The human brain

Believe it or not, I actually know quite a bit about the human brain.  After all, I've lived with one in my head for 54 years (counting my fetal life).  In addition to that, I've been a BodyTalk practitioner for 4 years now and have watched BodyTalk repair the damage that shingles did to my brain 5 years ago.  I've studied the human brain in all of my classes and am in awe of it's healing capacities.  Each week I watch others heal as their brain gets in touch with what's going on in their bodies--totally miraculous things are happening!

Recently, my dear friend and BodyTalk practitioner Elizabeth, sent me a gift of a book called, "Instinct Based Medicine."  Being I'm not feeling the best these days (lots of stress with my family of origin; the weather affecting seeding; Prairie Days this coming weekend, but mostly with lining up our radinoics class at the end of the month), I've been resting more and I've taken the time to dig into the meat of this new method.

The first half of the book was not all that informative as I am well aware of how dreadful the results are of the modern American medical system.  Dr. Coldwell calls it the medical mafia and he hits hard at their greedy tactics which kill and cripple many people every year.  Still, it was good to get some of these statistics although, I must admit, I wish that Dr. Coldwell had asked me to edit his book for him.  It's not the best writing in the world but he does get his point across.   

Anyway, I'll be honest and say that I skipped the second half of the first part which he has written to show people that they need to do their very best to stay away from doctors.  This morning I jumped to the second half of the book so that I could get an idea what his system entails.  This is where I learned some very interesting things about the human brain.

Now, keep in mind that I just recently became a BETAR (betar.com) dealer with KRT.  I am absolutely in love with my sleep unit (delta waves) as I FINALLY sleep like a log after 5 decades of not sleeping well.  I also love my relax unit (alpha waves) and it helped to keep me calm all those long days of driving tractor this Spring.  I use it in the kitchen to try to keep calm as I frantically put a meal together in 10 minutes and I have been using it in my office up until this point.

I found it absolutely fascinating, when I read on page 244 of INSTINCT BASED MEDICINE, this information about the human brain.  First Dr. Coldwell explains why he is adamantly opposed to hypnotism.  He says "the obvious manipulation through hypnotism can make you do the exact opposite of what you intend or it can make you dependent, schizophrenic, and can cause lack of self-esteem."

Dr. Coldwell further goes on to explain this fascinating information about our brains. 

To achieve a lasting change in the nervous system, your brain needs to switch frequencies in a very specific order.  In other words, your brain needs to move between frequencies delta (0-2MHz), theta (3-6MHz), alpha (7-133 MGz) and beta (14-30 MHz) in a specific sequence. 

When in an alpha state, there is no way to make a conscious decision; you have to switch to beta at exactly the right time when you are making a decision to change a behavior otherwise it cannot be effective over the long term.  Then you have to switch into lower states in the right frequency to build dendrites (new microchips) in your brain for effective long term results.  This is the natural way of brain function.  It is only when you use the natural way, that we are intended to function, that you can achieve healthy and long term results.

The only system I know to continuously produce lasting results over and over is the IBMS programs.  This is due to the combination of the specially created music along with the newest technology of brain function, working together to effortlessly help create the exact state of mind required to produce lasting results. 

THE IBMS USES THE DECODED LANGUAGE OF THE BRAIN TO PRODUCE OPTIMUM RESULTS. 

Honestly, the perfectionist in me was really screaming here as I have always been so proud of myself for not jumping ahead in books.  However, I got to thinking, "Oh, there's music mentioned so there MUST be a CD involved here somewhere." 

I made another leap forward in the book and found the site address which is: instinctbasedmedicine.com. 

Did I mention that Dr. Coldwell saved over 35,000 lives which the modern medical system had termed, "Hopeless?"  One of these was his mother and she wrote the introduction to the book which was just wonderful!  She told about how her son at age 16 was driven to study every natural approach to healing when she was given 2 years to live as she had liver cancer.  She's now in her 70s; is his receptionist; and signed her story with, "Mama Coldwell." 

Well, Andrew just asked me to go do some writing on our farm's website so I suppose I ought to finish this up.  Basically, I went to Dr. Coldwell's website; studied their list of DVDs; and was thrilled to find that Dr. Coldwell has put his system into a format for Christians to be blessed with.  It says that he asked many pastors to guide him and, of course, I felt led to buy it.  Here's the link if you are feeling the nudge to check it out for yourself: https://shop.instinctbasedmedicinestore.com/checkoutpayment-submit.sc

I praise God for HE knows all of our needs!  He knows how we are made and he knows how to help us to get well.  I felt totally blessed reading Dr. Coldwell's book as he has such a deep respect for the human body.  He said over and over that WE CAN HEAL OURSELVES if we only know how.  He reiterated a basic BodyTalk principle which is that we have an innate wisdom which has kept us alive to this point and which knows exactly what is needed to get well AND stay well!   That's what I 'm interested in learning.

In other words, being healthy IS our natural state.  It's only stress which weakens the links in the body/mind.  Dr. Coldwell says that 85% of our health problems are because of emotional and mental stress and only 15% due to poor diet; lack of exercise........ This means that even the natural health world is barking up the wrong tree if they fail to deal with the affects of stress on us.  This helps me to understand why BodyTalk is able to do so many miracles--it helps to relieve old stresses.  Of course, like Melanie says, "I want as many tools in my toolbox as possible," so I know that I will be a life-long learner of God's wonderful healing ways!

I'll let you know how this affects my health when it comes.  In the meantime, I urge you to go to the website and read about the doctor who is Europe's foremost alternative doctor with more degrees than Carter has pills.  Dr. Coldwell REALLY knows his stuff and has been helping people to get well since he was 16 years old--what a remarkable man!

