home-birth 101

We finally have everything in order for the BIG day!

So....I thought I'd share alittle on what we've done to prepare for our little mama to gracefully enter this world.

But first, here's what is going to help big mama relax during labor....

I will most likely be birthing in the tub. There's lots of great reasons why birthing in water can be ideal. Most women have a far less chance of tearing and requiring stitches after water birth. This is because the warmth and water work together to keep mama's muscles relaxed and aiding in softening and opening your cervix. Also for me, I found that water birth was far easier to clean up. Less mess is best :-) All your tubs come with a lining. Everything is drained through an electric pump and then the lining is rolled up and thrown out. Clean up is barely 15 minutes.

But there's still chance I won't be able to birth in the tub. If the tub seems like its hindering labor we also prepared bed linens as a back up:

here's what we have -

2 sets of sheets (one for laboring, fresh set for after birth)

several pillows and are covering them with garbage bags under the bases

warm blankets

6 towels and 2 wash clothes to have on hand

plastic cover for bed and drop cloth (using a shower curtain liner) in front on bed.

for baby:

6 cotton receiving blankets

winter weight baby blanket

diapers and clothing :-)

and look what my friend is letting me borrow!!!

so happy to have my moses' basket :-)

for the birth:

iodine skin cleanser

24 gauze pads

gallon of distilled water

fever therometer

40 disposable under pads

sanitary napkins

bowl for placenta

clean squeeze bottle for rinsing if there are stitches

large black trash bags

flexible drinking straws

clean, comfortable clothing for nursing and after birth

herb teas and organic ginger beer for drinking during labor

simple foods for people in my home.

and as a SWEET extra -

an herb bath:

1/2 c sea salt

1 oz shepherds purse

1 oz uva ursi

1 oz witch hazel bark

2 oz comfrey leaf or root

1 large garlic bulb

cheese cloth to hold it all in :-)

And we finally have a "birthing room" that we temporarily set up in the house. It's not completely together, but almost. It worked out well since we were transitioning the girls into this room anyways once the baby moves into their old room. So we have a little twin bed in there for birthing with a large open space for the tub. It's directly across from our bathroom so the indoor hose will fit nicely from our bathroom sink into the tub in the room. This will make things a little easier for birthing since I can enjoy myself all in one location.

Some additional things we'll be doing to make it a better experience and as intimate as possible is adding some dim lighting by using lamps and soy candles. And we have a CD player that will be playing worship music in the background. There's a tv if I am in labor for a long time....but I suspect I won't be watching any movies....lol.

So there you have it. My home-birth 101....

I'm just about 38 weeks, so it could be any day now (yah!)

....looking forward to sharing more as this experience is all too new!

church

why i believe sunday service shouldn't be catered to unbelievers....

i have a friend, whom we'll name Stacy. Stacy has a relationship with Jesus and really desires to know Him more. In fact, she's been searching for a church now for the past couple months that offers a real authentic, passionate love for God in everything they do. Burnt by religion, she aggressively began a search to find something supernatural - something that would offer her more than what the rest of the world offers. And as she searched she noticed her heart growing hard and bitter, not really understanding why. Stacy hasn't been to church now in 3 weeks. She deeply desires to be a part of a family but everything just seems too political, too structured, too big and too organized.

A lot of people would categorize Stacy as someone who was not mature in their faith enough to look past the faults of the church to get to Jesus. But as you get to know her you see there is a deep longing and burning in her heart to learn, grow and excel more than anyone who've ever met. In fact, at her last church she helped service the worship team, but as things became more dry and boxed in, she decided to inquiry of the pastor of why things have become so ordered. her answer? "If we lose order in the worship- we lose control of the people." What did this say to Stacy? It said we care more about manipulating people through organized religion so they behave the way we want them to than we do about the people encountering and be transformed by the presence of God. ouch.

So why do we even gather on Sunday mornings? What's the purpose of it all, really? Hebrews 10:25 asks us to not forsake the fellowship or the gathering of believers (the saints) and even to come together singing spiritual songs, worshipping with one another (Ephesians 5:19). But the Bible seems really clear, we cannot have fellowship with one another if we don't first have fellowship with Him. "But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)

So what is this really saying about when we come together? The focus isn't AT ALL on unbelievers. Not one bit. Nowhere can you find one scripture that supports a "service" even catered to unbelievers, or by definition "seekers". So does this mean being "seeker sensitive" is unbiblical? I would dare to say, yes! Jesus didn't even talk about such things. In fact, He tried to mess organized religion up in His 3 years of ministry. He told us that the ekklesia, the Church, was called to "go out" and make disciples, to persuade men by our good works so they can see Jesus glorified (Matthew 5:16). Go out from where? Well from our gatherings of course.

