Tammy, hello again. I too agree with you about this story in Texas - there's injustice written all over it. I in no way, agree with their church's doctrine, but these are real families, not just some numbers and ficticious story characters. Hearing about this in Ghana, reminds me of a very corrupt government like here, where money talks. I guess it happens everywhere in the world.

I don't have the experience you did about someone calling the police, but I do have a friend who did. We are the same age.
In her case, she was a school bus driver. Someone called her in on their cell phone thinking that she was a young driver on a joy ride with children in the bus. The police came (without sirens) and pulled up along side her on the highway, so as not to alarm the children, I guess. Anyway, they saw her and knowing who she was, just waved at her and let her go about her business. I think people just think it's up to them to "report" these "youth" when there really is no cause to worry.
I am short and said to be young looking (although since I have some graying hairs, not quite so much anymore - LOL) and with a higher pitched voice, people calling on the phone don't know that I am in my mid thirties. I have had people ask me for my mother when I answer the phone. It's kind of fun to come up with the next line, which I've said, "well, she lives in another state, but you could call her if you like!" LOL
Have a great day. Today's my birthday! =)I'm 36 years young!
Shalom,
Loretta at: http://veganfootprints.blogspot.com/

When we first started griding our own grain we had the Family Grain Mill. It made nice flour-not quite as fine as our electric mill but it was good enough for us. But it was SOOO labor-intensive. It took about 5 minutes to grind one cup of grain. Now I knew it would be some work but I'm not afraid of hard work and I have 2 big boys so I really didn't figure on it being a big deal. The kiddos loved it! They'd all just about fight over who's turn was next. But there is no way I could be making bread for our family of 8 on a regular basis with just that mill. Well, of course I could-but with our busy household it was very difficult to keep bread for our 5 family members at that time. I still have it and we get it out for the kids to grind some stuff for me sometimes(they still love it) but I am grateful every time I use my Nutrimill. It is truly, truly a blessing.

Because of Him,
Tracy in NC

Hi Tammy,
We originally bought a hand-operated grain mill because we didn't want to spend so much money on the equipment to make fresh bread. That lasted about 3 weeks. My husband and I would take turns, and even the girls took their turns cranking the mill. It took a really long time, unless you went really fast and then I was too exhausted to make the bread. My husband like the bread so much that he agreed to buy the electric mill and a Bosch machine. That was six years ago and I still use it weekly. We make 5 loaves at a time, as well as pizza dough and cinnamon rolls. It was money well spent.
Thanks for all the recipes, I have tried many and always enjoy seeing what you have next.
~Robin
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/robinseggblue/

I would love for someone to think that I am younger than I am! I have always been thought of as older. Just the other day someone here at work thought I was this other lady that works here... This woman is 60 and has a 28 year old daughter that works with me also and they thought I was her mother. I am only 38!!!!!!!!
I have alot of grey hair. But even when I was a teenager I was thought of being in my 20's. I never got carded when going to dinner.
My daughters are now having the same problem because they are very tall for their age. They are both in the 95% on height. My 2 1/2 year old is about a 1/2 inch shorter than friends of ours son and he is 4 and average height!
The problem with being tall or thought of as older, people expect my children to act older then they are.
This year I was very happy that in my older daughter's pre-school class there is another girl taller than my daughter. Finally! (This girls parents are 6'5" and 6'0".)

Sue

I'm excited to see what you come up with ala tooth care. It's something I've been interested in lately. :)

I feel the same way about the FLDS kids. I blogged about it a bit on livejournal, and I plan to blog about it on blogspot, I'm just trying to come up with a way to do it graciously. :P
~~~~
http://lilirishlass.blogspot.com

I agree with you and the other commenters about the FLDS church members. I also do not in any way believe what they believe - my religion, like many others, teaches that polygamy is sinful. However, what I see in this situation is people being persecuted (and prosecuted) for unpopular religious beliefs and practices.

And all the news media can talk about is their clothing and hair. Personally, I think they look kind of nice! And while I'm all for throwing the book at people who abuse children, I am not convinced that that's what's happening on their compound.

Well, if we're gonna start hauling people in for unpopular religious practices, then we ALL better watch out. After all, mainstream society does not in any way promote or support a Christian lifestyle.

has been on my mind and heart since this happened. I posted my thoughts on this at my blog a couple of weeks ago-

http://northernkids2.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-am-going-to-get-on-my-soapbox-for.html

What I find most disturbing at this point is...to my knowledge, not one person with this group has been charged with anything that validates the removal of all these children. My heart just breaks for these poor kids, who have been terriorized by their removal from their mothers. While I completely disagree w/ polygamy, I think the state of Texas has way over stepped their bounds. Being a homeschooling family, I am always wary of CPS and their power.

I really recommend getting an electric hand mill... at least until your boys are MUCH bigger!! :)Our friends have a "top of the line" hand mill and it takes their boys (ages 19, 17, and 14) over an hour to mill enough flour for a batch of bread (6 loaves) and its VERY hard work!!

We used a hand mill for a while with a family of four. It was a Diamant (one of the best available, and expensive!). We have the standard burrs for it, and they grind more coarsely than storebought flours, but the flour still produces fine bread. There are other burrs available for really powdery fine flour, but we never bought those.

I would never go back to grinding my own by hand if I had a choice because it is just too much hard work, and takes too much time. The only way I would consider it is if we hooked it up to a bicycle (which is possible with a Diamant, and some other models). Then that might be fun. I am sure the kids would volunteer, and we'd all get some exercise, too. The only drawback to hooking it up to a bike is that you will have to take the time to set it up, and you will need a dedicated indoor space for it (no small contraption!). An inclosed porch would be great. Even with a bike, though, you'll be giving a significant amount of time to grinding wheat, especially if your family gets large.

So we use a Nutrimill -it's a smaller investment, it's faster and much less work. The only time we get out the Diamant is to occasionally crack wheat for cereal. The Nutrimill really does NOT grind coarsely enough to work for cereal.

That's our experience :)