This has got to be one of my favorite pictures of all time!  Happy Sabbath!

I’ve always disliked feminists. One reason was that many of the ones I came in contact with were actually not just dealing with inequalities but were doing so at the expense of men. Doing this demonstrates weakness and insecurity, in my opinion. I always felt that women who think they can do everything without men were simply acting foolishly. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate strong women that show independence and strength — some of my strongest attractions to my wife! But in the end, I’ve always felt that men and women both need each other the same thus God made both to be helps meet for each other.

There have been, however, two major “discoveries” in my life that have elevated my respect for certain women: (1) Having children and (2) Mothers in the home. When I think of the most incredible people in the world, I realize that none can top good mothers. And it is sad that some think of such an honorable responsibility as a disadvantage. But women who are real mothers demonstrate eternal characteristics of honor, dignity, and godliness that are so difficult to attain.

1. Selflessness: Giving up nine months out of their lives to endure trial for the sake of the life within them
2. Discipline: Continuing on with child in them for the necessary amount of time without aborting the child
3. Endurance: Going through inexpressible pain until the baby comes out — sometimes exceeding more than 24 hrs!
4. Love: At the end of it all, they’re not upset at the child????? And they care for it forever???

For sure, mothers deserve a large yearly salary. And them not getting it makes their decision to work without the compensation reminds us of only One other that has made a larger sacrifice.

Check this article out from CNN.com

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) — If a stay-at-home mom could be compensated in dollars rather than personal satisfaction and unconditional love, she’d rake in a nifty sum of nearly $117,000 a year.

At-home moms reported working an average of 94.4 hours per week, said the survey.

That’s according to a pre-Mother’s Day study released in May by Salary.com, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based firm that studies workplace compensation.

The eighth annual survey calculated a mom’s market value by studying pay levels for 10 job titles with duties that a typical mom performs, ranging from housekeeper and day care center teacher to van driver, psychologist and chief executive officer.

This year, the annual salary for a stay-at-home mom would be $116,805, while a working mom who also juggles an outside job would get $68,405 for her motherly duties.

One stay-at-home mom said the six-figure salary sounds a little low.

“I think a lot of people think we sit at home and have a lot of fun and don’t do a lot of work,” said Samantha Russell, a Fremont, New Hampshire, mother who left her job as pastry chef to raise two boys, ages 2 and 4. “But they should try cleaning their house with little kids running around and messing it up right after them.”

The biggest driver of a mom’s theoretical salary is the amount of overtime pay she’d receive for working more than 40 hours a week. The 18,000 moms surveyed about their typical week reported working 94.4 hours — meaning they’d be spending more than half their working hours on overtime.

Working moms reported an average 54.6 hour “mom work week” besides the hours they spent at paying jobs.

Russell agreed her job as a stay-at-home mom is more than full-time. But she said her “job” brings intangible benefits she wouldn’t enjoy in the workplace.

“The rewards aren’t monetary, but it’s a reward knowing that they’re safe and happy,” Russell said of her sons. “It’s worth it all.”

Since I missed my opportunity to thank Judy for being such a great mother during Mother’s Day, I thought it’s always better late, than never. Because in addition to the above expressed responsibilities (in the article), Judy is also a language teacher (Korean and Spanish), a coach (baseball, basketball, and soccer), a work education instructor (gardening: the ABCs of EDU), a music teacher (Instrumental and Vocal), (and more) she could easily make more than 200k!

Hope you take a moment to thank God for all that the special mothers in your life have done for you! The more I experience, the more I realize that none but Christ is set up to even be able to give more.

– IR

“Porky” (affectionately named by Imanuel), was spotted roaming around our house late last evening.  He/She (-we’re not sure) was sniffing around our front yard for nearly 30 minutes and came as close as right outside our front window.  He/She walked quite gingerly, completely unaffected by our house lights and the incessant flashing coming from the paparazzi inside.  We made several attempts to get a picture/video clip of him from both inside through our window and outside (-where Porky tried to aim his/her quills at us a couple times – quite a frightening experience).  It was nearly impossible since there was such limited light.  Alas, this one taken from the window was our best shot.   Then Porky calmly crossed the street and wandered away into the darkness of the night…

The U.P.  –  Where you can view adorable wild porcupines from the comfort of your house!

