Quote from The Way to Happiness by L. Ron Hubbard.  Click for wallpaper-size version.

Last night, before bed, my daughter (3) turned to me and said:

“Daddy – I really love you. You’re my favorite boy. And mommy is my favorite mommy of all, and Denali is my favorite brother of all and Claudi is my favorite sister of all.”

You know, I’ve put a concerted effort, in these last three plus years of being “Daddy”, to preserve my daughter’s self-determinism, to allow her to learn and grow, and in doing so have made nothing unclear in terms of communicating to her why it is that I love her so much.

But man, man it is just staggering to me how much love she has to give back.  The girl just has SO MUCH LOVE.

The moral of my story, on an ongoing basis, is to never be too judicious in my administering of outright love for my kids.  Because boy, boy oh boy does it come back.

The above quote is from the book, The Way to Happiness, a common-sense, non-religious moral code that L. Ron Hubbard authored to help arrest the moral decline in our society.  It is the single most translated non-religious work in the world, and it’s excellent precept Love and Help Children has been a guiding compass for me as a parent.

My wife on the cover of the IBFan Breastfeeding Calendar 2013 (top right).

In responding to folks on our Google+ page and Facebook pages regarding breastfeeding, I just realized that I neglected to mention that for a second time, my wife was selected as a cover girl for the IBFAN Breastfeeding Calendar, this time for their 2013 calendar.

She had made it on the cover of the 2011 calendar as well, happily breastfeeding our then-2-month-old daughter while we were out on a hike in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia.  This one was again in Harper’s Ferry, but with our then-9-month-old son.

IBFAN (International Baby Food Action Network) is a network of over 200 citizens groups in more than 100 countries, that works to protect and promote the practice of breastfeeding, and to also protect against unscrupulous mis-marketing of breastmilk substitutes that may compromise the health of children. As parents, we’ve always heavily been in favor of breastfeeding as long as possible, and breastfed both of our children, so were quite pleased to help lend our photos to their cause.

When did you first make a decision to be a good parent?

“You make New Year’s resolutions. And you make them into the teeth of old resolutions which were different. Then you don’t keep your new resolutions and you tell yourself you are weak-willed. You aren’t weak-willed. You are simply obeying yourself as of yesterday.” — L. Ron Hubbard (Handbook for Preclears p.265)

I came across that quote while on studying the book Handbook for Preclears at my local church. It was in a fascinating section where the author is talking about the effect it can have on one’s life when one makes a decision about something, and forgets to “unmake” that decision, or re-evaluate one’s current surrounds and make a new one.

It made me think of so many young parents that I’ve seen that are still trying to “be college kids” or still trying to “be a party animal” or a hot chick guy-magnet or whatever. They have pieces of their life that they’ve made decisions on at one time or another – things that they decided were important which they’ve never really re-evaluated and made a new decision about.

The section is fascinating, as is the rest of the book.

Handbook for Preclears is actually a self-help book which has processes that one can work over with oneself, and shake some of these things loose, to one’s own considerable benefit. If you haven’t tried it, give it a go. You can get Handbook for Preclears here, you can read it at your local church, or even check out a copy at your local library.

"Inconceivable!" "You keep using that word. I do no think it means what you think it means."

I introduced my daughter to The Princess Bride last night, unbeknownst to my wife (who was out working late).  She’s seen only the first 2/3 of the movie, just once.

Then today, at dinner, she runs up to my wife and says,

“Mommy, it’s INCONCEIVABLE!!”

Shocked, my wife says, “What’s that?”

Mackenzie then, noticing mommy must have a misunderstood word, says,

“Mommy – ‘inconceivable’.  It’s like ‘Cinders and ashes!!’”  

(obviously terminology used by Thomas the Tank Engine is the universally-understandable language)

She then asked mommy, “Mommy – what did the man in black DO?”  Mommy thinks, “Climbed a rope?”  ”YES mommy, he climbed a rope.  And then he was fighting the BIG RAT!  Aaannd he got some blood.”

Mommy then asks, “Oh.  And what did Vizzini do?”  Mackenzie replies, “Oh, he drank some BAD JUICE, and then he went over.”

Now, I’d usually put these quotes on my Thus Spake Mackenzie page, but this one was a bit too good.  :)

I have been a Scientologist all my life so also grew up around Scientology assists etc., as ways to handle upsets and injuries.

I have always given my kids assists, even when babies, to handle illness or upsets. Several months ago my daughter Kiera, who is 6, burnt her hand quite badly on the stove at home. It turned out to be a second-degree burn. We didn’t know this at first but she was in a lot of pain. I ran 3 different assists with her over the course of the first day. I did “Think of Something Worse”, “Where Did it Happen” and “Look At My Fingers”, to great success.

Last week I had an accident whereby I tripped over a toy in the lounge and fell into the shelving. I was holding my youngest daughter at the time, 16 months and it was quite upsetting for us both. I hurt my arm and knees and when I landed on the floor something quite large fell off the shelf onto my chest (which I didn’t even feel because I had actually gone into shock!). My youngest was fine but I was in a lot of pain.

A couple hours later, my 6 year old came up to me and asked if she could give me an assist. I was so touched by her origination I agreed. She could remember the Touch Assist, as well as some other assists. I said she should give me the “Look at My Fingers” assist (touch assist) on my knee, which was the most painful injury I had sustained. We quickly went over the assist in the LRH assist pack. She was very shy about doing it but gave the commands. I really acknowledged her after and said I felt much better.

