Parenting Archives |

We Lost Our First Chicken to a Predator | The Interesting Story of When and How

April 20, 2017 By Laura 2 Comments

DISCLAIMER:
This post was published with special permission from one of our two teen triplet boys, Shane, who is featured in this real life story of ours quite a bit. He read it and approved it. I have always checked with my kids before sharing their business or photos anywhere online. It’s just the right thing to do. – Laura

–

It finally happened on a late Saturday afternoon, this past December, actually. After keeping chickens for nearly 2 and 1/2 years, a predator finally got one. And it was all kinds of sad. Of all of the ways such a loss could have gone down, and any chicken it could have gone down with, it was about as sad as it could get, if you ask us.

(Just a picture of our chickens from last year, for your enjoyment.)

Before we tell the sad little tale, we have to say first, that we still maintain that our predator deterrent set-up has been working very well! It was never meant to be, nor going to be, predator-proof. But it has definitely done it’s job well in serving it’s intended purpose, in deterring hawks, especially. It was only a matter of time though, that a more unusual situation with a predator would arise, and well….that time came.

[Read more…]

The Kids’ Gardens

August 12, 2015 By Laura 5 Comments

After intending to for far too long, I am finally sharing with you our kids’ little gardens, today!

All 4 of our kids help in our family gardens at some point or other through the gardening seasons; although some do with more joy and ambition than others. There is always some weeding, dead-heading flowers, or picking vegetables, that needs tending to. I do much of it myself, but sometimes I could use another pair of hands, and the company is nice sometimes, too.

But just prior to the gardening season in 2013, I pitched the idea to the kids, of having their very own little garden.
I explained that they could plant and grow whatever they wanted, but they were also responsible for keeping it up. That meant keeping it weeded, watered, dead-heading their own flowers, and generally tending to it with love. Not only that, but after their father built the frame base, they had to be a team and prepare the bed themselves. They all loved the idea, and each have had their own little garden ever since!

It may have been more work than they anticipated, that first year! Because although we have had loam brought in by the truck full for our other garden beds, we had a perfectly good dirt pile next to the driveway that we didn’t really want there. It had been overgrown with weeds and grass, though. Basically, it was less of a dirt pile any longer, and more like a grassy hill, riddled with rocks! So they did work hard, like a team. The boys dug the hill up, pulling and shaking out the grass and weed clumps, and putting shovel fulls earth onto the handmade screen on the wheel barrow. The girls sifted the dirt through, to remove all of the rocks, and then wheeled the barrow over to the garden bed, and dumped the dirt in.

That was the less than fun part. But they made the most of it, and it was good and done for many years to come.
Now let’s look at their gardens, today…. [Read more…]

On the Topic of Dignity and Privacy – Our Kids’

February 9, 2015 By Laura 3 Comments

I know you’ll hardy be able to even fathom this, but I was not an easy kid to raise. No, it’s true. Not from the time I was little, all the way through my teens and early 20’s. My mother even had a nickname for me: ‘Mouth’. And no, she wasn’t likening me to Steven Tyler or Mick Jagger. She was referring to my frequent fresh-backtalkin’. My mouth seemed to have a mind of it’s own, and it was pretty sharp, blunt and quick-witted! Or I thought so, anyway. My mother; well, she wasn’t so impressed.

I wasn’t clueless about the stresses my parents were under all of those years. They suddenly found themselves raising 5 complex kids, had great financial struggles, and were dealing with a host of other issues including health, extended family matters, and the frustration of trying to make dreams come true, for us all, out of nothing.

Knowing all of that at the time, I clearly was not clueless. I was simply….selfish. Too wrapped up in me, myself, and I, to make their role as parents any easier. Instead, I made it all so much worse. I honestly, don’t even know what I would do with me, if I was my parent. (Although in her moments of sheer frustration, my mother did vocalize her wish upon me, a time or two, that I might have a kid just like me, someday.) I can only imagine the frustration and hurt I must have built up in my parents, on some days. My mother in particular, since my father worked so many hours, and my mother was the one there, trying to raise us the best she could. I was enough to handle on my own; never mind that there were 4 other kids being raised, besides me.

