My childhood friend from 8th grade is at it again. He made it on the cover of my favorite current events magazine, World. I absolutely love the opening line. Oh my, what an article. I have it started below and link to the rest…

The quiet weapon

Meet a man who plans to balance the federal budget without raising taxes and put the U.S. economy on sure footing without bailouts, overhauls, or takeovers: Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan | Edward Lee Pitts

WASHINGTON—Paul Ryan likes to hunt. The strategy involved in tracking his target, the need of going at it alone, the skill to take aim, and even the thrill of the kill are reasons why Ryan, who recently turned 40, goes hunting as often as he can. But he prefers walking into the woods without a gun.

“Rifle hunting is easy, but bow hunting is tough,” claims Ryan, who stalks prey with his bow as often as he can, even making his own sausage from his kills.

The sport’s allure to Ryan provides clues to why he is drawn to the part of his life that’s not a hobby: being a lawmaker. This year Ryan, a six-term Republican congressman and senior member of two key committees, shot a quiver full of arrows at the nation’s ongoing fiscal crisis by targeting healthcare, the tax code, trade policy, and entitlements in a substantive and daring proposal he calls the “Roadmap for America’s Future.” MORE…

Wendy in the ER with Zechariah.

I’ve got several Wendy Pictures in my photos, and this one was taken with my phone at 2:00 a.m. the morning after Easter Sunday. Wendy and I rushed to the emergency room with Zechariah who had a bad case of croup. The picture here shows Zech trying to sleep, waiting for the steroids to kick in, sucking on oxygen.

If you know croup, you know how scary such a situation is. Zech is #15, but our first to experience croup. The wheezing coughs made it so difficult for the little guy to breath. That night was getting worse and worse. The lungs collapsed deep into his chest as he heaved in and out. He couldn’t sleep because of how hard he was working to breathe. After a night in the ER, he pulled through and is now fine.

This isn’t the most glamorous picture of Wendy. I suppose I could have picked the studio shot where she radiates (like this one). I like studio shots (she’s beautiful and takes a great picture), but I love action shots. Wendy in action: mothering her children. Studio shots tell of her beauty, but action shots like this one show her love.

Wendy makes mothering look easy. I suppose it is when you love your children. She doesn’t have to fake anything. And the more children that she and I have, the more loving of a mother she becomes. Here’s a quote she posted on her Facebook page a couple days ago:

“Some argue that having so many children weakens our ability to love them all, but we disagree. There is a miltiplying phenomenon that occurs in large families, where there is strength in numbers and a compounding of love.” ~ From Love in the House

Happy Mother’s Day, Wendy! Your husband and children love you.

Things were rolling quickly earlier this year–many key things coming together for a May 9 release of our new book Love Another Child–but we’ve decided to put the project on hold till this fall. It was a complicated and difficult to decision, so allow me to explain.

We’ve got the book completed and proofed. We cover deep topics. We envision Love Another Child as a pivotal, life-changing book for couples, validating in their minds what they know in their hearts: having and loving another child is a wonderful step in the right direction.

But we were running up against a hard deadline. Wendy and I even spent a few nights in a local hotel so we could pound out the final edits of Love Another Child in time for a spring release. We were incredibly confident we would be able to pull it off, sharing some of the great pieces on this blog, and even announcing draft releases by Mother’s Day.

We have the book complete, but we’ve gotten some rich editing advice from our editors that we cannot ignore. If you’ve read Love in the House, you’ll agree that the last few chapters are the real gems in the book. Sure, the beginning is fun to read (how we manage a household of a dozen children is interesting), but to fully grasp what we are trying to say–the heavy convictions that beat in our hearts–you’ve got to let the last few chapters settle. The profundity of love is what the book is about, and readers are persuaded that–no matter what the family size–love is what must rule.

Love in the House has made an impact on thousands of families, and that we are grateful to God for that. We want to impact millions with Love Another Child. This is much bigger, but the persuasion needs to be greater. We can’t afford to turn off the reader with the opening ideas against population control, environmentalism, etc. We take on some dicey issues. Though we end on the profundity of love, many will not make it to the zinger conclusion. We have to essentially turn the book on its head, start with love, and then move the reader through the more controversial topics that we want them to overcome.

