Frugal living: Toothpaste

One of the last few things I’ve switched over is toothpaste. Because I’ve had inexpensive access I’ve just not been as concerned about it – though I still don’t like the artificial colors and flavors as well as the other unnecessary ingredients. If a child under 6 can’t safely use it, it shouldn’t be in the house.

 

Our current tube of toothpaste is not so bad as others I’ve seen.

Colgate Total Whitening Paste: water, hydrated silica, glycerin, sorbitol, PVM/MA copolymer, sodium lauryl sulfate, cellulose gum, flavor, sodium hydroxide, propylene glycol, carrageenan, sodium saccharin, titanium dioxide.
Without getting into a nasty debate about any particular ingredient above, I will say this: saccharin is less healthy than sugar but is equally unnecessary for brushing teeth, anything with the word propylene does not belong in our mouths and others are just downright unnecessary. I even have issues with hydrogen peroxide (again, if I have to keep it out of reach of my 5 year old…).

 

There are many variant recipes available for easy internet searching. A very basic one that follows all of my requirements above is so easy:

 

Toothpowder: baking soda and salt (3 parts soda to 1 part salt). Store in a small glass jar (we use jam jars for everything around here).

Brushing: Ideally 3 times a day, dip moistened toothpaste into and brush vigorously for 2 and a half minutes; follow with a flossing at least once a day.

Mouthwash: A thorough mouth-washing with warm salt-water takes care of the rest of the bacteria.

Frugal Living?

A friend asked me to write up some blurbs on simple, inexpensive, (almost) all-natural living. It’s a work-in-progress (along with everything else in life!), but following are a few tidbits.

 

When it comes to alternative solutions, I have a few requirements before I make a change:

 

Glorify God: Above all else, God must be part of every aspect of our lives. If Mary lived today, would she make this choice for her family?

Frugal: must be inexpensive – or at least less expensive than the current product – I’ll pay more for something that meets all my other requirements, but money is precious so it’s a tough decision (ie I used to use Seventh Generation spray cleaner; but the cost became prohibitive during a particular year in our lives, so it had to go – we switched to baking soda, vinegar, water and occasional dish-soap on everything)

Easy to locate all necessary ingredients/products: my time and energy is precious too

Easy to prepare: did I mention the preciousness of time?

Family participation: if the kids can’t use it or mix it up, then it just won’t work; I want the children to be able to help make things at home using natural materials so that they understand the connection between the things we utilize and their sources; also I need to not worry about locking things away from them for their safety

Safe for the environment: I’m not an environmentalist above all else – it’s just that God gave us stewardship over the earth and all its inhabitants and I want to take this responsibility seriously

Safe for our bodies: typical household cleansers make me physically ill – what are the long term affects?

 

If something fits all of this criteria, great! If not, I have to balance out whether it fulfills or enough or do we continue with our current practice or do we drop it altogether. Many times we have dropped the use of certain products completely rather than seek replacements, because nothing fulfilled enough of the above criteria.

 

And, for those who will ask: NO, I don’t do something just because everybody else is doing it – if it is something that becomes a huge stress, or requires more focus or time or energy than I am willing or wanting to give, or takes away time with God and family, or requires me to make sacrifices in other areas of life, it is just not worth “keeping up with the Jones’”. Not to mention that it is only in the last 100 years that many of our typical choices or products have become in vogue and we have already seen the dangerous results of some of those recent changes made without proper testing and slow implementation first.

 

Ensuing posts will focus on particular areas or products. Please share other ideas in comments, but for the sake of focus, please keep them simple and straightforward.

Montessori Great Lessons

Dr. Maria Montessori was a devout Catholic and while she wrote her stories in a time when evolution was the cutting edge scientific discovery and a theory with growing evidence, she did also write with a deep abiding Faith.

There are those of us who prefer to hear the stories from a properly cosmic world view, for any or a combination of many reasons.

To that end, I have adapted the stories with the following criteria in mind: the promotion of full Truth while still utilizing the children's intense imaginations at this second plane of development (age 6-12), allowing God to be seen as the prime mover that He is, cutting out the concept of time to allow for the great unknown of how God did all the great work He did before placing us upon the earth, and others. My formation as a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd catechist at all three levels and my experiences in the atrium with children and adults of all ages, as well as my experiences in the public and private school sectors are all contributing factors towards the choices I have made.

Some of you will notice that specific changes include the lack of reference to the length of time of pre-historical events as well as the lack of explicit references to evolution. I do not wish to debate the reasons for this changes on this blog. They are simply the changes I have chosen to make, among others. You are always free to use whatever version you prefer :)

Please leave comments or e-mail me privately with any feedback or *respectful* disagreements, along with suggestions. The remaining Great Lessons are still in progress. At some point, I will post them as they are and get everyone else's insight.

In the meantime, I have not been able to upload the charts for the Story. I will upload these as soon as I get pictures taken of my own charts.
God bless!

