Summer's Almost Gone Already!

Wow - I can't believe how fast summer is flying by us! I suppose that's one of my least favorite things about Seattle - the LONG rainy season and the SHORT summer... And we have kept very busy with many things, especially with growing and developing our photography business - Rich Imaging. We are trying to develop our branding and our "look" as well as doing as many sessions as we can fit in to expand our experience and portfolio. Our next task is to write a business plan and start marketing! It's a lot of work, but Mark's dream is to do this full-time and not have to work an 8-5 job, so we have to make it a priority.

Also, I am working on developing my own business! I am still trying to come up with a name, which is kinda frustrating, but my hope and plan is to someday teach classes in natural fertility awareness, healthy pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, and maybe early baby care. I also want to be available as a doula for birth and postpartum as well as an in-home lactation consultant. This is a lifelong career path for me that I plan on taking very slowly and only doing as much as I can while still retaining a good relationship with my kids. We're still planning on homeschooling too! I know, it probably sounds crazy, but I really have a passion for helping women achieve healthier births and imparting knowlege to help them make good decisions about their bodies. Anyway, the first step for me was taking the teacher training for The Bradley Method of natural childbirth. I did it this past weekend - a four-day long workshop - and now I am provisionally certified to teach classes! I'm excited! Now I just need some students... so if anyone knows someone interested in really inexpensive childbirth classes... send 'em my way!

Pregnant? Want a natural birth?

I am a self-professed addict of natural birth - I love it! I love the work and I love the payoff at the end - a healthy, undrugged baby who is alert and happily breastfeeding or gazing into Mommy and Daddy's eyes!!!

I also enjoy sharing my passion for natural birth with the people around me - so much so that I decided to train to become a childbirth educator. So after about a year and a half, I am finally taking the plunge! I am currently training to become a certified childbirth educator for the Bradley Method. Mark and I went to Bradley classes before Eliza was born, and I believe that it was extremely instrumental in our success having a natural birth.

My hope is to finish my bookwork before the big 4-day training seminar next month after which point I will be a provisional Bradley childbirth educator. Then I'll need to teach 2 sets of 13-week classes before becoming fully certified. So, if you are reading my blog and live in the greater Seattle area, and would like to have a natural birth, please contact me! I will be offering discounts for these sessions and they will be open to couples who are due anytime after Dec. 1st.

A few quick stats on the Bradley Method:
- Developed as the first "husband-coached" childbirth method and truly focused on the husband-wife relationship
- A success rate of just under 90% unmedicated births
- A very complete program that covers all aspects of childbirth
- Not hypnosis or patterned breathing

For more information, see www.bradleybirth.com
(yes, their site is outdated-looking, but the method is time-tested and works!)

I Love My Inlaws!

We just came home from spending the weekend with my husband's family in Idaho, celebrating his youngest brother's graduation from high school. It was so much fun! We were very busy, but we enjoyed spending time with everyone. I told Mark and Debbie (my mom-in-law) that I really feel like family now. It has been 4 years since I first met the Rich clan, and they are such a great group of people! I am very blessed to have married into such a great family. I think of Mark's family almost like they're my own! Here are a few photos of our trip:

Michael with Judah

Judah enjoying his Grandma... or maybe it's Debbie enjoying her grandson!

Eliza and Daniel

Judah loves to play with balls!

I'm just waiting for the day Eliza tells me that she's going to marry her Uncle Tim!

Dorothy with her favorite niece!

I'll try to get a few more on here after we get them all downloaded to the computer!

My Wonderful Husband!

Mark made me feel so special today! I woke up this morning to Judah crawling on me to find that Mark and Eliza were gone. I figured they were cooking up a surprise for me for the special day, and I was right. A few minutes later, they came in the door with big smiles on their faces and a dozen pink roses with a beautiful vase and a card. I was so touched! Mark said that Eliza walked all over the floral department looking at every bouquet and liking a few before she saw these and had to get them! It was so cute - she was so proud of herself!

Then this afternoon we had Tim over for lunch and Mark told me that the real reason Tim was here was to watch the kids so that he could take me out to The Cheesecake Factory! I felt so honored and special that he went through so much to make my day a memorable one! We had a really nice time at The Cheesecake Factory. It's such a different feeling going on a date without juggling two children at the same time!

