The new math: a la CDC

The CDC has announced what appears to be appalling numbers on the swine flu. 22 million sickened since April. 4,000 dead, including 540 children. And yet the CDC advised states to stop testing for H1N1 and to stop counting cases in July. So what magical math formula do they use to determine how many cases of this dreaded illness have occurred? According to the CDC's website, all flu cases and deaths are being counted together. Which calculator are they using to determine the numbers that are hitting headlines the last few days?

CBS investigated this oddity, and of course, the CDC had no logical explanation, and refused to provide information until CBS submitted a freedom of information request. Even then, it took 2 months for the CDC to provide the requested data.

Recently, a local news clip recommended that people who already had the flu should still get the vaccine, "just in case" it really wasn't the H1N1 virus. Hmmm.....seems like the odds would be pretty slim according to the CDC's logic that says that if you have flu symptoms, in all probability, you have H1N1.

Color me cynical, but I have to question these numbers and the decisions this organization is making. Decisions that have tremendous impact on our health and our children's health. Surely a government organization would not make a decision based on the possibility of losing money on paid-for, but unused, doses of vaccines! Three words, people: Guillain-Barre Syndrome. If you aren't familiar with this, google it or use whatever research options you have. This is an ACKNOWLEDGED risk factor with the current vaccine. Do not think that the pharmaceutical companies are worried about adverse outcomes due to their poorly tested vaccines. The government has granted immunity to vaccine producers. The CDC will tell you this is a 1 in 1 million risk factor. But is it worth the risk for an illness that you are far less likely to get than the CDC's new math would lead you to believe? Here's a report on one person's experience: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,574910,00.html?test=latestnews

You can read the CBS report http://www.examiner.com/x-6495-US-Intelligence-Examiner~y2009m10d28-Swine-Flu-Cases-CBS-reports-CDC-deception-on-swine-flu-cases?cid=exrss-US-Intelligence-Examiner and then make an informed decision about the piggy flu vaccine.....and, if you have already received this one, consider the possible consequences when the next "epidemic" comes around.

When I say, "I am blessed...."

I've been working through something over the last several months. Every time I say, "I am blessed" it seems to be in reference to some "thing" I received or some wonderful event in life. Is this scriptural? Is this what it really means to be blessed by God? And when something difficult comes along, I seem to say, "blah, blah, blah happened, BUT I am so blessed" referring to other aspects of my life; because there surely could be no blessing in the bad stuff. I am not in any way suggesting that we don't have times of sadness or grieving. I am not making light of the hard times every one of us experiences. But God can bless us by the hard times. He can bless us by sickness, misery, financial woes, loss of a loved one. He can bless us any way He wants. When I'm open to the Holy Spirit's voice, I often hear, "This may seem disappointing right now, but I am protecting you from things you know nothing about."

Not too long ago, a friend said to me, "You have a good life," and before I could tame my tongue I said, "I am blessed." My initial thought was that I wanted to give credit where credit was due...to God. But in a way, I said to her, "I am blessed and you are not."

I also realize that sometimes the things we experience are a result of evil....deliberate evil, by evil people. Yet God is still in control. He will forbid and allow as He sees fit.

Genesis 50:20
"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive."

^{I Peter 3:14}
But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed and do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled...

I hope that some day I can get to the point where I refer to everything God allows to touch my life as a blessing.

James 1:2-3
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Random thoughts....

My granddaughter asked for this....


I do NOT like the wind. A tiny breeze when it is very hot outside is welcome. But this swirling mess of dust, leaves, and hair in my eyes is not nice.

The older I get the more easily I am overwhelmed by a busy schedule. The weeks leading up to Easter and Christmas are the busiest at my job, and I don't feel like I am handling this nearly as well as I used to.

I am ready to get some flowers planted in the yard. Now if that dratted wind would just stop!

I am looking forward to decorating Easter Eggs with the munchkins on Friday. It is always great fun and a great mess!

I'm glad baseball season has started.

I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that the Stars will not be in the playoffs this year.

