Teaching our Boys to be Young Men

Lately I have been really convicted about Flash. He's six, he will be seven in less than a month. And I just realized... he's becoming a little man.

I know, all if you out there reading this are like, 'Duh Adele, that's why they call them boys.' But that's not what I mean. Think of all the things you expect to find in a man, a real man. Protection, strength, wisdom, provision, leadership, to name a few. And Flash needs to know these things. He needs, as a young Christian man, to start developing these traits. 

The world is not going to help him do it. If there is one thing I am convinced about, it's that the Devil has his eye on my children, and the world is the Devils tool. 

The world will do everything it can to convince my son that he doesn't need to provide for his family. The world will do everything it can to tell my son he doesn't need to be the leader in his home. The world will do everything it can to tell my son that God's wisdom is wrong, and that he should be following some self-made theory of morality and guidance. The world will do everything to make my son ineffective. 

Flash is a self proclaimed Christian. We have spent months watching his life after he accepted Jesus into his heart, and it has been amazing to see him grow and mature in his faith. He wants so much to learn, and this is amazing to see. 

At the same time as I see this maturity starting in him, I see another ugly character raising it's head. We have had to deal with questions like "Why do I have to go to work? If I don't, I'll get money anyways." He's talking about welfare. Impressing on my son the need for him to work hard at everything he does is difficult when everything around him says that he doesn't have to. That he'll get a free meal at the end of the day, simply because he was there for the ride. 

The Bible says : 

2 Thess 3: 6-13

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.

Did you catch that? The man who does not work should not eat. This is a fundamental truth in the Bible. I have found myself more and more hunting down verses like this one, to teach Flash what he needs to know, but it seems sometimes like it's fighting an uphill battle. 

But this does not mean I don't do it. 

So I want to encourage you moms out there reading this: 

1. Don't trust the world to teach your children. 

Your children are your greatest mission field. They are young, impressionable, and oh so open to learning. 

Don't let the world get a grip in their little hearts. 

Satan is not going to be merciful because they are children. The world will not be merciful because they are children. Be diligent. Your children are taking everything in, use your influence as their mother to pull them away from the world and it's sin. 

1 Peter 5:8

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

2. Teach them the word.

Often, daily, every hour, every minute. 

Talk to them about God. 

Talk to them about his statutes and precepts. 

Talk to them about his mercy and his love. 

Talk to them of his judgement and strength. 

Talk to them about his sovereignty. 

Talk to them about Jesus. 

Memorize scripture with them. 

Read the Bible aloud to them. 

Anything it takes to get the word into those little hearts. Because right now is the time. You might think they're to young, you might think they don't understand. But if they understand even one of the twenty things you tell them in a day, that's still something. 

Det. 11: 18 - 21

“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. “You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.

3. Set an example.

These children are watching you. Closer than you know. Be their example. Read your Bible. Pray as you do your chores. Love the Lord. Be merciful and pure in conduct. Your children will see that, and it will speak louder to them than anything that comes out of your mouth. 

The conduct you set now will be the conduct they will pick up. You love to read your Bible? They'll learn to love it. You sin regularly? Sadly, they will pick up on that same sin. 

For women, it's hard to be an example for young men, because we are not young men. :) But know this, if you are example of a Godly woman... your son will want to find another Godly woman to be with when he gets older. The Bible says that a Godly woman will bring her husband around with her conduct. 

1 Peter 3:1

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives.

Now, the context here is unbelieving husbands, but I think it fits with this concept as well. A wife who is living in the word, who is filling her role as a wife, in submission and grace, will encourage her husband to fulfill his role as a Godly husband. 

Your son will look for a wife like you. Set the example now. 

4. Love and submit to his Dad. 

I can hear it. I can hear the bristling skin as the women reading this read the word submit. It echoes through these pages even as I'm writing. 

But it's one of the few commandments given directly to women in the Bible. 

Eph 5: 22 - 24

Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.

This isn't conditional. It doesn't say submit if your husband loves you, or submit if your husband is a good husband. No. It says submit. 

