A Thinking Woman

Did anyone else out there feel the earthquake?

Michael Savage.

This is really sad. Mr. Savage, who I usually find entertaining to listen to (although I don’t listen to him all that much), has a pretty strong opinion about something he has obviously never taken the time to study. He has a voice on the air. People listen to him. He should realize what an important role he has in society. The unlearned will listen to him. Here are a couple of quotes from his show this past Wednesday…

“During last Wednesday’s show, Savage called autism a “fraud” and “racket.”

“Now the illness du jour is autism,” Savage said. “You know what autism is? I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is.”

“What do you mean they scream and they’re silent?” Savage added. “They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’ ”

Speaking of morons…

What an assumption! First Savage assumes that autistic children don’t have fathers around. I’ll be the first to say, that ALL of the autistic children I know of personally, have fathers who are active in their lives. Mr. Savage also assumes (well, actually he states dogmatically) that 99% of autistic kids are undisciplined. Any of my close friends can tell you that the reason my housework doesn’t get done on any given day is because with all the disciplining, I haven’t had enough time in my day to do it. I feel like all I ever do is discipline! There are certain “diagnosis” that I (cautiously) feel are the result of an undisciplined home, but Autism is NOT one of them. Does lack of discipline really make a kids run in circles flapping his arms when he’s happy? Does lack of discipline really make a kid lie down and watch the wheels of his toy car spin rather than making “vroom” sounds and driving it? Does lack of discipline make a child painfully sensitive to loud noises?

There is no limit to what I would give so that my precious son could live a happy life and be understood by others. But with big mouths like Savage out there? Who’s going to take the time to try to understand him?

Sorry if I seem a little flustered. I am. Mr. Savage needs to do some research next time he gets the urge to slander a bunch of vulnerable children to have to live life under the scrutiny of those who are a little more perfect than them.

Yesterday, during our morning Lord’s Day service, we were responsively reading God’s Law as summarized in the 10 Commandments.  At home, when we read the 10 Commandments, our copy says not to covet your neighbor’s donkey.

So, when the congregation was reading about not coveting your neighbor’s wife, or manservant, or maidservant, or his ass…etc…Aaron looks at me with a huge grin and says, “Or his donkey!”

Good, he HAS been paying attention =)

Hi Friends! I saw this news story this morning and wanted to share it with any of you who are interested.  It’s finally good to know what’s wrong with my precious little boy.  I cried after watching the video.  After almost three years of knowing something was wrong, and knowing it was a common problem among kids, especially boys, it was so disheartening to not know what it was. All professionals could tell me was that he had autism.  But not even they knew what that meant exactly or why he had it.  Anyways, without further adieu, here’s the link…  http://buzz.yahoo.com/article/1:y_news:40d87ef1c0e18665a550bea660f99024

I know the common thought is that autism is caused by the mercury in some vaccines.  But for the record, no mercury has been used in vaccines (except some flu vaccines) since 2002.  Yet,  austim continues to be on the rise.  Even Gabe, who was born in 2002, had very little exposure to vaccines that year, and has autism. I’m thoroughly convinced that vaccines were ruled out of the equation years ago.  Anyways, those are my 2 cents.

After many, many long months of wandering the North County for a church in which we can follow our conscience concerning our belief in paedobaptism, we are glad to finally be done with our search! On July 27th, Josh, myself, and the kids, will be announced into membership at Oceanside URC. Our kidlets will also be receiving the sign of God’s covenant on that day.  We have enjoyed good fellowship and been welcomed warmly by this congregation.  The pastors and elder all have pastoral hearts and we believe we will be well shepherded there.  And Lord willing, in a few months from now, little Isaiah will also be receiving baptism.

To those of you who have been praying us through this difficult and sometimes painful journey, thank you so much.  I know for many of you, dear friends, this is not the outcome you were hoping for, but thanks for praying for us just the same. We love you dearly and will miss you greatly as we will not have the same amount of contact.  Please know you are all invited over for playdates whenever you have the inclination to come over.  We’re just a phone call away!

On  separate note…We did get the results of Gabe’s EEG.  They weren’t anything surprising.  While he was awake, his brain patterns were a little slower than a child his age would normally be, which accounts for the autism and related developmental delays.  While asleep the brain patterns on the left side of his brain showed abnormal activity which are consistent with a child at risk for seizures, which accounts for the epilepsy.   So, this is good, because it means nothing is getting worse =) So, we’re keeping the same anticonvulsant regimen and he’s getting all the early intervention therapy he needs.

I do want to publicly give thanks to the Lord that he has provided a means of encouragement and counsel for me through this.  Dr. Laura Hendricksen, who is a nouthetic counselor with IBCD (Institute of Biblical Counseling and Discipleship) has had a slot open up in her schdule to see me and Gabriel every other week.  She is a trained psychiatrist who used to have her own practice, but left her practice to help her own severely autistic son through his therapy.  I am very blessed to have someone counsel me who is not only a godly and biblically sound counselor, and medically trained to understand Gabe and his needs, but is also a mother who has gone through what I’m going through to a more extreme extent.

Gabe is such a blessing to our family and is such a sweet and loving child, and while I wouldn’t want him any other way, I’m glad there is help out there for him to have a happy and easier life.

is now offering tutoring at a distance!

