Every Friday the FMF community writes for five minutes on a prompt given by Kate Motaung. Sometimes the first five minutes of writing stimulates more thought, and I continue on . . . Today’s prompt is: FUTURE
When I look back over my years of parenting, I realize that I have made mistakes. I would do some things differently. But I have also done some things right.
I prayed for my children consistently.
We made dietary changes. The combination of vaccines and courses of antibiotics led to health problems. I removed all refined sugar from our diet for a period of time. And then I removed wheat. We learned to appreciate a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and grains.
I found ways to include garlic in my cooking and made garlic tea for colds. Garlic has antibacterial qualities.
When I think about the future, I have concerns about children and the number of medications they receive. If you have read my blog, you probably know that I am concerned about the number of vaccines recommended for children. I support informed consent for parents. //
The Bible says that we are wonderfully made.
God has given us a body with an amazing immune system. We can support it with a healthy diet, regular hours of sleep, exercise and sunshine.
It’s Five Minute Friday! I am joining Kate Motaung’s community where we gather to write like crazy for five minutes on the one word prompt. Today’s word is: sing
Our granddaughter’s school held a Spring Sing in their new gymnasium. People filled the seats, the bleachers and the space along the walls.
The children (first, second & third grade) sang with enthusiasm with motions that they performed in unison. The theme of the program was songs from countries around the world. The opening song was We Are the World. Here is the chorus:
We are the world, we are the children We are the ones who make a brighter day So let’s start giving There’s a choice we’re making We’re saving our own lives It’s true we’ll make a better day Just you and me.
The children are the future. We are blessed to be the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. We have a sacred trust to guide, nurture and advocate for them.
We are imperfect but we can seek God’s help. We have the avenue of prayer.
Over the past week I have been watching a documentary series, The Truth About Vaccines. Because one of my children had varying vaccine reactions—first to the MMR and then to the hep B—I continue to follow this issue. I am concerned about the health of the next generation.
One of the key issues is the inclusion of mercury and aluminum in vaccines. Mercury is used as a preservative for multi-dose vials of vaccine. Mercury is in the flu vaccine. Aluminum is an adjuvant. It is added to a vaccine to increase the body’s reaction to the virus in the vaccine. Both mercury and aluminum are neurotoxins, meaning they can cause nerve damage.
By watching the series I have developed a list of questions to pursue when making decisions about getting a vaccine.The flu vaccine is being recommended for pregnant women. Does the benefit of the vaccine (might be effective in preventing the flu) outweigh the risk of harm to the developing baby? At this point no research has been done on the safety of this vaccine during pregnancy.
Why does a newborn infant need the hepatitis B vaccine—commonly given the first day of life? Hepatitis B is transmitted by sexual contact or by needle sharing.
Have any studies been done to look at the effect of giving multiple vaccines in one dose? (The MMR is three vaccines: measles, mumps and rubella.) We usually do not fight three diseases at one time. It has been documented that when a child did get both the measles and mumps naturally, in close proximity, the child developed inflammatory bowel disease.
What is the cumulative amount of aluminum and mercury that a child is having injected into their system when they receive all 69 doses of vaccine recommended by the CDC?
Have doctors and pediatricians been trained to recognize signs of vaccine injury? Some studies are also associating tics with vaccines. A medical journal describes the relationship of pots (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) with the HPV vaccine. Read the article here.
The National Institute of Health has a report on the increasing number of boys that have developed tics–with association to mercury in vaccines. Read the article here.
Please take the time to educate yourself about vaccines, and be prepared to ask questions!
It’s Friday and I am joining the community hosted by Kate Motaung. For five minutes we write fast and free. The prompt is: EMBRACE
Five minutes ends at this mark: //
Last week I was at the zoo with my daughter and granddaughter. At the gorilla house we saw two mama gorillas with their infants—one 7 months old and one 3 weeks old.
7 month old gorilla in his mother’s arms. See his head?
The mama gorillas were carrying their infants around as they swung from the ropes or as they sat. The 7 month old baby was allowed to be with one male gorilla but the other males were chased off. These female gorillas had embraced motherhood.
