FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 153 –  THE NITTY GRITTY OF FAMILY LIFE

Nancy Webster joins me for a third session. Another Nancy/Nancy podcast. We talk about how to make easy but nutritious meals for our families, how to establish teamwork, and the value of hard work.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. Can you believe it? I've got Nancy Webster with me again today. This is another Nancy/Nancy podcast. Our third one together, Nancy! But you've got so much to share.

Last week we were sharing about vaccines. I did want to mention that there are now four states that have said no to the vaccine passports. They are Texas, Utah, Florida, and now I believe, Tennessee, praise the Lord! And that is good. If your state has not said no to them, I would encourage you to write or call your governor, and your senators, and your congressmen. I think we've really got to get on to doing this, don't we?

Calling our senators, calling our congressmen, calling our governors, even writing a letter I think is even better. Because I find that when I call, I just get one of the secretaries, and you have to tell them, and you hope they pass on the message.

But if you write a letter, I think that's even more powerful. And please ask them, please tell them, “I do not want to have vaccine passports. I am against it. I think it is totally wrong. I don't believe vaccines should be mandatory.”

Now there are going to be some people who are going to want to take them. And that's fine. We live in a free country. So people are free to do it. And we were saying our last podcast that we were certainly not going to take it and we didn't agree with it. But I mean, that's just  how we feel. It's a free country, and therefore, people are free to take it. But we should be free to say “No!”

And to have mandatory passports where you cannot travel, you cannot go to certain places, you cannot go to restaurants, you cannot do this or that unless you're vaccinated, that's worse than communism! That's total pure tyranny! So please speak out against that and keep speaking out against mandatory vaccinations, and all these things that we are facing at this time.

Anyway, we don't want to keep on talking about that. There are so many other things to talk about. And Nancy, let me see, what am I going to ask you about now? Of course, you are now very official. What is your title again? I can't even remember it. It's so long!

Nancy W: I know. It's kind of a big word. I just was licensed as a Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle Practioner through the Functional Nutrition Alliance. It's hard to say.

Nancy: Yes, yes. So you can then take clients and help them with their health.

Nancy W: And my heart is to help people just like me, mommies with lots of children. They poured all their energy, all their finances, and all their time into, and then their own health has slipped. And to help them, and a lot of time finances are tight . . . But there's a whole bunch you can do, even if you don't have the money for fancy stuff, or gojo berries and camu camu. You can do a whole lot with just regular normal people food...

Nancy: Yes!

Nancy W: That can really impact your health positively.

Nancy: And I think that's so important. So, Nancy, I'd like you to share, what are some good basic healthy foods that young mothers should be feeding their families, that will set them on a real foundation of health for their life. What would you suggest?

Nancy W: Well, officially, because when everybody's little, life is hard, and you get stuck a lot of times where you forgot to thaw something. Please don't use your microwave. Don't even have a microwave. We kept a microwave for a little bit so that we could zap a wet washcloth and get it hot, because that happened faster than waiting for the hot water to get hot enough to warm it up enough to put it on the baby's face.

Nancy: That's a good idea!

Nancy W: Yeah, but it's not even worth the counterspace for that anymore! Because they rearrange the molecular structure of the food, and they mess with you. So don't use a microwave!

Nancy: Yes, I know. I refuse to. But I do have one, because I find people come into my home . . .

Nancy W: Oh, and they want to zap something.

Nancy: Yes, yes. They can zap if they want, but I refuse.

Nancy W: Yes, it's that free country thing, right?

Nancy: Yes.

Nancy W: But when life is really overwhelming and hard, and that's definitely part of being a mommy, there's still, nutrition matters. And it matters, even when your children are little. I mean, obviously they're going to be healthier, and you're going to be healthier, but it also matters for their long-term health too, not just to keep them from getting sick at that time period.

Nancy: I mean, how we feed our children when they are young is the foundation for their life! So many people have problems in their older life because it was the way they started out.

Nancy W: When they were young, and they were innocent, and they just ate what Mommy put in front of them, hopefully. And then a lot of moms will also start out, “We're not going to do sugar,” whatever. And then the child starts getting bigger and you get out in public. It's ubiquitous. Every potluck, every party, always has gobs of sugar and chips and all that stuff.

So I think totally making it an off-limits type thing turns it into a little bit of a forbidden fruit. What I've learned in my classes, not just for children but for grownups too, the best way to get compliance towards doing good health eating and supplementing, is to educate. Even our little children, we can educate.

Don't just say, “Oh, sugar hurts your teeth,” or something. You can go into more details when you learn it yourself. But I really think my daughter has been doing that with her daughter who is getting close to four. She thinks that cod liver oil little capsules are candy, and always wants them. She doesn't know any different.

And she has eaten a cookie here, and a piece of birthday cake there, in occasional situations. But it's not a forbidden fruit, so she's not whining for it, or anything. But she eats grass-fed as much as possible, pastured poultry, that kind of stuff. Nutrient-dense meat, lots of vegetables.

You know, some children are a little averse to the texture of salad and stuff like that, or they don't have all their teeth yet, so they can't chew it very well. You can grind it up in the food processor, or a Nutri-bullet or something as they get old enough to process it.

You also, when you steam, or lightly cook vegetables, it breaks open their cell walls, and actually helps release... Vegetables have things that need to come out of them. Broccoli has things called goitrogens in it, or whatever. It's OK. And slather it with butter, because all vegetables need a fat in order to help transport all the vitamins and minerals into your body. So it's OK.

I learned another thing. Toxins from animals they store it in their fat. That's one of the reasons that we get fat. Our bodies are trying to protect our organs from toxins, from plastics and chemicals, and all that stuff. So it's the same for animals, when they are essentially not fed, when they're fed conventionally, so they're eating hormones, antibiotics, genetically modified food, whatever.

So butter is one of the most toxic things if it's not organic, which is awful, because organic butter costs at least twice as much. But if there was a little change that I wish I had done, I knew not to use margarine. That's like plastic. Your body does not know what to do with it. I think most people know  that, but it's cheaper. Don't get tempted.

Give up something else. Don't get tempted. And if you can swing it at all, even try to get at least organic butter. Kerrygold or something. If you live anywhere where you can find a local farmer and you get it, which not everybody does, that’s even better. I know that's luxurious, but it's so important.

And don't cook or microwave in plastic. Try not to store your food in plastic. Store it in glass preferably. We just use mason jars. It saves on having all sorts of dishes kind of crammed into the cabinets.  As far as foods go, you don't have to be fancy, as long as it's good, wholesome food. So like for breakfast . . .

Nancy: Yes! What do you have for breakfast?

Nancy W: Well, OK, so grains really need to soak, preferably ahead of time, before you eat them, whole grains, because they have things called phytates in them that will bind to your vitamins and mineralsand leach them out of your body. So your bones and your teeth suffer.

So if you can soak your grains ahead of time, like even overnight. A lot of times, what I'll do it is I'll put in millet, or some sort of thing like that, I'll put it into the crockpot overnight. You can add a teeny bit of yogurt, or you can add some apple cider vinegar, something acidic.

Nancy: So you are just crockpotting it all night.

Nancy W: And then to add extra water than you would if you were cooking it in a pan.

Nancy: That's right!

Nancy W: So you wake up and breakfast is ready! You don't have to think, “Oh, darn, I didn't prepare. I've got to do cereal!”

Nancy: So, what you're saying, you haven't really presoaked the millet. You're just . . .

Nancy W: Kind of getting it in the crockpot. Preferably probably you should, but this is real life here. I remember Serene saying one time about, I think it was buckwheat, or sunflower seeds, or something, when I was first learning some of her cooking things. Or almonds, I think it was almonds. If you can  get raw almonds, you should soak or sprout or whatever.

But she said sometimes, it's real life if you don't, you can make almond milk, or something. If you can get raw milk, obviously if you're going to do dairy, that's the ultimate kind of dairy to use, because the pasturised messes with milk. A lot of time, at least try to get organic milk.

I understand people don't always have the money. But a lot of times, I think we have more to put towards our food than we think, if we will sit down and really analyze, “Do I really need to rent that movie?” Even just renting a movie twice will buy you some more butter, or whatever. It's that important.

Nancy: So you would make some millet in the crockpot.

Nancy W: That would be an easy breakfast.

Nancy: Yes. What else do you like to do?

Nancy W: An easy breakfast where I'd make yogurt from raw milk. And then we'll put blueberries and nuts on it. That's another quickie breakfast that we'll do that's easy.

Nancy: I love them. I'm not such a fan of the normal rolled oats, although my husband loves them. I love the steel-cut oats. I love them.

Nancy W: Do you soak them?

Nancy: I try to remember. Sometimes I forget.

Nancy W: Yeah, right! Sometimes real life happens.

Nancy: But I try to remember to soak them overnight. I love to cook them, sometimes put berries with them. They're delightful. Lately, I've been having a lovely breakfast. That is, I do my sourdough bread. I make sourdough bread.

So I have my sourdough starter. And so sometimes when I have enough sourdough, don't always have enough, because I have to have enough to make the bread. But when I have some extra, I will make sourdough pancakes.

Nancy W: Oh, we do too!

Nancy: And they are so good!

Nancy W: They're really good, and what you can do is build up extra starter, and then make a whole lot of them. That's what one of my daughters, who is the pancake cooker for me. And then we make a whole bunch, and we save them. You can toast them. They're really good, really crispy. You can put nut butter on them, or whatever for a snack, or a lunch, or a breakfast.

Nancy: That's so interesting!

Nancy W: It's a good way to have some. You can buy frozen pancakes in the freezer section. They're not good for you, but . . .

Nancy: So how do you make your sourdough pancakes? I just use one egg to a cup of sourdough and little bit of salt. Sometimes a little bit of, not baking powder, but baking soda. What do you do?

Nancy W: Yeah, and then milk, or you can use coconut.

Nancy: I don't use any milk in mine at all, just the egg and the sourdough.

Nancy W: Sometimes our starter is really thickand we'll water it down. Do you use water or coconut milk, or whatever?

Nancy: Yes, Mine seems to be just right!

Nancy W: But those are a fun, easy, healthy thing . . .

Nancy: Yes, it's a wonderful breakfast, even just as you say, have them plain. They're just glorious, or just with some berries.

Nancy W: We use maple syrup, just a little bit.

Nancy: Of course, I do the sourdough bread, which is the healthiest bread. It's so great. I don't use any wheat at all. I use spelt and rye. What do you use for yours?

Nancy W: Well, this is kind of embarrassing, but 22 years ago, was that when Y2K was threatening?

Nancy: Yes, 2000, wasn't it?

Nancy W: We bought a whole lot of buckets of wheat.

Nancy: And you've still got them?

Nancy W: And then because we had a big family, all the people who bought it, but had no clue how to use it, they gave us theirs. We've had many seasons where we've not done grain, trying to help our daughter on the spectrum. We've gone grain-free, gluten-free, all the things. I'm actually gluten-free right now.

I did make sourdough from that wheat, still! It's still fine. [Crosstalk] It's organic, but I know the more ancient grains are better to use.

And then our other biggie is soup. I make bone broth, and oh, my goodness, I'm like the bone lady. It's gotten more popular, so more people know about it. You can buy it, but oh, it's a million dollars at the store!

And yet you can make bone broth from even, like chicken bones. Cook a chicken, and then go around and scavenge everybody's bones. Nobody's allowed to throw bones away at our house! You can even make broth from that.

Nancy: Oh yes, I can't bear a bone to be thrown away, especially of course, if it's organic. If it's conventional, I wouldn't think of boiling it up. But I've actually got some bones right now. You're right, I forgot to put them on the stove.

Nancy W: Oh no! Well, I threw mine in the crockpot, because I've burned so many, and they smell horrible when they burn. But it's easy.

Nancy: Oh, I love it.

Nancy W: I used to get turned off. I would look at The Nourishing Traditions Cookbook, and it's got throwing all these billions of things in there.

Nancy: You don't have to.

Nancy W: You can just make it with bones. Put a little water, I put a little vinegar in there and let it soak to pull out the nutrients. I read somewhere that's not necessary, but I'm still doing the way Nourishing Traditions teaches it. And then just keep water in it. If you don't have time to deal with it, and the water's evaporated down, just add more water to it, and let it go. Or drain off some and add more water and get more mileage out of your bones.

Nancy: I usually put in some onions...

Nancy W: And also vegetable scraps, when we make asparagus, and raw things. And then the yukky parts, the ends, I throw into a zip lock bag in the freezer. Onions, onion skins, and everything, I just throw those in when I'm cooking it. Sometimes. If I remember, and if we have it.

Nancy: So then soups are so nutritious, because even if you haven't got bone broth, don't think “Oh, I can't make it.”

Nancy W: Just use water.

Nancy: Just use water.

Nancy W: Or vegetable broth.

Nancy: Yes, I save it, if I'm cooking vegetables, or cooking some potatoes, and there's some water left, I save that, put it in the fridge. I put that in my soup.

Nancy W: Waste not, want not!

Nancy: Absolutely! And then I just load it with vegetables. Oh, yes.

Nancy W: You can throw in leftovers. I mean, even if you had a casserole. You just have to, OK, then people like, “My child doesn't like that.” I know, and there's a difference between having a couple of things. We have a son who thinks sweet potatoes are gross. It's so sad, because they're so good for you. He will not eat sweet potatoes.

But he'll eat everything else, so you know what? He's entitled to not like sweet potatoes. That's OK. But you know the kind of child I'm talking about, that's really, really picky. Actually, sometimes that can be related to a zinc deficiency.

But more often, it's related to their training . . . well, maybe when they were little, and mom was going to introduce beets to them, but mom thought beets were gross. So she's feeding beets to the baby, making this awful face, and they're going to pick up on it.

But also, I've seen so often that this child won't eat their vegetables, that's usually the main thing they don't want to eat. So they don't eat enough, and then they're hungry later, and they can snack. Or mom will pull out something, peanut butter and crackers or something if they won't eat it.

Nancy: I think the modern-day child lives too much on snacks.

Nancy W: They do!

Nancy: They have so many, and why? Because the mother is buying them into the home. You don't have to. I mean, if you don't want your children to eat something, you don't buy them. You don't have them in your home. You don't have them in your pantry.

