Shannon Yee

Brian and I recently finished a small group video/discussion series on having a heart for and helping the poor in meaningful ways.

We watched God Bless the Child and it was heart-wrenching. It may have been even more troubling for me as a mom and pregnant woman, but watching a mother and her daughter suffer and have to make really hard choices in really bad situations was not fun. It was, however, very eye-opening to me and moved me to have a greater compassion for those in my same stage of life who are really struggling with the basic necessities in life.

As a church we are packing and delivering 100 Boxes of Love to families in the local area who aren’t able to afford a Thanksgiving dinner this year. Usually, we’d deliver this to downtown Detroit, but this year with things not so good in the economy right in our community we have many families in our town who are in need.

Covenant House of Michigan is hosting a candlelight vigil that might be an easy way to get started in helping others.

For the Christmas season there are lots of ways to give and spend less on gifts for those who don’t need them and instead help those who really do. Adventconspiracy.org is one place to get inspired and get ideas from others who are trying that this year.

Aside from what I’m already doing, I don’t know exactly how I am going to put my compassion and concern for the poor into action with my kids, but I do know that I will be doing more with each opportunity and involving my kids with me along the way so that they will continue to have a heart that sees and helps rather than walks on by those in need.

*Oops, I wrote this a while ago and forgot to publish it. So, some of it is outdated… We delivered the boxes of love to some families nearby and had the kids help with that. The vigil was last week… sorry.

This fall I joined the Holistic Moms Network and have enjoyed attending the local meetings and being part of the email loop, but find some of it a bit over the top. I have to keep myself in check to not spend hours a day reading and following all the trends and ideas of ways to be healthier and greener and more natural in everything. I struggle to remember that not everything that I read or hear from these well-meaning women is truth; in fact, most of it is just speculation or humble opinions. Yet, there has been a very interesting thread about how much various families spend on food.

Apparently, most of the families that commented spend about $700-800 per month buying mostly organic produce, grains, dairy, eggs, and free-range meats. Some spend as much as $1500/month for a family of four and some as little as $350/month. Some people included soaps (laundry, dish, and body) as well as vitamins and homeopathic remedies, which I think are pretty expensive. We fall somewhere in the middle, but our difficulty in cutting back on food expenses is not in the grocery store, but in eating out. If we stopped eating out altogether, we could easily halve our food expenditures. I’m not interested in pursuing that budget shortcut just yet. I really enjoy dining out for the break it provides me from cooking and cleaning up after meals, but also for the chance to try foods that I don’t/won’t make at home.

And it’s a boy!

We had a great ultrasound on Wednesday and got the good news that we are having another baby boy. I was actually very stressed going into the ultrasound because I haven’t been feeling the baby much at all yet and although I’ve gotten much bigger since preconception, I am not hugely pregnant yet – not that I’m complaining…

I am very relieved to have seen our baby happily moving around and even sucking on his hand. It was amazing. His heart and brain and everything are great and he is even measuring a little bit further along than expected (about 6 days, so not much). We have a couple of pictures including a great shot of his spine, which Eila thinks looks like a snake and therefore has given him the nickname “Snakey.”

Now we only have to come up with a boy’s name. We are open to suggestions as long as you don’t expect a positive response to them.

Yet again…

It feels like every week is crazy so far this fall. We aren’t involved in preschool or lots of classes or groups because I wanted to have a season of rest and enjoy the time at home. So far just keeping up with groceries and cleaning has proved to be a challenge.

I hope we’re not so busy with big stuff that we are missing all the fun little stuff – that’s what I feel like and fear is happening. But then I can think of the little things that we’ve been doing that have been really amazing too – like last week we stopped at Hines for a nature walk and collected leaves and jumped on rocks for a while. Eila and Josiah and I cuddled and read books together for a long time this afternoon. On Saturday, Brian and the kids raked the yard and played outside for a couple of hours while I cleaned and cooked, so things like my trip to Dallas or the Mom to Mom Sale are big, but not the only things in our lives.

So, today was Josiah’s visit to the allergist and after two hours, I came away with a prescription for singulair and an epi-pen as well as a tired and hungry little boy, whose skin test showed no allergies. It seems strange to me that despite a clear skin test, the allergist felt that the evidence was strong enough for Josiah to need me to carry an epi-pen around everywhere we go. He went for a blood test too, but we’ll discuss those results in a month. In the meantime, we are to continue to stay away from dairy and also eggs now. Plus, Josiah is to get a bath of at least 30-minutes each and every day followed by lots of lotion.

