pretty bummed

i have been following the story of this 16 month old little boy named ethan powell and praying daily for his healing. yesterday morning he died. he had a rare form of leukemia but beat all kinds of odds by surviving as long as he did. he actually died of a virus that his body was unable to fight because his immune system was completely depleted. it's just a heartbreaking story and so so hard to pray fervently for healing and then learn of his death. he was the only child of 2 young parents (i believe only 25-26 years old).

anyway- i just have come in contact with the real hurt and pain that you make yourself vulnerable to when you sincerely pray healing for a person. i have been following this little boy's story since june of 2007. i knew when i began following the story and praying for him that i had 2 choices: 1. say a passing prayer for him, but avoid reading the updates so that i wouldn't have to see anything sad, or 2. start following the updates and praying for him despite the potential for getting hurt. part of me really wanted option number one because this little boy was very close in age to kian and i wouldn't be able to separate myself from any sad news. the other part of me knew that i had to choose option 2 because if this was my sweet kian i would want every possible person to dedicate themselves to praying for his healing. it is just hard living in a "not yet" world where we cannot and will not understand everything that happens. in the process, we open ourselves up to pain and suffering because we know that this life is about community and sharing in the joys and pains of others. but man...it's hard. there is definitely part of you that wants to avoid truly loving anyone so that you can avoid the pain of ever losing them.

i'm just reminded that this call to social justice is not a simple one. it's not a matter of giving a little here and there, but avoiding the outcome so that you can avoid any sad news. it is a matter of opening up our lives and our hearts. it provides the opportunity for great great joy...and for immense pain. i feel like i was able to get a glimpse of the heart of God. jesus chose to become fully man and open himself up to joy, pain, loss, heartbreak. it was a choice he made without any credence given to what it would cost him. it just really makes me think, are we ready to choose the kingdom despite the cost? i'm glad i can share this with you guys.

vaccines

see the excerpt of an article below. i'm not condemning anyone for delaying vaccines...i'm just highlighting a different voice from the ones currently being heard. people say that researchers have financial interest in the vaccines that are "causing" autism. what about all of the people who have million-dollar lawsuits in the system right now pending evidence of a link between autism and vaccines? all i'm saying is that it is really easy to think "why do we even need vaccines?" because we have never lived in a society plagued by any of these epidemics. i'm certainly not excited about seeing any kids "go blind from measles, or deaf from mumps." everyone's got to make their own decision...i'm just not basing my decision on what jenny mcarthy says. (for all who don't know...she is one of the most vocal in this debate because her son has autism and she sent out a letter from the autism community to parents encouraging them to challenge the government on this issue)

taken from the washingtonpost.com
"People who don't vaccinate their children are putting them at risk, as well as kids who can't be vaccinated" because they have cancer or other medical problems, Wexler said. "This is about protecting yourself and protecting your community."

Once accepted without question as a parental responsibility, immunization has lost the urgency that used to propel it, Wexler and others say, in part because mass vaccination has been so successful.

Most parents have never seen or heard of children who went blind from measles, deaf from mumps or suffered overwhelming infection from other childhood diseases such as haemophilus influenza.

Some of the skepticism about the need to vaccinate is attributable to what many health officials say are persistent unsubstantiated myths about childhood vaccines that circulate on the Internet: that the dangers of vaccines outweigh their benefits, that they cause autism and other serious ailments or that they encourage promiscuity.

Much of the controversy has swirled around mercury, which was once used as a preservative for the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella known as the MMR.

"The MMR controversy did a lot of damage and made people scared of vaccines," Wexler said.

A study by public health researchers from Johns Hopkins, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in October, found that states that permitted personal belief exemptions had significantly higher rates of pertussis infection than those that did not allow them.

Memorial Day Weekend

Hi everyone. Some of you know about this already, but we thought it would be fun to get a cabin in Hocking Hills for memorial day weekend. Tony looked into it, and they have a 3 night requirement because it's a holiday weekend which is dumb, but there's nothing we can do about that. The one he was looking at sleeps 8, but since we only know of 7 so far that are interested, we figured the cost based on 7...which comes to $150 a person. We would still love to do this, but we need to know what everyone else feels about it so we can reserve the thing asap before someone else snatches it up. Hope to hear from you soon.
hugs,
Sandy