Category Archives: history

the last (or first) newsletter of the year…but not the one I expected to write

Posted on by January 12, 2024

Hi friends,

My newsletters have always been private, just for subscribers. But for the first time in seven years, this newsletter is going on my site because it is a message that everyone needs to hear. Not everyone will want to hear it, but after the last 48 hours I don’t care anymore, and those who do far outnumber those who don’t, anyway.

The scales are tipping, and they’ve needed to for a long time.

And I know that God knows what He’s doing even when I don’t know what He’s doing, because just four days ago in my weekly devotional I spoke on when you’re waiting for God to show up: trusting that God is going to move in your situation when you don’t understand what’s going on or why it’s happening.

And then the day before yesterday as I was drafting out this newsletter (which was due yesterday but you’ll understand the delay in a minute if you haven’t already heard) I wrote about going into December with grand expectations, and going into situations or seasons with expectations that often don’t turn out.

I was going to start it by telling you a cute story about our enormous cat Bingley, who hates getting his claws trimmed so much that the process usually takes three of us, a large towel, bandages, and antiseptic. Bingley is learning to not knead my lap with his scimitar claws because I’m learning to confront his expectations by keeping the claw clippers handy. He must be a slow learner, because we do this routine every few days and I’ve trimmed most of his front claws by now…but I’m a slow learner, too, because I also go into things with expectations that often don’t turn out, even though experience has taught me otherwise.

It was funny. It was light-hearted.

And then an hour later, our little Kavanagh, barely three, broke his arm in three places while sledding.

That was 48 hours ago as I type this.

And here’s what happened, as I shared on Gab and Telegram:

We’re on our way to the third hospital, after being seen in urgent care because our little Kav broke his arm sledding.

Got X-rays. Broken humerus. Needs emergency surgery.

They sent us to Anchorage because the peds surgeon on call in the Valley wasn’t super comfortable with it, it’s not his specialty.

So, fine.

Providence Medical Center refused to see us because I have a mask exemption. They don’t care. They’re in the business of drumming up business, not healing, don’t you know. Their ER was packed, too.

So we went to Alaska Regional. They wouldn’t allow my husband in, but begrudgingly acquiesced to my exemption. Waited an hour and a half.

And then a nurse came in to swab my son for covid.

I said no.

She acted like she’d never heard that before. Said she’d have to talk to someone.

Ten or fifteen minutes later, three nurses come in. They must’ve really needed moral support. They said lots of things about “policy” and “mandate” but gave no real info and wouldn’t answer questions. I said I wanted to talk to the surgeon.

Again, same routine with the intake doc.

Then I spoke to the surgeon’s assistant, who was great. Please pray for him because he might need a new job now.

Because a few minutes later the surgeon walked in, loudly said, “You won’t allow a test so I won’t do your surgery. No surgery from me.” And left the room. When I tried to ask him questions he said I was refusing to comply. [That video is here on Gab and here on Telegram.]

Then they just left me there with my just-barely-turned-three toddler, bruise blackening.

I waited a while, figured out how to put the bed down so Kav could sleep, and went to the hallway. Isn’t there someone who can answer questions?

What, you actually expect information or rights? Craziness!

A nurse told me I needed to go back to my room. Seriously.

About ten or fifteen minutes later, the staff supervisor came back with a couple of friends, and another in the hall, and security right behind.

Would not answer questions, give info, show written policy, nothing. No information at all. Just kept saying I refused to comply with policy, even though they wouldn’t explain or show me that policy. I have video. They called APD on me and threatened to trespass me. [The video of that is here on Gab and here on Telegram.]

[ADDED because I forgot about it when I originally posted this: Sending us to Providence would have done nothing for us, because we would have gotten the same on call surgeon there who already refused to treat Kavanagh, and I’m confident the nurse knew it.