Additional Notes for God with No Hands

Experiments for ‘God With No Hands’

 

EXPERIMENT 1: Three States of Matter 

Materials: small tray, 3 small identical clear glasses (ice, water, air), small thermos with ice cubes

Procedure: Hold up the glasses or place them forward one at a time, beginning with the ice. Identify each state: solid, liquid, gas.

Purpose: Show the three states of matter.

 

EXPERIMENT 2: Forces of Attraction 

Materials: large tray, large clear bowl half filled with water, smaller bowl with hole-punches

Procedure: slowly drop the punches one at a time, working first around the outside then into the middle; end when they start to come together.

Purpose: Show the attraction of objects; the coming together of particles.
EXPERIMENT 3: Model of a Liquid 

Materials: small tray, one small clear glass ¼ filled with be-bes or iron shot

Procedure: hold the glass up and tilt it slowly from side to side

Purpose: Show how particles of liquid will roll over each other.

 

EXPERIMENT 4: State of Matter and Heat

Materials: heat-proof pad, a heat source (i.e. hot plate, sterno-stove, Bunsen burner), pie plate with 3 smaller identical heat-proof (metal) cups each containing a solid (non-descript piece of iron, lead solder, wax or paraffin – as identical in appearance as possible), glass stirring rod on a small tray, hot pads just in case

Procedure: Place pie plate with contents on the heat-source and apply the heat evenly. Use the stirring rod and hot pads as needed to demonstrate changes or lack thereof and for emergencies. First turn the heat to the highest setting. When the wax has completely melted, turn the heat halfway down.

Purpose: Show how different substances respond to heat.

 

EXPERIMENT 5: Liquids Settle According to Their Weight

Materials: test tube rack, 3 test tubes, water (1/3 full), cooking/vegetable oil (1/2 inch), molasses (inch or so deep)
Procedure: Lift up the tube of water. Pour the molasses into the water, as much in the middle as possible so doesn’t stick to the side – watch for its action; repeat with the oil and watch its action.

Purpose: Demonstrate the separation and settling of liquids and other substances by density.

 

EXPERIMENT 6: Volcano

Materials: decent-sized volcano of neutral dark color (i.e. chicken wire and paper-mache; reasonably light, likely hollow underneath for ease of movement), the mouth made of a heat-proof material (i.e. insert a metal cup during the construction, about an inch deep (fill in with sand before adding chemical if needed), glossy paint makes cleaning up easier; ammonium dichromate (filling the mouth about half-full, covered with a PINCH of sulfur, with another thin layer of ammonium dichromate); long match (fireplace match)
Procedure: Light the match and ignite the chemicals.

Purpose: Demonstrate how heated particles burst out of the earth.

NOTE: The ash is slightly poisonous (absorbed through the skin): wear rubber gloves when cleaning up and dispose with hazardous waste. The children will use vinegar and baking soda in their own work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes on The Creation Story

            God with No Hands is a slightly modified version of Mario Montessori’s publication in Communications in 1958, originally told by Maria Montessori. The story is not meant to give just one idea of how creation came about; it’s meant to contain some tidbits of factual information in a story format. One important aspect to think about is the language of the story. The language should not be the same as used in day-to-day speech. The descriptive language should be more dramatic, a bit more extraordinary. The tone of the story should arouse more than just the children’s interest but also his admiration and wonder if the idea of the universe has been presented properly to the children. The story can be told in one’s own words and the guide must be comfortable with the version of the story told; the children are sensitive to hypocrisy. The guide must love the story that is told; make the story the guide’s own; much practice allows for comfort in the telling.

            The story can be either told or read as the guide needs, but the tone needs to maintain enthusiasm and other aspects noted above. In the environment with children, the guide can return to the story and recount specific sections, or fill in forgotten pieces.

            Important points to keep in mind in learning, re-wording, and telling:

• The idea of the immensity of the universe, in which the earth is set, incorporated in the story through appeals to the imagination.

            Up to this point, the child has been the center of the world, but now the elementary child is turning outwards and is ready to use his imagination. “The light from the nearest star takes 4 light-years to reach us.” “In the galaxy in which we are situated, it takes 100 million years for the light from outside the galaxy to get to us.”

• Analogies should have particular meaning to the children: i.e. European children will not readily understand the size of Alabama and this detail may be adjusted according to the children’s experiences.


• Everything we know started as tiny little particles; this matter has been constant throughout time: present at the beginning of time and rearranged but still present today and into the future. Leave out scientific terms such as protons, electrons, etc. for now.


• Each little particle is given a set of laws to obey; every particle has to follow these laws: attraction to other particles, states of matter and their basic properties. The earth came together in its manner because of these laws. “In the beginning everything was very, very hot, but as things began to cool, particles came together according to their likes and dislikes and formed different substances. Some of those substances took on the solid state, others the liquid states, and still others became gases.” These laws must be in the story.[1]


• Even without the word God, the idea of everything having its own nature must be included. The nature of each substance is inherent in its being.

