Easy Healthy Snack for a Fall Party

31. October 2011 · 3 comments · Categories: Food · Tags: , ,

Back when school started I signed up to bring a healthy snack for the “Fall Party” for my daughter’s classroom today. Thankfully a received a reminder call about it last week but couldn’t think of anything creative to do! So I asked my friend and healthy-food expert for any ideas. (If you want to learn how to eat healthier, check out her baby steps series going on now!) Immediately she suggested using mandarins or clementines or oranges and stick in cloves to make them be mini pumpkins! Brilliant!

I didn’t have any garlic cloves but I did have a black marker. That worked for about 8 of them but then the marker stopped working. So then I used raw honey to stick on some raisins and then I put pieces of lettuce on the top and they were very cute. I even made enough to bring to my son’s preschool class (though I didn’t sign-up for that one). Unfortunately the eyes (raisins) didn’t stick on very long and the lettuce wilted before the party so that was a bummer but oh well, it was a great idea. Here’s a pic of the blackmarker one. Save this in your files for next year when you ambitiously sign up to bring healthy treats to your child’s Fall party!


Wordless Autumn

30. October 2011 · 4 comments · Categories: Photography · Tags: , ,

DSC01293

I hate wasps

straight out of camera

Photos courtesy of my wonderful husband who has recently discovered his hidden inner photography talent.


Respect Life Begins With The Most Innocent

29. October 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: abortion, Random · Tags: , , ,

Many people know that October means Breast Cancer Awareness Month (which I blogged about here and here) but fewer know this is also Respect Life Month. I doubt this was planned but the two topics go well together I think.

Cardinal DiNardo of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ”calls on Catholics to respect, promote and teach the ‘transcendent nature of the human person’…Catholics must not shrink from obligation to defend right to life, conscience right.”

The theme for the 40th annual Respect Life year of 2011-2012 is, “I came so all might have life and have it to the full” (cf. John 10:10)

What does that mean though, to Respect Life? I like to breakdown the word “respect”: RE + SPECT. RE= Do again and SPECT= To see. RESPECT= Look at again. So for Respect Life month, it is a dedicated time to remember to take the time to look at life, specifically the life of human beings, and see each life again, to look at each person and take the time to really see him or her and see who they are.  How often to do we really do this with everyone we meet and interact with?

When I worked in retail, I worked with and helped many people throughout my day, most of them I did not know nor would I probably ever see again. I loved looking at each person that I helped at the check out or helped find clothes or other merchandise and observing them and trying to look deeper into who they were aside from a customer. It wasn’t always easy but it was a fun game for me.  I also used to love sitting in the mall food court during my breaks, or in airports or other crowded places, and just watching the people go by. I still like to do this when I can. Everyone is so different, all so unique, each one a person…a living being created by God out of ‘nothing’ and now here they were…moving, breathing, living. Some people are sad, some happy, some who knows what sort of things they are going through but they, we, all have one thing in common—we are alive, we have LIFE!

LIFE really is a gift. ALL LIFE is precious, not one person’s life has more value than another’s.  

Respect for Life begins with the understanding and belief that every life is equally and uniquely valuable. From the most innocent to even the guiltiest, life is life.  From the speck-sized zygote, to the helpless infant, to the precocious young child, to the sassy teenager, to the arrogant young adult, to the disillusioned middle-aged adult, to the exhausted ‘pre-senior’, to the restful retiree, to the wise elderly; life is life. Though people might annoy us, even hurt us, we must remember to step back and see them again-and see each person for who they are—living creatures of God. This is something I am continually working on.

Aside from remembering to step back and see each person for who they are and seeing the value in every life, “Respect Life” also means “Defend Life”. Everyone who has life deserves the chance to live their life and the chance to choose to live it to the fullest; to choose to grow and develop, to wonder, discover and learn, to find fulfillment and purpose. All of this, our life, our freedom to choose, and the ability to find what we are looking for, must be defended and protected.

We have all been given life freely. The other greatest gift we’ve been given, aside from life itself, is choice. We are not robots, we can choose to either love or hate. We all make different choices which bring different results and effects. Some choices are done with respect to how it will or will not affect ourselves and other lives positively or negatively. Other choices are made more out of a lack of respect for others and even for our own selves. Decisions made without this due respect hurt those who make them and other lives around them. But we must always continue looking at everyone, even those who hurt us, and see their value and their ability to love and do good for themselves and those around them. This does not mean we can let people stomp all over us or continue to hurt us or others. We cannot force people to change but we should never give up hope that they can, even if we are doubtful that they will. In some cases, we will have direct involvement with this process of forgiveness and healing, in other cases our only job will be to pray that God will give them the grace to take that step back and see themselves and others with a new perspective and attitude.

There are many ‘issues’ that fall under the umbrella of “Respect Life”. Criminal punishment, starvation & food supply, health care, euthanasia, child abuse and neglect, domestic abuse, shelter & housing, and abortion, contraception, human cloning, embryonic stem cell research, sperm and egg donations, in vitro fertilization and of course and many other ‘life’ issue.

These are all important issues and all deserve a true respect for life in every single situation. For me, the issue of abortion is an easy one to dissect, however, I am still grappling with my feelings and understanding about how to have a just criminal justice system that both treats each suspect or criminal with humanely yet also offers them and those around them a just sentence or fine or consequence. But I’ll save my thoughts and questions I have about that for another day and instead focus on abortion now. Ideally I would have done this at the beginning of the month and then written about a few issues pertaining to “Respect Life” month but I’ve been too busy living life. Besides, there are still 11 other months of the year to dedicate to posts about respecting life and there could never be one blog post that could sum it all up.

