Father's Day and Going Green for Israel

Current: Year after year we have noted a trend and it saddens me: Fathers get insulted on Father's Day, while mothers get patted on the back on Mother's Day.

The whole feel of sermons, news features and even entertainment on Mother's Day is about how wonderful Mom is.  Preachers and Rabbis coo about the virtues of every mother and tell her what a wonderful person she is.  I've yet to hear a sermon that treats Mom in any hint of the way fathers are treated.

On Father's Day the sermons aren't filled with wonderful stories cute stories of sacrifice and devotion.  They are marred with stats of deadbeat dads and single parent households.  Dads are chastised to spend more time with their children and to stand up to the task.  The movies that aired yesterday were of troubled fathers with models of fathers no one would want to emulate like in the movie, "All My Sons."  Even the news features I have watched over the year are guested by those who need to "encourage" fathers to get in the game.  

There was an exception and that was Tim Russert who applauded Big Rus.  Thank you for that. Once in a while I'll hear a lone wolf saluting men on Father's Day, but it is rare.

Is it fear that provokes preachers to only laud  the mothers in the audience and condemn the fathers?  Is it they only hear the bad stories of neglectful dads and righteous mothers?

Or it is that our society is so upside down that few people would challenge the norm?

Do the feminists have their tentacles so embedded in the psyche of America that we accept the lies so readily?

Yes, there are fathers who don't spend enough time with their own children, but then there are mothers also.  It is the "mothers" in our society who kill their own young.  Its called abortion.

When a father kills his own children it makes national news -- abusive father, but mothers kill their babies everyday and people march in the streets to encourage them to do so.

Some people don't believe in a Spiritual World.  But I do, how else could you possibly explain to me how the woman who should give her own life for her child would the one who kills it?  

Mark Twain is attributed of saying that Jews are proof that there is a God.  I'll add that Abortion is one proof that there is a satan.

As we battle against spirits and principalities and not against flesh and blood, we must try to view the world as God does and see the battle lines as drawn.

One of God's best generals is the father in a family.  Of course, the evil side wants the father destroyed, reduced, made fun of (as in most of the sitcoms of today), and lessened.  The evil side can triumph in a family where the father doesn't walk in the power that God grants him.  Children need a strong Dad and many Dads across America are being strong and role models even though their church has been feminized and their society balks them.  

In reality, it is God who empowers and equips.  Since God's Words do not fail, He will continue to empower fathers to be like Himself even if many of his so-called followers bow to the popularity of political correctness and feminists' agendas.  

I salute fathers because God does.  I uplift them in their role because God does.  I pray for them as they battle for their own children against evil forces because God does. Because whatever God does is Good!

Autism:  I applaud my husband as he cares so well for our son, Trent who is 19 and has autism. 

One of Trent's first audible words after he became autistic was "Dad."  It was said with such awe and love that I can still hear it in my mind exactly as Trent spoke it more than 15 years ago. Trent had spoken well with many words as one and two year olds do.  Then he lost all language after his vaccinations.  He only growled, screamed, screeched, and gurgled for so long, I wondered if he could ever speak again. But with love and patience and hundreds of hours of caring therapy, he speaks well now and has many words in his vocabulary.  So, when out of those "bood-a-whahs" and high pitched "ah-yees" came the soft, loving, "Dad" we all cried.  Alan had been on a business trip and had just returned and Trent had missed his beloved father so much that he did the mental gymnastics it took for him to formulate the sounds that make up the word, "Dad." It was a gift to Alan that a million dollars couldn't buy. 

Homemaking and Israel:  This may seem an odd combination, but one way that I support Israel is how I run my household. You see, I don't worship Mother Earth, also known as Gaia.  I worship God and He loves Israel.  He blesses those who bless Israel and curses those who curse Israel.  

It seems now that on the world stage those that curse Israel seem to hold the oil.  And they are trying to cripple our economy by raising their prices.  It seems insane that with each dollar we pay at the pump we are sending money to people who work against us and our allies.  Each gallon of gas fuels anti-semitism. 

I know some people are going "green," for their own reasons.  They are trying to cut fuel costs and fix that hole in the ozone by reducing, reusing, and recycling.  Their motives are their motives.

My motives, on the other hand, align with Scripture.  If I can reduce, reuse or recycle something in my home and it somehow in even a tiny way reduces our funding of Jew-haters, then I'm glad.

Simple ideas:  I combine uses of energy as much as possible.  For example, in addition to using one of the most energy-efficient washers on the planet, I time my bread baking to coincide with my laundry drying.  The heat on top of the dryer helps my dough to rise.  Instead of that heat just making my laundry room hotter, it makes the yeast expand in my bread dough.

