Stem Cells

This is important information! It breaks my heart to read about the millions of babies that are murdered at the beginning of their lives. I've shared many more articles via Google Reader. Check them out.
This article is from BreakPoint Commentaries written by Chuck Colson.

Miracle Cells

The Real Success Stories

Many who listened to President Obama’s inaugural address believe he means to spend taxpayer money on research that destroys human embryos. Before he does, I hope somebody brings to his attention the story I’m about to tell.

A few years ago, a Texas teenager named Laura Dominguez lost control of her car when she hit an oil spill on the road. The accident left Laura paralyzed from the neck down. “You’ll never walk again,” doctors told her.

Laura refused to accept this prognosis. She and her mother met with experts on spinal cord injuries. They learned about an exciting new treatment being performed in Portugal. The procedure is known as olfactory mucosa transplantation. Surgeons take adult stem cells found in the nasal region and transplant them into the injured area.

Laura underwent this treatment—and her spinal cord began to heal. She gained upper body agility, and, in time, she learned to walk with the use of braces and outside help. Laura is determined to walk unassisted by her 21st birthday.

Miracles like this have been repeated many times as researchers bend their attention to the uses of adult stem cells. Writer Bradley Hughes describes many of them in his article “Real-World Successes of Adult Stem Cell Treatment.”

To date, Hughes writes, these “miracle cells” are providing hope for patients with Crohn’s disease, lupus, heart disease, blindness, Parkinson’s, and sickle-cell anemia. And according to biotech writer James P. Kelly, umbilical cord blood stem cells are already being used to treat 70 forms of blood and bone marrow cancers.

And just a few days ago, there was a report at Northwestern University. Twenty-one patients with multiple sclerosis were stabilized following treatment with adult stem cells removed from each patient’s bone marrow. In some patients, the disease was reversed.

But because much of the mainstream media refuses to report on this, many Americans remain unaware of it. Ignorance about these cures may be driving the public’s demand for embryonic stem-cell research, which kills human beings at the embryonic stage.

Americans also seems unaware that not a single clinical success has resulted from treatments using embryonic stem cells. None!

So why do researchers and the biotech industry push so hard for public funds for embryo-destructive research? Because science wants science for science’s sake and, incidentally, because they stand to make huge profits through potential patents. It’s potentially far more lucrative than research involving adult stem cells.

You and I need to spread the word about the miracle cures being found through the use of adult stem cells. They’re a far superior alternative to embryonic stem cells—and nobody is killed in the process of retrieving them.

As science demands unfettered research in the future, we need to be encouraging ethically challenged reporters, researchers, and politicians to take a look backwards for a grim reminder of what happens when science is divorced from morality—euthanasia, gas chambers, and Nazi experiments on children.

Do we really want to start down that terrible road again?

For Further Reading and Information

“Stem Cells 'Reset' Immune System in MS Patients: Study,” AFP, 29 January 2009.

James P. Kelly, “Stem Cell Politics: Divide and Conquer,” Weekly Standard, 5 September 2006.

Bradley Hughes, “Real-World Successes of Adult Stem Cell Treatment,” Family Research Council, 1 December 2004.

“No God Condones What?: The President and the Innocent,” BreakPoint Commentary, 10 February 2009.

“The Proper Role of Science: Exposing Scientism,” BreakPoint Commentary, 29 January 2009.

“'Your Own Stem Cells Work!': Carron Morrow's Story,” BreakPoint Commentary, 22 August 2007.

Marriage Musings

My thoughts in past months...

Why is marriage so hard!!? You start with such excitement and so many hopes. How does it change to frustration and dashed hopes so quickly? There are days where hope fills my heart – but is it worth it? It only makes the fall harder and the cracks in my heart deeper. Maybe I’m depending too much on the wrong person. I had finally figured out how to be an independent adult when it all changed – I fell in love and we decided to share our lives instead. Now I had to learn to be dependent again. But the roller coaster is too much. Jesus, help me to be more dependent on You. You are the only One who keeps all Your promises!

I wrote these thoughts in my journal recently and have written them in other forms multiple times over the past almost 4 years of marriage. I never could have anticipated the changes marriage would bring to my life. I have been slowly learning that even though I love Justin dearly, he is not my everything. This was an expectation I sometimes placed on him without realizing. I see now that's definitely an influence of the world and those foofy romantic books I read in high school when I dreamed of falling in love. My mind knew that wasn't a correct view of marriage but my emotional heart didn't quite catch on. I am so thankful that God never gives up on me. He keeps reminding me that He is the lover of my soul. He is my everything. He is always there! As I learn to depend on God first and my husband second, my marriage grows and my heart is encouraged even on the frustrating days.

Just in case... For those of you that worry about me, there's nothing wrong I'm just expressing my thoughts about life. :) I'm sure you can relate to the fact that the down turns of the ups and downs of marriage can be blown in to emotional heart breaks if I let my emotions get the better of me rather than focusing on what is true. This is more a reflection of my own failure of expectations as a wife. I would never blog about my hubby in a negative way, I love and respect him too much as my husband! I hope my conclusion is encouraging. I have no desire to wallow in my discouragements or cause anyone else to do the same. We have such a faithful God who is always there for us!

