Concerning the book drawing...
I'm leaving it open for a few more days.
Anyone who would be kind enough to offer me tips and suggestions for organizing, streamlining and living with 5 children in a small space, please do so by posting a comment at the end of this post or by leaving a note in the chatbox on the sidebar of this page.Even if you know nothing about being organized :-) a word of encouragement would be welcome! Everyone who leaves me a comment will be entered in the book drawing. I started this drawing on my other blog back before HSB made all the changes. After that, my site traffic went WAY down...I guess no one could get to each other's blogs. Anyway, I'm copying the original post here:

Dec. 8, 2006 - Help Me and Enter My Drawing!
I have a dilemma...
A growing (almost large) family in a small house with very few closets dilemma...

We have been busy trying to make room for the little Ladybug and Doodlebug to move into a kid's bedroom and out of our bedroom. I now have an entire room worth of stuff that has no home. Everything from our office/schoolroom now has to be assimilated into our house. I have boxes of wrapping paper and supplies, computer gadgets, etc...

Here is the question: Where do you put things like wrapping paper?
I would think under my bed , but our bed sits on the floor, -- no underneath.
I would think hall closet but I don't have one. :-/
Is this question going to be too hard?

Will any of you who have creative ideas for storing things including, but not limited to, wrapping supplies, (in fact any and all organizing topics are welcome!) please leave me a comment at the end of this post or leave me a message in my chat box?
I'd love to have conversation with you and glean from some of your ideas.

Everyone who joins in this conversation and leaves me a valid email address will be entered into a drawing for 2 gently used books.

The winner can choose from two of 6 choices:

1. Your Clothes Say it for You by Elizabeth Rice Handford
2. Christian Living in the Home by Jay Adams
3. Training Children in Godliness by Jacob Abbot
4. Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley (Flylady)
5. I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris
(this one has our name in ink in the front cover but is in good condition)
6.What the Bible Says About Child Training by J. Richard Fugate (This one is an older bookstore discard copy with an X on the bottom--but still in good condition)

Thanks to any of you in advance and please pass the message on...the more the merrier!

Labels: Drawings and Contests, Household Helps

A few days ago we had a very strong wind from the west come through. The giant star held on valiantly as long as it could but eventually it's lightweight frame gave way, and...it turned into a giant taco. From the side it looks something like a butterfly or angel with wings folding toward the back. I told dear hubby to just add a trumpet to the front and it could be the heralding angel! At least it didn't blow down!
The builder man hubby has already begun his "super strength star" plans for next year. He will be planning for a hurricane wind. :-)

Labels: Another Day, Holidays and Celebrations

Welcome to our little home...

I named it Bird Song Cottage.

Just inside the front door is where we display our Christmas cards from friends and family. I've been using this little victorian inspired cardboard holder for approximately 13 years now!

On the back of the front door hangs this wreath. I made it the first year dear hubby and I were married. It's called a memory wreath. If you've never heard of that: it's a hand stitched wreath made from bits and pieces of scrap fabric from things you have owned in the past. All the little ornaments are also trinkets, etc... from your own personal history. This wreath was made from clothes I or my grandmother had sewn for me and bits of rick rack and jewelry fro my childhood...it holds a lot of happy memories for me!

The tree sits in the corner of the living room where we can push the ottoman in front of it to keep little fingers away from the pretty ornaments!

We have a family tradition of hiding a little bird's nest in the tree and letting everyone in the family try to find it. Here it is! See the little bluebird peeking out?

And here is the hard work of my dear husband: the neighborhood star for which he is famous! This star is 24 feet from tip to tip. The neigborhood children love to see this each year and always ask when we will be putting it up.

This year Hubby was able to borrow my dad's ham radio tower to suspend it from! So...it's way up in the air. It looks great at night and can be seen for miles!

I don't have a special recipe to share with you this time but if you go through the rest of the tour of other homes you will find lots of great recipes! Thanks for visiting! Have a Merry Christmas!

Labels: Holidays and Celebrations

Labels: Family

Sorry I wasn't back sooner. I got sick and then the weekend came, and then we had some computer problems. Everything seems to be working again and I feel better.
I said I would post the kids captions and tell you what the photos are.

Labels: Homeschool

These first three photos are Osprey's work (16 yo DS).
He was in the mood for close-ups. :-)
Can you tell what they are?
Leave a comment with your best guesses!

These next two photos are River Girl's work (12 yo DD). I think she did a great job of working on composition and arrangement! She even gave black and white a try.

