Maybe its magic

I'm 3 for 3 on the kids-lovin-their-quilt adventures now.

When Maren was a baby, she didn't have a paci the first few months, but she was attatched to a silky 'lovey' that we called a Snugglie. In baby slang it interpretted as her calling it a "junny." Kellan was never attatched to a junny, but he did love his paci. And as he turned 2, he became attatched to a bear he named "Hackle" instead of his paci.

But Max hasn't shown any inclination of being attatched to anything. He refused the paci at 5 weeks old, doesn't have a bottle to claim as his security item, and could care less about dolls and blankets. Until last week!

My baby, the one who never sits still to snuggle, the one who still refused to go to bed and made sure to protest it everytime we'd just walk into the room with him... has now shown attatchment to his quilt! He'll snuggle on my lap and let me rock him to sleep! (never did that before!) And he will lay down in his bed quietly without the arched back and a "raaaaaaaar" to go with it. It has brought peace back to my baby!

And of all the blankets that the older ones have had, they still love the quilt that 'mommy made' the best. It must be some kind of magic.

Tasty Tuesdays 'whole grain' style

I've been trying to be more resourceful the last few years making my own of just about anything (i have yet to attempt pasta, though I really really want to!) And one of the last things on my list was pancakes. I admit, I usually just buy a mix from Arrowhead Mills brand. Why? They sound so easy? Not so easy in my opinion. I like whole wheat 'healthy crap' haha. And any recipe that I've tried from scratch tends to stick to the waffle iron, or pancake skillet. But I've had success! For those who like 'healthy crap', give this a try!

Buttermilk Wholewheat pancakes

In a large bowl combine these ingredients:
1 & 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tblsp natural sugar cane (sucanat, or turbinado also ok)
1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of sea salt

(mix together)

In a seperate bowl combine:
1 & 1/2 cups buttermilk (I used my own, try this recipe for butter and buttermilk!)
1/4 cup vanilla soy milk (if you use plain milk add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
1 large egg
1 tblsp veg oil

(mix together)

Add the wet liquid to the dry mix with a wisk, don't over mix. Some lumps are perfect! The mixture will become 'airy' with air bubbles, this is great.

Poor into a non stick skillet preheated on medium heat, there is no need to use a spray or butter. When you see a few bubbles begin at the edges of the pancake surface, it is ready to flip over.

Enjoy!

Bringing the mountain to Mohammad

One of the (many) blessings to having children, is that they remind you about what is important in your life. We missed church (again) today because Kellan seems to be having another inflammatory response, sore knees/elbows/eyes, not feeling well. I'm always leary of him catching something else on top of his immune system already being at its threshold limit. And Maren still has this annoying cough from post nasal drip. Though she's not contagious either, it bothers me when other people take their kids out thinking their low fever and green snot is no big deal! Uh, it is! I look at them with irritation wishing they'd quarantine their kids, Maren's cough would throw a few looks my way too. She could rival with the heaviest smokers today.

So she was upset that we stayed home, and since she got dressed before she came out of her room, she asked if we can have church at home. Excellent idea! After a nice breakfast (stay tuned for Tasty Tuesdays) we got dressed and had our own little church at home. Kellan said the opening prayer, Maren read a story from The Friend magazine about being honest, we sang some of our favorite primary songs, and Daddy closed with another prayer.

Then we went to "classrooms" that Maren had set up chairs. I taught the lesson about Earth, our universe, Heaven, and living with Heavenly Father some day. It made me miss my days as a primary teacher a little bit. (Cara, please don't get any ideas about this!)

But my favorite moment was, when classes were 'dismissed', Maren asked if she could stay longer in class and have me teach her some more. I must be doing something right with this child.

A very merry CHRISTmas to you :)

Our house has been filled with a little of this:

A LOT of these:

And has been immersed in a lot of this:

I made 10 loaves of bread, 15 dozen cinnamon rolls, 13 dozen cookies, 10 pints of vanilla extract, 18 jars of homemade hot chocolate, 10 half pint jars of sweet homemade butter, and a lot of love in the gifts we gave to friends and family this year.

Usually we just send a card, and sorry Utah family, that's all you got too. Fresh baked goods just don't ship well. But with a lot of illnesses this year, we have had a lot of love through it all, (and many meals) and I know this in no way repays what was given to us through service and love of all those good people... but I hope it helped repay a little!

"Because I have been given much, I too must give. Because of thy great bounty Lord, each day I live. I shall divide my gifts from thee, with every brother that I see, who has the need of help from me. / Because I have been blessed by thy great love dear Lord, I'll share thy love again according to thy word. I shall give love to those in need, with every brother that I see, thus shall my thanks BE THANKS indeed."

My 'A-ha' moment

I've been re-reading a favorite book of mine called 'A new Earth' by Ekhart Tolle. And the other night while I was reading my scriptures, a phrase from his book came to mind.

I was reading different passages about the virtues and nature of Jesus Christ, not just his teachings and works. But who HE was as a person. And as I gave thought to what he identified with, which was nothing, it made the guilt of what I identify with seem heavy.