I love my husband so much! He is such a blessing to me. When I think back to that year of praying that God would open up his heart towards me, and then the year of dating and engagement before we got married, I can hardly believe this road that God has brought us down! It has been such a joy to share my life with someone who must have been created with me in mind!!

Gary's Wedding

Last month we went to my brother's wedding in Minneapolis. Mark did the photography for it which was a very long, hard day's work for both of us! But I had a blast getting to reconnect with my extended family and old friends!! Here are some photos from the wedding of my family:

Our Whole Family!

My beautiful little sister, Aimee

Gary & Tina with their daughter, Ruby

My Aunt Sandy & Uncle Jeff (my dad's siblings):
(Yeah... my Greek family knows how to have a good time!)

Pastor CJ & Cheryl - our pastors and friends for many years:

My very handsome little brother, Karl:
(yes ladies, he's single...)

Four Generations - My grandparents, Dad, me and my children!

Mom with her sisters Mary & Lois, and baby Ruby

My parents! Still in love after 25 years!!!

Ruby and my mom!

Me and My Endless Projects!

My life seems to be comprised of a constant stream of projects - and very often I don't finish them before moving on to the next one! For instance, right after Mark and I got married (3.5 years ago) I decided that I would input all of our chord charts for worship music into a computer/web-based database so that they were easy to access and find. I put it to rest around letter F when Eliza was born 2 years ago, and the pile of chord charts is still sitting underneath our printer!

The other day Mark and I were looking at a couple of Bible storybooks that were given to our kids. We were amazed and disgusted by how Biblically-inaccurate they were! Being Messianic, I always replace "Jesus" with "Yeshua" when I'm reading to my kids, and other names with their actual Hebrew name also (Just because Pedro from Mexico moves to the U.S. we don't start calling him Peter - his name will always be Pedro! Shouldn't it be even more so with the Son of God?). We also correct some other things like instead of 2 of every animal in the ark, there were actually 1 pair of every unclean animal and 7 pair (14) of every clean animal! Anyway, this got me to thinking about how much I would like to have a Bible storybook for my kids that I didn't have to screen first! And with as easy as it is to write and print your own book these days, I decided that I would write a Biblically-accurate (yes, violence and sex will be masked as appropriate) Bible story book and get it printed at one of those online print places (like Shutterfly).

So I'm going to do it - but... I'm not a very good artist, or at least I don't have time to practice to where I'd be comfortable at doing it. So if anyone reading this knows someone who might enjoy illustrating a children's Bible story book, I'd love to talk to them! The illustrations will follow the culture and will be mostly Jewish in nature, but will also include ancient Egypt, Rome and Persia.

Woohoo! I'll post some text here when I get it started!

Our Crazy February!

We have had the craziest month around here! We have been busy trying to grow our photography business and did three sessions this month. It has been fun, and we are praying that God will help us grow and develop because we would really like to do this for a living someday in the not too distant future! For a glimpse of our work, you can view the Rich Imaging Blog (click to link). Right now we're trying to get some practice doing senior sessions and are offering them for FREE - so if you know any high school juniors in the area, send them our way!

We also almost moved this month and it fell through at the last minute. We've been tentatively planning on doing a lease-to-own with someone since the beginning of February. He called on Feb. 16th and said that he'd be ready with money in hand to sign papers and move in by the 1st of March. We said that that would be fine, and set up to sign papers on Feb. 29th. For the next week I frantically searched for a place for us to live. We are actually planning on moving to Idaho (more on that below) in a few months so we couldn't move anywhere that required a lease. Finally on the 24th, we found a place - it was a perfect situation for us and it was as if God handed it to us Himself, telling us not to worry and that He would take care of us.

The next day was Monday, and the guy who was supposed to be signing papers with us on Friday called to try to back out of the deal because he found something more appealing. Mark convinced him to keep his word and he decided to stay with us. I had a sick feeling in my gut all day on Tuesday, knowing I desperately needed to pack but being afraid that it wasn't going to go through. On Wednesday morning, I decided to just go ahead and pack because I had so much to do in just a couple of days. I packed all morning. Then, in the afternoon, this guy called to let us know that he didn't have any money to sign the lease papers and he was calling it off. I was angry and at the same time relieved. So, we're not moving out of our condo - at least not yet!

