Recent Pictures
My apologies that recent pictures have been woefully absent from this blog. I finally got the last batch of pictures I've taken downloaded from my camera and will be posting these in the next few posts.
Here are a few pictures from a baby shower the ladies at our church had last week for brand-new mommy-to-be. As some of you know, we have only recently begun attending a new church fellowship and about 20% of the people who go to this church are deaf. So, we have been exposed to a whole new culture that we were, until recently, quite unfamiliar with. Loralee, the mommy-to-be, and her husband are both deaf, as well as her husband's mother (pictured next to Loralee below) and his dad. A number of the other ladies at the shower were also deaf. So, it was a unique shower! In addition, our pastor's wife is from Romania and her mother is visiting her right now and so the shower was trilingual!
We have so enjoyed getting to meet and interact with those who cannot speak our language, but who share the same love for the Lord. And, we are picking up quite a bit of ASL in the process! Hopefully soon, the language barrier will not be an issue and we will be able to converse in ASL fluently. We are teaching Kathrynne ASL from the beginning so that she can grow up being able to interact with these precious people!
Whoever said stay-at-home moms are living with "half a brain tied behind their back" hasn't met women who can make these kinds of beautiful, artistic creations! This diaper cake (below) was made by Melanie and Lora -- two moms with lots of littles under tow!
(Below) Kathrynne with her new-found friend, Chloe! Chloe is three and sister to four brothers, one sister, and one on the way -- and the oldest twins just turned 6. (That's seven -- six and under -- in case you were public-schooled and can't do the math!). She is the sweetest little girl and she always wants to help me take care of Kathrynne.
Here are a few pictures from a baby shower the ladies at our church had last week for brand-new mommy-to-be. As some of you know, we have only recently begun attending a new church fellowship and about 20% of the people who go to this church are deaf. So, we have been exposed to a whole new culture that we were, until recently, quite unfamiliar with. Loralee, the mommy-to-be, and her husband are both deaf, as well as her husband's mother (pictured next to Loralee below) and his dad. A number of the other ladies at the shower were also deaf. So, it was a unique shower! In addition, our pastor's wife is from Romania and her mother is visiting her right now and so the shower was trilingual!
We have so enjoyed getting to meet and interact with those who cannot speak our language, but who share the same love for the Lord. And, we are picking up quite a bit of ASL in the process! Hopefully soon, the language barrier will not be an issue and we will be able to converse in ASL fluently. We are teaching Kathrynne ASL from the beginning so that she can grow up being able to interact with these precious people!Whoever said stay-at-home moms are living with "half a brain tied behind their back" hasn't met women who can make these kinds of beautiful, artistic creations! This diaper cake (below) was made by Melanie and Lora -- two moms with lots of littles under tow!
(Below) Kathrynne with her new-found friend, Chloe! Chloe is three and sister to four brothers, one sister, and one on the way -- and the oldest twins just turned 6. (That's seven -- six and under -- in case you were public-schooled and can't do the math!). She is the sweetest little girl and she always wants to help me take care of Kathrynne.
posted by Crystal Paine at 4:30 PM
12 Comments:
That is so neat! I would love to learn ASL! How wonderful that you're teaching it to Kathrynne.
Oh... Crystal....I hope you don't really offend those who went to public school!
A little off topic, but I really love the diaper cake. What a wonderful idea for a baby shower!
Anonymous -- don't worry! It was a joke! :) I crack jokes at myself for being homeschooled, too! I'm naturally a very funny, fun-loving person with a huge sense of humor. I've found that when I write something tongue-in-cheek on my blog, people who don't know me don't think it's tongue-in-cheek, though. So, I have to try and be careful!
I teach my children to sign (my 8 month old consistently does "eat" but he's a bit ahead of the game). My 2 year old didn't talk well until just within the last few months (I was warned of this by his birthmom) but once he did, LOOK OUT! His receptive vocab was HUGE and because he signed, he could communicate without frustration and thereby LEARN LEARN LEARN.
We think signing with babies (Baby Signs is a great book and video; Signing Time is good albeit expensive) is wonderful! Instilling a way to 'say' "Please" and "Thank-you" at a really early age has developed a heart of gratitude in my toddler. It's natural for him to be thankful and polite; he's been 'saying' the right things since he was tiny.
We give signing Two Thumbs Up.
Katie
Crystal~As I am a public schooled gal..I am in no way offended. As a matter of fact...I chuckeled! You have a sense of humor somewhat like mine I think.
I have always wanted to learn how to do sign language and teach my kids as well. Do you have any tips or references on this?
Thanks,
Sommer
"(That's seven -- six and under -- in case you were public-schooled and can't do the math!)"
I've never seen you joke about being homeschooled. Since you are a person that thinks public schools are Godless and Christians shouldn't send their kids there, I don't why you think your readers would think it was meant as a joke. Weren't you just posting about building bridges? Why not build one with public school graduates/workers/supporters? When people make a joke about their “own people” it is funny, but when you joke about other people it is an insult. Think about certain racial or ethnic terms that people use to describe their own racial or ethnic group but would be insulted if used by someone outside that group. My mother has taught for many, many years in the public school system. She was in the thick of it so to speak. She not only taught English and Math, but helped children with family problems. She donated her own time and money to children living in poverty to improve their situation. I didn’t think your joke was funny.
Wow... I went to public school and that comment hurt whether it was supposed to be a joke or not.
Calm down, people! I'm sorry if I offended you. It was said totally tongue-in-cheek!
Whenever I do something stupid, I always say, "I was homeschooled." It's a big joke at our house! And, whenever we're with people that are public-schooled, if they don't know something, we always tease them that it's because they were public-schooled.
And, my husband and sister both went to public school for a few years, as did both of my parents, okay, so it's not like I don't have some experience with the public school system -- so public-schooled people are my "own people" for that matter.
And Ash, I think you missed the point of the building bridges article. You might want to go back and re-read it.
Now, everyone take a deep breath and let's not get our feathers ruffled over such silly things, okay?
Crystal,
I'm sorta sad that everyone got hung up on your public school comment (I was public schooled BTW and still thought it was funny), and totally missed the beautiful diaper cake that Lora created and the beautiful little girls that you and Lora both created (with the Lord's help, of course).
Thanks for sharing on your blog. I made sure to pass it along to Lora. She could use some encouragement this week. =)
Oh Crystal,
As soon as I read that post I knew that people would jump all over the public school comment :) I think some of your readers may be looking too hard for faults in your posts! I wish everyone would just relax-it was only a joke. It's great to add humor every now and then!
Thanks for sharing your pictures-you know how much we love pictures!
Crystal~I am amazed at the comments about your joke. I just don't see how people can find that hurtful. I laugh at myself often because of being educated in public school(and I'm not dumb, but there are things I missed). And I've never seen you look down on those of us who have been public schooled...even if you have a viewpoint of schools. So do I, which is why we are choosing to homeschool. We all need to keep a sense of humor and realise that not everything needs to be picked apart or has bad intentions.
Crystal...I for one enjoy you and do not at all feel judged.
Thank you for this place!
Blessings,
Sommer
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