And it will be  one of the strongest ways you will reach your sons. Loving his dad, submitting to his dads leadership. Why? Because this not only shows him what a Godly woman looks like... but it allows his dad to step up and set the example of a Godly man. And your son will, more than anyone, learn from his father how to be a man. 

Learn what it means to submit. It's not a bad thing. In fact, it's a very good thing. 

5. Never think it's to late, or to early.

So your kids are older, or maybe they're much younger. Only babies. Teach them anyways. Guard their hearts anyways. Start now. 

Your son is a teenager? 

Be a Godly woman, set the example. Guard his heart. Love his dad. Monitor what he watches on TV, take him to church, talk to him about God. He might fight you on it, but as much as he seems all grown up? He is still a child, in need of your guidance. 

It's never to late to make a difference. 

I wasn't saved until I was 18. Because someone took the time to really talk with me about God and what he expects from me. 

Your son is just a baby? 

Be a Godly woman, set the example. Love his dad. Monitor what things go into that little head. Guard his heart with that fierce ferocity only moms can muster. Take him to church. Sing Bible songs to him, talk to him about his amazing creator. Get in the habit now. Make it so he doesn't remember a time when God wasn't the focus of his life. 

Flash was saved as six, because every moment he was awake, Caleb and I talked to him about God. 

It's never to early to make a difference. 

Just my thoughts for the day,

Adele

PS: I'd love to hear how you are teaching your sons to be Godly men. 

Cloth Diapering! We're doing it, and loving it.

Okay, so I know, some of you are looking at this post and thinking, why would you ever cloth diaper? Touch poop? Ew. 

Wrong. 

I never touch poop. Ever. 

Yet I cloth diaper. 

Caleb and I made the decision to cloth diaper after a woman at our church started. She honestly makes it look super easy.  Caleb was drawn to the cost factor, and I was drawn to how cute it was. 

We got a bunch of cloth diapers for shower gifts, so we jumped in with two feet, and we've been using them since we brought Wiggles home from the hospital. And we  love them. Seriously. Love them. 

So I'm going to talk to you about cloth diapers in topics. Type, Ease of use/Washing, Price, and lastly, Other advantages/Disadvantages.

Type

We opted for pocket diapers. Which are essentially a liner, usually microfiber, and a waterproof cover with a slit on the one side. You slide the liner inside the cover, and then VOILA! It's just like a disposable. 

See? Here's an example of mine, one cover with no liner, one liner no cover, and one completely put together and ready to go. 

You slide the liner into the cover like this: 

Super easy. Definitely no worse than folding Wiggles' little tiny leotards. 

You can see ours are snaps. But they don't have to be. You can also get velcro, but I'm not that fond of them since they tend to wear out easier, and they get stuck to other diapers while washing. >.> Not cool. But we do have a couple that we kinda like, but I don't think I would go out and buy anymore of them. 

But. These are not the only cloth diapers you can get. A quick google search will show you that there are DOZENS of types of cloth diapers. Prefolds, which are essentially the old school diapers. You fold them and put a cover on them. They're cheaper, but more work than pockets. There's all in ones, which are essentially washable disposables. They tend to hold scents and things more, and some people have an issue with the idea that maybe a standard washing machine can't clean them properly, they're also very expensive. And those are just the beginning. The cloth diapering world is a huge one, and trying a little of this and that to find what you like isn't a bad thing. :) 

Oh! Another note. If you choose to do this, go with newborns for the first month. 

Here's a normal and a newborn side by side for size comparison. Normal sized diapers are made to fit most babies until they potty train. While newborns are made for tiny bums. :) We found that the normal ones on the very tightest setting didn't fit Wiggles until she was nearly 1 month, and even now at 4 months she can fit into the newborn ones on the largest settings.

Ease of Use/Washing

These are, in my opinion, the simplest diapers ever. All I do is stuff them when I fold them with my other clothes. They go on just like a disposable, then I put them in a wet bag, or throw them right down into the laundry room. And then to wash, I pull out the liner and throw all of it in the washing machine. One cold rinse, one hot wash with detergent, and an extra rinse at the end(which I can push a button on my machine for). Machine or sun dry. Easy as that.

