Christmas wish list 2008

Okay, this entry is to satisfy the whims of my family… apparently I am not as good at communicating what I would like for Christmas and my Birthday as they would like.  So I’m solving this little snag (for now anyway) by posting my desires here for everyone, and anyone to find at any given time (I’ll keep it updated, click the title of this entry, and then save it to your favorites).  Also you’ll always find a link to my Amazon wish list on the right, just scroll down a bit.

  • Any kind of cash/money is always welcomed (having debt off our hands is a huge gift and stress reliever)
  • Check out my Amazon wish list
  • Any kind of gift card/certificate to GAP, Buffalo Exchange, Fred Meyer, or other clothing store that has things in my size (that would be Small for shirts, and 31×30 for jeans/pants)
  • More to come.

HPV Immunisation: We don't want the Jab!

Shared by TravisM

This is disgusting, especially the part where he quotes the answers that were given in the presence of the people doing the investigation.

This week marks the second of three HPV immunisation jabs for 11-13 year olds in the UK. HPV is a sexually transmitted disease that can lead to genital warts and cervical cancer. We will be keeping our 13 year old out of school because they jabbed her last time without our consent and despite her not wanting it either. Some of you have been asking about this so here is the skinny.

Question: Can they jab your 11-13 year old daughter without parental consent in the UK?

Answer:Yes. According to the guidance in this Consent To Treatment form that was handed to us at our meeting with the NHS.

Jab-1

Children under the age of 16

Children in this age group are not deemed to be automatically legally competent to give consent. The courts have determined that such children can be legally competent if they have “sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what is proposed”.

. . . The emphasis in the Department of Health’s guidance is that the families of children in this age group should be involved in decisions about their care, unless there is a very good reason for not doing so. If however, a competent child under the age of 16 is insistent that their family should not be involved, their right to confidentiality must be respected, unless such an approach would put them at serious risk of harm.

We don’t have a big problem with that particular law in the UK. In fact, we wish it were followed in our case, especially the parts about families being involved and children being given ‘sufficient understanding’. You may have read our story in my blog or in the national papers. Abigail, who has Type 1 diabetes, did not have ‘sufficient understanding’ regarding this process. She was told to sign a form and she obeyed. She did not know it was a consent form or that she was giving permission to something that neither she nor us wanted. The jab came unexpectedly, taking her by surprise. You can imagine the trauma our family has gone through, especially reading of deaths and injuries young girls have sustained in the USA.

We met with NHS officials after we lodged our complaint. The report from our meeting with NHS arrived yesterday. Pretty disappointing! We were expecting an apology for the coerced vaccination of our daughter and probably some disciplinary action for the doctor involved, but we didnt get either. Instead, their report ruled in their favour. Their conclusion:

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“On the balance of probability: the GP did discuss the issues with Miss Jones :Miss Jones gave consent for the vaccination, which was contrary to her mother’s position.”

We dont agree with this conclusion. Actually, we think it sucks! It makes our daughter into a liar and we firmly believe her story. She is, after all, COMPETENT to explain what happened.

” . . .I believe that on the balance of probabilities Miss Jones clearly did understand the consent form and what she was signing.



6. Recommendations

I believe the report shows that NHS Orkney did seek consent in a correct and proper manner and that all protocols were followed in respect of the HPV vaccination programme.

Its hard to believe they arrived at this conclusion when the report also contains the questions I asked Abigail in their presence at this “fact finding investigation”.

“MrJones asked Miss Jones if she knew she had signed a consent form –

Miss Jones – “No”

Mr Jones asked if she knew what she was agreeing to –

Miss Jones – “No”

Mr Jones asked Miss Jones if she had been asked directly if she wanted the vaccine –

Miss Jones – “No”

My next question and statement [not in their official report] – “Were you surprised when the doctor gave you the injection? Abigail replied “Yes”. Then I turned to the group and said

“So, from our perspective, Abigail was coerced into getting this immunisation.” No one objected or contradicted me. It seemed pretty obvious but I guess that wasn’t reflected in the final outcome.

So here we are – at a stalemate. Debbie is exhausted and worn out. We don’t have any more energy or time to give to this and we are not sure where to go. Maybe its enough to just tell our story here and hope that it helps other families that go through the same situation.

Needless to say, Abigail is staying home from school tomorrow.

unless you become like a child…

Shared by TravisM

This is something that encourages me, the last line says a lot!