It is a mindset.  If you love God, and so Israel, then before you throw something away ask yourself if you could recycle, reuse, or re-thinks its use and if next time you could reduce use of it.

When mega-cooking, I reduce the waste of just cans by 40-80%.  Think for a minute of the number of cans of tuna it would take to equal one mega-can (used in a mega recipe).  How much more metal and processing it takes to contain the same amount of tuna.

• Small can contains  6 ounces of tuna and the can weighs 1 ounce (It would take 12 cans to get at least as much tuna as in a large can.)
  
• Large can contains 66.5 ounces of tuna and the can weighs 9 ounces
  

Just in that one ingredient alone, I saved "the world" the use, processing, and waste storage of 3 ounces of metal.  Seems tiny doesn't it, but it adds up.  And that is just the weight, the actual "trash can" volume is 4 times smaller -- less land fill.

Energy used in processing: The machines that run in the assembly line to fill that amount of tuna, had to run 1/12 the time to fill one can than 12 cans.  I use the can opener one time for one can and 12 times for 12 cans.  

When you apply the idea that everything you do has implications and "voting" power than you tend to look at life differently.  By voting power I mean how we "vote" for or against something with our dollars.  We vote for positive movies like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by buying tickets and helping it achieve box office status.  We withhold our money from movies and causes we don't support.

And as much as I have control over it, I try to withhold our family's dollars from nations who seek to destroy God's Chosen.  I can't withhold all of it because we have to drive, but I can try not to send any more to them than necessary.

Many people have different motives for "Going Green" or saving the planet.  I just want to add the motive of "voting" for Israel and against anti-Semitism.

Have a blessed day!

Mega-Joy in Yeshua,Publish Post

Mrs. Jill Bond

Current News and Autism

Current News, Autism and Homeschooling:  There have been several news stories featured with an "odd man out" theme lately.  A "church" got a restraining order against a family to bar them from attending because their son has autism.  A kindergarten teacher had her students "vote" another student out of the classroom.  Little Alex has Asperger's Syndrome.  A savvy family hearing their son complain about the mean teacher, gave him a recorder so he could prove she was saying mean things to him.  They now have the proof of the verbal abuse from his kindergarten teacher.  Three separate acts, but what they have in common makes me sad and reflective.

Our family has had rough situations where others made zero attempt to understand Trent's condition.  They didn't want him to influence their children or to teach them that non-perfect behavior is acceptable.  What a blessing they missed!

[Trent is now 19 years old and has had autism since his vaccinations at age 2.]

I am so very thankful that we were able to homeschool Trent.  As a family we decided to forgo financial rewards so I could stay home and teach my own children. No one will ever convince me that it was not the best option for each of my children, but especially for Trent.

As I hear the news stories talk about "behavior" problems with these students, I can't help but wonder that if only these people could grasp the simple concept that autism is a condition and that when these children "act out" it is NOT a behavior issue but an autism issue.  Would these same authorities punish a blind child because he couldn't see, or ridicule a mobility-challenged child because she couldn't do jump-n-jacks?  Yet, because of a lack of understanding or compassion, some people expect a child WITH autism to perform just as a child WITHOUT autism.

Often when I am asked to speak to groups or at conferences, I start the presentation with a radio set between two stations so that the conversations are intermittent.  I have a volunteer flash the lights on and off.  I shake hands of the attendees with "sandpaper-like" gloves and have someone occasionally scratch their nails against a blackboard.  Then I begin to teach something complicated.  All this takes less than thirty seconds and I can see the strain on the audience.  I ask them how painful and difficult it was to hear me with all the other noise, lighting issues, and discomfort in the room.  Most say they couldn't take it for even a whole minute.

How then do you think an autistic  child deals with these conditions 24/7.

Trent can hear fluorescent lights -- akin to nails against a blackboard.  He can hear elephants and dog whistles.  He can hear conversations in the neighboring houses.  He can smell the stench of skunks more than five miles away.  You can imagine what a Sunday morning in a church with all the perfumes, hair sprays, and tonics must smell like to him.  He is hypo-tactile.  You know how your cheek feels when the dentist loads it up for an extraction.  Imagine your whole body like that -- not feeling second degree burns until they approach third degree.  Imagine vision that is disjointed like watching life on fifty different TV screens with parts of the picture in each one.  What if your peripheral vision was your dominant vision and your macular was subdominant?  You could only focus on something by looking at it sideways.  Imagine life like this every minute of every day.