Love

I found this very thought provoking.

Is God's Love Unconditional?
February 20, 2009 By: John Piper Category: Commentary

There is such a thing as unconditional love in God, but it’s not what most people mean by it.
It’s not a saving love that he has for everybody. Else everybody would be saved, since they would not have to meet any conditions, not even faith. But Jesus said everybody is not saved (Matthew 25:46).
It’s not the love that justifies sinners since the Bible says we are justified by faith, and faith is a condition (Romans 5:1).
It’s not the love of working all things together for our good because Paul says that happens “to those who love God” (Romans 8:28).
It’s not the love of the most intimate fellowship with the Father because Jesus said, “He who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:21). And James said, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
It’s not the love that will admit us into heaven when we die because John says, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). And faithfulness is a condition.
How then does God love unconditionally? Two ways (at least):
He loves us with electing love unconditionally. “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world . . . for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:4-5). He does not base this election on foreseeing our faith. On the contrary, our faith is the result of being chosen and appointed to believe, as Acts 13:48 says, “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”
He loves us with regenerating love before we meet any condition. The new birth is not God’s response to our meeting the condition of faith. On the contrary, the new birth enables us to believe. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been [already!] born of God,” (1John 5:1). “[We] were born, not . . . of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
Let us pray that thousands of people who speak of the unconditional love of God would discover the biblical meaning of what they say. If that happened many would find their feet on solid ground.

Fun Day!

I'm so excited to spend the day with my sister!
Last night I drove to the Omaha airport to pick her up at 11:40. Soo late. So the first order for today is lunch - we plan realistically. :)
I will try to take pictures of some of our fun and share them later. I always need new pictures with my favorite sister!

I Wish Wednesday

I wish I actually had time to do this post.

Here's one... I wish that my co-workers didn't complain about their spouses. It is so hard for me to hear and hard to know what to say. I love my hubby. We don't always get along but that does not mean I'm going to tell everyone at work that he's scum and he'd better shape up or I'll leave him. How would you respond to your co-workers in a loving, truthful way?

Check out my Google reader feed to the left. I've been reading a lot about Obama's stance on abortion and how we can pray for our president. It's post inauguration stuff - I'm a little behind.

O-hi-o

Well I still don't have pictures but will post anyhow before this recent history passes. Would you believe that I really don't have many pictures because the camera batteries died!? I have the worst luck with camera batteries!! And my sister has the few pictures we took on her camera, in Ohio. :) Anytime Aud Pod.

On Thursday I flew out to Ohio. I was supposed to leave at 1:30 but a delayed flight out of Detroit coming to Omaha and then taking us back to Detroit caused me to miss my connection. So I got into Columbus at 10ish instead of 6ish. Thankfully all my flights were relatively smooth and I didn't feel sick, just slightly uncomfortable. Who do they make the seats for on the airplane anyhow! The head/neck rest is always in the the most uncomfortable place possible. I am not 6ft tall or have giraffe neck.

Friday we had class at 8am. I am still not a morning person and we were late. New Testament was interesting... The question discussed was - Did Jesus know He was God as a child or was there an age of understanding? I say He was 100% God and man so what's the question. The professor was a very authoritative teacher but seemed to make the students more comfortable so there were lots of questions and discussion. Next up - Business Law. By this time I was totally wiped out and almost fell asleep, but the teacher told lots of funny 'I'm old' stories. Then we went to Chapel. It was a student lead chapel so there was a skit that I totally didn't get at the beginning because I'm not a student there. And there was only a little singing and a short message. Overall it was fine and I'm sure great for the students which is good. They should minister to students and not the occasional visitor. :)
Lunch at Chuck's, the C. cafeteria was pretty good. (Just in case I'm just referring to the college as C for privacy reasons - this is the Internet after all.) They have a lot of options - hot lunch that is different every day and looks like not so good cafeteria food that we all envision, breakfast bar, salad bar, veggie bar and mexi bar. We had wraps that we grilled in the Panini maker.
After lunch I skipped Accounting and went back to Aud's room to sleep a little and have some computer time. During my nap I kept hearing weird noises. I knew her roommate had some kind of pet in the aquarium on her desk so when Aud called to tell me to get up and let her into the dorm, I told her that there was a frog in her room and he was gargling while I was trying to sleep! She really thought there was a frog in her room! Her roommate has a soft heart for animals and Aud thought maybe she rescued a frog. When we got back to the room she realized I was talking about their turtle. We found this really funny and make frog jokes all weekend when ever we went to bed or heard the turtle making noise. :)
That evening we went to 'The Greene' for supper and a movie. On the way we had a minor car scare with some weird noises and the gages looking different. Thankfully via phone Dad said we would probably be fine. We also got manicures before supper. Now I usually know ahead of time what color I'm looking for but this time I hadn't thought of it. So it took forever to decide and I ended up switching at the last minute to 'On the Peach' that Aud was using. Sadly my manicure only lasted a day or two - what a rip off. I'm sticking with pedicures!
After the manicures we had supper at Mimi's Cafe which wasn't very exciting. I missed Lazlo's at this moment. As soon as we finished eating we ran through this outdoor mall to the movie theater and about froze. It was really cold out and running makes it worse! And then the movie was outrageously priced. Here in Lincoln we pay 8.50 per adult ticket and I've always thought that was a bit much. In Dayton I paid 10.50 for an adult ticket - insane!! Anyhow, we saw Bride Wars and I liked it. It was cute and not as dumb as anticipated and I always love Anne Hathaway's hair. After the movie we went to Caribu Coffee and talked until way too late. But not too late to pick up some cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. I finally got to try the 30th Anniversary one - delicious! We made our cheesecake last all weekend.

