I was just thinking...

Some may wonder why I chose to be a Chiropractor instead of an inventor like I so clearly seemed fitted for. That's a good question that I've asked myself from time to time. You see, through the years I've been taught to be all I could be. Amd all through my childhood into high school I was heading to be an electronic engineer. But thanks to the Lord's graciousness, one day I was thinking about what I thought I was going to be and realized that I needed to become a chiropractor. Why? Because that is what was needed.

After school I would come home and my job was to go down into the basement and develop the x-rays my dad had taken during the day. I had a lot of opportunity to observe my dad's patients coming into his office. These were not the ordinary type of people you'd see in a doctor's office. These were people who took a risk. A risk for a new-found science. A risk for scorn in society for trying an unknown profession. A risk for going against "I've always did it that way". But they were more than willing to take that risk and why? Were these degenerate or unecducated people from the backwoods? No, they were bankers, lawyers, nurses, an occasional doctor, and everyday people from every walk of life. And why would they take that risk? Because they had one thing that all others have in common throughout all time. They wanted to be well. My dad's patients were people like you and me that had gotten sick and had tried everything. And done everything, and they still were sick and getting sicker. They were told they had to "live with it", that all was being done that could be done. They weren't happy with that answer and wanted to see if there was something else that could be done.

Many of them found out like my dad did through his only experience with sickness, that Chiropractic could help them get well when everything else had failed irregardless of money, prestige, education, faith in the doctor, etc. Day in and day out I and my sisters saw people like that come to my dad's office and get wonderfully well!

And in spite of the fact that I love(d) gadgets and all things with it and still do, that I felt there was someting more important than that. I needed to be like my dad and help get sick people well.

These last few years have made me realize even more what my profession of Chiropractic really is. It's a way to help sick people get well and stay well, naturally.

Now, I'm not claiming that Chiropractic will get everyone well, but it is so far advanced from anything else that I know that a caring person couldn't choose to do anything else. And even though I had many struggles in my practice because of my deficiencies I was able through God's grace to see many many people get well. And for that I'm grateful. People that would not have otherwise have an opportunity to live a better life. Nothing I could have ever done or do would have taken the joy I had when my patients would come and tell me how much better they were doing. I remember one kind old man who came to me many years ago. He couldn't swallow whole foods with out choking and so had resigned himself to life on soups. After coming to me for a while he came in one day all excited. "Doc!" "I ate a steak today!". That was a wonderful day. I had another couple who couldn't have children and were seeking to adopt and chose to try Chiropractic. After a few months care that couple got pregnant and now have several happy healthy children. I had two sisters who had migraine headaches for years. They were even being studied by U of M along with their mother and grandmother for genetic diseases, and yet they came to see if Chiropractic could help. And it did. They no longer had migraines. On and on, I could tell you of the wonderful experiences I had seeing this happen. And like my father who saw the same thing as he sat in his chiropractor's office when he was sick many years before. It was the only choice he had, to take this great and wonderful profession to others. Thanks to him and the 18 or so people who became chiropractors because of him, many thousands of people had and have better health through Chiropractic.

It's a funny thing. As I've been thinking about this the last few days, I'm reminded of how my dad was good at so many things but was never happy until he became a Chiropractor. I never though about why he wasn't discouraged before that. When he chose chiropractic he knew this was the thing for him. The same way I felt when in high school one day I chose the same thing. These last years have made me question why I chose the path I did and yet I knew it was the right one.

As I sit here today, I'm thankful for the path I chose. In spite of the opposition and doubt by many of my own family. It was the only way to go.

And so, as I meditate on thses things, I wonder how many of us have fallen in the trap of looking at our talents and going with what we thought we we're good at instead of what was needed.

In the Bible the Lord gave talents to his servants and basically commanded them to do something with it. There wasn't a test given to see who scored the best and yet they were EXPECTED to do something with what they were commanded to do.

I believe I've just hit the tip of the iceberg on this subject and it needs more investigation.

Anyway, that's the way it is - August 3, 2007!

Let's talk man to man

For the last few months, I've been thinking about writing on somethings that all men (women too) should know. I see Martha Stewart has kitchen equipment you need to have so I thought I'd like to put my 2 cents in. So here goes. I'll call these lettle talks M2M for man to man.

