Meet Sophie!

This is our new puppy Sophie! We haven't even met her yet...we go to pick her up on Dec. 13th, from a breeder just north of Anchorage.
We feel slightly nuts for breaking in a new puppy right when we're moving, but there's not much we can do about the timing.
We've been researching LGDs for a while now...Livestock Guardian Dogs. LGD's are bred specifically for protecting livestock, not as herders, but perimeter guards. Puppies are socialized with the goats/sheep they will be guarding (it will be difficult for me to let her be an outside dog while she's in her puppy stage!), and trained to bark at appropriate stimuli and to protect their farm. It's quite the fascinating subject if you're interested!
We started researching LGD's when we knew we would be moving back to MP. While the pack of "wild" dogs in our neighborhood do well at deterring bears, we're leaving that irony of a helpful nuisance. Our criteria for an LGD was tough: a dog of a true LGD breed, while of a breed less likely to be constant barkers and diggers. Must be good with children. And available in AK for a reasonable price.
The closest we could find that would fit our criteria were some Maremmas in PA for $800 each! And then, on a brief "chance," Mark noticed an ad on craigslist for Saint Bernard/Great Pyrenees puppies. When he tried to go back to it, the ad was gone (puppy ads get flagged and removed quickly on craigslist, to discourage puppy mills, I guess). So we just posted a request for whomever had listed the puppies to contact us, which they did shortly thereafter.

Well, we feel that this puppy is the perfect find (we'll see how we feel in a few months in the midst of bark training)! Her sire (bottom pic) is a purebred Saint Bernard. They're sociable, quiet and affectionate, and absolutely faithful to their owners and family. Because of these traits, they've become a great family dog. They also make good watchdogs, as their size can be startling to strangers, though their temperament is actually mild.
Sophie's dam is a Great Pyrenees/Landseer Newfoundland mix (below). By nature, the Great Pyrenees is confident, gentle, and affectionate. While territorial and protective of their flock or family when necessary, this breed's general demeanor is one of quiet composure, both patient and tolerant. They are strong willed, independent and somewhat reserved, yet attentive, fearless and loyal to their charges--both human and animal. Landseers are a cross of Great Pyr and Black Curlycoat Retrievers, developed when Pyrs were brought to Newfoundland as livestock guardians. The Retriever mix added an adeptness around water.

So, after 8 years with our beloved but short Abby, we're in for a huge dog! She'll get to weigh between 120 and 140 lbs. I'm sure it will be hysterical to watch Abby and Sophie together as Sophie grows! (For those of you who have never met Abby, she looks like a husky/shepherd mix...minus the legs). We're really excited about the experience of training an LGD, and thrilled to develop an extra measure of protection against the bears, for the sakes of the goats, the future chickens, and our family. We'll keep you posted on life with Sophie! We named her Sophie from the Hebrew name Tzofiya, meaning "scout," "guard," or "watchman." We pray she lives up to her name!

Friday Funnies

Lately Jacob (as I suppose can by typical of boys) has enjoyed using words like "pee-pee" and "poop" and "butt," in out-of-context rude ways...just trying to get a reaction, I guess. I'm not sure what brought it on, especially as we know it doesn't come from Andrew. In our house, we discipline sins with the mouth (back-talking, rudeness, lying, etc) with "medicine" to help remind it to talk kindly, etc..."medicine" being a touch of Tabasco to the tongue.

At any rate, we were in the van, and Elmo was along for the ride with Jacob. I hear from the back seat some random talk about a butt, though I can't remember it verbatim now! We've been over this a zillion times with Jacob, so I didn't have much patience for it.

"Jacob, do you need some medicine for that mouth, since it's talking so rudely?"
"That wasn't me. It was Elmo."
"Tell Elmo that if he keeps talking like that, he's going to get some medicine."
"I can't. He's asleep."
"But he was just talking. How can he be asleep?"
"He was really tired and fell fast asleep just right now."

And when I don't know whether to get frustrated and push the issue or to just laugh right out loud, I generally opt to just end the conversation with silence!

THE Thankful Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving! Granted, it's the end of the day here, and for the majority of blog readers its already Friday-sorry! But I love celebrating Thanksgiving! It's in our human nature to both be forgetful and to take things for granted...both things God admonishes us not to do!

Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the thing your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

I Thessalonians 5: 16-18
By joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

We are extremely grateful for so many things this year.

