Ask Me Wednesday!!

Happy Wednesday, Peeps.

I slept much better last night and woke up feeling un-anxious this morning. So it's been a better day .... mostly. It seems that I can't seem to go through one single day without having to have any crap thrown at me, but I think I was able to handle today's crap better than I have lately.

So yay for better crap-handling.

Sorry to my sensitive-Peeps.

I forgot to mention that last night I did have a mostly wonderful dinner with some amazingly loving, Christian friends ..... and that felt so good. There were difficult moments, because .... when I'm having one of "those" days .... it's difficult to be around a group of women because the conversation always will go towards husbands at different times. This is normal .... and I must learn to deal with it. I mostly do fine, in my opinion .... unless I've had an unusually bad day(s), which I had. So while I basked in the love from these accepting women, I also had to hold back tears several times. I don't want my friends to have to walk on egg shells around me and not mention their husbands ..... nor do I want them feeling badly after they've realized they've mentioned them. That's just not realistic and it's not their problem .... it's mine. I know that as more time goes by and the waves get smaller and smaller .... I won't feel the pain as much. I don't feel it that often now when I'm around my married friends ....... just once in a while.

So in spite of the mostly sucky day ..... dinner was nice ..... and full of love and laughter.

Today I slept in, didn't go to work and worked on legal stuff (such fun). Then D#1 , D#3 and I went out to see "500 Days of Summer". It was very good.

The kids are now out buying out the local grocery store. When they're all here I'd rather have them go and buy what they want to eat ..... since we all know it's not one of my top priorities. That way they'll at least get some nourishment they like.

So I've decided to do today's blog while they're out.

Some of the questions will take some sweat and hard work!!!

But here we go ......

Al asks:

"Ask Me Wednesday" question: Did you & Jim ever take the whole family on a camping vacation? Did you ever journey to a National Park together? If so, can you tell us more?

Nope, we never took the family on a camping vacation. Jim camped with the kids every month through the Y's Princesses and Guides program, and once a year or so they'd invite the moms along (though we evidently took all of the fun out of camping because we insisted on not only showers, but changing of underwear). I also kept our tent swept out .... which seemed to be a huge faux pas. Who knew? And better yet .... who cared? If I was sleeping in it .... it was getting swept out!

As for national parks ..... we took the oldest 5 (son #5 was one that summer) to the Redwood Forest ..... which was amazing. It was our first "real" family vacation ..... and we had an awesome time. That's where I took one of my favorite pictures ..... of Jim and Son #1 walking through the forest, hand in hand, looking way up at all of the trees.

But we never did hit any national parks .... although we talked about the Grand Canyon frequently, though the older the girls got, the more vocal they got about not wanting to do that.

Cici asks:

Just something I have often wondered as to how other people handle the situation with "panhandlers". I have really conflicting feelings over what I should do when I encounted them.

Cici,

I usually just follow my "gut", which I consider to be God's prompting, on this issue. If I feel the urge, or the push, to give, I do. My thought is that if I'm following God's leading to give them some money, then I've done what I'm supposed to do between God and I. It's not important to me what that person will do with the money after that ..... that is between him/her and God.

I don't always give .... just when I feel the push.

Chris asks:

My ask me Wednesday question.
Why aren't there more blue foods?
Made you chuckle!!
You don't have to answer that, I just wanted to make you laugh.

Hi Chris ..... yes, you did make me chuckle .... thanks.

But I will answer your question to keep with the spirit of Ask Me Wednesday.

I think there aren't more blue foods because there aren't very many Smurfs around.

But that's just my opinion.

That .... and maybe blue food would make most people gag.

elliebelle asks:

ok..... this may be a very boring question, but I'd love to hear your answer... Having to run a household with 6 children, how did you manage chores among them... What was the consequence if chores weren't completed?? Did you have different expectations during summer vs. schoolyear?

Cris,

We did not have different expectations during the summer .... chores were year long.

Every child had one week of doing the dishes. During that week if the kitchen wasn't cleaned right, they would get a strike. If they got 3 strikes during the week, they got another week added on. I think one of the girls once got 3 weeks in a row before she finally kicked it up a notch.

Once the girls were gone off to school we added weekly trash duty and "odds and ends chores" to the rotation, so that each boy had one chore during the week he was responsible for.

Now, in addition to the kitchen, each child did their own laundry from 3rd grade on (which is also when kitchen duty started), cleaned their own rooms and helped out with the house cleaning when asked.

And Laura ..... who asked the hardest question I think I've ever been asked!.......

I don't know if you've read 5 Conversations You Must Have With Your Daughters, but my question comes from that book. It also comes out of some fierce discussion among my friends on this topic.
So here it goes.
If parents find out that their teenage daughter is having sex, should they put her on the birth control pill or not?

Hi Laura, I have not read that book, though our church just did a Bible study on it this summer. I've heard great things about it. I know that I do not have the "popular" opinion on this subject .... so it's with a huge "gulp" that I move forward with this answer, which I first learned in a Bible study when I only had 3 children. And I will add that this would also be my answer for my sons, as well. If I found out that one of my children was having sex, I would not choose to take them in for birth control. I guess I would hope they'd be smart enough and learned from us earlier in life to protect themselves, or suffer the consequences. Not that we actively taught that about sex ..... we taught abstaining ..... and we stressed it very hard. But we also always tried to use direct consequences in disciplining our children ..... and I think if we had taken them out to get them birth control, we would have gone against everything we'd tried to teach them about life and the consequences for their choices and actions. I know many, many parents ..... even some of my friends, strongly disagree with this stance, but that's OK. It was what both Jim and I believed was right for our family. When I was in that Bible study when all I had was 3 small daughters, the leader of that study said putting your children on birth control (so they could continue having sex) would be akin to going out and buying them a gun because you found out they wanted to rob a bank. You would be aiding them in doing something that not only wasn't right ..... at least in our family it wasn't right, but would harm them emotionally, if not physically as well.

Now we'll see how many comments we get on that comment!!! Which is good ..... all discussion is great.

OK, Peeps .... the kids are now home, the groceries are put away and Daughter #3 is making dinner. It's time for me to hang out with my children.

Enjoy your evening .... and thanks for the distractions.

Very.

Much.

P.S. As to your question, Mother Dearest ... yes, Friday is free. :)