Christmas Rant

When Michael and I were engaged the topic of holiday traditions came up... and he said that we didn't need to have a Christmas tree, which basically turned into this huge argument about me needing to have a Christmas tree and him saying that it was stupid and no one even knows why they put up a tree besides that its tradition.   Now I couldn't agree with him more.  My family always has a tree (and still puts it up, even if they wait until Christmas Eve to put it up & Valentines Day to take it down..).  What is the significance of the tree anyways?  

 We either buy a fake one & have to store it for 11 months a year or buy a fresh one every year.     We decorate it... who knows why?  

   We give presents to it... ok, ok, under it.  

    Put it in the most visible place of the house.  

     Sing songs to it... does anyone know "Oh, Christmas Tree"?

 Did you know the pilgrims weren't allowed to celebrate Christmas or Easter, because it isn't commanded in scripture (man made tradition is not looked upon highly in scripture).  It wasn't even a national holiday until late 1800.  Sure, remembering Christ's birth is good intentioned, but why do we remember it with a Christmas tree & presents & santa clause (at least Catholics go to mass on Christmas day!).  I'm sick of commercials on tv talking about the economy and this year we need to make sure every child has a toy for Christmas...  it just rubs me the wrong way I guess.   I won't even start on the origins of Christmas (and Easter too!!).  I think some of my strong opinions on this come from my childhood- being raise in a Christian home, but on Christmas it really was just about the presents (and we got A LOT of presents!!!).  Everyone is out to make a profit... Christmas tree farms, ornaments, outdoor Christmas lights, stores, stores, stores...  if there is anything they convince the general population of needing to make Christmas better, they'll buy it.  Because who doesn't want the best?  And those that can't afford it, or can't afford a lot of gifts for their children are made to feel inadequate so then they get credit cards to pay for it!!  materialism is rampant.  

Even if you don't agree with me, just question why you do things... anything.  So that if you decide to continue doing them, at least if someone asks you 'why?', you will have an answer.   Like, why do we use shampoo and conditioner and face wash??  because we are told we need it, which we don't... my hair is looking great after 2 weeks (I think thats how longs its been...) washing every couple days with 1T b.s. & 1T apple cider vinegar.  And, my face looks better just rinsing with water than it did when I used proactiv!

Why do we go to the hospital to have babies?  Bec. we are told we our bodies need help & we need to be relieved of the "pain" (I put that in quotes bec. pain means something is wrong... labor is not wrong) because our bodies aren't able to do what they were made by God to do... hmmmm.  Now I understand sometimes (most of the time not) emergencies happen & things can go wrong so it is a good thing that we have such advanced medical science so that a baby can be born at 6 months gestation & still survive.  

Ok, I'm done, I got way off track I think... 

It's a GIRL

We are having a girl!!! ssssooooo excited. Here are some picture from the ultrasound... we even got to have a 3d one (and we will have another one at 28 weeks) because the office where the midwife is at has the machine! And its free!! yea!!! And we have no idea about names yet- we could only decide on boys names, so I'm excited to go name hunting again! And I'm excited to start getting some clothes!!!

I spend too much time on here... seriously. Especially today because I have to post pictures everywhere! Send emails to our families, facebook, myspace, blogger... its ridiculous. Then I get side tracked and start learning about something new and next thing I know its 3 hours later! Well, I'll just turn my ADD into something positive- today I learned about:
no 'poo-ing (http://babyslime.livejournal.com/174054.html), elimination communication (or infant potty training), & http://www.thebabywearer.com

And, I started no poo! I didn't shampoo that often anyways- like 2x a week, because especially since I've been pregnant- it doesn't get oily. So, today I just washed with water & let it air dry (and when I air dry I don't brush it, bec. its wavy if I leave it alone)... I'll keep you updated on how it is going, but I'm hopeful.

