Life Vs. Death: What Would You Choose?

Yesterday, at our school’s staff meeting, we had a representative from Alberta Health come in to discuss allergies and anaphylactic shock. Of course, this came with training on how to use an Epi-Pen.

Growing up, my sister had extensive allergies. She always had one Epi-Pen at school and one at home or rather near her at all times. It was a no-brainer that she needed it incase something did happen. It wasn’t even a choice. She always had 2.

You would think that all families would treat this issue the same. But unfortunately, working in a school has shown me otherwise. Some parents will not buy their sons and daughters Epi-Pens. This boggles my mind. A school is a place where so many children come from so many homes carrying so many different items. Sometimes, people will develop the allergies. So even if they had no idea they were allergic to something before, they could come into contact with something later in life that they have an anaphylactic shock to because they have developed an allergy to it. You never know.

Now, we do have a Peanut-Free environment at our school that we enforce. But we cannot control what children were in contact with before they came to school. So it’s a very hard thing to ever make 100% sure.

So, here’s the deal. For the parents who refuse to buy Epi-Pens, we aren’t supposed to give their children a generic one if they need it even if we have it. We could get in a lot of trouble. We cannot administer medication that does not have their name on it.

So let me ask you this: Do you sit by and potentially watch the child die while the paramedics are stuck in a traffic jam or somewhere further away in the city? Because you’re not supposed to drive them to the hospital yourself either. How do you do that?

The decision basically boils down to this:
#1: Do the legal thing and don’t give the child the generic Epi-Pen you have on hand. Best-case scenario, the child is able to make it long enough for the ambulance to QUICKLY get there and handle it from there. Worst-case scenario, the ambulance cannot get there quick enough and you watch the child struggle for each mini-breath and die.
#2: Risk getting fired/sued by the family, but at least know that you did what you could to save that child’s life by administering the generic Epi-Pen you have on hand. It could literally save a child’s life; that’s what they are made for.

I am really interested in hearing what you would do. It’s a tough situation. Leave your answer in the comments below!

Debunking Car Sales: What You Need to Know!

I have come to learn that there are a lot of misconceptions in the world about car salesmen, so I’m here to fill you in a little bit.

#1: Salesmen usually only make a commission, which means no sales, no income. Which leads to #2.

#2: When you go in without an intention to buy, you are wasting their time to have a chance of making money for their families.

#3: You may think that every salesman is ripping you off, but here’s the deal. They only make 25% of the profit the dealership makes, which means, if you refuse to pay much over the wholesale price, that salesman is only taking home $250 or less. And when you calculate how many hours they spend with each customer explaining everything, taking test drives, dealing with you, taking you through the finance process, they really are not becoming “rich” off of those deals.

#4: Sales do not happen everyday. So put together the profits from above, mix with days that people don’t show up for the appointments they said they would, plus a dead day at the dealership. Sorry, food is not produced from love alone. Most salesmen have kids at home just like you do.

#5: If you ever wonder why salesmen can get upset, it’s because people do crazy things. In my husband’s short time in sales, he’s had people come in and ask to go for a test drive just to get dropped off somewhere so they didn’t have to pay for a taxi. He’s had countless people CONFIRM their appointments with him, and never show up. He’s had a ton of people even put deposits on vehicles, and then go out of contact for weeks, often before saying they are no longer taking the vehicle or fighting for a lower price than was agreed on. He’s had people yell at him for giving him their name before going on a test drive, although it is typical for the dealership to know who you are before they let you drive tens of thousands of dollars down the road. He’s had people come back and yell at him for not noticing things (including a ripped seat…) when they drove it off the lot. He’s had people yell at him for not being approved for financing because they haven’t paid their bills in six months. I mean, seriously people… you can’t be a jerk to people and expect them to be happy all the time. It doesn’t work that way.

#6: There are times that dealerships will let vehicles go for less than what they paid for it. Now, before you go jumping for joy, remember the profit we talked about above? How much do you think the salesmen are bringing home for their families if the dealership isn’t even profiting off the vehicle? Yeah… think about it.

I know there is probably a ton of things I’m missing, but this is a good start. Car sales is not the typical way I’ve thought of it before. I’m that wife at home with our three dog-children. There is not even a chance I could be a stay-at-home person for the very facts I mentioned above. It’s so easy to think that you’re the one being wronged all the time, but unless you truly understand how it all works, you’ll never realize what you’re doing to the people behind the scenes.

Are there rich car salesmen? Of course there are. Some people have enough money that they never bat an eye at the sticker price and will pay whatever the dealership originally asked for the vehicle. And depending on the vehicle, that can be a decent profit. But that’s not how most customers are, and that’s where the problem lies.