I will pray that God will open hearts through this post and that many will get the help that they're needing to get well AND stay well!

Yours for abundant life,

Dawn

PS.  If you are needing any organic wheat or flax, please feel free to visit our family's website at: www.seedsofhonor.com  We named our farm, "Seeds of Honor" as we believe the organic seed to be honorable in God's eyes. 

Focus

All right, I admit that I am just as easily persuaded to be glum as the next person when 6 newborn calves die in one week.  It's not that the cows didn't have lots of nice, dry straw to calve in.  Oh no, there were 2 big round bales spread out for them but they had to go and drop their calves right in the slop.  We can't watch constantly and it only takes an hour or so in 0 degree weather; with snow or rain coming down on top of you, when your mother drops you in the slop (mixture of melted snow; the soil; and manure), to snuff out your little life.

It was just too cold for too long for their little bodies to be able to snap out of it.   Although one went in the shower with Robert; one slept with Cora on the kitchen floor; and they all got cayenne pepper down their throat and BodyTalk from me, they died.  There is something terrible about death at the beginning of one's life!  So I admit that we have all been depressed all last week!
One thing about it, though, is I have changed my mind a LITTLE bit about 4 wheelers.  One home school family that we know lost their dad (Jim S.) to one of them PLUS a friend of mine will be crippled for life because of one.  Jacob's friend, Jacob Long, died at the age of 13 from a 4 wheeler accident and they have just given me the creeps for almost a decade since Jim's death. 
Still, the other night at 4:00 AM when Andrew banged on our bedroom wall from OUTSIDE that there was a new calf that needed to be dealt with, I didn't turn down his offer of a ride.  I literally haven't felt comfortable on them for years, so I swallowed hard.  Still, when there is slop a foot deep EVERYWHERE, it beat walking in the dark.  Andrew has always been a careful driver and I clung on to the back rack for dear life as it rocked back and forth in the moving slurry under the wheels. 
THAT was when I began to see why farmers have been buying those things like candy even though they are many times lethal when not handled with mature hands OR when a deer hits you.  So this morning, when it was time to get the bulls out of the herd and turn them into the bull pen, I found myself riding on the back of it with Cora as the driver.  She's a very good driver, too, but I sure didn't think that I'd find myself driving it.
As God continually works against my fears, He puts me in situations where I must rely on Him or walk in the muck.  When we were all finished, Robert came back with it and I realized that he meant for me to drive it.  Did you ever have a moment when your heart starts beating like mad and you just know that you will DIE if you have to do the thing that you fear? 
A quick prayer later found me slowly crawling my way back to the road going a very fast 4 mph.  Robert told everyone later that he wondered if I'd kill it but I did NOT!  I even got it up to 9mph on the road on the way back to the farm--so there.  Andrew even got a picture of me on his new wheels to prove that I conquered my fear--for today anyway.

As long as the camera was out, I decided to show you a bit of our mess.  This is in the yard sloping down towards the Quonset.  You can see the most of the water has drained off here and deep tracks are the reminders of the mess that just recently was here.

Just a few feet away, in the tractor ruts, are puddles of water still standing.

A few feet further South is the replacement Heifer pen.  These are the best of the girl calves that were born last year and we wanted to keep back for breeding.  They are one year old now and they will get bred this Summer so that their first calf will come into the world one year from now when they are 2 years old.  Robert bedded these down almost every day as they had no shelter from the storms.  There's not enough barn space for them but, when the wind was out of the North, we'd open the gate and let them get out of the wind be standing beside the barn.  It is VERY hard on me to see animals suffer like they have been suffering these past 2 weeks!
On my way back to the house, I took this picture of my front flower bed.  If you look closely, you can see little shoots of green starting to poke through the cold earth.

Here is my South flowerbed.  You may recall that it got away from us last year, after the tulips bloomed, and we just mowed it off.  I had an idea the other night of putting black plastic down between the tulips on the right and the irises on the left.  We can plant into the ground by cutting holes in the black plastic and the plastic will provide a week barrier.  We're going to try it in the garden this year so that's what gave me the idea to try it out front.

Heading back to the house, I saw my new wheels all full of mud.  We went to Mandan yesterday to spend some time with Robert's parents and things were sloppy on the way home--SURPRISE, SURPRISE!  This color of vehicle really seems to work well for us as it hides a LOT of mud which certainly comes in handy this time of year!

Here is a picture of my hopeless entryway.  I really despise the word, "Hopeless," as with God all things are possible, but it has been a hopeless task trying to keep it clean this Spring.  Mud, milk pails, and manure are everywhere and constantly coming in.  I keep putting essential oils out there, when the scent is more than I can bear, and so we limp along.  Can you believe that I have clients walk in the house through that mess?  Fortunately the only ones who come here to the house are farm wives themselves, or they grew up on farms, so they understand.

Now for the good news, when we were picking out some flowers for my in-laws yesterday, I simply could not resist bringing a bouquet home for us.  "We've had such a terrible week," I said to Robert, "WE need some flowers too," and so I did.
That brings me to the title of this blog post: we can always choose which things we're going to focus on, can't we?  The old, sad Dawn would be out cleaning that entryway right now (not like I haven't every week since we moved here).  All of the pain of shingles on the brain, though, has taught me that I need to find ways to delight myself in this sloppy, messy, sinful world.  Writing just happens to be one of the things that brings me delight so I am very happily typing away instead.  GOOD FOR ME!
Just so that you, too, can have delight in God's wonderful creation, I'm sharing a picture of my lovely Spring bouquet sitting on the table right now.  It has a huge Gerbara daisy on the top; 2 lovely roses;  tons and tons of daisies, and one yellow carnation which is almost like having yellow daisies.  I hope that you will enjoy them too!

