• Nov. 19, 2009 - Critters day!
This week Noah and Anna were able to bring in their pet chinchilla's Herman and Chester to their Critters class at the homeschool co-op. This class has visits by the zoo mobile every other week where they get to meet all kinds of neat creatures with lots of hands-on and teaching interaction. It's a really neat class!
Both children had compiled pet journals as part of their homeschool work this fall complete with pet care guide and commentary from each to personalize their relationship with their pets. They had to present to the class what they have learned in caring for and the history of chinchillas.
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Nov. 15, 2009 - Plague in the Ukraine?
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/140492/Million-hit-by-plague-worse-than-swine-flu-
WORLD NEWS
MILLION HIT BY 'PLAGUE WORSE THAN SWINE FLU'
Fears that a deadly virus could spread west from Ukraine
By Greg Miskiw
A DEADLY plague could sweep across Europe, doctors fear, after an outbreak of a virus in Ukraine plunged the country and its neighbours into a state of panic.
A cocktail of three flu viruses are reported to have mutated into a single pneumonic plague, which it is believed may be far more dangerous than swine flu. The death toll has reached 189 and more than 1 million people have been infected, most of them in the nine regions of Western Ukraine.
President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko has called in the World Health Organisation and a team of nine specialists are carrying out tests in Kiev and Lviv to identify the virus. Samples have been sent to London for analysis.
President Yushchenko said: “People are dying. The epidemic is killing doctors. This is absolutely inconceivable in the 21st Century.”
In a TV interview, the President added: “Unlike similar epidemics in other countries, three causes of serious viral infections came together simultaneously in Ukraine – two seasonal flus and the Californian flu
“Virologists conclude that this combination of infections may produce an even more aggressive new virus as a result of mutation.”
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been touring hospitals where victims are being treated and presidential elections in January could be cancelled .
Four men and one woman have died from the flu in Lviv, said emergency hospital chief doctor Myron Borysevych. Two of the dead patients were in the 22-35 age group, with two others over 60. He diagnosed the disease as viral pneumonia.
“We have sent the analyses to Kiev. We don’t believe it’s H1N1 swine flu. Neither do we know what kind of pneumonia it is.”
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Nov. 14, 2009 - Blowing of The Shofar
On our Sabbath Day of rest (sundown Friday to Sundown Saturday) as commanded to be observed by God in the 10 commandments...as a gift for man, we occasionally blow the Shofar. Our Anna is really the only one who can blow it really well.
"The Shofar, a well known symbol of Rosh Hashanah, is one of the earliest instruments used in Jewish music. Usually made from a rams horn, a shofar can also be made from the horns of other animals, including those of a goat or sheep. It is the one musical instrument that has not changed in over 5,000 years. In Biblical times the shofar was blown to announce an important event, such as the alarm of war or the coming of peace. The Great shofar is said to have been sounded during the greatest event in all Jewish history, the giving of the ten commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai (see Shavuot)."
Go Anna!! Maybe we out to quit those piano lessons and switch to trumpet...
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Nov. 14, 2009 - Fantastic information on vaccines from a pediatrician...a must listen!
Click on link to listen.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/14/Expert-Pediatrician-Exposes-Vaccine-Myths.aspx
Expert Pediatrician Exposes Vaccine Myths
Posted by: Dr. Mercola
November 14 2009 | 23,478 views
Dr. Larry Palevsky is a board-certified pediatrician trained at the New York School of Medicine, and one of the leading physicians in the country who, from my view, is actually able to compellingly and convincingly provide sound, rational, scientific justification as to why you need to seriously reconsider the wisdom of choosing vaccines as an option to prevent against most diseases.
The Difference Between What You Learn in School and What Works
Dr. Palevsky says:
“When I went through medical school, I was taught that vaccines were completely safe and completely effective, and I had no reason to believe otherwise. All the information that I was taught was pretty standard in all the medical schools and the teachings and scientific literature throughout the country. I had no reason to disbelieve it.
Over the years, I kept practicing medicine and using vaccines and thinking that my approach to vaccines was completely onboard with everything else I was taught.
But more and more, I kept seeing that my experience of the world, my experience in using and reading about vaccines, and hearing what parents were saying about vaccines were very different from what I was taught in medical school and my residency training.
… and it became clearer to me as I read the research, listened to more and more parents, and found other practitioners who also shared the same concern that vaccines had not been completely proven safe or even completely effective, based on the literature that we have today.
… It didn’t appear that the scientific studies that we were given were actually appropriately designed to prove and test the safety and efficacy.
It also came to my attention that there were ingredients in there that were not properly tested, that the comparison groups were not appropriately set up, and that conclusions made about vaccine safety and efficacy just did not fit the scientific standards that I was trained to uphold in my medical school training.”
Were Vaccines Really the ‘Savior’ Against Past Diseases?
Conventional medicine teaches that the polio and the smallpox epidemics went away because of the vaccines, and that most of the diseases that we faced in the 20th century in the United States were brought down because of the power, strength and the implementation of the vaccine policy.
Meanwhile, there are a significant number of studies in the medical literature that actually show there were many other reasons that these infectious diseases went away.
For example, one article published in 2000 in the Pediatrics Journal describes how, before the World War II, the majority of the infectious diseases the US was faced with – such as diphtheria, tetanus, polio, pertussis, measles, influenza, parapertussis, tuberculosis and scarlet fever – were all reduced before World War II and BEFORE there were antibiotics and vaccinations available to treat or to vaccinate against these diseases.
The reasons for the reductions in incidence rates and mortality of these diseases were predominantly due to the implementation of public health strategies, including:
- Clean water
- Better living conditions
- Improved sanitation
- Improved nutrition
There are many such examples.
Have the Proper Safety Studies Actually Been Done?
So, why is there such a vast difference among intelligent, scientifically oriented, committed and objective scientists and physicians about the safety and efficacy of vaccines?
Dr. Palevsky says:
“I think that if you ask most of my colleagues where they get their information, they will say that they read it from the American Academy of Pediatrics, from the AMA, from the CDC, and in their journals.
But I would like to challenge most of my colleagues to look through the studies themselves to actually see if the proper scientific studies were done using a proper study group and a proper control group.
Were the ingredients in vaccines properly studied?
Is there a difference between being exposed to a virus, bacteria, heavy metal or toxin through the air, food, your intestines and your skin, versus when it’s injected into your body?
Have we really looked at what happens to vaccine materials once injected into a child? Is an antibody sufficient to provide protection for a child against disease?
More and more studies are coming out to show that:
- The proper studies haven’t been done
- Antibodies are not the final way in which your body is protected
- There is a difference between how children process material through air and food versus through injection
- There are particles in vaccines that do accumulate in your body and cause impairments in your immune system
- There are particles in the vaccines that get into your brain, and
- There are foreign DNA particles that get into your body
For many health professionals it is a shock to discover that there is such a lack of information on the safety and efficacy, and a mounting degree of information that actually raises suspicions about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, and whether or not they have been properly studied.”
What we currently have is a one-sided policy; a one way of thinking that is impossible to really allow for the appropriate debate. Science is truly a field where you ask a question, you find an answer, and you don’t have the biases or the influences that change the way an answer or a conclusion is made. We are not seeing that with vaccines.
On a personal note, I recently received the Visionary Award at the NVIC conference in Washington DC. In my acceptance speech, I basically broke down in tears when I told the audience how I felt when I came to realize that by routinely vaccinating thousands of innocent children at my clinic, I’d probably caused damage to many of them. It was a very difficult thing for me to accept intellectually and emotionally.
How a Conventionally Trained Physician Accepts that Vaccines Can Cause Harm
Dr. Palevsky began his investigation in earnest about 10 years ago because parents came to him with complaints, worries, and concerns that something had happened to their children after they were vaccinated.
Interestingly, this is the same way that I became enlightened about vaccines -- through the concern of a very patient mother whose family I was taking care of. She gently persisted in showing me the evidence and thank God I listened!
Tragically, most doctors are far too arrogant to even consider that there is any possibility that there might be something wrong with vaccines.
Most pediatricians are indoctrinated to simply tell parents that anything related to a bad outcome from a vaccine is a mere coincidence. But how come there are so many of these “coincidences”?
Says Palevsky,
“It is heartbreaking, because I see many of these kids who were developmentally normal, who were doing well, who were speaking, then whose voices and eye contacts were lost, who went into seizures, who developed asthma and allergies, and they had nowhere to go because they’re doctors told them that they don’t know what they’re talking about. These kids are real.
