Bucket List Booyah!

Another item marked off my bucket list: the polar bear plunge!! Did this in Ocean City, Maryland and the water was 40 degrees F.

We spent a grand total of 3 seconds in the ocean (got in up to waist level and hit by a wave). We were screaming the entire time! Then we hoofed it back into the hotel and into the heated swimming pool.

Also note my lovely Vera Bradley beach towel ;)

Happy Halloween!

 Viper Pilot Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, Battlestars Galatica and Pegasus. And a pirate.

Weird Bible Verses Part 2

"Eat, drink, and be merry."

This one really is in the Bible, actually in two places. It can be found in Isaiah 22:13 AND in Ecclesiastes 8:15. Yet this is one that is almost always taken out of context. Nowadays we often use sarcasm, saying something that we do not mean and our tone indicates that others should not take our words at face value. Sarcasm is not used in the Bible, but that doesn't mean that everything written there literally means what it says. The Virgin Birth of Jesus is to be taken literally. A dragon with ten heads is to be taken figuratively.

Once we read the entire chapters around each instance of "eat, drink, and be merry" we can see that this phrase is not written as advice to be followed. Rather, it is given as a way of throwing in the towel, of despairing and being hopeless. How do I know this? Check it out:

In the Isaiah passage read verses 13-21. The people talked about here are in deep trouble: something bad is coming. They have wealth, power, and position; yet there is a sin present, a debt owed so to speak, and the punishment for it is imminent. They know they will be in mourning (hence the talk of sackcloth and bald heads: they shave them in mourning). Knowing their city is about to be sacked they are desperate, hysterical. So they pull out the Biblical version of YOLO. They agree to do stupid, meaningless things, because they think death is the end. They forget the promises of life forever.

Obviously the book of Isaiah is in the Old Testament. Pre-Jesus Christ's atonement for everyone's sins, they don't have a Savior but instead try to fulfill all the Law as their part of keeping the covenant between God and themselves (Israel).

In the Ecclesiastes passage look at verses 14-16. Here the author flat-out admits that they had given up so they might as well party. Life is futile says the author, even good people have to suffer the misdeeds of the evil, so it is recommendation to those people that they might as well just party.

Yet this isn't true, the bad things in this life are actually fleeting because if we repent of our sins and believe that Jesus Christ died for all of our sins, we can have a second life that lasts forever. And in that one there won't be any bad things or evil misdeeds that others do that hurt us.

Autism and IEPs

10 most ridiculous things heard in IEP meetings and the truth behind the fiction... (taken from a Special Education Facebook page, written by Megan Dero Halter).

Ridiculous Statement #1
Your child’s emotional disturbance is interfering with her academic performance so she doesn’t qualify for an IEP.

Fact: There are 13 disability categories under IDEA. In order to qualify for an IEP you must meet the definition of one of the 13 categories and by reason thereof NEED special education and related services. One of the 13 disability categories is emotional disturbance and if that disability is interfering with the child’s ability to access the curriculum then by definition she has a need for an IEP.

Ridiculous Statement #2
This is a Magnet School we don’t do IEP’s here.

Fact: All public schools are required, by law, to provide children with a disability a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). Since magnet schools are public schools they are required to execute IEP’s for those children that require special education. This would also go for advanced study schools and charter schools.

Ridiculous Statement #3
We don’t perform Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA) or write Behavior Support Plans (BSP) for Children exhibiting off-task behavior. FBA’s are only for kids that are not nice.

Fact: IDEA requires the IEP Team to consider five special factors when writing an IEP. One of those five special factors is behavior. It states: (i) In the case of a child whose behavior impedes the child’s learning or that of others, consider the use of positive behavioral interventions and supports, and other strategies, to address that behavior. Behavior that impedes learning comes in many forms and does not always manifest itself in violent outbursts. Off-task behavior can and does impede learning.

Ridiculous Statement #4
Maybe your daughter’s behavior issues are being caused by you telling her she has autism and she is emulating how she thinks someone with autism should act. I suggest not talking with her so much about her autism.

Fact: Wow, I’m still amazed at this one and I’m not sure where to start. Let’s focus on the fact that they are blaming the parent for the child’s behavior in school. If the School really believes the IEP isn’t working because of the parent they are required to provide training to the parent via the related service, parent training and counseling. In my opinion, the School needs the training not the parent but let’s move on.

