"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen."(emphasis mine)
Saturday, November 07, 2009
TV?
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Brenda
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6:17 AM
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Friday, November 06, 2009
Making use of Google Maps
Isaac asked about the house we lived in before this (the duplex we rented for 6 months), and where that was. He thought it was closer to Bob's Red Mill than the house we live in now. It's not, it's about equal--or a little further, maybe. So I mapped it! We keep a Google Map going with all of the destinations we study. We've got the Great Lakes marked on there from when we read Paddle to the Sea. We've got Milk Street in Boston labeled (that's where Benjamin Franklin was born). We add to it as we study new places, and it's pretty fun for the kids to see it!
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8:17 PM
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Makeup
I just got an e-mail from Nordstrom. Clinique is having another one of their free gifts with a $25 purchase. That's how I used to get makeup. Every 6 months or so I would buy my $18 foundation and 1 other item, and get the free gift. This particular free gift includes mascara, lipstick, eye shadow, eye cream, facial soap, and brushes. So let's say I bought a $10 blush with my $18 foundation...And spent $28...Twice a year...And got all of my makeup for the year. That's what I did. Not bad, really. Considering, before that, I'd buy a lipstick at the grocery store for $6, would hate it, and throw it away, wasting $6....I'd buy 3 or 4 creamy foundations at $10 or more a piece, until I found one that actually worked. It was annoying. So I stuck with the Clinique plan.
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Brenda
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6:45 AM
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Dried Fruit
Re: Sickness, I'm still not myself as of this moment, but no cough or sore throat, and that's a good thing! I am sick of being sick ad I'm going to pretend I'm not today. ;)
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Brenda
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6:11 AM
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Thursday, November 05, 2009
homeschooling from the couch
This is the most annoying kind of illness, whatever it is! I am perfectly coherant and alert right now (fell asleep before 8 last night, I think, and slept until just before 6 this morning), but my body is totally achey!! So I am alert enough to think about what I want to do--but it hurts to do much at all!
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Brenda
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10:00 AM
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Wednesday, November 04, 2009
swine flu?
I feel terrible if this is swine flu...We went to homeschool co-op today!! But I didn't have any reason to think we shouldn't go today...
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Brenda
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6:37 PM
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yummy pumpkin milkshake
I roasted a whole pumpkin yesterday and I'm looking for things to do with it. Karry made these milkshakes tonight:
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Brenda
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6:09 PM
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Awesome Sermon
I wrote down just about every resource that people mentioned this weekend! My friends Joy and Kristi both mentioned this one, and I watched it this morning. It is awesome! It's an hour--but you can have it playing while you do something else (you don't have to keep your eyes on it, just listen). :)
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7:14 AM
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Whew!
I just sat down for the first time in HOURS! ;) This morning I noticed all of the produce (left from our last csa week) that I needed to do something with. Sadly, some of it had rotted in our fridge. :( Bye, bye green beans (again...we never use all of the green beans!). Bye, bye kholrabi...But! There was still much left to do!
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3:28 PM
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Monday, November 02, 2009
The Retreat
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4:02 PM
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I'm done
writing about the Emergent church, that is. I mentioned it hasn't been sitting well with me. Here's my thought:
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6:30 AM
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Friday, October 30, 2009
go hug your children!
I woke up in the middle of the night from a terrible dream. A horrible dream! I dreamed that one of my sweet babies got hurt and died. I woke up feeling like I was going to throw up, shaking, and I had to go check to make sure it wasn’t really true, and then I had a hard time falling asleep after that (I almost blogged this then--but I knew sleep would be best for me at that moment!).
My dream made me think about a show we watched the other day. I told Karry that I wanted to watch 60 Minutes (I grew up watching that show, and we never watch it). I like investigative journalism type shows. I, however, cannot stand Unsolved Mysteries, or any CSI type shows. We’ve watched 2 CSI shows and I remember them vividly--I really don’t like those kinds of things in my brain. Ick! Well, this particular 60 Minutes show was too much like an Unsolved Mysteries type of show, and I wish I hadn’t watched it. It was about, first, a crazy father who shot all of his children, and second, the well-known Andrea Yates, who drowned all of her children in the bathtub. Freaky!!! Really!!! HOW? WHY? Ugh! It makes me want to throw up just thinking about it all!!!
In this interview, her husband talked about her having mental illness, and that he didn’t blame her at all (though oddly, he’s divorced her and remarried...even though he forgives her). I have a hard time, with something so horrible, excusing someone because of mental illness. But then when I think about it, that could be the only reason--no NORMAL person would do that.
It was strange to watch the show. She was a homeschooling mom. Her home videos revealed that her life was much like mine. Lots of little kids (she had 5--I think spaced pretty close together), and she spent a lot of time with them...she did skits with them (and even made costumes) to learn about ancient history. She seemed “normal.”