Like I don't have white sugar in my home. And I don't have all these processed things. And I don't have all these snacks. I mean, really, we're not meant to live on snacks, but really good food.

Nancy W: Real stuff.

Nancy: And I can't believe, you know, mothers, if your child doesn't like something, “Oh well, maybe I'll give you this.” I taught, “This is what you eat, and you're going to eat it!”

Nancy W: I've heard hunger is a good sauce. When I was little, if we didn't clean our plates, Mama would put it in the refrigerator, and we'd get it cold for the next meal.

Nancy: Exactly! But that's how it was back then. We all did that.

Nancy W: I guess so. But it did make me, that method made me kind of compulsive about cleaning my plate. And I don't want, I want them to be able to . . . So we didn't do that to ours. But they still had to eat some, like three bites, or whatever.

Nancy: Yes, yes, if they didn't like something, I would say, “Just the tiny little bit.”

Nancy W: And nothing else! No replacement or snack kind of thing. We modeled it by eating it, and they just figured out, “Oh well, this is normal.”

Nancy: But as you say, with soups, you can put in all the vegetables.

Nancy W: Everything!

Nancy: Oh, I mean, I start off with onions and garlic. But then I go into sweet potato and potatoes and oh, I love to put in zucchini, but eggplant. I love eggplant in my soup.

Nancy W: Oh, that sounds good!

Nancy: They go beautiful in soups. just chop them all up into little pieces. It's so beautiful, and I love the white radish, the big, long white radish.

Nancy W: It's fun to make it pretty, isn't it? All the different colors. So another trick for busy mommies though, you're like “OK, that's a good idea, but chopping all that stuff?” Or “I can only get to the store once every two weeks. Fresh stuff's kind of not fresh by then.”

We use a lot of frozen vegetables because the frozen vegetables are usually flash-frozen right after they're picked. We don't always buy organic ones because of the money unfortunately. It would be preferable to get all organic ones.

But that way you can dump in a bag of frozen vegetables too, and it speeds it up. I'm just thinking of, and it's still like that at our house a lot of times. We're like, “Oh no, what can I make?”

Nancy: I love celery in soups too.

Nancy W: Celery goes very well. And then you get into the spices. We use tumeric, how do you say it?

Nancy: Tumeric. But everyone says it differently.

Nancy W: I always did too, but then I got paranoid that I was saying it wrong, because I've heard other people say it other ways. But whatever. That's super good. I throw it into every soup. All our soup is kind of yellowish orange. Curry. And those are all really, really good for our bodies.

Nancy: Oh yes, yes. And I just recently, I've been making it with cumin. It was a recipe my mother often made. It's called “Root Stew.” And all of it is all the root vegetables. So wonderful. Well, it takes a lot of chopping, but I don't mind chopping. I've got so quick at chopping over the years I can chop, chop, chop!

Nancy W: And be safe, lady, huh?

Nancy: You know, you just start off with onions, sauteeing the onions, and maybe perhaps some celery too. And then you start putting in all these chopped root vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips . . . I love parsnips. Some people don't even know what parsnips are!

Nancy W: Yes! Turnips?

Nancy: Yes, you could  put them in. Pumpkin, butternut, any root vegetable. Then you can flavor it with salt and pepper and curry. Absolutely delectable!

Nancy W: Sounds like it.

Nancy: So good for you, with all the colors. I made one the other night and I put beets in it. Of course, that made the whole thing red, but it was so nice. It made it beautiful.

So I mean, I still make, because we have so many visitors, we have people just coming and going here. It's unbelievable. I always like to make a lovely meal for them, so it's always some kind of meat, and vegetables, and a salad. I rarely have a meal without three or four vegetables, and a salad.

But then I'll make lots of soups too. I love soups on the weekends so it's there for everybody to take whenever they want. But when you make soup, you're having more than just a meal of meat and vegetables. Often, I'll have nine to ten vegetables in my soup, just filled and packed with them. It's all in the soup. All the nutrients so it's very nourishing. They're so nourishing.

Nancy W: They're very nourishing. And on crazy days, if you're on the go, that's a hard thing, especially when you're toting along a bunch of little people. You can throw it in a thermos and that keeps it hot. And then if it's a little one that's it's kind of messy, you can fish out and hand them the soft vegetables, when you're away from home.

On the run is hard, and I know that it's the best to stay home, but it happens when you've got big children and little children, sometimes you have to haul the little ones along to the big children's homeschool coop, or whatever it is.

Nancy: Yes. Oh it's so easy and basic. When children do want snacks, because they do need something in between meals just to keep them going, what would you give little ones? What would you suggest?

Nancy W: Well, I know a lot of people do a lot of dried fruits, like raisins and things. That's real sticky and sweet and that can encourage that sweet tooth. We would use currants now, black currants more than we used to.

Nancy: But they're so hard to get!

Nancy W: I get them from Azure. You can buy a little bag of Sun-Maid brand at Krogers, you know, at the grocery store.

Nancy: We used to get them back in Australia and New Zealand, but I haven't found them so easily here. I think carrot sticks, good cheese, celery sticks.

Nancy W: Carrot sticks, crispy nuts soaked overnight in salt water and then put them in the oven on low to dry, or dehydrator. Those are good. Apples and peanut butter, or almond butter, something like that. Or yogurt. Plain yogurt.

Nancy: Just good wholesome food.

Nancy W: Real food.

Nancy: If that's all you have in your house, that's what you eat. And your children get used to it.

Nancy W: Right. They don't know.

Nancy: So many young people today, they are not used to real food.

Nancy W: No.

Nancy: They don't even know what some of the vegetables are called.

Nancy W: Oh, I've educated the grocery store people a lot of times. “What's this? What's this?”

Nancy: I know!

Nancy W: Cilantro. Parsley, they're like, “What's that?”

Nancy: I love rutabaga. I grate it and soft cook it in butter and it's just glorious. Some of my girls who come to live with us, they've never even heard of it, and when they've had it, it becomes their favorite vegetable. There are so many vegetables that we can try, and they're just so wonderful, aren't they?

Nancy W: And those are really good carbs, so for mommies who are watching their weight, of course, Trim Healthy Mama has it all figured out for you.

Nancy: Oh, yes!

Nancy W: But it's just for starters. Those are way better, if you're going to do those starchy, get them from your vegetables.

Nancy: So we've talked about food, but there's so many other things in family life. I know that you have always sought to make sure that your children know how to work to prepare them for life. Talk a little bit about that. I think it's a very important thing, raising our children, teaching them a work ethic. I see so many children who have no clue about work! What do you think about that?

Nancy W: Well, in our family, I know that it was an advantage, because again, we were really capable, but there were too many jobs for mom and dad to do alone, so we absolutely needed our children to help us! It wasn't just a little character development thing. It was like, “We need your help!” And they, I think . . .

Nancy: This would be when you moved out to the country, wouldn't it?

Nancy W: We moved to the country when our oldest was 12, because one of our things, I mean we wanted to live in the country forever. But also, we wanted them to have what we called “man jobs,” because the first two were 12 and 10 then. So they needed “man jobs,” besides just emptying the dishwasher, and pushing the lawnmower around the little yard. There wasn't that much to do.

It provided a whole lot, because we heated with wood. We grew a big garden, never super successfully, but we tried every single year. And that meant picking, you know Tennessee grows rocks. We have the cutest picture of all of them around, showing off their huge pile of rocks they picked out of the garden.

But I think one thing that we were really successful, partially probably because I wanted to oversee and make sure that it was done OK, but it was a team effort. So I didn't say, “Y'all go out and do this.” I went out with them, or Greg went out with them.

And then we could guide them if they needed a little getting back onto the path. Also, we could encourage them. “Oh, you're doing a good job!” And I think they felt needed, and they were encouraged.

Then they enjoyed the fruits of the labors. Even in the kitchen, back to the cooking part, I always had them right there with me, even the boys, making bread and stuff like that.

Nancy: How do you think that has affected them, prepared them, now that they're grown?

Nancy W: They're really good husbands because they can take care. I know our oldest, when he started working for other people and they all wanted him to stay. But they were all stairsteps. Because I know he worked at a grocery store when he was 16 in the vegetable section. I guess he put all the stuff away, and he asked the lady, “What else can I do?” And she was like “What?”

So he's found his own job of cleaning the mirrors that the vegetables reflect, at least in that grocery store they did. And she was like in awe, because nobody's ever . . .  To him, it was like, “Well, I'd rather do something than be bored!”

Nancy: Absolutely!

Nancy W: But Adam was put in the garden to work, to tend it. We're supposed to work, and I know from me growing up, Mama wanted me to do bunches of extracurricular activities at school. I went to a regular school. I went to college, and I didn't know how to wash clothes. And that's so basic. Little children can wash their own clothes, really by the time you're nine or ten.

Our daughter with Down's Syndrome washes her own clothes. She does our dishes. But we've drawn with a permanent marker, I drew on the washing machine so she would know where it starts and stops, that kind of stuff, until she learned.

We think they have to be really grown up before they can do it. They're capable. Get a stool. We always had stools in the kitchen so they could be right there. It was a pain. (laughter)

Nancy: I think that that is so important to basic, basic things. Because as you said that, well, just read the Scripture in Genesis.

Nancy W: Oh, Adam, yeah.

Nancy: Where it says that, chapter two, verse 15: “And the Lord God took the man and put him into, the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it.” Now “to dress it,” the word in the Hebrew there means, “to work,” and “to work hard, with the sweat coming down your face.” It's not just casual work, it's hard labor, because work is therapeutic. It is.

I think we should teach our children to love work. Even make up a song as we're doing work, loving work, and “I love this,” and I love to say, “I love work!” so that they don't think that work is a chore. No, it's life. It's life. We're meant to work, and it's very therapeutic.

As we work, it is out of work that inventions come. People do things, but oh, there's a special way they can do things. An efficient way, a better way, and inventions come out of work. They don't come out of just doing nothing.

So I think work, the principle of work is a very important thing to teach our children, so they grow up knowing it is normal, knowing that it's fun, and knowing that . . .

Nancy W: It's satisfying to do a good job.

Nancy: Oh yes! And to do it well. If they haven't done it well, we have to . . .

Nancy W: We have a little song, somebody else we learned the tune, but it's “Whatsoever you do, do it heartily unto the Lord.” And we talked about, you're not just doing this for us, you're doing it for God, too. That's also inspiring.

Nancy: Oh, yes! I have a few Scriptures here from the New Living Translation, but they're good:

Proverbs 14:23: “Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty.”

Proverbs 12:11: “Hard work means prosperity. Only fools idle away their time.”

Proverbs 12:14: “People can get many things by the words they say. The work of their hands also gives them many benefits.”

Proverbs 12:24: “Work hard and become a leader. Be lazy and become a slave.”

Nancy W: Oh, wow!

Nancy: That's good, isn't it? Good memory verses for our children, aren't they?

Proverbs 12:27, “Lazy people don't even cook the game they catch, but the diligent make use of everything they find.” Yes. That's what we do when we're managing our homes, isn't it? We don't waste things. Do you know that I hate waste?

Nancy W: Even your potato water, you said you save. Like right. (laughter)

Nancy: People waste so much! In fact, I can't believe it, how people, they'll, just OK, the food is on the table, and they dish it out on their plates. And they'll just leave it!

Nancy W: Instead of just taking a little.

Nancy: Ooh, what can I do? They've already dished it out. It's been on your plate. I can't keep it. I'm going to throw it out. But I've got to throw out good wholesome food? Oh. So I like to teach children, “Don't take too much. Just take what you think you can eat. You can always come back for more. But you've got to eat everything on your plate, so just start out small.”

Nancy W: That's good training at potlucks too. The children will pile it on, and then there's not enough for the grown-ups.

Nancy: I have to do this even at our own family gatherings. Right now, we're up to a hundred people! When we have Christmas, when we have Thanksgiving. So every big celebration, Nana has to get up and give her little speech. “Now children, remember you only take what you can eat. You can come back for as much as you like. But just take what you can eat.” And yet still I go round, and I find beautiful lamb on their plates, and oh, it's so terrible.

And I recycle, and I save this, and I save that. I mean, I don't hoard, but I save what can be used, because I can't bear waste.

Proverbs 13:4: “Lazy people want much, but get little. But those who work hard will prosper and be satisfied.”

Proverbs 13:11: “Wealth from get rich quick schemes quickly disappears. Wealth from hard work grows.”

So time has gone again, precious ladies, but I do hope you've been so blessed by Nancy joining with me. We've had three Nancy/Nancy podcasts.

Dear Father, we thank You that we can come together. We can talk about the things that we do in our homes and encourage one another.

I pray that You will pour out Your blessings upon each mother today. Lord, give them new inspiration, new understanding, new ideas. Save them from ever getting into a rut.

I pray that You'll give them more understanding and inspiration as they mother. And as their children grow, give them new ideas and understanding in how to deal with them, how to raise them. We thank You that we do not have to do this on our own, but You are with us. Amen.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Would you like to email Darlene and thank her so much for faithfully and freely transcribing these podcasts every week for your benefit? That would be so lovely.

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 152 –  What Are You Doing About The Vaccine?

Nancy Webster and I get on the hot subject of the COVID vaccine today. Do you truly know the purpose of these vaccines? What is the ultimate plan? Every person needs to hear this podcast and to share it with others.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Good morning, ladies! Oh, but you may be listening to this at nighttime. But anyway, I have Nancy Webster with me again today. So we're looking forward to sharing another session with you. We have decided to talk about something that is so current, and I guess also controversial. And we're going to talk about vaccines.

Now isn’t it wonderful that we live in a free world? Well, hopefully, because sadly, our freedoms are gradually being taken away from us. But currently at this time, we still have a Constitution which gives us freedom. So therefore, as we start this session, dear ladies, I want you to know that you are free! Because that's who we're meant to be, a free people. And you are free to take this vaccine.

But you should also be free not to take it. That's the sad part at the moment, because they are wanting to push it on people. And I believe in freedom. That's the very bottom line of what I believe, is that we are a free people. I do not believe in mandatory vaccination, because that is tyranny, and I am against tyranny with all my heart.

