Stop the Madness!!

A new study recently published in the journal Pediatrics shows that 1 in 100 children ages 3 to 17 now have autism. You can read the CNN story about this new study at http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/05/autism.study/index.html This study shows a rise from the previously published numbers of 1 in 150. And yet the health officials in our country continue to refuse to do the research into environmental triggers that are causing the autism in our children. They continue to cling to the genetic theory - even though it's impossible to have a genetic epidemic. They also continue to claim that the rise may just be due to better diagnosis instead of facing the terrifying epidemic that is before us.

Thirty years ago 1 in 10,000 children had autism. I know one of those 1 in 10,000 - he's a bright , wonderful man now who is doing very well as a result of much advocacy on his mother's part. I am blessed to call his mom my friend. She tells me that she was completely alone in seeking treatment and educational intervention for her son - she did not know any other families in her area who had children with autism, because there were no other families in her area who had children with autism. I can't imagine how lonely that must of been, but she is an amazingly strong and resilient lady who blazed a trail for many moms to follow. She has been a tremendous support and encouragement to me and I am so thankful for her friendship.

Loneliness in this struggle is not a problem today. I am good friends with 3 other moms in my community who are facing the same struggles with their children and know of numerous other families who are also walking this journey just in my small Midwestern community. There are 10-15 support groups throughout the state of Iowa alone to help families dealing with autism. Autism is certainly on the rise - it is not just due to better diagnosis or my friend would have met other moms 30 years ago who were going through the same journey.

When will our health officials wake up and realize that something or numerous somethings we are exposing our kids to are contributing to the rise of childhood autism along with the rise in numerous other childhood diseases including asthma, allergies, diabetes and cancer just to name a few? When will the madness stop? Many toxins in our environment are causing these diseases in children and many diseases in adults as well. These toxins bombard us throughout our days including the food we are eating with pesticides, food dyes, preservatives and genetically modified ingredients; the toxic cleaning products we use and breath in our homes; the flame retardants that are sprayed on all mattresses and children pajamas, the array of toxins in our vaccines that we inject into our bodies, the airborne mercury we breathe that is given off by coal-fired power plants; and the list could go on and on.

We must wake up and demand that the leaders of the health agencies in our country who are supposed to protect us start addressing the real problems instead of sticking their heads in the sand and throwing money into areas of research that are archaic and useless. We must start taking personal responsibility for our own families and rid our lives of as many of these toxins as possible. We must educate ourselves on health issues and share the knowledge we have with other so they can lead healthier lives. We must stop poisoning our children! We must stop the madness!!

The Move is On Again!

After a few days in limbo we have had some doors closing here in Marshalltown and are seeing that we do indeed need to make the move over to Ames. It has been a roller coaster couple of weeks, but we're now once again set now on getting moved as soon as the house sells. It is bittersweet to think of leaving Marshalltown - the many wonderful friends, our great church, and the wonderful home the Lord has allowed us to live in for the past 7 years. After being here for a total of 13 years, it's a little hard to imagine moving. When we moved to Marshalltown we intended to stay for only a few years, but plans changed.

We are thankful that we're only moving 40 minutes away and will be able to keep in touch with friends in Marshalltown. Mike and I are looking forward to refamiliarizing ourselves with our old college stomping grounds and taking advantage of all the cultural opportunities, in addition to the better shopping and restaurant options available there. It will be fairly easy to entice friends to come and visit if we just ask to meet them at Great Plains Pizza or Hickory Park for supper - two of our favorite restaurants in all of Iowa!

Bella & Luke are still not happy about the move. Bella informed me last week that she's moving back to Marshalltown when she grows up and she's going to raise her family here. I tried to tell her there's a great big, beautiful world out there and she could live anywhere across the US when she gets older, but she was having none of it. I am confident that once we get moved over and the kids get settled into school, church and extracurricular activities they will begin to like Ames as much as they have liked Marshalltown.

We had a showing on the house on Friday and heard good reports. The couple is a first time buyer and therefore need to make a decision in the next week or two. We're hopeful our house wowed them and we are praying that the first showing will be the only showing and they will give us an offer next week. Through all of this I have seen God's hand at work and I am confident that His timing is best for us, so whether the house sells next week or in 6 weeks I know it will be the right timing for our family.

Two Open Doors

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks since my last post. September 19th and 20th we enjoyed a wonderful time at hidden acres with our church family at our 2nd annual family retreat. I've decided that if we move to Ames we're crashing this retreat in coming years. I love our church family - such a wonderful group of Chrisitans that truly love on one another.

Following that fun weekend we had a busy week getting the house listed with a realtor, looking at more houses in Ames, finally had my appointment at the pain clinic and got relief for my back pain (cortisone injections are my new best friend - back hasn't felt this good in years), and attending the fall conference with the Autism Society of Iowa on Friday. Then came home to help my cousin and hubby move and welcome friends who stayed with us for the weekend. In the midst of all this craziness a new option presented itself for us to possibly stay in Marshalltown. We approached the new Christian school about Seth attending there. This option would entail us providing a one-to-one to go into the school with him.

