Stolen Praises

One of the things about autism that most gets to me is that it affects our kids ability to speak and process language. Although Alec is now verbal, he still has difficulty processing language, often relying on phrases he has learned in a cartoon to communicate a thought. Often, he uses the phrases appropriately, but cannot break them apart at will to formulate his own unique sentence. However, this is getting better and daily, his language skills improve.

But as a mother, I have said many prayers at his bed at night asking God to help me communicate to Alec how much God loves him. To help Alec to know just who God is. With my daughter Elise, this is easy. You read her Bible stories, tell her about Jesus and ask questions.

But it's harder with Alec. Does he understand what I am telling him? How can I explain a difficult concept like God's love? For a long time, I couldn't be sure he would understand, but I kept on praying for it to come.

I know that communcation comes in many forms, not only through words. An expression, a touch, all things can help communicate with our children. I truly believe those ASD children who are non-verbal communicate in many ways, just not alway through words.

I know, now, that God is not limited in any way by autism. Here's an example:

Every night, I sing the Veggie Tales "Grateful" song to my son at bedtime. "I thank God for this day, for the sun in the sky, for my mom and my dad, for my piece of apple pie...." I know that Alec loves music, so I sing this same tune to him every night, praying that someday, I will be able to talk with Alec about God.

One night, not too long ago, as I sat at Alec's bedside, Alec, in his typical short sentence, said to me "Sing your prayer."

That brought tears to my eyes, because I have never called it a "prayer". How could my son, struggling so with words, understand that this simple song was a prayer? But yet, he did!

So often I try to do what only God can do: to reveal Himself to Alec. God will show Himself to my son, and I have that promise. God will not be limited by autism, he can and will reach out to my son and embrace him.

Also recently, again at Alec's bedside, I said to him as I always do, "Mommy loves you, Daddy loves you, Elise loves you." Then, as an afterthought, I asked "Alec, who is Jesus?".

Alec replied, "Jesus loves me."

Autism can never hinder God's ability to show our kids His love. That's a promise I now know.

"At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children."

Matthew 11:25

Bill will protect Vaccine Makers from Liability

(Sent from A-Champ and "from our friends at NAA--you can still send a message through our system by clicking this link, but now we are asking you to call and fax all Senate HELP Committee members--see below")

SAY NO to S1873 - the Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005

Dear Parents,

Thank you for your help so far. If you have already called and sent letters we need you to do it again. If you haven’t helped yet, it is very important that you do.

THE BILL PASSED THROUGH THE HELP COMMITTEE.

However, we still have Thursday to make a difference in the liability and compensation sections of this horrible bill. In short, we need your help immediately!!! This bill is on the fast track. We expect to be fighting it on the Senate Floor next week. Senators Frist, Gregg, Burr, Enzi and Alexander put in the bill Monday. It passed through committee on Tuesday and Senators have until the end of the day on Thursday (10-20-05) to finalize the bill so perhaps we can make a difference – but we must act swiftly.

Help is needed for everyone to contact their Senator and the Senators on the HELP Committee. Get your extended family to call and write letters too. We especially need parents from Maine, Ohio, Rhode Island, Nebraska, Arizona, Iowa, South Carolina, Oregon. These states have moderate senators that have shown some interest in the past on our issues. We need to inundate Enzi, DeWine, Alexander, and Clinton, but especially Enzi – he is the chairman of the HELP Committee and a co-sponsor of the bill – so parents from Wyoming will also be key in this fight.

NOT SURE WHAT TO SAY TO YOUR SENATOR?

Here are some possible talking points for phone calls:

1) (for Enzi) Rick Santorum said on Imus that Enzi would be getting thimerosal hearings underway this Fall. It's now Fall, where are the hearings? Why are Enzi's efforts instead directed towards legislation that protects industry rather than injured children?

2) (for Enzi) The members of our community feel betrayed. Enzi's office has been supplied with voluminous data confirming that millions of children have been overexposed to mercury and hundreds of thousands now suffer the consequences.

With all this information damning the pharmaceutical industry, it is unconscionable for Senator Enzi to now reward the same industry that poisoned our children. Senator Enzi is not part of the solution, but part of the problem.

