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Fighting for Life

This past weekend we stopped at Barnes & Noble so that I could get my own personal copy of the latest issue of Time magazine, but I guess I was confused about the release date. I checked the newsstands everyday until at last on Tuesday I found it. I enthusiastically grabbed the thin 5 dollar magazine and slapped it down on the counter to check out. Normally I am so cheap that I would rather read an article than make a purchase, but I wanted to own this magazine. I wanted to own this magazine because I feel like it represents a historic shift in our society. You see I believe that this is the generation that will witness the end of legalized abortion. 
I posted this on my Facebook over two years ago 

“Like Oskar Shindler during the holocaust, or William Wilberforce during the slave trade, and Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights movements, 
THE TIME IS NOW TO TAKE A STAND AGAINST THE DEHUMANIZING OF LIFE! 

Let’s overturn Roe vs Wade!”

You can imagine with my passionate stance on life that I was a little excited to see this cover story 

It says: “40 Years ago, abortion-rights activists won an epic victory with Roe V. Wade. They’ve Been Losing Ever Since.”- By Kate pickert
The article is completely unbiased. It could just as easily appeal to the pro-choice side as it could pro-life, but I am exceedingly optimistic that justice will be served in defending the unborn. Check the story out for yourself because my rendition of it will undoubtedly be prejudice toward life. 
The problem (for them) is that abortion is not on the rise and the number of people that believe in the sanctity of life is. There are several reason that the article states may contibute to that. 
  1. The smaller number of doctors willing to perform abortions.
  2. Widespread access to birth control.
  3.  Changing attitudes about family. For example being pregnant out of wedlock isn’t as taboo as it used to be.
  4. State Regulations becoming more restrictive. There were 92 restricting provisions passed in 2011.
  5. New discoveries about fetuses. Scientific progress has played a major roll in the shifting of public opinion. A mother can now see and hear a heartbeat before she were to have an abortion. Mothers can see the tiny human on ultrasound. Some babies born prematurely can live as young as 24 weeks! None of this information or opportunities were available 40 years ago when abortion was legalized.
In the article “What Choice” Kissling, formerly of Catholics for choice, describes one of the obstacles that they face in defending their views.
“The pro choice movement’s effort to ‘normalize abortion’ is counterproductive. When people hear us say abortion is just another medical procedure they react with shock” she says “abortion is not like having your tooth pulled or having your appendix out. It involves the termination of an early form of human life.” 
Terminating a human’s life certainly is a difficult thing to justify. Yet somehow it is. The article quotes a 24 year old patient of an abortion clinic that says of her and her boyfriend “neither of us is anywhere near baby time right now. We argue over who will take the dog out some days, so I don’t think the diaper changing would go much better”. 
And that’s it. That is enough reason to take a babies life. I wept as I read this part of the article. This is a very complicated issue. We are making some strides, but there is so much further to go in the fight to end this injustice. 
One final quote from Time magazine about the sinking ship that is legalized abortion: 
“In many ways, the fight to preserve access to abortion is even more daunting than the fight to legalize it 40 years ago. In a dynamic democracy like America defending the status quo is always harder than fighting to change it.” 
I believe we will see justice. I believe my grandchildren will read in history books about the day America ended slavery, allowed women to vote, and stopped the legal termination of unborn babies! 
I still believe in one nation 
under God, 
indivisible,
 with liberty and justice for
 ALL. 
By |2015-05-14T23:15:38+00:00January 10, 2013|Uncategorized|3 Comments
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2013 Here We Come

As I look back at old resolutions some of them are painful to read because I remember trying them and then slowly loosing focus and in the end being not so successful. 
Disclaimer: I don’t drink, I just thought this was funny.

I don’t know how many years I have intended to sell things on ebay. In fact I have this list on my Cozi called “left overs”. I am on a tangent here, but bear with me. I make a to do list everyday of 10 things I want to accomplish that day. I don’t do it on weekends, but almost every day I make a list because I am a list addict. When something is left on the list it goes to another list called “left overs”.

Most of the time it either gets done or becomes obsolete, but as you can see I have this dang “Take pics for ebay” and it just sits there taunting me! It’s probably never going to happen. Still, I love my lists and goals. I have even had some of them become permanent life habits like when I quit drinking soda back in 2000 or when I decided to start using reusable shopping bags in 2009. All that to say I do in fact have a list  of new years goals and since it’s 2013 you can bet I have 13 of them.

1. Get the kids on a schedule Z and SJ will be in school full time this year so that means early to bed early to rise. For our group of night owls  I think we’d be better off trying to memorize the Bible, but here goes nothing.

2. Learn more signs Now that SJ has a Cochlear Implant she is learning to talk orally, but I still want us to continue to expand our ASL vocabulary.

3. Be active with the kids Some of our favorite family activities are riding bikes, flying kites, and catching fire flies at night. Excuse the rhyme, I can’t help myself.

