My Mom's Homebirth Experience-1973

“But as for me, the nearness of God is my good.” Psalm 73:28a

HOMEBIRTH??? That was Daddy’s requirement of my mother. He “didn’t care if they had children together, but if they did, she would home birth”. My mom, a city girl who liked the chloroform she was given on her first three births, was chagrined. Her life was over. She wanted babies with this man, but she had no idea how to have a baby on her own.

Whenever a dilemma struck my mother, she headed to the library. There must be an answer there. And so her first visit to the downtown Nacogdoches library was in search of “how to have a baby.” Sure, she’d had three, but she had zero recollection of the births. Completely knocked out, she awoke to her new bundles of joy. 

Homebirthing seemed so primitive and outlandish, she wanted to be as prepared as possible. In her search for help, she found a record on the Bradley method of birthing. With the help of our record player, she listened to the nylon self-help recording over and over again. As the record spun round and round on our record player, Mom breathed, she stretched, she imagined, she embraced, she relinquished. 

She also found a book called “Natural Childbirth and the Family” by Helen Wessel. The book adheres to Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, the great pioneer of the natural childbirth philosophy, teacher of women and families, helping the woman to get in harmony with a natural and wonderful process, and to connect with God and with the baby in a supernatural process we call birth. He desired that women actively “give birth” instead of being passively “delivered.”

My mom’s book, copyright 1969, is now one of my most treasured possessions. All of her underlines draw me in to her soul, connecting me with her on a deep level. She underlines all the way until the last page. Sometimes its’ a green highlighter, sometimes it’s yellow, and then there are those times when she’s in the bath and the only highlighter she can find is that darn pen that hangs out by the bathtub, and she can’t help but underline yet another part: “The first chapter of Exodus reveals that the women in Moses day gave birth easily and often with out assistance. Moses himself was born to his mother without her receiving assistance, or his presence would have been known (exodus 2:2). The Hebrew midwives explained to Pharaoh that the Hebrew women were not like the indolent women of the Egyptian court and were often delivered of the children before the midwife could get to them…(and another underline),”In societies where women attempt to identify themselves with the men, childbirth and motherhood are not well regarded….” and on and on the underlines go, highlighting everything from theological considerations, to breathing, to coping with depression after the birth. 

She actually happened on a single “handbook” that has “outlived” all of the birthing books I have read since that one. The record she listened to, well, we don’t have record players anymore, but we have classes and support groups now that she did not have.

When I had my babies, I could see her, in my minds’ eye, listening to the records, breathing, and doing her exercises with every fiber of her being. Those black vinyls going round and round, her shiny black friends from the library, giving her the strength and confidence she would need to take on the task of birthing at home.

My parents moved into the hotel across the street when they arrived in Nacogdoches. Daddy knocked on the door of the Nacogdoches house, and after prying his way in, our family moved up to the two bedroom apartment within the house.

The Jones family had not yet moved out when it was time for the baby to come, so homebirth, was really apartment birth. Workers hammering, shouting, and pulling down old wallpaper, listening to mom groan and moan, preparing a home for the ten pound bundle, mom positioned herself so she could see the clock with the second hand. She focused on the road map she had mentally laid out before herself, once the contractions came, she breathed, lay on her side, and then breathed more deeply.

I came. I came faster than she expected. All of the preparation, all of the time invested into “being ready”, I almost came before she could think too much about the process. And with my arrival, power rushed in. A power she had never known, came into her soul, and she realized she could do anything she set her mind to do. 

Birthing, pretty much on her own, gave her something. Endowing her with she-woman status, not to the world, not to anyone else, to herself, it was one of the most empowering and defining moments of her life. she metamorphosed from a caterpillar to a butterfly in the span of two hours.

Dad may have seemed like a tyrant for the request, and the fallout from BOTH of their families was so intense, that she followed that birth with two humiliating hospital births, but she tasted something she realized was supposed to be for all women, for all time. It was something God created, that had been stolen and replaced with the fear of birth and although obligated to walk through the unknown “fire”, she came out another woman. She had discovered and happened upon a lifelong “gift” of empowerment that most women would never get to experience.

