Here is my reflection on Mary’s perspective during her final stages of pregnancy. It has been a joy to be great with child during this Advent season. Merry Christmas to All!
“Blessed is she who believes that what the Lord has said will be accomplished.” Luke 1:45
Choc-amole!
Have you ever had awesome neighbors that bring you bags full of avocados that their large tree keeps churning out? Us too! Thanks to Carl and Debbie, we have had those rough Santa Barbara days with more avos than we know what to do with. So when in doubt, search for dessert recipes!
This odd combination of avocados laced with chocolate ends up being a healthy, creamy, satisfying treat to fill that sweet craving that you get at the end of a long, pregnant day. *Happy sigh.* Continue reading
From Babiesrock.com
(I started with part 1 of this post here and will continue with *more* baby information below! Can you even handle it?!)
CHILDBIRTH (Cont.)
Here are a couple more childbirth resources that I wanted to add to our list.
In terms of preparing your body physically for birth, there are some very important exercises worth doing. And this book gives exercises and pointers for before and after birth, in order to get your body back into pre-baby condition. (I’m not talking weight loss, but making sure that internal organs and muscle structures get re-toned and put back into position. Don’t go bouncing on a trampoline until your nether regions are back in order, if you catch my drift…) Continue reading
The “Fermenting Females!”
I had the fun opportunity to host a Fermentation 101 class for a group of moms here in Santa Barbara and it was a ball! I started by posting to my homeschool email list serve to see if anyone was open to doing a monthly fermented food swap (like one I had done in DC), but almost all who responded were curious about fermenting foods, yet wanted to learn more before they started swapping their creations.
So my hospitable friend, Jenna, opened up her home to 15 of us and we learned, tasted, and made sauerkraut and orange marmalade together.
Following are the notes, recipes and pictures of our little Fermentation Festival!
Before…
Since getting pregnant with my first daughter over 8 years ago (!) and now heading into my 4th birth at the end of this year (!), I have been collecting resources regarding healthy pregnancies, natural childbirth, the initial parenting years, and all manner of controversial stuff that you never knew was a part of having children – until you started having children. And because of my fascination and promotion of these subjects from an alternative, non-mainstream slant, I continually get emails from
…and after!
newly pregnant family, friends, and acquaintances asking for a variety of resources. So I have finally decided to add it to this blog in its ever-changing form.
So enjoy this overwhelming, yet finite list of baby interesting-ness and please add your favorite go-to resources in the comments below.
Univenture – All rights reserved.
I had an FMOO (Freak Moment Of Organization) before starting homeschooling this year. (My son is in kindergarten and the younger daughter is in preschool. My oldest daughter is in 3rd grade at a Spanish immersion charter school. Love dem kids!)
I created a binder with (most of) my important stuff in one place. So brilliant, no? And I even got all nerdy by using those clear plastic sheets so nothing gets wet when my daughter spills her drink on it. (Already happened.)
(Be sure to read Part 1 and Part 2!)
OUR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: The small efforts that are making a BIG difference
So if the goal in helping feed the world is to get people to the point of meeting their own needs, then I am going to focus on organizations who are thinking beyond and doing more than just giving hand outs. As Dennis Prager pointed out, if the National Park Service warns, “Please Do Not Feed the Animals” because they may grow dependent on hand outs and not learn to take care of themselves, perhaps (with the exception of emergency relief and short-term help) we should treat humans with the same respect. If that sounds harsh, know that even leaders in poor countries and ex-pats working within them are acknowledging this concern as well.
(On a personal note, a team of friends just returned from a humanitarian trip to Haiti and were surprised and discouraged that one of the few phrases many of the local children could speak in English was, “Give me a dollar.” Let’s teach the next generation to say, and do, more than that.)
For a detailed critique of past and current development efforts, and some inside-out recommendations for improvement, see When Helping Hurts. I would also highly recommended a set of podcasts that delve deep into the questions of poverty called Poverty Unlocked. Continue reading
(To begin with Part 1, go here first.)
WHY THE GENETICALLY MODIFIED STATUS QUO AIN’T WORKIN’
“WEIRD SCIENCE” (FYI, I cannot find all of the links online to back up Joel’s review of the scientific literature. Intuitively, I trust him and know that in one of his many books, he cites specific back up. As well, bad science has a way of getting buried by the big guys who could be negatively impacted by it…)
Our society has all but swallowed the mainstream science that has promoted Genetically Modified crops and chemical fertilizers as safe and much more productive than its organic, (God-designed) counterparts. But if you look a little deeper, you’ll see the failings and biases of even the world’s best science. Continue reading
I’m not going to even bother answering this question with a “yes” or a “no.” Instead, I am going to explain why we have no other choice than to feed the world sustainably (via a little history lesson and a critique of the status quo.) And finally I will share some awesome, yet little known examples of how others are already doing so.
But first let’s start with a definition for “sustainability.” Continue reading
One of my new, wonderful friends in Santa Barbara, Jenna, sent me an email a little over a month ago alerting me to this conference. I was SO excited about an event where Christians were talking about food issues, because seeing that combo come together has been a passion of mine for a number of years now. I also happen to think gluttony is the last acceptable sin in the church (at the cost of oppressing the ‘least of these’) and, as a whole, we Christians are getting schooled on creation-care by our hippy counterparts. So it was a real encouragement to hear that the Vision Forum was tackling this mighty subject. Continue reading
Shesourceful 