Ekhart Tolle talks about 'Ego' as identification having a form. Meaning, who we 'think' we are is based on what we are surrounded by. I tend to identify with my gender, or being a mother, or my religion, my family, my health, my checkbook, my home, and more. We create around us a false reality to allow ego to survive in how it 'thinks' our life should be. And sometimes what we 'think' is reality comes from resentments of what we think we deserve that we see others having. Or what we think others do not deserve.

If you're with me so far, thanks! I promise there is a point.

So in contemplating about how we 'think' I started understanding the wisdom of the commandment "Thou shalt not covet." It isn't because it's mean spirited towards someone else. I mean, it is. But to covet is to establish one person as superior and the other inferior. To judge the fruits of someone else's works against your own. Which in turn, feeds the ego to determine how reality should be to survive the tumultous world that we live in.

So back to Ekhart Tolle's book, he said something that I contemplate often. "I am not the thought. What liberation to realize I am not the voice in my head. [or the feelings i acquire.] Who am I then? The one who sees that. The awareness prior to the thought, the space in which the thought- or the emotion or sense perception, happens."

So if I am not my home, my religion, my gender, my many things that I do and act by every day, but I am the thought preceeding those things, the wisdom of "Garnish thy thoughts unceasingly" becomes very valuable. And to shed the tendency to covet, and judge others, I have tried to give more weight to the thought of it first, and turn those thoughts into admiration for that person's hard work or sacrifices that gave them acquisitions of which I might tend to covet.

In everything of this world, there is a spiritual and a physical element. The tangible, and the ethereal. The creation, and the birth. In physical birth, there is a transition period before something comes from the spiritual world, into this world. Much like the dark and the light, the greatest stillness and silence in the world is in the darkest part right before the dawn. The calm before storms. The thought preceeding the reaction or the identification. That is where spirit speaks, where God lives.

And it all came back around for me when I read in Exodus, as Moses spake to God, and God told him to tell the children of Israel that he would deliver them out of Egypt. Moses asked God "What is his name [who sends Moses] what shall I say to them?" "And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM, and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you."

His name is his nature, he is omnipresent. In all things, the beginning AND the end, no time or identification of any one thing, he is eternal. Jesus Christ taught "At that day ye shall know that I am in my father, and ye in me, and I in you." (John 14:20)

The place of my origination is stillness, from which all creation originates. -Wayne Dyer

Goings on

I was so impatient getting Christmas up this year, because the past few years have been in limbo around Christmas time. We closed on our house 3 years ago and barely got our tree up the week before. Year after that my brother was married Dec 28th so I was in Utah, and Christmas was celebrated early and simply. Last year our house flooded and again found myself in Utah for several weeks, and came home to a hotel for a few days while we waited on floors to be finished. Then it was like moving in again, everything had to be unpacked and put back, Christmas was barely celebrated.

So this year, I had every intention of putting it up early before our trip to Utah, so that it would be up and celebrated beginning after Thanksgiving, as I usually like to have done! Ha! That didn't happen either. I was fighting hard to get over pnemonia so I could go on the trip, and then we caught a stomach bug from flying home. So after much chaos in the Moore household, we put it up. The outside stuff is yet to be completed, but it's almost there too!

But since Max is now walking (yay!) and grabbing everything (boo!) I was not going to deal with broken ornaments, and pulled decorations 50 times a day. When Maren was my only baby I had time to sit more with her, and redirect her. Max is left to his own demise to play during different times of the day, so I know better! I've heard people say- but have never really known anyone- to decorate just the top half of the tree. So yes, that is what we did. And no extra lights this year either for Mr Grabby hands to pull strands and possibly pull the tree down too. Just the basics.

But it's still purdy! The kids love the icicle lights over the porch, and the magical calm ambiance the soft lights bring. They curl up under the tree in their jammies and whisper to each other, and I could care less if there was only one ornament on the tree, my kids GET what Christmas is about, and they think it's the most beautiful tree they have ever seen. Sweet success!

And to this Utah girl, what's a holiday season without a little snow? We saw a possibility in the forecast, a girl can always hope! So we were singing "We need a little Christmas, right this very minute" last night as I cooked dinner. I didn't think the universe would take that literally. And I didn't expect it to come in this form:

That's our air condensor unit outside. Iced over. The ducts in our house have been so clogged since the construction dust last year ripping out all of our floors and cutting into drywall. And we haven't had the ducts cleaned. So appearantly the unit was pulling cold air from outside, but couldn't push through for warm air inside! And it started to produce frost, and covered the machine from the inside-out. I'm actually thankful I have a small house where my oven was sufficient enough to heat it up, we managed to stay warm. But this snow has got to go!

Questions about Vaccinating

Several friends have either asked me for themselves, or for another friend of theirs, questions regarding life of not vaccinating kids. So this information is what I have found helpful that might be beneficial for some of you, or to pass along to your friends.

Vaccinations and Hospital births:
Read the admittance paperwork carefully, or if you're in labor, have your partner! Talk about what you want to do before hand regarding Hep B shot, Vitamin K shot, and even the Eurythromycin eye ointment. All of it is able to be refused if that is your choice. In every state.

