My garden theology

I have a large garden. It was my dream to have one. I'm totally grateful and happy....and frankly a little overwhelmed. ;)

As I work and walk through my garden I've had some 'spiritual' thoughts. Here's a few of them:

Weeds:  You think I'm gonna say they are like sin in our lives - needing to be pulled by the root. Right?? Wrong. My weeds are not the sin. They are life. Busyness. The things that keep us (the beautiful garden plant) from growing to our full potential. The things that drain us, much like the weeds in the garden drain the plants from their strength and can actually kill them if left to grow and grow unchecked.

Sometimes 'weeds' may be birthday parties, and grocery shopping, and laundry, and play dates, and exercise at the gym, oil changes.... and.... all the things that keep you soooooo busy. Weeds in the garden sure keep me busy!!! Just like life, we need to keep our busyness to a minimum sometimes so we can concentrate and focus - on God, on true growing. Don't let the weeds choke you.

Hurry up and grow:  I want a genuine relationship with the Lord. I don't want your spiritual life, even though you seem to be tight with God, I want my own version of God-closeness....but I want it NOW. I have this vision of what my life will look like, and what I'll be doing. I also have a vision of my garden and what it will look like years from now. Unfortunately, neither are currently close to the vision 'picture' I have in my head. Some gardeners use Miracle Grow. That is fine. I don't. I don't want to add chemicals to my garden.

It's like my life. I need to be the best 'me' I can....but it is hard not to want to do a personal 'cheat'. It is hard to keep my garden pure from chemicals just to make it grow bigger and faster. But that is just like life. We need to keep our hearts pure. Once you pour the chemicals on and they spread into the soil it is hard to get them out! Purity is good, but it takes time to see results and it can be hard to follow through, but the end result is always worth it.

Gophers and voles: Here's the sin peeps. You can be the most beautiful, popular, amazing person, but if you have sin, under the surface destroying you, and all you were meant to offer- it doesn't matter what you have going for you on the surface of your life. Like we have all heard time and again, it's what inside that counts.

My gophers and voles - man... it is hard to keep sin from encroaching into our lives! Pesky little things. Like Satan, they do not give up easily. Yes, I guess I'm referring to gophers as Satan... haha. Seriously though, this is where you pull out the big guns. Don't just buy 'repellent'. Oh no... buy poison. You have to get RID of those guys, just as you need to be serious about getting rid of sin. It will completely eat you up under the surface and destroy who you were meant to be.

What can you do??

But laugh maybe?? or perhaps...wonder what you are doing wrong??? ;)

My two year, two month old daughter will close her eyes and turn her head when I reprimand her. As if she just suddenly fell asleep and can no longer hear me.  'What Mom? I'm sorry, I can't hear you, I'm sleeping, I'm sure you can tell, as my eyes are ever-so-tightly closed."

"Talia! Noooooo! We don't touch our poop!!" (if you've read the last couple of posts, you should know my life is very much full of poop.)   ...to which, when she hears me say this, 'falls asleep' - sometimes standing up! (which, really, must take a good amount of talent)

This morning I was changing her and she is laying on the floor just being a goof. Then she began to act naughty and I scolded her. Immediately she tossed her head to the side and closed her eyes tight.....and laid perfectly still.

Oh, whoops. My mistake. I should be quiet, my baby is sleeping!!! hahaha.....
At least when she has her eyes closed she can't see me laughing to myself!

My Vaccine Soapbox

This could be a hundred pages long. I can talk a lot, and I tend to write conversationally when I get going.

This won't be written like a medical journal, but instead from the heart of a mother.

It certainly won't be comprehensive, as I don't have the strength in my hands to type that long. But, if you want to comment, talk or share, you may. Shoot, if you really want to talk, we could meet. ;)

We don't vaccinate our children. .....anymore.
See, we used to. It is the American way. Our kids are safe if we do. All 'good' mothers vaccinate their kids. And.....so did I.

Until my son was two, almost three years old.
I have four kids. The first two have almost all their toddler vaccinations. The last two have (almost) none.  (research happens in stages with small kids)

I began researching like a nerd on speed at an Ivy League college when my son was two and a half. He has severe allergies to milk and beef, and eggs. Not lactose intolerant - no, he is allergic to the protein in milk and beef and eggs.