• For God's Spirit moving in and through our church...lives touched, ministries sustained, people changed, God glorified in so many ways
• For our children, who are a delight and a joy (or really good tools the Lord uses to teach us things like patience). :)
• For the way God is leading us through seemingly odd circumstances-our house that we bought just a year ago is now sold despite the incredibly horrible housing market, and God is making a way for us to move back to MP.
• For our humble start in hobby farming...we love our goats, we're excited about the future with them-and that we just found a Livestock Guardian Dog (well, puppy at this point) that we'll bring home in a few weeks (good for the goats, the future chickens, and our own kids as we move back into the potential for bear trouble).
• The Holy Spirit has been, for about 2 years now, making our hearts tender to the plight of orphans around the world...and opening our eyes to our responsibility to love and care for them. We're praying our way through the process of choosing domestic vs. international, choosing an agency, selecting a country from which to bring home our fourth child.
• That the moose we hit on the way home from my parents house tonight did very little damage to the van, the moose landed dead in the ditch and not on the road, and that Mark is such a skilled driver to get us nearly stopped on icy roads in blowing snow within seconds of the moose running out into the highway.

There's lots more, obviously, but I'm also thankful that the boys get two overnights this weekend...they got to stay at Gramps and Grandma's tonight, and Aunt Becca is taking them sledding Friday and then they get to stay overnight at her new cabin on Friday night. Which means that tomorrow, I get to do all my Christmas wrapping and work on sewing projects that need to be finished before Christmas...so that I have a prayer of being ready to move on January 3rd. Read: I'm going to bed to get a good nights' sleep since the one who wakes us up several times a night isn't here, and then I'll be ready to tackle lots tomorrow!

Not typical...

Most people don't generally post pictures of crying, even screaming babies. But I was just experimenting with some of the new picasa features for collages, and, well, had these pictures that actually crack me up. I had been trying to take a nice picture of her sitting on the porch, and she was in no mood. But I took a picture anyway, which made her mad. So I took a picture of her mad, which made her more mad...you get the idea! :)

Progress

Okay, I'm making progress at getting back to blogging.
I've gotten over our missing pictures. We still haven't been able to connect with Dustin and Christy, despite seemingly valiant attempts at getting our schedules together. Maybe not so valiant on their part? Nah...they've already put in their order for the dinner menu. :)
I've installed Picasa 3, I've unloaded our vacation pics securely, and today actually took just half an hour to actually sort our vacation pics into appropriate files. Soooooo...should be easy (or at least easier) to get started blogging them. Hang on to your hat once I get started!
Oh, and another Jacob/Elmo tale for Friday coming up this week, too!

Friday Funnies

Last week I mentioned Jacob's imagination, and the comical results thereof.
Here's another example.
He has his little stuffed Elmo that is a pretty constant companion, especially at night. He also recently comandeered a stuffed Larry the Cucumber that Anna had just gotten.
He was in bed, and was supposed to be asleep, but we can hear him talking to himself. He finally comes out of his room to talk to Mark about his trouble sleeping...

Daddy, I can't sleep. Elmo and Larry won't stop talking.

Friday Funnies

As some of you may know, Jacob is prone to falling. Just glancing at the right side of his head, you'll see a faintly purple indentation on the edge of his ear, just two inches below a slightly bald spot (more evident when his hair has just been cut), where his hair won't grow through a 1/2 inch scar that should have had stitches. The two scars were gained about 2 years apart from each other, with several lesser injuries inbetween, but all falls! The boy can trip and fall not just from walking down the hall, but from just standing still. Happens frequently. (Side note: selling our house is related to mold issues which is related to Jacob's allergies which is related to his ears which we're hoping is related to his falling...hoping b/c otherwise, well...)

In fact, just two weekends ago we finally had him in the ER for a concussion (ed. note..."finally" as in "can't believe he's four and this is the first time we've actually brought him to the ER). He fell, from a standing position, off the arm of the couch. Why was he standing on the arm of the couch? I don't know. Call me irresponsible, but I didn't actually see it. I'm not sure there would have been a good reason. Anyway, within minutes he felt nauseous, and there was really not much of a bump on his head-a bad sign, meaning it may be swelling on the inside instead. We were headed to town anyway that day, so I kept on eye on him, and he swung back and forth between his usual happy self and crying about his headache and saying he was going to throw up. So, to the ER for a CAT scan, which showed nothing major, and he's been fine since the day after. Just another example of why his Gramps calls him "Head Wound Harry."

