First up: all tests were normal. The pain has subsided, and I talked my doc into postponing a GI referral until it happens again. Once you go to a GI doc, you have to be prepared for a number of tests that I am simply not ready to face. So, we wait and see if it happens again.

Second up: Happy Birthday to Bud! My sweet hubby is another year older today and I count it a blessing that I get to spend it with hime. Bud makes me laugh every day. He is the Dad of all Dads and adored by his children. He takes care of us and loves us and I just adore him. I thank God that he was born 45 years ago today!

________________________

Now for the meat of the post (coming from my fabu new laptop, btw). I've been reading some of the hoo ha about oversight of homeschoolers. It started on TWTM boards and Steph and Kathy Jo both addressed it very nicely on their blogs.

But my big pet peeve has been glaringly missed in all the discussion, so I thought I'd throw out my two pennies here.

Mom, Dad, grab your hats because what I'm about to say might not sit right with you: Educating your child is YOUR JOB. Not the government's job, your job. As the person responsible for educating your child, you have many options available to you and they include both private and public schools. But make no mistake, your child's education is your responsibility. It sits squarely upon your shoulders.

This is where my philosophy diverges with most folks, even many homeschoolers. I did not "opt out" of public education. I simply said, "Okay, I need to educate these kids, how do I accomplish that?" When I found that I had the bases covered, I never chose to take advantage of the resources offered by public or private schools. But even if I had opted in to one of those situations, the responsibility would still be mine, and if it wasn't working, it would be my job to fix it. Not Uncle Sam's.

As long as we view education as the government's responsibility, then we homeschoolers will be made subject to some sort of oversight, or at the very least, attempts at oversight. And that's the way it should be if our fundamental view is that it is the government's job to provide an education for our children - if we give them the job, then they should see that it is getting done. When we shift our thinking to understand that educating our children, just like feeding them, clothing them, housing them and loving them, is a parent's responsibility, then that is the day that we can say to the government schools that we are holding them accountable for their abysmal performance as the contractors that they actually are and that they have no busines peeking over our fences.

As for the other concern, that parents cannot be trusted to provide the necessary education, let me ask you - how many copies of the "What to Expect..." books have been sold to date? How many angry name-calling matches have you witnessed between the breast v. bottle crowds? How many Americans have a copy of Baby Einstein sitting by their VCRs? Why do manufacturer's continue to produce more and more "educational" toys? It's because of the endless American pastime of making a better life for our children, be it misguided or not.

In my experience, most parents take the job very seriously and try to do their best in raising their young children - and the best is often different for different people. But because they've been conditioned to believe the erroneous notion that their child's education is the government's responsibility, they sort of lose the drive to figure out what the next best step is for their Kindergarten-aged child, assuming it's already been done for them . If they believed it was their own job to educate their child, they would approach it in the same frenzied manner we Americans approach almost everything!

Now there are a few folks who won't take this approach, but I'm pretty sure they'd be thrilled to dump that kid on the PS steps and forget about him for 8 hours every day. And with other parents actually engaged in the education process, more time and resources would be available to help these kids who would otherwise "fall through the cracks."

And that's all I've got to say about that. (Not really, but I'm stopping now.) Have a great weekend!

Actually, this is the most heavenly candy:



Which reminds me, it's time to stock up, because it's only out at Easter!

I'm feeling so much better this morning! All the pain, achiness is gone. My two sweet children woke me up with "Happy Birthday, Mom!" There is nothing better than that on the planet.

I'm enjoying my birthday Diet Coke right now, then I can't have anything else to eat or drink until after my scan at 1:00.

And here's a piece of exciting news: I got a new laptop for my birthday! Bud brought it in last night and started working on setting it up. I should be working on a laptop by this weekend. Woo Hoo! That's one of those things I wanted, but didn't need, so it's a real treat. We're also getting eachother a composter for our birthdays - tomorrow is Bud's. Romantic, eh?

So wish me a happy birhtday, would ya?

Not diamonds, not flowers, not a shopping spree. No none of those. I'm getting a HIDA scan.

I woke up early this morning in excruciating pain. After two hours of it I woke Bud and told him that he needed to take me to the ER. But, the walking around to get dressed and make arrangements for the kids seemed to quiet the pain a bit, so I decided to wait it out and go to the doctor this morning.

Today I'm just really achy, not in the severe pain I was last night. An ultrasound of my gall bladder was normal, but the doc is still suspicious, so I get the HIDA tomorrow. Happy Birthday to Me.

