Religious freedom and children’s rights

The seizure of 460 children from the LDS fundamentalist compound in Texas(New York Times: Deal to Return Children to Sect Breaks Down) was done because officials feared children were being abused, in part by the sect’s custom of marrying very young girls off to older men. From what I have read, this indeed was [...]

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Update on the swimsuit thang

I found my other half! Half a swimsuit, that is. Just got back from Wal-Mart where I found a navy blue ‘tennis skirt’ complete with bike shorts underneath for $10.97. The length is good for me and it looks very cute and patriotic with my red and white swim top. [...]

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The skirts that weren’t even a gleam in my eye this morning.

This morning I got up with no intent to sew. But then my 10 and 12 year old daughters came out of their room in skirts, which inspired insatiable skirt-envy in my 3 and 5 year olds. That’s when I remembered some extra fabric and elastic in a bin in the laundry [...]

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What I’d give for a really good swimsuit

Thinking of all the time I’ll be spending at the pool this summer, the other evening I spent a longlonglong time at LandsEnd.com looking at swimsuits. I must have had a dozen windows open at any given time, plus one of my older daughters at my elbow much of the time for advice. [...]

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Creeping crud

eww….I’m feeling not so good tonight. I think that sleeping with my coughing hubby and coughing 3 year old for the past few nights may be catching up with me. That and my horrid habit of staying up way to late. I’m off to bed. More later. [...]

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From dinner

We made kimbap (Korean sushi minus the raw fish) for dinner and it looked so pretty I just had to share pictures.

Since I didn’t have any beef, I used ham strips, which I ended up not liking. The ham flavor just seemed wrong to me. I ended up making a few [...]

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First swim

This deck is going to be awesome. See that corner way back under the tree? That’s where I’ll be spending my summer.

Testing the water — just right!

Waiting for dad to get enough deck nailed down. Kids paced around the pool all morning in their swimsuits and towels.

Bliss! (That is, if [...]

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Memorial: Childhood church

I can’t think about that church without thinking about my father.
It was built 35 years ago when I was in kindergarten. We lived next door, and every day during the build my dad and I would walk around the building site inspecting the progress. First footings, deep in the earth. Then [...]

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Sunday

Dedicated to Steven Curtis Chapman and his family.
I Will Lift My Eyes (mp3)
By Bebo Norman
God, my God, I cry out
Your beloved needs You now
God, be near, calm my fear
And take my doubt
Your kindness is what pulls me up
Your love is all that draws me in
I will lift my eyes to the [...]

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The pool in numbers

Money
(Used but good quality) 18′ pool–$250.
Small backhoe (4 hour rental)– $160
New liner–$180
Chemicals and test kit–$40
Concrete and deck posts–$120
Tarp underlayment– $50
Sand for underlayment– $20
New skimmer for pool –$40
——
$860 so far (this will probably total $1200 by the time we buy the rest of the deck wood)
——

Time (multiple people working simultaneously in most cases)
Level site– 8+ [...]

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