Wordless Wednesday

Don't you just love seeing God's promise in the sky?

I love this quote

This quote is from my favorite blogger...who doesn't even have a real blog...just a myspace blog. 

"Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary use words"- St Francis of Assissi

What a fabulous thought! I'm not even going to bother with discussing this, just read Mark's blog.  While you're there, check out his other blogs.  He has an amazing way with words and is just real. 

If you like what you read, check out http://www.thecenteratcherokee.org/.  There's not much on the site yet, but Mark & Gwen will be doing amazing stuff pretty soon! 

Mom's 60th!

So, today, my mom turned 60!  I can't believe it- she certainly doesn't look 60.  I hope I look half as good as she does when I'm...gulp...60.

We had a lovely brunch at The Cheesecake Factory.  My dad got her a beautiful antique necklace that she wanted, Tim got her a cd, Bailey got her a harvest angel statue, Jake got her a cat puzzle, and Dave & I got her a James Avery pendant of a sand dollar. 

My lovely evening.

We had steak tonight and as I was bringing my plate into the kitchen, the steak knife fell off and landed on my toe.  I looked down, didn't see any blood, and it didn't hurt much, so I kept going into the kitchen, scraped my plate and then went over to the sink.  My leg all of the sudden felt tingly and I looked down to see my foot covered in blood.  I rinsed it off and it was immediately bloody again. So I yelled for dh.  "I think I'm hurt pretty bad, you'd better come help me...uh oh, I think I'm passing out!" Everything went black quickly and dh drug me over to sit against the cabinents.  I never really passed out, but I couldn't see anything, I couldn't lift my arms and I almost puked.  When I finally could see, all I could see was fuzzy stuff and stars.  I couldn't breathe either.  It felt like a weight was on my chest!  Dave was so fabulous- he put an ice pack on my neck, put frozen Capri Suns on my legs and wiped cold cloths all over my body until I calmed down.  The Xanax he gave me helped too.  I don't think the cut is actually that bad, there was just a LOT of blood.  I didn't see it all, but Dave said that every time I stepped down, it must have spurted out because there were huge spatters all over the floor where I walked!  barf Jake, in the mean time, freaked out and almost puked.  Ha ha.

Tomorrow, I'm off to brunch at The Cheesecake Factory for my mom's 60th birthday!  I'm sure that will be a better day!

Our Dahlonega experience

Today, my mom and I took the kids up to Dahlonega to pan for gold and grub for gems!  We chose not to do the underground mine tour because Mom is claustrophobic! 

Mom and I got the larger pan of dirt and the kids each got the smaller pan.  Boy, were the pans heavy!  We wished we had all chosen the smaller pan!  It took 15-20 minutes to swish the dirt in the water.  Gold is heavier so it sinks to the bottom. 







 After that was the fun part- grubbing for gems.  Yes, that's actually what it's called!  Mom bought the $50 bucket of gems, which includes precious stones.  We had a blast doing it and we made out pretty good.  Jake has a rock tumbler, so they'll end up very pretty.  We all got some lovely stones and the kids each found some precious stones like rubies, emeralds and saphires. 

A beautiful day

Today was gorgeous, with temperatures in the 70s.  We worked outside in the garden all day.  First we went and bought a beautiful bird bath and a birdfeeder, which Dave built a stand for.  We also planted a lot of bulbs.  Here is our result! Since I took the pic, we finished staining the fence and the birdfeeder post.



This is sedem- isn't it pretty?



I know I just posted a pic of my Zinnia, but I love the way the sun is reflecting off of the water in this picture.



Tomorrow we are all off to Dalonega with my mom to mine for gold.  Look for pictures soon!

My workers

Bailey is just like her dad.  She loves to work outside.  I proctored the ACT today, so I didn't get home until about 1:30 pm.  When I got home, Bailey was in work clothes and the two of them were dragging this large rake apparatus behind the mower to rake up the new pinestraw that has fallen.  We have a lot of pine trees so we always have ample pinestraw each year.  They had  made piles and then drove the mower (Bailey on Dave's lap) to each pile and put it into the bin.  Then they spread it all out.  They worked for hours and Bailey loved it!  Afterwards, they washed the mower and sprayed each other.  Here's the only picture I got of the whole thing. 

Random Garden Photos

We are going to have beautiful Black Swallowtail butterflies soon!  Look at all the caterpillars!



 My Zinnia finally bloomed!  So pretty...



I love how my banana plant looks from above.

 

So, I'm a little weird...

Remember how I like to watch spiders?  I also like to watch bees.  Actually, I love to watch bees.  With a garden like mine, there are always bees.  There is one bee that has been coming back every single day to my basil plant. I don't think he's told his friends about it, because he's the only one.  It must be quite tasty because I watch him every day.

 

I also like to watch caterpillars.  Not the nasty ones that turn into moths, but beautiful ones like the ones eating my parsley.  I did some research and they are the black swallowtail caterpillar, which will turn into a beautiful black and blue butterfly.  They only lay their eggs on plants in the parsley family.  The weird thing about this caterpillar, is when you pick him up, these orange antennae pop out...and they smell like paint!  They are actually scent glands that emit an odor to protect them.  The smell lingered for hours, so it worked! I won't be picking them up again.  I had to move them because they were eating Dave's carrot plants and he freaked!



