Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Back to blogging
Well, I sure don't keep up with my blogging do I! LOl. I decided to get back in the swing of things again. Here's an update on the family. Savannah is 11 now and is still being homeschooled. Mariah is 9 this year and is in third grade at a private Lutheran school. Alannah is 3 and is a little spitfire. Savannah and Alannah take classes at our local homeschooling coop group on Mondays. Currently all four of us are in a muscial. Life keeps us very busy.
Monday, July 25, 2011
The girls and I went to a family reunion over the weekend. However this was not your typical, run of the mill reunion. This was a reunion of the descendents of any of the original founding families of Cheyenne Valley, located in Hillsboro, WI. What's totally awesome about these families is that they were multiracial and lived in harmony amongst one another during a time of racial unrest in the United States. African Americans, Native Americans and European settlers all worshipped together, raised families together, intermarried, and created multiracial schools. I had a blast watching the presentations, meeting new people and looking at all the neat picture boards that various people brought. I am proud of my multi-racial heritage and am proud to say that I can trace my ancestry back to three of the founding families: Revels, Walden/Waldron, and Bass. Here are some old pictures of some of my ancestors and other people who lived in the area at that time.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
My new normal
It's been a long time since I've posted on here. I guess life just got in the way of everything. My husband Dale passed away on June 1st, 2011 after an almost three year battle with prostate cancer. We celebrated our daughter Alannah's second birthday a month early so that her daddy could be a part of the celebration. He was still strong enough to sit up on the side of the bed and watch his little girl open gifts and give her kisses. I am so thankful for the memories and pictures we have of that special day. I miss him so much every day. But I know that the cancer is no more and he is with our Heavenly Father. I love you Dale! Rest in Peace, your wiffles.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Coppelia 2010
My girls performed in coppelia this year. They go to Toe to Toe Ballet School in Elkhorn. It's a great studio and Colleen is wonderful. This is Savannah's last year. Sniff sniff. On to new pursuits. Here are a couple of picures. Mariah is the teddy bear and Savannah is the milliner.
Baby birds
For weeks now, I have been complaining that there is noise above our bathroom. I tell my husband Dale that I am not sure what it is but it sounds like some kind of animal. Well, today my husband was laying on the lawn swing when out of the corner of his eye he sees a robin duck her beak under a flap outside the house and disappears. AHA!! So, therein lies the source of the noise. So Dale takes his ladder and goes to the side of the house, climbs up and investigates. In the meantime, I am oblivious to all this because I am inside making cookies. I am watching Savannah and her friend play while relishing in domestic bliss because it is Saturday and the sun is shining. Then Dale walks in the door and tells me that I am right (yeah!), there is a bird above the bathrom and there is also a nest. He also had heard some chirping and was fairly sure there were baby birds in the nest. I look at the plastic bag in his hand and my stomach clenches.
"Honey, what are you going to do with that bag?"
"Well", he says, " I already took out part of the nest and since I already touched it, the mother bird will abandon the nest."
Those of you who know me will know what I did next. I cried, big wet sloppy tears for those poor little baby birds that were going to get placed into a plastic bag and sealed up and tossed like yesterday's leftovers. Well, okay, maybe I am being a tad dramatic because my husband is not a mean person and would not hurt a living thing for nothing. In fact he probably thought that he was doing the birds a favor by mercifully killing them rather than subject them to a worse fate: abandonment, starvation, and a slow unmerciful death.
After I cried a bucket or two and lamented on about the fate of the poor birds and how they were God's living creatures just as much as he and I, I took a deep breath and composed myself. I asked Dale to please not do anything as I called the Wisconsin Humane Society. The kind woman on the other end of the telephone told me that it was okay if my husband touched the bird nest. A mother bird will not abandon her babies.
Wow. A mother bird will NOT abandon her babies. This mother was a caring mother. This is evident in the mother bird's actions not only because she would not abandon them but because she also looked for a place that would sheild her babies from harm. Obviously, not so convenient for us but a place of shelter for her children. Aren't all mothers like this mother bird? Don't all of us shelter, care, and keep our children from harm?