Here I am holding the first flowers of the year--HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE!

ANDREW IS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I am STILL alive but have had nothing but trouble with my computer and specifically with getting on here to post.  Now, tonight Andrew finally had time to work on it and LOOK--I'M IN!!!!!!!!!

It's a strange feeling not to be able to get into your own blog--kind of like being locked out of your car. I am soooooooooo blessed to have such bright children with each one adding so much to my life.

Now for another frustration.  I used to have to add the pictures in backwards order so that they'd come up here in the correct order.  After I spent 15 minutes picking pictures; waiting for them to load; and then checking if they all made it over here, I see that they are in reverse order.  Now, if you've ever tried to switch a bunch of pictures around inside a blog post, you'll know what a pain that is.

This is when the perfectionist in me said, "Oh rats, now I have to start all over again."  Then I thought, "Shoot, it's all old news anyway, just say that it's in the wrong ordre and post it as it is."  I'll let you figure out which voice ended up winning.  Oh yes, all of the pictures are in the middle of the page, instead of against the left border like they SHOULD be, so this whole post is imperfect--but hey, IT'S A POST!

This is what I looked like after 4 days of radiniocs course and a 9 hour drive home.  I never could have guessed that Andrew was standing inside the door with his cam-corder or I'd have stopped to comb my hair.  ):

You can see here that Millie was the first one to welcome me home from class which was held the second week in March.

Right before we left, the truckers FINALLY came and took away our organic wheat.

This is taken right after the home school convention on Cora's birthday. Being we were all gone at the convention before this, Robert had the idea of getting her an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.  Good idea, Robert!

This is Cora and her good friends, Crystal L and Miranda G.  The convention was GREAT!

This is a group of ladies who sang for the open mic time.  They said that they were old and worn out home school mom.  Jacob leaned over 4 people and said in a loud voice just then, "Hey, Mom, why don't you go down and join them?"  THANKS A LOT, JACOB!!!!!!!

Our dear friends, the S family, opened their home to us and allowed us to spend the weekend in their home when we weren't at the convention.  Here Curt is making breakfast for Andrew and 2 of his kiddos.  I was just coming off my 5th master cleanse, so I had my lemon aid.  Later in that day I had my first solid food in 16 days.

The first day of the convention, we had a table at the used book sale.  I have not parted with any of my curriculum or books in 18 years, so there were a bunch.  We made about $100, even with offering half price half way through the sale.  I also put some of the items which didn't sell on the free tables which were available throughout the entire convention.

My main purpose in going to the used book sale, though, was to collect signatures for the Parental Right's Amendment.  I am very happy to report that I collected 2 pages full of them.  I also sent many people to the website which is: parentalrights.org.  PLEASE if you haven't signed the petition to keep parents in charge of their children's lives yet, go to the website and do so.  Andrew took this picture of me holding some of the information from parentalrights.org.

This picture was taken almost the moment that we arrived at the home school convention.  We had gone early so that Andrew could help the vendor folks carry in their books and set up their booths.  Being he was helping with GENERATION JOSHUA all weekend, he had hoped to be able to spend time with his friends beforehand.  It worked out well as they had a table next to ours at the used book sale.

One other thing that pleased me this year was that Andrew sang in the home school choir.  I took a picture of their performance but it was too dark to see as my camera was being stupid just then.  It was my most special moment of the entire convention to watch my son singing praises to the Lord with other young home schoolers.  To know that I've passed on my love of praising God with my voice is my greatest joy!!  Of course Cora would have sung along too but she was too old--can you believe it?

Here is Dr. Bartlett setting up the booth for the North Dakota Home School Association.

Before we left, I surprised Cora with an early birthday present.  This lady came to the house and I said to Cora, "Cora, this is Janet." 

Cora looked at me with wonder.

Then I said, "Janet is a piano tuner."

Then she got this humongous grin on her face and said, "OHHHHHHHHHHHHH."  Now her piano sounds sooooooooo much better and she is very thankful for that birthday present.

Well, that's catching you up to the time when we got home from class.  Much has happened since then but I figured that I'd best at least get you caught up that far.  It's nice to be eating food again but I am very thankful for the cleanse.  One thing that God showed me through the cleanse is that part of the reason why I have had a hard time loosing weight, is because of all of the bubble gum that I used to swallow.

Not meaning to be gross, but half way through the cleanse I noticed that some very slimy stuff was coming out.  I tuned in to my body and asked, "What is THAT?"

The words that popped into my head were, "It's some of that bubble gum that you used to swallow."

Can you imagine?  Yes, I swallowed a lot of it but to think that it was caught up inside my bowels for decades.  Well, it was and then I asked if it would all come out in this cleanse and got the answer that it will take 4 more cleanses before it will all be gone.

Why oh why didn't I listen when people told me, "Don't swallow your bubble gum--it's not good for you?"

I guess that's all spilt milk but you can be sure that I'll be doing another Master Cleanse in 2 months as that is the amount of time that the body needs before doing another master cleanse.  I want to get rid of ALL the junk from my past foolishness!!!!!!

I need to get to work but I just wanted you all to know that I am alive and well.  God has done some pretty awesome things in my life here lately but you wouldn't want me to tell it all in one post, would you?

