Lessons learned from the Stomach Flu

We have been quite busy the past weeks, hence my lack of blogging.   Mark had a neat opportunity to head down to Mexico two weeks ago to meet a pastor that our youth group has been working with.   Mark came back really encouraged by the pastor’s heart, vision and ministry in Mexico.   I love that my husband gets to go to so many places, see what God doing there and learn from these people.  It is always a blessing to see Mark excited and challenged by our partnerships.

We were recouping from the travels (I went to see my family) when the stomach flu got us.  It had gotten our friends the week before and the husband couldn’t go to Mexico because of it. So this our best guess as to how it was passed on to us.   Mark and I felt nauseous at the same time and throw up within 5 min. of each other and then the rest was history.  Good thing we had two toilets!  Pool Liza, she just crawled around the house wondering what was going on.  Eventually, my gutsy husband decided we needed some refueling so he headed to the store.  Liza got put in her crib where she cried for at least an hour, then some friends came and took care of her (who also later got sick).   By the time Mark got back, I couldn’t walk.  I had made my body stop all of this nonsense because I knew if I threw up one more time, I would be passed out.  We ended up going to an Urgent care place, and just walking from our front door to the car (not far at all), I began to lose my hearing and was blacking out.   Mark was still throwing up but didn’t get this a till we got to the office.   After a shot of phenegren, and an IV, I was a lot better – still pale but I could walk.  Mark, however, still wasn’t feeling too great. He had the aches for a day or two and had to keep taking the medicine.

After this experience, I learned a few things:

• Breastfeeding kept Liza from getting sick, but got me dehydrated faster
• I should be drinking a lot more fluids
• Phenegren is good stuff
• This flu is highly contagious, I think we have 10-15 friends who were struck with it this weekend
• It seems not to get everyone
• Netflix was quite handy to have
• It is good to have friends – we had a lot of help, probably why so many people are sick now
• Sprite Zero tastes really good
• Don’t drink Dr. Pepper when you feel nauseous, sugar only makes diarrhea worse

My Favorite Christmas Pic

Over Christmas I made a big mistake, I forgot to take my battery charger for my camera.  I knew I was doing a maternity shoot for a friend, and that my battery was low but somehow I managed to forget that cord.  Needless to say, the shoot was a little interesting because of that and I didn’t get any pics of Christmas day. Thankfully, my mom got a lot!  Here is my favorite!

I have been trying to take a shot like this in my maternity shoots but have failed, so when my mom got this I was so excited!  There was no editing done to these pics and they are from a point and shoot camera.   I really love silhouette shots.  This is Liza and I looking out the window at the snow!

The Creative Family

The second book I am reading called The Creative Family:How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections by Amanda Soule.  This book is really fun, freeing and inspiring.   It is also a quick read packed full of great ideas for nurturing creativity in your family.

A few things I love about this book:

• She is all about reusing material in your house, thrift stores, and other places you might find it
• It is simple
• It isn’t materialistic
• It encourages parents to connect with their kids – more than just dinner time but really have fun and encourage kids

One chapter that has especially challenged me was about toys.  Lately, I have been thinking about how some of Liza’s toys entertain her, instead of encouraging her to play  The author talks about thinking through these questions with toys:

• Is it beautiful? or does it inspire?
• Is it simple? Does it allow for imaginative play?
• What is it made of? Do you have toys made of anything natural? (I honestly don’t think we do)
• What senses does it use? Does it encourage play while using more than one sense?
• How are the toys organized?
• Are there too many choices?

I don’t think this means I should chunk all of Liza’s toys but I do see how I could be more intentional with what she plays with.  It seems that she is really drawn to simple toys – plastic blocks, a ball Mark bought for her at Wal-Mart and her Aggie bear that says Gig’em Aggies. (She is already a good Ag )

At any rate, this book has lots of simple ideas that encourage creativity in your kids.  I confess, I am not creative but I have seen a desire grow in me to be creative.  I enjoy Photography, sewing and scrapbooking.  I see in a lot of friends the same desire to be creative.  So this book is a great encouragement in bringing creativity into my child’s (hopefully children some day) life.  I highly encourage moms to read this book.    She has a second book called Handmade Home, which I hope to read next year! Here is her blog.

8 months

I finally took Liza to the doctor’s office for her 6 month check up.  I kind of dread these because of the shots but also know that they are important.  We have a great doctor here who is always encouraging, caring and helpful.  We found out that Liza weighs 20.5lbs and is 28 inches long, no wonder she couldn’t fit into the 9-12 month clothes.   She doesn’t look that chubby to me but when I asked the doctor if her weight was ok (I am always concerned that she isn’t getting enough food), he laughed and informed me she was pretty big for her age.  I guess she isn’t too big since he didn’t seem concerned about it.

