The Adventures of Three Hobbits

The things I never knew about Swiss Chard and alwa...

2010-07-12T18:05:05.645-04:00

The things I never knew about Swiss Chard and always wanted to! Your love for the chard may well be contagious (I must get me some)
=)

ACtually you would be suprised but it has done a l...

2010-07-10T22:08:20.242-04:00

ACtually you would be suprised but it has done a lot of good. In many more ways than I can express on one comment. It has made local children laugh, and cheered up the seniors at the senior center in town, brought tourists to town, and even been a source of joy to a visually impaired man we gave a tour to who likes to touch our knit graffiti in town. the memorial bench and felt flowers outside a local shops brought joy and comfort to families whose loved one's we did it for. So in a way it has been very useful, just not in the traditional sense. SO glad you enjoyed the book :)

Wow, I love that! Thanks for sharing this phenomo...

2010-07-10T18:03:13.543-04:00

Wow, I love that! Thanks for sharing this phenomonon with us, Kara! I will keep an eye out for yarn bombing. I would probably try it myself too, if I were better at knitting =D

I have always loved the Phantom Tollbooth! :) Than...

2010-07-07T15:52:04.310-04:00

I have always loved the Phantom Tollbooth! :) Thanks for the reviews! I'll definitely be adding the Guernsey Literary book to my list.

Your photographs in all of your posts are just bea...

2010-06-30T16:52:20.613-04:00

Your photographs in all of your posts are just beautiful! The day you showed pictures of all your garden flowers I really enjoyed. And although you say Colin has been teaching you the pleasures of non-edible gardening, I see that most of the flowers you pictured are edible. :) But beautiful too and I'm sure that's what Colin is talking about.

I enjoyed your anniversary dinner saga and am glad you finally got to your restaurant. I love watching the storms come in here from my 9th floor apartment because I'm up high enough I can see where they begin and end. My last post on my blog was pictures of a really magnificent one last week.

May you stay happy, stay healthy and always give that sweet baby all the love you can - she certainly looks like a happy little one.

Mary Lynne
marylynnestraveljournal.blogspot.com

Very interesting! I love seeing what you come up w...

2010-06-25T21:52:40.917-04:00

Very interesting! I love seeing what you come up with in your home and kitchen...healthy...beautiful...useful and fun!

Congratulations on two happy years!♥♥

2010-06-18T13:24:38.028-04:00

Congratulations on two happy years!♥♥

Hi Julie. I don't know if you are actually Ju...

2010-06-17T14:49:19.767-04:00

Hi Julie. I don't know if you are actually Julie Stinneford or not. I highly doubt it though for two reasons. First, Stinneford is her maiden name. Second, she has been good natured enough in responding to other instances of comic relief based on her well known voice (the NPR Valentine's Day spoof: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1138054 )

Who ever you are, back off. Kara was just having fun with a nerdy engineer brother of hers who likes trains. She wasn't intending any harm to the real Julie and has, a long time ago, deleted that facebook page. On top of it all, this post was from four years ago. Move on.

Wow! 1. Crazy anniversary memories! 2. I'm so...

2010-06-16T14:31:22.952-04:00

Wow! 1. Crazy anniversary memories! 2. I'm so glad you were safe. 3. Third time's a charm! Good luck on tonight's dinner =)

I heard there have been flash floods in various pl...

2010-06-16T10:06:53.926-04:00

I heard there have been flash floods in various places across the country.. I'm so glad that you all (including your lovely cake!) were preserved♥

Very happy I was able to be in Eau Claire with you...

2010-06-15T10:01:18.630-04:00

Very happy I was able to be in Eau Claire with you and Collin and Sunshine...will be a faithful blog reader from now on...love your pics and comments!

Hi Kara, I am now a faithful follower of your blog...

2010-06-15T09:38:48.726-04:00

Hi Kara, I am now a faithful follower of your blog, wish I had started sooner!! I love you and Collin and Sunshine as I am an honorary Hobb's through Naomi's in-laws! I am so thankful for your little Annie and how you are training and teaching and loving her into a loving sweet, productive girl. I am so thankful for God's Word that teaches how to direct our children away from bad behavior to Godly behavior. Your writing about what happened has such a great perspective.

