Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Pet Peeve


What is up with well-meaning people abusing the term Pro-life? Recent actual examples:
"What do you think of Pro-life?"
"Pro-life is so important."
"I need to do something about Pro-life."

"Pro-life" is an adjective people- possibly an adverb - but it is not a noun. There is no big Pro-life walking around out there. It is not a person, place or thing. It is a description of a set of ideas, beliefs, truths - a description. An adjective.

Phew. I just had to get that off my chest. It's been bothering me for about 8 months.

Monday, January 26, 2009

The Curse

And so it starts. Last night I couldn't fall or stay asleep until about 7 am, when it was time to be out of bed. What was I thinking about?
Curriculum, unit studies, my own lack of wide/varied experience, limited educational options for my children, limited social options for my kids, the homemakers role as an educator, my own personal energy levels.
And so it starts. The question is, where does it end?
And he's only 4.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Small Successes

FaithButton

1. I stayed awake all day. If you knew what my night was like last night then you would know why this is a success.
2. I made soup for dinner for a crowd of college students by 10:30 a.m. They did not come and we did not eat it, but I was ready. Now I've got a LOT of Chicken and Wild Rice soup on my hands.
3. And this is not so much a small success as a large success, as far as I am concerned, but it bears mentioning - we all went to the March for Life in D.C. today. All 3 little kiddos and David and I. We drove 45 min. to the metro and then rode the train in for an hour (could I give Moses a better gift?). It took us many moons to make it home and I am thoroughly exhausted but I'm proud of us. We also got to see my brother who came down from his college to participate and spend time with wonderful friends.
5. My very dear friend had a great job interview today. More her success then mine but hey - I was praying for her.
4. I emailed 4 people today and wrote this blog post. I've been electronically responsible.

Good stuff.
As Danielle puts it "It’s important for moms to recognize that all the small successes in our days can add up to one big triumph." So you can visit her every Thursday at Faith and Family to participate in the triumphs.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Inauguration thoughts (I promise to be brief)

Having come from a homeschooling family where everything is a "teaching moment", especially moments like the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, or Clinton's inauguration, or the Olympics, I couldn't in good conscience ignore the news yesterday. So I called Moses - the oldest, age four - and began to explain to him in a haphazard way why what we were watching was important. To begin with the positive, I said that this was the first black man ever elected as president (you know, the important man who tells everyone what to do). This is a big deal, I said, because all of the other presidents have been white.
Suddenly I realized that my "positive" was introducing my son to a very negative concept - that skin color matters. If we have any chance at being a "post-racial" country then I think that we need to protect our children from this "historical moment" - just let them think that it's perfectly normal and expected that a black man can rise to the highest office in the country.
Not to mention that then I had to, much to my own sadness, explain why we can not be perfectly happy with this particular man - black, white or blue. I certainly did not give the 4-year-old details but it broke my heart a little bit to have to begin to introduce to him the concepts of hate and selfishness that run so deep in the human heart - through both racism and abortion.
Now it's off the the March for Life. And so begins Moses' introduction to "the morally defining issue of his generation," as my father puts it. Race defined the moral-battle for the country two generations ago and yesterday we witnessed a major victory in that battle - now the battle ground lies in the protection of the unborn. God bless America.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Fly on the Wall

Moses is trying to put a puzzle together and I'm on the computer, definitely NOT listening at all - just answering in the affirmative to everything (which by the way is a sure-fire way to end up with kids eating cupcakes around 8:30 am).
Moses: Mommy, does this piece go here?
Mommy: Um. Yeah, sure.
Moses: (trying to fit the piece in) Oh, that's NONSENSE.

Moses' comment about this picture of Lily (circa 3 months):
"Who is that fat, crazy guy?"



Moses: I think we should have LOTS of kids in Bumbo seats.
Mommy: Oh yeah, what about 5 kids or 7 kids?!
Moses: Well...how about twelve kids? Or 40 kids?!

Moses: Sometimes I pray to God at night. I ask Him to make the Polar Express crash into our house and make me a conductor when I'm older. Can He do that?

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Over the Hill

What can I say about my main squeeze? Seriously.
The words are failing me right now. There's just too much to say on this particular birthday so I'll have to post something later or just confine it to a greeting card for the sake of keeping the mush-factor on this blog low.
Either way:
HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY, LOVE!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Monday, January 5, 2009

Ski baby, ski (*updated*)

I ski. I'm a skier (said nonchalantly, with a head-toss).
I skied the bunny hill 3 times. The next green hill 3 times and then the big green run from the top of the mountain to the bottom 2 times and one short blue run twice.
Bo and I skied the bunny hill twice and the next green hill twice together. Bo is my new ski friend.
I was really nervous about going for the first time because it's been years since I was "a skier" and I'd be alone since no one else around can/wants to be a skier. But after the first terrifying ride up the chair lift by myself (up the BUNNY HILL) where I practiced my deep breathing, God sent along Bo. Who showed me the bar that you can put down on the lift, reminded me of a technique to make better right-hand turns and explained to me how to get up after a fall (it's amazing how easy it is to forget these things. Skiing is not like riding a bike, that's what). What would I do without Bo?
So Bo and I rode the chairlift and talked about all manner of deep things. Luckily for David, Bo is 12.
I will be making use of my new pass again tonight. Oh joy! I need to think of something to do on the ski lift by myself though, it does get a little tedious. I've already thought of a Rosary, David suggested menu planning (mostly joking?), any other ideas?

Update: "Wintry Mix"= no skiing=taking down the Christmas tree instead=breaking the vacuum cleaner.

My Normal

(Sung to the tune of "If you happy and you know it")


There's a hotdog in my coffee, don't-cha-know?
There's a hotdog in my coffee, don't-cha-know?
There's a hotdog in my coffee,
Why doesn't this surprise me?
There's a hotdog in my coffee, don't-cha-know?