Guest Post by Kate Ferry

A few years ago, the Ferry family experienced a traumatic death. We lost all our girls. During the winter, approximately 50,000 honeybees vanished from my backyard. They went into hibernation after Halloween and never woke up. I don’t know where they went, but come spring, there was no one home in either of my hives.

As the air began to warm and the flowers started turning their faces to the sun, the hives remained dark and empty. No one was home. Come the beginning of March, my worst fears were confirmed when the lids were lifted and not a soul was home. No droning hum. No fluttering wings on my hands. My girls were gone.

Honeybees have been a part of my life for many years now. I have a fondness for their company and I admire their lifestyle and work ethic. I devour honey and relish in the bi-annual collection of the blonde liquid. Their disappearing act and careless state of affairs that the hive was left in left me reeling. Questions kept running through my head and doubts clouded my mind…

Where did they go? Why were dead bee carcasses left in the hive and not carried out with all the waste honeybees unload daily? Why were the honeycombs still laden with amber food? Why did they vanish?

And, the question that stung the most…

What could I have done?

Low and behold the answers are still unknown. It appears that my hit was a case of Colony Collapse Disorder. CCD has been dotting headlines and major publications and news channels for the past few years. It is a mysterious enemy and is killing honeybees and destroying hives at an apocalyptic rate.

The beekeepers are helpless. It is a phenomenon of survival of the fittest. The bees are losing the war at a rate that will eventually devastate our food supply and the pollinated crops so many of us love.

My life as a beekeeper has been in a holding pattern until this year. I missed my girls. I missed the cyclical predictability of their season. I missed their comforting drone and buzz that fills my ears when inspecting the hives.

But, the list of excuses has been long and complicated for why these miraculous creatures have not come back into my life. The money hasn’t been there to start up the expensive hives from start. The time wasn’t there the summer after my daughter Beckett was born in August 2008. Sleep and eating on a semi-regular basis were higher priorities. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Truth be told, the nagging excuse that really kept the ship at bay was my conscience and dreadful fear. I didn’t want to lose another hive. I didn’t want to be disappointed and heartbroken. And, I didn’t want to let my girls down.

In April, I decided to take a deep breath and pulled my shoulders up straight. The order was placed for two boxes of bees and the arrival date was set for the first week for May. As soon as I got the phone call that the bees had arrived, I set about like a maniacal pregnant women counting down the days until the baby pops. I began prepping their house and cleaning out old hive boxes. The pollen patties that had been stored were set to thaw on the counter. The pot was bubbling on the stove and sugar syrup was under way. I wanted to open every door for the girls and give them every opportunity to survive and prosper.

A few days later, Beckett and I drove down to Burlington, Washington (about 30 miles away) and picked up the two boxes of honeybees. They are Italian – I call them my Italian lovelies. The trip home was filled with a monotonous, soothing drone intermixed with a toddler babbling “bees cute”.

The weeks before our fated trip to pick up the bees had been a personal struggle to find where to place the hives and how to provide the best protection for them. My first option was my mother’s home. She lives about 5 minutes from us and her property is 40-acres mixed with open fields and dense forests. The pollen sources available are varied and uniquely well rounded; there are snarled blackberry brambles, massive locust trees that touch the sky, gnarly old apple trees and dandelions as far as the eye can see. It is a wonderful home for honeybees.

My second option was the most obvious, our home and property. We are blessed to have a good size lot and the room to house a handful of hives if we wanted. One of my greatest joys with honeybees is the predictable rhythm of watching the bees go about their daily business.

Our home is also a honeybee’s paradise; we are surrounded by hundreds of acres of raspberry fields. But, the scientific evidence that points to the use of pesticides and other contaminants as a major contributor to their unexplainable death is overwhelming. Raspberries are notoriously one of the most chemical laden foods grown and our home is at the epicenter of this death trap. My mom’s house is a sanctuary in the country that offers enough pollen sources to keep the bees distracted and satisfied. I cannot observe them in my garden or watch their daily interactions, but I have loosely draped them with a safety net of sorts.

But, now the bees had arrived and their home was ready. The boxes of bees were filled to the gills with buzzing insects. The queen was carefully removed, placed safely inside the hive and the bees were dumped in. With a solid thump and shake, the bees fell into the hive like a cascade of sticky marbles – one unit of buzzing dervishes. The syrup feeder was filled. The pollen patty was smushed onto the frames. And, the hives’ lids went back on.

