This is a picture of me holding my son James as he was being initiated into the Visible Church through the waters of baptism. My beloved pastor, Greg Price, did the deed. 

This is me with Willena, aka Rambling Rose. See my sidebar for a link to her blog 

An August Evening Musing

I haven't felt much like blogging or being on the net lately. Part of the reason is that life has been very full in recent days and there just hasn't been the time. But tonight I feel like writing for no particular reason other than the peculiar kind of pressure in my chest that requires this sort of an outlet to relieve it.

It has been over eight weeks since James made his debut. At present he is laying on a nursing pillow on my lap, gazing up at me as though life held nothing finer than laying in his mother's arms. Was there life before James? It is hard to remember. It feels like he has always been a part of me.

I love this part of childrearing. For a short time, the sun and moon set by me and all that is needed for happiness to be complete is a full belly of mama milk and a constant cuddle. Already his little hands reach for me at night and if I am not found he awakens. If happiness consists in being needed, then my cup is full.

At the other extreme, I am letting go of another son. He didn't realize it when he left home that I was quite prepared to set him free in due time. I didn't realize that due time would come so soon is all. And now it has been over four weeks since I have heard from him or seen him. He doesn't call. He doesn't come to church. We are a noisy bunch when we get together and he has gotten used to quietness and was stressed out by us the last time all the children were together.
Leaving and cleaving is something that all young men are called upon to do and I have never aspired to the role of "smother mother." I know my time with him is over and it is time for him to sift through what he has been taught and take ownership of it for himself. I also know that he is just as much under the eye of God now than he ever was. But letting go still remains hard to do and the silence is hard to endure.

Almost as hard to endure is watching yet another son struggle with life. All of us are feeling an emotional letdown after our time of fellowship with the brethren in Edmonton. I can't help thinking there is more to this than mere anticlimax. Counsel is offered, and hugs are supplied. Signs of grace are there, but the conflict of learning to subdue and mortify the flesh can sometimes overwhelm. I remember my own struggles in this regard. All one can do is stand on the sideline and watch and shout encouragement to him and pray that the Lord will keep one which I have committed to Him.

Summer is almost over. The lazy days of relaxation never did materialize. I did do some homeschooling, but that has fallen by the wayside as other activities took over. Last week was devoted to travel and visiting. We also had a large barbeque party at our home on Saturday for business associates and customers in our business. Sunday was devoted to fellowshipping over a meal after worship. Today I went to have my hips adjusted by the chiropracter and then spent the afternoon trying to find some suitable clothing for Hannah to wear to the agricultural fair that is being held this week. She is going to be showing a pig and a goat as part of her 4H projects and needed black jeans and a white shirt to do it in. Every day this week will see me up before the crack of dawn to take the kids to the fairground and then back again in the evening to pick them up.

Next week I am planning on taking the kids to Barkerville. This will be both a fun and an educational day for them. We will pack a picnic lunch and the digital camera and take pictures of all the buildings, get brochures, and make notes on the history of this gold rush mining town in the heart of the Cariboo Mountains. The results of this project will be turned into something they can use for their social studies work for school. At some point I plan to get back to work on their plant unit study this month as well.

I sat down this afternoon and made a list of projects I need to complete this month before school starts in September. They are, in no particular order:

1) Make up an anti-candida protocol handout complete with guidelines, food suggestions, and recipes.

2) Organize the attic/schoolroom bookshelves. We have new bookshelves and I need to pack some books into them and clean things up.

3) Organize and clean out my closets and get rid of some things and switch over clothing

4) Get the remainder of the school curriculum organized and make up some posters of what our schedule should be.

5) Make a poster of our house rules.

6) Do some reading on my nutritional course from the University of Miami School of Medicine.