 

When and How to Tell the Story

            The story sets the framework for all of their work in the elementary, so the children should ideally hear it on the very first day of school. All the children need to know how to do is to sit and listen; they do not need to read and write or know their math facts. New elementary guides with limited experience may want a day or two to get to know the children a little bit before telling the story, allowing for learning their individual personalities (who needs to sit next to the guide, rather than in the back causing problems).

 

            The story should be announced ahead of time, as with all the Great Lessons and some particular lessons, in order to build anticipation within the children. In the environment, the announcement should be made in such a way that the new children know they are expected to be there (they have no choice in the matter) and the older children are invited but have an option.

 

            The entire story should be told at one time, with all of the charts and the demonstrations. The guide herself must feel a sense of wonder in order to pass this sense of wonder onto the children.[2]

 

            The story should not be told on a day the guide is not feeling well; distractions and illness create a more intensely accident-prone environment. Best to wait until the guide is feeling better.

Follow-ups to The Creation Story

What not to do:

• If the primary purpose is to stir up interest and rouse their awe and wonder, then the children should not be asked to write the story in their own words.


• The guide should also not ask the children to copy the charts or to do the experiments.

What to do:

• If the guide has stirred them up, you want to leave them stirred up, giving them time to think and reflect.


• Generally when a story such as this one is told, the children are invited to return to their work or choose some work to do, and tell them that another day there will be another story.

 

            The children may ask you or an older child to re-tell the story or a part of the story. The guide can then pick up on the story or that part of the story, filling it in with more details. Focus on the aspects that seem to more greatly interest the child(ren) involved.

 

            Another possibility is to tell the entire story again, but thinking of it as a review of the important points listed above. Different words can be used, as well as different amounts of information in different places.             Sometimes the children do not ask for another telling, so the guide must take the initiative.[3] In either case, discussion can be entered into with the children on various pieces of interest.

 

            Additional demonstrations can be formed – remember that all of the following are just impressions brought in to take the children a little bit further:

• the concept of “colder than ice”[4]


• comparison of the sun to the earth.[5]


• how long it takes light from the sun to reach us;


• how far away is the sun;


• are there are other planets in the universe (chart 2a)?


• All the planets go around the sun (piece of heavy metal on a string, stretching it to various lengths as spinning it overhead)


• Centripetal force (between sun/planets and planets/moons): the pull on the string


• Why don’t the planets fall into the sun? (crumbled up paper; the planets have momentum of their own, as well as rotation, preventing them from succumbing the sun’s gravity in such a manner) – personal motion and centrifugal force


• Continue to add others as interests of the children lead.

 

Potential Resources:

• My First Book of Space, developed in conjunction with NASA: 0671602624


• Other Creation stories for 9-12[6],[7]

 

 

 

 

---

[1] Adults tend to think of laws as prohibitions and limits, however, true laws give order to the world, to the universe, and positively define a creation’s identity, purpose and proper end.

[2] Get up to see the sunrise; go out to watch the stars. Rachel Carlson’s book, A Sense of Wonder, is an excellent tool to heighten one’s sense of nature and the world around.

[3] Most particularly in new environments without older ones to lead the younger ones, the guide must be more initiating with recalling the stories to the children.

[4] 2 glasses, both with crushed ice. Take their temperatures; add salt to one; retake temperatures. Which one is colder?

[5] Let the children mention the wooden hierarchical material.

[6] It is appropriate for 9-12 to hear other creation stories – the 6-9 year olds need just one so that they can focus on the scientific concepts at hand

[7] Among many others:  In the Beginning by Virginia Hamilton (Native American)

The Story of God With No Hands

God With No Hands

 

            From the very beginning people have been aware of God. They could feel Him though they could not see Him, and they were always asking in their different languages who He was and where He was to be found. "Who is God?" they asked their wise men.

            "He's the most perfect of beings," was the answer.

                        "But what does He look like? Does He have a body like us?"

            "No, He has not got a body. He has no eyes to see with, no hands to work with and no feet to walk with, but He sees everything and knows everything, even our most secret thoughts."

                        "And where is He?"

            “He is in heaven and on this earth. He is everywhere."

                        "What can He do?"

            "Whatever He wishes."

                        "But what has God actually done?"

 

            "What He has done is all that has ever happened. He is the Creator and Master Who has made everything, and all things He has made obey His will. He cares and provides for them all, and keeps the whole of His creation in the most wonderful harmony and order.

 

            In the beginning there was only God. Since He was completely perfect and completely happy, there was nothing He needed. Yet out of His goodness He chose to create and all that He willed came into being; the heavens and the earth, all that is visible, and all that is invisible. One after another He made the light, the stars, the sky, and the earth with its plants and animals. Last of all He made man. Man, like the animals, was made out of particles of the earth, but God made him different from the animals and like Himself, for into his body which would die He breathed a soul which would never die."

