The Way to Happiness
Avoiding colds & illness in little ones
It is disheartening how many young moms are not taught how to help their little ones avoid illnesses through proper care of the baby bottles, pacifiers, and sippy cups. Over the past few omnths, I have heard many young moms talking about their little ones getting sick often or having chronic problems with catching colds or other illnesses, sometimes even thrush.
One of the ways that we have avoided illnesses with our little ones is to be very diligent in the care of the bottles, sippy cups and pacifiers. Amazingly, most young moms have no idea how to sterilize these things. Just this one simple task has helped tremendously in preventing illnesses. Now that we have 2 little ones, it will be even more important.
The first thing that helps to prevent illness is the obvious of limiting contact of your children with others who are sick. Of course if you have a little one in day care or public school, they will share the illnesses with the little ones at home. Whenever possible, you should limit contact however.
Teaching little ones to wash their hands during the day is also important. Especially after using the bathroom. You can also make up a batch of hand wipes for them to use. Take a stack of wash cloths and soak them in a solution of water with a few drops of baby wash in it. We use these as baby wipes for diaper changing also. If you have a container of these where the little ones can reach them, they can easily be taught to use one to wipe their face and hands.
One effective way to prevent the sharing of illness between little ones is to not allow them to share sippy cups, bottles or pacifiers. Take this also a step further. Each night after the little ones have gone to bed, when you wash the bottles, sippy cups, and pacifiers take the extra time to toss them into a large kettle and sterilize them. Sterilizing these items will do much to help prevent the sickness from speading. Especially things like pacifiers! A little one who has just gotten over a cold can have a relapse if you do not wash & sterilize the pacifier they used during the illness. As a matter of habit, I sterilize the bottles and all their parts, the sippy cups and all their parts, and the pacifiers every day. Whether it be at night or during their afternoon nap, I sterilize a whole day's supply of these. Sterilizing all the little parts is especially important if you use the Dr. Brown type bottles or others with parts that are hard to clean. The same goes for the flow restrictors in the newer sippy cups that are very difficult to clean due to the flow restrictor's design.
Here is the process that I use to sterilize. I use my water bath canner kettle as it is large enough to hold everything. I place all the bottles, sippy cups, their parts, and the pacifiers into the kettel and over with enough water to allow the bottles & cups to be fully submerged. Place the kettle on the stove and bring the water to a boil. Continue boiling for 15 minutes. I then turn off the heat and allow the water to cool. They are then dried with a clean towel. Since I make up a day's worth of homemade formula each day, I go ahead and refill the bottles with the formula. Sippy cups are allowed to dry fully before I assemble them, unless they are needed before they have dried. Pacifiers are allowed to air dry, then are stored in a container to help keep them clean until they are needed.
There are some websites that say sterilizing bottles is no longer needed if you make the formula with city water that has been treated. Some medical websites disagree though. I agree with the doctors on this one. We live in a rural area. The water we get is through a rural water system, similar to a city's system. We are receiving letters in the mail on a regular basis however that the water is not yet up to the standards that it is supposed to be ~ containing pollutants that should not be there. The other reason is the design of the bottles & sippy cups. Even using hot soapy water and a bottle brush, you cannot get into all the areas that need cleaning. So, to be safe I will sterilize them.
Hopefully some of these ideas will be of a help.
Photo's From The Pumpkin Patch
Ok...there are alot of photo's in this one, so bear with me if they load slow. We have an ancient dial-up connection here and trust me...they might load slowly for you, but that's nothing compared to uploading them on my end!First off, Saturday we visited a pumpkin patch with the handful of children from our church. No, we don't do the whole halloween thing at all. Honestly, you can dress a pig in pretty clothes and take him to church, but it's still just a pig and he simply doesn't belong there....still, we went. I'm a hypocrit, I guess.
The 'patch' was a large farm with several fields of pumpkins you could select from yourself (do you know how long it takes children to select their own pumpkin???? It's a loonnggg time, trust me!)
