Hind's Feet

Way too fast, if you ask me. Those are not Cheetos, BTW, they are Gerber Puffs.

The Gordons playing "All My Tears"... beautiful, isn't it? Here are the words: When I go don't cry for me In my fathers arms I'll be The wounds this world left on my soul Will all be healed and I'll be whole Sun and moon will be replaced With the light of Jesus' face And I will not be ashamed For my savior knows my name It don't matter where you bury me I'll be home and I'll be free It don't matter where I lay All my tears be washed away Gold and silver blind the eye Temporary riches lie Come and eat from heaven's store Come and drink and thirst no more So weep not for me my friend When my time below does end For my life belongs to him Who will raise the dead again It don't matter where you bury me I'll be home and I'll be free It don't matter where I lay All my tears be washed away It don't matter where you bury me I'll be home and I'll be free.

Happy Birthday Ukkie!

Steadfast with Telly and her babies... Toby & Tulip Telly. She's a really, really, really neat goat. Very friendly. A people goat. Tulip (L) and Toby (R)

Yes, I had a lovely birthday, thank you. :) The goats were my birthday gift from Steadfast, along with 25 red roses. We went to Bob Evans for dinner. Bob Evans is an Ohio chain kind of like IHOP only a little bit better quality, in my humble opinion, and they have more choices. We almost had our favorite waitress, Amy, but they put another person on our table. She came by to chat afterwards, though, and that was nice. :) Jane gave me three rosewood crochet hooks that are ornately carved and just beautiful. They are part of a new line of rosewood crochet hooks & knitting needles at Hobby Lobby. Elizabeth gave me a large basket that is big enough to use as a small laundry basket or a large knitting basket. Mary gave me a smaller basket that would hold a nice loaf of bread. Catherine gave me a nice big candle that smells of apricot and spices. Lydia gave me a crochet book on afghans. Fanny & Bronwyn each gave me a coffee cup... one red, one blue. I may post a pic later...

Steadfast with Lydia, Catherine, and our goats.

Cloth diapering unfriendly to the environment?   UK study shows cloth diapering leaves a larger carbon footprint than disposable diapers.

I have to say the last two weeks of October are probably my favorite time of year. Not just because I get to have a birthday, then, either. I was born on a hot blustery day in southern California where autumn colors were rare. How much I enjoy the gift of these changing seasons! Today we went to church, had lunch, put the babies down for their naps, and thus begun a blissful afternoon. I walked out to the pasture to see if Steadfast needed a hand with the new fence, or the new "bitty barn" (who's inhabitants will arrive in time for my birthday next weekend), and he said, no, he was just puttering around enjoying his afternoon at home after three weeks of travels. And so I walked back, with an indignant Toast at my feet. We humans can be such a handful to keep track of, you know. And halfway through the path in the woods I was greeted by Elizabeth toting a phone that had my dear mom on the other end. I sat on the bench on the lawn (which affords the view above) and had a...

"Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower." - Albert Camus

Here we go again... the Bailout Rescue Plan repeats history... October 1929.... If the Federal Reserve had an inflationist attitude during the boom, it was just as ready to try to cure the depression by inflating further. It stepped in immediately to expand credit and bolster shaky financial positions. In an act unprecedented in its history, the Federal Reserve moved in during the week of the crash-the final week of October-and in that brief period added almost $300 million to the reserves of the nation's banks. During that week, the Federal Reserve doubled its holdings of government securities, adding over $150 million to reserves, and it discounted about $200 million more for member banks. Instead of going through a healthy and rapid liquidation of unsound positions, the economy was fated to be continually bolstered by governmental measures that could only prolong its diseased state. -- America's Great Depression , Murray Rothbard What kind of Micky Mouse operation is this...

Not Yours To Give - Col. David Crockett, US Representative from Tennessee

Someone recently asked of me, and others, what tolerance means within a large family. I think our "tolerance" ties right into our philosophy of homeschooling... that God created each of us with a purpose, that He gave us gifts and interests that, if allowed to bloom, further our preparation for fulfilling that purpose. I think being in a large family *and* homeschooling is what gives my children the freedom to develop as they are meant to... without undue judgement, and with acceptance for who they are. My 18 year old likes colorful outfits... and people may think she looks strange, but she seems to be a trendsetter. Her one week in public high school she wore striped leggings... before that week they were considered outlandish, after that week our small town was full of teen girls wearing striped leggings.   I actually accompanied her last night to her University book store, as she had some textbook returns and needed my debit card to credit the return on.   As...

Glenn Beck on the economy... from seven months ago.   Think we're at Defconomy Three?

Fanny is 22 months old today. A few days ago I was busy doing some homeschool record keeping on my laptop... engrossed in some tiny, but important, details... when I felt her climb up next to me and snuggle into my side. I turned, and this was the view I had... she had put a hair band in her hair, a hair elastic on her arm as a bracelet, put her big sister's necklace around her neck, taken her bowl of (dry) Cheerios from the table, her favorite book and blankie... and hunkered down for the long haul. I suddenly had the feeling my baby had grown up, and I am so glad I'm at home with her, and did not miss one second of her babyhood. When I was a working mom I had many regrets. Since I've come home, I've not had one.