19 weeks

Tomorrow is 19 weeks!!! Almost half way, I can hardly believe it. Its going by so fast. This picture was from 18 weeks though. Tomorrow we have an ultrasound and will hopefully be able to find out the sex! Oh my, I am so anxious to find out! I'm pretty sure I have been feeling the baby kick now, I think I have been feeling it for a little while but wasn't exactly sure what it was. And, actually I think we felt it on the outside of my belly yesterday. We were watching the Steelers game and throughout the whole second half I could put my hand on my stomach and feel movements (and the steelers won)... and this went on (not constantly, just every once in a while) until I went to sleep last night. I thought I wouldn't be able to feel anything on the outside for a long time, but I was reading online (where all intelligent people get their reliable information, lol) & apparently that is not the case (especially since I'm thinner). So, I am pretty sure thats what it was- Michael got to feel it once too, but he is unconvinced.

(I think I use parentheses too much)

Since I have my appointment tomorrow & weigh the same as I did at my last appointment (4 weeks ago)... I'm really going to have to pack on the pounds today & tomorrow, I don't know why I am having such a hard time gaining weight, now that I need to and am trying to! Thanksgiving night I was up all night throwing up, basically once an hour, & then the next day (which was my birthday) I couldn't eat anything or get off the couch. But then the next day I was back to normal. It was very strange, maybe it was some 24 hour flu thing. And I refuse to get a flu shot this year- my midwife suggested I get one and I asked her if it had thimerosal/mercury in it and she didn't think they made them with that anymore, but she checked and sure enough it did, but she was very understand of why I wouldn't want it. But I'm supposed to get a rhogam shot again here pretty soon (bec. apparently michael and I are the 13% of the population he has positive & I have negative RH), so I need to do some more research on that.

Today is my dad's 59th birthday! And he still has 2 teenage girls at home... ahh, they'll keep him young lol. happy birthday daddy!

A Model Marriage

"Sometimes we have seen a model marriage, founded on pure love, and cemented in mutual esteem. Therein, the husband acts as a tender head; and the wife, as a true spouse, realizes the model marriage-relation, and sets forth what our oneness with the Lord ought to be. She delights in her husband, in his person, his character, his affection; to her, he is not only the chief and foremost of mankind, but in her eyes he is all-in-all; her heart's love belongs to him, and to him only. She finds sweetest content and solace in his company, his fellowship, his fondness; he is her little world, her Paradise, her choice treasure. At any time, she would gladly lay aside her own pleasure to find it doubled in gratifying him. She is glad to sink her individuality in his. She seeks no renown for herself; his honour is reflected upon her, and she rejoices in it. She would defend his name with her dying breath; safe enough is he where she can speak for him. The domestic circle is her kingdom; that she may there create happiness and comfort, is her life-work; and his smiling gratitude is all the reward she seeks. Even in her dress, she thinks of him; without constraint she consults his taste, and considers nothing beautiful which is distasteful to him. A tear from his eye, because of any unkindness on her part, would grievously torment her. She asks not how her behaviour may please a stranger, or how another's judgment may approve her conduct; let her beloved be content, and she is glad. He has many objects in life, some of which she does not quite understand ; but she believes in them all, and anything that she can do to promote them, she delights to perform. He lavishes love on her, and, in, return, she lavishes love on him. Their object in life is common. There are points where their affections so intimately unite that none could tell which is first and which is second. To watch their children growing up in health and strength, to see them holding posts of usefulness and honour, is their mutual concern; in this and other matters, they are fully one. Their wishes blend, their hearts are indivisible. By degrees, they come to think very much the same thoughts. Intimate association creates conformity; I have known this to become so complete that, at the same moment, the same utterance has leaped to both their lips.

Happy woman and happy man! If Heaven be found on earth, they have it! At last, the two are so blended, so engrafted on one stem, that their old age presents a lovely attachment, a common sympathy, by which its infirmities are greatly alleviated, and its burdens are transformed into fresh bonds of love. So happy a union of will, sentiment, thought, and heart exists between them, that the two streams of their life have washed away the dividing bank, and run on as one broad current of united existence till their common joy falls into the ocean of eternal felicity. — C. H. S. "

From The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon

15.5 weeks

This is 15 weeks & 5 days I think... yay for a little bump & still being able to wear normal clothes! Tomorrow is 16 weeks!