As I said, I feel that the issue of abortion is the easiest to understand since it is clear what happens in an abortion every time: a new innocent human being is killed. Key word: innocent. The other life issues deserve the same amount and attention to respect for life but abortion is where it all starts—it deals with a human person who is at the beginning of life, at the most vulnerable and innocent time of any person’s life. When a child is intentionally aborted, the intent is clear every time—to kill his or her life, treating this life as if it does not matter or that it will not matter or that it is not worth saving or allowing to continue on the cycle and development of life. There is no Respect for Life going on here.

Those who take part in this procedure have failed to take that step back and look at the “fetus” and see “it” is a living human being. One person’s choice takes away another person’s (or persons’) opportunity to even use his or her free will to make any choices at all ever. When I say “abortion” I mean any procedure that purposefully and needlessly extracts or causes the removal of a living  developing baby in utero.  Aside from special circumstances laid out in the principal of double effect, there is no reason that can justify the clear intention of abortion or, more importantly, negate the fact that the abortion procedure terminates a pregnancy and life of another human being.

Yet, despite the clear disrespect for human life that occurs with abortion, it is not only socially accepted and legal but it is defended as a compassionate choice for women and, more recently, for the babies who are killed.  For whatever reason, women went through the whole feminist ‘women can do anything’ era but yet have convinced themselves that if they become pregnant at the ‘wrong’ time they wouldn’t be able to handle a pregnancy, a birth, an adoption or becoming a mother. Before sonograms, it was easier to ignore the baby and just see the ‘suffering woman’. But now, post sonograms, it’s beyond denial to believe the object of the abortion is just as much of a person as a person out of the womb. A “fetus” does not magically become a human person as it goes through the birth canal. But even with sonogram technology there are still those who choose to abort their babies and those who fully support this decision and even encourage and advocate for women to do so. So now, the babies themselves are becoming the way to justify it. It is now not only “for the woman” but also “for the sake of the baby”. “After all, a baby whose mother does not want or isn’t ready for him or her would have a terrible life anyway, so it’s really best for the baby that he or she never be born.” And of course there are those who feel they are “saving” a baby with high ‘chances’ of having special needs by aborting them since they would probably be “outcast” or “never really have much of a life anyway” or “be a huge financial and emotional burden on the parents and society”. I saw some sign somewhere (sorry can’t remember where) that only 10% of children who are diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome in utero survive.

When I was in junior high and high school and I started learning about abortion I couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be true—why would anyone willingly choose to kill their own baby, I couldn’t understand this or really believe it actually happened. One Saturday morning of my freshman or sophomore year a group from school and church went to the abortion clinic in our city to peacefully pray for the women going in. We got there early in the morning and walked on the sidewalk while praying. I was walking close to the entrance drive when suddenly a car came down the street slowly and started turning into the abortion clinic parking lot. I was stunned and frozen in my tracks. What was going on? Was someone really going in there? I remember locking eyes with someone in the car and just feeling very confused. “Why?”  I wanted to ask, “Why are you going in there?” I wanted to run after them and save them from what was inside. I went home that day and sobbed. I wished I had never gone and seen all those cars going in…and out. At first I never wanted to go back, but then I realized I must. While I didn’t understand why these women were going in there, I knew they needed prayers and if my prayerful presence could help just one it would be worth the sorrow of watching them all going in and out of there.

I learned a lot while going there. I am ashamed now though to admit that I wasn’t always silent there. We, the group of high school youth who regularly went there together, had some interesting discussions with the security guard there. And of course, we were always right. We also ‘talked’ with the women going in sometimes. One conversation will always remain in my memory. My friend and I had gone over to the sidewalk closer to the side of the building which allowed us to view the people getting out and into their cars in the parking lot. A young woman who very obviously pregnant and her friend stepped out and my friend and I held up our signs (I can’t remember what they said now) and yelled out to them so they could hear us, “You don’t have to do this! Why are you doing this?” She stopped, looked at us without any sense of shame and called back, “Because I already have 2 other children and I don’t want another one.” My friend and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes and prayed. I still pray for her. I couldn’t understand then how her wants could make her forget about the needs of the growing baby inside of her.

Now, as a mother of three, I often think of her and I understand her better. I know now. Motherhood is beautiful but it is so. incredibly. hard. I know there are times when the job of being a mother can seem so incredibly overwhelming and impossible, the idea of having to do it all over again is just plain scary sometimes. I get that now. But, if we did find out we were having another one, and even if I was already too overwhelmed (which I am), it would never justify taking away the life of another innocent person, even if I wasn’t ready or didn’t want another one yet or ever. I feel I can sympathize with these women in a way. However, if I was pregnant, it wouldn’t matter if I was ready or if I wanted one, one already would be alive in me.

This is where someone might say, yeah well you have a husband who loves you and friends and family to support you and enough resources to afford another child—what about those who have no one and nothing? And I agree, I’m not sure I would be able to survive motherhood without all the support and resources we have and are so thankful for. And that’s why we do need more pregnancy crisis centers and more non-profit organizations that offer support for mothers and families in crisis, so that abortion is not viewed as their only choice. Abortion is a choice for these women, but it is never a good choice since it fails to respect the life of the innocent baby inside; taking away his or her life and choices and opportunity to live life. Abortion also fails to respect the life of the woman; taking away her chance and her opportunity to be who her body was preparing her to become—a mother. Abortion leaves at least one person dead and one person forever wounded.Thanks to programs like Rachel’s Vineyard, post-abortive women can start the path to healing. It’s time to take a step back, look at these women and the babies in their mother’s womb, and see them for who they are—human beings that deserve to “have life and have it to the fullest”.