That brings me to the next topic: our pending future move to Idaho. We've been toying with the idea of moving to Boise for over a year now. We really want to raise our children around their grandparents and include our extended family in their lives. In most ways, Boise will be a better place for us to raise our family. It is a smaller city with much less crime and less traffic. It is a more conservative area with favorable laws on homeschooling and families in general. And since we want to have a few more kids, it will be much easier to raise them with the help of Mark's parents. It will also be a day's drive closer to my parents in Colorado which will make it feasible to visit them much more often. AND, real estate is about half the price as it is in the Seattle area, which is appealing for obvious reasons!

The biggest reason we don't want to leave here is our amazing and wonderful community at Beit Tikvah. BT has been a place of huge spiritual growth and maturity for us as well as a place that has fostered some wonderful relationships. Our faith has deepened to a level we never realized possible before, and we have a foundation that will support us for the rest of our lives. For those of you who don't know, Beit Tikvah is a Messianic congregation. Essentially, it is a place where we keep the Torah as a part of our relationship with God. We keep the Sabbath, celebrate and honor the Biblical holidays (Leviticus 23) and eat Biblically kosher. We are very similar to a typical Jewish community except for the major difference that we believe in the deity of Yeshua (Jesus). Our rabbi's teachings are very solid and Biblically-sound and relevant to our lives. (Side note: you can listen to them yourself from BT's website link on the right!) Such a community is not easy to come by! There are a lot of flaky communities in the Messianic movement, but our is definitely not one of them! We have developed so much there and have fostered some wonderful friendships that we will always treasure.

That being said, we still believe that it is God's will for us to move on from here into a new place, spiritually as well as physically. I remember when we first started attending BT, and Mark told me that he believed that we would be there for a short time - maybe a couple of years - and then God would move us on somewhere else. At the time, I prayed he was wrong but knew he probably wasn't. I've learned to trust Mark's prophetic gift and his ability to hear from God. So all this time we knew deep down that this was probably just going to be a relatively short season of our lives, but I think all along we hoped it would last forever. We don't know what kind of a community of believers we will find ourselves in when we move to Boise, but we do know that at the end of this time we will live forever in a world of Torah observance, where all the nations with gather in Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of Sukkot together with Yeshua! We will always cherish our relationships at BT, though, and hope to visit there whenever we are able.

So, we will continue trying to sell our condo (or do a lease-to-own) and Mark will start looking for a job in Boise, and our plan is to move in the beginning of June. We'll see how things go!

In the meantime, here are some recent pictures of our beautiful blessings from God!


Eliza will be two at the end of March and our next event with her will be learning to use the potty! I am especially looking forward to it! :o) She is talking a lot now and starting to really use her imagination in play which has been loads of fun!


Judah is 6 1/2 months and is growing up so fast! He is sitting up (for a few weeks now) and starting to crawl already! I think that he is always challenged by his big sister and is pushing himself more than she did at his age. He's such a joy!

Well, everyone, I must end this very long post. Have a wonderful day... and leave me a comment - I'm curious if anyone reads this thing!! ;o)

-Judy

p.s. Oh - and by the way - I voted for Mike Huckabee...

Politics: the journey continues

Well, up to this point I have supported and followed Ron Paul for president for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is that I agree fully with his "libertarian" stance that we need to return to the constitution and get the government out of people's business. He doesn't support the government interventions to stop abortion and gay marriage because he doesn't believe our constitution gives the federal government the right to intervene in such things. Although I actually disagree in the case of abortion because I think our government has the right and responsibility to protect it's citizens - even those not yet born! And he wants to get our troops out of Iraq - because the war was "illegal" according to our own constitution. He is tired of the amount of power and control that the government has in its citizen's lives, and wants to put a stop to it. This is why I have supported him for president.

But at this time, I am very interested in Mike Huckabee. Although he isn't as concerned about minimizing the government, he is interested in using the government for good instead of evil. His stances are in line with my morals and ethics, and I believe our country would be a much better place if he were president. I would love to see Roe vs. Wade overturned and the constant murder of the innocent unborn ended. And I would love to see marriage defined as a unity between "one man and one woman." Our country's corruptness and blatant sin is going to be it's end - if our manipulation of Israel doesn't end it first! (But that's a topic for another day...)

