Siblings

My sister and I are about as different as 2 people could get, if we had not been sisters we would likely have just avoided our respective types forever. She is the quiet study hard, pay your dues, don't rock the boat type and I, the live life by the seat of your pants type. I think that the reason we are so close is because of how close in age we are (1yr and 8months to be exact). Even today we talk often and though our lives are vastly different, we can always lend an ear and offer some advice.

There was a time when I was completely convinced that kids should be 3 years apart, to the point where AR is 3 years older than EE and she is 3 years older than HG. Then came SL, 1 year and 7 months later and IL 25 months later. My little ones are so much closer than my older children. EE's down syndrome has kept her around the same developmental age as HG and it helps that they are about the same height. They are very close (the fight enough to prove it, lol), I hope that never changes. IL and SL are inseparable, they make each other laugh and no one else gets what they are laughing at. I love that. AR keeps asking that we adopt a big brother so that he will have someone older to talk to, but truth be told he and HG have a really special relationship that is like none of the others. She believes everything he says and he teaches her everything he knows. They are 6 years apart though, so we'll see how long he enjoys having his own personal tag-a-long, lol :)

Well, I hope you all get to enjoy your siblings and raise your kids to be each others best friends. :)

Storms

Several storms have come through this area in the last 24 hours and they promise to continue on through the night. Let me just say that that is very scary :( This time of year the temperature is so nice you can sleep with the windows open to feel the cool breeze, I had dh shut our windows last night as the sounds were too terrifying to sleep. :( Of course while the thunderstorms and the high winds are scary, they opted to add the possibility of tornadoes to the mix. Thankfully we are all safe, animals and all. I was worried about the chickens as they are out in their little coop but they were fine. The cows got hungry and moseyed on out of thru the back doors of the barn, which had been blown wide open, and snack on the luscious grass on the front lawn. I was half tempted to leave them there as I don't have a working lawn mower, but I figured that the neighbors/general passerby would not see it that way and would call the sheriff to put them back in. Dh got them in and fixed the doors. Rain makes me sleepy so I'll just go back to bed now. :)

Coop done and chickens relocated :)

When we moved here there was a very old chicken coop that needed some work. Yesterday evening, dh, the children and I went out to take care of it so the chickens could finally move out. Not that we didn't love having them around but the house began to protest because the smell. They even managed to kill the fan we were using to vent the room. I digress. We got some ready set cement for the crack in the foundation, we used chicken wire on the windows and boarded us the holes on the bottom as they no longer had doors. The roof was tarped and wood and metal added as we found pieces. It's not perfect/pretty but it's functional. The chickens see to like it and will spend the week adjusting to their new home. As we get more money together we will work on fencing off the free range area but for now we will have to do supervised free ranging. I am off to get a battery for the camera so pics will be up later :)

Cheap wine tutorial, lol.

I found this video and thought everyone should know how to do this. Enjoy :)

Here is the link to the recipe using US measurements.

I miss being home :(

I have been teaching HG to read for the past few weeks and it is so rewarding to work with your child at their own pace. There are days we do not do anything because I can see that she is mentally exhausted and though she feels disappointed at those times, I know she feels much better when she has had a nap and then works on the lessons. She had already learned her letters (sight, sound and writing), so my job has been fairly easy, I just work with showing her how to blend it all. I also got her some little books to practice on after, since she really enjoys reading. I pray that her love for it will continue. In the meantime I miss being home :(

Sweet Basil

Today was our team lunch at Sweet Basil. It was a really nice little restaurant and the food was delicious. Now, to be fair I am the worse person to take to a buffet as I never have more than one plate and have no desire for desert. For most restaurants with a buffet, I am their customer/critic nightmare, I don't mind. :) The plate had a bit of the fresh fruit, fresh salad, garlic Parmesan toast, teriyaki chicken and some fettuccine with garlic and basil. There were other options but the plate was full and so they didn't make the draft :) Everything was wonderful!!! The atmosphere was great and by the silence at our table, I could tell that we all enjoyed the meal. Many went back for seconds and the desert looked delicious. If you happen to find yourself in the NE Wichita area, I would definitely recommend their lunch buffet, moderately priced at $7.95 per adult and half price for kids 2 - 11. I wonder if I can convince dh to take there for dinner sometime . . . :)