You also may or may not know that Jacob has an incredible imagination. He's always pretending something, often including in the game his siblings or his stuffed animals or his imaginary friend Fitch (not the same friend as Andrew's Fitch, who has different color hair, in case you're wondering).

At this point, you're probably thinking that I haven't blogged in so long, I've forgotten how to connect a post title and the post content. Or that politics has spoiled my sense of humor. Or just plain forgotten that I titled this post "Friday Funny," and up to this point-which is very long way from the beginning-I haven't mentioned anything funny.

Well, here it is. All the rest was just context. With that much context needed, I maybe should have found another funny, but this just cracked us up, and this blog is more for our memory's sake than for your entertainment.

It was the end of the day, and Jacob and I were in his room getting him ready for bed. He was just leaning against his dresser when he fell over.
He sighed exasperatedly as he got back up, saying

"Mom, Fitch just keeps pushing me and pushing me and making me fall."

So it's not the mold. It's Fitch. Too bad the house is already sold.

Be vigilant about your rights...

One concern over which American parents need to be on guard is over their right to parent!
I know this is a little lengthy, but I think it's worth the time to read, especially if you've never heard of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Although we do not know what Barack Obama’s specific position on the treaty is, we know that future Vice President Joe Biden has publicly indicated that this UN Convention should be ratified by the United States. Only two nations in the world, the US and Somalia, have not ratified this Convention. And with good reason.
Be informed, watch, and pray...and stand against the tyranny when the time comes.

"Imagine if . . .”
Posted by: Peter Kamakawiwoole on November 10th, 2008Tag(s): Convention on the Rights of the Child • Danger to Parental Rights • UNCRC • United Nations
The Reality of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Imagine an Air Force mom, serving her country on a month-long deployment, who learns that her daughter has been secretly removed by local authorities, claiming the child has been “abandoned.” Children begin mandatory sex-education at the age of four, regardless of their family’s opinions, beliefs, or convictions, and parents are imprisoned if their children fail to receive any of their mandatory vaccinations. Parents live in a state of constant supervision and suspicion.
Imagine if your national government had the audacity to appoint a “guardian” to monitor your child from birth, charged with the legal responsibility to evaluate your decisions as a parent and armed with the legal authority to “intervene, prevent or rectify” any violations of your child’s rights. Public and private schools alike are policed by the national government, and classes begin with singing about the principles of peace, tolerance, and the United Nations. Your child’s confidential medical records, stored in a nation-wide electronic register from birth until age twenty, can be accessed at any time, without your knowledge, by any physician, teacher, or government social worker in the nation.
Now stop imagining, because for parents in the 193 countries that have ratified the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, each of these scenarios is true.
Constant Supervision and Suspicion
Since its adoption by the United Nations in 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has become the most widely accepted international agreement in history, ratified by every nation of the world except for the United States and Somalia. All signatories pledge to protect children’s rights, foster their development, and uphold their best interests by re-writing their national laws to conform to the standards set forth in the treaty.
While all this may sound harmless and even commendable, the reality is that the Convention allows and even demands that national governments interfere in the decisions of individual families and parents. By invoking the “best interests of the child ,” policymakers and government agents have the authority to substitute their own decisions for those of the child or parent. In short, parents lose their rights to be parents, and become merely caregivers. The result, as parents across the globe are now discovering, is that the family is being steadily undermined, often with tragic and devastating results for the very children who are supposed to be protected.
The Need for Vigilance
Thankfully, the United States still remains the sole organized government of the world that has rejected the Convention on the Rights of the Child, because our elected leaders emphatically rejected the Convention’s incursions on American law and the American family. America believes that international committees and courts should have no authority in the affairs of her families, and that the right and responsibility of lawmaking should be wielded only by her own sons and daughters.
This emphatic resistance, however, must be more than simply a one-time stand, for without vigilance on the part of its citizens, America is unlikely to remain the last stalwart defender of parental rights. Nations across the globe are reaffirming their commitment to the Convention every day, and domestic scholars, activists, judges, and politicians continue to urge us to join them.
To challenge their cries, ParentalRights.org will be taking a closer look at countries who have been recently cited by the United Nations as “model-governments” in the battle for children’s rights. Beneath their shiny veneer of success are stories and movements that reveal the dangers taking shape beyond our borders. Americans everywhere need to be informed about the true nature of the international movement for “child rights.” In short, they need to hear the stories of real parents, in real countries, who are becoming the real casualties of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Friday Funnies

Fast and Pray...

