Finding contentment the hard way

The thing that is the hardest struggle for us humans is to be content.  Everywhere we look people are wanting more.  More money, more stuff, more relationships, better careers, more popularity, more more more!   It of course doesn't help that our culture glorifies and encourages consumerism and and the pursuit of more.  We are told from the day we can watch tv that we must buy more and have more or we cant be happy.  And most of the things we need more of is not what will make us  happy in the long run.

But as Christians that is not what God says.  He doesn't want us to seek anything but more of Him to be content.

Contentment is the true key to happiness.

For many years I struggled with contentment.  I was constantly striving for more and worrying about everything my family didn't have.  I felt I needed to make as much money for my family as possible by babysitting or having night jobs which stressed me horribly.  As a result my true calling as a mother was sacrificed.  It seemed like the more things I tried to do the more unhappy I became.  I rarely prayed to God for guidance in my life but I prayed plenty for him to make me a happy wife.  It frustrated me that he never answered and I was angry all the time with my life as a stay at home mom.  I saw my duties as a pointless slog of never ending work and hated every minute of it.  I prayed and prayed for God to make me a contended mommy, but never once prayed for God to show me how to be contented.  I just wanted my own way, my own goals, my own lifestyle!  I never asked what God's plan was for my life.    And the sad thing is that even if He had come down and said "OK here is what I want you to do, and if you do it you will be happy and content"  I would have rebelled and been angry.  After all God's plan for my life wasn't like my plan.  I wanted my plan!

I went on like this for years and then I came to a crises.  I believe it was the most absolute form of intervention God could do.  I had a total health breakdown.  I was terrified all the time and thought I was going to die.  Through it all I simply clung to God.  I prayed all the time, I read my bible constantly and I did something I have never in my life done.  I gave up my will.  I just gave it up and said "God, I don't know what the heck is going to happen, I don't know if I will ever be better, so your just going to have to work it out and I'm going to just trust you."  Over and over I thought of the words from Job, even though you slay me, still I will praise you!  And I did praise Him.  He showed me time and again through my illness that He was with me.

When things were at their worst I swore to God and my self that if I ever felt better I would be so thankful just to vacuum the floors or cook a meal.

Slowly I did get better.  My illness has changed my whole outlook on life and being a stay at home mom.  I am so happy just to be able to smile again.  I now love being able to clean my house and care for my children.  First because I woke up and realized how being a Mom is the job God gave me.  That's pretty amazing huh?  The creator of the universe gave stupid Ole me a job!  The second reason is because I now trust God completely.  I have faith that no matter how dark the storm of my life He is in control and will guide my Husband and I in the way to go.  That way may not be what we envisioned our life to be, it might in fact be the polar opposite, but he will give us peace and joy through it all is if we just trust and have faith.  One of the most comforting verses that God kept showing me through my illness was below.

Faith Triumphs in Trouble

5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have^[a] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; ⁴ and perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

So now I have peace, and what is peace but true contentment?  Sometimes I falter and start to get discontented in my life but I quickly remember what I learned and take a breath and let go of all my worries.  

I hope that you do not have to go through what I did to find real contentment in your life.  But as to how each of us can find it there is really only one answer.  

Trust in God, truly trust Him and ask for Him to guide your life.  Never go a day with out praying for guidance on your life, even the really small things.  And then when He does show you the way to go don't fight it!  I can tell you that I never thought I would be happy with the life I have now.  It is so different from what I planned.  But I am so happy now and just so grateful.

Easy Homemade Yogurt In a Crockpot

Making home made dairy products may seem intimidating at first but I can tell you most are so easy its worth it.  Probably the best thing to start with is yoghurt.   Not only is yoghurt  incredibly easy to make at home it is healthier and allot cheaper than store bought too!  Home-made yoghurt can be made with fresh milk from a cow (I did when we had our milk cow) or milk from the store, or even powdered milk. Then you just mix in to the finished product what sweeteners you like and fruit and there you have fresh, healthy, cheap yoghurt.