As their buzzing bodies were placed into their new homes, I said a prayer.

I pray that my bees live and flourish in my care and my yard.

I pray that they prosper on their staple diet of pollen and honey.

I pray that I am able to enjoy and deliver the golden nectar to my pantry and my fellow bee devotees.

I pray that my beekeeping fosters in Beckett a magical and wondrous respect for the honeybee.

I pray that my bees prepare for winter with steadfast determination and weather the storm with ease and grace.

I pray that my bees live and flourish.

Amen.

And, onward we go.

Here’s to a terrific, beautifully successful beekeeping season!

Any beekeepers (or future/hopeful beekeepers) out there? I would love to hear about your experience with your bees!

Written by Kate Ferry. Visit her blog at www.sacredbee.net to follow the Ferry family's effort to buy organic and local, reduce their waste and eliminate artificial and harmful products from their home.**

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Guest Post by Hallee

I have a new venture in my life. One recent morning in Sunday School, our teacher announced that our class would be one of four groups who would be volunteering with a local church's soup kitchen. That immediately got my attention. I had no idea my little town in central Kentucky had a soup kitchen.

I have always felt a strong calling from God to serve. Lately, it's become an almost audible voice in my ear. I've discussed it with my husband, Gregg, feeling like the call was to go "out" - to join a mission group, pack a suitcase, and go -- which would be a lot easier to consider if my husband wasn't in Afghanistan, leaving me at home alone with three children. The conflict between this call versus my duties and responsibilities and love and life here occasionally overwhelmed my emotions. I felt like I was suffocating.

As soon as I heard the announcement about the soup kitchen, I wanted to get to work. I didn't want to tarry while everything was coordinated, schedules were created, for me to wait my turn to go work just once a month. I now felt overwhelmed with this urgent, immediate feeling of "NOW".

The next week, I fought the urge to call the host church of the soup kitchen all week which would have preempted my own church's plans. I planned my youngest sons' 2nd birthday party, entertained my parents from out of town, and enjoyed a weekend mini-revival at my church. Vacation Bible School started on Monday, and all day I would reach for the phone to call the soup kitchen, but set it back down again. That night at VBS, where I worked in the kitchen feeding the staff and helpers and serving snacks to the kids, I talked with our pastor while he ate, confessing my desire to step forward and work right away.

He told me he was going to the church the next morning with our youth pastor and the head of the men's ministry, and invited me to join them. We worked Tuesday, getting an idea of what was needed so that schedules could be coordinated, and as we finished the day, the pastor told the head of the ministry that we would start our volunteer rotation in July.

I told her I'd be back the next day.

I found out that just one elderly woman cooked five days a week all by herself. At one time, there had been 2 cooks, but one of them hasn't worked for the last two months due to illness. That left this lone woman to do everything all by herself, and she confessed to me that she felt "plumb wore out." It was very easy to step up and say that I would start cooking even more.

My prayer is to be a complete blessing to this wonderful ministry. My family follows a Levitical diet. Among other things, we don't eat pork. The first morning serving at the soup kitchen, we took big cans labeled with nothing more than "U.S. Government Pork". We picked through the canned pig flesh and pulled out big chunks of fat and threw them out, then mixed the remaining meat with K.C. Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce (second ingredient: high fructose corn syrup). This we served on pre-packaged white bread hamburger buns, with Lays potato chips and canned peaches for sides. Dessert was a sugar-free cherry pie artificially sweetened with sucralose.

Almost all of the food is donated by amazing companies. There is a huge warehouse filled with cans and boxes and bottles, and the woman who runs it all (and who is the only other cook besides myself) sits down with her inventory and creates a menu plan. She does this on her own time, completely volunteer, and out of her heart.

The donated food isn't piece-meal, as if the product of a community food drive. There are giant pallets of boxed mashed potatoes or gallon cans of green beans. Corporations give, processing plants give, grocery stores give. A local grocery store gives all of their day-old bread and desserts by the truck full, and what isn't served that day is set on a table to be given out.

And this leads me to what I perceive as a very modern problem.

I'm going to pre-empt this by saying that I in no way am criticizing the ministry. I am not criticizing the generous companies that regularly donate this food to this organization. Nor am I criticizing the people who work so tirelessly, as volunteers, to serve this food to those who are clearly in so much need. What I am criticizing is the very existence of this food in the first place.