So I have been thinking about the human experience of transitioning to motherhood. In our fast paced culture we don’t give much support to the enormous changes that take place in a woman’s life when she makes the transition to motherhood. //
South Korea has begun establishing post partum care centers. An expectant mother can book a two-week stay at the center. Nurses will care for her infant and bring the babe to mom for feedings. Meals and special treatments like massage are provided for mom. You can read more about it here.
I am grateful that women from my church brought meals and even helped clean my house during the weeks after my twins were born. My mother and mother-in-law came for periods of time. New mothers need to be nurtured as they embrace motherhood.
How can we help the women in our circle of influence with the transition to motherhood?
Bring a nutritious and hearty meal or bring a frozen meal that she can have on hand.
Offer to help clean, do laundry
Listen to her as she processes her experience of childbirth
At the beginning of the 19th century, in the city of Chicago, the health of young children was in perilous condition. The health of both women and children needed focused attention.
In 1916, for example, Chicago’s death rate for children under 2 years of age was 141.4 per 1,000 live births, as compared with 129.3 for Detroit, 88.3 for Philadelphia, 58.1 for New York and 49.4 for Boston.
“Enteritis under 2” remained as one of the top ten causes of death reported by the Illinois state Board of health each year from 1902 to 1913, and dramatic increases in childhood diarrheal diseases continued to be identified in the hot summer months.*
Lack of proper sanitation and hygiene contributed to the illness. Malnutrition was another factor. The educated women in Chicago responded to this health crisis. Women from Hull House, the Chicago Women’s Club, women physicians and social workers became involved.
A broad coalition of public health practitioners, social welfare advocates, and women’s rights supporters argued that a sound and democratic future depended on mother’s ability to produce and maintain a robust citizenry.**
Since that time improved sanitation, indoor plumbing, purified water, pasteurization of milk and improved hygiene have made a difference. Public health classes on infant care and nutrition have benefited young mothers.
In addition, the discovery of antibiotics to treat infections has saved lives. These wonderful medicines were eventually overused. Doctors have learned that not every ear infection should be treated with antibiotics. When antibiotics are overprescribed they lose their effectiveness: bacteria become resistant and increasingly difficult to treat.
Is the same thing happening with the heavy use of vaccines? Is the immune system—intricately designed by God—being impaired by too many vaccines?
Photo by Naypong@FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Currently 1 in 68 children has been diagnosed with the autism spectrum. Children have more allergies and are being diagnosed with immune system disorders. It is shocking that research data indicating a relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism was destroyed. Click here for a news article.
The number of vaccines recommended for children by age six has dramatically increased. If you count up the doses of each type of vaccine, there are 39 to be administered by age six. Click here for the recommended vaccine schedule.
Each vaccine injection contains adjuvants. These are additions like mercury and aluminum, which stimulates the immune system to respond. What is the cumulative effect of these additives? We are concerned about mercury in the environment—and yet it is injected into the bodies of young children? Click here for an interview with Robert Kennedy Jr. regarding his research into mercury in vaccines.
Vaccines should be evaluated by their benefits and risks. Why does an infant need to receive a vaccine (hepatitis B) for a sexually transmitted disease? Click here for a school nurse’s concern about the hepatitis B vaccine.
A group of researchers, doctors and parents are working together for the robust health of children in the United States. A petition for vaccine safety is available on-line.
Click here to join the voices of many others who have concerns about vaccine safety.
*Lynne Curry, Modern Mothers in the heartland: Gender, Health and Progress in Illinois, 1900 – 1930, Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1999. p. 19.
Someone was ringing the doorbell persistently. My husband went to the door and I looked on, curious. A deliveryman handed a wrapped florist parcel to him. Who is sending flowers? I wondered.
The enclosed card was inscribed, Happy Anniversary. It was from our sister-in-law. And then I remembered. Our 40th anniversary was just days away.
