Creative Counterpart

Some days I wonder if another person really lives in our house. Samuel (our exchange student in case you are still not up to date, hehe) is so busy with school, football, and homework that we hardly ever see him on weekdays. But when the house cleaning, cooking, and busy bustle of our little shut-in life (with 2 young kids it’s natural!) here at home get’s interrupted by a teenager calling for a ride home from school, or the weekend rolls around, we get to spend time with Samuel; Getting to know him more and spending time introducing him to new American things.

There has been a little bit of frustration on both sides over a few issues. One being that we’ve had to place limits on internet access and tv time, stressing the importance of getting homework done first. It feels kind of odd telling another person’s child (especially a teenager) what to do, but it’s getting easier as the boundaries are becoming clearer for him as well as us. The relationship is molding itself and the lines are being etched as to what we expect while also respecting HIS wishes. It’s kind of odd having a teenager. In many ways they test just like a toddler; But for the most part I don’t have to clean up after him or babysit him. He’s very independent and he’s learning very quickly how to ‘get by’ in America.

I have someone that I can ask for a bit of help when Adam is gone. Could you please take out the trash, feed the dog, or vacuum the carpet. He is always more than willing to help, and I try not to ask too much of him. He has a lot on his plate.

He loves to mow the grass. In fact, he loves to do anything that involves using our “machines”. It’s kind of neat. I’d love to have him around more often, but I am glad he is making lots of friends at school and learning about America. He is a very smart boy, and he’s doing well here.

He wants to be a surgeon and he wants to come back for college in America. I wish I knew away to make that happen for him. I guess, that’s what I’ll be praying about…

Only God knows the glorious surprises and plans he has for us in the coming year; But I can tell you one thing, we’re excited!

Since picking up our foreign exchange student last week, we have been learning so much about Nigerian culture. Things that you just can’t understand from a textbook.

Here is a glimpse of a few things we’ve learned form our foreign exchange student (new son) :

“Everything is Easy Here” -

People from other countries (and yes even Nigeria) comment on how hard working American’s are. But, I wouldn’t necessarily say that from what I’ve learned from our student.

We may have busier schedules in America; More places to go and more things to do. But, we have the priviledge of doing all of those things because of the ease of our modern machines and appliances.

In Nigeria they…

• Wash clothes by hand
• Cut grass by hand
• Don’t have electricity constantly (The government can turn it off whenever they like.)
• Sometimes must fetch water if their tap is not working.

But.. They don’t live in the stone age. They…

• Have disposable diapers
• Use computers & email, mp3 players, and cell phones (depending on income and resources)

Keep a lookout for more posts about what we’re learning from our new family member. We are learning so much I couldn’t possibly put it in one post.

First picture on google images under 'wisdom teeth enchiladas'

I love wordpress. It lets me see just what search terms people are typing in to land on my blog. But I was cracking up this evening when I saw how one unsuspecting individual came across my little place on the web.

‘Wisdom Teeth Enchiladas’ – kinda intriquing isn’t it? I wonder if this person is really contemplating eating some enchiladas after they just had their wisdom teeth extracted. If so, DON’T DO IT! PLEASE? It won’t be pleasant.

At any rate, I know why that search term brought them here. You see, I have one post about getting my wisdom teeth removed, and another completely unrelated post about making the BEST enchiladas. Google couldn’t find anything on that poor person’s search topic, and didn’t have the heart to tell them, so Google mashed my lovely posts together. Voila! We have Wisdom Teeth Enchiladas…

On second thought, I really hope there isn’t some strange recipes lying around….

~

Moms! Do You Want to Earn Money With Your Blog?

This year will be a very exciting and challenging year for us. Possibly the most exciting and challenging yet.

On the 15th of August we will make a small trek to Omaha to pick up our foreign exchange student. He’ll be with us for the entire school year. We’ve never had a high schooler living in our home before! He is from Kaduna, Nigeria and we are so excited to meet him. We think that this year will be a great year for him, our kids, and my husband and I. We will learn so much about his culture and have so much to teach him about ours.

This week has been pretty full of good news. My sister also informed us that they are expecting their 3rd child. My heart is filled with joyful gifts from the Lord!

