God supplies right on time!

Kyla wanted to participate the the Christian Youth In Action (CYIA) this summer. The training program is 12 hours a day for 10 days and the cost is about $250. Kyla also wanted to take a babysitting class at the college and Cora wanted to take gymnastics and compete. We did not have the money for all of that.

On Sunday Hubby was given a check. Someone had given money anonymously to us. That was enough to pay for Cora's gymnastics class ($158) and her sweats ($82) and Kyla's babysitting class ($72) and Kyla's passport (for her trip to Zambia next year) and a little leftover to pay for Cora's leotard.

Well, yesterday when we went to the CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) office to get Kyla's application and talk with them about payment arrangements, we found out that she had been given a full scholarship! Someone had donated the money she needed to pay for the program!

I am so thankful that God loves us so much to provide for even the things we want and don't necessarily need. :D

Little Tait

Little Tait



Tait and Lauren Zimmerman were married May 3, 2008. They joyfully found out that they were expecting their first child a month later. Six months into her pregnancy, Lauren began experiencing irregular contractions. After a rushed 20-mile drive to the midwives, during which time the young couple offered up many prayers for the safety of both mother and baby, it was discovered that the baby’s feet were already in the birth canal. Lauren was rushed in an ambulance to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, a 40-mile drive.Tait received a call from the midwife en route informing him that there was no reversing the labor, and that his new son or daughter would be born that day. After arriving at the hospital, Tait and Lauren were given the difficult news that — because of the combination of the baby’s position and extreme prematurity — the baby would have to be delivered via C-section. The couple’s midwife tried to prepare Tait for all possible outcomes, and just prior to the surgery, Tait and Lauren committed their son to the Lord in prayer.

Tait Edward Zimmerman, Jr. was born November 6, a 27-week preemie, weighing just 2 pounds 9 ounces, and measuring 14 inches long. Amazingly, Little Tait was breathing on his own, though he did need significant breathing assistance over the next few months. Little Tait spent his first three months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Children’s Hospital at Providence in Anchorage, AK, connected to numerous feeding and oxygen tubes, wires, leads, and IV’s.Tait and Lauren Zimmerman daily drove the 120-mile round trip to and from Anchorage for the first eight weeks to spend precious hours with their son, many times joined by Tait’s dedicated parents and sisters, and then were blessed to be able to stay in a small parent room off of Little Tait’s NICU room for his final five weeks in the hospital.

These three months were filled with strange new medical terms, and a whole education in newborn intensive care. Tait and Lauren found themselves looking forward to curious milestones — the removal of an IV, their son’s first feeding (from a syringe through a feeding tube), removal of the bili light and accompanying goggles, higher oxygen saturations, closure of his heart’s PDA valve, fewer apnea events, progression from the CPAP to Vapotherm, graduation to an open crib, satisfactory weight gains, first oral feeding, and first time unconnected to the plethora of cords, wires, and tubes.When it came to reaching these milestones, however, Little Tait was on his own schedule. He took a somewhat longer than usual amount of time progressing with his breathing and then coordinating his breathing and eating. While these long months were some of the most difficult of Tait and Lauren’s lives, the Lord used them as a time of growth and provided daily opportunities to share their family’s hope and vision with many of Little Tait’s kind caretakers.Little Tait finally came home on February 6, his three-month birthday, weighing 8 pounds 15 ounces. Today, he is a smiley, chubby, healthy little guy who brings constant joy to his parents. While he may need some therapies in the future, and has minor lung damage (common in babies who have been on extended breathing support), he faces no major medical challenges. Tait and Lauren are so thankful to the Lord for all the Lord has done in and through their precious son’s life, and pray that Little Tait would grow up to be a mighty man of God.

Early in their son’s stay, Tait and Lauren were approached by social workers, informing them that — because of their son’s low birth weight — Medicaid would automatically cover their hospital bills in full, as well as contribute to meals, lodging, transportation, and any future therapies. While it was definitely a tempting option to just sign their son’s substantial bill off to the taxpayers, and while social workers raised many arguments in favor of the government programs, Tait and Lauren sought counsel from and stood firm on their pre-marriage commitment not to accept government welfare, but to seek to cover the costs on their own, and with any help that the Lord would send through private support.
Tait and Lauren Zimmerman have developed a website telling Little Tait’s story and communicating their need to the Christian community.Visit http://www.littletait.com/ for more information.

This family is so wonderful.

Pit bull is killed after 'attacking' children!

That kind of biased 'reporting' is so disgusting! The dog had hurt no one! If it had been a collie growling and barking would the cop have shot it?! I don't think so!