The literature is showing that there are changes in the immune system of children who are vaccinated, especially if we vaccinate them before one year of age or even at one day of age.
The literature is there. It’s good scientific literature, and it shows that more and more of these kids who are suffering from chronic illness are suffering from impairments of their immune system.
Whether vaccines are causative or contributory, the literature is showing that there is a role that vaccines are playing in creating the groundwork for these children’s immune systems to start to show signs of impairment and destruction.
… When I look at the studies that the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC put out, saying that there’s no correlation between vaccination and autism or vaccinations and asthma, I have to say that the studies just don’t hold up to the scientific standards.
You can’t have 25 children in a study and then report that this proves that no children who get autism have any correlation to being injured by vaccines. This is what the media does: they take these conclusions, put it right out in front of the newspapers and say, “Vaccines don’t cause autism.”
When you really look at the studies – and there’s not a proper control group and there’s only 25 people – you can’t make a grand, generalized statement about a general population because you’ve studied 25 children.”
The NVIC Set to Create Groundbreaking Vaccine Safety Research
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) just raised $100,000 and continues to look for donations and sponsors to allow proper safety studies to be done by independent researchers, who aren’t going to influence the outcomes.
One study that looked at the health outcomes of vaccinated versus unvaccinated children does exist.
Published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in April 2005, that looked at the health outcomes of children who are fully vaccinated, who are partially vaccinated, and who are not vaccinated at all.
All the investigators asked the parents to do was to report atopic illness. Atopic illness means allergies, asthma, eczema, hay fever. The investigators were blinded, meaning they didn’t know which category the participants belonged to.
When they assessed the data, they found that the largest number of reports by parents of children with atopic illness were in the kids who were fully vaccinated. The second highest reports were in the families who are partially vaccinated. And the lowest number of reports was in the children who were unvaccinated…
The investigators performed a statistical analysis to see if the data was based on chance or on real statistical differences, and found there were statistically significant differences between these groups. They couldn’t understand how this was possible, because the generally accepted consensus is that vaccines are completely safe, and completely effective.
Based on this initial finding, we clearly need to do follow-up studies to ask the same question over and over again; repeat this kind of investigation with different populations across different parts of the country, to unearth the truth!
Dr. Palevsky says:
“Certainly, the issue has been raised about the special interests, the money that’s tied, the policies, how much money the vaccine manufacturers stand to make, the doctors who make decisions on vaccines, and how much money they stand to make. But we need the science and not this conspiracy theory...
If we just stay with the science, and really start to address the need for the science, and look at the fact that there is a lack of science, we will definitely see that more needs to be done.
We have not done due diligence.”
Are Some Vaccines Safer Than Others?
Many may be surprised by Dr. Palevsky’s answer:
“… in my research of the vaccines, and of the basic microbiology and virology that we’re trained to know in our medical training, I cannot understand how a vaccine with a virus can be safe.”
What most people don’t know is that a virus is not “alive,” per se.
It is simply a piece or strand of either RNA or DNA. And even of itself, a virus can’t “do” anything.
In addition it is so tiny that it can only be seen under an electron microscope. It is much smaller than bacteria, which can only be seen in the regular microscope. So viruses cannot be isolated when you make a viral vaccine. All that can be isolated is the tissue, whether it’s human tissue or animal tissue that is believed to have been infected by that specific virus that you’re trying to isolate.
So when a viral culture or a set of cultures are made including the specific virus, you’re going to have the DNA of people or animals who were already infected. Those cells are then taken and grown on animal cells, whether it's monkey kidney cells or chicken embryo cells.
When mixed together, these cells will splice and recombine, which means that DNA from animal cells are going to mix with DNA from the known infected cells with the virus.
So by definition, a viral vaccine contains foreign animal and, even possibly, foreign human DNA. That’s why if you have an egg allergy, you shouldn’t get certain vaccines because it is known that there’s going to be egg protein in the vaccine.
So the question is, how safe is it to inject viral material that is embedded into the DNA of foreign DNA cells?
What studies have been done to actually test whether foreign DNA is getting into your body; whether it stays in your DNA; whether it gets into your brain; and whether there are foreign animal viruses that are inherently present in animal DNA to begin with?
The Dangers of Adjuvants
Adjuvants are used in vaccines in order to create a sufficiently strong immunological response. Adjuvants augment your immunological response.
But there is clear evidence that adjuvants, like aluminum and squalene impair your immune system.
So while you may be getting the antibodies desired, you are, at the same time, damaging your immune system. Particularly in children, this can set them up to develop chronic illness.
Pushing for Informed Consent
So, does that mean you should never vaccinate against anything?
Dr. Palevsky says:
“That’s something that needs to be left up to the individual parent. I am truly a proponent of informed consent, and I’m truly supportive of families who have done their homework and who have been able to make the choice.
What is the possible risk of the illness? What is the possible health outcome if your child gets one of those illnesses?
And how much do you know about those risks versus how much do you know about the risks of the vaccines and the health outcomes of what may happen when children are vaccinated against single, or even multiple, vaccines?
And when parents are given both sides, it is up to them to make that informed choice.
It is no longer my role to tell them that they must do this vaccine but not that vaccine, because each parent has to make an informed choice based on their understanding of how diseases occur or don’t occur, what science we have available, and whether they feel comfortable with the devil that they know (the science and the outcomes of disease) versus the devil that they don’t know (science and the outcomes of the vaccine).”
What about the Swine Flu Vaccine?
Echoing many other health professionals, including myself, Dr. Palevsky’s concern is that there haven’t been sufficient amounts of scientific investigation to actually be able to say that the vaccines are safe, or even effective.
He says:
“Now if you read the packaging first of the swine flu vaccine, it specifically states that the swine flu or the H1N1 flu vaccine was manufactured in the same manufacturing process as the flu vaccine. Therefore since we believe that the flu vaccine has been sufficiently tested to be safe, we can then conclude that the H1N1 vaccine is safe.
But the public should know that even though our authorities are standing there and saying that the H1N1 vaccine is safe, the proper studies have not been done.
… And it’s unfair to say to parents or to the public that if you come down with a flu-like illness, it must be H1N1. In studies that have been done, people who did get the flu had their noses swabbed, and they were found to have H1N1.
What’s missing in these data is a population of healthy people who have not had any flu symptoms – to actually see if their noses contained H1N1 – because if someone is sick and has the presence of an H1N1 virus in the nose, it doesn’t mean that the H1N1 is causing the illness.
You really have to take an appropriate control group to see if people are colonized with that virus even when they’re not sick.
So we don’t have that data; we really don’t know. I don’t think we can say with good scientific certainty that people who are getting sick from the flu and who are being diagnosed with H1N1 are actually having H1N1 as the cause.”
Other Ways to Protect Yourself Against the Flu
Again, there’s clear evidence in the medical literature that shows proper hygiene, proper sleep, proper diet, proper supplementation with things like vitamin D (making sure that you get your vitamin D level done first), and perhaps vitamin C, can actually prevent you from getting the flu.
Many insist that vaccinated individuals “protect” the unvaccinated against the flu virus – in essence, reaping the benefit of the protection they refuse for themselves, while at the same time putting others in danger.
But how does that make sense?
Says Dr. Palevsky:
“How does vaccinating against the flu virus stop you from carrying the flu virus in your nasal passages?”
And yet, this is what many believe.
The Concept of Herd Immunity – BUSTED!
One of the primary arguments that is being used to justify this insane behavior is “herd immunity.”
The fact is that vaccination does NOT stop you from carrying bacteria or viruses in your nose, in your throat, in your intestines, in your airway, on your skin, or in your body.
But many do not understand the significance of this fact, and have been made to believe that if you’re vaccinated, you won’t carry viruses, and therefore, others will be protected because you’re vaccinated.
As it turns out, this belief is NOT based on scientific fact.
Dr. Palevsky explains:
“This whole concept of herd immunity is very interesting, because we were taught that herd immunity occurs because a certain percentage of a population gets an active illness. Therefore by a certain percentage of getting the active illness, they impart a protection onto the remaining part of the population that has not gotten the illness yet.
And so the herd that is getting the illness is shedding the illness and protecting those who have not gotten it.
In vaccine science, we are extrapolating or concluding that if we vaccinate a certain percentage of people, we are imparting protection on those who have not been vaccinated. And that has NOT been shown to be true, because the true herd immunity in theory is based on an ACTIVE DISEASE, and we know that despite what we’re taught, vaccination does not mimic the natural disease.
