God's way is the best way.....

One of the things I love most about my husband is that since he came into my life he has challenged me intellectually!  Nathan is the most intelligent person I've ever met in my life!  It was very attractive when we first met; however, when we got married and he would easily win our 32 hour arguments over biblical theology, (when I knew if I had the smarts to get across what I knew the correct way, I would win) his intelligence became completely frustrating!  I loved that he was smart and knew so many things but I hated that I didn't have a fair fight!  After several years I began to love reading!  I started reading everything in sight!  Pretty soon, before I knew it I was pulling out Nathan's old College level books and reading everything I could on the bible.  Before I knew it, we had a fair fight, (and I started to win quite a bit more)!  Of course I didn't completely, ONLY, decide I needed to do this to win a fight, it was more because I realized that there were a lot of people out there like Nathan that I had been running into over the years who would listen to someone who had proper training and intellect and can tell you WHY they believe something over someone who tells you something like "I just know it!"  Yeah, big difference!

My journey to becoming a life-long learner started when I enrolled as a first time student at Liberty University Online in December of 2011.  My intentions in going to college is that when I graduate with my four year degree I will be able to walk up to someone like Nathan and tell them WHY the bible is the truth, not just because God said so but also because there is real physical evidence, and I will know exactly what that is!  In the meantime this journey has put me on the path to other projects.  

When I had my miscarriage last year I went into one of the health food stores in the area.  I talked to the woman there about Nathan's back condition and how we've been trying EVERY form of therapy and medication we could to keep his pain at bay so that we didn't have to go through surgery.  She mentioned that there may be some essential oils that could help his back I might want to look into.  I did a few searches on the internet but let it go because I wasn't able to find much.  I hate that he has to take the medication he is on because while it may be prolonging his ability to go without surgery and pain, it is internally deteriorating his organs and health and shaving years off his life.  I need my husband he is my best friend, my other half, and I don't know how I EVER functioned in life without him!  I need him to be around for our six girls!

After learning this past year that Nathan has high cholesterol it forced me to take a look at our diet and the things we've been allowing in our bodies!  I started reading a book called "Real Food, What we eat and Why!"  It was amazing!!  It opened my eyes to so many things about our eating habits that I never knew before!  While I knew it would be a challenge for me, I knew I had to change the things I fed my family!  The junk going into our bodies from fast food and processed foods was killing us just as fast as Nathan's medications would!  While I knew that going completely organic right away for our family would not be effective because of cost, I knew that making small changes one by one would make a huge difference.  So we started with Raw milk.  Then we went on to eliminating canned foods, and boxed foods and we only buy fresh or occasionally frozen veggies.  I buy a lot of whole chickens, bake them and make my own chicken stock.  I've basically learned the basics of a good diet this year.

This road lead me down several other roads!  I saw a woman post in an online forum about being a Young Living Essential Oil distributor.  I immediately was interested because I knew that there was oils out there that could help Nathan and potentially get him off his medications.  I signed up and completed all the training courses for the first step within a day in a half!  I wanted to lean as much as I could about how these would work for my family!  If I had learned anything from learning about eating healthier it was that God has created all things to work for us naturally and everything just gets messed up when Man interferes!  God has supplied all our needs to help us with aches and pains, diseases and ailments and when we take certain medications that are man made we are trading one pain for another, or one discomfort for a more long-term discomfort.  This lead me to researching and learning all the combinations possible to treat my family!  So far we've been able to treat eczema, ear infections, exhaustion, temper tantrums, back pain, insomnia, and more, ourselves!  Every dose of tylenol, or advil that we take may help to relieve our symptoms for the short-term, but the long term effects it will have on us will end up being significant!

And again this lead me down another road.  I have a fb friend who has been posting a lot about vaccines and what is actually in them.  I have six children who up to now has all had their vaccinations on time and without question.  In the seven years I've been taking my children to the pediatrician I never ONCE thought "hmm....maybe they don't know exactly what they are doing."  Until now!  I've spent my entire night (between refilling milk cups, nursing a baby, and sharing my bed with two toddlers), trying to research the vaccines that I allowed our pediatrician (without question) to inject into my children.  I am walking away from that research completely shocked and sick about what I've discovered!  There is SO many different things I could say about what I've learned but let me just make a few points about it so this isn't a complete novel.

#1 According to NBC News in an article written 12/15/2010 Traditional cribs  that have a drop-side have been recalled and outlawed after more than 30 infant deaths within the last DECADE.

So, because of just 3 infant deaths per year for 10 years, they outlawed these cribs. 