God is against tyranny. It is Satan that brings tyranny. But getting back to it, if we say things today, perhaps against what you believe at this current time, please forgive us. And know that you are free. But I think you will know, if you know me (you've been getting to know me as we have been sharing together with, I think this is number 152 podcast), so you've been getting to know me, and you will know that I will not be taking this vaccine.

Because, dear ladies, can I just say at the outset, and Nancy's going to be coming in here with so much to share. But I just want to say, I think, sadly, most people don't understand that our government, and the people who are really behind this vaccine, the deep state, and Bill Gates and Fauci and all their cohorts, are not really trying to help you. They don't care about your health. The bottom line of this current vaccination is to depopulate the world. I guess you've read that, haven't you, Nancy?

Nancy W: Oh yes, and it's totally true. And it sounds so conspiracy theory, and Nancy and I were talking beforehand that we've both, in the past, probably laughed a little about that, you know, about that word. “Oh, those people, they're kind of nutty.” But God's opened our eyes, I think. And we're realizing now, that is the truth. And it really is their goal. It is.

Nancy: And this is another thing that we have to be aware of at this time. It's become the issue now that any truth, anybody who is bringing out the truth, trying to warn people through articles, through YouTube, through whatever, the moment they get them up, they are pulled down, and they are labeled conspiracy theories.

Anything that is true, anything the deep state does not want you to know, it is labeled a conspiracy theory. So they can get that into the minds of people, so people will just think, “Oh yeah, that's just conspiracy.” And they believe it! And they believe it that it's conspiracy.

Now there was a time when there were some conspiracy theories that we would laugh at. But more and more and more now, we are seeing, as we research, and we get to know the truth, that it is now the deep state, the elite, these liberal people, they are calling everything that is conservative, and is truth, and it belongs to our Constitution, anything that we, the foundation of our nation, is all a conspiracy theory. And that is ridiculous.

Now let me just give you this quote. I just wrote it out this morning from what Bill Gates said with his own mouth, and I have heard him, watched him, watched him on his YouTubes and heard not even this quote, other quotes exactly similar. But I just wrote this one out today.

This is Bill Gates speaking: “First we've got population. The world today has 6.8 billion. That's getting up to about 9 billion. Now if we do a really great job, the new vaccine, healthcare, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10-15 percent.”

Nancy W:  He's so honest and blatant.

Nancy: Blatant! I mean I've heard him say it even more blatantly, that he's using the word “depopulation.” You have to understand who Bill Gates is. He and his family have been involved in eugenics for years. His parents were in eugenics. Their whole mindset, their worldview is eugenics, to get rid of unnecessary population. And that is the black population, sadly.

Nancy W: Special needs.

Nancy: Special needs, anything that they don't think is the elite, they want to get rid of. Now it began with birth control. I mean, that's how they began to bring it in, with birth control. Margaret Sanger, have you heard of Margaret Sanger? If you haven't, you need to just check this woman out.

She was the mastermind of the birth control that came into this nation. She had been sitting under eugenics masters and learning that way. It was all to eliminate. She wanted to eliminate the blacks and eliminate the poor people. They planned to do it by birth control.

But I also read something from Bill Gates just recently saying, “Well, birth control, it's not really, really eliminating the population as fast as they want.”

Nancy W: Oooh!

Nancy: And so therefore, they are now into vaccines. We know that Bill Gates has been saying that there is going to come this pandemic. And Fauci. They have been saying that it is coming because they were involved in causing it.

Nancy W: Years ago.

Nancy: Yes. Everything has been planned. It's all to bring down the population of the world. And where does that come from, dear ones? It comes from Satan himself, the one who hates life. Satan hates life. He wants to eliminate it every way he can. And the last few decades, he has been busy eliminating it through contraception, sterilization, and abortion. I mean, how many babies were murdered last year? Was it 40 million, I think, throughout the world?

It is just horrific. But that's not enough for them. So they're into their new thing, along with continuing with contraception, sterilization, and abortion. But we've got vaccines as well. And you are listening to me, and you think, “I beg your pardon! These vaccines are to help me stay alive. “I'm sorry. What do you say, Nancy?

Nancy W: They're not.

Nancy: They're not helping you stay alive.

Nancy W: Especially the coronavirus vaccine, covid, whatever you want to call it. SARS, COVID-2, I think, is the official name. It is not your normal kind of vaccine.

Nancy: No, this is something different.

Nancy W: It's so weird, where they've taken just a part, a little spike protein off of a virus, and your body has no clue what to do. It basically turns on your immune system, where it's ready to fight anything that comes. If something comes your way, and it's going to because there's cooties in the world, then it won't turn off. And it will lead to shock, nervous stuff, lung stuff, autoimmune things, and ultimately, death.

Nancy: So the thing is, this vaccine, it may help to stop you getting this strain of covid. Really, it's just another strain of the flu. It's nothing else than another flu.

Nancy W: They've never isolated, the CDC cannot provide a specimen of  that virus. There is no such thing.

Nancy: There is no such thing. Really, it's just another flu. The flu has always been around. I mean, I think I've have got the flu every year of my life at some stage. And you get it sometimes lightly, and sometimes, whoo, you come down with a real dose.

The amazing thing is, back in this last year, 2020, the year of the so-called covid, I didn’t even get the flu at all! Not once! Never even got it! And of course, I'm in the most vulnerable age.

Nancy W: The elder lady!

Nancy: Yes, I will be 80 next month, and I should be worried about it. Oh, for goodness sake! How absolutely ridiculous!

Nancy W: My 91-year-old father, who had been in the hospital for a week with a urinary tract infection, then got covid while he was there. So did my sister and I, because we were there. And basically, I think we were surrounded with 5G in the first place. And just germy and gross.

And we were really run down. It was really whoops. But he survived! I mean, he was only in the hospital for a few days and then moved to a rehab place. Ninety-one!

Nancy: Oh yes, absolutely!

Nancy W: And 99.91% survivable. So why this panic over this?

Nancy: Because they have brought in something that they can put fear upon the population, and they have succeeded. And where does fear come from, ladies? See, everything that we are seeing, that is happening, we have to look closely at it, and see its source.

We see people who are advocating it but that goes beyond them. It goes to the source of Satan who hates life. And what did Jesus say? “I am come to give you life, and to give it to you more abundantly. But the thief,” speaking of Satan, the enemy, “he comes to rob, and to kill, and to destroy.” Read John 10:10.

And he also brings fear. You see, fear is opposite from God. He has brought the nation under fear. People are living in fear! So they have succumbed to masks. Goodness me!

Wearing a mask is only a proof of fear because a mask is so unhealthy to your body. You're breathing in your own carbon dioxide. It's so unhealthy for your lungs. You can't even breath the fresh air. And it doesn't stop you giving to anybody else or your getting it from anybody else. It's all a big laugh. It is all fear!

And to think that even grown men who are meant to be the . . . men are meant to be the testimony of bravery, courage, strength. And you see big, muscly men walking around the shop, with a mask on?

Nancy W: It's also fear of man, because some people will wear one, but they really don't think it's even beneficial, but they don't want to get in trouble. Which I admit . . .

Nancy: That's fear of man too.

Nancy W: You had to wear it on the airplane, and I had to wear one to get in the hospital to go visit my dad.

Nancy: Yes. But then there are places where, OK, it says you must wear one. The shop says, “All masks required.” But you go in without one.

Nancy W: I walk right in!

Nancy: Absolutely! But I think of the Scriptures. We know that there are 365 Scriptures to “fear not,” one for every day of the year! I love where David says in Psalm 11:1: “In the Lord put I my trust: how say you to my soul, 'Flee as a bird to the mountain?' ”

I mean, David is saying, “Really, am I going to be one, because of all that I'm facing, because of the enemy, because of all this, I'm going to flee like a bird to the mountain, so I don't have to face it?” Goodness me, he wouldn't even dream of doing such a thing!

And so, who are we? I go over to Psalm 27. I'm sure you all know this glorious psalm. Psalm 27:1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; whom should I fear?”

Dear precious lovely ladies, it comes back to who do we trust? And who do we fear? I mean, if our trust is in the Lord, we will not fear. If we have fear in our hearts, if we're succumbing to masks, to vaccines and all this junk, we are showing that we are in fear.

We do not trust the Lord. I mean, why say you're a believer if you don't trust the Lord? What does it say? Oh, just say it with me: “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; whom shall I fear?”

YOUR POWERFUL IMMUNE SYSTEM

Oh, I'm talking too much, Nancy. I'll just say this and then I want you to share something. But I believe, look, lovely ladies, when God created us, He didn't leave us without all that we need. He created us perfectly. He created us to face the world and to face diseases that are in the world.

We are born, our body is born to cope with facing diseases and viruses! In fact, there's viruses all around us. God gave us an immune system. It's a powerful thing.

Look, how did God design babies? You know, they nurse at their mother's breast and they grow. And they get to about eight months and then what do they start doing? Crawling!

Nancy W: Crawling all over the dirty floor.

Nancy: All over that dirty floor! And of course, when your babies are crawling, you're trying to keep the floors clean. But oh! goodness me, there's always dirt, and there's always stuff! Oh!

Nancy W:  And they eat things.

Nancy: And they eat junk. And they go outside, and they eat the dirt. God planned it. It's very important for babies to crawl. Not only for their mental development, but for even strengthening their immune system! Right from a little baby, they're getting used to stuff, and dirt, and diseases that are all around them.

I have lived in third world countries. When Colin and I were first married, we went out to the Philippine Islands as missionaries. We saw all the babies crawling, even around on the dirty streets and the dirty floors. You think, how do these babies survive in this disease? But they all do because their immune systems are strengthened. And this is what we are meant to do, ladies.

Forget about a vaccine! Strengthen your immune system!

Nancy W: (laughing) I wish y'all could see her! She's so jazzed up right now. It's great!

Nancy: (laughing) And strengthen the immune system of your children! Because it was God-given! Sadly, often we are not strengthening our immune systems. We're living on junk foods, and sugar and stuff, that we're just weakening our immune systems. But if we keep it up and strengthen it, ourselves and our children, forget about vaccines. Oh, goodness me!

 Nancy W: Any vaccine. Any vaccine. When I was little, I was born in 1959, and Mama saved everything, so when they were packing up housekeeping, I found amongst my old . . . my curls and a lot of funny things that she had saved. She'd saved my shot record, and I had five, there were five things back then that you had.

Obviously, there's so many, like 80, I can't remember the number. 79 or 80, something like that, of vaccine possibilities now. Not all of them are in use.

Nancy: It's a wonder babies survive!

Nancy W: It really is.

Nancy: It's disgusting!

Nancy W: And obviously, we're healthy. We didn't get all those things, those shots, but we're fine.

Nancy: Oh yes, Well, actually, I only got about three shots, if I got them, when I was growing up. For my children, I did start off, because I didn't know what I was doing, until . . . I may have told you this story before. Until one day my three little ones and I were walking down the street and I stopped at this gate. This lady was there, and she saw my children.

She said, “Oh, I've got a little one your age. Come and see her.” And we went in, and this little darling child, about 17 months, was lying there, a vegetable. A total vegetable. Could not see, hear, talk, do anything. She said to me, “My baby was perfect until she got her shots.”

That was it! I never, ever, ever gave any of them another shot again! I remember when Pearl, she hadn't had any shots. She got whooping cough. “Oh, help! I didn't get the shot!” But you know what, I never even went to the doctor. She got through it. I mean, oh, goodness me.

And now, of course, when you get things . . .  my children got measles, mumps, and all the usual things.

Nancy W: Childhood diseases.

Nancy: Every one of them! We all got them. All the children got them. The epidemic would go round, and every child in the community would get them. All the mothers would be down with their sick children.

Part of life. We all got through it. None of them died. And then they all had immunity for life. It's so great.

Nancy W: It's so cool.

Nancy: But anyway, we're talking about this current one. Tell me a little bit more about it, what's happening with this one.

Nancy W: Even with all those others, that your body at least supposedly can build up antibodies, or whatever. It can do it on its own, way more effectively without the harm of all this stuff that comes in a vaccine.

LOOK UP THESE RESOURCES

But this is not a normal kind of vaccine. It's just a shot. What Nancy was talking about was Bill Gates. If you will go and listen, it's long, but it's bitesized. I always like Psalms because busy mommies can do it in bite-size amounts of little chunks in between life. That's pretty big, when you have a bunch of little people around.

But look up, you'll have to go to Duck Duck Go, or some alternative place, because Google . . . Look up “Fall Of the Cabal.” Then there's a sequel . . .

Nancy: “Fall of the Cabal”?

Nancy W:  “Fall of the Cabal.” And it's in little bite-sized, like 20 minutes, little bits. I think there's like nine or ten, or something like that, little bits for the first section, and about the same for the second one. They're still coming out. But they're so well-researched and so backed up. It's not just somebody saying, “Oh, they're crazy,” or whatever.

They really are so improved. And it's really opened my family's eyes. You can watch it in little bits. That's what else is really nice. I know Rumble has it and BitChute, and some others. You'll be able to find it if you don't look it up on Google.

A woman is super researching; great about it. That will help you. And in the sequel part, if you only have time to watch a little teeny bit, go to the sequel, I can't remember what number it is. I think it's number eight or nine, or something. There's two in a row that are about Bill Gates. They have videos of him saying this stuff that Nancy was talking about with his goals of depopulation and everything. It's easy to find.

Nancy: Yes. You've got to research, lovely ladies, not just the stuff that the propaganda . . . now the propaganda is all up there. If you go to Google or these places, it's all the propaganda. You've got to go right down, down, down. In fact, you usually have to go to alternative search engines to find the truth because they are suppressing the truth.

But there are so many scientists coming out who are whistleblowing, and pleading with people, “Please, don't take this vaccine!” Of course, they are trying to wipe them out and push them down, and stop their message getting out.

One that you need to go to is Geert Vanden Bossche. He was originally with Bill Gates. He is still not against original vaccinations, although I am. But he is talking about this one, and he is fearful for what is going to happen to the world. He is exposing it scientifically. And please look up that name.

And even if you look up the name, I think you will have to go down, down, down, down, to find where you really get him. You'll find all the fact-checkers saying, “Oh, this is wrong!” Have you noticed the fact-checkers today? I mean, all they do is suppress the truth and just bring some other stuff. You can't listen to the fact-checkers.

