Reusable Diapers

 

Diapers are gross no matter how you go about it. I'll do what I can in this post to help you out the most I can.

Elizabeth and I tried two or three different brands of diapers. We tried out two different styles. One where the pad is snapped onto the diaper and then tucked into the cloth of the diaper, sort of like a blanket (these are called pocket diapers); and another where the pad is folded and tucked into the diaper, so that it's only being held by material at the front and back of the diaper (these are diaper covers). We purchased them through Green Baby Bargains.

Green Baby Bargains has one sale a day in regards to various children's items (educational, toys, household goods, etc.). Elizabeth has purchased all of my diapers this way and have saved quite a bit of money. Do your research on what you think will work best for your family and then watch for sales while you are expecting. We started with two dozen diapers and have recently purchased a dozen more. You can make it on 24 diapers but around the six month mark, we started having to wash daily.

 Elizabeth purchased a package of Seventh Generation disposable diapers to begin with due to the meconium issue. We have heard it is hard to get out of the reusables. This was also a blessing as we were both exhausted. The other newborn issue is that she thought the diapers would fit because Abigail weighed over 8 pounds when she was born and the diapers are for 8-35 lbs. They didn't! Abigail is very tall and slim. It took about a month for her to fit and so she will be watching for a few dozen newborn diapers to add to our collection.

I'll start with pictures of the ones I dislike.

I dislike them for more than one reason. First The pad has to go between two layers, so when it's all soaked, you have to pull it out. Eww. Secondly, because it has a snap, you also have to unsnap it, even when it may be brown, double eww. And thirdly, THEY LEAK!!!, even when you double the layers, they are still likely to leak. You never have to double the other diapers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only nice thing about these diapers, is that the snaps are multi-colored. You would think that it wouldn't be that big of a help in any way, but it actually is-especially when your child needs to be changed at night. The brand is called Lulabye-Baby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The inside of this diaper is adept at collecting random hairs in it, no matter how clean your house is. If you have a hair floating around in your house, you will find it here stuck in the material.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That yellow circle is where the pad snaps in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the male part of the snap at the top of the pad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is one pad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are two pads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pads stuffed into the diaper. The hole where you see the pad sticking out of is how you are able to tug the pad all the way through to the end of the diaper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is one of two kinds of pads for the other type of diaper we have. This specific one is the one that I prefer. They are called Indian Prefolds. It's not too large, is relatively hands-free once the diaper has been used, and dries a bit easier than any of the other pads of this style that we have tried. You can get organic cotton ones for around $2.50 a piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This kind is guaranteed to work, albeit, it's a little larger and a bit thicker. There is an absorbent side (bamboo) and a non-absorbent side (cotton). These sometimes don't dry as well as the Indian Prefolds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diaper Safari brand!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what I was talking about when I said the pads were held by two pieces of material at the front and back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fold One.

 

 

 

 

Fold Two, then flip over, and

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voila!

 

 

Abigail never gets diaper rash. We strictly don't use any chemicals/powders/lotions or any other "thing". We only use baby-wipes. Babies naturally have soft smooth skin, they don't need our help. Her skin is only rough on her knees now lately because she's crawling all over the house. Let nature work for you.

 

 If your child is crying there is a reason! Hunger, sleep, or wet diaper, or a need for love/security-this last one is frequent.

 

Many times your child will cry because they just want to be held.

 

 Don't listen to those people that tell you that you are spoiling your child because you hold them when they want to be. There is a time and an age when you have to expect them not to be in your hands all the time, but that time is no sooner than when they can walk and understand what you are saying, otherwise you are just fighting with nature. Touch is the language that children understand the quickest. To touch a child is to love them.

 

 

 

I never thought about one of the facts of a homestead: Raising babies!

It's all relevant I guess, another aspect of life on the farm.

Well, this may start a tick of writing more about Abigail. Raising her is beautiful, I love it. She makes us so happy and she really is much easier to raise than what we had been led to expect.

Part of homesteading is saving money everywhere we can, we figured out that it would cost about
 20$ a week to buy disposables. However our total monthly water bill for the month is only 50$ and we spend approximately 24$ a year on detergent. Recently our purchase of a dozen Diaper Safari covers and inserts cost us 118.40$ with shipping on GreenBabyBargains. If you were to three dozen, it would be around 350$. The savings are clear. Abigail will use these and so will her next sibling. I'm not sure how long they'll last after that.

 

I'm going to have to start those postings now. They're at the ends of my fingertips.
I'll space them out over the next weeks or so.

 

I pray to our heavenly Father that He bless you abundantly with peace and grace that can only come from a relationship with Yeshua our Messiah.

