Halloween Candy - Trick? Or Treat?

First of all, I need to say that I don't go all out for Halloween.  I don't decorate my house for Halloween.  I'd rather put the time and effort into Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.  But, we let the kids go trick-or-treating.  They enjoy dressing up and collecting candy.  I prefer to not spend money on costumes.  $30 minimum per costume is just too much for me to spend when the money could go to regular clothing that they need or other needs that are a higher priority.  So this year I told them that I wasn't spending any money on costumes.  They were going to have to be creative and use what we already had.  They liked the freedom I gave them to use their imagination and use what we had and get creative with it or use what they've worn before.

Then the candy to hand out?  That gets expensive too!  And that's just the junky conventional candy! 

Now, I need to say that I am not in the medical profession - conventional or naturopathic.  I have just taken time to learn as much as I can in the time that I have available to do so.  I have learned a lot from my IRL friend Sarah over at Real Food Outlaws.  The rest I've learned from my own researching and thinking and processing what I've read and heard.

We have spent the last two years (maybe three) changing the way we eat.  I had started noticing the news about TBHQ and other additives in our "food supply."  I watched documentaries about our food supply.  I stopped buying heavily processed foods and starting moving more towards whole foods.  I bought more Non-GMO and started adding some organic foods.  We can't afford to go completely organic right now, so I focus on the Dirty Dozen and try to buy them organic as much as possible.  The rest I try to get Non-GMO if I can.  I buy fresh as much as possible.  The only canned food I buy is tomatoes.   And coffee.  But not regular coffee, because caffeine is bad.  I now buy Swiss Water Decaffeinated coffee, which is decaffeinated without using chemicals.  It's actually really good!  And it doesn't always come canned.

We eat far less sugar than we did three years ago.  We've all been on a nutrition program with my friend Sarah who is not only a whole foods blogger, but an NRT and a Master Herbalist.  Our health has greatly improved!  I've lost weight.  Our kids who were diagnosed with asthma have not been on steroids for over two years now and have not had issues.  Our kids who have had severe food allergies are getting healthier and the allergies are decreasing!

So with all this progress, I dreaded going shopping for Halloween candy and put it off.  Until the day of Halloween.  Because our kids with the food allergies can't even eat most of the candies out there anyway.  I usually get them Enjoy Life chocolate bars or PASCHA due to their allergies.  With just conventional candy being so expensive, there is no way that I can afford to hand out non-GMO and organic candy right now, because that's even more expensive.  My son said, "Mom, get Reese's and Twix, because last time, all the kids were looking for Reese's and Twix and nobody had them."  Off I went, to read labels and make a decision of what we were going to hand out this year.

I walked in the door of Wal-Mart and right there to greet the procrastinating shopper was a row of Halloween candy.  I picked up a bag that had Reese's and read "Shea" in the ingredient list.  I didn't remember seeing shea butter on any of the Reese's products before except for the white chocolate products.  Shea is a tree nut and therefore I can't buy products with shea.  Then I saw TBHQ.  NO!  Yes.  Yes.  It was on the label.  Then I saw a new one I hadn't seen before.  PGPR. I didn't know what this new ingredient was, so grabbed some candy that didn't have TBHQ, but had PGPR.  Just about all of the chocolate candy had PGPR.  As soon as I got home, I started searching for what PGPR is.  This was the first thing I read about it.  For now, I'd almost say that PGPR is the lesser of the evil preservatives, but like I said above, I am not in the medical field and I am not in the science field.  I'm just a concerned wife, mother and consumer.  As I looked for more information on PGPR, I saw this article and this short and sweet article.  They seem to have the same thoughts that I do about changing our chocolate and adding synthetic preservatives.  This very informative post explains the chocolate making process in a nutshell and then goes on to talk about child labor and the issues caused by using synthetic additives.  The articles I've read say that TBHQ affects the immune system and can trigger allergies and contribute to ADHD and behavioral issues and excessive amounts of PGPR causes liver enlargement.

One of the things I've learned over the past year is that when the liver is affected, allergies become a problem and the immune system is compromised.  Now I'm going to try to explain this by using logic.  When the liver or any other organ in our body is affected, it becomes a weak link.  The other organs have to work harder to compensate for the weak link.  When an organ is under stress, it can't do its job effectively.  No other organ can replace the organ that is under stress and therefore cannot do the job of the organ under stress. Think about when you hurt an arm or a leg.  Your other appendages have to compensate for the weak limb.  The good appendages cannot really do the job of the weak limb.  Your mobility is compromised and your body doesn't function at it's prime.