Ridiculous Statement #5
We can’t test your child for an IEP until we have first tried Response to Intervention.

Fact: This ridiculous statement was used by so many School Districts that on January 21, 2011 the United States Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services issued a memo reminding School Districts that Response to Intervention cannot be used to delay-deny an evaluation for eligibility under IDEA. You can download the memo here: OSERS Memo on RTI Office of Special Education

Ridiculous Statement #6
Your child will be graduating at the end of the month whether you like it or not.
Fact: Graduation with a diploma is considered a change of placement under an IEP. Any change of placement triggers extensive due process rights. If the parents disagree with their child (who has not reached the age of majority) graduating they can stop it by filing for due process. This would trigger a Stay Put. Stay Put means there can be no change of placement or reduction of services while the disagreement is being worked out.

Ridiculous Statement #7
I won’t let you add your comments to the parental concerns section of the IEP form because the IEP is a School document and I disagree with your description of the events that occurred.

Fact: This question has been responded to in the United States Federal Register where it was said, “Parents are free to provide input into their child’s IEP through a written report if they so choose.”

Ridiculous Statement #8
I spoke to my supervisor at the School District and she has authorized me to offer you one hour of speech therapy a week.

Fact: IDEA specifically says that all decisions regarding an IEP need to be decided in an IEP Team meeting. If a faceless supervisor is making the decision regarding the IEP outside of the team meeting then this is called predetermination. That supervisor would need to join the IEP Team and discuss her recommendations with the Team before any decisions could be made.

Ridiculous Statement #9
I agree she needs a full-time aide but I don’t have the authority to authorize that.

Fact: IDEA requires every IEP Team to have a District Representative that is knowledgeable about the District’s curriculum and resources that has the authority to bind the District.

Ridiculous Statement #10
Your child is too smart to have an IEP.

Fact: Intelligence has no bearing on disability or need. Even individuals with genius level IQs can have a disability that affects their ability to access the curriculum.

Just Because

A friend was cleaning his gun a

Bucket List Update

So I've crossed off only two more items on my bucket list. One was highlights in my hair. I actually chose copper red lowlights, and it seriously took 4 hours at the salon to do this because I didn't know to go with clean, dry hair and my long curly locks took the poor guy a solid thirty minutes to untangle my hair and he had to do this before and then after the dye. It also took like 45 minutes to blow-dry my hair. 

The other thing was that yesterday I shot a 9mm and a 22 rifle at an outdoor range. I also shot a 40mm but it had so much kick that the grip pattern was painful. The rifle was awesome, and here is a photo of me shooting it. It was fun and I hope to go again!

Weird Bible Verses Explained

So there is a lot of weird Bible verses and this post is to just start tackling some of them. First up is:

"It is better to plant thy seed in the belly of a whore than to be cast upon the ground."
Supposedly this verse is where in the Bible we learn that masturbation is not okay. However, this is NOT in the Bible! People say it's based on Onan refusing to fulfill the levirate, spilling his seed on the ground instead of in Tamar as he was supposed to do.
First, Tamar is not a whore. Onan was supposed to get his sister-in-law, the wife of his dead brother, pregnant so that she would have a child to care for her as she age and an heir for her late husband. Look up levirate here http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Halitza.html to read about this Jewish practice.
Second, the Bible does not actually condone the world's oldest profession. It was around because of the pagan societies around Israel, and sometimes the even good guys sampled it (which was a sin on their part). Everybody sins. Saying that someone sinned is not the Bible's version of encouraging that thing. The Bible says this about prostitution (which is fornication and/or adultery) 
     1 Corinthians 6:13 (New Testament book) - Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
    Deuteronomy 23:17 (Old Testament book)- There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.
There are other verses but I'm sure you get the point.

"Money is the root of all evil."
Here we have a twisted version of 1 Timothy 6:10 that changes the meaning of the verse. The ACTUAL verse is "Love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." Loving money can lead to preferring it over anyone or anything else. We tend to sacrifice relationships, time, and peace of mind for money. Married couples usually argue about money. Children fight for inheritance. We can gamble and lose so much money that we lose a car or house or college/retirement funds. We can become addicted to substances we don't need and obsess with making or stealing the money to get those substances.
Yet money can be used for good. We donate money to help feed folks who can't afford enough food for themselves. We donate money for education, disease research, for housing. Money supports foster children.
So go ahead and have money and spend it, just don't prefer money over anything else.