Plugged In, Sort of

I requested something of Matt a few weeks ago. I wanted the kids to be able to watch the Olympics. He was sure he could rig something up through our computer to make viewing possible. He tried. He even called the cable company to see what they could do, which was nothing, unless we wanted them to come hook us up to cable, which we didn't.
My Mom and Dad came for dinner last Friday. My Dad is able to access his t.v. at home through a computer (a nifty little ability given to him as a gift by my brother--it's saved my Dad's sanity more than once at our house when he was able to watch the big basketball game or golf tournament.) Anyway, Dad accessed his t.v. through our computer so that we could watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. That was pretty neat, but sitting around the small computer screen in a semi-circle of dining room chairs wasn't so neat.
Matt and I decided the easiest, most straight-forward solution to the Olympics watching problem was to deep 6 our current t.v.--the nearly decade old analog monstrosity without a down volume button, which was only a problem when we couldn't find the remote the control. Guess how often that happened in a house full of kids? However, if one could overlook the volume problem, this t.v. did have one very nice feature. It had a permanent display of closed captioning for the hearing impaired (that feature was added 4 or 5 years ago when one of the littles was messing with the t.v. and we were never able to fix it). If you have a sense of humor, closed captioning can actually be quite entertaining, especially when someone in the movie is "humming" or "whistleling."
So Matt and Paul went to Walmart last night after dinner. I got the littles to pick up the family room with promises of snacky Olympic night. The girls and I headed to the kitchen to make caramel corn (sans the usual M & Ms--my green & red Christmas stash is now gone). An hour or so later, we were all sitting in front of our new t.v. watching Bob Costas and the Olympics. We got to see Missy Franklin win her gold medal. Sir Isaac Cuteness clapped at all the right times. Of course, we paid for the late bedtime today with some very bad bunny behavior from the littles (stamp ink all over little hands, flour all over the pantry floor, fighting, kicking, screaming). After not having t.v. for so long, we were surprised at how trashy the commercials have become. Even a seemingly innocent fabric softener commercial turned biblical gender roles on their head and glorified emasculation. That one required an explanation to the kids. We're trying to teach them to always view everything they see, hear and read through the lens of Scripture. We ended up muting and/or turning off the commercials last night.
Our plan is to watch the Olympics as a family in the evenings, then during the day, Matt will disconnect the t.v. antenna. When the Olympics are finished, we'll put away the antenna permanently. Over the last few years, we've realized there's very little we miss on t.v. If there's a true emergency, we've found the internet is sufficient to keep us up to date. Otherwise, the headlines in the newspaper are enough to keep us satisfactorily depressed.
The new t.v. will certainly make for nicer movie viewing. Additionally, I'm pretty sure that the folks in our small group Bible study will also be appreciative of it. They will no longer have to suffer with the closed captioning.

Unplugged Again

A few years back we got rid of our t.v. We didn't actually get rid of the t.v. itself, we just got rid of basic cable (we had already dropped enhanced cable a few years before that). I wrote posts on the initial "unplugging" here, here and here.

We unplugged again a few weeks ago. The day we brought Isaac home from the hospital, Matt ordered Netflix live streaming. It was really nice to have. Then the kids got wind of how the whole process worked. It didn't take long until viewing episodes of Leave It to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show and every John Wayne move ever made became the afternoon activity of choice. After that, the little kids caught on to the fact that Super Why, Dora or Diego where only a click of the mouse away.

I got in the bad habit of putting the littles in front of the computer screen when I was busy helping the bigger kids with school work or I was involved in some sort of project. While our rules of no magic or witchcraft allowed were adhered to for the most part, I didn't watch every episode of every program my kids watched, so I was never completely sure the kids weren't viewing unacceptable material (and believe me, I don't think Dora and Diego are acceptable material). My own standards (and Matt's) of what was acceptable for the kids to watch were being compromised for the sake of convenience.