And that takes a major overhaul, some more retreats, a lot more time. We simply do not have the time right now. We’re planning a big trip to San Diego to support Cynthia and Lydia in competing in the national homeschool debate tournament. We’re volunteering at the CHEC homeschool conference shortly thereafter. My business has camps and resources stacked up in the queue for 2010 summer release. We’re starting a forensics club here in Monument and the kids have horse camp in a month. Pulling off Love Another Child cannot happen as planned.

Please accept our apologies. We are committed to getting this project done, it just won’t happen as originally planned. There were several other reasons for delaying its release, but the editing decision is the biggest one. We have September 1 on the calendar to return to this project, with the hopeful release a few months later. Stay tuned!

Time for a sale. We have every one of our products marked down to only $9 each. This includes:

• Love in the House (Reg. 14.95) — Now $9
• Love in the Kitchen Vol. 1 (Reg. 19.95) — Now $9
• Love in the Kitchen Vol. 2 (Reg. 19.95) — Now $9
• Love in a Diet (Reg. $14.95) — Now $9
• Cheaper by the Baker’s Dozen (Reg. $12.95) — Now $9
• Arrows in His Hands (Reg. $14.95) — Now $9

If ordered by Tuesday, we’ll get this in the mail in time for Mother’s Day. Wednesday may be pushing it, but we ship everything Priority Mail. We’re keeping this deal open till May 15. Order these books for the Mom you know and love!

Two adults, three teenagers, and 10 children–crammed into a 15-passenger van for an 18-hour drive to San Diego. Are we adventurous or crazy? Maybe a bit of both.

“Stoa” is a new homeschool speech and debate league that we’ve affiliated with (we still affiliate with the NCFCA). Their first national tournament will be in San Diego in May. Well over a thousand homeschoolers will attend, and we’re going to be a part of this exciting tournament. Cynthia and Lydia qualified in all their speech and debate events, and I (Chris) will be running a mini-camp the weekend before the tournament for qualifying debaters.

There was a huge hesitation in going. Traveling with so many little children (five are 5 and under) will have its share of challenges. We had originally planned to send just the girls to compete–fly in and fly home. Quick and easy, no brood to keep watch over, simple.

But then we thought, “Why not?” The cost of driving out with the family is not much different than a few flying to and fro. No car rental necessary. We won’t stay at a hotel (we think hotels are rather boring), but are making arrangements to camp (cheaper, and more recreational options). Considering the choice between being apart for a week or being together, we decided to stay together.

Sure, it is going to be a lot of work in the coming weeks to prepare, but that’s part of the fun of it. If you can make it to Stoa’s National Invitational Tournament of Champions, look for the Jeubs!

Cynthia in cross examination.

This is a gem of an article. We’ve been feeling this stuff for years. Read the complete article, but here are some nuggets…

• Isn’t it true that we “lotsas” are using more than our share of natural resources, burning more than our share of carbon, and just plain taking up too much space? Probably not.
• Many large families actually have a smaller carbon footprint than a typical family with one or two kids.
• It’s not the numbers that count; it’s the lifestyle.
• Two or three kids fit in a bathtub at a time. The oven stays on 350 degrees for 45 minutes, no matter how big the meatloaf.
• Most large families I know don’t live in energy-hogging gigantic mansions.
• We happily trade a second income for another armful of babies. The quick and easy methods of saving the environment that make the news daily are hardly news to cash-strapped families.
• Children of families that are open to life also know something much more important, something that rabidly utilitarian environmentalists still don’t seem to realize: A human soul is more than the sum of how many kilowatts he consumes.
• Grown children of large families tend to be what you might call natural conservationists…A small crowd of perfect environmentalists.
• Love your children, and teach them to love each other; and if you and your brood feel like a sign of contradiction, then that’s a good sign.
• There is no contradiction between loving and caring for the earth and supplying it with inhabitants: We are commanded to do both.

Can you think of more? Add to the list below…I’d love to hear how we are helping the environment by having more children.