They had a large, inflatible slide thing, a race track set up with peddle cars and tricycles and such, a ring for pony rides, a few animals for the petting zoo and a hay bale maze in a small barn.
We played a short while, then took the hay wagon out to the fields and everyone got a pumpkin to bring home -- we'll be canning ours this week.
I'll just share the pictures and you can look around with our family...
Here's my group...sitting on top inside the inflatible bouncer slide...they are trying to decide who gets to be the brave one and head out first. There's Jacob, David, Matthew turned around backwards and Miss KatiAnne (and Hunter, our Pastor's grandson). I noticed that most of the 'city kids' waited very patiently while the strange "amish" children tested themselves here. LOL...what those poor folks must have been thinking! I know...we do need to get out and about more, don't we?The first ones out? Wild Child, of course...and Miss KatiAnne...
It was David's birthday and he was convinced the whole day was for him. The inflatible slide posed some issues for him, though. He simply doesn't have the weight to keep him on it -- he would bound over the top and begin to slide down, just to bounce most of the way down because it was more 'springy' than he was 'weighty'
And what happens when, as D at As Simply As We Can mentioned on her blog, when country goes to town?
The poor country children are duped by the city folk into milking a wooden cow....yes, apparently my children need to get out a bit more. I said that, didn't I? These are those moments when you do need a bit more of being 'of' the world and not just 'in' it I think ;o)
Here is eldest and youngest daughters, Miss Jennifer and Miss Emily. They look so impressed with the converted cotton wagon ride to the field, don't they? Honestly, Miss Emily about fell asleep with the motion of the wagon across those fields -- both on the way out and coming back in! It is a good picture of the two of them, though, even if Miss Jennifer didn't want her's taken.
And poor Miss Emily in the field...she was looking at me as though I had abandoned her to carry her pumpkin alone so I could take pictures of her misery. Note to other parents: Ok, I sort of did...but *Dad* wanted to see lots of pictures of the day...I had to be just a by-stander! He made me do it. It's all Dad's fault :o) Besides, doesn't carrying your own pumpkin, by yourself, across the whole field, promote character or something?She made it about 5 steps toting that pumpkin before she put it back down and said she was too heavy to carry it.
Here is KatiAnne with her pumpkin, Johanna with her choice, and way out there is Matthew, trying to help Miss Ashley from church select hers so he can help her carry it back to the wagon. Now, Miss Ashley comes from rather stout farm raised Southern stock...she really didn't need help carrying a pumpkin, but Matthew, well...always the gentleman :o)
After the pumpkin field, we stopped back at the farm kitchen and got some drinks before heading home. The children all played in the race track section. They had several different bicycles and tricycles and such.
Miss KatiAnne grabbed one of the large tricycles and took off -- with Abigail behind her telling her she needed to pick a different racer so her peddling wouldn't lift her skirt above her knees! She was right -- KatiAnne made about half a round on that track, with constant pulling on her skirt and apron, and chose a different ride. No one listens when Mom says to wear their bloomers.....
That was about it for the day. They had some huge, nice looking mum plants set out for sale...bright yellows, deep reds, oranges and some purple-shades. I almost bought a couple, but then I remembered the dogs...who would waste little time in dragging them off the porch; And the cats...who would waste little time in using them for a new litter box out there. They were better left where they were.
All in all, the day was fun for everyone. And I put gas in the van before heading out and paid $3.05 a gallon. Not a bad price, considering, but we get over to Blue Mountain and their gas was already down to $2.52 a gallon!!! I could have gotten 15 gallons instead of the 12 gallons I got for my $40. Ugh, ugh and ugh!!!! Still...all considered, the $3.05 was better than the $3.18 it was on Thursday, so I didn't suffer too terribly much. And those little 12 gallons was far more gas than my van has seen in a good 3 months now, so all was well.