We have been blessed and refined by many years of marriage. The day after the flowers arrived, my husband and I attended a world-view conference led by Dr. Frank Turek. During the course of his presentation he spoke about the benefits of marriage between one man and one woman—and the reason why the government has had an interest in marriage historically. Here are the benefits I jotted down;
Creates children
Children are raised by a mom and a dad
Civilizes men
Protects women
Perpetuates and stabilizes society
Dr. Turek covers this topic in his book, Correct, Not Politically Correct. He also has a website: cross-examined.org
When God set down the pattern for marriage it was for our good, as a couple, and for society as a whole.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24
Jesus affirmed this view of marriage: Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?” Matthew 19: 4-5
In our marriage, my husband and I have grown in our faith and helped each other with new skills. We have had good times and hard times. We have sometimes communicated well and at other times not very well. We have learned forgiveness and self-sacrifice. We have raised children and now have three married adult children and seven grandchildren.
How can we pass on a healthy view of marriage to children and grandchildren?
1. When the Bible is a part of our daily life it becomes a guidebook for healthy living. Regular Bible reading and prayer at home is a good thing.
2. We need to discuss sexuality with the children God has placed in our influence. God’s design for sex is healthy and fulfilling; it requires boundaries. Surveys have shown that teens wish that their parents would discuss this topic with them.
3. We can give our testimony as a couple, explaining how God has worked in our life.
4. We can pray for the young people in our circle of influence and look for opportunities to offer words of guidance and encouragement. This morning my husband and I prayed for our grandchildren.
Can you think of additional ways to promote healthy marriages?
The CDC is asking for comments on Vaccine Information for the MMR and MMRV. I responded with my observations. This vaccine impacted the health of my twins when they were toddlers. It is my hope that our health system will listen to the concerns that parents and teachers have raised over the expanding number of vaccines that children are receiving.
As a child I received the DTP and polio vaccines. My children have received more. The MMR was released in the 1970s. The current recommended vaccine schedule is extensive including combination vaccines and single vaccines. You can view the schedule here.
In 1986 a law was passed giving vaccine producers immunity. Pharmaceuticals could not be sued for injury caused by vaccines. Their products would automatically be sold if placed on the CDC list of recommended vaccines. The floodgates were opened.
The hepatitis B vaccine, chicken pox vaccine, rotavirus vaccine, pneumococcal vaccine, hepatitis A vaccine and yearly flu vaccines were added to the schedule for children in the first five years of life. And additional vaccines are recommended for school age children.
So many vaccines. A Dutch study suggests that the vaccines may have a negative impact on health. The study involved 635 children. According to a comparison between vaccinated and non-vaccinated children, the vaccinated had a much higher rate of ear infection. That caught my attention because I remember being bewildered by the repetitive ear infections that my children had in the first five years. My siblings and I did not experience this when we were children. You can read the study and view graphs showing the difference here.
The hepatitis B vaccine was introduced during Bill Clinton’s presidency. Hepatitis B is acquired through body fluids (sexual activity) and through contact with infected blood. Why was it scheduled for infants? Did we have any research to assure safety?
As the infants who received the hepatitis B vaccine reached school age, school nurses observed changes in children’s health status. A letter was sent to a subcommittee of the House of Representatives for a hearing on the safety of the hepatitis B vaccine.
This is a school nursing perspective for the congressional hearings to be held on May 18, 1999 regarding the safety of the hepatitis B vaccine that is being mandated for newborns and now older children in America. We ask you to please consider the following information and submit it into the congressional testimony. As nurses we continually see more and more damaged children entering our schools, and we are very concerned that a major portion of that damage may be due to the hepatitis B vaccine’s assault on the newborn neurological and immune system. To read more click here.
Another puzzling phenomena is the rise in peanut allergies among children. More and more children are being diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy.
Maria Rinaldi, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, conducted a study that was reported by Reuters.
Rinaldi said her team, who published their findings in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, used a strict definition of allergy, and only included children who had laboratory-confirmed peanut allergy, narrowing the group down to 171 kids.
They found that fewer children had been diagnosed with peanut allergy in 1999 compared to later years.
For instance, just 10 children in the county were diagnosed in 1999, and 30 were diagnosed in 2007.
There is some evidence that peanut oil has been used in the production of vaccines. Dr. Palevski, a pediatrician, comments on this:
Vaccination is an accepted part of our culture. It is mainstream, but it has expanded so much that we need to question the number of vaccines that children are getting. The medical field needs to listen to parents–and we need to continue to speak up.
