Isn't she a star?

She's fallen in love... with a truck. Papa has a big pickup truck, and Bean's favorite thing to do now is sit in the driver's seat and pretend we're going to the grocery store. Of course, then she finds little pieces of change, trinkets, etc., and leans out the window to give them to herself in the mirror... Hours of laughter.

Grow it, pick it, eat it

A lot of American kids, specifically urban and suburban, think that food comes from grocery stores.
And that's it. A lot of parents, again, more urban and suburban, don't buy introduce their kids to things like kale, eggplant, and other produce because they don't know how to cook it and they don't think their kids will eat it. A school district in North Carolina is tackling the problem admirably. They've partnered with a local foodbank to create a school garden program where kids plant seeds, water them and take care of them, then harvest the produce and it's used in the school cafeteria. But they don't stop there. They also offer cooking demonstrations to the kids and their parents. They send home packages of freshly grown food on the weekends with kids from limited resource homes. They get the kids involved in the local farming community, taking them on field trips to local farms. There's an article about it here.

They're dealing with so many issues at once, and looking at them on a holistic level. Childhood obesity, malnutrition due to lack of knowledge, malnutrition due to lack of resources, raising lifelong healthy citizens, contributing to the local economy, helping the local environment - it's truly an awesome program. I'd love to recreate it in my area. I'd love to send my kids to a school like that.

Raising a blogger

This morning Little Man was roaming the house - Grama & Papa's house, that is - and then I noticed an uneasy quiet. All you parents know the quiet I'm talking about - it's the quiet that can only mean one thing: the kids are into something they shouldn't be. So I went looking for him. When I found him (remember, he's 14 months old), he was sitting on the floor of my room, he had found my laptop, put it squarely in his lap, opened it up, and opened up numerous applications - including a web browser with my blog! And there he sat, pushing all the keys. Perhaps he's seen me too many times typing away?

All hail the BBC!

Okay, maybe that's an overstatement. But, I'm so excited about this story published by the BBC - it's taking on one of the issues closest to my heart, and takes its example from NightLight, who I've been advocating for since last summer, in partnership with Trade As One. Take a few minutes and read the story. It glosses over it a bit, but a lot of what this article is talking about deals with very young children. It's heartbreaking, but the hope that NightLight provides is uplifting. And, the more jewelry they sell through Trade As One, the more young girls they can rescue.

A testament to global warming

Maybe it's just me, but isn't it nice to have a sunny warm tank-top day in the middle of February? 2 days ago we were jumping into a pile of raked up leaves wearing our coats. Yesterday, feeing the ducks with light windbreakers on. Today, playing on a shaded playground wearing shorts and tee shirts!

Okay, so maybe global warming isn't all about sunny comfortable days sipping lemonade. I know, I know... but hey! I'm going to take this little summer day in the midst of what should be winter and I'm going to enjoy it! (And I'll be thankful that I can spend a few days here and there in the Sunshine State!)

Talked to Rob

For the first time in 12 months, I talked to Rob yesterday. Rob's my brother, and he's stationed in Afghanistan, doing some amazing things so that we - here in the US - can sleep safely.

I had a 20 minute conversation with him on the phone, and it was truly the highlight of the month for me. I got my first 'personal' email from him last week - he usually just sends one mass email once every 4-6 weeks to let everyone know that he's doing well and tell us about the weather. There isn't much more he can say. But, he sent me an email last week, and then yesterday he called my parents. And, thanks to our little road trip, he got me instead. Oh happy day!

I also talked to his beautiful wife the previous day. She returned from deployment to Afghanistan last week, and is having to manage the struggles of repatriation alone. But it was so nice - to get a personal email from Rob, then to talk to his wife and welcome her home after 12 months of service, then to actually have Rob to myself on the phone for nearly half an hour! There's something about that sibling bond. It doesn't matter how much time has passed, we'll still be each others' biggest fans day in and day out.