I also made a mind map of the things I want to spend my time studying. I recently acquired some materials on how to desensitize the body of allergens using a laser pen set to a specific frequency. I have been experimenting with it and have found that it is also useful for relieving muscular aches and pains. I can literally soften knotted muscles within a few minutes using it. This made it on to the mind map as well as doing more work understanding allergies, particularly in relation to children and the role it has to play with autism and ADD/ADHD and brain disorders. Brain function was on there as well as neurological re-training programs that help to balance brain function and increase mental capacity for children with learning disabilities. I have been speculating about focusing on a particular area of practice and find myself drawn more and more to working with women's and children's health issues. Fortunately, some of the training I have came on DVD's so I can fold laundry as I educate myself.

They say a change is as good as a holiday, but I don't know. I seem to have exchanged one treadmill for another one. I enjoy what I am doing for the most part, but it is taking its toll. I feel exhausted and I am still experiencing post partum bleeding -- a sure sign that I am doing too much. Too bad I find it so hard to follow my own advice.

Well, my scattered flock is back from their various activities just in time for family worship and Laundry Mountain awaits folding. The pressure feels relieved so I guess I'll end this post.

Covenanter Conventicle

Why the long silence? I just spent a wonderful five days driving to and from Edmonton with the days in between spent fellowshipping with brothers and sisters in the Lord. It has taken me a few days to catch up on laundry and sleep and I am still running somewhat behind.

I think the highlight of the entire weekend was our worship service. We came in and sat down and I looked around me during the service and felt overcome by love of my brothers and sisters in Christ. It is always good to spend time with the Lord's people no matter where they may be found, but the delight is sharpest and sweetest when you are with those of like mind and heart. To sing psalms together, to sit at the Lord's Table communing with Him and with each other, to see my son admitted to the Visible Church were but a foretaste of Heaven's delights. What joy awaits us when we are all gathered together before the Lord, only this time with no presence of sin to divide us from each other and from our loved ones who own Christ but not our covenants.

I do have some regrets -- the weekend flew by so fast and there were so many wonderful people to meet and get to know, that I never did get to spend the time with each of them that I would have liked to. I regret that some friends I have known well and loved now live far away. In at least one instance I was overcome by tears upon seeing a well loved face that I hadn't seen for a while. The regrets were more than made up for by all the benefits however. My family was billeted in the same home as my beloved pastor, Greg Price, and his wife, Lovely Lonna. He is a man with a true shepherd's heart for God's flock and he never fails to endear himself to me or my family when we are with him. I count him one of the greatest of God's mercies to me as there isn't a week that goes by when I am not challenged, encouraged, edified, rebuked, and uplifted by his sermons.

I regret that I allowed some to take pictures of me. I look like such a COW in my overalls! Oh well. Next time I will move faster and confiscate the cameras.

James seemed to be a hit. If it weren't for the fact that he needed the occasional diaper change and feeding, I wouldn't have seen him all weekend. Some of the younger girls did a wonderful job in packing him around everywhere. I would feed James and then look up and find one of them hovering close by waiting to snatch and run. Their tender care enabled me to visit with others more freely. James now feels that being held and snuggled all day and night and repeatedly told how sweet and cute he is, is his due and it took an entire day of forcible confinement in his car seat with only occasional breaks as we drove home to convince him otherwise.

It was brought to my attention what a little wiseacre my son Garnet has become. Garnet will be six later this month. Pastor Price, as is his endearing custom when speaking to younger children, called Garnet "honey." Garnet promptly informed him he was a BOY and NOT a honey. A little while later when Garnet was on his way to bed, Pastor Price teased him by saying, "Goodnight, Honey!" Garnet stopped in his tracks, turned around and silently regarded him for a moment before replying, "Goodnight, Babe" and then headed down to his bed. He also informed me that he has four "chicks." When I expressed puzzlement over what in the world he could be talking about, he named four of the teen girls there. Mothers take note and guard your daughters. I can see I am going to have an interesting time with him when he is older.

So now it is over and I am suffering a slight emotional let down. The good times had to come to an end, but, Lord willing, there is always next year.