Matt, Grace and I began to notice behavior which we did not like in the kids. Less obedience, more bickering, complaining attitudes, less imaginative play. So Matt and I decided to get rid of the live streaming. I expected the first few weeks to be a major withdrawal time. I was certain I would hear, "How come we can't watch Diego?" a million times a day. I didn't.

Guess what I did hear? "Mommy, we're playing spaceship downstairs." (The kids sat in old car seats and pretended they were heading into outer space in a rocket ship.) "Mommy, we're playing firefighter." (The kids dressed up in firefighter hats and rubber boots and turned on the backyard hose to fight the fire on the swing set.) More puzzles have been worked and more board games have been played. The kids have even spiffed up their Snow Ball bush fort so they can play pioneers and school house.I've been borrowing audio books and audio dramas from the library. Adventures in Odyssey and Hank the Cowdog have been very popular with the kids. I once heard a woman give a lecture on teaching a child to read. She said that over the years (especially since the advent of t.v.) the American populace has become less and less literate. She said that the lack of literacy is largely due to the fact that people no longer get information from books which are read aloud, or from town criers or even from the radio. Listening requires your brain to use its memory in order to process what it's listening to. This is a skill that is needed in order to learn to read and to read well.

Anyway, our kids are being forced to use their imaginations in order to picture what is being portrayed in the audios to which they are listening. They don't just sit in front of a screen as their brain cells fry while they're eyes are bombarded with images.

We are still subscribed to the Netflix DVD service. I watch All Creatures Great and Small and Jaques Pepin while I'm walking on the the treadmill in the morning. We still have the occasional family snacky movie night and I don't think John Wayne will ever be off the "it" list in our home. We have seen great improvements in the kids behavior, which was the goal. Of course, there's always more work to be done in the behavior department, but I wouldn't want to be out of a job, now would I?

(Incidentally, I've been immersed in homeschool books & catalogs this past week as Matt and I will be planning our coming homeschool year on Saturday. I just read this & I thought it applied here: "A child's mind has a natural appetite for all knowledge, yet too often we satiate our children's intellectual appetites with nutritionless mental junk food that appeals only to their imarture childishness rather than to their developing maturity. With adults, 'you are what you eat;' with children, 'they become what you feed them.' Your children will pick up their appetites from what you value, not just from what you want them to value. If you want to cultivate their appetites to prefer the best foods for learning then you, too, must value them." Clay & Sally Clarkson, Educating the Whole-Hearted Child.)

Isaac & Puppy Crash & Burns

When Matt and I were first married, we bought a black lab puppy and named her Abigail Rose. She was our first baby, so she was good and spoiled. We did all the right puppy parenting things, including taking her to doggy obedience classes.

The instructor at the doggy school had a term for puppies and their propensity for intense play followed by an immediate need for a nap. He referred to the syndrome as "puppy crash and burn." So after Matt and I started having real kids, we found the same concept could easily be applied to them as well.

I don't recall any of our kids displaying the "puppy crash and burn" phenomenon to the degree to which Isaac has displayed it. Awhile back, I was making dinner and I asked the kids to check on Isaac. (Let me just say as a disclaimer--Isaac doesn't play on his own. He's always with someone in the family. I ask the question, "Where's Isaac?" about a dozen times per day. Ninety nine percent of the time I get, "Oh, he's o.k., he's with Liz," or "He's just fine. He's up in the school room (or in the basement) with Lydia and Joel.")

However, on this particular occasion no one could find Isaac. We frantically ran through the whole house and both the front and back yards calling for him. Finally one of the kids found him downstairs. He had climbed into the exersaucer (which we had moved down there for storage) and had fallen asleep.

We have found Isaac asleep in his high chair.

As well as the previously posted places of a chair and a stair.

Yesterday at lunch time, I sent the kids looking for Isaac and they found him asleep on his big brother's bed. I suppose with the amount of trouble this little guy is finding these days, his puppy crash and burn occurrences make sense. The world is Isaac's oyster and if he's caught in the act, he just bats those ridiculously long eye lashes and flashes his extra cutest smile in order to melt his would-be discipliner into a useless blob of puddy. His technique is quite insidious, but in a very delicious sort of way.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Matt and I enjoyed our getaway to San Antonio this past weekend.  I wouldn't go so far as to say we had a "off the charts terrific" time, as we missed our kiddos so much.  Plus, Texas is just plain hot.  The conference was interesting, but I think what really made the trip for us was our traveling buddies, my Uncle Keith and Aunt Leanna.