Cattle For Sale

The time has come for us to say good-bye to our Dexters. :( They are a good bunch and frankly, they are great animals to start a homesteading/farming journey. We have attempted to sustain both houses and all the bills, new and old, plus all the animals for as long as we could but the reality is that we cannot continue to do so any longer. At this point our Dexters serve the least productive purpose and will be first up, Quinn will be next, though I will only be keeping him long enough to have Treva bred back after her baby is born. We are currently talking with a number of potential buyers, but market prices are not great at the moment or at least that's the impression I am getting. I hope the 2 brothers looking to get them all will, so that they can stay together but that might just be my maternal instinct not wanting them to be separated.

Santa Claus, St Nicholas and Christmas

I know it is nowhere near Christmas but I was have a discussion with a colleague and he was going on and on about Santa Claus and Christmas. And, as you might know by now I do not teach my children about Santa Claus. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, or at least that's what it's supposed to be. Where it get confusing to people I think is that somewhere along the lines the day has now become associated as a celebration of giving, in the spirit and tradition of Santa Claus. I take issue with this, Santa Claus is not real (I'm sorry to be the one to tell you), but the spirit of St Nicholas is alive and well. The thing is that I have no problem with St Nicholas, but I do not believe that it is appropriate to confuse the two events, the feast of St Nicholas is celebrated on December 6th, not December 25th. Now I know there are many who will argue that Jesus was not really born on December 25th, but here is the thing, that is the date that has been chosen and so I will continue to celebrate it on that day. There is no issue of giving gifts on Christmas but the mass commercialization is not about Christmas, it is far more about Santa Claus. This year we will be celebrating both days but in the spirit they should be, not the excesses that the retail industry has set.

Beware the Mother's Act

Ok,I'm not really an alarmist by nature, I can take most things in stride. This however is just plain ridiculous. HR 20 or the Mother's Act, is yet another government intervention that is likely well intentioned but will miss the mark. :( Now I'm not a fan of Ron Paul but given his experience as an OB, I give a bit more weight to his words on this matter.

A sweeping government policy for all new births in the United States has just passed the House of Representatives and is now headed to the Senate. The Mother's Act, if passed, will mandate that all new mothers be screened by means of a list of subjective questions that will determine if each mother is mentally fit to take their newborn home from the hospital. Just imagine that after your child is born, you are told that you can't take them home since a multiple choice questionnaire wasn't answered correctly. Just imagine being told that the only way you can take your child home is if you or your spouse goes into treatment or on anti-depressants which we know causes psychosis, delusions, and even homocidal thoughts. It just doesn't make sense. Unfortunately, this bill is on a fast track--No public debate, no public disclosure of the broad impact on our society and that is why we need you to act now!

The Mother's Act violates our Constitutional right to privacy and your right to liberty and it is just outright dangerous. That is why we need you to help stop this. We urgently need you to call and email each Senator on the HELP Committee and tell them you STRONGLY OPPOSE the MOTHER'S ACT and that you are OUTRAGED that there was NO public debate or disclosure on the impact this would have on our society as a whole.

Ron Paul has a link to the actual document and ways to Take action here

She made me cry

I laughed and cried and laughed, what a voice!!!

I choose you

It’s a funny thing, this love/co-parenting relationship. I don’t know about you, but for me, it’s where all of my uglies come out.
If I’m having a challenging moment, I blame my mate. If several challenging moments pile up, I consider fleeing. Ridiculous. Yet repetitive enough that I need a new way of looking at all this.

So, here it is.
“You cannot disappoint me.”
If I am looking at my children that way, why not also look at my partner this way. He is just being him, doing the things that I fell in love with in the first place, such as skiing. Often. I remind myself, there is nothing wrong with that. I want him to be happy and do what he loves.