One more thing…

27. October 2011 · 1 comment · Categories: Random

I forgot to tell you about Glory and Hayden. My husband’s brother, uncle ‘hon’ as the toddler likes to call him, felt bad that we had had to wait up there for so long and that the kids had gotten sick. It wasn’t his fault but he still wanted to somehow make it up to them. So while we waited in the car (a little longer) they went into the shop and he got these stuffed animals for them. Now those are some puppy dog eyes. The kids were so excited. My daughter named her wolf-dog “Glory” (appropriately I thought) and my son named his buffalo “Hayden” there was a middle name that went with it too that was funny but we can’t remember what it was now. I was thankful for the gesture and just made them promise we’d take the train next time. He won the  ’Uncle of the Mountain’ award and the kids had a great time with him during the rest of the trip. He will be an excellent daddy one day.


Part II: An Exciting family Adventure up Pikes Peak

26. October 2011 · 4 comments · Categories: Random

Part II of An Exciting Family Trip up Pikes Peak.

So my father-in-law and the three kids and I made it to the peak but we weren’t sure yet how much longer it would be before the three hikers, my husband and his mom and his brother, finished their nice little hike up to join us. I think it was around 2:30 when we go there.

So once I gave him a call and let him know we had made it and asked how much longer they might be, thinking he’d say maybe 20-30 minutes or so based on the last conversation we’d had with him back at the reservoir visitor center. It was a lot windier up there so it made it hard to hear him but he said something like, “Well we slowed way down now and so it’s probably going to be [kkrrrkkkrrkrrkrr]…you might want to turn around and go back down for a while….” [krrrrkkrkrkrkrkr] I couldn’t hear the rest of what he said and I wasn’t able to ask him anything else before the call dropped. I tried to call him back but the signal on my phone was completely gone. My father-in-law (FIL) tried on his phone but it wouldn’t go through either. We tried my mother-in-law’s phone and my brother-in-law’s…nope. Dead.

So we weren’t sure what to do. I could tell my FIL wasn’t about to just turn back around after driving all the way up here. He had come up here to climb back down and gosh-darnet that’s what he was going to do. It had started raining a little but he said he was going to go out and see if he could see them below with his camera. “I’ll be right back”. So I waited there in the car with my seven-year old daughter, the almost five year-old son and the toddler, who was still snoring away in his carseat. I took my book out and also kept trying to call my husband, still wouldn’t work. Funny though I did receive a text from my little brother (yes you are still little even though you have bigger muscles than me) telling me he won 2 free airplane vouchers by giving up his seat twice on his way back to school for the year. I tried texting him back but it didn’t go through.

We were sitting there when I happened to look through my rearview mirror to see a dark cloud rolling in quickly behind us. Suddenly the ‘spitting rain’ turned into more like a sleeting/hailing wind storm. It’s ok, I thought, we are safe in the car and it’s just a little rain. Although I did wonder if it was possible for our car to be blown off the mountain–that may not be very fun.

The almost five year-old was ecstatic. “Snow!!! It’s snowing!!!” He really loves snow and the hail piling up on the ground was close enough to snow for him. I looked over to my sleeping babe and realized his window was still open a little from when we opened it earlier to let air in while we sat there. I reached for my keys so I could close it but realized my FIL had taken them with him! I really didn’t want him to get wet and wake up so I went to the back and found some blankets in the trunk I had put there for ‘just in case’ times–thank you past self! I draped it across him and that seemed to help. The other two kids and I pretended we were in an airplane flying through a cloud.

Almost as quickly as the storm came in it also passed. It was kind of amazing to watch it pass in front of us and see it pour down its rain over the land in front of us. My FIL returned but unfortunately didn’t have any luck finding our hikers from where he tried looking. So we sat there, we two, (and the three kids) not quite sure what to do. We just sat,

sat,

sat.

And laughed at the lady who was walking around the top of Pikes Peak in high heals and a skirt.

As we sat there, we heard a low moaning sound from behind us. I turned around to see it was coming from my daughter whose face was suddenly rather white and her lips rather purplish/bluish. I had been making the kids drink water all the way up and while we were there and giving them a special Altitude Sickness remedy but it looked it that wasn’t working anymore. So I got out the snack bag and we all had some crackers and nuts. The toddler was now awake and restless so this seemed to be a good idea for everyone, except it didn’t seem to help my daughter. Her mounings were now louder and closer together and the face was getting all scrunched up; I knew exactly what that meant.

So we decided to get out and go into the shelter and get her to the bathrooms quickly. I walked/held there quickly while trying to keep her body in the right position in case we didn’t make it in time. Thankfully we did make it there, just barely. We stayed there in the bathroom for a verrryyyy long time. I was so thankful my FIL was with us so he could help with the boys while I helped my daugher. The bathrooms were hot and horribly disgusting. It was obvious that my daughter wasn’t the only one who had suffered her same plight in here. I finally convinced her that it would be better to get outside and get out in the fresher air.

There had been another storm while we were in the bathrooms and they were starting to let people back out and down the mountain then. It was maybe around 3:30 or so now. I remember hearing a guy say, “I don’t care, I am not staying on this mountain any longer!” I wondered just how long he had been up there.

We got back to the car and we tried calling them again but our phones still did not work. My FIL decided he would try and see if he could go down the trail a bit and see if they were close enough to see yet. This time I made sure he left the keys with me, not that I was planning on leaving him there but I didn’t want to be without the keys again either. Again, he said he’d be right back.

I was able to get my daughter settled in her seat, telling her to go ahead and rest a bit. I made sure to keep talking to her every now and then though and checking to make sure she was still breathing. Her lips were still purplish/bluish but some color had returned to her cheeks again. My boys were doing just fine, jumping around and being their usual selves, except not so annoying somehow. I got my book out and tried not to think too much about our situation and just be patient, whispering prayers in between pages asking God to help my husband and everyone be safe and get here soon!