Keep praising the Lord along with me,

Dawn 

MC 5--Day 4/Amended version

Day 4 was FULL of excitement.  First of all, we're trying to decide which radionics machine to purchase for Robert to use in the upcoming class--and thereafter.  I got no less than 4 emails from Ed at KRT so that was a thrill!
If ever I had a loving brother, it would be somebody like Ed.  He is so understanding, and supportive, and encouraging--surely this is the role that a real live brother would play in his sister's life in a loving family!  PRAISE THE LORD--HE FOUND A WAY TO GIVE ME BROTHERS THROUGH HIS NETWORK OF AWESOME PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then, the day went well as far as hunger pangs went.  I was happy to note that the worst is behind me as those first 3 days can be kind of grueling when you watch your family sitting here eating.  Yesterday and this morning, though, I found myself thinking, "I'm on a roll now and I KNOW that I WILL live without food for another week!"  In fact, I wondered yesterday if I am meant to go all the way through the home school convention and into the next week.  I certainly am willing to do whatever is meant for me to do.  Perhaps the home school convention is needing fasting, along with prayer, this year for some reason.
There was a box that came for me from Mercola.com too.  All right, it's confession time.  I have been doing something a little bit different this time around.  I fell in love with Dr. Mercola's whey protein powder.  He had a great deal on if you bought 6 containers of this delicacy, so I did. 
Truly, there were times on the first 4 cleanses (three 15 day ones and one 10 day one) when I was literally weak.  At those times, I'd allow my body the rest that it needed as it cleans out deeply junk that has built up in me over the past 5 decades. 
The trouble now is that I have a business where people depend on me to help them to get well.  I can't just lie around detoxifying and say, "Sorry that I can't help you for half a month but I'm doing the Master Cleanse, you see."
So, leave it to the Lord, He sent me Dr. Mercola's whey protein powder.  Yes, I am adding that to this master cleanse whenever I feel weak.  Within minutes I'm ready to go back to work and my brain just loves the stuff. 
Part of me feels like this isn't, "Perfect" because it's not sticking to the lemonade and herbal teas only.  However, I have made my peace over it and I understand that the perfect one, my loving Heavenly Father, knows exactly what I need to do every day.  Now that I'm resolved to this, I am loving THIS cleanse like none before it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now for the most exciting part of our day yesterday.  We got an email from Gail B., who is with our home school association, stating that the House of Representatives was going to vote on the home school bill TODAY.  She said, "PLEASE write to your representatives and ask them to support the bill IMMEDIATELY--so we did.

It was so funny to hear Cora in on her laptop typing away and Andrew in his bedroom typing away as I frantically typed out here in the dining room asking our Representatives to, "VOTE YES".    After that, we rushed through lunch (for me that meant lemonade) and listened to the House meeting in the boy's room.  I'll never know how Andrew figures out how to go to all of these places, but it sure is interesting living with him.  At first we were watching it but it couldn't bring it in that fast so we just listened.

As we sat on the edge of our seats, we heard the call for the vote and I prayed madly as this was a VERY important vote.  When the announcement came that they voted "YES" by a large majority, we were all grinning from ear to ear.  There is just something about being a part of the political process that is so fulfilling--especially when we win!

Of course, the battle is only half over as we'll need to go through all of the this again when our bill gets to the Senate side.  However, if the House had voted, "No" that would be the end of things.  We'd go back to the dark ages of home schooling in North Dakota. 

Well, we're loading calves to sell tomorrow in  Napoleon so I've got to get going.  Please keep us in your prayers--today for safety loading and hauling them and tomorrow for as good a price as possible.  I won't be able to attend the sale this time as I'll be seeing people in my Bismarck office--6 tomorrow.  OH HOW I LOVE BEING BUSY DOING THE WORK OF THE KING!!!
Later,

Dawn

Day 1

I'm just going to start. I don't know if any of you are like this, but I tend to think that when everything is perfect, I will start. I know that things will never be perfect here on this earth, so I am learning SLOOOOOOOOWLY that I just need to jump in and do SOMETHING and then things start to flow.

Anyway, the most frustrating thing about the first part of our journey to Georgia is that my camera wasn't working. ALL of the pictures on Day 1 were fuzzed and I was UPSET. Later Andrew told me to check if somehow the flash had gotten turned off and that was it. As long as we were relatively still, the pictures were only mildly fuzzed but almost all of the ones in the Atlanta airport were hopelessly flawed. So these pictures from day 1 are NOT perfect. SORRY!

Well, Jacob and I woke up at 4:30; lugged all of our stuff out to the old Chevy car; hugged Cora; kissed Robert (well, at least I did); and took off for Bismarck. Andrew was a sleepy head so only got a toe-pull before I left.

I was a little miffed when we had to wait for the train up in Steele but, praise God, He always has a reason. We decided to cut through town to get to the end of the train sooner. As we pulled up to the flashing lights, my eyes were drawn to the town's billboard. It was brightly lit in the darkness of late night and suddenly all of my fears about the trip vanished.

I have been accused of writing on the side of emotionalism but, you tell me, if you knew that you were leaving the safety of home for 6 days to travel almost 2,000 miles without your husband, would these words shining in the darkness, bring peace to YOUR troubled soul? It read:

WE CANNOT BECOME WHAT WE NEED TO BE BY REMAINING WHAT WE ARE!!!!

As you can tell, I wrote these words down. I tapped them into my heart and prayed a prayer of praise to my God who sent the train so that I wouldn't take the back road and miss the point entirely. I showed the sign to Jacob who was as amazed as I was. We both knew that God had put those words there for us; sent the train to show them to us; and we went on our way rejoicing.

Well, we got to the airport in time and went through security without any trouble. Later I will tell you about the security in Atlanta because it is a much more interesting story. Here we were cleared for boarding (as Jacob reminds me constantly--you LOAD cattle, Mom, and you BOARD people on airplanes.)

I was having trouble with my stress levels even with the words of the sign encouraging me to go on. My father taught me to dread flying on airplanes and I found myself dealing with extreme stress symptoms. I hated to do it, but I had to take some Loratadine, as that is what keeps me from going into shock. If I had it to do all over again, though, I'd have been like those smart people in the restaurant behind those lovely doors and eaten something substantial.