 The first thing to choose is what kind of yoghurt you want to end up with.  Go to the store and try several different brands and you will be able to see the  differences in flavour and consistency.  This is because there are dozens and dozens of yoghurt cultures, and each one produces a different flavour and thickness of the finished product.  So pick the yoghurt you like the flavour and thickness of the best.  I used a Greek yoghurt this time but I usually use tillamook because it produces a sweet, mild, and thick yoghurt   You can experiment to find the kind  you like best.

Now this recipe may seem very unscientific but it's just that I've made it so often that I don't need to look at the book any more.  Where I learned it is from my favourite book of all time for all homesteading knowledge.  Carla Emery's Encyclopaedia of Country Living

This book will give you all the temps, times, etc that you need for yoghurt making but this is how to do it.  I will say that using the mason jars not only seems to produce better more consistent results, but then I just pop them into the fridge for storage.

What you'll need:

Large non reactive saucepan
Large non reactive bowl
Quart sized mason jars
1 Gallon Raw, Store bought, or powdered milk
1 cup plain hopefully organic yoghurt with live cultures
Large crock pot with a warm setting


So how to do it.

Take out your store bought yoghurt and let it come to room temperature first.

Next turn your crock pot to warm and fill half way with hot water from the sink.

Then take your milk and pour it into a non reactive saucepan like stainless steel..  If you are using store bought or dry milk skip the scalding  step and just warm the milk.  Scald your milk to kill any other bacteria's that you don't want competing with your yogurt culture.  Then cool to warm to the touch of a clean pinkie finger.

Next using a wire wisk mix in the yogurt from the store until no chunks are left.

Then pour into a non reactive pan made of glass or stainless steel or your mason jars, cover with Saran wrap, do not use aluminium foil!

Next set the bowl or jars into the crock pot being careful that the water doesn't overflow.  If needed add more warm water to the crock pot until its full.

Now just let sit.  Try not to agitate the milk and do not stir it.  This will mess with the setting process.  In about four to six hours, sometimes more, sometimes less,  you will see the the milk has magically turned into yoghurt and is thick and solid looking.  The longer you let it "cook" the thicker it will become but it will also become more tangy so beware if you like mild yoghurt.

Take it out of the crock pot and put it in the fridge to cool overnight.  Next morning enjoy your home-made yoghurt!

I use my home-made yoghurt for tons of things.  I use it in place of buttermilk, sour milk, and sour cream in all my baking recipes.  It doesn't change a thing  in the finished product and is so much cheaper for me to use my own home-made than buying store bought.

Being the Mean Mom

I have been long resigned to being the mean mom.  Meaning I have actual rules for my children, I don't let them watch anything over a G rating, I don't buy pop, chips, or candy except on red letter days.

I teach them to respect their elders, the police, and honour our military.  I refuse to buy video games and actually make them play outside every day. I know all my 15 year old daughters friends, and make sure I always know where they are and that they are supervised by a non idiot adult.

In general I don't give a crap what other "cool" parents think of me.  I don't care if my kids like me, nor do I long for a teenagers approval.

 Because loving your child is not about being blind to their faults, excusing their bad behavoir,  and letting them turn into monsters in the hopes that they will love you more.

Loving your child is being strong enough to hear the "I hate you's" the "Your ruining my life's" and millions of "But Billies parents let him, why can't I?" with the knowledge in your heart that you are doing the right thing.

Source: inspired4youdecor.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Tips for mom's of picky eaters

Being a mother of four children has taught me more than all my schooling combined.  It has also taught me humility!  When I started mothering I thought I knew it all, I followed what the "experts" said.  And with my first child it was easy,  I thought "Hey this parenting stuff isn't so hard".  And then came my second child, a boy where I had only been raised with girls.  What a wake up call and what a learning experience!

   I remember that for a time there was a movement that tried to prove that gender made no difference and that boys could be turned into girls and vice versa.  However with the advent of brain scanners researchers found that from birth to adulthood boys and girls are very different in how they learn, how their brains react to different situations, ect.