4. Vitamins and veggies everyday for me and the fam I’ll confess it just doesn’t happen consistently, but it needs to.

5. Donate my hair I have had long hair most of my life. I love my long hair, but I have had it short some too.

 

 I also loose A TON of hair after pregnancy and it drives me crazy. I swore I would chop it off and give it to locks of love after I had a baby so it is happening. I just have to make the appointment.

6. Move to Ohio More details on this later.

7.  Be alone once a month Not as easy as it sounds.

8. Visit Texas and Michigan We weren’t able to travel back home for the holidays this year and many of J’s family have yet to meet E.


9. Make a movie Not like a major motion picture, but I have a little project in mind that my brother and I are hopefully going to work on.


10. Learn more about the world and teach my kids I am bad at Geography and I want to change that.


11. 12 date nights Once again, not nearly as easy as it sounds. Believe me, this isn’t the first time I have had this as a resolution.


12. Update our family portrait This is the most current one we have.

13. 4 big birthday celebrations. Z (Super hero party), SJ (small, but special), E (first birthday, I don’t have a theme yet) and SJ’s hearing (video montage of her journey).

Alrighty, that’s it. Wish me luck! 
By |2015-05-14T23:15:38+00:00January 5, 2013|Uncategorized|5 Comments
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Instagram 2012

I randomly decided to look back at the past year of instagrams the other day and I thought it would be fun to share my favorites. Here are the top 12 from 2012
 January 3- still living in Texas
 March 17- SJ shaking her finger at a stranger wearing a matching dress
May 15- My best friend and I were hooked on The Hunger Games 
June 16- Lots of gardening and a little romance

June 23- Getting ready for New York City and my 30’s 
July 21- J turns 36
August 28- SJ at her new deaf oral school 

 September 26- Little did I know I was 4 days away from meeting my baby.

 October 1- Thrift store shopping hours before delivery! 
October 21- Z!!!
 November 22- Thanksgiving morning

 December 30- My final instagram of the year (see my last post)
This is the small stuff. There are so many milestones that happened this year that overshadowed all the little snippets. These are just pieces of my life that could just as easily be disregarded, but how cool is it that I can look back and cherish all of those little moments as well? Here is to another year of phone photos! 

By |2015-05-14T23:15:38+00:00January 4, 2013|Uncategorized|2 Comments
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I Was On a Plane to Michigan When…

I shot up out of my seat before take off and ran to the closest flight attendant. In a panic I asked

  “Is it too late to get off the plane? I can’t go. I need to get off the plane!”

Let’s hold it right there and back up two days before. It was December 28th I was working on a puzzle and I get this text from my best friend.

It did sounds a little crazy after all to travel from Kentucky to Michigan at the last minute like this, but with my mom working for the airlines the standby flight was only $50, E could ride along for free. We decided to go for it. I could leave on Sunday and come back New Years day. As I waited at the Cincinnati airport I knew our schedule didn’t have too much wiggle room, so when the flight was delayed I started to get a little nervous. The problem was I could make it to Detroit, but I would probably miss my connecting flight to my final destinations. This would also mean missing the party. Long story short we decided that someone would drive three hours to Detroit to pick me up and with that plan in mind I boarded the plane.

 It was really crowded and I was holding a baby so the people around me finally offered to help me out and I shoved my boarding pass in the seat pocket, they put the diaper bag on the floor, and my laptop in the overhead compartment. Then I plopped my exhausted self down while the announcements started up over the intercom. My mom called before they made us turn off our cell phones and when I told her the latest itinerary she reminded me that the car seat and my suitcase were headed to my final destination NOT Detroit. This meant I would arrive and have no carseat, clothing, or toiletries. That’s when I pleaded to be let off the plane. They brought me my bag and I headed back up the jet bridge feeling like a total psychopath for the way things just went down.

Back at the gate I began to regroup and make a few phone calls. People that were picking me up in Michigan needed to know not to, and someone needed to come and pick us up from Cincinnati. Finally, everything was settled and I was just about to let out my breath and head to baggage service where they said that my stuff would be. Just before that happened I remembered one last thing. With what little bit of strength I had left I headed over to the gate agent and said “this just isn’t my day…”. It turns out I had left my laptop in the overhead bin on a plane that was now on it’s way to Detroit.

I won’t make you suffer through a story that would include every detail about how many people I talked to online, on the phone, and in person over the next two days. Instead let me just skip to the end which is that my laptop was eventually located at the Detroit airport and my mom flew to Detroit yesterday (she flies for free) and brought it back to me so that I could  type all of this drama out for you. The ironic thing about it is my macbook came back the same time I should have. I left my computer on the plane, but since it made it to Michigan on Sunday and came back New Year’s day I am  beginning to feel like it left me!