 

            Many people thought this was just a tale. How could someone with no eyes and no hands make things? If God is a spirit who cannot be seen or touched or heard, how could He have made the stars that sparkle overhead, the sea which is always astir, the sun, the mountains, and the wind? How could a spirit make the birds and fishes and trees, the flowers and the scent they shed around them? Perhaps He could make invisible things, but how could He make the visible world? It is all very well, they thought, to say that God is everywhere, but who has set their eyes on Him? How can we be sure He is everywhere? They tell He is the Master whom everybody and everything obeys, but why on earth should we believe that?

 

            And it really does seem impossible. We who have hands could not do these things, so how could someone who has no hands do them? And can we imagine animals and plants and rocks obeying God? The animals do not understand when we talk to them, so how could they be obedient? Or the winds and the sea and the mountains? You can shout and scream and wave your arms at them, but they cannot hear you for they are not even alive, and they certainly won't obey you.

 

            Yes, that is how it seems to us. But, as you will see, everything that exists, whether it has life or not, in all that it does and by the very fact of its being there, actually obeys the will of God.

 

            God's creatures do not know that they are obeying. Those that are inanimate just go on existing. Those that have life move and go on living. Yet every time a cool wind brushes your cheek, its voice, if we could hear it, is saying: 'Lord, I obey.' When the sun rises in the morning and colors the glittering sea, the sun and the sunbeams are whispering, 'My Lord, I obey.' And when you see a bird on the wing, or fruit falling from a tree, or a butterfly hovering over a flower, the birds and their flight, the tree and the fruit and its fall to the ground, the butterfly and the flower and its fragrance are all repeating the same words: 'I hear, my Lord, and I obey.'

 

            At first there was chaos and darkness was on the face of the deep. God said: 'Let there be light', and there was light. Before that there was only the deep, an immensity of space with no beginning and no end, indescribably dark and cold. Who can imagine that immensity, that dark and coldness?

 

            When we think of dark, we think of night; but our night would be like brilliant sunshine in comparison with that darkness. When we think of cold, we think of ice. But ice is positively hot if you compare it with the coldness of space, the space that separates the stars: as hot, you might say, as a blazing furnace from which no heat can escape. In this measureless void of cold and darkness light was created. There appeared something like a vast, fiery cloud which included all the stars that are in the sky. The whole universe was in that cloud, and among the tiniest of stars was our own world; but they were not stars then; as yet there was nothing except light and heat. So intense was the heat that all the substances we know - iron, gold, earth, rocks, water - existed as gasses, as insubstantial as the air. All these substances, all the materials of which the earth and the stars are composed, were fused together in one vast, flaming intensity of light and heat - a heat which would make our sun today feel like a piece of ice.

 

            This raging fiery cloud of nothingness, too huge to imagine, moved in the immensity of freezing space, which was also nothingness, but infinitely vaster. The fiery mass was no bigger that a drop of water in the ocean of space, but that drop contained the earth and all the stars.

 

            As this cloud of light and heat moved through empty space little drops fell from it. If you swing the water out of a glass, some of it holds together and the rest breaks up into separate drops. The countless hosts of stars are like these little drops, only instead of falling they are constantly moving round in space, in such a way that they can never meet. They are millions of miles from each other.

 

            Indeed, some stars are so far away from us that it takes millions of years for their light to reach us. Do you know how fast light travels? (the children might answer: 100 mph, 200mph...?) No, much faster. It travels 186,000 - not per hour, but per SECOND. Imagine how fast that is! It means that in one second it can travel 7 times around the whole world. And do you know how big the world is? If we were to drive at 100 mph continuously, all day long and all night long, without stopping, it would take us more than 10 days to cover that distance. And yet the light covers it 7 times in one second! You 'click' with your fingertips, and it has gone around the earth 7 times already!

 

            You can imagine how far some of these stars are that it takes their light one million years to reach us!?

 

            Then there are so many stars that scientists have calculated that if each of them were a grain of sand, all the stars together would cover up the entire state of Indiana up to the height of 200 meters! One of these stars, one of these grains of sand among those thousands of billions of grains of sand, is our sun, and one millionth part of this grain is our earth: an invisible speck of nothingness.

 

            One wouldn't think so. The sun doesn't look so big. But that is because it is so far away. The light from it takes about 8 minutes to reach us and if we were to travel the same distance at 100 mph it would take us a little more than 106 years to reach the sun. In fact, the sun is one million times bigger than the earth. The sun is so big that just one of its flames could contain 22 earths.

CHART 1A:

[caption id="attachment_92" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Earth Compared to the Sun"][/caption]
 

            When God's will called the stars into being, there was no detail He had not planned. Every scrap of the universe, every speck which we might think too tiny to matter, was given a set of rules to follow. To the little particles which were like smoke, like vapor - which could only be distinguished as light and heat – and were moving at a fantastic speed, He said: 'As you become cold you shall come closer and become smaller.'

 

            And so, as they cooled they moved more and more slowly, clinging closer and closer to each other and occupying less and less space. The particles assumed different states which man called the solid, the liquid, or the gaseous state.

