Anna Maria was born today at 12:12 pm. She weighs 6lbs 15oz, and is 19.5″ long.

Mother and baby are both doing fine.

Heather is doing exceptionally well, thanks to the fact that she opted to do without the duramorph in the spinal. The pain is there, of course, but she’s handling it well with just Motrin (toridol?whatever the hospital-grade liquid Motrin is called.)

Peter was working on an illustration for a paragraph he wrote for English class. The paragraph was about what he thought heaven would be like. He had been diligently coloring a picture for sometime and I had been sitting next to him preparing for our next subject. Peter, not taking his eyes off his picture, asked me a question,
“Mom how does Jesus pick out who will get the stigmata?”
I blinked a few times, thought quickly, and said, “Well honey I don’t really know. I guess Jesus picks out some very holy and special people. You know receiving the stigmata is a gift, it isn’t bad.”
Peter looked up at me, and said, “I know that. Does it hurt?”
I told him, “I’ve read that having the stigmata was very painful but that it smelled beautiful. It smelled like beautiful perfumed oil.”
I asked him, “do you remember talking about Padre Pio? He was blessed with the stigmata.”
Peter said, “I remember that about him.” Peter stopped talking and went back to his picture.
I looked at him and asked, “do you want to receive the stigmata?”
Peter said, “I’m not sure yet.”

This was one of those rare days when Peter floors me with deep religious questions. After I do my best to answer him I just shake my head and wonder what is in his future.

I am happy to say that Matt has had a job interview! Unfortunately they liked him but didn’t see him as a good fit for the position thus not offering him a job. We tried to not get our hopes up too high, but in reality we got our hopes up too high. I was very upset, I cried, a lot. I know this will not last forever, it just feels like it will.

On the up side of this whole situation, Matt now has two freshly dry cleaned suits and a new pair of shoes all ready for the next interview. Even though I am sad over this, I can still find the positive. Thank you God for making me see the positive.

Are you aware of the EXTREMELY DANGEROUS legislation that is currently being passed in our congress? If you are not, you need to pay attention. My children and yours are in more danger now than they were 10 days ago, while this has not passed in the Senate, yet, it most likely will because we conservatives have no power right now. The congress is an automatic green light for every piece of INSANE LEFT WING legislation introduced.

A Hate Crimes Bill, S909 if you want to check it out, has been introduced and has already been passed in House and is being sent to the Senate for approval. This bill protects people from hate crimes based on sexual orientation, and sexual orientation is not defined, so we can conclude that ANY SEXUAL ORIENTATION is covered so it offers protection to the more “abnormal” types of sexual deviancy such as bestiality, necrophilia, and pedophilia. Did you read that right? The pedophiles are being protected, my children can be preyed upon, raped, molested, and heaven knows what else and if I try to protect my child I AM THE BAD GUY. Thats right the sexual predator may get charged with a sex crime which is a felony, but I as the mother speaking out or physically trying to PROTECT MY CHILD gets slapped with a FEDERAL CRIME. This is complete insanity. This is not really a hate crime legislation, it is thought police, it is terrifying.

Some people may think I am raising my children in a bubble, and I admit it, I am and I’m proud to do it. We, on the conservative side of things are being turned into criminals because of our belief system, our morals, our values. As of a few weeks ago the Department of Homeland Security sent out a document alerting law enforcement officials to be looking for RIGHT WING EXTREMISTS. You know who you are, pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-family values, Christians. We are being stripped of our first amendment rights, we Christian Conservatives have no rights anymore because we cannot speak out against what is morally wrong with our society, lest we get charged with a federal crime.

I am angry, I am scared, I am feeling helpless. I know God is in charge.

So, today is Matt’s first full day as an unemployed Michigander. You’ll never guess where he is today? At work. Working. Fixing things. Keeping things up and running. Not getting paid. No kidding!!

So most people know Matt is losing his job. He was supposed to be fired on Friday April 17th, but as that day loomed near he got word that the bank had approved funding for his position until the end of the month. WONDERFUL!! What a blessing.

Our health insurance is going to end as of April 25th. I do not want to go on Medicaid, it is not a “pride issue” it is an “I want to avoid the government as much as possible issue”. I have had to work with them when Lily was born and while it all worked out, it was not a pleasant experience. So as the loss of insurance quickly approaches, God has opened a window and has put new and affordable insurance options in our path. Another blessing.

Now as April draws to a close and EAS, the company Matt works for, is closing its doors, next Thursday, Matt comes home and tells me that one of the “higher ups” at one of the sister plants talked to him and asked Matt to contact him once all the EAS business wraps up. Matt told the “higher up” that they don’t need full time IT support, only about two days a week. If Matt could get hired or contracted in at a reasonable rate, for those two days, he will be bringing in only $1000 less/month than he makes now. Yet another blessing.

In January 2008 Matt and I prayed for financial wisdom and to become good stewards with the money God has given us. God has done just that. More blessings.

