At the Capitol

I normally don't get into politics or anything highly controversial even on my own blog but the bill being proposed before the Senate is a shocking violation of civil rights and my children and I showed our opposition as well as our support to fellow vaccine injured children by going to the capitol and exercising our first amendment rights.  

In a nut shell, this is the proposal:

"Children who don’t have all 31 recommended shots or a medical exemption on file will be excluded from public school, private school, online/home school and daycare. " 

My own experience with vaccines are this:  Sawyer had a Hep B vaccination (look up the aluminum content and the safe numbers before it is considered toxic!) before he even left the hospital following his birth.  He was a fussy, colicky baby, he lost 10% of his birth weight, and he was failure to thrive (did not gain weight) at his 3 month check up.  When he was 12 months old, he had his normal, scheduled vaccination and within 2 hours, spiked a 104 degree fever.  I called his pediatrician immediately and said, "He is having a bad reaction to one of the vaccines."  She told me, "No he isn't, he caught something at the office, and I will give you a prescription for antibiotics."  She refused to acknowledge that this was a vaccine injury and refused to report it as such, even when I asked her to.  He had a 104 degree fever for 10 days before he started to recover.  It was then and there, that I lost confidence in physicians having the best interest of my child at heart as well as believing that vaccinations were as safe as I was told.  Since then, Sawyer has struggled with chronic allergies (his nose runs constantly), ear infections, has been hospitalized for reactions to viruses (and given IV Benadryl),  gets sicker more severe and for longer than all my other children.  I fully believe that the amount of toxins injected directly into his bloodstream during the development of his immune system accounts for the struggles that he suffers with his health.  And as much as I have guilt about not protecting him, it could be so much worse!!  

My niece suffered 3 seizures and was hospitalized for 3 days at 18 months following a MMR vaccinations.  I remember singing to her as she screamed while a neurologist (wearing ear plugs) attached "things" to her head to monitor her brain patterns and watching my devastated sister in law cry in anguish as she tried to take comfort in my parents, her parents, and my brother.  My daughter's dearest friend had numerous seizures, hospitalizations, and was monitored for a year for development and brain damage due to immunization reactions.  My dearest friend stopped vaccinating after her eldest son suffered vaccine reactions.  Her college roommate (also a friend of mine) is a major proponent of vaccine education following her son's near death experience with a vaccine.  Another friend had her infant brother die of "SIDS" the evening after a vaccination. Another friend, experienced a complete personality change in her son almost overnight following a vaccination. The list goes on.  At the rally, several speakers asked for a show of hands for those who have been or have had a family member who was/is vaccine injured.  Nearly everyone's hand went up.  It is these, who are the most educated (far surpassing doctors), who are the most willing to stand up for our rights, the most willing to invest their time and energy and finances in vaccine education and safety, the most willing to bring to light skewed percentages and the media false hype, the most willing to share their stories, and the most willing to suffer abuse...for the sake of children, their community, and first amendment rights.  

So...what did the day at the Capitol look like?  I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  Tina had appointments set up to share her (and Zellee's story).  We met up with them and I helped them fill out several cards explaining her vaccination injury.  There were vases provided at the desks of all the representatives so that people could drop off the written cards and a flower representing those that had been injured by a vaccination.  I was totally unprepared but I quickly filled one out for Sawyer and got a carnation for him to add to a vase.  Instead of speaking in a room full of people, as I had anticipated, people shared "one on one" with an associate of the Representative since the House was in session.  Sawyer ended up sharing his story (I had about a minute to prep him), I shared, and all of my other children were interviewed while I was in an office with Sawyer (I did not prep them at all but luckily, the previous discussions throughout the week gave them enough to share the opinion that that it isn't fair to force injections upon people who don't want them and that if people choose to vaccinate that is their choice but if people choose to not vaccinate that needs to be ok too).  We sat in on the House session to see legislation in process and then attended the rally.

I was glad for the opportunity to exercise our right to peaceful assembly, to petition against this bill, and to free speech.  Coincidentally, we just happen to be studying the Revolutionary War, and the development of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  Before we left, I read to the children the first 10 amendments to the Constitution and we discussed our rights as citizens of this country.  (How great that I already had several library books on the subject!)

I am thankful to live in this country and to have the rights that I do.  I am also concerned about the trend in this country to increasingly turn those rights over to the government.  I am MOST thankful for the reminder in Daniel of God's sovereignty despite the direction of our country.

Daniel 2:21

"It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding.

Sawyer, ready for tear gas at the protest.  He has strong opinion, that he shares with his father, on our second amendment rights. 

Waiting to speak with an assistant of Representative Winters.

Zellee sharing her story.

The House in session.

Listening...

Protesting bill HB3063

Listening to speaker after speaker share information and statistics.

Lunch and cousin time...it is hard for kids to engage in such lengthy deep topics!  I always hope that the education that I have given my children will encouragement them to research and to learn how to educate themselves, to weigh everything against the Word of God, to focus on prayer, and to make their own decisions based on the leading of the Holy Spirit irregardless of the pull of the World and, frankly, irregardless of their parents (because the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit far surpasses me and Phil).  I want thinkers and lovers of the Word of God!

We went to the library after the rally and saw these deer in a field on the way home.  They are amazing...but I don't want them in my yard eating my plants!  LOL!  And then I took a long nap (which for me is about 30 minutes) and Phil got pizza!