That same nurse, as she was trying to get rid of us, also said, “You’ll have to go to Alaska Native Medical Center, then.” When I responded that we’re not Native, she said, “Right, you’re not,” and smirked. This woman was just wasting our time by trying to send us on a wild goose chase while our son was injured and needing care.]

So we left. I would not leave my child unsupervised there to have his toenails trimmed at this point.

So please pray. We just pulled up to hospital number three.

Hospital number three was MatSu Regional, our local hospital. I called ahead while we were driving, told them the situation, and asked if they would admit us without demanding to swab my toddler. They said they would check, put me on hold. After a few minutes they came back and said yes, they would just do surgery as though he were Covid positive. What does that mean? That means they prep the OR differently and wear shields and gowns to protect from contagion and infection. (Um, don’t they try to prevent infection or contamination, regardless? But I digress.)

It was a totally different experience from Alaska Regional in Anchorage, where we were treated like peons who had no right to even ask questions. MatSu Regional told us our rights, gave us the Patient Bill of Rights in writing (and the right to refuse testing is on the first page), and explained everything so we could understand it (which was necessary because there was a lot of miscommunication). Overall, they were kind, respectful, and conscientious over details.

They respected medical exemptions for masks – with the exception of the paper pushers in the lobby who panic when they see a person’s entire face and apparently don’t know what to do with healthy, assertive people who are versed in their rights. Those ladies were shocked and bewildered when I told them I was medically exempt, as though they’d never even heard the term before. (“Uh, um, er, I’m not sure if we do that here.” Oh, I assure you that you do, trust me.)

They’re going to see a lot more of it soon. People are waking up and are going to stop rolling over for the insanity, and it will be much harder for people behind a desk or a badge to live in a bubble, out of touch with reality, checking their brains at the door to just do what they’re told.

We were in the ER at MatSu Regional until about 1 am. They splinted Kav’s arm and sent us home, with surgery scheduled for the afternoon.

As I was getting ready for bed in the wee hours, God confronted me. This is what I shared on social media:

The Lord just asked me, So, will you forgive?

And, yeah…that’s hard. But when you consider how much, how fiercely God loves His children, it’s easy to move out of His way so He can be the one to execute judgement.

Because that’s what forgiveness does — it frees us and makes room for Him to bring justice.

Understanding God’s character and love for us almost makes forgiveness too easy. We use tough-sounding phrases like “May God have mercy on them, because I won’t,” but I’ve been reading the Psalms a lot lately and it doesn’t say much about mercy for those who willfully harm His kids to appease idolatry.

“At the set time that I appoint
    I will judge with equity.
When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants,
    it is I who keep steady its pillars.
I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
    and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;
do not lift up your horn on high,
    or speak with haughty neck.’”

For not from the east or from the west
    and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.

– Psalm 75:2-7

I slept two hours that night in fitful dozing, and woke to a voicemail at 7:30 that told us to be back in the ER at 9 to start prepping for surgery.

But even once we were there and scheduled, the hits kept coming. One expectation after another was replaced by something harder:

Kav needed an overnight stay, not outpatient surgery.

The bones were too unstable, so the surgery that was supposed to be about an hour took almost three hours.

It wasn’t one break as we thought from the X-rays, but three breaks.

This surgery usually only requires one or two pins, but they had to use five.

So I’ve been grieving and processing, telling God, This is so hard. I know bad things happen, but this is my son.

It was My son, too, He said.

And that was so much worse. Devastation upon devastation. The headlines in Mark read like this:

Betrayal and arrest of Jesus

Jesus before the council

Peter denies Jesus

Jesus delivered to Pilate

Pilate delivers Jesus to be crucified

Jesus is mocked

The crucifixion

The death of Jesus

Jesus is buried

But it wasn’t over. And He prepares us, because in that devotional video that’s exactly what the He led me to talk about: The Lord lets us see movement before the final breakthrough. He lets us see that He’s still in control, even if it looks like it’s over.

We can pick up on what’s really going on if we have the eyes to see it.