What a happy girl! Thanks for posting the pics.

2010-06-06T20:52:03.747-04:00

What a happy girl! Thanks for posting the pics.

Well my little boy could certainly put it to good ...

2010-06-06T15:08:11.363-04:00

Well my little boy could certainly put it to good use! But unfortunately, we live in NY which I suspect is too far for us to pop over and pick it up some evening, lol. I hope you find a good home for it!

I saw Start Your Family reviewed over at LA...

2010-06-06T14:59:01.612-04:00

I saw Start Your Family reviewed over at LAF and was intrigued by it. Sadly, my baby-having-days are over, but I still might give it a read... and pass it along to others who might appreciate it.

And Beauty, I might just have to recommend it to my daughter. She generally hates romantic books, but this one might appeal to her. Now I want that book about growing your own drugs for myself!

I have a similar story regarding Brandon and I whe...

2010-06-03T14:28:13.455-04:00

I have a similar story regarding Brandon and I when we were dating. It also involved a picnic and strawberries. I'll write about it sometime on my blog. I think the pie looks yummy!

hahaha! That is really funny! Amazing how you ti...

2010-06-03T12:18:58.016-04:00

hahaha! That is really funny! Amazing how you tied all those pie ideas together, too. I'm sure it was great. Those Hobbs men just have too many presuppositions of how things are "SUPPOSED" to taste =)

Hi. I really AM Julie Stinneford. I found this p...

2010-05-29T14:07:49.436-04:00

Hi. I really AM Julie Stinneford. I found this post while Googling idly. Please remove it. You call yourself a follower of God, yet you post this offensive "faux"file about someone you don't know?? Not kidding. Just because you can learn about someone online doesn't give you license to post this kind of garbage. Open relationships? Interested in Men and Women?? Take this down and then look up "hypocrite" in both the Bible and the dictionary.

Hey Kara, I was very sorry to hear of all your tro...

2010-05-28T23:21:05.277-04:00

Hey Kara,
I was very sorry to hear of all your troubles. I will definitely pray for you tonight. Keep up the great mothering of your child.. (future ..ren?)

My name is Joshua Michael Bright and I am sooo grateful that I was spanked profusely as a child.

Collin and Kara, I was thinking about your situat...

2010-05-20T11:20:21.089-04:00

Collin and Kara,

I was thinking about your situation and wondered if all of the people who left comments on your blog were in the same room together, would the conversation go this way? Most likely, no. I am continually astonished at how far people will take their "opinions" online. They say bold, hurtful things that they would never voice in person. I am also astonished at how "well" people think they can "know" somebody based on their online profile.

I am sorry for what you have had to go through, Kara. It has been a true testimony of faith to me, a fellow believer, with a daughter nearly the same age as your Annie Sunshine. Thank you for standing firm in the Lord and sharing this battle with us.

A long time ago, I saw one that said "Supp...

2010-05-20T10:09:25.621-04:00
A long time ago, I saw one that said "Support your right to arm bears" with a nifty etching-like pic of a bear with some kind of automatic weapon... it would probably irritate everyone at my church, but maybe worth it;-) I saw "Visualize whirled peas" on a tee shirt once and thought a bumper sticker of that would make a rather fitting counterpoint to the bears one.... irritate folks on the other end of the political spectrum dontcha know! (I am nothing if not balanced;D )

Most of all, I'd really like a pro-life one, but I have yet to find just the right one...

Oh and folks from a super-duper conservative local church near me all have jumbo white and black magnetized plastic panels with scripture verses on their vehicles... I'd kinda like one with Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble"

Neat question... and I have to say I really enjoyed visiting your blog today. Love your Etsy stuff!

I can put myself in Kara's shoes because I hav...

