Mr. Prof designer home

Little man kickin me out from the inside,
Little man huggin me tight from the outside,
Could anything be more grand?
I love it how you took my hand.
Would you walk through the valley of the shadow of life with me?
Cause sometimes the way ain't clear and I just can't see.

But with you at my side,
And our gaggle o' kids,
I'm the happiest bride,
And we won't flip our lids...
Oh, could anything be more grand?
I've got a perfect fit in your hand.

Little miss stirrin the bowl on the counter,
Lego boats makin their wars on the hour,
Could anything be more grand?
I love it how you understand.
Will you walk through the days of pain and forgetting with me?
Cause I know the way'll get dark and we'll be weak.

But with you at my side,
And our gaggle o' kids,
I'm the happiest bride,
And we won't flip our lids...
Oh, could anything be more grand?
I love it when you hold my hand.
I'm the happiest girl in the band.

For Doug by Jess. January 23, 2010

One day last week, I went on a cleaning splurge with the kids... I woke up and told them, "today is gonna be a cleaning day." After breakfast, brooms began flying, appliances were wiped down, things that had been lost were found, furniture was rearranged... and by 11:30 or so, we'd made quite a big impact on the apartment. The whole living space looked different and we all enjoyed the fruit of our labor!

Today, I feel like doing the same thing with my Bloglines account. So here we go, here's a link-sharing festival of just the articles I've saved in my Bloglines blog reader. Enjoy!

FEATURE ARTICLE:
Our culture downplays the pressure of living life as a "modern, successful woman"-- Aifric Campbell shares about the major transition of her life, going from career woman to mother (a few excerpts, and then the link) :

I had a seven-figure salary but worked so hard I rarely had time to spend it. Personal shoppers at Harrods and Harvey Nichols picked out my Max Mara suits and Gucci leather briefcases. Everything revolved around work.
...
I had always wanted a family and was thrilled when I became pregnant in February 1998. I was 36. I didn't tell a soul because I didn't want allowances to be made. Instead I simply wore longer dresses and my male colleagues didn't notice a thing.
...
Oscar was born, and I fell in love instantly. Nothing prepared me for the overwhelming passion I felt for the tiny bundle in my arms. It seems totally mad but, even though I loved Oscar to bits, it never crossed my mind not to return to work as soon as possible.

Oscar was two weeks old when I was invited back into work - to be told that I had been promoted... and I was thrilled. I really felt it proved I could have it all - a gorgeous new baby, a fantastic career, a loving, supportive husband.

But I was also in a state of total, bone-crushing exhaustion. As the days ticked by, I felt increasingly torn between my new baby and my return to the office.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE.

• Mary Grace shares her thoughts after encountering anti-large-family bumper stickers.
• When God (graciously) won't leave us alone, we know it's because He loves us. It's still not easy to continue submitting to the sanctification He seeks to bring about in our lives!
• Terry wrote about the ongoing struggle: taming the beast of the internet, and how it can control us if we're not careful.
• In a related article, Jennifer wrote some helpful thoughts about taking an internet fast.
  
• Dumb as sheep-- this story hit close to home, both geographically (we live in Turkey) and spiritually (as I try to follow the Good Shepherd but am, like the songwriter said, "prone to wander")
• Building a biblical worldview... Alcorn is always so encouraging in this area!
  

• Many of you may already know about Amy, of Amy's Humble Musings, and how her family has planned and saved for years to transition from city life to life on a farm. Here are two posts I found interesting, where she shares about that transition to life on a farm and what they've learned in the first year.
• Wired for intimacy: how the male brain is affected by, and geared towards, sexual imagery... and how viewing pornography rewires the brain's inner workings
  
• Dr. Mohler shared his thoughts on how the origins of abortion rights were often intertwined with bigotry: Abortion, Race, Ethics, and the American Conscience
• Pornography: The Difference Being a Parent Makes-- an interesting exchange in the business world points to ethical problems with pornography
• Would it help you to have a step-by-step list of home cleaning tasks?
  
• Top Ten Job Markets for young adults
• The Early Church fathers had an interesting approach to drawing in the youth of their day-- here's an excerpt:
  

  How did the Fathers do it? They made wild promises.
  
  They promised young people great things, like persecution, lower social status, public ridicule, severely limited employment opportunities, frequent fasting, a high risk of jail and torture, and maybe, just maybe, an early, violent death at the hands of their pagan rulers.
  
  The Fathers looked young people in the eye and called them to live purely in the midst of a pornographic culture. They looked at some young men and women and boldly told them they had a calling to virginity. And it worked. Even the pagans noticed how well it worked. CONTINUE READING HERE.
  

• Abortion Changes You-- A new ad campaign; have you seen anything like this in your city?
  
