Modern day propaganda

When Barack Obama was running for President, I sent an email to his campaign team asking about his position on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a VERY dangerous piece of legislation that takes the responsibility for raising child away from parents and gives it to the government. By sending that email, I've been put on the email list for "Organizing for America," the team of people who do the President's bidding. It has been SO very interesting to read the garbage that these people send out, how they twist statistics and flat out LIE about things. I even got the email that told me to report to the governement all individuals who tell me anything about the health care plan that is different than what the President says about it. (Did you hear about that in the news?) I thought you might find this morning's email entitled "Sarah Palin" a little interesting:

"Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn.

It's dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term "Death Panels" and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists.

Whatever lie comes next will be widely convered by the media, then constantly echoes by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform."

Of course, I could go on and on about how this isn't reforming health--it's about the government taking over our lives. Why does the government need access to the personal financial records of doctors without a supeona in order for us to have adequate health care? Senator Tester of Montana has yet to answer that question for me...

Oh the day and times in which we live!

I'm home sick

I get home sick in the fall. I want to be in the Blue Ridge, surrounded by orange and maroon leaves (Go Hokies!). I want to go to a Virginia Tech football game. I want to eat chili at my mom's house and watch the Dolphins lose another game with my dad. And, because of facebook, I want to go to a Rural Retreat game and see people that I haven't seen in 12 years.

Sigh....

Read "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. There is a pdf of the book you can download for free on DesiringGod.org.

Since I'm not moving anytime soon...

I might as well just cut off all of my hair. I've realized, lately, that I love change. I've never really had to "create" change for myself--my life just naturally does it for me. It is a STRETCH for me (and a sign of my obedience to God!) to not have a move in my forseeable future. Feeling a bit isolated and, well, stuck, I need to find an outlet for change. Go-go-gadget scissors! Jeremy likes it a lot mre than he thought he would! So do I! (And, yes, Hannah went to watch--she's in the bottom corner of the last picture.)

A Prayer for Mothers

"May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us--yes, establish the work of our hands." Ps 90:17

Do you ever look around at the harsh weather of our world and wonder how the precious seeds of the Gospel will withstand in the fragile souls of our children? Here is an encouraging prayer for us from Moses, a man who investing a large portion of his life leading God's children. Can't you just hear his cry? "Please make the work I've done for you mean something! Protect what I have planted into the hearts of your people!"

Almost everyday I wake up and remind myself that what I'm doing through the teaching, correcting, rebuking, guiding, and loving of the little souls in my house is worth all of the energy, sacrifice, time, and character refinement (!) that I go through. It pains me to see the opposition growing, wanting to strip away all that I am laboring so intensely for. What encouragement this verse gives me! May it bless your heart, too.

Alive (barely)

We are alive in Montana. Barely alive, but alive nonetheless. The intensity in both the work and pace of life has not slowed down since busy season started. In fact, it feels like it has increased in speed. I'm finding myself with less and less time to do things like talk on the phone and read emails, let alone respond to emails, read blogs and post blogs! (To the shock and gasp of some of my friends, I've only found time to download pictures from my camera two times in 2009! Thank you, God, for multiple memory cards!) Here are the highlights:

1) We took a five day vacation via driving (13 +) hours in the truck to Colorado where we camped for three days with Jeremy's friends from NC. Then we visited MORE friends of Jeremy's who currently live in Colorado Springs. It was good to get away from MT. The trip confirmed our theory that CO would be the grand "compromise" location for us to live. Too bad a compromise isn't up for discussion... :)

2) The puppy is like having a fourth child who destroys all of my things but will never take care of me in retirement. Because of the stress of said dog, I haven't even managed to go to the park with my kids this summer. Summer will be over in approximately five weeks. I suppose there is always next year!

3) We have submitted paperwork to be licensed as adoptive foster parents and this past weekend we spent 18 hours getting trained, if that is at all possible. (For those who don't know, we feel that God wants us to (eventually) adopt two little girls. We want to be "ready" if and when God leads us to bring a daughter home out of foster care.) If you want to be confronted with the realities of sin in the community where you live, if you want to get out of your "Christian bubble" and see suffering just a few streets down from your own house, then get licensed as a foster parent. There were times sitting in the class that I was physically sick hearing the stories of what happens to kids in my community. (Thank you, Lord, for the grace shown to me and my family that those things didn't happen to us.)