So we cannot use the same model of herd immunity in a natural disease in the vaccination policy. But unfortunately, we do use it even though it cannot be used because it doesn’t have scientific backing.
What’s most interesting to me is that the entire concept of herd immunity fails to acknowledge that there is a life cycle of the viruses and the bacteria all on their own, and that what turns them on and off may have nothing to do with the percentage of people who have been infected.
All you have to do is look at the SARS outbreak. That virus that we were supposed to fear didn’t infect 70 or 80 percent of the population, which would then impart herd immunity on the 20 or 30 percent that didn’t get the disease.
This is because the virus itself had a life cycle of its own. And so it came and went without any percentage of the population being protected. There wasn’t herd immunity, and yet the virus died out on its own.
We fail to include that viruses have a life cycle, and that they are in relationship to other organisms and to us. Something activates them and something actually stops them, and it has nothing necessarily to do with the percentage of people who would have the illness or who have been vaccinated.
… It is preposterous to think that a child who is vaccinated no longer carries the bacteria or the viruses that they have been vaccinated against. If, in fact, children are vaccinated, then why are parents and public health authorities afraid that non-vaccinated children are somehow carrying something that their children are not, when they should feel comfortable that their children are vaccinated?
You can’t have it both ways.
You can’t vaccinate believing that your children are protected and then feel that your children are not protected because somehow, some non-vaccinated child is carrying some secret organism that no one else is carrying.
It just doesn’t make any sense.”
The Difference between Natural Immunity and Vaccine-lnduced Immunity
It’s important to understand that the natural illness has greater influence on the health of your body. Says Dr. Palevsky:
“In medical school, the mentors that I had saw children in their practices in the 40s, 50s and all the way up to the 80s getting these flu-like illnesses who were properly treated with rest, fluids and proper supplementation.
Those kids had developmental growth spurts after the illnesses were over.
There is something to say for these viral illnesses that impart a certain boosting of the immune system of your children. And if we’re not letting them have these illnesses, what are we doing to their immune systems? Aren’t we actually hampering their overall health?”
You need to understand that there’s a significant difference between natural immunity and vaccination immunity.
When children are born, they develop natural immunity to hundreds, thousands, millions, and even trillions of microorganisms that they breathe in, eat, and touch through their skin. Their immune systems at the lining of their airways, at the lining of their intestines, and on their skin are actively protecting their body from the outside world.
Those immune systems that are intricately and specifically located in the linings are very important to create memory and protection to the organisms that they continue to breathe, eat, and touch.
That immune system response then has a domino effect on creating other memory and immune responses that give your body antibodies and protection.
That’s a very important step for how the immune system matures in our children. From the linings, the immune system receives information, sends out signals to all other parts of the immune system, and creates an immune response, memory, and antibodies.
On the other hand, when you inject materials into your body, you are bypassing that crucial first step called the primary line of defense.
With vaccination you are just creating an antibody. That does NOT impart long-term immunity because it does not create the kind of memory that occurs when you breathe it in, eat it, or are exposed through the skin, and then go through the course of the natural disease.
Some people will argue that this is why we have nasal spray vaccines.
However, again, you’re making the assumption that you have not already been exposed to the virus at some point, and you’re also making the assumption that exposure automatically leads to infection.
Exposure does not necessarily lead to infection. A lot of it has to do with the overall status of your immune system.
The Dangers of Combining Vaccines
One issue that is frequently ignored is the potential harm from the synergy of combinations of vaccines, which have never been studied.
No one knows whether there’s interaction between the bacteria and the viruses in the vaccines administered as part of the childhood vaccination schedule, or if there is interaction in the trace thimerosal (which is still in some of the multi-vials of certain vaccines), or the large amount of aluminum that is in many of them.
Dr. Palevsky says:
“There is a scientist named Boyd Haley, who has actually looked into some of the vaccine ingredients and (1) what happens to nerve cells when you inject them in the lab to specific vaccine ingredients, and (2) what happens to the nerve cells when you keep adding another vaccine ingredient.
He specifically showed that in the presence of thimerosal, there’s a lot of damage to nerve cells. When you add aluminum to the thimerosal, you need less thimerosal to create the damage to the immune and nerve cells in the presence of aluminum.
Then when you add neomycin – an antibiotic in some of the vaccines – it potentiates the potency of nerve cell damage with aluminum and mercury together.
And when you culture the nerve cells and testosterone, versus estrogen, and you expose them to some of the vaccine ingredients like thimerosal, you actually see that the nerve cells that are exposed to testosterone are more damaged in greater amounts than the nerve cells that are bathed in estrogen.
That raises some concern because we do see that children with neurodevelopmental disorders are 4:1, boys to girls.
So you have to question whether testosterone actually makes children more vulnerable to exposure to toxins like mercury, aluminum or their combination?
None of these studies have been done in humans. People say, “We can’t do those studies.” And I say, “Why not?” They say, “It’s unethical.”
I say, “Well, if it’s unethical to do those studies on vaccine ingredients and combining them together, then it’s unethical to give the vaccines in general.”
So we’re missing a lot of important data that we won’t believe, and we’re also missing a lot of important data that we won’t accumulate because most of the studies that are done are by the manufacturers of the vaccines themselves.”
About Dr. Lawrence B. Palevsky, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Dr. Palevsky is a board certified pediatrician who utilizes a holistic approach to children’s wellness and illness. Dr. Palevsky received his medical degree from the NYU School of Medicine in 1987, completed a three-year pediatric residency at The Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC in 1990, and served as a pediatric fellow in the ambulatory care out-patient department at Bellevue Hospital, NYC, from 1990-1991.
Since 1991, his clinical experience includes working in pediatric emergency and intensive care medicine, in-patient and out-patient pediatric medicine, neonatal intensive care medicine, newborn and delivery room medicine, and conventional, holistic and integrative pediatric private practice at the Center for Health & Healing- an integrative and complementary care medical facility affiliated with the Beth Israel Medical Center in NYC. Dr. Palevsky is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, co-founder and President of the Holistic Pediatric Association (www.hpakids.org) and Past–President of the American Holistic Medical Association (www.holisticmedicine.org).
In his current practice in Northport, Long Island and Manhattan, NYC, Dr. Palevsky offers consultations and educational programs to families and practitioners in the areas of preventive and holistic health; childhood development; lifestyle changes; nutrition for adults, infants and children; safe, alternative treatments for common and difficult to treat acute and chronic pediatric and adult conditions; vaccination controversies; mindful parenting; and rethinking the medical paradigm.
Additionally, he teaches holistic integrative pediatric & adolescent medicine to parents, and medical and allied health professionals, both nationally & internationally, and is available for speaking engagements worldwide.
For more information or to contact Dr. Palevsky, please visit www.drpalevsky.com or contact info@drpalevsky.com
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Nov. 11, 2009 - Family photo time...
• Nov. 11, 2009 - Happy Veterans Day!
On Veteran's Day the annual parade took place downtown Knoxville to honor the many who have and are serving in the armed services. While personally, I have grown to be a real skeptic of the Iraq war details and our government's dishonesty regarding the situation...I do honor and respect the brave men and women who put their lives on the line everyday. I come from a family of veterans including my own husband who served 8 years. Unfortunately, I believe over the last 50 years we have developed more of a pseudo patriotism because the "globalists" controling our government are more concerned with implementing a world government than protecting our national soverignty and what it means to be "america". A great documentary on this subject by director Aaron Russo called American Freedom to Fascism can be viewed for free on google video that sheds more details on this "conspiracy" of sorts. Our service personel are sacrificing themselves for the idea of freedom that sadly is becoming a non-reality, disappearing by the day thanks to the corporate political elitest who in fact run the world.
A wonderful organization for military and police who still believe in our national freedom and defending our consitution is Oath Keepers. They have vowed as a group to defending our constitution by not taking unlawful orders that will further enslave american citizens. I highly recommend forwarding this site to everyone. Here is some background from the site: http://oathkeepers.org/oath/about/
About OathKeepers
Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of currently serving military, veterans, peace officers, and firefighters who will fulfill the oath we swore to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God.
Our oath is to the Constitution, not to the politicians, and we will not obey unconstitutional (and thus illegal) and immoral orders, such as orders to disarm the American people or to place them under martial law and deprive them of their ancient right to jury trial.