How did she manage? Where did she turn to vent, when she had ‘had it up to here’! ( I can still see her today, referring with her hand to that level juuuust over her own head. ). I know she had some good friends (who also had kids) who she had over, who she had coffee with, and she was always shoo-ing us back outside because they were ‘talking’. Or, sometimes, I’d see the curly cord from that horrid green colored phone on our 70’s wall-papered kitchen wall, snaked through the crack in the doorway to the pantry, where she was talking to someone. Maybe even crying. [Read more…]

Going All Natural In a Toxic World

August 12, 2013 By Laura 9 Comments

Going All Natural In a Toxic World

It’s been oh-so quiet here on the blog, for too many reasons. Not excuses, mind you. Just reasons that quite obviously have taken priority lately. To briefly name them:

The summer just hasn’t been a crafty season for me. I think I just want my studio done already, so I can be organized and inspired in my creative custom space! You have no idea how close it is.

Of course, I’ve been very busy with the kids and their agendas. Most notably, getting Alexis Grace ready for her television commitment as co-host with Fr. Reed for World Youth Day 2013 in Rio providing live coverage of that massive event via satellite, at the CatholicTV station. We stayed nearby the television station throughout the week for convenience, and it turned out to be a wonderful week all of us. Of course, the whole summer has been busy, in a fun and relaxed sort of way, as it should be with kids in the summer.

Personally, I’ve also been investing my time in something I had a very sudden and very real urge to do, and that is to dig deep and learn more about and understand my faith, Catholicism, to the core. So I have been studying so to speak, and am really learning even more than I knew there was to learn, and falling deeper in love with my faith, in the process.

But more than any of those things, I believe I haven’t been writing much for the blog here because I am have been all-consumed and so passionate about making some real changes in our lifestyle of living. To put it plainly;

I am on a heart-driven mission to detoxify my home and more importantly, my family as much as I possibly can.

And that, my Friends, has been a whole new education and very eye-opening experience.

I’ve been fascinated and shocked by the amazing and encouraging differences I already see happening, with the changes I’ve made. Things I didn’t even know would be effected. I imagine in time I’ll start sharing more specifically exactly what changes I’m making.

But today, I just want to kind of share the bigger picture with you, and focus more on why I’m making all of these changes. I reckon some will think I am cRaZy, and that’s fine. Others may have no interest in this such overall health-related topics, and/or are the type that would just rather not know such truths. I can respect that, if that’s how you feel. The reality IS scary to think about, the changes do take effort, and it’s a personal decision. But from what I’m noticing locally and across the internet, many will be right there with me, so to speak. Knowing exactly where I am coming from, and making many of those same changes themselves in their own families, if not all for the same reasons.

So to start, some may be wondering, “What toxins?” Well I’m talking about the innumerable toxins that are in our everything. In our food, drink, personal care products, cleaning products, and even in our vitamins and medications! I have always known there were questionable ingredients in this and that. I haven’t been completely oblivious all along. I’ve always been one to mostly shop the outskirts of the markets, avoid processed and pre-packaged foods, etc. I’ve known about certain very unhealthy ingredients that throw up a red flag for me, and have been wise enough to look for short lists on packages that list things of which I know exactly what they are. But once I really started getting concerned about more and researching the matter, I have been horrified at what my family has been exposed to. Horrified. And freakin’ mad, frankly!! I had to wonder how and why these thing are even acceptable to be sold, when we are ingesting them or absorbing them into our bodies?

One would think….the FDA or someone, would not allow harmful ingredients (such as known carcinogens: Definition: car·cin·o·gen -/kärˈsinəjən/; noun;any substance or agent that tends to produce a cancer.) to be put in many of the items we buy in stores every day, right? Oh-yes-they do.
*Did you know, that there are many ingredients in our every day food, that is banned in other countries, because of the harmful health risks of them?*
But the United States, God bless our country, is a whole different ball game. And while it’s a whole different rant-post, the things many don’t know about and should, are a big ugly circle of those we depend on most for our healthcare, and it all comes down to money, and making as much as they can. At OUR expense, of not only our money, but our health, and in many instances, the ultimate price of our life. It’s hard to stop there for now, but I will.

But I will share more personally today, the basic reasons I am so determined to spend so much time researching, educating myself, experimenting, and discovering a whole new way of living for my family: from what we eat and how we prepare that food, to personal care from head-to-toe, to what we use to clean our home.