We’ve been busier than ever around here. We have painting to get done, and lots of preperation. With his permission I will introduce you to him hopefully sometime in August!

Blessings,

Vanessa

So, you think you are too unorganized to implement routines in your daily life? Is your life chaotic and your house a mess? Do you fly by the seat of your pants, not knowing what will happen today or tomorrow?

Many people say that they “just can’t get into a routine” or they are “just not an organized person”. What they don’t realize is that they do routines everyday.  When you get ready in the morning, you more than likely have a routine for how you shower, dress, do your hair, and brush your teeth. However chaotic it may be, it is your routine. If it IS chaotic and disheveled, this is a clue that you may want to tweak this particular routine. Nevertheless, this is what I like to call a “mini routine”.

Mini routines are the baby step to organizing your day (and your household.) Even when you have a difficult time setting up a daily routine, mini routines can work wonderfully. They make sure essential tasks get done, while still allowing flexibility in your day.

There is an endless number of min routines; From mealtime routines (which we like to call table chores) to morning and bedtime routines. These routines can help keep a family on task together if everyone knows the routine. You’d be surprised how your kids will pitch in and help without prompt when they know what is expected of them everyday during these mini routines.

A proper mealtime routine will ensure that your table, dishes, and kitchen are ready for the next meal. It will make meal prep easier, keep the kitchen and dining room tidy, & preparing your family’s next meal will not feel like a chore (like it does the minute you walk into a unkept kitchen.)

After each of my family’s main meals, everyone chips in. Certain jobs are better suited for certain people in the family, but we each have a job. We have even encorporated potty training into our routines. Our table chores consist of:

• Kids go potty & wash their hands and face
• Put away leftovers properly
• Rinse Dishes
• Unload dishwasher and put away clean dishes
• Load dishwasher with dirty dishes and start
• Wipe off the table & chairs if needed  (My 3 year old usually gets this job.)
• Wipe of countertops, stove, etc.
• Sweep

Our kitchen is then ready for the next meal!

Morning routines serve to make sure everyone is ready for the day. With each routine, it’s good to include a few minor chores. If it’s part of your mini routine everyday, then it becomes much less of a chore, and more of an everyday part of life. We struggle with changing our morning routine the most. It is my goal to dress and ready everyone for the day before breakfast. Morning chores could include a basic list to get ready for the day plus one or two chores, say making the bed or bringing dirty laudry to the laundry room.

Bedtime routines are a very useful mini routine, both for organization and getting us ready for the next day so that we can start each day right (instead of dread for all of the things that need to be done.) Whatever makes tomorrow morning easier for your family should be part of the bedtime routine. You could pick out clothes for the next day, clean up toys, prepare a breakfast dish to put in the oven in the morning, take vitamins or medications, etc.

I find, the more that I follow these routines, the more likely I am to incorporate new mini routines to make things in our household flow even smoother. I will make little rules, such as we will eat lunch after toys are picked up. Having such rules insure that the little tasks get done each day. It also teaches our children to keep tidy, clean up after themselves, help our with what needs to be done, and keeps their minds and hearts busy and away from things like Television and getting into trouble.

When my son sees me doing the same things everyday, he not only sees the chores that I expect of him. He also sees the chores that I am in charge of doing everyday, and I have witnessed him pitching in where I never asked for his help. He automatically learns to serve within our family, because it’s just a part of what we do.

I know that an hour by hour schedule is not for everyone. I hope that even the most unorganized among us will be able to bring some order to thier home through mini routines. Remember to take it slow, and if it’s not working out for you, by all means change the routine! You’ve gotta make it work for YOUR family.

What routines does your family do and what do they include?

A couple of days ago, my friend Ruth @ But First We have Coffee posted a video of Mary Tocco, an influential woman in their decision to not vaccinate their children.

Last year, before our second son was born, I had done a small bit of research about vaccines. Mainly I had found that some vaccines were manufactured by using aborted baby tissue, and was disgusted. We were in such a busy time in our lives and I didn’t feel I had the capacity to fight with my doctor to obtain vaccines that did not contain aborted baby tissue. We have vaccinated our second son thus far.