3) Our community needs to be assured that this bill will have nothing to do with our children’s vaccine-injury cases. The bill needs to state that it will not affect vaccines currently covered in VICA and that the bill is NOT retroactive. It needs to preserve state’s rights to hear vaccine related cases.

4) Further empowering drug companies to produce unsafe products will undermine the immunization program to a greater extent than anything else to date has. We as a community have seen government's response to a failed compensation program and will be taking our message to schools, churches, shopping malls, and the AARP: If you allow yourself or your child to be vaccinated, you do so at your own risk as any resulting injuries will not be compensated.

Parents, we must stand together! This legislation has been promoted as protecting Americans by assuring that vaccine manufacturers will make vaccines in the case of pandemics, but what it does is protect manufacturers from being held accountable for injuries caused by their products and vaccines including injections containing thimerosal.

Here is what we all need to do:

Fax AND call the following Senators ASAP. Please make plans to do both!

Contacting the two Senators in your state is the first step. Then we need to fax and call all the HELP Senators and those we think may provide us with the swing votes needed in the Senate: Collins, Chaffee, Snowe and McCain.

Fax Senators with this information:

(feel free to cut and paste this letter to fax)Dear Senator ______,

RE: S1873 - the Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005.

Delete Sections 6 and 7 on liability and compensation!! This bill focuses on liability protections to pharmaceutical companies from past mistakes under the guise of focusing on future attacks or pandemics. Fear and losing civil liberties seem to go hand in hand lately. This time the ones to lose are innocent children and suffering families.

The bill has it all wrong. Look at what Fauci said just last year:Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said that liability is only a “very small part of the problem.”

“‘Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have tried to frame the issue as part of the administration’s overall health care agenda, saying it’s the threat of lawsuits that keeps manufacturers from entering and staying in the vaccine business. But that’s only a very small part of the problem,’ said Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health and a chief [HHS Secretary] Thompson adviser.

More significant, he said, are the low-profit margin vaccines provide, unpredictable demand and the complexity of the manufacturing process. ‘The fragility of the vaccine enterprise is an issue that has been present for decades,’ Fauci said. ‘It has been an accident waiting to happen.’” [“Flu Vaccine an Issue in Presidential Race,” Laura Meckler, Associated Press, 10/20/04]

Explanations regarding striking sections 6 and 7: Section six confers immunity on anyone in the vaccine or treatment chain. This must be deleted because:1. Immunity from legal liability for injury results in less safe vaccines and treatments which in turn means rapidly declining public confidence in vaccines. 2. The safety we enjoy for goods and services is the product of both public regulation, in which we have little confidence, and private litigation. Private litigation is an essential component of safety and public confidence.3. Knowing beforehand that some Americans will suffer adverse events due to a countermeasure and not stepping in to help should those people – many children – suffer an injury is immoral.I am asking you as a United States Senator to do the right thing by hard-working, tax-paying Americans. Please delete the liability and compensation portions from this bill and allow the regular system of checks and balances rule in these future cases. Please make sure this bill is not retroactive and the bill should state that it will not affect any injuries for vaccines now covered under the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

Sincerely, (Your name)

Forward this note to all of your friends and members of your family that you think will help. If they don’t mind, do the work for them. Just substitute their name at the bottom of your letter and send it to their Senator or yours again.

The staff will be counting names, not looking specifically at letters. We need to inundate them with calls and faxes. They need to know that thousands of parents are watching!

Lastly, reply to the NAA if you think you can come for a day or two to DC next week to help us fight this bill! We need parents visiting Senator offices reminding Senators that they are representing the people and not pharmaceutical companies!

Thank You!!!

The NAA TeamRepublicans on the HELP Committee:

Gregg, Judd (R - NH)
393 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3324
Fax: (202) 224-4952
E-mail: mailbox@gregg.senate.gov

Frist, William (R - TN)
416 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3344
Fax: (202) 228-1264
E-mail: http://frist.senate.gov/contact.cfm

Enzi, Mike (R - WY)
290 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3424Fax: (202) 228-0359
E-mail: senator@enzi.senate.gov

Burr Richard (R-NC)
217 Russell Senate Office BuildingWashington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3154Fax: (202) 228-2981
E-mail: richard.burrnc05@mail.house.gov