I HATE the windows operating system. Just think if everything in life had the same 'fixes' as windows. Turn it off and turn it back on. Imagine what a joy that would be while driving down the freeway. Or.....my cake is halfway baked, but the oven is making a weird noise. Just turn it off, let it rest for a few minutes, and turn it back on. Yay for fallen cakes. You get the picture.....Microsoft is evil.

I love spring. And I love autumn. Summer is a bit too hot, but not so much now that we have a pool. I HATE winter.

I'm glad we bought a Wii for the munchkins for Christmas, and I'm glad it lives at our house. I think we use it as much as the kiddos.

Sunday we will celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is too wonderful for me to fully comprehend. Thank you Lord Jesus!!!!

Is it really over already?

The whirlwind that was the holiday season is over. It took 8.4 seconds. It was great fun and a blessing as always. Some highlights; some low lights; and, of course, munchkin pictures:

Highlights: The annual children's Christmas parade; two parties at our house with friends from church; a new slender Christmas tree that fits into the new arrangement of our living/dining room; making gingerbread houses; taking Kannon Christmas shopping; picking my brother up at the airport; taking a carriage ride to see the lights in Highland Park; Christmas eve with family and friends- stockings, snacks, and eggnog; Christmas day- watching the kids have a blast, eating some amazing beef short ribs (if I may say so myself); the funnest iPod EVER; Manheim Steamroller concert; Cirque Dreams at the Nokia theater.

Low lights: I got a sinus infection, was sick for a week and was unable to sing at the Christmas eve service; a bizzarre reaction to the antibiotic (next time, I may just suffer through it!); putting eleventy million white and gold lights on the new tree; taking down the decorations; taking my brother back to the airport.

Pics:

The Girl is Just TOO Cool!

Christmas dance recital was Monday. This girl knew her stuff! But the best part to me was when her tap shoe came off, and she stayed cool and just kept on dancing! I love the way she handles this kind of pressure. It will serve her well though out her life. Good job, sweet girl!

Six!

Happy Birthday, Maverick! Six years old! What a wonderful, big boy you have become. I hope you enjoy batting practice with your new toy! I love you!

Children's Parade: A Yearly Adventure

We went to the Neiman Marcus Children's Parade on Saturday. It's one of the traditions we've had for about 7 or 8 years. It's fun to watch each of the munchkin and how much they've grown since the previous year. The tiny munchkin did the princess wave during the entire parade. (I was told she learned it from her mommy, but that's just gossip!) It's possible that the little one was still waving while she took her nap. This is the first year that all four munchkins drank the hot chocolate that I made as part of this traditional event. (Pappy gets the donuts, because there is nothing better than sugared-up kids at a parade.) A good time was had by all!


















Be sure to take time during this busy season to spend time with your friends, family, spouse, kids and grandkids. Hustle and bustle can probably not be easily avoided, but we never know what a year may bring, and next year we may not all be around to enjoy each other. Give the kids memories of fun times that include YOU, not just getting a bunch of packages under the tree. And most importantly, make sure they remember that we are celebrating the greatest, most amazing gift of all: God's gift of His only Son......who gave up all He had to come to this broken, painful, sinful world so that we could be made right with God.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

All God's Children Got Shoes....

Except some of them don't. Here's an easy way to help some needy children get a basic necessity....SHOES! For a $5 donation, you can provide TWO pairs of shoes. I don't know about you, but I can spend five bucks before I even get out of bed in the morning. I hope you can help this organization meet its goal. Just click on the banner....

And the winner is.....

At Halftime (children's ministries fun and learning time for kids K-5) there was a pumpkin decorating contest. And Teya won first prize! Yay for her....she worked hard and was very creative. She was so excited to be the winner. When we talked about making a pumpkin, she wasn't sure she wanted to because she didn't think she was very good at stuff like that. I'm so glad she won! And you can see she really did make a beautiful pumpkin bird!

Another Birthday!

A month late, but what a busy month it was! Happy Birthday, Kannon Daniel. We had a fun time making cuppy cakes and playing at Going Bonkers!