So over another fun weekend having old friends at our house and taking in the Oktemberfest parade we talked about and prayed about this new possibility and were excited about the option to stay. Yesterday - Tuesday the 29th - seemed like it would be the day we would have a clearer picture of what the future would hold. We were to hear about what the Christian school board thought of Seth attending there and I met with the Ames Public Schools Director of Special Ed to talk about placement options for Seth in Ames.

At the end of the day, things are not a lot clearer. We have two open doors. Ames offered up the autism classroom that we have been hearing good things about and were generally very open and accommodating. The Christian school also said they would be open to having Seth come, starting out with an hour or so a morning and working up to half days. So we have more praying and thinking to do. Ultimately we may leave the decision up to the Lord and see if the house sells or not. For now we continue to live in limbo - which I'm finding rather challenging. I guess this is the time to do what the song from the last post said - I will choose to serve the Lord while I'm waiting.

While I'm Waiting

This song has really been speaking to my heart - put it on the top of my playlist so you can listen and read the lyrics below - hope it ministers to you wherever you're at today!!

While I'm Waiting by John Waller

I'm waiting I'm waiting on You, Lord

And I am hopeful, I'm waiting on You, Lord

Though it is painful but patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident

Taking every step in obedience

While I'm waiting I will serve You

While I'm waiting I will worship

While I'm waiting I will not faint

I'll be running the race even while I wait

I'm waiting I'm waiting on You, Lord

And I am peaceful I'm waiting on You, Lord

Though it's not easy but faithfully, I will wait

Yes, I will wait

I will serve You while I'm waiting

I will worship while I'm waiting

I will serve You while I'm waiting

I will worship while I'm waiting

I will serve you while I'm waiting

I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

Waiting is one of my least favorite things. I don't like waiting in line at the store, waiting in traffic, or waiting for everyone to get to van to leave for church on Sunday mornings. I'm already finding that I'm tired of waiting on our house to sell and it's barely been on the market. I'm a very impatient person. Lately I've been doing a lot of waiting; waiting on doctor's to call with test results, waiting on doctors to send referrals, waiting for appointments to be scheduled, waiting on my back to heal while waiting for the house to sell. Waiting, waiting, waiting.

And yet it seems that much of life is waiting. I've been challenged lately to put my trust in the Lord as I wait. All this waiting has prompted me consider what the Word has to say about the subject. A quick look in my concordance pointed me to some interesting verses about waiting.

Psalm 27: 13-14 - "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be, strong, and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 130: 5-6 - "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning."

Isaiah 30:18 - "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him."

So I am to be strong and take heart while waiting. Those things don't seem to really go together. I am to wait more than a watchmen waits for the morning. The watchmen are probably pretty certain that the morning will come as it has come every morning of their lives - so we are to wait with great expectancy. Waiting can be an active experience. There is blessing promised by a gracious, compassionate, and just God for those who wait. That's quite a promise.

So I guess maybe waiting isn't such a bad thing. And in the midst of waiting I will continue to serve the Lord with my life - praising Him, loving Him and loving those He's placed in my life. Doesn't sound so bad after all. But don't expect me to start enjoying waiting in traffic anytime soon.

Moving Forward

It has been a busy past week and a half with much work on the house, looking for a new house in Ames, and dealing with a back injury. I have been extremely blessed by some wonderful friends who have come over to help. Thursday and Friday 3 friends painted my foyer, living room and dining with marginal help from me as I was dealing with extreme back pain and very bad reactions to pain meds. Tomorrow more friends are coming to continue helping us get the house fixed up. It's humbling and heart touching to see the love of Christ lived out in others lives as they minister to us through offering help.

Monday Seth and I started some homeschooling lessons and he completely blew me away. He was excited to get to the computer to do his computer-based reading program and I thought I'd see how much he could do independently. We used the same curriculum last year, but I had to help him with operating the mouse to complete the lessons. Monday he did 5 lessons independently with minimal assistance from me when the mouse was being difficult. He is clearly reading and was so proud of himself for being able to do this on his own. It's wonderful to see him growing in independence and knowledge.

Since the big kids started school Seth has shown sadness at their leaving each morning. The first couple mornings he actually put his shoes on when they were getting to ready to leave and I had to console him that he didn't get to go along. Since then he watches them go and stands at the door looking sadly out the window. I take this as another sign that our decision to move over to Ames and get him into a classroom setting is a step he's ready for. His home-based program over the past 5 years has been a great building block for him, but I think at this point he needs more than we can offer at home. We believe that a new setting will challenge him both socially and educationally; a challenge we are seeing he is ready to face.

So we continue with preparations for moving. Our house went on the market, for sale by owner, yesterday. We plan to market it privately for 3 weeks while finishing up house projects and then list with the same realtor we bought the house with 7 years ago. We are praying God brings us a private buyer so we can save the commission money, but put a limit on the amount of time we will market it without a realtor. Tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday Mike plans to work on house projects with help from friends from church - with a crazy fast trip to Nebraska Friday and Saturday for his brother's wedding.

Last night we toured some homes in Ames and found a couple options that would work for our family. We are trying not to get our hopes set on a certain house as we are not sure what will still be on the market once our house sells. But we are encouraged that there will be some good options for us there. My greatest challenge at this point is waiting on the Lord for the right timing - I'm so impatient and just want this all to happen right now. But I desire to trust that God's timing will be perfect.