First there is no such breed as a 'pit bull'. There is the American Pit Bull Terrier. But many breeds (20+) that are commonly identified as 'pit bulls' among those are Labrador Retrievers, Bull Mastiffs, Rottweillers, Boxers, Patterdale Terriers, and many others.

If you go and look at statistics about 70% of dogs that attack are unneutered males. So the real problem is not spay/neutering your pet.

This should be very enlightening:
http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html...

Many times news papers and other media label a dog as a 'pit bull' in the news story only to find out later that the dog was actually another breed and then never correct their mistake, or the correction is buried in the back of the paper.
http://www.understand-a-bull.com/Articles/MistakenIdentity/WrongId.htm...

In this one site's list of dog attacks they list 'pit bull type' in one catergory, but as I said before 20 + breeds fit in that 'pit bull type' so the numbers for that category are subject to much scrutiny and disbelief in the accuracy.
http://www.dogsbite.org/bite-study-fatal-attacks.htm...

This page is interesting too:(it's a Canadian page but lots of good info)
http://www.dogwatch.net/fight_ontario_ban/experts_excluded.html...
from the page
"The top 4 biters by breed are German Shepherds, Rottweillers, Cocker Spaniels, and Golden Retrievers.

Bites by "pit bull" type dogs account for less than 5% of all serious bites in Canada."

I do not own a 'pit bull', never have, I likely never will, and not because I think they are vicious by nature.

I was shocked to see how many other breeds of dogs are mistaken for 'pit bulls'. On one of the links about that has you identify the pit bull it took me four tries to get it right, and I thought I was pretty good at dog breed identification.

Before I Was A Mom (stolen from a friend's facebook page)

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put her/him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body..
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom ."

TheHill.com - Not all senators warming to Obama cap-and-trade ...

TheHill.com - Not all senators warming to Obama cap-and-trade ...

This is a way to get revenue for the government. This will increase the cost of everything we buy! And Obama knows this. He knows that this will cause hardship, especially for those "low-wage earners" he professes to care so much about, and he doesn't care! This increases the size and scope of government and will send more companies looking for other places to produce their products and thereby increase unemployment. How can he continually spout how much he is concerned about the 'poor' and then turn around and do something he KNOWS will hurt those very same people?! His 'tax cut' (I won't go into what a crock that is right now) for 95% of Americans will be completely offset by the projected increase in living expenses ($700-$1,400 per household).

As anyone who has ever studied economics at all should know the companies who must pay the carbon tax (and that is what it is) will pass on that cost to the consumer! That is us!! That is the people that Obama has given a 'tax cut' to! How will this help the economy? How will this help America recover? How is this upholding the Constitution?

I sincerely hope this doesn't pass, but I am afraid it will because "The One" is used to getting his way!

President=Hitler?

this is a completely pointless post-you have been warned! :P

So, I remember during Bush's (the younger) terms the liberals said he was a fascist, like Hitler. Now we have Obama and the conservatives are saying he is a communist/socialist, like Hitler. I decided to try a little experiment. I googled "Obama Hitler", "Bush Hitler", "Clinton Hitler", "Reagan Hitler" and "Carter Hitler" and then looked at the number of results for each. Here are my results:
Carter~2,290,000
Reagan~1,470,000
Clinton~3,990,000
Bush~1,140,000
Obama~7,380,000

I have no idea how to interpret those results, but I found it interesting all the same.

No Official Photos of Air Force One Flyover Anytime Soon - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com

No Official Photos of Air Force One Flyover Anytime Soon - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com:
"No Official Photos of Air Force One Flyover Anytime Soon
By Jeff Zeleny
So will photographs of Air Force One, flying against a backdrop of the Statue of Liberty and the New York skyline a week ago, ever be seen by the public?
Not if the White House has its wish.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Tuesday that the internal review — ordered up after President Obama expressed anger at the controversial photo shoot – would likely be completed this week. The White House Office of Military Affairs is on the hook for approving the flyover of New York City.
At the daily press briefing, a reporter asked Mr. Gibbs why the White House had not authorized release of the photographs.
“I’ve watched CNN. I didn’t notice a lack of archival material from that flight,” Mr. Gibbs said.
“No, from inside the plane,” a reporter replied. “The photos they took, we haven’t seen those.”
“I don’t know where those are,” Mr. Gibbs said."

(emphasis mine)

Do they really expect me to believe that Obama knew nothing about this? Really?!! Come on! If he has so little control over his staff what does that say about his governing ability? You know that verse about, "if you can't keep order in your own house..." (my own paraphrase version). If it had been Bush, the outrage would have been unending! Every news outlet and talk show host would have been berating or making fun of him. But Obama is "The One" so he gets a pass.