(DEMONSTRATION 1: Three States of Matter)

 

 

 

 

            Everything we know is either a gas, a liquid, or a solid, and which of the three states it is at the moment depends on how hot or cold it is.

 

            Then God gave some other instructions. Each of the tiny little particles was given a special love for certain particles and a special dislike for certain others. Some were attracted to each other and some were not. Just like human beings, they like some, and refuse to have anything to do with others. So they form themselves into different groups.

(DEMONSTRATION 2: Forces of Attraction)

 

 

 

 

            In this way, the particles combined and formed themselves into different groups.

 

            In the solid state, God has made the particles cling so closely together that they are almost impossible to separate. They form a body which will not alter its shape unless one applies force. If a piece is broken off, the particles will still cling together. If, for instance, you start chipping a flint, the flint and the chips still remain solid pieces of stone.

 

            When it came to liquids, God said: 'You shall hold together also, but not so very closely, so that you will have no shape of your own and will roll over each other.'

(DEMONSTRATION 3: Model of a Liquid)

 

 

 

 

            'Thus you shall flow and spread, filling every hollow, every crevice in your path. You will push downward and sideways, but never upwards.' That is why, though we can put our hands in water, we cannot put them inside a rock.

 

            And to the gasses He said: 'Your particles shall not cling together at all. They can move freely in all directions.'

 

            But as the particles were all such different individuals, they did not become solid or liquid or gas all at the same time. At certain temperature some remained solid, others became liquid and still others became gaseous.

(DEMONSTRATION 4: State of Matter and Heat)

 

 

 

 

            And so, while obeying these laws, the little drop of nothingness that was to become our world, the blazing mass, went on spinning and spinning around itself and around the sun in the tremendous cold of space.

 

            And as time went on, the outer ring of this mass began a dance, the dance of the elements. The particles that were at the outermost edge became cold and shrank. Huddling together they hurried to the earth, but as soon as they approached the hotter part, they became hot and up they went again. Like little angels, they carried a bucket of hot, burning coal into space, and returned with some ice.

CHART 3A:

 

[caption id="attachment_91" align="alignright" width="199" caption="Dance of the Elements"][/caption]

            How marvelous it is! And how simple! If you become hot you expand and as you expand, you become lighter and soar upwards, like a bubble of air in the water. But, if you become cold, you shrink and fall as a grain of sand sinks to the bottom of a pond.

 

            Because of this law the earth gradually changed from a ball of fire to the earth we know. This was the law that the tiny radiant particles obeyed as they danced their dance; particles too minute to be seen or even imagined, yet numerous enough to have produced the world.

 

            In fully obeying God’s will, this dance went on. Finally, the particles settled down, like tired dancers, and one after the other, they became first liquid and then solid and as they became liquid or solid some of them joined others to which they were attracted, forming new substances. The heavier ones went nearer to the heart of the earth and the lighter ones floated above them like oil floating on the water.

(DEMONSTRATION 5: Liquids Settle According to Their Weight)

 

 

 

 

            A thin scum was formed, like the skin which forms on milk when it is boiled and left to cool. It seemed as though the earth had taken some shape. But the elements inside this skin were still very hot. They felt trapped. They wanted to get out. What could they do otherwise? They had to follow the law of God: 'If you are hot, you expand.' There was no place to expand and so they burst out. They broke the skin and it was like a terrible fight.

(DEMONSTRATION 6: Volcano)

 

 

 

 

            The water that formed on the surface turned immediately into vapor and went up as the hot stuff came out from inside the earth.

CHART 4A: Volcanoes and Cloud

 

[caption id="attachment_90" align="alignright" width="199" caption="Veil Covering the Earth"][/caption]

      There were also ashes. A veil of clouds was drawn to cover the earth so that nobody could see what was going on. The sun could not yet shine on the wonder of what was taking place! Even the sun could not witness God’s work happening in the creation of the earth.

 

            Eventually, the fighting ceased. As everybody cooled down, more and more gasses became liquid, more and more liquids became solids. The earth itself shrank and became wrinkled like an old apple that has been left in a cupboard. The wrinkles are mountains and the hollows are the oceans.

 

            For, as the rocks had cooled down, water was able to return to the earth and it rained and rained. And the water, being liquid, filled every hollow and crevice found in its path. Thus the oceans were formed. Above them was the air, the air that we breathe. The cloud had disappeared.

CHART 5A: Volcanoes and Water

 

 

            The veil had withdrawn and the sun could once again smile upon its beautiful daughter, the earth.

 

            Rocks, water, air: solids, liquids, gasses. Today, as it was yesterday and in the beginning, God's laws are obeyed in the self-same way. The world spins round itself and round and round the sun. And today, as it was in the beginning, the earth and all the elements and compounds it is made of, as they fulfill their task, whisper with one voice:

 

"Lord, Thy will be done; we obey."

The Little Archaeologist

The walls of Jericho… the bones (and other unmentionable remains) of dinosaurs… the City of Jerusalem… a loaf of fresh bread… the preschool playground…. a chunk of mozzarella cheese. What do they all have in common? Archaeology of course!