I can’t tell you how many times hospital staff asked me, “How did this happen?” It was odd at first and then I realized what they were doing – checking to see if my answer changed. Which is fine, okay, it’s good to watch for signs of abuse, of course. But there’s this continual sense of professional and persistent suspicion toward all parents.

Last night, the nurse started asking a ton of questions and writing down answers, and they became increasingly irrelevant to Kavanagh’s care and more intrusive of our family: When is his bedtime, what does he drink milk from, does he sleep in his own bed and what kind of bed is it, what are the names and ages of all his siblings? I stopped her and said I decline answering, since they have nothing to do with his care.

Newsflash to hospitals and medical staff: Parents should be as suspicious of you as you are of us.

So it was mutual, and everyone was kind and some were surprisingly honest about it. After I said I would sleep in the hospital bed with Kav, one nurse actually said, “I have to tell you this, even though I personally totally understand and that’s fine, but because it’s my job I have to say the words that ‘cosleeping is dangerous and not recommended.’ But he just had surgery and he needs you, so it’s totally fine.”

“I’ve had eight kids. I don’t really care what the hospital’s recommendation is,” I said. Hospitals that feed their patients fake butter, Jello pudding, and Red #3 as standard fare are not exactly displaying their brilliant command of wellness research or parenting expertise, but thanks anyway.

We are living in a compromised society when even good doctors have to use bad language to protect themselves: In their notes, using slanted phrases like “covid protocol violations” and “refusal for covid protocol compliance” instead of “hospital denied rights to medically exempt parent” or “hospital violated patient bill of rights by denying their right to refuse testing.” Or, just a suggestion: “Hospital refused to treat injured toddler over political polarization.”

This will not get easier until we all stand up. We must stop compromising our values and rolling over for more abuse. They are not going to blunt their claws on their own; we are going to have to keep the clippers handy no matter how much they hate the trimming.

We’re living in a time where people are having to do things they don’t want to do. It goes both ways, though. You can tell you’re doing it the right way if you’re walking in worship toward God rather than walking in fear of man.

So Pilate, wishing to please the crowd, released Barabbas and scourged Jesus and had Him crucified.
– Mark 15:15

Or today’s rendition:

So medical personnel, wishing to please the moneymakers and bureaucracy, denied truth and science by releasing illogical policies, unhealthy mandates, and blatant propaganda—choosing cowardice and lies over their Hippocratic oath, they denied medical ethics and patient rights, and created a culture of perpetual sickness and tyranny.

Or, because I’m feeling pretty punchy after 36 hours of fighting for my boy on two hours of sleep and a breakfast of coffee and ibuprofen, there’s also this:

So fearful people afraid of giving offense, losing their jobs, or leaving their comfort zone, denied logic and critical thinking, continuing to roll over for every new demand, policy, and mandate — and in doing so, chose compromise and cowardice over truth and courage, and delivered their country and children to communism and slavery.

If that offends you, there’s the door. But if it convicts you, praise God – let’s get to work.

It is going to take hard choices and bold risks and big sacrifices to remove ourselves from our compromising partnership with elements in the culture that are destroying our values and liberty. We are entangled in every level, and we often fund and serve the same enemy who is trying to enslave us. We have to choose our battles and do one thing at a time.

I cannot tell you what to do, but I know that if you understand what is at stake, you will do something.

Start your own business. Learn to cook from scratch. Learn to grow food. Quit your job. Fire your boss. Shop somewhere else. Homeschool. Start a co-op. Shut off your TV. Take off the mask. Find a new doctor. Stand up to those who assume you will just roll over and comply. Teach them the word “No.”

You’ll pray and seek the Lord and He will tell you what to do. And then you will pray again, and do another thing – and another, and another, until you are as free from compromising entanglements as you can be.

But if you don’t understand what’s at stake, you won’t.