It seems in a couple of weeks she went from sitting by her toy box to get toys to now pulling up on her toy box and standing by it to get her toys out.   She is growing so much!  She laughs a whole lot and is fairly content.  I would say she isn’t as happy as she used be but she is still a sweet kiddo to be around.  Right now she is crawling around while her pants are around her knees, happily playing with a baby doll.  Silly kid.

Just this week she has decided that waking up in the middle of the night and around 5 is a necessary thing.  I have tried to explain to her that this isn’t necessary for mom but she hasn’t understood that yet.  I am hoping this can be resolved soon.

She had a great first Christmas.  Her favorite gifts seemed to be the bows, boxes and baby Jesus from the Fisher Price Nativity set (one of my favorite gifts).  She got lots of clothes, toys and videos!  She even got a white Christmas!  Yay!  Mom and dad got to sledding while Liza played out in the snow with the grandparents.   I didn’t get too many pictures because my camera battery died after doing a maternity shoot for a friend. But my mom has some so I will be glad to get to see those soon.

Here are some pictures of the snow on Christmas Eve:

The Feminist Mistake: Part 1

The first book that I really wanted to read on my book list was The Feminist Mistake because social trends/movements fascinate me and the effects they have on culture and society.   This passion comes from a love of history, and the fact that I majored in sociology in college.  Sociology isn’t the most practical major but it works well for people who like to think and analyze problems.  One of the only classes that I feel like I benefited the most from in the sociology department was social movements.   The professor was a nut like most sociology profs and had a very interesting way of doing class.   We had to read about 200 pages or more a week and then come to each class with well thought out, analytical comments about what we read.  Our grade was based on these comments and on four 8-10 page papers we wrote.  He guaranteed us that by the end of the semester only 10 people would be left out of the 60 who started the class and he was entirely right.  For some reason, I stuck it out.  I hate to speak in front of people and really dislike writing papers but I am very certain that this class was essential in teaching me how to critically think about situations and society.   Some how I managed to get a B in the class, nothing short of a miracle because I skipped class often to avoid the public speaking bit and rarely did the reading because I was too “busy.”  But, I did write the papers and failed the first two but did well on the other two after meeting with the prof a couple of times.

All of that to say that this book really hits home.   Mary Kassian analyzes the feminist social movement inside the church and outside the church.  She goes through the key feminist leaders and explains their theories and what they hoped to see happen by liberating women.   I am only a third of the way through so I haven’t gotten to part about the effects on our culture but I have to say that the feminist movement has greatly shaped my life without me even knowing.   It has greatly shaped every American’s life without them even knowing it.  The expectations that our culture has for man and woman come from the Feminist movement, some of these are good expectations and some aren’t.  Kassian says that “many contemporary analysts cite the ‘death’ of the philosophy of feminism” and that “most young women regard feminism as yesterday’s fashion… But the philosophy of feminism has not died.  Rather, it has been thoroughly incorporated into our collective social psyche.”  I couldn’t agree more.

Here are some statistics that she states in her book that I find suprising.

• Since 1960 (the beginning of the feminist movement and other social movements) the divorce rate has increased 100%
• Since 1960 the marriage rate for 15-44 yr olds has decreased by 41%
• Cohabitation is at 41%, they don’t even has statistics for this before 1960 because it was so rare.  The U.S. Census Bureau guesses that it has been a tenfold increase (1000%).
• 79% or single women age 20-24 are x active, again before 1960 this rarely happened.
• From 1960-2000, out-of-wedlock births have increased by 523%.  It was 5.3% and now it is 33%.
• Only 45% of all teenage children (13-18) live with their biological father and mother

She says that she could go on with statistics about abuse, pornography, violence, sexual perversion, abortion and homosexuality (I have heard her share these before and they are quite powerful).  One thing she points out is that feminism wasn’t the “sole catalyst” but a key part of this radical culture shift.   I know that the 1960s contained a variety of social movements and probably each movement played a part in these statistics.   Feminism and other social movements have radically shifted our worldview in some very good ways but also in some destructive ways too.

