Music Monday - Great Are You

A song from my favorite band, Downhere.

Stop Using Plastic Bags!

The plastic bag is an accepted part of Canada’s shopping culture, but it shouldn’t be. Every year we use over 9 billion plastic shopping bags in Canada. That’s 17,000 bags a minute.

Here are 10 things you need to know about plastic bags:

1. Canadians use 9-15 billion plastic shopping bags every year.
   Is that number too big to think about? Then picture this: if we tied 9 billion bags together they would circle the earth 55 times.
2. Plastic bags are made from non-renewable resources
   Just 8.7 plastic shopping bags contain enough embodied petroleum energy to drive a car 1 km.
3. Five minutes versus 1000 years
   The average plastic bag is used for five minutes to carry your purchases home, yet these single use plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to break down.
4. Plastic bag recycling is inefficient
   The market price for recycled bags in Canada is $55 per tonne which is about 150,000 bags. The energy and funds required to collect and process plastic bags far exceeds the $55 market price after recycling. Recycling plastic bags just isn't worth it.
5. Plastic bags kill birds, wildlife, and livestock
   Plastic bags are known to kill sea birds, sea mammals and fish. Turtles, dolphins, and whales can choke or starve by confusing plastic bags for jellyfish. On land, plastic bags kill birds, livestock, and deer.
6. Plastic bags block drains, leading to flooding
   Plastic shopping bags have been banned in Mumbai, India, and in Bangladesh after they were blamed for clogging drains and sewers, leading to severe floods that killed over 1000 people in 2005.
7. Every piece of plastic ever made still exists
   There are approximately 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in each square mile of the world’s oceans. In some places there's more plastic than plankton. Plastic bags are in the top 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups.
8. Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade
   Photodegradation is a chemical reaction between plastic and sunlight. It means that the plastic bags break down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest them. Yuck!
9. Canadian plastic bags have been found as far away as Scotland
   Because plastic bags are easily transported by wind and water they can travel great distances. Plastic bags are now common everywhere from Spitsbergen (78° North latitude) to the Falkland Islands (51° South latitude).
10. Not all litter is deliberate
    Up to 47% of wind borne litter escaping from landfills is plastic, mainly plastic bags. These end up in our forests, grasslands, waterways, and oceans. Approximately 80% of marine trash is swept by wind and rain off highways, streets, and landfills, down streams and rivers, and out to sea.
11. Reusable bags are the solution
    A sturdy, reusable bag will last for years, and only needs to be used 5 times to have a lower environmental impact. Buy a bag today! from http://www.greenerfootprints.com

And on that note, I have recently discovered a company called A Greener Way. It's a Canadian business owned by a stay at home Mom trying to help households reduce waste and provide products that can be used and reused. Each of their reusable snack, lunch, and deli wrap bags have the potential to take the place of hundreds if not more than a 1,000 plastic bags in its lifetime. Not only does this save all of these plastic bags from the landfill you will start saving money too. It is estimated that a family of four could save as much as $3000 a year by avoiding disposable and single serving packaging!

Right now, A Greener Way is offering a 30% off discount with a coupon code in honour of Black Friday and Cyber Monday! Use coupon code AGW30 until midnight November 29, 2010.

Click here to shop online at A Greener Way!

Green Friday

Black Friday is the biggest holiday shopping day of the year. Many retailers offer deep discounts in an effort to entice consumers to buy products which are often poorly made, disposable or otherwise not very eco-friendly. This year we encourage you to shop sustainably by joining us for Green Friday; an eco-alternative!

Lunapads.com, Reuseit.com, Bamboobino, Natural Pod, Earth Mama Angel Baby, Peacekeeper and Rockin' Green have all partnered up to offer 20% off orders placed online using discount code GREENFRIDAY. Use this discount code on any of the participating websites and save 20%!

Avoid the Black Friday fever, skip the mall, save your gas money and shop online with these fabulous retailers. We love their products and think you will too. Give your friends and family something that will stay out of the landfill this year!

OFFER ENDS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26TH AT MIDNIGHT PST.

From http://www.motherofadeal.com

Budding Artist

"Self Portrait," September 2010
"Ball Boy," November 2010

Fall

Music Monday - Be Unto Your Name

A song from Brian Doerksen's "Holy God." The album concludes with a song called "Your Love Will Find Me" which is a rendition of Psalm 139. It's another favorite of mine from this album, and you can click on the title to hear it on youtube. Enjoy!

'Snot Fun

Cold #3 of the season. Many more to come, no doubt!

Our Family

We finally have a family photo, thanks to Mrs. Bob. Thanks! :)

Eight Months

A-team is now two thirds of a year old. He has two teeth on his bottom jaw, and drools more than ever. Although not officially crawling on hands and knees, he is still very mobile, getting around by pulling with his arms and pushing with his legs. He'll go from sitting position to crawling position, but not the other way around.
He dosen't like baby cereal, or my purees, but prefers big people food. He will eat blueberries, bits of cheese, sweet potato, cheerios, and bread, etc. He's a pretty content child, and usually can occupy himself with a few toys for quite a while. He loves to watch his big brother's silly antics, screeching with laughter!
He loves to play peekaboo, pulling a blanket or curtain over his face and yanking it back, saying "Aboo!" and giggling.

Music Monday - The Servant Song

I was taught this song in grade school, and it recently came to mind after a conversation with a friend. I expressed to her that I always feel guilty after sharing my burdens, I think because I don't like to talk about myself. But she comforted me by saying that she was happy that I felt comfortable enough to share them with her. Thank you, dear friend, for holding your hand out to me.

Brother, let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the grace
To let you be my servant, too

We are pilgrims on a journey
We are brothers on the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load

I will hold the Christlight for you
In the night-time of your fear
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the peace you long to hear

I will weep when you are weeping
When you laugh I'll laugh with you
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we've seen this journey through

When we sing to God in heaven
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we've known together
Of Christ's love and agony

Brother, let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.

Two Stinkers

Oh sure, they look all cute and innocent...
...but they like to take Mommy's paper
...play with the furniture...(and get stuck in it, hence the helpless expression)
...and eat all the ice cream...
"ICE CREAM?? WHAT ICE CREAM?" *drip*
"Just you wait 'til I get outta here!"
Interrupting Daddy's important homework.

Hope

Romans 5 verse 1-5

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

I am currently reading Romans for my personal devotion. It is one of my favorite books in the Bible. It's so rich and full of assurance for us!

This text is so beautiful. Our hope, the hope of the glory of God, gives us the confidence that the purpose for which he created us will someday be realized. The glory that man had before the fall will again be attained through Christ. This blessed assurance of our future destiny is based on God's love, which is revealed to us through the Holy Spirit and demonstrated to us in the death of Christ.

Not only that, but we are reminded that the trials we face are not meaningless. Part of God's purpose is to produce character in his children. He lovingly refines, shapes and moulds us into the people he intends us to be. We can rejoice in our sufferings (not because of, but in) because we know it matures us, and makes us more complete, drawing us closer to him in the process. Suffering and grieving are not easy, but in our deepest valleys of hurt and pain, this blessed assurance gives us strength to endure.

Play

Learning to share
Tackle time
The last chestnut harvest
Super soft eco dough!
Building towers
Construction site

Music Monday - Beautiful Things

I came across this song through (in)courage.

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make me new, You are making me new