 

ASK QUESTIONS BELOW

Michael E McCartan



Lord and James

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure who will find this information useful but here is something you may not be familiar with.

The word that is commonly translated from both Greek and Hebrew as “Lord” is actually the Hebrew word “Yah”, as in “Yahweh”. This is interesting to me, so out of curiosity I cross-referenced this with a Bible I have that is written in Pennsylvania Deitsch. I wanted to know what the German plain-folk translated it as, to see if they felt it had a modern equivalent.
I was actually surprised to see that they didn’t translate it as anything! It was written as Yah in the Hebrew and it remained Yah in the Pennsylvania German.

 

Yah is the Hebrew name for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I’m not sure what you can do with this knowledge but I still think that it is worth knowing.

 

 

Hallelujah, meaning "Praise Yah!" or "Praise God!", is not a comment towards God himself. It is a declarative exclamation telling the worshipers of Yah to praise him! This really changes the dynamic of worship. It takes things from being as simple as simply saying "Praise God", to actually having to be more proactive and to have to think of ways in which to praise Him.
 

 

 

Another factoid; there is no such book as the book of James.

It is actually the book of Jacob, or Jakobus in Pennsylvania German, I’ve also cross referenced this with a translation to Hebrew, I can’t remember the way it was spelled but it was clearly a version of Jacob.

Why was the name changed?

Because King James was a very vain man and he wanted a book named after him. Plain and simple.

I hope this helps you in some way.

Plain Things

For those of you that are unfamiliar with plain culture and are unsure of how plain folk look at the world, there is a new periodical that might help to open your eyes.

It's called "Plain Things".

It's published every so many months by a group of anabaptist living in Kentucky.

Here is a website with information about subscribing. There is no prerequisite to subscribe. Anyone is able to.

http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/plain-things.html

I pray that Yah blesses you in all that you do and that you always keep your eyes on Him through whom we have salvation, our savior Yeshuah our Messiah.

A Word From George

“I do recommend and assign Thursday ... next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.” –George Washington (October 3, 1789)

The Lord Gives Providence!

I've told you all about how my family is doing a "Back To Eden" garden.

Well like many things, I get distracted by watching my daughter during the week and on the weekends I'm rushing to get everything done that I couldn't do because my hands were full.

Well one of the things I have forgotten to do, is source genuine woodchips.

It's easy enough to do, just call your local arborist and they'll be happy to dump them wherever you want them. I've had my list of distractions though.

I have taken the trouble to source compost. I should be able to get lots and lots of it. I'm very blessed that I can get it from one of the local municipalities for just the cost of renting a dump truck.

All of that to get to this point.

Today before Elizabeth was even ready to go to work, a man knocked on our door and apologized for the inconvenience as he told me that his trailer had acquired a flat tire and that they needed a place to park it. He asked me if in front of my house was ok. I'm a hospitable man, so I said sure! It's really no matter to me as long as Elizabeth is able to get out of our driveway.

Well some hours passed and I noticed that the trailer was still out there.

More time passed and I heard some noise coming from the trailer. I noticed that the trailer had a ditch digging machine on it. I figured they laid lines or pipe of some sort.

As I was looking out at the scene I saw a pickup truck parked behind the trailer that said something about "Tree Service". Immediately I jumped on the opportunity. Right in front of my house was a chance to secure many loads of woodchips, and I didn't even have to make a call.

I had a good conversation with the owner of the company. We looked at both sides of my house and decided which one was best for a heavy truck to drive on. He told me that sometimes I might see him once every two weeks, and that sometimes I might see him four times a day.

I'm not sure how large his trucks are that haul large loads of chips but from the way he described them, they sound pretty large.

I'm not sure when he'll expect to deliver his first load, but regardless, I have some preparing to do.

I need to have the back field mowed and tilled!

From what I understand, it doesn't matter which goes first. The woodchips or the compost. Though I'll concede, I would like to have all the compost dropped before I have too much woodchips.

It's nice to see the Lord working in my life and providing. I definitely see this as providence, as His will.

Anabaptist Dancing! Part One



This posting is a posting of honesty, introspection, reflection, and redirection.

When I was young in the pentecostal church I rarely-if-ever hesitated to worship our Lord by dancing, leaping, or even running the aisles. I'm talking about when I was probably eighteen to the time I was twenty-three.

It was around the time I turned twenty-three that I began to have personal contentions with the way the church worshipped. I began to feel that there was an absent focus on preaching but a very present focus on active worship. There wasn't enough preaching and too much music and dance. I let my focus on this become a distraction and a roadblock to my personal walk with God.

