Teaching Chastity

I've actually wished out loud that none of my daughters be drop dead gorgeous. I fear the trouble that comes with being pursued by young men. I want worth to be defined from within for my girls. It's not impossible to teach to beautiful girls it's just harder.

Ryan and I have discussed the fact that the church's teachings of chastity clearly fall short. Teaching that everything sexual is evil and needs to be avoided at all costs not only isn't working but isn't really accurate and leaves some young people confused when they get married and suddenly aren't supposed to see sex as evil. We didn't know what was the right way though. It's such a difficult thing to have to teach to teenagers. There is no church handbook on the subject and so bishops and Young Women's presidents are left guessing.

Today I read a very interesting article on this very subject. It is mostly about teaching Young Women but I think she hit the nail on the head pretty well. Read it here

There are many notable things said in this article but here is one of my favorite quotes

"Some might say it's a shame she was conceived in sin, a shame that Amy failed to keep her personal temple holy. But I believe the shame is not so much what girls like Amy do, but why they do it. And I believe it's a shame we collectively bear, the shame of creating a world where too many women opt to trade sex for power because they don't see any other convincing options. All of humanity suffers every time a woman, young or not, uses her body not to express herself, but to secure a self; not to feel pleasure, but to gratify another's; not to share love, but to barter for it."

Deep in thought

I have a cold... I despise it. Kevin has a cold too. I find myself exhausted but unable to sleep so rather than continue to lay in bed alone with my thoughts I decided to get up and write them down. Possibly an unwise decision.

The theme of my thoughts can be summed up by Mark Twain...

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."

I'm finding myself in the minority more often these days and it's a strange phenomenon. To feel like if you choose to speak your mind you have to thoroughly defend yourself and even if you do have a strong defense you may still risk being mocked and written off as crazy. Often the best solution is to just keep your thoughts to yourself. Yet this isn't my style... I always put all my thoughts out there for people to consider so I hate having to keep quiet for fear of judgment.

So here is my blog about my minority ideas... it may ruffle some tail feathers so if you want yours to stay unruffled, don't read. I'm very non confrontational so this is scary to me.

The purpose of this blog is not necessarily to get you to join me in my thoughts but to possibly get you to open your mind to the idea that maybe the majority isn't always right. How many times in history has the discoverer of a new great idea been written off and black balled for his idea which is contrary to current beliefs only to be proved right in the future?

It all started with natural birth. I was shocked at how unacceptable it was to people that I didn't get an epidural with Kaylee. It was then that I realized that if you were going to do something against the majority you better be prepared to defend yourself so I wrote my research paper on the topic.

I am not an epidural hater. I am aware that plenty of women get them and have minimal side effects. it is the ignorance with which some people get them that I hate. I wish people would understand their side effects then decide if it's best for them. Of course I, like anyone else, like the idea of easier childbirth. I'm just not willing to take on the risk of a potential land slide towards c section and other problems, but if someone knowing the risks decides it's still worth it then that is fine.

A girl in one of my classes last semester actually started going off on how some women actually believe that natural birth is best and that she thinks that epidurals are god's gift to women... that got me fired up. Bringing god into the equation as if he accidentally made us wrong so he had to later give us drugs to make up for it! I attempted to politely inform her that what she said was ignorant... ok so I just yelled the word ignorance from across the room LOL. The teacher then gave me the floor to further speak. (It was a discussion based class in which we were allowed to present opposing ideologies. I'm usually more respectful than that.)

The next topic is one I mentioned only briefly in the past. This is the one where the claws come out for most people. Vaccinations... Trust me I know the other side because I've been on it. Ryan was once adamant about how enraging it was for parents to leave their children un vaccinated. We were totally in the camp that believed that the only reason people left their kids un vaccinated was because of that doctor who linked it to autism and we did all the research on why he was "wrong" . Kaylee received her shots in the hospital like every other kid and also received some of her well baby shots too.

However being the open minded person that I am I decided one day that it was time to know the other side so that I could be sure I was making a well informed decision. I started with one video that really just said there is no real research on the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Since that day I have read many articles on the topic and have been very surprised by my findings. Let me share some of the compelling things I have found.

I know what you are thinking... Stacey, vaccines are the reason horrible diseases are gone! Now consider this...


As we humans began to have access to better nutrition and also started to have better hygiene diseases began to die out on their own. Similar graphs exist for all major diseases.

This particular graph was part of a very interesting article which if you are interested can be read here

What I have found most interesting is the fact that it's not just a bunch of fanatical celebrities who are fighting against vaccines, it is doctors who have seen too many patients have problems directly following the administration of vaccines. The things they are taught in medical school stop adding up and some doctors start asking questions.
There is so much more depth involving money, real risks, vaccinated children being the ones catching diseases in all these recent outbreaks and more but I'll leave you with the small amount of information I've already presented.

The last thing that I've been thinking about a lot lately is not so much something I've researched or feel strongly about, but just something I found rather interesting that I'd love to have others know about. This is a documentary I recently watched about a guy who has found a more successful cancer treatment who is being fought by the FDA because pharmaceutical companies don't want to lose their money on chemo and radiation. Now I know that documentaries are pretty one sided and this feels like a real conspiracy theory if I just explain it to you but they do a pretty good job of showing you real documentation of all the things they are presenting. This is a full length movie so you must have some free time to watch it, but it can be viewed for free and today is the last day to do so. In 12 days it has had 466,000 views. Enjoy.

Burzynski: Cancer Is Serious Business from BurzynskiMovie on Vimeo.

Patience...

Patience is not my strength... Ryan recently interviewed for a job in Sandy. He also has an interview for a job in Burbank, CA on the 29th. I hate not knowing if one or both or neither of them will offer him a job. Also if he gets both how do we decide and if he gets offered the one before we know about the other, then what? He's got a pretty impressive resume for both but it's this sitting around waiting and not be able to make definite plans that grates at me.

It's not just about these jobs either. Ryan can tell you that I don't like variables. Never have handled them well.

Just wanted to get this off my chest. Once I know more I will definitely be blogging more.

Bridal Veil Falls

I just figured out why they call it Bridal Veil Falls... It's white and gets wider as it goes down. :)

So Saturday Ryan wanted to do a day hike up past Sundance. Kelly got to the trail before us and heard that it was still muddy from all the melting snow so we decided to just meet at a park down near the bottom of the Canyon and walk up to Bridal Veil Falls. If we had known that was the plan we could have taken a stroller on the paved path but we carried the kids anyway.

You are not supposed to face them out on your back but I did it anyway and he seemed ok with it.

Kelly was a huge help in getting Kaylee up the hill and I think there is no way we could have survived that other hike without him. She loves her uncles! We had fun sticking our feet in the cold water and getting a little outdoor exercise.