A woman came that day we served the BBQ sandwiches. She had a terrible headache and collapsed in the arms of the head cook, just sobbing, because she was so tired and so hungry and hadn't eaten for two days. People come into this church and eat two, three, sometimes four helpings because this is the only food they're going to get all day.

But the food is poisoning them.

Image by NatalieMaynor

I think I have been removed from the real world for too long. I live in my "real food" bubble, with my fresh fruits and vegetables, good meats, free-range eggs, organic dairy, and fresh milled flour. We choose to spend more on groceries and take more time on meals so that our family can benefit from the extra cost and the extra effort. In the end, we spend much less on health care. And when I have occasion to walk through the grocery store aisles, I have actually found myself getting angry with the volume of just pure junk that crowds the shelves.

I wonder when the tables turned. When did processed, chemical laden, nutrient lacking pre-packaged foods became the most economical, the most convenient, the thing that everyone wanted. Why does society just accept that a meal-in-a-box sitting on a grocery store shelf for possibly months at a time is 'as good' as fresh meat and fresh ingredients being used to make a dish of the same name?

I watch these poor, hungry people; so many of whom are sick, toothless, wheezing, hurting -- and I want to hug them and then feed them GOOD food. I want to offer them rich breads and hearty fresh produce. I want to make big batches of a bone broth and load it down with fresh vegetables and aromatic, medicinal herbs and serve it with fresh-baked whole grain bread.

But there is no way I can do that. I can't afford to feed hundreds of people a day all by myself. Even if I could afford it, I'm facing a society of people who don't understand that there is even anything wrong with the mega-farm, factory-processed, all-of-the-life-sucked-out-of-it ultra pasteurized, ultra-homogenized, artificially colored, artificially sweetened food.

I think as I became a "real foodie" and started making the best choices for my family, and as the last six years have gone by and I've removed myself from the junk food world, that I've put on blinders.

I find myself getting angry in the grocery store, then pretend that it isn't there. What? Hallee the Homemaker angry? Yes. I am. I watch shows like Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and get fired up about our kids' school lunches and the health of the children today, and assume that everyone else has the exact same reaction that I have to it. I assume that people just naturally care about it, and are willing to make the changes that I have made, all of which have so greatly improved our quality of life.

I assume that corporations know that the artificial this and that, the preservatives and industrial grade chemicals, the processing that they put food through -- I assume that they know how harmful to the health of consumers these things are and they are are willing to make changes that will better serve us in the end. And I am so very disappointed every time I read the labels of new products to find hydrogenated this and high fructose that all sweetened with aspartame.

Now I'm in the mix of it. Now I'm cooking with it. There simply is no other option. You can't tell someone who hasn't eaten for two days that they can't eat this food because it isn't good for them. I mean, come on.

The biggest problem is the ignorance (and I use this term in it's purist meaning - as in a lack of knowledge and education - and not in a derogatory manner) of most consumers in society. What do you have to do to food to make it shelf-worthy in cardboard for months? What do you have to strip away from it and add to it for that to happen? And why don't we seem to care?

In my perfect world, the donated food would come from local farms. It would take a few more volunteers and a lot more time and effort (A LOT more time and effort), but the food would be wholesome, nourishing, healing, and healthy. And it would more than fill the bellies of the people who eat it - it would benefit their lives, too.

I feel like maybe God is using me for this. Maybe He's sent my family on this real food path, sent us seeking all of the books and information and education. Maybe my exposure to the real foodie community through my blog and through such amazing sites like Keeper of the Home and Kelly the Kitchen Kop has been to prepare me for this ministry. Maybe this journey has brought me to this soup kitchen so that I can help impact it and start getting these people good food.

Yesterday, I talked with the owner of the fruit stand the boys and I walk to a few times a week - where we shop for all of our seasonal fruits and vegetables. After he donated a huge portion of the apples, pears, and peaches I needed for a bake sale, I talked to him about donating produce that he couldn't sell anymore to the soup kitchen. With his supplier contacts and local farming networks, I think that we can start getting some fresh food coming into the soup kitchen.

It's a start. I'm happy to start somewhere.

