I put this up on facebook, then decided I should put it here, too. I am the master of the human connection, ya know. Actually, God is the master of that, but for some reason, He entrusted part of His job to me. It's starting to rub off on my husband, too. He calls me "God's router". What a geek! :)
Here you go, pass it on!
Hi All,
I was just thinking another of my random thoughts, but I thought I'd write it down here, for you never know when this kind of information will come in handy. If anyone reading this or anyone they know became pregnant and had no idea if they wanted to keep it, if they should tell their relatives, or if they should go see Planned Parenthood or possibly a Crisis Pregnancy Center, I would like to volunteer to connect you to people who might help. This year we have had the honor of becoming godparents to two kids adopted from foster care (Hi Stephan and Paige!) and we know another family who hopes to adopt two others this year. Another family is getting their foster care license any minute. I know two families who can't have any more birth children and can't afford astronomical private adoption fees, but they would completely adopt a child in need if they met in person. That situation came up this year when a friend of a friend had a daughter who didn't know what to do, and people were lined up to adopt if need be. The woman decided to keep her baby after all, but we knew someone safe would take the baby. We also know one other family who's been looking for a baby forever, but birth parents keep deciding to keep the baby instead of letting them have it -- heartbreak city!
These are the kinds of things you might not learn about in the news or from Planned Parenthood. There are tons of people out there doing foster care because they can't afford to adopt ($20,000!) but have a loving home and want lots of kids. Please spread the word, and keep your options open. There is always hope and love. So let that baby live!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
Life Explained
Ok, it's a forward from my email that my mom sent me, but it's so funny I have to post it here. I think I did mention that this blog would cut down on how tempted I am to forward things to people, right?
In any case, this explains it all.
In any case, this explains it all.
On the first day, God created the dog and said:
> 'Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at
> anyone who comes in
> or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span
> of twenty years.'
>
> The dog said: 'That's a long time to be barking. How
> about only ten
> years and I'll give you back the other ten?'
>
> So God agreed.
>
> On the second day, God created the monkey and said:
> 'Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh.
> For this, I'll give
> you a twenty-year life span.'
>
> The monkey said: 'Monkey tricks for twenty years?
> That's a pretty long
> time to perform. How about I give you back ten like
> the Dog did?'
>
> And God agreed.
>
> On the third day, God created the cow and said:
>
> 'You must go into the field with the farmer all day
> long and suffer
> under the sun, have calves and give milk to support
> the farmer's family.
> For this, I will give you a life span of sixty
> years.'
> The cow said: 'That's kind of a tough life you want
> me to live for sixty
> years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other
> forty?'
>
> And God agreed again.
>
> On the fourth day, God created man and said:
>
> 'Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For
> this, I'll give you
> twenty years.'
>
> But man said: 'Only twenty years? Could you possibly
> give me my twenty,
> the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave
> back, and the ten
> the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?'
>
> 'Okay,' said God, 'You asked for it.'
>
> So that is why for our first twenty years we eat,
> sleep, play and enjoy
> ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the
> sun to support our
> family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks
> to entertain the
> grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on
> the front porch and
> bark at everyone.
>
> Life has now been explained to you.
>
> There is no need to thank me for this valuable
> information. I'm doing it
> as a public service.
>
Sunday, January 13, 2008
FBI doesn't pay its phone bill...
Ok, I had to post another funny news article. How is this possible?? Ok, that's a silly question. It's the government.
Enjoy!
FBI Wiretaps Dropped Due to Unpaid Bills
Email this Story
Jan 10, 12:27 PM (ET)
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Enjoy!
FBI Wiretaps Dropped Due to Unpaid Bills
Email this StoryJan 10, 12:27 PM (ET)
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
WASHINGTON (AP) - Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.
A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. Poor supervision of the program also allowed one agent to steal $25,000, the audit said.
In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.
"We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence," according to the audit by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.
More than half of 990 bills to pay for telecommunication surveillance in five unidentified FBI field offices were not paid on time, the report shows. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.
The FBI did not have an immediate comment.