8 or so months ago an older couple were having lunch at my restaurant when they happened to mention that they had inherited an orphanage in Haiti, and had no means to feed them. as we sat and talked i realized that something had to be done so i asked a couple of club members, who happened to be waiting on tables, if we should do something. we voted and adopted an orphanage. we had no committees to run it through, no old members to placate. there were no financial balance sheets to reconcile. the kids needed to eat.

so i went to my little group of club members – 30 or so mostly teens and young adults and we talked about what we could do. that saturday we took an “offering” (i hate that word) and the kids got to eat for a month. within a couple of weeks we had 4 months worth of money. the giving never ended. let me assure you, i had very little to do with this. young adults signed over their whole paychecks, others gave 50% or more of their income. it was a marvel to watch.

a couple months later we found out that a local pastor that had been helping ‘our kids’ had died falling off a roof and his body was stuck in the morgue, no money to release it for a funeral. so i told the peeps and that night, on top of the money they already shelled out, they raised $400. there was about 15 teens and young adults, and a few others, there that night.

sometime later we found out that if we could somehow raise $800 bucks in 6 months the kids could have a teacher and books come in and have school. 2 or 3 weeks later we sent the money.

last night a guy from haiti was here and i interviewed him. i asked him what they needed – $200 bucks for more books and approximately $300 bucks for shoes for all 30 kids. i put it out there, we have a month to raise it, and the kids ponied up $680 plus change. i couldn’t get my head around it.

one of the seniors who was visiting last night asked me how i could get young people to give and live so sacrificially. i simply said, “i told them if we don’t give they don’t eat’. i really did nothing else. they are rough and rude, loud and unpolished, authentic and sacrificial.

maybe the problem with today’s youth isn’t that they aren’t committed. maybe the problem is that we haven’t given them anything of value to be committed to.

God Probably Doesn’t Exist.

Shared by TravisM

Hmm interesting thought.

The British Humanist Association, supported by Richard Dawkins and others like Ellis have tried a new method to make their opinion heard that religion is worthless: plaster it on buses in Britain.

At first glance, this may seem horrible. But does Dawkins have a point? What he’s reacting to are the religious posters that say things like, “Repent! Or go to hell!”

The full slogan says: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

Who knows what the affect would be. People are getting so cynical of advertising in general…. Why not post something like that? Will it really matter either way?

      

Trip debrief – finally

So I’m finally able to relax a bit, nothing is planned for tonight and I’ve done enough thinking and processing about our trip that I can finally put most of it into words.  In general I feel good about it, we spent significant time with people, creating new relationships, building up our existing ones, and ministering to our closest friends there.  Overall this was the most exhausting trip for Alexis and I, due to the fact that on most days we got up at 6am and didn’t get to bed until around 10pm.  We were getting up so early because we had about a 45 minute commute (via Bus and Tram) to the language school, which was from 9:30 to 2pm each day.  While we were in school the rest of our team tried to meet up with people (not very successfully), prayed for the city and churches, and explored possible future neighborhoods for us.

Speaking of language school, now that we’ve taken nearly a week break, we know we need to get back to studying – and hopefully, God providing, taking private lessons from the director of the Polish school here in Portland.  The course was very intensive and at times frustrating, however, I think we learned the concepts and with some review, and diligence on our part, God will help us get the fundamentals in our head.

Over the course of our first week we came up against some not so explainable health issues, on the first day Alexis got sick to her stomach on the tram to school, so much so she felt she was going to faint, instead she threw up.  Unfortunately the only thing she had to throw up into was Emma’s blanket, the rest of our fellow tram passengers didn’t offer much help, either because they didn’t know how, or the language barrier froze them, or both.  Eitherway I found myself a bit upset that no one offered any help – all I could do was pray, so that’s what I did.  By the time we were at the school Alexis felt better – one of the most stressful moments of my life I think!

Then on Tuesday (I think) Charis got sick (our friend who came to help watch Emma while we were in school) and threw up all night long.  After some prayer with her home-stay host she was able to sleep in, Aris and Brandon took over Emma duty that day at school and by the afternoon Charis joined us.  By then we knew something wasn’t quite right, because there wasn’t really anyway to explain these mysterious sicknesses.  The saga continues with me getting a very strange cramping in my stomach all day Thursday, Brandon getting a nasty head-cold also on Thursday, me having cramps again on Saturday, Aris with a migraine, and when Corey and Jenise joined us on Saturday, Corey got pretty sick around their second day as well.  Through prayer and endurance we didn’t miss what God called us to do, learn the language and build relationships.

In spite of all the sickness thrown at us, and some communication mishaps, God confirmed over and over and through multiple people that the Polish people, our friends, and those that we hardly know, are encouraged, excited, and ready to have more people in Kraków to work in God’s kingdom.  Our commitment to learn the language in advance of our move has spoken volumes to the Poles – and over and over we heard “the single biggest sign that God is calling you here is that he has opened the door for you to learn Polish and you are doing it” – many other missionaries in times past have not taken this important step.  Not to compare ourselves, but to contrast the difference in preparation that we feel God is very specifically asking us to do.

Enough of me blabbering – Brandon has some great photos up on facebook, below are the public links (you don’t need Facebook to see them).

 

Kraków

Frankfurt

Nowy Targ

Poland Day 5

Poland Day 2

Poland Day 1