We were sitting there for a bit when another storm suddenly rolled in. This one was different. This one had rain, sleet, hail and…LIGHTNING. This concerned me. Here we were in a van on the top of a mountain in a lightning storm. Even worse though, my FIL was out there and so was my husband and his mom and brother, exposed completely to the elements and lightning. Yeah.

My daughter must have heard my fingers tapping my book and asked if I was scared and I said I was concerned. (I knew I couldn’t tell them I was scared or they would then be scared and that really wouldn’t help). I honestly didn’t really feel anything. I couldn’t do anything. They weren’t people down the mountain because the roads were still being cleaned of snow from the last storm and I wasn’t about to get out in the middle of a lightning storm. I couldn’t get a hold of my husband or anyone. I didn’t know where my FIL was. I tried not to think any negative thoughts about how he and the others were surviving being the tallest things on the top of a mountain in a lightning storm. So my daughter and I said a few prayers and then I kept reading my book.

The boys had been making a lot of noise but suddenly I noticed it had gotten quite. The toddler was occupying himself with something but the other one had disapeared! I looked in the back and he was laying down on the floor not moving.

I quickly went back there and got him up. His face was pale and his lips were purplish/bluish. I slapped his cheeks a bit (gently) and then put him up in his car seat and had him drink some more water. I checked his heartbeat (a little faster than usual) but his breathing was alright. So I let him rest there and I went back to my safe seat in the front, looking back at him every few minutes and at my daughter in between prayers and pages of my book. (I had to keep rereading whole pages, I don’t think I actually read any of it).

It was now probably around 4:15 or 4:30. My FIL had not returned, I wasn’t sure where he was, if he had survived the lightning storm or what the fate was of my husband and his mom and brother. I was definitely getting nervous and agitated now. Though you wouldn’t have known it by looking at me. My daughter and I prayed a bit more and then I told her that if Grandpap wasn’t back by 5 then we would have to get out and look for him. (I had no idea how this would actually work with me and three young kids).

The minutes dragged by. Tick…tick….tick….

I looked at the clock around 4:45 and still nothing. Around this time I started thinking about what I would say to everyone when they finally made it up. I decided that if my husband wasn’t dead, I wouldn’t get mad. But if he was….well that would be a different story. I looked back at the kids and wondered if I was killing them by staying up there. (There was still no choice though as the road was still closed!) Well, I thought, this really is totally up to you God!

I looked again to the same spot I’d been staring at hoping that if I stared long enough I could will my husband and his family to suddenly appear. I looked and looked. And then….

Oh man it’s past my bedtime again….

Sorry, I still have to upload pictures in here again so goodnight for now, I’ll be back again tomorrow!

Kidding. So around 4:50, it happend. My husband, in his yellow poncho, appeared along with his mom, brother, and dad! They made it! It was like a moment in a movie about people who’ve been stuck in a mine for days. My heart surged, I think there may have been some tears in my eyes. They made it! I honked the horn in celebration! Yay! Thank you God!!

Now, let’s get off this mountain!

It really is past my bedtime now and this has been entirely too long. If you’ve stuck around for the end here are some pictures of part of their journey up and then some pictures we took on the trip down.

The storm

They hid under that big rock during the storm and tried to stay low.

They got to see a double rainbow from above after the storm.

I like the way storm looked from far away

Back down at the reservoir visitor center.

Not so many clouds up at the peak now!

Kudos to my wonderful husband for the amazing photos! And that’s the story of our family adventure up Pikes Peak! All in all I am very proud of my husband and his mom and brother for accomplishing their goal and getting to the top! And I am incredibly thankful that everyone survived and the kids all felt just fine once we got down. Next year we can take the train up, and no matter what I and the kids will go back down on the train as well. One day, maybe I’ll be able to join them on their hike but for now I’m content to use my children as an excuse for not partaking in that family tradition.


An exciting family trip up Pikes Peak.

25. October 2011 · 1 comment · Categories: Random · Tags: ,

Our family recently took a vacation to Colorado Springs. There was a two-fold purpose for our trip there. 1–Rest and get away from everything here at home and 2-hike up Pike’s Peak. (Well actually only my husband and his mom and brother planned on doing that part.) So here was the plan for that: My father-in-law would drive my husband, his brother and mom to the start of the Barr Trail. They would hike up to the top, the kids and I would drive up to the top with him and we’d meet them up at the top and then he would climb back down with them. The sign at the bottom of the trail said that at a brisk pace you can expect to reach the top in 6-8 hours yet somehow our plan seemed attainable and so off we went. The three hikers got started on the trail around 7 a.m. and said they’d probably meet us up there around 1 ish. (Apparently they were shooting for the “6″ in the 6-8 hours).

At this point I didn’t really give much thought to any of this because, well I was on vacation and I wanted to take a break from being in charge and making all the decisions for a little bit. So around 11 we gave them a call from the hotel and it sounded like they were doing pretty good so we decided to go ahead and pack up and go. We gave them another call once we got through the Pikes Peak Tollbooth. My husband sounded a little more out of breath but still strong. I can’t remember the details now of how far up they were but they were not as high up as we thought they’d be by then. So we decided we’d just take our time and enjoy the ride up, hoping this would give them more time to make it up by the time we did.

We stopped around the half-way point of the Pikes Peak Highway at the Crystal Creek Reservoir Visitor Center (I think that’s where we were anyway). This is Bigfoot favorite hangout place.

Then the kids played in the little mine water. Grandpap did actually find some Fool’s Gold so that was fun! James really liked playing with the water but I wasn’t sure how clean it was so we didn’t let them put their hands in there too much. I think the kids could have stayed here forever but we decided to explore beyond the center and see where the walking paths took us.