I'm proud of their morning work. Part two of the
assignment is to give each photo a caption and a

Labels: Homeschool

We still aren't sure because we've never seen one of these around here...but we believe it to be a common snipe. Any one else care to comment or tell us about this cutie? It's been hanging out with us and feasting on bugs and other delectable treats all week.

Labels: Homeschool

Labels: Just for fun

Labels: Household Helps

As most of you know, HSBlogger has been making some pretty radical changes. I applaud them for their effort to keep up with the times, but I'm not so sure I like the changes. Even if I get used to them, in the meantime, many , and I mean MANY, of the featurees are not working properly right now. This is hard on my nervous system! ;-) My house is not very orderly right now and my blogging was one of the few places where I felt a sense of peace and order.....(that, and the kids bathroom which I recently did a makeover on!)...
So, what I'm trying to say is: I have started another blog: Sunydazy Days over at Blogger (where my dear hubby has a blog). I am not dumping this one (for now). I'm just going to let it sit quietly for a little bit while I wait and see how HSB handles all the problems. All you faithful to the end types...Don't get mad at me for thinking of leaving! I made a covenant to stay with my hubby till death do we part and to endure through thick and thin, but I have no such covenant with Homeschoolblogger! :-)
Come and pay me a visit!

• Dec. 14, 2006 - :)
Posted by TrainingHearts
I hear ya on the changes! I guess I'm not one to be good with change either. I think it's getting a little better, though. Have a good evening....darling blog :)

• Dec. 18, 2006 - changes
Posted by JNLANG
I don't like changes. It always takes awile to get used to it and then they make changes again.

• Dec. 18, 2006 - I hear ya!
Posted by AHappyHome
I am having some trouble also, but don't have the time to sort it all out yet. In regards to where to keep wrapping paper, I suggest chucking it. When you need to wrap something, decorate a white or brown paper bag, and thread a pretty ribbon on the top. Or wrap it in pretty tissue paper tied with raffia. People pay big bucks for the "country" look these days, and you can have it for about nothing AND save on space. Blessings, Keri (an organizer freakazoid)

• Dec. 26, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by CandyFoote
Wow! I was shocked when I read my blog and you had asked me for some organizational tips!! Have you ever heard of FLYLady??? She is great! Although I haven't been great at following all of her great advice, she has taught me that I can do anything in 15 minutes. Really!!!! Give it a try a see the difference that 15 minutes can make. Even on your worse room. You know the one with the door safely shut! See what a difference 15 minutes can make on it! Hope this helps. Candy

Labels: Misc

I have another blog at Homeschoolblogger, but they are having some major technical difficulties right now. It started Sunday during a routine maintenance down time...today is Wednesday and still nothing works right. I don't want to bail on them too soon but I would like to have a blog where everything works.
I'm going to give Blogger a try and let my other blog sit quietly for a bit...maybe they'll work the bugs out.

On to the About Me part of this intro: I am a Christian, stay at home mom of 5 kiddoes, so far. We homeschool and love it! We live on a little spot (1 acre) of land in Texas where the heat waves are visible in summer. :-)
We hope to relocate to a gentler climate some day! We have lived in other parts of the country and prefer cold winters and cooler summers. I would love to put more detail into this post but all the kids are starting to get up and I've got to get them some breakfast. Also, the house needs some attention. I'll post more later.
For now, i hope to make some new friends and I hope that my old friends will find their way here and leave me a note.
Have a sunny day!

Edited to add: I have almost--not quite-- made the final decision to close my HSB blog, This makes me sad but I just don't see any improvements over there. :-(
I am an optimist by nature so I'll hold on a bit more.Anyway, I will be moving ALL of my archives to this blog because I don't want to lose it all...so you'll be seeing some posts appear from all throughout 2006.

Labels: More About Me

Want a great place to Christmas shop? Try Biblical Womanhood!A beautiful place with loads of helps for Christian women and young ladies everywhere.
I know there are lots of things I would love to have from there;-).If you shop there by using my link above or look for it on the right hand side under 'Places to Shop' category, you'll help me earn a little bit of commision. Every little bit is a blessing!
Since Homeschoolblogger has made all the changes I'm not sure if I can get the link to work in this post or not but I'll give it a try!
I'll probably add a few other affiliate links in the sidebar to places I really like, so keep looking for them in the future.
P.S. My "help me' drawing is still open (see my last post). I could still use more helpful tips. I've already started using some of the ideas from the first 2 commenters. Please help me! You don't HAVE to have a book if you don't want! ;-D I just thought it would entice a few more commenters.
Thanks in advance

Labels: Misc

I have a dilemma...
A growing (almost large) family in a small house with very few closets dilemma...