2010-05-19T22:54:01.868-04:00
I can put myself in Kara's shoes because I have a baby almost the exact same age as your little Annie. I know how hard it is to get judgmental comments from people who don't know me because I was unable to breastfeed (literally unable - produce no milk and found out later I have a condition that means I will never be able to breastfeed) and I was SHOCKED how many complete strangers made assumptions about my mothering skills. Yes, it HURTS. I would be HORRIFIED and broken if CPS showed up at my door.

Here's the thing though. 1) Kara did put this information on the internet, which is a very public forum, 2) Spanking in general is pretty controversial, 3) Even the vast majority of those who are ok with spanking (myself included) are NOT ok with spanking or striking or slapping a baby.

Now, hateful comments aside, if SO many people are coming out and questioning this practice, why not take it as an opportunity to look for another way? Is striking a baby really the only way to get the results you want? Might you even get better results in trying something else?

As a first time mom, I try to let the negative comments slide off my back, but I also try to listen to and ponder the advice of other mothers. One of the most valuable resources we have as women and mothers is each other and each other's experience. As I said in my previous comment, you seem like a sweet and loving family and it is so clear that you love your baby girl. I just wish, for all of your sakes, that you would consider some alternative discipline methods until the baby is older. Maybe you already have? (like you said, I don't know you in person).

Anyway, I know this is a tough time and I just hope some good comes of it for everyone involved.

Dear all, As Kara mentioned above, this post is n...

2010-05-19T18:05:40.134-04:00
Dear all,

As Kara mentioned above, this post is not intended to open a discussion about discipline nor about our parenting. We’ve switched to moderated comments for a time, and comments from people who do not know us and are attacking our parenting won’t be posted. Sorry, but Kara’s blog isn’t a forum for people to bash our parenting, especially people who have never even met us.

Becca, you’re right, a large number of the comments in the post we took down weren’t hateful. But a number of them were, and many more were, at best, inconsiderate. Especially of Kara. It has really hurt her to have people publically attacking her ability as a mother, people who do not know us and have no idea whether we are good parents or not. Put yourself in our shoes, how would you feel? I’m leaving Sarah’s post on as an example of the sort of comment that we’re not permitting to be posted.

I do apologize to everyone for having to go to moderated comments for a time. We don’t like it (it’s a lot more work for us), and it shuts down conversation, but what kind of conversation are you going to have with comments like Sarah’s anyways.

With love,
Collin & Kara

P.S. The three of us are leaving to have dinner with some friends tonight. We’ll review any comments made when we get back.

Sorry, we found out that "removing" a co...

2010-05-19T17:50:45.727-04:00
Sorry, we found out that "removing" a comment on blogger actually deletes it for good. Here is Sarah's comment originally posted at 4:48 PM. (Sorry Sarah):

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Congratulations, you were able to pull off "normal" in front of the worker. There is no doubt in my mind that you didn't admit to hitting your baby, even though you might say you did. Your kind is way more dangerous than anyone who outwardly looks and acts crazy--that is obvious in your ability to get past the Child Services radar. If you showed a social worker several spanking sessions with an 8 month old baby, they definitely would not say you were within your legal rights. I still feel so sad for your daughter. She may appear happy, but as time goes on she will bear the burden of your abuse on her heart. Just as you did, but hopefully your child will break the cycle and not continue it like you have.
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I read the comments on that post and I don't t...

2010-05-19T16:26:02.642-04:00
I read the comments on that post and I don't think they were hateful - at least not the vast majority of them. I think they were concerned for you and for your daughter. It's unfair to write them all off as "hateful" when I think people were genuinely and understandably upset by what you wrote, especially considering there was no explanation of a "spanking session."

The idea that an 8-month-old is "sinning" because she had a full day and couldn't settle to sleep is missing the mark, in my opinion. I also don't think those who reject the idea of slapping a baby are rejecting God - show me where in the Bible Jesus (or anyone else) slapped a baby.

I think it's obvious that you are a very loving mother and your daughter is quite cherished. I just think you're wrong on this point, and for her sake, I won't keep quiet about it. Hitting a baby is wrong. I'm not necessarily against all corporal punishment, but an innocent baby? She doesn't deserve that.