Amy Tan: Saving Fish From Drowning

After all the hype the list of books I'm reading has generated (all of 2 comments, thank you very much!), I've decided to put down a few thoughts about each book as I finish it. And I just finished the only fiction book from the list. (time to add another to the list, only my books are at my house, and I'm road tripping!) Anyhow, here it is.

A wonderful spinner of tales, Amy Tan has not let me down! Saving Fish From Drowning follows a tour group on their vacation to Myanmar (Burma), and to somewhat of a disaster. At once mysterious and riveting, the novel brims with scenery described to perfection, a host of characters well developed and easy to relate to.

It touches on aspects of religion, travel, character flaws, the 'ugly American' stereotype, sex, psychology, and all things shared by the human existence. It also treats the Karen tribe of Myanmar truthfully and historically, documenting in a story-teller mode the way the Karen (an actual persecuted tribe) have been tortured and killed over the years in Myanmar. It is a great tale of travel gone wrong, love realized, love exhibited, and love lost, packed with details that only Amy Tan would weave together so well.

Is my reality real?

There are things that I know to be true. Like, the sun will continue to rise and set. Nordstrom will continue to be too pricey for my stay-at-home mom budget. Birds fly south for winter. Fruits, veggies, and dairy keep us healthy, while refined sugars, cheetos and white bread will keep us sane. And there are things I think are true. 100 years from now science may disprove me, but I firmly believe that there are substances out there (bleach, ammonia, transfats) that we can relatively easily avoid and that are suspected to cause health problems.

As a mom, isn't it a part of my job to use my best judgment and keep my kids away from the things I think to be potentially harmful? I know that some of my fears are irrational. Like my fear of balloons. And kites. (I'll never be able to explain, so don't ask!) And I do everything I can to not pass those on to my kids. But other worries are entirely rational and it's worth teaching my kids to be cautious in certain situations. What, in that, says that I'll raise my kids to be afraid of everything?

Is what I see as reality actually real? Or are they right? Am I really overprotective and paranoid? I tend to think that my reality is real. That I possess information they don't, and that information guides my choices. Of course, we all weigh the sources out there and choose what to cling to and what to discard. Is my perception skewed?

Am I really a bad mom because I don't want Little Man exposed to an R-rated movie that's packed with fight scenes and murder? Or because I don't want Bean eating raw eggs that could be tainted with salmonella? Sure, I ate raw cookie dough as a child and lived. And chances are, she will too. But as long as there's a chance that it has salmonella, what's the harm until waiting until it's cooked to eat it? Does that really make me a 'scared, anxious, overprotective mom'? Or when I wipe the chemical residue off a toy that someone else has just cleaned with bleach, and I can still see the little slimy bleach bubbles on it - am I really paranoid just because I want to wipe those off before putting it in a 2 year old's little hands?

I'm so sick of the judgment. When it comes from a stranger (which it inevitably does, sometimes), I can shrug it off pretty easily and move on. But when it comes from someone I know and love, someone I see regularly, and they make judgmental comments about what a paranoid freak of a mom I am, it doesn't take long before it gets old.

Changes

What do you do when everything in your life seems to be shifting? What do you do when you were perfectly happy when the ground beneath your feet was solid but suddenly starts to quake? Change comes in lots of forms, that's why there are so many words to describe it - progress, turmoil, adjustment, development, modification, evolution... Some of them imply positive change, others - negative.

I don't think we can describe the change in our lives until we're on the other side of it. At one point it might seem like progress, then we get through it and realize that it actually caused turmoil. Or vice versa.

I'm in a place where the ground seems to be shifting beneath my feet. All I can do is hold on and enjoy the ride. I don't know where the shift will take me, but I can rely on my stoic yet inspiring husband to be the constant in all of this, and that reminds me how very blessed I am.