“This is THE love affair of this life.”
So, if I choose to believe that, which I do, then ACT LIKE IT, dammit. Treat him with real consideration and care. Embrace all of who he is, especially the parts that drive me nuts (neon sign pointing at places where I need to grow up).

And finally,
“This too shall pass.”
It will. One of us will die, something will happen, because everything in this world of form is temporary. One day we will not be together like this. It could be today, so let’s kiss good-bye when you leave in the morning. What if it is the last time?

We don’t have to wait until the kids go to bed to connect. We can connect in any moment we want, and that is so important for them to see. We don’t have to wait until the kids grow up so we can DO stuff together (like ski) to feel close. Let’s feel close now, even when our lives seem so different.

Feeling close requires opening my heart and letting go. It has nothing to do with changing you or wishing something was different. It is my choice, my work.

I choose you. Over and over.

This was found thanks to Theresa and composed by NPC

Brief life and farm update

Well I spent the better part of Friday in the hospital thanks to what they think maybe some bad acid reflux, they wrote me yet another prescription and sent me on my way. Let me just say that I am sick of pills!!! It seems like every time I see the inside of a hospital or doctor's office they are giving me something new, not really but it seems that way. There are no real answers just new suggestions on what it could be and everything seems to hang in the balance of the pregnancy. It is the easy fall back position, when in doubt it must be pregnancy related :(

On the upside I will have another ultrasound soon and maybe the baby will let us know for sure if we should be getting little pink or blue things ready. Were there no health issues on my end this would be a dream pregnancy, but alas it's not. It's funny thought, I think I always thought that a pregnancy free of morning sickness would be so great and now I see that it is no different, they are all just unique.

Sweetiepie has been escaping, though she doesn't go far, she likes to visit the tree across from the corrals. Marian AKA watch dog, is in fine form and has been a great alarm to alert us to escapee cows, lol. Months ago Lot had broken one of the bars in the arena while playing with the wheelbarrow. Since the weather is not as cold and the grass has begun to green, he and sweetiepie would wonder through it and mosey on down to the pasture. DH wedged a piece of wood to try to prevent these little trips and we returned to find that the wedge provided a really nice opportunity for them to break the lower bar too :( Luckily the Lot didn't go far, he got bored in the pasture and wandered off to the neighbors field in the back. The sheriff was very nice and just gave us a call, he must have heard that our cows aren't the difficult kind. Since then dh has fixed that section with some hog panel but it looks like we may have to re-evaluate the fencing in the arena as Sweetiepie has been slipping out again and we just noticed that a bar is broken over by the old garden.

We had another bidder on the mobile home and the deal was all wrapped up, then an hour later, we got a call that they changed their mind :( To say that I am very frustrated with this is probably an understatement. I wish I understood the plan, but I have learned that God's plan is far greater than my own so I will keep chugging along. I just wish He'd give me a heads up before I spend the propane money on the needed paperwork next time :(

Easter was wonderful, I really enjoyed the homily, so much so I will share the opening joke that Fr told us:

A US naval ship communication with an unknown vessel.

Americans: "Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision."

Unknown: "Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision."

Americans: "This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course."

Unknown: "No, I say again, you divert YOUR course."

Americans: "THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH. THAT'S ONE-FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP."

Unknown: "This is a lighthouse. Your call."

Pie-gate

I know I said I would post on Monday but I couldn't resist this one. Thanks to our friends over at CMR for getting the word out on this. Here is another example of Big government being overzealous:

Pennsylvania Pie Fight: State Cracks Down on Baked Goods
Inspector Nabs Homemade Desserts At St. Cecilia Church's Lenten Fish Fry
By Kris Maher

ROCHESTER, Pa. -- On the first Friday of Lent, an elderly female parishioner of St. Cecilia Catholic Church began unwrapping pies at the church. That's when the trouble started.

A state inspector, there for an annual checkup on the church's kitchen, spied the desserts. After it was determined that the pies were home-baked, the inspector decreed they couldn't be sold.