A few weeks ago, I decided to join a softball team with Andy (student at Tech).  He told me that anyone could join and that they needed a girl to play.  I was imagining that it was a community league with a bunch of yoopers who didn’t really know how to play, because he said that “it was just for fun”.  I find out at the first practice that it is actually like an IM (intramurals) team at Michigan Tech University! 
Anyhow, even though it is open to whoever wants to join, each team represents a particular club or department at Tech.  I’m on the team called “EE” which stands for Electrical Engineers.  But don’t underestimate EEs!  These guys are all really good!  I was so nervous because I’m one of just a few girls on the team and I didn’t know if I could hang with college boys anymore.  (Especially after 2 kids and not working out since college!)  The good news is that everyone is so friendly (including the other teams).  The bad news is that I have been sore since the first practice!  It’s crazy, though, because we’re allowed to slide, we have to keep track of the batting record each inning, and each week, they print off the hitting averages for each person on the team!  But, it’s a lot of fun and I’m really enjoying it.  I wasn’t as bad as I thought I would be and slowly but surely, my long lost skills are coming back!  So far, we’ve played Business and Student Life and won both.  This week we’ll be playing Computer Science. 

Special thanks to Mr. Mom (aka Israel) for encouraging me to join AND for watching both kids for me during my practices and games!

Since Israel brings the kids to watch me for at least part of the games each week, Imanuel has really become interested in playing softball.  So, yesterday, Israel bought him a tee-ball set (-$7 for complete set at Walmart- what a steal!).  It was also “something special” that Imanuel was promised after he has become so consistent with going potty.  (He even went #2 in the toilet during a visitation at a church member’s house on Sabbath afternoon!  LOL)  So, here are pictures of the boys trying out the new gear.

Imanuel had a hard time knowing which direction to swing.  In this pic he is obviously swinging backwards, but he eventually got it! 

Here’s Israel demonstrating to Imanuel how to do it.  (Notice how he didn’t even make contact with the ball, but instead ended up wailing the actual tee.)  I liked his enthusiasm, though. 

Here’s Israel fixing the tee after breaking it during his demonstration. 

Good thing it wasn’t permanently damaged.  It was a beautiful day to play outside. 

We are so thankful that we can FINALLY be outside!

This Sabbath was a very exciting one. Dr. Chung came up to perform the dedication of Micah Christian and Marriann Anino was baptized. It definitely called for a special potluck. I think it was like a record attendance on Sabbath. We even ran out of church bulletins! Our elders were shocked. 🙂 We were GRATEFUL as all five of Micah’s senses were dedicated to the Lord, we were CHALLENGED to be parents worth imitating, and we were RENEWED as Marriann publicly declared her commitment and love for our Saviour and church.
Sikhu, Dan, Thando, and Cassie drove the 9 hours up on Friday to witness the baptism and then they left after supper to head back down on Saturday! Crazy college kids! But we had a lot of fun hanging out with Dr. Chung and hearing all of his amazing stories, listening to Steve Green (-the yester-years), learning about “peak oil”, eating together, our “marriage counseling” session with/for Andy, and more!
We ended the Sabbath at McLain State Park where we watched the sunset behind Lake Superior. It was a beautiful day.
We are so thankful for Dr. Chung and how he never ceases to inspire us. Hopefully he can bring his whole family up sometime. Except I don’t know if our house could accommodate his entire family. We’ll have to work something out…maybe we’ll get a pop-up or something.
Thank you, Dr. Chung for your friendship and for always sharing your love for Jesus with us. Your life and experiences cause us to believe!