Pantry Planning for Pets
Anyone with cats or dogs knows that there are ocassionally times when you run short on pet food. Of course, if you live in the city it is easy to stop at a store to buy more. Living in a rural area can make a simple trip to the store out of the question. What do you do if you run out of pet food just before a payday? What about winter storms or other situation when making a trip to the store is not possible?
If you are planning your pantry for winter, you should always try to plan ahead for your animals also. Just as a winter storm can cause a hardship on us if our pantry is not well stocked, it can be devastating to pets.
Our cats are all outdoor barn cats. We never keep cats in our home. For food, they hunt rodents which helps to keep the rodents from getting into the livestock feed and hay. The added benefit being that because the cats hunt rodents, we have no large rodent-eating snakes around the house, barn or outbuildings. Even though we only put out a small amount of food for the cats, mainly kitchen scraps that the sheep cannot eat, we still need to think ahead for winter. During winter months, the rodent population is lower and there is much less for the cats to hunt. This is where planning ahead can be a blessing.
Recently, I came across a couple of websites that have recipes for making homemade pet food. The first is Pet Food Cookbook. This site has many recipes for dogs, cats, and birds. The second site is Healthy Recipes for Pets. Healthy Recipes for Pets has recipes for cats and dogs. A special section for each also contains recipes for pets on special diets due to health issues.
I now have in my notebook a couple of recipes for cats. I chose recipes that use items found in our pantry on a regular basis. This will allow me to easily have the necessary ingredients on hand if the situation should ever arise that we need to make the homemade pet food. We are planning to get dogs in the spring to start working with the sheep. For that reason, I also have a couple of recipes for dogs.
Here is a very simple basic recipe for cats that will work in a pinch. Cook up some rice and lentils. To this add some leftover vegetables and a can of tuna. For cat food, you may want to have some tuna packed in oil. The oil is good for them. Mix this all together and let cool before feeding to your cats. You can feed the same thing to dogs. My husband remembers often feeding rice with leftovers mixed in to their dogs when he was growing up.
Give-Away winner & In and Around the Home This Week
Wow, there were 101 entries int he giveaway. Numbers were assigned as you entered the giveaway. A random number generator mysteriously drew a winner, and Congratulations to...
#98 is Deutschmum!
Please contact me ASAP so I can send you your goodies!
In the Kitchen: When canning season is done I love returning to baking, which always gets pushed aside during the summer when we tend to rely more on ice cream for treats and less on baked items. This week I made an orange and almond nut bread which tastes even better with some apple butter spread on a slice. It's a fast breakfast. There were also enough cherry tomatoes to eat over pasta with cubed mozzarella, and some seedless red grapes roasted and topped with a little honey for a tasty side dish.
In the Garden: I am still gleaning a few peppers and tomatoes from the vegetable patch, and there are still greens out there that are doing just fine. With the green tomatoes and recently pulled carrots and peppers, there is plenty to make some delicious end-of-the-garden relish and casseroles. A strong wind came through last week and shook our black walnut trees good, so there are also plenty of nuts on the ground. I haven't had much time to continue that project though, and with nuts curing in every dark corner of our house, I'm not sure how much more I will do.
Around the Home: It sure has gotten chilly around here. Do you ever have those mornings where you step outside and it is actually colder in your house than it is outdoors? That is what if has been feeling like here. Unfortunately, our trip out to Ohio, where we will pick up our wood stove, had to be pushed up a month due to our busy schedules. That's fine as we can use the time to continue preparing our home for the changes that will take place in the coming month. But for someone like me who despises the cold, that stove can't get here soon enough.
On the Nightstand: A Mending at the Edge by Jane Kirkpatrick (Novel based on the life of a woman sent to Oregon Territory in the 1850's to help start a communal society. Only on page 20...so far, so good.)
