No Munchkins Allowed

My husband and I have made a permanent decision to not have children. How freeing! I even tried to talk myself out of our permanent solution to make sure that this is the right decision. The ONLY reason I could think of for having kids is to have someone to take care of us when we're old. But what's to say that our children will outlive us or be available when we need them? To me, that reason in itself is not strong enough to merit a new life!

We are/I am not the "normal" childfree couple. I was looking online to see if others felt like me, and came across some sites that were critical of (bordering on hateful to) parents, Christians, breastfeeding moms, and more. I am not against any of that!!! I think parents are great, and love to see a mom in my office reading a book to her child, or encouraging a mom to breastfeed for her and her baby's health. Heck, I even love to watch 19 Kids and Counting. Their commitment to their family and their faith is admirable. But should we have a child....because they're cute? because everyone else is doing it? it's what we're "supposed" to do? Nah. Some people just cannot fathom why we want to stay childfree, so here is a summary.

• Environmental - the Earth's population is exploding and we are using up our resources too quickly. Babies need diapers and stuff and food for their whole lives. I could use cloth diapers, but if I never have to change diapers, even better!
• Occupational - I love my job. I've never met a mom who wasn't torn between her job and her kids. Why put myself in that situation if I don't have to?
• Emotional - Children are a blessing, but they can also be very stressful!
• Marital - My husband and I can agree to disagree on certain issues that won't ever affect us since we won't have kids. Working out agreements is a good thing, but there are just certain things we won't ever have to worry about (like video games/TV, curfew/bedtime, etc).
• Physical - I never have to be pregnant. Enough said.
• Helpful - As a wife, there is a lot of work to do at home (children or not!). As a Christian, there is a lot of work to do for God's Kingdom. I am seriously not perfect and still improving in this area, but being childfree really is freeing to help other children who are already here and do the other things that God wants me to.

As you can hopefully see, this was not a hasty decision, but a prayed-over, thought-out decision. This is not just a matter of trying to take the easy way out. I do not judge those who have children or want to have children. We all have our own lives. I do wish that people would more carefully consider the decision to have children (or not!) before taking on this monumental, life-long challenge. It is the child who suffers when the parents are not prepared for the responsibility.

There will always be those who say, "You'll change your mind." Well, I know that God is the only one who knows the plans for my life, and the only one with the power to change minds. If He tells us something different in the future, I'll do my best to follow. But for now, I am free.

-- Also see http://childfreechristian.blogspot.com/ --

What's New

So I really do have a life, even if I'm not good at keeping up with my blog...

Let's start with Wednesday, because that's about as far back as I can remember.  We had church here at the house on the back patio with some STEAK (and yes, of course I made a salad).  We opened our Bibles but never got to the "study" part because we kept on talking and laughing and telling stories.  Sometimes those times are equally or even more important than "studying."

Thursday we went to Artiles, a new Cuban restaurant, with the neighbors.  It was to celebrate her birthday a MONTH ago.  The restaurant had AWESOME food and the people were really friendly.  Not a huge buffet selection but that's ok because everything tasted so good.  Mmmm...I love those fried plantains.

Friday I took the day OFF and hung out at home with Reber who had a stomach bug.  Still much better than working.

Saturday my neighbor, Karina, and I went with her church to Our Community Place to cook and eat lunch with the people there.  That is one amazing place with a bunch of good people.

We also had another cookout with my neighbors and coworkers in the afternoon.  Everybody enjoyed hamburgers and grilled corn, face painting, and a tres leches cake fiasco that was still delicious.  It totally fell apart!

Here is my neighbor painting the kids' faces.  She is so talented at everything and always has good ideas.  The kids were so excited that they kept crowding around her and she hardly had space to work sometimes!

Here are the kids with their finished faces:

I LOVE all these kids - they're so adorable and funny.  Plus we discovered that our shared backyard space is perfect for kids to run around and play.  I always say "I don't have a yard," but really I do!

Sunday I cleaned the basement like a madwoman because I want to have a yard sale sometime in the coming weeks.

And now it's Monday.  Time to savor the extra day off, get a few things done, and take a break!

A couple random pics

Confession:  I am officially the worst picture-taker EVER.  I take my camera places and then never end up using it.  I am afraid to change the batteries because last time I did, it deleted all the pictures.  But this morning, I got up some courage and went on iPhoto and here they are in all their glory:

Here are Madalyn and Buddy.  Oh my gosh I love her name.  She's the daughter of our friends Aaron and Laura.  Laura is the best picture-taker I know, so forgive me for this one but I think it's cute.

Here is my ridiculous cat being ridiculous.  He's always into something.  Pardon the kitchen mess...I'm always doing about a billion things at a time in there.  And see that bread maker?  I scored that for 10 bucks at a yard sale!!

And finally, one that I can't take credit for because Reber took this one, but isn't it pretty where we live?  I love our neighborhood because it's full of life and kids are always playing.

Well, there you have it - hopefully more to come soon!

Best Gift Ever

I gave this to Reber a couple years ago for his birthday and I was so proud of it (and still am).  It doesn't look that special upon first glance, but it actually took some thought and effort.  Maybe I even like it more than he does, but too bad.

The papers are Chinese for our names (supposedly!) and I got them from this guy at Pike's Place market in Seattle.  He didn't speak English and I had to repeat Reber's name like 3 times because I guess he'd never heard of it.  Anyway, that was really special because Reber's always wanted to go to Seattle but hasn't been yet - I was there for a death in the family so not under the best circumstances anyway.

So I wanted to do something special and give them as a gift, but custom framing can be out the wazoo expensive.  I went to the Frame Factory right up the road (a locally-owned store :) and asked what were my options.  The lady suggested a custom mat with a frame that they had in the store.  She went to a corner with the discount frames and pulled out this one - exactly perfect for what I needed and it was on clearance PLUS I had a 10% off coupon so the whole entire thing only ended up costing around $50.  I just love this thing.

Finally - Pictures from our newly designed room!

Here is the color - it's called "castle" and is a little darker in real life.  We went into the store and picked the first color we liked.  Reber and I always pick colors like that.

That is my favorite poster.  Everything in our room is pretty muted except that lamp (from my grandma - love that thing) and the poster, so they draw your eye to them.  Plus I like flowers but not really frilly girly ones so these are perfect.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Reber used to hate New Year's Eve.  I never understood why because it seemed like the perfect holiday for him.  Now we have our own traditions that we both enjoy which include eating Chinese food (yes, we only get it once or twice a year) and watching a whole season of TV on DVD.  Past years have included Da Ali G Show and Weeds.  This year will be Arrested Development, which we've never seen but borrowed from my brother.  

I think God is using this to teach us to guard our time together as a family.  Not that there's anything wrong with going out or spending time with other people, and we need to do that sometimes, but sometimes we need to have our own traditions too and stick to them.  We have been invited to New Year's Eve events by FOUR different people and I've had to say no to them all.  All are people that I enjoy being with, but I am working on creating balance in this area of my life.

Does anyone else deal with this issue?  What are your New Year's Eve plans?

Lucy and Garfield

These are my awesome cats.















This is Lucy. She comes from Stanley, VA and weighs 18 pounds. She gives kisses, hates cat treats, and loves Reber the best.















This is Garfield. He comes from the trailor park behind Lowe's. We think he was abused, so it took him a little bit to get used to us - he even bit Reber when we first got him - but now he is the most loving/loveable cat ever. His favorite foods are tomatoes, taco salad, and croissants.

I have the best cats in the whole world : )