I am VERY grateful, though, for my bottle of lemon essential oil in my purse. We bought a bottle of water and I put in 2 drops which I kept drinking on the flight. Even Jacob found it helpful on THAT flight but that story will have to remain for another day. I decided that I'm not stressing myself out here by trying to tell the whole story all in one day.

Anyway, here I am in the Bismarck terminal enjoying the beautiful sunrise. What a view that was. I was admiring the gorgeous colors over the surrounding countryside while Jacob was admiring the AIRPLANES--of all things. :) I wear my glasses to see clearly from distances and I found myself wearing them a lot on our trip. I just feel better when I can see what's going on around me when there are LOTS of people whom I don't know.

A fuzzy shot of Jacob but he was ELATED at the prospects of the day. What would I have done without his enthusiasm?????????

They told us that the flight to Minneapolis was leaving from Gate 3 so we went over to check it out. Sure enough this sign told us that we were at the right location.

This door opened up a whole new world for me. I conquered my fear of flying on airplanes by taking the first step through this door. I kept telling Jacob throughout our 6 wonderful days together (when I was feeling frightened, you understand), "You can know how much I love you, Jacob. The fact that I am conquering my fears to be with you on YOUR dream-come-true journey should say SOMETHING to you." :) He'd just laugh or put his arm around me and say, "Thanks, Mom." It was worth everything to grow so close to him throughout all of the challenges of the trip.

This is what the ceiling in the Bismarck terminal looks like. I remember looking at it that morning and thinking, "I wonder what it will be like to be higher than the clouds." I soon found out but that is the story for another day.

I hope that you don't mind my breaking up the trip into bites that I have time to write about.
It's either that or not write at all and I definitely do want to share about all of the wonderful adventures that Jacob and I shared together in the past few weeks.

More later,

Dawn

Master Cleanse 4 ~ Day 5

Happy Independence Day everyone!!!!! I hope that you like this tribute to our country which, even with all of it's faults, is still the most wonderful place to live in the world. We really have no idea how much our military goes through to shelter us from tyranny. This video says it better than I ever could.

I am frustrated with my camera right now. It's not really the camera's fault, but my own, for not paying attention when Andrew was importing pictures from the card to the computer. I wasted half an hour this morning, trying to figure it out, until Robert called.

I guess the single-axle truck, which the boys are using to move the big square bales to the end of the field for stacking, was running low on gas. They needed me to drive to Napoleon (13 miles) and fill the gas cans. Then they needed me to drive out to the field (about 20 miles) to take them the gas. Then I had to drive home (about 15 miles), and now I can try to finish my post.

I haven't much time, as we're getting ready to go to the rodeo tonight, but I wanted to write a short post about yesterday. I had hoped to import all the pictures I took of us swinging yesterday, so you can see that we really ARE lazy one day a week. :)

I so love the Sabbath, but it IS the hardest day not to eat when the family is enjoying our wonderful feasts. Somehow it didn't seem so bad yesterday, though, so thanks to those of you who are covering me with your prayers. Please let me know if you ever have any prayer needs.

Maybe the reason that this cleanse seems easier than the others is because I am VERY motivated to be just as pure and cleansed as possible when my family of origin meets at my dad's house for his auction one week from today. I want to make sure that I am totally open to do whatever the Lord wants me to do and to say whatever the Lord wants me to say.

Do you remember the passage where Christ said to His disciples, "This kind of evil spirit goes out only with prayer AND fasting?" Although there have been tons of times since I started the cleanse (like just now out in the hayfield with my menfolk) that I would have LIKED to eat, my spirit keeps girding me up not to. It's like it's saying, "Prepare yourself for what is coming up at the sale. Go in with a positive spirit (not one bogged down with digestion), and see the wonders that the Lord will do to answer your prayers of 40 years for these people."

OH GOD, PLEASE PREPARE ME TO BRING PEACE TO THAT VERY VOLATILE SITUATION!

So, even today, when we're going to the rodeo, I'm not really troubled about not eating. I have chosen to do this cleanse for my healing and strengthening, and that is JUST what I am doing. I am being true to my desire to have the Lord purify me through this 10 day Master Cleanse.

I do think, though, that it may be easier this time because I have done 3 cleanses before this. I remember reading that each one gets easier, as the junk from a lifetime slowly comes out. That doesn't really help when you're starting out, though, but just hang in there if you're on the cleanse right now too. YOU CAN DO IT!!! Keep your goals always before you and pray constantly for the Lord to strenghten and heal you and HE WILL DO IT!!!

Well, I will post tonight's pictures of the rodeo tomorrow (hopefully). The perfectionist in me is bugged that I fell behind with my posting about the Cleanse, but that old beast is slowly dying. I'll get to it when I have the time. It IS important to me to post every day, when I'm on the cleanse, so that others who may decide to do the cleanse can come here and find out what to expect. It also helps to have something to do, that I like, while everyone else is eating. Did you ever notice how often we eat?

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL; AND TO ALL HAVE FUN WITH THE FIREWORKS!!
OH, HOW I LOVE FIREWORKS!!!!!!!!!

Dawn

GOD AND GOD ALONE CAN HELP ME

This morning I was feeling overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed by all of the wonderful material that I learned in the past 4 days. The perfectionist in me was thinking, "How in the world will I ever memorize all of THAT material?" There are almost as many new techniques as I have already mastered.

Then I was overwhelmed by this finger STILL itching; swelling; peeling; blistering; and tingling. I am soooooo glad that I had a session with "Melanie's" Andrew when he was here during class. He's a chiropractor/BodyTalker... In that session with Andrew, I learned that there are 5 factors involved in this finger problem and hopefully it will be a thing of the past here soon, but it's still a pain in the hand..................................