We Oath Keepers have drawn a line in the sand. We will not “just follow orders.”
Our motto is “Not on our watch!”
If you, the American people, are forced to once again fight for your liberty in another American Revolution, you will not be alone. We will stand with you.
There is at this time a debate within the ranks of the military regarding their oath. Some mistakenly believe they must follow any order the President issues. But you can rest assured that many others in the military do understand that their loyalty is to the Constitution, and understand what that means.
The mission of Oath Keepers is to vastly increase their numbers. We are in a battle for the hearts and minds of our own troops. To win that battle, Oath Keepers will use written and video testimony of active duty military, veterans (especially combat vets), and peace officers to reach, teach, and inspire our brothers in arms in the military and police to fulfill their oaths and stand as guardians of the Republic.
If you are currently in the military, are a veteran, or are a peace officer, please submit your written and/or video testimony on your oath, so you can help us win that battle for hearts and minds. Your submission may be anonymous.
Guardians of the Republic, fulfill your oath. Join us.
(read a longer description here)
What We Are Not
We are Not advocating or promoting the overthrow of any government whether local, state or national. We want our governments to return to the Constitutional Republic which the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution defined and instituted.
We are Not advocating or promoting violence towards any organization, group or person. We are determined to Keep our Oath to support and defend the Constitution.
We are not advocating or promoting the removal of any person from his or her elected office. We want all elected persons to live up to their Oath to “support and defend the Constitution” as it is written or to leave of their own volition.
We are not advocating or promoting that anyone in the Judicial Branch be removed or replaced. We want the Justices in the Judicial Branch to follow the Constitution as written without interpretation.
We are not advocating or promoting any particular form of government other than the Constitutional Republic which the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution defined and instituted.
We are not advocating or promoting the rewriting of the Constitution nor are we asking for an Amendment thereto. We are insisting on the Constitution being Enforced as it is written.
We are Not advocating or promoting any act or acts of aggression against any organization or person for any
reason including, but not limited to; race, religion, national origin, political affiliation, gender or sexual orientation.
We hope for a return to a Constitutional Republic free from fear and hatred. We hate only tyranny.
We are Oath Sworn Americans who want the Constitution returned to its legal and rightful place, intact, as the ultimate Law of the Land.
Saying all of this, I do support our troops and Anna's American Heritage Girls Troop marched in the parade to honor them. It was a great time and we enjoyed waving and thanking the many veterans who lined up to watch as we walked.
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Nov. 11, 2009 - A beautiful day for friends!
Gathering of friends over the weekend as the weather was incredible! Probably the last we'll have for the season. We had over 20 people...half of those were kids! Running around of course.
Sorry about the mouthful picture guys!
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Nov. 4, 2009 - Conflicts of Interest
With all seriousness, can we really expect to place trust in an organization such as the CDC who claims vaccines do not cause autism when its members and "safety" grants are a revolving door with the pharmaceutical industry. HMMM.
http://www.generationrescue.org/evidence-science/07-14-studies.htm
The “14 Studies” commonly quoted in the press are corrupt
- Contrary to popular belief, to date, their have only been a small amount of studies, most of those, if not all, are pharmaceutical influenced, that only look at two possible vaccine induced causes of autism --the MMR Vaccine and Mercury (one vaccine out of 36 and one ingredient out of 35)
- All of the 14 “studies” that are commonly spoken about in the media are heavily influenced by the pharmaceutical industry and often fraudulent.
- All of the 14 studies have serious, undisclosed conflicts of interest, are influenced by pharmaceutical companies or have serious design flaws.
- No independent vaccine-autism studies have been conducted.
- No studies asking questions about long-term side effects including health outcomes (like chronic illness and neurological disorders) or comparing the vaccinated and unvaccinated community have been conducted.
- No studies have been conducted to look at the present (or any) vaccine schedule to monitor vaccine interactions in individuals.
Some examples of conflicts of interest from the www.14Studies.org website
Below please find a list of the studies used to support the false assertion that vaccines do not cause autism. Please note that many of these studies are being made available on the Web for the first time.
As mentioned in our The Right Question section, we contend that not one of these studies asks the right questions to address the very common issue that we hear reports of every day:
A parent takes their child to the pediatrician. The child receives multiple vaccines. The parents report that the child changes after the appointment, and the child is later diagnosed with autism.
By not trying to understand what is happening to these children, these studies appear to have been done to provide "cover" to the vaccine program, much the same way early studies of cigarettes and lung cancer always showed no link, supporting the position of the tobacco companies.
In this section, we have divided the studies into two parts: studies addressing Thimerosal (mercury) in vaccines, and studies addressing a single vaccine, the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella). We have rank-ordered the studies by our assessment of how commonly they are referred to in the press. To read the entire study, click on the study title.
Below the title of each study, we have highlighted the conflicts section of each study. Please note that in our next section, Studies Ranked, we go into considerably more detail about each individual study.
Thimerosal Studies – Conflicts of Interest
1. "Safety of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines: A Two-Phased Study of Computerized Health Maintance Organization Database” Pediatrics, Thomas Verstraeten, MD (November 2003)
Conflicts:
Written by the Centers for Disease Control, the federal agency in charge of the vaccine program. The lead author, Thomas Verstraeten, left to take a job with Glaxo SmithKline — a vaccine manufacturer — after the study was written and before it was published. The U.S. Congress later cited this as an ethical violation.
2. "Thimerosal and the Occurrence of Autism: Negative Ecological Evidence from Danish Population-Based Data" Pediatrics, Kreesten M. Madsen, MD (September 2003)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"The activities of the Danish Epidemiology Science Centre and the National Centre for Register-Based Research are funded by a grant from the Danish National Research Foundation. This study was supported by the Stanley Medical Research Institute." [Two of the seven authors were employees of Denmark's largest vaccine manufacturer, Statens Serum Institute]
3. "Continuing Increases in Autism Reported to California's Developmental Services System" Archives of General Psychiatry, Robert Schechter, MD (January 2008)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"This study was supported through the California Department of Public Health."
4. "Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines Neuropsychological Performance 10 Years After Immunization in Infancy With Thimerosal-Containing Vaccine" Pediatrics, Alberto Eugenio Tozzi, Patrizia Bisiacchi (February 2009)
Conflicts statement from the study:
The study was supported in part by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, through contract 2002-N-00448 with the Istituto Superiore di Sanita.
5. "Autism and Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines: Lack of Consistent Evidence for an Association" American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Paul Stehr-Green, DrPh, MPH (August 2003)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"Financial support for the compilation of the data used in this investigation and the preparation of this report was provided by the National Immunization Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We are grateful to Victoria Romanus of the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Ingrid Trolin of the Swedish Medical Products Agency, Anne-Marie Plesner and Peter Andersen of the Danish Statens Serum Institut [Denmark's largest vaccine company], and Roger Bernier and Susan Chu of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for their contributions in the design and conduct of this investigation, and in the preparation and review of this manuscript."
6. "Thimerosal Exposure in Infants and Developmental Disorders: A Prospective Cohort Study in the United Kingdom Does Not Support a Causal Association"
Pediatrics, John Heron and Nick Andrews, PhD (September 2004)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"Financial support for the establishment of the ALSPAC cohort was provided by the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the UK Department of Health [the British CDC], the Department of the Environment, and DfEE, the National Institutes of Health, and a variety of medical research charities and commercial companies [vaccine makers]. Funding for this study was provided by the Department of Health [the British CDC]."
7. "Early Thimerosal Exposure and Neuropsychological Outcomes at 7 to 10 Years"
New England Journal of Medicine, Thompson WW et al. (September 27, 2007)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"Dr. Thompson reports being a former employee of Merck; Dr. Marcy, receiving consulting fees from Merck, Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline, and MedImmune; Dr. Jackson, receiving grant support from Wyeth, Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis, lecture fees from Sanofi Pasteur, and consulting fees from Wyeth and Abbott and serving as a consultant to the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee; Dr. Lieu, serving as a consultant to the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices; Dr. Black, receiving consulting fees from MedImmune, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, and Merck and grant support from MedImmune, GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis, Merck, and Novartis; and Dr. Davis receiving consulting fees from Merck and grant support from Merck and GlaxoSmith- Kline. No other potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported."
[Seven separate vaccine manufacturers are mentioned — a record!]
