Transplant Miracles

The thought that perhaps games on the internet, casual browsing, or creating an artistic masterpiece was more annoying than enjoying this evening is because there is something else that is gnawing away at my attention. There is a young woman who is recovering from a transplant tonight as well as another recovering from donating a part of herself to that young woman. It is one of the most amazing stories of friendship and human kindness. Some might say a coincidence, in this story we are going to refer to this as a miracle, because to this writer it seems nothing short.

If your from the Tucson area, you may be familiar with the story as it has been aired on KGUN news. Or you may have read a blurb written by the patient herself. It wouldn’t be at all surprising if you knew her or her friend as they literally have hundreds of friends. Out of respect I will not name the patient or her donor even though they have appeared on the news as it seems insensitive to me at this time.

Last year a 20 year old suffered renal failure. By the time she sought medical attention and was hospitalized her kidney’s only had 10% normal functioning left. They also discovered a few days after having admitted her that she had developed aneurysms on her kidneys and had begun to bleed internally. She was taken into surgery and the aneurysms repaired, dialysis naturally begun, and a surgery to install a shunt into her arm was not far behind. It’s odd how that is all said in a sentence or two, but the nightmare of her illness was drawn out over a period of months from the onset of her illness to her release from the hospital.

Upon her release she went to live with her friend she has known for a few years as she would be needing to be transported a good distance three times a week to and from dialysis and to see her doctors. All in all she took to dialysis as well as could be expected and rebuilt her health over the next months. But more importantly she built her spiritual strength and belief in Jesus Christ as a result of the exposure to church and the gospel as a result of the family that took her in. Their love, examples, and way of living had a tremendous influence on her life and she was baptized and accepted the Lord.

Her doctors continued preparing her for a transplant that she would need to have. What is so miraculous about this story is not only did the family that took her in and had such a profound affect on her life but their daughter, her friend, also became the donor of that kidney she needed so desperately just one year later. There had been talk of having multiple living donors donate their kidney to others thus making way for a trade off when a kidney match came along. But that didn’t prove necessary in this case. Her friend was an excellent match.

The likelihood of any of her friends actually being a match was slim. But for it to be this girl, who had already done so much, giving her a home and a safe harbor where she could grow in her Christianity. A place where she could feel secure about her medical needs being met during that year. That the two of them tonight are recovering from a successful surgery and in the Lords care is all to His glory.

 Happy Birthday, so long ago, and alas good bye my very dear friend.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart Karla for sharing these treasures from our past.  It is great to be able to share them on Rick;s Birthday in honor of his life and the friendship we all shared.

4 dear friends between pictures
I loved you all so much.

Another birthday, not ours, another
 lifetime ago.

From this day forward I am a vegetarian!

                                                                                                                   

It has never been something I was proud of.

Eating meat that is. It’s understandable that

people do, humans are carnivorous. Very

carnivorous and very predatory.  But God , regardless of what I feel about it, gave us the animals to have for food and companionship, sport, work helpers, whatever. And they serve us well always happy to see us and bouncing around at the thought of going out to work for us. In exchange we are to be their keepers. Meaning we are responsible to over see their lives and assist them in comfort and safety. In exchange for a friend, companion, worker, protector, babysitter, guardians of our livestock, they give us transportation on their backs, pull our plows, and the list just goes on. In reality is there a species of animal that has not at some point been willing to allow us to train them to do what we want so we could profit?

For this it is my stand that not only is it questionable that we eat them, it is also mandatory in light of that fact that we at the very least provide them with nothing less than A-1 humane treatment at all times. We are not savages that don’t care what they do to other living beings in the process of killing them for food. We know the difference between right and wrong. We know the slaughter yards are in no way a peaceful humane way for an animals life to end.  Yet because it is a financially feasible means for us to accomplish our purpose, we allow it to continue. That’s hard enough to swallow but then when you hear reports of the hideous things that happen from time to time to those animals at the  hands of some out of control psycho having a bad day? Yet we do nothing essentially. Now we all know if our neighbors did something like that to their dog or cat, they would be on their way to jail. So what I hear us saying is that as long as it’ is for food, its perfectly acceptable to be less than human. Behave with callous brutality because we’re eating this anyway. Doesn’t that seem extremely contrary to everything we know about life, animals, and this planet that we share.

We have learned over the decades through errors that have been of magnanimous proportions in the pursuit of progress. We have tapped the earth  more than once of another eco source to the point of no return. That living species will never again walk the planet. Our children will not know what it was like to share our lives with those animals living free and protecting the existence and balance of our planet.Our greed and lack of respect for other living creatures has already started a planetary decline that is certain to continue becoming the end of life as we know it on earth. We have left a legacy that guarantees not only will our children not see those marvelous creatures, our children's children will probably be the first generation to begin the decline of our species. They will have friends that die as a result of ecological imbalance.