4) House projects. Oh the house projects! Oh the woes of buying a house as old as your father...

5) Jeremy's parents are here visiting (and cooking and working on #4 above and playing and playing and playing). I found them a house just two blocks away to live in. Too bad that isn't up for discussion right now either...

6) Hannah needs to drop her nap so that she will actually go to sleep at night. Benjamin's nap needs to be shortened so that HE will go to sleep at night. You can imagine how much this thrills me!

7) I got a piece of mental sanity (a NordicTrac A.C.T.) and it is the biggest reason why I've successfully avoided professional therapy this summer. :) And in addition to the sanity, my "old" body is s-l-o-w-l-y coming back. I'm so glad I had 2/3 of my pregnancies in Korea! It is impossible to "bounce back" without walking everywhere!

Those are the highlights. Off to wake up the kiddos...

Our newest addition

Meet Molly! Molly is eight weeks old, has been in our house for four days, and has turned my life upside.

I love my husband.

Our own "big dig"

We have four seasons here at the Rhodes house--Tax Season, Construction Season, Hunting Season and Christmas. Saturday, April 19th started Construction Season. All day that day Jeremy and Jesse (a friend of ours from church) took out windows and put new ones in. (The trim isn't up yet, but when do we ever finish a project and then start a new one??)

The next weekend was the "Big dig"! The less-than-intelligent former owners of this house didn't put a drainage pipe along the retaining wall in our backyard. After thirty years of water pressure, the wall was on the brink of collapse. So we had to rent a mini-excavator to break down the wall, dig out for an egress window, and dig a huge ditch to lay pipe down before building the new retaining wall.

Then it snowed. I mean recard-breaking 25.6 inches of snow. On top of all of that dirt. Construction got delayed.

Of course, we couldn't finish that project because we need to finish fencing in the yard in order to babysit a dog for a (new but become close) friend of ours. Ever seen five mean CARRY A FENCE??

The kids have had SO MUCH FUN "working" in the garage with Daddy!!

Today is weekend #4 of construction. God has blessed our socks off with lots of men coming to help! And by Monday night I may have a fenced in backyard :) A first for me, and I'm THRILLED!! (I pay our help in food, of course!!)

Levi, March 2009

My little man! What a guy...He wants to walk SO BADLY!!

updating...

As my dear friend Cortney says "It's tax season--Laura Beth doesn't have time to blog right now." I told her that only people who understand tax season are allowed to be my friends :)

I'm in week 7 of 14 of tax season and it is going MUCH better than last year! I'm not pregnant (yeay!), Jeremy isn't studying (yeay! yeay!) and we have a dishwasher (hip-hip horray!). I haven't had a day of depression yet this winter, and I consider that monumental success compared to last year! The kids are SO much fun--craft time, vroom-vroom time, growing teeth--all the adventures of my everyday life. I've had struggles from annoying to deep to petty--from two weeks of being sick with a nasty cold (and I"m the only one who got it...), to trying to wrestle with the Supremacy of God and the falling-apart-of-America, to "when will I EVER fit into my clothes." Definitely an adventure and never a dull moment!

I still haven't finished downloading CHRISTMAS pictures off of my camera, but here are some pics from about two weeks ago. Enjoy. Maybe I'll have more posted before April 15th. Don't hold your breath :)

Bubba Benjamin

What a character! There is no lack of personality when it comes to my second child! Whether it is poking his brother's nose, exploring new toys, or just hanging out, Benjamin is an endless source of entertainment! And what an affectionate child! He loves to snuggle on the couch (he even asks to snuggle with me!) and he gives kisses smack on the mouth. Oh how I love my little big man!

(In case you were wondering, this is called constructive procrastination--I still need to pack!!)

Can you see me?

Have you watched the first Home Alone movie? Do you remember the chaos in the house the night before they all flew to France? That's me. Right now. As I type this. In less than 12 hours I will be in the airport. If you only knew what had to be finished first....