But what about people like Stacy? How will she know how to live, to persuade men with her life that Jesus is real to her? What about others who only know how to preach organized religion but not live their life in radicall real relationship with Jesus? What's different in what we offer from the rest of the world if we have no authenticity?

Ephesians 4 says, "And Christ Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ". This is what empowers us to out from where we gather to be light to the rest of the world. And though most of our "churches" and "services" operate like an monarchy - one leader with elders under him, then service hosts under them, then congregants under them....and even children considered to be under them :( I really don't see that system really displaying what Jesus asked us to do. But we're asked to each bring our gifts when we gather - that we were each called to His service, for His glory. (1 Peter 4:10-11) I think by man's definition, being the Church could look pretty messy.

Think about this for a moment. "The wind blows where it wants to. You hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. That's the way it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8) Wind usually messes things up alittle and sometimes there's no explanation for it. Why does man feel the need to explain every move of God? We are so uncomfortable with messy supernatural things! We have such a need to feel comfortable in a "controlled" atmosphere. I'm not saying lets forsake all order and do as the Corinthians did, walking in the supernatural power with no wisdom or love - but does that mean we lose that raw and radical realness in our services for the sake of that order? Ultimately what brings greater satisfaction?

If the church doesn't wake up soon to this reality, our gatherings will get smaller and smaller. The unchurched will not be fooled (in fact you don't see unbelievers coming to church anymore, new members are usually old members somewhere else). And now even the churched are leaving, in hope to find a people radically pursuing God. It may just mean we let go of our agenda, our programs set for the day, or lose ourselves in worship. Actually it changes the whole face of things...it changes the whole force behind why we gather. We no longer come to get, but to give. And we leave EVERYTIME transformed, ready to take the world on as our inheritance because we know we can and there's an undeniable trust in who Jesus is in us. Isn't that what we're all really seeking? If that's what "seeker sensitive" means, then I want that! - But nothing less.

day 1

Hey Everyone. So I figured I'd share on something that my husband and I are recently starting. In fact, it starts today. So this marks day 1. Brandon recently really felt like the Lord was calling him to fast for a elongated period of time and wasn't sure what the fast may look like. But we both wanted to seek God pertaining to strategy.....a God-given blue print for the city of Rochester. Vision is a wonderful and powerful thing, but where's the steps to put it in action? And when we try to do things in our own way, our own time, most times the plan fails. So we're asking God for HIS strategy.

It then dawned on us as we were sharing about how sick the food industry makes us feel. That it is as if they have set people up to fail. And as the words came from my mouth...."is it even possible to eat a completely unprocessed diet?" and it hit us both. That's what our fast was suppose to be. No processed foods, no not one. The hard part about it all is even some "organic" foods are still processed so this changes things for us a lot. No cereals, no pasteurized dairy or juices, nothing prepared by someone else's hands, just simply foods....back to the basics of basics. I'll be honest I don't know if i can do it. But I'm asking God for grace and creativity. I'm VERY pregnant right now, but I'll be needing to make my own bread, prepare my own dairy (yogurt, butter, cheese), and prepare all my meals from scratch with no aid of a processed food. It's a lot to think about, but I think thats the point of the fast.

I really feel as we eat food that has been undefiled and untouched by man, that it is a prophetic act of God revealing a plan, a strategy that is also undefiled, untouched by man....a heavenly blue-print.

Also there are some things happening today that I think are really timely to everything. My mother (in-law) is coming into town to help me. Lately I have been in a lot of pain from the baby and how low she is sitting. I've had severe sciatic never pinching causing numbing and pain in my back and legs, along with LOTS of pressure of my pelvic bone, which has been making things difficult for bending and going up and down stairs. I've been been going to the chiropractor with some relief, but only for a couple days. So she's come to help, so focusing on simple things (like what i should eat) should be more of a joyful process than strenuous one :-) I'm really excited to have the extra help. I'm just not able to do what I normally do at this point.

I'll be sharing any new recipes I try on here. This is all pretty new to me and I never really found a good enough reason to try this, so now that I have I'm super excited. I plan to try quite a few recipes as well from Covenant Health's website....they have lots of great recipes from simple raw foods that look delicious.

so here's to day 1!

Joy of the Redeemed

The desert and the parched land will be glad;

the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.

Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;

it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;

they will see the glory of the LORD,

the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the feeble hands,

steady the knees that give way;

say to those with fearful hearts,

“Be strong, do not fear;

your God will come,

he will come with vengeance;

with divine retribution

he will come to save you.”

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then will the lame leap like a deer,

and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness

and streams in the desert.

The burning sand will become a pool,

the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

In the haunts where jackals once lay,

grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

And a highway will be there;

it will be called the Way of Holiness;

it will be for those who walk on that Way.

The unclean will not journey on it;

wicked fools will not go about on it.

No lion will be there,

nor any ravenous beast;

they will not be found there.

