I made the new theme for my page all by myself. I had fun playing around with it.

What do you think?

Update: I also made one for my husband if you want to check it out.

My wonderful husband

Me

Me and the children

The children all hugging

The picture that I will now be using as my profile picture

I am soooo happy with Xanga. Earlier this year I found Cousin LeAnn’s Xanga and that made me happy as we hadn’t really had a lot of contact and now we read each other’s blogs and it is so nice.
Then today I was blessed through LeAnn’s blog to find Cousin Freda. I haven’t seen her in years. I just feel so blessed. I enjoy finding family on here.
And I think I may have found cousin Ruby and Cousin James. Still checking out their pages before I message them and then find out it isnt them and look like an idiot Oh, I am sooo happy

Anymore family out there????

Come out come out where ever you are.

Would love to run into some more people from the Herr or Martin side

I’ve been tagged by my cousin duaneleann

                                           
                                           RULES

1. People who are tagged need to share five random photos of
   themselves on their own blog.
2. Include rules
3. Choose seven (or however many you want) people to tag and leave a comment telling them they are tagged.

My baptism at age 9

My Daughter’s first birthday

When the tree fell on the van breaking part of the mirror June 2007

Our Family Picture July 2007

This was taken August 2007

And here are the lucky friends that got tagged:
ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake

hbasedmomof6

Faithmom6

Country_Mom40

tx_christian

A _Godly_Homemaker

Christmum

brother_barabbas

raleyfamily

Look forward to seeing everyones

I am sure many if not all of you have heard about the “superbug” that is spreading around the nation? What are your thoughts on it?

It is called Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA. It is a type of staph infection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently calculated that MRSA is responsible for 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths per year in the United States. These numbers would make MRSA responsible for more deaths each year than AIDS

While regular ‘staph’ infections are usually easily treated with cephalosporin antibiotics that are related to penicillin, like Keflex, Duricef, and Ancef, the MRSA bacteria has developed a resistance to these antibiotics, so that they don’t work anymore.

It is estimated that 25% to 30% of people have the staph bacteria either on their skin or in their nose, althought it doesn’t necessarily cause an infection unless there is a break in the skin, like from an insect bite or scratch. Unless they have an infection, these people are simply ‘colonized’ with ‘staph’ and don’t necessarily need treatment.

Although usually thought of as a ‘nosocomial’ infection or one that is spread among people in the hospital or a nursing home, etc., MRSA infections are becoming increasingly more common in healthy people who have not been in the hospital (community acquired infections).

There have also been reports of outbreaks ‘among participants in competitive sports,’ including fencers, football players and wrestlers. These outbreaks may be because athletes have many risk factors for infection, including ‘physical contact, skin damage, and sharing of equipment or clothing.’

There are some thinks that are used to treat it. MRSA bacteria will also develop resistance to these antibiotics and then no treatments will work. There are already reports of VRSA or Vancomycin Resistant Stapylococcus aureus.

MSRA can cause skin infections. It also can sometimes cause sometimes-deadly pneumoniapneumonia or blood infections.

There are two major ways people become infected with MRSA. The first is physical contact with someone who is either infected or is a carrier (people who are not infected but are colonized with the bacteria on their body) of MRSA. The second way is for people to physically contact MRSA on any objects such as door handles, floors, sinks, or towels that have been touched by an MRSA-infected person or carrier. Normal skin tissue in people usually does not allow MRSA infection to develop; however, if there are cuts, abrasions, or other skin flaws such as psoriasis (chronic skin disease with dry patches, redness, and scaly skin), MRSA may proliferate. Many otherwise healthy individuals, especially children and young adults, do not notice small skin imperfections or scrapes and may be lax in taking precautions about skin contacts. This is the likely reason MRSA outbreaks occur in diverse types of people such as school team players (like football players or wrestlers), dormitory residents, and armed-services personnel in constant close contact.

People with higher risk of MRSA infection are those with obvious skin breaks (surgical patients, hospital patients with intravenous lines, burns, or skin ulcers) and patients with depressed immune systems (infants, elderly, or HIV-infected individuals) or chronic diseases (diabetes or cancer). Patients with pneumonia (lung infection) due to MRSA can transmit MRSA by airborne droplets

For MRSA the mortality rate is estimated to be between 4%-10%.

Doctors are very worried about what the future holds for MRSA.