We have been busy trying to make room for the little Ladybug and Doodlebug to move into a kid's bedroom and out of our bedroom. I now have an entire room worth of stuff that has no home. Everything from our office/schoolroom now has to be assimilated into our house. I have boxes of wrapping paper and supplies, computer gadgets, etc...

Here is the question: Where do you put things like wrapping paper?
I would think under my bed , but our bed sits on the floor, -- no underneath.
I would think hall closet but I don't have one. :-/
Is this question going to be too hard?

Will any of you who have creative ideas for storing things including, but not limited to, wrapping supplies, (in fact any and all organizing topics are welcome!) please leave me a comment at the end of this post or leave me a message in my chat box?
I'd love to have conversation with you and glean from some of your ideas.

Everyone who joins in this conversation and leaves me a valid email address will be entered into a drawing for 2 gently used books.

The winner can choose from two of 6 choices:

1. Your Clothes Say it for You by Elizabeth Rice Handford
2. Christian Living in the Home by Jay Adams
3. Training Children in Godliness by Jacob Abbot
4. Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley (Flylady)
5. I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris
(this one has our name in ink in the front cover but is in good condition)
6.What the Bible Says About Child Training by J. Richard Fugate
(This one is an older bookstore discard copy with an X on the bottom--but still in good condition)

Thanks to any of you in advance and please pass the message on...the more the merrier!

• Dec. 9, 2006 - Organizing
Posted by AmyD
Hello! We used to live in a large older house with three "barely enough room for hanging clothes" closets and now we live in a mobile home that has some larger closets, but still not nearly big enough. This may sound totally hilarious but last year I bought one of those plastic conatianers that holds wrapping paper, about six rolls, that is supposed to slip under a bed. Instead of it going under the bed, I turned it on its side and slipped it behind the couch. The wrap is much easier to get to there than it was in behind my clothes in the closet! :) Instead of an end table, at one end of our couch we have a dresser that holds all of the kids puzzles, card games, crayons, makers, craft supplies, bins with cassete tapes, scissors, etc. It just looks better than the plastic drawers/bins and still functions as an end table. We have cups on several tables & shelves and one on the kitchen counter with pencils/pens. The kids decorated the cups with contact paper. Since we don't have a room just for books/bookshelves, we have small bookshelves in many places around the house. In a way it works out best for us. One bookshelf holds science books/magazines, one history, and one is for chapter books. Our bedroom is the largest room so we have a tall bookshelf in there for the kids' school notebooks, textbooks, math manipulatives, encyclopedias, and other reference books. One year I bought an old trunk and some old leather suitcases at a resale shop. The trunk cost me about five dollars and the suitcases about a dollar a piece. I have the trunk at the end of our bed holding picture albums. The suitcases sit at the ends of the kids' beds - in those we have loose photos, momentos, stored seasonal clothes. My filing cabinet actually sits in a corner of the two younger boys' room. They found that since it is tall it is a good place for the hamster cages instead of on their dressers. That way the cat can't jump up there and tease the hamsters. I don't store away winter blankets. Those remain on beds all year. We just pull back the heavier ones and use only the top sheet in summer. We do cheat a little bit with holiday decorations and clothes waiting to be handed down. We now rent a small storage space for those things since we no longer have a garage or an attic. Our old neighbor actually discovered that he could widen the kids' closets since there was dead wall space next to the original closet between the rooms. Now that's an extreme for getting organized! :) But it was a solution for them that they could make work. Well, I hope I've given you a few ideas that might work for you. It's so hard to share ideas sometimes since everyone's house is different and also the things we have to go in them. Happy Organizing! Amy

• Dec. 9, 2006 - Thank you!
Posted by sunydazy
AmyD, Those are some great ideas! I do have space behind the couch that I could somehow utilize, and I hadn't thought of suitcases....hmmm...now I've got some things to think about. Thanks! This is going to be a challenge! :-D

