Facebook: Breastfeeding is not obscene

Bethy's first feeding on 11 November 2005
Facebook regularly takes down pictures of breastfeeding on the grounds that it is obscene. Lactivists are changing their Facebook profile pictures to one depicting breastfeeding in a virtual nurse-in on 27 December.

Join the cause to let Facebook know that
breastfeeding is not obscene!

Men, you can join, too!
Post a pic of your wife/partner/significant other/baby mama breastfeeding, or use the new international breastfeeding icon:

St Stephen's Friday Fill-In

I started to really think about these, but then gave up and just put in the first thing that came to mind.

Be forewarned.

1. I must accept that God really does love me before I die.

2. You can't stop feeling the guilt of your sin without God.

3. I wish I never had to buy toilet paper again.

4. Prozac has helped me change my life.

5. I know the song O Holy Night by heart.

6. If I weren't so afraid, I would fly to the British isles.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching The Christmas Cottage, tomorrow my plans include church and a nap and Sunday, I want to finish a project for a teacher friend!

Best Christmas Gift *Ever*

Six-year-old Sarah was very excited to give gifts this year. She made a handprint angel at school for Michael and me. She decided she wanted to make me another present, though. Among other pictures and ornaments she had painted in Sabbath School, there was a handmade card. You have to see it.

The front

The inside of my card from Sarah.
That's an "angel heart" over there on the left, she informed me.
Click the picture to open a large version in a new window.

Reindeer Food for Santa's Helpers

Santa munches away in each cozy house, while the reindeer sit up on the roof all cold and hungry. This year, why not leave a snack for Dasher, Donner, Blitzen, and the others?

Get the recipe and instructions for a cute reindeer bag to hold it in at www.KidGlue.com.

A Handful of Handprint Christmas Crafts

Making these handprint crafts will give you several holiday benefits: the kids will be occupied for a little bit, you’ll create great memories, and you’ll have the cutest holiday decorations in the neighborhood! Hint: these make fantastic Christmas gifts for grandparents and other family members - especially the ones that don’t get to see the kids very often.

Learn how to make three great handprint Christmas crafts at www.KidGlue.com.

How to Track Santa Claus

Back in the day, we would just lie very still and quiet in bed and listen for reindeer hooves or the sleigh bells or the jolly laugh of that belly full of jelly. These days, kids are more technologically advanced and need gadgets and gizmos to find the man in the red suit.

Read more at KidGlue.com...

Friday Fill-in Carols Gone Wrong

1. Said the night wind to the little lamb, "That woolly coat ain't got nuthin' on me!"

2. The first Noel, the angel did say, was just as much to us today.

3. Go tell 'em, "Merry CHRISTmas!!!" instead of "Happy Holidays" Over the hills and everywhere.

4. It came upon the midnight clear, the arthritis in my ev'ry bend.

5. The economy's gone down the loo, but let your heart be light.

6. And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing at the top of your lungs off-key.

7. Away in a manger, no room for a whisper from you-know-who saying you're not loved.

8. Dashing through the snow, in a blasted hurry to get to the roaring fire!

9. Hark! The herald angels still sing.

10. It's coming on Christmas Oh crap! I'm nowhere near ready! ACK!!!

11. When I was small I believed in Santa Claus, Though I knew it was my mom giving me something that would make my heart sing.

12. That Christmas magic's brought this tale to a screeching, bloody halt.

13. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sleeping, tomorrow my plans include church and hopefully seeing a live nativity (if I can remember to go) and Sunday, I want to get the blasted Christmas tree up if it's the last thing I do!

Double the Christmas Gifts

Many people are searching for ways to stretch their Christmas shopping dollars this year. When you factor in the concerns over the environment, it become rather difficult to come up with great gifts that don’t cost a fortune. Giving gifts with a charitable outlook helps you get more bang for your Christmas gift buck.

Read how to double your Christmas gifts at KidGlue.com.

Smoochiefrog Christmas Ornament Exchange 2008

I got my Smoochiefrog exchange ornament about a week and a half ago, but I didn't take pictures until this weekend. Then I had to Photoshop them just to make them visible because my camera is horrible (donate toward a new one over there on the right - thanks!). Finally, here is the absolutely lovely ornament Jeannie sent me from her happy world. The photos do it no justice at all. Sweetest Jeannie picked it out based on my love of the Irish. Says she, "it was the most “Irish” one I could find." Isn't she just wonnerful?!

My Smoochiefrog exchange ornament

The left side           The year in gold glitter           The right side

Have a Green Christmas

The three biggest aspects of Christmas are the greetings, the tree, and the gifts. With a few simple steps, you can make an ecological difference for Christmas. Whether you choose to do everything green this Christmas, or just take a baby step or two, you’ll feel great about doing a little bit for the earth. And that’s a present for all of us.

Read the secrets at KidGlue.com.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Every year I say I’m going to plan ahead for Christmas. Then I get behind.

What do I start with - the gifts, or the decorating? Do I plan the menu first or clean the house? When do I start? June or October? The key principle I keep hearing from friends that do have Christmas organization down is to think Christmas all year long. Don’t wait until Thanksgiving weekend to start thinking about planning and organizing for Christmas.

Read more at KidGlue.com.

Prayer Request for Brandon

8 year-old Brandon developed a severe headache this afternoon and keeps throwing up. There's no fever, so we don't think it's a virus or flu. I'm thinking it's because he watched a ton of television today without wearing his glasses and triggered a migraine.

He's had these headaches off and on for several years. We thought it was because he needed glasses. I'm going to call the doctor in the morning and see if we can get an appointment. The poor kid is absolutely miserable.

I'd appreciate your prayers that he'll be able to settle down and get some rest soon and that we'll get some definitive answers tomorrow.

