College...what is it good for?

Ah, college.   I remember college.  Briefly.   I spent about 8 months in college, before deciding it was not where I needed to be at the time.  I was totally unprepared for the class workloads, having just skated my way through high school and still getting a 3.9 GPA.   I was also unprepared to choose classes that were supposed to be heading me towards a major, and on to an illustrious career choice, when I had NO IDEA what I wanted to do!   I was pretty good in my Spanish classes in high school, so I just followed the path of least resistance and thought I might like to teach ESL classes for a living.  
Besides, all my friends had gone on to college, and that's where I was supposed to be also, right?   Only one of my close friends had stayed around to go to our hometown college.   That first day of class, when they tell you to "look to your left and look to your right, one of you will not be here on graduation day,"  I was that person.    I bailed after the start of second semester, completely disillusioned with the college experience.  
My friend stayed on.  She even moved into a campus apartment, joined a sorority and had a typical college experience....   

Watch this video and I'll tell you the rest of my story............



Rising debt is one key reason why our guest James Altucher, a hedge-fund manager and author, argues: Don't send your kids to college!

"There's a lot of evidence to suggest that motivated kids are going to make money whether or not they go to college," says Altucher, managing partner at Formula Capital. "So teach your kids how to be motivated. Teach your kids how to sell a product, build a network of connections. That's going to be far more valuable."

 
....My friend went on to work full-time through school, partying, studying late into the night, racking up massive amounts of student loans.  She succeeded in getting a corporate job making a decent salary, but to this day she is still paying off those college loans.   I joined the military, to go see the world and give myself some more time to mature before settling into a "career."   I saw what life was like for people in other parts of the world, got valuable real world experience and walked away with a Top Secret Security clearance.    I also didn't owe them a penny when I left, in fact, they still pay me every month for my service injuries.    I got the first job I interviewed for out of the military and to my astonishment, I was making MUCH MORE than my degree-driven friend.    Hubby finds it the exact same in his line of work.  Experience and time in the field are usually worth way more than a piece of expensive paper.    
 
For students who absolutely want or need that degree to pursue their chosen field, there are plenty of ways to have a college degree without the typical 4 years on campus and the horrendous Student Loans!   Check out College Plus, University of Phoenix, and Liberty University just to name a few.      

"Safe"

I was so blessed to see this tonight on my friend Nickie's blog.  I haven't heard this song yet on the radio, but now that I have, it's iPod worthy for sure!    Sometimes you just need that reminder that you're not alone in this walk.    I hope you enjoy listening to it. 




Safe - By Phil Wickam / Bart Millard
Verse:
To the one who's dreams are falling all apart
And all you're left with is a tired and broken heart
I can tell by your eyes you think your on your own
but you're not all alone


Have you heard of the One who can calm the raging seas
Give sight to the blind, pull the lame up to their feet
With a love so strong and never let you go
oh you're not alone


Chorus:
You will be safe in His arms
You will be safe in His arms
'Cause the hands that hold the world are holding your heart
This is the promise He made
He will be with You always
When everything is falling apart
You will be safe in His arms


Verse 2:
Did you know that the voice that brings the dead to life
Is the very same voice that calls you to rise
So hear Him now He's calling you home
You will never be alone


Bridge:
These are the hands that built the mountains
the hands that calm the seas
These are the arms that hold the heavens
they are holding you and me
These are hands that healed the leper
Pulled the lame up to their feet
These are the arms that were nailed to a cross
to break our chains and set us free

Live from Haiti: Doug Phillips

Rescue Haiti's Children: A Look At Life For The Survivors from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.

One Million Arrows

Have you seen this book yet?   We're already on-board with the "arrow" movement, we have been for a few years now.   I am interested in seeing her book anyway!  

Library goodies...

While I've been busy with the bible reading, I have tried to keep the kids stocked up on good things to read and watch as well.    Here are some of the neat things we've found at our library...

"The Railway Children"   Heart-warming story about a family in England, the hard times they come upon, and how they hold together.   We watched the DVD, which was very cute.  It's based on a book, and also comes in an audiobook.     (The movie itself was cute, but it's presented by "ExxonMobile Theater" whatever that is.  Anyway, the little blurb at the end by the announcer is worth skipping.    Some mumbo jumbo about the author's life and the benefits of socialism. You were warned.)  

Also, these books are the coolest!!   Everyone, from Daddy down to the toddler, loved moving the pages back and forth to watch the animals move.  Very neat! 

Pioneer Woman pictures!

If you've ever visited P-Dub's blog, then you know she loves her some photography!   Those wild horses and the ranch sure provide a lot of subjects for her addiction too!   Check this out: she is offering some of her favorite shots for download.   Just go to the site and you can save them to your computer to do with what you will!   How cool!   Go, now!   At least go look at her awesome pictures.

Another One!

Because I thought it was so neat to hear him sing, I looked up another Ernie Ford song on You Tube.

Here's "The Ballad of Davy Crockett."

"Children Go Where I Send Thee"

This is so cute! I love it! Tennessee Ernie Ford singing, his son is beside him.