8. "Association Between Thimerosal-Containing Vaccine and Autism"
Journal of the American Medical Association, Anders Hviid, MSc (October 2003)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Department of Epidemiology Research (Messrs Hviid, Wohlfahrt, and Dr Melbye) and Medical Department (Dr Stellfeld), Statens Serum Institut [Denmark's largest vaccine company], Copenhagen, Denmark."
9. "Mercury concentrations and metabolism in infants receiving vaccines containing thiomersal: A descriptive study" The Lancet, Michael Pichichero, MD (November 2002)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"The investigation was funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH)."
From the lead author's website:
"Dr. Pichichero was a member of the discovery team at the University of Rochester that invented, tested and licensed a Haemophilus influenzae b (Hib) conjugate vaccine (HibTITER®) now universally given to children in the U.S. [he makes vaccines, but didn't report as a conflict]"
10. "Thimerosal and Autism?" Pediatrics, Karen Nelson, MD (March 2003)
Conflicts:
Lead author works at a government agency, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
11. "Lack of Association Between Rh Status, Rh Immune Globulin in Pregnancy and Autism” American Journal of Medical Genetics, Judith H. Miles and T. Nicole Takahashi (May 2007)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"This study was supported by a grant from Johnson and Johnson Company and ongoing autism research support from the Leda J. Sears Trust." [Note: Johnson & Johnson manufacturers the Rh Immune Globulin vaccine, the subject of the study]
MMR Studies – Conflicts of Interest
1. "Lack of Association Between Measles Virus Vaccine and Autism with Enteropathy: A Case-Control Study" PLoS One, Mady Hornig, Thomas Briese T, et al. (September 2008)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"This work was supported by CDC grant U50 CCU522351 to AAP [American Academy of Pediatrics] and by National Institutes of Health awards AI57158 (Northeast Biodefense Center-Lipkin), HL083850, and NS47537.
Role of Study Sponsors: Members of the funding organization (AAP) and its sponsor (CDC) participated along with experts in virology and neurovirology, autism pathogenesis, and vaccine design and safety; representatives of the autism advocacy community; and study collaborators in an Oversight Committee that reviewed and agreed to all aspects of study design prior to data collection."
2. "MMR Vaccination and Pervasive Developmental Disorders: A Case-Control Study" The Lancet, Liam Smeeth, MRCGP, Eric Fombonne, MD (September 11, 2004)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"E Fombonne has provided advice on the epidemiology and clinical aspects of autism to scientists advising parents, to vaccine manufacturers (for a fee), and to several government committees. A J Hall received a financial contribution from Merck towards research on hepatitis B vaccination in 1998. He is also a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation (2002-present)."
3. "Pervasive Developmental Disorders in Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Prevalence and Links With Immunizations” Pediatrics, Eric Fombonne, MD (July 2006)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"In the United Kingdom, Dr Fombonne has provided advice on the epidemiology and clinical aspects of autism to scientists advising parents, to vaccine manufacturers, and to several government committees between 1998 and 2001. Since June 2004, Dr Fombonne has been an expert witness for vaccine manufacturers in US thimerosal litigation."
4 . "No Evidence for a New Variant of Measles-Mumps-Rubella-Induced Autism"
Pediatrics, Eric Fombonne, FRCPsych (October 2001)
Conflicts statement from the study:
None noted, although Fombonne's conflict statement above reads, "Dr Fombonne has provided advice on the epidemiology and clinical aspects of autism to scientists advising parents, to vaccine manufacturers, and to several government committees between 1998 and 2001. Since June 2004, Dr Fombonne has been an expert witness for vaccine manufacturers in US thimerosal litigation."
5. "No effect of MMR withdrawal on the incidence of autism: a total population study” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Hideo Honda, Michael Rutter
Conflicts statement from the study:
None noted, an egregious omission given what is known about Dr. Michael Rutter of the UK: Not only is Dr. Rutter a paid expert witness for vaccine makers facing litigation regarding the MMR vaccine, he was also a board member of the Wellcome Foundation, a front foundation for Glaxo Smithkline, a vaccine maker. Dr. Rutter is also a primary witness in the case against Dr. Andrew Wakefiled, a British doctor who published a paper implicating MMR vaccine in autism.
6. "Measles Vaccination and Antibody Response in Autism Spectrum Disorders"
Archives of Disease in Childhood, Gillian Baird (February 2008)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"Funding: The study was funded by the Department of Health, the Wellcome Trust, the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) and Remedi. The sponsors of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation or writing of the report. The corresponding author had full access to all the data in the study and final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.
Competing interests: MA and DB have given unpaid advice to lawyers in MMR and MR litigation. GB has acted as an occasional expert witness for the diagnosis of autism. AP receives royalties from SCQ and ADOS-G instruments. PBS has acted as an expert witness in the matter of MMR/MR vaccine litigation."
7. "Neurologic Disorders After Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination"
Pediatrics, Annamari Makela, MD (November 2002)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"Dr Makela was partially supported by a grant from Merck & Co. [the manufacturer of the MMR vaccine]."
8. "Association of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccine" Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Eric Fombonne, FRCPsych (July 2003)
Conflicts statement from the study:
"This study was supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Ottawa, Ontario. Dr Wilson is a Canadian Institutes for Health Research New Investigator."
The other conflicts of interest and more information about the “14 Studies” visit www.14studies.org.
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Oct. 26, 2009 - Harvest Festival Time
Had a blast at the Dollywood Harvest Festival in Pigeon Forge this weekend. Dollywood is a neat place for educational opportunites...believe it or not. It's not just an amusement park, but has displays of all sorts of homemaking skills and nature education.
Area making sorghum syrup with horse labor.
Magic coin tricks!
I want OUT!!!!
Baby rollercoaster for Lilly...
Finally...something Sarah can do.
Can I be any more silly?
Lilly's same expression for all the rides. :)
Joe having fun watching the kiddos.
Uh can we go ride the Blazing Fury now?
It's all about me now!
Smiling when with daddy, of course.
Finally some guy time.
It's always nice when someone offers to take a picture of your family for you!
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Oct. 21, 2009 - More Feast Photos
Posting a hodgepodge of photos of our feast fun.
Fun at the skating rink!
Poor Lilly, tired and needing some help!
Go Armando!
Noah having an interesting time bowling...don't think it was his favorite though.
A little late night swimming and fellowship.
Patty performing on Fun Night.
Special music by Cheryl and daughter Sarah.
Sarah recieving special dedication prayer.
Blast at the beach!
Separated at birth...
Dora helping out during Parent's Night Out... thanks to all those brave workers we were able to visit Margaritaville.
Zippy not diggin' the sand...no pun intended.
Hmmm.
Not sure why I felt compelled to take this one.
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Oct. 16, 2009 - Feast Events
So, what does a Feast of Tabernacles look like? Well, it's difficult to explain unless you've been to one, but mostly it is a time of enjoyment for God's people centered on Bible study and fun. God commanded Isreal (and Gentiles grafted into Isreal) to attend three feasts per year. These were appointed times that God promised to meet with His people. Tabernacles is a time of joyful celebration and yet a somber reminder that like the Isrealites in bondage who had to live in "booths" or temporary dwellings, that we also live in temporary dwellings in our bodies, awaiting the time when Jesus will return establishing his government here on earth, where all will learn His ways and our bodies transformed into eternal beings. It's a beautiful picture when you meditate on the future and the freedom from sin that we will have from the bondage during this present age. As Christians we have a taste of heaven on earth, because our hearts desire to be with our Father and by obeying His laws we are spared from unneccessary suffering and pain that inflicts people who do not know Him personally.
Joe and Phil at it again...studying that is!
Teenage helper and friend, Gracie who the children ADORE!
A succoth or "booth" that the men built above the worship center which symbolizes the Feast of Tabernacles as the Isrealites lived in them when set free from their bondage in Egypt. Just as Jesus has set us free from our bondage of sin for those who believe in Him we will also no longer be in temporary housing...mortal bodies when he dwells within us.
Georgeous flower...mom (my plant expert), what would you call this?
Before every service, the children gather under the prayer shawl to recieve their blessing prayer, which is song asking for God's blessings, safety and happiness over their lives...and for them to grow up to be good husbands and wives. This is a beautiful and powerful time of asking for God's presence in their lives and to protect them from evil influences that can curse generations.
Even little Sarah has the songs down pat.
A beautiful fruit arrangment made by the children during one of their classes during the week. Our pastor's wife, Mary and the teenage helpers Sarah and Gracie did a marvelous job coordinating activities and thematic lessons. A great time for all!
