MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Christmas pictures

Hope your Christmas was wonderful and that your new year is a blessed one!

Total Truth.

I've been re-reading a book I read in high school years ago, Total Truth, by Nancy Pearsey. I'm getting even more out of it than I did the first time around... mostly because I've experienced more now, I'm at a different stage of life, and because I've adopted some secular philosophy. I feel like she is writing right at me.
Total Truth is about liberating the gospel of Christ from it's current cultural captivity. She explains this by outlining the division our culture has between what is known as objective fact and what is known as subjective belief. To the typical non-believer, the gospel is trapped in that realm of subjective belief. It may be respected as a belief, but it is not taken seriously as THE truth that holds together all reality.
As I read each chapter, I realize areas in my life where I have adopted secular, humanistic, or even pagan philosophies. It has been SO LIBERATING to throw those philosophies out of my mind and transform myself to God's truth.
I'll share one of the areas where this happened to me. In the recent past, I have been educating myself and getting really into natural things. It is absolutely true that most of us use toxic chemicals everyday - whether they are in our food, shampoo, or air. I passionately want my child to be as healthy as possible, and right now it my husband and I's responsibility to do the best we can to keep him healthy. So you can see how finding out nutritional information is extremely helpful. Well, one thing led to another and before I knew it I was getting worried about the earth. Basically, I unconsciously became a greenie (that's the easiest way to say it :) ).
By reading this book, my eyes were opened again to the truth. It began just with me asking myself, "What would be the Biblical view of the environment and natural things?" Seeing as God made the earth, he must have something to say about it. It made sense to start at the beginning, so I read the first few chapters of Genesis. One phrase stuck out to me - when God tells Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it". Hmm. So we have a job of subduing the earth, using what God gave us to create new things and improve our life. Of course, we must be good stewards of what God gives us - we should be wise with the earth. But everything became clear to me - my foundational thinking about the earth was wrong. Here I am - childhood Christian, (used to be) Bible-college student, and I had to go back to the basics!
It's humbling.
But even better, it's freeing.

Decisions.

These past few weeks have been weeks of decision. I call them that because it seems like Curtis and I were forced to make some pretty serious decisions recently. One is moving to Kansas City. I am so excited to be back close to family... however, I will miss my friends here. But moving back to KC is a pretty big jump for us. It is kind of like we are officially moving on from being "college kids" to a family out there in the world. Sounds weird, I know... but it has felt that way to me lately. Once January comes, we are endeavoring into a new stage in life.
Another decision is one still in our hearts and minds, and that is being missionaries in Taiwan. We have seen a need that we could fill, if only we had the guts to sacrifice what was needed to do it. I am talking about opening up an orphanage in Taipai, Taiwan. They've been looking for a family willing. We are willing. Time will tell, but if we do it would be sometime in the next 10 years.
The last decision I'll talk about here has to do with Curtis' job. Right now, Curtis is being pressured to be put in a situation that neither of us are comfortable with, a situation that is dangerous. To protect himself and his family, Curt may have to part ways with Presbyterian Childrens' Services. Please keep our family in prayer about that situation.
In fact, I appreciate the prayer about all these situations! I know that the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective (James 5)... so thank you!

I thought I'd lighten the mood here with a picture of my Joshua (for some reason I've been absentmindedly calling him "Joshybug"...hmm....)



Blessings!

Why we chose a homebirth

As some of you may know, my husband and I chose a midwife for our prenatal, labor, and postnatal care at home. We haven't once doubted or regretted this decision... in fact, it has been one of the biggest blessings in our life. I'm going to share some of the initial reasons that we were turned off of hospitalized care.

1. You deliver the baby on your back. This position, known as the lithotomy position, is the most dysfunctional position ever invented for a laboring woman. It actually makes labor slower and more painful, it works against gravity, and it makes the pelvis smaller.

2. You cannot move around to wherever you want, eat, drink, etc. They say you can, but then you find out that you do have to be hooked up to fetal monitering contraption for at least 20 minutes out of the hour... 

3. Cesearean rates are the through the roof. Do you want to walk into a hospital knowing that you have close to 50% chance of going through surgery? That's what the rate was in my state - 46%. When in sharp contrast, the World Health Organization says that any cesearean rate over 15% poses more harm to mothers than cesearean's life-saving qualities.