I hope you all won’t mind a shameless plug for my hubby’s  tutoring services.

Josh is a Spanish teacher at a charter school. He has a M.Ed, single subject Spanish credential (BCLAD certified), and is multi-subject credentialed in the state of California.  He has  4 years teaching experience in both the public and private school atmospheres as well as private (individual) tutoring experience, and seminary experience both in-class and through distance education. He has been studying/teaching Spanish diligently for over 15 years. He also has been studying theology and world religions for 12 years. Below is a list of subjects and grade levels he is qualified to tutor:

All ages ESL
Pre-K through college level Spanish
Pre-K through college level Bible
Pre-K through college level systematic theology (including Apologetics)
Pre-K through college level philosophy
Pre-K through college level world religion
Beginning Latin
Beginning Music Theory
Beginning Logic
Pre-K through 6th grade general education (with specialties in English, Reading, Writing, and Spelling)
Speech and Debate

With tutoring at a distance,  you choose the subject you’d like your child(ren) to be tutored in.  Josh (Mr. Brisby to the kids =), will then develop a placement test for your child(ren). Then based upon the preexisting knowledge of the child(ren), he will send weekly worksheets via e-mail attachment (the number of worksheets per week depends upon which Track you choose) . Your child(ren) fills out the worksheet as best they can,  and sends it back via e-mail to Mr. Brisby. Through e-mail correspondence,  Mr.Brisby will discuss the graded worksheet, and discuss the answers, as well as how to improve,  with your child(ren). You will also have a weekly phone consultation (duration of consultation depends upon Track chosen) in which either you or your child(ren) can have questions answered and advice given as pertaining to the tutored subject. The phone call will be initiated by Mr. Brisby so you won’t have to concern yourself with the long-distance cost of the call. Consult times are flexible. At the discretion of Mr. Brisby, some subjects may include reading assignments.

Track A includes 3 weekly worksheets, unlimited e-mail correspondence concerning worksheets, and a 45 minute weekly consultation.

Track B includes 2 weekly worksheets, unlimited e-mail correspondence concerning worksheets, and a 30 minute weekly consultation.

Track C includes 1 weekly worksheet, unlimited e-mail correspondence concerning worksheet, and a 15 minute weekly consultation.

Anyone interested may e-mail me at fouratthemoment at yahoo dot com.

Today, hubby and I took the kids on a little drive to my OB appointment, and on the way, Aaron (3 3/4yrs)  looking at the sidewalk next to the van gasps loudly and exclaims, “Mom! Look! Humans!!!”

My appointment went well, I am 29 weeks along and little Isaiah, a.k.a Izzy, is doing great.  I’m a little anemic, so I need to eat more leafy greens.  I’m already looking forward to being done with this pregnancy and holding little Izzy in my arms.  I’m also looking forward to having the option to put him down when I want to. He’s getting really heavy and my back’s been complaining.

Hi Friends,

Would you all mind saying a prayer for Gabe this Monday (well, you don’t need to wait until Monday to pray =)? He has another EEG. It’s just a routine follow-up to last year’s EEG, which of course showed abnormal activity on the right side of his brain (causing the seizure activity).  I have reason to believe that he has been having “silent seizures”.  Maybe this EEG will tell whether he is or not. I’m not sure.

So, Sunday night, we’ll be keeping our sweet 4 3/4 yr old up until midnight, then waking him up at 4am, and keeping him awake until his EEG at 2pm, at which time he’s supposed to take an hour long nap on an uncomfortable bed in an unfamiliar place for the  EEG technician.  Keep in mind that this sweet boy does NOT take naps. He has maybe fallen asleep during nap time all of about 5 times in the last year and 1/2.  But he needs to be asleep for the EEG, and he needs to STAY asleep for an hour. So, prayers are truly appreciated. Please pray that Gabe will fall asleep at the appropriate time, and that he will stay asleep for the length of time needed.

Please pray for me also, because I will be getting as little sleep as Gabriel, and being very pregnant I need my rest =) I will be driving to San Diego (almost an hour commute) while tired. Pray that I will not be irritable with others, and that I will have the energy to drive safely and function well as a wife and mommy.

A few days ago, Josh was wrestling with the kids. He was lying on the couch and Gabe, Aaron and Emmie were all piled up on top of him. It was so fun to watch! Then, Gabe excitedly exclaims, “Daddy! There’s not enough kids on you!”

So I asked Gabe, ” Should Mommy have more babies so more kids can wrestle daddy?”

He grins and says matter-of-factly, “Yes.”

Monday was, of course, Cinco De Mayo. Our family celebrates this with Mexican food (yummy!) and pinatas (sorry, I don’t know how to put the tilde on) filled with candy. We also play Mexican music and just have a great time.

This year we had a friend and his daughter over to celebrate with us. After they left, we all played outside in the backyard while daddy enjoyed a cigar. Emmie (2yrs) came to him with a yellow piece of candy and asked him to open it, so he did. Then he asked her, “Does it taste like lemon?” She said, “Yes.” A few minutes later Emmie came back to Josh and pointed at his cigar and asked, “Does it taste like lemon?”