20 years!!

Twenty years ago there was a 19 year old girl and a 21 year old boy.  There was just us and our cat…..

Twenty wonderful years later and we’ve added  ~soon to be~ 10 amazing children, a son in law,  soon our first grandbaby, a houseful of pets, a few grey hairs, and lots of love and laughter. 

We’ve had lots of busy times, loud times, fun times, and we’ve dealt with health challenges that have only made us love and cherish each other even more.  I’m grateful for all we’ve been thru and that we’ve been thru it together.  Years have grown us closer together and made us appreciate each other all the more.

These last 20 years have gone by fast.  They’ve been good years and I look forward to the next 20… though I do hope they go a little slower. ;o)

 

 

And two grew into…..

  

What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen each other in all labour, to minister to each other in all sorrow, to share with each other in all gladness, to be one with each other in the silent unspoken memories?  ~George Eliot

Multitude Monday

381. A visit with Papa and Nana

382. My newest 14 year old

 (Love you Shaylah!!)

383. Lapbooking with my little ones

384. Blossoms on our trees

385. Being married for 20 years

386. A quiet house

387. Going to church after missing several weeks with sickies

388. Surprise gifts from Shyloh 

(thank you very much for the cute cover!)

389. Excited boys coming home from their first baseball practice

390. Spring in the air…can’t wait for it to get here!

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.  Isaiah 58:11

Time

“I watch the hands move grace on the clock face. I’m growing older. These children growing up. But time is not running out. This day is not a sieve, losing time. With each passing minute, each passing year, there’s this deepening awareness that I am filling time, gaining time. We stand on the brink of eternity.”

~Ann Voskamp

What do I do with my time? How do I spend it? Where do I let it slip carelessly through my fingers?

Time is a gift. Every day, every hour, every minute, and yes, even every second. I blinked and one child is married and now soon to be having her own child. I blinked again and another one will be graduating in a short year and looking at heading out to the mission field. I blinked yet once again and my 14 year old is a beautiful young woman and the little boys are every day closer to being called young men, and my 3 littlest are not quite so little. The baby of the bunch runs with the rest of the pack and everyday shows more and more independence.

It seems like just a couple of years ago Duane and I stood up at that alter, knees shaking and voices quivering as we said I do. This week it will be 20 years since my best friend and I took those vows. 2o years…with our 20th anniversary addition to arrive just a few weeks later. So much has happened during this time yet where does time go?

I would love to freeze time, to slow it down, and in some cases to even stop it. That’s not how the Lord made it to work. Time keeps ticking by and with it does this wonderful journey. I’m so grateful for that day I said “I do”. I’m so blessed to have watched my first born grow into the lovely woman, wife, and soon to be mama she has become. The gift of watching these loud, wonderful, crazy children God has seen fit by His grace to bless us with has been more than I ever dreamed or ever deserved. To stand side by side with my best friend and to age together is a blessing.

Would I love to slow time a bit…yes, just a little. I want to enjoy each day, each hour, each minute, and each second. To stop and smell the roses and the babies, to look deep into each child's eyes, to make certain that each and everyone of my family knows, truly truly knows just how much I love them and cherish them. To not be ruled by time but rather to rule time. This is my goal.

Time does not have to be our enemy. If I view time through God’s eyes then it is a friend. Time is a blessing. What am I going to do with the time given to me?

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Multitude Monday

371. Herbs to help support our bodies thru sickness

372. Finally having the flu leave our home after two long weeks

373. Sleeping again

374. Getting my seed packets in the mail

375. My older girls pulling a double shift while I was sick
(Thank you girls!! Your the best!!)

376. Being read to by Poppet

377. A new six year old

378. Sitting in the sun

379. Seeing Papa and Nana…even though it was a brief visit due to having the flu

380. A gift of handmade burp cloths from Shyloh

A man's spirit sustains him in sickness,
but a crushed spirit who can bear?
Proverbs 18:14

To cloth or not to cloth…pt. 2

(These two posts were written at the same time, but due to a visit from the flu at our home I never made it back to the computer to post part 2. I’m sure you’ve just been waiting to hear more on cloth diapering! :o) Here you go!)

The third aspect of cloth diapering is the safety for the child.

An interesting fact about cloth diapers: children who are using cloth diapers rarely get diaper rashes, versus children in disposable diapers who will just about all experience what a rash is like. An interesting study was done in the 1990's on diapering and rashes. In 1955 virtually every baby in the country was using cloth diapers. Diaper rashes were at 7%. In 1991, 90% of babies were in disposable diapers. Rashes jumped from a mere 7% all the way up to 78%.