"Everyone was devastated," says Josie Reed, a 69-year-old former teacher known for her pumpkin and berry pies.

Sold for $1 a slice, homemade pies have always been part of the Lenten fish-fry dinners at St. Cecilia's, located in this tiny city near Pittsburgh. Similar dinners are held in church basements and other venues across the country this time of year.

After a state crackdown forbidding the sale of homemade pies, members of St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Rochester, Pa., proceeded with their annual Lenten fish fries anyway. The pie flap helped draw healthy crowds.

The problem is the pies are illegal in Pennsylvania. Under the state's food-safety code, facilities that provide food at four or more events in a year require at least a temporary eating and drinking license, and food has to be prepared in a state-inspected kitchen. Many churches have six fish fries a year, on Fridays during Lent. St. Cecilia's has always complied with having its kitchen licensed, so food made there is fine to serve. But homemade goods don't make the cut.

The disappearance of Mary Pratte's coconut-cream pie, Louise Humbert's raisin pie and Marge Murtha's "farm apple" pie from the fish-fry fund-raisers sparked an uproar that spread far beyond the small parish. The local paper dubbed it "piegate," and a nearby bakery donated pies to the church to help fill the gap at the dessert table. There are reports of other churches continuing to sell contraband pastries. Legislation to overturn the baked-goods ban is being discussed.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture declined to make the inspector available for comment. Bill Chirdon, the department's food-safety director, says it has cited only one church in the past three years for unsanitary conditions. In that case, he says the church held outside picnics every week and let food sit in the sun and didn't respond to changes recommended by food-safety inspectors.

Mr. Chirdon says the pie episode has shed light on an often-overlooked aspect of food safety. "I've gotten a lot of letters from churches that are tattletaling on churches down the street that aren't licensed and don't meet standards for food service."

Fish fries gained popularity from the requirement that Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent, a period of 40 days of prayer and penitence that represents the time that Jesus Christ spent in the desert fasting before beginning his public ministry. The dinners are also a way for parishioners to bond as Easter approaches.

But the meals are a vital fund-raising tool, too. The events provide income to fix leaky roofs and to subsidize tuition at parochial schools, for example. "It's a way of helping to raise funds with a minimum number of volunteers," says Rev. Ronald P. Lengwin, a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh diocese, which includes St. Cecilia's, projects overall revenue to be flat this year, while costs are up. In March, the diocese said it would close four elementary schools at the end of this school year.

Meanwhile, home-baked pies continue to be sold at many other fish fries. At a fry in the school cafeteria of a Catholic church on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, the fish-fry director said they never bake pies at the school. Instead, parishioners bake pies, cookies, cakes and cupcakes and bring them in. Donations like those help keep costs down, he says. As for the regulation requiring goods to be baked on the premises, he said, "We're ignoring it. Don't tell anyone."

The ruckus at St. Cecilia's could lead to changes in Pennsylvania state law. State Sen. Elder Vogel Jr. has drafted legislation aimed at allowing nonprofits, including churches, to serve food prepared at home. That would cover fish fries held during Lent. "Once again, you've got the heavy hand of government coming in," he says. "These ladies bake pies, out of the goodness of their hearts."

Sen. Vogel, who sits on the state legislature's agriculture committee, says state officials seem willing to change the law. "They have more work on their hands than going after little old ladies baking pies."

The inspector's warning to St. Cecilia's carried no fine. But the inspector has raised some hackles by telling the women that the state would allow them to bake pies for sale in their own kitchens, if they paid $35 to have them inspected as well.

"Well, that's just ridiculous," says Ms. Humbert, 73, one of the parish bakers. She has been bringing raisin pies to the church for more than a decade and says she thought the women's kitchens "are probably a lot cleaner than some restaurants," but might not meet "nitpicky" requirements.