 This is just a flower I love.



This bug kind of freaked me out...but not enough to stop me from getting really close to take a picture! It looked like a cross between a butterfly and a bee!

Wordless Wednesday

Giovanni in the "happiest place on Earth!" 

My thoughts on spanking

So, I'm an anti-spanker.  I'm not militant about it- it doesn't bother me when spankings are reserved for very serious occasions- like running into the road. 

I spanked with Jake, for the same reason I had him circed- I was young, uneducated, and I followed in the footsteps of the generation above me, like most people do.  By the time I had Bailey, I had decided not to spank, except for a handful of occasions.

Why spank? 

Because your parents did and you didn't turn out bad? 

-Well, your parents also may have smoked around you, or let you ride unbuckled on long road trips like mine did, or not put you in a car seat.  Yes, you didn't get hurt, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have.

Because the bible says to? 

Spare the rod and spoil the child.

Meaning

The notion that children will only flourish if punished, physically or otherwise, for any wrongdoing.

Origin

From the Bible, Proverbs 13-24 (King James Version):

He that spareth his rod hateth his son.

"The much-touted ‘biblical argument’ in support corporal punishment is founded upon proof-texting a few isolated passages from Proverbs. Using the same method of selective scripture reading, one could also cite the Bible as an authority for the practice of slavery, adultery, polygamy, incest, suppression of women, executing people who eat pork, and infanticide. The brutal and vindictive practice of corporal punishment cannot be reconciled with the major New Testament themes that teach love and forgiveness and a respect for the sacredness and dignity of children—and which overwhelmingly reject violence and retribution as a means of solving human problems. Would Jesus ever hit a child? NEVER!" -The Rev. Thomas E. Sagendorf, United Methodist Clergy Retired), Hamilton, Indiana. 2006.

Wow- he hit the nail right on the head.  I couldn't say it any better.

Ok, so other than the biblical instruction to spank, what other reason could you possibly find to want to hit your own child?  Does it help?  How often do you need to do it?  Are you seeing the behavior change for the better?  The answer is probably no.  Of course the behavior will immediately stop- out of shock and fear, but they will repeat the same behavior again. Why?  Because your child is 2, or 3, or 4 and is acting appropriately for their age.  They are testing their boundaries.  Should you let them do whatever they want?  Of course, not!  Firm discipline without violence works wonders.  Make a timeout area, whether it is a carpet square, or a specific chair or step, be consistant.  Consistancy is key in discipline, for it to work.  Time-outs can start early.  A one year old can sit for a few seconds when they have misbehaved.  Remember, one minute per year.  So, if your child is 3, they should have a 3 minute time out.  Sometimes, you may have to have your child in time-outs a dozen or more times, but isn't that better than hitting your child a dozen or more times.  Have you actually seen someone spank a child?  I don't mean the freak-show people who beat their children in Wal-Mart, but a normal spanker?  It just leaves a sick feeling doesn't it?  And it should.  Why would we ever want to hurt our children?  Why would Jesus ever want us to hurt our children? 

http://www.unhinderedliving.com/discipline.html

One final verse which often gives parents trouble is the verse "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him" (Proverbs 13:24).   The word "rod" is used in various ways in scripture, and in the original Hebrew there were eight to ten different meanings for the word.  The pole that shepherds used to guide their sheep along the road was called a rod.  It was not used to hit the sheep, but to guide them as they walked and keep them on the road.  This would correspond to the framework we talked about earlier.  It is simply a guide.  The shepherd also had a large club called a rod which he used to drive away predators, but it never was used to hit the sheep.  God also spoke of the "rod of my mouth" which he used for discipline also.  In short, the rod was any article or method used to guide, teach, or discipline.  It did not have to be a physical method, either, or God could not have used his mouth as a rod.

This is a very interesting take ont he scripture! Wow- the rod doesn't neccessarily mean to hit the child! 

The first thing we need to ask ourselves when a young child is misbehaving is what do they need that I have overlooked?  Are they hungry, tired, sick, bored?  When Bailey acts bratty, even at this age, I pretty much know that she's either tired or is getting sick.  Her body and her behavior tells me something is wrong!  I can read her like a book!

How can we possibly teach our children that it is never ok to hit another person, if we ourselves are spanking them?  But it's different, right?  Wrong.

I hope this has given those of you with little ones some food for thought. 

Fun times at the playground

We just discovered a fabulous new playground at a local church.  I'm super excited because there is a sidewalk on the inside of the fence going all the way around the play area (which is huge). That means that I can walk while the kids play! 

Here are the girls on a cool climbing apparatus.

Here is Rayne getting ready to slide.



They swung on this for so long that all three felt sick for a while afterwards!



Here's the only picture of Jake from the outing.  He didn't understand why there weren't pictures of him!  I had to remind him that he refuses to hang out with me in public!  LOL  At home, he's nothing but a mama's boy!

So...here's Jake standing in a mister.  By the way, that's why the girls have wet hair- it's not sweat.   Yes, I know his shirt is long enough to be a dress.  We bought it at Wal-mart because he thought it was so funny.  Instead of shrinking, it has done nothing but stretch out!  Weird.