If you watch very much TV you will notice that a great proportion of advertisements are for medications. A medical problem is presented with the solution—a pill. Then a long list of side effects and risks are recited.
Every medication and medical intervention has side effects and risks. So, should medication be the first resort to an illness? My experiences as a teen, a mom and a nurse have led me to believe otherwise.
When I was sixteen or seventeen my periods were very irregular. My mother was worried and took me to a gynecologist who prescribed hormonal pills— better known as birth control pills. I began bleeding so heavily that I stopped using the pills and never touched them again. Today we know that hormonal contraception, pills or injections can cause abnormal bleeding, blood clots and increases the risk of breast cancer.
When my first three children were babies antibiotics were prescribed quickly and frequently. We went through a spiral of declining health. With my fourth child we tried supportive care—rest, fluids, chicken soup—along with a wait and see approach. This fourth child hardly ever needed an antibiotic. Eventually the medical field acknowledged that antibiotics were being used too frequently.
I graduated from the University of Michigan Nursing program, well versed in the science of medicine. I appreciate the marvels of modern medicine. When our son was being treated for leukemia we pursued the latest research and treatment. Modern medicine has great interventions when we need them. The question is when do we need intervention?
When I worked in hospital labor/delivery units I saw many interventions taking place. Some necessary, some not, some causing complications. I don’t think we even know the long term effects of the increasing use of pitocin, a synthetic hormone used to induce or stimulate labor.
When I began attending homebirths it became clear to me. Many of the interventions in childbirth are unnecessary. Women are equipped to give birth. My oldest daughter has given birth five times without medication or intervention.
At the same time I will admit that intervention is sometimes necessary. After beginning labor at home, my second daughter went to the hospital and needed intervention to assist the delivery of a healthy baby. But first she learned ways to support a natural birth and asked questions of her health provider.
When do we need intervention? It is a question that we should be asking when 22 vaccines are recommended for children within the first 15 months of life. What is the risk of getting the disease? Could this vaccine be deferred? How serious is the disease? What are the side effects and risks posed by the vaccine? Is there a family history of vaccine reactions or allergies?
Like antibiotics, I believe the day is coming when the medical field will acknowledge that we are giving too many vaccines. But before that happens parents and voters will have to respond to the huge push by lawmakers (funded by pharmaceutical companies) to make all these vaccines mandatory. California is making news that is unsettling. Read about the doctor who is under review for giving a vaccine exemption. Click here.
With time I have learned to trust the body and do the practical things. It is important to evaluate diet and make healthy changes. Sometimes we need to slow the pace of life and rest.
I have also learned that God has given us some tools for health in nature. I keep garlic in my kitchen. I grow herbs in my garden. I have learned about the benefits of elderberries and the cheerful calendula flower.
Our diet has improved over the years, and I am a minimalist when it comes to medication.
Thanks for visiting. If this post sparked your interest you might like my Facebook page.
The destruction of data by the CDC is a huge news story but the major networks on TV are not covering it. I learned about the documentary, VAXXED on social media. I read that the Huffington Post censored an article about the movie. I wanted to see it myself. I’m glad that it is at a theater in Chicago for a week. Not the suburbs but in the city.
My husband doesn’t like to drive in the city, but he was a peach and drove me to the one theater showing VAXXED. We took the expressway into Chicago, but we also had a long drive on Diversey Pkwy. The traffic was bumper to bumper.
The movie is not anti-vaccine. Medical researchers and parents, like me, have observed significant side effects from vaccines. Parents have raised questions and made a connection between a vaccine and a changed health status. The movie looks at the research that was done in response—and the data that was destroyed by the CDC. The movie is about vaccine safety.
As I watched the movie, events in my life as a parent resurfaced. I listened as a parent talked about multiple doses of antibiotics that her son received before getting the MMR at 15 months of age. As she described the change in her son and their family, I recalled the pattern I had seen in my toddler. I had searched for answers.