Aunt Leanna and I attended the ladies tea on Thursday morning, which kicked off the Reformation of Food and Family Conference.  We stayed at the historic Menger Hotel and the tea was held in the ballroom.  Aunt Leanna and I took the elevator down to the ballroom with two very cordial and gracious young ladies.  We found out later that they were Duggar girls.  I guess our lack of t.v. watching is clearly evident when we don't recognize famous people.

Approximately three hundred women attended the event.  Aunt Leanna and I shared a table with some lovely women from the South.  The woman sitting next to me was from Tennessee and we had a nice conversation about homeschooling and family discipleship.  Each place setting had an antique handkerchief tied with a bow and fresh baby's breath.  The handkerchiefs were ours to take home with us as a remembrance of the tea.

The tea's theme was hospitality.  Bealle Phillips talked about how for believers, hospitality is a command, not an optional activity or only for those with the "gift of hospitality."  Michelle Duggar encouraged us to realize that we don't have to have our homes or our lives in perfect order in order to be able to extend hospitality to others.  Nor do we have to have beautiful food, decorations, etc.  The focus should be on the Lord Jesus Christ and on the guests in our homes, not on ourselves or about how we think we are being perceived.

The conference itself was good.  I'll be honest, some of it was just weird, but we took what we could use and left the rest for others to enjoy :)  Vision Forum Ministries, specifically Doug Phillips, have ministered to Matt and me extensively over the years.  While we are positive our family is on the road the Lord has ordained for us to travel, there have been times when we have felt utterly alone. The resources from Vision Forum have been a lifeline to us.  Do we agree with every bit of doctrine they espouse?  Absolutely not.  But as Matt says, if you only want to be with those whose thinking lines up exactly with your own, pretty soon, you'll be a Church of One.

My favorite speaker at the food conference was Chef Francis Foucachon, who is also an ordained Presbyterian pastor.  The vision he set forth of hospitality, feasting and Sabbath observance was phenomenal.  He talked about how regular family meals taken together around the table provide peace and stability for the family.  During times of stress and crisis, family meals provide a time of respite for anxious hearts.  I was able to speak with Rev. Fucachon after one of his talks.  I told him that he did an incredible job of articulating everything I've been ruminating over for the past twenty years. Needless to say, I bought his book.

My Uncle Keith, the farmer, enjoyed some of what Joel Salatin had to say, although he didn't agree with all of it.  He agreed with Joel's thoughts on giving glory to God through farming, yet I know he disagreed with Joel on some of his ideas for implementation, mostly for reasons of practicality.  Uncle Keith did very much like Noah Sanders, author of  Born-Again Dirt.  He was especially impressed that at age 22, Mr. Sanders has a very mature spiritual perspective of farming.

Interestingly enough, I read Food Matters by Mark Bittman on the plane on the way to San Antonio.  While I don't agree with his "why," I do agree with his "how."  Eating many more veggies, reducing the amount of meat one consumes, but not eliminating any one food category in its entirety made sense to me.  Mr. Bittman says, by all means, have that piece of good artisan bread made with white flour with your dinner, just don't make it the mainstay of your diet.  He seemed to have a very even-handed approach to food and he says even though he's changed his diet, he still eats and enjoys really good food.

I expected to get a little more of Food Matters at the conference, but from a Christian worldview.  I didn't hear as much as I expected on food specifics at the conference, but I did get a good overall perspective on food.  Francis Foucachon did talk about the "French Paradox" and the fact that French people do very much enjoy their food.  Good quality, fresh,  in courses, slowly eaten and relished, but not in huge quantities.