Her face was a picture of ecstasy afterward! She was just so thrilled to be able to help me. She asked me if L. Ron Hubbard had written the assist book. I confirmed this and she proceeded to declare that he was a wonderful person. She was already enamoured with LRH but this increased her respect and love for him tenfold as she could really see how what he has done not only helps her (through assists and her course, Learning How to Learn) but also those who matter most to her.

———–

For more information on getting kids up on their feet after an injury, watch the above video and take the free Scientology on-line course available here on Assists for Illnesses & Injuries.

I thought this a real nice touch when looking at photos of the new Church of Scientology of Inglewood, California – they’ve added a nice-looking nursery to the space, so that you can have someplace for your munchkins to go while you’re meeting folks at the Church.

Also, the Church has it’s own tutoring center:

All-in-all making this new Ideal Org a fantastic place to bring your kids!

You can contact the new Inglewood church here:

Church of Scientology of Inglewood
315 S Market St
Inglewood, CA 90301
(310) 419-8200

As you may know, western Oregon is currently having near record-levels of flooding across much of the Willamette Valley – endangering both people as well as livestock in the area.

Among those lending a heroic hand were area farm-owners Jared & Christine Anderson.  Llama farms dot the Willamette and Yamhill Valley countryside, and the above video done by the area newspaper shows Jared working to rope in & save several llamas from the floods.

You may have seen their guest post on this site where Christine detailed how much care she’s put with her children in fostering and cultivating an intense desire to help others.

Well, you can see that definitely is embodied by her and her husband when it comes to being good neighbors and helping others in the community as well! 

Right on, you guys!

Update:  Story made front page of the McMinnville News-Register.   You can see the full story here.  But here’s an excerpt:

Tom Hildahl came home Friday morning from a graveyard shiftto see the pasture between his house on Riverside Loop and the Yamhill River completely flooded. Several hundred yards out, he spotted three of his llamas, which had become stranded.

"Last night, it was all dry out there," Hildahl said. "This morning, the water was up to the ankles of the llamas."

By the time Hildahl and neighbor Jared Anderson managed to get out to them in a rowboat, the water had risen up past their bellies. A channel about 50 yards wide had been carved into the flood plain, making it far from an easy rescue.

Anderson rowed Hildahl out to the llamas, fighting another current coming through a grove of trees near the high ground where they had sought refuge, and Hildahl roped each of them. Then he handed the other ends of the ropes to Anderson and began rowing back with the trio of animals in tow.

"He was paddling for all he was worth," Anderson said, but the llamas, notoriously reluctant swimmers, didn’t make it easy.

The llamas fought furiously to keep their heads above water as the rowboat dragged them along.

One of the llamas was particularly antsy, and managed to tangle itself and one of its comrades in the rope. That served to drag them down, threatening the entire enterprise.

Eventually, the three llamas reached the point where they could get their feet back on the ground. From there, the men were able to lead them back to dry land.

Earlier, Anderson’s wife, Chris, had been walking the neighborhood to make sure all the animals were safe and accounted for. When she ran into Hildahl, and saw that his llamas were stranded, she returned home for rope.

Then they went door to door looking for a boat they could use. Neighbor Paul Kushner not only lent them a rowboat and lifejackets, but loaded them into his truck and delivered them.

That set the stage for the rescue mission mounted by Anderson and Hildahl.

Beforehand, Anderson said, "I was trying not to think about it too much."

Afterward, he said, his legs were exhausted. He said more adrenaline had flowed than he had realized.

With the animals safe inside Hildahl’s barn, the two shook hands.

"I’m Jared, by the way," Anderson said. "Tom," Hildahl replied.

It was an interesting first meeting for the two Riverside Loop residents.

Seeing as both of my kids were born in the Internet Era, I figured it would be fun to keep track of both of their first years with a daily photo log in Flickr. It’s actually been easier than keeping a daily journal like my mom did for my sister & I, as you don’t need to remember to write anything. When you have questions like, “how old was Mackenzie when she first started wanting to stand up?” — one just has to look at the daily photos, as the milestones are all there.

Plus, I’m an obsessive geotagger – so I’ve also got a nifty map of where we were each day, which is also great fun see.

We’re on our 11th month of the project now. One day, when I have time, I’ll make a side-by-side comparison to Mackenzie’s baby 365 Project, which for me is already extra-fun to do.

Watching the Subaru Get Fixed, originally uploaded by tadnkat.

Interesting anecdote that just serves to show how passionate my girl is about the things around her:

After picking my two-year-old from school the other day, I told her that before we go and pick up mommy from the Metro station, that we’re going to go and get the Subaru fixed. She asked if it was broken. As it just needed an oil change, I told her that we were just going to go fix the Subaru’s engine.

She then, all of the sudden, broke out in tears, crying as hard as if she just watched her cat get run over. Thinking it was food/sleep/potty or one of the other usual upsets, I eventually ascertained that she was terrifically upset that the Subaru’s engine was broken.

I actually had to take her out to the car, pop the hood, and let her look at the engine running so she could see that it was all OK, and that the engine was OK, and that it was just thirsty and needed oil. She accepted that.

But then, when we got to Jiffy Lube, she demanded that the station manager give her a stool so that she could stand up and watch the mechanics change the oil, so she could inspect the air filters, and ensure they did a good job. She then gave them a, “Dank you, man, for pixing the Subaru!” when we left.

She really loves this Subaru!

Our Subaru Outback - at the Pohick Horse Stables