• Sometimes events in our world make it easy to see the rapid moral decline our culture is experiencing: Apparently a growing number of women pursue pregnancy via IVF (in-vitro fertilization), but then decide they don't want to be pregnant and after becoming pregnant through IVF, opt for abortion.
• Randy Alcorn offers valuable thoughts, written and videoed, for our consideration: Protecting Our Children in a Modern-Day Corinth
  

• Here's a review of a "Web Design for Kids" program... sounds interesting!
• Collection of free homeschool resources: worksheets, lesson plans, unit studies and more!
• Ideas for teaching kids about the weather
• From National Geographic: lesson plans, craft ideas and more for teaching geography
  
• "I want to homeschool, but I'm afraid"-- Jennifer asked readers to address 12 common concerns for people looking into homeschooling
  

CRAFTY LINKS:

• Lucy's blog is an incredibly inspirational place! She crochets like the dickens (seriously, I don't know how she finds the time!), and her blog is where I was inspired to make the colorful, flowery granny-square blanket I made (pictured above) for myself in the winter (to be fair, it started out for "Violet" but then the doc told us she'd made a mistake and we were actually expecting a boy).
• Maternity clothes-- two great ideas I meant to try but didn't get around to, and now it's too late for me: Refashion jeans into a maternity skirt, Turn a big shirt into a maternity shirt
• Container Gardening-- it's the only kind of gardening I can do right now... but it's great for herbs and smaller plants!
• Make your own bath toy bag.
  
• Turn a sock into a baby rattle-- super cute idea!
• Make your own car playmat for the floor-- my mother-in-law had done this for her sons (my husband and his two brothers) a couple decades ago, and our sons still enjoy playing with it. She also adapted this idea to make a "ranch" playmat (with buildings, stock tank, grove of trees, stream, etc.), to use with toy animals. It's a great idea, and for us as overseas' dwellers, it's a great, easily portable toy!
• Easy and cute homemade travel high chair-- I really do intend to make this at some point... it would be very useful for our family, particularly in certain seasons of life (when doing a lot of travel with a 12-18 month old).'
• OR- recover your home's high chair with an updated, fun fabric!
  

• I loved this cake decorating series: Part 1- Baking, stacking, and icing; Part 2- Making and coloring fondant; Part 3- Covering a cake with fondant-- it's something I've been trying to learn more about this year, seeing as how we're celebrating more and more birthdays around here. :)
• Keeping the kitchen clean WHILE you cook... goodness knows I need to learn to do this!
• Homemade whole wheat tortilla tutorial-- probably not necessary if you live in the States, but for us overseas gals, especially us overseas gals from Texas, tortillas are a must-have, at least occasionally!
  
• It's good for us to think carefully and critically about what we eat, and what we're feeding our families... but it can also become a point of unhealthy focus or unnecessary guilt. Terry tackled the issue in her article and the conversation that continued in the comments.

2009 was a good year for our family; I hope it was for yours. That's not to say it was without difficulty, but we really had some neat experiences:

---> We moved to a new (cheaper, more diverse, more relational) neighborhood
---> I focused in and worked hard on learning Turkish
---> A family trip to Egypt, full of history and beauty, fulfilling a dream I've had since childhood
---> We memorized the first chapter of James together as a family
---> I took a nice, long blogging break (and have found that, in the season I'm in, I really don't miss it that much)
---> Found out we're expecting #5 (who the doc thinks is a little girl, but I'm only 14 weeks so it's a bit early to be certain)
---> My mom came for a visit
---> Doug gave me a sewing machine for Christmas and so I've been loving learning this new skill
---> We had yet another virtually commercialization-free Christmas overseas (this is one huge joy for me in living abroad)

BELOVED BOOKS
As for books, some of you may remember that I laid out a 40-book list goal for myself at the beginning of 2009. I did *almost* read 40 books in 2009, but only about half of them were from the list I put up at the beginning of the year. I am about halfway through 10 others of the list, and 10 others I haven't even started. (Here are all my book reviews for what I *did* read in 2009.) It was an ambitious goal, and perhaps, too, I am a bit too "P" (if you don't know the Myers-Briggs personality types, that means a bit too random/spontaneous) to read solely according to plan. One thing I learned is that I like reading fiction more than I thought I did, and I ended up weaving in more of it than I had planned.