But Ruth was right; Mary Tocco’s videos are very eye opening and informing. She is a wealth of information that the average parent is not aware of concerning vaccines. The scariest part of her videos to me is when she talks about Thimerisol. Thimerisol is a form of Mercury that is used as a perservative and sanitizer in vaccines. She talks about the fact that Pregnant and nursing mothers are warned not to ingest too much mercery from fish, etc; But then we are injecting large amounts of mercury into pregnant mothers and newborn babies. Mercury is a highly toxic metal that causes liver failure, poisoning, and brain death in significant amounts.

You can visit Mary Tocco’s website Childhoodshots.com . Another great website is Thinktwice.com . Mary Tocco is an independent researcher (which means nobody pays her to do this) and has dedicated her life’s work to traveling and doing speaking engagements about vaccines. You can click on the video above and it will take you to youtube.com. The rest of her videos are in the sidebar there.

There is something special about parenting. You get to see someones life take form right in front of you….

(Mommy pregnant with #2, wearing the same maternity shirt)

Happy Birthday Son!

(I can’t believe you’re 3)

It is no secret, our household is on a tight budget. With cutbacks in hours at my husband’s job and the recent purchase of our home, we’ve been forced to scale down on luxeries and get creative with our money. It’s a good thing I stumbled upon a copy of the Tightwad Gazette at the local library, and have been devouring it ever since.

Here are thirteen tightwad things we plan to try:

1. Cut back the cell phone plan. Last month I did some looking at the minutes we were using on our cell phone plan and determined we were paying for way more than we need. My husband called the company this evening and reduced our plan. We’ll keep track of the minutes we’ve used mid-month and save around $30 a month.
2. Check freecycle, craigslist, & our local partyline often. All of these are sources of free and cheap stuff.
3. Bake our own Bread. I am currently trying to “start” my own sourdough starter. You can, too with Candy’s easy instructions.
4. Make homemade deoderant, dishwashing detergent, & laundry detergent. Candy has great recipes for these as well.
5. Start a price book. I’ve been meaning to do this for awhile now. If anyone has good ideas for a less tedious method, let me know!
6. Line dry clothes. My husband is in the process of making me an indoor clothesline in our mudroom. A perfect spot because the windows can b opened to let a breeze in, and I can even line dry in the winter. I plan to dry blanket, towels, etc on the line.
7. Ditch cable/sattelite TV. I haven’t convinced my husband yet. I’ll admit it, we’re spoiled.
8. Use cloth diapers. We have been users of Miracle diapers on and off in the past, and plan to use it again. Hopefully any future babies will have a nice stash to call their own.
9. Plan ahead by making homemade gifts for Christmas this year. You and I will both be glad we did.
10. Save everything and find a use for it. Tubs from butter, sour cream, etc can be used as tupperware. Ziploc bags can be washed and reused. Milk jugs can become anything from a pooper scooper to a scoop game for kids. Have fun coming up with new uses for everyday items. You’ll wonder why you ever wasted money throwing those things away!
11. Cut out Convenience foods. Substitute with homemade cookies, muffins, jello, pudding, etc.
12. Scrutinize spending and use what we have. This one’s tough, but essential to a tightwad lifestyle. We’re more content to do this when we find a way to achieve the same result with things we already have. Creativity is the key.
13. “Put out the word”  If you are in need of something or just casually looking, let people know! “Hey Jan, if you know of anyone that has a stroller they don’t use, let them know I”m looking for one.” That person might have been waiting to find someone who could put it to good use.

I’m going to cheat and add #14. I think the most important thing to living a frugal lifestyle is trusting in God. It’s easy to become bitter in tough times if we are not relying on the Lord for our strength and to meet our needs. He is sufficient and he is able.

—Psalm 37:3-6

Oh, my poor son! My poor first born. They really are the test babies, aren’t they? For a couple who knew nothing about disciplining children according to the biblical model, our first son was (and still is) the lesson. We could blame it on the fact that he was 6 months old before we both knew Christ as our Lord; But, either way our son is doing well not because of our first attempts at discipline, but inspite of them.

