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.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
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
Saturday, September 12, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Change, Change, Change
The winds of change are blowing. The list of house project to accomplish before selling the house are mounting. And the reactions to the idea of moving are exhausting. After years of considering different options for moving I think it's finally going to happen. But we're not going far. Provided our house sells we are moving back over to Ames (Mike and I both graduated from ISU and lived in Ames when we were first married).
We have been investigating schooling options for Seth and have found that Ames schools have good programming and do a good job of working with families and therapy agencies to provide kiddos with a quality education and setting. After homeschooling Seth for the past 2 years we feel it's time to find a good educational setting for Seth. We are happy to see some social skills growth in Seth and believe that a classroom setting will help him to grow further along with taking some pressure off of me for providing his educational needs.
So we're doing all we can to get the house sold. Unfortunately the list of projects is overwhelmingly long. We got a quote on painting the house exterior - but it was quite high - so we're getting other quotes and weighing our options. We've cleared out much of the clutter, replaced some light fixtures, cleaned up around the outside (trimming trees, cleaning the gutters and clearing yard waste), and will be painting some interior rooms and re-landscaping this week.
And if all of that is not exhausting enough I have a house full of people who are none too happy about this move. Luke is doing the best with the change - not a surprise as he's a kiddo that rolls with the punches pretty well. Bella on the other hand has shed many tears and is sooo sad to leave her friends. And as this prospect becomes more real I am also feeling sad about leaving the town we've call home for 13 years. We moved here intending to stay on 3 or 4 years, but have stayed much longer. This is the community we brought all 3 kids home from the hospital as babies in. It's the only home our children have ever known. It's a place we've invested greatly in. We've attended 2 wonderful churches here and have many wonderful friends here.
On the up side, we're not moving that far and hope we will be able to keep in touch. But I know it will be a major change. Our house will change, schools will change, my job will change, our church will change, and even relationships will change. But we believe this is God's provision for Seth and our family and look forward to what He has for us in Ames. We are leaving much but have much to look forward to in Ames. We love the community of Ames, the college town feel, the great restaurants and shopping, the wonderful parks. We will most likely attend the church we attended as newlyweds and still know many people there, so that will make it an easier transition.
So it is a time of many changes and mixed feelings. We ask for your prayers for a quick sale of our house and a smooth transition.
We have been investigating schooling options for Seth and have found that Ames schools have good programming and do a good job of working with families and therapy agencies to provide kiddos with a quality education and setting. After homeschooling Seth for the past 2 years we feel it's time to find a good educational setting for Seth. We are happy to see some social skills growth in Seth and believe that a classroom setting will help him to grow further along with taking some pressure off of me for providing his educational needs.
So we're doing all we can to get the house sold. Unfortunately the list of projects is overwhelmingly long. We got a quote on painting the house exterior - but it was quite high - so we're getting other quotes and weighing our options. We've cleared out much of the clutter, replaced some light fixtures, cleaned up around the outside (trimming trees, cleaning the gutters and clearing yard waste), and will be painting some interior rooms and re-landscaping this week.
And if all of that is not exhausting enough I have a house full of people who are none too happy about this move. Luke is doing the best with the change - not a surprise as he's a kiddo that rolls with the punches pretty well. Bella on the other hand has shed many tears and is sooo sad to leave her friends. And as this prospect becomes more real I am also feeling sad about leaving the town we've call home for 13 years. We moved here intending to stay on 3 or 4 years, but have stayed much longer. This is the community we brought all 3 kids home from the hospital as babies in. It's the only home our children have ever known. It's a place we've invested greatly in. We've attended 2 wonderful churches here and have many wonderful friends here.
On the up side, we're not moving that far and hope we will be able to keep in touch. But I know it will be a major change. Our house will change, schools will change, my job will change, our church will change, and even relationships will change. But we believe this is God's provision for Seth and our family and look forward to what He has for us in Ames. We are leaving much but have much to look forward to in Ames. We love the community of Ames, the college town feel, the great restaurants and shopping, the wonderful parks. We will most likely attend the church we attended as newlyweds and still know many people there, so that will make it an easier transition.
So it is a time of many changes and mixed feelings. We ask for your prayers for a quick sale of our house and a smooth transition.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
"Swine" Flu Vaccine - Run as Fast as You Can!!
It's been awhile since I've written about vaccine issues. I felt it was time to touch on this subject again with all the H1N1 flu vaccine talk that is swirling in the media. The fear mongering in the mainstream media is in full tilt. On several occasions over the past couple weeks I've turned the channel from a supposedly reputable news program because I could not stomach the info they were sharing. The talk of a major flu pandemic that will kill healthy people left and right is a lot of hype in my opinion.
