Women of Faith

Women of faith! Women I know and admire, who are stronger than they think, and braver than they believe. Sometimes we don't want to be brave, sometimes it hurts to be strong, yet we do it! Through it we gain a greater strength, give strength, and give hope to those around us.

Today I am grateful for women of faith!  I have many friends and family members who are such great examples to me.  Women of different faiths, religions, cultures and ages.  Women that have helped shape me into the woman I am and the woman I continually strive to be.  In their moments of weakness I find my strengths.  In their triumph I see my purpose and am sometimes reminded of my weaknesses.  When I see a new mom struggle to keep her little ones quiet in a store, or an exhausted mother shopping with a screaming toddler, I smile.  Not from spite but from the pure fact that I've been there!  I remember thinking how hard it was, but then you wake one day and those toddlers are teenagers.  I smile because she doesn't know how fast it will go, and I didn't either back then.  When I see a woman who has been through divorce I admire her courage and her dedication to her children and all she's been through and at the same time I am grateful for the man I married and the strength he is to me.  When I hear of a family struggling with death, a little bit of my heart can relate as I think of my sister who lives in heaven. Or when I hear the word cancer, I immediately recall my dealings with cancer and being there when my grandfather took his last breath.  When I see an accident on the side of the road and the EMT's attending to someone's medical needs or working to save someones life I am reminded of my weaknesses and my inability to deal with trauma or blood.  But in the same thought I am astounded at their selfless service and thrilled that those who have that gift share it with others.  All of these experiences help us grow, help us to relate to others and to share our experiences and gain love for one another.

I know... women who know how to throw a killer party, women who know where they are going and who are confident and strong, women who would drop whatever they were doing and help, women who have shared trials and joys in my life, women who have more faith than I could muster, women who have had life hand lemons to them and they've made some KILLER lemonade! Women who have insanely clean homes, women whose children are so well behaved it makes me think I'm dreaming, women who think of others first no matter what, women who make me think I can do anything, women who make others feel so important and welcome.  Women who wouldn't say a bad thing about anyone, women who when we get together we laugh until it hurts, women who love to serve, women who accept others unconditionally, women who are amazing wives, women who can cook like a master chef, women who are so creative it makes my brain hurt, and women who know how to balance life and all that they are handed.  Women whose homes are so warm and cozy you could stay forever, women who know who they are and aren't afraid to share their opinion, and women whose inner beauty shines so brightly you almost have to squint!  How grateful I am for each of them!

The women I know are women of faith, faith in getting back up when they fall down, faith in putting one foot in front of the other ......every. day.  Even on the days they just don't have the will power to do so.  Women who sacrifice for family, friends, neighbors, and complete strangers.  When I see women sharing their weaknesses it strengthens me, it helps me to be grateful for the strengths I possess, and humbles me to know  I do not have the same challenges to contend with.  We all have talents and abilities and skills that we can use to bless the lives of others.  We all have weaknesses and inabilities that allow us to seek the greater good in others, allow us to depend on others, learn from others, and to be grateful for the talents others posses.  This is all for our good!  Sometimes it HURTS to stretch and grow, sometimes we want to take away another's pain and make everything better, (this too is a strength to others) compassion shows we are alive and shows others we care about them individually.  This life was not suppose to be easy, but it was meant to be worth it!  So here is to all the women in my life who have touched my heart and my mind, brought me through things, helped me, befriended me and assisted me on this journey to become a better woman, A woman of faith!  Thank you!!! For your example, your faith, your dedication, your friendship, your weaknesses, humility, honesty, strengths and abilities.  With out ALL OF YOU the world would be pretty DULL indeed!!

Vaccinations....more than meets the eye

Beware: This is a long post... I will delete any rude or unnecessary comments.  These are my views and this is me exercising my FREEDOM TO CHOOSE! 

When I had my first baby the immunizations were given at the hospital as routine.  Not many mother's think too much about it, it's what "everyone" does now right?!  I knew differently.  You see, my mom studied things, researched them out and followed her own pattern of normal ways of life.

When my youngest brother was a baby his immune system wasn't up to par and for this reason my mom did not vaccinate him as she had the rest of us.  He needed more time, more natural immunity's and time for his body to catch up.  He was an at risk birth and was pumped full of antibiotics before being born, which may have been necessary, but didn't help with his well being.  When he was in 3rd grade he still wasn't caught up on his immunizations.  A county healthcare nurse called my mom to "remedy" the situation and my mom explained to her that she was not going to immunize my brother at this time.  The nurse, thinking she was doing her "duty" told my mom over the phone that she would drive to our home and inoculate my brother herself. Threats?! Wow.  Because he could cause an epidemic if something broke out, she then told my mom that my brother could no longer attend school if he was not immunized.  My mom drove to the school and removed my brother, thus began her homeschooling journey (but that's another story).

Having this experience as an example in my life, I knew that as a mother it was my CHOICE whether I wanted to immunize my children or not.  While I am not against all immunizations, in the back of my mind there was always this uneasy feeling, sometimes referred to as mother's intuition :) you may have heard of it.  My decision to not immunize didn't come from simply observing what my mom had chosen, nor did it come from only the uneasy feeling.  It started small and grew into something I knew was the right CHOICE for my family.