Hallee Bridgeman is a homemaker and mother of 3 in small town Kentucky who juggles cloth diapers, grain mills, two precocious toddlers, a teenager, and a ministry that has her feeding hundreds of people a week -- all while her husband is in Afghanistan. She has been blogging since August and covers everything from fresh ground whole wheat bread bowls and the breakdown model for Biblical womanhood, to how to clean chubby little lipstick hand-prints off of eggshell white walls. Hallee the Homemaker is delighted to be guest-posting for Keeper of the Home.

Image credit

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In theaters June 12 (I've already marked it in my calendar!)

It's about time a film made it to the theaters that will actually show some of the realities of the so-called "food" being offered to us these days. True confession of a nutrition geek: I was actually giddy when I saw the trailer for the first time. :)

Will you be there? Does this movie make anyone else as excited as it makes me?

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Yesterday morning started like any other day, but at 10 am, my husband asked me whether I would be okay with going to Seattle to stay with his family for a week or two. It was unexpected, but I understood the reasoning behind the request.

I'm not sure how many of you have heard the news from Vancouver, BC lately, but things have been a bit interesting of late. It seems there is a gang turf war underway, as we have had 17 shootings in the past 30 days, I believe. These shootings are generally targeted to either gang members or friends and family of members, but the more concerning aspect is how they are happening. The great majority have been in public places- in front of shopping malls, in parking lots, at gas stations, by coffee shops, and even drive by shooting as a car went through an intersection mere blocks from our old condo.

The gangs are brazen, and have no fear of the police or justice system. No one is being arrested, and no one seems to have any control over the situation. The violence has been escalating lately in the city where we live (a large suburb of Vancouver).

Despite all this, Ryan wouldn't have made a move to have the kids and I leave the city, until about 3 days ago, when a new tenant moved into the rental suite below our house (which we rent- we are not the landlords). We don't really know anything about the new tenant, and that is part of the concern. I haven't met her yet, but Ryan felt concerned when he met her (for various reasons- her appearance, her job, her demeanor, etc.). In light of all the violence, and the fact that the acts are not limited to gang members but also to acquaintances, he felt that it was best for us not to be in the house until either the violence simmered down a bit and/or he got more of a feel for this tenant and what she is like.

So, I rushed around and did laundry like a madwoman, packed up what we needed, and tried to leave behind a semi-tidy house and food for my husband, until we left around dinnertime. We're here, at my mother-in-law's for a week and a half, until the end of the month. We're continuing on with learning time (home school), cooking, my computer work, etc. but might try to add in a zoo trip, some visits, etc. while we're here.

Though we're not afraid of the circumstances going on right now and ultimately our trust is in our sovereign God and His good plans for us, I am happy to be here and thankful for such a loving, protective husband who felt it was better to be safe than sorry. Believe me, he's getting the bad end of this deal- no wife, no kids, no homecooked meals, no clean laundry! :)

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Well, I've been called many things in my lifetime, but this is the first time anyone has ever referred to me as a parasite.

Alright, so it wasn't direct, but I'm included in the group of parent's that Amanda Peet so lovingly referred to in a recent article in Cookie. Quite frankly, I barely know who Amanda Peet is, but her stance on childhood vaccinations caught my attention.

"Once we had spoken, I was shocked at the amount of misinformation
floating around, particularly in Hollywood," says Peet, who quickly
boned up on the hot-button controversies surrounding the topic,
including the unproven link between certain vaccines and autism; the
safety of preservatives like mercury-based thimerosal; and the fear
that the relatively high number of shots kids receive today can
overwhelm young immune systems. Her conclusion? Well, not only is
Frankie up-to-date on her vaccines (with no staggering), but her mom
will soon appear in public-service announcements for Every Child by
Two. "I buy 99 percent organic food for Frankie, and I don't like to
give her medicine or put sunscreen on her," says Peet. "But now that
I've done my research, vaccines do not concern me." What does concern
her is the growing number of unvaccinated children who are benefiting
from the "shield" created by the inoculated—we are protected from
viruses only if everyone, or most everyone, is immunized: "Frankly, I
feel that parents who don't vaccinate their children are parasites."

Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment. :)

If you'd prefer to read something of greater substance, I would highly recommend this Open Letter on Vaccinations by Dr. Jay Gordon, in response to the controversy created by Ms. Peet's words.