When we weren't at the conference, we were finding fun in San Antonio.  One afternoon, Matt took me to see the Alamo.  Uncle Keith and Aunt Leanna treated us to several nice meals, including one at Fogo de Chao.  Matt and I had never heard of the place before, but Uncle Keith and Aunt Leanna had dined at the Fogo de Chao in Washington, D.C. and wanted us to have the experience as well.  It certainly was an experience.  When Matt flipped his card to the green side, about half a dozen waiters with big slabs of meat descended upon our table.  Matt was in heaven.

Matt, the Macduff, also got a chance to sample the Scottish national dish, haggis, on our trip.  Collin Gunn, the documentary film maker who produced IndoctriNation, presented a haggis one evening at the food conference.  The haggis had been over-nighted from Scotland and donned by Gunn as the "best food in the world."  Samples of haggis were handed to a few people in the front row, but we were sitting near the back (as we were late in arriving for the evening program due to our dinner at Fogo de Chao) so we missed out on the initial sampling.  So after the evening's events were concluded, Uncle Keith and Matt went up front to help themselves to a taste of the haggis.  They both agreed that it was pretty good, especially if you didn't think about what it contained.

The next day, Matt and I were able to talk to Colin Gunn and thank him for giving a Scot stuck on this side of the Atlantic a chance to sample his first haggis.  We also told Mr. Gunn how much we liked his film and the work he is doing.  He then talked to us about the parental responsibility of disciplining our children and how many Christians today are abdicating that responsibility.

The last night of our trip, we ate dinner at the historic Colonial Room Restaurant.  This was my favorite meal of our stay as the restaurant wasn't noisy and crowded and we got to enjoy good food and good conversation with my aunt and uncle.  Of course, we topped off our dinner with the restaurant's famous mango ice cream.  There's no way Uncle Keith would ever turn down mango ice cream.

We awoke very early the next morning to catch our flight home.  The airplane landed about ten minutes early, giving Matt and me just enough time to head to our house, change clothes and then get to church.  We arrived about five minutes before the service started.  Our kids were surprised to see us.  Hugs all around.  We missed our little people and they missed us.

Grandpa Bob and Grandma Dianne did a wonderful job of taking care of seven kids for four days, making our trip to Texas possible.  I'm sure they were tuckered out and glad to be able to sleep in their own bed on Sunday night.  Matt and I were in the same boat.  There's no place like home.

Lightning Storm No. 2

By Grace

Last night at 3:30 am we had another lightning storm. This one was much bigger (and scarier) than the last one. The thunder shook the house, the lighting was so blinding you couldn't even look at it, all the clocks were flashing and the kids woke up crying.

We decided we wouldn't be getting back to sleep until the storm was over so we girls and Isaac sat on Liz's bed and watched the lightning. I (for lack of desire to go outside) took some pictures through the bedroom window.

Lightning Storm

By Grace

We had a lightning storm at our house the other night. I didn't get very many good shots because it was hard to get all the settings "just right for the light"on my camera. I still enjoyed it anyway. It is always neat to see God's eminent, lordly power displayed on high.

Alien Cauliflower from our Weekly CSA Box

Texas Bound

My Matthew is taking me to Texas tomorrow.  Yep, the girl who has hardly left her home state her entire life will be going to Texas for the second time this year.  We'll be attending a conference called The Reformation of Food and Family put on by Vision Forum Ministries.
Matt bought tickets to this event way back at the end of December and then gave them to me for my birthday in January.  I was floored.   Matt got an early bird discount and "golden tickets" which will give us some sort of VIP treatment while we're there.
Matt's parents will stay with the kids at our house while we're gone.  Yep, I know, I'm spoiled.  I've been scurrying around planning menus and activities, cleaning and shopping.  I guess I really need to tackle my packing today.  I'd also like to carve out some time to paint my toenails--after I debone the 60 chicken breasts I bought on a good sale yesterday. Yes, I'm also crazy.
I'm not a fan of hot weather, especially hot, humid weather, but I was excited to check my i Phone's weather page for San Antonio and see cloudy skies and thunder storms predicted for this week.  Cool!  I love a good thunder storm.