Boring Blog

So, when I made this thing, my intention was to put pictures up and make it exciting... but I haven't put any up and its really unexciting.  Maybe that will change now... especially since I'm starting to show!!  Yeah!  16 weeks!  We find out the sex on the Dec. 9th.  So, I took a good picture of my tummy today, I need to put it up... later :)

Feminism vs. Feminity

The Second Sex, 1949 by Simone de Beauvoir  “A parasite sucking out the living strength of another organism...the housewife's labor does not even tend toward the creation of anything durable.... Woman's work within the home is not directly useful to society, produces nothing. The housewife is subordinate, secondary, and parasitic. It is for their common welfare that the situation must be altered by prohibiting marriage as a 'career' for woman.”

Isaiah 3:11-13 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.  As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.  The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.

“[The] housewife is a nobody, and [housework] is a dead-end job. It may actually have a deteriorating effect on her mind...rendering her incapable of prolonged concentration on any single task. [She] comes to seem dumb as well as dull. [B]eing a housewife makes women sick.” — Sociologist Jessie Bernard in The Future of Marriage, 1982.

Proverbs 31:27  "She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat of the bread of idleness."

“[As long as the woman] is the primary caretaker of childhood, she is prevented from being a free human being.” — Kate Millett, Sexual Politics, 1969.

“[Housewives] are mindless and thing-hungry...not people. [Housework] is peculiarly suited to the capacities of feeble-minded girls. [It] arrests their development at an infantile level, short of personal identity with an inevitably weak core of self.... [Housewives] are in as much danger as the millions who walked to their own death in the concentration camps. [The] conditions which destroyed the human identity of so many prisoners were not the torture and brutality, but conditions similar to those which destroy the identity of the American housewife.” — Betty Frieden, The Feminine Mystique, 1963.

Proverbs 31:28 "Her children arise and call her blessed..."

“[Housewives] are dependent creatures who are still children...parasites.” — Gloria Steinham, “What It Would Be Like If Women Win,” Time, August 31, 1970.

Psalm 127: 3-5  Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.  As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

“[A]s long as the family and the myth of the family and the myth of maternity and the maternal instinct are not destroyed, women will still be oppressed.... No woman should be authorized to stay at home and raise her children. Society should be totally different. Women should not have that choice, precisely because if there is such a choice, too many women will make that one. It is a way of forcing women in a certain direction.” — Simone de Beauvoir, “Sex, Society, and the Female Dilemma,” Saturday Review, June 14, 1975

Titus 2:4-5 "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."

[I]f even 10 percent of American women remain full-time homemakers, this will reinforce traditional views of what women ought to do and encourage other women to become full-time homemakers at least while their children are very young.... If women disproportionately take time off from their careers to have children, or if they work less hard than men at their careers while their children are young, this will put them at a competitive disadvantage vis-a-vis men, particularly men whose wives do all the homemaking and child care.... This means that no matter how any individual feminist might feel about child care and housework, the movement as a whole had reasons to discourage full-time homemaking.” — Jane J. Mansbridge, Why We Lost the ERA, 1986.

1 Timothy 5:14 I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.

Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes

2nd Trimester

So, I'm 14 weeks pregnant now.  Yea!!!  I'm having trouble gaining weight and weigh about 2 lbs less than before I got pregnant and the scale doesn't budge.   Its frustrating.  And I'm not showing yet.  I have my next prenatal appointment next week.  And the next appointment after that, we will be able to find out the sex!!!  I really like my midwife, but I wish she did homebirths.  She only delivers at a hospital near our house, but she is very pro-natural birth & is the only place approved by military insurance (meaning we don't hardly have to pay anything)... all the midwives around here that do homebirths aren't covered by most insurance and cost a few thousand dollars.

Michael and I also found this really awesome church just a few miles off base.  Its a family-integrated church, so they don't have sunday school or childrens church or youth groups.  And they have a time during the service when the husbands lead their families in prayer & give them communion.  Then after they have a meal every sunday.  Everyone is super nice & friendly.   I think all the families homeschool.  Its so nice to be in fellowship with people of like-minds.   

Pregnant!!!

So- 2 people have commented on this.  So cool!!  How do people find this anyway? 

Michael and I found out on September 1st that we are going to have a baby!!!  So exciting!  I'm 9 weeks this week.  I can't even believe it!  My first real appointment is on October 23.  