The first part of the book is about how the first wave of feminism called women to name their self or define who they are and what they do.  Prior to this movement, women’s and men’s roles followed a Judeo-Christian worldview – meaning the husband provided, protected and lead the family, while the submitted to her husband, nurtured the family, and managed the home.  The first woman she talks about is Simone De Beauvior who was  french philosopher that wrote a book called the The Second Sex.  She believed that women need to transcend their role as wife and mother so that they could be liberated.  She thought marriage should be a contract that could be broken at any time, for contraception and abortion to be authorized and for the state to “assume charge of the children.”  She was a socialist so her ideas didn’t catch on too quickly in America but the greatly influenced Betty Friedan who got the movement going in America.  She found that women were unhappy and frustrated with their situation and that women’s role as wife and mother caused this frustration.  She believed that women must be educated and make ” a lifelong commitment to a field of thought and to a work of serious importance to society.” Both Friedman and De Beauvior believed that “women needed to take control of their lives, name themselves and set their own destiny.”

I want to stop here because I think that these women are on to something.   I think that a woman would become and does become very discontent if what she believes she is doing is not valuable.   So I think they are right about trying to figure out what causes this lack of contentment in women.  I think they missed the answer though.   The answer isn’t necessarily if she works or stays at home, has children or doesn’t have children, remains single or marries, but whether she knows Jesus personally and has an intimate relationship with her Creator.   I know women who work and are not fulfilled, or women who stay at home and are not fulfilled.  Being married, having children and raising them doesn’t cause this frustration or end the frustration.  The lack of contentment exists because God made us to know Him personally but our sin separates us from Him.   It is there because we haven’t accepted the forgiveness that Jesus offers to us through his cross. For those who do know Jesus personally,  frustration can exist when we aren’t seeking, pursuing and following after the One who loves us.   I think that we can “liberate” women all we want but if you compare women today in the work world with those who stayed at home 50-60 years ago, you won’t find them any happier or more fulfilled.

A decade has gone by!

I am only 24 so a decade is really quite a long time in my short life.  I saw this on other people’s blogs and figured it would be fun to do on ours.

2000

I was a little freshman at Denton High school embarking on a new journey in life – more freedom.   This freedom took me down a path that was far from God.  I also was playing soccer at Denton High and thinking I was pretty cool because my big brother drove a Camaro. I also had a job at Subway! Fun stuff!

2001

I was now an older wiser sophomore at DHS and now working as a hostess at Black Eyed Pea.   I became pretty depressed with the lifestyle I was living and had friends that weren’t great influences.   But, our sovereign God placed 3 girls in my Pre-AP English class that displayed Christ.  I wanted whatever brought them peace and joy.  Through out this year He used many situations to bring me to Himself.  I can look back and see the battle between God drawing to Himself and the enemy trying to keep me from the love of Jesus.   After September 11, I knew that if I died, I would have spent eternity in Hell for my sin.  No one told me that, I just knew it (I had heard the gospel before so that is probably why I had this thought).  I was really upset for the next few days and spent a lot of time crying.   That weekend I went to a slumber party at a friend’s house and shared with them how upset I was.   They shared the gospel with me and that night I put my faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savior.   The peace and joy I had the next morning was overwhelming.   The Lord is so good to save me from my sin and to pour out His love upon me.

2002

I made the varsity soccer team at DHS but got a stress fracture in my shin.  I sat on the bench the whole season even after I was better.   This was such a growing time for me in character, humility and finding my value in the Lord.   The Lord began to grow in me a deep desire for His Word and prayer.  Also, I felt a call to share the gospel with people who had never heard.  I didn’t really understand that this was to be a missionary, I just knew that people in other countries had not heard the good news and they needed to hear.

2003

Yay!  I finally graduated high school and started out my freshman year at Dallas Baptist University.   A great girl mentored me and the Lord used her to grow in my heart a passion for International students.  This summer I worked a summer camp that taught kids how to ride horses and live a ranch life while also sharing the gospel with them.

2004

I began the process of transferring to A&M and got accepted a week after school at DBU let out.   I also went to South Africa and Swaziland for a month with students from DBU.  We taught Aids prevention and shared with them the love of Jesus.   It was quite an experience!  Then I began my first semester at A&M.   I got involved in International student ministry at the BSM and at Grace Bible church.

2005

I started making some great friendships and began the process of finding a place to live off campus.   A couple of girls and I found a small house on Cherry St. to live in the next year.   This summer I went back to the horse camp.   I got very sick there and ended up having to lay in bed and sleep the last month or so.   I started out my fall semester on ministry at Central.   So thankful for that experience.  This is also when I met Mark for the first time.