...for at least the next four years.

Lord, help us all.

Okay, update:
Click here for an incredibly encouraging post from Beth Moore's blog. It helps us to bear in mind that regardless of what fallen human is in the office of President of the United States, that human will never trump God as Lord of the Universe!

Please, head on over to her post, and bask in the knowledge that we are the Lord's, and He is sovereign.

Fast and Pray

I generally shy away from discussing politics, and certainly don't post about them on my blog. And I've probably waited too long to comment at this point, but will post anyway.

I have never before been so concerned about the potential results of an election. The conditions and issues our country is facing are complex, and I know there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution. But the positions and policies that Barack Obama holds and will seek to implement are on a collision course with biblical principles and beliefs. And the next president will likely have 2, maybe more, opportunities to nominate new justices to the Supreme Court. The Court will be handing down rulings that will impact our country for generations to come.

What does Obama value? Certainly not life. He voted four times against legislation that would have saved the lives of babies that managed to survive the abortion process. When asked during the "Saddleback Forum" by Pastor Rick Warren "At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?" he replied "Answering that question with specificity, you know, is, uh, above my grade." He has promised that "the first thing I'd do as president" would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. The FOCA is so broadly written that it will overturn nearly every local, state, and federal anti-abortion law passed in the last 40 years, and may prevent institutions and physicians from refusing to provide abortion services.

Obama said earlier this year, in discussing sex education and abortion "I've got two daughters, 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby." Hmm...so it's values and morals we have to murder a baby?

I KNOW there are many Christians out there who, beyond my comprehension, vote for pro-abortion candidates because "there are so many other important issues that affect the children already alive." Regardless of our opinion on social issues, Christians should certainly be representing the heart of God in their vote. Yes, I'm sure that poverty and AIDS and inequality sadden God. Yet the proposed solutions for our social ills are both numerous and unproven...regardless of which political party offers them. But certainly God detests murder.

There are lots of other issues that should give Christians pause in voting for Obama. Want your kindergartener taught comprehensive sex education? Obama can do that for you. Want hate-crimes legislation passed that could lead to pastors across the country being arrested for preaching and teaching the Word of God on homosexuality? Obama can do that for you. You want an inexperienced President who spent only 143 working days in the Senate prior to announcing his run for President and who authored no significant legislation during that time? Obama can be that for you.
*Much of this has been paraphrased from the Focus on the Family Action Newsletter we rec'd in the mail this month. They have all of their sources annotated if you're interested...

Who knows...maybe God is intending his judgment on our country by allowing the most ungodly president yet to be elected. We can't know the mind of God, but we can certainly seek His face and His favor. Below I've pasted in a prayer guide sent by the Alaska Family Research Council. I hope you find it helpful in fasting and praying for our country, esp. over the next 24 hrs.

HOW WE CAN AND SHOULD PRAY NOW
" If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land." 2 Chron. 7:14

Prayer, human communication with the living God, is often used as a last resort when in fact, it should be the foremost strategy we employ to guide our ways. As we approach the voting booths tomorrow, let's each take the time beforehand to also approach the throne with confidence and wisdom.

For those running for office at the national, state and local levels.
• Pray that men and women of righteousness will be elected to every office. Prov. 14:34, Prov. 29:2, 2 Sam. 23:3-4
• Pray for wise counsel and discernment for our leaders. Phil 1:9-11
• Pray for our leaders to be guided by God. Prov 21:1
For those voting.
• Pray for citizens to vote, resisting complacency and passivity. Amos 6:1
• Pray for discernment and wisdom for voters. Isaiah 11:2-3
For those involved in the election process.
• Pray that election officials will be strengthened to complete their work accurately. Psalm 68:35
• Pray that every official will serve with integrity. Prov. 11:1
For those praying.
• Pray that God would raise up men, women and children across this nation to intercede. Ezek. 22:30
For the Church.
• Pray that God would continue to awaken the Church to be engaged and empowered during this critical time. Isaiah 9:7
For our nation.
• Pray that God's plans and purpose for our nation would be established during this election season. Psalms 33:11 and Isaiah 46:10
• Pray that God's will would be done in our nation. Matthew 6:10

Be encouraged and take heart. God is in control, and He hears our prayers. " Blessed be God, because He has not rejected my prayer or removed His steadfast love from me !" Psalm 66:20