Behind the Visitors’ Center building is the reservoir so we walked around there and the kids asked if we could go fishing like others were doing. I said that would be nice but we forgot our fishing gear at home. They enjoyed walking out onto the dock and feeling like we were on a boat.

It was very beautiful here. I think this was probably my favorite part of the journey. Everyone was happy and we weren’t in a hurry and it was…peaceful. Looking toward the peak though and seeing some clouds starting to form made me wonder how my husband and his mom and brother were doing and I said a little prayer for their safety.

We’ve been to this visitor center before but we’d never gone beyond the reservoir. So since we had plenty of time to waste we decided to see what else there was. Apparently there was more beauty and more peace waiting to be found.

We found a beautiful meadow with these fluffy things. There was something about this meadow, it seemed almost magical. I wished I could lay down here and sleep forever.

The seven year-old and almost five year-old were entranced by the fluffies too.

This little hike proved especially wonderful for the toddler. (My strap was twisted so it was only slightly uncomfortable for me. I am so glad I brought our Beco with us!)

Ahhh, childhood.

After we walked around for a while we figured we had wasted enough
time and everyone’s tummy’s were starting to grumble so we headed back to the
Visitors’ Center. About this time some rain clouds had ambled overhead so we
hung out in the store for a little while until it stopped sprinkling. I decided
this would be a good time to call my husband and see how they were progressing.
The good news was that everyone was still doing good and moving along steadily
but it not quite as briskly as they were hoping. I think this was around 1 or
maybe 1:30. After the sprinkle shower passed over we sat out on the benches overlooking
the reservoir with Pikes Peak in the distance and took our time eating our
lunch. It was nice not to have to hurry and eat for once! The kids enjoyed our
little lunch guests too.

After lunch we decided it was time to keep moving. My
father-in-law was anxious to get to the top so he could start climbing down
with them and I think he was getting slightly frustrated that they were not going
as fast as they had estimated. So everyone used the bathroom one last time and we loaded back
into the van and continued slowly up the mountain.

Not too long after that we got to the Glen Cove Center, which is
the last shelter area on the highway before the peak. Last time we were here I
was pregnant and this was where I stayed while my husband, his parents and the
two kids went up to the peak. At the time I wasn’t comfortable going any higher
since I was already having to work a little harder to breathe and figured it
wasn’t going to get any easier the higher I went. This time I wasn’t pregnant
and it gave me a great sense of accomplishment to go up past the tree line.

My father-in-law and I laughed though as we remembered how they
had all gone up and made it to the top just as a huge storm had rolled in. It
wasn’t a very fun ride back down for them or a fun time for me either as I
waited and watched for them to return out of the thunder and lightning storm. We
were all so glad they had made it down instead of getting stuck up there during
that storm. That wouldn’t have been very fun.

For some reason, a reason I will never know until I die, we did not
call my husband again before we continued up past this last shelter area. My
father-in-law was determined to get there and I think we figured enough time
had gone by that they should be closer to the top now and we’d probably get
there right around the same time. I was in the passenger seat so I ignored the
rain clouds setting shadows over the land below and tried to just enjoy the
ride up.

It took a lot longer to get to the top than I thought it would but
at long last we made it! It was cold and windy! The toddler had fallen asleep
again on the way up (which is normal for him on long car rides) so my
father-in-law stayed with him while I took my daughter and son out to see how
high we were.

Can you tell they are cold?

I hope they will remember this moment forever.

I can’t remember the chronological order of everything that
happened next or all the details but this is where the story starts getting
exciting. I wrote out everything last night, I stayed up way too late getting
it all typed out on the blog. Then I decided to look it over one last time in the morning before publishing. I got up this morning to make sure there weren’t any glaring typos
or exhaustion-induced discrepancies before posting and I almost cried when I
logged in and almost everything I had typed out so carefully was gone. I am
99.9999% sure I had saved before going to bed but somehow it was just gone.

And now, it is already slightly past my self-appointed bedtime and I am
really trying to stick to it for the sake of my mental and physical health so I’m
going to do something terrible and leave you hanging until I come back tomorrow
and finish telling you why the story gets exciting here. Here is a nice picture
to make you feel happy while you wait.


Breastfeeding your Breast Cancer Chances Down

19. October 2011 · 3 comments · Categories: breastfeeding, Random · Tags: ,

Speaking of fighting breast cancer the ‘green’ natural way, my good friend and super-lactating friend, Erin, kindly requested I share some information about how breastfeeding can help lower the risk of breast cancer. Being a lactator myself and being a woman who wants to do whatever I possibly can to reduce my and other women’s chances of breast cancer, I was more than happy to share some information on that.

However, also being a lactating mom with a two-year old who still doesn’t sleep on his own through the night, my time and energy is limited so instead of conducting my own research I Googled 3 different articles that provide their own research studies or sources.

This first article, from WebMD, provides good information about how breastfeeding may play a part in breast cancer risks.

  • “Women with a family history of breast cancer who have ever breastfed reduce their risk of getting premenopausal breast cancer by nearly 60%, according to a new study.”
  • “Overall, in the whole group of women we studied, women who had breastfed were 25% less likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer than women who had never breastfed.”
  • “Among those with a family history, those who had breastfed had a 59% reduced risk for premenopausal breast cancer compared to those who never breastfed.”
  • “The breastfeeding did not have to be exclusive breastfeeding, without formula use.”
  • “The protective effect began with three months of breastfeeding…That’s three months total, she says, not just for a single child. So a mother may have breastfed two children for a month and a half each and gotten the benefit, for instance.”
  • “Even so, she calls the association “exciting” because breastfeeding is an action women can take to reduce their breast cancer risk, while many other risk factors — such as having a family history — are not modifiable.”