Additionally, I would also suggest this excellent article by Dr. Sears, Is Aluminum the New Thimerosal?

Quite truthfully, I'm not offended in the slightest and she is entirely welcome to her viewpoint. I think, however, that it's worth highlighting some more substantial information and research than simply the opinion of a Hollywood star, don't you?

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I have two numbers for you today:

0 and 47

0 being the number of medals that Canada currently has in these summer Olympics as I write this post, and 47th being our ranking among the participating nations. Ouch!

I've heard that the reason we're doing so poorly is because so much money and effort are being poured into the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games (yay- my hometown!), and because of that, not a whole lot has gone into training athletes for these current summer games. Goodness- I sure hope so, because it's a mildly sad state of affairs!

In the meantime, guess I'll be cheering on my neighbors, the good ol' US of A, since they (and China) seem to be the only ones that CBC (a Canadian station, no less!) is interested in covering!

Nonetheless, it's been fun to watch so far. I am a mild summer olympics junkie, I confess. Gymnastics, swimming, diving, track and field- I love it all!

Do you prefer the summer or winter olympics, and which sports are your favorites to watch?

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Written with a whole lot of help from my creative hubby, and much, much laughter (oh, the naughty things we joked about saying!)

(A poet I'm not, but I just sort of thought that a poem might be the way,
to share of my woes and wiggle my nose with disgust at this immoral fray.)

There once was a health conscious Mom,
whose heavenly raw milk came from
a farm, safe and clean,
as you've ever seen.
It was nourishing, pure and wholesome.

Until one unfortunate day,
when the government dropped by to say,
"You've broken the law,
By keeping it raw.
Desist or we'll lock you away."

Their mandate and mission is clear.
To fill all the people with fear,
of drugs and of thugs,
and raw milk in jugs,
so we'll vote for them year after year.

Ahhh, my poor little poem can't really convey the situation or the frustration that I and all the other shareholders feel as our raw milk (that is our rightful property!) is being withheld from us, due to a flawed Order to Cease and Desist.

The distribution of raw milk is illegal everywhere in Canada. Our cow share went out on a limb by finding a legal loophole (and checking it over very carefully before beginning), which allows us to purchase shares as cow owners, thus owning a portion of the milk that is produced. It is legal to drink raw milk from a cow that you own, as it is personal property that you may do with as you like.

Over a week ago, milk was seized and dumped down the toilet at one of the 5 drop points used by our cow share. This week the order to cease and desist was given to the farmers, and we are unable to pick up our milk (which we have paid for) and it will go to waste this week. The issue has been taken to the BC Court of Appeals, but we really have no idea what to expect next. If you're interested, here is a bit more info and the official letter of appeal for our case. 

It is unbelievable to me that a group of regular people, purchasing cows together so they can drink fresh, unpasteurized milk, is an issue worthy of the government's time, money and energy! Can it possibly be for any reasons other than control over what individual citizens do, and to protect the interest's of the highly influential and affluent dairy industry? (I love the phrase "dairy cartel" used in the letter of appeals!)

So tell me- what is the raw milk status where you live? And just to open up a can of worms (keep it family friendly, everyone!) what do you think about government regulation of these kind of things anyways? :)

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I don't know what you're paying for gas right now, but yesterday I saw gas at a whopping $1.52 a litre! (For the Americans, that's $6.02 a gallon. Read it and weep.)

Which brings me to a fascinating thing that my husband and I learned about last night. Did you know that the technology has been developed to use water or a water-based fuel in a conventional vehicle engine?

When my husband told me this after learning about it during his men's caregroup meeting, I was completely skeptical. Even though we had promised each other we would go to bed extra early, we just couldn't resist looking it up online and watching a few YouTube videos to find out what this was all about.

We're not entirely sure what to think about it quite yet, but we have a friend who has bought a kit online and is trying to adapt his scooter to use the technology. I'll let you know what happens with it!

Here's one of the many sites that we found:
Run your car with water

Am I the only one who's heard of this? Do you know anybody that is doing this successfully?

On a slightly different note, I was hoping to post this up on Frugal Friday, but since that isn't happening this week, I'll shamelessly plug a carnival of my own!

Next week (on Friday, to be precise) is the first of a two part carnival, Nourishing Frugal Food. The carnival will be co-hosted by myself, and Kimi of The Nourishing Gourmet. Check out this post for all the details.