Finding a pediatrician:
Remember they are employed by you, not the other way around, so assert your parental authority and feel free to shop around, don't feel like you have to stay with one that doesn't work for your choices. Interview a few of them before you schedule your child for check ups. A few questions I asked when meeting with them were things like "After a lot of research, we feel the best choice is to exempt our child from the recommended vaccine schedules, will you still treat our child for any illness they may encounter, and well child visits? Do you have other patients who do not vaccinate for different reasons?" If the doctor says "It's my opinion that vaccines are necessary, and you are putting your child at risk..." or anything like that, then they will not be supportive in any circumstance that you wish medicinal intervention for an illness or may become pushy for vaccines at each well child visit you do.

Or you could just cold call and schedule an appointment at a pediatrician that a friend recommends. When calling, just simply state that you need to make a new patient appointment for your child, don't ask them any questions at that point. If *they* ask any questions about vaccinations or immunization records, simply state "my child is exempt." And they usually proceed with the next question to schedule the appointment. A doctor's office is not allowed to discriminate or terminate patient relationship based on vaccination status if the laws are complied by. However, many do encourage their scheduling staff to discourage the caller trying to set up a new patient appointment. So it's best to shoot straight, get to the appointment information, or they will tell you upfront they are not accepting any new patients in general. Don't bring up anything controversial until you have an actual appointment with a Doctor, not the telephone staff.

Look for a naturopathic doctor (N.D. instead of M.D.) they are more familiar with other means of prevention besides vaccines, and other methods of treatment besides prescriptions, so they are logically more inclined to be supportive of that lifestyle rather than just tolerant.

Also, a Chiropractor has the same hours of education as an AAP Pediatrician and more in some subjects. So for childhood growth and development, they are also a good advocate to see to your child at different stages.

Filing an exemption:
Every state offers a medical exemption, filed with your doctor and some states require them to be filed with the Health Department as well. These are for adverse reactions to a vaccine, not for the elective choice to not do the vaccine schedule. Most states also allows a religious exemption. Only 22 states allow a Philosophical- which is basically saying "This is what I feel is best" kind of exemption. Click HERE to find out which state exemptions are allowed in your state.

Public schools must allow attendance of any child who is current with either an exemption or a vaccine record. Private schools, and day cares are allowed to discriminate or refuse to allow enrollment. I have found for my experience that a *Religious exemption* has been met with less of a battle than I had expected otherwise. Here is an example of a letter that was given to our children's schools as per the NC State requirement for a Religious exemption. Here is a more detailed example of religious points of view to consider, but in my opinion, simple is best.

This website has a plethora of information regarding headlines of recent vaccines, ingredients, studies, and so much more if you're interested in researching for yourself this decision.


Also, the old saying "It's better to ask forgiveness than permission" applies here too. Don't bring it up in the beginning of any introductory setting other than pedatrician interviews. If you wish to enroll your child in a preschool, public school, daycare, or private school, just go through the process as any other parent would. When asked for immunization records, your record is an exemption form or letter, which ever is required for your state and selected exemption. There is no difference for you in that process. If the facility is not familiar with this issue from other families going before you, they may ask more questions. But generally, if you are non confrontational about it, and supply the proper information when needed, also being confident in your lifestyle and knowledge, you'll find a smoother process of functioning within main stream.

Red at night, a sailor's delight

If we don't get snow in the winter (except for the one fluke day every now and then) then atleast we get a view like this from our front porch. I wish my camera did better justice for what an awesome sunset it was last night!

Life lesson # 87,493

The saying goes something like "Life will give you the lessons that you need to learn and grow." And usually when you've gone through a trial, you look back at it and with the beauty of hindisght, you realize why you've gone through that, hopefully not repeating it too.

But the trick is to figure out the WHY so you don't have to endure it so long, right? Well, I seem to be surrounded by stupidity. So I'm trying to figure out WHY. It must be that I need to either learn 1) a silent tongue (not my first vote, but I'm willing to consider) or 2) tolerance. Or could possibly 3) being more in-yer-face be acceptable in a lesson to learn? Because I've been going with 3 lately.

When we were in Utah, we stopped at our favorite chain, good ol' Starbucks and picked up hot chocolate for everyone back at G'ma's house. Our order was for *12 drinks,* and the girl says to James at the window "Would you like a drink holder?" And blinked ever so innocently. I couldn't keep it back, I very clearly said "Uh, yeah, several please." with so much sarcasm that James actually pinched me.

Lets just say for the record, I have always been sarcastic yes, I admit. But rude, no. (ok, occassionally rude. Give me a break.) And lately my nice-people-person filter has seemed faulty. I've stuck my foot in my mouth way too many times recently, called many on their bluffs in a not so nice way, and I have had to distance myself from several people to refrain from saying what I really want to say! So if you've noticed a decline in our conversations, it could just be nothing, or it could be my way of not wanting to hurt your feelings. This has not been a fun lesson to be learning, so I apoligize in advance.