And as if that weren't enough, my Uncle Keith and Aunt Leanna will be joining us for this trip!  When Uncle Keith heard about what Matt and I were doing, he decided he didn't want to miss out on the fun, so he made reservations a few weeks ago to attend the conference with us.  Who cares about farm work when you have the opportunity to go on a trip with your wonderful niece and her husband, right?  If you weren't convinced before, I am spoiled.
My mommy heart is finding it difficult to leave all our wee ones.  We have lots of prayer covering this trip and we're  leaving our kids in very competent and loving hands.  Jude thinks we should only be gone one day (we'll be gone four).  Joel thinks he should go with us.  I mean, duh, there's cowboys in Texas.  He belongs there.
(Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum, wrote this yesterday & I thought it articulated well the need for a conference on food.)

Blueberries!

Our family picked blueberries at a friend's u-pick berry farm the Saturday before last. Isaac took full advantage of his position in the stroller to nab some of the just picked organic berries. Don't worry, we won't talk about what his diaper looked like the next day.

Chicken Coop Update

The new chicken coop has been in service for a couple of months. After our old coop burned down, we had less than two weeks to get a structure up before we left town on a four day trip. Historically, Macduff building projects don't happen that fast--two years maybe, but not two weeks. However, through God's provision and some good old fashioned hard work, the coop was built (though not yet painted) by that two week deadline.

The coop burned down on Saturday evening. By Sunday evening Matt and the kids had cleared away all the debris (what was left of it that is, there really wasn't much, the fire was so hot that even the aluminum around the windows melted).Matt was also able to purchase wood and siding via Craigslist on Sunday. This saved us a bundle and we only ended up purchasing a few sheets of plywood and some shingles new. Matt also found a quirky louvered door on Craigslist. All we needed to complete the project was a couple of windows.

We had no intention of buying new windows for a chicken coop, so I searched every thrift store, junk yard and building material resale store in town. We didn't want anything fancy. We didn't even care if the windows were the same size, we just wanted the ability to open them in order to provide some cross ventilation in the summer. If we had desired for the chickens to have picture windows, we'd have been in business, but I couldn't find any smaller sized windows.

At one point, Liz and I sat in the parking lot of a local window installation store and prayed that the Lord would provide windows. "By tonight," we said, "because we have people coming over to our house tomorrow morning to help with the coop raising."

This really should have been the end of our hunt. I should have gone home and just waited to see what the Lord would do, but instead I started working the problem even further. I called my dad and asked him to look at the junk store in his town. Now let me just say, my dad has never set foot in that place, so I knew I'd be asking him for a huge favor. But, fatherly love won out and he went down there and purchased some "very dirty" aluminum larger-sized windows (because they didn't have small ones) for his firstborn. Yes, he loves me.

However, that evening at 9:30 I got a call from a friend. She just happened to have two nearly new identical (and small) vinyl windows with screens. She wanted to give them to me. The only problem--my friend lives and hour north of here. Well, guess what? My dad, as it just so happened, needed to drive through that town the next day to drop off my mom at a family bridal shower. Then he would be heading to our house to help with the chicken coop while I attended the bridal shower with my mom. So dad stopped on the way, picked up the windows at my friend's house, dropped off mom at the church and then delivered the windows to our place. The guys were able to place the windows while we girls enjoyed a leisurely afternoon with family and friends. Now is that a God thing or what?
So the coop was mostly built by the end of the weekend. A big shout out goes to our two dads, Sherman from Matt's work, our brother-in-law Chris, Kyle from church and Eli (Paul's friend) for helping Matt and Paul make that possible. During his next available weekend, Matt painted the coop with leftover house paint. God provided in a big way for this project in terms of help and materials. We were able to build this coop to nearly identical specifications of the original, but at half of the cost. Paul paid for part of the materials out of his egg earnings, so he learned another good lesson about running a business--accidents happen, but they'll often cost you.

It's cool to see God work out small problems like burned down chicken coops. He's pretty neat that way.