Noah and friend Hannah from Michigan. They really hit it off and were inseperable for a time...uh oh...have to watch those kiddos as they grow at future feasts. :)
Course lots of fun in the sun and fellowship with friends. This is friend Jennifer and one of her four children Abby who attends our Knoxville congregation.
Anna and Noah with Kaitlyn, Jennifer and husband Armondo's oldest child.
Love this photo of Lilly and Johnny from our church. They are good buddies as Lilly likes to dish it out and Johnny dishes it right back...very sweet!
Course more critter watching at the beach...a huge jellyfish that had washed up on a sand bar.
We all love Mike from Michigan (and Hannah's dad), he entertained us all on the beach with his wind parachute surfing.
One night several of us went out for some fun on the town.
So disappointed my flash didn't go off on this one to capture our pastor on roller skates...Mark, this one should be front and center on the church website, ha!
Folks traveled all over to be at this Feast location...keep in mind that we're not the only group in the world meeting at these times, as God said these are "My Feasts" and not ours so people from all over will meet at various places as God commanded.
Good friends Patty and Jeff from South Dakota became our pals, and Jeff was quite the skating king...a real throw back to the 80's...ahhh good memories.
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Oct. 4, 2009 - Having a beautiful time...
After getting settled Friday, we are having a wonderful time at Laguna Beach in Florida, beginning the first day of a week long of festivities during the Feast of Tabernacles celebration. We have a spacious beach side cottage and are enjoying the laid back atmosphere and ability to loose track of time...NO SCHEDULE. Everyone is arriving today so we'll be following an order of services and fellowship for the week, but with plenty of down time alloted for family. The beaches here are gorgeous!! I've been to many beaches and several in Florida, especially South Florida where my mom lives part of the year and by far this beach is the prettiest I've seen. Course every beach has it's own distinct appeal, but this one is the closest I've seen to the Carribean water. Clear blue, white sand and no debris or sea weed. We spent most of the day yesterday swimming and critter catching. Kids have been hermit crab catching and collecting some really interesting shells. We hope to make it to Shell Island later in the week for some extra adventures.
View from our deck.
The Panhandle beaches...this day was calm and clear.
Little gull kept paying me a visit...so had to get it's picture. :)
Joe would go out for runs in the morning and report back the fun things he saw. Course we had to join him for scouting at times. We didn't get a photo of the dolphins which were a real treat to see!
Lilly and daddy...and their footprints.
What a shame that crabs are among the "unclean" foods that God said to abstain from eating. Living up north I had my fair share of lobster, clams, crab, etc. with no knowledge that they were on the refrain from eating list in the Bible. Science has been proving what the Bible has said all along when it comes to these "unclean" items. A great book on the subject called "What the Bible Says About Healthy Living", by Dr. Rex Russell, MD provides scientific evidence on this subject. "Crabs and other shellfish are considered scavangers of the ocean and help to filter toxins from the water. "Many illnesses including instant paralysis, devistate some people every day as a result of eating shellfish", according to the book. They can be placed in a body of water that is contaminated wih cholera bacteria and they will purify the water. Shrimp, oysters, crab, scallops and mussels are particularly efficient at this. They filter large volumes of water everyday. Sewage laden with chemicals, toxins and harmful bacteria, parasites and viruses become concentrated in those shellfish". YUM!! Even the state of California proposed a law requiring the food industry to label shellfish with a message warning, "This food may be dangerous to your health". So, as you can see eating unclean is a sort of Russian roulette game, defiling our temples as God warned. Below is a list of clean foods according to the Bible. I can't list all of the scientific evidence supporting this, but I would suggest people do their research on it.
Clean
calf, deer, goat, ox, sheep, goose, chicken, duck, pigeon, quail, swan, turkey, black bass, black drum, bluefish, carp, channel bass, chub, cod, croaker, flounder, flying fish, goldfish, haddock, hake, halibut, herring, kingfish, mullet, pike, pompano, porgy, rainbow trout, rock bass, salmon, sea bass, shad, smelt, spanish mackerel, spot, sturgeon, tuna, white perch, carolina whiting, yellow perch, crickets, grasshoppers, locust.
All other foods you can assume are unclean. Interestingly, when the Egyptians ignored these food laws they came down with horrible plagues. The Isrealites who obeyed the laws were spared and enjoyed good health. Our family has been observing the food laws for about 5 years now consistantly. We figure to have good health in this horribly toxic world the Biblical laws are an easy fix, as we really were not regular pork, shellfish/catfish, etc. eaters. The harder aspects to control in this life are the man-made toxins in food such as transfats, msg, artificial colors/flavors, etc. Not to mention the stripping of nutritients during processing. |
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Sep. 23, 2009 - God's Fall Feasts
This Monday (September 21, 2009) began the first of the three annual fall feasts that God commanded his people to meet with him. Feasts do NOT mean food as we might think of it, but in the Hebrew "mo ed" for an "appointed time". Yes, God actually has times that he set aside on the Biblical Calendar that he first gave the Isrealites for all of humanity...to set aside and spend with Him. Not the secular holidays that man has created, but times he appointed and said he would meet with us. Feast days are not just some ritualistic practice, but celebrations of what God has done for all believers in him (not just Jews) and shadows prophetically of the things to come with the return of Christ after The Tribulation and his millinial reign here on earth. That's 1000 years of peace that humanity will experience after the horrendous hell on earth that is still to come. It's a beautiful picture and one so fulfilling once understood and practiced. Unfortunatly, most mainstream churches have abandoned (or have never known) the celebration of feasts. They have been dismissed as "Jewish", nailed to the cross, irrelavent. However, this twisting of history and doctrine have led so many people who desperately want to understand more about the heart of God terribly astray. Our family included, as prior to a few years ago we had no understanding of these wonderful times because we had been told that the law was "done away with" and "don't worry about that old testament" stuff". We had become so blinded by church doctrine and tradition that we never knew to question, because aren't the clergy and pastors supposed to teach us the right way? Sadly, our spiritual journey has led us to the truth that in this life we must question everything and that Satan is also the power of the air, so yes, even well meaning pastors can lead us astray. So, like God says "prove all things" and this is exactly what we do now.
Discovering the relevance of the Old Testament and the feasts that we will ALL be celebrating once Jesus returns has been like becoming reaquainted with a long lost relative. The scales have fallen from our eyes and we see the Bible in an entirely new context. We want to please our maker by doing the things he has asked of us. We can't earn our salvation through works, but through faith our lives should produce good works. To love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength we should be willing to DO what he has asked of us...not out of obligation, but out of LOVE. Interestingly, the first four of the 10 Commandments tell us how to love God...the last six tell us how to love our neighbor. So, tell me that the commandments are irrelavent TODAY!
The Feast of Trumpets is the fist of the fall feasts, followed by the Day of Atonement and then the Feast of Tabernacles. Atonement is a day of fasting and reflecting on our year and our sins that we need to acknowledge...it's a time for purifying ourselves physically and spiritually in preparation for the Feast of Tabernacles the week of October 3rd-10th. Tablernacles is the celebration of when Jesus will reign on earth during the 1000 years with man to show us all how to live peacefully. Satan will be bound and will not be able to inflict any more pain until after the 1000 years when he will be "loosed for a time" to test humanity. So, our church and many others during this time will often vacation together and study and spend wonderful, restful time together. We will be going to a retreat center on the beach in Florida where we will celebrate and "do as our heart desires" (not like a Mardi Gras Party though). Yes, the Bible even talks about "having strong drink" during this time. Course it condemns drunkenness but there's nothing wrong with a drink among "responsible" adults. The time is commanded to be fun and no place for sorrow...the kind of holiday anyone would want!
Deut 14:26 And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. NKJV
Some verses on the feasts:
Leviticus 23:1-44 NKJV
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2. "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts (NOTE: not the JEWS, but God's FEASTS)
3. 'Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
4. 'These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.
God's Annual Holydays
It may come as a surprise to many Christians, but God has not commanded, and Jesus never observed, Christmas, Easter, Lent, Epiphany, St. Valentine's Day and Trinity Sunday. These were all added to Christianity after the time of the New Testament church!
What days did Jesus and the Apostles observe?
The New Testament makes clear the Jesus and the Apostles observed:
- The weekly Sabbath:
- This is observed from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. It is a memorial of creation, an acknowledgement that God is our creator. It is also prophetic of the return of Jesus Christ as King of Kings to establish eternal spiritual rest.