It's Christmas!! I'm going HOME!!!! Where it is WARM!! And there are fresh Krispy Kreme donuts and delicious Chick-fil-A sandwiches! Where I get to be with my mom and my kids can play with their grandparents! HOME!!!! YIPPY!!!

Passion for the Poor?

As bloggers, we write about the things we are passionate about. Obviously, I'm passionate about my kids :) With Christmas here and the economic condition being what it is, God is increasing my passion for the poor. And with that passion comes a short blog. There is a need in all of our lives to constantly monitor how God has blessed us and how we are using those blessings. It is easy to think that if we give 10% we are being obedient. If we give 10% of gross income we think we are doing better, and if we give more than 10% then we must really be generous people. I wish it were that easy. I wish there was a magic equation that we could plug numbers into and come out with a "correct" amount to give. But God didn't give us a formula. Instead, the New Testament measure of giving is "give as I have given you." I struggle with having this kind of heart. I want to give a little extra at Christmas--some toys to Toys for Tots or a tag on the Angel Tree. But what happens when I find out that in Great Falls there are over 500 people in the Rescue Mission and at the beginning of this week the Rescue Mission only had a gift for 1/4 of them. What is to be my response? What is to be yours?

Do you know of needs in your community? If so, are you trying to meet them, even if it requires creativity? If you don't know of the needs, are your eyes open to see them? Or are you looking at your Christmas to-do lists, the school programs, cookies, present wrapping, and carol singing?

God wants to pour into our hearts and lives so that we overflow into the lives of others. Take a chance--give someone a note this year that says that the money for their present went to the Rescue Mission to a homeless child. Or don't buy yourself something. Or take some of your presents to the Rescue Mission instead of keeping them yourself. You may give a smile to someone who is living a life of despair and give yourself the gift of freedom.

Hooray! It's Levi!

Poor Levi. Jeremy downloaded pics the other day and it had been two weeks since I had taken shots of my little man! I recommitted myself to documenting his little life, so here you go! He weighed 13 lbs 9oz in the hospital three weeks ago, so I'm guessing he is around 15 lbs right now. He was three months old last Thurday, and is almost in 6-9 month clothes! The best part is that he is sleeping through the night. He is going 10 hours at night between feedings and nursing every 4 hours during the day. (He nurses a bit more often in the evening to tank himself up for the long stretch, which doesn't bother me at all!) Hannah and Benjamin never blessed me like that :) he loves his playmat and giggles at the star in the middle of it. He is a very happy little guy and is all smiles at his brother and sister. And he'll have his first plane ride in just four days!!

Craft time

We were challenged in church to pick an area of our lives that we need to "invest" in rather than "indulging." I know it is a sickness, but I found I have been "indulging" in cleaning my house and finishing things on the ever-growing to-do list. So I stopped indulging and started investing in my kids. We spend almost 1.5 hours a day doing craft time at their little table. They love it (of course) and God is rewarding my efforts by giving me kids who are actually obeying me. The number of spanking for disobedience and disrespect have decreased dramatically! So, if you call my house before 10am, this is what we will look like on the other end!

Playing in their "house"

I'm always in need of a creative way of keeping the kids busy while I nurse Levi. Last week, I turned the pack-n-play on its side, put the botton of the pack-n-play on the floor, threw in their favorite blankets, pillows, and bears, and they played "house." For thirty minutes. That's a LONG TIME for my kids to do any one thing!

2008 Family PIctures

These were taken when Levi was two weeks old. I love them :) Thank you, Christel!

New hooks

I'm all about function. Look at these fabulous hooks I got at Target!! Only 20 hooks :) I can hang all of our stuff when we come in from going to church--it's awesome!

Thanksgiving Collage

On the list of the many things I want to do is to actually learn how to use my upgrade to Picasa. The pictures of this are small, but it was easy to create. Here's our Thanksgiving day! We had 16 "big" people, five "littles" and Levi. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun!!

Levi's hospital stay

We didn't manage to get the camera to the hospital when he was only in a diaper with the IV tubes, heart monitor cords, and oxygen cord. But just the IV is sad to look at! It was quite the weekend, and I'm so thankful that our children have been (and are) healthy and that trips to the hospital are an unusual thing in our lives. It is easy to sit in the hospital room and have a lot of sympathy for people who are there a lot.