M2M #1 Whatever you do in life, the first and most important thing is that you come to know God and to devote your life in bringing honor to Him. Drop everything you're doing right now and Click on this link to read how you can know him. Don't kid yourself. There is only 1 way and one way only to have a relationship with God. Please read about it and consider it. Knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior is THE most important thing you'll ever do.

Having financtial troubles, marital problems, work problem, or just plain problems. Start at the top by coming to Know Christ. Anything else is just a cover-up. Waiting till you just going to die won't cut it. Why? because there is no guarantee how long we'll live. In fact, there is no guarantee that you'll even finish reading this article. Don't waste your life on seeking foolish dreams that are only just like a vapor. They appear for a time but then just as quickly vanish.

I can tell you that through my experience in life, the God has provided all my needs through every situation. But it's even more than that. He goes beyond my needs and blesses me in so many ways that there's not enough time or space to tell them all.

If you read this link I'd be glad to talk to you or put you in touch with someone that can show you through God's Word how great a thing God has in store for you.

Common sense .... is very uncommon

Hit your thumb and forget the foot pain

A couple years ago, my daughters baught me a cockatiel bird. Now, most people don't like them, but I do. Coming from a family of 10 for many years to now spending most of the time home alone I need the background noise. So, anyway, they bought me this beautiful bird. I looked it up in a book and it said the way you tell the sex of a cockatiel is by it's coloring around it's cheeks. (for those of you that think to look elsewhere, it doesn't work!). So because my bird had bright beautiful cheeks, I called him Sammy, El Guapo. Now the El Guapo comes from the movie 3 Amigos and it means "ladies man". For the last couple years we tried everything to get hime to talk. Even bought a DVD with bird sayings on it. But He just squawked.

Now here we are at Friday night and Saturday morning. I was in trmendous pain from a neuropathy in my legs and couldn't wait till I got out of dialysis to get home. I was counting the minutes till they unplugged me. Hoping that we still had some prescriptions for pain pills at home.

I came home tired, worn out and beat and the first thing I walked in Joy said, "Hey dad, guess what Sammy did?" I don't know I said. "She laid an egg" What! "She laid an egg! Take a look" Hmm, looks like we'll have to call him/her Samantha and drop the El Guapo part! As Joy looked up on the internet it seems that white cockatiels have been so inbred so much that they have lost their characteristic male/female cheek color identity. Another thing they do is hang upside down on the cage like a bat to protect their nests! Sammy, uh er Samantha was always doing that which we thought was cute.

As it sunk in that He was really a she, we got some good laughs thinking about all the effort we put into tryint to teach him to talk (not as dominant in females). Joy even tried for quite a while to teach him the Marine Hymn!

Later that day at a softball game we were telling some of the grand daughters about it and one of the 4 year olds said, "so what did the baby look like?" "Well, there was no baby" "Why, she said?" "Well, she needs to be married and have a dad" The rest of that story I'll leave to her parents to answer.

So what did that have to do with hitting my thumb. Because in that moment of discovering my 2 year old bird was a she, I forgot my pain.
I'm thankful to God for that.

I'm just realizing

some things my dad was trying to teach me.

I'm turning 59 this year and I'm still learning some things dad was trying to teach me. I've tried to raise my children so it won't take them 59 years to learn some things but we'll see. I am thankful for the values that him and mom raised me with. Some of their teachings (most actually) were done by their example. They showed how to live the right way through their example. Mom and dad stuck with me through thick and thin. I thank God for that. I'm not quite as patient with my children as my parents were but there's still hope for me yet. My hope for them is that they realize that life is not about them Kids grow up quick before you know it. And the sad part is to see them mimic you when they get oldr then you realize that you messed up in some areas. On the other hand, God has blessed me in many other areas with some great kids and grand kids and daughter-in-laws. Still praying for son-in-laws.

8 things...

My daughter-in-law challenged some of us to post 8 things about ourselves. Since my mouth is stuck in overdrive today, I'll give it a try.