Ms. Pratte, 88, has been attending St. Cecilia's since she was a girl. She missed a step and spent two and a half weeks in the hospital earlier this year. She said it would be "kind of hard" to get to the church to do any baking. "I'd rather just make them at home," she says of her coconut-cream pies. Others say it's difficult to bake good pies in a strange oven.

Thanks to the publicity caused by the crackdown, the St. Cecilia's fish fries attracted more visitors than ever before. The church has cleared about $3,500 on each fry, according to Father Michael Greb, pastor of the church, who notes that regular donations are down about 10%. The fish fries are the church's biggest fund-raiser of the year.

Fish dinners, either baked or fried, cost $8.50 and are served with french fries, baked potato or two pierogis. Cole slaw costs 75 cents. The church typically goes through several hundred pounds of haddock and cod per fry and at least 20 pies.

On a recent Friday, the smell of frying fish wafted from a downstairs kitchen and dining hall to the upstairs foyer with its nearly life-size crucifix. Father Greb wore a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball cap and jacket over his black clerical clothes and sat in the brightly lit hall at a table with parishioners.

Some people had suggested that the women put their homemade pies in boxes to make them appear they had been purchased. But everyone insisted they hadn't.

Diane Rotuna, 62, said she donated two apple pies that she purchased from a local grocery chain, "just to keep it legit."

Story courtesy of WSJ

Quick update in case you missed me :)

Computer is behaving strangely at home. Not sure what the story is at this time. Cannot access Gmail or blogger :( Will post next week from work :)

HAPPY EASTER to you and your family :)

Sears Kids Clothing Warranty

I was over at Kansasmom's blog and she mentioned returning her oldest son's jeans for new ones through a sears program called kidvantage. Now if you have boys you know that holes in the knees is the biggest problem with their clothing. It can happen within weeks of the purchase, leaving us moms frustrated and incredibly broke, have you seen the cost of those things!!! Anyway, given her success I decided to get more information about this program so that I could share it with all of you.

KidVantage® Club
KidVantage Membership

Becoming a member of our KidVantage® Club is easy. You can join this club by signing up at any register in your local full-line Sears store.



KidVantage Benefits

Every time you spend $100.00 on kids / infant clothing and kids / infant shoes, you will receive a coupon for 15% off your next kids / infant apparel purchase. The coupon is ready to use and is attached to the end of your receipt.

You will receive money-saving offers throughout the year.

The KidVantage® Club offers the Wear Out Warranty. When your baby grows up and your kids clothing or kids shoes wear out before they are out grown, Sears will replace them for free.

The KidVantage® program is not available online. This program is only offered through our retail stores.

Found on Sears.com

Isn't that wonderful? Well I can tell you that they will be getting my business from now on, I'd much rather spend the few extra dollars up front and have an option to get a new pair, than save it now and spend the money twice or more down the road.

Chickens Day Out: Farewell Stubby (Tina)

Stubby, AKA Tina as she later came to be known, died this afternoon. She was a much loved chick that never developed with her fellow chicks. She had no toes and walked precariously on her little nubs. The others always made sure not to squish her when the twice daily food free-for-all would ensue. It was sweet really.

We took the chicks on their first visit outside, so that they could try out the free range concept. The compost pile we started when we were pig-less was coming in nicely and they got right to work. It was great that there was a ton of old firewood from the owners past, with lots of little bugs etc. Anyway, Tina got out there and was having a blast with the rest, then we noticed that she wasn't around.









We found her half alive waiting for the end behind one of the pieces of wood. DH picked her us so the kids could say their respective good-byes. Not long after she was gone. Maybe it was the fresh air? :(

Later we rounded up the group, an adventure in and of itself, and brought them back in as the temperature will not be warm enough to keep them outside. We will attempt minor repairs on the chicken coop with available materials and make a list of items needed to be bought.

On the upside, Sammy did a wonderful job staying away from the chicks. He was initially curious but after an initial talking to, he went off to play as usual. I am so proud of him.