I was also overwhelmed this morning as I pondered a personal situation that I must deal with involving another BodyTalker. It came up as a factor in this finger situation and Dr. Andrew Colyer told me that I need to address it for the finger to heal. PLEASE PRAY FOR ME. I hardly slept last night as I prayed over this, but the Lord showed me a plan of action and now it's just for the courage to follow through.

I'm still shifting from the incredible session with Andrew which I had on Sunday. My head hurts quite a bit and I know that I "Should" (I'll post on SHOULD soon) just take it easy today. However Cora is gone babysitting today and it's time to make lunch but all I want to do is go and soak in the whirlpool. Tomorrow is my office day in Bismarck......................

Just now I cried out to the Lord when I came in the kitchen from the bathroom and saw that I had turned on the wrong burner on the stove. Instead of warming the water in my teapot, I was cooking my bread knife which was VERY hot. I guess I need to be more careful where people put things when they clear the table AND which burner I turn on.

Well, to be honest, I was just plain overwhelmed. That's when I turned my face towards Heaven and cried out to the Lord for help. This song popped into my head then and I knew that I was to find it on U Tube. I watched it and, after I had a good cry, I knew that I was to share it with you too.

I'm hoping that, if you're having a day where you feel like the whole world is resting on your shoulders like I was this morning, this song will be a reminder that it doesn't. Oh yes, He had me do the BodyTalk technique where you get rid of false belief systems before I listened to the video. The concept was, "The whole world is MY responsibility." WOW--no wonder my neck and head are hurting today. I covet your prayers!

Be blessed,

Dawn

Harvest of Thanks

Good morning,

As you could tell from Cora's post, we've been very busy around here putting up food for winter and preparing for our shoot next weekend. Andrew finished cleaning out the goat's pen yesterday and almost did in the huge manure pile in the yearling's pen. Cora finished painting the merry-go-round; Jacob painted on the teeter totter; and I compromised with myself on painting the door frame after Cora, Jacob, and I searched for the right paint over several day's time. This means that I did paint the visible portion of the frame but left the inside of the door frame until I can find some exterior paint that matches. I ended up using the paint from the dining room, as it's close in color, and my perfectionism could not have stood looking at that white paint on the cream siding that I got on it when I primed the frame. Anyway, it looks much better for now, but it's not a permanent fix.

One of the things I did yesterday was dug through more poetry books for a "Perfect" reading to share today. However, when I talked to my friend Betty Jo from church, she spoke of her willingness to look at WITH MY SONG. BJ is an excellent pianist and can pick up most songs instantly but this is pretty tough in the accompaniment. Andrew helped me get it ready to send to her and I was thrilled when she called to say that she could play it. SHE LIKES IT TOO!!! So, now what remains for me is to convince my family that WE all want to sing it over there.

After BJ said that she would play for us, it made the poem-finding easier as it could be something short and sweet. I really didn't want to walk to the front of the church to read a half minute poem and then turn around and walk back, but I just couldn't find anything longer that I really liked. So, with the hopes that I can get my family to sing WITH MY SONG with me, I easily settled on this poem. I hope that you like it too!

Thanksgiving

(Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer)

Let us give thanks to God above,

Thanks for expressions of His love,

Seen in the book of nature, grand,

Taught by His love on every hand.

Let us be thankful in our hearts,

Thankful for all the truth imparts,

For the religion of our Lord,

All that is taught us in His word.

Let us be thankful for a land,

That will for such religion stand;

One that protects it by the law,

One that before it stands in awe.

Thankful for all things let us be,

Though there be woes and misery;

Lessons they bring us for our good-

Later 'twill all be understood.

Thankful for peace o'er land and sea,

Thankful for signs of liberty,

Thankful for homes, for life and health,

Pleasure and plenty, fame and wealth.