Think about our bodies and what they are designed to eat.  Think back decades, maybe even centuries ago, long before industrialization.  What did our ancestors eat?  Meats, plants, nuts, seeds, unprocessed grains and some fruits.  Some cultures ate chocolate, but it was certainly not the chocolate that is available in the majority of stores today.  Sweets were made with pure sugar and other real ingredients.  Today, most companies are using additives and preservatives to save a buck and add to their profit.  The argument that the preservatives and additives keeps the food from spoiling is fallible in my opinion.  It may keep the food from spoiling, but at what cost?  It changes the food from its natural state.  It depletes any nutrition the food may have had in its natural state.  I think some of the additives create an addictive stimulus that make you crave that "food."  Our bodies are designed to breakdown and use the fuel from real food.  Processed food doesn't fuel our bodies like real food does.

After the trick-or-treating was done I started looking through their candy.   I pulled out a fun size Butterfinger, another former favorite, and saw that the label said, "No Artifical Flavors or Colors, Colors from Natural Sources."  At first I thought, "Great!  This is what we can hand out next year!"  But I wanted to make sure, so I checked the website for the ingredients list.  I'm sad to say that Butterfinger also has TBHQ.  Kit Kat, Mounds, Almond Joy and Twix have PGPR.  Snickers and 100 Grand bars do not have TBHQ or PGPR on the label.  I'm leaning towards handing out Snickers and 100 Grand bars next year along with Dum Dums and Nerds.  Plus, I try to have non-food items to hand out for those with food allergies.  When going through the candy the kids have collected, I swap out the candy that the kids with allergies can't have with something they can have.

I don't shop for these candies on a regular basis anymore.  After the changes we've made to our diet we've noticed that our palates have changed and we can taste the difference.  The foods that have chemicals, taste off to us now.

What about you?  Have you been paying attention to the way you eat?  Have you made any changes to improve your health?  Have you noticed all the chemicals in our foods today?  Has this post inspired you to make changes or do your own research?  With all of these additives and preservatives I'm leaning towards Halloween candy or conventional candy in general, being more of a trick than a treat.  It is my hope that you have found this informative and that it inspires you to pay more attention to the food you purchase for your family.

  

Why Turn the Other Cheek?

The other day I was talking with one of my dear friends.  She told me about something that had happened during the day.  Someone had said something that hurt.  It hurt her and it would have hurt me if I were in her shoes that day.  I empathized with her.  I wanted so badly to say something like "Let it Go," because my family just laughs after saying "Let it Go" because of the movie Frozen or "Shake It Off," because members of her family are fans of Taylor Swift.  But, something stopped me and instead, I said, "Give it to The Lord.  She just doesn't understand."  And then today, while I was wiping down the table after lunch, it hit me.

Years ago, when I was much, much younger, I always thought that turning the other cheek meant that you were allowing the offender to continue doing what they were doing.  Many people think it's a weak thing to do.  Matthew 6:38 - 39 says, "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person.  If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." So, not really understanding it, I tried to live it.  Verses 40 - 42 continue with, "And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.  If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.  Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."  At first read it sounds like we should let them continue with their bad behavior, right?  Not quite.

In Luke 23:34, after Jesus had already been beaten and made to carry his cross to the place called the Skull, it says, "Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'  And they divided up his clothes by casting lots."  He was asking for forgiveness for those who were crucifying Him.  But I think this is about more than just forgiveness.

In Romans 3:21 - 26 we find, "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.  He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished -- he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus."  Did you catch that?  Grace.

In James 4, verses 1 - 6 talks about what causes fights and quarrels.  And then we come to verse 6, "But he gives us more grace.  That is why Scripture says:  'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'"

Here's what I think now.  Jesus set the example. Turning the other cheek is not a weak thing to do.  It's humbling.  When we can turn the other cheek, bring our burden to God and forgive the other person, we humble ourselves and then we open ourselves up to receiving God's grace and then we are able to extend that grace to the one who hurt us.  It's all about God's grace.

Welsh Cakes and Lavender Lemonade with Honey and Call the Midwife!!