Things around the homestead
Ok, still don't know why the camera didn't want to upload to the computer...or why the computer didn't want it to, but that's technology for you. I've played and reloaded and rebooted and what-have-you, and finally, this time, it just sort of worked.Here's the assorted odd pictures of the last many days here:
LOL...yes, basically a useless picture...but it was supposed to be here for the day I baked the pumpkin bread and raisin pumpkin snack cake. And yes, of course I buy butter in that huge container....doesn't everyone? My goodness, what other size would there be for a large family?How do you learn to ride a bike? Well, you talk your older brother into letting you be the first to ride his new bike, then you get on and let him shove....er, push you gently....across the front yard. Note to my children: you might want to find a new place to test your bike riding skills. There is a slope to the front yard in that particular area, and it heads straight into the mulch pile and timber line.
This is Wild Child, Jacob...with Abigail there in blue, and KatiAnne on the bike....totally forgetting to even pedal...or steer.
Here we have Miss Emily trying to coax the chickens into coming closer for a visit. She poked her hand into the fence and wiggled her fingers, calling them...chickee, chickee. As soon as they started over toward her, she liked to have pulled the fence down yaking her hand out so quickly.
And the new addition to the homestead...and still unnamed officially...The Buddy Dog :o)
He is a Great Pyrenese (or however you spell that...it never looks right to me). According to our friend who got him at his auction, he's about 3 months old. But goodness is he huge for a mere 3 months old!
Here he is with Matthew...and our blind goat...doesn't he look awfuly big for 3 months? Maybe it's just me. I'm not very familiar with their growth patterns and all. I know they are to be large dogs, but at 3 months, I guess I thought he'd be more 'puppy' sized or something.
As to being 'protection' for the goats, well, I don't know about that. He's rather skittish with them and tries to pick his places wherever they aren't. And our 'seeing' goat is a bit of a pill with other animals in her pen. She all but killed the poor black puppies that grew up with them. The male is blind in one eye and won't go near the pen now. The female always did have a bit more gumption, but even she chooses her battles with that seeing goat.
Yeah -- that one there, staring at you, with a touch of attitude....that's the seeing eye goat :o) We bought her as a companion for the blind goat. But she's full of attitude...spit and vinegar I think is the old saying. That's definitely her.
A serene Saturday & Sunday afternoon
Here are the photos from yesterday. The children built a fort.
Well, it's an encampment of sorts, really.
It's Boonesboro...or in our case, Smithsboro. The children love watching the old television series Daniel Boone. Emily sings Daniel Boone was a man....a biiiiiggggg maaaannnnn.... all day, just out of the blue. And easily switches between that and Victory in Jesus or Jesus Loves Me. She has rather eclectic singing choices, I know.
This is the beginning of our fabricated chicken house, actually. It's just a cattle panel arched over a frame. We'll move the chickens around the garden area with it once it's finished.
Well, maybe...looks like I may not be getting this one back any time soon:
And the laundry that was left to wait on Smithsboro's completion...
And, I just thought this photo turned out nice. It's Miss Dimples, our KatiAnne, enjoying Smithsboro's outdoor cafe...
She wanted Grandma to see her :o)
Our Electric Bill
We have had so many inquiries from those who read my husband's and my blogs about our electric bill that I wanted to post. Yesterday, we received our first bill that has a full month of the limited usage. Last August, when we started this journey towards cutting out the majority of our electricity usage, our electric bill was $250 for 1 month of usage! That was the bill which had my Beloved reaching the point where enough was enough. So, we started making changes. These changes have paid off greatly. We removed the air conditioners, TV, VCR, DVD, many of the small appliances from the kitchen, and much more. Granted, the air conditioners were the major contributor to our bill, but the other things also had an effect.
So, what was the new amount for the current bill? It was $51 for the month! What a blessing it was to see that the changes are having such a pronounced effect. The lower bill gives us also the drive to try and take it further, lower our usage even more.
Thank you to all who have emailed, sent messages, or left comments about our changing to a more simple lifestyle.
10 Commandments for Every Christian
We could all certainly use far more of this in our churches today and a lot less of the 'Christian play' that goes on.