As far as Michigan is concerned it was quite a debacle. I am determined to make up for it one of these days, but next time I’m leaving the laptop at home!

By |2015-05-14T23:15:38+00:00January 2, 2013|Uncategorized|4 Comments
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Gifts

Despite J and I not buying Christmas presents for our kids or each other we all still manage to be spoiled silly every year.

Some of my favorite gifts this year included a new Sonicare toothbrush, a beautiful vase with the ASL alphabet on it, and a denim shirt.

SJ got a snowsuit just in time because it snowed Christmas night and there is several more inches falling tonight.

Z got an explorer kit and naturally the kids made a spaceship out of a cardboard box. They drew all over it with crayon including some detailed drawings of the control board. It’s already been busted and taped back together once. You have no idea how much enjoyment I get from watching them play with a box!

Z also got a puzzle of Ellis Island, because he LOVES New York City and the statue of Liberty. We started putting it together and the only problem was it is a 500 piece puzzle. I could have just said we’ll save this for when you are older, but no I got sucked into some geeky puzzle world where I was absolutely obsessed with completing it, which was not easy. I worked on it for two days. I don’t know how many hours total. I need to have a confession time for the things I said to the kids if they tried to touch the puzzle while I was working on it, or touch the table that the puzzle was on for that matter. I am not joking! J joined in for the last 50 pieces (which I will admit were the hardest because they all looked alike) I warned him to let me do the last piece, but he started to do it anyway and I screamed so loud the neighbors were probably like “did you hear that?”. Yeah, he got a kick out of that. 

As far as gifts we gave, I found this cool pizza wheel that looks like a circular saw for my brother

 and my sister in laws reaction to this wooden box that J made for her was priceless.

It’s all been so much fun, but my favorite gift exchange for the year was from Z to SJ. He saw a commercial for the Dora Pony Land Adventure a long time ago and he always thought SJ would love it, so he saved up all of his chore money to get it for her for Christmas. We had a picture of the toy hanging on the fridge and he’s been working toward purchasing it since October!

She loved it and needless to say I am so proud of his generous heart. This year’s Christmas wrapped up beautiful memories for me that I look forward to reopening for years to come. 
By |2015-05-14T23:15:38+00:00December 29, 2012|Uncategorized|5 Comments
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Santa and Tooth Fairy All In One Night!

It’s been a couple weeks since Z came downstairs with not one, but two loose teeth. I had kind of forgotten about them in the midst of all the holiday hustle and bustle, but then sure enough on December 24th my oldest son lost his first tooth. I took a photo and shared my excitement all over the internet. The next morning Z would wake up with a dollar under his pillow and his stocking full of treats. That’s a lot of anticipation for a little 5 year old. I for one was a little nervous about my first shot at representing the tooth fairy. Once Z was sound asleep I grabbed the ziplock containing his little baby tooth, slipped a dollar in it’s place, breathed a sigh of relief and walked away with a smirk on my face. The next morning we want to document the event so we woke him up and started recording everything. What happens in this video is a %100 unrehearsed genuine reaction.

We were shocked to find out that Z had lost his second tooth in the middle of the night and put it under his pillow expecting the tooth fairy to do her thing. Luckily he is not at the stage where he is waking up early for Christmas or checking under his pillow first thing in the morning. That is what made the second switcheroo possible. Although the video shows Z saying “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth” what he really wanted was money in exchange for two front teeth and he got it, but boy that was a close one!

By |2015-05-14T23:15:38+00:00December 27, 2012|Uncategorized|1 Comment
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I’m Ready For Christmas!!!

Every year with kids Christmas just gets better and better. Last night we got our first dusting of snow, I finished wrapping presents, and both kids are officially on Christmas break. I really want to do some wrapping tutorials at some point, but for now let me just show a few quick pics of some of the fun I’ve had wrapping gifts this year. 
Normally I am all about the reusable bags, but when I saw this idea on pinterest I started collecting brown paper bags from Trader Joe’s. 

I didn’t think the kids would appreciate this look as much as the adults so I used wrapping paper, but I stole this paper curling idea from a friend of mine.
 
She posted on Facebook how she hates wasting the extra cut off paper so she spontaneously decided to curl them to use as ribbon. I loved how it turned out. Waste not Want Not. Thanks Susan! 
There is one present that is too big to wrap and I had this idea to put this note in a little present.

 I can just picture the whole family busily unwrapping their gifts and chatting away when the recipient shouts “WHERE IS MY PRESENT?” that will be our cue to bring it in from the garage for the grand reveal. I can’t wait! 
Lastly, this was my first year to do teacher presents because I didn’t have any children in school until now. I found these baskets for 50 cents- SCORE. 
I filled them with all kinds of goodies, most of which was pinerest inspired. I loved the idea of the reindeer holding the card until I realized that wouldn’t be an easy to grab gift for a busy teacher on the go, so I wrapped them in clear plastic bags. 