The report released Thursday was a highly edited version of Fine's 87-page audit that the FBI deemed too sensitive to be viewed publicly. It focused on what the FBI admitted was an "antiquated" system to track money sent to its 56 field offices nationwide for undercover work. Generally, the money pays for rental cars, leases and surveillance, the audit noted.
It also found that some field offices paid for expenses on undercover cases that should have been financed by FBI headquarters. Out of 130 undercover payments examined, auditors found 14 cases of at least $6,000 each where field offices dipped into their own budgets to pay for work that should have been picked up by headquarters.
The faulty bookkeeping was blamed, in large part, in the case of an FBI agent who pleaded guilty in June 2006 to stealing $25,000 for her own use, the audit noted.
"As demonstrated by the FBI employee who stole funds intended to support undercover activities, procedural controls by themselves have not ensured proper tracking and use of confidential case funds," it concluded.
Fine's report offered 16 recommendations to improve the FBI's tracking and management of the funding system, including its telecommunication costs. The FBI has agreed to follow 11 of the suggestions but said that four "would be either unfeasible or too cost prohibitive." The recommendations were not specifically outlined in the edited version of the report.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Go Mom Go!
Except, I think I would have gone with Oprah...
Public warms to "uncool" mom
The Washington Post
PREV
SCREEN GRAB
Jane Hambleton and son Stephen on "Good Morning America," where she told about selling his car after finding booze under the front seat.
Yesterday, she was the meanest mom on the planet. Today: the coolest.
Jane Hambleton, 48, gained a worshipful parental following after news of a classified ad she had placed in The Des Moines Register was picked up by The Associated Press. The text of the ad:
"OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet."
Sold! Hambleton, a radio DJ in Fort Dodge, Iowa, received some 70 calls from buyers.
And other parents. And emergency-room workers. And school counselors. And scores of others wanting to congratulate her for being so Dirty Harry awesome.
"I don't think you can print" what Steven, 19, said to his mom, she told The Register. But then the two became instantly famous, and by Thursday morning they were appearing on "Good Morning America," which got the television-booking wars started, as ABC producer Chad Parks recounted it. "Today" wanted them.
The Hambletons were about to book that when folks from "The Oprah Winfrey Show" called, demanding exclusivity, so the family leaned toward that, Mom being a huge Oprah fan.
But then Ellen DeGeneres called. And while Mom likes Winfrey, her son loves DeGeneres, and Mom was inclined to give this one to her son, considering she had taken away his car. They were going back to Iowa to sort it all out.
All of which proved one thing: America needed this kind of tough love, the kind that says: "I am not your friend. I am your mother. Eat your peas. Now."
The kind that says: "I don't care what the other mothers are doing. I am not buying a pony keg for your party, even if I take away the keys to make sure your friends don't drive home plastered."
For the record, Steven, a student at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, told his mother the alcohol in the car did not belong to him, but to a friend. For the record, Hambleton believed him. But it violated one of two rules she'd set forth when she bought him the car: No booze, and keep it locked.
Her son was originally "very, very unhappy," The Register reported, but he and Mom seem to have patched things up. It's amazing what a free trip to New York can do.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Mostly reflections on wedded bliss
But first, now I temporarily have no one to vote for. Huckabee is apparently very like his predecessor who was also from Hope, Arkansas! If you look up what Mary Pride has to say, you will find it. She has written some great homeschooling how-to books. You have to be a slippery eel to get endorsements from both the NEA (National Education Assoc.) and HSLDA (the Home School Legal Defense Assoc.). NEA has plenty of untrue and biased, awful things to say about homeschoolers, and while I wish we "could all just get along" and learn from each other, I think it's fair to say that the two associations are diametrically opposed. So he is very likely saying what folks want to hear. But what would happen if he got into office? Something tells me he'd be paralyzed by pleasing everyone.
Hmmm... moving on to Romney? I guess I'll check him out next. I really detest how every voting year, I end up voting against people instead of for someone I believe in. I vote for a person so someone worse won't get in. Argh.
Ok.
