The Vaccine Book

I have a "motherhood" library; books that have educated me and taught me how to be a mother.  I rarely go with the flow.  I will only sometimes follow popular mothering culture.  I have chosen to read and research each mothering genre for myself, and from there, make informed decisions for my children.  The mother has the final say, and we may choose the path that provides the optimal health and welfare of our own babies. 

YOU are the Mother. 

The mother deals with the late night consequences of each decision.  The mother carries the heart-burden of every step of childhood care, education and development.  Do not let someone else make decisions for you and your babies.  The doctor will not be there to comfort your child in the middle of the night while she's reacting badly to a medication or vaccine.  Teachers, day care providers, coaches, speech therapists, friends and acquaintances all feel they have a say in your child's life.  They all feel they know what you need to do.

You know what to do.  Thank them for their advice.  Go home, pray over the decision, and read everything you can find on the topic in question.  Educate yourself, and then make a 100% informed decision for your precious babies.

I have friends and relatives all over the broad spectrum of childhood vaccinations.  Some of the women in my life do not vaccinate their children at all, and some give their children the vaccinations that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends.

I am in the middle.

I truly recommend reading The Vaccine Book by Robert W. Sears, M.D., F.A.A.P

Dr. Sears has no agenda--no official position on vaccines at all.  This book is simply an "encyclopedia" of each of the vaccines that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends. 

In the book, for each and every vaccine, there is a short easy to read paragraph that will answer each of the following questions or topics: ( Let's use the vaccine for Rubella as an example).

What is Rubella?
Is Rubella Common?
Is Rubella Serious? (sometimes the potential side effects are worse than the actual disease)
Is Rubella Treatable?
When is the vaccine given?
How is it made? (in monkey kidneys, aborted fetal tissue etc.)
What ingredients are in the final vaccine solution?
Are any of these ingredients controversial?
What are the side effects of this vaccine?
Should you give your baby this vaccine?
Reasons to get this vaccine.
Reasons some people choose not to get this vaccine.
Travel considerations
Options to consider when getting this vaccine
The way I see it.

Believe me, you will love being educated on this topic.  For most vaccines, my worries were allieviated.  For other vaccines, I decided to spread out the vaccination schedule to give my child's immune system "a break" inbetween diseases.  Dr. Sears provides vaccination schedules ranging from the exact AAP schedule, to only getting a few of the vaccines that cover diseases that are still around the US today.  No matter what your course of action will be after reading the book, at least you will be thoroghly educated.  Then those who pressure you to not vaccinate, and those who pressure you to vaccinate according to the AAP, will be put at ease when you let them know you have read up on every ingredient in every vaccine, and you know excatly what you're doing with your babies. :D  It's quite freeing!

One Wild and Precious Life

This is my son, Luke.  He is 31 months old and he loves to help in the kitchen armored in his trusty Baby Bjorn bib (my favorite bib in the world, in case there are any moms out there tired of damp limp baby bibs hanging around your kitchen, refusing to dry before the next meal).  Here he is helping me with some blue frosting for a going-away cake we baked for a friend.  As we got further into the baking project, things got a little wild, and I thought, "What am I doing baking with a 2 year old?"  Obviously, I could have completed the task much faster, and with less clean-up, had I turned on Wonder Pets (Luke's current favorite cartoon) and frosted the cake myself.  I didn't see the significance or the "preciousness" of this moment until I saw this photo filling my whole computer screen...that combined with stumbling across this poem by Mary Oliver this week.  The last stanza just rings in my heart.

The Summer Day

Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Welcome Post

Hi, I’m Genelle.

I’m a small town Christian girl, who is now planted in the big city with my husband Joel, and our two children, Luke and Sophia.  I’m a painter and a potter that is on a hiatus from making “high art”.  Motherhood has joyfully commandeered my “free-time.”  I enjoy technology to the point that it can help me improve upon my skills, wisdom, knowledge, and friendships; however, I love to write letters…real letters.  I keep a paper journal and a paper calendar.  I bake bread.  I grow things.  I read paper books.  I’m a tactile woman 100%.  I need to feel the paper, kneed the dough, and dig in the dirt.


Due to the inspiration of the wise Christian author, Elizabeth Elliot, I, long ago, named my paper journals, "Omers of Manna".  I have a large stack of these "omers"  that are filled with my spiritual and emotional growth of the past 15 years.  They will serve to show my "future generations" how the Lord cared for me through every season of my life.  I thought it was fitting to give my blog the title of Omer of Manna as well.

In this blog, I want to keep a log of my journey towards:

·         contentment in Jesus Christ

·         simplicity and organization in my home

·         health and wellness

·         gratitude in ALL of my circumstances

·         becoming a wife and mother of noble character

It is my desire that this blog will inspire and encourage me and my readers to live life more fully.  To be able to see the daily "manna" that the Lord gives us to get through every trial.  To pray more.  To read our Bibles more.  To create.   To be grateful.  To enjoy every wild and precious moment with those we love.  To love where we are.  To love who we are in Christ.