....so here goes:“Rules:” After posting these rules, each player proceeds to list 8 relatively random facts/habits about himself/herself. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, leaving them a comment on their blogs to let them know.

1. Although I used to be known as a techno-geek and won a prize by Bell telephone for my Science Fair project of making a telephone there is one thing that I'm pitiful at is using a telephone. It took me years to figure out how to use call waiting....

2. Hard to believe but I played varsity basketball and track in high school!

3. My buddies and I used to "haunt" attics and bank building clock towers in college and as a result left a legacy that come of the building in that town were haunted! ha ha

4. To raise money for a Chiropractic cause while I was in college, my wife and I made hundreds of ties and sold them.

5. One of my "wants" for a present is to get a Mindstorm lego robot.

6. Took helicopter lessons with my dad in Arizona

7. Although we had 9 children, we really wanted 12!

8. I'd like to live in a one room shack by the ocean for a year

Since I get an average of 9 visits per day on this blog site and you know who you are, you're tagged... :)

What a Wonderful Day!

Today is my daughter Joy's birthday. I was telling the girls how the Lord has blessed me in spite of myself.

28 years ago, I had a beautiful daughter born, Sabrina. She was a twin, who God chose to take home on May 20th, my sister Linda's birthday. for years after that, the 20th was a bittersweet day. It was my sister's birthday, but it was my daughter's death.

Her death caught my attention. I needed something. I found out it was the Lord I needed. In spite of my "good works" (at least that's what I thought they were) my life was empty. I was at odds with God. Not because my daughter died, but because of my nature to sin. God demanded me to be holy like Him, but there was no way I could not sin. It was my nature and I chose to sin. Through my in-laws testimony I realized that I was a sinner and that Christ was sent to this world to die for me. I accepted that and repented of my sin. Since then my life was changed. I had a different focus in life. A life that now I wanted to live for me. To do what He wanted me to do. I life that I could dedicated to bring Him honor.

For some strange reason which I love Him for, He gave Dolly and I another daughter born on May 20th! We didn't know what we wanted to name her until she was born. Dolly said, I think we should name her JOY. Yes, that was the perfect name. For since our daughter died, we were saved and now our lives were headed in the right direction. Through our sadness, God brought us unspeakable joy. So what else could we name her but Joy!

Today I was watching tv with them and they were watching I love Lucy. When the girls enjoy a show, I just enjoy watching them do that. I love it because it brings to mind how they enjoy the innocent things in life and how they remind me so much of their mother.

Oh, what would I do without them. Their love for me is so deep. I of course don't deserve their love, but they do anyway.

And it reminds me again of how much the Lord loves me and takes care of me.

So today is Joy's and Linda's birthday. It's also a day that reminds of how good God has been to me. I think it also is why Joy and Sher have a special bond with each other because of that day.

If you don't have this relationship with God, why not take care of that today? Please consider this brief information that will help guide you to the relationship of your life.

Email me if you have more questions:

Thank you Lord for saving me. For giving me the privilege of knowing Dolly. For giving me great sisters. For all my children and grandchildren. And for my two daughters Sher and Joy.

At the hospital the other day a doctor came in and asked me if I was depressed. People with my condition do, and they expect me to be that way. I thought about what God has done for me and all the support of my friends at church, and my children and I ansawered "No, I have nothing to be depressed about".

Why are the letters of the alphabet in that order?

...answer: Is it because of that song?

I don't think anyone knows. If you figure it out please explain it to me.

I thought the kids would enjoy this:

http://ask.yahoo.com/20050201.html for kids
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761565349/Alphabet.html for the braniac in the family
http://www.starfall.com/n/skills/alphabet/load.htm?f for kids

These stories are either true or maybe go along with Santa Claus.

Cute anyway.

Here I am!

I didn't forget you. I just started a new blog to help my friends keep up on my dialysis adventures. http://letusconsideroneanother.blogspot.com

I'm going to use this blog for my philosiphizing and other stuff.

...bless you!

I was in dialysis today and a technician walked by and sneezed. It brought up one of my "reflections" let's say, about a common response heard when a person sneezes..... "..bless you!". Or as some may be brave enough to say "God bless you". For some reason this has stuck in my craw through the years because it takes a lot for granted.