• Dec. 10, 2006 - Organizing tips from Tonya...
Posted by Anonymous
Wrapping paper can hang in the closet with this organizer - http://hangercity.com/gifwrapor1.html And for winter clothes, blankets, extra pillows etc, I am a space bag junkie. Ryan's bed has drawers under but has a big open space between the drawers in the back, I can put at least 8 or so sleeping bags and space bags full of all kinds of things. They come out a little wrinkled a year later but I put a fabric softener sheet in the sleeping bags before putting them away so at least they smell good. I cut plywood to make a floor for our attic and filled it with rubbermaid containers for things that I don't need often but don't want to get rid of yet. I swear I am becoming mom sometimes! (Not sure if this would work in the Texas heat...hmmm) Or...you can send the kids a few at a time to me then you have extra room!! :)

• Dec. 22, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by foxvalleyfamily
I actually turned our old changing table into a 'gift wrap center.' I store the rolls of paper on the middle shelf ( they fit perfectly) and on the bottom I keep gift bags and a box with ribbons and bows , then a small pencil case with tape and scissors. We store the whole thing in our basement - next to our washer/dryer. Hope that helps! Michelle W.

Labels: Drawings and Contests, Household Helps

"One response was given by the innkeeper when Mary and Joseph wanted to find a room where the Child could be born. The innkeeper was not hostile; he was not opposed to them, but his inn was crowded; his hands were full; his mind was preoccupied. This is the answer that millions are giving today. Like a Bethlehem innkeeper, they cannot find room for Christ. All the accommodations in their hearts are already taken up by other crowding interests. Their response is not atheism. It is not defiance. It is preoccupation and the feeling of being able to get on reasonably well without Christianity."~ Billy Graham ~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A lot of things come to my mind...
I think I'll just ramble and let my thoughts lead me...
Revelation 3:14-18 is one thought...speaking to the church of Laodicea"..you are neither cold nor hot..."
"you say I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing"-and do not know that you are wretched , miserable, poor, blind, and naked-..."
Think about it...this is written to the church...if this is the case what about the unbelievers around said church? Do they even have a chance? How will they ever see their own need?
We are so insulated from suffering here in our culture...we are so busy collecting goods for ourselves and trying to be someone that everyone will like...we are so conditioned to accept evil... even death is a cleanly packaged event for most of us ...we do not have to care for own dead...and we are so, so busy... we don't recognize our own need for a Saviour.
All of these things condition our minds...we are blissfully unaware of our sinfulness, our inability to please God, of God's holiness and perfection.
The unsaved in our society are inoculated against Christianity...they get just enough of our easy believism vaccine and the mega church mentality along with christian TV and radio all alluding to (and sometimes actually saying)the idea that "Christians can be cool and have fun too---just like the World"
Who is copying who here?
And what about half hearted Christian neighbors and friends?
How do they ultimately affect the world for the Kingdom of God?
People think it's just a gimmick. Christianity is something to fill someone's time like a hobby.
I have been guilty of this same busy, shallow existence, at times.
Please forgive me Lord for all the times I didn't see my own sin, for all the times I have turned people away from you by not truly living the Kingdom.
I want to lose the busy, time-wasting activity and focus on the really important things... I want my children to be so consumed by You that nothing else matters...
Sunydazy


.

• Dec. 5, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
it is true many think it is a gimmick. I have in laws like that. It breaks my heart. This is a great post. Thank you so much for writing. Laurel Wreath

• Dec. 5, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Nic @ http://nicsplace.blogspot.com
The unsaved in our society are inoculated against Christianity...they get just enough of our easy believism vaccine and the mega church mentality along with christian TV and radio all alluding to (and sometimes actually saying) the idea that "Christians can be cool and have fun too---just like the World" That is SUCH the truth. There are so many churches out there - you've heard of them and other's you've seen on TV - where you really can't tell the church from the world. If the world can't see Christ in us, why do they want to be like us? We can still have fun but we don't have to do it the way the world does it. Thank you for telling the truth of that in this week's IOW post. :)

• Dec. 6, 2006 - Christ In Christmas
Posted by AmyD
I am feeling that here too! We have an advent calendar where each day until Christmas the kids put up one piece of the nativity scene, and on the last day, the baby Jesus. My youngest was showing it to her neighbor friend and the girl told her they have one too, with a tree and ornaments. But the girl wanted to know why ours was a "barn". My daughter explained it was a manger scene with Jesus. The girl wanted to know what Jesus had to do with Christmas. My daughter, in her six year old wisdom, simply said that Christmas is Jesus' birthday and Jesus' name is in the word Christmas. "We can't have Christmas without Him!" My hope is that since this girl's family does not go to church, or let her go with anyone else's family, that she will at least grow up and remember the things my daughter talks about, that she has learned, and will want to learn more herself.

