Recent Vignettes

This blog post is a hodgepodge...little vignettes of my life from the past few weeks.

Of course, the biggest news was the passing of my father. He was 86. I won't go into details. Let me only say that I highly recommend staying healthy and out of nursing homes.

One thing I have been pondering since the funeral, though, were the images captured in photos of my aunts and uncles that I saw. For the first time I saw pictures of my aunts when they were young and newly married. The photos were the old sepia versions, but what caught my attention was the sparkle in their eyes. We get so used to seeing older people as they are at the moment that we forget that they too were once young and full of dreams for the future. Those images of my young aunts have really stayed with me.

Since then my husband and I have "celebrated" our 13th wedding anniversary. And I had a big zit on my face. Is that important? Yes! Who wants to go out to a nice restaurant for an anniversary "date" and have a big fat red circle that can't be hidden? It's like a neon sign: "I'm in my forties, my hair is going gray, and look at this big zit!!"

Ah well.

And, by the way, did I mention that our newest computer, which is probably four years old, died? So it took a week to figure everything out, but now we have the older computer, which is nine years old, hooked up to the Internet. And the ten-year-old computer is now being used for games by the kids. Why are the older computers outlasting the newer one? Hmm?

There's nothing like going to the public library to get on the computer to check your email, and being surrounded by young people on the other computers doing who knows what. Did I mention that my hair is more gray than brown, it seems, and there was a zit on my face?!

So that's the latest. Not very informative, but if, dear reader, you got a laugh, than that's fine.

Till next time,
Jeanette

Which Way to School?

I've been thinking lately on why I have chosen to homeschool my children. What is at the core of this decision?

So far my main reason is as thus. (Forgive me if this is disjointed; I'm still processing things.)

As I have pondered this question, "Why?" I am considering what abilities and skills I want my children to have when they are grown and even while they are growing.

The biggest thing I want my children to be able to do is take responsibility for themselves and their decisions. In other words, I want them to be able to think critically and wisely about whatever faces them, then have the ability to make a decision about it that they can justify and life with and defend. And to not fall down in despair if it turns out to be a wrong decision.

It took me years of being out in "the real world" and the workforce and even after I quit my job to realize just how much I depended on someone else to tell me what to do. And I think in large part that is due to the current public school system where everything is structured and children go here, do this, then do that, etc. They don't have much input or say or responsibility. After 12 or so years, that gets to be a habit.

So I don't want that for my kids. I want them to have the freedom to take responsibility and be self-directed. To have the discipline and the self-confidence to do that. To be able to be spontaneous in learning.

There are other issues as well, but I would have to say this is the main issue for me. I'm still processing things, like I said, but this is at the core.

After all, I thought to myself, what is the purpose of education? To gain knowledge? Or to prepare for life?

I think the latter is the foundation for the former.

Till next time,
Jeanette

My New Best Friend: White Vinegar

Our last women's meeting was very informative. We talked about natural cleaning products, as well as natural beauty products.

My biggest "find" of the night was distilled white vinegar. I was told that not only does it make a great fabric softener and "uric acid" remover in laundry (think potty training), but also that it makes a great floor cleaner. Since our dryer's motor died in June and it was a couple of weeks before it was repaired, we had to hang out our laundry. White vinegar, a half cup or so poured in before the rinse cycle, worked great! The clothes we hung out did much better, especially the towels. They didn't turn into hardened sticks, like they had before! I'm already on my second container of white vinegar for the laundry.

I haven't tried it on the floor yet, but I found out it works great on mold!

You see, our laundry room sink got all these splashed-up mold spores from the drain because JD kept playing with the sink and turning the water on full blast. A white sink with black spots where there are to be no black spots is not nice. Especially since just wiping at them did not remove them.

Then I had that "Aha!" moment. Why not use distilled white vinegar on it? I got an extra toothbrush, a cup with vinegar, and went to work. Let me tell you--those little spots literally melted in the vinegar. I'm serious. They melted. I felt like dancing around.*

Distilled white vinegar is my new best friend.

Isn't God good to have provided all these natural solutions in His creation?

Till next time,
Jeanette

*I still would recommend that the area be well ventilated when cleaning. After all, mold is mold.

The Joy of Hearing Your Child's Voice

Can I just say how awesome it is to hear your child talk?

For all those of you who are saying, "What?! Are you nuts?" No, I'm not.

When you have a child who does not speak, express opinion, show emotion or affection, than when he does do any of those things, you are absolutely thrilled!

JD, who will be seven years old in September, actually repeated a bedtime prayer on Friday night. It was awesome, gratifying, and wonderful. Does it matter that he was just repeating my words? Does it matter that it was sort of "echoing"? Not to me!! He prayed. He talked to God. That's all that matters, in my book.