So next time you buy a vehicle, sure, ask for a lower price, but don’t beat them over the head until your salesman has to go home and tell his kids he’s made almost no profit again, and he’s upset because someone gave him a hard time for doing his job yet again. Please think of the people you interact with. Your purchase is their bread and butter on the table. Remember, no sales mean no money. Love is important, but it doesn’t pay the bills.

The Penalty of Standing Out

I hate the way the world works sometimes. I hate seeing people in pain. I hate watching people getting picked on or bullied. I hate sin and wrong-doings in this world.

When I was going through my university years, completing my education degree, I had a desire to work with special needs children. It wasn’t because I looked forward to the extra work that often comes with special needs children, but because I wanted to make a difference. I knew special needs children were often put down and sometimes stared at as if the were a circus sideshow. I knew I could step up and be the voice of those children, and I knew that I could help those children feel as important as they are. But that’s not what happened.

At first I ended up teaching at a Native School. It took me awhile to learn the different dynamics needed to teach students who come from a history of anger. It was a definite learning curve in understanding the culture, the behaviours, and the thoughts about different things. But one of the things I found is that my classroom was often their safe place. My classroom was the one place they could count on someone being there to love them. I was a safe place for these kids.

Now as much as I loved being in that position, time would have me change again. This time, to a place where I wasn’t such a safe place. These kids did not need me (or at least felt like they didn’t). The attitudes were indifferent, the gratitude was gone. I really struggled at first to see how in the world I could make a difference when my students were convinced they had everything the needed.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t my first year that I figured it out. It was my second and my third that really opened my heart. I realized that maybe I wouldn’t be able to reach all students, even though I try. But there is at least one in each class who needs someone they can trust; someone they can break down their barriers and let them truly see the inside that they keep.

It broke my heart when the first student really let me in their life. The amount of background some of these kids hide is disheartening. It sometimes makes you wonder how they even function. It’s no wonder some of them put up a tough-front at school. Some of them are simply caught in that worldly struggle: the one where they are fighting between being good and doing what they know is right, and doing what the world expects and wants them to do. Absolutely the struggle gets worse as the generations get older. It’s sad in the very least, but it does, unfortunately, exist.

I witnessed something that brought this whole thing up in my mind. A situation that brought up a whole slew of memories.

One of my students is running for class rep in the upcoming school year. She’s an awesome student, wonderful in both academics and her Christianity. Unfortunately, she is one in very few that does not struggle with desires to be popular. She will not swear because others are doing it. She does not talk about inappropriate things because she has no interest. She knows what she believes and she sticks to it. She knows what is right, and that is what she does. And it has made her unpopular in her class.

Today, the vote was completed. And though she almost perfectly fits the description of the position she is running for, more votes were left blank than were voted in favour. My heart sank and my blood boiled a little. If there were legitimately good reasons for not letting her have the position, then I would accept that. But I know it’s because they are upset the one person they wanted to run wasn’t able due to his grades. Whether it’s an expression of bitterness or anger, is it right to decline someone that not only wants the position, but is ready, willing and capable of doing it well?

I don’t know what the right solution is. After all, voting is an expression of your opinion. But my heart aches in knowing that the reasons behind the reactions are wrong. And that bothers me. Someone who perfectly is capable of doing something so well, being held back by unpopularity, is wrong. It takes me right back to my whole philosophy of teaching, and that is that students are capable of more than they are doing, and standing up for those who don’t have as much of a voice.

I grew up in public schools where situations are much worse than I have ever experienced in my years of private school. I have seen “losers” beat up for simply not being good enough for others. I have seen the separation and isolation of those who needed the extra pull-out help and did not think like the others. I have seen students dragged from classrooms because they were acting out in anger about their situations. It’s not pretty.

One year, we did a fundraiser where the boys provided a lunch, and we bid on these “anonymous lunches”. When the bidding was done and every girl had her lunch, then the boys would reveal themselves and we would share lunch with them. I just happened to get one of those classmates that was always taken out for extra help, and who had problems with his anger, reacting from the situations he was in and the way he was treated.

I will forever regret the way I treated him.

I didn’t say anything mean, but that’s simply because I didn’t say anything at all. I was silent the whole time. And now I cannot even go back and apologize for being “snobby” because he was killed in a car accident several years ago (I think I was still in high school). That’s guilt that I have to live with, and guilt that started to change the way I reacted to people.

The one girl that was dragged from our classroom was probably the lowest person in our class. She didn’t always take showers, and she didn’t come from the most well-off family. In fact, I actually don’t know how she was treated at home. But what I do know is that people didn’t like her and daily made fun of her. I will never forget the one day she came up to me and told me that I was her role-model. I didn’t try to be anyone’s role-model, I just tried to talk to her and be nice when others wouldn’t. And look at the difference that made on her life. The simplest of acts I could have done, and it literally changed her world.