Labels: In Other Words

As many of you know I am a little bit of a granola girl at heart. I truly believe that God designed our bodies to heal and also that He designed them with prevention of illness available. One of my very favorite books is Nourishing Traditions~ The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and The Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon. I love it! She challenges all the so-called health talk we hear every day and supports everything she recommends with actual studies.Over the past 6 years I have been making gradual changes to our families diet and I've been learning to cook in healthier ways. In case you think you know all about it...think again...we're not talking about low-fat, low meat eating here...Hmmm you say.... How can anything with fat or red meat be healthy? Well , you just need to get the book! It's way too big for me to repeat here.

The following is such a well written description of great health practices that I decided to share it with you here (with proper permission!). After you read this you'll want to check out my friends blog who wrote this. Thanks to Seeking the Old Paths for sharing this with us. Go Here and read more from her health section!


November 18, 2006
Battling Illness Naturally(Part Two) Prevention
Posted in Healthy Living Or Something Close
We've heard it a thousand times, 'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure'. But when it comes to being sick, or worse, having our kids sick, or even worse yet, having all your kids sick at once, this prescription is as good as gold.

Exposure to bacteria and viruses is not the cause of llness. We are exposed to harmful germs daily. Our bodies' response to them is what determines if illness will occur. Some measures we take are about avoiding exposure, and others focus on building our immune response. The two go hand-in-hand.

Starting with those stratagems which are easiest to implement, following are some of the measures we employ in our quest to prevent illness as much as possible:

