A Quiet Simple Life | Sallie Borrink

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

A Quiet Simple Life

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Sallie Borrink

Blogging About Blogging


Okay, I hope I’m not opening a can of worms here.

A favorite blog I frequent (daily) has recently gone through a bit of a “thing” because the blogger took off about two and a half weeks without announcing that she was taking a break. (The name of the blog is irrelevant and if you know who I’m talking about, please keep it to yourself.) Some of her readers were concerned because she is a rather prolific blogger, often blogging multiple times a day. Some of her readers were offended and felt that she “owed” it to her readers to let them know that she was taking a break so they wouldn’t worry about her. They openly voiced their disdain for what they perceived to be a lack of communication and care about her readers in her little shoutbox (like my chatterbox).

I will admit the thought crossed my mind a few times that I hoped everything was okay, but figured if something really bad had happened she would hop on and ask for prayer. I thought she was probably on vacation or had a lot going on with her family. I never post ahead of time about vacations, going out of town, etc. so this makes sense to me. But apparently not everyone felt the same way and some hurtful things were said to the point where some people said they would no longer visit her blog. Right.

Another thing that happened recently that caught my attention fried my burger was when another favorite blogger of mine was scolded by an anonymous commenter that she was writing too much about her weight loss experience. Few things get me going like commenters, ESPECIALLY anonymous ones, complaining about what a blogger does on her own blog. I left a comment basically stating that if they didn’t like it, don’t come there. Good grief! It’s not like you paid a subscription for a homemaking magazine and now you are getting Weight Watchers! The blogger can write about whatever she wants to! She can write about her weight loss every day for the next ten years if she wants. IT’S HER BLOG FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! Now maybe she will do that and lose her readership, but it’s still her blog!

(Okay, Sallie, calm down.)

I have to admit that if I miss more than a couple of days of blogging, I feel a responsibility to come on here and post something and/or let people know that we’re fine. I don’t necessarily expect it from other bloggers, but I do expect it of myself. (Go figure.) I know that people know that we have a baby, a business, and – GASP! – a life away from the keyboard. But at the same time I feel impolite if I don’t pop on regularly. But I don’t expect it from others. Weird, I know.

Anyhoo, what are your thoughts on bloggers and their responsibilities to their readers?

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Caroline’s Dedication and Other Child-Related Musings


Sunday we formally dedicated Caroline at church. We had a lovely day, surrounded by many dear family members and friends. After the service we had everyone over to our home for lunch and enjoyed a time of fellowship and celebrating our wonderful little blessing.

I decided to make things easy on myself so we ordered trays with various deli sandwiches as well as a fruit and gourmet cheese tray. We also ordered fabulous cheesecakes from a local cheesecake company. My mom helped me with the rest of the food. It was a great decision as I truly enjoyed the day and wasn’t worn out from trying to do everything myself. I’ve included a few pictures in this post so everyone will know why I’ve been MIA the past few days. I’ve been busy getting ready to celebrate and actually celebrating!

My mind is just swirling with things I’d like to blog about. Some of them I can and probably will eventually. Some of them I cannot. That’s the weird thing about blogging. You open up a large part of your life to whoever stops by to read it. On the other hand, there are significant parts of my life that I cannot blog about at all. So people know much about you when you blog and yet there are things you can never share here in this format. There are stories I would like to tell, experiences I would like to relate, etc. that would probably shed a lot of light as to why I hold to some of the views I do about certain matters.

But although I can choose to make my life a bit of an open book, so to speak, I don’t have the right to write about others. It is one thing to mention positive bits about others in your life. It is something completely different to write about issues and troubles you have with other people. The same thing holds true in how I write and will write about Caroline. It is not my intention to write “negative” things about her here, either now or in the future. She has a right to her privacy and I don’t have the right to violate it. In fact, the older she gets I will probably write about her less and less.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Caroline and raising her. We’re starting to head into the season where we need to make a plan and have a clear idea of how we are going to discipline her. We’ve talked about it in general ways, but haven’t gotten into the nitty gritty of how we will actually handle things. Several years ago I purchased Shepherding a Child’s Heart. I need to pull it off the shelf again and look at it. The basic premise (being under authority) made sense to me although I’m not so sure I would subscribe to the teachings of the book any longer. Does anyone recommend any other good books/materials/websites? (Later update – We did not follow that book.)

One of the things I long for for Caroline is the opportunity to have an imaginative, creative, peaceful childhood. I struggle almost daily with not wanting to raise her where we live now.

Last night I realized that for the first five years of her life, the location really isn’t going to matter at all. She won’t remember where she lived before she was five years old. The only thing that will matter will be the love and security she gets from David and me.

It is easy for me to feel frustrated that we can’t move NOW and for that to grow into a sense of hopelessness that we will ever be able to move at all. I know people raise godly children in the midst of much, much worse places than where we live, but I still long for more for her.

By “more” I don’t mean a McMansion, a new SUV, and four vacations every year. I mean things like a big window seat where she can read a good book on a rainy day, a room to do homeschooling with lots of room and lots of windows, a playhouse outside, an area for a vegetable garden, fruit trees, a fireplace for us to gather around as a family on a snowy night, a lovely view outside the windows, a large studio for David where she can set up her own easel and draw like Daddy… Those are the kinds of things I want for her. Are any of them necessary? No. She can still grow up to be a godly young woman without all those things. But that doesn’t change the longings I have for her – and us – as a family.