Thankful for friends and loved ones, too,

Thankful for all things, good and true,

Thankful for harvest in the fall,

Thankful to Him who gave it all.

~~~~~~~~

So you see, music came to the rescue once again. Music also was my inspiration yesterday. I'm sure that you say the video that Cora put on her blog. Well, over breakfast yesterday we watched many of Mr. Perry's video clips and I got VERY excited with an idea.

I grabbed Andrew's arm and looked up in his eyes and said, "Andrew will you help ME TO DO THIS?"

He laughed and said that he thinks it can be done. Oh, how I love singing women's trio music. I have the perfect music too as I sang with a women's trio about 10 years ago called HEARTS OF PRAISE. It was a lot of fun but the hard part was getting together with people out here in the sticks to practice. Well, if I'm singing all 3 parts, I can practice any time I want to. OH I AM SO EXCITED FOR WINTER TO COME NOW AS I HAVE AT LONG LAST LEARNED OF A WAY THAT I CAN HARMONIZE WITH MYSELF!!!!!!!!! :)

Well, Cora and Andrew are in the kitchen humming 2 different songs. I got the impression that they think it would be great if all of us would harmonize together out in the barn, so I'd best get moving. I'll post pictures of our special day here later.

Happy Sabbath,

Dawn

Bad news; Good news; GREAT NEWS

I have only a few moments as I need to scrub the floor yet and clean the whole bathroom before sunset. Still, I thought that I'd share the news of the day as I just can't keep it in.

First of all for the bad news. Our neighbor Leo called around 4:30 and said that his wife, who is my friend Gladys, suffered from another stroke this morning. I couldn't believe it as we just talked yesterday on the phone and her lungs were sounding so much better. She had even walked out to the garden. Now Gladys is in the hospital in Bismarck again, for a different reason, and she can use your prayers.

You may recall that Gladys was just in the hospital in Bismarck for her asthma. I had visited her in the hospital at that time and she had consented to allowing me to do a BodyTalk session on her that day. She told me yesterday that it helped her so much. I hope that she'll consent to let me work on her again as BT works so good on reestablishing communication in the body and a stroke is a MAJOR shutdown of communication lines. Her left side is numb.

Well, the good news is that the Dagleys are coming for a visit tomorrow. Earlier in the day it seemed doubtful that they could come but Ben just called and said that a few of them will be able to come. Andrew needs to go over the Prairie Days DVD with them that he is putting together for them. Also, we want to have A SWING SET PARTY. The children were all mowing this morning in preparation for company, so I'm glad that they're coming. :)

Does anybody know what you officially do at a swing set dedication? All I know for sure is that I've dedicated it to the work of the Lord to bring joy into our family and those of all whom HE brings here. Here are a few pictures that I took earlier today as the children tied and burnt the ends of the ropes. Part of me was suffering as they told me that their plan was to tie the boards at different lengths so that people of different sizes can all swing at the same time. I had been seeing them all lined up perfectly exactly 34.29873 inches from the ground. I should have done my deep breathing technique, for it wasn't worth THAT much stress. After I pondered the situation a little, I came to see that their plan was "Just Perfect." Really, as if everybody in the world has the same lenghth of legs!!! :)

Here I am checking out the yellow swing. IT WORKS! :)

Now for the great news. THE LORD WORKED OUT THE FINANCING AND THE GUYS BROUGHT THE OTHER 9030 HOME AN HOUR AGO!!! You may recall, from the bale stacking pictures post, that we were trying to get another 9030. Our major crop is alfalfa and the one we had handles the hay like nothing else. NOW WE HAVE TWO!!! We traded in the fancy swather that we'd bought when we were focusing more on small grains. They're willing to finance the rest so the Bornemann men's hearts are full of joy tonight. You know what they say about the difference between the men and the boys, don't you? Let's see if I can recall it now.

The difference between the men and boys is the size and the PRICE of their toys.

Here our guys are playing with their new toy. :)

Back to cleaning.

Dawn

Graduation Day

Well, Andrew's graduation day is history now. It was such a wonderful day for all of us that I'm sure it will remain bright in our memories as a highlight in our lives just as Cora's graduation day was. Andrew did VERY well with all that he was required to do but went beyond the requirements and touched people's hearts. Robert and I were both so pleased with him

as he took this step into manhood which Robert calls, "Rights of passage." We both think it is essential for our children to have a day like this to acknowledge that they are no longer children-that they have now stepped over into adulthood.

Cora's former music teacher, Rev. Lane Keister, played piano for about 45 minutes before the program started as people came in and sat down. People were just amazed as he got that old piano rumbling in ways that I'm sure it hasn't since he played at Cora's graduation 4 years ago. He definitely is a VERY gifted musician, the likes of which is not usually heard in North Dakota. Thank you, Lane, for blessing us in this way. This was a great way to begin the afternoon and

the program followed. Here is what was on the program.

Introduction and Welcome by Robert

Pledge of Allegiance & Recitation of 10 Commandments

Instrumental music by boys: BLACKBERRY BLOSSOM

A word from the Principal--(Robert's thoughts) with poem, "IF"

Family song:WITH MY SONG

A word from the teacher (Me) with poem, "TROUBLE TROUBLE"

Valedictorian's Address with Poem, "Farmer's Prayer"

Geography Class Skit by Andrew and Dawn

Presentation of Diploma

Puppet show, "Would you grad-ge-ate Jethro?"

with the Dagley children providing music

Andrew's life pictures slideshow

Open mic--Bring a song to share

Closing prayer with Pastor Steve Kyner

I'm hoping to be able to post the video of Andrew and I doing the Geography Class song soon. Andrew did so well and the people just loved him. I enjoyed being able to share the way that we do things in our school and also some of what we have learned.

During the open mic time these friends blessed us with music or a poem: Angelica Miller, Delores Miller, Clifford Johnson, the Dagley family, my brother Rick, Sarah Keister, Robert's mom, and Cora and I played our piano duet. We did, "Fugue on a Russian Theme" and it went ok. It wasn't like playing it on our own piano but it was a good thing that Lane got all of the dust out of the thing before we played. :) At least we couldn't use THAT as an excuse for our mistakes. :) It was more like a case of weak nerves, but Robert said that it sounded good so maybe others didn't notice our bloopers as much as we did. :)

Our puppet show went ok. We were trying out a new concept of putting the puppets in front of us instead of killing our shoulders lifting them up over the top of the stage. We had done puppets like that in Bismarck Baptist because our puppets were not full body puppets. This means that they had no legs so we had to put them over the top of the stage. However our puppets do have legs so it made sense to try putting them out in front of us. It worked great in that our shoulders didn't weary at all. When we watched the video of it this afternoon, though, we all had a good laugh. Most of the time our puppet's feet weren't on the floor--they were hanging in mid air!!! I had noticed it about half way through the skit and kept Polly's feet down better after that but the first half was pretty bad. Oh well, that's how we learn. If we never try anything, we'll never make any mistakes, to be sure. We'll never accomplish anything though either, right? How's that for a recovering perfectionist? Anyway, it was sooo much fun to be able to work with my children in this way. It was a dream come true for, ever since directing puppets at our church in Bismarck 17 years ago, I have dreamed of having a family puppet ministry. Perhaps this will become a reality in the future?