Stay well hydrated. Drink plenty of water to keep mucous membranes wet. Wet noses (not necessarily runny), wet eyes, and a moist mouth will repel germs, whereas dry ones allow the germs to stick like glue. If you are waking with a sore throat and dry cracked lips, you are not drinking enough. (The recommended amount to drink is half your body weight in ounces of water daily, which for my Little Napoleon would be about three ounces a day. Grin.)
Exercise daily. (Please don't ask me if I really do this.) The lymph system has no pump like the circulatory system, so the only way it can move the good stuff (lymphocytes and antibodies) and the bad stuff (bacteria and viruses) where they need to go is through our muscles contracting and pumping it around. Hence, folks who exercise have higher immune function.
Get fresh air daily. (Sounds like a no-brainer, but for homeschool Moms, it is sometimes a challenge.) Get yourself outside, and get fresh air inside as much as possible. Open windows-even in winter for a short time. Stale air is full of toxins, which stress the body's systems. Stale air is typically very dry as well, which goes back to point number one about dry mucous membranes.
Wash hands frequently and properly. Use hot water and soap, and keep rubbing for 20 seconds. This is about as long as it takes to sing the first verse of Amazing Grace, or if you're Doodle, the first line three times over. The hot water and soap will help wash off the germs, but you don't want to kill them. Antibacterial soaps are a leading cause of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains of germs. Don't use them if you want to be healthy. What doesn't kill them makes them stronger, and since we don't wash our hands under a microscope, we don't want to take chances.
Bathe properly. That means not too much bathing, and not too much soap. In studying, I found that decreased exposure to bacteria may be spurring the rise of modern-day illnesses such as asthma, allergies and auto-immune diseases. Also, our skin has an acidic oily layer that is the biggest chemical barrier to infections, because it is inhospitable to most harmful germs. When this layer is washed off with soap, it does us no good. So wash your hands with soap, but try to avoid it on the rest of the body.
If you can stomach it, you can let them eat...well, you can read it yourself here.
Get enough rest. Tired bodies have tired immune systems. If you are worn down, you will be more likely to get sick. I try to be proactive about this by not allowing us to be over-extended. Instead of waiting until we are already coming down with something to rest, I make it a priority all the time. Good, deep sleep allows our bodies to release interferon, a powerful immune-enhancing compound that is especially helpful with fighting viral infections.
We avoid antibiotics at all costs. Anti means against, and biotic means living organisms...these things kill living organisms-the good and the bad. (Until I started studying immunity, I had no idea how important 'good bacteria' were. I will explain more about this later.) When something does the work for you, it makes you weaker. Every time we use antibiotics, our bodies lose an opportunity to grow stronger. Studies also show that for a normally healthy person, the use of antibiotics lengthens the duration of illness, and the likelihood of recurrance.
We drastically cut our intake of sugar. We don't drink juice, soda, Kool-Aid, etc. Studies have shown that after ingestion of even a teaspoon of sugar, immune function is depleted for up to six hours. This goes for even healthy sugars like raw honey, sucanat, real maple syrup,and even...fruit juice. Whole fruits do not have the same effect on immunity. For us, this looks like not serving pancakes with maple syrup before church or on Town Day, when we will be exposed to a lot of new germs.(Not to mention how it helps Little Napoleon sit still in church better.)
Dietary Supplements- these are things we include in our everyday diet to strengthen our immune systems:
Vitamins-We do not use vitamin supplements, only whole foods. Studies have shown isolated nutrients (and especially synthetic ones) do more harm than good.
Cod liver oil- Nourishing Traditions says it confers 'resistance to infectious disease in children'. We buy it lemon-flavored, and there is no special way to take it...just chug a spoonful with dinner. This has been instrumental in curing one of our children of asthma.
Virgin coconut oil- The Coconut Oil Miracle says that the fatty acids found in coconut are powerful natural antibiotics, killing bacteria like streptococcus and staphylococcus. Besides being the only oil outside of butter that we use in cooking, we also put it in smoothies for snacks and hurry-up breakfasts. Another yummy way to supplement with this is to melt a spoonful in a cup of hot tea or hot chocolate.
Raw garlic-this Italian girl is thrilled that garlic is part of a healthy lifestyle! We eat it regulary in salad dressing, pasta sauce, dips, etc. Our favorite way to have it is on pasta tossed with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper with raw garlic put through the garlic press. Even the Littles eat it this way a smidge, and the big kids like it with plenty of garlic, (although no one likes as much as Mom!). Garlic can stimulate the activity of the white blood cells, which attack foreign organisms (viruses, bacteria, and yeast). Also, garlic increases the activity of the T-helper cells (immune cells which are central to the activity of the entire immune system). Dragon breath for a good cause!
Elderberry Extract- we take our homemade Elderberry syrup every day during cold and flu season. Studies about elderberry extract have proven it to offer strong protection against respiratory viral infections. Here are instructions for making it yourself, or you can buy Sambucol. Elderberry has no contraindications, and can be taken continually (unlike Echinacea) without harming immune response.
Throughout my studies, and now, my experience, the most important thing I have come across to support and strengthen the immune system is healthy bacteria in our digestive systems! I cannot stress this enough. The good bacteria in our digestive tract kills the harmful germs we come into contact with while they are in our digestive tract, before they enter our bloodstream. The lack of healthy bacteria in our bodies these days is why food poisoning is so rampant. E. Coli is naturally occuring in our bodies-it is just when it gets out of balance that it wreaks havoc. I found that strong immunity depends upon the bacteria in the digestive system being in balance, with the 'good' bacteria outnumbering the 'bad'. Everything under the sun kills the good and causes the bad to proliferate, especially stress, conventional farming methods, and the over-processed, high-sugar content of the standard American diet.
In organic farming, the healthy bacteria we need in our systems are naturally on the fruits and vegetables we grow. Modern farming practices kill the bacteria, causing us to be way under-supplied with the good bacteria or 'friendly fauna'. Thus, our need to supplement our diets with these bacteria. A healthy whole foods diet will help to keep the bad bacteria in check, but we have to be sure to eat the good. How we do that is by making and consuming traditional lactic-acid fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, and old-fashioned lacto-fermented pickles. (This dietary change has also been instrumental in curing one of our children of asthma. Thank you, Lord!)

We eat at least one of these foods daily (it only takes a smidge) to keep those bacteria in balance. A yogurt shake, a tablespoon or two of sauerkraut with our sandwich at lunch, a few pickle slices with dinner...it is very easy to do. If you want to know more about the effect of the digestive system on immunity, read Restoring Your Digestive Health by Jordan Rubin. If you want recipes and instructions for making these lacto-fermented foods, read Nourishing traditions by Sally Fallon. They are truly simple to make-needing nothing more than a knife, a jar, some salt, some water and a vegetable. The kids have been talking about posting a blog tutorial about making lacto-fermented vegetables, so we may do that soon.

In closing, I just want to state that God is sovereign. He alone controls whether we and our families will experience illness. Knowing that He expects us to be faithful stewards of the health that He has bestowed, these are the measures that we have been led to take.

Well, these and the old stand-by:

'You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose.'

At least not while he's sick.

Labels: Health and Nutrition