     I don't know about you, but a British time period show is just that much better when I've made some British yummies to munch on while watching.  Last week my husband had found a recipe for Lavender Lemonade with Honey and shared it on Facebook.  It sounded really good, so I decided to try it.  Besides, I already had some organic culinary Lavender on hand, in bulk!  I also had raw local honey.  You can find the recipe here.  I took pictures and tried to take a short-cut that I won't do again.

Here is what raw local honey looks like.  It is thicker than the regular honey we are used to seeing in the stores.

 

 

 

 

When the water came to a boil, I added the raw local honey and stirred until it dissolved.

When the honey was dissolved, I added the dried Lavender to steep for about 20 minutes.  Next time I'll probably let it steep longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the Lavender steeped, I washed the lemons and used a peeler to zest.

  

 

Then I gave the lemons to one of my helpers to juice.  That notebook next to her is one of my two notebooks of recipes I've found online, printed and slipped into a protective sleeve, because cooking gets messy.

Here's where I tried to skip a step.  I tried to strain the Lavender infused honey water into the pitcher instead of a bowl.  See the droplets on the cutting board?  That's what happened.  Take my advice and strain into a bowl.  THEN pour into the pitcher!

Here's the strained Lavender infused honey water, the fresh "squeezed" lemon juice and lemon zest.

 

 

 

 

 

The Lavender Lemonade with Honey and some lemon zest, ready to chill!!!  This lemonade was a big hit with the family, so I will probably double the recipe next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     I also made Welsh Cakes.  The recipe I use, I had gotten from a Unit Study by Amanda Bennett (so I'm not including a link to this particular recipe, but you can do a web search for a recipe) that we did back when the 2012 Summer Olympics was held in the United Kingdom.  We did a study on the UK and then a study on the Olympics.  Unit studies are a great way to homeschool.  We all learned some new things and they've retained a lot of the information they learned.  We had also done the unit study for Germany that year and we did one for Valentine's Day a year before those.  I have since come to the conclusion that the unit study method is not the best fit for our family dynamics.  However, if your family does well with the unit study method, I would high recommend Amanda Bennett.  I really liked the way she had them set up.  There are a lot of options of things you can cover.  I had a hard time making the hard decisions of what to use and what not to use and probably overwhelmed my kids.

 Here's the Welsh Cakes rolled out and cut out.  It is important to get the dough rolled to 1/4" thickness.  If it is thicker, it won't cook through.  If it is thinner, it will most likely burn. 

 

Although the recipe I use says that it takes 3 minutes per side, my pan tends to get hot, so I need to stay close by to keep an eye on them.  I doubled the recipe and they were completely gone the next evening.

Ready to sit down and enjoy my Welsh Cakes and Lavender Lemonade with Honey while I watch Call the Midwife!!!

 

 

 

Now...what am I going to make for the next episode of Call the Midwife??? 

 

Do you make anything to enjoy when you watch the show?

 

Oh the Weather Outside Is Frightful....But Tonight Is Downton Abbey!

We've had snow and today we had freezing rain.  Our church services were cancelled today because the roads were in such horrible condition.  So, after making homemade Belgian waffles, I asked hubby what he wanted for lunch today.  His response?  "Grilled cheese and soup."  Okay.  Not a problem.  I should have stuff for that on hand.  I have been trying to get away from canned soups lately.  Have you read the labels?  I know it is convenient.  But, when you have family members with food allergies, there is a lot of label reading.  And I just think it is healthier for us to have food as fresh as possible anyway.  I got to thinking about progress.  Way back before we had the canned foods in the grocery store, families did their own canning.  I doubt they used the chemicals that are in the canned foods on the grocery shelves today.  Hubby and I have been looking at ways to do as much as we can to grow our own food to sustain our family and supplement from the store.  We haven't gotten there yet.  We are seriously considering what we could possibly do.