#2   Most hospitals require or even automatically administer the Hepatitis B vaccination to newborns that are 12 hours old.  Hepatitis B can only be contracted  A. From IV Drug abuse, B. Sexual Activity with an infected partner, C. Blood transfusion, or D. from the mother.    (information received from articles.mercola.com) Between 1992-2005 there were 36,788 adverse reactions to the Hep B vaccine, and of these 14,800 were severe, life threatning or debilitating, and 781 people were reported to have died.  This is thought to also be an under estimate of deaths because most babies deaths were reported as SIDS and not as a reaction to the Hep B vaccine.

So you are telling me that after only 3 deaths per year for 10 years they OUTLAWED a crib; yet, after 36,788 adverse reactions within 13 years along with 14,800 life threatening and debilitating reactions, OH and PLUS 781 deaths- We are still REQUIRED to pump this into our newborn children three times over the first three months of their lives!    Does this seem outrageous to anyone else?  Not to mention my newborn will not be abusing drugs, or having sex.  If they ever need a blood transfusion all donated blood is completely tested for any sign of Hep B.  AND mothers can be tested for the HEP B virus to make sure their babies will not contract it.  So with all that in place is it worth risking the life of a newborn to get these vaccines?

Let me just give you one more little fact here I came across before I sign off...

#3 Pertussis: a highly contagious respiratory infection.  It is recommended that your child receive 4 doses of this shot between the ages of 2 months and 15 months.  According to the nvic.org website one of the main ingredients in this vaccination is formaldehyde!

When you look up formaldehyde on wikipedia.org, it states "Formaldehyde is highly toxic in all animals, regardless of method of intake"  they also state, "In June of 2011 the NTP report on carcinogens changed the listing status of formaldehyde from "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen to KNOWN to be a human carcinogen!!!"   SO, they knowing put carcinogens in our vaccines that we are REQUIRED to give to our children?!  So we are as parents have to decide if we want to  trade an immediate solution to a disease that our children may or may not get for a long term problem later in life with cancer?  

My purpose of this blog post is to just put it out there that as parents we owe it to our children to make an informed decision on their health.  I regret that it took me THIS long to check it out myself but now that I did I know that we will be re-evaluating our choices from this point on.  Every decision we make will effect our children for the rest of their lives!  I've totally learned my lesson on the importance of research and knowing what we put into our childrens mouths as well as their bodies.  God had a perfect plan of how to combat our diseases naturally with the way we eat and the herbs he provided for us, why not trust his ways since they have been proven over and over again!  God's way is the best way!   

Do not be anxious........

Phil. 4:16 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God"

This has been the verse I've been clinging to this weekend!  Friday we received word that our attorney has been in contact with the mortgage company's attorney and that we should receive word "early next week" on their decision with the short sale agreement!

My stomach has been in knots and my sleep has been lacking, but my faith and prayer life have never been better!  The nights have been long and the days have been short, and those long nights have been spent praying and petitioning the Lord to give us favor!  During the day I feel shaky and distracted and completely panicked unless I can continue to be in prayer!  Prayer is the only thing that keeps me calm and focused the last few days.  When I lay down to sleep I begin praying until I fall to sleep, but that never happens...I just keep praying!  During the day I have to stop and have everyone come together and pray together at random times.  I can't even imagine God not answering our prayer after we've gone through all this so far.  Through the whole process God has constantly showed up and taken the impossible and made it possible!  Throughout all this, I've been able to say "I'm not horribly worried I feel like it will work out" and through it all it has worked out even when it has been bad news!  This time- I feel it's a final decision, this is the end, this is what we've been praying for, for SO long!  It's a bit scary to be honest!

If it's bad news, we will again fight for the house as long as we can until we have to legally pack up and head to the streets, but if it's good news this house will be used for God's glory!  This house will be used for Him to do his work!  My life is not my own, but His to do with it what he will- and I know he has plans to prosper us, and not harm us!  His will for us is better than my own!  Keeping these things in my head and remembering that "we are right where we are supposed to be, right when we are supposed to be there" and  that this is all part of His plan for us is all that keeps me going some days!

Thank God that we are able to flood God's news feed with our prayer petitions and he doesn't "De-friend" us but adds us as a "close friend," subscribes to our life and is able to "like" each prayer letting us know he hears us!  What an amazing God we have!  No wonder he tells us "Do not be Anxious" He has it all under control!

Our long week, and the continuance of the house saga......

Well this week has been a complete whirl wind for our family!  Emotions have been everywhere, but our worship, and prayer life has never been better!  My last post I filled you in on the fact that we found out that our home was put into foreclosure and was now up for auction in just 24 hours!  I'm happy to report that the auction was stopped!!!  Within 24 hours our family lived out a real life story of Jericho!

