Live A Revolution... Every Day

Why I Work with Families - A Story of Hope

Click to read about A story of hope

The story above is why I work with students... with families... to walk down the road of hope. 

Sometimes it's ugly.

Sometimes it's pretty.

Sometimes it's covered in crap.

But it's always there...

Hope is always there. It's always here.

We just have to be willing to see it.

To get our hands dirty. 

To get messy with others.

So that we find hope.

Cause it's always there. It's always here.

And this story illustrates just one reason why I work with students and families. It's a story of hope.

Why do you do what you do?

Click to read about A story of hope 

A Bible Doubled As A Meth Cookbook

A Bible doubled as a meth cookbook. I know the Bible is also known as an instruction manual. But, come on, this is going just a tad bit far! The article says, among other things, "Elkhart police officers serving a search warrant at the apartment found the Bible, with a recipe for meth written on the last page of Revelation, on the bottom half of the page."

I guess these guys didn't take Revelation 22v18 very seriously... "I warn everyone who hears the the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book."

I guess that means meth recipes as well!

Drug Testing Your Kids At Home

 

I was driving to an appointment listening to a Chicago radio station when an advertisment for First Check Drug Tests began. The ad was selling the idea for the need for parents to randomly drug test their kids at home.

So that got me thinking, would I ever drug test my children, Carter & Morgan? I'm still undecided. What about you. Would you ever drug test your child at home? Why or why not.

"I'll Huff and Puff..."

We all know the story of the Three Little Pigs. Say it with me... "I'll huff and puff and blooooow your house down." It's a great story. But there's a different huffing going on that does the same type of damage to homes all over the United States. Huffing, a.k.a. bagging or poppers, is the act of sniffing fumes, vapors or gases from common household and commercial products for the purpose of getting high. Unfortunately, inhalant abuse is commonly overlooked and missed by parents all across the globe even though kids have direct access to this addiction by simply going to a room in their home to find the product of their choice. Here are a few stats from inhalant.org

• 2.6 million students ages 12-17 use an inhalant each year to get high
• 1 in 4 students in America has intentially abused a common household product to get high by the time they reach the eighth grade
• Sniffing and huffing can begin at age 10 or younger
• Inhalants are the fourth most abused substance after alcohol, tobacco and marijuana
• More than 1,400 common household and commercial products are used for the purpose of getting high like, air freshners, whipped cream, hair spray, butane, rubber cement, markers, spray paint, etc.

Despite kids being able to use household products to get high, this type of substance abuse is just as dangerous as cocaine or heroin.

Possible Short-Term Effects from Huffing

• Headaches, muscle weakness, severe mood swings and violent behavior, slurred speech, hearing loss, apathy, loss of consciousness, etc.

Possible Long-Term Effects from Huffing

• Weight loss, disorientation, inattentiveness, lack of coordination, irritability and depression, liver and kidney damage, bone marrow and central nervous system damage, etc.

There is also a potential for kids to die the first time, or any time, they try an inhalant.

Some Warning Signs of Inhanlant Abuse Include

• Red spots/sores around mouth and/or nose
• Coordination difficulties
• Glassy, glazed or watery eyes
• Painting fingernails with magic markers or correction fluid
• Constantly smelling sleeves or other parts of clothing
• Hiding rags, plastic sandwich bags, clothes or empyt containers of the potentially abused products in rooms or the garage, etc.

The lists above are obviously not exhaustive. So, for more information regarding inhalant abuse, please check out Inhalant.org.

Stats and info above, have been relayed from Inhalant.org.