Israel actually is about to baptize two people. Marriann is expecting! Which means that Israel baptized an infant!

The Anino family

Today was a beautiful day so we decided to take some pictures out in the backyard.  But~ before uploading the pictures, I wanted to share some wonderful news.  Imanuel is potty-trained!  Well, almost.  He now goes diaper-less during the day, but out of fear, we still have him wear one during his nap and at night.  For those who want the full scoop, feel free to ask!  All I can say is that I feel so liberated!  It’s a wonderful feeling…

However, because I know so many of you are interested… here are some tips that were crucial in Imanuel’s successful training:

1)  When starting to train, take the diaper off and put underwear on.
2)  Use a cup for boy to pee in before making transition to toilet.  Have cup handy at ALL TIMES.
3)  Rather than asking child if he/she has to go all the time, (or sitting child on potty for long periods of time) keep a hawk’s eye and when you see signs of actually going, move calmly and quickly – especially for #2 so child doesn’t end up holding it in (aka: stage-fright as Uncle Justin calls it).  
4)  Have child go directly into toilet (via potty-seat snap-in & step-stool) so you don’t have extra mess to clean and so there isn’t another scary transition from little potty to big toilet.
5)  Use incentives such as sticker chart and/or yummy snack that is reserved only for successful potty.
6)  Don’t get frustrated or discouraged!  And only use positive pressure!  Once Imanuel got it, within a few days, he became proficient.
7)  I prayed and I honestly believe the Lord gave me wisdom to know what to do for Imanuel.  We could always use help from Someone who knows our kids even better than their mom!

Okay, now that I was able to get that out, , here are some pictures from this past week of us and the boys.

I think we took these the day Micah turned 6 months.

Imanuel wanted me to take this picture.  He put Mr. Potato Head together all by himself (- can you tell)?!

These next few pics were taken today in the backyard…

Micah is now over 22lbs.  (We think he’s trying to set a new Guiness Record.)

They weren’t too excited (especially Micah) but we managed to get a few good ones.  And for the last tip of the day, don’t try to take pictures of your kids when they should be napping!  Good night!

As Mother’s Day has come and gone, I thought I’d share some thoughts and goals that I have on being a mother- and a mother of two.  Last Mother’s Day, I was a mother of two, except that Micah was stilling living in me.  Now, with an active 2 year old (26 month old) and an almost 6 monther, my perspective on parenting has changed a great deal. 

Easier Second Time Around
First of all, Micah is a piece of cake (- and I wasn’t making a fat joke).   From his birth, until now, he has been 500% easier to take care of than Imanuel was.  I’m not sure if it’s because of his chill peresonality (bc I recall Imanuel being a pretty laid-back baby as well), or if it’s because of having the experience of going through it once before.  I’m definitely less paranoid about certain things (-sleep/eat/wake scheduling, SIDS, suffocation, etc.) however, it seems that the results are the same.  Micah is developing well, he sleeps well through the night (-now from 8pm- 8am), he eats well…it just seems so much easier!  I think to myself often, that if I only had Micah to take care of, life would be a breeze.  I would have never said that when I had to take care of Imanuel by myself when he was my only baby!   (This was a note of encouragement for those of you who are considering/expecting round 2.)

Time for Both
Anyhow, my focus is very much on Imanuel’s character building.  He loves to talk and is experimenting quite a bit with using language as a tool…sometimes to manipulate, unfortunately.  So, I try to make it a point to give him the attention and love that he needs to develop in the different facets of his young life.  With this said, I had an “aha” moment the other day when I realized how the 2nd child tends to be the “forgotten child”, the “odd ball” out of the family, the one that never got any attention.  I shamefully say that during the course of the day, after Micah gets his feeding and changing, he spends lots of time just sitting in his exer-saucer until it’s time for his nap.  He sits there, very content (-I might add), just playing with the different toys that are attached to it, while I play or deal with Imanuel, take care of chores, do GYC work, etc.