Trying to express what a life changing moment this was is difficult. Probably contributing to the life changing part was the fact that my mother was so spoiled as a child. She cried to get her way. She never had to endure very much, thus adulthood was a continual shock to her spoiled little girl system. And doing something that was “impossible” was a game changer.

Although I chose to homebirth, I felt it was not because my mom did it. Always independent, always looking to do things differently than my mother did them, I made up my mind at eight years old to home birth based on a distinctive realization coined in my memory. When I was eight, my father told me where babies came from. He also explained that that came out in a bed in the hospital. 

I was at the hospital all the time. It was my home away from home. I wandered the halls, I investigated the little drawers, I sat in waiting room, I knew that place like the back of my hand, and the groans coming from the rooms, the pallid fluorescent lighting, the occasional mean nurse and arrogant doctor, set my teeth on edge, even as a child.

When Daddy explained the whole thing, I made up my mind that no matter what, I would not be exposing my junk to the hospital crowd. No way. The whole thing sounded so gross, and then to think that I would be naked and groaning in front of others, “forget about it”. Maybe I was afraid. I can still smell Memorial Hospital in Nacogdoches, Texas. Bright lights and chemical smells and groans.

My mind was like concrete when it finally came time to talk about babies with my husband. It was final. I had decided things twenty years before this moment, but did not share this with him all at once. I slowly began brainwashing Mark about birth and how dangerous it was in the hospital versus the home. I gave him statistics and I interviewed midwives even before I was pregnant.

In the midst of my wife to husband real time propaganda, I had a dream. In my dream, it was time to birth the baby. We went to the hospital and I “played along” like this was going to go like everyone wanted it to go. In the dream, I knew that the bathroom in one’s room did not lock, but the one down the hall locked. I pretended to “go on a walk”, and locked myself in the hall bathroom when it was time to push, having the baby on the toilet.

When I shared the dream with Mark, it was a moment of unveiling my black box secret. He initially was a bit upset-“it sounds like you just are going to do what YOU want to do, not considering me at all!” But I think the dream relayed an undeniable element of truth-and we ended up home birthing.

My first birth was tough. It was long. I wasn’t dilated AT ALL and my midwives said-go on a really long walk-outside, and then they split-Midwives seem to know “this thing is going to take forever, it’s your first birth sweet pie”, a little piece of information they don’t dare share until later. To Starbucks they trot while I am feeling like someone has a noose on my insides. Mark and I to walk a couple of miles. They were so stoked when they returned and I was dilated to “1”. “Go on another walk the same distance as that first one”, they said. Meanwhile, I had been having hard contractions that whole walk, stopping to breathe on Mark while the traffic on Basse road zipped by us and concerned drivers stopped to ask us if we needed “a lift.”

I got in the tub and started moaning. I did not stop moaning for twelve hours until the baby came out, but it did come out. Holly (my midwife), did her first episiotomy, both of us thinking I did not need a local, the baby’s head on my perineum, and both of us being wrong as she made three decisive cuts right through very alive and very “I can feel this” skin.

But the 9.5 pound baby did finally arrive. 

After this moment, I actually wasn’t so intense about home birth, and thought, the insurance could just pay for the birth next time. Maybe I was just being melodramatic about the hospital, how bad could it be? I would probably just have it naturally and just as fast in the hospital next time.

Mark though, was hooked. He loved it. He loved being so involved and in control. He liked being in our own environment. He loved the midwife. He enjoyed the intimacy with whomever we wanted to invite or not invite. He relished that I could eat, drink, sleep, and get in the bath. He sort of had a Margi  Peace experience. It was one of the most empowering days of his life, and he still revels in that first night with his first born child.

Holly whisked me off to the hospital, as I had torn down to the rectum. She encouraged Mark to stay with the baby as hospitals feel they should keep “homebirth babies” for observation should they show up. I was not able to walk very well, so my father in law got an office chair and rolled me to the car-we silently drove into the darkness as Mark held Mackenzie. He said she just stared up into his eyes for hours while the midwife who had stayed behind cleaned sheets, kitchen, and got the house back into order. 