And Mr. Gibbs, what kind of idiots do you think we are? You don't know where the pictures are?! Yeah right!! Kind of like the bow that wasn't really a bow...

Pentagon to Implant Chips in Soldiers' Bodies

Pentagon to Implant Chips in Soldiers' Bodies

This is SO frightening! Talk about invasion of privacy!!

Why we are really in this financial crisis

The Republicans blame the Democrats. The Democrats blame the Republicans. The Libertarians blame them both. Everyone blames Wall Street.

Who is really at fault? How did we get into this mess? When did debt become the American dream?

I believe the fault lies not with any political party or policy, but with a mindset, an ideology.

We have become dependant of 'credit'. We have forgotten the caution in the Bible, "The borrower is servant to the lender." We have been fooled into thinking that we must have things NOW instead of saving for them. We buy cars on credit, we buy houses on credit, we buy electronics on credit, and in the worst case scenario we pay our bills on credit!

The kids and I have read portions of the book "On Jordan's Stormy Banks" (A very good read by the way), in that book there are several times where some old black man or woman talks about how they never borrowed money (never 'bought it on time'). They may have been 'poor', but they came out of slavery and did not want to be servant to a creditor, they wanted to be free.

The idea that owning a home is a 'right' (and according to President Obama it is) is so wrong! No one is guaranteed that. Home ownership is not an inalienable right! But I digress...

The problem is that Americans are so in debt. The reason they cannot afford health care is because they have so much debt. That may not be the case every time, but I do think it is generally true. The reason they are in debt is because they think that they must have certain things. They are not willing to go without in order to be free.

Wall Street did not force anyone to buy a home they could not afford. Wall Street did not force anyone to invest. Wall Street did not force anyone to use a credit card. The only culpability that Wall Street has is that it propagated the myth that 'credit' is good. And of course even that you cannot blame Wall Street totally for. The people who believed the lies are not innocent. They should have thought, they should have investigated. If they didn't know, they could have, if they had really wanted to. Those who have gone into the debt trap did so of their own free will, perhaps unwittingly, but always willingly.

The economic crisis was caused by people making investments and using credit irresponsibly. The American people, not Wall Street are really to blame. Perhaps our leaders should have warned us more, but of course they are in the same credit boat so why would they? Even our current President is continuing to lie and say that how much debt we can accrue is the measure of how strong our economy is!! What a load of...uh...crap!

My husband has a business that has never borrowed money. Making payroll week to week gets a little tricky sometimes, but there is no debt. If he can do it, so can everyone else. The problem is of course that the businesses, like the individuals who run them, want it NOW! They do not want to save and grow slow. They want to appear prosperous when they are not. Debt creates a false sense of prosperity. Prosperity from debt is an illusion, and illusion that we see crumbling all around us and yet we still do not want to acknowledge the true cause. It is so much easier to blame the faceless Wall Street.

The growing 'prosperity' that America has enjoyed was doomed to fail. And now that it has everyone is playing the blame game and not wanting to take responsibility. Unless we do, we are bound to continue in the error and spread more blame where it does not belong. Every one of us must accept our part of the blame for this mess. We must stop accruing debt. We must save. We must seek out real prosperity, not the mirage that debt presents. Go without that new iPhone or the plasma TVs or the blue-ray or the new car...until you have saved for it. Only then will we get out of this mess and have something real to show for our hard work.

The Backlash Against Breast Is Best: Why Is Breastfeeding Under Attack? | The Business of Being Born Message Board

The Backlash Against Breast Is Best: Why Is Breastfeeding Under Attack? The Business of Being Born Message Board:

“It appears no longer within the realm of the imaginable that . . . ‘breastfeeding-friendly’ could mean making it possible for women and their babies to be together,” writes Lepore. “When did ‘women’s rights’ turn into ‘the right to work’?”

How profound!

I am a BIG breastfeeding advocate. It always makes me a little sad when a mom decides not to breastfeed. I know that breastfeeding doesn't automatically make a good mother, but it has always seemed to me that they are giving up on God's best. And one must see breastfeeding as God's best, if one is honest, because God is the one who designed the breast to produce food for babies. God set in motion all of the intricate hormonal and other physical changes that make it possible to breastfeed. He put in babies instincts that help the baby breastfeed.

Having said that, I do realize that there are women out there who really cannot breastfeed, I personally know three. These women, despite their best efforts did not produce milk, or not enough milk, for their babies to thrive on breastmilk alone. And having had some supply issues myself with Sara I know how frustrating and discouraging that can be. However, I do think that many women give up because of bad advice or inaccurate information or because they have problems and don't get the help and encouragement they need.