So do try and look him up. If you want to know more about these vaccines, there's just hundreds and thousands of YouTubes and articles coming out, if you can just search for them. One that is good to look up, if you can get it on your email, and it comes nearly every day is Children'sHealthDefense.org.

Nancy W: Excellent one.

Nancy: That is keeping you up to date with very good information. It's just basic information, powerful. And of course, listen to the Frontline Doctors. They are good, too. Those are just some of the very basic.

Nancy W: Can I add some too?

Nancy: Yes, get more for them!

Nancy W:  You can find Science in the Half in really understandable words, and the doctor who is behind it all is also a believer. Her name is Dr. Tenpenny. So if you look up, I believe it's Dr, no period, and then her name, Tenpenny. I think it's com. It might be .org. I get them mixed up. But one or the other, lots of stuff good is there. Also LifeSiteNews.com.

Nancy: Oh, that's good, too.

Nancy W: The site is spelled S-I-T-E. I just got a thing off of it. There's another science person who works with Pfizer, that's the other one of the vaccines. Moderna and Pfizer are the two main shots. He was a big vaccine developer, whatever. He's just had a total turn around, and Life Site News is quoting a lot of his stuff.

He's warning that people who are getting this shot are dooming themselves to an agonizing and early death. He even predicts that people may not last more than three or four years.

Nancy: Yes, this is very, very . . . Listen, if you haven't had the shot yet, please, please, please, listen to what we are saying. Look up some of this information because it's scary.

Now already people are dying. I'm sure you've heard, although they're trying to suppress this too.

Nancy W: And even getting coronavirus even after they've had it.

Nancy: Oh yes, they're getting coronavirus. Many have died. Many are having the most terrible, terrible reactions. It's unbelievable. But that is not the worst. Because they say the worst, and this is not by one person, by many, that's it's going to come down the line. Months to come, and it will be worse.

Nancy W: They don't want it to be obviously . . .

Nancy: They don't want it to be obvious.

Nancy W:  And then they're also saying there's also going to be boosters because there's going to be these so-called “variants,” or “mutants,” which this Dr. Yaden, virologist, says there's no way. If you aren't vaccinated, at least your immune system can deal with a virus. There's a bunch of coronaviruses, colds. But that's what’s going to be their push.

Nancy: I know, you see, when you get this vaccine, it's going to really wipe out your immune system to face other mutations, and other viruses, and other things, which will continually come. The world is filled with them, and there will be more and more.

It's going to pull down your immune system to face other things. So this is so scary. It's so concerning, that there are going to be many deaths, later on. They didn't want it to happen immediately, because . . .

Nancy W: That would just freak people. Not everybody would go.

Nancy: Exactly. Another one to look at is Lew Rockwell. He has so many amazing articles that can just come by your email if you get on the list. These are just a few basics. I mean, there are so many.

Nancy W: I was going to say, I have relatives who had out-of-the country trip plans. Two words, they're older and they don't want to miss out going on their trips, they got the shot.           

I've another friend, and her son is super-paranoid about it. A lot of millennial people are. I don't understand, because they're so not at risk. But in order to be able to see her grandchild, she's gotten the shot.

Other people are getting them because of their job. I don't think it's worth it. If it means changing careers, or never going anywhere, it's just not worth it.

Nancy: But in saying that, Nancy, this is another thing we need to talk about, not only can we encourage you, but free will, remember. But we would encourage you with all our hearts, if you haven't got it, please don't. Please don't put your children into that, for further problems. It's only going to destroy their immune system. Please, just strengthen their immune system.

But the thing that we have got to fight against is not only mandatory vaccination, but also these vaccine passports that they are now pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, trying to bring in. Now do you realize that if vaccine passports come in, it's the end of America as we know it. It's the end of civilization as we know it.

We will then be little people who will be just serving tyrants. We will be under tyrannical power. We will be what they are planning, The Great Reset, where “You will own nothing, and you will be happy.” How will you be happy? I think down the line their vaccinations will have things in it that will cause you to be dumbed down. You will have no, nothing in you that will want to resist.

In fact, if vaccine passports come in, there's no recourse anymore to resist. Because if you don't have a vaccine passport, you won't be able to fly. You won't be able to have a job. You won't be able to go to restaurants. You won't be able to go to the supermarket. You will not be able to do anything at all, at all! You most likely will be put in some internment camp.

Now that is if you do not have one. And they're trying to bring this in now.

Therefore, please, can I urge you with all my heart, father, mother, every child, 18 and over. We must all call, email, and write, do the three, to every one of your senators and your congressmen. Just put in your zip code on the internet, and say, “Senators and congressmen for this zip code.” You get their name. You get their phone number. You get their address.

We must contact them. We must say, “Please, you are my representative. I ask you to stand against mandatory vaccination. And please fight against vaccine passports. Please, I will never vote for you again if you do not do this. Please, and I'm telling all my friends to do the same.”

Tell all your friends to do the same. There has to be a rising up. This is our only last chance to save this nation. It's coming to that. We are, I don't know whether everybody realizes where we are. But vaccine passports end our lifestyle.

So please, please, please, we've got to call, write, email, every senator and every congressman. And our governors as well. Amen.

Nancy W:  Amen. You know, that sounds really scary if that all comes to pass.

Nancy: Oh it's beyond us.

Nancy W:  It's very possible, and definitely we've got to do our part, but no matter what, you go back to where you started at that whole fear thing. Even if we wind up there, and this is why I think your most important job as a mom is to be sure that you and your family, your children, really have a really strong relationship with the Lord, to totally believe that He's capable of doing miracles.

Of feeding you when you can't go to the store, of healing you when you get sick, and all of that stuff. Because that's what can give you courage. I think that everybody needs to believe it. That's your most important job, way more important than keeping your house clean, or teaching math and writing. (laughing)

INSTILL COURAGE INTO YOUR CHILDREN

Nancy: Yes. We're in a moment now in our nation where we, as mothers, we have got to be not only instilling truth in the ways of God into our children, but instilling courage to stand up for truth. We've got to raise brave and courageous sons and daughters. This is an hour for courage and bravery.

Even if you have been feeling fearful, dear ones, then perhaps you have listened to all this propaganda. It is propaganda, and even all these words, how that if you don't wear a mask, and social distance, and don't get your vaccine, you are not being a friend to all your family, and people around you.

That is the biggest lie in history! It's all to continue to put fear upon you and bring you under tyranny. Please, let your eyes be opened. Begin to research like you never have before. Not all the top stories (at the top of the list of links) which are all the propaganda, but you've got to research.

Go to Telegram, Rumble, Signal, all these others, and some of the ones we've mentioned today, to look up. That will get you on to many, many others. Begin to stand up. Your children too, encourage them to be a voice. As a family, be a voice. Begin to resist.

Even the fact of wherever you go, you take off your mask and you don't wear it. You're standing on the side of freedom. When you wear it, you're standing on the side of tyranny, or giving into tyranny. Bringing down our nation.

The same with vaccination. Resist vaccinations. And also stand up against them as well, and especially against this vaccination passport.

Nancy W: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Nancy: That is the thing! Do you know, that is so true? Yes, James 4:7: “Resist the devil, and he will flee.” Imagine, if every believer, who says they're a believer (not a believer in fear and lies), but a believer in God. Yes, but if every believer who says they're a believer had never stopped going to church and instead we had packed the churches, what could they have done? Nothing.

The devil would have had to flee because God's people stood up! But God's people didn't stand up. And even now, God's people are giving in to this lie of vaccination which is all for the purpose of the depopulation of this world. They want to get rid of people. They think we have too many.

They just want to filter them out. It's unbelievable, because you see, when these people take God out of their brain and lives and hearts, well, the Bible says He gives them over to a reprobate mind. It's a mind that is void of understanding.

I often think, these people are supposed to be intelligent, well-educated, degrees after their name. And they can't even think straight. I mean if you think about it, everything is the opposite to common sense. Everything is the opposite to truth. And they're expecting us to believe it.

Here is says, where is it here? It's Romans 1:28: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind” (that means a mind void of understanding) to do those things which are not convenient.” And this is the thing. We've got to trust God and His Word.

Let me read you a quote from an article I was reading recently. It was an article, where does it start? It was an article, actually, written by, yes, Mike Whitney of the UNZ Review. He ends his writing by a :2010 article by Andrew Marshall. “We just see, it just gives a little understanding of what has been happening, leading up to what is happening now. There are many other articles that will give you the same information. But he says:

 “Francis Galton coined the term 'eugenics' to describe this emerging field. His followers believed that the ‘genetically unfit’ would have to be wiped away, using tactics such as segregation, deportation, castration, marriage prohibition, compulsory sterilization, passive euthanasia, and ultimately extermination.

“Sir Julian Huxley was also a life trustee of the British Eugenics Society from 1925 to 1962. Huxley believed that eugenics would one day be seen as the way forward for the human race, and that a catastrophic event may be needed for evolution to move at an accelerated pace.”

Now this was written way back in 2010, but now we, they are bringing this into being. Quoting again:

“The 21^st century technologies are so powerful that they can form whole new classes of accidents and abuses. Most dangerously, for the first time, these accidents and abuses are widely within the reach of individuals or small groups.

“I think it is no exaggeration to say that we are on the cusp of the further perfection of extreme evil, and evil whose possibility spreads well beyond that which weapons of mass destruction bequeathed to the nation states, on to a surprising and terrible empowerment of extreme individuals.”

Nancy W: Like covid.

Nancy: Exactly.

“Due to improved techniques, the elite will have greater control over the masses, and because human work will no longer be necessary, the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the system. If the elite is ruthless, they may simply decide to exterminate the mass of humanity. If they are humane, they may use propaganda, and other psychological or biological techniques to reduce the birth rate, until the mass of humanity becomes extinct, leaving the world to the elite.”

Nancy W: Infertility is one of the huge side effects. Miscarriage and infertility, and not just for the mommies who are getting the shots, but also now, if you've heard of this shedding. And because this weird spike protein thing isn't normal, apparently after someone's been vaccinated, they start shedding.

Well, I think you do from any vaccine, but especially from this. People who have not been vaccinated who were near vaccinated people, especially recently vaccinated people . . . women who were in menopause, or having their period, people were having weird bleeding, and miscarriages, and other strange things to do with their fertility, or their reproductive system. That's what this is saying.

Nancy: This is what this guy Bossche, I gave you his information to look up, who was originally with Bill Gates. This is what is scaring him. This shedding, and that vaccinated people are going to be a danger to unvaccinated people. So this is very scary. I'll just end, we're going beyond time.

“A horrifying vision indeed, but one which builds upon the ideas of Huxley, Russel, Brezinski, who envisioned a people  - who through biological and psychological means, are made to love their own servitude.”

. I'm talking now, this is amazing, people now are loving masks and junk like this. This is servitude. Servitude! No one in the history of the world was ever intended to live by masking. God never intended that! He doesn't intend the people He created to go round with masks on, which is a sign of tyranny. That we have come into servitude to this elite who are putting this upon us for no reason at all, only for tyranny.

Nancy W: It's “Whatever you say, oh great ones. We will do it.”

Nancy: It's unbelievable! No wonder the Bible says in Revelation, at the top of the list of those who will enter the lake of fire, is “the fearful.” Most translations say: “the cowards.” The Amplified says, “the cowardly submissive.” That's servitude.

Anyway, quoting again, “Huxley saw the emergence of a world in which humanity is domesticated, where only the elite remain wild and have freedom to make decisions, while the masses are domesticated like pets. Huxley opined that ‘men and women will grow up to love their servitude and never dream of revolution. There seems to be no good reason why a thoroughly scientific dictatorship should ever be overthrown.’”

This was written about eleven years ago. This article ends, “We must ask ourselves whether the current mask and vaccination campaign is a science-based effort to relieve sickness and disease, or a fast-track to a dark and frightening dystopia conjured up by evil men seeking to tighten their grip on all humanity.”

Darling ladies, please beware of what's happening. You as a mother, who are the watchdog of your home, the lioness of your home, protecting your home and your children, rise up, stand for truth, stand against vaccination. Stand against vaccination passports and raise your children to be brave and courageous in this hour. Anything you want to say?

Nancy W: Amen! That's good.

Nancy: Amen. Amen. Well, let's pray, shall we?

Oh dear Father, we are aware we are in a time of gross darkness and gross deception across this nation. Father, we pray for an awakening of minds and hearts to what is being planned by the elite, to bring the masses, to domesticate them, and bring them into tyranny. Father, open their eyes.

We pray for a new arising, Lord God, a new arising, Father, against the tyranny, against all this evil and deception. And that people will rise against all these things. And against vaccinations, and they will stand against this vaccine passport.

I pray for courage and bravery in myself and in everyone who is listening. We ask it in the Name of Jesus! Amen”.

Ladies, please share this podcast with everyone you know. This is so important. It is life and death. It is whether this nation survives or not. Please pass on truth.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Would you like to email Darlene and thank her so much for faithfully and freely transcribing these podcasts every week for your benefit? That would be so lovely.

MORE INFORMATION FOR YOU TO CHECK OUT:

The following are just a few samples of the hundreds of articles and videos that are available on this subject:

https://www.drtenpenny.com/

Everything you every wanted to know about vaccines in general, & especially about all aspects of Covid.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. provides great info about vaccine dangers. Get on their list for it to come to your email.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/

General conservative news, including informative articles about the Covid vaccine.

https://libertyonenews.com/

Another excellent news site.

https://m.theepochtimes.com/

Get free email updates or subscribe to their premium readership program.