I got my CCL magazine called Family Foundations yesterday. The topic is how to keep marriages strong, and why they fail even if people have "done everything right". Even if they went to prep classes, waited a long time before getting married, practice NFP, and have nice stable incomes, a lot of time the marriage is not that happy. The top reason was the balance of work and family life, it turns out, not what you'd have expected, like sex, money or kids. I can well believe that. I ticked off my husband by saying we shouldn't have him working toward another tech certification yet. I said that because he just finished (and passed, yay!) his Windows Vista cert., and it took four months of constant studying, and no time to spend with his kids without thinking how much he wasn't studying. I like our family life, and I know that the certs will help him get that uber well paying job, but we need to pace ourselves! Of course, he wasn't mad once I gave him this long explanation, but why do we jump into being mad right away? Habit, I think. It would be better to assume the other person has your best interest at heart, but I don't think either of us act as if we believed that, even if we do.
Marriage is a hard thing! It's very worth it, but my, my, it's a lot of work.
My favorite part of this month's issue of Family Foundations is when a bride who has always been "open to life" says how she reacted to finding out she was pregnant right away. I simply must quote her, because it sounds SO familiar.
From Family Foundations, Volume 34, No. 4, pg. 18 "When 'Open to Life' becomes more than words":
First, much like us, except we were just being lazy, and it was two months after our wedding:
"Without more serious reasons to postpone, however, we relaxed our application of NFP rules. We conceived a week after our first anniversary. Life stopped traffic, we didn't even see it coming until the brake lights went rampant.... 'Open to life' was suddenly more than words, but a concrete reality in my own body."
"I'm ashamed to admit my reactions when, after 21 days of temperature rise, we realized it was time to call the doctor and ask what in the world we were supposed to do next. We were pregnant! I cried. I broke down in a weeping heap of fears, uncertainty, denial, dismay, and a complete lack of trust in God. I was mired in things of the world like, "Will my college education go to waste?", "Will we be able to afford a baby?" "What about a house?" I was in the midst of that traffic jam with no way out.
"My husband was less than thrilled with my dramatics, as I had always been the one to talk up "openness to live" and "children are a blessing." After a few days of prayer and discussion, our marriage bond helped to replace the fear and anxiety with excitement and uncertainty. This uncertainty, at least, was permeated with anticipation. In hindsight, the perfection and intricacy of God's plan is so evident, but by golly when you're in the midst, blinded by fear, you can only see a backed up mess with no direction that looks promising."
I quoted a lot here, because she summed up our initial feelings nicely. Gabe was a huge blessing in a very big disguise. When he was born, we didn't even know where either of us would be working two months later. And yet we found jobs, and we struggled through several more years of craziness, but it always worked out and now there are four kids and I get to homeschool them, just like I wanted to.
Lesson learned: Trusting that it will all work out is very important. I have seen people take that a little too far, almost like they are testing God to see if He'll come through for them. But if you are having a hard time, see if there was some good that came of it. In our case, it got us out of teaching, which Francis hated, and forced us to meet people and do things we wouldn't have done otherwise. If money comes later, I am fine with that. Now that staying pregnant is difficult and two miscarriages later, I'm glad we got started when we did, or we might never have had children at all. God is so good.
Hmmm... moving on to Romney? I guess I'll check him out next. I really detest how every voting year, I end up voting against people instead of for someone I believe in. I vote for a person so someone worse won't get in. Argh.
Ok.
I got my CCL magazine called Family Foundations yesterday. The topic is how to keep marriages strong, and why they fail even if people have "done everything right". Even if they went to prep classes, waited a long time before getting married, practice NFP, and have nice stable incomes, a lot of time the marriage is not that happy. The top reason was the balance of work and family life, it turns out, not what you'd have expected, like sex, money or kids. I can well believe that. I ticked off my husband by saying we shouldn't have him working toward another tech certification yet. I said that because he just finished (and passed, yay!) his Windows Vista cert., and it took four months of constant studying, and no time to spend with his kids without thinking how much he wasn't studying. I like our family life, and I know that the certs will help him get that uber well paying job, but we need to pace ourselves! Of course, he wasn't mad once I gave him this long explanation, but why do we jump into being mad right away? Habit, I think. It would be better to assume the other person has your best interest at heart, but I don't think either of us act as if we believed that, even if we do.
