Facebook Status

There's a new pastime on Facebook. Maybe you've seen it, wondered about it, or even participated. I've seen it, been invited to participate - It is purported to raise awareness for breast cancer, and what you do is change your status update to answer the question of "where you like to put your purse." Only you indicate the location only and do not reveal to what you are referring. The "joke" is that it is supposed to be suggestive - supposedly your "friends" will wonder what you are posting about and think about it in terms of anything but where you hang your purse. HA, HA, very funny, right?


I know that my Facebook friends who have posted the different locations to their status updates don't see any harm in joining in on the "fun." It's just a game, after all, and it's for a good cause, right? We're just hinting around at something…let the guys or those "not in the know" become curious. After all, most of my FB friends are married…so it's OK, right?

But wait…these same friends have guys listed as their friends. And those guy friends were created in such a way that such titillating comments so very easily trigger sinful thoughts…and lustful thinking…and, again, because of the way they are created - visual images. That's right. Her guy friends are PICTURING her…

It's not just men, either. Facebook allows users to be as young as 13. What kind of message does this send to young girls and boys? That sex is the butt of a joke? That single women are engaging in…

Do you profess to be a Christ follower? Do you tell others that you love Jesus?  Do you go to church? 

Here is what Paul suggested about how we should interact with those who will be watching to see if our actions measure up with our words:

2 Corinthians 8:20, 21: "We want to avoid any criticism

of the way we administer this liberal gift.

For we are taking pains to do what is right,

not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.

Is posting a suggestive status taking pains to do what is right in the eyes of men?

There's more…

But among you there must not be

even a hint of sexual immorality,

or of any kind of impurity,

or of greed, because

these are improper for God's holy people.

Ephesians 5:3

Yikes! There's more…

Abstain from all appearance of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:22)

…Be careful to do what is right. (Romans 12:17)

Yes, but it isn't really evil, or wrong, now, is it?

The Apostle Paul comes at it another way:

We put no stumbling block in anyone's path,

so that our ministry will not be discredited. (2Cr 6:3)

Can a status update be a stumbling block?

1 Corinthians 8:13 says:

"Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin,

 I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall."

(Chew on that a minute.)
Try this version:

"Therefore, if my use of Facebook causes my brother to fall into sin,

 I will never use Facebook again, so that I will not cause him to fall."

I'm pretty confident Paul would agree with this translation...do you?

"So whether you eat or drink

or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Do not cause anyone to stumble,

whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God-

even as I try to please everybody in every way.

For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many,

 so that they may be saved."

1 Corinthians 10:31-33.

See a trend here?

The Bible is pretty clear. And that was before Facebook was even invented!

I'll close with this - which is the yardstick by which I measure many things in my life, thanks to a lesson I studied with a friend who worked closely with The Navigators:

Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble,  whatever is right,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable

-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-

think about such things.

Last of Layman's...

I hope I haven't bogged you down too much with pictures from our adventure at Layman Farms.  We had a great time (but did I mention it was HOT?) and enjoyed a field trip with Daddy.  Of course, he doesn't often get to come on our trips, but this time he took the day off  and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. 

Have you ever been in a corn maze?  Do you know what it is?  There was a hay maze at the Triple-R Ranch one year made out of hay bales stacked so that you had to crawl through them up and down and back and forth on your hands and knees.  No Thank You said the Claustrophobe - although usually I don't mind crawling under and through, the fact that you couldn't SEE and that it was touching you on 4 sides was a turnoff. 

This is actually a maze cut into the corn that you walk through with a little map and clues (turn right/left) posted at strategic intersections throughout.  The thing about a corn maze is that on a hot day, with the sun beating down from overhead, there is not much air movement and the temperature is about 10 degrees warmer inside the maze than on the open field.  I did not know this.  If you're already bundled up for a day at the farm (boots & jeans) and are better suited for Birkenstocks and shorts, then it is an unpleasant matter indeed. 

You can see part of the maze cut in the cornfield to the right of the entrance.

Therefore, while we can honestly say that we walked [in] the corn maze, that is all that we can [honestly] say.  Only our small family and Julie and Luke know the truth.....and we'd like to keep it that way....for now, anyway!  Moving right along now to ... Duck racing!

This made up for that hot hike through the cornfield.  We buried our legs and hands deep into the corn and it was cool just beneath the surface.  See the red cheeks on the girls?  This brought our temperature back down to normal, by just sitting in the shade and burrowing into the cool. 

 

While it was fun to watch the girls slip, swim and slide in the kernels, I learned just how dangerous that could be to a farmer getting stuck in a silo filling up with the corn.  You really can't get on top of it!