Some stories say that it came from the belief that when a person sneezes their heart stops for a second. A better explanation is the use of the term "Gezundheit" - read an interesting story about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesundheit.

but let's get back to ...."bless you". The thing that bothers me, is that even though it may have been at one time a means to wish a person better health, think about what it is saying. A person sneezes and you hear a chorus of "bless you!" , or "Oh, my, bless you". I didn't realize we were so powerful! A person sneezes and by our very words we command God to bless that person! We don't ask God to bless them, we tell Him. And just to show how powerful we are and God isn't, often we don't even use His name. We just give out our OWN blessings to person by saying "bless you". When a Christian says that to a non-Christian what do they think about what we really believe about God? That a mere Christian can command God to bless a person they choose?

Now, I know most don't think about that when they utter those automatic phrases, just like we don't think about it when we ask a person "how are you doing today". It has just become an automatic phrase whose meaning or desire for a real answer has been lost a long time ago.

So, now that you've thought about this, the next time you're in the office and a person sneezes and you DON'T say "bless you", watch what happens. It becomes very quiet.

Now, I've tried to think of something more appropriate, but really haven't come up with anything good. "Whew, sounds like you're getting a cold" really doesn't do it. "bless you" is so much easier to say and get it over in a second without making an issue.

Any suggestions?

no words necessary

who invented crayons?

This is for my grand kids....

Crayola brand crayons were the first kids crayons ever made, invented by cousins, Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith. The brand's first box of eight Crayola crayons made its debut in 1903. The crayons were sold for a nickel and the colors were black, brown, blue, red, purple, orange, yellow, and green.

The word Crayola was created by Alice Stead Binney (wife of Edwin Binney) who took the French words for chalk (craie) and oily (oleaginous) and combined them.
Today, there over one hundred different types of crayons being made by Crayola including crayons that: sparkle with glitter, glow in the dark, smell like flowers, change colors, and wash off walls and other surfaces and materials.

Where did the @ symbol in email come from?

The @ Symbol Ray Tomlinson chose the @ symbol to tell which user was "at" what computer. The @ goes inbetween the user's login name and the name of his/her host computer.

Ray Tomlinson is quoted as saying he invented email,"Mostly because it seemed like a neat idea." No one was asking for email.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

...even when you're not.

I can't believe that in a few minutes it will have been 7 years since Dolly went home to be with the Lord.

Tomorrow I plan on stopping by the cemetary, and then coming home and going through our albums.

I always hesitated to do anything special on this day - April Fool's - because I didn't want to be morbid and I know it was difficult for the kids. But one day as I was at a restaurant eating breakfast, I asked one of the grandchildren about Dolly and they didn't remember her! It struck me that most if not all of my 17 grandchildren had no memory of her. And that was a shame. You see, I kind of planned that the kids would tell their kids about their grand mother. And you know, maybe they have. I certainly hope so. Dolly was a great blessing to me and was a Godly woman. My kids had many remembrances of her being up early praying and reading the Bible. She was a practical woman who put feet onto her talk in her actions.

It seems like forever ago that she was here with us. How privileged we were to know her. And yes, I can see some of her in all my children and I'm thankful for that. So tomorrow (today) I'm going to reminisce and thank God for letting me know her.

We really enjoyed each others' company and had many long talks together about each other, about life, church, and raising our children. Dolly was a stabilizing part of our life and her presence is sorely missed. I've talked to others about their losses of a loved one and they all seem to agree... you go on, but you never forget. How can you? A person that was so close and dear. It's like part of your body is missing.

And you know they say a married couple complements each other. That is so true. I just have not been able to fill in the gaps she left in the family and although I love them all dearly, just haven't been able to take care of them like Dolly would have.

A woman like Dolly, I believe, only comes along once in a lifetime. For those few of you who are reading this, don't ever take your loved one for granted. Every minute is precious and once that time is gone, it's gone. We are all held accountable for the time we have here. Today at church I look forward to talking to some new people and seeing how God is working in their lives.