The Why’s

1) One very important reason is for the health of my family.
Not only how we feel day to day on a basic level, but doing what I can to prevent the onset of major health issues, most especially (and prominently), cancer, of course. You may have noticed it’s more prevalent than ever. And there are reasons for that, that are infuriating but somewhat possibly avoidable if you’re proactive enough. Now I’ll be the first to tell anyone, my husband is not as gung-ho about the wealth of changes I’m making. Nor does he mind them. He pretty much just follows suit, and doesn’t carry the health concerns I do for us or the kids. And mind you, he and I are already in our mid-40’s, and have already been exposed to the same number of years of toxins. I grew up in a 2-smoker home, and I know he grew up around it as well. Still, while the damage and outcome for us may be a done-deal so to speak, there still is the chance of fending it off, and as they say, it’s never too late to make good changes. There is also the chance of healing. Throw God’s grace in there, if it is His will, and we still have a fighting chance of living a full life, and dying a natural death of plain-old old age. If nothing else, we are setting a good example for the children. Which brings me to, the children. 🙂 They have their whole lives ahead of them, God-willing, and I want to do all I can to keep them as healthy, happy, and toxic-free as I possibly can, for as long as I can. And again, keeping toxins out of our system has got to just make us feel and operate better on a day to day basis, just as being polluted has got to effect our energy level, sense of well-being, alertness, etc., as well.
So, our health is certainly a very big factor in the reasons why I am making big changes around here.

2) Secondly, and probably more importantly to me, another reason I am feeling so passionate and convicted to go so much more natural in every aspect of our life, is to honor God and all of His Creation.

I truly believe, with all of my heart, that in the whole of His Creation, God gave us every single thing we need to not only survive, but be well.

I want to more naturally follow God’s plan He provided us with, wherever we can, by using as many of the natural resources He alone gifted us with in the way of animals, plants, vitamins, minerals, etc. For us, that means food, as well as medicine. (More on that in a bit.).

3) Thirdly, as I said, the changes are not so much for us adults’ sake, but God-willing, this amped-up perspective my kid’s are growing up with, will truly become their own, and they will embrace these habits, by their own free-will, in their own independent way of living. Because it’s not only a healthier way of living, but it’s God-honoring. And while we are far from perfect and fail often, we are all about trying to be as God-honoring as possible, in our family.

So, What Am I Changing In Our Day-to-Day Lives?

Well first let me state that the changes I’m making are happening little by little, and are not yet complete. As of the typing of this post, I have not made all of the transitions as of yet, that I am going to be. The reasons are several: Whether I am still researching/learning the ingredients I’ll need, I’m still experimenting and figuring out how I want to try things first, or not ready to spend money on this or that quite yet until I am sure what I’m doing. (As to not be wasteful.). You’ll understand more as you read on.

Food and Drink – As I said above, I’ve always been particular about what we eat, and even more particular about what goes into my kids. I’m conscientious of (not) buying processed foods, avoid things loaded with all kinds of sugars, bad fats, artificial colors, chemicals, long lists of unknowns, etc. It’s a rare of occasion we ever have anything that would be considered junk in our house. We’ve never had soda in the house. (Except very recently, for that splash on top of my sangrias. ; ). And I’ve been getting the most important produce to be organic (click to learn exactly what organic means), whenever possible. That can be more of a challenge than you’d think. We are blessed to have some amazing farmer’s markets around here, and when in season, the kids and I frequent one almost every week. We love to stroll around them, meet local growers, buy fresh, local and safe produce, and enjoy the music. Still, even what is available at the local farmer’s markets are not in any way guaranteed to be organic, or chemical/insecticide-free. So I ask lot of questions, before purchasing, to be sure they meet my own safety and high quality standards. I get free-range organic eggs; locally when available. So, we’ve been doing respectably well.

STILL, I have a whole lot to still learn and understand, and there are many changes left to be made. Probably, the more I learn, the more I’ll want to change. I’d like to increase our organic take-home ratio, and that would include 100% grass fed beef. The pink-squirm-filler news was enough to turn anyone off. Certainly me. And it was another instance that left me feeling ‘duped’ by the food industry, again. Now, organic beef really is more expensive, but we don’t eat it very regularly anyway, and the benefits as opposed to the risks are worth it. We eat a lot of chicken, so we’ve been more careful about which kind we buy of that for sure, already.

As I said, I am learning as I go. I can tell you in the process so far, I have learned enough to be upset enough to make certain changes for sure. And yet, some of it is all too out of our control, due to non-obligations by manufacturers etc., to label foods as they should be. We do have a right to know, and that’s a fight all it’s own. But in a nutshell, my concerns and changes regarding food revolve around chemicals/insecticides, GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms), the upset with company Monsanto, and the long list of acceptable ingredients in our food that are ok’d by the FDA, and yet banned in other countries due to knowing the harm it does to health. I’m sure I’ll go more in depth about those things, the more ‘aware’ I become, in other blog posts.