Ha any mother of many could have told you that!  Boys and girls are different in everything they do!   And what I have learned is that every child is unique.  There are no hard and fast rules that will work for every child.  I would have never found that out if I had only had one child.  I would have been one of those insufferable prigs of a mother who would have thought she knew everything and that any other mom who's child wasn't the picture of perfection just wasn't as smart as me!

 I have three children that are very good about food.  They will eat anything put in front of them and try new things without complaint.  And then I have one very challenging eater!  It is my 9 year old son and from the first day we started feeding him solid food till now eating has been a constant battle of wills.  And unfortunately up until recently I have been on the loosing end.

Its not that he just wants to eat junk food, I never have bought much processed food due to the fact that we have always been on a tight budget and so we couldn't have afforded it anyways.  I've been cooking home-made foods so long that now I don't like junk foods or highly processed convenience foods and neither do my children because they've never had them.  He likes healthy food and will eat tons of what he does enjoy.

I remember how shocked my sister was when my children stayed the night for the first time at her house and she asked if they wanted pop tarts.  "What's a pop tart?"  they asked.  LOL she confronted me like I was cheating them of the finer things in life!  I still don't buy pop tarts.

So on to foods he will not eat without dire threats

Vegetables
mixed foods like casseroles
any breads that are not white and smooth
meats that are not plain

As you can see getting important minerals and vitamins into his diet is a challenge.  The vitamin part is easy because I can just give him a children's chewable, but did you know that most multivitamins do not contain the very important minerals?  And much of our foods are stripped of them as well.

Minerals like magnesium, copper, iron, iodine, and others are absolutely essential to the proper functions of our bodies and yet they are lacking in our soil for food production and that translates into not enough in even the most perfect diet.

So some of the ways I sneak nutrition into my families foods are

Nuts!!!!

None of my children are overweight, in fact they are all healthy and slim and tall so adding nuts isn't a concern calorie wise.  Nuts contain huge amounts of essential fatty acids and minerals that you can get nowhere else besides greens.  They are easy to sneak into meals and most children love them.  The trick is to get RAW nuts.  You can find them in many bulk sections and health food stores.  The best nuts nutrition wise are almonds and cashews.   Also if you don't have time to grind your own  Bobs Red Mill brand of flours carries many types of nut meals and flours pre ground.  I've notices lots of stores are carrying the brand now, even walmart!

Foods I sneak Nuts into

My home-made Granola mix that the kids love
Smoothies
Breads by adding ground up raw almonds in place of some of the flour

Foods I make that contain nuts

Almond butter instead of peanut butter as peanuts have less nutrition
Home candied almonds make a great high nutrition snack

Other things to sneak into your foods to add nutrition

Cook with olive oil as it adds lots of good fats, use it in baking (the ones labeled light olive oil is best for baked goods), sautéing, frying, as a pan coating for cooking

Natural salts, most salt you buy in the stores has been bleached with chemicals and has anti caking agents added, yuck!  Also almost every bit of essential minerals including iodine are stripped from salt which used to be where humans got them.  Why do you think everyone who has milk and meat animals provides them with a mineral salt lick?  Numerous studies have shown that mineral salt licks are essential to healthy animal growth and production, so duh, humans need it too!  The salt companies actually have to add back iodine after processing the salt! But now lots of stores carry natural sea salts, you can tell they are natural because they have color to them from the minerals.   I use Himalayan sea salt that has over 45 minerals in it.  This is very important!

Wheat germ added to baked goods adds vit E and Folic acid

Apple sauce (sugar free) into baked goods in place of half the fat or sugar

Pumpkin or other squashes into baked goods

I add a cup of greens like spinach to my smoothies and you cant even tell

Whole wheat flour into my home baked goods, even a cup makes a difference

Healthy (sort of) Country Morning Coffee Cake - A family standby

This is one of our families favorite foods for breakfast. The kids love it as does DH.  It is also a quick and easy breakfast and rounded out with milk and fruit is less expensive than store bought cereal.  Now I have to make a batch every week to keep up with the demand from my kids and husband.  We have it for snacks and for breakfast. It's probably much healthier than store bought cereals or snacks and uses up things I have tons of.