Quote of the day

I saw this quote on a nifty little blog this afternoon. It was just what I needed to read!

"If there be before you any bit of work from which you shrink, go straight up to it, and do it at once. The only way to get rid of it is to do it."
Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910) Scottish Preacher

Outrageous!!

This is just too ridiculous! I heard about it a while back, when Goodwill asked people to stop donating toys, due to the "lead testing law" that was affecting them. I didn't realize it was soon to be a national issue!! It will apply to all clothes and children's toys, even handmade ones! It should have been more directly aimed at toys imported from China, land of the lead-based everything. Instead many small business owners, and families who make and sell handmade goods, will be shut down due to the astronomical testing costs. Apparently lawmakers are too busy making up new rules to consider how this will effect the economy, and especially small business owners.


"The new regulations take effect Feb. 10 under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which was passed by Congress last year in response to widespread recalls of products that posed a threat to children, including toys made with lead or lead-based paint."
LATimes Story



Handmade Toys Alliance

Because it made me laugh, that's why!

"Imperial Doughnut Thieves"

There is really no reason why I am posting this other than it made me chuckle. This has been a slow week in Bloggerville, but here's something to hold you over until I find my thinking cap!

Go check out Storm Troopin'

Stuck indoors?

Here's a solution for those yucky winter days, whether it's raining or snowing! You need one of these things in your doorway!

Very good post!!!!

I think I spent the afternoon looking through everyone else's great posts!! This article about the "you should get out of the house more" syndrome is a very good read! Jess @ Making Home has covered plenty of other great topics also, check them out!

Well, we're heading to Waco...

Something about the words "Waco" and "homesteading community" just make you go hmmmm. But, we're going anyway! Any other organic-back-to-the-land-wanna-be's (like myself) should check it out! (I highly emphasize the wanna-be part, we are so not there yet!)

Homestead Heritage Craft & Children's Fair

Natural Childbirth and why am I doing it?!?!

Aside from doing absolutely NOTHING productive today, I have also surfed the web a bit more than usual... The endless rain is making it oh-so-easy to be lazy today. Here's a cool article I found this afternoon.

(Reprinted with permission from EZine @rticles.)

"10 Reasons To Try For A Natural Childbirth"

By Jennifer Vanderlaan

Women have many reasons for preparing to have a natural childbirth. Some reasons are physical, some are emotional and some can only be classified as spiritual. If you have been weighing your options for childbirth, you know it can be difficult to balance out the reasons to try different ways. The following list of the most common reasons women choose natural childbirth and what it meant for them may help you clarify your thoughts and move you one step closer to making your decisions.

1. Natural Childbirth greatly reduces the risks for mother and baby
   
   “I knew there were potential side effects and risks, even if they were small. I wasn’t comfortable adding risks that didn’t need to be there.” Using medications during labor adds risks that are not otherwise present in birth. Some mothers simply choose not to add those risks and avoid medications to alter labor unless there is an emergency.
2. Your body has less to recover from with Natural Childbirth
   
   “I had a cesarean with my first child. I couldn’t go through the recovery time again, not with two children. I needed to have a natural childbirth.” A cesarean is major abdominal surgery and can make it difficult to care for your baby in the first few weeks postpartum. After a vaginal birth with medications your body needs to recover from the birth and clean the medication out of your system. Depending on the timing of your medications, your baby may also need to clear some of the medications out of his system. A natural childbirth gives you both the best chances for a speedy recovery.
3. Less risk of other interventions
   
   “When I asked for an epidural, I didn’t realize I was going to be stuck in bed with an IV, hooked up to the monitor. Then, because I couldn’t walk I was catheterized. By the time my baby was born I had on an oxygen mask, the blood pressure cuff was always on my arm and they switched me to an internal monitor. There were so many tubes coming out of me my husband was afraid to touch me. I will not do that again.” Using medications for pain relief requires some interventions, such as the external fetal monitor and an IV. In addition, using medications increases your chances of other interventions such as catheterization, use of pitocin, forceps and vacuum extraction.
4. Medications are there if you need them
   
   “I figured it couldn’t hurt to try, so I learned everything I could and practiced the comfort techniques. I knew the pain medications were there if I needed them, but it turned out I didn’t.” Preparing for a natural childbirth does not mean you must give birth without medications, but without learning natural childbirth techniques your only pain management options will be limited to what the hospital staff can do, which is probably just medications.
5. Natural Childbirth helps you learn to work with your body
   
   “My sister was so in tune with her body during labor, she seemed to know exactly how the baby needed her to move. She still seems to understand what her body needs better than anyone else I know. I want to learn to listen to my body like that.” The process of working through childbirth without medication requires listening and responding to the signals your body is giving you. To prepare, women begin learning to read those signals during pregnancy and many begin to do it instinctively so they continue after their baby is born.
6. Natural Childbirth can help you find strength you never knew you had
   
   “It was so powerful, the whole thing. I remember thinking I can’t do this and hearing my doula say, ‘you are doing this.’ I realized I have never given myself enough credit. I can do more than people ever told me I could.” Rather than a physical strength, natural childbirth requires an emotional and mental strength to not give up. For many women, childbirth is the first time they have experienced such a challenge.
7. Natural Childbirth lets you experience labor as nature intended
   