VERY WORTH WATCHING! Each part is between 20-35 minutes long:

"Fall of the Cabal" (10 parts) World history tracing roots of Covid agenda.

https://rumble.com/c/c-457007

"Fall of the Cabal SEQUEL" (11 parts) Continued history of depopulation agenda, with much focus on Bill Gates in later parts.

https://rumble.com/c/c-374394

Latest CDC Data Show Reports of Adverse Events After COVID Vaccines Surpass 200,000, Including 943 Among 12- to 17-Year-Olds • Children's Health Defense (childrenshealthdefense.org)

35-Year-Old Woman Dies of Brain Hemorrhage 11 Days After Receiving J&J Vaccine • Children's Health Defense (childrenshealthdefense.org)

The Great Vaccine Scam - LewRockwell

https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSf0dnU1reoNmz.../viewform

The VACCINE DEEP STATE is spreading spike protein particles in acts of terrorism to perpetuate the plandemic – NaturalNews.com

"Maafa 21" is an excellent movie/documentary exposing the history of eugenics and specifically eugenics in the African American population in the 21st century. You can watch the whole movie free on Youtube. Here is the link:

https://youtu.be/I6XfU8KVkzI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5z0rpLumcE

https://www.infowars.com/posts/shocker-why-is-this-substance-in-the-moderna-covid-vaccine

https://www.afinalwarning.com/521387.html

Brighteon.com/2aaed9bc-aa22-4da2-bdf8-2b0f2059983a

Brighteon.com/a39081f7-59cd-415a-8233-f4a24b655b54

 https://www.bitchute.com/video/ojnbQIQRROU8/

Brighteon

This is a MUST watch:

https://www.bitchute.com/video/T81amHHeeTtL/?fbclid=IwAR0TeJvd_tQgUDBzfiWH7zYSx7eI2YGHaIAxQcXzgTiHCciZVD32QS1y-YE

These people post frequently and are loaded with up-to-date information.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/

Look up Lew Rockwell. He has so many articles on this subject and other current subjects that are well worth reading.

The Great Vaccine Scam - LewRockwell

https://forti-fy.com/reviewing-the-mounting-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions-the-dilemma-of-mandates-and-building-trust/?fbclid=IwAR2EOYl0aaScPsbf9_in-kR0MJVeYpvoKfRqlLLWuPDfYO0AzF_s2U53rbQ

https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/a-hill-worth-dying-on-expert-explains-how-aborted-baby-cells-taint-covid-vaccines

Bio-warfare & Weaponization of Medicine Amid Covid - The New American

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/15/stanford-begins-testing-pfizer-vaccine-in-babies-and-young-children/?fbclid=IwAR3gnrpnUwejU9OXCx3WuPPSk469aO0ak2qfUaQBJhzULiCfguflnTvGWcU

https://gab.com/RealAlexJones/posts/105585483544524213 

https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/a-hill-worth-dying-on-expert-explains-how-aborted-baby-cells-taint-covid-vaccines

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9426499/Scientists-evidence-toxic-chemicals-face-masks.html?fbclid=IwAR2Vt1ETznrUoHv280F-VWYidCXw6Jys_O3eXPvQ7xOfeANdGyEo-ft1FQg

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9426499/Scientists-evidence-toxic-chemicals-face-masks.html?fbclid=IwAR2Vt1ETznrUoHv280F-VWYidCXw6Jys_O3eXPvQ7xOfeANdGyEo-ft1FQg

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 151:  FOLLOWING YOUR BENT

Nancy Webster joins me today, sharing how each one of  her eight children are “following their bent,” and using the gifts and talents that God uniquely gave to them. One of the greatest blessings for our children is for them to follow the bent that divinely belongs to them. And each one is different. You will enjoy this session.

Actually, we didn’t even plan on talking on the subject of “following your bent” but it just happened as we kept talking and so I believe it is what God wanted you to hear and I know you will be blessed.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! I love being back with you every week. And today I have sitting beside me another Nancy! So today, our podcast is Nancy and Nancy. How do you like that?

Well, Nancy, it's so great to have you here. My husband and I have been in the States now for about 30 years. We came originally from New Zealand. We were ten years in Australia. Then we came here to this wonderful country of US of A. I met Nancy pretty well not long after we came, so we've known each other a long time.

Nancy is a wonderful wife and mother. I'm so thrilled to introduce her to you today. So Nancy, I'd like you to introduce yourself and just tell us about your family so they will feel as though they know you a little more.

Nancy W: OK. Well, first of all, I just told Nancy a second ago that I remember when she turned 60, and now I'm about to turn 62! Nancy said she's about to turn 80!

Nancy: Next month.

Nancy W: She was like my extra mom, I guess. And so influential. And we have eight children. And so influential in so many ways to help get me through that very hard journey! I'm still on it. So our oldest is 34 . . .

Nancy: Wow! I can remember coming to your home in Franklin, having a meal with you, and all the children . . .

Nancy W: Oh yeah. Meadow was a baby. She came with you all.

Nancy: You know, they were all so young then.

Nancy W: Yes, so he's married and in the military and just awesome. Flies helicopters. He's just awesome. They were all homeschooled. God taught them because I don't think I ever did a very good job! (laughter) It was big.

The first few, you know I had all the big plans. And then, little by little, it's like, “I am not Superwoman here!” But He did and they've all followed their bents and it's all turned out so cool.

Nancy: Just stop for a minute—because I love that phrase: “They have followed their bent.” That is so powerful, Nancy. And you know, it is true, yes, we are faithful to teach them godly principles, and God's ways, and everything we can. But ultimately, God has put within them that bent where they're meant to go. And I think that's the most wonderful thing of all when our children are following their bent.

Now sometimes children are pushed into things by their parents because that's the way they want them to go. And it may not be their bent. And I think when children find their bent, that's their God-given drive. That's the most wonderful thing. I believe if that happens, we've succeeded. You know?

Nancy W: Oh, I do too. As I tell younger mommies now who come ask me, “How did you do this homeschool thing with a ton of kids?” (I prefer the word children)! I'm like, “You can't.” (laughter) But if they will learn their four operations in math, be good at reading, you read aloud to them even when they know how to read already. I mean, my kids are all grown up, and if I'm reading a book . . .

Nancy: My children.

Nancy W: Oh, I'm not supposed to say “kids.” I'm sorry. (laughter) My lambs. My grown-up rams and ewes now. Anyway, they will still stop and listen. They love to be read to.

Nancy: Yes, and if they get a love for reading, they can learn anything they want in life.

Nancy W:  And they know reading is fun. Learning is fun. They know how. When they've got something that they're interested in, they know how to pursue and figure it out.

So like my oldest, he was ten-and-a-half before he could read. And I thought, “Oh my goodness, I'm a failure, I've gone through six phonics programs!” And then we were in this little homeschool coop with this lady who had two boys and they were writing book reports in cursive. And here was my ten-and-a-half-year-old who couldn't even read!

But he was busy taking things apart, and inventing things, and playing with helicopters. And guess what? He’s a mechanical engineer who flies helicopters. So it all worked out.

Nancy: Isn't that amazing!

Nancy W: Actually, it was getting Popular Mechanics magazines. He was like, “I want to learn to read this!” And that finally helped him over that hump.

Nancy: That's right! See, that was his bent! That's where his interest was. I have a dear friend in New Zealand and she has a similar testimony. She thought, “Oh goodness, this child is dumb!” He just couldn't seem to learn to read. There was something wrong with his brain! And about 12 years of age, he was still not reading.

She said, “One day, he just sat down and started reading medical journals!”

Nancy W: Oh wow!

Nancy: You know. Many will just do it when they're ready, at their time.

Nancy W: Yes, that's so true. I've read this book that Debbie Pearl wrote about the brain development,  oh gosh, I can't remember the name of it! But anyways, she's talking about, if you will just get them outside, and read to them, and do intellectual conversations around the dinner table, all this stuff is firing all these different neurons. It's so much better than just like . . .

Nancy: It is now. That's another thing you said. Those “intellectual discussions.” You see, they, I believe they begin to give incentive and develop brain power more than just sitting at a lesson. Intellectual discussions, and spiritual and biblical discussions too, are the most powerful things you can do.

Don't you love them? They're still my favorite thing in life! I mean . . .

Nancy W: Oh, yeah, oh yeah.

Nancy: To sit around the dinner table, and discuss, and debate, and talk is so incredible. And it's how we're meant to learn.

Nancy W: Yes. Oh yeah. Actually, when our first son was in, you call it boot camp, his basic training, they take everything away. But he could write letters home. He wrote and he said that the thing he missed the most was that we would get coffee and sit out on the deck for hours. And he especially, he and his dad, but all of us would talk, and everything. He said he really missed that. That was confirming, or affirming, I guess. That's what we'd been doing.

Nancy: So, next one.

Nancy W: OK, after him comes another boy, and that is, he is 30.

Nancy: You can say the name.

Nancy W: David. OK, the first one is Phillip, and this is David. David is married and has two little girls. He was like the most hyper kid, er, “child” in the world. We took him to Vanderbilt when he was seven. They had all this testing done, all this stuff, you know.

And he never, ever, ever finished one thing, but obviously was pretty brilliant, actually. Then we had testing confirmed that he was pretty brilliant. And God has opened doors for that boy. It's so cool. First he wanted to, of course, to support his family. He got married young. I think he was 22, or something like that. To Penny Raines' daughter, Georgia.

But anyway, God opened doors for him to have a friend teach him how to program computers. And now he works from home, in one of their bedrooms, and programs computers, and does very well.

I know, it's so fun, because I was getting a lot of pressure about, especially the boys going to college. And the older one did because he wanted to be a mechanical engineer, and that was where he knew he had to go through all that.

But David didn't. And he's doing way better than a lot of people with college degrees who are working at, you know . . .

Nancy: Once again, he's doing his bent.

Nancy W: He is. He's so good at it. He's so good. And he's a good daddy too.

And then we started up, oh goodness, are we going to get to have a girl. Because actually Phillip was two when we read The Way Home by Mary Pride.

Nancy: Oh yes!

Nancy W:  And I was instantly convicted, like, “Oh, we're praying for this good blessing of health, and a good job, and the other provisions, and we don't want this blessing of children? I'd gone to Planned Parenthood. We had been married almost seven years before we had our first baby.

Nancy: Wow!

Nancy W: We were poor. My husband was in seminary. And we didn't know. We didn't know the agendas and all the stuff we were missing out on. So anyway, about the time he turned two, it took some, we really eventually had to get on our knees and say, “Here (you can have our fertility),” and that was really pivotal in our whole life. It was so pivotal.

Nancy: Because up to that point you hadn't planned to have any more than two.

Nancy W: We were going to have two, three years apart, like normal people. And I totally get why people do that because it's easier. You save so much money. A lot of things. But a lot of it is, I think, people just don't know. They just don't know.

And women are saved through childbearing. I think that's because God knew, for me, I'm not dumb, and I'm pretty capable. He knew that I would be probably too self-sufficient for my own good. So he made sure, end of the story here, that I would not ever be able to be self-sufficient at all! And I'm not.

Nancy: I wonder if any of you have read Mary Pride's book, The Way Home. And then she wrote another one, All the Way Home. I don't even think it's in print now.

Nancy W: Probably not.

Nancy: You can go to Amazon, or some other place and get it. There's still loads of copies around. It's worth the read.

Nancy W: It is. It really is. I remember one of the things in her book. I read stuff, and then I'd just get the gist remembered, and I'd forget all the details. But I remember, by then, we had friends and cousins who were a little bit older.

So they were having special birthday parties where you had to invite all of your friends and go to these expensive places. I mean, way fancier than a McDonald's birthday party. Laser tag, or jump zone, or whatever.

And she said, because that cost a whole lot of money. And she said, “You know, a Betty Crocker cake mix,” which I wouldn't use anymore. But you get the gist of this here. And some streamers and pin the tail on the donkey just do fine for a party. And the simpler and cheaper, and she just started opening my eyes that they don't have to have everything fancy. Evangeline's like the queen of . . .

Nancy: Oh, yes.

Nancy W: Oh, she is, and creativity, and look at how her children have turned out. So after David, then we had our first girl, because I was kind of scared, “Oh no, we're not going to even get a girl,”  because I really wanted a girl.

Hahahaha, The joke was on me. We have Anna, and Anna is about to turn 30. She has two little girls and is hoping for more. She lives close by and she's taken everything that I started out to introduce her to, all my healthy cooking and handwork. She raised sheep and spun and wove and all of those things.

Nancy: She's just taken you.

Nancy W: She's taken everything that I introduced her to and then really run with it. So I go to her for advice.

Nancy: It's like with my girls. I gave them the love of food, and cooking, and creating, and that realm, but now I go to them for ideas.

Nancy W: I know, I know because they . . .

Nancy: They go on further from you, and that's what it's meant to be, isn't it? Generations going on more and more.

Nancy W: And it's so fun to get together sometimes and make sourdough English muffins, or whatever we do together. And then after Anna came Julie, 21 months later.

Also, with spacing, because of us saying here, “God . . . .” First, we helped a little bit. Phillip and David are two years and nine months to the day apart. And Anna was due exactly two years after David, but she came a few days early. So basically, they're two years apart.

Then came Julie. And they actually are closer, 21 months apart. Julie was drawing pictures from day one, and singing from day one, even though she was a teeny little thing. Now she's a graphic artist and she's putting her way through college. She decided actually to go to college when she was 26, 25 maybe. And she's putting her way through college. She's an opera singer. I mean she has such an amazing voice.

Nancy: Really? I didn't know that!

Nancy W: We just went to her junior recital, and it's like, “She's got a gorgeous voice! It's so cool.” She wore, for her dress she wore, it was the bridesmaid's dress for our wedding which was in 1987. And she's getting all these compliments. She's like, “Oh yeah, it was my aunt's bridesmaid's dress in my mom's wedding!”

So again, that bent thing, the art, and the music for her.

Nancy: Isn't that amazing? She's doing her bent!

Nancy W: And she's putting her way through school as did our oldest son because we never had the money to do it. So she prepaid it a whole lot. And it's hard for her.

And then, so we had two boys, and two girls, the perfect family. You're supposed to stop, right? And then we had our twins. And you remember them, Rachel and Grace. They just turned 25 a couple of months ago. Grace has Down Syndrome, and Rachel doesn't, so I say Grace came with a helper. And she did. She adores Rachel.

And I cried, of course, because my picture of how the ultimate to me is to get married and have babies. And likely, that's probably not in the picture for her in the same way. She's an awesome aunt.

Her sister Rachel, her twin sister, lives with Julie and has a job and is probably getting close to . . . A serious relationship seems to be developing. Which is her goal, she wants to do that. And she plays on the piano.

She bought her brother's little keyboard that he had outgrown for $25. And I was like, “I wonder why.” She was eight. It has the little lights on the keyboard when it played the Charlie Brown song, and she learned it! And then little things were, well, she's so musical, and to have . . . It's amazing, but we couldn't afford to ever do piano lessons.