I’m grateful that when we started to see what was happening in 2020 with the Covid agenda, we already had experience homeschooling our kids, earning our own income, and working from home. We were already actively learning about nutrition, health, wholeness, and healing. We have not arrived by a long shot (such a bummer we can’t perform surgery yet, right?) but it has been one step at a time as the Lord directs us.

It has never for a second been easy. But it has been right. And looking back, I can see how gracious He was to prepare and move us to learn the things we are doing routinely now.

Those of us who understand what is happening are learning to meet the presumptuous bullying of this multifaceted agenda with boundaries and strength. They may have claws like scimitars, but we’re learning to keep the clippers handy, and their threats have less and less power when we do so.

I am confident of one thing in the next year: No matter what we expect, it will blow those expectations out of the water.

If you dread the new year, it will not be what you expect.

If you think the best is yet to come (and I do), it will not be what we expect, either.

But whatever happens, He will show up and bring justice, because He is the God with us.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

– Romans 8:28

So there’s the December newsletter. I’m sorry you’re getting this in January, and I’m sorry it’s a mile long, but it’s what needed to be said. And it’s still 2021 in Alaska – for a few seconds, anyway.

Happy New Year, friends.

He still moves us,

Shannon

_____

Related:

Not the Same: My response to those who think we should’ve just rolled over for the hospital

What the Day Demands: What came of the investigation into Alaska Regional

And hey, want to sign up for my normal, wholeness-centered, generally non-angsty newsletters? (grin) Here’s where you can do that.

nice people: why we won’t cave to medical cowardice

Posted on by November 17, 2021

We got 13 inches of snow last weekend, and shortly afterward our daughter lost a lens outside while sledding. Or maybe it was when they put sleds away. Or maybe it was somewhere in between. She had no idea, so we scoured the yard in ten-degree temps looking for it after she came in and told us. And then that night, in zero degrees, my husband and I looked again with flashlights.

Yeah, no. We didn’t find it.

nice people: why we won't cave to medical cowardice

So we called to get it replaced. But no, you can’t just get it replaced; her prescription was one year and 49 days ago, and those 49 days make a huuuuuge difference because they mean she needs a whole new exam, according to the eye doctor’s office.

I told them we pay out of pocket, and we don’t do recreational medical appointments.

They gave us a little runaround but eventually acquiesced a little, to the point of making an appointment for me (because, Dorothy, we’re not in our 30s anymore) and during my appointment, my daughter could walk in to get the lens in her glasses replaced. So far, so good.

Until the lady said they require masks.

Now, just so you know…I have a medical exemption for at least three reasons. But this isn’t about medical exemptions, just as it isn’t about medical care or science or critical thinking.

This office didn’t care about medical exemptions; they require masks.

“So,” I asked, “your office discriminates against those who cannot wear masks for medical reasons?”

“No, this is a private practice,” the receptionist said. (I’m pretty sure this is the same one that answered the phone earlier with, “Hellocanyoupleaseholdthanks.” It wasn’t a good start.) “It’s Dr. Whatshisname’s policy.”

“Oh! So it’s Dr. Whatshisname who discriminates against people with medical exemptions?” Yeah, I’m that fun at parties, too.

After a few seconds of bluster and stammering, she went for the plandemic talking points about numbers and “safety” that have nothing to do with medical care, science, or critical thinking, as I already mentioned.

“If Dr. Whatshisname believes all that,” I said, “he’s not someone I would trust with any form of medical care for my kids or myself. Please cancel our appointments.”

And that’s when she hung up on me. (I bet she’s real fun at parties, too.)

Now, I know there are a lot of nice people out there just doing their jobs. Just sending their kids to school. Just going to work, just not rocking the boat. But don’t expect me to believe that these people are wearing masks for the health of others, because it is their perpetuation of the myth that prevents people like me who cannot wear a mask from getting medical care.

“I don’t wear it for me, I wear it for you” is a bunch of self-righteous BS and I’m over it.

Next we tried Dr. Whosit, recommended by one of my best friends. Made appointments. It looked good. And then they said to bring a mask.