As I look into the relatively near future, I see that major change might be on the horizon and I feel entirely insecure. I cling to the promises I know though - "I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope." Why is that all I see is calamity? There's a lot to be said for stepping forward with faith. Moses did it. God didn't separate the waters of the Red Sea until the Israelites stepped into the water. Surely all they could see was calamity. But at least they had a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. Where are my pillars? How do I know I'm going in the right direction? There's a lot to be said for stepping forward in faith. I just hope I can muster that faith and guide my children well into what looks like calamity. To alter a saying, it looks like calamity, it sounds like calamity, but the right answer must be Jesus!

Here's to hoping I can step out in faith. On my knees today, seeking His will.

We survived!

All 3 of us survived the road trip, we're safe and sound at Grandma and Papa's house, and the kids are loving it. And, we made it in a record 7 1/2 hours! Yeah!

Road trippin'

I'm heading out with my kids today - 8 hours of driving to spend a week and a half with the grandparents. Just me, a 2 year old and a one year old, in the car for 8 wonderful hours! (Hubby's on a business trip traveling around Europe - rough life, right?)

Mama's intuition

Thank goodness for that little voice inside! Whether you call it a sixth sense, pure intuition, or the whisperings of the spirit, when it speaks, Listen! I noticed that my little girl, Bean, was coughing at night and at naptime. There can be plenty of explanations for that, but something inside me said it was mold. ('eww, gross!') So, the mold inspector came out, we dropped nearly $500 for that, as soon as the suspicion came we moved Bean into Little Man's room.

Some thought I was overreacting - was it really worth moving Bean based on a suspicion, when neither child sleeps well when they're together? And is a mold inspection really worth nearly $500? I'm so glad I did it. There's toxic mold ('eww, gross!') growing in the bay window under Bean's room, and the gases are building up in her room. The moral of the story: Always trust your instinct.

So now, Bean and Little Man will be roommates until the work is done. And the work entails sealing off the area with some sort of 'bubble,' ripping out the ceiling, and then ripping out as much of the wall as necessary to eradicate the mold ('eww gross!).



What really upsets me is that we had 3 contractors come out during the summer to look at the bay window and tell us if there was a leak of some sort or water coming in from somewhere. All 3 contractors showed us different 'possible' problems. Of all 3 of them, no one noticed the gaping hole where the siding wasn't sealed to the bay window. The mold inspector found it. And the gaping hole is so big that you can see into it, from the top of the window to the base of the house. Shouldn't a professional notice something like that?

Feelin the love

Yeah! It feels so nice to be recognized! Us stay-at-home moms kind of forget what that's like. You know, there's no one around to say, "wow! that was a remarkably fast and agile diaper change!" or "hey, how'd you get those floors to sparkle like that?," or the one I'd really like someone to say to me, "you just MUST tell me how you season your broccoli!"

Anyhow, the recognition comes from Owlpress for my I Am post. Out of all the wonderful bloggers out there who submitted theirs, she thought mine was finalist-worthy. I must say I'm a bit confused - I'm not convinced that I belong in the finalist category. And I'm entirely flattered by the warm fuzzy comments from everyone. I feel loved!

See for yourself though, read the 6 finalists, and then submit your vote.

Fight Hunger: Download a cookbook!

Barilla pasta is giving $1 to America's Second Harvest, a food bank organization, for every cookbook downloaded in February, up to $100,000. The cookbook has 10-12 recipes created by well-known chefs, and the recipes are inspired by favorite pasta dishes of celebrities. There's a picture for each one, and they range from typical family-friendly meals to gourmet style.

Anyhow, whether or not you plan on using the recipes, download it here to help fight hunger in America! You'll have to register (so Barilla can make sure you're a real person and 'worthy' of their buck), but it's painless. And once you've downloaded it, get the word out. Let's make sure America's Second Harvest gets some good funding out of this!

Woo Hoo! Welcome home C.!

