When I first heard this term in 1997, it was to do with being open to having children as God blessed you with them. While it is true, I have four children, with one in-vitro, I truly only advocate having children to people who actually want them. There are many couples in this world who do not want children and to them I say ‘please don’t have any!!!’ as it would be detrimental both to the children and adults involved. Of course, I am also not a proponent of oral contraception as I am generally not a proponent of pharmaceuticals. I avoid them and use natural remedies as much as possible, but this is what is right for my family and me. There is more than one right way to live and each person has to assess themselves, their deep beliefs and figure out what works for them and live in accordance with that, not necessarily according to what society or religion imposes on them.

Here are the links to the whole saga: Part 1 | Part 2

Here are the links to the whole saga: Part 1 | Part 2

For the first time, I did not post a blog entry last Sunday or on Monday (the previous two days). It felt weird at first, because I was stuck on the task of making sure I entered something every day. It wasn’t because I didn’t have something to write, that wasn’t an issue. We made a decision on Thursday, Dec 17th to leave on Dec 24th to Florida for 3 months (most likely). This of course is for the kids’ tennis – we are taking them to a tennis academy. These few days included packing the RV for 3 months, my birthday, the Tamil Cultural practice and play for the kids plus the event (this was our entire Saturday), Christmas related stuff, among many other things. Oh yeah, we went to Brandon today for our last violin class until I get a teacher in Florida (which I endeavor to), as well as getting the RV ready (de-winterized, plus some other things), as well as getting the kids to a doctor for a check up to fill some requirements for the academy. I had to make a choice, go crazy (as in no sleep) or do things in moderation and sleep and do what I absolutely have to. Writing had to take a back seat. I may be online during our drive (4 days) or not, but I am cool with that now. It took a little thinking, but I am at peace about it. I hope you are too, but don’t get too used to it. I will be back online and writing everyday as soon as we are settled in our new place in Florida. You will at least see one more post from me before Monday, as I will post our Christmas card.

I am not sure why, but this is the topic which was in my heart for today’s post. Maybe it will be helpful to someone out there. I pulled my journal entries from the actual event and here they are. I follow them up with a brief discussion.

The phrase in the title was uttered one day in our previous home by one of our many little visitors. We had become used to children who, visiting for the first time, after they had a tour of the house, would come up to us and ask where our TV was. They were usually surprised to hear when I answered that we did not own one. They were even more surprised to hear that we did not have one because we did not want one. This one sweet kid went one step further than asking us where our TV was, to surmising that we must not have one because someone must have stolen it. I thought that was cute.

Why are our kids studying the violin?

I was asked this question recently and as I had formulated my response formally, I thought I might as well share it with you as well.

What is PDCA?

It stands for Plan-Do-Check-Adjust, and I will get into what those mean right away. This will work for anything you are trying to achieve, big or small goals, even abstract changes you are trying to establish. When I say abstract, I mean for goals such as “I want to be a better husband/wife” or “I want to be more patient”. I will discuss how to use this method for the abstract goals a little later in this post.

No, this is not the usual rant about the guys in my life and them leaving the seat up so that we girls fall in or whatever the usual issues are. Girls, I think you will be dutifully impressed and I hope guys, you will think very carefully about what I am about to share.

Our family has never been big on trick-or-treating. We have enjoyed the dressing up part of Halloween, but actually going out for candy has never been much of a big deal. In the past, before homeschooling, the kids got candy at school and that seemed to satisfy them. If the kids go trick-or-treating, it is because we are hanging out with some friends on Halloween night and visit a few houses with that family.