And if you can also find some interesting studies by searching for “breastfeeding and breast cancer” at PubMed. Like this one. It’s in spanish but they basically found… “a significant correlation (p = 0.001) between the age of cancer diagnosis, length of breastfeeding, and the existence of personal and family history for cancer.”

La Leche League International also is a great place to go for information and support for breastfeeding. They have a good article about a study in the Lancet showing that increased duration of breastfeeding decreases the risk of breast cancer. Here are some stats from that:

  • “The reanalysis of data from 47 epidemiological studies in 30 countries compared over 50,000 women who had breast cancer with a control of 96,000 women who did not have the disease.”
  • “Increasing the duration of breastfeeding of each child for only six months could prevent an estimated 25,000 cases of breast cancer each year.”
  • “In addition, if each child were breastfed for an additional twelve months, approximately 50,000 cases could be prevented annually in Western populations where breast cancer is most prevalent.”
  • “68 percent of mothers in US hospitals initiate breastfeeding.”
  • “Only 31 percent are still breastfeeding at six months of age.”

Ok so those are some pretty great stats for women who have breastfed their babies, even for a little bit, especially for those with a family history of breast cancer. Cancer happens when there is a rapid overgrowth or excess of dead cells that never were released. It’s like a floor or wall that had a major water leak but was never cleaned up well enough and so mold started to grow and it just kept growing until there was a terrible mess of uncontrollable mold. I know that’s not a perfect analogy but that’s how I personally think of it. I understand that eating well and following other prevention tips will not guarantee a woman will not have breast cancer, but it won’t hurt to do whatever we can to help our bodies get rid of dead or diseased cells and toxins to stay healthy and well.

It’s funny, though, with all the focus on breast detection and self-examinations, and awareness about breast cancer, sometimes it seems like we’ve forgotten about the breasts and what they are made to do—feed life-sustaining liquid gold awesome yummylicious germ-fighting milk into our babies tummies. The stats and studies, like the ones shared above, seem to indicate that something might be going wrong in a woman’s body when she becomes pregnant and her breasts’ milk ducts produce milk, but then for whatever reason don’t actually get to release it and give it to the baby the same body that created the milk also grew. And, conversely, there may be something really great going on in a woman’s body when she is able to breastfeed her babies and release all that milky goodness into another human being.

So if you are currently breastfeeding, have breastfed, or are pregnant and thinking of breastfeeding–go you! All those long breastfeeding sessions, all those times you had to stop what you were doing to sit and nurse for the upteenth time, all those times you had to get up at night to lift your shirt up one more time, all those times of cracked and bleeding nipples, of breast infections and mastitis, of walking around the house topless while praying Hail Mary’s and warning your husband never to touch your breasts again as long as he lives….you can smile and be happy to know that it was all worth it–not just for your baby, but even for you too!

 


Improvised ‘new road’ cake

19. October 2011 · 1 comment · Categories: Random · Tags: , ,

Our first-born son loves building. To say he gets excited when he sees a new road being built is an understatement and he gets ecstatic when we get to drive on a fresh smooth new road. So he requested a ‘new road’ cake for his 5th birthday this year. I wasn’t sure exactly how I’d do this but I knew I’d figure it out somehow. The end result came pretty close to the picture I had created in my mind, albeit a few minor differences and without the gleam of perfection. So I made a 13×9 cake using this basic yellow cake recipe I had in my files. It seemed a bit too creamy going in but I figured it would harden a bit after baking. After letting it cool for a while and letting it sit turned upside down on a cooling rack with a towel draped over, I figured it would slide out nicely.

Errr–wrong. :( So it came out in 2 main pieces, with a few other chunks and crumbs that I ate to make myself feel better. Surprisingly I actually didn’t stress too much over this apparent disaster. So I just trimmed it to make the pieces even and wrapped them up in foil, stuck them in the freezer and went to bed.

The next day, I spread a light layer of frosting leftover from the 2 year old’s space shuttle cake 10 days earlier. I used the frosting like a glue to try and get the two pieces to stick together and then put it back in the freezer while I made the chocolate frosting. Once this was done I proceeded to spread on the chocolate frosting and then I got the corner where there was a big missing piece of cake. We had bought some oreos earlier in the day because I’d had a sudden inspiration so I used the chocolate frosting and some of the larger broken up pieces and stuck oreos on to fill in the hole….

Then I finished frosting and smoothing it and stuck on the digger and loading truck I’d bought at the cake store. Then I came to the ‘new road’ part which is where all my imaginative energy left me. So I just dabbed on a thicker slab of chocolate frosting and found some random yellow sprinkles in my cake decorating stash.  (later that night I realized I could have used a piece of one of their toy roads here but oh well, it worked out like this).

Most importantly, our son was very pleased, to say it mildly, with his ‘new road’ cake. :)


Fighting Breast Cancer the Green Way

14. October 2011 · 3 comments · Categories: abortion, breastfeeding, Health, Random, Women · Tags: , ,

October is a month dedicated to many special observances like breast health, specifically breast cancer awareness, and the color pink has coated the world, or at least the United States, and infiltrated just about everything in sight. Everyone’s wearing their cute little pink ribbons and the football players have on their pink bands or pink shoelaces (at least I think they are doing that again this year), and you can “fight breast cancer” every time you buy your groceries or books or “feminine napkins”, and even gas for your car (I’ll get to the irony of petrochemicals and breast cancer in a bit here)–it’s all so “pinkalicious” and everyone feels so great about themselves they’re practically pink with pride.