I'm stoked! My sister-in-law, C., comes home this morning from Afghanistan! She's been flying Black Hawk helicopters there for about 12 months, to the day, and in 2 hours her plane will touch down. Unfortunately I can't be there to welcome here - Ft. Drum in New York is a long way away, and it's somewhat inaccessible with the weather the way it is now.

C.'s husband, my brother, is still in Afghanistan, and will be until some time this summer. I'm sad that they're not together, but I'm very happy that C. is home (or will be in 2 hours).

Woo hoo! One home, one more to go.

Inspirations

George Verwer spoke today at Perimeter. I'd have to say it ranks up there as one of those 'turning point' moments. It was Global Outreach Sunday, and the Global Outreach team (think 'missions') handed out country specific boxes to everyone. You could choose between one of Perimeter's 8 partner countries/regions (Thailand, China, India, Guatemala, Tanzania, Poland, Central Asia, or the Arab world) and the box contains things like a country specific prayer calendar, piggy bank, fridge magnet. It was really well done.

The worship was amazing today - the worship team really outdid themselves, and there was so much energy in the congregation! It was awesome. There was a powerful time of prayer for the partner countries, and after that, George Verwer stepped up. George is the founder of Operation Mobilisation, and a highly respected missiologist and theologian. Come to find out today, he's also a bit eccentric and really fun to be around. In fact, one of the questions he asked today was "Why are American [Christians] so boring?" As he said, Hudson Taylor could walk through the door and no one would so much as bat an eye. George is, by the way, an American, though he's lived overseas for the last 46 years.

He gave a challenge, at the heart of which is a longing for more holistic missions, to adopt one of the seven people on the side of the road. Using the text about the good Samaritan who comes across a stranger who's been robbed and beaten up, he expanded that to say that today there are seven strangers on the side of the world. They are:

• At risk children
• Abused women
• AIDS/HIV patients
• the extreme poor
• those who lack clean water
• the unborn
• the environment
  

Will we be good Samaritans to one of the seven? That's all he asked - choose one. I have a good idea of which one I'm going to focus on. To be sure though, I think putting these issues in this format helps keep all the issues on the radar. By being intentional, we can in fact act in small ways to have an impact daily on several of them. Anyhow, when George Verwer speaks, it's really powerful. And furthermore, it's nice to see evangelical Christians finally taking up the causes that, until now, have been taken up only by (or primarily by) secular organizations.

I shook his hand after the service (I shook George Verwer's hand!). And then when I got home I sent him an email about Trade As One and NightLight. I don't know if he'll find either compelling enough to get involved. But if he does... man, can he motivate people and get them on board!

I never thought

...I'd hear myself say "don't drag your baby brother around on a leash!" Need I say more?

Ah, the joy of home ownership...

How nice it is to sink our entire paycheck into a money pit! Yes, that's really what a house is anyhow, isn't it? Home sweet home. Okay, so it is the place I brought my children home to after they were born, and it is where I spend the lion's share of my time and energy. But I've just written a check for nearly $500 (!) to a man who came to check for mold. MOLD! (as something inside me says, 'ewww, gross!')

It'll take until the end of the day Tuesday to get the lab results back, but he just showed me what shoddy work the builders did, and what shoddy work the contractors did who repaired things when we bought the house from the previous owners. (Hint: if you're buying a house and the inspector finds problems, negotiate the price of the house so you can have the work done, don't ask the sellers to have fix it!) It seems like pride in workmanship is a thing of the past! (no offense to you honest hard-working contractors out there. but hey! what's up with those other guys who cut corners - literally?)

But now I wait. The good news would be, 'gee, Mrs. C., with all the water damage from shoddy contracts, your house officially has no mold, no lasting damage, and it's all good!'. (Okay God, did you hear that?) The bad news would be that one side of our house is rotted out with toxic mold (again, ewww, gross!), we have to leave immediately so mold remediators can come in and tear down the walls and rebuild them, and oh, homeowners insurance doesn't cover that type of thing.

So, here's waiting until Tuesday.