The number of reports of MRSA infections rises year by year – and the latest evidence suggests that deaths due to MRSA are increasing at a similar rate.

Already, the spectre of a bug resistant to all antibiotics is approaching.

VRSA, or vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, has acquired resistance to a drug considered the “last line of defence” when all other antibiotics have failed.

Does MRSA scare you?

I got this from a friend. Enjoy

Here are three reasons that it would be nice to have peace in this world

I think that says it all.

Here is a pictorial look back on my life, from birth to marriage.

Here I am as a baby

My first birthday

With my horse

With my Rainbow Brite stove

With my Mickey Mouse phone

My fifth birthday party at McDonald’s

Playing in my room

Ready to go to church

My middle school friends, Kristy and Steph

My favorite Teacher/Administrator/etc (He greatly impacted my life) Thank you for caring Mr. Reed

The High School girls camping trip

School year book group 1999

THMH school chorus

Our Wedding (We were married by the JP)

This one has my Father-in-law in it

This one has my grandparents who raised me

A topic has been on my mind lately. Universal health care.

It’s a topic being talked about a lot. So many thoughts running through my head. Is it a good idea? bad idea? do I trust the government with my health?

Below is some of my research on the issue. I would love to hear your thoughts. What do you think about it and why?

Thousands of Americans lose their health insurance every day.

Health care costs continue to spiral out of control.

Even those with health care many times are one hospital stay away from debt, because the insurance doesn’t cover it. I should know. I had pneumonia in March. 5 days in the hospital.

Myth: The United States has the best health care system in the world.
The United States ranks 23rd in infant mortality.
The United States ranks 20th in life expectancy for women
The United States ranks 21st in life expectancy for me

Around 30% of Americans have problem accessing health care due to payment problems or access to care, far more than any other industrialized country. About 17% of our population is without health insurance. About 75% of ill uninsured people have trouble accessing/paying for health care.

Access to health care is directly related to income and race in the United States. As a result the poor and minorities have poorer health than the wealthy

The quality of health care in the US has deteriorated under managed care. Access problems have increased. The number of uninsured has dramatically increased (increase of 10 million to 43.4 million from 1989 to 1996, increase of 2.4% from 1989 to 1996- 16% in 1996 and increasing each year).

The level of satisfaction with the US health care system is the lowest of any industrialized nation.

Health care has become increasingly unaffordable for businesses and individuals.

Free medical services would encourage patients to practice preventive medicine and inquire about problems early when treatment will be light; currently, patients often avoid physicals and other preventive measures because of the costs.

There isn’t a single government agency or division that runs efficiently; do we really want an organization that developed the U.S. Tax Code handling something as complex as health care?

Quick, try to think of one government office that runs efficiently. The Department of Transportation? Social Security Administration? Department of Education? There isn’t a single government office that squeezes efficiency out of every dollar the way the private sector can. We’ve all heard stories of government waste such as million-dollar cow flatulence studies or the Pentagon’s 14  billion dollar Bradley design project that resulted in a vehicle which when struck by a mortar produced a gas that killed every man inside. How about the U.S. income tax system? When originally implemented, it collected 1 percent from the highest income citizens. Look at it today. A few years back to government published a “Tax Simplification Guide”, and the guide itself was over 1,000 pages long! This is what happens when politicians mess with something that should be simple. Think about the Department of Motor Vehicles. This isn’t rocket science–they have to keep track of licenses and basic database information for state residents. However, the costs to support the department are enormous, and when was the last time you went to the DMV and didn’t have to stand in a long line? If it can’t handle things this simple, how can we expect the government to handle all the complex nuances of the medical system?

Because many people are uninsured and those that do have insurance face high deductibles, Americans often forego doctor visits for minor health problems or for preventive medicine. Thus, health problems that could be caught at an early stage or prevented altogether become major illnesses. Things like routine physicals and HIV tests could prevent major problems. This not only affects the health of the patient but the overall cost of the system, since preventive medicine costs only a small fraction of a full blown disease. A government-provided system would remove the disincentive patients have for visiting a medical professional.

I mean I cant decide. I would love to not have to worry about cost. I would love to not have to worry what if I get pneumonia again. But I don’t know if I can trust the government with my health either.

I was playing around with the simpsonizeme site and I simpsonized the whole family. lol

Here we are
.