After I was married the contrast to my former self was stark. I really didn't worship God in the same way. Even though I was fellowshipping with the same congregation I became stiff and uptight. I no longer sang aloud, I never danced, and certainly never ran the aisles anymore. I began to look down on those that did worship that way as disorderly and out of touch with what God expected from us as worship.

It's funny how my contention was with the fact that there wasn't enough preaching, but that my focus became rather the way in which we worshipped. So I guess in the absence of preaching, I became focused on the one thing that was truly present. Worship. The altruistic purpose for which we meet in fellowship. To give God the glory.

I want to be clear that this is all a recent revelation to me. My eyes are being opened to the deception I let myself believe. No one indoctrinated me with this back then. I guess it was partially my thoughts on becoming an adult and "acting" mature that also firmed up my new conviction.

The word of God says that we are to be like children. This is very true. It's not easy to let that guard down for everybody, but it is a commandment.

David's Wife, Michal, was made barren because she mocked David for worshiping by dance. We should follow his example, clearly it is Biblical. Furthermore it is evident that if we try to dissuade others from worshipping in this manner, that we are as guilty as Michal



Here are the two parts of 2nd Samuel chapter 6 that discuss the offense of Michal.

6:12-16

¹² And it was told king David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness.
¹³ And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings.
¹⁴ And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.
¹⁵ So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.
¹⁶ And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.

And here is 6:20-23

²⁰ Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself!
²¹ And David said unto Michal, It was before the Lord, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel: therefore will I play before the Lord.
²² And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour.
²³ Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.
The word "play" in verse 21 is referring to the instruments that David played, not the playing of a child. Nonetheless it would still be relevant even if it were misunderstood. Leaping and dancing before the Lord is a very shameless way of worshiping.

I honestly felt bad for David when I read this because for those that don't know, David was given Michal by Saul. The Bible says twice in 1st Samuel 18 that she loved him. I can only presume that the love was reciprocated because when Saul told David that in order to have her hand in marriage that he wanted one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, David came back with two-hundred. Seems to me that is a statement.

Well unfortunately for David, while he was away for a period, Saul took away his daughter as David's wife and gave her to another man. After a long while David was able to get her back. This scripture above transpired after he repossessed her. We can only infer that she no longer loves him.
That's sad. What's worse is that her own hatred that she cultivated in her heart caused her to become barren. Michal rebuked David for worshiping the Lord. It really is that simple.

That point aside, let's refocus on the overall point of this posting.

If we have the inclination to dance and leap before the Lord as a form of worship, we have the Word of God illustrating to us that it is holy and appreciated of the Lord. Also, the Word makes it clear that we are not to ridicule or persecute anyone for doing so. For me to observe this is a true exercise in humility. My pride is swallowed. I was wrong. However I am thankful for the experiences I had on my detour. It has made me the Christian I am today.

A congregation of dancing anabaptist pentecostals, that would be beautiful.

Since I've had this revelation I've come to the conclusion that there is a time for worship and a time for preaching and if a balance isn't met, then the needs of the people and the needs of God are not being satisfied appropriately. I'd have no problem meeting with pentecostals if I knew in advance that it was going to be a worship meeting, but I would have a problem if it was conveyed that there would be preaching and there wasn't any.

Bear with me, I'm coming around to this myself.

I've been to pentecostal services that were three or more hours long, I loved them!
Sometimes it would be two hours of dancing and one hour of preaching and honestly I am fine with that, I truly feel like that gives God the glory he deserves. But I've also been to meetings where there was twenty minutes of preaching and an hour and forty minutes of music and dancing. That kinda bothers me. That happening once is tolerable, but it happened three consecutive weekends in a row.

I pray to meet like-minded saints.

I know there are other anabaptist pentecostals out there, but we are all on different levels. I truly wonder how they feel about these things.

I know how the Amish and Mennonites of today look at it, I'll be writing about that soon. It seems to be at contrast with the Amish and Mennonites of the 16th century.

Bless you in the name of Yeshua

When All Else Fails, Plant Roses!

 



See this beautiful rose?

When we first moved into our house we were forced to mow it to the ground because the grass was too high, the second time we mowed it because we decided that we didn't want flowers obstructing Elizabeth's view while she did her weaving. Then a span went by where we weren't able to mow the yard.

When we got back to it, there were THREE rose plants!

They won't die.

Apparently you can't go wrong with roses.

It's beautiful, healthy, and can stand being mowed over multiple times.

I'm not sure how tall it will get, but at this point we are done trying to kill it.
If it has this much will-power it deserves to liv.

It only stands about 6-8"s but that was still enough for one of the plants to put forth a flower.
It was a nice dash of color against our house.

A word of caution about roses. Plant them away from deer and horses, both think that roses are a tasty treat!