As if that were not enough to stop the madness and find another solution to stop mass murdering to feed our populations.But we don’t, we continue to find ways of being cruel to these creatures to ;line our pockets and feed out bellies. And the irony of the situation is that commodity we brutally murder thousands  everyday for is actually responsible for multiple diseases and health issues that  exist within us today.No matter how cold you want to be or how practical and strong you see your choices, your guilty of animal cruelty. Like it or not. Give yourself time to consider this. If you are eating from the wealth of the kill, your just as guilty as if you’d done it yourself. And what ever happened to that animal in the name of food, if you put it in your stomach it becomes part of you. Once you have allowed that animals suffering to bind with your body, you may as well have been the one that shot him full of steroids, fed him a high sugar and fat diet his whole life.. Restricted his ability to move around and exercise or play. You know it’s hypocritical to allow veal to be raised the way that it is and then turn around and support the effort by ordering it at dinner.

All of these things might be minimally acceptable or forgivable if we didn’t at the same time arrest others who abuse animals but don’t eat them.We all know that to do nothing to change a wrong, is the same as doing it ourselves. If we know and do nothing to change the suffering, we too become predatory animals and give it our seal of approval. Well now we’ve found a whole new way to be cruel. The chocolate that the candy companies usually throw away because it is no longer considered fit for consumption is now part of the good grains and corn that cattle are being fed. That’s right, American cattle is now on a full time diet of chocolate. It might sound like a treat at first. But put that smart head of yours into action. Think of the health problems that will cause those cows that don’t get to exercise.  Remember the last time you ate to much chocolate?  The rancher naturally was very excited about how fast his cattle would be putting the pounds on now. I am sorry but that’s just one time to many that I have seen assaults on animals in ways that are as cruel and thoughtless as the world can be. All you need to do is look into the eyes of an animal and you know there is nothing cruel or evil there. Their eyes are full of love and a trust in life that we could all learn from. So today I pledge to be true to my convictions and become a little less hypocritical. Today I am  becoming a vegetarian.

 

 

 

Sharing emotions openly

It isn't always an

easy thing to be

open and let the

world know how

your feeling.  It can

be a real challenge. When entertaining and writing 

what you hope is witty 

and insightful (in your 

own dumb blonde kinda

way) getting writers block

is a real nuisance.  So 

turning to Google search

looking for the answer I typed in 'give me inspiration'. And as usual the

answer was there.  At  http://givemeinspiration.net/inspire-me/ I read a

blog that didn't necessarily offer inspiration, not the sort you'd imagine.

But it did have some very important words for someone lacking their

own words to write.

What I took from that blog was a deeper understanding of why it gets

so difficult to do what you love doing. Blogging, writing of any kind for

that matter requires an emotional openness and willingness to bleed openly  for all to see. So lesson learned, instead of hiding from this page 

I need to remember that if I cannot share openly without concern then

this entire page is a fluke. I began this page to share and encourage 

others to share as well. If I am unwilling to be anything less than open 

with you how can I expect anyone to ever open up to me.  So promise to

myself again like I said in my New Years Resolution, I am going to write at least once a week.  So on that  'nuff said. 

Mom is all about high tech

  You know your not doing your job keeping up with the latest innovations when your 73 year old mother knows more about 'that what'cha call it pad that Google is coming out with'. After my stripping myself bare illustrating how little I knew with that bright statement she emailed me in less than 10 minutes providing articles on the Google Nexus 7 from very reputable sources and innocently asks, "is this what you were talking about?" It's really amazing when you start to see your parents in such a different light. Not only is she more adept in technical area's she is light years ahead of me with her common sense and people insight. She is without a doubt that same sweet loving little gal she always was, but the curtains are pulled back on a whole new dimension exposing a side she had hidden. She's a tower of strength, smart like a fox, and I wouldn't want to be the unsuspecting fool that might try to challenge her intellect. Have any of you experienced similar insights to your parents persona's? Or is this something that most people are just aware of instead of awakening to it one day late in life? 

Doves silence gunfire

God's messengers, or simply

 a winged spectacle?

**Killing Spree Comes to a halt** 

Somewhere in the middle east yesterday literally hundreds of people stop during the shelling to 
watch in 

amazement at huge flocks of doves flying in.

 There  seems to be some controversy over yesterdays amazing bullet stopping display of white winged creatures that flew directly into the line of fire without the slightest concern for safety. Amazingly as soldiers lay bleeding in the streets along with innocent civilians who fell pray to the Taliban's total disregard for human life in this recent show of blood lust. The attack was directed at American soldiers, this in retaliation for the anthrax labs our troops destroyed earlier this week.

The shelling had just started hitting and wounding over 45 civilians and American soldiers along with an additional 7 fatalities when a huge or perhaps multiple flocks of white doves descended into the area seemingly from out of no where. With gun fire and machine gun sounds blazing; in total lack of concern for their own well being these doves who's nature is to flee from gun shots flew directly into the area under fire with an obvious purpose in mind. What that was remained to be seen and understood, however the unusual display had everyone including the Taliban silent and awe struck. This cease fire lasted until long after the birds had finished what they had to do and left the scene. In fact this day I can tell you in that same neighborhood, it has been silent and all fighting at least for now seems to have ended.