So back to the soup.  I started thinking about what I had on hand.  I'm not running errands today.  I didn't have any boxed broth on hand.  I can't use bouillon due to the food allergies.  I was hoping I had some bone broth left in the freezer.  JOY, JOY, JOY!  I had approximately four cups of bone broth in the freezer!!!  Time to make some more.  I had potatoes and carrots and onions and we had a few mushrooms that were beginning to freeze in our garage fridge.  I had some canned tomatoes (I know, I know, I was just talking about canned foods, but I'm making progress).  Hubby suggested corn, so I had some canned corn.  OK, my thoughts on the canned foods I'm using.  I've found that the simple single ingredients don't seem to have as many chemicals as the foods that have many different food items together.  Have you looked at the canned "chili"?  It has textured vegetable protein (TVP)in it!  Anything like that I need to stay away from because of the food allergies.  And MSG!  And I remember reading somewhere that autolyzed yeast extract is another way of saying MSG.  Hubby and I recently looked at the label of an organic canned chili and if I remember correctly, it had TVP in it.  I prefer fresh, then frozen, then canned.  But, we have to be realistic too and have some food on hand for disaster preparedness.  So, I try my best to stick with the better canned foods. 

Back to the soup.  We'll call it, Whatever I Had On Hand Soup Of the Day.  I washed, peeled and chopped the carrots, potatoes, onion and mushrooms, a little smaller than bite sized, because I still have some smaller mouths to feed in this house. 

Sad looking veggies that are just right for soup making.

Veggies chopped a little smaller than bite size.

And then, because hubby is a hunter, we had some venison in the freezer that we thawed.  Some was already cut for kabobs, so I just cut them a little smaller, and the other was a back strap that I cut up.  I've learned from The Pioneer Woman and Rachael Ray, that browning the meat and veggies adds a dimension of flavor, so I heated up my pot and melted 1/4 cup of butter. 

Roughly cubed venison.

And while I waited for the butter to melt, I stood over the pot, watching it, with my hair pulled up in my choice of the day Lilla Rose Flexi-Clip.  I prefer to work in the kitchen with my hair up and my Lilla Rose hair jewelry holds my hair up with style and doesn't hurt!  Back to the soup.

My Lilla Rose Flexi-clip holding my hair up and out of the way.

Then I added the cut up venison, seasoned with Celtic Grey Sea Salt and pepper and browned it for about 5 minutes. 

Venison meeting the melted butter.

Venison gets seasoned.

Then I added the veggies and seasoned again. 

Time for the venison and veggies to get happy.

After the meat and veggies had some time to get happy together, I added some pre-chopped garlic as an afterthought and then the canned tomatoes and bone broth to the party, along with the water I used to rinse out the tomato can. 

Bone broth from the freezer, crushed tomatoes and Celtic Sea Salt.

After the meat, veggies, garlic, tomatoes and bone broth started to sing, I added the canned corn, drained (you could probably rinse them too, if you wanted to) and about a cup of alphabet pasta.  I let it continue to simmer at a bubbling pace (medium to medium-high), for about 8 or 9 minutes, according the directions on the pasta box.  The corn and pasta were afterthoughts, after hubby and I took the pictures.  Very little math done here today.  I just went with what I felt was going to work. 

Time for a happy dance!

The family all really liked the results.  All but one ate the soup and the one who didn't is my pickiest eater, and the one with the worst of the food allergies.

Now, Downton Abbey!  Tonight is the premier of Season 4!!!!  We are having a mini party here for it.  I'm going to be watching with my oldest, 2 of her friends who live close by and my 2nd oldest daughter is going to join us tonight.  I will be making some scones, lavender shortbread and white chocolate hot cocoa with a splash of lavender extract.  If I have time, I might add something else into the mix.  I have some Petite Palmiers hanging around that I could make some caramel toffee sauce for dipping in, if I have time.  I happen to have some smoked salmon on hand, that I picked up at Costco a few days ago.    It has been a long wait for this season.  I didn't get around to watching the repeats that PBS ran.  I'll try to post about the fixings and what we think about tonight's show.  I think the only New Year's Resolution I have is to blog more often.  I enjoy this, and I want to do this more often.  Life sometimes gets busy though, so I'll do my best.

So how about you?  Do you watch Downton Abbey?  Do you like to make or buy special goodies for watching it?

Learning From Mistakes Can Be A Very Good Thing

Mistakes.  They happen.  Nobody really likes them.  They can be discouraging.  But, they can also be a very good thing.  If we can admit them and learn from them and use them for change, the kind of change that encourages improvement.

I try not to expect my children to be perfect, because nobody really is perfect.  Instead, I would rather them be capable of learning from their mistakes.  Who really likes to be reminded of their mistakes?  Most people don't want to be told of or reminded of their mistakes.  Funny mistakes are a whole different story.  But, I'm talking about the mistakes we don't think are funny.

