Love and War...

Is the name of the new book I am reading. It is by John and Stasi Eldredge who wrote Wild at Heart and Captivating. It is excellent so far, although I am only on CH.3. Did you ever notice that the Bible begins and ends with marriage? This book is about marriage...here is a taste:

"Without you, your spouse will not become the man or the woman that God intends him or her to be and the Kingdom of God will not advance as it is meant to advance. Your spouse plays the most vital role in your life. You play the most critical role in your spouse's life. No one will have a greater impact on your spouse's soul than you. No one has greater access to your spouse's heart than you. This is an enormous honor...
Being married costs you everything. Tears. Nights of sleep. Incredible vulnerability and sacrifice. It causes you to take a deeper look inside your heart and soul, your desires and your personality. It hurts. It is not easy. But that does not come as a surprise to you. You already know that!
Of course loving costs everything-look at the Cross. But loving is always worth it."

"Love one another sincerely, from the heart." 1 Peter 1:22

"Beloved, let us love one another." 1 John 4:7

Movies

I watched The Town last night with Casey; he and my brother saw it in the theatre and really liked it. Casey's really liking one of the actors that was also in The Hurt Locker. So, I saw it last night finally. It was good but I find myself not offended by violence or language. The weird thing is that I find myself in despair for this young woman who is a drug addict with a 2 year old. I can barely watch the scenes with her in them. It isn't that the actress is super riveting. It's just a pain in my heart everytime I see children who have to be raised by people that can't even hardly take care of themselves. Or are put in horrible circumstances and I think about how that child just doesn't have a chance. I had to stop watching this one movie called Winter's Bone because I just couldn't take it anymore. I think sometimes the stories are worthwhile it just overwhelms me with grief and helplessness. At least I think that is why I can't watch.

I'm always reading...

And so I learn things I wish I didn't. Lately, like since I had Jack I have done more reading about food, food additives, and the like. It has always been something that fascinated me. I believe because of my Mom's 'mysterious' disease. It is hard to live with someone who is slowly withering away and can't stop it and no one who is 'trained' knows why. I know people who get MS and things like it have more answers today and more alternatives for care; which I am glad about. But it doesn't stop me from reading because I know things are out there that I don't know and probably should.

Which brings me to the purpose of this post...to share what I have learned about a particularly horrific chemical in A LOT of food and drinks. Aspartame. If you drink anything diet...you put this seriously poisonous (not exaggerating) chemical in your body. It is what makes all the alternative sweeteners like NutraSweet and Splenda. It is in all or mostly all things that are labeled 'sugar free'. Basically what I learned is that it was so deadly that it was denied by the FDA for over 16 years before finally getting pushed through by Donald Rumsfeld. Aspartame turns to a neurotoxin once heated to more than 86 degrees Fahrenheit...and we all know our bodies average 98.6. It produces formaldehyde at this point and formic acid-the venom of ant stings. All the research I have done basically states it causes brain damage in babies, infertility in adults, seizures, tumors, and cancer. They knew all this and that is why it took so long to get it cleared. There was even a lawsuit against the company-that Rumsfeld was CEO of-that created it for several years. There are known cases of it interacting with all antidepressants and other psychotropic agents, hormones and insulin.

There is a book called Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic
There are lots of resources out there for information on aspartame; here are a couple of sites.

Dr. Louis J. Elsas on phenylalanine: htt://www.dorway.com/dr-elsas.txt

Dr. H.J.Roberts and aspartame interaction: http://www.wnho.net/aspartame_interacts.htm

Please just tell all the people you love to stop putting Aspartame in their bodies and the people and children they love. It is deadly and dangerous. This is very avoidable and I want everyone I love to avoid it like the plague. Read your labels!

IT'S A BOY!

We are very excited! Now we have two of each! Jack is beside himself with anticipation of sharing his room and having a brother. I can't wait for this little perfect (so far) person to come. Four more months...it's really not that long. I am looking forward to digging out all of the cute boy clothes and seeing what we have. I am looking forward to 'nesting' in the boys room and making it all fit. There all of the sudden seems like a lot to do before he arrives. I also discovered that part of the package with the midwife includes 5 massages! Yeah, so I have one following my next appointment. I will try to save one for the very end when I am miserable with extra weight. So far that hasn't really been a problem; I think I have only gained like 10 pounds. Which is good because I was up a little already!
But I am sure that we will be ending school a little early-basically when he comes and just doing the testing that needs to be done after we are settled in a little bit to having four kiddos. Daisy apparently secretly wanted another brother. I find that a little hard to believe but we'll go with it. All the kids were at the ultrasound which was really fun. Everything was perfect and I measured at exactly 22 weeks. Now Casey and I just have to agree on a name. I already pulled out the baby name book.

Casey's books

Casey and his brother wrote and illustrated a book. Most of you already knew this but you can purchase them on Amazon! If you type in "Mighty Mike Builds a Nature Trail" it should pop up. Then if you click on Casey's name under the title all the books will come up. No one has reviewed them so far, which I think is good for Casey. However, I just wanted to put it out there for people to know that they were available for purchase. I am really proud of him and think he did a great job. He is trying not to freak out about work coming in these days now that Christmas is over. It is testing both of us to have faith.