   “I figured God didn’t make a flawed system, and if this is how he created labor it could be done.” “If labor were really that bad there would never be any children. Childbirth isn’t that bad, it’s when we mess with it that it becomes bad. Nature created a system that works.” The female body is uniquely designed to give birth. The uterus contracts and pushes the baby against the cervix which softens and pulls back around the baby’s head. When the baby drops into the birth canal, the vagina stretches and unfolds to let the baby pass through.
8. Natural Childbirth can be an enjoyable experience
   
   “Saying it was pain-free doesn’t even do it justice. I worked and moved with every contraction. It felt good, all my sexual parts doing what they are supposed to do.” Some women experience pleasurable childbirth, not just pain free.
9. Natural Childbirth increases your confidence
   
   “Everything I did to prepare for natural childbirth pushed me a little further. I had to talk with my doctor in a way I never would have dreamed before. I had to learn to tell people no and to stand up for myself. Looking back, I’m almost embarrassed at how weak I was as a person before this. How hard is it really to say, ‘no, I don’t want to be induced?’” Preparing for a natural childbirth involves strengthening who you are as a person. It doesn’t mean you become rude or pushy, but it does mean you don’t allow yourself to be told what to do by people with no authority over you.
10. It will be a year before you get the chance to try this again.
    
    “I started to question if I really wanted to try about a week before labor started. I was talking to my sister on the phone and she said, so don’t do it. I just said, ‘but then I have to wait through 9 months of pregnancy to try again.’ It was like something switched inside me, I wasn’t going to wait anymore. I was going to try this now.”

Jennifer Vanderlaan is a childbirth educator and doula who welcomes you to learn more about natural childbirth including tools, techniques and tips for a more comfortable labor at http://www.birthingnaturally.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Vanderlaan
http://EzineArticles.com/?10-Reasons-To-Try-For-A-Natural-Childbirth&id=471305

HEY LOCALS!!!!

Have you heard about the Zeppelin at the Port of Beaumont?? We are going to go drive by and look at it this morning. (It's set to take off around 1:30 this afternoon, though.) The German company, Airship Ventures, has assembled the largest airship in the world. They brought it in on a ship, assembled it at the Port and will be launching today. Beaumont will be the first city in the US to see an airship fly since the 1930's!! (And now they use compressed helium, instead of hydrogen, so we shouldn't be the first to see one explode since 1930 also...)

Go HERE to track the ship's progress as it travels all the way to San Francisco! If you know someone who might like to look up and see this thing passsing by, give them a call! BTW, if you happen to be in the San Fran Bay area and have at least $500 to kill, you can even take a ride on this thing!

I could be wrong, but I don't think anything this cool has happened to Beaumont since, oh, Tracy Byrd launched his country music career? Hehe, :-p.

Some cool links to check out

Because I simply have nothing else to talk about today, other than the same old topic of the BABY.

Here's what I looked up online this afternoon....

Victoria Botkin has some new CDs about choosing curriculum for home-schoolers.

We are going to a 4H function tomorrow! It should be fun. Here's the link to the Texas website.

I gave XMan the Vision Forum catalog and had him look through the All-American Boy's Adventure section, putting check marks beside what he was interested in. He enthusiastically checked all the background images of tanks, Army Jeeps, and forts. Ha! But, he did mark a few items that were actually for sale. Here was one of his favorites. (Hm, and now looking at the website again, they appear to be sold out. Oh well.)

Yes, Lord, make me more like You.

God doesn't give us children because we deserve them, or because we are "special" or have more patience or ability...(chuckles) no, maybe it is the opposite. Maybe he gives them in abundance to those who need the most refining.

Maybe children are the gift of life from God that forces us to die, that sweet place where we become true vessels of His glory.
I say, "Yes, Lord, make me more like You".

Kelly - Generation Cedar

This stuff is awesome!

In our area, mosquitoes practically rule the outdoors! Especially if you have sensitive skin, like the kids and I do! As soon as I walk outside, I can count on a swarm of the nasty little bugs coming towards me. Lately, we've been coating ourselves in "Off: Deep Woods." It works fine, but the smell is horrendous! Not to mention, it seems to make Little Man's skin actually burn when I spray him with it. :-p

So, today I cracked open a tin of "Badger Balm," which I have had, but just hadn't used yet. Hello!! I should have opened this thing months ago! It works wonders! It smells sort of herbal (read: citronella-ish), but it worked all day long! I didn't even need to reapply this evening when we went back out. The best part is, it's all-natural, none of the crazy chemicals that other brands of bug spray have. I sure wish I had known about this last year, when we were being introduced to the great big world of Southeast Texas mosquitoes.

Leave it to me...

to pick a blog background that gets cancelled! Ugh. So, more changes are being made to the look of this place! We have had a busy week undoing all the hurricane preparations. I also have a lot of sewing I would like to do before Baby Girl gets here! But, for right now, I must go start home-school for the day! (Does that thing say about 41 more days to go???? Is that all!?!?!)