“Fred and I packed up the boys and some quickie Dollar Store purchases and headed over to Amy’s and Chris’ after dinner tonight to celebrate a time-honored tradition in our friend group: pranking the heck out of the newlyweds’ house. This tradition started almost seven years ago when Fred and I got married. It wasn’t out house that got it. It was Fred’s car. Aside from the usual painted messages and cans tied to the back…”

Fifteen Christian families from a tiny community of only about 1,300 people are making plans to leave their homes and work behind so that their children will not be forced by the Canadian government to attend “sanctioned” schools where evolution is taught.

A report in the Vancouver Sun said provincial officials have threatened the families with legal action, including the potential loss of their children to state control, if they do not abide by the mandatory education curriculum.

But leaders of the Mennonite families say they’ll leave Quebec before giving up their children to the state indoctrination.

Next time a politician or any agent of a government school tells me, “We have to do what’s right for our children,” I will get right up in his/her face and tell them, “They’re not ‘our’ children. They are your children and my children. Mind your own damned children, and leave my children alone.”

The morning went by quickly in a haze of daze and medical advice for both Rachel and I, but it ended well, because we each got a smoothie for lunch: hers was chocolate, banana, and yogurt; mine was chocolate, banana, & peanut butter. When we got home, Ellie said that her Deacon & our Jack pretty much took turns sleeping, so the morning went by really smoothly.

The afternoon was so quiet and wonderful! Rachel and I each figured out semi-independently that in order for tonight to go better, we should try changing our approach to Jack during the day. So we woke Jack up every two hours to change him and feed him. In between feedings, Rachel mostly rested and slept, and I mostly puttered around the house taking care of things and working on this new version of our personal website. At one point, though, I wandered into the guest room and took one of the deepest naps I have taken in a very long time for about an hour and a half.

Later…

A more structured schedule for Jack during the day seems to be working: as of this writing, he is sleeping through what for the past few days has been his cranky “witching hour” from 9:30-ish to 10:30-ish, and that is a good thing. The other thing that may be helping is what Ellie showed us about how she swaddles Deacon. She uses something called a Miracle Blanket, which seems to work really well to keep her son calm and feeling secure. I took note of the design and function of the thing, and we improvised our own with the materials we had on hand. This also made a big difference today, I think. Jack’s hands have been making like Houdini out of his wrapping and oppressing his poor little face, but this new wrapping style prevented that and helped all of us to be a little more at ease.

The proof of these new approaches remains to be seen through this coming night. Meanwhile, enjoy a small token of this wonderful afternoon with us:

I’m pretty proud of this picture. To see what it is a picture of, click on the thumbnail, download the picture, and zoom in on the very center of the picture.	Kat watching over Jack.

Family Relating to State –
The Marriage Law Project
Institute for Marriage and Public Policy

Neighbor Relating to Family –
Marriage Movement.org
Marriage Debate blog

Creation –
Access Research Network
Science Blog

I don’t usually highlight resource links like this, because it involves twice the data entry, so check out the Resource Link Page for many more links.