Quote-

"All things considered, the furious activity of this world is about as meaningful as the half-time frenzy at the Super Bowl. But a wise man can be there and enjoy himself. This is the gift of God." Douglas Wilson

Pedicures at Nine Months Pregnant

I believe 7 months pregnant is glorious: you feel good, really feminine and maternal, you're not humongous, the peeing-every-10-minutes thing has not set in yet, you can still pretty much sleep at night. But then you hit 36-37 weeks along and you just start feeling really whale-ish. Waddling is the term to describe movement at this point. And putting on shoes becomes a daunting task.
This is when a pedicure is very necessary. Even if you have never done anything like this before, now is the time. Make sure that you have eaten, walking into those fumes on an empty stomach might be a bad idea. Find your local nail tech salon- you can call around for prices $20-25 is great- make sure that their pedicures include the massage chair! Walk in, sign up on the sign in sheet, and pick your color. Oh- and wear shorts and flip-flops, no matter how cold it is outside. Then, enjoy your $25 splurge and think of all the nice comments you will get when you go into labor like, "Pretty feet!" and "Nice toes!". The nurses are sure to notice!
Oh- and don't pass up the extra $5 for the flower- it's worth it.

Mama Quote-

"The most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one." -Jill Churchhill

Being Busy vs. Intentional Living-

We often say things like"Oh, life has just been crazy lately", or "We are so busy this year". We say this as if we have no control over our circumstances. I sometimes get to feeling this way. I literally get this vision in my head of being dragged behind a horse or a car when I get too stressed out. But Kent and I have seen families in our church deal with this like no one else- they don't do it! It is amazing- I tell you, we have tried this way of living, and it is wonderful. We will not go back to the craziness.
What am I talking about, you ask? Well, here's a before and after:
Before we learned to dump the stress: I would get really stressed out and really behind in everything, feel strung out and pressured from everyone to fulfill obligations. The first thing to go would be my prayer and bible study time, any attention and thoughts toward my husband and kids, and the house (what dishes and laundry? not to mention finances as I quit cooking and hit the fast food). I would make myself appear really put-together, but my family and household would be suffering and stressed out as well. We were not living out the priorities we claimed were important: family, friends, helping one another. Instead the activities and programs of our lives would consume all of our time and energy. And for what?
After we learned to live intentionally: If we see any of our priorities falling by the wayside, an activity has to go. Priorities: our spiritual development, our marriage, training our children to be obedient and loving, hospitality, and building community within our church and extended family.
This is how we live now, not just how we try to live. Whenever I start to feel like life is dragging me around by a rope, I realize that I do not need to brace myself for the ride. I can simply cut the rope.

Wrap up each decision with gratitude-

I have always had trouble making decisions. I didn't know that everyone else knew this about me until I was about 12-years-old and my grandma gave me a "decision-maker" keychain for Christmas, with a little spinner that pointed to "yes", "no", "tomorrow", "no way", "definitely", etc. I distinctly remember receiving this gift. I only saw my grandma once a year. It really surprised me that apparently everyone in my family knew that I had trouble making decisions and they thought that it was cute, and even funny.
To this day, I struggle with this. Shopping can be a major stress for me due to indecision, or in reality- worry that I will not make the "right" decisions. If I am not feeling secure enough, I should not even go grocery shopping that day.
I really do not want to pass this on to my children. I worry about Corbin in particular, because he is just like me in thought, word and deed.
This post on Femina hits the mark for me. I will be printing this off and praying about this, and look forward to making headway and pressing on.

How old do I look?! (Don't answer that!)

So, I was at a birth with Margaret the midwife the other night. We went to the hospital, settled in to the room and the nurse turns to me, "So, you're her (indicating the woman having the baby) mother, right?"- I just stared at her- "Me?"- "Well, I'm just trying to figure out who everyone is."- "How old do I look?"- "Oh, well you're tired. She just looks so young- she looks like 15. You would be a really young mom."
Mortifying. This mom was like 23- I am 31. Are ya kidding me? Seriously.

Adoption-

I went to a training on Saturday in Understanding Infant Adoption and counseling for unplanned pregnancies. Then, I rented the movie "Bella" accidentally yesterday. Whoa. If you have not seen that movie, it is really good.