There's a lot of things I don't understand about life, but one thing I do know without a doubt is that God is working today in our midst and He has a plan for us, and a purpose for us. The stories in the Bible aren't just a bunch of tales about Jesus Christ. They are there because God wanted them to be there to show us how He loved us and cared /cares for us.

In my lifetime I have been blessed to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior, and to be blessed with a wonderful wife and children and grand children. Thank you Lord.

Well, this time 7 years ago I was in the living room and it was quiet like right now. Dolly's troubled breathing was interrupted at 2:15 by the sound of silence as she had just drawn her last breath. And just like she suddenly came into my life 37 years go, she was gone.

Dear friend, hug your child or spouse and thank God for them and the joy God has allowed you to have through them.

Happy Birthday Scott!

Talked to Scott today. Seems he's in his last year of being in his 20's! Time slips away.

I've enjoyed talking to him and Lauren this last year. And the pics and videos Susan puts on the blog. I'm happy for them as a family. Heard Lauren got a swing set. Wish I was there to see her play on it.

God bless you son.

Love, Dad

Vent

I've been on dialysis for 4 months now. It's quite a drastic change in lifestyle. The best part of it all is the encouragement and prayers from our church people and our children. Not sure how I'd get through it without them.

Having gone to chiropractors most of my life, I'm not used to the "medical way". You see, I'm used to taking care of the whole body. Everything working together , etc. My observations with the medical way is like if the medical profession were a grocery store, you couldn't just go to one grocery store. First of all, you'd have to know what you wanted before you went and would only be shown just what you are looking for. You'd have to go to one grocery store for meat, one for canned food, one for baked goods, etc.

Today, one of the nephrologists where I get dialysis came to make his rounds. He brought out a big thick notebook with my name on it. Stood by me, didn't introduce himself and was ready to walk away. I said, "is that it?" he turned around and came back and pulled out his stethoscope and put the stethoscope on one area of my heart and then started to walk away. "I have a question", I said. Fruitless. That was the crux of it. I'm not sure what happens if you have a heart problem or some other serious thing, but I think the doctor goes over his findings, makes a prognosis, and gives you some kind of recommendations. In dialysis, that's thrown out of the window. You see the Dr. once a month like today and I'm not sure what the value of it was. Now some of you say, you need to ask the doctor. That sounds real easy except they've made an art of saying nothing and leaving immediately. A few weeks ago I was at the hospital thinking I had an infection. After blood tests, questions, poking and prodding, the doctor flys by, sticks his head in the room and says, "don't worry we'll take care of it" and leaves with my mouth dropped wondering just what it was that he'll take care of!

I've tried to frame my questions in as few words as possible so when someone does come by, I can ask. At another hospital, the doctor said, "you'll need a temporary catheter". "Why can't you just replace the one I have? The doctor acted perturbed that I asked the question and quickly left.

I quess I just have to learn how this thing all works out. Right now, I'm not sure what the whole purpose is. It seems to be a "need to know" basis and I don't need to know.

There's a lot more, but you might get the idea that I think all doctors are dorks. No not all, there are a few, very few. I'm trying to be patient but it gets very frustrating. Occasionally a nurse will ask me if I'm on a transplant list, but I tell them that in 4 months, not one doctor has ever talked to me about or suggested it me. Everything revolves around what needs to be done today and that's it. Get the dialysis and go home.

Am I trying to get people to feel sorry for me? Not at all. There's nothing to be sorry for. I'm just relating my experiences in an area of sick care I never dreamed of or heard of. It's a whole different system. Talking to a surgeon yesterday, he asked me if I worked anywhere. "No, not for 2 years" "Why not?" he said. Totally oblivious to the typical dialysis patient. I told him that I was in 3 different dialysis centers and I only knew a handful that were employed. Most of them were happy they were alive and wheeled or shuffled every other day into dialysis, but ugly scars and black areas on their arms where they get the dialysis.

What's the good part of it all? the people that support me and the opportunity I have to see how the Lord is working in their lives as they bring and take me to dialysis. That alone is almost worth it all.

Grrrr!

Lifes' mystery

If you're not supposed to eat animals...

Then why are they made out of food!

Please don't tell me how good you are

...I'll let you know!