- The Passover:
- Passover commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, as recorded in the book of Exodus. This annual observance "on the night he (Jesus) was betrayed" and celebrates the inauguration of the New Covenant (in his blood) as Jesus takes on himself the penalty for our sins.
- The Days of Unleavened Bread:
- During this seven day time-period, beginning and ending with a day of holy assembly, we put leaven out of our homes and diets (picturing putting sin out of our lives). We also take in unleavened bread (picturing taking in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth - Jesus Christ).
- The Day of Pentecost (Feast of Weeks):
- This observance, on the first day of the week (Sunday), 50 days after the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread, pictures the giving of God's Holy Spirit, and the first spiritual harvest of children into God's family.
- The Feast of Trumpets:
- This day pictures God's dynamic activity. At the sound of the last trumpet, Jesus will return. Before that, we are to raise up our voices like trumpets to warn all humanity of the inevitable effects of sin.
- The Day of Atonement:
- This is a day of national repentance, as we acknowledge our sins before God, and receive forgiveness through the once-for-all-time perfect sacrifice of Jesus. This day also pictures the putting away of all sin - to be accomplished eschatologically by the binding of Satan.
- Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day:
- This 8-day time-period begins and ends with commanded assemblies. It pictures the Children of Israel wandering in tents (tabernacles) in the wilderness, and then, on the last day, living in their permanent homeland. It pictures Christians as strangers and pilgrims on earth. It pictures Jesus as tabernacling among men. It also pictures the Tabernacle of God being with men when Jesus reigns on this earth in the Millennium.
There is far more symbolism to God's Holydays. But, to really understand them, one has to observe them. Christianity is not a spectator religion. "It is not the hearers, but the doers who shall be justified!"
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Sep. 23, 2009 - Visit with Grandma
Sharing a few photos taken while my mom visited recently. She came bearing punkins for the kiddos from her garden...course sized to match THEIR size.
We took some time to go to Pigeon Forge during "homeschool week" at the Wonderworks Museum. As you can see the building is quite intriguing, however can't say the same for the insides. Actually, there's many neat things to do and educational material, but it's so loud and crowded that you can't concentrate on anything mental...much less explain to the kids...certainly not toddler/baby friendly. We left early needless-to-say, poo!
Lilly, finally able to do something her size. Our daddy works for NASA currently and is in charge of design portions of the mechanical and acoustical vibrations table used to test the new space capsule. Not sure when ETA is for the moon launch. Would be nice if it is while he's still working for them. I'm sure we'll try and make a field trip out of the occasion when it does happen!
We really enjoyed having mom as we don't get to see her that often, fortunately we'll be up her way around Thanksgiving...it was a great visit! |
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Sep. 14, 2009 - Cove Lake weekend
What a neat weekend for us camping at Cove Lake Park in Caryville, Tennessee about 45 minutes from Knoxville (big trip, I know). We took our camper for the first time and met up with a family from church who has three children (Sarah, Abby and baby Caleb) and are experienced campers. The weather was beautiful, crisp in the mornings, fall warming temperatures in the afternoon and cool evenings cozied by the fire. I did not bring warm enough clothing so we did have some chilly moments...oh well, live and learn.
However, with all the beauty and calmness of nature and being away from the distractions of home, camping with a 17 month-old poses challenges. Poor Sarah, being out of her element and being a toddler didn't enjoy her camping experience as much as the rest of us. Between bug bites, physical fatigue, lack of sleep and mom busy with cooking, etc. we had many "Sarah" moments. She did pretty well all things considered, but relaxing and toddler do not go in the same sentence...no matter how beatiful the scenery. :)
The older kids had a blast...camp ground complete with playground, lake and pleny of trees for climbing.
Noah and Anna liked to compete to see who could climb the highest. We stopped Anna here as we didn't think an ER visit would be a good way to end the trip.
Cove Lake is considered one of the nicest in this area. Very clean and the camping slots had plenty of space between RV's.
Cautious Lilly, not much of a tree climber yet, but hey...WATCH OUT CLIMBING WALL!
A little break enjoying the lake. We did not bring the boat this time.
Scenery was fantastic.
"Daddy, rub my hair"...Lilly always wanting daddy to play with her red curls.
Course Noah was the one catching ALL the Blue Gill...Anna giving it a try though.
Noah met a friend camping near us, also eight years old. They had a blast running around and doing boy stuff.
Joe and Phil taking some time for Bible discussions. We all actually left camp on Saturday and went to church (only 30 minutes away), but other times the guys were in deep contemplations.
Lilly and friend Abby.
Sarah (age 15) is the children's Sabbath school teacher at church...kid's love her and I enjoyed her supervion while camping.
All and all we had a great time. We plan to coordinate another venture with extended family this fall, as camping with others makes it even more memorable.
|
Comments (1)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Aug. 29, 2009 - Family Tree
Ok, I'm a big sucker for old photographs...especially old family photos. I've inherited ALL the family photos on my dad's side all the way back to my great grandparents which I hope to archive in an album/scrapbook for my children. It's a daunting task, but one I look forward to in the future. However, these sweet photos are of my mother-in-law when she was about Sarah's age in her photos. We all have been amazed at how much she looks like Mamaw in person and she certainly looks like her more than anyone else in family photos. Sarah is even small like her. Genes are an amazing thing!
Mamaw and her mom Ozetta.
Big eyes....better to see you with!
|
Comments (2)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Aug. 28, 2009 - Anna...an American Heritage Girl
This is Anna's second year in an organization called American Heritage Girls. This group is a Christian alternative to the Girl Scouts and is relatively new.
http://web.me.com/jbishop67/American_Heritage_Girls_TN0215/Welcome.html
From our site, here is a statement about AHG:
Who Are We?
The American Heritage Girls Organization is a scouting program for girls that supports the traditional values of God, Family and Country. AHG's programming promotes the Judeo-Christian values upon which our country was founded and strives to enhance the girls life experiences with fun filled activities supervised by trained adults, supported by family members and implemented by members. AHG's programming provides life skills, leadership skills and character building through a traditional troop setting.
The members of troop TN0215 are homeschooling families in our area and participate in a variety of activities, including earning badges and religious awards. They may go camping, do crafts and enjoy typical scout activities.
Anna has the opportunity as a Tenderfoot this year to earn many service and activity badges in all areas of life skills. The group is centered on God's word and in building character in each girl. It's an amazing group of troop leaders and little girls. This just happens to be a homeschool unit so Anna has much in common with her friends and is a great place of fellowship for mom also.
For the first meeting Anna's Tenderfoot unit did an icebreaker for new girls where everyone had several M&Ms and the troop leader asked various personal questions corresponding to the color of the candy. One of the questions Anna was asked was "what is your favorite color and why"...to which she replied "red, because it reminds me of the blood of Jesus". A hush fell over the group and all the leaders seemed taken back...one leader finally said "wow, that was profound". I felt the same way, as I never would have guessed she would thought that, much less said that. I was so very proud and relieved to know that everything Joe and I teach her and the way we try to live our life for God is making a difference in her life. This photo captures her expression as she thinks about her question.
Anna's friend Kate...very cute!
|
Comments (1)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Aug. 26, 2009 - Gray Fossil Site visit
This has been the week for field trips, whew! We visited the Gray Fossil Museum near Kingsport, Tennessee with our local homeschool group. It was a great day for us because we were able to meet up with Mamaw who lives in that area who was able to enjoy the trip with us.
The kids had fun exploring the displays including a mock fossil dig inside. The real dig was outside during a later tour.
And practice arranging bones from bone fragments to match what it's supposed to look like.
A neat traveling exhibit of the Rainforest displayed as a maze for the kids. This was a fun way to introduce the Rainforest as in their curriculum this year we will be doing "Exploring Countries and Cultures" which will cover many aspects of this area.
Hey...hey... we're the monkeys!
Mamaw checking out the dig site.
Dig site where the first fossil was discovered by the Tennessee Department of Transportation when widening the road for the state. The site is now a protected area ran by ETSU for further study. Volunteers come every week to assist in digs with palentologists, kids can also attend camps over the summer and go on special digs.
Second dig site and underground lake where many fossils are found. Tapirs are the most found animal, but sabertoothed tigers, hippos and elephant bones have also been found.
A really cool grasshopper photo, but I digress... :)
Third dig site, where everyone got a chance to dig for fossils. A couple of people found some, a portion of a rib and a plant fossil. It's really an addictive thing to do!