2006

The Cherry St. girls and I moved to a bigger house so that more girls could move in with us.  Proved to be an interesting experience.  I went to China over the summer and got to see the Lord move in awesome ways.   Also, Mark and I started dating on Dec. 9.  I was interning in Central’s college ministry and being discipled by Christine.  Both things greatly influenced me spiritually.

2007

I had an awesome ring dunk!  Yes… that is pudding and gummy worms and Oreos!  So fun!  I also graduate this May.  Mark proposed over the summer, about 5 days before he went to the Middle East.  We got married Dec. 15 and spent a week in Niagara Falls for our honeymoon!  I started my first year of teaching 7th and 8th grade social studies while coaching volleyball and track.  The Lord was so faithful through this first semester of teaching.

2008

In Jan. we found out we were pregnant but on Feb. 14 we had our first miscarriage.   The Lord greatly comforted me through this.  He was awesome and very present through this time.  We planned to move to West Africa during this year and started finding jobs that would allow us to do that and moved to a cheaper apartment.  Over the summer we got pregnant again and had another miscarriage.  The next month we got pregnant and this time we stayed preggers!  We decided to hold off on plans to go overseas and to move to Fort Worth for seminary for more training.

2009

We moved to Fort Worth.   We both worked 2 part-time jobs that the Lord was so faithful to provide for us.  This is when we decided to use a midwife and have Liza at a birth center.  A decision that I don’t regret.   Around March, we found out about an opening at Central in missions and felt like Mark should at least pursue it.  He got the job and we moved back to College Station 10 days after sweet Liza was born.   She was born on May 7th and Mark started work on May 18!  He went to Kansas and to China as soon as he started.   We, also, got to go Virginia together to see the Hoovers.

So that leads us to 2010!  Can’t wait to see what God does in this next year!

Hubby’s book list and blog

My hubby has his own blog… kind of.   It is mainly related to his job but I like it so I figured I would pass it along.  If you go to this page and then click on the blog you can read his job!

Also, Mark got together his book list for the year so I figured I would post that on here too.   It is going to be good for us to challenge each other to read more.

Liza is 7 months

As I am typing this post, Liza is sitting on the arm of our coach making farting noises with Daddy.  She’s got the best Daddy and loves playing with him.  Liza has very much developed her own will and it is pretty fun to what she is interested in… like her toy basket.  We will put her in the living room to play for a little bit and she heads over to her toy basket to get more toys.  Her other interests are cords, door stoppers and the random things that are in the carpet that should have been vacuumed up last week.   She is very active and very curious.

Her milestones:

• Crawling – it has moved past the scoot/ army crawl and into the up-on-the-hands-and-knees crawl.  Her motivation for learning to crawl was so that she could be in the same room as mommy at all times.
• Pulling up- she is now pulling up so that we can pick her up
• Teeth – she has two bottom teeth. Her teething experience hasn’t been too bad so far.

Her personality:

• Happy baby – she is still a very happy kiddo and laughs a lot
• Chatty – she wakes up babbling and it seems like we put her to sleep babbling
• Active – it is rare that this kid is still
• Loves people – she gets passed around so much at church and always seems to enjoy it

We love this little girl so much and are so grateful that God has given her to us to raise and train.  We are blessed.

Click here to see more of her 7 month pictures!

Book List for 2010

I finally narrowed down my list of books I want to read.  There were lots and lots that I wanted to read but I knew that if I put too many, I will get discouraged and never finish them.  I am finding that I am a person who needs clear goals and planning in order to accomplish things.  Some people can stay focused and be diligent without goals and planning but I happen to not be one of those people.  I quickly get caught up doing a million other things or pondering a million other thoughts or maybe dreaming up a million other ideas.   Mark and I joke a lot about my head getting stuck in the clouds.   It’s true.  It’s the reason I lose keys, cell phones, wallets, Liza’s shoes and a variety of other things. Also the reason I am usually late – daydreaming in the shower.

All of that to say, the reason I posted my book list as a page on the blog was for some sort of accountability and so that I have clear goals.  Also, I will probably post a little about what I am reading.  I stole this idea from the Passionate Homemaking blog; she did it last year and it worked well for her so I am going to give a shot and see how it goes.

Thanks for your suggestions, they were very helpful and gave me more books for the next year!

Am I a feminist?

This video is done by Mary Kassian who wrote The Feminist Mistake, a book which is definitely on my book list for this year.   I can’t wait to read it! She says that the leader of the feminist movement asked the right question: Where can women find fulfillment joy and peace?