All in all, a good day.  We prepared for the trip by reading Corn is Maize by Aliki, which is a very thorough review of the history of corn, corn's uses today and how it is harvested.  We also looked through the pantry for items with corn syrup in them and learned the word, "ethanol."  Of course, we avoided the politics associated with growing crops for fuel, etc.....maybe in high school....

Bounce Pillow



I had never seen a bounce pillow before, and the best I can describe it is that it is a big yellow air-filled plastic pillow sunk halfway in the ground.  This was our second activity at Layman Family Farms.  Y' leave your shoes at the gate, climb on in socks, and jumpa....

Weeeeeeeeeee!

 Jumpa........

 Jumpa!!

Did I mention it was HOT this day?  I would have loved to have lay (laid? lain?) on top of this thing and be bounced in the air....probably would have bounced my vertebrae back in line....some preferred to sit and be bounced, probably because it was kind of tough maintaining balance with all the wild jumpers on board!



So much fun!!!



Cow Train

Weekend before last, the homeschool group met for a one-of-a-kind adventure at Layman Farms.  We were still in the middle of the heat wave, with drought conditions, but nonetheless, five families braved the scorching valley between Lynchburg and Roanoke for a visit. 

The first activity was the "Cow Train."  The pictures - well, words fail me.  There were 13 or 14 drums outfitted as "cows," complete with names like "Oreo" and "Maggie," "Belle."  This lady on the tractor was whipping this cow train up and around this hill at a right quick pace - faster than Bessie headin' to a fresh bale'o'hay!  I laughed and laughed, and once the train got rolling, the kids laughed and giggled uncontrollably.  No one wanted it to end!

 Not quite sure what to expect...

See the corn maze in the background?  More on that later.  (Don't worry, Julie, our secret's safe!)

The gazebo-type structure there on the left is the "corn crib," and it was filled with dried corn kernels.

What a beautiful backdrop!

Cow train in front of the chicken coop and goat pens....

J-- ready for another ride!

Let the good times roll!!

The Necessary

So, I'm here on the computer checking my email and the 3 year old trots by me on the way to the bathroom:
"I gotta go pee-peeeee.....!!!"
As this happens many times a day, I don't pay much mind and continue my search for a ruffler for my sewing machine on the Sears website.
But then I hear what can only be described as a "liquidy" sound and so I slowly lean forward to get a full view of the bathroom happenings.
And there she is - her skirt hiked up over her knees squatting over a "Country Crock" container she's pulled out of her tub toys basket.  The liquidy sound is the faint echo inside that large brown container.
Fascinated, I continue watching as she straightens up, daintily steps over the bucket, smooths her dress (because dresses are all she wears nowadays) and carefully pours the contents into the "big girl potty."  She then places the Shedd's Spread container neatly next to the toilet and trips on out of the bathroom, on her way to a tea party with her stuffed animals and her big sister.

A Recipe For the Birds

Someone asked me the other day to share my recipe for suet cakes, and was only too glad to oblige! 

Now, technically, suet cakes are made from rendered beef fat that theoretically can be purchased at a butcher or sometimes found in the meat department of the grocery store.  But in Real Life I've found that when I am able to find suet, the birds don't care for it as much as what I make myself.  Pre-made, pre-packaged suet cakes  can be purchased at the dollar store for - guess what - a dollar each, or you can make them very frugally at home with leftovers. 

For us, making our own suet cakes involves my best parenting skills, some homeschooling lessons and satisfies a portion of our entertainment budget - birdwatching.

For starters, begin to collect the following:

• "edges" off of PB&Js (<---parenting skills!)
• freebie bran cereal that gives everyone tummy aches if they eat it (coupons!)
• stale cheerios (coupons again!)
• forgotten fruit including skins and cores
• lumpy grits
• spilled oatmeal
• stale bread
• heels of bread - but only after you've made enough bread crumbs
• raisins that get spilled in the pantry and are too dirty to eat
• stale cookies
• peanuts that the 3 year old sucked the salt off of and tried to put back in the jar (!)
• mushy blueberries that no one will eat
• etc., etc.

Store these items in the freezer.  I use a bread bag and just dump the stuff in as it collects, tie it off loosely and replace it in the same spot every time so I know what it is. 

See?  Bird stuff on the right, hot dog buns on the left.

Next, getcha some shortening.  Not the all vegetable kind, either.  You're going for the artery busting stuff - Manteca - the animal byproduct, gross-out staple of the Southern Pantry. 

Mmmm, mmmm! 

Seriously, though, the birds need fat to convert to energy so they can fly.  Have YOU ever tried to fly?  Its tiring stuff.  You need manteca.  Well, THEY need it.  YOU need Omega-3s, but that's another topic.