Now I’d like to say others followed, but they didn’t. I’d like to say her life changed for the best, but it didn’t. I did manage to get in contact with her again during university, sadly to find out she was pregnant and the baby’s father wanted nothing to do with her as soon as she became pregnant. As a matter of fact, he ran out with another girl and married her very shortly afterwards. And to make matters worse, he called social services claiming she was an unfit mother and had her baby taken away. In no way did her life get better.

I’m sad to say I’ve lost contact with her. My only method of contact no longer seems to work. I do pray for her, that things work out and she’s able to have her baby back in her life. I know she was fighting hard for him. But I pray God’s love surrounds her and God-willing, I will be able to connect with her again.

I truly, truly do hate the world treats people that are different – people that stand out from everybody else. I had the position of popularity and I misused it once. But I promise to do my best to never misuse it again. When a situation arises where someone needs a voice, I wish to be that voice for them, to stand up on their behalf. Just because you don’t think the same as everyone else or do the same things everyone else does is not a reason to be treated so badly. Stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. Make a difference in someone’s life. Even if it’s just one person you’ve helped, you’ve literally just changed a person’s entire world. Do what you can and don’t delay. You never know the good you can leave behind.

Vegan on a Trip

Hello everyone, I’m back! Unfortunately I’m back with a bit of a head cold, but regardless, I’m back!

So as I wrote before I left, I would give you a quick summary of what it was like for food on this trip. As I said, everything was vegetarian to begin with, so meat would never be an issue. But vegetarians also consume dairy and often eggs. So this is what I encountered:

For many of the meals, there were vegan options. At times, they would make salads or pasta salads both with dairy and some specifically set out as vegan. Most of the time this was ok, except a few times when the vegan options tasted horrible. I guess there must be an art to figuring out vegan alternatives.

Many of the meals, such as breakfast, would be items such as pancakes, french toast, or egg breakfast sandwiches. However, they did offer oatmeal and cereal options with soy milk. So if you picked what you ate carefully, the weekend probably could have been done vegan. That would sometimes mean eating a lot of vegetables (especially on the macaroni and cheese night), but if you could stomach large amounts of simple things, you could do it.

Now, many of you know that I try to eat raw until four, particularly with lots of fruit. I believe this could have been made possible IF I had made arrangements ahead of time. However, without contacting the head cook and giving them a specific shopping list for me, it was impossible. I think we had fresh fruit two or three times out of the 10 meals we had. So that was a bummer.

I also packed a few vegan snacks, just incase. I took some fruit and nut bars, trail mix, chocolate almond milk, some seaweed, some kale chips, and some vegan jerky to try. So I didn’t go hungry, that’s for sure.

So I guess my biggest lesson is to plan ahead. If I do this trip again in the future, I will try to contact the head cook and ask for the large fruit breakfast. I think if the chef is assured that she doesn’t have to cut it up or do any extra work for it, I can’t see it being a problem. The vegan snacks were an awesome idea to bring, just to ensure that you have some of your own vegan foods, just incase.

Sometimes Life Doesn’t Go The Way You Think

It’s without a doubt you’ve had some experience with this. It could be that everything seems to be going great one minute and then falls apart the next. It could be that everything is aligned to go a certain way and still it derails before your very eyes. Whatever the case may be, I’m sure you’ve experienced something like this at least once in your life.

Tonight I had one of these experiences and unfortunately I’m not up to sharing it right now. But it blind – sided me; totally took me by surprise.  It literally broke my heart and sent me into a downward spiral. And incase you’re wondering, no my husband and I are not getting a divorce. I wouldn’t have the strength to write you if that was the case. But this event that happened tonight reminded me that no matter what, I can’t live this life on my own. I have to be in close contact, holding the hand of my heavenly father every step of the way. I get blind – sided,  but He doesn’t.  I fall down and break apart but He doesn’t.  I sometimes feel like giving up on everything,  not seeing the point in anything. But God never gives up. And He sees the point in everything.  And therefore, I am reminded that I need Him daily, hourly, and each second.

I had a friend talk to me for the first time in a few weeks and she asked how I’ve been. So I updated her on the events of only the last week. Her question that followed was the same I get from many people,  “Is your life ever boring?”. It’s so true! I don’t have a chance to be bored. My life is either actively going in the right direction or I’m left scrambling to pick my life back up and put the pieces together enough to function again. I don’t get a break. It NEVER ends.

The more I sat and thought of this, the more I was reminded of things people have told me and things that I believe.