  

The walls of Jericho - See the puny guards atop the towers?

Postcards and online pictures from a friend’s recent trip to the Holy Land led to conversations about digging down to learn about the past – the walls of Jericho being the prime focus ;)

 

Then we joined a pre-school field trip to the Dinosaur Exhibit.

 

Tangent-story:

Mommy-the-day-before-the-trip: “they’re big, scary and look like they’re going to eat you" (leaning over the child with big eyes and claws out)

totally-unfazed-4yo-in-a-very-plain-voice: “They’re dead.”

Mommy: “Right, but they’re big, scary and look like they’re going to eat you.”

Child: “They’re dead.”

Mommy: “Right, but I’m not paying $24 and a day off of work if you’re going to get scared.”

Very-insistent-child: “They’re Dead, Momma. Dead.”

There went that $24….

 

Day of the field trip (enter into a smallish room with 3 or so life-size dinosaurs, quiet sounds emanating from them – and a gently swishing tail on the triceratops – oh dear – then enter a long hallway, Wizard of Oz style, loud noises emanating from the end – loud growling noises):

Child: I’ll stay in this room Momma – with the triceratops. He’s my favorite.

Mommy: Twenty-four dollars says you’re coming with me!

Museum Employee: Please keep the children with the adults at all times.

Mommy: Let’s go, honey! It’ll be great!

Child – clinging to the wall: NO!!!!!!!

Mommy: Fine, I’m going without you. (despite museum policy)

Child – remains around the corner, being passed by classmates and their parents – will NOT come or say a word.

Mommy goes back (no sense getting kicked out of the place) – thinking to herself “I don’t even LIKE dinosaurs – no fear – just don’t like them. And DON’T agree with the huge push for evolution taking millions of billions of years – there are dinosaurs in the Bible for goodness sake – and I just spent $24 to teach my kid that the Bible is wrong” – pick up child and carry him down the Wizard of Oz hallway (it IS creepy!), saying the whole time, “I’m right here with you. And they’re dead. You said so. You can bury your face in my neck if you don’t want to look, but this is the only way out of the exhibit.”

ENTER – THE ROOM. OH MY GOODNESS.

Child: “MOMMY! GET AWAY BEFORE IT EATS YOU!”

Mommy: It’s a robot. Just a robot.

(repeat a thousand times - I love his concern for me!)

Mommy almost drops child when the dinosaur in front of her is breathing. It’s lungs. were. moving. That thing is breathing.

Child continues to express strong concern for his mother, until HE sees the breathing dinosaur – that’s it. OUT the exit as fast as possible. It’s over.

(no, the pteranadon tied to the ceiling did NOT dispel the feeling of reality – there is a very good reason that dinosaurs, in those forms, no longer exist, but that is a post of another day)

 

We saw the OmniMax “Dinosaurs Alive”, which was excellent despite the loud music (covered ears when it played) and the millions of years of evolution brain-washing. Apparently a moving picture of a way-more-than-life-size running, growling, fighting, bleeding, eating, pooping dinosaur is not as scary as a robot that only moves about 10 inches at the most. Who’d’ve thought? Yes, pooping. A theater of 300 or so, at least 100 between ages 3 and 6, all saying “EWWWW!!!!!!!” at the same time.

 

 

Back to the main post:

 

After THAT experience, I had to spend money in the museum shop. We both needed the slightly more positive experience (it's never positive to give someone else my money, but we got some really cool items). And he found a cool little on-sale $3 archaeology kit – plaster of paris of course and a couple of shiny stones inside – I could make it at home for something like 20 cents, but I’d have to go purchase the plaster of paris and here it was right in front of me.

 

He spent 7 days chipping away at that thing, with the provided tools (a 2 inch long stick with a brush on one end and a 2 inch long wooden stick with a chisel shaped at the end – very weak). We finally let impatience take control and got out the hammer with the wooden chisel. Then the plaster flew. And he found his beautiful polished stones. Another postcard arrives from the Holy Land and we’re back to discussions about excavations – and then I finally let him look at our Jerusalem pictures and books with the miniature Jerusalem in the Israel museum. Aha! he thinks - I can dig up ANYTHING!

 

He is so into archaeology now – digging inside of things to discover things about the past…

 

My bread? He wasn’t looking for anything – just practicing technique. He got the crumbled pieces mixed in with the next several meals – we are NOT wasting food. He dug up the past (the archaeologized bread) in his dinner and thought that was funny.

 

But the chunk of mozzarella cheese? It’s gone. Unusable. We have pizza on the menu for Saturday – guess he won’t be eating cheese on his half the pizza.

 

But Mommy, I had to practice. I’ve got to get really good so I can help them find the rest of the walls of Jericho!

 

Ok, ok. Let’s go find some nice places to dig at school though, ok? Just until Mommy gets you some nice plaster of paris. 

 

Ok, Mommy. Will you please count as I walk around? I've got to knock them down.