I began to research raw milk and goats milk. I really researched and learned about pasteurized milk. I was sold from my findings - we wouldn't drink processed milk anymore. I was hoping in the beginning of the process to see if there was a type of milk my son could handle. That would change our life. There wasn't, but I did find something in the process.

I found information about vaccines. A lot of information. So much so, we stopped giving them to our children.

I disagreed with the ingredients. Monkey organs, chicken embryos, mercury, thimerisol (a mercury preservative), aluminum, and human protein DNA from aborted fetuses. If that doesn't make you say eeewww.. There's more. I'm not writing a medical journal, so I'm not listing more, but I promise you, if you dig, there's more.

Here's something I learned just a few days ago actually. Which is why I'm writing. In almost every single shot there is bovine and egg protein. Let me say that again. Bovine and egg protein.

There is federal protection against vaccine makers. Your child's head could fall off after a vaccine, and there's nothing you can do. You can't sue them, you can settle with them. Nothing. Federal law protects them in every way.

I can't prove this, but I have a theory. When the number of vaccines went up, so did autism, allergies and asthma. I have two kids vaccinated. One was diagnosed with allergies and one with asthma. (the asthma has recently been out-grown. Praise the Lord!) The two kids without vaccines are perfectly well.

Did you notice, that my son is allergic to the protein of cows (milk and beef) and of eggs. And those are the exact two ingredients in all the shots he had. Now, let's think about this. You don't give a one month, two month or four month old baby cow's milk. And you certainly don't give them beef. Why??? Their little bodies can't handle it. That's why. Then why is it injected into them???

I am pretty convinced that if I hadn't given my son his vaccines, that he would be a child living a (more) normal life. A life filled with milk, cheese, butter, ice-cream, ballpark hotdogs, scrambled eggs, and cakes.

I pray he out grows this, or is healed from it. But I no longer think he was born with it.
click here to read about human fetus DNA in your vaccines

Dashiell Robert Parr

The new dog. We got a new puppy dog two days ago. Less than 48 hours ago to be exact.
It's going pretty well. Nobody I know is a fan of poop, or poop clean-up. However, I would like to take this moment to say how very very much I hate cleaning up poop that has been smeared into gates and tiles and puppy beds.


AAAGGGGHHH!!!!!

But he is a really cute dog. We call him Dash. I have this thing - ever since I was young, but old enough to name my own pets - I name them Disney names. I love Disney. I'm not a pet person. Perhaps it is a psychological way of making me like the animal more???? Regardless.... they get Disney names. Or today, Disney/Pixar names.

We considered Mater, Beast, Dash and Jack-jack. Alex (our son) wanted to name him Thunder - later we find out it's because the neighbor's dog is named Thunder!! (funny kid....)

Dash won out. But Patrick and I secretly call him Dashiell Robert Parr. Because it is funny to us, and because it's like using a kid's middle name.

Dash has a great temperament so far. He is 6 months old and we have four little, excited kids. The dog is handling us sooooo well!! He is calm, isn't yappy, hasn't snapped at all the little grabby hands, lets my daughter hold him hanging from her hip in a very 6 year old way all day - he will fit in nicely if he keeps up this mellowness. (Mommy just might keep him!! haha)

cute things I wish I could remember forever....

While we were driving the other day a conversation was happening in the far backseat between Alex and Avalon.

Avalon got this plastic doll/statue/thing from the dollar store. She treasures it and was once again fondly holding it. "It says 'made in China'. I thought GOD made everything." She says kinda smartly.

"Let me see," Alex says, "Yep. Made in China. Well, God DOES make everything. He just makes it in China and they put it together and then they send it over here."

HAHAHAAA! I was laughing so hard inside. Where do they come up with this stuff? And when did Avalon learn to read?? She doesn't know how! That is the first thing she reads?!?!?

Then today, driving again (this is where our best convos happen other than the dinner table actually).....

Me: Guys, let's all think of the amazing miracles God does in our life! We should be so thankful.

I told them about how something I prayed for was answered this morning.

Alex: I know!! I got through school today. That's a miracle!!


Oh gosh these kids are killin me. I'm so glad I'm a mom! Happy belated mother's day y'all!!

Yes, I'm alive

We moved. On March 18th actually. Almost three weeks ago now.