Kansas weather and stuff

Can you believe it is April and we got a nice hard freeze last night :( We don't have propane till this weekend and 4 of our chicks didn't make it out of the huddle :( I really love spring but I wish it wasn't so short, once we get past this funky weather we will quickly hit summer and the heat is so horrible. I know, I know, I grew up on an island and am complaining about warm weather. But it's not the same I tell ya. I don't remember it being so hot that even the breeze was burning hot, that might have to do with the ocean all around vs this land locked state, but I choose not to acknowledge that. A hammock seems almost useless here as the summer is so uncomfortably hot, but then comes Autumn and it begins to cool again. I like Autumn :)

In other news the mobile home is paid off :), though not yet sold :( so until then we are broke and trying to keep it all going. It feels like we are constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul and then trying desperately to keep our heads above water. I need our garden to do well this year, it doesn't have to be terrific, but it needs to be enough to get us through the summer and maybe, just maybe we will be caught up. It used to be that we'd catch up using out tax refund but this year that money went to payoff the mobile home. We also don't use state medical so the medical bills have . . . they are overwhelming to say the least.

School starts back today and I really need an A in this class. I only have 2 classes after this one to graduate but boy does it seem like that day will never come. Pray that my health keeps up as I cannot afford to take time off of work or school. Well, that's all for now. How are things with you?

The Bathroom Door Is Closed

Please do not stand here and talk, whine, or ask questions.
Wait until I get out.

Yes, it is locked. I want it that way. It is not broken, and I am not trapped.

I know I have left it unlocked, and even open at times, since you were born, because I was afraid some horrible tragedy might occur while I was in there, but it's been 10 years and I want some PRIVACY.

Do not ask me how long I will be. I will come out when I am done.

Do not bring the phone to the bathroom door.

Do not go running back to the phone yelling 'She's in the BATHROOM!'

Do not begin to fight as soon as I go in.

Do not stick your little fingers under the door and wiggle them. This was funny when you were two.

Do not slide pennies, LEGOs, or notes under the door. Even when you were two this got a little tiresome.

If you have followed me down the hall talking, and are still talking as you face this closed door, please turn around, walk away, and wait for me in another room. I will be glad to listen to you when I am done.

And yes, I still love you.

Mom

...Author Unknown

borrowed from Karen

Stories that give us hope :)

How 1 Autistic Young Man Runs a Business
By Nancy Shute

Joe Steffy is off to Overland Park, Kan., this week to do a PowerPoint presentation on his business, Poppin' Joe's Kettle Korn. He's a 23-year-old small-business man with a goal of $100,000 in sales by 2012. Joe also has autism and Down syndrome and is nonverbal. When he gives his talk, he will push buttons on an augmentative speech device to deliver the words. His audience will be parents who fervently hope their own special-needs children will be able to work, too.


Joe's parents, Ray and Janet, didn't agree with the school district assessment in their home town of Louisburg, Kan., that said Joe would never be able to work or live independently. "I'm one who can easily get ticked off," says Ray. "That ticked me off. We saw more in Joe than that. We set out to prove to the school that he had capabilities." They came across kettle corn while on a trip to Alaska and realized that all that popping, scooping, and serving suited Joe's love of work.


The path to Joe Steffy's success was not an easy one; Ray Steffy worked closely with Dave Hammis, an advocate for self-employment for people with disabilities in Middletown, Ohio, who trains business owners, government employees, and parents on how to make use of state and federal programs. The Steffys wrote up a business plan and helped Joe secure $25,000 in grants from programs like Social Security Administration's Plan to Achieve Self-Support program (PASS).


In 2005, Poppin' Joe's Kettle Korn was born. Sales have grown from $16,000 in 2005 to $50,000 in 2008, both from selling at festivals and from delivering popcorn to local outlets. Joe has five part-time employees, and his parents help out with driving and other tasks. "Pop and everyone that works with him knows whatever Joe wants to do you let him do, because he's the boss," Ray says. "If he wants to pop, he'll shove Dad out of the way and pop."