Reformed Boogers

Someone has asked what is so reformed about picking your nose and eating donuts. The answer is picking your nose fulfills the duties associated with the sixth commandment, and eating donuts violates it. Please see the Larger Catechism, Questions 135 and 136.

Top Things

I get a an email newsletter from Sixwise.com that often contains useful and interesting facts. Today's email had articles which shared some things I thought I would pass along. All the comments here are my own. I have provided links if you want to read the actual articles.

Picking your nose and eating it is good for your immune system. Your finger does a better job of cleaning out the boogers than a kleenex does and the bacteria in them helps to recolonize the intestinal tract and thereby boosts immue function. Next time you see your kids picking their noses, instead of scolding them for it, join them in picking your own and set the right example!

Six most common causes of automobile accidents:

1. Distracted Drivers -- looking at scenery, kids, rubbernecking, talking on the cell phone, playing with the CD player or radio.

2. Driver Fatigue

3. Drunk Driving

4. Speeding

5. Aggressive Driving -- don't be one, and if you see one, keep well back!

6. Bad Weather

The Six Most Unhealthy Foods You Should Avoid

1. Soda Pop -- I can't understand people who buy this stuff for their kids! One teaspoon of sugar has the ability to shut down your white blood cells for about 5 hours. Most cans of soda contain 10 teaspoons of sugar! The sugar alone is terrible and we won't even discuss the artificial sweetners, colors, and other things in them. If you want to celebrate a party and want a reasonable alternative to pop, get some juice and add unflavored and unsweetened carbonated spring water to it instead.

2. Potatoe Chips and French Fries -- They are saturated with acrylamide, a highly toxic and carcinogenic compound, and transfatty acids which destroy your health through oxidized cholesterol.

3. Doughnuts -- "When it comes to health, the only thing good about them is the hole," said Carla Wolper, nutritionist at the New York Obesity Research Center.

4. Commercially Made Baked Goods -- extremely high in transfats because they are made with margarines and hydrogenated vegetable oils in order to extend their shelf life.

5. Luncheon Meats and Hot Dogs -- Nitrates and Nitrites -- these can cause pancreatic cancer in those who eat them in large quantities.

6. Canned Soup -- I won't bring a lawsuit on myself by mentioning brand names, but read the labels. Most soups contain MSG and way more salt than is good for you.

The Six Worst Lifestyle Choices You Could Make

This belongs to the "well duh" category. But people indulge anyhow.

1. Overeating

2. Smoking

3. Drinking and Driving

4. Living on Fast Food

5. Not Exercising

6. Living with Stress (and not doing anything to deal with it)

On a more somber note, the recent murder of pregnant wife and mother, Liana White, in Edmonton, Alberta has highlighted the fact that murder has become the number one reason for maternal mortality in North America. This surprises and shocks many, including journalists, who like to think of pregnancy as a joyous time and the pregnant mother as being offlimits when it comes to harm. But then, we used to think that about babies in the womb...

This is my attempt at taking an artistic shot of Elodie 

This is my Garnie baby 

This is my daughter, Tamara 

Another photo by Jody of my daughter, Bethany 

I May Be Crazy...

... or at least most people would think so. At an age when most men and women are enjoying an empty nest and the freedom that goes with it, I have a new baby and find myself wanting to enjoy this experience yet again.

It is not unusual to have the term "miraculous" attached to what is really a normal event: birth. This could conceivably be an argument for the innate knowledge we have of God's existence and the fact that all babies are made by Him with us as the normal and usual means.

To have a baby when you are young feels miraculous when you think of how this complicated and wonderful being came into existence from the joining together of microscopic cells. It feels even more miraculous when the body that produced this fresh and perfectly formed little being happens to have endured a lot of wear and tear and shows it.

I don't know if it will happen, but a Baker's Dozen wouldn't be a bad thing for this mom.

Is this or is this not a beautiful baby? I swiped this picture of James from Jody who seems to share some of the artistic photography skills of her sister Amanda. It was swiped with her permission.  