Again, that's one of the reasons my parents were horrified that we were having so many kids - children! I'm sorry. Because then we couldn't give them all those advantages, you know? Well, again, God opened doors for Rachel. A lot of it is she used her own, “I'm going to learn this and do this,” and gifting.

Nancy: But then they have to do better when they have to do it themselves.

Nancy W: And they do because they really appreciate it, and they want it. So she could play way before she could ever read music. But God opened doors for her to have lessons with the keyboarder for this musician, I think he's probably your age. I think he's still singing, Neil Sedaka, if you ever heard of him.

But he's toured the whole world, and he's real famous. I'm so out of it, I wouldn't know his music if I heard it! But anyway, this guy, he's up in Franklin, and he has been his keyboardist for years and years, and so talented himself, and composes.  

God put them together. We met at a house concert at somebody's house, and now she can transpose, compose, I mean, yeah.

Nancy: That's so incredible!

Nancy W: She just got my mom's grand piano, so it's stuffed into their little teeny apartment, but she was determined to fit it in there when my mom passed away.

Nancy: And so even she is following her bent!

Nancy W: So she's following her bent!

Nancy: I just love this story!

Nancy W: Isn't that so fun? And so then Grace . . .

Nancy: Oh, just a minute. Lovely young mums, if you are listening, to be encouraged. I know that sometimes when you're homeschooling, and oh goodness, you feel like tearing your hair out, and you're wondering if you're making it, and are you really getting through? And are you getting any knowledge through? What's going to happen to these children?

Well, be encouraged. Those of us here, we've been there, but now we're looking back. And you look back and you see how God was in it. We just have to be faithful. I think faithful to teach the basics. Faithful to teach them of God's ways and His Word and pray for them. And give them opportunities and pray that God will take them into their destiny. And He will. He's faithful.

He created them for this specific purpose. He created them with a bent, and if we are in prayer and faithful, God will, He will take our children into their bent, and it's so exciting. I mean, look, you're telling this glorious testimony, and I look at my children, and I could not have ever dreamed in a million years of the things that they are doing today.

I mean, some of my children are doing things that are so out there, and so beyond. I mean, my brain couldn't have thought them up. But you see, God was watching over them and God was taking them into their bent, just as he did for your children. So be encouraged, young mums! It's so exciting!

Nancy W: Our house is a wreck. Our house is always a wreck because I'm super creative and always have projects going. And then I had all of them doing creative stuff too. We made baskets. I would read aloud. We'd do historical fiction for our history and I would read and read and read, all afternoon.

The girls would either be knitting, crocheting, or making baskets. Well, baskets are messy, and the reeds go spring! And they go flying across the room. And we had strung all over the room all these dyed reeds and everything. And then of course, all the wool.

And we had to run out because some sheep or goat had gotten out of the fence when we did all of our homesteading stuff. Anyway, I thought at our house, I just couldn't stay on top of it. And we couldn't do all the good school curriculum that I had bought. I gave away thousands of dollars’ worth of it.

It was all good, it was just too much. And yet, here's the end of “I feel like a failure.”

Nancy: You could have, “OK, we've got to get through this curriculum. And you've got to do every lesson. And maybe they wouldn't be doing their bent today. See, this is the thing. Those curriculums are great and wonderful, and the people who have put them together, that was perfect for their family. And then they've made it available to you, and often it's a great start.

But we don't have to be, “OK, we've got to do it exactly like this.” It can get us going, get us started, but we've always got to be open to the bent, to the destiny, to what God has created our child to do. And often, it's different  to anything we had ever done, but it's exciting, isn't it?

Nancy W: Oh, full of adventures! Full of adventures. Yes. And Greg and I so often will sit there because we've never, we've always struggled money-wise. But part of the reason is we're feeding a lot of people! But we feel so rich. We always, every time we're all together, we're going get together with everybody tomorrow. Is tomorrow . . . No, on Saturday.

Every time we get back in bed at night, we're like, “We're so rich, we're so rich.” We can take our children to Heaven with us. And all this other stuff that we work for, or try to clean or organize, or we're gorgeous and nice, and it makes life nice, but it's not worth giving up having the good family life.

Nancy: The richness. It is, I think family life are the riches of this world. And we are going to take them into glory with us as you said. I was thinking, the other day, when we see Him, we are going to be like Him, the Bible says.

And if we're going to be like Him, I mean, we know that we're going to know one another in heaven. But if we're going to be like Him, Who knows all things, I think we'll even know people, even who we haven't met. We will know them, and oh, we'll have fellowship with them. Do you know, fellowship, and fellowship begins in the family, doesn't it?

I think this is very important. You can grow up in a family where they don't really talk, and fellowship, and discuss, and debate. I mean, and you're missing out. But fellowship begins in the home, but it reaches out into the church. Fellowship, I mean the Bible talks so much about having fellowship with one another.

Fellowship is very close to the heart of God. It's in the heart of God. In the triune God there is fellowship. It begins in God. Everything that we have on earth begins with God. It begins with the heavenly. As in Heaven so on earth, the Bible says (Luke 11:2). And so, I believe the heavenly things of earth we'll take into Heaven.

I think of it in the way God orchestrated everything. He started with marriage and family. And then His chosen race, the Israeli people. And how, back in the Bible days, there in the wilderness, they were all in specific places. They just didn't live wherever they wanted. There was the family, and then the extended family, and that tribe. Each tribe was in a certain place and had their own flag.

I think that in Heaven, we're still going to be in families, in extended familes. God's not going to rip us away from family, that was so precious on earth, because it's so precious to Him. And I believe we'll take that into eternity. Yes!

Nancy W: Yes, that's exciting. It's all so comforting, that with everything being all uncertain, kind of creepy. You know, you can get really creeped out. But to know that in the blink of an eye, and this is all like our training ground anyway, for what's going to be forever.

Nancy: It is.

Nancy W: It's comforting, that's for sure.

Nancy: Anyway, this is so fun. I'm just, you're introducing your family, and it's, wow! It's just about taking a session! But it's so good! Keep going!

Nancy W: OK. So let's see, so Grace with Down Syndrome, April's twin, I call her my right-hand woman. She is truly my right-hand woman and she's my friend. And we do everything together.

Nancy: Isn't that beautiful?

Nancy W: I taught Grace; you know those little spool knitters? They've got four or five things in this little spool thingie that comes out . . . I'm talking with my hands, even though it doesn't show up on here.

Then we moved into a Knifty Knitter, which is a little bit bigger. And they've got all these different  looms, and they sell them at crafts stores. And she learned how to make one style of scarf when she was about 12, I guess. She made bunches of them, and then people would give her yarn.

So she made a bunch, and then it kinda, I thought, well, so I started advertising them. I'd take pictures of Grace with all of her scarves, and I would advertise them. Back then I was on Facebook. I've gotten off since then. But that was one way.

We would also have the little booth at the Down Syndrome Association's fundraiser thing. And so Grace has just, she says that's her business. And Greg made her a little business card. She makes scarves! And they're gorgeous! They really are!

Nancy: And she still sells them?

Nancy W: She's still making scarves. Yeah. But sometimes, if I can get my act together, see I have all these ideas, but real life is like, there's not much time. I still think it would be so cool to help her to have some sort of an organic bath and body products little business, because her stuff comes with a story. I also, this goes into the health side just a little bit...

Nancy: Let us just introduce this, as we're going through this time . . .

Nancy: You have always been interested, well you've got more interested and interested in health. And then recently you have studied to become, say the exact words . . .

Nancy W: I know, it's a mouthful. I just actually, tomorrow is the graduation ceremony, online of course. And it is to be a “Licensed Functional Nutrition Practitioner.” And it's through the Functional Nutrition Alliance.

Nancy: Congratulations!

Nancy W: Thank you! It's really cool. My bent, if you want to jump off kids, er, children for a minute, is in high school, we had Miss Brandon. She had the jars of the rice and the beans and stuff, like you, that impressed me early on. I was really drawn to that.

Mama’s cooking--it was tasty, but it was Betty Crocker. It was that generation. And she introduced me, Mrs. Brewer, she introduced me to Prevention Magazine, which . . .

Nancy: Yes, I remember that magazine.

Nancy W: Back then, that was probably the only health magazine. Now I've looked at one recently in a doctor's office, and I was like, “I don't think so.” 

Nancy: It's gone beyond that.

Nancy W: Oh, goodness yes But at the time, I remember Daddy took me to a health foods store. Again, that was nice of him to encourage my interest. I walked in, and, of course, I was totally overwhelmed. I was probably 15, or something like that.

Nancy: You know, just popping in there, doesn't it show you your bent is there, when you're young? You know, Serene, right from a little child, she was on health. I mean it was just there. And do you know her favorite thing in the whole of the world would be to go to a health shop? She would say, “Mum, just drop me off at the health shop.”

And she would sit there and she would just read books. And read them. She has never, ever in her life, not because I said, “You must not eat that,” she's never put into her mouth, in her whole life, how old is she now, 44?, one bad thing, one grain of sugar. She just couldn't! It was just who she was!

Nancy W: She knew, she knew. She knew earlier than I knew, how horrible it is for you. Yeah. My friends were reading Glamor and Teen magazine in high school, and I was reading health magazines!

Nancy: Yes! Yes!

Nancy W: And it continued. But I didn't have that background that Serene did, so I've eaten nearly every piece of junk they sold in the store. (laughter) But now, even though I've been eating better and better and better for the last 30 something years, those early indiscretions, or whatever you want to say, it was ignorance, still haunt me in things that I still struggle with in the physical side. So it matters. It matters what we feed to our children!

Nancy: It does. Yes, yes.

Nancy W: Even on the hard days, at least make scrambled eggs instead of high-fructose corn syrup peanut butter and jelly!

Nancy: Those cardboard box cereals, I mean that is really, perhaps the most common breakfast recipe for most families across the USA. Just get out the cereal package. And look at it. You can't even believe it.

Nancy W: Extruded grains are so horrible.

Nancy: It's not even, it doesn't even look like the original!

Nancy W: Even the Kashi brand, the health food brand, even they have extruded, not properly processed grains.

Nancy: It's not. And I always say to people, “You might as well eat the cardboard!” I mean, really! You're going to get as much out of the cardboard.

Nancy W: They put so much sugar on a lot of it that makes it palatable.

Nancy: I just delight in making an original raw, not raw, because I will cook it, but an original breakfast.

Nancy W: Yes, from scratch, from scratch.

Nancy: Oh, so wonderful! Beautiful steel-cut oats, whatever. It's so good.

Nancy W: I know. I just have that domestic little thing. Like sometimes if I can, I've canned a bunch of meat, because we didn't have room in our freezer. Plus our freezers have let us down so many times.

Nancy: I know, that's terrible, isn't it?

Nancy W: Ohhhh! And then when it pings, if anyone's listening who cans, will understand that ping, that means it's sealed right.

Nancy: I love it.

Nancy W: And then, and usually I'm exhausted, I look at all those jars, those gorgeous jars that I have on the counter still. And it's just the most satisfying feeling. Or you make a beautiful meal, or whatever. It's so, it’s a domestic thing, I guess, and I love it!

OK, so let's see, Grace, oh yeah. This is why we got off onto health. I heard that people with Down Syndrome, if you can help them to eat healthy and stay trim before adolescence, and let them go into adolescence being that way, that they've got a great chance to continue that way. Because before Down, a lot of time, since they put on . . . they have thyroid issues.

But a lot of it, I think a lot of times, parents’ kind of feel sorry for them a little bit, maybe, and let them indulge in stuff that's really awful for them. A lot of them, they do have a health disadvantage. But they are little sinners, just like the rest of us. So they need to be trained and treated just like . . .

But here's the other thing. I had all these therapies. The therapy people came to our house. So we have six children nine and under with Down Syndrome.

Nancy: You mean, you didn't have six, you had one with Down Syndrome.

Nancy W: Right. And then the twins. So we had four therapists a week come to the house. I was so mortified, because, our house looked, of course, I was like, it was good to get anything out. We ate cereal then, and I got stressed all the time, and I wound up depressed.

My hormones got all messed up, so they put me on antidepressants. It was nutritional, and situational. It was very exhausting. But I think if I'd had the nutrition, it would have supported. Anyway, we did get her through there.

Nancy: Did you find all those therapies helped?

Nancy W: No. So they would come. I'm glad you asked. They would come, and they would say, “Oh, you've done such a great job!” No, I didn't do anything that they told me, because I just couldn't practice. But the brothers and the sisters would put her in a blanket, and roll her around, and stuff things in her face.

I tell all the people who now I talk to who have a child with Down, especially new mommies who were feeling all worried like I was. The best gift that you can give to your child with Down is siblings, and letting them play rough with them, and all of that kind of stuff, because it's so stimulating to them.

Nancy: It's therapy!

Nancy W: Muscle strengthening. So that ended up being the best therapy of all! Anyway, I know we need to move on. So from her, then we had Lily. And Lily was born with dislocated hips, so her first year she spent in a cast with her legs spread apart like a frog. It was horrible.

Then she had heart issues and had to have surgery when she was seven. She does not have Down Syndrome, but she is on the autism spectrum. And she's definitely been, and still is, our most challenging child.

Underneath the hard behavior is this super-sweet, very gifted. She started writing poetry. She can draw. But she's why God knew I needed icing on the cake to stay on my knees. I will say that, yeah. And we are still praying to know how it's all going to come. Because we are getting older, and she and Grace will probably live with us. Just a continued prayer, to know.

The Bible says He'll give us wisdom, and so far, it seems like it's working out. So as we, He will, and towards that. So that's where we're at with Lily.

And then our last one, I was 42. I remember, I was pretty pregnant, and we came to an Above Rubies retreat when I was pregnant. At that point, oh, well I was. And then we went to another one after he was born.

When I was going to have him at home, I had gotten off on the whole all-raw jag, and thought I was feeding my baby well. While he was growing, I was eating a sweet potato and salad, and I wasn't getting the protein and the healthy fats that I needed. Meanwhile, I was the one who did the sugar. I had never kicked that. I know, it's really terrible. It's sad, actually.

And also, our very first child was a c-section. All the others had been v-bacs, including the twins, and even the second twin came out breech, by the way.

Nancy: When I had my twins, the second was breech. There's usually one breech. (Actually, the first twin was breech, just remembered)!