#1: God has me in my life for a reason and as much as I may not like it, it’s because He knows I’m the one who will somehow battle through it and develop the strength from previous events to tackle the increasing grandeur of future events. I seriously look over my past, the fears, the unknowns, and through God’s grace, I made it through stronger than before. But shortly after comes an event of larger size that once again breaks me down until through God’s grace once again, I build greater endurance and strength to overcome again. I mean I’m only in my early twenties,  and through the small amount of stories I share with my students at school, I have parents that have come to tell me I’ve been through more things that most people twice my age. I’m always scared of sounding like a know – it – all because I’ve moved so much, travelled some, been through extensive amounts of situations I can give info on so many different things. Students often come to my classroom to talk or to get advice because they know I’ve got something.  And maybe that’s part of the purpose, so that I can counsel others.  But it’s still an excruciatingly painful process with many scars that unfortunately get carried along.

#2: The devil attacks those He’s afraid of. Quite often, I’ve been reminded that the devil doesn’t waste his time on those who already deny God. His goal is to get us as far away FROM God as possible,  so he would only spend his time attacking those who try to regain for Christ’s kingdom, those who love God and try to follow Him the best they can. I’ve been told that when life is going seamlessly great, you have to question why the devil is not after you.  Again, not great news, because it basically guarantees life is going to be rough. But at the same time, God never guaranteed an easy life. He simply promised that those who endure on Earth will be rewarded in Heaven.  He promised that whenever we asked, He would help us. And that’s how we get through the worst parts of life, with God carrying us part of the way.

Tonight has not been the easiest night, but I know that God is here with me and is holding His hand over my heart, whispering that everything will be ok because He has this whole world in His hands. And I will cling to His embrace knowing that He is the reason I’m here and the reason I continue to survive through each thing I encounter. God is literally my all.

Week 9 Day 7

Man, today I feel good! I woke up feeling amazing. In fact, I jumped right out of bed, walked the dogs, did some laundry, picked up some things around the house, was even going to dishes after I ate a hearty breakfast, but my husband woke up and so we got ready to go to church first.

At church, we had such an amazing sermon about true villains and heros, comparing the story of Ahab, Jezebel, Naboth and Elijah. It was about how we so easily pick out every else’s problems, yet we have enough of our own to fix. He mentioned how if you look throughout history, God did not keep people from making their own choices, but He did warn them about choices they made; that they would have to face the consequences of their choice. And yet, how truly in the end, we are the villains, the ones who do not deserve to live, the ones who are almost drawn to the bad things of this world, and how Jesus is the only true hero. It was so well presented. This pastor is still in training, not quite done his university career and yet he is so talented, so gifted. I’m so glad we went!

After church, we came home and took a nap. Yes, I know. My body felt so good, but I know I did damage this week, so if it wanted sleep, it got it!

Following our nap, we got up and went to the gym. I did not have near enough time to do the workout I was behind on, plus the workout I didn’t finish the day before, and so for this week, I’m a workout and two cardio sessions behind. It’s ok, it just means that this week, I’ll have 6 training sessions and 6 cardio sessions to do. Basically, I’ll be at the gym everyday. But hey, I love the gym, so that’s ok with me!

After we worked out, we came home, changed our clothing, and went out for a nice supper. Supper was absolutely delicious, but our night was semi-ruined when we came out to find someone had smashed the driver side mirror out of my husband’s truck, only to find it laying on the ground. We parked in a large parking space, beside a tiny car. It was obviously done by human contact. And the glass does not have any cracks in it, so it’s almost like someone pried it out. I don’t get it. I really don’t understand why people have to do these things. So now we need to see how much it will cost to replace and how much of the whole mirror area that we need to replace. My dreams of flying home for Christmas are going further and further away.

Following this, as you can assume, we went straight home and didn’t do much of anything for the rest of the night. We just took it easy, calmed down and tried to find something positive to think/talk about.

Foundation Wearing Off Throughout the Day? Try This!

Many, many times, I have found for myself, as well as talking to many others, that by the end of the day, our foundation seems to just fade away. Whether your chasing around children all day, lifting heavy objects, or whatever you may be doing, the foundation on our faces seems to take a hit. However, I’ve found something that seems to help!

This is the Mary Kay Foundation Primer with SPF 15! If prepares itself as a buffer on your skin to fill in your skin and create an even appearance before applying your foundation. It also helps your foundation to stay on your face longer. And not only that, it also has some SPF protection included!

I’ve tried this product and been using it ever since. I love it! I have been dependent on foundation and concealers since my teen years as I was battling acne. I tried everything from Proactive to Avon acne care to blue light treatments to chemical peels to pills and topical prescribed treatments. It was just something I had to deal with. So my daily necessity was foundation. And let me tell you, I felt so insecure by the end of the day when my foundation would be wearing off throughout the day. Wearing the Mary Kay Foundation Primer has helped a lot! The foundation stays on longer and I’m able to feel my best all day! Definitely a recommended product!

Feel free to contact me for more details 🙂