Midwifery Bill

Yesterday Cristen and I drove to Montgomery around 9:00 am. After a quick Starbucks run we were on our way. We got to Union St. around 10:45, put money in the meter and started walking. We were in search of the State House. Our Maps IPhone App said it was located at 50 Ripley St South. This was not correct. It was actually 11 Union St. South. Only a block from our car.

We found the building and room with plenty of time to spare. We stood at room 727 for about 15 minutes but were informed that they were moving the Health Committee to the 8th floor. The meeting in room 727 was running long. So we headed up to the eighth floor and got second row seats (the row right behind the speakers).

We waited patiently. We finally started the hearing at Noon. Despite the late start we actually got out early! We were supposed to be last on the docket but were moved to the beginning b/c there were so many supporters present and many of them were pregnant. Never make a preggo sit for hours in a meeting room! Good thing the Senator knew that!

Susan Petrus, the President of ABC, spoke first and gave a quick and compelling breakdown of SB 238. Next an OB/GYN spoke in opposition to the bill. A Cumberland professor of law and ethics spoke next in support and he also made a rebuttal to the Dr. Lastly, Jennifer Moore, a midwife and vice president of ABC, spoke last. After she finished Senator Reed had one question for Jennifer. He wanted to know would the bill require CPM's to have an emergency transport plan in place? The bill does require a plan be in place along with many other things. This bill allows Alabama Mothers to have a choice of health care, good health care. Midwives would become legal but they will be required to be a CPM, which is a credential accredited by the NCCA.
The hearing went well and we are waiting to find out when the vote will take place.

If you would like to join us visit the Alabama Birth Coalition site and click Get Involved at the top.

Screen Free Week

Preschoolers spend an average of 32 hours of TV a week, more for older kids.

Since 1996, an organized effort has been made to support Screen-Free Week!

Join the movement and Learn More!

We have limited the kids screen time since the beginning but have never really limited ours. Next week our entire household will go screen-free! We will spend our time outside, playing games, cooking, and finishing special projects!

How much time would you have in a week if you turned off the TV? How much could you get done?

 I plan to find out next week!

MAJOR GOAL COMPLETE!!! (#32)

Last Friday I submitted the Payoff for one of our student loans!!!

Today the payment cleared the bank and....

Our student loan account looks like this....

We now just have 1 student loan and 2 credit cards to pay off before we can say we are Debt Free (other than our house)!!!

If you have ever struggled with debt or paid off debt then you know how I feel! The excitement, the encouragement, the increased motivation....

This is what we needed to put our Gazelle in over-drive!!!

(that is a Dave Ramsey term for those of you who don't Dave Ramsey it)

If you are debt free or working to be debt free I would love to hear from you and find out how long it took and how much you had to pay off.

Finances and #95

Yesterday, while blog stalking, a fellow blogger posted about her finances and the program she uses to manage them. She uses:

I decided to look it up and see if this would fit my needs! Boy did it! I have been wanting to purchase a software to keep up with all of my financial junk (#95), but never was willing to spend the money! So Mint is the best of both worlds! IT IS FREE!

Mint allows you quick access to all of your account balances: checking, savings, credit cards, mortgage, student loans, even investments/retirement! You can create a budget and track your spending, or set goals to become debt free. We are doing both!

My favorite feature: the Iphone APP! Who doesn't love a good APP!!!

Check it out....What do you think?

New Car Seat Guidelines

Monday the AAP released a new set of Car Seat Guidelines and they are Huge changes!

The biggest is that the Rear-Facing recommendations have been changed. It was 1 year AND 20 pounds. Now AAP is recommending that you keep your child rear facing until 2 year old, or until they reach the maximum height and weight for the seat as noted in the manual.

Also the AAP has made new booster recommendations. Children should ride in a high back booster until at least 4 feet, 9 inches AND 8-12 years old! Best practice is to wait until they are 80 to 100 pounds.

Obviously, we want was is best for our children and the way we know what is best in these types of cases is to follow guidelines. However, I think it is a pretty drastic change. Yes, I will follow the rules, but it will be hard! Mac has almost out grown, in length, the infant carrier he is in now. I have not looked into our other car seat but from what i remember it goes up to 100lbs in the booster position. We never used it in the RF position with Taylor so I am not sure what the weight and length are for that. Fortunately, Taylor is 3 so we don't have to worry about the front or rear delima but I have a feeling she will be in a booster until she is 15 b/c she is quite petite.

What do you think about these new guidelines?