Whoops.

“I can’t wear a mask, and I won’t make my kids wear them, either,” I said.

“Well, it’s our policy, blah blah, can you bring a medical exemption letter?”

“I don’t need to bring a medical exemption letter,” I said. “My medical history in other areas is none of your office’s concern.” And they know that, as does every other medical office, but they’re hoping you and I don’t know that, of course. (Hellloooo, HIPPA!)

“Let me find Dr. Whosit so you can speak to him.” Great, thanks.

A minute on hold, and Dr. Whosit comes on.

“Hi, can I help you?”

I explain our situation. Dr. Whosit is nice but admits that he just does what the State tells him. I answer that I am not going to the state for my medical care, I am looking for someone who actually practices medical science instead of political science in their patient care.

“Well, it’s only for a little while in a small room. Couldn’t you wear a mask for just that time?”

“No, I am not going to suffocate myself or my kid for just a few minutes. Would you?”

No, he wouldn’t, but he was asking me to.

And this is the (lack of) logic we are encountering at every level of this. These people would call OCS or DFYS in a heartbeat should you intentionally cause lung damage to your child or restrict their oxygen in any non-state-approved way, but they balk when you stand up against them for wanting to do it.

The reason they balk is because so many people have no problem actually allowing other people to restrict their children’s oxygen. How dare we question those from their lofty position on a high horse?

if your medical provider is still requiring masks, they either don't understand basic science or they agree to foolish things that morons instruct them to do. Find a better doctor.

I know, they’re just nice people, refusing to rock the boat while simultaneously making excuses for all the leaks in it. This is okay. It’s fine, we’re all fine…and the water just keeps rising, because nice people keep allowing it to.

King Hezekiah was a nice person, too. In the line of Biblical kings, he was actually a pretty good one.

One day Hezekiah gets sick and is about to die. So he prays, and God not only heals him but also provides a miraculous sign to prove that he’s healed. Pretty good, right?

But then Hezekiah gets an impressive visitor who has heard about his sickness, and sends envoys with letters and gifts to him. Hezekiah responds by showing off everything he has, exposing his assets and weaknesses to this foreign entity.

He makes himself look good while thoughtlessly endangering future generations.

But maybe it was unintentional. Maybe he just wasn’t thinking. Maybe he felt sorry about it later.

Or maybe not. Let’s read:

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”

– 2 Kings 20:16-19

Why not? As long as it doesn’t affect my time, and my life is easy, and I’m not inconvenienced, who cares?

I’m pretty sick of nice people, to tell you the truth. Nice people are giving up our freedoms, rolling over so evil people can abuse our children and convince us that it’s the (self)right(eous) thing to do.

I found some leads and made appointments with a new eye care center who is so popular they are booked out for quite a while. Turns out, supporting freedom is actually pretty good for business.

But friends, this is a serious issue: Where are we capitulating? Where are we giving an inch, and they are taking a mile?

We are dealing with vax mandates this year because so many of us capitulated to mask requirements last year.

It might be inconvenient to find a new doctor or optometrist or dentist or hair stylist. I know it’s not easy. It wasn’t easy for us when we moved our whole family last year to a new medical provider, a different church, and new social media platforms. Hey, I can’t even remember our new PO Box number. Change is hard, I get it.

But we’re not called to do easy. We need to remember that. We’re called to do obedience, and to stand for freedom. And if we don’t do it now, our kids and grandkids won’t have a choice about it later.

as weird as you are: what homeschool really is

Posted on by March 10, 2022

Homeschooling has always been misunderstood, but 2020 didn’t do it any favors and now there’s even more confusion.

The fall of 2020 saw an unprecedented number of families transfer their kids from public and private school to homeschool. And this fall has been the same, for many of the same reasons; even more parents this year want to make the move to homeschool.

as weird as you are: what homeschool really is

It’s a bold, brave choice that requires a family to make significant changes, and it can be overwhelming. That has never changed; the overwhelm has always been there whether it was last year, this year, or sixteen years ago, when we started.