No, unfortunately we don't.
Every day, I see more and more out there in world that scares me to death. I just want to put my girls in a protective bubble, wrapped in cellophane and kept behind glass doors. Just yesterday my Savannah came home and said, "Mommy, we heard a Justin Bieber song today after school. Can I listen to Justin Bieber? He's really cool!" Well, as I always do when my girls ask a question like this, I asked her what the song was. We googled it and found the video. I started to play it and Savannah says yes, that is the right song. Well, here are some of the lyrics,
"eenie meenie miney mo,
catch a bad chick by her toe......."
"Let me show you what you're missin, paradise
with me you're winning girl
you don't have to roll the dice
tell me what you're really here for"
"to love em and leave em
and disappear right after the song
so give me the night
to show you, hold you"
Hmmm.... I see a few innuendos here, don't you? There are a few sad things to keep in mind here. Number one, my daughter heard this at her parochial school; number two; the teacher honestly thought it was ok because the record label was Disney; number three; most of the second grade on up knew this song.
Now for the good news. You are the parent and you can monitor what your children are exposed to. Just like in the case of the baby birds. The mother bird could have chosen a more open place for her nest, such as a tree branch or a bush. Instead she sheltered her nest so that she could keep them close, nurture them, look after them, care for them. This is true for all of us. I hear over and over, "you can't put your children in a bubble, You can't tell them what to listen to because it's a violation of the freedom of speech, music does not influence our children, etc etc.
But it does, it really really does. Because along with the suggestive music comes a whole slew of other secular issues. Sexual innuendos, suggestive and sexy clothing, alcohol, drug use, and so much more. We need to protect our children from all of this. Keep them close, keep them close to your bosom so that when they need to know something, they come to us, not their peers.
When I showed Savannah a part of the video I asked her if she could see the problems with the song. She pointed out the revealing clothes, the girls rubbing up against the singer, the drinking, etc. At eight years old she could figure this out for herself. The next day she went to school and told two of her friends that Justin Bieber was not a good person to listen to.
I am so proud of her, standing up for what is right.
I am a mother of three little girls. I only get one chance to raise them in a good, Christian way. Although it is a difficult road, I choose to follow it, so that my girls grow up loving the Lord and being true to faith without outside influences getting in the way. Just like the mother bird, I protect, nurture, and care for them at all costs, even with my life, if necessary.
So for the happy ending. After the woman at the humane society advised me on what to do, my husband opened the ceiling in the bathroom and carefully reached in for the nest. I had a plastic bowl with little holes poked in it so that if it rained the water would go through. My husband, who loves me enough to humor my tears and objections, carefully pulled out bits and pieces of the nest and set them gently in the bowl. He did this several times until finally there was no more. "Hmm, I guess I must have just heard the mama bird chirping", he said. And that was that. No baby birds to worry about, no eggs. Just a nest and a mama bird.
So, then, you might wonder, what is the point of all this? Well, the point is that she was getting ready for her babies by finding the best place possible. Luckily we discovered this plan before there were any actual babies. Now we will set the makeshift nest outside, close to the side of the house so she can find it. Hopefully she will take the materials she so lovingly found and make another nest in another safe, albeit more convenient place.
Good luck Mama bird, and God bless!
"Honey, what are you going to do with that bag?"
"Well", he says, " I already took out part of the nest and since I already touched it, the mother bird will abandon the nest."
Those of you who know me will know what I did next. I cried, big wet sloppy tears for those poor little baby birds that were going to get placed into a plastic bag and sealed up and tossed like yesterday's leftovers. Well, okay, maybe I am being a tad dramatic because my husband is not a mean person and would not hurt a living thing for nothing. In fact he probably thought that he was doing the birds a favor by mercifully killing them rather than subject them to a worse fate: abandonment, starvation, and a slow unmerciful death.
