Thought Provoking Shirt

Anna and I were out running errands today and a woman stopped, backed up and leaned into our isle and whispered to Anna; "I like your shirt!"

My head swiveled towards Anna as she replied in a surprised tone "Oh, thanks!"

What shirt did she have on today anyway, ran through my mind. Then I smiled as I read the message on the front of her shirt.

WOMEN DESERVE BETTER
THAN ABORTION

Later as we waited in line for our fries (medium size only and first taste of a fry in weeks!) I noticed another woman staring at Anna in a peculiar way, this time Anna was facing away from her. Already having forgotten the message t-shirt Anna was wearing I was a bit taken aback by the hostility on her face. I glanced back at Anna and there on her back of the t-shirt was the following.

ABORTION IS THE
ULTIMATE EXPLOITATION
OF WOMEN
Alice Paul
original Author of ERA

Students for Life of America
StudentsForLife.org

Feminists for Life
FEMINISTSFORLIFE.org

Aha, clearly this woman did not care for Anna's choice of fashion. And possibly does not care for Anna's opinion about a woman's choice either. However, I love Anna's t-shirt and I think I might get one for me!

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Good friends...

Today I heard a knock on my door and Emma's little voice called through it to me.

'Mama?'

'Yes Emma...'

'Can I tell you how much I love my new friend?'

'Of course, Emma - how much do you love your new friend?'

Deep breath followed by: 'As much as Jesus loves me!'

'Wow,' I replied. 'THAT'S a LOT!'

And isn't that what we are asked to do, to love like Jesus, even if it hurts. I'm so glad that at four years of age, Emma is already beginning to measure her love in this way. Read more!

Pipen, 2004 - 2007

Sadly, the day before Bethany's birthday, one of our beloved pets has passed away. We have not yet broken the news to her as she will be devastated but we will have to tell her soon before she notices the empty cage. This picture was taken in October of 2006 by Josef Noah. Please say a little prayer for Bethany, she takes the loss of any of our pets really deeply and this will make her birthday somewhat sad. We are not sure what happened to him, although his cage has been knocked over once or twice by one of the cats. He enjoyed tormenting the cats by tweaking their tails as they sat on his cage day dreaming of what, I imagine, must have been bird pie.

Sadly our household is now down to two cats, one dog and no bird. A few years ago we had a bursting household of three dogs and five or six cats, fish, one guinea pig and a bird. I must say though - it is more peaceful with less cats and dogs. But once the tears are dried, we will look into adding a new bird to our dwindling menagerie.

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Note to self...

...when posting drafts that are several days old or in some cases weeks old, remember to correct the date so item shows at top of page instead of in February's posts.

Oh and remember to pick up more gum for those sugar cravings! We were up a pound for a day or two. I'm back to the original five pound weight loss, but at this rate I will be wearing Hugo's dress pants to the wedding! Read more!

Theological Observations During the Rosary

The other morning our recently passed beloved Pope, John Paul II, was leading us through the Rosary in Latin on the CD my husband recently rediscovered in his office at the warehouse. Suddenly Emma's voice piped up over the sonorous vibes coming from the speakers.

"Mama, where does Jesus sleep?"

"In your heart with you, Emma."

Emma gleefully crowed across the couch at Nathaniel.

"SEE Tanny! Jesus does sleep with people. In their heart!"

"Well, well, well, he doesn't sleep in Heaven, Emma." argued Nathaniel.

''That's because He's a STATUE'', declared Emma closing the discussion with a nod to our Infant of Prague statue on the mantle. Read more!

Whoo Hooo!!

Tired of my whining about having to wear his dress pants when I wanted to look nice and equally tired of my complaining about how fat I felt, my husband finally took action. He did research on diets and then gave me the paperwork on various options he found.

Now - I do not believe in "diets" in the old fashioned sense of the word. I do not believe in restricting your calories, counting every calorie and weighing every piece of food before it passes your lips. Diets, in fact, are very unhealthy as well as counter-productive to the very goal you are trying to reach - weight loss. Permanent weight loss, that is.

Research has shown that when we starve, err diet, our bodies go into crisis mode as the body is designed to realize when we are experiencing a famine and it adjusts the metabolic rate accordingly. However, once the famine (or in this case, the diet) passes the metabolic rate does not readjust back to what it was. Instead the body packs on more fat in preparation for the possible next famine.

All of this was forefront in my mind as I perused the options my husband gave me. I discounted one immediately as following this particular "diet" required one to buy your meals from them. So I thought - what happens when you want to start buying your own food again - is that even an option or would the weight pack back on if you did this. No, I wanted a diet that was going to effect a permanent life style change in regards to the food I ate. The amounts I was eating were not the problem, it was the combinations I was choosing as well as the poor choices I was making for snacks and desserts, Sugar, sugar and more sugar - typically refined sugar. And while I knew this, I simply did not seem to be able to find the will power to change it.

I wheedled the choices down to two diets or, as I prefer to call them - life style changes. Of the two I was leaning more towards the one that styled its recipes and food choices on the Mediterranean cultural as I liked the various options I could combine in my meals and have for snacks. I loved this idea of subscribing online to a "diet" as I was able to peruse their recipes, print them off, get daily emails with the food choices I had selected and, in short, have an online cheerleader as I struggled through the first ten days of striving to eliminate my sugar cravings.

Best of all - when the first pound and a half fell off through seemingly no more effort from me than to avoid sugar and eat healthier choices at meal time, I was ecstatic and charged to keep going - no matter how much visions of chocolate and more chocolate danced through my head.

So in answer to Lisa's question (wifeforlife) - how is the weight loss going I have to say FANTASTIC!

Drum roll please...
in the past ten days
I have lost
FIVE pounds.