Oh - and I definitely DON'T like the other options: John McCain or Mitt Romney. Way too liberal and "big government" for me...

But all that said, I honestly don't think that any of the republican candidates have a chance against Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Our party has unfortunately been weakened greatly by President Bush and his inability to follow through on his word, along with the mess he created for us in the middle east. And in the event of a democratic president, so far I think I would rather see Barack Obama in office than another Clinton. Not to mention that I don't believe that women belong in such a position of leadership. Feminism is already causing decay in our society and the breakdown of the family. And I think that Obama has some good ideas, although it will still be detrimental to have a liberal in office, at least for those of us with strong moral and ethical convictions.

May God show mercy on us and may the Messiah return soon in glory!

Politics...

Here's another quiz to take to determine your best match for the presidency: http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

As time goes on I realize that although my views are mostly in-line with Ron Paul, they are also close to Mike Huckabee's. In some ways, closer. I would love for either of them to become president. Although I'm afraid that the republican party is too split and scattered to win the election at all. We'll see...

Anyway, this is my result of that quiz:

Ron Paul - Score: 41
Agree:
Iraq
Immigration
Taxes
Stem-Cell Research
Health Care
Abortion
Energy
Gun Control
Education
Disagree:
Social Security
Line-Item Veto
Marriage
Death Penalty
Environment

Mike Huckabee - Score: 35
Agree:
Stem-Cell Research
Health Care
Abortion
Social Security
Line-Item Veto
Marriage
Death Penalty
Gun Control
Environment
Disagree:
Iraq
Immigration
Taxes
Energy
Education

John McCain - Score: 35
Agree:
Taxes
Stem-Cell Research
Health Care
Abortion
Social Security
Line-Item Veto
Energy
Death Penalty
Gun Control
Disagree:
Iraq
Immigration
Marriage
Environment
Education

Find your presidential candidate!

This is a cool quiz with accurate results!

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/page?id=3623346

My results:
#1- Ron Paul (woohoo!)
#2- Fred Thompson
#3- Mitt Romney

Take it and see where the candidates stand with your personal beliefs - you might be surprised!

**Ron Paul for President in 2008!!!!!**
**www.ronpaul2008.com**

Ron Paul for President 2008

Lately I've been researching Ron Paul, and from what I've read I feel confident supporting him for president. He is completely pro-life and pro-homeschooling and he is a believer in small government and minimal taxes. He is gaining ground in the republican political sector, and he has a chance at winning, albeit a small one.

For a more in-depth look at his exact stances, check out his website at http://www.ronpaul2008.com.

Natural Living: An Update

I've had several people ask me about the results of my ongoing quest for a more natural lifestyle, so I decided I should post an update here.

First of all, I have been no-poo for about 3 months now. I only use a mild baking soda rinse - about half tablespoon baking soda dissolved in a half-cup of warm water. I actually usually only use half of this per rinse, and I do this twice a week. The rest of the time I just rinse my hair with water. I also don't use any kind of conditioner which has been just fine for me!

I did, in fact make and use cloth menstrual pads for postpartum use. I liked them - so much softer than paper. And they were easy to care for too - I rinsed them after use and washed them with Eliza's diapers. I'm still considering the Diva Cup too, we'll see...

I did drink a lot of red raspberry leaf tea during my pregnancy, but didn't use the strong mix during labor. I think it helped because my labor was fast and easy (relatively speaking) and I didn't have much bleeding at all.

Is there anything I'm forgetting? Let me know if there is!

Going Natural

For the past couple of years, I have been on a slow journey toward more natural living. It was kick-started with my introduction to home-birthing. Suddenly, a door was opened to me to a world of people who thought outside the typical box of consumerism and modernism. We started trying to eat more organic and less-processed foods.

