Encouragement

...it comes in many forms, but lately via blogs and forums. We have a large family and, as my children enjoy describing to anyone who will lend an ear, we are expecting again in August. The forums rock: where else can one ask in all seriousness- "How do you organize 12 people's socks?" Where else dare you ask if they have a family closet? (What is a family closet you ask? Look it up yourself as we don't have one here!) I have been called a saint twice in the last week- why? So interesting to hear other's perspectives on family size and rearing.

Simply knowing that there are others who battle the sock genie, wish for the laundry fairy to visit and obsess over how to feed, clothe and home teach many small persons on a budget bolsters my sense of well being. Heck, I even feel good enough that I am able to heft the large crock pot off the shelf and make yet another one pot meal, mostly organic, from scratch.
I am not looking for awards, just peace and love in my humble abode.

Discussing my upcoming sonogram a friend asked why I might not wish to find out the sex of our child. I mentioned that this 7th baby might be the last and I wanted it to be a surprise. Shocked she asked- MIGHT be your last??? She kindly advised all the birth control options available. Well, I think we are finished after this, but God hasn't told me flat out yet. I will wait on him. In the meantime I will cruise the forums, read the blogs, and pray for rest and sanity.

Hamster Charged- I love creative Kids...

Hamster-powered phone charger
A 16-year-old boy invented a hamster-powered mobile phone charger as part of his GCSE science project. Peter Ash, of Lawford, Somerset, attached a generator to his hamster's exercise wheel and connected it to his phone charger. Elvis does the legwork while Peter charges his phone in an economically and environmentally friendly way. He came up with the idea after his sister Sarah complained that Elvis was keeping her awake at night by playing for hours on his exercise wheel.
"I thought the wheel could be made to do something useful so I connected a system of gears and a turbine," he said.
"Every two minutes Elvis spends on his wheel gives me about thirty minutes talk time on my phone."
The teenage inventor was given a C for his project and has been awarded a D overall for the course.