I was going to post "40 Things to do Before I'm Forty" tomorrow, which is my 39th birthday, but now I would really just like to get forty winks, so I'll postpone that post to another day.

Please say a prayer for me if you're so inclined. I'll post an update when I get more info. Thanks so much for stopping in!

Overheard from Peyton:

"I'm glad I'm gonna be a mom when I grow up, because it's the dad's job to go on the roof and put up the Christmas lights."

If you've been praying for Candace, I'm sure you'll be excited to see this update!

http://www.candacejoy.org/updatespage.html

Praise be to God!

_________________

I'm working on a special post for Thursday, which is a special day for me. I hope you'll check it out.

Ta!

So for four years I carried the dead weight that was my struggling business, trying all sorts of tactics to make it a success while still trying to be a wife, a mommy and a homeschooler. Finally, in October, we handed the keys off to the new owner and my life of freedom began.

Truth be told, I have recovered fairly quickly, and I'm enjoying my life of leisure.

Well, somewhere around the beginning of February, I thought something was up when I looked in the mirror, and now mid-March there is no doubt. What may have been a single gray hair, peeking out elusively from my mousy brown locks has apparently found a love interest and reproduced. They are sprouting up all over the place. Not one gray hair in four years of never-ending stress, and now I have a quiverful.

I was debating about whether I should banish the grey or just "grow old gracefully," but recent events have made clear exactly how this should be handled.

Event 1: While watching American Idol, Peyton told Bud that Taylor's hair was exactly the same color as his. Shyah, like I'm gonna let that happen.

Event 2: I got coupons. Yes, Colorsilks (Revlon? L'Oreal?) was on sale at my local Albertson's today for $2.99. With my 75 cent coupon tripled, that made it 74 cents a box. I had four coupons. I got four boxes.

So later today, I will be washing that gray right outta my hair. I figure I'll start now before it's too noticeable (at the rate they are multiplying I don't have long) and hopefully no one will notice.

Of course, then, how will I know what's under there? Now, THAT is a scary thought.

Tagged Again!
Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so:

1) Montana Maiden
2) Irish Hills
3) Dominionfamily
4) Just Janet
5) Good Soil

Select Five People to Tag

Leslie at Abiding
Dy at Classic Adventures
Amy at Ezekiel's Garden

and anyone else who'd like to join in!

What were you doing ten years ago?



I felt pressure to get this done this week, because this week I can say I was 28. That will no longer be true next week. These were the salad days. Young and in love, married to my sweet husband for nearly 3 years. I was in my second year of medical school, which was still classroom work, where I was a very good student and had a lot of good friends. Bud worked in Austin and I went to school in San Antonio, so we had this great lakehouse halfway in between at Canyon Lake. It was mostly a weekenders lake, so the weekdays were beautiful and quiet. We lived between two retired couples who we adored and who shared their garden veggies with us. We went out on our jetski almost everyday after work/school, when the weather allowed. It was a treat to be on the lake year round, and see its moods and seasons. It was a good time!

The view from our back deck:


What were you doing one year ago?

Trying to keep out of the funny farm. I had just opened the resale shop, and was still running the gym. And homeschooling. It was a nightmare. God took care of me. Of course. I am so thankful. So thankful. So thankful.

Five snacks you enjoy

1) Diet Coke

2) Raw cookie dough

3) El Galindo tortilla chips with Mrs. Renfro's salsa

4) Thumbprint cookies

5) Deviled eggs


Five songs to which you know all the lyrics

1) It Is Well With My Soul

2) Little Wing by Jimmy Hendrix (so there aren't many words to it, so what?)

3) These Are Days by 10,000 Maniacs

4) Sweet Baby James by James Taylor

5) The Ballad of Eddie Mullett

(This should give you an idea of the total confusion our children must be living with!)




Five things you would do if you were a millionaire

1) mission work

2) support an orphanage we know of in Costa Rica

3) get Bud a new car

4) Serious landscaping

5) help out the bros and sisters with college, it's heading at them like a freight train (I have 6 nieces and nephews in college or about to enter college)


Five Bad Habits

1) I drink way too much diet Coke (didn't even change Janet's response)

2) creating and maintaining piles around the house (ditto)

3) sitting at this computer (ditto)

4) leaving my car a mess (I do make my bed)

5) putting off anything related to paperwork



Five things you like doing
1) Sunday evening wine and cheese with Bud

2) visit on the front porch with my girlfriends

3) drinking diet Coke

4) playing games with the kids (Blokus is our latest addiction)

5) reading (I've got four books going right now in addition to my Daily Bible)


Five things you'll try not to wear

1) low cut jeans

2) low cut blouses/tops

3) too much make up

4) scented deodorant

5) If I ever have another baby, no "Baby on Board" shirts


Five favorite toys

1) computer

2) The "Binford 2000" grill in our backyard

3) our stereo because it has speakers on both front and back porches

4) Excel spreadsheets

5) my winesaver (it vacuums the air out of a bottle so the wine isn't doesn't oxidize right away)


And there you have it!