Disposable diapers are full of chemicals. Tri Butyl Tin (Tbt) is one of the most dangerous pollutants ever made, yet it's found in the inner and out layer of many disposable diapers. What makes disposable diapers absorbent is the gel sodium polyacrylate crystals (those nasty gelly beads you find on babies after they swim in a disposable diaper.) This gel was actually banned for use in tampons, for its link to causing toxic shock syndrome in women, yet it's still permitted and allowed to be used in baby's diapers?? It’s reported that if a child ingested even a mere 1/8 of a tsp of those gels it would be enough to kill them. Shocking. In bleached disposable diapers (nearly everything is bleached these days *sigh*) is a highly toxic chemical called dioxin, which scientists have dubbed "the most toxic chemical on earth." We’re not even sure what exposure to dioxin can cause, Shyloh looked it up online and it was very confusing. All we know is it's bad. LOL

Also of interest: disposable diapers have been linked to childhood asthma and all eyes, nose and throat irritations. Hmm, interesting.

Finally, in the category of safety, studies are currently being done on disposable diapers and their possible link to male infertility. Somehow, the plastics in the disposable diapers don't allow for airing or breathing the same way cloth diapers do, and it's causing little boy's "boy parts" to heat up to hot. Temperature is very important when it comes to little boy's man parts developing properly and their future sperm health.

Shyloh was very thorough when she did her research. She slowly got me to seriously consider going cloth, the only thing I was still hung up on was the convenience. Well let me just say that things have changed in the last 20 years when it comes to cloth diapering. The days of swishing out poop, pins, and icky rubber pants are long gone.

Today cloth diapers are quite amazing. You can use Chinese prefolds with a cover, (and that doesn’t mean a pair of rubber pants) there are all in one diapers, pocket diapers, and fitted diapers. Those are just the styles and types. The great thing is you can purchase these and because of the nifty little snaps and buttons they can adjust to fit your newborn or your two year old. How great is that?

As for cleaning them, that has been simplified also. They make little sprayers that attach directly to your toilet line and hide inconspicuously behind the tank. When you need to clean the diaper you just spray it off! If that is too much for you then you can also buy little biodegradable and flushable liners that you put inside the diaper. When they poop you just lift out the liner and flush. Voila!! Doesn’t get much easier than that!

Little Miss Shylie has graciously agreed to be our guinea pig. We figured we could practice on her to see if we even liked using cloth and if so what brands and styles we preferred. The first we tried was a basic pre-fold with a prorap cover. Let me just say that this was not her favorite. It was a bit more bulky that she was used to. I probably should have continued with that and she would probably have potty trained herself to get out of them.

Shyloh then ordered us a set of the all in one diapers and brought them over for Shylie. We knew we were in trouble when Shylie’s eyes lit up like giant stars at the sight of these pretty diapers. She went nuts! I turned over all ordering and researching of brands to Shyloh. We are splitting packs as they come so we can both figure out which ones we like or don’t like. When Shyloh carries in a package into our home Shylie runs to her and says, “baby diapers for me???” She looovves her new diapers. She tries to show off her diapers to anyone who comes over. Uh, oh. Not so good when we’ve been slowly working on potty training.

We’ve decided that we need to hurry up and go buy her some little training underwear quick…they just need to be prettier than these cloth diapers because she’s pretty taken with them.

So here I am going on baby #10 and I’m actually going to give this cloth thing a try. How’s that for teaching an old dog new tricks? I think this will definitely be interesting. My family are all just a bit concerned as they know that they are being dragged along on this ride. One for all and all for one! It will indeed be a new adventure for all of us!

To cloth or not to cloth…..pt. 1

That is the question.

When we were pregnant with Shyloh years ago we looked into using cloth diapers. Back then our reasons were totally financial. We wondered if that would be the more economical way to go. We didn’t have the internet at our finger tips so we did our research the old fashioned way….asking questions to those who had used cloth before and calling cloth diaper services.

In the end we decided that it just sounded like an awful lot of work, and the immediate expensive of purchasing all the cloth diapers, pins, and rubber pants was actually quite pricey. We also priced having a diaper service and if we did that then we might as well just buy disposable. We chose just going disposable.

Fast forward 20 years and this old dog is learning some new tricks…I think. Being pregnant at the same time as my young energetic daughter has allowed me to learn all sorts of new things. Shyloh is constantly researching and studying everything in preparation for her new baby. When she came to me a couple of months ago telling me she was considering cloth diapering I thought she was taking things to an extreme. I immediately thought back to my limited research on the subject and thought why would anyone want to do that?

As she slowly pulled me into her studies I started seriously considering cloth myself. Her are just a few of the things she has learned and passed my way…

First there is the financial aspect of diapering.

She found this helpful breakdown at Diapering Decisions. The costs calculated below for disposable, single use diapers are based on two of the most popular brands, using a store known for its value pricing.