• DON’T CRITICIZE your fellow-believers anytime or the pastor (especially never ever before or after a Sunday service: the Devil’s already doing that; don’t you help him).
• DON’T POLARIZE in church meetings or committees. ‘I don’t agree’ is very negative: try ‘Is there perhaps another way of looking at this?’
• DON’T OSTRACIZE people whose psychological ‘chemistry’ is different to yours, or who do not see things your way. Be Christian, and greet them warmly, and pray with them anyway.
• DON’T IDOLIZE the pastor or any other leader: we are all fellow- strugglers and we all have feet of clay.
• DON’T MONOPOLIZE conversations: be that kind of rare person who is an empathetic listener.
• DON’T ORGANIZE anything ‘off your own bat’. Initiative is good: initiative plus collaboration plus accountability is better.
• DON’T HOMOGENIZE. Talk to people who are not your cronies (even tax-collectors and sinners do that). Accept people who are not like you theologically. After all, God’s truth may include both your and their understandings!
• Above all, DON’T VERBALIZE your frustration or negativity about the church to others: it is sure to discourage them. Do it with the Lord, a spiritual director or counselor, and possibly, after much prayer, to a responsible leader. The devil is very clever: he puts words into our mouth like: ‘Would you (my friend) pray with me about the problem I have with...’
• Instead REALIZE that the Church is loved by Christ, so be patient with each other: the Lord hasn’t finished with any of us yet!
The Attack on Men
All I will say to this is Amen. If you can't see our society totally wrapped up in this, you need to pull off the blinders and take a really good look around you. We don't have many MEN in our society today. We don't have many LEADERS in our society. And, sadly, we aren't working to change that in our up and coming young men and boys either.THE ATTACK ON MEN:
Every television show depicts men as idiots, buffoons, or evil monsters. Satan wants to reach women because they are more easily deceived. The only obstacle to his subversion of women is men. His attack on men is primarily to remove any credibility or influence they have over women. The effectiveness of this campaign is shown in the TV program “The Red Green Show”. In this show there is a motto for men that is repeated with a resigned shrug, “I am a man...I can change...If I have to...I guess.”
Young men today may not even know that the pattern of male submission that is prevalent today is an aberration. It has never existed before in the history of the world. Men were created to take care of families. Women were created to be taken care of. “Women’s liberation” is a communist term for the destruction of families. Liberation implies a struggle against oppression. The communist “liberation” movements have all been armed rebellion against governments that oppose their revolution.
It is important to recognize that revolutionary and political terms are used to demonize traditional families and family practice. The “liberation” that is implied is not against men, but against the God created order of life. Women are to be liberated from families and made worker bees in the corporate hive. In the communist model, women are not mothers or wives, but workers. Workers exist to serve the state.
Men today do not have wives or mothers, just fellow workers. Men are told that this is the natural order of things and any suggestion of the “old way” is an insult to women and must not be tolerated. Men are told to accept the new status of women. Men are bullied into acquiescence with this rape of our culture and exploitation of women. It is sad that Satan has gotten women to be the loudest defenders of the attack upon women.
It can be helpful to examine some of the specific ways men have been reduced to silent and sometimes willing partners in the exploitation of women.
1. Higher education. Men were told that only smart people in universities were educated enough to have any authority to speak to issues concerning their families. Fields such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, social work, and other phony “science” have been used to stifle objection.
2. Liberal religion. Most churches have been completely subverted to worldly perspectives in advance of the more direct attack on men. When men turned to their churches to help fight the direct attack, they only found that the churches had already “gone over to the enemy”.
3. Media. Men are portrayed as crazed killers, bullies, irresponsible, unreliable, drunken violent abusers. Satan does not allow a picture of quiet kindness and strength. Satan will never allow real men who lead their families with love to be seen. The imprint of media is a stain on all of us. More pervasive than the worst Korean War brainwashing, we are saturated to our core with Satanic images, frames of reference, and modes of thinking.