It was a rite of passage my husband had passed through, and he discovered a place of empowerment and joy-a gate swung open to fatherhood and independence that he did not know existed. The feeling was addictive, euphoric. He would get to experience this four more times, but the first birth would forever be etched into his memory, and unlatch something wonderful in his soul.

Coffee Enema Love Affair

It may seem strange when  a girl clutches her enema bag to her heart as if  it were a long lost friend before gingerly packing it in her suitcase. She would never think of leaving town without it. She rarely lets a day pass without doing a coffee enema.

 I wasn't intending on a long term relationship, it just sort of happened when I was least expecting. We met after my last birth. For some reason, my last pregnancy dealt my body a serious blow. I don't know if the hormones suddenly exploded inside of me and then talked to my whole body, and my brain, instructing it to do the opposite of what it had done my whole life,  but I felt toxic.

My nose ran for three months straight, my skin was broken out, my brain was foggy, and I looked like a poster child for the woman's midlife crisis clinic.

My body was saying "help me". And the intuition I had was that my liver was full. It was probably all of the lemon meringue pie, bean and cheese tacos, and heavy chocolate load I gobbled down the last five pregnancies. Or maybe it was hormone overload, whatever -I felt like a sick person. Boo. Hiss.

At first I looked at cleanses, and even ordered a super duper special liver "detox" powder that was black, gray, and had chunks. You were supposed to stir this in a glass of water??? I don't know what kind of water the person writing the instructions was talking about, maybe they meant whiskey and did not divulge the real plan, but at my house, the black tar clump didn't blend into a glass of water. So I ended up gagging it down in applesauce for five days straight. Each day of gagging motivated me towards something else-even the thought of sticking a tube up my butt was becoming more attractive than this.

At precisely the moment of applesauce gagging, I was reading; Dr. Max Gerson, Healing the Hopeless, by Howard Strauss (Max's grandson who graduated from MIT and then honored his grandfather with this amazing Biography).  I had heard of the Gerson Therapy, but I always like to know the  person behind the therapy.  The book is long-377 pages, but I treasured each and every word. Howard frames his grandfathers legacy and it takes my breath away. Dr. Gerson and his family escaped the ovens of Germany, only to come to America and endure the ovens of the American Medical Association, and yet he never quit fighting against cancer with truth, honor, loyalty, and was a pioneer of his time.

When I came to the part of his medical plan that includes using coffee enemas to help "clear the liver", I could not contain my excitement-it was fate. I ran to the freezer and got the Neiman Marcus blend of Christmas coffee which had resided in the freezer for upwards of two years. It was not organic (a must)-but it was the only coffee in the house and I was a desperate soupy nose blowing woman who needed de-fogging. I brewed it up, and sent it to a place where no coffee had been before.

Within twenty seconds, my runny close cleared, then my foggy brain cleared, and within a couple of days, my skin cleared.  It was an innocent yet desperate inauguration of our relationship, and that was three years ago.  I did a coffee enema every few days for a couple of months, then I felt so good, I forgot about it for a few months, then took it up again. There were so many questions that I had. The instructions were to let it "boil in a saucepan" at least 15 minutes, then strain it, then put it in the enema bag-a somewhat cumbersome method to get every bit of the goodness out of the beans.

Ugh. Dr. Gerson's recipe is taking too much time. Forget about it. One day I have a eureka moment-"Just brew the coffee in a coffee pot-it's better than not doing it at all".  All of the hard work of making the coffee a special way goes away and I am left with an easy plan.

I can multi-task. I can make the coffee at night, stick it in my rear while I shower the next morning. I then lay on my side for the appointed 10-12 minutes while I am reading a memoir, and then let it out.  Its' actually a very meditative time for me. I am forced to lie down for 12 minutes while awake-

Just this past week I added something to the coffee. It is a mix of epsom salt, baking soda, and lavender oil-like a bath salt. Just a teaspoon added to the coffee makes a huge difference. My liver seems to clear out more than normal, it's easier to retain, and is more comfortable than straight coffee, or coffee with cold water added to make the temp. around 98 degrees.