It all started out very “innocently” (or shall I say ignorantly?) When he was a baby I had read a lot about attachment parenting and natural parenting, and gotten quite a few ideas in my head that a baby was just an innocent human being, who with the right positive reinforcement would wind up as a gentle, loving, person. HA! What little did I know. In such denial I was. If only I could have had a glimpse into the life of my future “strong willed” child.

Though honestly, I don’t know very many children who are not strong willed. Do you? So, around the time my son began to walk (at 10 months), his will began to multiply and manipulate. My husband and I already had our work cut out for us in reversing the bad habits we had taught our little monster. We had to begin teaching him discipline at 1-1.5 year old that we should have been reinforcing from the beginning.

The Lord and his Word (and the help of several other mature Christians) has helped us along the way. In that short span of time we have learned as much about parenting as we have about our own attitudes. With the birth of our second son, we were determined to do things differently. I taught baby how to go to sleep on his own. I used the wake, nurse, play, sleep cycle (as opposed to wake, play, and nurse to sleep cycle I had gotten in with our first.) We just finished night weaning at 9 months, which I think could have been acheived sooner and was done easily when baby was moved in his big brother’s room. And finally to the title of this post, we began teaching him the word “No” at about 8-9 months of age.

I had heard many times with our first, that he was too young to know what “no” meant. But, I have in fact learned from my own experience that babies can learn the word at a young age if you teach them. They know far more than they can tell you! We began with telling him no when he squirmed and wiggled during diaper changes. At first, it seems like a game to them. In a few short times during the day we would practice obedience around 8 months of age. He would squirm, and I would tell him no and set him firmly and still where I wanted him. If he would squirm, I would tell him no again and set him back. If he still didn’t get it, a light tap (and I do mean light, it doesn’t take pain to train a baby) on the booty would get his attention. I would do this until he layed still. Some babies have quite the will and will still think this is a game. The goal is the obedience during each “session”, however much patience and time it takes. Never get angry or upset. This is a learning experience for them. Praise them when they obey. Sometimes they will obey and sometimes they will test you. YES, an 8-9 month old WILL test you! In our experience, our 10 month old knows clearly what “No” means and obeys. He gets praise for listening. It is such a joy to see obedience at this young age. It is so much easier and gentler when you start early. It takes much more time and effort (and frustration) to undo the will a child acquires when they are not trained young. It must be very confusing for them, also! They are able to do anything they want with no consequence for months or even years, and all of a sudden mom and dad (and everyone else) is telling them “NO!” and expecting them to obey. Why should they believe you?

I know this was a bit of a ramble. I had many thoughts pouring out of my head that I wanted to get down!

This morning, my son picked up off of the ground in our backyard what appeared to be unripe mullberries. My husband and I thought, “Well, they couldn’t be mullberries, those grow on a bush.”; Or so we thought. Our friendly neighbor (who loves to garden and has a beautiful backyard and garden which I must admit I envy) said she would take a leaf from the tree and look it up for us. This evening, just before we sat down to supper, she told my husband that she had looked it up and it was in fact a mullberry tree. The tree is probably near 100 years old.

So, I have been looking around online and am excited to know that we can use the berries for all kinds of things like dried fruit, jelly, jam and even wine. For the frugal, I must say I am delighted that we have this bonus on our property. Now I need to get a dehydrator and canning jars and learn to make jam! I already wanted to get a dehydrator to dry some of our garden peas. I want to try some dry and some frozen. I suppose we could also freeze the berries If I cannot make jam right away.

Tonight I am making up the menu for our camping trip this weekend, hoping the weather will be favorable. My husband has been out in the garage this afternoon putting together his new propane grill. Yesterday he spent a lot of time in the garage putting up bike hooks and organizing the garage. It looks nice now, and we can actually walk around in it! Our next project will be to finally get most of the boxes that we’ve shoved in the spare bedroom downstairs put away, and clear off the other side of the desk once and for good so I can set up my sewing station! Maybe I’ll get around to making more sewing projects if I have a permanent place for my sewing machine and supplies. It was such a hassle pulling everything out and then putting everything away again at our old place.

Well, I’m off to join my family outside!