It’s admirable in a way, to see everyone so excited to join the ‘fight against breast cancer’. Many feel a great sense of responsibility and accomplishment when they donate their money to the ‘pink ribbon’ movement’, otherwise known as Susan G. Komen. It can feel so liberating to think breast cancer could be eradicated simply by sticking a pink ribbon onto your car, buying products that sported it or walked/ran in camaraderie with other women and families who had suffered from breast cancer and were now ‘racing’ together to find a ‘cure’ so others would not have to live through their nightmare. It’s hard to have to spoil all those grand intentions with the truth that maybe these great efforts aren’t actually doing much in the way of finding any cures and maybe are even indirectly adding to the problem. It would be much simpler and easier and feel a whole heck of a lot better to turn a blind eye and continue on the blissful pink path of ignorance.  I could rant all day about what I don’t like about Susan G. Komen and those annoying pink ribbons but others have already done so, and much more eloquently than I have the time or energy for, here, and here. If you’ve been living in a cave and have no idea about the whole Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood debacle just plug those two words in together into your favorite search engine and you’ll quickly be brought back up to speed. You can also find other alternative breast cancer research groups that you can contribute to and be involved with without feeling like you’re compromising your soul here. I have a lot of things to rant about but recently I’ve decided to try and share helpful information as much as I can instead of just spewing out all the negative. As I’ve been working on this (I’d rather not admit how long) my friend Monica sent me an article and I found it so well written that I almost decided to just scrap my post and just send you to read how the Pink Awareness Program Turns Blind Eye to Cancer Risks. But I’ll still share some my thoughts and helpful information.

The problem is that pink ribbons do not carry magical powers and while all this abundance of pink certainly draws attention to breast cancer, the focus is placed too much on breast cancer detection instead of breast cancer prevention. This is isn’t too surprising since people, me included, tend to work more retrospectively versus preemptively with personal health and wellness—we’ll wait until we’re dying before we notice the huge gash in our head or that our right foot has been missing for a few weeks. This lack of attention on real prevention is part of what bothers me about the whole pink thing (aside from the moral element already mentioned). There’s too much superficial pink and not enough real ’green’ natural commen sense.

Most breast cancer research and money goes mainly to find ‘cures’ and ‘treatments’ for women who already have breast cancer. (Which is important don’t get me wrong.) But, if we spent more time understanding and educating about the reasons for breast cancer and how to really prevent it we might actually start to see those breast cancer rates go down instead of going up as they are now even despite the inoculation of pink into every part of our lives.

While there is still so much to learn about breast cancer, and all cancer, there are a lot of simple things we can do towards prevention.  Sadly, however, since these simple prevention methods generally can’t be patented and sold in mass quantities, those who put large profits above real health won’t go to much trouble to get the word out about these. And, at the risk of sounding completely cynical, if the big pharmaceutical companies and medical organizations and cancer research  groups aren’t talking about real prevention methods, neither are most physicians and so neither will most women. Therefore, it’s our responsibility and duty to find this out on our own and help educate and inform other women about what they can do to prevent breast cancer for themselves, their daughters, their sisters, their mothers, their aunts, their grandmas, everyone. Aside from basic prevention methods like breastfeeding, having babies younger if possible and avoiding birth control pills and abortion (it’s not just a moral issue) here are some more helpful breast cancer prevention tips from Dr. Jennifer Kaumeyer at the Riordan Clinic in Wichita, Kansas.

“It is well known that women who are estrogen dominant are more at risk for breast cancer, as well as ovarian and endometrial cancers. Estrogen Dominance is a term that is used to describe the situation when the ratio of estrogen to progesterone is too high. The is also what we call ‘bad’ and ‘good’ forms of estrogen. Keeping the ratio of good to bad estrogen at a healthy level is also key to preventing cancer.” Below she shares

The Four Main Causes of Estrogen Dominance…

  1. Overproduction of estrogen by the body and increased body fat…
  2. Overload on the liver. [The liver filters all the hormones. If there are too many ‘xeno-hormones (fake) coming in, the liver will be not function properly and things will get all clogged up]
  3. Chronic Constipation [an expected result of a clogged up liver]
  4. Exposure to estrogen—like compounds in our environment

She goes on to explain that most people, even men and children, suffer from estrogen dominance since it’s almost impossible to not be exposed to excess estrogens found in the environment. A few common signals that your body is suffering from this are “on-and-off sinus problems, headaches, dry eyes, asthma or cold hands and feet.” If you think your body’s hormone levels may be out whack, special hormone testing is highly recommended. Dr. Kaumeyer especially recommends this if you see signs of a hormonal imbalance and you have a family history of breast cancer or related issues like fibrocystic breast disease, endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, irregular menstrual periods, PMS, fibroids and infertility. She says that “knowing your hormone levels is a first start. However, the nutrients you eat actually control how your hormones are expressed…knowing exactly what is happening in your body can help doctors condense your treatments, while at the same time, increasing their efficiency and effectiveness.”

Here are some tips she recommends you can do now to improve your health and “reverse estrogen dominance and reduce your risk of breast cancer”:

  1. Increase dietary fiber.
  2. Use dietary supplements
  3. Perform aerobic exercise [but don’t go crazy with it or you’ll end up where you started]
  4. Optimize your weight. Excess body fat results in conservation of estrogen. This may explain why overweight women are at a lower risk for osteoporosis; conversely they are at higher risk of breast and uterine cancer.
  5. Eat a very colorful diet.

