams

I've heard so many people say that they will vote for McCain because they don't want Obama to be president. Is that the best way to vote?

Chris and I are voting for Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party because this nominee and his party best reflects the principles of what the United States of America is founded upon.

Seven Principles of the Constitution Party are:

1. Life: For all human beings, from conception to natural death;
2. Liberty: Freedom of conscience and actions for the self-governed individual;
3. Family: One husband and one wife with their children as divinely instituted;
4. Property: Each individual's right to own and steward personal property without government burden;
5. Constitution: and Bill of Rights interpreted according to the actual intent of the Founding Fathers;
6. States' Rights: Everything not specifically delegated by the Constitution to the federal government is reserved for the state and local jurisdictions;
7. American Sovereignty: American government committed to the protection of the borders, trade, and common defense of Americans, and not entangled in foreign alliances.

A movie worth spending time and money on

We finally got to watch Fireproof tonight. It wasn't planned but sometimes it seems like the less planning the better it works out. We had a stop to make prior to the theater so got there about 10-15 minutes late. (But that was for the best, right Janet, to skip the previews?)

Chris reached for my hand shortly after the movie began. I knew that he was feeling the same way I was...we could relate to the characters in the movie. Kirk Cameron reminds me of you, Jason. I think it's his boyishness and geniality.

We didn't go see this movie expecting it to be nominated for the Academy Awards. We wanted to watch a Christian produced movie and expected the movie to challenge and encourage us. It did both. The movie was a success to us because God was glorified. The issues dealt with were interesting. I thought of the different topics I'd want to discuss with our children when they watch it in the future. A wife not under the protection of her husband and working outside of the home opens herself up to temptation. Her earnings and time away from her home create an expectation of her husband to share in the household duties and when those aren't met, there is friction. I always wonder why women who work outside of the home don't find it unfair that even though they may work just as many hours as their husband, they are expected to still take care of the house, the children and her husband. Maybe they do but just consider it their lot in life? I don't believe the issue is so much about where the work occurs as where a wife's allegiance is to. If I stay home, my home is where my work lies. The people in my family are the ones I choose to spend the majority of my time with. If I earn money while being a SAHM (stay at home mom) and I'm not attending to my family or my home, then my priorities aren't right either. I am a mother, therefore my calling is to take care of my family. The Bible says that the woman is made for the man and is to be her husband's helpmeet. I am so grateful to God that he has given me a husband whose desire is for me to stay home with our children.

But I digress...

The movie shows a marriage on the brink of divorce. The father of the husband challenges him to a 40 day love dare. And then the father shares the gospel with his son and he asks God to save him. If every father has that kind of relationship with their sons, there would be far fewer divorces. The husband woos his wife back to him with a humble spirit and more importantly with a God-filled spirit. With God, all things are possible.

I read a Christian review for this movie.

http://online.worldmag.com/2008/10/07/fireproof-shouldnt-be-critic-proof/

I hope the critic has a marriage that can not be improved upon as he never gave the movie more than 20 minutes. Sometimes reviews are so ... irrelevant.

My baby carriers reviews

Inquiring minds (thanks for spurring me on to make this post finally, Jessica!) want to know what kinds of wrap I'm using, so here's the lowdown.

The one I use the most, well, always, is the didymos. It's has just the right tension to make baby feel secure and calms him in less than one minute after I wrap him up.

I had gotten a silk moby wrap just before Noble's birth and have used it a few times, but I keep going back to the didy. I have a mei tai too that I won't use until baby is much older. The kids like to carry Noah in the mei tai.

I think wraps are here to stay. Even Target carries them now.