I suspected I had low progesterone (because we use NFP & I'm aware of things) so I went to the doctor & she wouldn't test me!!!  Which really made me mad because I have 5 symptoms that are all associated with having low prog.  But she said even if I did- they can't do anything about it- which is NOT TRUE.  So, I started using this natural progesterone cream & got pregnant the first month I used it!  so haha Dr. lady...  But now I ran out & had to buy a different kind from wal-mart ("menopause formula"- ha) that says do not use if pregnant but I'm afraid if I quit using it abruptly I will have a miscarriage.  I can't imagine what affect more progesterone would have on a pregnancy... I think it would be good for it...?  

Anyways- at 6 weeks I had to go to the army hospital because I was having some spotting & the clinic here on base sends everyone to the hospital because they can't handle anything!  So Michael and I spent the ENTIRE day at the hospital- all they did was take blood & when I finally got to see a doctor he did an ultrasound, so that made it all worth it!  We saw the heartbeat & got to keep a picture :).  Everything was fine.  I started feeling nauseous at 6 weeks & it got really bad this past week.  And I had to go to the hospital again because the clinic here thought I might be dehydrated & I lost 3 lbs (I'm apparently underweight already) so they took more blood & 3 hours later I got a prescription for Zophran to help with the nausea.  I feel SO much better and I can eat now & get off the couch!  But, I have been watching seasons of Friends, because I still lay on the couch a lot because I get tired really easy.  I'm on season 7 now.  

Last weekend we went to Erin & Cameron's wedding- it was really beautiful!!!  I got to be Erin's matron of honor.   it was a lot of fun.  It makes me want to have another wedding lol.

Jobs & babies

I recently applied for a job.

The manager basically offered me the job on the spot (since I had experience with this exact type of job, not many applicants would). It was really tempting to make extra money for some things I wanted to do (ballet classes, violin lessons...). I was really excited about it at first... but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how grateful & blessed I am that I have been able to stay at home. And, if I took this job, meaning not only would I not be here for Michael to come home to on his lunch- I would want to do those extra things meaning I would be gone in the evenings too. As much as I want to- I know its not what God wants, I shouldn't take this for granted!

I withdrew my application.

I feel even more dedicated to my purpose of being a homemaker.

Babies
Michael and I have been trying to conceive for a few months now. I thought that trusting God with your fertility would mean you got pregnant immediately and had 20 kids (if only we were so lucky!). I get so discouraged because I want so badly to have a lot of children. Its really hard to trust God, and remember that he is in control in circumstances like these, especially thinking about the child I could be pregnant with right now, but I'm not. And everyone keeps tellings us we should "wait a few years". That makes me upset and sad. But this bread pudding warms my womb..

mmm bread pudding.

Keeper at Home

I went to my sisters graduation this past weekend, I saw a lot of people I hadn’t seen in a while. They ask the inevitable questions… “So, what are you going to do in Colorado?” “Are you going to College?” etc. Since Michael and I don’t have children yet- everyone is expecting me to work or go to school. By people’s reactions to me “being a homemaker”, you’d think I had dropped out of high school or something! College isn’t for everyone! It’s not mandatory. It shouldn’t be a place for young adults, biding their time, figuring out what they want to do… Why go to college when you can learn things on your own? you’d think homeschoolers would understand this concept! Why get a degree if you aren’t going to use it? Does having a degree make a person more important or useful than one without? Not to mention it’s outrageously expensive. Correct me if I’m wrong, but college isn’t meant to:

“teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed” .Titus 2:4-5

So, when/where do women learn to be those things? That ought to be someones job- otherwise the word of God is blasphemed, sounds serious to me!! (its supposed to be the older women, but where is this happening? I never see it). How am I to be a helper to my husband if I’m out all day working hard just like he is? How can I be a keeper at home if I never learned how? How can I be submissive & subject to my husband if for the past 4 years (at least, probably more than that if I had gone to a school and hadn’t been homeschooled) I’ve been told the opposite?Why is it ok for a woman to serve a random man in the workplace, but it’s unacceptable for a woman to serve her husband in the home?