Nancy W: Well, that's kind of nice, because the first one can pave the way. I hate it when people have children, twins, and the first one comes out, and then after, the c-section. So it's sad. But, oh gosh, where was I?

Nancy: You were just telling me about number eight.

Nancy W: Yes. We're doing a home birth, and we had, of course . . .  Number four was our first home birth. And then the twins were number five and six. But we thought they were just number five, until three weeks before they were born, full-term. So we quickly switched and went to the midwife's back-up doctor.

Then number seven was a home birth, and then number eight was to be a home birth. And I had gotten to ten and pushed for two hours. The others, by then, they were just popping out. It was like God told me; it feels like I heard a voice. I don't think probably I really did, but I was just at such total peace. because I'd vowed I'd never get another c-section. And he said, “You need to go to the hospital.”

After like two hours here. Later Greg and the midwife came over. They pretty much confirmed we need to go. Of course, it's the middle of the night. We live 30 minutes from the little dinky town, and so we obliterate a possum as I'm panting, trying not to . . . Because I'd already been at ten and pushing for two hours.

We get to the hospital. Of course, in the nighttime, the only OB had gone home for the night. We had to wake him up. The nurses were like, “You can push this baby out!” The midwife went, “No, something's not right. I've delivered a bunch of her babies now.”

Long story short, my uterus ruptured. It would have happened had I been at a hospital too. It's just this awful thing and I didn't know. I thought I was just going to get a c-section when they clamped that oxygen over my mouth finally after the doctor got there.

When I woke up, there's a nurse in my face. “Don't you ever get pregnant again!” And they had been able to stop the bleeding without taking my uterus. Sometimes they have to do that in that situation. But it totally wiped me down for a year. I was so anemic.

It was a boy, Andrew, which God knew we were going to need a boy on the end for his muscles. It's so awesome. And he helps us chop wood and do all these cool things.

Nancy: And what's he doing today?

Nancy W: He works at Chick-Fil-A, and everybody loves him. He's just super friendly, and everybody loves him. So that's what he's doing at the moment. He's nineteen, and he had a little oxygen deprivation, so he has a lot of learning challenges. We're getting there with him. I think he's going to be really good, as long as solid people mentor him. He's a good kid.

Nancy: Wow! Well, we have come to the end of this session, and we've just introduced your family! But I believe just God was directing us. It was just beautiful how we could see how God has . . . your children have gone in the bent that God has for them.

You mentioned as we went along, that you've had very, very challenging times. It hasn't always been easy. But as you look back now, what would you say, Nancy?

Nancy W: Oh, we'd do it all over again! We would. We would. Yes.

Nancy: Every one of those children are your riches, aren't they?

Nancy W: For sure. We really do. We feel rich.

Nancy: Yes. Amen! Well, we're going to have to do another session together and get onto some other things that we want to talk about now that they all know about your family. So we'll close this session, ladies, and we're going to do another session with Nancy.

“Father, we thank You that You are a family God. You are the One Who designed family. We thank You that Your hand is upon each one of our children. Lord God, we thank You that we can put them into Your care, and Lord, know that You love them, even more than we love them.

“And we thank You. Father. We pray for every mother listening today. Older mothers, middling mothers, and young mothers. Encourage them, Father. Oh God, just fill them with Your joy. Let them, Oh God, receive that joy of knowing they're in Your perfect will. And Lord, that they are preparing children for the destiny that You planned for them and preparing them for eternity.

“We thank You, Father, that You have written a book about each one of our children, even before they were born. So we just praise You today, and thank You Lord, that we can talk about family together. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Nancy W: Amen.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 150 –  THE CHALLENGES OF WELCOMING CHILDREN

Sonia Ramsay from Oregon joins me today. You will be blessed as you listen to her story. Sonia began her  married life with the vision to welcome children, but it wasn't all plain sailing. She was challenged by infertility, miscarriages, a difficult adoption, and then conceiving a Down's Syndrome baby. If you have faced any of these issues, you will want to tune in. 

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Well, hello again, ladies! Now today I have with me Sonia Ramsay, all the way from Oregon. Now Sonia, she has been organizing Above Rubies retreats for ladies, and then family camps for quite a number of years now, up there in Oregon. So I got to know Sonia over the years. And it's such a joy to now actually have her right here in my home!

And even better than that, we have just had her beautiful daughter, Ellie, with us for three months as an Above Rubies girl. She has been such an amazing blessing. It's just been a joy to have her here.

Colin and I are so blessed, having these Above Rubies girls come into our home. They always come from the most beautiful families, and Colin and I say we have the cream of the earth coming into our home. We're so blessed. And they help me in the ministry of Above Rubies during the week. Then the weekend, they have time to have fun, go out with all the young people on the Hilltop, well, they do through the week as well. But it's a great time.

Well, now, Sonia is here to rescue Ellie (laughter) and take her back home again. I think that they are pretty desperate to get her back after being away for three months. I don't think she planned to stay for three months.

Sonia: No, she planned to be gone for two months! She had a lot of fun though and it worked out.

Nancy: Yes, it's been great. Well anyway, Sonia actually came about four or five weeks ago because they are deciding to look at some property down here in Tennessee. And when she came, we did a podcast together, but you never ever heard it because it disappeared into cyberspace! We don't know where it went! I've had that happen a few times.

So amazingly, Sonia is here again, so praise the Lord, because living up in Oregon it could have been OK, that's it, we'll never get a chance to do it!  But here she is this morning, so it's worked out so wonderfully.

Now in the new magazine, Above Rubies, # 98, it's rolling off the presses now. You should be getting it very, very soon. I told you were getting it earlier. But I got it all together, and then I still had to wait for my turn on the presses. It's printed on the great big web presses and sometimes we have to wait our turn to get on. But anyway, it's just about finished printing now, and you can be looking forward to seeing it.

And in this new Above Rubies Sonia has written her testimony. It is called, what did we call it? “Am I A Child Welcomer?” That was huge question, because Sonia went into marriage with a longing for children, and just longing to welcome children into her home. But it didn't actually happen straightaway, did it?

Sonia: No.

Nancy: Wow. That can be pretty hard when you're just wanting to have children. I know some of our lovely young couples on the Hilltop that got married, and they've been hoping for honeymoon babies! Because they all want children! And some have had honeymoon babies. And others have to wait. You just never know. You can't plan it. It's God Who is in control, isn't He?

So what happened, Sonia, when you first got married? How did you feel with no babies coming on?

Sonia: Yes, it was so sad! We were ready and we were praying, “Lord, we'd love to have some children,” and then waiting and waiting. A few years went by. We were seeing doctors, and they said, “Well, we don't know what's wrong. We don't know why.” They said, “Well, you can do whatever you want to do. We'll write a prescription. You just tell us what you want.”

We said, “Well, we don't know. We'll just pray, for now.” They said, “OK, well, call us when you're ready. So we prayed, and we had friends praying. So we actually decided to go to an adoption seminar. We snuck away because it was nothing we were familiar with.

We heard how adoption is a picture of the Gospel and how we're adopted as God's children, and so when we adopt it's very much part of God's plan to show the world the picture of the real Gospel. And we got excited, and I thought, “Oh, we're going to be parents! It's going to be great! We can do this!”

And so, shortly thereafter, we became pregnant, and we were convinced though, that the Lord wanted us to move in the direction of adoption before He was going to give us a biological child. So we knew already, OK, even though He's given us a biological child, we were supposed to adopt. We know that now.

Nancy: Yes.

Sonia: So we went ahead and did that after our oldest was two.

Nancy: Yes, that's wonderful! So you went from this heartache of infertility, then the blessing of a baby. That was so wonderful! You know, I've had testimonies of some couples who have waited and waited and longed and longed. And after ten years, got a baby! You never give up! You never give up, because God can always come with a surprise!

Sonia: That's right!

Nancy: Yes, yes. And so you know, you started out thinking, “Oh, will we ever have babies?” but today, you are blessed with nine children!

Sonia: We  have nine!

Nancy: Isn't that just so amazing?

Sonia:  It is amazing!

Nancy: Oh, God is just so good! But if, you know, you had lots of challenges along the way, yes. So you adopted. First of all, you adopted two.

Sonia: One to start with. She's from Vietnam.

Nancy: Vietnam?

Sonia: Yep, then the next one we adopted from Ethiopia. And then after that China.

Nancy: Yes. What happened then?

Sonia: The first two girls were babies when we brought them home. And there were some challenges, so we worked through those. Our little guy from China came home at two-and-a-half, and he had some special needs we didn't know about. So when he came home, he was just very terrified. He had a lot of institutionalized behavior and it made it just very disruptive in our house.

There was really a lot of screaming. We couldn't go anywhere. If we walked into the church foyer, he was overstimulated and would just go off like a siren. We couldn't stop him. He would not settle down, no matter how long we would sit. I would have to run to the car and sit down.

So that went on for a year. I would get screamed out of Costco and everywhere.

Nancy: You couldn't go anywhere else.

Sonia:  No. And I kept trying. I would go on a field trip and I'd have to leave. I'd go to Costco, and I'd have to leave. I was like, everywhere I went for the first year, I'd have to turn around and go back home. It was very . . . we went through a lot of depressing times. There was just no peace in our home, with any of us, because he was just always having trouble.

Now I look back on it, and I see that he was afraid, and was having a hard time. He didn't have any coping skills, and he just needed to learn those things. He didn't know if he could trust us. You know, it's that kind of stuff, but living through it is very difficult.

Nancy: I think some of you who have adopted children, you've faced some of the situations like this. It can be very challenging. So here you were, Sonia, this wonderful, child-welcoming mother, how did you feel when you were going through this?

Sonia: So at that point, from the miraculous bringing home, having our first child, and then having everything worked out for adoption, we waited another two years, and had another. We had infertility more than once. So every time we've had a child, we've brought home, we've been so thankful and so excited, and so amazing.

And then he comes home, our little guy from China, and I came home and told my husband, “No more children! I do not want any more children!” And I had never said that. I never even thought that. I just said, “The more the merrier.”

Nancy: And now this was happening.

Sonia: So we knew there was something wrong. I had had it! My attitude was so bad. It took about a week, I think, maybe a week or two. And I was able to see that, OK, I am not acting in God's will here, and my own frustration is causing my judgment. I repented of that, and I came back to my husband and said, “OK, I'm back. I will accept whatever God wants. But I'm still having a hard time here.”

And he was too. The whole family was. It was a difficult time. It was about two years of very dark times for us to work through.

Nancy: And how is he now?

Sonia: Oh, he's great. He's great. He was non-verbal when he first came home for the first year or two. And then he started talking. And now he's doesn't stop! Ever. We say, “OK, you can take a break now!” (laughter)

But no, he's happy to be here. He just loves life. He likes to eat. He likes to dance. He likes to pester people. So daily, I still have challenges with him. He'll still have fits, but they will settle down. He responds well to my husband, so sometimes I have to call him at work and say, “Will you talk to him over the phone?” And he'll settle. But it's not anything like it was.

It's still challenging. We have frustrations. We're still limited to what we can do. I choose not to go on field trips anymore. It just is too hard. But he just turned ten. And he's doing so much better.

Nancy: Oh, that's so wonderful! Well, Sonia has, did we tell you, her children Ellie, well, this is Ellie who was with us. She is 17, and such a beautiful girl. And they have Shailee.

Sonia:  Shailee.

Nancy: Shailee, you say. She's from . . .

Sonia:  She's from Vietnam.

Nancy: Vietnam. And then Asher is . .  .

Sonia: Twelve. I had him.

Nancy: Yes, biological. And Atlee.

Sonia:  Atlee is from Ethiopia.

Nancy: Ethiopia. Ezekiel . . .

Sonia:  I had him.

Nancy: Ezekiel, yes. Nehemiah . . .

Sonia: Nehemiah is from China.

Nancy: I know. And then you had Shepherd.

Sonia:  Yes.

Nancy: And then you had Elisha.

Sonia: Yes.

Nancy: And then you had infertility again.

Sonia:  Well, we had . . . there's a five-year gap between Shepherd and Elisha. We had many miscarriages. And then a time of no pregnancies at all for about two years.

Nancy: Wow! That's amazing.

Sonia:  It was!

Nancy: Yes! Oh, how did you feel during that time, having miscarriages?

Sonia: The miscarriages were very hard. I had a hemorrhage that I lost half my blood supply, thought I was going to die. So it was just, I was very sick at the time. Also, outside of just the miscarriages, it was a hard time.

And then I wasn't getting pregnant anymore, and I thought, “Well, OK, I guess we're done. Sounds like God has closed that time in our lives, and we're just going to be thankful for what we have.” And I still wanted more, but I just figured we were done.

And I thought, “Well, I can go on a mission trip now because I'm not pregnant or nursing, and I'm going to do these things that I've been putting off a little bit.” And then I found out I was pregnant with Elisha. And I went, “Oh, OK, I guess I'm not going on a mission trip!”

Nancy: Oh wow!

Sonia: Yes, he was a surprise. And I was so excited! I felt like wearing him in my carrier and walking across the street in the parking lot. I felt like I had a trophy in my arms, that God had just given me this reward. Not even of my own, obviously not my own decision. Such a blessing!

Nancy: Yes! How wonderful!

Sonia: It was so funny, I was looking at all the other people and I thought, do they see him? Do they see what God has done?

Nancy: How wonderful!

Sonia: Yes, it was exciting.

Nancy: And then time went on, and you had another surprise.

Sonia: And then another one! Yes! Shocking. We thought maybe Elisha was our last little bonus, but no, Noah came along.

Nancy: And you were so excited!

Sonia: Yes, very excited, but I had just miscarried, right before him. And so, he came along, and in my house, I've had enough miscarriages that we don't talk about when the baby comes. We say if the baby comes. And the children know that. If we get to keep this one, we'll be so excited. And we celebrate every day of a pregnancy because you never know how long it will last. 

So yes, we just kept going, and everything was going well. And I felt so good, so good in fact, that I didn't have any symptoms. I was a little nervous to see that strong heartbeat, to see he was in there.

Nancy: And you were in your forties now?

Sonia:  Yes, I was 42 at the time.