Soon after, I became pregnant, and eating healthy was even more important as it affected my unborn child as well as myself! I realized that the way I treated myself had a direct impact on the lifelong health of my child. What a gift to be able to give! I stopped drinking caffeinated coffee and have never returned. I get just as much pleasure out of a good cup of decaf and no side-effects! With pregnancy also came the research into childbirth. I studied home-birthing and unmedicated birth. I learned about what your body does during labor, what causes pain, and what causes most complications. Mark and I took Bradley classes during the last trimester also, which was a great benefit. I found a great midwife who believes in the body's ability to birth naturally and who is also a grounded believer in the Lord.

Eliza's birth was amazing! It was difficult - more than I expected to be honest - but totally worth it. I can't imagine being drugged up for such a life-changing event! Now with a newborn in the home, I had yet another reason to research natural living. We exclusively breastfed for Eliza's first 9 months of life. She never touched a bottle and didn't even eat solids until about 9 months (except for little nibbles here and there). She has never had a vaccination - not even vitamin k or eye drops at birth and has a very strong immune system. When she started eating table foods, we started her with fruits and vegetables - not rice cereal. After some study, we found that fruits and vegetables are much better sources for nutrients that babies need than cereal which was stripped, broken down, and supplemented with artificial "nutrients".

Other than nutrition, we also have sought out more natural solutions to other parts of health. In the beginning, we only used Seventh Generation diapers - disposable, but not bleached and processed with the harsh chemicals that regular disposables are made of. When Eliza was about 6 months old, I decided to switch to cloth diapers. I decided this because I found it to be healthier for their skin, more cost effective, and not really that much work! After lots of reading, I decided to get the Fuzzi Bunz diapers and loved them! They were so soft and it was a great feeling that we were reusing them instead of filling up a dump somewhere.

Also with natural health came natural parenting, which is very closely intertwined. From the beginning, we followed the mindset of attachment-style parenting. We carried/held Eliza as much as possible and used a sling frequently. We attended to her with every cry, nursed her when she wanted, and kept her in bed with us. It may seem like a huge investment to some, but it is worth every minute. She is a very sweet, sensitive, thoughtful child and is very close to us. And with her personality, she needed that kind of parenting. She would become rebellious and upset if we didn't keep her so close. She has such a huge need for quality time! That's okay with me though; it has taught me to be a more sensitive person also! Anyways...

Now I'm working on making myself more natural! For the past 10 years (at least) I have had my daily shower, complete with shampoo and conditioner. Lately I've been reading a lot about training your hair to go without shampoo. Shampoo essentially strips your hair of all its natural oils and moisture, and then conditioner replaces it with more artificial chemicals. Your hair becomes dependent on shampoo because it has to work so fast to replace those oils that it lost. Therefore, you hair gets over-oily in a day or two when it wouldn't otherwise. Anyway, back to me... I have always had to shampoo every day of my life. Recently, I decided that I don't want to be so dependent on so many chemicals and started trying to stretch the time between shampoos. I went to every day and a half, and then to two days. I just went 3 full days without shampoo and it was so cool! I was amazed to see how long it took my hair to become oily! Pretty soon, I'm going to quit shampooing for good and use only a little baking soda. Baking soda is much more gentle on the scalp and provides a gentle transition from shampoo to no-poo. Anyway, I'll have to keep you posted as I make that part of the change - it will be interesting!

I also decided that I'm going to make cloth menstrual pads for myself for use postpartum. I have the supplies already, and the thought of cloth instead of paper is very appealing, especially when that area is so sensitive!! I might even switch to the Diva Cup, we'll see!

I'm also trying red raspberry leaf tea for this pregnancy. I read an article about its use during pregnancy and labor and how much it can help the birthing process. So I ordered it in bulk and I'm going to drink it every day between now and then. There's also a formula for a very strong tea (one ounce of tea leaves in a pint of water, seeped for 30 min.) to drink when you start to go into labor that I'm going to try too. If this works well, I'll definitely blog about it!

Okay, that's enough for now - I'm going to pick up the house and drink some tea!!

Goals I Am Working Towards

A few months back, I decided that I really need to be further educating myself. Not because I need to earn a better living - on the contrary I love nannying and don't plan on ever getting an "outside" job. But because the mind becomes dull if you don't exercise it, and I don't want that to happen! But college is definitely not my thing. It's completely inconvenient and they don't really have anything I'm interested in. So I got to thinking - what do I really enjoy? What am I passionate about?