Here are my top reading highlights from 2009:

1. Sacred Marriage-- (Gary Thomas) - This is the least typical, the most challenging, and the most helpful marriage book I've ever read. I highly recommend it. For any Christian, male or female, I believe it will help put marriage in its proper perspective... not as a relationship of getting, or even of "each giving 100%", but as a state of growing more like Christ.
2. What Our Mothers Didn't Tell Us: Why Happiness Eludes the Modern Woman-- (Danielle Crittenden) - I said this on my review page, but I'll say it again... I think this book should be handed to every single woman in America under 40. Those of us who have grown up with feminist principles interwoven into every history lesson, every self-esteem talk, every career day, have more to think about than what's been presented to us. Crittenden offers a balanced, thoughtful, much-needed perspective on approaching life as a woman in this modern world.
3. The Unlikely Disciple-- (Kevin Roose) - Interesting book, this. For anyone who has spent significant time in evangelical Christian circles, this is just the sort of book that can help us reexamine the "furniture" of our lives... the things we take for granted in life that others look at and notice about us. Roose, as a secular journalist major, entered a very conservative Christian university for a semester to examine young evangelical life "from the inside". He offers a surprisingly balanced (for the most part) perspective that I (as a girl who grew up in church and went to a Christian college) found refreshing and insightful.
4. No Graven Image-- (Elisabeth Elliot) - I heard about this book from a friend and was surprised as I read. It's Elliot's only novel, and she doesn't shy away from tackling hard questions about life, God's sovereignty, and many of the gray questions I have wondered about throughout the years. Certainly, it's not an "easy" read as I felt the need to debrief and talk through some of the overarching questions raised in the book... but it is insightful and valuable and a beautiful novel in its own right. I highly enjoyed it... but perhaps more importantly, I walked away thinking, which I imagine was Elliot's aim. It's not still in print, so if you can get your hands on it, it's worth it.
   

It's been a while since I've heard from many of you... so, in an attempt to draw you out of your online "shells", I have this question for you:

If you could pick ONE of these useful homemaking crafts/skills to instantly acquire and be able to use in your everyday life, which would you pick?

(A) Sewing - to make clothing, draperies, and other cloth goods that look professional
(B) Cake Decorating - to bake and design beautiful cakes, from the simple and elegant to the elaborate and detailed (great talent to have for kids' birthday parties!)
(C) Furniture Refinishing - to take hand-me-down or antique/used furniture and wisely select fabrics, recovering and refinishing to look elegant and professionally done
(D) Knitting/Crocheting - to make nice-looking quality afghans, sweaters, and other items from yarn
(E) Carpentry - to design and craft quality furniture and other useful wooden items
(F) Painting - for everything from wall hangings to detailed decorative painting on furniture and walls to designing unique wall treatments

Please share which you would pick and WHY-- how it would be helpful in your current life! :) Can't wait to hear from you!

I just finished Silas' baby blanket a few nights ago and wanted to share pictures with you all! :) It's crocheted, and I took a picture with my foot at the very end so you could get an idea of the relative size. It's the longest baby blanket I've made, but I'm pleased with how it turned out... and I kind of like the idea that he'll still be able to wrap up in it when he's 10 years old if he wants to.

Here's a close-up of the detail work (a dark blue "post" stitch") and the border:

He's due in 10 days, on Easter Sunday, so I'm glad to have finished it. I've made a blanket for each child, and (heck, why don't I just post a picture of all of those too?)... I don't think I've ever shared my crocheting with you guys, so why not take this opportunity? They've been lovingly used so they're not as in pristine condition as Silas' currently is. But here are pictures nonetheless.

This was my first blanket to make- for our oldest-- Ethan:

I took the quilt-ish crocheted squares idea from a Martha Stewart Baby magazine... and adapted the colors for my gender-neutral needs (we didn't find out gender with our first pregnancy). Here's the detail for that one:

Here's Baxter's blanket... we DID find out we were having a boy our 2nd go-round, so I chose fun, bright colors and just made his blanket from an idea in my head. It's no longer "blocked" (even on all sides), but that's all right-- it is well-loved. :)

And the detail for his:

When I found out our third child was going to be a girl, I went off the girly deep end. I was so ready for a break from navy, denim, bugs, and dinosaurs. I went shopping and bought dresses and sweet things galore. She also got a totally girly, totally frilly blanket, and for the record-- she totally loves it. She wraps herself up in it at night, uses it like a queen's cape, and it really suits her. Here's Maranatha's fru-fru pink blanket:

Here's the detail. Hers is the only blanket that I have used varying styles of yarns for, and it works in this case. It was worth it for her, but I'm not sure I'd attempt it again.

I was having contractions last night, but they went away after about an hour... bummer. :-( I'm hoping to still get around to a "how all my different labors have gone" post... we'll just see. I'd actually be quite pleased if he decided to arrive and didn't give me time to do such a post. But now, regardless of when he comes, he'll have a blanket from mommy to be bundled in. Hooray!

We're about halfway through what will hopefully be a "farewell" tour to see family and friends. We just spent the last two days at my in-law's home, where my mother in law taught me how to sew. What a wonderful thing it is to craft a dress for a wonderful daughter! So for show and tell today, I want to show you pictures of the "firstfruits" of my sewing endeavors. Here's the one we made together (front and back views as best I could get pictures of them on my wiggly one-year-old!):

It's a size 2, so that she can get a lot of wear out of it.