Don't you think you might develop some coping techniques?

Every one of Trent's "isms" is a direct result of how autism has affected his senses and mental capacities.  He banged his head to feel something in his numb forehead.  He would hum to himself to help drown out all the noise from the world.  He would repeat and repeat phrases as he tried to learn them and try them out.  He would cry when there were loud noises or sudden commotions.

For years we have done extensive therapies with him.  None of them were behavior modification -- because he doesn't have a behavior problem.  As we addressed each physical manifestation of his condition the "ism" would lesson or in some cases disappear.

For example, once we found out his peripheral vision was his dominant vision -- all his so-called lack of eye contact made sense.  He was looking at me -- just in a manner where I was in focus to him.  We completed years of vision therapy to retrain his eyes so that his straight-on vision is dominate.  That too often noted "complaint" about children with autism not making eye contact -- disappeared -- he sees now with his macular vision as dominate.  I've heard horror stories of therapists working to modify lack of eye contact by giving candy when a child looks forward when told to "look at me" and either being tapped or having a reward taken away when he looks at the therapist from the corner of the eye.  As if it was just a simple issue of telling a child to "look at me" and all the physical issues will disappear.  Admittedly, there are some moments of success as there is a tiny bit of ocular therapy built into the refocusing exercise.  Yet, it is like going from Daytona to Tampa the long way around-- up the Eastern Seaboard, across the Canadian border, down the California coast, across the Mexican border, and looping back around the Gulf Coast.  Isn't it easier to just go across I-4 from Daytona to Tampa directly?  That is what happens when autism is treated for what it is -- a physical issue.  Address the physical issues and many of the so-called behavior problems are lessened.

Does Trent still have issues?  Yes.  But he is a thousand times better than he was and he behaves wonderfully most of the time -- because we have adapted his world, by adapting our world to either adjust to his physical needs or via therapy to help him adjust to our world -- because it is the SAME world.  Just as we would install ramps for him if he was wheelchair bound, we balance our lifestyle to fit his needs.  [More in future blogs]

When Trent was first diagnosed the figure I was quoted was 1:100,000.  Not it is more like 1:150.  That means for an average school 4-5 of their students will have autism.  I think the education community, the Faith community, and the rest of us had better prepare to embrace these wonderful individuals.

You see, Trent is a blessing.  His autism, though severe and life changing, is as much a part of him now as is his complexion and hair color.  He is not disabled.  He is enabled.  Certainly, he lost some attributes when those vaccines changed him, but he gained many characteristics.  I'll write more about this later, but to give you one nugget -- Trent is the happiest person I have ever met.  He has a clarity of purpose and a level of resourcefulness that is superhuman.  I can tell you this, that if you were ever on a deserted island, Trent is the last person you would want to vote off -- he is ingenious when it comes to finding food, figuring how to get to and through things, and he has a prayer life that is truly awesome.

There is quite a bit of discussion about the news stories I lead with, the Internet is full of them.  I don't feel I need to add to the rancor, but I do feel led to pray harder.  Right now, pray for the teachers, the staffs, and those affected by these situations.  Especially pray for the parents and the children.  I know it is easier to rant, but instead, please pray that the next time you come in contact with a person with autism, your own response will be one of compassion, understanding, and love.  I know persons with autism act differently than the "normal" child, but there is a reason. 

Perhaps if I share with you how I introduce or prepare a group of children before they meet Trent it will be helpful.  I ask the children if they ever watch "Heroes," "X-Men," or "The 4400."  Do they remember how Peter Parker changed into Spiderman?  I continue with examples from entertainment until it triggers a memory for them.  I tell them that just the same way, Trent was affected by a shot and he now has superhuman hearing, smell, and sight.  Then I ask them if they know what happens to Superman when he gets near kryptonite.  Do they notice that those who have extraordinary skills also usually have a side effect or weak point.  Then I explain that since Trent has superhuman hearing, he wears high tech earphones to shield him from all the conversations in the buildings around us.  I'll even let a volunteer try his earphones on and he or she usually can't hear a single sound, yet, Trent can hear me whisper to him from across a large room when has them on.  The children think this is cool.  Trent instantly goes from "freak" to hero.  Every time I have introduced him or had the change to set the stage for people meeting Trent, they are fascinated and awed by his gifts and ability to cope.  

So much is in the attitude.  Someone else could have just as easily prepared other students by saying, "You are going to meet someone who is weird and not at all ike us.  He is going to act strangely and might scare you.  Don't get too close.  He's never hurt anyone, but we don't ever know. . ."  It is all in the perception and attitude.  Trent is wonderful and fascinating.  He is different.  But, it all depends on how we look at our world and how we view those who aren't exactly like us.