Dollar Palace-

Thought I should post a non-political funny.

Book Plug-

2nd Grade-

Finally, school has started. Corbin is ready!

Girly Girls and Manly Boys-

Lindy, Ella and Gracie in their Christian dance class. Kent and Corbin splitting logs for our wood-burning stove, preparing for the fall and winter.

The Skirty and other cute things-

Please check out this link. Go here to enter a drawing for some fun, girly things for you and your daughter, niece, sister, friend, whatever. Every little girl needs a Skirty. I know that Lindy does.

Don't be scared- Everything's just peachy!

For those of you who check this blog simply for pics of my cute kids, please do not be dismayed by my recent political outbursts.
To make you all feel better- here is a pic of what we did today. We do not start school until September 15!

A little more on Sarah Palin-

And this post is what I think about her daughter being pregnant. There has been a lot of teenage-girl rebellion that God is putting in front of my face right now. I'm reflecting on my own moody and selfish late teenage and early twenties years. What can we do as parents to prevent this? My thoughts are that mothers need to role-model being respectful, hard-working, and wise. Fathers, with daughters in particular, need to pour the love and affection on non-stop from birth until she is handed over in marriage. This is huge for girls.
Maybe more on this later when I can communicate my thoughts more clearly.

Sarah Palin- I can't resist:

I'll put it on someone else by referring you all to another blog. This post details exactly how my husband and I feel on this subject. Please comment what you think!

Book club-

For something entirely different, let's have an informal book club. I say what I'm reading, and you can join me, or comment if you already read them. Anybody?
OK- well, maybe I'll just report for myself. This summer I read Hamlet (still not as earth shattering as I think it should be, what am I missing?) and Screwtape Letters (which was earth shattering- I love C.S. Lewis!). I'm also going through two opposing books to contrast and discuss with a friend: Amusing Ourselves to Death and Everything Bad is Good For You. So far, I'm almost done with the former and I'm thoroughly convinced. We will see if the latter changes my mind. Today I've gotten a recommendation from a good friend to read Austen's Persuasions. I would really like to discover the magic of Jane Austen for myself and I'm really excited to get into this one.

Promoting Baby Slings and Wraps-

I don't want to get overly political here, but I have never been able to relationally connect to a politician like this before. These pictures are just so cool. The more I learn about her, the more I like her. Do some research for yourself- there is some great commentary Doug Wilson's blog here.

I cheated-

I took all of our laundry and got a roll of quarters and went to a Laundry-mat! It's all gone in one fell swoop, and it feels good. Mt. Washmore has been leveled. And we are blessing others with our excess- the extra clothes Kent and I have acquired, and the clothes too little for the kiddos. That feels good too. Woo-hoo!

Back on the Flylady Bandwagon-

Another public declaration of determination and purpose on my part. My dear cousin Jill and I are going to hold one another accountable to our Flylady routines and missions for the third time in about three years. This is one of the things that I love about Flylady- you fall off of the bandwagon for a few days (or months), but when you get back on there is the Flylady encouraging me at the end of every email saying- "You are not behind. Jump in where you are." Ah. I need to hear that often. It combats my all-or-nothing mentality that I cannot possibly get my house where it needs to be, so why bother.
Flylady is not for everyone- those of you who are born organized (BOs Flylady calls them- Cassie, Mackenzie, Gabe, Jacqueline, you know who you are) do not need this kind of a system to keep up your house. But those of us sidetracked home executives (SHEs) who are constantly living in a state of can't-have-anybody-over-syndrome (CHAOS), can really benefit from the Flylady system of routines, reminders and missions. Even if you don't want to get the 20-30 emails per day (I set up a separate folder for my Flylady emails), you can still figure out the system to use for yourself. Ask me about it if you have questions. And, feel free to ask me how it's going when you talk to me, I need that kind of accountability. You can check out Flylady here.

More Silverwood Photos-

We love going to Silverwood. And it's so great that Jill, Christa, my mom and I all have season passes. Today we took old-timey Western photos of all the great-grandkids of Delbert and Eunice (minus Annika in California). Here's a few pics of the girls, in particular. Corbin's too busy going on serious roller coasters and other daredevil rides to get any good pictures of him. At least that's my excuse for now when I noticed all the pics are of Lindy. :)