Melt that stuff down.  Scoop out a couple cups of it and put it on the stove top, stirring, watching carefully, because it will burn.  And start a BIG hot fire.  I know these things.

Then, get out one of your jars of $1 or less peanut butter - from a good Kroger sale where you stocked up on 22 jars of it or from where you found it at the Dollar Tree.  Scoop out a cup or so of that, too and put it in the pot to melt along with the shortening.  Yummo!

Now, why I don't have a picture of this next step is beyond me.  But I think you can figure it out without the visuals.

• Dump the aforesaid bread-bag-full-of-scraps into a giant metal or glass bowl.  If you want to keep the squirrels and chipmunks away, add a generous few dashes of cayenne pepper.  No harm to the birds, but mammals don't like it.
• Pour the peanut butter/shortening mix over top of the scraps.
• Mix with a spatula very well so that all of the scraps are covered.  Beware: its hot.  If you're using this as a homeschooling lesson, let the kids know to stir carefully so they don't burn themselves. 
• If you need more shortening and peanut butter, go for it.  I use a ratio of about 3:1 with shortening and PB.  You just want the PB there for the taste mostly.
• Pat it all out nicely into a cake pan:

Mouthwatering!

Slice and serve!

Store the unused portion in the freezer.  Again, it would be a good idea to label the container.  You don't want Daddy-o getting his hopes up for a freezer pie and then having them horribly dashed when he takes a bite of that gross stuff.

Oh, and if you look really carefully in the picture above you'll see a blue snowflake-looking sequin where the cake slice was removed.  That's from where I swept up something - probably cheerios - off the floor and just dumped it in....!

Now, go take that chunk-o-suet-cake and put it in your suet feeder that is hung alongside your other bird feeders and watch the show.  You'll enjoy woodpeckers, various sparrows, tufted titmice, nuthatches, and even cardinals.

Here's a little downy woodpecker....

...all of 5 minutes after I put the suet into the feeder!

Homeschooling lessons:  Identify birds using a field guide or the Internet and talk about the varieties of birds and animals that God created for our enjoyment.  Discuss which birds prefer seeds, which prefer suet, which are foragers on the ground under the feeders.  Of course, in making the suet cakes there are dozens of lessons on food, measuring, heat, solids vs. liquids, etc.

Enjoy the birds!

Ice Breaker

Do you remember this scenario from grade school?:

"Now we are going to go around the circle and say our names with a word that describes us, a word that begins with the first letter of our name.  I'll start:  "Hello, I'm 'Clever Catherine'....now you....."

The above was usually smarmily voiced by a fun-loving Sunday School or Youth Group leader who most surely had only the best intentions in mind and was supernaturally able to ignore the eye-rolling and nervous seat-shifting that went on around the group. 

I HATE that game.  Or icebreaker.  Whatever.  I DESPISE it so much that to this day when I take a class, a workshop or attend a reunion, I quake inwardly that the leader will attempt to pull that nonsense. 

WhyeveronEarth? you wonder.

Well, think about it.  How many adjectives come to your mind that are begin with the letter "H"?

Hot
Hysterical
Honest
Hungry*
Heavy*
Homesick
Homely
Helpful
Horrible
Humble

(*maybe if I weren't so daggone hungry I wouldn't be so daggone heavy...but I digress)

Ya think I'm gonna' let any of those rip in a room full of my peers?  "Helpful Heidi"?  I'd be someone's slave for months.  That's just begging for trouble.

And WHAT common adjective, pray tell, is omitted from that list?

That would be the adjective that I selected, by default, Each And Every Time the bottle spun my way attention of the room was shifted my way, that being:

HAPPY.

And the worst of it is, that I can't help it that I smile so much so that when I did say (shudder) "HAPPY HEIDI" that everyone - snarky eighth graders included - would practice their eye rolling skills some more and nod their heads because it just made so much sense; certainly that girl who smiles all the time is always happy. 

Indeed, however, I am NOT always happy.  Not now and certainly not then as a snarky kid, but more often:

Hateful
Horrendous
Humiliated
Hurried
Humourless
Humdrum
Hotheaded
Horrible
Homicidal (I actually WISH I had thought of that in 8th grade...)

What triggered this diatribe?  Like most other things in my life these days, it was the dreaded "Mommy Guilt."  You see, almost 6 years ago I had the clever idea to give my eldest daughter a name that begins with the same initial as does mine.  And as I was ironing one of her dresses I had a terrible shock that she will face that same humiliation that was mine all those years ago. 

I can see it now: 
"now, little girl, its your turn...."
"Hello, I'm hard-core Hannah!"
 
I'm going to have to buy her a thesaurus.