 

"Keep walking, but you won't knock down our walls. Keep walking, but she isn't gonna fall! It's plain to see, your brains are very small, to think walking will be knocking down our walls." ~Famous last words of the Jericho guards (ok, so it's really from the French peas, via VeggieTales)

Another VeggieTales quote:

"My name is Joshua! And God has given us this land!!!" What confidence in God's way! 

 

Keep walking!

Mommy, you're dust!

And he's not dust, because he wiped his off???? I thought I had heard Father say the same words to him as to me: Man, remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.

I had a brainstorm at about midnight last night, that I actually remembered this morning upon waking: rocks. We'll use rocks for our prayer table! (I did say I thought of this at midnight, right? It all sounds logical at that time).

It's a bit contrived, but I think provides a really good hands-on concrete demonstration of the concept of sacrifice. Each time my son or I is "successful" with a sacrifice, we can place a rock on the table behind the prayer table (a table which serves as backdrop for the liturgical season). At the end of Lent, before he awakes Easter morning, I'll exchange the rocks with a larger number of polished stones, as part of our Easter decorations. A few theological ideas came out throughout the day: when we store up treasures on earth, the world recognizes them for what they are - but we are called to store up treasures in heaven - and the world does not always recognize their inherent value. The rocks we are using are ugly. Plain. (Ok, most of them came from the gravel parking lot at one of the parishes where I work - the other came from outside the parish hall –to be returned when we're done). The world sees fasting and sacrifices as pointless, plain, boring, too hard and therefore worthless, etc. But the treasures we store up in heaven, are passed through the hands of Our Lady who freshens them up, making them more beautiful, before they reach Our Lord - hence MORE polished stones than we will have rocks.

Now if I could just get off my little current long enough to stop taking rocks away with naughty behavior (both of us would have been in the hole with rocks by noon if I'd stuck with that rule). We did "give" each other rocks for what we each deemed thoughtful things on the part of the other person. I'm not sure what the family behind us thought during Mass when I was told "Mommy, I'll give you a hundred rocks so I can play with your hair!" only to be told 5 minutes later that I wasn't nice and I would losing all of my rocks. ;)

This year, we are doing things a little different:

*no computer when le Petit Prince is awake unless we’re doing something together

*attend Mass at least 4 times a week (this might mean being at church at 6:30 in the morning! And NOT central time zone 6:30, which I could almost do!)
*movies on Saturdays only (le Petit Prince says Monday, so maybe)
*meat on Sundays only (wanted to give it up entirely, but a week of being sick left enough meat in the freezer that won't last until Easter)
*no non-required purchases (vehicle maintenance/replacement aside); groceries only during the first week of the month and minimal
*no candy, but some sweet things on the weekends is fine
*volunteer at the semi-local Pregnancy Crisis Center (nothing is local here!)
*purge items that could go to the PCC or another family
*weekly Stations of the Cross at the parishes
*finish re-sewing chapel veil to fulfill the employer's request of making it smaller
*begin Catechesis of the Good Shepherd training - level 3
*say a novena regarding the continuation of the elementary Montessori training

*don’t let morning prayers slip by

We get a rock every time we fulfill one of the above as well as for thoughtful gestures as pointed out by the other person.

EDITED LATER: It worked pretty well actually. We left town for Easter weekend and I conveniently forgot something after we were in the car so I came back in to swap the rocks and stones - when we arrived back home, he went straight for the prayer table and LOVED it! We ended up creating flowers to "plant" in the colored stones for every day of Easter, showing that life comes from anything when we depend on God.

Musings on vehicles

I’ve never bought my own vehicle. Oh, I tried. A very wonderful woman I know and dearly love paid off the loan for me – just in case. Oh am I ever so thankful for that just in case. My first car was my mother’s old car when she bought a new one – I got it after the head gasket was fixed. 89 Corsica. No a/c. I need my a/c. So I bought the 96 Grand Prix (see above) – in 1999 no less. The newest vehicle I’ve owned to date. Ok, technically, I bought the 96, but I didn't ultimately pay for it (yet - I consider it unpaid debt!).

 

During the time of owning that vehicle, I worked as a live-in nanny for two families and utilized vehicles provided by them. Despite those respites, I put many miles on the Grand Prix and the head gasket went out one day. Had it repaired and drove it a while longer. The engine insisted on not functioning properly and blew out somewhere in the middle of northern Michigan. In the middle of winter. With a baby in the back seat. I think we sat at the only 2 square inch patch of land WITH a cell phone signal for miles around – we were told to stay in the car and keep baby warm. All was well. See, it's about the baby - keep the baby warm. If it was just me, I'd've walked before calling anyone anyway. :) Yeah, I put miles on that car. Lots of traveling experiences. Lots of locking myself out experiences ;)

 

