Forest of the Plains

Memorial Day is a National Holiday to honor Americans who died fighting in a war. So why is it that my pacifist congregation (and many others) holds Memorial Day services? I just don't understand a bunch of pacifists observing a military holiday!

I do understand the desire for a congregation to remember members who have died. I think that rememberance should occur on All Souls Day, around Easter, or at another time that is not associated with military action.

I forget that not everyone who reads my blog also reads John's! Here are some recent pictures of Jacob. (Sorry - they've been posted on John's blog for about a week now.) He's wearing my dad's first birthday outfit. Jacob is bent over in so many of the pictures because he's trying to eat the grass...

So, I got this torture device, a tongue screw, for Mother's Day. It was from my mother. She described it as "the perfect gift for your first Mother's Day and no one else will even think of giving it to you". Indeed, no one else gave me a tongue screw!

I tried to find a picture online. Though there is much discussion of Maeyken Wens' tongue screw experience (and a commentary on her letters here), no one seems to have a picture. So, here is a picture of mine:


***
A little background:
When I was in college I did a speech on Anabaptism, and included Maeyken's story.

Funny facts:
Replica tongue screws were commissioned by the Mennonite Board of Missions, which no longer exists and was absorbed into the Mennonite Mission Network. The idea was to use the tongue screws as OUTREACH! I can just hear it, "Come join the Mennonites. We have tongue screws!" "Oh wow, a tongue screw. Now I know this is the church for me!"

Also, if you google "tongue screw" you get tons of hits about Maeyken, followed by links for wood floors.
***

So, Mom works for the Mission Network and so that's how she knew about the tongue screws. There's even a whole pamphlet printed up about them.

If you read all of the Maeyken story, you'll learn that her son dug her tongue screw out of her ashes and carried it with him. So, the relavance to Mother's Day? Here's what I got: If you set a good example then your children will respect you for it and carry your example with them for the rest of their days.

I love Chronic Babe. I first found Chronic Babe while searching online for Raynauds-friendly socks. Reading the site helps me feel less depressed about my health, and there are great tips for living with chronic conditions.

While pregnant with Jacob, I emailed the editor and asked for some resources on being pregnant with a chronic illness. Today the first of a three-part series was posted on Pregnancy and High Blood Pressure. While I don't have high blood pressure, I think the author's experiences can relate to anyone who is pregnant and chronic. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!

It's a contest! What part of this post catches your attention the most?

I received the following gifts:
vase
replica of a torture device used in the 1500s
chocolate bar
gift certificate for some coffee
wheelbarrow
babysitting

Jacob had been sick & throwing up all week, so he wasn't in the best of moods. I consider it a gift that I didn't get vomit or spit up on me all day long!

We ate lunch at John's parents' house, and my mom was there too.

In the afternoon I got to file a police report because my purse was stolen and John called around canceling credit cards, etc. Then we went to the nursery to buy a tree, but came home with a wheelbarrow instead.

In the evening Mom babysat while John and I went to a Swedish tea room for dinner. John was adventurous and had the Swedish Sampler. I stuck with the safer salmon.

Jacob has been attending a daycare facility two days a week since February. When I was in college I worked at a couple daycares and also had some child development practicums. I understood that daycares operate on a continuum from "oops, we got mad and threw your 6-week-old into a wall, sorry" to "meeting every need in a developmentally appropriate manner exactly the way you would like it to be done".

Generally Jacob's daycare is middle-of-the-road. He is fed, changed, played with, and spoken to nicely. He smiles at the regular workers as well as at the regular other kids. He has not had mysterious bruises or spiral fractures and he doesn't start screaming as soon as we arrive.

Nevertheless, sometimes things happen that surprise me. Such as the director's child being allowed to eat candy at will while the other children are not allowed to do so. Or a frantic phone call because the breastmilk was to be supplemented with 2 ounces of soy formula and soy made another child throw up, so they'd really rather not give Jacob the soy without a doctor's order. Or today:

"I hope I didn't feed him the squash too fast. He was a little fussy and when I started feeding him faster he stopped fussing. He finished the jar and I went outside to tell Mandy something and when I came back he had thrown up the squash."

These are the questions I wish I would have asked: So, my 7-month-old was left alone inside and he happened to throw up while he was unsupervised? How long was he unsupervised? Did he throw up because he was crying hard because he was alone? Was he left in the high chair or in a safe place?

In a month Jacob will be at a new daycare and we have extremely high expectations for his care there. I wonder what things will surprise me there?