03/07/07 - update - One hospital in the area I went to stuck me 13 times in 4 days and 12 of them on the first try! - Boy, I was a thankful cuss!

02/27/07 - In the last several months I've spent quite some time at hospitals. And one thing you get to do is to have an IV put in your hand. Whether it be when you're in emergency, or if you get to stay over in the hospital and they need to get their daily supply of blood.

I've been on the receiving end of dozens of IV's and have watched my wife receive even more.

When the nurse starts telling me how good they are, I know I'm in for trouble. I've been told I have great veins, bad veins, rolly-polly veins, hidden veins, etc. But I know this, there are people that know their job and people that don't. The good ones don't say much. They'll take a quick look, constrict your arm with a band and then insert the needle 1-2-3.

I've seen and had night nurses come into the hospital room with barely light coming through a crack in the door. Say something like "I need to get some blood", and the next thing I know they've done it and are gone.

On the other hand, I was a the doctors the other day (one who I have much respect for) and their nurses/technicians started with telling me how good they are. Constricting my arm, tapping, rubbing, tapping some more, palpating for the mysterious vein, and on and on. After 2 pokes and probing around without success they have the next bragger come in and do the same thing. After about 20 minutes of probing around and 4 pokes, getting ready to try again, I couldn't take it any more. "Stop, that's enough!" I said.

The last time I had to go to the same doctor for another issue, they wanted to try to complete the tests and would need to insert some dye in my arm. That would require having an IV put in the same arm. I couldn't remember if the nurses were the same, until they started working on me again, then it all came back to me. "I'm really good at this, they said" ... but they weren't. I was so close to say, "You should go and work in the ER for a month, but as I get older, occasionally I keep my mouth shut. I figure you just don't want to get the people that are going to work in surgery on you in a few minutes to be ticked off!

Anyway after they went to the first guy and his 2 unssuccesful pokes, the other staff told me, "you really got him bummed. He's going to be hard to get along all day because he couldn't get it" .... "He's bummed! you should feel what I feel!" The next person tries once probed around and then tried again and failed. By this time, I knew I couldn't do this again, so I thought, maybe I could encourage them by saying something like "you can do it!". Well, they said if they went on the back of my hand I had a "good one" there but it would probably hurt more! I just spent the last 4 days in the hospital getting poked almost every day, then 4 times in this office. By that time I pretty much knew pain. For those of you who are Brian Regan comedian fans and know his hospital skit.... I'd say "eight".

So she tried it again, I let her stick the needle in and probe around for a while and voila! she finally got it. The task was done and I was ready for surgery in which there was more pain to be had "or pressure" as the doctor liked to call it.

Being a chiropractor I learned in school to palpate (or feel) by placing a hair under a paper and trying to trace it with my fingers. You were doing good after a week or 2 if you could palpate through 30 or more sheets. I tried to pass this on to the IV "probers", but they just looked at me like a deer in the head lights, and maybe feeling doesn't have anything to do with it. I kind of suspect it does.

So, the bottom line is, that when people start telling me how good they are, my veins start going real deep and I hope they are quick so the next person can come in that knows what they're doing.

Fortunately when I was in emergency 2 nurse said they had to draw blood one right after the other. I wasn't looking forward to that but both of them just did the job, drew the blood and finished. "Wow! You're good!" They looked at me with surprise with an attitude like "that's my job". Trust me, I was very happy they knew how to do their job.

What's the point in all this? Probably to get it off my chest. As I was going through it, I thought that knowing what you're doing in your job is kind of like some of the contestants on American Idol. Some of these people have been taking singing lessons for years, or singing in public for years and it seems that no one tells them they stink. It's not such a bad thing to stink at what you do.... as long as you don't make a career out of it. We can't be good at everything, and this country gives us a chance to have different careers. Ones that are more conducive to the talents and abilities we have. So, maybe I should have told those people that their IV skills stink... it might have saved a lot of people a lot of pain!

It's a Girl!

Charlotte Alaina Elwart

6 lbs. 1 oz.

She has dark curly hair and is 19 inches long.

Her parents cpl. Jackie and Kari Elwart are doing fine, and should be coming home today. We're excited for them and can't wait to see them! --- Welcome Charlotte