Thanks.

Update
Brandon got up this morning acting like he'd never felt badly. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and inquiries into how's he's feeling.

Connecting with Claus

Children have begun to doubt the existence of Santa Claus long before Virginia wrote her letter to the Sun in 1897. It’s hard to pinpoint when Saint Nick started responding to their letters, but the highlight of the Christmas season for many children is getting that letter from Santa.

What could be more magical for a child than to have a phone conversation with Santa Claus? I have to admit, a phone call like that might make me a believer again!

Read more at KidGlue.com.

Friday Fill-In 12 December

1. Friends make life bearable.

2. Good health; it's something I wish my family had more of.

3. I'm ready for my new office area remodel to be done.

4. Old Spice is one of my favorite perfumes or aftershaves or smells. My daddy wears it; one of my favorite childhood memories is the way he smelled when I'd come hug him before he went to work at night.

5. The oldest ornament I have is a red felt bell I made in second grade (I'll try to remember to post a picture when I get the tree up).

6. Take some homemade hot cocoa mix and hot milk, mix it all together and you have heaven for your taste buds in a cup (extra heaven levels for using your favorite cup or mug).

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sleeping, tomorrow my plans include church and a nap and Sunday, I want to put up the Christmas tree!

Death of a Tradition

Being a graphic artist, I use graphics in my home life on a regular basis. I tend to think everything looks better with a nice graphic or clip art inserted. I've posted before on my tendency to print lunch bags for my kids. Sadly, today, that tradition has apparently come to an end.

When my HP printer died a few weeks ago, I had to scrap Brandon's lunch bag for his field trip to the Super Silly Science Circus. Today Sarah is going to the Christmas tree farm. When I went to print her bag... it jammed! I tried again. It jammed again. I even tried printing it upside-down, I was so desparate. It just hung at the bottom of the bag and printed on the same one-inch space...

I ended up printing what should have been directly on the bag onto a shipping label and slapping it on there. It's just not the same, though.

*sigh*

I am sad.

Prayer Request for Thursday

Sarah is going to Canton on a field trip to the Christmas tree farm with her kindergarten class tomorrow (Thursday). We are under a winter weather advisory until mid-morning tomorrow, with sleet and snow. Please pray for the traveling safety of the children, teachers and parents as they go there and back, and that they will not get too cold out there.

Thanks so much for praying on behalf of this worrying mama!

Plotting Food

You know how they say soft drinks and beer are designed to just make you more thirsty so you just drink more and more?

Chocolate-covered raisins are the same way.

Just so you know...

Are You a Real Christian?

I got one of those long e-mail prayers yesterday. I don't mind the ones that say, "Bless the people I am sending this to, etc..." too much. I do mind the ones that "Christians" send that try to guilt people into forwarding what has essentially become spam - what I am now calling God-spam. The one I received yesterday actually had this sentence in the prayer in giant script lettering:
I pray for those that will delete this
without sharing it with others
I pray for those that don't believe.

Wait, did you just tell God that I don't believe if I delete this e-mail without foisting it on all my friends (or at least 10)? I thought He was the One that decided if we were believers or not. True, we are told that we are each "known by his fruit" (Matthew 12:33 KJVR), but the last time I checked on the fruits of the Spirit, forwarding e-mails was not one of them. I'm pretty sure they're "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance..." (Galatians 5:22-23 KJVR).

 

At the end of the e-mail I read:
Pass this message to 10 people except you and me.
You will receive a miracle tomorrow.
Don't ignore this and God will bless you.
Know that you are already blessed
by the person who sent this to you.

Are you telling me that God now performs miracles based on the forwarding of e-mail? That we piddly, moral humans tie God's hands by hitting delete instead of forward? Somehow I find this incredibly hard to believe. I also find it hard to believe that the measure of my faith, the definer of my spiritual status, is determined by my choice to forward or delete an e-mail.

 

This has been an ongoing issue, one I've addressed before in a public Response to All the E-mails from “The Faithful”. Obviously, "The Faithful" haven't gotten it. We as Christians will never spread the gospel, or the love of Christ, or the hope of eternity, or any other good thing by sending out these missives of guilt. As I said in closing of my last response to these wolves in sheep's clothing, true witnessing is not shown by coercion through guilt, but by genuine love, compassion, and helpfulness.

 

So people don't need you to tell them you love God or that you are a believer by forwarding an e-mail - they already know by your attitude and your actions.

What have you told others about yourself today?

Freecycle, or How to Be Really Happy

This past weekend we were allowed to bless a family with a Christmas tree. I hate stringing lights, so a couple of years ago I set aside some money and was able to buy a 7' pre-lit tree at the after-Christmas sale. The old tree was perfectly fine, and it needed a home. I posted about it on Freecycle several times, but never got any takers.

Then a couple of weeks ago, someone posted that they were looking for a tree. I sent the e-mail and after several back and forth, our tree now has a new home. I was able to give the tree, the lights, and a topper, since I got a new one on clearance last year.

Michael had been a bit antagonistic about digging it all out of the stuffed storage building, but when he got to take the tree to the family because they had gotten lost trying to find the house, his tune changed drastically. He talked and talked about it when he got home. Their gratitude simply overwhelmed him.

They told him they didn't have a tree last year and were thrilled that we had a topper and lights to go with it. Within just a few hours of Michael meeting them, I received yet another e-mail from the family - this time to thank us for the tree and to tell us that it was already up.

Don't knock giving away the things you no longer want or need. The statement "Another man's trash is another man's treasure" really is true. Best of all, you'll never feel so good, content, and happy as when you are allowed the supreme privilege of blessing someone else.

Beauties and the Beast

The girls wrangled Daddy into watching Beauty and the Beast with them. He hated it.

See?