On Saturday we overslept and woke up at 10 instead of 8. Good thing we weren't on a strict schedule. We had planned to get up 'reasonably early' to get started on the day. We even laughed about how this idea is Dad's fault because on family vacations we would get up at the crack of dawn because we couldn't waste any of the day. :) After getting ready I found out Justin was worried because I forgot to call him the night before and hadn't answered my phone all morning. He called everyone we know - how sweet. I never thought he was much of a worrier so it was nice to know he loves me enough to worry sometimes. :) We quickly ate at Chuck's and at about noon took off to Cincinnati to see the Creation Museum. Aud's a good driver and we made it safely with none of the navigation issues that I usually cause. At the ticket counter I met a girl named April - she went to JHBC too! Small world. The museum was awesome! The planetarium was a little motion sickness inducing but beautiful. Our world is so small and so perfect for human life - God's design and provision is awe-inspiring! The museum features over 160 exhibits including a Walk Through Biblical History, Dinosaur Den, Petting Zoo, and expansive Botanical Gardens.The themes of the exhibits resound in the theater presentations. The Stargazers Planetarium offers a spectacular spaceflight through the universe. - I couldn't have said it better myself. :) The whole thing was done so well. During my college year, I've been to some 'creation museums' that were embarrassing. This was so good and intelligently put together and has the clear message of the Bible throughout, not just creation. It is also a great place to learn if you have little to no creation exposure. I loved how salvation was so clearly tied to creation throughout the exhibits. The experience ends with a short movie about Christ's sacrifice for us called "The Last Adam" - very moving.
After the museum we went to a mall in Cinci. We were hungry and smelling soft pretzels as soon as we got there. So we had pretzel sticks with cheese - who knew they came in sticks! We mostly window shopped but I got 2 shirts at The Limited. We lost track of time and didn't eat supper until 8pm! Then we drove the hour plus back to dorms, had some cheesecake and called it a night.

Sunday we went to church at 10:45 and were late. I know, late for 10:45 church - how sad. Seriously, how can 2 Huebert girls make us more late than just one? This is a phenomena that has not yet been explained. :) I was bummed to miss some of the music but the singers were very talented. The alto singer did a solo of Jesus, I am Resting, Resting. It was so beautiful! The preacher was good but not Tom. At church I also got to meet Mike, Alex's old roommate and his wife, Audrey Ann. We had lunch at Chuck's and met some more of Aud's friends. After lunch we attempted to go back to the dorm and had to take off our church shoes and wade through a few inches of water. It was so warm and everything was melting and pooling on the sidewalks!
We relaxed for the afternoon and laughed about the "frog". I flew out of Columbus at 5. I watched the first half of the Superbowl in Detroit airport. We must have had a new plane to Omaha - very nice and clean. And I was social and talked to my seat mate. We made fun of our flight attendants - they had to be only a day over 18 and fresh out of school or whatever you take to be a flight attendant. Both the girl and the boy were as happy as could be. She giggled over everything. :) I was happy to finally be home by 10:30.

I had a great time and am so happy to have spent time with my sister and see her home away from home. It's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I enjoyed the independence of being on this trip by myself but I also missed Justin being with me. And in record time, my suitcase I all unpacked and put away after only a few days!

House Updates

So there are a few new things about our house since my last pictures...
We painted and we have living room furniture!
The living room is beige, the dining room oak grove green and the kitchen a light minty green. It's always nerve racking to paint when you can't really see what it'll look like. But it turned out great!! I love it! Here's J painting...
He and S did a great job with a little help from my dad, friend A and M. Thanks guys!
In our living room we now have a sofa, cuddle chair, coffee table and two end tables. The tables have had some issues. When J went to pick them up we were surprised to find that they were in boxes so "some assembly required". The tables all have a lower shelf and some of them didn't fit! So we're still waiting for new pieces to remedy that problem. But in the mean time they work just fine. Here we are in the cuddle chair which also works great! :) I'm sure you can tell I haven't taken any of these pictures - they're so cool. J was being creative and of course he can get them all straight, unlike me.
We do have more paint in the basement for the bedroom and bathroom. But painting the other rooms took longer than expected so that will wait for another break.