But only the redeemed will walk there,

and those the LORD has rescued will return.

They will enter Zion with singing;

everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Isaiah 35

dirty dozen and clean 15

Trying to save while buying organic?

With summer here my taste buds are in bloom just as much as the flowers and fruit are! When I walk into Wegmans, with all the lowered prices on produce and wide variety of veggie and fruity goodness its hard to remember what I know about all these delectable pieces of food.

In fact, for a while there, prices on strawberries were so low that I caved and bought a bunch, hoping that a nice cold soak would rid of the 13 different pesticides found on one strawberry. yikes! I seriously had one strawberry as big as a small apple - thats just ridiculous). So anyways, I was really excited to see Wegmans recently add some local strawberries to their selection, making things a little more reasonable. Though not completely organic, sprayed much less and usually only on the leaves until the plants flower.

With that said I decided to do a little refresher "course" for myself so that I would feel a little more prepared going into the grocery. Although I highly recommend finding local farms as this time of year they'll be booming with fresh produce that ultimately is sprayed less, with less harmful pesticides and worked with more hands on. I love the Rochester Public Market but you've got to ask lots of questions to find out what they're really selling and sometimes that's difficult when the market is as busy as it is this time of year. South wedge Farmer's Market are ALL local farmers, and most organically raised and grown. And though they may be a little higher priced, its still cheaper than your commercialized organic section in the grocer.

Here's this year's Dirty Dozen (listed in order) - so if you can't afford to go completely organic, this would be the ones you don't want to compromise on. And then I'll list the "Clean 15" - those who tested the least harmful for pesticides and chemicals. You can also find a thorough list at EWG's 2011 Shopping Guide.

DIRTY DOZEN

1. Apples

2. Celery

3. Strawberries

4. Peaches

5. Spinach

6. Imported nectarines

7. Imported grapes

8. Sweet bell peppers

9. Potatoes

10. Domestic blueberried

11. Lettuce

12. Kale/collard greens

CLEAN 15

1. Onions

2. Sweet corn

3. Pineapple

4. Avocado

5. Asparagus

6. Sweet peas

7. Mangoes

8. Eggplant

9. Cantaloupe

10. Kiwi

11. Cabbage

12. Watermelon

13. Sweet potatoes

14. Grapefruit

15. Mushrooms

raw milk debate

We recently did a switch.

Yep.....to raw, unpasteurized organic milk.....from pasture cows that are grass-fed.

And though I know people who are on both sides of the fence, all for good thought-out reasons, after doing a lot of more own investigating and discoveries, we've decided that the switch was not only reasonable, but obvious to us that the evidence to support raw milk was far more substantial than the reasons for pasteurized milk.

The big problem with pasteurized milk is that its nearly impossible to kill "bad" bacteria without killing the good. Pasteurization (heating the milk to 180 degrees) and ultra-pasteurization (heating milk up to 270 degrees) literally strips almost all nutrition from our milk. Now you have fortified, fat less milk on our shelves that are literally making us sick and we have no idea why. In fact, I've read several testimonies of people who thought they were allergic to milk until they switched to raw.

But I understand the reasoning for the BIG debate. Unfortunately raw milk is not an option for corporate factory farmers, the cows are milked way too often and far sicker than we think. Most times they have infections on the breasts, oozing puss, with many different infections and other sorts of pathogens, so with that case....raw milk is very deathly! so i would neverconsume industrial raw milk...not an option! But this is where a lot of the scare comes from. Its of highest importance that the farm you receive raw milk from be local and visited before purchase (or at least visited by someone you trust). In many states we cannot purchase the milk without knowing a friend, or legally buying a cow share or buying for "pet" use. Thankfully in NY State, we do have the availability to purchase raw milk from a farm who is licensed to do so :-) If the farm is working as a proper ecosystem of sorts (many people's definition of this is different) than it is my opinion that raw milk is a much safer alternative to pasteurized milk....and the health benefits are incredibly super! I would almost say...miraculous that God gave us such an amazing probiotic. And because raw milk has beneficial, lactic-acid friendly bacteria that help ward off pathogens, its amazing how safe it really is. Milk is one of the biggest recommendations for calcium, biggest recommendations for toddlers and pregnant women, and even WIC (state aid) goes to the BIG guys for what they produce. They don't want to lose that so better tell everyone too stay away from the unpasteurized...its unsafe.

i know its hard to search the internet to find the truth. It seems there is advocates on both sides of the fence and they both are pretty extreme from one another. Raw milk safety standards often exceed those of pasteurized milk. And when you "sterilize" anything you have a greater chance of things growing in it once oxidized.