I have naysayer friends. Friends that point out the "unnaturalness" of it. Seeming so true, I could not rebut this for two years, and I was putting the groceries in the car a few weeks ago when the answer fluttered around my head, then landed.  In 1952, the government began to genetically modify wheat. 1952 was just the beginning, and then we modified it more and more, and still more.

Any product that we consume which contains flour (and most of us eat something with flour for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner) is made of this stuff. It's not a real food anymore. It is a scientific experiment we call flour. We don't always eat what's natural, and therefore, something that does not "seem" natural", but will cleanse both the liver and gallbladder, may in fact be an important key to health.

And so, all of the uncertainties and insecurities surrounding me and my bag fall away, and I am a girl in love...again. My brain clears every time I do this, and its' the cheapest high I can get. I have a friend who called saying she would have to "have her gallbladder out." I promptly sent her an article on the cleansing effects of the coffee enema on the gallbladder...."She'd rather have surgery" was the reply.

I don't blame my friend. Its' the "exit only" sign we cling to our bottoms-we'd rather have surgery than do this...unless we look like death warmed over and are yelling at our kids like some strange maniac demon possessed being that is supposed to be called "mom", hating ourselves for what we've become and realizing that we have two choices-take drugs, or order the silicone bag for $40 off of Amazon.

I'm way too cheap to buy drugs, so I opt for the bag and some organic grounds from Costco.

Rhythms of Time, Forced to Time Manage and Love it!

Easily, I could think I was unique in being "forced" to manage my time. I have five children, and a long list of to-do's every day, but the fact of the matter is, EVERYONE is racing against the clock in one way or another....even children nowadays have homework galore and deadlines from first grade on...I probably feel the HEAT of managing my time poorly, because I see or feel immediate results, but I am definitely not alone in needing good time management skills.

Organization is an area in which I am naturally gifted, but I still have pursued time management skills in every area of managing the house. Flylady, at www.flylady.net has been a great resource for me that's free and has lots of support, ie: radio/podcast show weekly, and other free information and outlets on keeping your home clutter free, body clutter-free, closet clutter-free...etc. LOVE Flylady! But really, when I summarize all I have learned and do on a daily basis, I have to say that I have said a little prayer about a "home area" or "kid issue", and God has consistently sent me an answer on how to do things. Either a book, news article, person, or just a "knowing" on what to do...He gets the message to me somehow.

I have little things that I do that seem to help the process along. I ALWAYS make a to do list at night or even in the morning. This one tip makes me so much more accomplished on a daily basis. If I forget to do this, I begin "wandering" through the day with very little purpose and by the end of the day have not really accomplished much. I got a fancy ap on my phone, but for some reason, the little crumple of paper seems to work best for me. If I lay it on the kitchen counter and look at it only once, my day is immediately more productive. I bake bread, make kombucha, finish school, read 10 books aloud, and paint a painting with time for a nap. On the days I don't "do" my list, I wander around the house, pick up things off the floor, check facebook 10 times, fold a little laundry, put the kids in front of videos, and then wonder what happened to the not-so-productive day at the end??

Another BIG trick is setting the timer. This is a Flylady deal. Set the timer for 15 minutes and do a chore you don't want to do. When it rings, stop doing the chore. Don't get into perfectionism, just DO IT for the duration of the Timer and feel awesome about yourself when the Timer rings. This one is for the down and dirties like cleaning toilets, washing AND FOLDING laundry AND getting it put away, and things like that. If you only set it twice a day, you'll feel like a champ for getting the rough stuff done each day.

I like to read books on organizing-well, to be an honest, a book a year. I read on book on "Speed Cleaning" how to clean your house in the fastest amount of time...Homeschooling, How to Organize Everyones's schedule....and these books, or at least one or two tips from each book, is part of my day.  I have a daily routine....school is routine, meals are routine, naps are routine, reading books to kids, bedtimes....all of those are MUSTS and many times I have typed out the exact TIMES just for me. It helps to look at these parts of the day pretty often, so that you don't run behind (at least for me). The routine makes the children very stable and secure. All of the "to-do's" get sandwiched between the "must-do's".