4. Elementary education. The educational system has been one of the greatest tools Satan has used to homogenize men into a submissive mold so that they will not object to the changes being brought forth in our society. As boys they are continuously told to be quiet and sit down, they are learning to stifle their natural inclinations. A primary purpose of the elementary classroom is to break the spirit of young men.
5. Elevation of sport. Boys are told that if they have to be restless then they can play sports. There is nothing so sad as to see someone whose whole life is reduced to this narrow mode of expression. Some men become so occupied with sports, it becomes the only vehicle they have to communicate with others, like the POWs who would communicate by tapping out a code.
6. Withdrawal. Satan is familiar with the most common response of men to situations of discomfort, they withdraw. By making life increasingly alien to men, he forces them out of areas he wants to control. The percentage of women in universities is increasing dramatically. Most men cannot feel comfortable in the radically political, and fervently hostile climate of campus life. Even for men who want to lead their families, they do not know how to meet the frustrating resistance from family members already held captive by the world. These men often seek divorce when they should be seeking knowledge and wisdom.
7. Self-indulgence. For centuries Satan had to rely on alcohol and adultery as his main tools to subvert morality. However, by careful planning and timing he was able to introduce abortion, the drug culture, birth control, and the sexual revolution all within a few years. We now have a climate where this is an accepted way of life. However, while some are dragged down to complete degradation, others (by God’s grace) resist the pull of consuming sensual pleasure and see the emptiness and waste of such a life. Many Christian pioneers come out of the depths of sin to the light of truth and joy of knowing real love.
There is a way to fight back or at least resist these pervasive Satanic influences.
1. Become a Christian. There is a supernatural war going on all around us. Satan is allowed for a little while longer to rule over the earth. The Bible says that those who are not Christians are “held captive to do his will”. Being a Christian connects you to the winning side in this war and provides the means of being pulled out of a spiral of destruction.
2. Grow in truth. Satan achieves most of his success through our failures. If we draw close to God and gain wisdom and understanding, we are able to reduce the number of times we are deceived. The Bible says, “Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world”.
3. Acknowledge humility. Most men do not like the feeling that they do not have the answers or need to get advice or help from another person. The Christian life cannot be lived without humility. Men need to learn that courage is undertaking difficult or unpleasant action because of necessity.
4. Find a mentor. God provides those with wisdom who can give advice and provide encouragement. An ally in the fight against worldly corruption can be an essential part of a successful resistance to these corrupting influences. There are many poor and false teachers, so one should be careful.
5. Abandon error. Satan loves to isolate people in a shell of pride. A woman can raise a clenched fist demanding the “right” to be sexually exploited, killed her babies, and be left alone in her old age. No one will be able to convince her she has been duped because she has been inoculated against any suggestion of error. In a similar way men become encased in destructive prisons of error and humility is the key to escape.
6. Withdraw from diversion. Many children grow up in homes where they learn quickly that the father’s desire to watch television is more important than anything the child might have to say. Our recreations, entertainments, hobbies, and pleasures all act to turn us from our responsibilities. We need to understand the damage that we cause others by our selfishness.
7. Character is more important than performance. Men often focus on what they can do and how well they can do it. They tend to see their worth in terms of their value to “get things done”. This reinforces a materialistic and utilitarian view of the world. The Christian pioneer is understanding that all that we do is of God and there is no room for boasting. As we grow closer to God and value what He values, we learn that a humble and loving heart is infinitely more valuable that job proficiency.
We need to turn our vision from the world. The images we get from the world only enslave us. We need to turn towards Christ. From Him we gain truth, wisdom, and understanding. With the truth, we can build strong families free from the degradation and corruption of the world.
New Christmas Giveaway
There is a new Christmas Giveaway taking place! Mennobrarian has put together a wonderful giveaway Christmas themed package The drawing will be held on October 8th. You can read about it and sign up at her blog.
Best Wishes!
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