Ian loses his first tooth

Ian lost his first tooth at Costco while eating their pizza.  "They have really hard pizza," he said.  The second was to follow after about a week.  Refusing to let us touch it or even see it, when the second came out while brushing, he was relieved.  He took the dollar from the tooth fairy in stride, without too much excitement.  I guess having his brother go through all this already he figured he was just going through the motions.  What a character!

Winter at NW Trek

Winter at NW trek

Christmas Eve 2010 candlelight service

Benjamin with Dunning grandparents during candlelight service, I can't believe these pictures came from my cell-phone!  Below, Ian with his candle dressed in his dashing sweater!

Fletcher

So, I am now a foster mom!  To dogs & cats.  I just got my first dog adopted out after 9 days with us and 1 false start.  I am sure he is enjoying his new family and getting lots of attention.  What a great dog!

Now we have a beautiful family of cats!  A lovely mother and 7 kittens we get to name!!  We'll see if I am organized enough to profile them each here.  I've had them about 6 hours and my biggest impression is how much they poop and how stinky it is!
I call the mama "Selene" after my sweet cousin-in-law.  She is very gentle and friendly.

Organic Food Journey

We've been on a food journey.
I wondered for a long time what the big deal was.  Why did a roommate in college insist on buying Breyers ice-cream which was three times more expensive than the cheapest ice-cream I was satisfied with, when we were sharing grocery money?

I've long thought that the cheapest food was the best stewardship.

I was exposed to vegan foods during at a summer job in food service and then my mind cracked open.  A tiny beam of light trickled in... I wondered at this long-held worldview assumption that informed my buying decisions (get it for the cheapest price possible).  Is it possible there was more than one perspective?  (Like EVERYTHING else I have discovered in life... life is not only blacks, whites and grays.  Turns out, there are many shades of white.  There is a variety of good choices out there depending on the outcomes I want.  God is so amazing!!  So many choices and only increasing since the beginning of time with our partnership in His creativity.

I found out I had cholesterol on the high end of the spectrum.  We were unemployed, money was tight. I began to study foods that would be healthier, I stopped buying red meat...

Then money was no where and we got state assistance.  We received more money than I had ever been able to spend on food previously.  This allowed me for the first time to experiment with organic produce, and to look into alternate forms of protein.  I began to read voraciously and watch documentaries, interviews and how-to websites about food.  I spent hours in the bulk section of Winco, ventured into a natural foods store where I bought dried seaweed, and immersed myself in Fred Meyer's Natural Foods section.

My head started to hurt a bit, but in a good way as I became hooked on learning about something so fundamental as nutrition and how many people world-wide find ways to keep their bodies running smoothly.  As my mind began to open even more, letting in a stream of enlightening sunshine, an invigorating energy filled me to learn more, try a few things.

We tried out all different kinds of "milk."  We used Sneaky Chef to hide nutrient dense vegetables, fruits, sardines, tofu etc. in our regular food.  I saw Michael Pollen on Oprah and got his book from the library: The Omnivore's Dilemma.  We checked out Food Inc., and a harsher one whose title I can't remember relating to the treatment of low-wage laborers in the food industry; mainstream food system not only rests on animal cruelty, but human cruelty and violations of human rights.

I realize that I have judged people by their food choices.  Bad me.  Most of the world eats differently than I am used to eating.


We tried vegan recipes and discovered the Aztec's ancient protein Quinoa ("keen-wa").  We switched to turkey burgers.  One week I bought every brand of (processed) vegan bean burgers as I read Alisha Silverstone's The Kind Diet.  On principle it is easy to be against feedlots, caged poultry, pig tail docking... animal cruelty.  It's another thing to buy milk for $6 a gallon instead of $2 when you've used up your budget for the week.


Or maybe that's the real test of the strength of our beliefs and values.  What do I do when it really costs me?  This is my continuing journey as the food handler for my family and what I will pass on to them about food and about our values.  I am certainly passing on my curiosity, passion for learning and willingness to learn and try new things.


The real cost of food is the peace of mind for me knowing that I voted with my grocery dollars for the safest, healthiest, happiest food I could.  And hoping, trusting in the research that eating less pesticides will keep me healthier in my lifetime, and the planet healthier for my kids' lifetimes.

I feel good about that kind of stewardship.

Benjamin says to me one day (very diplomatically), "Thanks Mom for letting us try to be vegetarian, but I like eating meat." ha ha!  Can't beat that.  I still work in vegan/vegetarian meals weekly.  I plan the meals and try to cook daily, not relying on processed meal-in-a bags from Costco.  Food is one of my partners in raising my family.  I don't judge other people for their food choices, but I certainly am excited to share what I've learned and encourage people to think outside the box, and try something new.  Especially something that can be modified to your family's tastes.  In that way I feel like a food scientist!