Photo of a man's plant fossil.
Noah also found a root fossil which was positively identified later. He recieved a card stating what kind he found to take home, but had to reliquish possession of the fossil to the museum. Anna was searching really hard, but no luck this time. Apparently, fossils are found all the time as this area is a real hot bed.
I never miss the opportunity to identify an edible wild food plant for our journals. This beautiful prickly is a Bull Thistle. The roots can be boiled, frozen or dried and powder used as a nutrient additive. The entire plant can be boiled and used in soups and stews or liquid drank. I didn't take the time to pluck for further study. Medicinally it has a slightly relaxing effect. Roots used for diarrhea, ear aches, juice in mouth for toothache (need that NOW for my teething Sarah!), powdered seed mashed for diuretic, burns.
As most all homeschooling parents (especially Christian families) soon discover when teaching science to their children that they eventually are confronted with the dinosaur controversy and whether they lived millions of years ago (usually the platform for evolution theory) or were created during the 6 days of creation and died in Noah's flood (creation theory 6000 years ago which much of the reseach is pointing to now). This also leads to discussion as to the age of the earth... young vs old. There is a ton of information on the subject and can become very heated depending on who you talk to. I have an opinion on all of this, of course...which I hope to share in the future...not as an attempt to persuade people to any particular side, but as a way to explore the information in a way to help our children so that they will understand how to navigate through the truths and mis-truths as they grow and make decisions. This particular museum was heavily evolution based which is the secular "norm" and we look forward to visiting creation museums as to compare the science against biblical fact for ourselves. |
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Aug. 25, 2009 - Beardsley Farm
http://beardsleyfarm.org/
A great day with the Nutrition Detectives class that the kids attend at our local Earth Fare health food store. Teachers Paula and Paula arranged a field trip to our local urban Beardsley Farm downtown Knoxville. This farm is such a unique place as the heart of it lies in bringing local farming practices, food preparation and education to the poor and minorities of our area. It is a great philanthropic idea, but is also a hub of example for the community about what can be grown in smaller spaces of land space organically. Volunteers come to the farm every day to pitch in and bring home whatever bounty is available.
Paula #1 is a RN and certified health coach with training in integrative nutrition. Paula #2 works for Juice Plus (a supplement company) and parents own a prestigious children's day camp here in Knoxville. They both are passionate about health and nutrition and in educating people in the ways to better their lives and get off the medical treadmill of drugs and illness.
Ben the farm manager was a wealth of information and very patient with my kiddos twenty questions. We were the only family to attend the trip and recieved a wonderful private tour and education on sustainable farming practices. Noah hung on every word and knew quite a bit about planting, seeds, etc. from our home gardening experiences.
Over 1200 gallons of water in their rain barrels...puts our little home barrel to shame!
A wonderful compost bin of three compartments: new compost, decomposing compost and finished lush, wormy, perfect soil.
Checking out all the wormies in the compost!
Ben showing the children how bees pollinate the flowers, turning flowers into fruit.
A mini apiary and lesson on bee keeping. Ben harvested over 100 gallons of honey this month and we were the first to purchase this wonderful local, raw honey... with amazing health benefits.
Over 40,000 bees! Interestingly, as we learned that there's only one queen per hive. Baby bees are born and nursed in the bottom of the hive and cared for by female nurse bees who feed the babies. Nurse bees feed Royal Jelly to 5 of the babies to turn them into queens where they will duke it out and fight for control over the hive.
Ben showing the children a baby lady bug (larvea really). Lady bugs are great natural pest repellents for aphids and other insects.
Homemade sun dial...really cool!
A really neat and easy to make homemade solar dehydrator, they use it for tea making and spice drying.
Anna retrieving an egg from the hen house.
We loved this unique farm with modern flare, it was truly inspiring and a labor of love for all who are involved. The next project for the farm will be farmer's markets set up nearby so that poor families can utilize their food stamp programs for fresh produce.
http://www.beardsleyfarm.com/2009/06/farm-fest-was-sensation.html
|
Comments (1)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Aug. 22, 2009 - 15 Things you can do....
http://blogs.healthfreedomalliance.org/blog/2009/08/17/fifteen-things-you-can-do-if-you-are-forced-to-take-a-flu-shot/
Fifteen Things You Can Do If You Are Forced to Take a Flu Shot
Dr Blaylock’s List of suggestions on How to Reduce the Toxic Effects of the A/H1N1 Vaccine, is as follows:
1. Number one on the list says Dr Blaylock, is to bring a cold pack with you and place it on the site of the injection as soon as you can, as this will block the immune reaction. Once you get home, continue using a cold pack throughout the day. If you continue to have immune reactions the following day, have cold showers and continue with the cold press.
2. Take fish oil. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), one of the omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil supplements, is a potent immune suppressant. If you take high dose EPA you will be more susceptible to infections, because it is a powerful immune suppressant. However, in the case of an immune adjuvant reaction, you want to reduce it. Studies show that if you take EPA oil one hour before injecting a very powerful adjuvant called lipopolysaccharide (LPS), it would completely block the ability of the LPS to cause brain inflammation. Take a moderate dose everyday and more if needed to tame a cytokine storm.
3. Flavonoids are third on the list, namely curcumin, quercetin, ferulic acid and ellagic acid, particularly in a mixture. The curcumin and quercetin in particular have been found to block the ability of the adjuvants to trigger a long-term immune reaction. If you take it an hour before the vaccination, it should help dampen the immune reactions says Dr Blaylock.
4. Vitamin E, the natural form that is high in gamma-E will help dampen the immune reactions and reduces several of the inflammatory cytokines.
5. An important ingredient on the list is Vitamin C at a dose of 1000 mg, taken four times a day between meals. It is a very potent anti-inflammatory and should be taken in a buffered form, not as absorbic acid, says Dr Blaylock.
6. Also use astaxanthin as it’s an anti-inflammatory. According to Dr Blaylock, fatal reactions to vaccines in aboriginal and African children occurred in those who were deficient in carotinoids, like astaxanthin. It is a good protection against the toxic effects of the vaccine.
7. Likewise, it was found that children who were deficient in zinc had a high mortality rate. Zinc is very protective against vaccine toxicity. (Do not use zinc mixed with copper however, as copper is a major trigger of free-radical generation according to Dr Blaylock).
8. Ensure you avoid all immune-stimulating supplements, such as mushroom extracts, whey protein and beta-glucan.
9. Take a multivitamin-mineral daily one that does not contain iron. This multivitamin-mineral is to make sure your body has plenty of B vitamins and selenium. Selenium, said Dr Blaylock, is very important for fighting viral infections and it reduces the inflammatory response to vaccines.
10. Magnesium citrate/malate 500 mg of elemental magnesium two capsules, three times a day. (This was not mentioned during the show, but was posted at Dr Deagle’s website, ClayandIron.com).
11. What is very important is vitamin D3, which is the only ‘vitamin’ the body can manufacture from sunlight (UVB). It is a neural hormone, not really a vitamin says Dr Blaylock and helps if you are over-reacting immunologically by cooling down the reaction. Similarly, if you are under-reacting, it helps to boost your immune response. In addition it also protects against microorganism invasion.
Black people and those in colder climates are particularly deficient, so they will almost certainly require supplementation.
Dr Blaylock recommends that following vaccination it will help to keep the immune reaction under control if:
i) All children get 5,000 units a day for two weeks after the vaccine and then 2,000 a units a day thereafter;
ii) Adults get 20,000 units a day after the vaccine for two weeks, then 10,000 units a day thereafter;
iii) And with that adults should take 500-1000 mg of calcium a day and children under the age of 12 years should take 250 mg a day, as vitamin D works more efficiently in the presence of calcium.
12. Ensure you avoid all mercury-containing seafood or any other sources of mercury, as the heavy metal is a very powerful inducer of autoimmunity, is known to make people more susceptible to viral infections and will be in H1N1 vaccines.
13. Avoid the oils that significantly suppress immunity and increase inflammation - such as corn, safflower, sunflower, soybean, canola and peanut oils.
14. Drink very concentrated white tea at least four times a day. It helps to prevent abnormal immune reactions.
15. Pop parsley and celery in a blender and drink 8 ounces of this mixture twice a day. Dr Blaylock says the parsley is very high in a flavonoid called apigenin and that celery is high in luteolin. Both are very potent in inhibiting autoimmune diseases, particularly the apigenin, so go and plant some parsley in your garden now. |
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
|