I am so excited about this. I fully expect this weight loss to slow down, but this is such a boost to me and best of all I really love the changes we are making to our diet. I also feel more energetic and healthy as a result of these changes. Look forward to more updates as I continue to work towards my goal of losing approximately 40 lbs without a time date, other than I hope to have lost the first twenty before our daughter's wedding in June. Fifteen to go for that goal! And I owe it all to my husband who loved me enough to help me take the plunge and perhaps is hoping that in the process he will get half of his wardrobe back?

Thank you Hugo!

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Beware - the homeschooler in your neighbourhood!

Especially if he has a kind face and goes by the name of Tim!

Click HERE for a good laugh...

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Bethany Rose... March 22

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birthdate and a pic...

for Miss Bethany will follow soon so that readers may honour her request that people be happy on her birthday! It would be lovely if readers could post the happy thing they did on that day - so we can share them with Bethany, who recently slipped a five dollar bill from her hard earned savings into her daddy's pocket. Why did she do that?

"Because someone stole 100 dollars from Daddy's business. This way - it's only 95 dollars!"

And yes - someone stole... a little over a hundred dollars from us... by using a stolen credit card to buy something from us! Still, it is the victim whose credit card (and possibily even his identity) is the one who has possibly suffered the greater financial loss and stresses. And sadder still, the thief.... has lost even more - his or her moral compass. Please pray for them both, this victim and the thief. Read more!

Just when I think...

... that I am enough on top of things that I can pick up daily blogging again, life throws me another curve ball! Typically Lent is always an especially difficult time for us, a time when our family starts out with great resolve to make this Lent a particularly good one. And invariably we always feel that we have failed. This Lent has fared a little better than usual despite the continued battle with the influenza that has had us in its arm hold since January.

I can not tell you the number of times we have had children sent for tests that left us almost dizzy with worry as we awaited the results. One year our son Noah, now 11, had to wear a Holten heart monitor for a period of time to determine is he had heart problems as he was often disturbed by palpitations of the heart. Thankfully, his heart checked out just fine.

This Monday, I dropped my 20 year old son off for a physical and when I greeted him after the appointment he nonchalantly handed me some doctors orders - one with a cardiologist for a sonogram of his heart.
"Why this?" I asked.

"Well, you know how I have been short of breath for so long, well, the Doctor doesn't think it's asthma and wants to check out my heart for abnormalities."

"Oh", I said, "Take care not to lose the paper work then."

We got in the van and headed back home and talked news, politics, music and just the norm. It was not even until the day before the test, that I even thought to ask others to pray about it. I was so calm. I wondered at the calm I felt. I guess because he is 20 years old, six four and 200 lbs and always in good health until recently, I just thought him indestructible. Somehow - having a 4 year old sent to a cardiologist is more frightening than a twenty year old because such a young child does not yet have a proven record of health - anything could be lurking about, waiting to jump out and catch you off guard. But a twenty year old, who has never been sick more than the typical cold or stomach flu, can't be hiding a heart condition, can he?

This exam was this morning and from the Cardiologists, we headed to the hospital for x-rays of my son's lungs. By noon we were finished with all of the tests and Miguel was exhausted as he had been up all night ill to his stomach. Possible diagnosis for these latest symptoms - salmonella food poisoning. remember those Peter Pan and Great Value Peanut butter jars recalled... well we had three jars, all half eaten, in our cupboards. By 4pm, we were back at the family physician's office because Miguel's symptoms had us all just a little worried. A friend of his in college has mono and the possibility of spleen problems weighed on my mind.

When we left the office at 6 pm, an hour past closing time, we had in hand a four week supply of heart medications. My son has developed viral myocarditis - a viral infection of the heart. We are still waiting for the results of his mono test, and he must begin a round of antibiotics to treat the sinus infection he is battling on top of everything else. He is too ill yet to start his heart meds. Monday, if all goes well he starts them. In the meantime, I would like to ask you all keep us in your prayers! Most especially, please pray for Miguel and thank you in advance for your prayers. We will need them to persevere through this Lent as the health problems continue to mount against us. I have not even touched on my husband's pain levels from dental issues that keep taking a back seat and tomorrow I suspect I will be making the medical rounds again, this time with one of my asthmatics! Read more!

LOOK!

"LOOK!" Emma bellowed in my ear!
Her bellows became a whimper as she pointed to her arm.
"LOOK what Tanny did to me!"

I stared at the elbow proffered for inspection.

"Oh," I murmered sympathetically. "What did Tanny do to you?"

Emma's face went blank. "Ummmm, Tanny - what did you do to me again?"

Tanny Paul hurried over and scrutinized her elbow and then helpfully pointed out a small, nay, miniscule week old bruise.

"Here - I did dis!" he said with a flourish. Emma, relieved at the rediscovery of her wound, whimpered once more - "YES! See, see what he did!"

"Ahhh, I'm sorry!" I replied trying unsuccessfully to hide my grin. However, satisfied that her tale of woe had been acknowledged Emma happily left... with Tanny Paul cheerfully in tow.

All I can say is that they clearly have memories like an elephant! Read more!

All I want for my birthday...

Darling Bethany turns nine this month and recently there was a birthday list floating around that was very elegantly written up by Anna as it had been dictated by the future birthday girl. I caught only a glimpse of it the first day of its creation so when I was reminded of the current count down to the big B day this morning I asked where this beautiful list had disappeared to.

Bethany responded that she did not know where it currently was but she had put a new one up on the fridge for all to see. Aha, thought I, a wise way to ensure a good haul of loot!

Later today I checked out the list. Here it is in it's entirety!



All I want
for my birthday
is for peapil to
be Happy.
And I'll be Thankfull.


Bethany (with a heart drawn beside her name) Read more!