And I decided that outside my relationship with God and my family, I am most passionate about moms! I love seeing moms succeed and take joy in what they do, all through the different aspects of motherhood. And most of all, I am very passionate about natural mothering - from natural health, to drugfree childbirth, to breastfeeding. They are very real parts of who I am as well as things that I would enjoy learning more about so that I can help other moms.

So, I started looking into different avenues in this arena, and this is what I've decided on. I want to:
1. Become a Bradley Method ® Childbirth Instructor
(The Bradley Method ® is the most successful instruction for drugfree childbirth)
2. Become a certified Breastfeeding Counselor
(This is a huge step underneath a lactation consultant, but still useful)
3. Become a Birth and/or Postpartum Doula
(A doula is one who assists a woman in birth and/or postpartum adjustment)

This journey will probably take several years, and each of these goals is a very large undertaking, especially with a baby and one on the way! But I believe that I can do it, and it's something that I'm very excited about! I'm glad that I found something that I want to learn about and want to set apart time for.

As I undertake this journey, I hope to use this blog to track some of the things I'm learning so that maybe through it I might be educating and encouraging people already. May it be so!

Who am I ?

Last night, as I was laying in bed stricken with pregnancy insomnia, I was thinking about what defines me. I came up with a few things that really describe who I am, what I believe, and what I am passionate about. Here it is:

I am a redeemed child of the Almighty God.
I am the beloved wife of a wonderful man.
I am Eliza's treasured mommy.
I am the womb and mommy to my developing miracle.
I am a daughter, a sister, a daughter-in-law, and a sister-in-law.

I believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
I believe in Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel.
I believe that the Bible is the written inspired word of God.
I believe that the Torah is the cornerstone of the Bible and God's direct instruction for our lives.
I believe that God wrote one set of laws for His people - Jew and Gentile - and is honored the most when we obey it fully.
I believe that the Sabbath day was, is, and always will be the seventh day.

I am passionate about being the best wife and mommy that I can be to my family. They are amazing people and I want to bless them with my life.
I am passionate about living a Torah-observant life. I believe that God wrote the Torah as His guidelines for living a life pleasing to Him, and that's what I strive to do.
I am passionate about sharing this truth with the Christians in my life who haven't had this truth yet revealed to them.
I am passionate about natural parenting - breastfeeding, drugfree childbirth, and healthy eating.

Expecting again!

Well, I just recently found out that I'm pregnant again! Although we've left this area of our lives in the hand of the Almighty, I was still surprised to find out that He had chosen to bless us again! I guess I just didn't think it would happen so soon. Honestly, it's kind of daunting to think about having another baby in the house with Eliza so young, but I guess by the time this one is born Eliza will be at least 16 months. So by then it probably won't seem so crazy! It's also strange thinking of another child growing inside of me, because I still mentally equate pregnancy with Eliza. But I'll get used to it I'm sure, and it will be fun to watch this one develop!

My convictions...

Lately I've encountered a lot of people who accept or reject something in God's word based on their "convictions." That kind of logic is everywhere- "God is different to each person" or "We all believe in the same God, just in different ways." I hear it on the news, on sitcoms, and just in daily life. My former boss told me, "Yeah, I believe in God- I'm not sure what I believe though. But that's okay 'cause all that really matters is that I'm a good person, right?"

And we all expect that from those people who are not born again - those without a living and real relationship with the creator of the universe. But what about when it comes from fellow Christians? Lately I've been hearing a lot of Christians say that "I'm just not convicted of that" when asked about something in the Bible. They use the passage that says that the Spirit of God will lead us to all truth to mean that if they don't feel "led" in a certain direction, then it's not what God wants.

But let me say right now that my convictions are now and will always be subject to the Word of God - not the other way around! If I start using my own convictions and feelings to interpret God's word (and I sometimes do), I am treading on dangerous ground. It's those kind of thoughts that lead to "Christian Gays" and those couples in churches everywhere who live together outside of marriage because "they're commited to each other, and they're not convicted about it."

It's high time for those who serve God in this world to stop thinking like the world and start holding ourselves to a higher standard! I challenge us all - me included - to pursue holiness at any cost - even when other Christians don't understand. Let's start taking the Word of God at face value and subject our convictions to it's words - not the other way around!