Isakson Johnny (R- GA)
120 Russell Senate Office BuildingWashington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3643
Fax: (202) 228-0724

Alexander, Lamar (R-TN)
UNITED STATES SENATE WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4944
Fax: (202) 228-3398
E-mail: http://alexander.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactHome

Roberts, Pat (R - KS)
302 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4774
Fax (202) 224-3514
E-mail: http://roberts.senate.gov/e-mail_pat.html

Ensign, John (R - NV)
364 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-6244
Fax (202) 228-2193
E-mail: http://ensign.senate.gov/forms/email_form.cfm

DeWine, Mike (R - OH)
140 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2315
Fax (202) 224-6519
E-mail: senator@dewine.senate.gov

Democrats on the HELP Commitee:

Kennedy, Edward - (D - MA)
317 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4543
Fax: (202) 224-2417
senator@kennedy.senate.gov

Dodd, Christopher (D - CT)
448 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone (202) 224-2823
Fax (202) 228-1683
E-mail: http://dodd.senate.gov/webmail/

Harkin, Tom (D - IA)
731 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone (202) 224-3254
Fax (202) 224-9369
E-mail: tom harkin@harkin.senate.gov

Mikulski, Barbara (D - MD)
709 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4654
Fax (202)224-8858
E-mail: senator@mikulski.senate.gov

Bingaman, Jeff (D - NM)
703 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone:(202) 224-5521
Fax (202) 224-2852
E-mail: senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov

Murray, Patty (D - WA)
173 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2621Fax: (202) 224-0238
E-mail: senator_murray@murray.senate.gov

Reed, Jack (D - RI)

320 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4642
Fax (202) 224-4680
E-mail: jack@reed.senate.gov

Clinton, Hillary (D - NY)
476 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4451
Fax (202) 228-0282
Long Island Fax (631) 249-2847
Email: http://clinton.senate.gov/email_form.html

Helpful Senators, not on the HELP Committee but important to contact:

Senator Susan Collins
172 Russell Senate Office BuildingUnited States SenateWashington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2523
Fax (202) 224-2693

Senator Olympia Snowe
154 Russell Senate Office BuildingUnited States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5344
Fax (202) 224-1946

Senator Lincoln Chafee
141A Russell Senate Office Building United States SenateWashington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2921
Fax: (202) 228-2853

Senator John McCain
241 Russell Senate Office Building United States SenateWashington, D.C. 20510
Phone (202) 224-2235 Fax (202) 228-2862

Senator Debbie Stabenow
702 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Fax (202) 228-0325

Jeffords, James (I - VT)
728 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5141
Fax (202) 228-0776

Graham, Lindsey - (R - SC)
UNITED STATES SENATE WASHINGTON DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5972
Fax: (202) 224-3808
Web Form: http://lgraham.senate.gov/index.cfm?mode=contactform

Helpful Congressmen to contact:

Congressman Dave Weldon
2347 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-3671 Fax: (202) 225-3516

Congressman Dan Burton
2185 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 202-225-2276
FAX: 202-225-0016

Congressman Chris Smith
2373 Rayburn Building Washington, DC 20515 202-225-3765
FAX: 202-225-7768

Walking with Autism: Songs of Faith for the Battle

So many times music has helped to carry me through the difficult struggles of battling autism in our family. I have often wished to share some of the music that inspires me in this walk with you, but didn't quite know how to do it legally.

I've finally figured it out, and now you can sample and purchase these songs, if you wish, through iTunes. I have compiled an iMix, or a compilation, of the songs that have lifted me, spoke to me, and gave me strength to keep on going! I've named it "Walking with Autism: Songs of Faith for the Battle."

By the way, this is not a money-maker, it's just a way for me to share the music that has touched me with you. The profits go to the artists and to Apple.

You'll need to have iTunes installed. It's free and available for download at: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ if you don't already have it.

Once you have it, simply click on this link to sample the songs and purchase if you so desire. I believe the entire collection costs $10.89. Here's the direct link:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPublishedPlaylist?id=536428

These are the songs that have lifted me, spoke to me, and gave me strength to keep on going! May your faith be strengthened, because the battle, truly, is the Lord's!

I hope some of you will consider doing the same thing so that I can find new inspiring music.

Blessings,

Kelly of www.walkingwithalec.com