After I cried a bucket or two and lamented on about the fate of the poor birds and how they were God's living creatures just as much as he and I, I took a deep breath and composed myself. I asked Dale to please not do anything as I called the Wisconsin Humane Society. The kind woman on the other end of the telephone told me that it was okay if my husband touched the bird nest. A mother bird will not abandon her babies.
Wow. A mother bird will NOT abandon her babies. This mother was a caring mother. This is evident in the mother bird's actions not only because she would not abandon them but because she also looked for a place that would sheild her babies from harm. Obviously, not so convenient for us but a place of shelter for her children. Aren't all mothers like this mother bird? Don't all of us shelter, care, and keep our children from harm?
No, unfortunately we don't.
Every day, I see more and more out there in world that scares me to death. I just want to put my girls in a protective bubble, wrapped in cellophane and kept behind glass doors. Just yesterday my Savannah came home and said, "Mommy, we heard a Justin Bieber song today after school. Can I listen to Justin Bieber? He's really cool!" Well, as I always do when my girls ask a question like this, I asked her what the song was. We googled it and found the video. I started to play it and Savannah says yes, that is the right song. Well, here are some of the lyrics,
"eenie meenie miney mo,
catch a bad chick by her toe......."
"Let me show you what you're missin, paradise
with me you're winning girl
you don't have to roll the dice
tell me what you're really here for"
"to love em and leave em
and disappear right after the song
so give me the night
to show you, hold you"
Hmmm.... I see a few innuendos here, don't you? There are a few sad things to keep in mind here. Number one, my daughter heard this at her parochial school; number two; the teacher honestly thought it was ok because the record label was Disney; number three; most of the second grade on up knew this song.
Now for the good news. You are the parent and you can monitor what your children are exposed to. Just like in the case of the baby birds. The mother bird could have chosen a more open place for her nest, such as a tree branch or a bush. Instead she sheltered her nest so that she could keep them close, nurture them, look after them, care for them. This is true for all of us. I hear over and over, "you can't put your children in a bubble, You can't tell them what to listen to because it's a violation of the freedom of speech, music does not influence our children, etc etc.
But it does, it really really does. Because along with the suggestive music comes a whole slew of other secular issues. Sexual innuendos, suggestive and sexy clothing, alcohol, drug use, and so much more. We need to protect our children from all of this. Keep them close, keep them close to your bosom so that when they need to know something, they come to us, not their peers.
When I showed Savannah a part of the video I asked her if she could see the problems with the song. She pointed out the revealing clothes, the girls rubbing up against the singer, the drinking, etc. At eight years old she could figure this out for herself. The next day she went to school and told two of her friends that Justin Bieber was not a good person to listen to.
I am so proud of her, standing up for what is right.
I am a mother of three little girls. I only get one chance to raise them in a good, Christian way. Although it is a difficult road, I choose to follow it, so that my girls grow up loving the Lord and being true to faith without outside influences getting in the way. Just like the mother bird, I protect, nurture, and care for them at all costs, even with my life, if necessary.
So for the happy ending. After the woman at the humane society advised me on what to do, my husband opened the ceiling in the bathroom and carefully reached in for the nest. I had a plastic bowl with little holes poked in it so that if it rained the water would go through. My husband, who loves me enough to humor my tears and objections, carefully pulled out bits and pieces of the nest and set them gently in the bowl. He did this several times until finally there was no more. "Hmm, I guess I must have just heard the mama bird chirping", he said. And that was that. No baby birds to worry about, no eggs. Just a nest and a mama bird.
So, then, you might wonder, what is the point of all this? Well, the point is that she was getting ready for her babies by finding the best place possible. Luckily we discovered this plan before there were any actual babies. Now we will set the makeshift nest outside, close to the side of the house so she can find it. Hopefully she will take the materials she so lovingly found and make another nest in another safe, albeit more convenient place.
Good luck Mama bird, and God bless!
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