We moved  and I got terribly sick. Worst head cold and chest cold of the last decade hands down. It was not fun. I'm truly not recovered entirely yet, but I'm much, much better!

We moved into a house so outdated we cannot plug in our TV. Most TVs have a three prong plug. That means it is 'grounded'. You plug it into an outlet in your wall that has three holes. (I'm so brilliant, aren't I??)
That is a grounded outlet.

This house only has four of those. One in our bathroom. One in the kids bathroom, and one on each side of the kitchen sink. Since the bathrooms aren't really set up for TV watching, and I'm not crazy about it happening in the kitchen - we don't have a television set up. But wait, it's not exactly 1955 - these days you can't just plug in a TV. You have to have cable or satellite or something. And.... you guessed it... this house doesn't have that set up either. So even if you did want to watch Dancing with the Stars while doing your dishes, it still ain't happenin' people. :)

You know what?? We really haven't missed it.

Once, one afternoon my 7 year old son whined about not having it. That is it. That is the only complaint we've had about not watching television in almost three weeks. I have a toddler who is turning 2 this month, and 4, 5, and 7 yr olds. No once have they asked for Barney or Sesame Street, or Wipe Out or Cyber Chase.

Even me and Patrick are doing better than expected. I don't miss Inside Edition or 20/20 or ....well... I haven't really thought about Castle until now. Let me at least put it that way as I sigh a moment......

Patrick though- really - he is somewhat addicted to the screen. Both for movies and TV. But he has been amazing! He could really care less. I'm very impressed. In our 'old' life he would have been climbing the walls by now! haha

So what is this 'new' life we are living?? Well, for starters we have a very outdated old house on 6.4 acres. Right across the street are two ponds. One is a neighbors that he said we could come over to at anytime and fish in. The other one is a more private residence only "preservation" type pond. We see the sun bouncing off the water in the early morning and dusk. We have a wood pecker, an owl, we hear ducks and geese, and many amazing birds I'm not sure I've heard before. We have a barn. and thanks to my amazing husband, an almost fenced garden that is bigger than the last backyard we had. If it was any larger we'd be farmers - that's what Patrick said. :)

 Here are a couple pics of our new old homestead:

Our deck and fire pit ~

 Home Sweet Home ~

 A perfect place to paint our family name on this piece at the entrance to our home~

 Most of our front yard ~

Moving

Things I don't like about moving:

I (WE) own too much stinkin' crap.

To be honest with you, I think I could clothe about 6 families our size. I didn't know this before - but as I pack up clothes and look at what is left in the closet, and still piled high in the laundry room... I am embarrassed.  It is shameful.

Friends have asked if I need them to come help pack. (Refer to point one) I don't really want to say yes - because it is letting them into a place in your life you let VERY few people. "Come, please, see the inner workings of our house and every little last piece of junk that we have that we haven't thrown out for seven years."

I am out of shape. I moved...say 25 boxes today (packed ones) - and it was so painful! What??? I'm about to move 1,300 million boxes in a couple of weeks, and 25ish boxes wore me out??? This is not encouraging news.

You buy a house - you think.... but you really have no idea. I mean, you invest ALL this time, and money, and effort and yada yada yada.... and your buyers (of your house) can 'legally' walk at inspection, or survey, or inspection resolution, or appraisal, or when they blow their nose, or eat dinner...... (I think you know what I mean) It is really frustrating.

In a similar vein as point one, we have too many toys. I was 'never gonna raise spoiled kids'. Nope my kids were not going to be raised like kids that have it all. But, um.. they do. They have it ALL. As in ALL of Toys R Us, Walmart, and Target combined. And I'm trying to not take it ALL with us. It is pretty tough to clear out toys. First you have the obvious - "MOM!! Why is my crown in the trashcan!?!?" (This actually happened today.) Secondly - it is difficult to sell them at a garage sale (IF you have time to have one before moving day). The kids come out and see their *favorite* toy on the lawn... and you know....

Anyway, that is my gripe fest for the day. I know if we DO move... and I certainly hope we do....
We will forget these days the way women 'forget' the pain of labor, and the sleepless nights of infancy. I know we will 'love' the new house. I know it will all be worth it. I try to remember that on days like today. Days when I consider throwing in the towel on it all! ;)