I know that everyone is going to gasp but why aren’t Christians more like Muslims in this aspect? I am an American and I have strong feelings as to what that means but it pales in comparision to my relationship with Christ. I mean comparing the eternal(Christ) with the temperal (nation) is no comparision at all. Now, I think one thing that has to be taken into consideration is that if my country was at odds with my religion, I would move (if I could). Whereas, Muslims seem to move more often to countries that have policies, and life on the whole, that they don’t agree with. Do you think that this grid it representative for Christians? Should it be? What would you be loyal to if your country were at odds with your religion?

(HT: Two Babes and a Brain)

Welcome to the August 10, 2006 edition of carnival of pregnancy. As summer is winding down and the craziness of fall begins, we must remember that pregnancy takes no breaks;). So here we go!

Joanne Hay presents Nutrition For Making Babies posted at Nourished.

David presents New “green” diapers are love at first flush posted at The Good Human.

Loni presents Sarah Laughed – I Cried posted at Sarah Laughed . . . I Cried, saying, “At 43 years of age, we are blessed with an unexpected blessing . . . and an attitude adjustment!”

Fun Facts Other

Arunn presents Labour of Love posted at Should a housewife blog?.

Lisa Mitchell presents Pregnancy — Let’s Talk Babies — Tips for parenting, pregnancy, and all things baby… posted at Let’s Talk Babies, saying, “Article about the importance of a pre-conception visit to the doctor and what to expect.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
carnival of pregnancy on August 24th using our carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our
blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:

carnival of pregnancy, blog carnival.

From Lamentations of the Father:

Yea, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of rebuke….Eat your food only; do not eat that which is not food….Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off.

OK, I know that His ways are not our ways, but being a father did give me a new perspective on the Father in heaven. There are things that you can explain to kids and things you can’t. Kids will examine every edict that is handed down, requesting an explanation. Why? What about in this situation? Does this rule stand for others? Adults? Should I enforce it on my siblings? Just in this house? Just in this family? When I grow up?

I was recently asked “How come your parents don’t tell you what to do?” This is in their minds a serious question. The real question, the one we all ask from time to time, is “When will I have no one to obey?” With this as our goal, is the Fall anything but the natural outcome.

In the flurry of Mel Gibson’s very racist comments, I was made aware of a statement that Mitt Romney had recently made.

“The best thing politically would be to stay as far away from that tar baby as I can,” he told a crowd of about 100 supporters in Ames, Iowa.

This has been causing a lot of problems, especially because Romney is thought to be a likely Republican candidate for president in the next election. I honestly think that a)it may not have been a racist statement and b)people are over reacting. Before everyone jumps on me with both feet let me explain. For those not familiar with the term:

Black leaders were outraged at his use of the term, which dates to the 19th century Uncle Remus stories, referring to a doll made of tar that traps Br’er Rabbit. It has come to be known as a way of describing a sticky mess, and has also been used as a derogatory term for a black person.

The first time I heard the phrase was in kindergarten. I had gotten Disney story books with records and one of them was “Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby”. Br’er Rabbit got stuck in a little figure made of tar and couldn’t get free. That was it. I never heard the term in a racist way until high school. Well, that isn’t completely accurate. I heard a teacher talking about the fact that people say that.

We don’t want people to think in terms of race. Well, that is unless you are watching your every word. Now I am saying that as an excuse but a reality. There isn’t ever a situation in wich you would hear the “k” word in reference to Jews but “Tar Baby” does symbolize and actual situation. Are we so desiring for racists that we look under every rock? It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is trying to date an American Indian. It showed us that so many of our colloquialisms came from some slant on a variety of races but that isn’t any longer what they mean. Now, when you know you hurt someone’s feelings, regardless if you meant to hurt their feelings, you should apologize. This is exactly what Mitt Romney did. If you can’t develop a
slightly thicker skin maybe you should just take your toys and go home.

**A side note: I didn’t write this because I am a Romney supporter (because I am not) but because it is true.

Go have a great time at Phat Mommy’s Carnival of Homeschooling!

“Everything seems to be falling in on me at the same time. Are you sure you can untie all of these legal knots…before the ropes get tied to a cement block and I get relocated to the bottom of the Chicago River?” Can thing ever get better for Kevin Hasting in this legal thriller? Let me start this review with the bottom line (for those who won’t read the whole thing). Trial by Ordeal was an innovately written, enjoyable literary journey. As I sat down to read this book, it had an uphill battle to win me over due to personal crisis (detailed here and here) much less a book. But as I read I found myself embroiled in the drama of Kevin Hastings life.