Prescription Drugs are Bad For Your Health Say Doctors...

Remember, these are all M.D.'s who are saying this.

1. "The cause of most disease is in the poisonous drugs physicians superstitiously give in order to effect a cure."- Charles E. Page, M.D.

2. "Medicines are of subordinate importance because of their very nature they can only work symptomatically."- Hans Kusche, M.D.

3. "If all the medicine in the world were thrown into the sea, it would be bad for the fish and good for humanity"- O.W. Holmes, (Prof. of Med. Harvard University)

4. "Drug medications consists in employing, as remedies for disease, those things which produce disease in well persons. Its materia medica is simply a lot of drugs or chemicals or dye-stuffs-- in a word, poisons. All are incompatible with vital matter; all produce disease when brought in contact in any manner with the living; all are poisons."- R.T. Trail, M.D., in a two and one half hour lecture to members of congress and the medical profession, delivered at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

5. "Every drug increases and complicates the patient's condition."- Robert Henderson, M.D.

6. "Drugs never cure disease. They merely hush the voice of nature's protest, and pull down the danger signals she erects along the pathway of transgression. Any poison taken into the system has to be reckoned with later on even though it palliates present symptoms. Pain may disappear, but the patient is left in a worse condition, though unconscious of it at the time."- Daniel. H. Kress, M.D.

7. "The greatest part of all chronic disease is created by the suppression of acute disease by drug poisoning."- Henry Lindlahr, M.D.

8. "Every educated physician knows that most diseases are not appreciably helped by medicine."- Richard C. Cabot, M.D. (Mass. Gen. Hospital)

9. "Medicine is only palliative, for back of disease lies the cause, and this cause no drug can reach."- Wier Mitchel, M.D.

10. "The person who takes medicine must recover twice, once from the disease and once from the medicine."- William Osler, M.D.

11. "Medical practice has neither philosophy nor common sense to recommend it. In sickness the body is already loaded with impurities. By taking drug-medicines more impurities are added, thereby the case is further embarrassed and harder to cure."- Elmer Lee, M.D., Past Vice President, Academy of Medicine.

12. "Our figures show approximately four and one half million hospital admissions annually due to the adverse reactions to drugs. Further, the average hospital patient has as much as thirty percent chance, depending how long he is in, of doubling his stay due to adverse drug reactions."- Milton Silverman, M.D. (Professor of Pharmacology, University of California)

13. "Why would a patient swallow a poison because he is ill, or take that which would make a well man sick."- L.F. Kebler, M.D.

14. "What hope is there for medical science to ever become a true science when the entire structure of medical knowledge is built around the idea that there is an entity called disease which can be expelled when the right drug is found?"- John H. Tilden, M.D.

15. "The necessity of teaching mankind not to take drugs and medicines, is a duty incumbent upon all who know their uncertainty and injurious effects;and the time is not far distant when the drug system will be abandoned."- Charles Armbruster, M. D.

16. "We are prone to thinking of drug abuse in terms of the male population and illicit drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. It may surprise you to learn that a greater problem exists with millions of women dependent on legal prescription drugs."- Robert Mendelsohn, M.D

A Study in Contrasts

The recent terrorist attack in London has done a lot to highlight the contrasts between the American people and the British. When the Twin Towers fell in the 9/11 attack the amount of outrage, emotion, and, dare I say, hysteria, was very evident in the American people. The British people, on the other hand, maintained the stiff upper lip they are so famous for and were far more subdued, and again, dare I say, dignified in their reactions.

When I was a child, I quickly learned that if you were being picked on by a bully or teased, the best way to shorten the torture and prevent a reoccurance was to minimize reactions and assume a stoic attitude. The more you cried and wailed, the better the bully liked it and the more likely they were to try it again since they knew they could get a reaction. Maybe the Americans could learn a lesson from the British on the best way to deal with terrorism. In fact, we all could.