Marriage is a hard thing! It's very worth it, but my, my, it's a lot of work.
My favorite part of this month's issue of Family Foundations is when a bride who has always been "open to life" says how she reacted to finding out she was pregnant right away. I simply must quote her, because it sounds SO familiar.
From Family Foundations, Volume 34, No. 4, pg. 18 "When 'Open to Life' becomes more than words":
First, much like us, except we were just being lazy, and it was two months after our wedding:
"Without more serious reasons to postpone, however, we relaxed our application of NFP rules. We conceived a week after our first anniversary. Life stopped traffic, we didn't even see it coming until the brake lights went rampant.... 'Open to life' was suddenly more than words, but a concrete reality in my own body."
"I'm ashamed to admit my reactions when, after 21 days of temperature rise, we realized it was time to call the doctor and ask what in the world we were supposed to do next. We were pregnant! I cried. I broke down in a weeping heap of fears, uncertainty, denial, dismay, and a complete lack of trust in God. I was mired in things of the world like, "Will my college education go to waste?", "Will we be able to afford a baby?" "What about a house?" I was in the midst of that traffic jam with no way out.
"My husband was less than thrilled with my dramatics, as I had always been the one to talk up "openness to live" and "children are a blessing." After a few days of prayer and discussion, our marriage bond helped to replace the fear and anxiety with excitement and uncertainty. This uncertainty, at least, was permeated with anticipation. In hindsight, the perfection and intricacy of God's plan is so evident, but by golly when you're in the midst, blinded by fear, you can only see a backed up mess with no direction that looks promising."
I quoted a lot here, because she summed up our initial feelings nicely. Gabe was a huge blessing in a very big disguise. When he was born, we didn't even know where either of us would be working two months later. And yet we found jobs, and we struggled through several more years of craziness, but it always worked out and now there are four kids and I get to homeschool them, just like I wanted to.
Lesson learned: Trusting that it will all work out is very important. I have seen people take that a little too far, almost like they are testing God to see if He'll come through for them. But if you are having a hard time, see if there was some good that came of it. In our case, it got us out of teaching, which Francis hated, and forced us to meet people and do things we wouldn't have done otherwise. If money comes later, I am fine with that. Now that staying pregnant is difficult and two miscarriages later, I'm glad we got started when we did, or we might never have had children at all. God is so good.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
more politics and facebook
This one is liable to ramble quite a bit, so watch out. There. You've been warned. I cannot be held liable for your confused state... just mine.
So. I keep looking at presidential candidates. I'm relieved to see that Hillary and Rudy are having a tough go of it, and I hope sincerely that that continues. It might be that we get less news over here, being in the western states, because when they do the tallying up of votes, they always call the race before we're even done over here. I guess we don't count, even though CA is over here. Huh. But anyway, I'm still not so sure about Ron Paul. I want to be sure, but his foreign policy is just to drastic. It's the only thing I disagree on, but I really, really disagree, and it's rather important. You can't just yank all the bases and yank all our troops from all over the world. First of all, it's impossible unless he's planning a dictatorship, because congress won't let that happen. So secondly, he's making promises he most certainly cannot keep. I'm glad Huckabee did so well in Iowa, and I wonder if Romney or McCain will do better in NH tonight. No way to know how it will all play out. However, it does appear Obama has quite a loyal following. I don't know if he has the know-how to pull this off, but it sure would be interesting to see such a different kind of person in the white house. I still prefer him over Hillary. Anybody but her!
On to Facebook:
I have a Facebook account. It is kind of fun, and has reunited me with several people from back in high school as well as college people who have been all over since I last saw them. It's quite enlightening. One of the most stark examples of change has been one friend who was in ROTC at Gonzaga, and now she is an episcopalian priest and so is her husband, who is a former circus performer (eats fire). She looks very happy! But wow!
Facebook is also the only reliable source of information from my rather uncommunicative sister. Ahem. If you are reading this, yes, I'm referring to you.