~The newborn pkg. (up to 10 lb.) contains 48 diapers @ $16.23 = $0.34 each . The average number of changes for a newborn is 12-16 times per day for the first 2 weeks.14x7x2=196 diapers @ $0.34 =$66.64 The Infant # 1 pkg. contains 104 diapers up to 14 lb. @ 0.22 ea. An average baby requires 10-12 changes per day for the first 3 months 11x30x2.5 =825 diapers @ $.22 each = $181.50

~ The Infant # 2 pkg. 12-18 lb. contains 88 diapers @ $0.26 each. An average baby 3-6 months old requires 10-12 changes a day 11x30x3 =990 diapers @ $0.26= $257.40 Mega pack pricing was used for the balance of the packages as it is the least expensive. Each Mega Pack was $28.92+$2.02 GST For a total of $30.94 / pkg.

~The Infant #3 pkg. 16-18 lb. contains 96 diapers @ $0.32 ea. A 6-9 month old baby requires 8-10 changes per day 9x30x3= 810 diapers @ $0.32 ea. = $259.20

~The Infant # 4 pkg. 22-27 lb. contains 64 diapers @ $0.37 ea. A 9-12 month old child requires 8 changes per day 8x30x3 = 720 diapers @ $0.37 = $266.40

~The toddler pkg. # 5 over 27 lb. contains 58 diapers @ $0.41 each. An average 12-18 month old child requires 6-8 changes a day. 7x30x6=1260 diapers @ $0.41 ea. = $516.60

~The child #6 pkg. over 35 lb. contains 48 training diapers @ $23.00 =$0.45 each. An average 18-30 month old child requires 6-8 changes per day. 7x 364 = 2548 diapers @ $0.45= $1146.60

Total estimated average cost $2694.54 for 7,349 disposable, single use diapers. Keep in mind that these figures are a conservative estimate. It is not uncommon for a child of 3 years to require a diaper at night and children in single use diapers tend not to feel wetness requiring a longer duration of time for toilet training success. Your child's individual sleep pattern, body functions and their time frame for toilet training success will determine the number of actual diaper changes required.

Can we just say “WOW” over that one? I was surprised just by that. I still wasn’t convinced though as I usually buy my diapers with coupons on sale and don’t pay more than $4.oo or $5.00 per pack. She wasn’t done with me yet. Saving money isn't the only plus in cloth diapering.

Secondly there is the "saving the environment" aspect of diapering.

Did you know that each child goes through about 2 TONS of diapers in their diapering career?

And furthermore, did you know that it takes between 300 and 500 years for a disposable diapers to disintegrate in our landfills?

So with every baby born, about 2 tons of diapers sit in our landfill for 300-500 years waiting to decompose.

Yuck.

I must confess that we are not huge “Go Greeners” if you know what I mean. We try to do our part with recycling and over the last 2 years we have been very concerned with using cleaners that are safe, mostly for us to be around, but also because I don’t want all those chemicals going down my drain and getting into our soil and water systems….and yes, they do do that! Finding out that disposable diapers just sit in our landfills for all those years really grosses me out. I’m more shocked with how I’ve contributed to that than even the price I’ve spent on buying disposables.

Here’s another little tidbit that Shyloh and I are trying to find out if it’s fact or fiction. On many of the cloth diapering sites we’ve been reading, they claim that it is actually against the law to throw poopy diapers away because of the human feces that sit in the landfills and the germs they cause. Your supposed to dump the poop in the toilet first. We’ve read the packages of disposable diapers and can’t find any info on them and would love to know if this is true. It actually makes sense to me when I think about it. Anyone know the answer??

I’m breaking this into two posts because of how long I’ve rambled.

Multitude Monday

361. Little readers

362. Blossoms on my peach tree

363. Shaylah…the blessing she is with all her help!

364. Planning for the new school year

365. Science projects with Daddy…learning about electricity

366. Potlucks at church

367. Wandering through the fabric store

368. Finding writing on a school desk.
(Hmmm, guess Lolly is practicing writing her name)

369. Actually getting a good night’s sleep

370. Sorting through baby clothes :o)

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure
Psalm 16:9

Multitude Monday

451. Poppet: “Mama, when I get big I’m going to go to Africa with Shelbie because they need to know about Jesus too!”

452. Having a day of energy to clean my bathroom

453. Duane and his captain America helmet

454. Listening to the heartbeat of this little one within

455. Thinking of sleep…even though it has evaded me for 3 weeks

456. Shyloh taking her sewing machine to the ski lodge :o)

457. Lolly swinging away while loudly singing, “Jesus loves me this I know!”

458.Shylie being our guinea pig for cloth diapers

459. Watching Duane transform pieces of wood into a beautiful cradle

460. Little girls and braids

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28