Sunday, November 9, 2008

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

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

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.   

Sunday, September 28, 2008

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.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

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.

Monday, May 12, 2008

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.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

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

I think Michael should write on here

Friday, April 4, 2008

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!!!