I have had a blast with all these projects. It truly is better to give than receive. Although, to be perfectly honest, I look forward to both. 
By |2015-05-14T23:15:38+00:00December 21, 2012|Uncategorized|2 Comments
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Precious Girl

SJ had an audiologist appointment a week ago and got more volume added to her C.I. although it is still not up all the way. This first month of hearing has been an emotional roller coaster for sure. In this past year of learning that SJ is deaf I have been building a wall. Every disappointment, every failed attempt at hearing added another layer to my wall. I have confessed to crying when she had her cochlear implant turned on because she didn’t react in the way I had hoped. To quote my blog post from a month ago I said “I want to know that she hears and I am hoping it will not take extensive detective work to be able to recognize it.” Unfortunately it hasn’t been quite that simple. SJ still doesn’t seem to respond to much sound at all. However, in the past month the Lord has been working on tearing down my walls of skepticism. The first time she turned when I said her name I had to wrestle with my unbelief. The voice in my head said it was a coincidence; we’ve seen it a million times, it LOOKS like she is hearing, but really she is feeling vibrations. Time after time I would fight this voice. Fortunately there was another voice, the voice of Holy Spirit living in me that comforted me and gave me permission to rejoice. I felt like the Lord was leading me to embrace EVERY moment of victory. When I THINK she heard something and want to dismiss it I turn that doubt into a victory and I embrace it. It’s been a struggle, but since the moment I decided to stand up against the doubt I’ve seen one victory after another. For example today SJ was sitting in front of the TV bobbing her head to some music doing a little dance in her chair so I looked at the TV to see where this joy was coming from. SJ has always loved to dance, but it’s all about the motions. She has always been copying dance moves rather than ever hearing any music. I expected to see some happy dancing people on the TV, but instead I saw this commercial and I almost cried. 
You may wonder what the big deal is because it’s such a simple commercial. So simple in fact that there is no visual stimulation whatsoever. SJ was actually HEARING the music and bouncing to the beat! I screamed for J to come and see. It’s the little things like this that keep me going. It might still take some detective work to know that she is hearing, especially when loud trucks or barking don’t even make her flinch, but I am very grateful for each little milestone. 
Two years ago (the year SJ was born) Veggie Tales came out with the movie “It’s a Meaningful Life” There is a song in there that Larry the Cucumber’s character sings to their adopted daughter Emma. This became a song that I always sang to SJ. I even wrote it down in her baby book. The kids love this Holiday movie and when we watched it over and over this time last year I had no idea how much that song would eventually mean to me. Here are some of the lyrics 
Precious Girl,
In our lives,
making every moment bright.
Your Mom and Daddy love you.
You fill us with delight.
Precious Girl,
so special too.
God has got a plan for you.
We can see it clearly,
as you shine His light.
Do you realize when you shine 
everyone sees you?
The lives you touch,
you’re worth so much,
That’s just how God made you.
Precious Girl,
Can you see?
You’re part of our family.
This one thing I promise:
God’s plan for you is true.
You are worth so much, and 
It’s just by being you.
Oh goodness, I am a blubbery mess just from typing out the words. I am sure there are many ups and downs ahead when it comes to all this, but that song says it all. I hope someday as she HEARS this song and learns the words she will really hear the message too. 
By |2015-05-14T23:15:38+00:00December 20, 2012|Uncategorized|5 Comments
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And The Part of Baby Jesus goes to…

The youngest baby in the church.

Our baby boy seemed like the perfect candidate to play the role of baby Jesus therefor J and I are Mary and Joseph for this year’s Christmas program. We did 2 appearances on Sunday and E was a natural. 

We are going to be doing a flash mob at The Florence Mall this Sunday December 23.
I am pretty excited about it. It will be my first time doing anything like this. The December traditions new and old have been a welcome guest in our lives lately.
The past couple weeks have been filled with baking, parties, and shopping (along with all the mundane responsibilities that I am not going to think about right now because it’s Christmas time!). 

We’ve gone to two different light displays, one of which is the only underground light display in the world.

 One of my favorite evenings consisted of watching White Christmas while drinking hot chocolate with candy canes as stir sticks. We even ate Turkish Delight straight from Turkey. My parents had an exchange student from Turkey 6 years ago and he still sends a Christmas package every year. 
Another night we were going to see Santa at the local parade, but it ended up being a bust because of the weather. It literally rained on our parade. No biggie, there is still so much to look forward to. It’s been 2 years since my family celebrated Christmas together and we’ve added two new members since then. I don’t even know how we are going to fit all of the presents under the tree. According to our Christmas tree countdown on the fridge, which Z faithful updates daily, there are only  10  6 days left.

 I can hardly wait! 

By |2015-05-14T23:15:38+00:00December 19, 2012|Uncategorized|4 Comments
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