But in any case, what really irks me right now is stuff that is completely beyond my control. Nearly everyone on there is LIBERAL with great big, Hollywood sized letters. If they were liberal in high school, they are much more so now. Holy Toledo. My conundrum is this. I know NFP works. I know it makes marriages better, but I know that both NFP and marriage takes work and determination not to quit when the going gets tough. They both require a person to take the long view and put off what they want sometimes for quite a while. I know it's worth it. I'd like to share that with people. But then I see that they support Planned Parenthood and frequent gay parades with lots of rainbows, and I wonder if I should even start a conversation with "Hey, I noticed you support PP. I was standing in front of it this fall getting yelled at by people like you. What gives?". I mean, should I do that? Is it even worth it? What can I say that might break through the fog of "sex is a god"?
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Meanwhile, I'm re-reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis when I'm nursing Dominic, and it's worth another read. It makes me realize what is going on from time to time in the world unseen by me, and reminds me that I'm just as prone to the dumb tricks of demons as anyone else. I also like the reminder that Satan is not the opposite of God, he's the opposite of St. Michael the Archangel. He can't be the opposite of his Creator. He's a fallen angel, not omnipresent like God. I wonder how many people even realize that if they even bother to think of angels and demons. I bet it allows demons a lot of room for their plots if people continue to dismiss the idea the way they do...
Which reminds me. Since baby Savoy is named Michael, I really need to find some St. Michael gear, right Eileen?
So. I keep looking at presidential candidates. I'm relieved to see that Hillary and Rudy are having a tough go of it, and I hope sincerely that that continues. It might be that we get less news over here, being in the western states, because when they do the tallying up of votes, they always call the race before we're even done over here. I guess we don't count, even though CA is over here. Huh. But anyway, I'm still not so sure about Ron Paul. I want to be sure, but his foreign policy is just to drastic. It's the only thing I disagree on, but I really, really disagree, and it's rather important. You can't just yank all the bases and yank all our troops from all over the world. First of all, it's impossible unless he's planning a dictatorship, because congress won't let that happen. So secondly, he's making promises he most certainly cannot keep. I'm glad Huckabee did so well in Iowa, and I wonder if Romney or McCain will do better in NH tonight. No way to know how it will all play out. However, it does appear Obama has quite a loyal following. I don't know if he has the know-how to pull this off, but it sure would be interesting to see such a different kind of person in the white house. I still prefer him over Hillary. Anybody but her!
On to Facebook:
I have a Facebook account. It is kind of fun, and has reunited me with several people from back in high school as well as college people who have been all over since I last saw them. It's quite enlightening. One of the most stark examples of change has been one friend who was in ROTC at Gonzaga, and now she is an episcopalian priest and so is her husband, who is a former circus performer (eats fire). She looks very happy! But wow!
Facebook is also the only reliable source of information from my rather uncommunicative sister. Ahem. If you are reading this, yes, I'm referring to you.
But in any case, what really irks me right now is stuff that is completely beyond my control. Nearly everyone on there is LIBERAL with great big, Hollywood sized letters. If they were liberal in high school, they are much more so now. Holy Toledo. My conundrum is this. I know NFP works. I know it makes marriages better, but I know that both NFP and marriage takes work and determination not to quit when the going gets tough. They both require a person to take the long view and put off what they want sometimes for quite a while. I know it's worth it. I'd like to share that with people. But then I see that they support Planned Parenthood and frequent gay parades with lots of rainbows, and I wonder if I should even start a conversation with "Hey, I noticed you support PP. I was standing in front of it this fall getting yelled at by people like you. What gives?". I mean, should I do that? Is it even worth it? What can I say that might break through the fog of "sex is a god"?
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Meanwhile, I'm re-reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis when I'm nursing Dominic, and it's worth another read. It makes me realize what is going on from time to time in the world unseen by me, and reminds me that I'm just as prone to the dumb tricks of demons as anyone else. I also like the reminder that Satan is not the opposite of God, he's the opposite of St. Michael the Archangel. He can't be the opposite of his Creator. He's a fallen angel, not omnipresent like God. I wonder how many people even realize that if they even bother to think of angels and demons. I bet it allows demons a lot of room for their plots if people continue to dismiss the idea the way they do...
Which reminds me. Since baby Savoy is named Michael, I really need to find some St. Michael gear, right Eileen?
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year! A fresh start...