Edited 3/15/07: The bad news won. We're still tearing down more and more of the wall and ceiling, and oh! by the way, insurance doesn't cover one red cent of it.

Claim to fame

Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel in the Little Mermaid, spoke at Perimeter today and she was awesome! She surprised us by singing "Part of your world" for us - in fact, she sang it specifically for and to a couple of young girls in the audience.

It was a "coffee talk" - an intimate brunch for ladies in the church, and she was the speaker. She gave her personal story, from her rather bizarrely difficult childhood to her Broadway success and beyond, marriage, marital problems, miscarriages, her story of how God pursued her through it all, and gave her a husband who wouldn't stop trying. It was a beautiful story. And she closed with 2 breathtaking songs.

Her story touched a lot of people, and it was refreshing to see how vulnerable she allowed herself to be in front of 150 strangers! It was a great God story. I love those!

Cleopatra Stratan - Ghita

This is a 3 year old in Moldova, singing in Romanian. For those of you who don't speak Romanian (and why wouldn't you?) :), let me translate. She's singing to and looking for the boy she has a crush on, Ghita, with gems like, "I know you like me too," "Show me another girl would love you this much", or "I waited for you at the door of the preschool," and "Come, but not with empty hands like usual!". Really, adorable.

Super Bowl Fare

The challenge: to make a last minute tasty appetizer to bring along to a last minute Super Bowl party without having to make the dreaded trip to the grocery store in sub-freezing temperatures. It took some creativity, but I was successful! I did pizzetta triangles from the Pampered Chef Season's Best cookbook, and created my own pizza dip to go along with it. Here are the recipes:

Pizzetta Triangles
Based on what I remember from the Pampered Chef Season's Best cookbook

Ingredients
1 package refrigerated pizza crust
1 TBS olive oil
1 TBS pizza seasoning
handful of Italian cheese of some sort (parmesan, mozzarella, asiago - something like that)

Roll out the pizza crust, spread with olive oil, sprinkle the seasoning and cheese over the top. Cut into triangles with a pizza cutter, then bake at 375 for 10 minutes or until golden.

Pepperoni Pizza Dip
my very own creation

Ingredients
Whole head of roasted garlic
1 can condensed cream of tomato soup (I used Campbell's Healthy Request)
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 cup prepared mashed potatoes (I used instant, prepared with water)
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
handful of turkey pepperoni slices, diced
1 TBS pizza seasoning
1 tsp seasoned salt

Roast head of garlic (cut off the end of the head but leave cloves unpeeled, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil, and roast in 400 degree oven for 35-45 minutes, then squeeze the garlic out of the cloves). Mix all ingredients together (with roasted garlic), bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until warm.

Yum! My disclaimer - I don't measure anything, so all measurements are estimations.

I can't wait to show up at the Super Bowl Party with my yummy pizza appetizer!

The War on Terror and other such things

After a 2 week blog hiatus here I am writing 3 posts in one day. I feel the need to comment though on this whole war thing though. It hits home. The day after the state of the union address I found an unwelcome message in my inbox. My brother (who I always welcome emails from) was notifying us that his deployment to Afghanistan (he's in his 11th month there with the 10th Mtn., and he already served a year in Iraq with the 101st when troops first went in) had been extended until June-ish.

Now, his unit is doing some amazing things that no one else in the army is doing, or has ever done to my knowledge. They're out, not on a base, living in a river valley doing some really inventive stuff - from winning the hearts and minds of Afghani civilians by building schools and giving them protection, to searching for Taliban forces and providing security to contractors in the region. What he and his soldiers are doing is pretty amazing, but also highly dangerous.