It makes a gigantic pan and lasts about  a week for us with 6 people. It is moist and fluffy and doesn't go stale as long as you wrap it up.  My children love it so much that at snack time they plead to have some.  This is a great recipe for feeding a crowd and goes well with coffee, tea, or big frosty glasses of milk.

Housewife  Tweaking:

OK you will notice that I tweak allot of recipes to suit my tastes or needs.   This recipe was originally not as healthy but I have changed it by cutting back the sugar, using applesauce as a sweetener instead, using yogurt, and using olive oil or coconut oil, putting in some whole wheat flour and wheat germ for added nutrition.   It turns out even lighter and moister in my opinion.  Also I like not just Cinnamon in the topping but nutmeg because I'm a nutmeg addict.  I do not add the nuts because all the kids hate them.

Country Morning Coffee Cake

cake

1 c. light olive oil or coconut oil (adds essential fatty acids)
1 c. sugar
1 cup no sugar added applesauce or home canned applesauce (makes a moister cake, cuts on sugar, adds fiber and fruit)
4 eggs, beaten
2 c.  plain yogurt
3 c. flour
1 c. whole wheat flour (adds fiber and is good for you)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs. wheat germ  (adds vitamin E and folic acid)


Cinnamon-nut Topping:

2/3 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c. chopped pecans or almonds if you like

Use a fork to mix all ingredients together.


Combine fats, apple-sauce, sugar, eggs, and yogurt  in a large bowl.  Stir in remaining ingredients: mix thoroughly.  Pour into a greased  10x14 pan baking pan and sprinkle with the Cinnamon-nut topping.  Bake at 350 for  45 minutes or until a toothpick tests clean. Cut into squares.  Serves 18 to 20



Preparing beds for deep winter in a wood heated home

It is a fact universally acknowledged that in a wood heated home the further away you are from the wood stove the colder it will be.  So for those of us who like to use wood heat for our homes in winter keeping the beds warm, cozy, and inviting takes thought and preparation.

When we lived in our first small centrally heated home I didn't have to think about making beds warmer in winter.  Like most people I used standard cotton sheets and a comforter and that was it.  I didn't have extra sheets or anything like that because when it got really cold you just flipped a switch.  But when we moved to Wyoming my view of winter sleeping got an abrupt and unpleasant wake up call.  Our old country farmhouse not only didn't have central heating, but it only had heat boxes which operated much like a gas stove, one in the kitchen one in the living room.  The children upstairs stayed fairly warm because of radiant heat but our bedroom was so cold that ice froze on the insides of the window and stayed all winter and into April!

I then started to view the changing of the seasons by the changing of the bedding.  I now have for each bed two separate sets of sheets based on season plus blankets and pillow cases for the different seasons.   I also keep at least two back up sheet sets and comforters for each size bed in case someone throws up or wets the bed in the middle of the night and I need to change the bedding.  This is something I think all people who should be preparing for disasters should think about.  All we need is to look at those suffering from the aftereffects of hurricane sandy.  What were they in need of most was warm bedding, clothing, and food because they had no electricity or back up food stored.  Some people were without power for over a month!  How would you keep warm and night in winter with only one thin little blanket and no electricity to heat your home?

It actually gives me great pleasure and contentment to make my families beds warm soft and cozy in the winter.  I keep a lookout at thrift stores and yard sales for items I know I'll need in winter and have outfitted 6 people's beds with name brand high end bedding for less than $50.00.  Each bed has extra warm and soft flannel sheets that will instantly make you feel warmer.  I have striven to find down comforters and down beds for each person in my family and have gotten each one in great condition at summer yard sales for tops $10.00 each.  In fact I just picked up a down bed (this is like an extra thick down comforter that lays under you at night) for free!  Down comforters and beds make all the difference in a cold room.  I love them and so do my children.  They snuggle down into them and are warm within 2 minutes no matter how cold a room gets at night.  If I really want to treat them I warm up rice bags or hot water bottles and put them in between the sheets about a half an hour before bedtime and it makes the beds toasty warm.