Colin Brazier reports in the Daily Mail on "Why the middle classes must have bigger families." The man himself is incredibly blessed with five daughters... So you know that scores brownie points in my book. ;)

( Allow? Allow God? Who am I to allow God? ) “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5, 6 Sometimes people ask me what scripture we base our family size on. I think they expect me to quote verses like "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” - Psalm 127:3-5 Or to quote all the "Be fruitful and multiply" verses. Or they expect me to recant how, throughout the Bible, God considers children a blessing to be desired (in the stories of Abraham & Sarah... of Isaac & Rebecca... of Rachel & Leah... of Hannah) But for us it was not only what we found in scripture, but in looking at God'...

The Wall Street Journal reports On the Virtues of Making Your Children Do the Dishes .

Today Bronwyn turned half a year! She celebrated by getting her first tooth, and is already starting on a second. She is 16 lbs 8 oz (7484g) and 26 inches (66cm).... still breastfed only, no solids yet. She grabs everything in her reach, and is learning to sit... still a bit wobbly, but getting there! :) (And yes, that's a pile of unfolded laundry behind them. It's real life, here. ) Love how this shot shows her chunky "little" legs...

She was bemused by the camera... she kept leaning to look around it to smile at me, so of course all the smiling shots show only half of her face. She is so incredibly snuggly. Every time she reaches up her round little arms, wanting to be picked up, my heart melts into a puddle and I can never refuse. :)

Seventeen years ago today I gave birth to my second born, whose name is (really) Rebecca. It was my only homebirth, and it was smooth, and swift and golden in my memories. I had stayed up until midnight bleaching the kitchen and bathroom from top to bottom, and washing every single thing in the house that was washable. After I hung my last load of laundry "op zolder" I fell into bed at exactly midnight. At exactly 1 am I woke with a contraction and the contractions stayed regular and steady as I sat there on the edge of my bed watching the night sky until the sun came up, and then I woke Steadfast who called the doctor (doctors make house calls in the Netherlands) and his parents to come get our firstborn and whisk her away until the excitement was over. Dr Siersema arrived with her gentle ways and quiet voice and said yes, it was time to call a nurse to assist, and to have a baby. The nurse arrived and made tea and Steadfast and the two women sat and drank tea in front ...

Here is my #1 nephew. Not number one because he's my favorite, because I can't have favorites, but because he's the very first nephew I ever had. He is the kind of nephew you look at and your heart swells and you think "what a good kid he is!" because he really is a good kid and the apple of his aunties' eyes. I can't find a single fault with him at all. Except, maybe, the fact that he climbs to really high places, which doesn't do my heart a bit of good. He will be 22 next month. Wow. And I still remember a 2 yo with a little noggin head (that he couldn't reach the top of with his little hands, by the way), who would clean up his toys to make his mommy come home from work.. after all, when she'd call to say she was on her way, we'd say "let's pick up the toys Jeff" and when we did that, there she'd be! So when he thought it was time for her to come (even if it wasn't) he would start cleaning... He's still good...

Here is my brother-in-law having too much fun at a wedding in Colorado. He really lives in Oregon with his wife, my sister. :)

Here is my sister having too much fun without me. These are naturally occurring potholes in Oregon. Hi LaRue! I miss you!

Oh, how I love this mug! I think, perhaps, she looks like me. ;)

Those were Jane's old glasses, not her most recent prescription, but Fanny was oh-so-careful with them... taking itsy bitsy steps and hardly daring to move as she slowly spun for the camera. As soon as they started to slip, she grabbed them off, not touching the glass, and handed them over to Jane with a "here!" - she didn't want that much responsibility on her tiny shoulders. :D

We have four cats... one is missing from the gap. :) From left to right... Crumpet, Toast & Muffin. Croissant did not make it into the pic.

Here is a fun blog for mamas (and others) who have little girls with hair to style: http://www.shedoeshair.blogspot.com/

...to this lovely young lady. (I'm mom to both of those lovelies, actually) :)

"In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light. In summer quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day. I have to go to bed and see The birds still hopping on the tree, Or hear the grown-up people's feet Still going past me in the street. And does it not seem hard to you, When all the sky is clear and blue, And I should like so much to play, To have to go to bed by day?" - Robert Louis Stevenson

31,000 scientists reject 'global warming' agenda. (click link to read article)

"Many centenarian women have a history of bearing children after the age of 35 years and even 40 years. From our studies, a woman who naturally has a child after the age of 40 has a 4 times greater chance of living to 100 compared to women who do not. It is probably not the act of bearing a child in one's forties that promotes long life, but rather, doing so may be an indicator that the woman's reproductive system is aging slowly and that the rest of her body is as well. Such slow aging and the avoidance or delay of diseases that adversely impact reproduction would bode well for the woman's subsequent ability to achieve very old age." (Source: Perls T, Alpert L, Fretts R. Middle aged mothers live longer. Nature 1997;389:133.)

Here she is. Two weeks from eighteen. I found her asleep on the sofa this morning, because apparently she found the creature below in her room last night. Little things like these make it really hard for a mama to let her baby grow up and go out into the real world... or at least... to college. (Photo shows him slightly smaller than actual size. Unless you love arachnids, you probably don't want to click on it. Although, as wolf spiders go, he's pretty darn cute, in my humble opinion.)