Are you afraid I’m going to turn into one of those loud, pro-active, country-travelin’, sign-holding, lunatic-advocates creating and spreading awareness all over the place?
Well I must say, me too. 😉

Natural Medicine – Now I don’t plan on banning our doctors, or necessarily absolutely forbidding physician provided prescriptions, because there is sometimes a necessity and place for scientific intervention. (A prime example would be Shane’s life-saving Epi-Pens. Should we ever need them, I can guarantee you I will use them!) But as a general rule, we have already been naturally treating a whole host of things, using more natural home remedies, before we turn to any kind of over the counter medications. I can’t recall if I was a new bride, or still dating Michael, but it was my mother-in-law (possibly to-be) who first got me pondering home remedies. She had a book on the shelf, and was often suggesting what sounded to me like the craziest things, for whatever the minor ailments. Now, I’ve completely embraced safer, more natural remedies to ‘cure’ this or that. And I love it all now. It probably has something to do with having children, and loving them far more than self, and wanting what’s best for them.

And in a big way, I have been getting very familiar with 100% pure therapeutic grade essential oils.
OH MY GOSH, how these have changed our life! Like, don’t even get me started. Talk about natural remedies; there is little that these essential oils cannot help with. While we can’t claim they cure or heal you, (legally, lol), even if they can, they certainly have very powerful medicinal properties, and allow your body, to heal itself. And in my world, with the grace of God I am sure, too, there is no doubt He is pleased for anyone to utilize the oils of plants………..as He intended for us to. That’s in part why God made all the various plants, flowers and trees of this world. Most all of medications, be them over the counter or prescribed, are made of synthetic components, completely man-made, in an effort to replicate the powerful natural compounds found in nature, that are scientifically proven to have vast benefits and very strong medicinal properties. And, even more bothersome; all too many prescription medications help one thing, while causing another health problem to deal with. Also known as risks and side-effects. In other words, they do harm on the flip-side. I just truly believe we are meant to use God’s Creation as the sacred basis of treatment for ourselves, for anything. Everyone may not agree that, but I do, and I’m going with it.

There are many, many essential oils that, when used as 100% therapeutic grades, and used properly, have very powerful, effective, medicinal, healing properties. Not only to treat both major and minor physical conditions, but relieve pain, enable mood management, enhance mental focus, and so (SO!) much more. I have been able to get off of a medication I thought I would need to take for the rest of my life! Our whole family is using these essential oils now, and I can attest to the fact that they have truly enhanced the quality of our life, not only physically speaking, but the environment of our sacred place – our home.

I know this: When my kids are asking for them, I especially know it’s not a matter of me losing my mind, or just wanting to believe they work. They can feel the difference too, and they want that kind of quality in every one of their days, too. I feel my whole family has been seriously blessed, to have gained the valuable knowledge I have about the power of essential oils. I can’t learn enough about them, and that’s great, because there is a lot to learn! The more I learn, the more I feel empowered, to keep my family healthy and happy.

And we now realize there is a whole world of natural resources as remedies to restore every day health and wellness, for the whole body.

Personal Care Products – Again, I’ve been so disturbed by learning about some of the ingredients that are in the products we use in our personal care every day. Ingredients that have no business going in our mouths, or slathered all over our bodies. I’m talking TOXINS, that absolutely effect our health, and put us at great risk for diseases. Not only will many suffer eventual health issues as result of them, but I believe no doubt, again, that they effect how we physically feel on a day to day basis. I’m putting my foot down about it, in my family. I am learning to make most everything I possibly can for my family, with safe, all-natural, toxin-free ingredients. I don’t need any personal care product we use in this family to be pretty. I just need it to be safe, and effective. This is very much a work in progress, and there are many toxic-products we are still using as I type this post today. But one by one, they will be replaced. And soon.
It’s actually been fun and interesting researching and experimenting different ways to make different things. And this is another area essential oils have been a blessing.

In Conclusion

All in all, my goal is to establish a home for my family that is nourishing in every way, from what we consume, to what we clean ourselves and our home with. It will bring me great peace, and I pray will be all-God-honoring, to live off of not what is manufactured, but with what is not only home-made, but GOD-made.

