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 It includes quite a few historical references that say that the baby boom was a large anomaly, and that the population of people has been declining since the late 1800's. It makes a lot of very valid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!