Nancy: And yes, being blessed with another baby. You know, I think out there in the secular world, so many women don't understand that to have a baby in your forties is very normal. I mean, it's not normal in our society, but it's normal in God's economy. When you think of how God created that . . .

Isn't it amazing how we seem to forget how God created us? Because he created women to go through menopause around about the age of 50. Some will go through earlier, and just a very special one, maybe a little later. But He didn't plan for us to go through menopause, say at 35, or something like that.

Which means we are still in our childbearing years until we reach menopause. That's how God created us. And so therefore, it is normal to become pregnant, if the Lord should choose, even in your forties. And you were saying how you were feeling so good, and I have found so many women testify to this.

Often at an Above Rubies retreat, that question will come up. You know, “What about having babies in your forties?” And so I will say, “Well, who . . . ? Who had a baby in their forties here?” And so many hands will go up. And I say, “OK, let's hear your testimonies.”

So many will say, “It was” (or were, depending on if it was one, or even two, maybe three, in their forties), “my best birth, and my best pregnancy.” It seems as though God puts a special blessing and anointing on those who are in their forties. Because they're always saying, “It was my best pregnancy! My best birth!” You know?

Sonia:  I think that's so great! And people will say to me,  “I can't have any more children. It was so hard. My last one, when I was 30, or 32. And if I'm so much older, it will be that much harder.” I always tell them, “That's not my experience. I had some harder ones, and this one was not bad.”

Nancy: Yes. Yes. You had a beautiful birth with Noah, didn't you?

Sonia:  Yes, it was miraculous! Nothing short of miraculous.

Nancy: Yes, anyway, tell us all about the story of Noah.

Sonia: OK, at my 20-week ultrasound, we went in, and had no idea that anything might be different. And we found out that we were having another boy. He's our sixth boy. So we were so excited about that. We move on. It was on my birthday I went in, and I can tell the children on my birthday, that “Oh, we're having a brother!”

So I got a call about a week later, and they said, well, he has a soft marker, not a hard marker, but a soft one. They couldn't find his nasal bone, and “That could be a marker for some genetic abnormality, so you should probably do genetic testing.” Well, I was planning a homebirth, and my midwife agreed we should know what we're working with, so go ahead and do the testing.

Well, I blew it off, and said, “Oh, I'm sure it's nothing.” And about a month later, she called and said, “Well, did you get it done?” And I said,” No, I'm too busy. OK, I'll go in.” So I went, did the testing, and the doctor called me back and said, “You've tested positive for trisomy 21, which is Down's Syndrome.”

I will never forget that phone call. I just went, “Wow. OK. How about that?” Never crossed my mind that that was even a possibility. So it took a while for that to kind of sink in. Now our little Nehemiah from China has special needs, so it wasn't just him coming home and having a hard time. He also has some significant delays in his development, so we know that he'll be with us for the rest of his life.

So when I heard that Noah also was likely going to be with us, that was hard for us. That was really hard. I cried, a lot. And I went and actually called my husband at work. I shouldn't probably have done that to him, right in the middle of his workday. But I had told him, and he said, “Well, how am I supposed to work now?”

I said, “I don't know.” I said, “Why don't I come and have lunch with you?” He said, “OK.” So I took off driving to meet him at a restaurant. And on the way, I'm crying, and crying to God, and just saying, “I need You to speak truth here to me, because this does not look like a blessing. Help me. I need to hear Your voice right now.” And a song came on the radio. Now I can't think of the name of it, but I think I put it in the article.

Nancy: Yes, you did! I think this thing, because I have this here, actually. And...anyway, we'll repeat it.

Sonia: OK. So the song came on that basically talks about there's  . . .  “Reckless Love,” yes, by Cory Asbury. So he talks about, “There's no wall You won't kick down, no lie You won't tear down,” and I thought, “OK, thank You, Lord. You won't leave me in lies. You're going to show me the truth here.” So I felt like He had given me that back, and just right away, He gave me Noah, the story of Noah. And Noah, let me backtrack.

Part of my fit-throwing to God was that we tend to be kind of private. And I don't mind dealing with things in our home, but I don't want everybody to know. I don't share medical things with just everybody that sees us. I thought, Down's Syndrome is so public! Everyone who ever sees him will know exactly what is going on.

And I felt like that was going to be an invasion of our privacy, to not be able to just say, you know, “It's our thing.” And so it's like, Lord, everybody's going to see, and then they'll make judgments. I felt like people will just immediately see him and judge him and us.

The story of Noah is that God gives Noah a very public ministry. “Make this enormous ark for everyone to see.” It's going to be a ministry for his entire family. They all need to work together to accomplish this purpose. Everyone who ever walks by will know what they're doing if they accept the mission He gave them.

They could have walked away and said, “We don't want to look different. We don't want people to know that You've given us such a huge task. They'll think we're crazy.” But they said, “OK.” It just says, “And Noah did as God said.” It doesn't take to throw a fit. (laughter)

Maybe he did, but they didn't record it! He didn't throw a fit! So this family was going to work on this ministry for a very long time, like a hundred years. They were going to do it, and they would be mocked. They never converted anyone to realizing this was God's plan for them. So they were considered, most likely, fools to be doing this.

I thought, “OK, Lord, if that's what You want, if my family is to build an ark, a public ark, OK, what can we say? We must say 'Yes.'”

Nancy: Yes.

Sonia:  And then, immediately, oh, part of that was also that, everyone who saw it, would know that they were doing the Lord's will, because He would say God told us to do this. But anybody who did not accept this as God's plan, and the revelation of His truth, were going to die. Basically, this was the symbol of something that God was giving them. So I was thinking, “OK, we're going to do this, and we're going to say, “We do love life, and we are going to take this ministry on, even though the doctors are saying I should discontinue my pregnancy.”

Nancy: Yes, you always get faced with that.

Sonia: Yes, every single doctor I spoke with said if you can feel . . .

Nancy: Isn't that so sad?

Sonia: I can't even understand that.

Nancy: Yes, especially when you look at Noah today, how can you believe that they could even say it?

Sonia: It's just terrible. It's terrible, what they do. And so they scare these poor women into aborting their babies.

So I also thought immediately, right after that, John the Baptist comes to mind. And he stood outside of the cities, and he dressed differently, and he spoke differently, and he even ate differently. But he was out there, speaking the truth of life for anyone who would hear it. And so it was very . . . This baby doesn't need to look like everybody else to be speaking the Word of God.

Nancy: Yes, that's right.

Sonia: So those two came to my mind. I shared them with my husband. We sat quietly, just kind of stared off in the restaurant, like, “Wow, this is going to be big!” And I would love to say that at that point we were, “Oh, we're just going to embrace what God gave us!”

But we didn't. We stayed in our feeling-sorry-for-ourselves and foot-stomping. One moment I'd be OK. The next moment I'd be crying and saying, “I don't want to do this! It's going to be hard, and I don't want hard! I've had enough hard!” And then I'd feel OK. Now I'm up, now I'm down, I'm up. It was just . . . I was a mess for several months.

And I had friends that I would, I shared with a few people, and they would keep saying, “Oh, you're so blessed,” and I said, “I don't feel blessed!” But you are, and you will see. So we just kept moving forward in faith.

And a lesson that I did learn through adoption, when you are looking at, any of you who are mulling with adoption know that during the process they ask you, “What disabilities will you accept in the child?” You actually have to go through them, like check boxes, which seems so terrible.  Like, “Well don't ask me. Just give me a child!”

And so we wrestled out some of those things, and ultimately it came down to I feel like God asked me, “Maybe you wouldn't have decided to create this child with these needs, and then have them in an orphanage. That wouldn't be My idea. That sounds like a bad idea to me.”

But God already chose that for that child, so the question now is not, ”Do you think this is a good idea?” But “Are you willing to walk with that child through life and help them?” So we had to say, “Are we or not? Yes, we are.” So we accepted some needs.

So again, that came back to me. You may not have thought it was a good idea to make a baby that has Down's Syndrome, but God did, and He decided that was going to be what Noah was going to walk. “Are you willing to walk it with him?” I had to say, “I guess we are. You gave him to us. I guess we are.”

So yeah, and then we, I needed something. I felt more detached from him, because of this. And so I asked God for something, something that would help me bond with him. And I went to an ultrasound and in the ultrasound, we saw him really clearly just yawn. And it was the sweetest, little yawn. And I just went, “Oh, thank You! That's what I needed! Thank You!”

He just seemed like a baby again to me, not a problem. Like, oh, you know. So from that point forward, I was able to start feeling like “OK, we can do this. We can do it.”

But my last two deliveries were very difficult, and I always have very long, drawn-out 36-hour type deliveries. My last two were particularly difficult. And I was filled with fear over my last one, kind of a trauma from the one before.

I felt a peace, from the very beginning, that this pregnancy was going to go fine. It was a supernatural peace, because I'm more of a worrier by nature. So I kept asking God, “Please give me a manageable delivery, just a manageable one. And sure, I know I feel selfish, but can I have a short one?” And I just had peace. OK, this is, “I feel like You can give me that.”

So labor starts, and I'm settling in for a few days’ worth of this. I didn't call anybody. I just, my husband got ready for work. He said, “Should I go to work? Are we in for the day-long delivery? And I said, “I don't know. Maybe you should hang out, and we'll see.”

So I text my midwife, and I said, “You know what, these contractions are pretty tight and close together. But I'm fine, I'm managing.” And she said, “Well, why don't you get in the bath? See if you regulate into a rhythm.” OK, so I jumped into the bath and fall asleep for about 45 minutes.

Nancy: Oh, how beautiful!

Sonia: Yes, it was nice. My husband's out playing a word game on his phone or something. And I come out and start feeling like, “Oh, it'll be nice when I push a little.” And I was like, “Oh, wait a minute. Now I can't be ready to push. I haven't had enough torture. (laughter) This can't be right!”

And so I told my husband, “Maybe we should call,” and he said, “I don't want to deliver the baby!”

And I said “Well, you might have to.” So he called, and she said, “I'm on my way! Get in the position where you don't feel that” because I have weird labors where I can stall. So I did, OK, we'll wait it out. They came running over to my house. The team comes in, and he was born within about five minutes.

Nancy: How amazing!

Sonia:  I kept saying, “I can't believe I had a baby! I feel great!” It was only like five hours or so. Oh, unbelievable! It was a miracle.

Nancy: Oh, yes!

Sonia: And as soon as he came out, we looked at him, just to check him out. “Well, is it really Down's Syndrome or not?” And we saw little markers on him, and said, “Yes, he sure does.” And he was just the sweetest little guy. WE WERE IN LOVE.

Nancy: Oh yes, and so you know now, wow, just tell us how, what a blessing he is.

Sonia: Oh, as soon as he was born, within about an hour, I'm lying there in my bed, just happy as a clam, looking at the baby. And it hit me! That the entire pregnancy I had been thinking, “This is going to be so hard for us. We're going to have him with us forever. We have these two boys, and it's just going to be not what we had envisioned years ago. And how difficult for us.”

And then I thought, “How selfish have we been! We were only thinking of ourselves. And now that he's here, all I can think of is, “How is this going to affect his life? What's it going to be like for him? How can we help him become everything that God wants him to be?” And our focus completely shifted to him. And I love that He gave me that, because I felt like I hadn't even really seen how self-centered I had been.

And he has been nothing but JOY in our family. All the children want to hold him. He smiles, he coos, he loves everybody. And he's just a very content happy baby, and I thank God every day that He didn't listen to me in my fit that He knew what I needed. He knew what was going to be a blessing, and that His Word really is true, that children are a blessing. So it was just, it's been, he's been an amazing testimony. I love sharing it with anybody who will listen.

Nancy: So wonderful! Thank you for sharing, Sonia, and you will be able to read Sonia's testimony again when you get the magazine! You will just love it, and I think it just means so much more when you actually hear from someone personally. You'll be able to share it with others also.

Now, I know most of you are on the mailing list to get Above Rubies, but if you are not, just send in your address. Now that means you can do that from any country you live in. We send Above Rubies out all over the world, so wherever you live, and you're listening to this today, if you're not on the mailing list, don't forget to send in your name and address and we'll get the magazine to you.

Oh, by the way, anybody in any Asian countries and in Singapore, our dear lady who's been looking after there for many years, sadly, her mailing list disappeared! We've lost your names! So please send them in if you are listening to this today.

Now as we close, I just love to give you a Scripture. I always love to give you a Scripture so you're getting the Word. I love these words in Psalm 107, the last few verses. Verses 41-43: “He setteth the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.”

God loves family! He loves to make families. God is the One Who makes families! He's the One Who gives conception. I mean, we can stop Him making our families, by stopping Him giving us conception. But God wants to make families like a flock.

Now, the one or two children, which is the average for today in our nation, is not really a flock. When you see a flock of sheep, you don't see one or two sheep. You see a little flock. And this is talking about the Middle Eastern flock. They were a small flock of sheep, not like in New Zealand, where I come from where they have thousands of sheep!

But it's that beautiful flock, where the shepherd is leading his flock. And it goes to say, “The righteous shall see it, and rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.” I love that. “Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.”

You know, when a couple, when a family are having another baby, how do we react? “Oh, no, you're not having another one, are you?” Well, what are we doing when we say that? We are totally opposite to God's heart, because it's God Who makes families. God, Who loves to give conception. But what does it say>? “the wise, the wise they observe, they see it, and they praise the Lord, and they know that it is the goodness and the loving kindness of the Lord.”

So we've been blessed to hear of the beautiful loving kindness of the Lord to Sonia, and her husband, Kaleb. And how He's blessed them with these nine beautiful children  when they thought they may not be able to have any. Isn't God good?

Sonia: Oh, He's so good!

Nancy: Yes, well bless the Lord. We'll pray:

“Dear Father, we just thank You for another beautiful family testimony, and the way You have been building this beautiful Ramsay family. Lord, God, it wasn't always easy for Sonia, but You showed her Lord, how to be a mother who welcomes children, no matter what the circumstances. And Lord, You blessed them beyond measure.

We just thank You, Lord. Your ways are beyond our ways. They're so glorious. Help us, Lord, to always be on Your side, that we will think Your thoughts, and Lord, we won't grovel down in our own pitiful  thoughts. That we will come up to Your glorious plan, and know the joy of family, and how You love to build families. We just thank You in Jesus'\ Name. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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