In the midst of confusion from the sudden break out of gunfire followed by the visitation of the doves, not everyone noticed what these winged creatures were doing. Observing them created further confusion as surrealistically they each found a victim, either wounded or passed, and collected something from that person. Whether it be dog tags or strips of their uniforms that had been shred by flailing bullets. Once the birds had satisfied what seemed to be a treasure hunt of sorts they one by one flew off again disappearing just as mysteriously as they appeared.

This morning began when Homeland Security Agent Dan Bergman announced "We intend to find out if this is an elaborate hoax, and I guarantee you if it has been we will pursue legal action to the fullest extent." Upon that he retreated from the camera's and refused to answer any further questions. Learning from the buzz at the virtual water fountain a flock of mysterious doves had flown in under observation of our radar from overseas. It was said that these birds seemingly on a mission were almost destroyed for fear of what that mission may have represented. However their first stop clearly defined a mission of peace and disband any plans of destruction on the part of the US military services.

On this first visit they made here on American soil they stopped at the home of Virginia Whetland where they left the dog tags of her son, James Whetland. James had been one of the victims in the shooting spree yesterday. Curious government officials had the travel route of these doves closely monitored and will continue until they return to a more normal pattern. So far they have been observed leaving remnants of fallen soldiers from yesterday in the yards and on the porches of the soldiers families. No one has been able to explain how or why these birds gathered to take on this strange mission of delivering death messages nor is it clear how they would know where these men and women's loved ones could be found.

**This story was written and created in the mind of ToniAliceRusher in the spirit of Orson Wells War of The Worlds and should be understood to be totally ficticious.** In hopes of Peace, thank you.

Google Official Blog has new G+ page

Our lives are based on opinions and beliefs
Our opinions and beliefs on personal
perceptions.

We all know how completely efficient I am with copy and pasting links, widgets, snippets, and anything else that you can't draw or paint in. We just covered that subject last night. Well, seems Google Blogger is getting warmed up with the rest of us to the idea of Google + to the point they would appreciate a circle add from the rest of us. No problem, official blogger you have done me right more than once I'd love to. Now, can you please go and do it for me, or send me a little square with your name and picture on it that I can drag and drop in my circles because it would seem I have perceived certain things in technology to be over my head, therefore, until I can work through this, they are. I even pre-post apologies to my stream in advance in case I wind up posting the same thing two or three times. Now I know there is nothing to post to put blogger in my circles, but I get so turned around with this whole thing still that I had my lease posted to my Google + Picasa web albums the other day. A few weeks ago it was my drivers license. Anyone else find they are techno junkies on the left side of unwell? So anyway.....Here's a link to their new page. And blogger I promise you will get added, just as soon as I get it figured out!!  Google Official Blog On G+

Moving on

I gotta tell you when windows close doors open it's true, but do they have to be constantly revolving? Started a job as a tech support customer service person this month and thought I would love it. However, despite passing the training class final with a score of 100% I cannot even begin to take calls in that department. I have no idea what to do after I take the call. Sure, I know bits and pieces and as the instructor said they can't teach us everything in a two week period. Still I have really high standards when it comes to customer service. I won't get on a phone and jerk  a customer around like that when I know that I don't even know how to find the answer. Most jobs if the training doesn't cover everything you need you can still get out there and perform the main function of resolving a customer issue. In this position, I literally had not clue one. So the end result is that the doors have blown open again. 

SPCA needs our help to bring them home!

Started my page helping the US. soldiers bring home animals that they have rescued. It's the least we can do to help our armed forces who give their lives for us. Even $5.00 can help. Whatever you can do, start a page yourself, whatever is within your reach. These animals are in need of our help and so are the guys wanting to see these dogs come home. I tried to paste the widget but we all know how good I am at that by now. UGH. Here's the URL in case it doesn't work.
Help them come home!!

If it feels good do it!

What makes it all worthwhile for you?

They say the best things in life are free. Free IS GREAT BUT I'd RATHER FEEL GOOD ABOUT ME THAN GET ANYTHING FREE.  The types of things that this blog is about are doing things that might require some self discipline or at the very least a little effort on the part of the person seeking self respect.

Just like anything else feeling good about yourself has a cost. But you totally do not have to suffer and toil for long hours doing things you would rather die than do just to gain some esteem. doing things you love can bring the same inner reward. Whatever it is that you love doing, you know that one one activity that you'd almost rather be doing than anything else in the world on a 24-7 schedule, that activity can be the best builder of self esteem available.

You don't have to be a professional, you don't even have to earn money doing it. But what you do have to do is devote lots of time to it. forget watching TV, forget all those other 'relaxing' things you use to do. get back up and start living and creating or researching, whatever it is that tickles your fancy. but do it with an earnest for learning more about it. do it as if your every hope and dream were tied up into this activity. when you approach a subject with that kind of tenacity and you are unwilling to accept anything less that the best you've got, you'll be feeling great about yourself and your accomplishments before you know it.

Illness, management, and recovery, a physicians guide recently published an article from the i.M.r. instructing physicians to keep their patients focused on their goals and accomplishments. utilizing the reward and self fulfillment and sense of pride as a motivator for continued developments toward recovery. there's an article in this months on line publication from s.a.m.s.a. that covers this. here's the URL if you want to read more:  http://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content/SMA09-4463/PractitionerGuidesandHandouts.pdf