We were told weeks ago not to send any more mail - he'd be coming home soon. Then wham, a week later, we get this email from him that he's there longer. My first instinct was to lash out at our Commander In Chief. Thank you, El Presidente, for deciding to further risk my brother's life. But, after actually using my head and looking into the issues a bit further, and after hearing Rob's take on it, I think we need to stay the course. Yes, our troops are stretched. Yes, they're underpaid and undersupported. But pulling them out of the hot zones will not make our country or the world a safer place to live. Here's an excerpt from Rob's email:

I just want to say up front that we all believe this to be the right decision on the part of the President and the SECDEF. We have known for awhile that this was being considered, and in an effort to hold on to the peace that we have been fighting for over the past 11 months this is the right choice. We know the area, we will stay in place while our follow on unit, the 82nd, will move somewhere else. So for now, things will stay as they are.

In the mean time, keep all of our soldiers in your prayers. This will be a difficult time for our soldiers, but their strength of will and sense of duty is truly an amazing thing to behold on a daily basis. At the end of the day, we will be fine. As a matter fact, we will do very well over here and the company will continue to bond and get stronger through our continued deployment.

Thanks to all of you for your support up to this point and I look forward to it continuing over the next few months! Take care.

While most of us here stateside have varied opinions about the war and how soon our troops should come home, support for the war is decreasing. There are so many people who give monologues on what we should do. But talk to the troops. Talk to the ones who have come home or the ones who are still on the ground, and see what they have to say about the situation. Every soldier I've talked to who's served in Iraq says that sending more troops is 100% the right thing to do. They're not talking out of selfish motives. More troops in Iraq (or Afghanistan) means more time away from their families, more missed birthdays and Christmases, more missed births, and frankly they put their lives on the line every day they spend in combat. And they're the ones saying, yes, let us do our jobs.

In our day to day lives, that means a couple things. One, perhaps we (we consisting of those of us who have not been to Iraq or Afghanistan in recent months) should stop pretending we know what to do. And two, let's show a little more support for the men and women who put their lives on the line daily and sacrifice time with their families for our greater safety.

I Am...

I am the carrot top baby born by the cherry trees to a former cheerleader mom and a career-ladder-climbing dad
Who watched her big brother morning, noon, and night and had crater-sized dimples when she smiled.

I am the child who played with legos and barbies and was mortally afraid of dragon-flies and jungle gyms,
Who loved spaghetti and cheerios and especially anything of big brother's
Who stored all his toys in my treasure box
Who dreamed of all things far away and make believe, and never thought she would be big enough to wear makeup.

I am the teenager who sought meaning in music
Who wore nothing fashionable or fun, and loved her comfy running clothes and hated the freckles she couldn't get rid of
Who wrecked her knee playing a sport she only pretended to like and then feigned disappointment she couldn't play it anymore,
Who dreamed of saxophones and flutes and knew someday she would play at Carnegie Hall.

I am the woman who crossed oceans to find meaning and spread the Hope
Whose highest priorities are Faith and Family
I am the mother who loves to sing and dance and goes crazy if I have to draw one more picture of a truck
and whose moments of perfect bliss come when child sized arms need a snuggle and baby's breath is warm against my chest
I am the Mom who loves cooking and avoids swingsets because of an irrational fear and who can drown a day's stress in a warm bubble bath with duckies.

I am the woman who always finds the bright side and looks for the best in everyone and is hardest on herself
I am the person who knows beyond doubt that it'll all work out in the end and then somehow it always does
I am the woman who still loves cheerios and spaghetti, but could do without the barbies
Who still longs to have the Scripture written on my heart, only without the time spent learning it
I am the person who dreams of leaving a legacy and influencing change and is grateful for a husband who keeps my feet on the ground
and who hopes to achieve something whose meaning will endure for generations.

Edited 2/3/07: Oops! I got so into writing this I forgot to give an intro! This is my "I Am...", based on a format found at Owl Haven's blog. It's similar to the Where I'm From post I did last month, but different.

Can spanking really be made a crime?