I do believe we make the world we want to live in.  I choose to live in a world that is loving and compassionate.  So, today, I'm going to make my corner of the world where I have any influence a loving place and I'm starting with me.  I pray for forgiveness for those people in those stories, I pray for healing for the families, and I pray that we can all grow to be more loving through these situations.  Now I'm off to work some more therapies with Trent and to be around the happiest person in the world -- he works like good medicine for may soul. 

May you have a blessed day!

Jill Bond

PREACCH Founder

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May 22, 2008

What an interesting day today!

Mega-cooking: When I mega-cook I make a big mess with all my pots and pans and giant containers.  For clean up I use my mega-dish washer also known as my bath tub.  It works great to use regular dishwasher detergent (low suds) and place the large containers in the tub and then set the whirlpool function for 10 minutes.  All my giant containers get cleaned.  Then I drain and rinse with the spray head on the tub and I saved lots of time and conflict trying to fit those large containers in the kitchen sink.  

This also works well with any other odds and ends (like shelves, boxes, storage containers) from around the house.

PREACCH (Autism): As I recover from another bout of my medical conditions, I find I must get more and more help from Trent (age 19).  It is a double blessing.  As I try to describe what I need him to do, it tests my use of English and patience and it stretches his comprehension.  So, instead of getting frustrated, I'm trying to make it a learning experience for him.  When I am bedridden, he has to get me things. Here's how it works:  I'll ask him to get me a blueberry yogurt.  Now that is all I would have to say to my daughter, but that does not work for Trent.  I have to think through each step (almost as if I was programming a robot and had to break down the task into many steps).  "Trent, go to the small refrigerator (we have two fridges in our kitchen) and look for a small container with blueberries on it."  And as he tries to bring me what I want I could end up with juice, butter, salad dressing or other items as he tries to complete the task.  It can take up to fifteen minutes for him to grasp what I want, trying to use words that he understands.  His learning curve is improving as is his vocabulary.  

It really has made me reflect on how much I just "do things" without thinking of how wonderful it is to be able to complete simple tasks.  I rarely stopped and thanked God that I could get ketchup whenever I wanted it out of my kitchen. Now I realize how complacent I had become about the little things.  Now that I have to rely on others for the simplest tasks, I appreciate all the aspects involved.  Just the fact that I have wonderful refrigerators that keep my food healthy is worth being happy about (today there are many in our own state who have lost their homes to fires, and there are others in our own nation who have lost everything to weather -- then there are the life-changing (for those that survived) events in Burma and China). There is the aspect of thankfulness that someone makes ketchup for us and we don't HAVE TO make it ourselves and that we can afford ketchup.  Of course, I'm just using ketchup as an example, but how many little things in our life are we failing to praise about because we don't stop and reflect.

Well, now I have time to reflect and I'm impressed with how much of a blessing it is.

Again, as application for our children with autism, how often we miss a possible therapy because it is so commonplace or boring.  For example, Trent never could stand yogurt -- he said, "YUCK!" Now even though he thinks it is disgusting, he can now recognize a yogurt container from the fridge -- I might get a different flavor than I asked for, but it is progress.  And with his learning curve improving, he now automatically gets a bowl and a spoon without me having to specifically ask for it as I did the first few times.

Wrap-up: Stop and be thankful for the commonplace items around your home.  Now train your child with autism to do the same and teach him or her a simple task.  Imagine you couldn't get out of bed and he or she had to complete the task.  It helps them grow and it helps you appreciate your life.

Homeschooling: As BK (now 17) is preparing for her senior year in high school, we're drilling for the SAT.  We're going back and reviewing math concepts and vocabulary.  We're working back through Steven P. Demme's Math-U-See program.  I really appreciate the program and his methodical approach to concepts. We have dual enrollment in Florida so she has been working toward her A.A. degree during her high school years.  I'm finding as we prepare for the SAT how much review is important.  Some of these concepts we did years ago. It is so easy to forget rules, concepts, and methods (especially in math).  I'm always eager with new subjects and lessons that I don't review past subjects as regularly as I should have. So, I'm thrilled that we have this summer to take a breather and reflect and review.  Yesterday, we pulled out photographs and they served as wonderful reminders of previous field trips, projects, and tasks.  It was also fun. I'm glad I documented so many of their homeschooling milestones with photos and regret that I didn't do more.

Have a blessed day!