 I have found that while Wiggles was exclusively breast fed, this was easiest. Breast fed babies poop is water soluble, so no rinsing involved. Now, people say when you start introducing formula/solids you need to rinse. I haven't found this. First off, Wiggles poops never really got 'solid' even after she started solid foods. They were always VERY liquidy and got absorbed right into the diaper with her urine. 

SO. My rule of thumb has become, if it's not absorbed, it gets a good rinse in my slop sink. I pull the liner out, dump the whole thing in my slop sink, and then turn the water on full blast. It takes care of anything solid left over, and then I pull it out with two fingers, careful not to touch ANY poop, and then I throw it in the washing machine. But most of the time it's absorbed. So it's all good. 

There's a lot of debate about detergents. Google it. People are opinionated. Very opinionated. Well, I have a  High Efficiency washing machine. So I can only use HE detergent. Which kinda limits my options. I'm also not paying $30 for a container of detergent. My solution? I use Sunlight Cold Water. :) Some cloth diapering mommas would crawl down my throat for that statement. But. I haven't had any issues with residue, and my diapers are still super absorbent, and Wiggles doesn't have any reaction to any of the scents or anything. So it works for us. My recommendation to all you cloth diapering mommas out there, do your research, yes. But if you have a detergent that you used before you realized you needed a special one, and it's working, stick with it. Everyone's water is different, and that detergent might be exactly what your water needs. For the record though, I've also heard great things about original Tide. 

Price

One of the best things about cloth is you can't beat the price. 

Pocket diapers have a double row of snaps on the front to shorten/lengthen them as your baby grows. This means they can fit from about 10 Lbs to whenever your baby potty trains. And, because they are washable, you can reuse them with multiple children. Very cost effective. But, let me break it down for you, for all of you who care. 

Disposables

Average Box of 200 disposables - $40 - On sale, no coupons.

Now, I don't know about you, but when Wiggles is in disposables, we can go through 200 diapers in about two weeks, maybe less. But let's be generous and say two weeks.

So! 

$40 x 2/month = $80 a month

$80/month x 12 months/year = $920

$920 x 3 years before baby potty trains = 

$2880

Cloth

Average price of a standard cloth diaper - $7 - $15

You need about 24 diapers to start with, maybe more, maybe less. But let's go with 24. 

$168 - $360 - Initial investment. 

+ $10 on our power bill per month x 12 months a year x 3 years before potty training = $360

Wet bag / Garbage bin for wet diapers = $60

Total cost = 

$588 - $780

And you can reuse them for multiple children, so your cost for the next child goes down to 

$360. 

To diaper them until they're potty trained. 

... Seriously. 

Now, we don't exclusively cloth. We buy about 1 box of disposables every 2 months. We use disposables for night time, because Wiggles is a heavy wetter, but we could just double stuff, I'm just lazy, and we use them when we are out and about, because babies can't stay in wet cloth for long, so they have to be changed more often, thus disposables are easier. But STILL. 

Other Advantages/Disadvantages

Well, cloth does have it's disadvantages. But it has some cool advantages too. 

First off, you'll change bums a lot more. Disposable diapers have special chemical crystals in them that whisk away fluid really fast. Cloth don't. So your baby feels when they wet a lot more. But the advantage to this, is babies who are in cloth usually potty train faster, because they feel their business more. Bonus. 

Second of all, washing. Compared to disposables, there's a lot of washing involved. And it can be kind of a pain in the butt when you are tired. The bonus is is you know what chemicals are touching your baby. And for those babies with sensitive skin, cloth is the way to go. 

The third disadvantage is diaper creams. You can't use them. At all. Because they're oil based, they get onto your diapers and cause they to repel. Which is kinda counter productive. The good news is, if you change regularly, your cloth diapered baby will probably never get a rash, because they're so chemical free. And you can also buy diaper rash cream online that's safe of cloth diapers. 

Other Advantage one? They're so stinkin' cute. 