One thing I have realized, and the reason I named this article "loving it", is I have had a little resentment for HAVING to manage my time so diligently. I have been forced to manage my time for a decade now, and I think I have grumbled or complained more about this issue (inwardly and probably outwardly) more than any other. If I go shopping, it's not leisurely nor is it enjoyable. It's literally, me, running as fast as I can to the lingerie department, yanking my sizes off the sale rack, and yelling to the cashier to hold my purse while I make sure my boobs are still the same size....something about the intensity of that has made me a pouter more than once....until now. Now, I'm grateful. Time is precious, and I know it. I have figured out how to manage my time by force, but enjoy my time immensely and appreciate the minutes-those golden nuggets called minutes.

Finally, and really, I could write a whole book on this subject, I try to maximize each minute to the best of my ability. Appreciate time, and viewing time as precious, has been one of the motivators for my successfully handling "time", and not taking it for granted. Time is the one thing, if lost, I will physically cry over. Birthing 11 pounds, whatever........wasting 2 hours of time, let the tears fall and get the kleenex ready.

MUST brag on Rewards System for kids

This is too cute. I was going to facebook, but it's too much information, so I'm blogging it.

I have five children now, and the task is almost too daunting at times. What task, you ask? Name one. Potty training, schooling, reading EACH child their books....if you have one child, times what you do times five and then try to neatly organize all of it into each day.
One of the issues I have had, and other moms make it sound so easy, but I want to instill work ethic and reward system without breaking my back and spending too much time on it. I had a "star" system, which was a little row of pockets that I had made and popsicle sticks with glittery stars on them. When the kids did something great, or I wanted to reward them, they got a popsicle stick with the star and put it in their individual pocket. Things were great for awhile, but the kids started "re-arranging" the stars in the pockets as well as other "favorite pastime" items (with the handcrafted stars) that they so enjoy doing when I run to the bathroom.

SO THEN, I found an application for my phone called iRewardChart. Yes, I have an iphone, so you may have to make the wall chart if you don't, but for all of the busyness and really, how little time I WANT to spend on charting chores and which child did what, this has worked out AWESOME.

 You get to name your own rewards in the application for each child. Mackenzie was saving up and trying to get enough stars for Disney World (500 stars), but ended up trading in stars for money and got an American Girl doll and wardrobe instead. The excitement this sparked when she got her box in the mail was over the top. Megan and Max immediately wanted to make more stars and they ran out and cleaned up the entire yard, which has been our outdoor shoe collection area for a month. In the photo, Megan is cleaning off one of the shoes they found.

Michael, the three year old, is not that motivated by the stars, but I give him stars on purpose when he does certain things I personally REALLY want him to do on his own....wiping his bottom after poo-poo for instance, or DRESSING HIMSELF, for goodness sake....if he dresses himself, I make a BIG deal out of it, run get my phone, and let him give the stars to himself (they make a nice "ringing" sound with each additional star). I would give him 100 stars at once if he started dressing himself every day, but for now, it's two at a time.

Along with earning stars, one gets to LOSE stars. This is used sparingly, but lately has been VERY motivating for the kids at dinnertime. They don't eat, they lose 2 stars. No sweating, nagging, begging, bantering, and stomach upset...just put the "weight" of the deal on the kids. Now that they are enjoying some of the rewards of "getting" the stars, having them taken away is hard to swallow. No pun intended. Brussel sprouts and asparagus are now being eaten quite well.

With each child, I have certain things I want them to do as a habit alongside of the chores and jobs. For one, the girls like to wear their hair down but didn't like to brush it. For awhile, they could earn stars for brushing their hair daily. After it became a habit, the hair brushing star magically went away....I'm sure it was in the grocery line one day.... But that's how I use the star system with the iRewardChart on my phone. Not all rewards are monetary. Many involve our time-date night with dad is so many stars as well as video games on ipad....You can customize the rewards as well as the chores with each child that you have....I may start a chart in there for my husband as well as the dogs. Well worth the .99 cents or whatever this app cost for a mom of five.

Finally, the birthday day has arrived! No balloons or pink plates. Just a giant cupcake and a cute little dress. Wow. One year since I pushed out the 11 pound 3 ounce genius. Once you've pushed out that much mass, you never seem to quite forget.