This morning was a frustrating school morning, that almost seemed overwhelmed with mistakes.  It wasn't really, but it just felt like it.  My 8-year-old doesn't like being told she made mistakes in her work, or that she needs to correct them and sometimes, such as with spelling, to write it correctly 5 times.  This morning was such a morning.  So, I talked to her about admitting the mistakes, learning from them and trying to do better the next time.  She wasn't the only one who had mistakes to correct today.  But, I think that the conversation (which was in more depth than I wrote here) that I had with her today, reached her heart.

I also had conversations with most of the children about how doing well in their schoolwork affects their adult lives.  Talked about doing your best, in a good time frame, how it relates to paying bills as an adult.  How learning to be responsible as a child helps you to be responsible as an adult.  How schoolwork really does have an importance.  You get the idea.  My oldest has already had conversations like this with me before.

That, in a nutshell, is how my morning went.  I don't know about you, but sometimes I'd like to sit down with a bit of chocolate after a morning like that.  So, I thought about making some cookies.  But, I have a pile of schoolwork to go through and I need to get some stuff ready for tomorrow.  Hmmm....oldest asked to make these cookies two weeks ago for a friend and made a big mistake....fortunately the mistake didn't affect the taste, but it was one of those funny mistakes that I caught in the making...literally.  After I caught it, she fixed it, but it wasn't until after the cookies were made, that I realized the same mistake was made in another part of the recipe.  Like I said, it didn't affect the taste, but it did affect how many cookies the recipe yielded.  SCORE!  She needs to learn from her mistake!!!!!  So, she is now in the kitchen, learning from her mistake and I get cookies from it!!!!

Mistakes.  They happen.  Nobody really likes them.  They can be discouraging.  But, they can also be a very good thing.  If we can admit them and learn from them and use them for change, the kind of change that encourages improvement.

And that, my friends, is how I'm choosing to see today as a time of teaching my children about learning from mistakes and getting my chocolate fix at the same time!  My oldest's future family will thank me.  And she might too.

My Downton Abbey Obsession and My Desire for British Yummies

Wow, time flies when you are busy.  It has been too long since my last post.  Sorry about that.  We were so busy enjoying time with friends and family, that I almost feel like our door was a bit of a revolving door.  I did a lot of baking during the month.  I also did a lot of knitting for Christmas gifts.  So between knitting and baking for Christmas, lots of visiting over the holidays, and celebrating some birthdays (posts on those cupcakes to come), it was a  very busy time for us.

We took a little break from schooling too.  Oldest and I discovered Downton Abbey.   Have you seen Downton Abbey yet?  Or at least heard about its popularity?  If you haven't heard about it yet, where have you been?  We spent our down time catching up in the series, so that we could start the third season when it aired.  Admittedly, it was hard to not go on to the next episode after we finished one.  We managed to watch two episodes a day.  We had to be responsible too.  We finished the second season, literally two hours before the third season started!  We were so happy with the way we spaced it out, so we weren't chomping at the bit for the next episode.  I have a friend who caught the "fever" along with us and waits  for PBS to post the episode online to watch it.  I'm serious!  She doesn't have a TV, so she waits in anticipation for them to post it!  It is that good of a series!

Now that oldest and I are engrossed in the series, I've started wanting British yummies!  Especially since another friend, that I had turned on to the series, told me that her newspaper had Downton Abbey recipes.  Boy, I was a tad bit jealous!  I had to make something soon!  I've made scones before and love them.  I've also made shortbread before and love that.  But, recently, I started remembering the Welsh cookies we made back when we did our unit study on the UK.  Yep, had to have some of them, because they were that good.  [I printed out the recipe that we used and have tried to get the link set up from here, but for some reason, the link gets rerouted to an error screen.  I've tried for about three days now and it isn't fixed yet, so I am just going to post the recipe here and if it gets fixed, I'll add the link to the original.]  They are called a cookie, but I'd consider them to be more like a tea cake or biscuit.

Welsh Cookies  (adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour 
2 tsp baking powder
1pinch salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup dried currants
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration.