Monday Nathan and I were both on the phone to lawyers, SCC, Attorney General's office and finally at the end of the day we found out the name of the Law firm that the mortgage company was using and we were able to contact them!  Monday evening Nathan and I spend our night on the couch, him playing his guitar and both of us singing praise to God.  That brought back so many memories from when we were dating- that is how we spent our date nights!  We did a lot of praying that night, asking God to intervene.  We both feel like God has given us this house and I'm not sure why but we now have to fight for it!  For years we've asked God for a larger home, and for years we have waited for this home, and for 15 months now we have been walking and praying our circles around this home, and on November 26, 2013, God said "Time to sound the horns!"

I put our my last blog post on November 25th asking if anyone had any connections to media or lawyers who would help us.  I had a friend contact me saying she had a contact to WTVR 6 news.  I emailed her contact Tuesday morning asking for help and within 15 minutes I was told I would be contacted by a reporter, and given the name of a organization to call, called H.O.M.E.  I immediately called H.O.M.E. but was given a voicemail. In the meantime our attorney was putting together a package to send out to the mortgage holders attorney to see if they would stop the foreclosure.

I received a call from Shelby Brown of Wtvr, she informed me that she had a friend who works in Senator Tim Kaine's office who used to work for H.O.M.E.  She called Paula and read her my email and I was told she was SHRIEKING after every line!!  I was given her number and told to give her a call in an hour!  When I spoke with Paula she had already started to make phone calls on our behalf to the trustees office, attorney's office, and even to the Mortgage company themselves!!

In the meantime Channel 6 new came over for an interview!  They were here for two hours yet when the clip aired there were only a few clips from what was actually said in the interview.  I guess that is how it works with all the editing.  While they were here we received word that the auction on the home had been postponed for 30 days!!!    God had done a miracle!!

Here is our first interview:
http://wtvr.com/2013/11/27/family-caught-up-in-short-sale-almost-loses-home/

I felt like they kinda tried to make us look like idiots with the comment from the other realtor, but in reality, people move into their homes early ALL THE TIME!!  We have a contract to do so, so it wasn't just a stupid decision that we made lightly!  We really prayed about it and felt like God was going to take care of things!

That night after we found out the auction was cancelled, the song from Veggie Tales popped into my head and I sang it the rest of the night:

"The Lord has given this Land to us, no need to fuss, He knows what Hes doing, we know that He will take care of us, if we will follow Him!"

Wednesday morning, I woke up with joy as the girls and I prepped the kitchen to begin making our Thanksgiving feast!  I was missing some lemons and sent Nathan to the store to pick some up when I received a phone call from WTVR Shelby Brown, asking for another interview!  I called Nathan, got everyone dressed, and took a shower and they were here within an hour!  I felt like that interview was a lot better than the first one.  I was able to talk about God and how our family had prayed that God would save our home and it was an answer to prayer.  Nathan and I talked before the interview that we knew they would edit a lot of it out but that if we did anything in those interviews we wanted to make sure the Name of God was honored!  So we both talked about God as much as we could and in each interview they has at least one blurb of me talking about how we prayed for this house, or how God answered our prayers.

After they left I went back to my cooking. (I don't have a link for the second interview yet) I cooked for 29 hours!  This would be the first Thanksgiving we ever hosted in our home!  But I tell you it was WORTH the 29 hours!  Our meal was amazing!  I wish I had taken a photo of the finished product but I didn't, here is just a peek at what it looked like though.

The day after Thanksgiving, we laid around the house and today is Sunday and I still don't think I have re-cooperated from my cook-a-thon!

Thursday evening Nathan and I hit a few stores and was home by 1am.  I began feeling upset while we were out because the memories from last year came flooding back to me.  Last year on black Friday, we left Thursday evening and ended up stopping on the way for a pregnancy test.  My test was positive!  We were beyond excited!!    A few days later I was in the ER because I began to lose the baby.  We became pregnant again just 30 days later which was a huge blessing, however I cannot forget!  I wonder if it really was a girl, or maybe that was the boy we've been wanting!  Wonder what she would have looked like, how she would have interacted with the girls, who would she have been...I didn't realize how badly it still breaks my heart till Thursday evening.  I know she is in a better place, I just wish I could have held her in my arms!

So that was our week in a nutshell.  Our fight is FAR from over!  We have 30 days to convince these banks that they need to honor our contract.  Right now we have complaints in with S.C.C, Office of Attorney General, Consumer Financial Protection Buero in Washington D.C, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.  We aren't going out without a fight because like a friend of mine reminded me "What God has given, let no man take away!"  Now that we've blown our horns and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down, we have a lot of rubble to sort out!  Keep our family in your prayers as we continue through the holidays fighting this fight!

I also cannot even begin to explain to you all how humbling it is to see so many of my friends and even people I have not met so up in arms over our situation!  I'm not used to having so many people fighting for me.  I'm usually the one on the other end of that, fighting for others so it is such a blessing and so humbling to see how many people really care about us!