I have SO enjoyed Miley. She has a super cute personality, she's laid back, and really adds depth to our family. The kids love having her to play with as well.

The biggest adjustment, is just adjusting. But, beyond that, I'm loving how the family has grown, and loving experimenting with pushing motherhood to the max. Miley has not yet had sugar and this cake was a sugar free experiment. I made it with xylitol, and just the word xylitol, keeps us all eating just a little less of it than if it were a sugar explosion. The top is whipped cream with a little stevia and vanilla. The first batch of (xylitol) icing I made was horrible. You hate to throw it away, but I could not think of one use for my big butterball xylitol mess, so I threw it down the drain. Xylitol is poisonous to dogs, so they were locked out of this party. Our dogs get fat when we have a highchair baby and then they thin out again after the fact.

I liked this cake, but for some reason, the middle took a LONG time to get done??? Not sure what happened on that, but the first day it tasted fresher and better than the second day. Anyway, would love to remiss the year, but I have another party to plan. Megan turns 6 next week, and I'm deciding all of the options for cake/dress right now. Would rather spend time sewing, than baking. I get so much more satisfaction from sewing, because it can be worn and enjoyed for a couple of years. Baking, not so much. Work work work, back hurts, sweat, throw out the butterball xylitol, work work work. Done. Eat it. It's gone.  There is SOME therapy in baking, but, it's gone in seconds....so I might buy a cake at Country Mart for Megan. Keep ya' posted.

Miley's First Birthday

Well, it's Miley's first birthday this Friday and I was on the hunt for the perfect first birthday cake. You would think after four kids, I would have a highlighted plan in a file somewhere for "first birthdays", but alas, no, I don't. Every time, I think, Oh, this isn't that big of a deal. We will invite no one and put a little party hat on their head with a number one and take a cute picture. Then, when it gets down to the wire, I start furiously knitting a crown with a number one on it, or making some crazy fun cupcake material outfit or whatever other hairbrained idea I get. This usually happens within one week of the day.

For Miley's birthday, I want to make her a special outfit, and in my head I had the "vision" of a cupcake for her, but that's just not going to be good enough, so I googled birthday ideas and found this GIANT cupcake pan (it's really a full sized cake in the shape of a cupcake). So cool. Not only did I find this giant pan, but I found instructions for making the cupcake look like it has a bright pink cupcake liner. I will blog my progress on this special day and keep you updated.

Swim Season-Outside tips with Kids

Well, it's swim season again. I'm really too busy and too stuck at home to do many sports...but I really like swim team. The kids learn a valuable sport that they can use for the rest of their lives...plus a life skill should they ever need it. Mackenzie and Megan both did swim team last year. It was a pretty pathetic team...sort of like the bad news bears, but despite the patheticness of it all, they learned all the strokes and were EXCELLENT swimmers by the end of the swim season. We didn't care so much about winning, just about getting really good at swimming. We are in Branson this summer, and thank God for the pathetic team we were on last year, because this year, they hopped right onto the awesome team and feel right at home.

Living in Branson has had its' own learning curve as far as having several little kids. They have ticks here. Bad. So, I'm learning what to do with that. Max found one on his privates today and proceeded to show everyone around "his tick". Basically, I thought you burned them with a match and they would would fall off. Not so. These guys know a good deal when they see one and won't let go for anything short of a beating. So, after hours of research I found you just pull it out with tweezers. Actually, we just had houseguests leave and they found one that had spent a few days behind their babies' ear (they had been home a week) and lo and behold, that tick gave their baby rocky mountain fever which can paralyze you or kill you. (I'm learning more every day. It has to stay embedded for more than 24 hours to give you the ol fever.) Oh yeah, and we have brown recluse spiders here. If you would like a quick fear jolt, google those guys and look at images. Yikes. I saw three in one day at the house. Two inside and one out. I have to remind myself that the spider is little, I am big, it won't hurt me.... I killed one when we first got here and left the spatula in the sink. The next day, the end of the spatula was melted in the spot that I had squished the spider.

