a crisis in conservativeville

For those who dont know, we are conservative. Not allways politically (preferring the independant choice myself) but as far as life in general no label fits us better. We conserve electricity and water (even braving it without a/c as long as we can stand:) we conserve space (we stack kids in beds much like canned goods:) we most definately conserve our dollars but most importantly we fill our life with conservative values that we view as important and pass these on to our children daily. These values have fueled our decision to homeschool, our evening prayers, our tv programming and most recently our style of dress. My beloved princess turns 5 tommorrow and in the last couple of years modesty has become a concern. We have chosen not to allow booty shorts, halter tops, bikinis preferring a more wholesome look for our princess. These have not been easy choices. These days you are hard pressed to find some size 4t underwear that is not bikini cut and bears no provocative phrase upon the rear. While it has been hard to enforce due to lack of options, it has not been hard to instill the quality of modesty upon our daughter. she is 4, she doesnt want to wear a halter top, there are plenty of other appropriately sleeved frilly obnoxious choices out there that wont turn a pedophiles eye. She certainly doesnt feel different or left out and has even proclaimed that Jasmine lacks street cred as a princess because a princess would NEVER show her belly button! Ariel of course gets exception due to the nature of her environment and I reminded Piper that once on land and given the chance to go shopping Ariel chooses something modest :)

This all might sound amusing coming from the most scantily clad seniorita at the prom, but we Must live and learn. I believe we are contractually obligated to do so upon our first childs birth. It is not my wish to lay down rules of a you must "wear this, avoid that" nature, but it is my prayer to lead her with examples, making modest choices myself and providing her with real life beautiful women as role models, women who look great and choose self respect right alongside beauty. This also leads me more towards Barbie movies and a little away from disney princess mania. After my dear friend Vicki once pointed out the amount of cleavage in a Barbie movie is significantly less than that of Princess "insert fav choice here" I have been thus swayed and Barbie emerged as an ironic choice in girl power and modesty in our household. Betcha never saw that one coming :) Besides, i think we all know Pocahontas most definately did not wear a one shoulder midriff bearing top and the women of the middle east dress far less like a genie than Princess Jasmine would have little girls believe.

I have been breastfeeding someone for the better part of the last eleven years. Due to the fact that easy access and modesty do not allways go hand in hand I try my best to take notice of these same roll models myself and adjust wardrobe accordingly lol.

Since my house consists mostly of the male species, this lesson has extended to them. They havent seen many displays of immodesty aside from the few trips to the local pool throughout which the boys were mostly too busy having a blast to notice. To my dismay we have never been to the beach so the occasionally flash across the tv screen has been the extent of their exposure. We have discussed modesty with Parker the oldest and are simply leading by example with the youngers with little need to explain further. Girls cover this part, you cover that one, enough said...that was until yesterday........you see, we have a ginourmous picture window facing the mountains. We love the view and at any given time there is a Kempe kid gazing outward at Pikes Peak, or the horses below or simply counting the homes at the bottom of our hill, so imagine my surprise when my dearest and most vocal child calls the whole family to come see. Nobody runs because he frequently calls us to see the horses, or a new bug that landed on the sill, rarely anything new, but this time we were in for it. He noticed nobody seemed in a rush and so he announced further "There are naked girls riding motorcyles out here! You have got to see this, i have to tell dad.......i hope they dont go away". This announcement got instant results and i could tell from the shrieks that he wasnt lying. In his world, these bikini clad biker chicks were most definately nude! after all "you can see their whole legs". and then some. Parker departed red faced and speechless, Pearce announced that they must be cold, Piper laughed hysterically, and me, I took a picture for the blog :)

Its important for me to note that while I want to encourage modesty throughout my brood, the last thing I want to inspire is judgement. I never want my children to think that because a person doesnt make the same choices we do, that this person is less worthy of Gods love or of our kindness and respect. My first instinct was to scold and make sure to keep my kids away from that particular house and family. But to to quote an awe inspiring ever so popular rubber bracelet i asked myself WWJD. He would not judge, he would not condemn, and he would not teach children to do so either. And do I bit my tongue for a bit. when Paxton asked why they would do that I explained that I really didnt know, that those were swimming outfits just different ones than we wear. Parker is newly friends with their son and there is no doubt that my choice words in this moment may one day be shared with bikini model mom n friends, so i chose wisely. I explained that we have chosen to dress more modestly because we think that is what God would like us to do. These are our convictions and not theirs. Thankfully that was all the explaining required for now. Throughout today pearce has looked for them, concerned that they are cold. He has nicknamed them the "dunny girls" a meaning known only to him (feel free to aid me in translation) and Piper has declared she will never dress like a dunny girl but she and pearce swear they saw them at IHOP lol.

mathew 7:1 judge not, that you be not judged

and one of the most important verses for the frequently moving military family

galations 5:14 you shall love your neighbor as yourself

I took this as a lesson that no amount of sheltering is complete, but also that sheltering is ok. God will present the lessons when he sees fit. Im thankful there were no cat calls and hollering bellowing from my window, and pray that my boys never adopt those degrading practices. I never expected that from our new suburban neighborhood in the hills of colorado springs, but I welcome more surprises, it is no boring life for sure!

1 peter 3:3-4 your beauty should not come from outward adornment such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes, instead it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is great worth in God's sight

one day I plan to use this verse to explain to piper exactly how she can survive her teen years without a bikini or a halter top and still be looked upon as beautiful in the eyes of man and God, wish me luck :)