I must admit, I've been a blog slacker lately. Honestly, 2 weeks and no posts! Shame on me... On the other hand, in the last 2 weeks I've accomplished quite a bit outside of the blog world (coincidence? I think not...) The good news is that my house is cleaner and more organized than it's been in many many months. My kids have had lots and lots of 'mommy time,' and I've managed to get my 'mompreneur' business idea rolling. Yippee! But I'm back. I missed blogging - really, I did. It may be a somewhat dysfunctional excuse for community, but that's okay.

Since I've been 'away,' a bill has been put forward in California to outlaw spanking. The idea behind the bill is nice - curb child abuse by making it illegal to ever hit a child. And for the sake of our children, perhaps child abuse laws should be re-evaluated and social workers be given a little more resources to do their jobs. However, banning corporal punishment isn't the answer.

My position on spanking... as a last resort, when other means of correction have been exhausted, a child who is able to discern right from wrong in a given situation may need something as harsh as a spanking to teach and correct behavior. I'm well aware that the American Academy of Pediatrics and virtually every psychologist on the planet advise against it. But let's face it, as parents we have to teach our children right from wrong. We have to teach them to avoid things that are harmful to themselves or others. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd ever need to spank the Bean. But I was wrong. I've only officially spanked her once. But she has gotten a mild pop on the well-diapered rear twice. And it killed me to do it! I've been told by moms with older kids that the key to avoiding spanking is being creative with discipline. Perhaps I'm not creative enough. Please, share your creative discipline tips with me. For the sake of wisdom and for my kids' wellbeing.

If you are going to spank, I think the following is pretty well accepted as guidelines: Don't spank out of anger or emotion. Examine the child's motives for their behavior. Examine your own role in your child's behavior (if your kid is hungry and you skipped naps today, you can't expect him to be an angel). Use loving words and assure your unconditional love for the child before and after spanking. Be more liberal with hugs and cuddles than you are with spanking. Vary your discipline techniques - there's more to discipline than time outs and spanking.

Let's go back to that bill in California. What would happen if the bill was passed? Potentially, neighbors, store clerks, etc. would start reporting well-meaning parents for any possible infringement of the law, adding enormous work loads for already overworked social workers and police officers. Spanking, already a taboo topic among all but very close friends, would become even more taboo, leaving many parents without the much needed counsel and wisdom of friends. Would that really help the situation? Honestly, the parents who fret and worry about whether or not it's okay to spank are worlds different than the parents who abuse their children without batting an eye. Changing the law will not hinder them in the least. It would only deepen the stigma we feel when our children's behavior is dangerous enough to necessitate some sort of discipline that will get their attention.

Here's a link to a news story about the bill, and one to NPR's radio coverage of it. All Things Considered had commentary from a woman who was a meditative Eastern Orthodox Christian, saying that though she has spanked her son once and won't apologize for it, she is inherently against spanking. She claimed that anyone who believes in seeking God should be focused on the inner life - the life of the spirit - and that spanking is the opposite of this and teaches our kids the opposite. While I won't call her a meditative fruitcake, I do think her theology is a bit skewed. God isn't concerned only with the spiritual side of life - He's very much involved with, sovereign over, and concerned about our physical lives. He deeply loves our children, perhaps more than we as parents do. And just as He chastens His followers and requires us to feel the consequences of our actions, He expects us as parents to do the same for our children. The Bible actually says "Don't fail to correct your children. They won't die if you spank them. Physical discipline may well save them from death." (Proverbs 23: 13-14, NLT) The rod mentioned throughout Proverbs is the same as the one mentioned in the oft-quoted Psalm 23 "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death ... Your rod and your staff, they comfort me..." The idea behind it is that we are comforted by knowing that God is just and He is in control. His rod is a symbol of authority, and knowing that the authority you're under is consistent, just, and loving is incredibly freeing and comforting. And so it is for our children. We must discipline, and that discipline must be fitting and appropriate to both the situation and the child.

Again, I'll restate my plea from above. Moms and dads, share some ideas of creative discipline you use. Anything goes, as long as it doesn't involve inflicting physical pain. Tell me what you do, and what offenses merit it.