Well, so what do I do with this? I'm so against pest control. I can hardly stand it. ESPECIALLY with a crawling baby. But when you pick 14 ticks off of your dog in one day...something's gotta give. On dogs, I found out that Advantix works much better than frontline...I just ordered a case. On the kids...I like to find out the poisonous possibilities in the area, and then find some good scriptures. There are some good ones on poisonous insects that I can proclaim in our home. If the insects avoided the Israelites, but bugged the Egyptians, the same can happen today, right? I then read blogs on the subject, finding people who have been bitten or stung and then "arm" myself with a plan before any event ever occurs. My new first aid items include burn gel (this numbs the pain and heals the burn) (Water Jel Burn Jel, Pain Relief 25 ea) and then my other new item is called an "extractor". This little dude "pulls" the poison out of a bite or a sting. You pick the suction cup size and it will extract everything from mosquito bite poison to ant stings to poison from a spider bite. Nice to have on hand!

Anyway...some of the other things I do in the summertime. I don't use sunscreen. I know, I know, it's really bad, but I figured out that the sun in the afternoon (after 3PM), does not burn you, so I usually like to swim with the kids after naptime. If they swim in the sun in the morning, I REALLY smooth on the sunscreen. Mackenzie is going to camp next week and they require bug spray and sunscreen in the packing list, and I found a bug spray/sunscreen combo from Avon of all places. It probably has as many chemicals as anything else out there, but because it's avon, I totally trust it. Also, you can get it in a pump spray (YAY). Has anyone else noticed that the aerosol sunscreen sprays only last 2 days when you have 5 kids? If you go to the beach for a week, you need at least 5 cans to make it to the end of the week. I'm thinkin' BULK product here, people! So, I was happy to find this little all in one item for camp. Speaking of camp. How exciting! She's going to Kamp Kanakuk, and I feel really good about it. We have a really close friend who was homeschooled all of his life, but his parents sent him to Kanakuk for one month every year starting at age 7. He thinks it is an excellent idea for homeschoolers. My little brother went to this camp when he was young and it was LIFE CHANGING for him. So, we are excited for her. Nothing like giving the little ones' wings while they still live in the nest. I want her to go on missions trips as soon as she turns 12 as well. But for now, a camp will do. This camp is located in Branson and they have 70 different sports available to the kids. I think the camp she's doing they sleep in tee-pees. There is a rigorous interview screening for the counselors, and basically, I just have a peace about it. So there you have it. The only other activity I have lined up for summer is a spelling bee coming up in two weeks. You know I can't stay away from spelling bees. Mackenzie  just watched Akeelah and the Bee and she's nervous about standing in front of "all those people", but we live in a little town and I think this "bee" will be more like little house on the prairie than the Scripps spelling Bee in Washington. The Bee is being held in Springfield Missouri at an old school house built in 1854. How totally cool is that?

Other items I'm working on this summer:

+ making my own kombucha (I have DETERMINATION in my soul...this WILL happen)
+lose my final 15 lbs. (baby is 10 months old, now)
+ Get my soap onto Amazon.com (should be up there in a week)
+ Learn how to do gel nails at home (they stay on for 2-3 weeks, would be great for doing girls' nails as well)
+ Read up on the Suzuki method for the violin. Mackenzie's been playing with a teacher, but I want to read Nurtured By Love as well
+ Get Max reading ready-
+ Get some really yummy kids pics at the pool and beach

Is the list too long? As long as I stay at home, anything is possible. I find the more I leave the house, the faster my time slips through my fingers. If I do an outside activity with the kids, it needs to be within 10 miles of the house. Right now, I'm getting my nails done and it takes 3 hours of my time. Drive-1 hour Nails-1 hour Drive-1 hour....it's things like that that PUSH me to learn yet another skill. (that's where the gel nail thing came from).

I'll give a full report as the summer progresses. We didn't quite finish school this year...so I'll have to fit it in here and there between everything else. Having a baby and moving to another place can put a monkey wrench in my plans...but God totally has graced me to do it all.

oh yeah, I've added Avon Skin So Soft to my first aid "armor". All the children get sprayed as they go out the door in the morning. Do you guys remember that stuff? It's really great for a body "pest" spray. Count your blessings if you don't need this.