My beautiful baby girl was injected with the same vaccines most babies get at the hospital.  When she was 2 months she received her immunizations and at her 4 month check up got them again.  Except this time something happened...she developed a severe allergy to the shot itself causing her to breakout in a leopard like rash from head to toe.  My beautiful baby looked like a jungle animal.  The doctors told me that she was allergic to something in the shot....although they weren't sure what because they are given not just one at a time but several so pinpointing anything is a little hard.
                             


(Now here me out... I am so grateful for modern medicine, for doctors, I LOVE this doctor and many other doctors that have helped my family and I!! I have to deliver my babies C-Section, so without modern medicine I'd be dead, my baby would've died and that would me my story.  I know that doctors and nurses have helped numerous people in my family and I am most grateful for their talents and skills! However, I feel there are certain situations and things where modern medicine is needed, and other places where it is not.  My issues with vaccines are the dosage that is given, and the mixing of more than one vaccine at a time, thus making it difficult to view the bodies reaction between one vaccine's.  We as a family choose not to use modern medicine as a daily practice.  As I stated I believe there is a time and a place.  We do not go to the doctor for the sniffles or for the flu, or ear aches, etc. we go to the doctor when my husband slices his palm open with a knife, or when my son can't breathe because he has a bad case of croup and the cold air just isn't helping.  We aren't freaks, we simply CHOOSE to do things differently than some, and we CHOOSE what is best for our family.)

So here I was  a new mom with a baby leopard.  Needless to say that was the last immunizations my first baby every had. When the next two babies were born I proceeded down the same path.  One child had immunizations up to 6 months and the other only had them up to 2 months.  I felt a very strong feeling with the second baby that 6 months was enough!  In fact I felt an overwhelming feeling that his life could be in jeopardy if I chose to give any more.  That was when I CHOSE to stop vaccinating.  My children are all healthy, average kids.  The older two (that I didn't have as infants) were immunized and they are as healthy as the 3 that were not as immunized.  When I went in to get an exemption when school immunzations were upon us the nurse was a little agitated at my choice and gave me stacks of paper that I could read about the "danger" I was inflicting upon my children.  I smiled as I thought to myself, "I could give you a stack of papers twice as tall that would show you the "dangers" of choosing to immunize my child".  (Please note the nurse that helped me with my exemptions with my youngest two was a gem and she was very respectful of my choice and gave me options if I ever wanted to start slowly down the immunizing road! That is how situations should be handled.)  She signed the paper and we were done.

      

I am not writing this to stand on my soap box and tell you that if you vaccinate you are killing your children.  You can research whatever side of the story you want.  But there is a deeper concern that applies to this and many other situations on the rise in this modern world.  The freedom to CHOOSE!  I have many friends, family members and acquaintances that choose to immunize their children.  I do not think these mothers are bad mothers, I do not think that they should make the same choice I did.  I do not believe that all immunizations are bad.  I do believe that as an American citizen I should have the RIGHT to make the CHOICE to immunize or to not immunize.  I do believe that we are all individuals and that the vaccines made do not fit the mold for every person.  How do they know what effects it will have on my baby, toddler, teen?  They don't! As the mother, I know my child more than the government or drug company does, and I know if I feel good or bad about something.  Some people have severe allergic reactions to vaccines, some people's bodies do not accept the vaccine and therefore they don't develop the antibodies they are suppose to...or maybe they were naturally immune already, and some people accept them free of any effects whatsoever.  But shouldn't that choice be mine?  When people say to me....and yes they've said it..."If I'd have known your children weren't immunized I wouldn't have enrolled my child in the same preschool"  I smile because quite simply, if you believe your vaccinated child will contract something from my non-vaccinated child what does that say about your belief in the vaccine?  Yes I know that people at certain ages can't have the vaccine, I am aware that they may be exposed to something they don't know they are being exposed to.  But, there are outbreaks of the very diseases that we have vaccines for, and a lot of the time the outbreak effects those who WERE immunized.  Chickenpox for example, whooping cough.  These are two that I personally know of.  People I KNOW have been vaccinated and then contracted the disease anyway.  Do your research and make your own choice.  But know that YOU have a CHOICE!

The point is, if we are all forced to vaccinate our children then we give up our freedoms.  Haven't we given up enough freedoms?  Genetically modifying our food, Healthcare, and common core, just to name a few.  When we give up our rights because we feel we want everyone to be the "same" to have to do something that may not be right for them isn't that communism and socialism? Too extreme?! Well it starts with a simple freedom and gradually we will have NO CHOICES left.  I value my rights as an American, I value the freedom of CHOICE the freedom that we can CHOOSE what is right for our families, in education, in health, in vaccines, in religion, in so many things.  I urge you to think about that before you tell people that don't immunize that they are making the wrong choice.  Think about what freedoms you're willing to give up.  As for this mom, I CHOOSE to have a CHOICE! And I choose the same for you!