4. Interventions of birth are not tested for long-term effects. And historical precedent is awful. Just to name a few >
In the 1950s, every pregnant woman was X-rayed to see the size of her pelvis. Then, years later, they had to stop because they found out it was giving the babies cancer.
In the 1990s, the drug cytotec was used to induce labor for women with a vaginal birth after cesearean. Finally in 1999 they found out that it was the cause for many ruptured uteruses... and, unfortunately, many dead babies.
Episiotomies (a large cut into the perineum to enlarge the vagina at the time when the baby is crowning) were once done routinely. Just recently has there started to be an outcry against them. They are no longer done routinely - however, you'd want to check your practicioner's episiotomy rate. There is much evidence now to prove that they are never needed and not in any way helpful. (see http://www.efn.org/~djz/birth/obmyth/epis.html for more info)


Makes you think about the effects of the very common interventions that are done on a regular basis to 90% of women in hospitals.

My point, however, in talking about my choice for childbirth, is not to convince anyone to have a homebirth with a midwife. In fact, that may not be the best for you - that is something your husband and you should decide. My motive is to get out there that there is more than one way of giving birth. Research your options. Weight the risks. Know what you are doing. 

If we believe that we are parents at conception - not at birth - then do we not have a responsiblity to do what is best for our child when it is in the womb as well as when it is outside of it?

This is ultimately my challenge. Most people in our culture today (including me a year ago) would do more research on what computer to buy, what car to buy, etc. than researching their options on bringing their children (God's unique creation!) into the outside world in the safest and most beneficial way. 

Purpose in Blogging

Hok, so....

I've been really pondering why I have a blog. I think I created it for the sole purpose of having a pretty page about myself. That's a lame reason, so I figure that if I have this page, and if people donate their time to look at it... well, I think I owe them something more than just a pretty page.

So here is the start of a blog with a purpose. I will try my darndist to be insightful.

Next blog coming soon.

<3

So you may know more about me

And because I didn't know what else to write about on here.

A is for age: 20
B is for beverage of choice: water, tea, coffee
C is for career: mother/homemaker
D is for dog's name: we don't have a puppy yet...
E is for essential item you use daily: now that I have a child, probably soap, lol
F is for favorite TV show: The Office is the only one I know and like
G is for game, your favorite: 007 Golden Eye for N64
H is for hometown: Belton, MO and Olathe, KS (divorced parents = two hometowns)
I is for instruments, what can you play: ha, used to be able to play many, now its nothing
J is for juice, what is your favorite: apple
K is for kicking butt, whose do you want to: Obama? Nah, nobody.
L is for last kiss: if you mean "real kiss", its of course Curtis, but if just a kiss, then Joshua
M is for marriage: yes, marriage does start with an M... and yay for marriage!
N is for number of piercings: ones that are open, 4, two in each ear
O is for overnight hospital stays: none...except when I would stay overnight with my mom...if that counts, then countless times
P is for people you were with today: Curtis and Joshua
Q is for quiet time, how do you spend it: praying, reading, cuddling, sleeping
R is for regret, what's your biggest one: my daily sin
S is for status: married 
T is for time you woke up today: 7am, then 11am
U is for unique, how are you unique: Not sure... God made me the only one of me? 
V is for vegetable you love: bell peppers, carrots
W is for worst habit: compusively cleaning out Joshua's nose, disgusting I know
X is for x-ray's you've had: chest, abdomen, dental
Y is for yummy food you ate today: raisin bran cereal and milk
Z is for zodiac sign: pssh, I change this one to: Z is for zoos that you've been to: Kansas City Zoo, Omaha Zoo, St.Louis Zoo

How a 3 month year old teaches me

5 Things I Have Learned From Joshua >

1. All of us start out completely and utterly helpless.

2. Babies can look like old balding men sometimes.

3. Oftentimes our physical "flaws" or "imperfections" make us unique and give us character (i.e. Joshua's enormous left ear).

4. Baby fingernails are almost impossible to trim. At least for me. 

5. We are all like babies. God may be doing something unpleasant in our life to help us or save us from something, but we only see through our limited understanding. When I use the bulb syringe to suck out all the snot from Joshua's little nose, he screams like no other. What he can't see is that I am doing this unpleasant activity not to torture him, but to make his nasal passage clear so he can breathe well. Once it is done and he realizes that he can breathe again, he is filled with happiness. Remind you of anyone?