It was the first time he has prayed like that.

It is wonderful to hear him say emphatically, "No." It is awesome to hear him express an opinion by saying "no." It is great to hear him sing a little song about shapes that he likes. It is even more wonderful to hear him count to 30 by following numbers on the calendar. It is awesome to see him write letters on the dry erase board. But to hear him repeat a prayer? That is joy unspeakable. God's goodness abounds toward us!

I am expecting great things to come next!

Till next time,
Jeanette

Front Teeth Tales

Remember the little song, "All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth"?

How about losing two front teeth?

My six-year-old has four new permanent teeth in. However, the four baby teeth that were replaced took their time coming out. In fact, the permanent teeth came in behind the baby teeth.

Now, that wasn't so bad for the bottom ones. But the top? After two months of having four top front teeth, JD was sitting in the dentist's office. The dentist took one look and said, "The baby teeth have to come out ASAP."

What does that mean? It means my six-year-old has to go to a "special dentist", go under anesthesia and be put to sleep, and have his teeth pulled.

Not nice.

So we had the consultation with the "special dentist." When I asked about what type of mask I could use to practice with JD, he generously gave me one. For a couple of days leading up to the appointment, we practiced "breathing" through the mask for anesthesia. We even counted while holding the mask.

It's all about preparation.

The big day came--no eating any food or drinking any water from midnight the night before. At 7:35 a.m. we were at the office, the first appointment of the day. After I signed all the paperwork describing what could go wrong (!), JD did GREAT!

He counted to 30 with the mask; I was kicked out of the room so they could do the procedure; 15 to 20 minutes later he was waking up and the teeth were in my purse. And he didn't get sick or anything.

Whew!

He did better with it than I did, I think.

How many more baby teeth to go? Twelve?

"Father, I ask in the name of Jesus that the rest of JD's baby teeth come out easily on their own!"

Amen.

Till next time,
Jeanette

Bits and Pieces

Bits and pieces tonight...

My container garden is growing well...although some unknown creature dug a hole in my pepper plant pot. In the dirt, that is. Quite puzzling. At least the plant is still growing. We've eaten quite a bit of the lettuce. How nice it is to just go "cut some lettuce" and have it on the table rather than buying it at the store!

Our 6-year-old son's progress is wonderful. He actually put words together to say "I hungry" the other night. And he has learned how to swing by himself. It is now his favorite pastime. The only thing is, he swings so high and hard that we have to stand there and hold down the swing set!

My new recipes that I have tried lately (just search for "Sue Gregg" to find her cookbooks online) have been awesome. Good-bye flour; hello blender batter method for baking! Very tasty, and much nicer for alternative grains. Can I say "Almond Coffee Cake"? Barley is our latest favorite grain!

My latest revelation is that, more than we realize, what goes on in our lives is a result of our choices. It's not God's fault. Neither is it really the devil's fault (although he takes advantage of our ignorance). More like it's our fault. What Genesis says is that God created mankind to be in charge. We were created to have dominion over the earth and that dominion was put in motion at the beginning. So it's our responsibility. The ramifications are interesting...

Till next time,
Jeanette

Turnaround in a Day

Yikes. I haven't done very well with my New Year's Resolution, have I?

So what has been going on lately that I haven't been blogging? Well, it really is more an attitude than an actual event. Sure, things have been interesting lately with potty training. (I should keep track of the money spent on this particular aspect of parenting. Bribes, new potty chair, distractions, prizes, stickers, doctor's visit!) A doctor's visit for potty training? Yes, even that. Not to help with training, but to make sure nothing is wrong with the bottom because of withholding. Yep. We got into that little cycle. Diaper rash, it hurt, then four weeks of crying and fussing at pooping. Sigh. So yeah, add a visit to the pediatric clinic to the list of costs.

And it's only the beginning of June.

Back to my point. It's not really events; it's an attitude that has been causing me to avoid blogging. In a nutshell, I was too tired to put forth the effort. But after a discussion last night with my husband about changing the way we parent, plus some other steps we made, things are turning around, even in one day.

Now that sounds like God, doesn't it?

Change in one day. I like that.

Briefly, we acknowledged that we are both laid back and easy going, and that doesn't work for the almost-four-year-old's personality and character. We have to change and be more proactive and return demands with, "God gave you two legs and arms and a brain, so you can do it yourself."

That's just a general example, but do you get the drift?

So that's a small picture of life in the Sprecher household recently. I'm sure more changes are to come. Including maybe blogging more often!

Till next time,
Jeanette