So, with that said, my first goal as a mother is that I want to give both of my kids the attention that the rightly deserve.  I realize that in order to do this, I need to give Micah the attention that he needs, even though he doesn’t ask for it/nor “need” it.  God has time for each one of His children, no matter where we are on the spiritual growth chart.  We all need His attention and we ought to give our kids the same.

Going Potty
We’re trying to potty-train Imanuel right now.  I think this heightens the amount of attention that Imanuel needs because I need to watch him like a hawk to see if he needs to go to the bathroom.  He’s gone #2 in his potty every day except for one in the past 5 days, but he’s only gone #1 once.  Which means, I’ve been having to wash many pajama pants recently.  It takes a lot of time and attention (and patience).  I think it’s a bitter-sweet experience for him right now.  It is a very challenging ordeal – this potty training business, however, he tries hard to please me and to get his reward (-a sticker on his going potty chart and a potty party where he gets to eat some yummy snacks).  This struggle has also surfaced some character struggles in him.  He is often tempted to lie when I ask him if he needs to go potty, or if he has already gone.  So, balancing the love and encouragement with accountability and discipline gets tricky. 

The other day, when Imanuel had gone #2 in the potty for the first time since phase 2 of potty training, (- phase 1 started when he was 18 months, but was never concluded because I was getting very pregnant), I was very discouraged.  I had decided to take his diaper off and I told him that because he was big boy, he needed to start going on the potty.  Well, he ended up going pee in his pants 3 times before he actually went poo in the potty.  So, you can imagine the excitement (after the 3 great disappointments) when he went.  I was so happy and I hugged him and told him that I was so proud of him.  I was very excited.  Then Imanuel in the excitement exclaimed, “Mama, you love Manu?!”  Translated, “Now that I have gone poo-poo in the toilet, you love me?!”   I knew that’s what he had meant.  It actually broke my heart when he said that.  

Loving Always
That’s when I sat him down and tried to explain that I ALWAYS love him, no matter if he goes in the potty or not.  It was then that I realized the solemn responsibility that we as parents have to learn how to show love to our children all the time.   Not only when we are in a good mood, or if things are going well, or if our children are behaving well.  God wants us to know that that’s how He feels about us, and He gives us the duty to teach that to our children.  Since potty-training has started, I see how just one disappointing look sinks deep into a child’s heart, how the frustration in your voice leaves a child confused and guilt-stricken (even though it may not have been their fault).  Children are so sensitive!  I have the responsibility to maintain a Christ-like attitude no matter what.  I have no excuse to lose my temper or show frustration with their short-comings.  My other goal is that I want to make sure my children are confident that I love them at ALL times.

Doing the Impossible
How can I be the parent that God calls me to be?  The calling seems too high.   It goes beyond living like a Christian all the time.  It is giving the first and most impacting introduction of who God is to someone who belongs to Him.  I don’t want to mess that up!  I need Jesus moment by moment.  I know that the first 3 years of a child’s life are the most influential in determining what kind of character they will possess.  That time is quickly passing for my kids and so I realize that now is the time to give my best.
 

Auntie Alanna & Micah (They just looked so different I had to take a picture.)

Manu’s potty seat

Me and my Manu

Micah & Manu on Mother’s Day 2008

This past school year at Michigan Tech has been a monumental one.  With Alanna enrolling as a full-time student and Sikhu coming up here as a CAMPUS worker, the Lord has truly blessed their ministry.  Some highlights from the school year was the formation of an official Adventist student organization, Idaliza & Andy’s engagement, Edward becoming Edward, PhD, and the decisions for baptism.  We ended the school year with a Senior Recognition Dinner last Saturday evening (April 26). 

The amazing cake made by Helen!

The seniors!  (& Sikhu)…(and Micah)

Micah was part of Idaliza’s mock award gift.  “Most Likely to Have a Kid in 2 Years”  Andy is now studying for baptism.

Sikhu’s mock gift was U.P. snow!  😀  “Most Likely to Hate Snow like Sin, but Still Come Back to Visit”

Group picture!