Making ice cream cone cupcakes. Notice the smallest munchkin skipped the decorating step and went straight to the taste test.







Time for the Happy Birthday song.....


























How old are you?










Lots of assistance opening birthday gifts....

Under construction

This week the grandmother of a woman I work with passed away. Shortly before, she told her family she was ready to go home to Jesus. She knew He was preparing a place for her...."but why is it taking so long? I don't need a mansion!"

So my goofy mind went in a weird direction.....what exactly did Jesus mean by that. I can see it now- "Hey, Noah, hand me the nail gun." Of course Noah would be working right along side....ark builder extraordinaire. Seriously, though, I wonder if that word should be translated differently? The creator of the universe, the one who spoke it all into existence, is preparing a place for us. Or is this another of His masterpieces....just like Adam, whom He formed with His hands.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Little Girl

To celebrate Faith Ember's 2nd birthday, we took a road trip to Oklahoma to the Arbuckle Wilderness. We endured the walk through zoo- It was hot! But fortunately, there were a lot of trees- and then moved on to the drive through zoo. We had three large cups of animal food, and different varieties of deer, giraffes, emus, ostriches, etc. would come up to the window and eat from the cups. Very exciting for the little kiddos, and let me tell you, there is nothing more delightful than the slobber of large animals all over a new car. It was GROSS-- and would not come off in the automatic car wash.


We then drove a few miles down the road to Turner Falls Park. The kids got in the stream under the falls and cooled off while Pappy grilled hotdogs. Although none of the munchkins seem to like toasted marshmallows, I took a bag along anyway, figuring that some day, they will break. But not this day.





Fun quote of the day: After toasting a marshmallow to lovely golden brown perfection, and giving him a tiny little nibble, I turned to Maverick, and with a voice appropriate for the most serious spiritual discussion, I said, "Maverick....this... right here.... (points lovingly to perfect marshmallow achievement)...is what we will have in heaven...perfect...delicious... heavenly treats." He looked at me with his big bug eyes, and in all seriousness said, "So.....we're going to have food we don't like in heaven?"

More birthday pics:

Skating!

The younger boy munchkin took a week of ice skating lessons. Day one he could hardly stand on the ice. By day five, he was skating by himself very well! I guess another week's lessons is in order! The video is from day three; the photo is from day five.

Fishy Baby Girl

Miss Barbie is the best swim instructor! Look at what she has the 23 month old doing after only 5 lessons. The kiddos are taught to imitate a rocket ship and then roll over onto their backs and float. A great idea in case they fall into water unexpectedly....from their backs they can breathe and call for help. Three short videos to show off the little one.....

I hope you dance....

Dance recital was Saturday. The little girl who was jittery and scared she would mess up, lit up when she hit the stage. All three times! She was beaming! She knew her dances and did a great job. Her hard work paid off.

Proud Gram Pics:





















After her daddy lifted her down from the stage, she said, "I want to do it AGAIN!!!!" I love to see a child encouraged by a job well done...especially when they have worked long and hard to get there!"You can't see a painter or a writer or a musician if you just look at them, but you can see a dancer in a child if they've studied ballet for a year." ----"The Dancer and the Dance" movie

Piano recital

I give piano lessons to three adorable children. Last Saturday we had a recital. They did such a great job! They worked hard and it showed!

What a difference you've made in my life....

Happy 8th Birthday, dear granddaughter! I can't believe you are 8 years old....it seems like such a short time ago I saw you for the first time....sleeping on your mommy. I love so many things about you.....you LOVE to read.......you delight in your younger brothers and sister and take good care of them......you play hard and get dirty.......you paint your nails and love princesses and girly girl things......you swim like a little fish.....your beautiful curls........your lovely blue eyes that light up when you smile.......the way you sit straight and tall when you play the piano. I could go on and on.....I love you sweet girl!

Dallas Blooms

I had the opportunity recently to visit the Dallas Arboretum. It was lovely! The weather was nice, but a bit too sunny for a photo shoot. However, I will share some of my favs here anyway. Great fun with the new digital SLR I received for Christmas from the greatest husband in the entire history of EVER!