I remember times when my boys were littler when I felt so incredibly overwhelmed and wiped out. I never wanted to hurt them, ever--that never even crossed my mind. I remember feeling like it was never going to end--I was never going to stop being needed. It has gotten easier as they’ve become more independent. I remember crashing at night, exhausted from long days with 3 demanding little ones (they were 3, 2 and 1!). I remember feeling like I didn’t have any friends--and didn’t have any time for friendships (how could I ever even talk to anyone with 3 busy boys at my feet--or climbing on something??). I remember even thinking I had postpartum depression, after I had Kaleb. I didn’t want to be a stay-at-home mom anymore. (I didn’t have a right view of children at that time) I was so tired....Karry asked if I wanted to get a job....I didn’t. Inside I knew I was doing what was best--being home with them. But it was *hard*....I went to a counselor at our church, and she said it wasn’t postpartum depression, just stress, and she helped me come up with some coping methods and I was on my way...I can understand incredible stress in parenting--exhaustion--fatigue--being overwhelmed---but not hurting, or killing your own sweet babies....That is sick.
Besides the 60 Minutes show, I’d also recently came across the Andrea Yates story online, when I was doing a little research....
I was wondering if Wikipedia had a religious or political bent (or if it was neutral), so I started looking up various Christian leaders. Look up Brian McLaren, Donald Miller, Rob Bell, and you’ll see a lot of info. On the conservative side of things, look up RC Sproul Jr., Doug Phillips, Voddie Baucham, Michael & Debbi Pearl, Reb Bradley, James & Stacy McDonald and you find little or nothing (the only one with a page at all is RC Sproul Jr.). I can find a tiny page about Vision Forum ministries. And Doug Phillips, founder of Vision Forum, is mentioned on an interesting Wikipedia page about the Quiverfull Movement.
What is the Quiverfull Movement? A belief that children are blessings from God (unlike what most of America believes). A belief that God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply” (it was written like a command--not a suggestion) still holds today, and that we really should be filling the earth with little blessings. Therefore, most in the Quiverfull Movement do not use any kind of birth control, they leave it up to God. My thoughts? I’ll share them in a minute. :)
Why did Andrea Yates come up in this article? Because it is claimed that she was a “victim” of this movement. That her postpartum depression wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t had so many children. I have a huge problem with Andrea Yates being tied in to the Quiverfull movement, and such a huge section of the Wikipedia article about the movement being about her.
Here are my thoughts. Honestly, if I *could* have had more babies, I would have. I think children ARE incredible blessings and I think most Americans are missing out by spending time and money to avoid being blessed. I stopped taking birth control on my honeymoon (I know, funny) because it made me have terrible stomach aches and Karry and I didn’t want to prevent pregnancy anyways. It would take us more than a year and a half to conceive & keep a pregnancy after that. I believe God is perfectly capable of opening and closing the womb. I have seen it time and time again (with us--stopping birth control--and still not being able to have a baby, and with various people in my life who get pregnant post-vasectomy or while on birth control). I believe that birth control is terrible for a woman’s body--every form of it. I also believe that birth control can cause abortions (look up what Randy Alcorn has to say about this).
So in all of these senses, I believe, yes, I’m Quiverfull.....But my tubes are tied. Why? I couldn’t safely carry babies in my womb. I had Isaac 6 months early and had an emergency c-section where they cut my uterus in a “t”....Thus, every time I had contractions with Kaleb (multiple times a week, starting at 20 weeks), I was at risk of rupturing (killing Kaleb and possibly me). A pregnancy for me means 2 surgeries--a cerclage and a c-section. As well as 4 months on bed rest (thus requiring others to help take care of my children, make meals & clean house) and lots of trips to the hospital to be injected with drugs (or to take a pill) to stop labor....It just wasn’t safe. Both of my home-grown babies were miracles to say the least! We prayerfully decided that if we were to be blessed with more children, God would provide them through adoption. And He has. And maybe He will again, in His good timing!
It appears that Andrea Yates couldn’t safely have babies either, but in a different way. Her doctor advised her not to--because pregnancy kicked her into mental illness. In that case--I believe, the Yates family should have seen that as God telling them to stop. Yes, God opens and closes the womb. But He also provides us with really big signs sometimes, to tell us to stop....
That said--I will never be one of the people who leave a negative comment on an article or blog about the Duggar Family and their 19 children (there are sooo many people against them!). I think they’re a wonderful family, probably the *richest* in America, and not because of material wealth. I have learned a lot from that family--their attitudes--their frugality--their faith. They are a blessing to watch and read about.
Nancy Campbell is mentioned on the Wikipedia page as one of the first people to write about the Quiverfull Movement (Mary Pride being the first to publish a book about it). I’m going to an Above Rubies retreat this weekend where Nancy Campbell is speaking. I’m excited about this retreat. Maybe I’ll have more on the topic of Quiverfull to share after this weekend. ;)
Go hug your children, they are *blessings*!!
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9:10 AM
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