  For my eldest daughters bed she has a super thick feather bed under her bottom flannel sheet which makes her extra warm.  Then a top flannel sheet and light blanket and then a heavy blanket and flannel pillow cases.  I am also looking to get her another feather comforter because she likes to sleep extremely warm.

My youngest daughters bed gets flannel sheets and pillow cases, a extra thick down comforter and then a blanket on top of that.  She has a wall heater that kicks on automatically when it gets to a certian temperature in her room.

My sons sleep in the coldest room due to it not having a wall heater and being the furthest away from the wood stove.  They have a bunk bed but prefer to sleep on the bottom bunk which is a full size mattress together because they are still little.  Onto the bottom bunk goes first a thick feather bed, then a flannel sheet set then a medium fill down comforter, then a light duvet cover, and flannel pillow cases.  They told me its like sleeping in a marshmallow!

On my husband and my's bed we have flannel sheets, a light cotton weave blanket, then a heavy down comforter, and then a light cotton blanket to cover the feather comforter.  I still have to throw off the comforter sometimes because I sleep hot.

Buying all these high end bedding items would cost hundreds of dollars brand new, but I find them in new condition at yard sales and thrift stores all summer long because people in centrally heated homes find they don't need them.

Hell Week

Well it has been a horrible, hellish week and a half for me!  First I have some very frightening unexplained bleeding that required a trip to the doctor for me, then viking boy age 4 stops eating for no apparent reason (until later) and I have to take him into the doctor where we end up having to do a blood draw!  Let me just tell you that doing a blood draw on anyone under the age of 16 is no fun.  Then as soon as we get settled at home he starts throwing up, having diarrhea  AND not eating!  After that one by one each of our six family members went through a horrible bought of stomach flu with symptoms that included vomiting, diarrhea  back ache, headache, fever, body aches, and tiredness.  I by the way was the second one down with it but still of course  had to take care of everyone else.  The worst part was that not one of the "little's" could make it to the toilet so between caring for them I was shampooing the carpets sometimes twice a day.

Then  two days before thanksgiving just when I was thinking everything was getting better my eldest daughter who was babysitting the kids called in panic because captain submarine, age 9, was laying on the floor of the bathroom screaming in pain.  After rushing home we headed to the emergency room where he had an IV port put in his arm (two kids in one week!), got put on morphine for the pain, and had ex rays  blood-work  and exams to find out that he had separated one of his floating ribs!

Then home and bed rest for him and the next day was Thanksgiving!

What am I thankful for?  Great emergency room nurses, care, and doctors.  And also my carpet shampooer.

Great now I hear Youngest daughter hacking down stairs.

Here we go again!

A great thanksgiving song! To all my readers God Bless you this Thanksgiving Day

What I am Thankful For

I thought I'd wright what I am thankfull for this year and would love to hear from my readers!  What are you thankful for?  As I was wrighting this out I realized I have so much to be thankful for, so much to thank God for!  How can I ever be sad or discouraged when I look at this list?  I think I'm going to print it out and post it where I see it all the time.

I am thankfull for

God Being in my life

Sleep
Being Alive
My Husband
My Children
My Dog
My Home
My Husbands Job
Living In America
The Constitution
Having Enough Food
The River Near Our house that I get to walk by

Heywood Banks - I Am A Turkey Bird (Thanksgiving Day Song)

A November pumpkin massacer

Both my husband and I feel it's very important that our children understand how to safely and accuratly use firearms so we take them out and teach them shooting.  It helps that we both enjoy shooting guns and the kids LOVE it!

So as soon as Halloween was over we took out jack o lanterns to the shooting "range" and had a little fun.  Pumpkins make satisfying targets because you can see really well when you hit them.

All of the older kids are already fairly good shots and are doing well on safety.

the victims

me with a pump action shot gun

for some reason I love pump actions... they make me feel like Sara Conner!

after the first few shots

will the violence never end???