This is my Baby 

These are my Boys 

These are my Girls: 

Life in the Slow Lane

Days keep whirring by with what seems like increasing rapidity. It is amazing to me that it is already four weeks since James made his debut into our family. He is starting to show signs of personhood and interaction which is a delight to everyone, and his little chicken-stick legs are starting to plump up as he puts on weight from all the freshly made mama milk he drinks.

At the same time, life has slowed down for me in a number of ways. Despite my best intentions, I have not started the kids doing anything by way of school work, other than encouraging them to continue to read books and do a few math drills here and there. My eldest boys at home have been working at the local tree nursery on and off, and today my eldest daughter at home is with her older sister, Trista, doing "girl" stuff like painting her nails, buying clothes, and getting her hair done. My tomboy just turned 14 and is growing up into a young lady. (sigh) That leaves only six kids at home and to many this would seem like a lot. But my house feels empty with only six. What it will feel like in a few years when more leave I don't like to think on.

Yesterday was "town day" as I went in to pick up my weekly supply of fresh raw milk from a local farmer who has a cow I own shares in. I also did my grocery shopping and some other errands. It took me over 8 hours to accomplish all this because of the numerous pauses needed to feed James and change his diaper. You know -- summer and babies rock. The lack of clients, no school, and no schedule that needs following allowed for a leisurely day spent doing things that needed doing, but without the time pressure put on me by the typical rest-of-the-year duties. I don't know if I would like this slow pace indefinitely or could even maintain it justifiably. In the back of my mind there is this nagging little voice that insists I am just being lazy and that there is a lot of work I need to do, but for today I intend to ignore it and just enjoy myself as I feed and play with James, interact with my Littles, and dab a bit at the housework.

Energy Medicine Used to Combat Malaria

Some of the methods used for combatting malaria in the past and present have often used methods that are toxic to the environment, people, and other animals as well as becoming ineffective over time due to the ability of the malarial parasite to become resistant to these methods. Well now it looks like there is a non-toxic and effective way of combatting malarial infections in people: magnetic force fields.

"Henry Lai, UW research professor of bioengineering, says the malaria parasite Plasmodium appears to lose vigor and can die when exposed to oscillating magnetic fields, which Lai thinks may cause tiny iron-containing particles inside the parasite to move in ways that damage the organism."

"If further studies confirm our findings and their application in animals and people, this would be an inexpensive and simple way to treat a disease that affects 500 million people every year, almost all in third-world countries," Lai said. According to the World Health Organization, as many as 2.7 million people die of malaria every year. Approximately 1 million of those are children.

Now isn't that exciting? A non-toxic and relatively harmless way of treating a deadly disease that affects a large proportion of the world's population? The researchers envision a mobile truck or room lined with magnets where people can sit and read for several hours while being treated. The remedy is simple and inexpensive, and the malarial parasites are not likely to develop a resistance to it. This is the sort of thing that I think is the wave of the future -- there are all kinds of non-toxic and healthy alternatives to the more destructive and toxic way we have of doing things that have yet to be discovered.

As an optimistic historic postmillenialist, I think we will see more and more of these types of answers to what ails us and our planet being developed in the future.

Oh, Canada!

Ruler supreme,Who hearest humble prayer,

Hold our Dominion in Thy loving care.

Help us to find, O God, in Thee

A lasting rich reward,

As waiting for the better day,

We ever stand on guard.

God keep our land glorious and free!

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

~.~

Unfortunately, the guards on the watchtower have been off duty for quite some time. Now we have officially sanctioned perversion in the form of same sex marriages. Christians will soon be persecuted for so-called "hate crimes" when they protest that homosexual acts are an affront to God.

Psalm 118 reminds us not to put our trust in princes or other forms of civil magistrates. And many of the Psalms remind us that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those that dwell therein and one day His dominions WILL spread from shore to shore. I look forward to that blessed day and in the meantime keep my head down and try to plow on with being faithful.