She also provides some suggestions for avoiding and limiting the environmental xeno-hormones—fake hormones—while working on the above to “not only aid in the treatment of breast cancer but prevent its occurrence entirely.” Here’s a list of common causes of estrogen dominance (meaning that the levels are abnormally higher than the progesterone levels):

  1. Commercially raised cattle and poultry fed with estrogen-like hormones.
  2. Commercially grown vegetables that contain [mass amounts of] pesticide esidues whose chemical structure is similar to [human] estrogen.
  3. Synthetic estrogens and synthetic progesterone (Progestin, Progesterone acetate and birth control pills). [my emphasis]
  4. Exposure to xenoestrogen petrochemicals in various consumer products.
  5. Hormone replacement therapy [HRT] with estrogen alone without progesterone.
  6. Over production of estrogen from ovarian cysts or tumors.
  7. Chronic constipation that causes the recycling of estrogen metabolites [the by-product of the hormones after they pass through the liver]
  8. Stress [that’s me!]—causing adrenal gland exhaustion and reduced progesterone output. Stress is one of the most frequently overlooked causes of estrogen dominance. [Again my emphasis for myself!]
  9. Obesity…
  10. Liver disease, such as cirrhosis, that reduces the breakdown of estrogen.
  11. Vitamin B6 deficiency…
  12. Increased sugar intake [I love/hate sugar!]
  13. Intake of processed and fast foods that may be deficient in magnesium.
  14. Increase in coffee intake (and other caffeine sources).

Dr. Kaumeyer wraps up her list of advice about breast cancer treatment and more importantly prevention by reminding women to that a lifestyle of all work and no play that is full of stress is ultimately leading to cancer and other chronic disorders. So, in honor of all the women who have suffered from breast cancer and as part of October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, “remember to slow down, take some deep breaths, eat fresh, laugh a lot and HAVE SOME FUN!”


random life update

08. October 2011 · 4 comments · Categories: Random

I miss blogging. I don’t know if the blogging world misses me but I miss blogging. I blog in my head all day long but have been too exhausted and occupied with other I guess more important things to actually sit down and extrapolate my thoughts onto the blog.

I feel that there is too much to catch up on that I don’t even know where to start. So I’ll just make a random list of what’s been going on or what I’ve been thinking about. (keyword: random) Pictures included.

  • My little baby turned 2! I feel like I’m in a dream…or wait a tunnel…some enclosed capsule that makes it so I can’t really see what is going on in the world outside of parenthood. Time is the same here in this box but it keeps moving around me and I can’t keep up with it. So while I’ve been frozen in time, my baby has managed to grow up and complete 2 years of life outside of the womb. I still like to remember his pregnancy and birth. Life has changed so much since then. I haven’t slept very much and I feel like I am running around like a chicken with her head cut off most days trying to take care of everyone–which is hard to do without a head. This little guy sure likes to make things difficult. Maybe he’s not actually that difficult but the way he has changed the dynamics of the family is what has been hard to deal with. 2 years and I’m still trying. But the thing is–he is also incredibly cute and adorable and precious. I admit that I miss the time when we just had 2 kids, life seemed easier and less stressful back then. Yet, I can’t imagine our life without him. I wouldn’t want that life. This life is hard—crazy hard–but I love it. It’s a mystery.
From blog




  • My oldest son will be 5 in a week. That is even crazier. I’m ok with him being 5. He’s ready to be five and I’m ready for him to be five. He’s grown up a lot these past two years. It’s hard to be both an older brother and a younger brother. He likes to bother both his sister and brother but he also loves to play with them. It’s nice when they all play nicely. He started preschool this fall and it has been so great for him! I’m really glad we decided to go ahead with it, I never would have guessed it would be this helpful. I think he likes that he feels grown-up enough to be in school. He still gives us a lot of trouble but he really is changing and developing more, in a good way. He’s also become quite the little builder and architect. His grandpap gives him leftover wood blocks from his projects and he builds ‘new roads’ outside. He also has been getting pretty fancy and intricate with the wooden blocks I found for the kids at a garage sale a while back.



  • My daughter started playing volleyball this fall with some girls from her class and I’ve been helping as an assistant coach. I played v-ball in grade school and then with CYO in high school and intramurals in college. I wasn’t very good, but I loved it, and still do. I don’t know what it is about it but it’s just a great sport. I love the excitement of it, the coordination and brain power it takes and the awesome feeling of hitting the ball and bump, set, spike-score! I think my daughter and the girls are liking it and having fun. They don’t quite get it though and it’s a little frustrating and hard not to want to just get in there and play for them. It’s also hard to find a good balance between letting them have fun and also getting them to play their best. It’s been a good experience.

  • I finally put up more wall decorations in the newly updated living room. I didn’t want to make any holes in the wall I had worked so hard to redo without knowing exactly where I wanted everything. So one day I decided I had thought about it long enough and it was time to get out the hammer and nails. I am most pleased with how it has all turned out.





  • We went to part of our 10 year high-school reunion this weekend. Technically I didn’t graduate from there since we moved my senior year but the school has still always treated me like an alumni and it’s where most of my memories of high school are from. I think I’d like to write about that separately. For now I’ll say that I’m glad we went and it was really good to see familiar faces again.
  •  Well those are some of the things I’ve been up to lately. I’ve been thinking a lot about life–about God and the Church and my faith and my doubt…about history and government and politics and dumb beauracracy, about various ethics and morality issues of our day that keep me awake at night . I’ve been thinking about how to be a better friend even though I feel like I am barely able to even be a good mom or wife. I feel overwhelmed most days and I crave simplicity but sometimes this only makes it more complicated. There are many many things weighing me down right now, all the pressures and expectations and deadlines and to-do’s. On top of that I have other battles against injustice taking up most of my time, I am trying persevere and keep up the good fight even though I’d really rather just not and let someone else do it all for me. (I am incredibly thankful for those who are helping!) Sigh. I’m so thankful for the tiny little moments of joy and love and peace scattered throughout my days. Each moment is like a tiny pearl, a grace sent down to keep me going.
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