Eldest daughter is a great shot

How to remove rust stains from tubs and sinks naturally and easy

When we moved into our new very old house it was a mess, or should I say before we moved in.  I cleaned for weeks before we moved one box in because the previous occupants had been total pigs!  One of the great features of the house is an old fashioned claw-foot tub (number 5 on bucket list!).  But it was full of stains of some kind, probably rust.  I tried the harsh store bought, guaranteed to remove it or your money back stuff that put tons of fumes into the air.  It didn't do much.

Then I remembered in a book I  have called something like 1001 uses for common household items that it had said salt and lemon juice removes rust stains from tubs and sinks.  Well I had both and thought what the heck and tried it.  I can say not only did it work like a charm, way better than the store bought stuff, but it also didn't put tons of nasty fumes into the air.  Instead a nice lemon scent.  I love it when old fashioned cleaners work better than the new harsh chemical stuff!

I am adding how I did it!  Sorry everyone I completely blanked out to do this lol!

So what I did was first wet the area with lemon juice so the salt would stick better, then sprinkle the salt on, then re-wet with more lemon juice.  I let it sit for a minute or two then scrubbed with a washcloth if the stain is still there.  Some stains just disappeared, but the ones that were very severe had to be treated two or three times before they came off.

Ideas for Autumn fun with your family

When the pumpkins are so yellow

And the vines with grapes abound,

When the melons are so mellow

And the nuts fall to the ground;

When persimmons lose their bitters,

And the apples are so red;

When we love to eat corn fritters

Since the roasting ears have fled;

When vacation days are over

And the children go to school,

They no longer play in clover,

But much learn "Arithmos-rule,"

When weird Hallowe'en's most naughty elves

With gnomes and sprites appear,

While fat Thanksgiving fills the shelves - 

'Tis AUTUMN, QUEEN OF YEAR.

I love autumn, it is truly my favorite time of the year and always has been.  Finally the horrible heat and dust of summer is over, the leaves burst into glorious color, it is cool enough to cook stews and soups and casseroles and actually want to eat them.  Wood smoke from chimneys scent the air.  Geese call overhead and I feel the relief of summers end, food put up and done for winter.

I unfortunately have lived most of my life in desert like areas where summers heat made life almost unbearable.   No rain for months on end was and is to me an absolutely normal thing.  Only now with this horrible drought throughout our country do I realize that , duh, not everywhere goes through such dry summers.

I also just love fall crafts and holidays and always do lots of fun things with my children to celebrate 

I have been doing preschool activities for 13 years so every autumn our house is decorated with leaf projects, fall coloring pages, and crafts.   I like nice simple projects that even children with short attention spans can enjoy and that uses items I have on hand.

One of my other ideas is to create activity books for my children for when school is out for thanksgiving.  These are simply pages I have printed off for free from the Internet that include mazes, crosswords, coloring pages, simple crafts, and poems.  I staple them together for the kids to do if they are restless on thanksgiving day while I am preparing dinner.

Here is a great craft to bring the autumn beauty into your home.   Children of all ages and even adults will enjoy this.  It's easy, cheap, and your toddlers will be able to do it without lots of stress. Follow the link to the site below to follow the very easy instructions.



http://artfulparent.typepad.com/artfulparent/2011/10/autumn-leaves-stained-glass.html

Teacher encourages my Daughter to Pray for Mohammad at School!

First off I apologize for the weird formatting and how some of the text in this post is backed by white.  I tried several times to fix it but for some reason it wont let me.  But as you can still read it just fine I figure you all can just bear with me.

This last weekend my daughter came home very concerned about something her teacher was F.  They are currently learning about world religions and the teacher has been teaching on the Islamic  faith.  I am going to write just what happened from the answers I got from my daughter.  She came home from school and said she was concerned with what her teacher was saying because it not only seemed to have a real slant, but also she said some things that I frankly believe are not even within the realm of appropriate in a school setting that prides itself on the separation of church and state.

As the teacher has been discussing this subject the first thing that struck my daughter is that every time the teacher would say the name Muhammad (The prophet) she would then follow by saying “Peace be upon his name” explaining that this is how the students should say his name or it is a major insult.  My daughter felt that the teacher was meaning for the students to say it that way and in fact two students started repeating the phrase "Peace be upon him"  as well.