So here we are on the brink of unemployment, another baby on the way, and five other little mouths to feed. Am I scared? No not really. Due to answered prayers, Matt and I will be able to LIVE on unemployment, not lavishly, but we never lived lavishly before. We will be able to LIVE on 1/4 of his previous income, and be able to put some money in the bank for a rainy day.

What an amazing blessing!!

Tonight the older three kids and I were sitting at the kitchen table, eating a snack, while Peter and I were finishing some math. Evelyn piped up and asked if we could go on a summer vacation up north. Matt parents have a cottage up in Elk Rapids and last summer my side of the family spent a week at Crystal Lake. Evelyn specifically said she wanted to go to Crystal Lake because she wants to learn how to swim. I sadly had to break the news to them that Crystal Lake was probably not happening this summer. The kids were disappointed and wanted to know why. I reminded them that daddy was losing his job soon so what money we have needs to be spent on other things. I also added that Uncle Drew and Uncle Fuzzy didn’t have jobs either. Evelyn smiled and said, “I know, I’ll let you open my crayon bank and take all the money out so we can all go to Crystal Lake”! I smiled at her and thanked her for being so generous and coming up with a a very clever idea.

Sometimes I see such a good spirit of generosity in the children, and it always makes me happy.

On Sunday afternoon Peter, Evelyn, and Mya were playing outside. Once they came inside Evelyn and Mya moved on to different activities and Peter started telling Matt about something he made in the garden. I thought I heard him correctly but got closer to their conversation just to make sure….yep I did hear him correctly.

Peter: “Daddy when I was outside I made a SEMINARY stone.”
Daddy: “A seminary stone? What is that?”
Peter” “You know, just in case someone from our family dies. You can put it on where you bury them.”

So apparently these are just in case we have future seminarians in our family who happen to take ill.

Today Peter lost his first tooth! Where does the time go? It seems like he just got them, and now they are falling out!! He was so excited. After lunch I was upstairs changing the babies diapers and Peter called to me, “mom, I need to show you my tooth”! He ran in the room and said to me, “look at my tooth, (it was barely attached, just hanging there, it was gross and I felt queasy) it’s….it’s….it’s in my hand! Ahhhh, I LOST MY TOOTH, I LOST MY FIRST TOOTH!! MOM LOOK IT CAME OUT! EVELYN LOOK MY TOOTH IS OUT, MY TOOTH IS FINALLY OUT!” We all hugged and yelled and cheered (they cheered because it was finally out, I cheered because he was brave and thankfully didn’t need me to do the final yanking). I remember losing my own teeth, it was gross, I always felt queasy.

Peter then spent the rest of the day asking if it was time to go to bed…you know at 4:00, 5:30. 6:30, 7:00, 7:30 alright you can get in to your pajamas, 7:50, 8:00 he runs in the room I’m in, flies over to me, quickly kisses me, hops over my legs, and sprints into his room. Silence. He is in bed, where he wants to be. Why can’t they all be that easy to put to bed?

Next dilemma. What is the going rate for lost teeth? Peter said kids in his catechism class have gotten $20 and a cupcake, and he insists that they were both under the pillow in the morning. I think that is WAY too much money, and who wants a flat cupcake? I said we should give him 50¢. Matt said a dollar. I used to get a quarter. I figured 50% inflation was okay.

Final decision. Peter gets $1 and a small Agents Lego set. I think this is a bit over the top, even though the Lego set was my idea.

This was sent to me by one of my friends, and she found it on someone else’s blog. I can’t give credit to it’s author now, but if I find it I will link to their blog*.

Read this and apply it to your life, it made me stop and think. Even though I think I live a pretty media mild life, this applies to me in so many ways. Does this apply to you? How can you adjust your life for what is TRULY important?

SATAN’S MEETING:

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.

In his opening address he said,

“We can’t keep Christians from going to church.”

“We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth.”

“We can’t even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Savior.”

“Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.”

“So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, but steal their time, so they don’t have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ…”

“This is what I want you to do,” said the devil:

“Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!”

“How shall we do this?” his demons shouted.

“Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered.

“Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow.”

“Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles.”

“Keep them from spending time with their children.”

“As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!”

“Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice.”

“Entice them to play the radio or i-Pod whenever they drive.” To keep the TV, DVDs, CDs and their PCs going constantly.”

“This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.”

“Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers.”

“Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day.”

“Invade their driving moments with billboards.”

“Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes…”

“Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what’s important, and they’ll become dissatisfied with their wives. ”

“Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the
real meaning of Christmas.”

“Give them an Easter bunny so they won’t talk about his resurrection and power over sin and death.”

“Even in their recreation, let them be excessive.”

“Have them return from their recreation exhausted.”

“Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God’s creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead.”

“Keep them busy, busy, busy!”

“And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences. ”

“Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus.”

“Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.”

“It will work!”

“It will work!”

It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there.

Having little time for their God or their families…

Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives…

The question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes?

*This appears to be all over the internet so I don’t know who the actual author is.