If the business stays on track, it should be grossing more than $100,000 in three years, and the Steffys are seeking a business partner who can work with Joe to manage the business. Joe is no longer on Social Security disability payments; instead, he pays state sales tax and state and federal income tax. He rents his own house and is helped by caregivers who are paid by a state program.


"It's been hard work, from the standpoint of physical work," says Ray Steffy, who is 67. "But a parent with a child like Joe has a choice. You can either kick in and do this kind of thing, or you can sit and fret emotionally with the amount of energy, worrying about what's going to happen to them."


The payoff for that effort, as far as the Steffys are concerned, has been priceless. They see their son make a local popcorn delivery, accept payment, fold it, and put it in his pocket. When he walks out, his dad says, Joe looks 3 inches taller than when he walked in.

Story Courtesy of Yahoo News

In case you missed it like I did

The thing about being tv free is that you miss big tv finales like ER. Now I know I haven't watched the show in years and probably wouldn't recognise any of the new cast but I used to love the show and lots of the oldies came back for this big night. If you missed it and haven't found it yet, here it is :)

The chicks

All 70 chicks are still accounted for, they love their room and we're wondering if we should ever keep them anywhere else. Not really, they chirp constantly, it's like living in the bird section of the zoo. I will be happy when the warm weather is more consistent and we can safely let them out. In the mean time our "barnyard" room has come in rather handy, it helps that it has a cement floor :)

He ALWAYS provides :)

Have I told you lately how funny God is? No? Well, HE is. Dh has been wanting the really warm jumpsuits that they sell at Wallyworld but they were so expensive. Last week we were excited to see them marked down to $25, but then found ourselves unable to afford it. We were bummed :( When payday rolled around we were excited again, until we got there and found that they were sold out. :( I got a call from Dh on his way home from work and he immediately proclaimed, "Today is a great day, God is good". Half asleep, I agreed and attempted to go back to sleep, but he kept talking. Turns out they got more of the jumpsuits in an marked them down yet again to $15 and the warm jackets were marked down from $35 to $11, he got both :) Now he can finish out the "Swing" season and put them up for next winter as planned. :)

Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ)

I had never heard of this guy before but I was blown away by his passion and commitment to the pro-life cause. I pray that he will not waiver in this commitment and that he will have a long (scandal free) career :)

Here's the story:

Washington D.C., Apr 2, 2009 / 01:25 pm (CNA).- In an impassionate address to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Congressmen Chris Smith (R-NJ,) argued that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the speech delivered immediately after, in Houston, Texas, during Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger Award were completely inexcusable.

Smith said that Clinton’s visit to the Catholic Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where she presented a bouquet of flowers on behalf of the American people, was “a very nice gesture.”

But the gesture was at odds with her speech while receiving the Margaret Sanger Award.

“In her remarks, Secretary Clinton said she was ‘in awe’ --I repeat, ‘in awe’-- of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood.”

“To our distinguished Secretary of State, I respectfully ask: Are you kidding? In ‘awe’ of Margaret Sanger, who said in 1921, ‘Eugenics…is the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political, and social problems’ and who also said in 1922, ‘The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it’?” asked Congressman Smith.

He went on to say that Secretary Clinton in her speech said that Margaret Sanger's “life and leadership” was “one of the most transformational in the entire history of the human race.”

“Mr. Speaker, transformational, yes. But not for the better if one happens to be poor, disenfranchised, weak, a person of color, vulnerable, or among the many so-called undesirables who Sanger would exclude and exterminate from the human race.”

According to the New Jersey Representative, “the juxtaposition of last week's two very public events in Mexico City and in Houston bring into sharp focus two huge and irreconcilable world views.”

“On the one hand, the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe has for five centuries brought a message of hope, faith, peace, reconciliation and protection for the weakest, most vulnerable among us. On the other hand, each year, Margaret Sanger's Planned Parenthood kills approximately 300,000 unborn baby girls and boys in their abortion clinics scattered throughout the United States,” he added.

Continued

Pastoral movie review of "Slumdog Millionaire" by Fr Barron

I saw this over at CMR and wanted to share :)