Then I made this one all by myself last night between the hours of 7pm and 1am:

The colors are brighter in person than they are in this picture- it's a really fun dress... and though I made a few mistakes, I learned from 'em and that's what counts! (ETA: In case you're interested, here's the pattern for both dresses.)

Now, here are a few links for you to peruse and enjoy while I'm gone for a few days.
CULTURAL COMMENTARIES:

• A Gracious "Take" on the Paris Hilton Mediafest: What should our response be, as Christians?
  
• Christianity Round the World Vs. American Christianity
• A man's view of modesty & lust: Blinded By the Sight (not for young readers)
• How one machine is cracking the shell of abortion-rights: Ultrasound and the future of abortion.
• Younger and Younger Teens are Viewing More and More Online Porn. Read Ray's article.
• Enough is Enough is an online resource to help you make the internet safer for your children and teenagers. Here's a page of resources from EiE about children and sexual predators, online and in real life.

CHRISTIAN WOMEN'S INTERESTS:

• The first of a four-part interview with NancyLeigh DeMoss- Follow the links to read all four parts, and be inspired by this challenging woman
• Mary Mohler has put together an excellent booklet about modesty. She strikes a balanced view of modesty... and offers practical teaching on what biblical modesty looks like. (When you open it up, you will have to scale it down to 100%)
• Sara has written an excellent verse-by-verse commentary on Proverbs 31. Definitely worth your time.

ON THE HOME FRONT:

• Need a new recipe? Try the Pampered Chef Chicken & Broccoli Braid (it's SOOOO delicious)!
• Who has the heart of your children?
  
• Interested in midwifery? Here's an interesting, informative, and heart-warming video about one midwife that you'll enjoy watching.
• Want to eventually be a stay-at-home wife & mom? Here are some things you can do now, married or not.
  
• This guy proposes that Christians begin using a new language of sex.

And one remaining but very important thing: in case you haven't heard or noticed, Mike Huckabee has impressed media and regular Joes alike with his performance in the Republican debates. He's gaining momentum, and it's not because he's a friend-of-celebrities. Even hardened media writers have started to notice Huckabee's genuine likability, talent for speaking, and a new-ness that no one else in the Republican field is offering. It's because he's an impressive man with authentic faith, and a fresh perspective that this country needs. Take a look at Mike Huckabee; you'll be glad you did!

Happy reading and have a great week!

Oodles and Oodles of frugals for youdles... so let's just dig right in:

• MAKE IT YOURSELF. Causabon's Book, pretty much the most intellectual blog I read, has been writing a series of weekly ideas to save money (or maybe save the earth?... can't tell which cause all the ideas so far have done both... hmm... interesting...) Here's an excellent recent post about why you should make your own whatever. Not, "why you should make your own?" "WHATEVER!" (said in a Clueless, circa 1990's voice), but rather, why you should make your own ___(whatever)___.
  

• Grow your own loofah sponge. Really.
• Any of you use baby wipes? Thought so.
• How about homemade lavendar soap balls to make your next bath extra luxurious?
• Cleaning supplies getting too expensive? Here's a LONG list of earth-friendly (and wallet-friendly) cleaning supplies.
• Here are some homemade and very soothing-sounding cough and cold remedies you can make at home.
  

• Buy plain socks for your daughter and add the trim yourself.
• Sew clothes for your family to save money.
• Make your daughter's dresses long so that she can wear them for years. (Be sure to scroll down for pictures- Janel has an amazing knack for making precious, wearable dresses for little girls that are useful for years.)
  

• MAKE A PRICE BOOK. This is a little notebook you carry with you when you go shopping and where you can write down the normal price per ounce, what a good sale price would be, and where you find the best deals on any given item. What an excellent way to save money on everyday groceries, by having a price guide with you to be able to tell when one store charges slightly more than another! Jenn, over @ Frugal Upstate, will tell you how to make your very own price book.
  
• GROW YOUR OWN. Wanna grow your own food and just need ideas and motivation? Well hop on over to Causabon's book and get some ideas for growing your own food.
• HAVE A FRUGAL DINNER TONIGHT. Frugal State Jenn has a great post with a wide variety of ideas for stretching your dinner budget.
  

• GO CHRISTMAS SHOPPING NOW. Save a little money by doing your Christmas shopping in the next few weeks! Check out Sara's post about her frugal Christmas-shopping methods...
• LEARN A NEW CRAFT, MASTER IT, & USE IT TO MAKE MONEY. Here's a site that links to some GREAT craft ideas.
• MAKE SOMETHING AND SELL IT HERE.
• MAKE SIMPLE CHANGES AROUND YOUR HOME. You've heard it before, but here's a great post to give you the nudge you might need to reduce, reuse, recycle.
  
• UNSHAMPOO. (Read about it here.)