Random Acts of Kindness

Today I decided to venture out of the house with our little man and go eat lunch with Morris. I picked him up at his office and he decided he wanted to go to the Egg & I. He had been before but I had not. When we got there we sat at a booth that had this table next to it:

At this table was a middle aged couple who quickly took an interest in our 3 week old Morris. We chatted it up with them for 5 or 6 minutes. They were very sweet! About 10 minutes after they left their table our waiter came over and said "The only thing that can make this food better is Random Acts of Kindness". Morris and I were really confused on where he was going with this statement and then he hit us with it...

He told us that the couple who had been sitting next too us, Picked up our check!

Morris and I were shocked! We both just became very over whelmed with emotion! We know what it is like to be in their shoes, this is the first time we have been on the other end of it!

We don't know their names and will probably never see them again, but one thing is certain....We will NEVER forget them!

Camera Questions

Many of you have really nice cameras and post amazing pictures on your blogs. I would really like to know what kind of camera you have and what lens is your favorite. I am looking at upgrading but I would like the advice of my fellow bloggers. You can either email me or just put it in a comment! Thank you all for your help!!

Great Post by Katie

Click here:
Shine a Light on Autism.

I did not know that April was Autism awareness month, but this post by Katie is a great way to kick it off!
Please read it!

Fear Not for I am with Thee

Last night the ladies bible study watched session four of Beth Moore's Esther class. I wanted to share some thoughts about the class with all of you.

At the beginning of the video Beth told us that she hoped to change our way of thinking about this particular topic. She began by reading Esther 4:10-16. These verses are a conversation between Esther and Mordecai about the destruction of the Jews in the kingdom. The conversation shows Esther going from Fear and Self preservation in verse 11 to "If I perish, I perish" in verse 16. Beth focuses on Esther choice to embrace her destiny that laid in front of her in Verse 14 when Mordecai says "If you keep silent at this time, liberation and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father's house will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this." What I love about these verses is that there is no confusion on whether Esther has a choice. It is clear that she can either rise up or she can keep silent, but either way, liberation and deliverance will come. But will it be through Esther, It is her choice to make. Will she choose to conquer fear and trust that God will be there? Will We?
 Beth talks about fear in a way I have never considered before. She presented the following simple sentence:

"IF THIS _________, THEN ___________."

In the first blank she asked us to place any and all fears we have. Whether it be a fear of death or loss, fear of your husband leaving you, fear of diagnosis, fear of failure, etc. Then in the second blank put what you would do if one of these fears actually happened. As I listened last night to the laundry list of possible fears, I scanned through my extensive catalog of personal fears (one of my biggest struggles). I put each one in the blank and proceeded to determine what would be in that second blank. What would I do? Tears began to stream down my face as if my fears were happening right before my eyes. I didn't know what I would do. Devastation? Hopelessness? Would I give up? Would I die? Would I live the rest of my life in anger? All seemed so possible. But as Beth said my enemy would have me! Every time I fear and think that if it happens I would just give up, then the enemy has me! He has control of me! Though many of my fears, if not all of them, will never happen, just the fact that I allow them to interfere with the decisions I make in life shows that the enemy has me! And he will continue to test me on it b/c he can get a psychological reaction from me! IT HAS TO STOP! The fear has to STOP! I hope that for the remainder of my life I will fight the urge to be fearful and make my sentence look a little more like this:

"IF THIS _________, THEN GOD!

Beth said our destiny is not fulfilled when we die. Our death is just part of it and our destiny is not fulfilled until Jesus returns to this earth! It has definitely made me think differently about death…..about how people die. Was Papaw really called to a courageous death? Was Lung cancer just a step in his destiny? How could he have possibly had a choice in this the way Esther did? Clearly I have had a lot of anger about this for MANY years! But I think this has really helped me think about it differently. Papaw had many choices during his battle with cancer. He had the choice to give up on his family and to give up on God. I watch him suffer but I NEVER saw him fail. He may have been physically weak, but he was incredibly strong! During his battle he prepared my Memaw for life beyond him. Obviously she could never be prepared for the pain of losing him, but she was prepared to live on this earth without him. He taught her the finances and bought her a safe vehicle. He made sure she was surrounded by people who could help her. He also NEVER gave up on GOD! He continued to study His word and attend services every chance his body would allow. He prayed for his family and was a strong influence on us all. Cancer may have taken his body but his life still lives in us all. And because he is still in my heart, he is still fulfilling his destiny, not just in heaven, but here on earth.

I love the way Beth says it “We need to live, live, live until we die, and in a blink of an eye, LIVE for eternity!”