Kate, in her blog Modern Alternative Mama, puts it this way: "Unfortunately, when milk is sterile, anything can then grow in it if it becomes contaminated. In raw milk, the good bacteria can often keep the bad bacteria in check, should it become contaminated. Each year, there are 76 million cases of food-borne illness, and about 5000 deaths. In the last 10 years, despite raw milk consumption increasing, there have been only a thousand or so reported cases of illness and two deaths (however, there is no official data which proves these records at all, so numbers may be lower). It is clear that even if these numbers ARE correct, that raw milk is hardly a threat. No food is 100% safe, but raw milk is a tiny, tiny portion of the problem. The problem can be avoided entirely by approaching dairies that are obviously clean and have high safety standards (most of the time).

Beyond the issue of raw milk actually being safe, it is highly beneficial. Many people who are lactose-intolerant or even dairy-allergic can safely consume raw milk with no ill effects. Others have claimed it has helped or cured allergies, asthma, eczema, and more. Raw milk is a living food, consumed in its natural form. Vitamins and minerals are also more well-absorbed from raw milk. Pasteurized milk is a denatured food, from which vitamins are not well absorbed."

I have still personally been consuming pasteurized milk but am gracefully moving to raw, and plan to make butter and use its cream for all sorts. (Recipes to follow on this blog as I learn how to do it). Its health benefits are too good not too take advantage. At this point, if I know the farm and it's doing things right by allowing their cows to free range, eating and grazing grass, without antibiotics or growth hormones and they are treated humanly and the farmers are honest themselves (meaning they're not going to sell milk from a sick cow) than I plan to consume while pregnant, and the girls will be joining me after they turn a year old. Some will call me crazy and stupid, while there will be others who couldn't possible imagine any other way. my hope is that you too would explore this and join the raw milk discussion. For more good insight on raw milk click here.

Also I am very aware of the opposing sides and the many reasons for pasteurized milk. I know raw milk is not for everyone and there is still risk involved. Real raw milk facts posts several reasons, all very well thought-out with testimonials, why they believe raw milk is not safe. I don't just want to post things that are supporting what I think or believe and at the same time I think it is beneficial to observe what the opposition is saying - it is valid.

so, what do you think?

are you a raw milk drinker already?

what are your thoughts?

tired of "church"

I recently went to a workshop for church leaders that was entitled "how to have exceptional sunday services". I enjoyed the workshop, but I really can't help but shutter a little inside when i hear such a title. There are many reasons the idea of us focusing our energy on exceptional services doesn't sit well with me, but the largest issue I have with it is something I have only experienced more recently.

Brandon and I have currently been pioneering "church relationship" ministries since '07 when we realized a huge need in the area of networking churches in order to see regional change in our communities. And as easy as that sounds, the task has been an extremely hard one, and at times, absolutely exhausting. None-the-less, the Lord has us forerunning ministries that require the Body of Christ to work together in order to thrive......and we know its the love of God that compells us to keep at it even when there is no budge.

It's unfortunate that in the more we worked with church leadership (not all, but a lot) how ingrown our vision and aspirations have become. And though many churches prayerfully and financially support others on the mission field, its few that actually do the same for their fellow localized Body. For instance, we often see churches thriving in light of being "missions" minded, supporting people over-seas and aiding them in furlough, etc., but when it comes to working with other churches or leaders in their own region there's just not enough time, energy or emphasize on what that would even look like for most. And though we recognize we are the ekklesia, "the called out ones", we rarely have the availablity to go beyond what our "own" family of God is doing to aid in what God might be doing regionally. This has been very true for the prayer movement in the city of Rochester. If you don't know any of the history of the prayer movement in this city, you should know that for YEARS men and women of God have been trying to get sustainable 24 hour prayer and worship happening, with many houses of prayer falling and dying. It's been an unending task that has been on the heart of God, but its people continually burning out. It's because in order to have true regional reformation it will not come through one man, one church, or one stream.....it will come through the entirety of the Body of Christ working together, being in covenant-relationship with one another. This is the heart of God.

So how does this correlate with my point in the beginning? Here's my case, in which I hope the heart behind what I'm sharing is heard openly.....if we are the ekklesia, which isn't a building, a business or even a sunday service, but an "assembly" of believers loving God and loving each other radically....how would we change our approach on how we "do" church? Really. Would we even have seminars titled "how to have exceptional sunday services" or would we rename them something like "how to host the presence of God on a sunday morning"? I don't know. But something needs to shift in our minds. Something needs to shift in the way we think about church.

I am fortunate to go to a healthy-cultured church, so this is no means attacking churches. I am FOR the Church! God is just so ever-redining my places of worship and enlightening my own idea of what it really means to be the Church. Tell, what do you think? What are your thoughts?

Obviously what I'm writing is a generalization and every church has its own culture, values and traditions and the article is based upon experience and not what every church does. But its written with an open heart to challenge our thinking. Please receive with a willingness to grow together in the things God desires to show us all. Even as leaders, we should remain teachable.