Red, yellow, and Hello Kitty. >.> I also have black, orange, pink, purple, blue... If you can imagine it, the cloth diaper world has created it. Sure beats white and Elmo. They also don't have any weird scents like disposables. 

Overall

We love our cloth, and I totally recommend them to anyone who is brave enough to try. <3 Wiggles loves them, Caleb loves them, and they are cute. How can you go wrong? 

- Adele

Recipe Tuesday... Kinda! Pantry time!

I understand it's supposed to be recipe Tuesday today, but really, this is about food, so it counts. :) 

Today I want to talk to you about pantries. I love my pantry, but when I first started stocking it up, I found it really hard to know what to get. So here I'm starting to compile a list of things that I personally find helpful to have in my pantry. 

First off, here's my pantry. 

As you can see, it's kind of disorganized right now. But it's not as disorganized as it looks. Mostly it's just small. But that's ok. I will work with what I got. 

The first thing to note is that whenever possible I use fresh ingredients. But sometimes it just doesn't happen, and that's ok. 

Ok, so on the bottom shelf, there's glass cylinder containers filled with various things. I got them from Dollarama. In those containers I keep: 

- Dried Red Kidney Beans

- Dried White Kidney Beans

- Dried Lentils

- Rolled Oats

- White Sugar

- Basmati Rice

- Brown Sugar

- White Flour

- Whole Wheat Flour

As often as I can I buy these things in bulk. For the record, dried beans? Way better than canned beans, and it takes only a little bit of prep. You soak them overnight or boil them for about 15 minutes. And they taste so much better, and are so much more pretty. 

Anyways, on the bottom shelf I also keep our instant oatmeal, which Caleb and Flash love for breakfast. We get these at Costco, $12 for the big box, and it lasts us forever. Corn syrup, which I like on just about everything, is also down there, along with my extra virgin Olive Oil. (*Note: If any of you know where to buy coconut oil in Canada, I'd love to hear it!) When I have a big thing of Carnation hot chocolate (My guilty pleasure), it also goes on my bottom shelf. 

My second shelf has some instant food on it right now, Caleb's aunt dropped it off for us. I'm not sure I'll ever use it, but I keep it around because I'm bound to have a lazy day sometime. :P 

As for what else is on there... 

- At least 5 bags of various Pastas 

(Usually whatever was on sale.)

- Egg noodles

- Peanut Butter 

(We get the great value brand from Walmart, none of us can taste the difference)

- Rice Vermicelli noodles

- A couple bags of Ramen for quick meals 

(I love the no name brand type, but here we have Compliments)

- Knorr Sidekicks

- Chicken Noodle Soup Mix

(Lipton full salt. The reduced sodium was just.. wrong.)

- Barley

(This is the newest addition to my pantry, not  sure how I'm going to use this.)

- Various Vinegars 

(Right now I have Apple Cider Vinegar, and White Vinegar)

Here's my break time... Aaaaand it's Wiggles! She is humouring me. 

Ok! My top shelf. 

- 4 cans tomato sauce

(I get the plain great value brand kind and doctor it up with all my spices. Don't worry, well talk about those too.)

- Nutella

- Honey

- Cans of beans 

(I'm phasing these out in favour of my dried ones.)

- 3 cans diced tomatoes 

(Whenever possible I use my own canned tomato's, but I recently ran out.)

- Cereal

(Caleb loves cereal, we like the Sally's brand from Walmart. $4 for 600g as opposed to sometimes close to $8, and it tastes just as delicious, if not better.)

- A couple cans of Campells soups

- 2 boxes of each Chicken and Beef Broth

- A couple boxes of Kraft Dinner for treat days.

So that's my pantry. I found I didn't need as much as I thought I did, and it's really easy to stock it slowly, one or two items on top of my normal groceries a pay check. And it really helps those weeks when groceries are tight.

As for my spices and things, I live off them. 

I keep a decent stock of spices on hand at all times. These include: 

- Lemon Pepper

- Cocoa

- Ground Black Pepper

- French Fry Spice

- Seasoning Salt 

- Club house gravy packages

(We buy them on sale for about $.25 a piece, well worth it.)