First, I'd like to start with a quote from a bookmarked blog I ran into, called Large Family Logistics. I need to make a list of favorite blogs, but haven't yet. However, that might happen because ... TA DA! I corrected all my papers! More on that some other time...
Here are two irresistible quotes:
"How can you have too many children? That's like saying there are too many flowers" - Mother Teresa
"Women should not have children after 35; thirty-five children are enough." - anonymous
I love it! That said, my mom sent me two very interesting books for Christmas. One is called The Empty Cradle and it is about how the world has been a little overzealous about minimizing population growth, and how we will be alarmed to find there are not enough people to pay to do the services we are going to need as we grow older. It includes quite a few historical references that say that the baby boom was a large anomaly, and that the population of people has been declining since the late 1800's. It makes a lot of very valid points, and says a lot about governments and political systems making it hard to realize the dream of having children. I agree with this. It takes some practice "tipping reality on its side" to realize you can afford them, but you have to make mental and physical sacrifices to realize that it really is ok. Some faith that things will turn out helps, too, though one can take that too far as well. Everything can be taken too far by someone.
In any case, the book is a secular and well informed book that makes the case that our not having kids is going to really wreck our world for a while. I'm of the opinion that everything will straighten itself out eventually, but that might take 100 years or so. I'll include some quotes from the book later.
The other one is called Perfect Madness and it illustrates the craziness that overtakes parents of all stripes, not just rich or poor ones, but all of them. I thought it didn't apply to me, but it does. I stay out of most rat races that parents partake in (unless I want to, not because I feel like I've got to), like formal birthday parties, formal schooling, formal playgroups and preschools. And yet, I do go crazy keeping up with my own standards. How about you? It is good to be self-reflective once in a while and have that reality check, and yet, that too can be overdone!
The more I learn the dumber I feel because I didn't know it already. And then I have even more questions, and realize I will never, ever be bored ever again. How in the world can one be bored? Lack of imagination? I mean, really!
Rambling over. You may commence with your new year. Happy 2008!
Oh, were you going to ask about a new year's resolution? Ours is to understand finance and budgeting, and how it applies to us. We are using a book called America's Cheapest Family, and it's awesome! Read it!
Here are two irresistible quotes:
"How can you have too many children? That's like saying there are too many flowers" - Mother Teresa
"Women should not have children after 35; thirty-five children are enough." - anonymous
I love it! That said, my mom sent me two very interesting books for Christmas. One is called The Empty Cradle and it is about how the world has been a little overzealous about minimizing population growth, and how we will be alarmed to find there are not enough people to pay to do the services we are going to need as we grow older. It includes quite a few historical references that say that the baby boom was a large anomaly, and that the population of people has been declining since the late 1800's. It makes a lot of very valid points, and says a lot about governments and political systems making it hard to realize the dream of having children. I agree with this. It takes some practice "tipping reality on its side" to realize you can afford them, but you have to make mental and physical sacrifices to realize that it really is ok. Some faith that things will turn out helps, too, though one can take that too far as well. Everything can be taken too far by someone.
In any case, the book is a secular and well informed book that makes the case that our not having kids is going to really wreck our world for a while. I'm of the opinion that everything will straighten itself out eventually, but that might take 100 years or so. I'll include some quotes from the book later.
The other one is called Perfect Madness and it illustrates the craziness that overtakes parents of all stripes, not just rich or poor ones, but all of them. I thought it didn't apply to me, but it does. I stay out of most rat races that parents partake in (unless I want to, not because I feel like I've got to), like formal birthday parties, formal schooling, formal playgroups and preschools. And yet, I do go crazy keeping up with my own standards. How about you? It is good to be self-reflective once in a while and have that reality check, and yet, that too can be overdone!
The more I learn the dumber I feel because I didn't know it already. And then I have even more questions, and realize I will never, ever be bored ever again. How in the world can one be bored? Lack of imagination? I mean, really!
Rambling over. You may commence with your new year. Happy 2008!
Oh, were you going to ask about a new year's resolution? Ours is to understand finance and budgeting, and how it applies to us. We are using a book called America's Cheapest Family, and it's awesome! Read it!
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