So, to be cost-efficient I am thinking about making the boys, 'big brother', 'middle brother', 'little brother' shirts with supplies from a craft store. Now, lemme break this down for you...I am NOT a crafter. AT.ALL. Any advice? Or, how about this, do you know where I could buy them as cheap as I could make them ;)
The husband's birthday was this week and as many of you know, we braved the big crowds and went the Cheesecake Factory on opening day. Aaron kept saying, 'best birthday ever' and, as you can tell from the picture below (taken with my super fancy cell phone camera) he was in H-E-A-V-E-N.
So, one thing I feel really strongly about is the importance of Catholic families who are open to life (even if that means God blesses you with hyper fertility) witnessing this in a good way. So, like, if my marriage is terrible, my kids are miserable, and I am complaining all the time about how hard my life is...am I really giving the 'world' a good example? This week, I have been struggling considerably with what type of witness I have given throughout this pregnancy. As you know I HATE being pregnant, and 3 c-sections in 3.5 years have created some considerable obstacles that have made it quite a bit worse than usual. Tuesday, I was 'warned' that a family member would like to talk to me about artificial birth control and how we must start using it. It bummed me out, because I think I have been a pretty bad witness. Here's the thing. Although I have no problem saying I hate pregnancy, and I super hate pregnancy with 2 other babies, I am REALLY into having a third kid. Like, REALLY. And maybe I don't say that enough. It's tricky to figure out balance, I suppose. Between being truthful about what's going on (the doctor's appointments, complications, etc...) and making people think I am carrying this huge cross non-voluntarily. Those are just some thoughts I am thinking.
So, good ol' Mike Chamberland and I finally rolled out BOLD MINISTRIES.
Check out our blog or
'like' us on facebook, if you are feeling crazy. We have been offering retreats/giving presentations informally for years, but we decided to bite the bullet and do it on a more intentional basis. I am excited and it seems like other people are quite excited as well.
Hey, it's my 200th blog post. Fancy eh?
Some of you are going to think this is redonkulous, but I am okay with it. After each child, Aaron generally buys me a gift (mostly because I make him)...we totally follow the 'push gift' trend and I got no shame in that game. Any-hooter, this year I asked for something similar to a 'cash advance' on the gift. So, tomorrow, I get to leave the house at 12:00 pm for some solo time without the children (this is all assuming I am not sick). Then, we will be staying at a fancy hotel/going out to a fancy dinner and sleeping in without children! Woot woot. If you are a regular blog reader, you are probably like, 'dude, you guys do that all the time'. It's not really ALL.THE.TIME but, we are fans of the occasional night away from the children. I am very excited.
So, my husband is VERY funny. After my sister in law posted about having to by 20 glue sticks and 7-24 packs of crayons (are you freaking kidding me?!?!?) for her kindergartner, Aaron wrote the following...
This is pretty obvious, you need
to give small glue sticks to 17 other kids, a large glue stick to another kid
and a 24-pk of crayons to 6 other kids. Since you guys are 1%-ers now you have
to spread the wealth and be more generous, through school supplies . When Bill
Gates and Warren Buffet's kids/grandkids get their school supply list it says,
"30 laptops, 45 iPads, whiteboard, 500 pencils" #socialjustice #equalplayingfield #fairshare
I pretty much died laughing.
Have a great weekend.
Congratulations on the website and the Mommy's Day Out!
ReplyDeleteFor my daughter's kindergarten we don't buy supplies but rather pay a supply fee; which I suppose makes sense when dealing with 5-6 year olds but still a bummer as I was looking forward to school shopping with her.
Ha - your husband is too funny!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure saying you hate being pregnant is a bad witness. I figure it is a pretty good one that you are still willing to do something you don't like to get what you do like - sort of like laundry! If I complain about doing laundry does that mean someone will ask me to stop doing it? or even better: offer to do it for me? Yeah, I don't think so. So why should we get people up in our business about how many children we have. Does that make sense: it made sense in my head!
My husband always had a great line for all those people who felt it necessary to point out that it is expensive to keep having children: "The Toste Family fund is open if you would like to donate" Yeah, you guessed it: not a one wanted to 'help' just complain about what WE were doing....
oh did I jump on your soap box and push you off? Sorry, long morning, no coffee! (that's my excuse and I am sticking to it)
blessings for you and hubby: enjoy the night out
Karen
Re: school supplies, we have to do the same for the younger grades, but by 3rd it's one of everything and then you get a note if your kid needs more crayons or something. I worked at a school where you paid a huge supply fee, but never bought anything other than a backpack and a lunchbox. I am a fan.
ReplyDeleteI wonder about that witness too, but I am big on telling the truth about the sucky parts of life. I hated nursing sometimes, but I wouldn't trade it. When Scott was out of work I was terrified of user error of NFP. But the flip side is that the alternative is worse. I can't stand the smell and the effort of bottle feeding. I've done it and I still hate it. To me the grossest smell ever is formula puke. And as for birth control, well fumbling with that crap isn't going to be an asset in my life.
We didn't need seven boxes of crayons but we needed far more than I thought were necessary,and at the end of the year we ended up with one box untouched. I figured it was against the rules at that school to use a broken crayon.
ReplyDeleteWhen people get on your case about birth control because of c-sections, tell them you know people (me) who have had 6 c-sections and are open to more. And everything is just fine with them. (me)
ReplyDeleteHave a fun getaway!