Here are two facts everyone should be aware of about this phrase she is encouraging them to say.  I researched this not only from regular definition sites, but also from Islamic sites for religious instruction.

1. Peace be upon him is a phrase that practicing muslims often say after saying or hearing the name of Mohammad.

2.       USE OF THIS HONORIFIC IS KNOWN AS SALAWAWT, OR AS SAYING SALAH.  SALAH MEANS "PRAYER," AND ALL DEVOUT MUSLIMS ARE EXPECTED TO INTEGRATE DAILY PRAYER INTO THEIR RELIGIOUS PRACTICE.  BY SAYING SALAWAT FOR SOMEONE, MUSLIMS PRAY FOR THE INDIVUAL UNDER DISCUSSION.  

So this teacher is literally encouraging our children to say a prayer in school for Mohammad by saying that this is the appropriate way to say his name!  And I thought religion had no place in schools!  This would be like explaining the catholic religion and then telling the students they must say a Hail Mary to be respectfull.

My View:  If a teacher in any school in America were to say that when you say the name  Jesus you should follow it by an Our Father prayer  or preform the sign of the cross and told the students that every time they said the name Jesus or God they should genuflect they would be in deep trouble.

Next she gave the usual line of it being a religion of peace.  Now we can debate that all day but I would say that every evidence is to the contrary here.  I would also like to say that most pundits that espouse this notion of it being a peaceful religion is only referencing the Koran, they ignore the fact that Islamic countries and followers use another book called the Sunnah.    Reference below.   And the Sunnah and Koran say that good Muslims must participate in holy war and that infidels must be killed.  We see massive violence right now in every corner of the globe due to this “religion of peace” that actively calls for killing and war in it’s religious texts.

Various sources of Islamic law are used by Islamic jurisprudence to elucidate the Sharia, the body of Islamic law.^[1] The primary sources, accepted universally by all Muslims, are the Qur'an and Sunnah. The Qur'an is the holy scripture of Islam, believed by Muslims to be the direct and unaltered word of Allah. The Sunnah consists of the religious actions and quotations of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad and narrated through his Companions and Imams- (as per the beliefs of the school of Ahle-Sunnah and Ahle-Shia).^[1] However, some schools of jurisprudence use different methods to judge the source's level of authenticity. The other two sources are Ijma and Qiyas. Ijma is the decision taken as a council when both Quran and Sunnah prove to be insufficient and Qiyas is the personal opinion of a person himself not in contradiction with all first three sources.

My View:  Anyone who studies the Islamic texts, modern speeches and sermons given by their mullahs (who have the authority to interpret and judge cases and tell followers what is acceptable to do no matter the law of the country they are living in) or simply is smart enough to turn on the news would see that this religion is doctrinally violent towards unbelievers, woman, and even its own followers who step out of line.  If you are going to discuss a religion you better point out the good and the bad and not give a one sided view.

The teacher outlined some laws, giving the impression that it is a peaceful religion.  However she left out laws that are routinely enforced on not just followers of Islam, but on infidels as well (those that are not Islamic, yes even atheists) that ignore justice and human rights. But  to me the most concerning thing is that she told the students that the women she met at a mosque she attended for a college class told her how great their religion was and how they enjoyed wearing a burka (the veil). 

My View;What would happen to those women if they didn’t wear the veil?  It is a fact that in Muslim countries women who are unveiled will be attacked, stoned, have acid thrown on them, or be arrested by the “modesty police”.  Here in America we are still a nation of laws that protect personal rights and so the crimes committed against Muslim women will be punished.  However it is noted that in Muslim communities across the US woman and girls rarely report being beaten or abused because of their culture.  We are now seeing women and girls becoming the victims of honor killings right here the USA and other western nations when they become too westernized.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-11-29-honor-killings-in-the-US_N.htm

This teacher failed in every respect to point out the very real atrocities committed against Muslim girls and women even here in America to balance this view that the Islamic faith is nice to women.  She did say that woman in other Muslims countries woman have it bad but did not use any examples.  The reality is woman is Muslim countries have it bad because they use Sharia law as there justice system.  You would think that as a woman this teacher would not be to hot on a religion that doctrinally oppresses and devalues woman.  My question to her is how would she feel if our government said it is legal for her husband to beat her, that she must be veiled, that her daughters could not work, or worse yet that she could not work.