I'd best move on. This is the picture of the punch table. Jerome, Robert's cousin, is helping himself while the Geiger girls and Amanda Dagley visit having caught up with their work. It's always nice, when home schoolers have an event, to see the young people visiting with each other. Check Cora's blog for pictures of the adults visiting. :)

The boys and I are reciting Exodus 20:1-17 here. This is the long version of the 10 Commandments which we recited at the beginning of every school day for the past 17 years. I don't know if I had the jitters or if we just should have gone over it once beforehand, but in a few spots I blundered. This means that I wasn't perfect--oh my. Andrew chuckled under his breath and kept going. Jacob wasn't feeling the best so he didn't really lead out--therefore it was a good thing that we had Andrew with us. :)

The boys are playing Blackberry Blossom here. What a joy it was to see them enjoying music so much that they would choose to share a song. My mom would have LOVED hearing this!

Here Robert is sharing his thoughts about raising Andrew. It wasn't hard to tell that he has a very deep love and affection for this son who is so much like him. Many of us were wet eyed when he was finished--including Robert!


Me in my yellow dress sharing some stories about Andrew's life that only a mother could know.

Here Andrew is giving his speech. Being I had shared that he taught me how to combine sunflowers, he thought he would explain how I happened to get lost that night in the dark. He is a good story teller, an art which is fast disappearing in the computer age. He did such a good job of explaining why he was glad that he was home schooled and Robert and I wiped our eyes several times. I'm sure that he will post the video of this sometime soon.

Our first born son, Andrew Robert Bornemann, on his graduation day.

Here Robert is reading the diploma and Andrew is waiting for his father to hand it to him.

This is Angelica Miller singing THE VIA DOLAROSA. She is the daughter of our friends, Lyle and Becky Miller. It was beautiful especially when she sang one verse in Spanish. Becky was indispensable in the kitchen and as always, her smile lights up my world. Thanks for coming and sharing Miller family!

These are our friends, the Dagley family. Four years ago, when there family was larger by three children, they sang BE THOU MY VIVISON. Andrew REALLY likes that song and asks for it many times in school or church hymn sings. I wasn't at all surprised when he asked them to sing it for his special day. As always, the hearts of this family blesses ours!

This is Delores Miller whom our family has grown up thinking of as a grandma. She took a poem out of her pocket in the kitchen and said, "I was going to read this for Andrew." It was "IF" by Rodyard Kipling which Robert had just read a few minutes earlier. We laughed together. She said that she had a second selection along and would read that instead. This taught me the value of being prepared with an alternate song or reading when I REALLY want to be able to share something for someone special. Thanks Delores!

This is a picture of our dear friend, Clifford Johnson, who sang about our Lord's sacrifice on the cross. He also helped Ellen and her crew in the kitchen when he wasn't jamming with the Dagleys and later with Andrew and Rick included. Clifford and Ellen are examples of what I wrote about at the top of this blog. They don't know the meaning of the word "Old," and just keep getting

better every year! We could not have gotten through the day without their help and their love.

This is a picture of Robert's mom, Marly Bornemann. She conquered her fear of public speaking and did a great job. She read, "The Farmer's Son" to Andrew. It was as though someone wrote it just about Andrew and we all had lumps in our throats. What a fitting tribute it was to the graduate AND to Marly's own son, Robert. :)

Here is a picture of most of the Keister family. Lane at the piano is playing for Sarah who sang, Psalm 121. This is the song that Lane accompanied for Cora 4 years ago when she sang it for her graduation. Sarah is a former opera singer and now challenges herself by singing with a baby on her hip. How wonderful it was to hear you again, Sarah!

This is our pastor, Steve Kyner, right before he blessed the meal. He was saying that he remembers when he came to Alfred that Andrew was "So tall." We were very glad and honored that he and Vangie were able to join us for the afternoon. :)

This is a picture of Andrew after supper. He was showing Justus Geiger how his turntable works. It's built to hold 90 pounds so Andrew had taken the bathroom scale along to make sure that nobody heavier than that stood on it. He's just a little protective of his Lego creations--kind of like me with my goats. :) Andrew told me one time that he has over a thousand dollars stuck into his Lego collection. He certainly drew lots of attention to himself at his Lego creation display where he shared with everyone what he really loves--creating things. I often wonder if he likes yellow because that's the predominant color that Legos come in or does he like Legos because they're yellow? I wonder if we'll ever know?

This is the litle lady who kept the kitchen running smoothly all afternoon--our friend Ellen Johnson. She manned that kitchen like a battleship and not a minute was wasted in preparing the supper. By the time the program was ended, food was being set out on the tables and I never had to lift a finger. What a gift that was!!!! Then Ellen said, "You go and eat with your family." When I protested that the guests should go first, she said, "If you want me to run your kitchen, then you have to follow my orders." We laughed together and I picked up a plate. She said that the family should eat first and then visit with the guests instead of worrying about the food. How's that for a friend? Other ladies helping in the kitchen were Roxanne Gill from Eureka; Delores Miller from Streeter; Becky Miller from Streeter; and the Geiger girls from Baldwin. Cake cutters were Estella Merkel and Marly Bornemann, both of Eureka, SD.

When all of the kitchen was spik and span after supper, Ellen sat down to rest. This was when she picked up her crochet hook. Talk about an amzing woman!!!!!!!!! I have learned so much from Ellen about preparing food--whether for a family or for a crowd. May God bless you richly, Ellen, for how you have blessed my life with your wonderful friendship!

May God richly bless all who helped us to celebrate Andrew's life yesterday, June 7th, 2009. Thanks for all of your prayers that helped make the day a joyous celebration for Andrew!!! Feel free to check Cora's blog for more pictures and Andrew's blog for some videos of the big day.

One thing that I just noticed, as I proofread this post, is that there are no pictures of Cora. How can this be? Well, it's because she was the one taking all of the pictures. Chuck said that he'll send all of the pictures that he took soon so then we'll have pictures of all of us doing things throughout the program. I'm sure that SOMEBODY here will post some of them and then you can see Cora in her cute outfit that she redid from an old prom dress.

Happily tired,

Dawn