But this year I’ve noticed one difference: Many parents who wish they could get their kids out of public school have washed their hands of homeschooling because they feel like they tried it last year with the forced lockdown, and it was miserable.

So let me clear something up real quick. This is important:

If, because of lockdowns, you were forced into schooling at home, schooling online, or doing a ton of assignments with your kids that their school told you to do, then I hate to break it to you, but…you didn’t homeschool.

I hope that’s a relief to some of you.

Just because your child did assignments at home doesn’t mean it was homeschool.

If they were still registered with another school and doing everything that school told them to do, a repeat of that experience is not what you would be signing up for if you chose to (really) homeschool.

Because homeschool is not checking off a list that someone else assigned you. Homeschool is not hours and hours in front of a screen in zoom meetings or other online classes. Homeschool isn’t just doing the same things you would do at school, but moving the location to your kitchen table (or the couch, or your bed).

Homeschool is none of those things. So if you were given that impression last year and it left a terrible taste in your mouth, I am so sorry. No one can blame you for saying “We tried homeschool last year and we hated it” because we would hate it that way, too.

But we can show you what it really ought to be. And that should give you hope, especially if you wish there was an alternative to the indoctrinating mess that many public schools have become. If you are tired of the CRT and other agendas, the unhealthy mask mandates, the disregard of parental rights, and you want to make school about education again (whoa, what a concept!), let’s talk about what homeschool really is.

And right from the start, I admit that I can’t give you the full picture. Because homeschool is different for everyone, and that is the beauty of it. It is for you and for your kids, not for a predictable system so they will all go in different and come out the same after being squeezed to conform to a mold they may never fit into.

But here are some basic principles:

– We read. A lot. Out loud and quietly, to each other, to younger siblings, to older siblings, to Grandma, to the cats if they will listen. So many books, so little time. When someone’s sick, audiobooks work in a pinch.

– We do stuff: Projects and hikes and visits and crafty things and cooking and watching videos and I can’t even tell you what else. At home and elsewhere, on our own and with others, and we’re not limited to a 7 am to 3 pm schedule.

– We talk to each other, to extended family members and friends, and others. We discuss what we’re reading and learning. We visit people and talk on the phone, and we’re not segregated into only talking with those in our own age group, economic group, neighborhood, or gender.

– We try and fail and change things up, and try again. We’re not stuck with the math program that we hate. We try new language arts programs that might be a better fit. We don’t read the dry textbooks that put you to sleep.

– Our curriculum and schedule work for us, not the other way around. We are not a slave to the checklists and to-do lists (and neither are our kids). We adjust our school schedule to our lives instead of adjusting our lives to our school schedule. A new baby is born, or someone gets sick, or some major catastrophe occurs? We learn about basic skills and caring for each other for a few weeks, and the algebra and language arts can wait. There will be time to pick it up again when things settle down. We are flexible when we need to care for each other, help friends, do a major home repair, or get involved in community projects. So much that needs to be known is never learned in school…but it can be learned in homeschool.

Some of the most important learning is not academic, so don’t be afraid to go there.

So friends, if you want to homeschool this year but don’t think you can for a dozen or more reasons, listen to me:

You will be a terrific teacher for your kid. You’ve already been doing it a long time.

You can teach your kids. Yes, it’s hard sometimes. Yes, you’ll be sanctified. But you can go slow, read the books you want, do the activities you want, partner with friends, take advantage of online resources (they cover every subject or topic you could imagine), and make it your own. Make it for them. Make it for your freedom. Make it for their future.

We have all these preconceived ideas about what school should look like, and we feel like we can’t fit the mold. So, newsflash:

There was never meant to be a mold.

School is supposed to be as weird as you are. Go ahead and quote me on that.

____

Need a quick resource for more info? HSLDA has a terrific site right here, with everything you need to know (legal, local, academic, and otherwise) to get started.