My daughter had multiple doses of antibiotic followed by the MMR at 15 months. Soon after she had significant abdominal symptoms, bloating and diarrhea. Her language development came to a standstill, and she seemed to be in pain. The pediatrician prescribed a medication to calm her gut, but it made her worse.
So I had a consultation with a pediatric gastroenterologist. He listened to my observations and then asked me questions about my parenting. He suggested that I should let him admit her to the hospital so he could observe her. He said I should stay at home while she was in the hospital. I cried on the way home from that consultation.
Instead my husband and I took her to a different gastroenterologist. He did an intestinal biopsy and mentioned some inflammation, but no diagnosis. He had no advice or treatment.
It is interesting that parents called Dr. Wakefield, a gastroenterologist, with stories similar to mine. Dr. Wakefield, along with other doctors, began a study that led him to question whether there was a link between the MMR vaccine, the gastrointestinal symptoms and behavior changes.
I kept a journal with my observations related to the foods my daughter was eating. We went to an alternative medicine doctor and received help. I worked on strict dietary changes that made a difference. I feel very blessed that dietary measures, homeopathic medicine and nutritional support allowed my daughter to regain her health.
The research done by the CDC (in 2001 to 2004) showed an increase risk of autism when the MMR was given to black boys in the time frame 12 to 18 months. Children who had received the vaccine after 36 months had less risk. But the research team decided to destroy this data. Only Dr. Thompson kept a record of the study. His records were forwarded to Congress in 2015, but nothing has been done.
The film pointed out the limited testing that is done prior to approving vaccines. Little is known about the safety of giving multiple vaccines at one time. Our children are participating in an experiment that has consequences for their long term health.
The film recommends contacting our congressmen in the House of Representatives and asking that they:
Provide the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines as single vaccines instead of the combined injection. Japan gives the measles vaccine as a single dose.
Require that vaccines receive the same level of testing as other medications.
If you have a chance to see VAXXED, please go. The research, the information, the interviews with parents and doctors, all provide a perspective that you can judge for yourself.
The school board in my town met, and the community was invited. The federal government—specifically the Office of Civil Rights— has demanded that a transgender student be given full access to female locker rooms and restrooms.
The meeting place, a high school cafeteria, was packed. Seats extended to the back wall and people were standing at both sides of the room. The meeting was intended for residents of the school district but a large contingent of the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) community from the surrounding towns and city of Chicago showed up. They were carrying placards and wearing stickers in support of the transgender student.
Attendees were allowed to sign up for a 3-minute speaking slot, to express their opinion to the school board. When the first three speakers were from the LGBT group a gentleman called for a point of order. He walked toward the front of the room and stated that speakers should be living in the school district. The school board president asked him to sit down or be escorted out of the room.
My heart ached as one transgender or adult homosexual partner after another testified to the pain in their life. And when a teenage girl said that she had just discovered that she was bisexual, she was given a round of applause.
A doctor said that it is impossible to distinguish the gender of an individual from their anatomy. Instead there are some internal markers. Really?
Teenage girls stood up to explain their discomfort and the awkwardness of having a transgender student in the locker room when they shower and change for swimming class.
Fathers spoke up in defense of their daughters. Teenage girls have a right to privacy.
One speaker for the LGBT community said that times have changed. The standards that we once had no longer exist. It is a new age.
The air was heavy and I tried to pray.
An article titled Educating for the Kingdom by Gerhard Cardinal Müller is in the current issue of Plough. Müller writes:
Rather, education is the entrusting of a gift from one generation to the next. The older generation’s accumulated culture, learning and skills are given as an unearned gift to the younger. But this gift also carries a responsibility: the younger generation must make the gift a reality in their own lives.
Overnight I have been wrestling with thoughts about the meeting. Families are breaking down. Divorce and single parent families are common. Children are susceptible to deception. We are experiencing spiritual warfare. Images from the Lord of the Rings come to mind. Remember the black riders? They were trying to get Frodo. In place of Frodo, I could visualize them seeking to destroy the family.
Pray for families.
Pray for the teens that are seeing so many distorted versions of sexuality.
Pray for wisdom, compassion and kindness in sharing the truth of God’s design of the family. God is good, and His ways are for our benefit.