Only time will tell. 🙂

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What To Do With Old Journals?


While walking on the treadmill, I’ve been working my way through Monarch of the Glen on DVD. In one of the earlier episodes, Katrina and Lizzie are discussing growing up. Katrina mentions that she remembers Lizzie was always burning her journals. Lizzie replies that it was because she was always trying to make a fresh start.

I thought that was such an interesting exchange and have thought about it several times since. It also struck me because I’ve been debating for a while what to do with my old journals. Yes, they are interesting to go back and read, but I’m not sure I would want anyone else reading them. It is encouraging to see how much I’ve grown and it’s embarrassing to see some of the stupid things I obsessed over in years past.

So if I shred them, will I be sorry I did it in another twenty or thirty years? Or will it be cathartic to read them and shred them and move on in a sense?

Anyone want to share their thoughts on old journals?

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How We Did Bottle Feeding


Katy left the following comment on another post and since I thought it would probably get lost there, I’m putting up my answer in a new post. (And don’t ever apologize for asking questions around here!)

I’m sorry Sallie, but I have yet another question. My husband and I have decided to bottle feed; and then I had to read these articles! (Note in 2022: Links no longer active)

https://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/adanews/adanewsarticle.asp?articleid=2212

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/110/4/833

I had decided to go with the playtex nursers with the drop in liners because I’m concerned about the chemicals that can come from plastic bottles that have been boiled. How do you prepare your bottles? What type of water and formula do you use? Do you boil the water? I’m a nervous wreck!

Well, for what it’s worth, here’s what I do. It took us a little experimenting to figure this out and we did do things differently at a couple of different phases.

Our Bottle Liners, Water, and Baby Formula

I use the Playtex Nursers with the preformed drop-in liners that you mentioned. I have been very happy with them other than the cost – they aren’t cheap. We started with the little ones (4 ounce) and now use the big ones (8 ounce).

I don’t boil my water. I use tap water that has either gone through our Brita pitcher we keep in the refrigerator or else the PUR filter we have on the kitchen faucet. When we go out of town, I use bottled water.

We started out using Enfamil LIPIL with Iron upon the recommendation of the pediatrician. We used that for about four months. It is pricey although you can sign up for their mailing list and they will send you coupons which will help. (Be sure you do this for whichever formula you decide to use if you use a brand name like Enfamil, Similac, etc.) When Caroline started to get old enough to switch, I started researching store brands. I also talked with my pediatrician about this. From what I read, there is no substantial reason not to use the store brands. My pedidatrician said we could easily switch and we didn’t even have to do a transition time. Why in the world he didn’t tell me to use store brands in the beginning, I don’t know. But we switched and have had no problems.

Apparently the same company makes all the store brands so we’ve used Target (briefly) and now we use Meijer. I also have a bunch from Costco, but haven’t opened those yet. If you are a Costco member, that is about the cheapest place to get formula. However, I prefer to pick mine up at Meijer when they are on sale since I would prefer to support a local company (where my husband has a pension as well!).

If I had it to do over again, I would have started with the store brand from the beginning. It actually smells better and mixes better (I think). I cannot stand the smell of the premixed formula that you get in the hospital and can buy in the stores. (It is also outrageously expensive.)

Preparing The Baby Bottles

The method I use for making bottles has changed. When Caroline was just a few months old, I mixed the formula up for the day or so in all the little bottles and put them in the refrigerator. Then I would warm them up under hot running water. This was also during the late fall and winter so I wanted her to have warmer formula.

A few months ago I tried giving it to her at room temperature and she didn’t bat an eyelash. I’ve also given it to her ice cold now that it has been warmer and she didn’t mind that either. So I no longer warm them up! I now fill up six bottles at a time with filtered water and they sit on the kitchen counter until I need one. When it is time to eat, I put the powdered formula in, shake, and feed. It works great.

I would add that I really don’t think formula feeding is that much work. Some people tried to warn me that it is so much work to wash the bottles, etc. Well, it is a little more work. There were a few times I thought, “I don’t want to wash these tonight!” Then I reminded myself that the tradeoff was that I would have had to do every single feeding for the past x number of months. At that point, washing a few bottles seemed like no big deal. The biggest drawback, in my opinion, is the cost. It isn’t cheap.

We’ve never regretted our choice to formula feed from the start. We know we did the right thing for our family, especially given all that transpired with my c-section complications. David really enjoys feeding Caroline and I don’t know how I would have made it through those first few months if I had been the one to feed her every time. I know billions of women do it, but I’m glad I had a choice.

So that’s what I do. I have no idea if this would fly with the AMA or the American Association of Pediatrics (or whatever they are), but Caroline is healthy as a horse so it doesn’t seem to have caused any problems.

I wouldn’t worry about those articles. Let’s face it. We live in a day and age where people are constantly looking for something to research, make an easy buck, scare the general population spitless, etc. I would just go with what you were going to do unless you really feel God has put a check in your spirit that you are doing the wrong thing for some reason. However, please bear in mind that I’m also a woman who ate albacore tuna while pregnant and continued to drink coffee so I might not be the one to listen to if you want to be extra cautious.

Take care of yourself and that baby and please send me a picture so I can meet the little one!

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