- Baking Soda

- Baking Powder

- Cumin

- Turmeric

- Salt

- Basil

- Coriander

- Ginger

(Fresh and ground)

- Garlic

(Fresh and Powder)

- Cinnamon

-  Condensed Milk

- Shake and Bake packages

- Taco and Fajita seasoning packets

- Club house pasta salad mix 

(Seriously, best ever. Try it.)

- Nutmeg

*I also have a spice rack that has all sorts of spices in it. 

I also keep basic baking supplies on hand. 

- Chocolate chips

- Coconut

- Banana's

- Shortening

And some sauces(Some of these are in my fridge). 

- Hoisin sauce

- Soy sauce

- Ketchup

- Worcestershire Sauce

- Tobasco Sauce

- White Rice Vinegar

So that's my pantry folks! It's my life saver when I have tight weeks, and really it helps a lot with meal planning. <3 

- Adele

Family photo's coming up! Meet our photographer!

So! We are looking at getting family pictures done soon, and there's a lovely young woman in our church named Tay who offered to do them! I'm thrilled, and so I must blog and tell you all about her wonderful work! See, she takes stunning pictures. If you live in Windsor, you should totally hit her up for a session. You won't regret it.

Anyways, look at these stunning pictures Tay took! 

Oh! Did I mention she took my wedding photos? Yeah, she did. Look! 

She's amazing right? Yeah, we think so too. :) 

The front one is her. See/ Even when she is taking self shots it's gorgeous. <33 I'm super excited to be getting our family pictures taken by her. We have been brainstorming poses and ideas all morning, and now I'm all pumped up about it. 

Just braggin'

- Adele

Advice to Pregnant Moms Everywhere

So. Pregnancy. I can officially say, been there, done that.

And so, being the blogger I am, I'm going to tell you about it. Share in my own experiences in the hopes that your day is a little better for the laugh.

Pregnancy was the single most horrible and amazing and awesome experience of my life. It was mayhem and order, it was over flowing life and yet still not being able to get my acne to go away.

My first piece of advice:

Ignore the people who tell you how your body "should" feel.

I learned so well that I knew my body. When I felt something was wrong, it was wrong. If someone else thought something was wrong, and I didn't, I was usually right. Only you really know what's going on in your body. Each pregnancy is unique.

At the same time, that means listen to your body. If you feel something is wrong don't feel bad seeing a doctor. EVER. Even if you have seen them 4 times that week already. It's better you be a little embarrassed than something happen with your baby.

Treasure it. 

This time moves so fast. I know by the time you hit 25 weeks, you just want to be done. But remember those first couple days? Those amazing moments when you are so over joyed by the thought of being pregnant you smile all the time? Try to remember those when you feel like a blimp.

14 weeks post pregnancy, and I'm finally able to look back and miss it. I wish I had spent more time treasuring the fact that I was growing a baby.

Tell someone how you feel.

You will most likely feel weepy and like a blimp and like if you eat more more of the potato chips you've been craving you'll burst.

Tell someone. Keeping those feelings in in the name of being strong makes for a miserable pregnant woman.

Second piece of advice under this: Your husband is NOT the best person to get sympathy for over this. Try someone who has recently been pregnant. They'll sympathize enough to be understanding, and yet be at that stage where they can remind you to treasure it.

Take pictures. Lots of them.

We didn't. I think I have maybe one a month. I wish I had more. While you are pregnant, you will be gushing with life. Your smile will be radiant, your figure will be stunning, and your hair will look like a brand new Barbie dolls. Revel in it.

Get busy.

Do things. Get out of your house. Clean, cook, craft... whatever you gotta do to stay busy. If you mull around feeling sorry for your pregnant self, you'll be so frustrated by the end of the day it's insane.

Most of all... Smile. 

This season is only for awhile, and then you get a baby. Take the time to smile along the way as your body changes. Keeping a healthy attitude will help the time fly. <3

Remember, at the end you get one of these:

- Adele