A large part of what drew me in was the manner of writing. It was like an animated conversation that you would have with a friend. The short chapters enabled the author to keep you apprised of concurrent events in all of the characters lives. Even as Parshall layed the groundwork for the intricate plot, you still didn’t see all the twists and turns that awaited poor Kevin. You are taken through a plot that deals with legal issues, mob intrigue and the development of one man’s soul.

I was impressed with Craig Parshall obvious expertise that appeared in the novel. It is obvious that he has legal experience in constitution law and civil liberties. This was my first experience with any of Craig Parshall books but it will undoubtedly not be my last. I reviewed this book for Active Christian Media.

(This is being written as a response to a group request for info from a yahoo group) As I approach home schooling one of the first things to examine is our schedule. I also have relied upon wise counsel. This has led me to decide to do year round schooling, at least for now. I did a little research and if you R-4 (your own private school), you have no attendance requirement. Now since I am a little paranoid I want to make sure I meet the public school requirement, which is only 175 days.
One of the beautiful thing about homeschooling is that it can be molded to fit your life. So we are starteing in the summer. It has been over 100 degrees for the last 2 weeks so as you can guess, summer is not outside time in Fresno. Which really means no park, zoo or even back yard so it is a perfect time to do school. One of the benifits of starting now is we can take off when ever we might need. In the future we will be adding another child (and I am a c-section mom), moving, and off course we get sick. I also admit that I like not having to jam things all around Christmas and Thanksgiving. We also love taking time off when NerdDad is off (though he does love to help teach) and we also have church obligations (including a week for VBS). Based on my calculations we should be able to do way more than the requirements. So what are you experiences?

JPod from NRO has a great article in the New York Post (and I assume syndicated other places too;) on whether or not Israel has what it takes to win a war. I totally agree with the whole premise. We had to nuke Japan and bomb Dresden to win WWII. Could we do that again?

Didn’t the willingness of their leaders to inflict mass casualties on civilians indicate a cold-eyed singleness of purpose that helped break the will and the back of their enemies? Didn’t that singleness of purpose extend down to the populations in those countries in those days, who would have and did support almost any action at any time that would lead to the deaths of Germans and Japanese?

I really feel that this is a huge component that has led to Israel’s current predicament. In 1948 (and the quick wars there after) Israel would do what ever it had to because their very suvival was under threat. Now Israel is so dominant a military power that their existant is firm but their quality of life and individual security is in question. This started again with the Oslo agreement. Israel was so concerned with the Palestinian quality of life that they sacrificed some of their own. This is a war, civilians die in war because their leaders keep them in the war (either as the agressor or defender). I do not want to see needless civilian death but if Lebanon wanted to put an end to this they could dethrone Hezbollah. The civilian death count in Lebanon can’t all rest on Israel’s shoulder but JPod asks a great closing question and I have no answer:

If Lebanon’s 300-plus civilian casualties are already rocking the world, what if it would take 10,000 civilian casualties to finish off Hezbollah? Could Israel inflict that kind of damage on Lebanon – not because of world opinion, but because of its own modern sensibilities and its understanding of the value of every human life?

(HT: Instapundit)

So here are these new flats made with “Nike Air” technology. They look pretty good too. The problem is they are normally $175 (at lease at Cole Haan). Though they are on sale for the measely price of $109. Seriously, I think they and the idea are cool. Out of my price range but cool.

(HT: Child Magazine)

I first want to apologize for skipping the last scheduled publishing date. I recently spent almost a week spotting and then lost a baby so everything was on the back burner. It should be on schedule from now on! So onto the carnival!

First up is Nourished.com.au’s article on Nutrition for Making Babies. It is a great article showing how groups around the world eat! But while we are on the subject of food we have to talk about morning sickness. Preschoolers and Peace talks about her battle with morning sickness and what is helping in Morning Sickness Revisited.

As we get further along we have some other issues to read about. Are you having nervousness about the sex of your child? Family of Five remembers her feelings and concerns when she found out that she was expecting sons in More Boys Than Girls Are Being Born In The World. How final is your doctor’s word on issues? How do you feel about induction? How about early induction at 33 weeks? Milliner’s Dream talks about this in –So, how do YOU feel about that?

To wrap up with a bit of humor we look to blogging and conception. Lakshmi at Babblogue XL talks about this in Labour of Love.

So this is the end of the ride. The next carnival will be Thursday August 10th. Please go to Blog Carnival and submit an article! It can be facts, experience (yours or someone elses) or just fun! Please join us.