The daffodils and tulips are in bloom, the leaves are beginning to break forth, the robins are back and building nests, and the geese are staking out their territory in the pond across the road. New life seems to be springing up everywhere as the spring season gently pushes the last vestiges of winter away for yet another year. At least that is what is happening where we live. Granted, this past week has been cold, cold, cold with winter seemingly clinging for dear life! But we have the promise of warmer weather coming this weekend and hopefully Spring will at last claim her victory over Old Man Winter!
Speaking of new life – there was much evidence of this recently. We were at home school conferences the past two weekends and could not believe the number of radiantly expectant moms and the many new babies who have already arrived. I was personally quite surprised to see the plethora of back and front packs, slings, apparatuses, and wraps using 15 yards of fabric (I asked!) intricately wrapped around the mom’s and baby’s body, all designed for carrying infants. Then there were the parades of strollers that came in all shapes and sizes with the most amazing array of gizmos and features on them. Some could be compared to high end luxury cars. It seems a whole new industry was birthed this past winter, devoted entirely towards transporting infants! I am SO glad my children were born over thirty years ago and the only choices we had in strollers and car seats could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and we carried the infant in our arms or some folks used a basic front or back pack type of affair or a sling! A wide winter scarf tied in a loop is what I used – cheap but effective. Equally inexpensive and a snap for putting into the trunk was the small and compact “umbroller” we used. Now-a-days you would need a truck to haul a baby and their “stuff” and have to leave the rest of the family home!! The choices must be mind numbing, not to speak of needing to take out a mortgage to buy all the stuff – just kidding – I think!
Home school conferences can present another mind numbing situation. The one conference we were at had a relatively small number of vendors, making the choices a little easier. The second conference had a LOT of vendors. People seemed to walk around for the two days in a daze, often not knowing where to start. It is wise to get in touch with vendors ahead so that you can peruse their catalogue and web sites. Gather information and then attend the conference with a list in hand of what you want to look at, pick up, feel, evaluate, and speak directly to the vendor about. Gather more catalogues and information at the event and take them home for further study. Trying to do your shopping in short 10-15 minute bursts between seminar/workshop sessions is rarely conducive to making wise purchasing decisions. I highly recommend that you skip out of at least one of the seminar sessions so that you can have quality time to speak to vendors about products you are interested in. Many conference planners make cds of the day’s events available to you so that you can listen to seminars and key-note addresses when you are back at home. Take advantage of that resource. The extra cost is generally worth it when it frees up your time to speak with knowledgeable vendors about their wares. Don’t be pressured into purchasing or be taken in by lots of “bells and whistles!” Now, as a vendor, I have to be honest. We vendors really do need you to purchase at least something at the conferences so that we can pay our table costs – so study hard ahead of time and come with your list!
On a more humorous note, this past Monday at a conference for pastors which my husband and I attended, a speaker was telling us that for a population group to sustain itself, it is necessary for each woman of child bearing age to bear 2.1 children. He did acknowledge that the .1 is a bit of a problem! If the birth rate is lower than the 2.1 average, it does not take long before a population group is unsustainable. There are simply not enough people to do the work to keep the children and the old people going! While this is not the time or place for an in-depth discussion of this topic, I was chuckling about all of the expectant moms we saw the past two weekends. It appears many home schooling families are taking their responsibilities very seriously! Anyways, I just have to leave you with this “funny” which arrived in my inbox today.
Enjoy – and, until next time – this is Maxine signing off with a “Happy Spring to You!”
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I come from a large family, five sisters and three brothers.
My sisters and I were looking through the family photo album one day. Picture after picture, we were all dressed in matching clothes. I asked my mother why she dressed us all alike, right down to the baby.
She explained, "When we had just four children, I dressed you alike so we wouldn’t lose any of you. Then," she added, looking at the pictures in the album, "when the other five came along, I started dressing you alike so we won’t pick up any that didn’t belong to us."
*Thanks to Pastor Tim for this joke!*
cybersalt.org/cleanlaugh