Sorry I haven't blogged a lot lately. I've been busy behaving myself. You would be surprised at how time-consuming that actually is.

Some quotes for your consideration and amusement:

The problem, of course, was that people did not seem to understand the difference between right and wrong. They needed to be reminded about this, because if you left it to them to work out for themselves, they would never bother. They would just find out what was best for them, and then they would call that the right thing. That's how most people thought.

and

How sorry she felt for white people,... who were always dashing around and worrying themselves over things that were going to happen anyway. What use was it having all that money if you could never sit still or just watch your cattle eating grass? None, in her view; none at all, and yet they did not know it. Every so often you met a white person who understood, who realised how things really were; but these people were few and far between and the other white poeple often treated them with suspicion.

-Both quotes from The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, which I read a while back but just finished discussing with my book club.



A second reason for confusion in the matter of respect, in addition to that over the definition, is the current notion that everyone deserves tit-for-tat equality. This is one of the excesses of democracy, which ought not to be confused with Christianity. The truth is that not everybody has a right to everything.

and

Christianity teaches righteousness, not rights. It emphasizes honor, not equality. A Christian's concern is what is owed to the other, not what is owed to himself.

-Elisabeth Elliot, in Discipline


And finally, from a book that UPS just dumped on my porch, Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher. This is going to be one of those books that I blast through because it is so irresistible, and then go back to savor, one delicious bite at a time.

When you get to our age, you have precious few opportunities to shock the middle class, so you take them where you find them. Hee hee.

and

We conservatives say we value the traditional family, but we don't act like it. Both parents work in many of our families, leaving our kids to be raised by day care and the culture. Some of us have no choice for economic reasons, of course, but too many of us have made our luxuries into our necessities, and work long, crazy hours to pay the mortgage on large houses that can't really be called homes, because little authentic family life goes on behind their walls.


Book notes:

I took the images of the books I've read/am reading off the sidebar and left only the linked titles. It was a bit unruly the other way.

I went ahead and finished The Year of Magical Thinking, although I was uncomfortable with it - I felt voyeuristic, in truth. After witnessing a significant amount of death in med school and residency, I became fiercely protective of those families and their grief. Reading this book felt wrong on some level, even though it was written by the grieved. I'm also not sure where all the great reviews are coming from. That was what spurred me on to finish the book, but in honesty I didn't think it as wonderful as the reviews suggested.

Wicked is off my list for now. It just feels, well, wicked. I may get to it in the summer, but something so dark at this time of year is not my idea of fun (also, see above).

Enjoy! And, hey, how about sharing some of your favorite, recently read quotes on your blog or here in the comments?

My neighbor, Leanne just sent this handy little tool to me. Just plug in your zip code and it will tell you where the cheapest gas in your area is. It is surprisingly accurate, in my opinion.

Gas Prices

My dirty little secret: I never look at the price of gas. Ever. When all the uproar about gas prices came about last year, it went right over my head. Gas could have been that high for years and it wouldn't have even registered with me.

My dad used to drive all over our town for a penny difference in gas price. He knew the price at every station in town. This did not rub off on me.

But, the times, they are achangin'. I'm playing The Grocery Game, and getting quite excited about some of the deals I've gotten - though it's only been two weeks, I'm getting some good stocks of key items we use. Our pantry is overflowing with oatmeal right now ;)! And this weekend is triple coupons at Albertson's - I can't wait to save some big money.

And, now I have a handy way to save money on gas without driving all over creation to keep up with the prices (of course, my hometown was much smaller than where I live now, so my dad wasn't totally nuts!).

All this money I'm trying to save - I hope it will allow us to do mission work sooner rather than later. Bud and I have both had it on our minds a lot lately, and we're trying to figure out what form it's going to take. I figure that we may as well get prepared, that way when God let's us know, we'll be ready.

We're also doing The Navigators Bible memory program. This is an area we're weak in, so it seemed like a nice place to start.

Today's poll:

Do you shop for the cheapest gas?
Do you do Bible memory work yourself besides any assistance you may give your children in this area?

How's that for unrelated questions?

Answer in the comments, or blog about it! Of course let me know you blogged it, so I can read your answers.