Aaron gave me a gift, once we had the new job... He doubled our food allowance so we could make these choices permanently.  I still have to plan--in order to keep things within the guidelines, but his support has been priceless.  And he has eaten a lot of meals I was afraid of, myself!!  He's my hero!!

Tea

I have become a tea drinker.  Socially it is more supported than hot chocolate and I began a process to phase-in tea.
I began with Green tea, known for it's health-inducing properties.  This I drowned in milk and four spoons of sugar. (To be fair they were tiny South African teaspoons.)  I also steep it eternally, so it no longer looks like dyed water.

Next I tried Peppermint tea, purported by some to clear the skin...I even brewed a huge batch and made iced tea, sweetened with honey, sans milk.
Now I have come to really enjoy a hot cup of tea at lunch.  The weather being what it is, I can relax and have a cup sitting around, which I rewarm as necessary since the tea bag is a happy guest of my cup.  I am still generous with the honey, and if attempting to drink immediately I add a single ice cube to cool to drinking temp.  I always use my tea bag twice.

Now I can finally be considered an adult!  I had Good Earth tea over Christmas and it was very tasty!  A friend also shared a jasmine green tea with me, which was delightful as well.

Here's to tea and to personal growth, here here!

Weapons of Mass Instruction an essay on Emily's journey

The book by John Taylor Gatto published in 2009, was inspiring and eye-opening to my own condition.  My takeaway from the read was two-fold: 1) compulsory schooling including school regulation & huge bureaucracy that subsequently formed is harmful to the education of children . 2) Standardized testing as a measure of the system's success fails the all-around child by labeling them & holding them to mature identically.

He postulates with many examples & sources that what has made America great is under attack, and that by removing children from the influence of family and life education for most of every day to be schooled by strangers, they are ultimately being trained to obedient subservient life to "the man".  What made America great was our ingenuity, our independent thinking, our natural curiosity & problem solving.  Additionally he surmises that by extending the schooling years & thus "childhood" of our youth from seven years or so, to twelve, our young people are more immature and at the end still need time to find themselves, because they have merely been following a path set out by some compulsory power.

It is extremely worth reading. 

The alternative is basically some version of homeschooling.  Kids with their parents, being raised to learn through life's lessons, and the feedback (negative or positive) of life experience.  Even "doing school at home" may still create a workbook student, who can test, but not learn on their own.  He encourgages engaging student interest in their own learning by following their current passions with volunteer projects etc.

I for one do not see why students should have so many high school years.  Hormones raging but not old enough to marry and do something about them.

It opened my eyes to my journey.  In the last ten years I have been educating myself on the subjects of life and hobbies.  I thought when I finished college I would be done with school.  From college I learned that falling asleep in chapel has a direct correlation to staying up late socializing the night before.  I made wonderful friends, and then we all got married and moved away...to have our lives.  I began my education in Israel on a living in the land semester.  I studied hard, I worked hard, I was independent, and I got 100% on fill in tests!  I finally earned a grade instead of learning and working the school system.  School is about going through the motions.  Education is embracing  learning, propelling exploration!

In the last few years I have been learning to cook.  Deeply immersing myself in stacks of books from the library about organic farming, seasonal eating, healthy eating, vegetarianism, veganism and getting vegetables into kids.  We have eaten at Indian restaurants and tried to learn about their foods.

I taught myself to knit, or rather an elderly Asian woman at a craft-store class and a five year old Ryan, on a library video, taught me.  As a reference I have a pocket knitting for dummies booklet.  I learned mostly that unless it's sentimental to knit something, it is incredibly cheaper in materials and time to buy what you need.  So much for off the grid!

I investigated having pet chickens, but this is on hold.  Once again, more expensive than just buying eggs.

Throughout my marriage I have read books and attended conferences together to educate ourselves better about this opposite self.  Financial classes,  communication seminars, dance lessons!

Lately, massage therapy-is this a good career for me and is it still going to be after I pay $8000 and 8-12 months of my life investing in it?

And physically, I will have to be stronger to do it, so I invest myself toward yoga and core strengthening to consider the physical costs of this course of action.  Not to mention that I don't like exercise.

I have volunteered with my kids' classrooms, and it helped lead me away from para educating, or a regular school job.  So many rules, even at a relatively progressive public school.

Is "unschooling" for us?  I read a book about Unschooling for Christian families.  Trusting God to lead families' daily education of their children, and the Holy Spirit to lead the children themselves with their parent's facilitation.  It would mean putting my plans on hold, or it could be a part of a plan I couldn't envision.  This is the reality of education--the rabbit trails of life experience!  That is where the treasure and value is.

My children made a list over break of things they want to learn about.  I want to travel and take them to learn about The Mona Lisa, Graupel (hailish weather), pet cats and ? And for Ian, why does the world spin, why does rubbing your hands together (friction) make heat?

I think we'll stay at school, since ours is progressive, but it's hard to find time to unschool with them gone all day.