Who created marriage? God. Who commanded women to be a helper suitable for their husband? God. How many people do you know that are fulfilling their BIBLICAL wife/husband roles? How many people do you know that are divorced?

Where in the bible are women laying bricks or being carpenters? Where is Rosie the Riveter bible style?

Education: the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.

Whatever, this is just a rant. I don’t understand Christian society... but then again I don’t understand why most Christians don’t homeschool. I'm not judging people for going to college/working- so people shouldn't look down on me for choosing not to (like I haven't thought this through).

I wish I had never worked outside the home or gone to college- just so I could say I hadn't. :)
Oh, to be counter-cultural.

Nobody reads this, but its ok.. maybe someday someone will...

I think Michael should write on here

Air Force

So, we are moving to Colorado Springs- SOOO excited! Air Force Academy. (thats the chapel in the picture)

We have been so blessed throughout our entire military experience thus far- Michael got the greatest job and now we get a great place to live and still close enough to both our families!! Too bad we have to wait until June to live together again.

I had another violin lesson today! I love my teacher she is the greatest! I only have 4 more songs left to learn in the Suzuki 1 book!!!

Etiquette

I found this recently: bartleby.com/95/index.html by Emily Post under cards & visits

HOW TO SIT GRACEFULLY

Having shaken hands with the hostess, the visitor, whether a lady or a gentleman, looks about quietly, without hurry, for a convenient chair to sit down upon, or drop into. To sit gracefully one should not perch stiffly on the edge of a straight chair, nor sprawl at length in an easy one. The perfect position is one that is easy, but dignified. In other days, no lady of dignity ever crossed her knees, held her hands on her hips, or twisted herself sideways, or even leaned back in her chair! To-day all these things are done; and the only etiquette left is on the subject of how not to exaggerate them. No lady should cross her knees so that her skirts go up to or above them; neither should her foot be thrust out so that her toes are at knee level. An arm a-kimbo is not a graceful attitude, nor is a twisted spine! Everyone, of course, leans against a chair back, except in a box at the opera and in a ballroom, but a lady should never throw herself almost at full length in a reclining chair or on a wide sofa when she is out in public. Neither does a gentleman in paying a formal visit sit on the middle of his backbone with one ankle supported on the other knee, and both as high as his head. The proper way for a lady to sit is in the center of her chair, or slightly sideways in the corner of a sofa. She may lean back, of course, and easily; her hands relaxed in her lap, her knees together, or if crossed, her foot must not be thrust forward so as to leave a space between the heel and her other ankle. On informal occasions she can lean back in an easy chair with her hands on the arms. In a ball dress a lady of distinction never leans back in a chair; one can not picture a beautiful and high-bred woman, wearing a tiara and other ballroom jewels, leaning against anything. This is, however, not so much a rule of etiquette as a question of beauty and fitness. A gentleman, also on very formal occasions, should sit in the center of his chair; but unless it is a deep lounging one, he always leans against the back and puts a hand or an elbow on its arms.

violin

I started violin a few weeks ago, but only had my second lesson today! I learned a variation of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star... I'm kind of slow at playing it, but my teacher was very impressed by how fast I learned & she said I was a natural!

I don't know how often I/we will update this, I will probably end up forgetting about it, but who knows?

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest;
Home-keeping hearts are happiest,
For those that wander they know not where
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best.

Weary and homesick and distressed,
They wander east, they wander west,
And are baffled and beaten and blown about
By the winds of the wilderness of doubt;
To stay at home is best.

Then stay at home, my heart, and rest;
The bird is safest in its nest;
O'er all that flutter their wings and fly
A hawk is hovering in the sky;
To stay at home is best.

hmm... xanga?

So... this is Michael & Beth. Mostly Beth though, Michael doesn't have internet right now. He's in tech school for the air force. It's exciting.

Ughh... we are both 20. We met a year & a half ago pretty randomly at Wal-Mart in a pretty random state where neither of us were permanently living. Then we got engaged in central park 5 months after we first met and got married (in Nov 2007) a year and a month after our first wal-mart encounter. We went to Rome for our honeymoon. Michael went to AF basic training 2 months later & thats where we are now. Basically we love Jesus & He put us together for a reason.