Directions:

1.  Mix flour, baking powder, salt and the 1/2 cup sugar in medium bowl  until well blended.  Cut in butter or margarine and shortening with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.  Toss in currants.  (If you don't have currants, raisins work just fine.  Currants are just smaller, so easier to manage when cutting the cookies.)

2. Beat egg and milk with a fork in a 1-cup measure; add to flour mixture; mix gently with fork, just until blended. Dough should be consistency of pastry dough.

3.  Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness with floured rolling pin on lightly floured pastry cloth or board.  Cut with 3 inch floured cookie cutter.

4.  Heat greased griddle or large heavy skillet over moderate heat until a few drops of water jump when dropped on surface.  Cook cakes, a few at a time, 3 minutes, or until golden brown on second side.  (Here is where you need to pay attention to them.  The time depends on your griddle.  Some keep heat better than others and you need to know your griddle to avoid burning the cookies.  Watch the cookies closely.  Cutting all of them out before cooking will also help to not burn them.)  Remove to wire rack.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Let cool completely, then wrap in plastic bags to store.  Can also be frozen.  (Honestly, they haven't lasted long enough to be frozen here)

I used a new griddle that my in-laws gave me for Christmas, so I was still getting used to how it heats and keeps heat.  These cookies are really good and they aren't too sweet.  Perfect for consumption with tea or coffee or hot chocolate or maybe even warm milk and an episode of Downton Abbey.

I have some more Downton Abbey inspirations I'm toying with, some I've done before and some I found on Pinterest or the internet.  I'll post them as I try them.

As I Sit and Think About Sandy Hook...

My heart is heavy for a community that is mourning.  For a country that is asking why?  For a country that is asking why, again?  For families that are feeling numb. There are so many questions that all of us are asking and don't have the answers for.  This has us thinking, deeply.  All I do know, is that there are no easy answers to all of this.

People are crying out, "Gun Control!"  But, gun control is not going to solve this problem.  It is only a part of the solution.  Think about the times that guns have not been used to kill people.  Bombs have been used.  Chemicals have been used.  Airplanes have been used.  Yes, I think there should be some gun control.  I said some.  I believe in the right to bear arms.  I think there is a line that should not be crossed by the general public though.  My husband is a hunter and a responsible gun owner.  I believe that people have a right to own a gun to provide food for their families and/or people in need.  We have family and friends who donate their hunting harvest to organizations that feed people in need. I am not the only one who believes that gun control is not the whole answer.  This blog was brought to my attention this morning and has some good points.  The reality is, there are responsible gun owners.  And then there are the other gun owners.  And then I think the problem lies within the person behind the gun much of the time, but not always.

Why does the problem not always lie with the person behind the gun?  I think that sometimes these people have a mental illness.  I also read this blog this morning, about a mother of a boy living with mental illness, who struggles to care for her son.  Her story will make you think twice about judging the family of one of these people.  Our country is failing these people who need help and can't get it.  I'm not saying to lock these people up and throw away the key.  There must be a better solution than that.  There has to be a humane way to help them.

I also think that our country has lost it's morals.  We've taken God out of our schools.  What our country was founded on is no longer allowed in the school systems.  Yes, maybe some thought patterns of the past needed to be changed, but there are some fundamental ideals that are sorely missing.  Even if you don't believe in God, you can't argue the benefits of the Ten Commandments.  Can you?  They are basic standards of how to treat others as well as yourself.  Our country has lost sight of that.  In the effort to accept everyone, we are also accepting people behaving badly.  Our country has become very selfish.  Am I on a soapbox right now?  Maybe.  But, I firmly believe this is a very big part of the problem!

This video states much of what I believe.

Many of my regular readers are aware that I am a homeschooling mom.  When my oldest was approaching Kindergarten age, the massacre at Columbine happened.  I could not imagine the pain those families were going through.  What the students experienced at such a young age.  It was at that time, that we started hearing about homeschooling and learned about it.  There have been difficult days, but we don't regret our choice to homeschool.  When we hear about these events on the news, we are even more grateful that we homeschool.  Now, there is a place for public and private schools.  Homeschooling is not for everyone.  We have family and friends who are working in the public and private schools.  I'm glad they are.  The schools need people like them.

Like I said, there are no easy answers.  And we may never really know why.  And this is what I have been thinking while thinking about Sandy Hook.  I pray that God wraps His arms around all those who are hurting in the wake of this tragedy.