My main point is this.  If you are going to teach religions you either keep is simple or you go into detail.  She decided to go into detail by stating that

1.     IT IS A RELIGION OF PEACE 

Although in its religious texts and laws state that you can beat woman, murder a woman who has dishonored her family, crucify those who speak out against the religion, and more than I can type.  All three of the things I just typed are happening right now, even the crucifixions which are being used RIGHT NOW in Egypt to punish people who speak out against the sharia ruled government.  

http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/08/16/muslim-brotherhood-crucifies-opponents-attacks-secular-media/

2.     Woman like the laws that govern them in Islam  

(This little theory has been blown apart by so many Muslim women it’s just sad that she would even imply that they enjoy the veil or punishments they are subject to)

This teacher did not give a balanced view of a religion that is systematic in its human rights violations, atrocities against woman, or its call for the murder of innocent people.  She instead portrayed it as a religion of peace.  She did not say that Christianity is a religion of peace so she cannot say she was portraying all the religions in the course the same. 

The discussion of prayer in school is pretty settle as far as teachersshould not be instructing their students to pray.

I went in first thing Monday morning and not only spoke to the teacher but also the principle about the incident.  The teacher (who is very young) said she had no idea it was an actual prayer and that she wasn't intending for the students to say it, she was only trying to show how much Muslims revere Mohammad.  This of course doesn't explain why the students felt the need to say the phrase after she explained how it is considered an insult not to say it that way.

She also stated that she is going to teach about the human rights violations that are epidemic throughout Islamic countries when they study those countries later on.

She seemed very nice and sweet, but frankly if your going to teach on religion you should do more than just repeat what you've been told in a mosque.  

The lesson to parents here is ASK YOUR KIDS ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE LEARNING EVERY DAY!

I make a point to know whats going on in my daughters high school classes just for the above reasons.  Lucky for me I have also taught her to be aware and engaged in class so she noticed this issue right away.  She is an excellent student and all her teachers love her because she doesn't just sit there but engages and is interested.

This also goes to show you that even in small farming communities that are very conservative your going to have problems with liberal teachers with agendas.

Almost Free Water Storage for Emergencies

Well as  you all know I am super frugal, not because I want to be, but because it is a necessity with our family size and income.  Whats that saying about necessity being the mother of invention, or in my case frugality?  Anyways I do take prepping very seriously and with the world on fire like it is now my prepping goals have stepped up a bit.  But prepping can be very expensive so I look for ways to save money any way I can.

Water storage is absolutely essential for anyone because well, water is essential right?  The red cross, homeland security, and fema all recommend that every American has enough stored water for at least three days of use.  One person will need on average one gallon of water per day.  So for our family of six not including dogs, chickens and cats that is 18 gallons.  Now I would like to have at least a weeks worth of water stored for our family because when you look at any natural disaster the water is usually off for one week or more.  So that ups the count to 43 gallons!  At the store the cheapest gallons of water are a dollar each so I'm looking at spending at least fifty bucks for water.  But did you know that half that gallon of water recommended is actually for cleaning and personal care, not for drinking?

So keeping that in mind I found a way to have water for the cleaning and personal care part of emergency water pretty much free.  What I do is whenever I use up a gallon bleach bottle I rinse it out and then fill it with tap water.  The residual bleach from the plastic keeps the water bacteria free and is perfect for using as washing water in an emergency.  Almost everyone uses bleach so this is a great way to save money, prep, and recycle at the same time.  Also the bleach bottles are made of tough durable plastic with a sturdy handle and a self sealing lid which makes it good for long term storage of your water.  I'm thinking the water will be good for at least a year and if you don't use it you can just empty them out with no loss of money.