In the U.S. there have been 3 "major" flu pandemics throughout the past century - 3 - that's it. The Spanish Flu of 1917-1918, the Asian Flu of 57-58 and the Hong Kong Flu of 68-69. In comparison to the Spanish Flu, the following "pandemics" were very minor. So let's look at the Spanish Flu Pandemic. This "pandemic" occured a looooong time ago when sanitation and food supplies were far inferior to present day, not to mention the advances we have made in health care practices in the past 90 years. Doctors of 1917-18 had very little at their disposal - no antivirals, no respirators. Such a "pandemic" in our time would have much less impact on our society.
Following the small 68-69 "pandemic" which had it's greatest impact on the elderly and immune compromised and with many in our country who still remembered the "Great Plague" of 1918-1919 scientists were working on vaccines to combat these diseases. In 1976 a soldier at Fort Dix died of the "swine" flu and a mass vaccination program was pushed strongly by the medical community. These vaccines were not fully tested (although really most all of our current day vaccines are not fully tested) and caused far greater harm than the flu itself. Private Lewis was the only individual to die of the 1976 "swine" flu, but hundreds or possibly thousands of Americans who received the vaccine died or had negative health consequences as a result of the vaccine.
Any of this sound familiar? Are we incapable of learning anything from history? The CDC & FDA are fast-tracking a "swine" flu vaccine at this very moment. A vaccine that will contain thimerosal, a vaccine-adjunctant that the pharmaceutical industry was asked to remove 10 years ago. An adjunctant that multiple studies have linked to autism - just not the studies the government wants to cite! And among the first on the list to receive this "vitally important vaccine" are pregnant moms and children. A vaccine that will not be tested in the usual manner, and in my opinion the standard testing is pitiful. Adverse vaccine reactions are only followed for 2-4 weeks in the usual studies that our government uses to test vaccines. Multiple vaccines are not given together to test for possible negative interactions, but we give little babies multiple vaccines routinely on 4 or 5 occasions before their 2nd birthdays. Craziness!!
For a much more detailed explanation of the issues surrounding the "swine" flu vaccine check out the following link from a great organization made up of top notch science minds.
http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/07/overview-of-safeminds-swine-flu-concerns.html#more
And if you would like to read about the research the government doesn't like to cite that shows a link between autism and mercury (found in thimerosal) check out safeminds website http://www.safeminds.org/.
In the U.S. there have been 3 "major" flu pandemics throughout the past century - 3 - that's it. The Spanish Flu of 1917-1918, the Asian Flu of 57-58 and the Hong Kong Flu of 68-69. In comparison to the Spanish Flu, the following "pandemics" were very minor. So let's look at the Spanish Flu Pandemic. This "pandemic" occured a looooong time ago when sanitation and food supplies were far inferior to present day, not to mention the advances we have made in health care practices in the past 90 years. Doctors of 1917-18 had very little at their disposal - no antivirals, no respirators. Such a "pandemic" in our time would have much less impact on our society.
Following the small 68-69 "pandemic" which had it's greatest impact on the elderly and immune compromised and with many in our country who still remembered the "Great Plague" of 1918-1919 scientists were working on vaccines to combat these diseases. In 1976 a soldier at Fort Dix died of the "swine" flu and a mass vaccination program was pushed strongly by the medical community. These vaccines were not fully tested (although really most all of our current day vaccines are not fully tested) and caused far greater harm than the flu itself. Private Lewis was the only individual to die of the 1976 "swine" flu, but hundreds or possibly thousands of Americans who received the vaccine died or had negative health consequences as a result of the vaccine.
Any of this sound familiar? Are we incapable of learning anything from history? The CDC & FDA are fast-tracking a "swine" flu vaccine at this very moment. A vaccine that will contain thimerosal, a vaccine-adjunctant that the pharmaceutical industry was asked to remove 10 years ago. An adjunctant that multiple studies have linked to autism - just not the studies the government wants to cite! And among the first on the list to receive this "vitally important vaccine" are pregnant moms and children. A vaccine that will not be tested in the usual manner, and in my opinion the standard testing is pitiful. Adverse vaccine reactions are only followed for 2-4 weeks in the usual studies that our government uses to test vaccines. Multiple vaccines are not given together to test for possible negative interactions, but we give little babies multiple vaccines routinely on 4 or 5 occasions before their 2nd birthdays. Craziness!!
I implore those out there reading this to run as far and as fast from the "swine" flu vaccine as possible. Take some extra vitamins - C, D (get sunlight everyday along with taking a supplement). Buy some echinachea tea - boosts the immune system and is really yummy - my favorite kind has elderberries along with the echinachea. Eat healthy and as much as you can get adequate sleep. These precautions will keep you healthy far better than a series of vaccines that have not been fully tested and could cause multiple side effects!
For a much more detailed explanation of the issues surrounding the "swine" flu vaccine check out the following link from a great organization made up of top notch science minds.
http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/07/overview-of-safeminds-swine-flu-concerns.html#more
And if you would like to read about the research the government doesn't like to cite that shows a link between autism and mercury (found in thimerosal) check out safeminds website http://www.safeminds.org/.
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