The first week, we'll kick it off with your most frugal and nourishing main dishes, July 11, over at Kimi's, followed by sides, desserts and salads back here on July 18.. See you there!

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There is a lot of bad news out there. Sometimes, being on the internet so much, I can tend to feel overwhelmed by all that I read and see.

One site in particular has really been getting to me lately, with what I feel is a particularly negative, hopeless and humanistic approach. If I were to listen only to that site, I might really be struggling to find any hope at all, in the midst of so many dangers and cautions and conspiracies and the like.

Perhaps you are like me, and feel that you are doing your very best, as you continually seek to improve aspects of your health and nutrition, avoid dangerous foods and products and toxins, and still find balance in your life. Yet we are daily being told that it is not enough!

I can't do it all. I know from your comments and emails that neither can you. 

There is much fear mongering in the area of health information and education, and it is truly unfortunate. Much of it is used to manipulate us and/or convince us to part with more of our money. Some of it is well intentioned and I believe sincerely offered out of compassion and care. But yet, discerning between the two can be nearly impossible, can't it?

In general, there is a serious lack of hope in all of the hype and claims and new discoveries and all of the things that we must do in order to be "healthy". 

But what good is it all anyways? So much of the information out there is self-help or self-actualization or even heal-thyself-because-god-is-within-you garbage.

There is a vast difference between careful and conscientious stewardship, and believing that you are capable of turning everything around and creating perfect health for you and your loved ones. One is God-focused, and the other is me-focused.

Let's face it. We live in a sin-burdened, broken-down mess of a world. No matter how healthy or green or natural we may become, we all share the same end, and that is physical death and an eternity either with God or without Him.

Pursuing health and natural living is not the ultimate goal. They are merely tools that can be used to enable us to live more in harmony with the creation God has so lovingly given us to have dominion over, to steward it and to preserve it for future generations, and to experience more energy and vitality in these incredible bodies that He has designed so that we may be more fully able to minister to others and seek His kingdom, and nothing more!

Where is our hope then, in the midst of so much brokenness, despair, sickness, and confusion?

It cannot be found in this diet or that supplement or in being healed of this ailment or avoiding that toxin.
Any and all hope that we could ever desire to find can be found in nothing but the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is only in the real salvation and healing of our souls that Christ alone offers (as opposed to the counterfeits offered by the world)  that we can and should place our ultimate trust. 

I do not long for a day when I am able to cook perfectly of completely naturally produced food, and rid my home of any toxins, or when I have abounding energy and feel free of all sickness or disease. I do not long for cleaner skies and seas, a reduction in landfills, uncontaminated soil or pure drinking water.

No, I long for something far, far greater. 

I long for the day when my Savior returns on the clouds, and with the resounding of a trumpet call, draws me home to be with Him forever. I long for an eternity where the truest healing awaits- no more sickness, no more death, no more tears, no more sorrow (Rev 21:3-5).

And so as I walk daily through this world in which I am merely a stranger and an alien, I choose hope. Not in what Dr. Mercola or Nourishing Traditions or Weston Price (and certainly not Keeper of the Home) have to say. 

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. 

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

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Can you believe this? A pair of pajamas has just been recalled due to a violation of lead standards in the screen print on the shirt!!! It's appalling!

This is the offending pair of pj's, made by Children's Place:

Honestly, sometimes I just don't know what I can do to protect my kids. I can't buy all organic cotton clothing, and would have never thought in a million years that a simple logo on a pajama shirt would contain lead. Call me naive, I guess (or maybe call me sane and call the manufacturers of children's clothing irresponsible, incompetent and negligent).

If you, like me, would like to be alerted as soon as items are recalled so that you can at least immediately remove the items from your home and make more educated choices about what you are purchasing, you may want to visit the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and sign up to receive their email alerts whenever new items are recalled.

I've been getting these for about 4-5 months now (I receive all alerts for Child and Household), and though they usually don't apply to anything that I have bought, I am grateful to be kept up-to-date and be made more aware of the types of items that may be of concern.

Maybe I shouldn't be so shocked, but this just pushes on all of my parental protection buttons in a major way. I am thankful that ultimately they are in God's hands, and not my own, because I so often feel helpless in my efforts to shield them from harm.

Our Sponsors:

• Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
• Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
• Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
• Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
• Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
• Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

No related posts.