I don’t know if I’ll fill the prescriptions, but the allergist made a good case for the singulair especially since Josiah seems to be getting a little cold now and that is a big trigger for his asthma. I hate to disboey orders and not follow directions, but at the same time my main role (IMO) as his mom is to take care of him as best I can. Part of taking care of Josiah includes not pumping him full of unnecessary drugs and also taking the steps needed to prevent the preventable (like breathing problems due to a cold.)

This past weekend was momentous for the Yees as it was the first time I left for more than a few hours. Brian took off two days from work while I traveled to Dallas for the MOPS Int’l Convention. I had a great time learning and gaining vision and perspective and having a little bit of time to refresh. The trip did result in the complete weaning of Josiah. There is nothing left for him to get, but he is still asking often. He seems okay with a chocolate (rice) milk substitute, even if a little disappointed. This means that I am able to resume a normal diet as full of dairy as I desire.

Eila is very hopeful that she will have a little sister in about 6 months. I am now over 14 weeks pregnant with baby #4 and Eila has been very clear that she would like this one to be a girl. We’ll find out on November 5, God willing, if she is going to get her wish. I am feeling pretty good, if a little bit tired. The kids have been really interested in the baby since we checked out a very informative book from the library (maybe a little TMI was included in the first reading, but Eila hasn’t seemed to notice the skipping of the middle since then!)

Brian is right about me; I becoming more and more hippie all the time.

Super Nutty, Ultra-Crunchy, Granola Earth Mama! was my score (145) on the How Crunchy Are You? test. I figured I’d score fairly well since I’ve been cloth diapering and tandem nursing, but we are changing more of our crispy ways all the time. How do you score?

So, my husband is working on a problem with one of their busiest promotions. You should check it out and enter your adorable children in the photo contest, if you have any. And, I will update with nothing at all really.

We went to the zoo this week and enjoyed the most perfect fall day. The kids had a great time and we were all so exhausted that they continued their nap and I joined them for an hour after we got home. Then, we walked to the park with some good friends. I enjoy days like that, but usually follow them with days like today where we stay home and don’t do much of anything fun.

I’ve been researching the life and times of David king of Israel as preparation for the new Bible Study on his life starting tomorrow morning. I love this type of study and found lots of interesting pieces of information, but not really much that will be noteworthy enough to share with the group.

The kids got haircuts and Josiah looks like a little boy now. He lost all his sweet mullet curls…

I talked on the phone to my closest far-away friends in the past two weeks and am so glad to reconnect with each of them each time I do. Too bad I don’t call more often.

I’m really trying not to complain, but it isn’t going so well. “To be a good steward, I need to be thankful and content.” This is exactly what I wrote in Eila’s preschool notebook and I really want to model that for her, especially since I already see her struggles with this.

Finally, I’ve decided to stop highlighting my hair (for the health benefits of not doing it) and am debating if I should chop my hair instead. I need a second opinion (or as many opinions as I can get) on what type of cut I should get, if any. I do have several limitations and I am not really willing to negotiate on these: I need a style that works for my straight, fine, thin hair, one that does not require blow-drying or styling of any sort (other than brushing it). It must also be one that is flattering to me, because I really am very vain and lazy.

For the past week and a half I have done nothing but pray, think, and do MOPS. I really enjoy the work, so it’s not a bad thing, but I’ll be glad to have the first meeting go off smoothly with happy moms and kids. I had a talk with Eila tonight about how I have been given this job to help other moms as well as to be her mom. She seemed pretty excited about that and ready to do her job tomorrow at our meeting: obey Mommy and be kind! I’ve been staying up too late, so I now I really need to rest.

This is where I often live during the day. Like right now, during what is supposed to be nap time, but is actually something more like wrestling and gymnastics with lots of laughing and squealing. And yet, I choose to sit here and pretend that all is right in our house and that they are just getting the last wiggles out before settling themselves in and sleeping for a good long time. Denial of reality isn’t always a bad thing.

I am a little embarrassed at how excited I am about the new look of our playroom/office. Last night, Brian and I spent about 3-1/2 hours cleaning out the toys and organizing them (and taking most of them to the basement for now while they await a new home!) We have our art supplies, books, blocks, cars, puzzles, school stuff, balls, doll house, and a few other toys each with a lovely, well-labeled home. After our orientation and tour to the new playroom this morning, Eila seems to enjoy it as much as I do. Josiah, on the other hand, likes to dump out the bins and climb in them and then leave the mess for Eila or I to clean up while he moves on to another box to dump.

This re-organization has been a long-time coming and I’m hoping that it will last and work for us. I will begin homeschooling with Eila tomorrow and wanted to have everything ready as well as needed to get the clutter under control. We have far too much stuff! If you are lacking in toys for kids under 4 years of age, I have plenty and will gladly give you a truckload or more.