The beautiful CAMPUS yoopers who paved the way (with the Lord’s help, of course)!

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We also had our first baby dedication since we’ve been up here.  Isaac Jodan Odhiambo was dedicated this past Sabbath on May 3rd.   This was also the first Sabbath since his daddy became a PhD.  His mommy, Mariann will be baptized at the end of this month, but unfortunately, soon after that, they will be moving by UGA where Edward will be working.   The good news is that the can continue working with public campus ministry!  Imanuel will miss Isaac very much.
 

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And lastly for personal updates, Daniel was able to come up and spend a few days with us.  We had a great time together and we look forward to seeing him again in a couple of weeks (at GJC – www.gjcweb.org).

Uncle Dan & Manu, sporting swim goggles, which he prefers to call “glasses”

Bentley missed Dan.  It had been a while.

The boys going for their first walk this year and in their double stroller.  It was FREEZING cold.

Imanuel was excited to take pictures with his brother.  Micah, not so much.

Israel just left for Guam this morning and he’ll be back on Sunday.  On his computer we have some pictures of our trip to Copper Harbor (-the northern tip of the Keweenaw).   We’ll have to post some up later.  Some of the lake up there was still frozen and some parts still had snow on the ground!  It was so nice though.   As usual, whenever Israel leaves, we are expecting some snow this Friday, but hopefully it doesn’t get too cold.  I cannot wait until Summer is here!  (We bypass Spring.)  That’s all for now!    

So, me and the boys have roughed it out without Israel for the past few days.  Imanuel has gotten better although he still has a very runny nose and cough.  Micah’s immune system has been aggressively fighting what Manu has, but it too has had some casualties.  Micah has fought off fever (-thanks to our friend, hydrotherapy) however, he has had a runny nose and sore throat so that has made it difficult for him to sleep.  And on top of that, Bentley has been thoroughly enjoying the mud that the snow melt has caused.  I have NOT been enjoying cleaning him up when he comes in. 

However, one consolation I have is that the things that Imanuel says can be so funny at times.  I don’t know if it is necessarily that Imanuel is funny, but the stage that he is in (-exploring language) definitely is a fun one.  Anyway, I decided to jot down some of the funny things he’s said in the last couple of days so I would always remember.  So, here they are:

–  “Uh oh Mama, Bentley eating Chance.”

–  He saw a picture the Monopoly guy at Steve & Barry’s and said:
   “Mama, he’s holding a staff!”  (referring to his cane)

–  He’s developed a habit of saying,
   “Alrighty…”

–  He was telling me a story about a bear that was eating with Micah outside.  I asked him what they were      
   eating, to which he replied coolly, “Tomatoes…and veggie meat.”

–  When I with Micah in his room and he started crying, Imanuel burst through the door and exclaimed,
   “Oh!  What’s happening!?!”

–  Before praying, Imanuel paused and pointing to his teddy bear said,
    “Oh.  Bear close it eyes.”  

–  While reading to him, I pointed to a picture of a ladybug and asked,
   “What animal is this”?
   After a moment of contemplation, his response:  “Baby newt.”

–  During one prayer for Micah’s food:
   “Dear God, thank you for keeping Micah bba-bba (translated food) safe.”

It’s nice to have these moments of unexpected joy throughout the day…  

– I haven’t come CLOSE to rolling over yet.
– My brother has been very sick with high fever, cough, sore throat, and runny nose. 
– This Sunday, Auntie Sikhu leaves us for good. 
– Finals are almost over so students will be gone all summer (except Tio Andy)
– Daddy will be going to Ann Arbor next week (and we won’t be going)
– The weather has been chilly, foggy, and wet.
– My parents are busted with taxes this year.

But on the bright side…
– I get to eat two meals of rice cereal each day.
– Our neighbors got a puppy so Bentley has a new friend.
– It’s Sabbath!
– We know that God will take care of us!