I hope you’ll continue to follow us, and see the various ways I go about accomplishing that. And as I know many are on the same path as I am, I welcome your suggestions, links, experiences and thoughts along the way! It’s always a joy to learn from and encourage each other! I’m looking forward to lots of it, with you.
~ Laura

* * * * * *

Please come follow us here and there:

Save

Mother’s Day | A Social ShareIt

May 11, 2013 By Laura 2 Comments

One night a week or two ago (have I told you how bad I am with time frames, yet?, lol) . . . Michael and I were having a casual conversation. So very casual in fact, that we were both in the bathroom, getting ready for bed, come to think of it. Anyway, I don’t remember (either) exactly what the conversation was originally about, but it was on the topic of Mother’s Day being around the bend. And the course of that conversation led me to state how “Mother’s Day was a way bigger deal to me, than my birthday”.

For some reason, that statement seemed to get Michael’s attention in such a way, that it got my attention, because it got his, so much. It was the surprise in his voice, and the tone of his sudden and very real curiosity, of how he said, “It does? WHY?!”.
Like he really didn’t get how Mother’s Day could trump my birthday. Which, to me, was just silly to wonder. I couldn’t believe I had to explain that.
But it was such an easy explanation. And so the answer flowed like honey, from my heart and soul:

“Mother’s Day means more to me than my birthday. Because while my birthday is a celebration of the day I was born, Mother’s Day, to me, feels like a celebration of the reason why.”

And then, after I said it so matter of factly, and maybe because it was late and I was tired, all of the power behind the sincerity of those words, that came so easily from the most sacred part of my heart, hit me. So I actually had to go into the other room for a minute, to just have a a little quiet cry with myself.
It was not a sad cry. It was a cry that just came from that overwhelming sense of love in the sincerity of the words I had just spoken, and knowing how truly blessed I am, with my children.
Truly.

I know we all are. All of us who are mothers, however we came to be one, and to whatever children God placed in our care.
We are all blessed to have this role, whether we know it or not. I know many really do.
I know I really do.

Someday, maybe I will share with you all the story of my children, and how God really did grant me their earthly lives, in a very special understanding between me and Him. Especially with the triplets; and the part their big sister played in their lives before we were even expecting them. It’s a quite deep and emotional story; so much so that it would take a lot for me to tell it all. And I know it would be a long post, and an emotional event to type. It’s another reason I’ve yet to tell it. But I can tell you this; Despite the hopeless odds and statistics, in one situation after another from the moment we learned of their conception, through the weeks following their birth, our trio are still here on earth because God heard my daily, sometimes hour-long prayers, from the 6+ month bed-rest I was prescribed to. He is the Ultimate Physician. Scientific odds and statistics are completely irrelevant, where His hand is involved. These children I have, are all here on His Creation of this earth, because it was HIS will for them to be.
And for as long as He intends them to be, He has named me; their mother.

Blessed, am I.

He gave them to me to care for, and raise, according to His will. As He did any mother who has been given a child or children, in any way they’ve been given to them. There are days I feel so very unworthy of His trust. But there are never days I don’t know what a gift it is. And so I count these 4 blessings daily, and do the best I can, with all of the love and gratitude I have, to fulfill my promises and His trust in me. I know there are days He is more pleased with me, than others. I know there are days much easier, for me, than others.
But if I pay attention, there are also days I feel Him right beside me; and the power of my role spills from a place beyond my comprehension.
We parents, we are not alone in this sometimes daunting, but always rewarding, task. Our Heavenly Father; the Father of us all, is with us every step of the way.

The journey that led to the day I held my first child in my arms, and the next chapters that led to our trio coming into this world, has shown me a conviction, of which no one can convince me otherwise:

Motherhood, is meant to be a vocation.

And it is surely mine.

Blessed, am I.
Blessed are you, mothers.
Happy Mother’s Day.

******

On Facebook, you can share this creation, if you feel the same about “Motherhood”, or any other ShareIts we have so far, from our Facebook Page’s ‘Social ShareIt’ Album.
On Pinterest, you can repin from our ‘House Of Joyful Noise Social ShareIts’ Board, or you’re welcome to just pin it right from this post.

Let us know what you think of this new ‘Social ShareIt’ below, and thanks so much for swinging by!

* * * * * *

Please come follow me here and there:

Save

So, What Am I Changing In Our Day-to-Day Lives?

Amazon Affiliates