The 94 Dodge Caravan was given to me. I tried to pay for it. Didn’t work. Will I ever be this generous? I pray so. The van had problems, but we loved it. I won’t say that my favorite part was re-starting it every time we stopped, or entered the expressway, but I met several nice police officers who would stop and ask if all was well as I re-started (the transmission!). Now I know that they ARE watching for those in need, not just speeders! I continued to own it for several months after gaining the next vehicle and both were blessings for a very fast weekend cross-town move that no-one thought I could pull off in less than 72 hours. This van sat unloaded for the next 2 or more months until my muscles healed again! Oh, the electric issues with this van. The grinding and clicking of the locks… I actually read the owner’s manual on this one – found lots of great information – including how to turn the automatic locks OFF, and a recommended vehicle maintenance chart – I knew to change the oil and when to get check-ups and tune-ups, but who knew they provided THIS kind of information? Very nice. No a/c though. Hmph. Baby in the back-seat. HOT baby in the back seat. But I never locked him in, which was great given my track record of keys inside of locked cars with me on the outside.

 

The 92 Plymouth Voyager (same vehicle as above, plus 2 feet) was a purchase too, but in the end I didn’t really pay for it until after the tow truck took it away two years later (paid for it, but the previous owner paid for some repairs – and I paid later for the repairs). We had shredded belts one day with that one – a story for another day about God’s saving presence and His most wonderful angels. Loved that van too - it had a/c and a radio that beeped at us when we'd turn the engine off - whether it was on or not - my son started beeping with it. I was never brave enough to PUT the pro-life stickers on, but this one came with them. And we had experiences with those too. Good ones... mostly. I never did understand the one sticker that someone put over the window... but that's another story too. And yes, I locked the keys in - but the child was with me on the outside. Who knew that a Cub Foods would have a metal hanger?

 

When that one died (and oh did it go out with a bang!), I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I borrowed my son’s teacher’s husband’s car for the next 3 days and a friend’s parents were going to lend me their van for 2 weeks so I could finish my student teaching. The loan became a gift. And I was SO humbled by their generosity. I still am. I made it back to the late 90’s again: a 96 Dodge Caravan – with electrical issues (surprise! it's a Dodge!). At least this one didn’t grind at me (well, not right away - and it's not the locks) – the windshield wipers come on when going around corners. Very cool. Brings lots of stares (“doesn’t that woman know how to work the proper parts to her vehicle!?”), but the license plates and the pro-life stickers do too, so there it is. J We bring stares wherever we go, might as well be for something funny! We locked the keys in. Together. A joint effort to waste spend the evening sitting on the stairs waiting for the rental manager to let us in. While smaller than the vans above, that van holds a LOT of stuff (how do I know this?).

 

But now… it must go… I will miss it. I thought I was ready to let it go. I thought I was ready to purchase a new (for me) vehicle. Got the tax return, got the car loan approved – but God says “wait” – and I wait. The van is grinding at me. It growls. It makes a high pitched droning sound. I found ice crystals in the oil (given that it was -11 wind-chill that day). The transmission is going (is it because it’s a Dodge Caravan?). Regardless, I can’t afford to repair it. There’s too much going on - 185K+ miles. I am so thankful for the gift of this vehicle. And honestly, I’m not sure they thought it would last as long as it has (see my above history with vehicles!).

 

It’s time to get a new vehicle – probably a car. After my first and only experience purchasing a vehicle, I just don’t want to go through it again. Given that 1) I know better what I’m doing; 2) I know the people I’m buying from – they are local, attend the church where I work, the wife is one of my volunteer catechists; 3) I’m not doing a trade-in…. And I’m not getting a loan for the whole amount.

 

I think that’s it. It’s the debt. I don’t want more debt. I have SO much school debt; the consumer debt is gone; I still owe 2 friends and 1 family member. Not one of them thinks ill of me for purchasing a vehicle (at least they don’t sound like it!). But I just don’t want more debt. Period. But will the van hold out another several more months until I have more money and can take on a smaller loan? And can I stop myself from using the save-for-the-car money to pay off the other debts? I am controlled enough to not spend the money – I am not controlled enough to allow money to sit in any account when I have interest ticking on those debts and the generosity of loved ones to not abuse.

 

And I want someone else to tell me: this is the car for you. The Grand Prix just didn't fit me - pysically. It was made for a much taller person - at least someone with longer legs. I learned the tricks of stretching leg muscles I didn't know existed and which pillows are more comfortable for sitting on so I could see above the steering wheel. I take a long time to make decisions, looking at every angle, and I doubt my ability to assure every angle is covered on this one.

 

So I keep praying. St. Christopher is my buddy right now. I even dreamed of him the other night, though it took me a while to figure out who he was. If he’ll just keep that van going (and quiet!) until God reveals His new plan.... St. Christopher, pray for us.

 

[caption id="attachment_26" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Just some flurries.... That became ice and more snow and closed schools for a week, encasing my van in 2-4 inch wrapping of crystal clear ice. You won't really find our van in this picture. The camera died before I got it. (see vague lump in lower right corner)"][/caption]

 

Hello world!

Having wanted to do a family blog for a couple of years now, and spending the weekend home sick, what better time than the present?