Protesting People Protesting

A few weeks ago, a 26 year old named William Carl Kapp decided to stand up for his beliefs and convictions in a very... odd way.

When Kapp passed an intersection in Iowa, he saw an elderly couple in their late seventies holding signs protesting abortion. The sign depicted a picture of the head from an aborted baby. The 26 year old pulled over, approached 77 year old Donna Holman, and grabbed her sign from her. He destroyed it until her husband walked up holding a video camera and calling 911. He said to Donna's husband and the video camera, "you can take as many pictures of me as you want, because I'm proud of what I did." They began to argue and Kapp said, "you know what that image is on there? that image is awful! Children do not understand when they see an image like that! A four year old child, how do you explain that? That's a headless baby!" The video shows Kapp calling his employer at a lawn care company, explaining how he would be delayed coming to work in the company's water truck. He told his boss that he saw something that he felt he needed to take care of, but will probably be delayed with the police.

I find this situation so interesting. Quite frankly, William Kapp's reaction shouldn't be shocking to us. He said the sign he destroyed was "awful," "horrific," and "obscene." Abortion is awful, horrific, and obscene. The point of graphic abortion signs is to show how grotesque the reality of abortion is. We should react in horror to images like these.

However, Kapp's reaction wasn't what the sign was supposed to inspire. He is being charged with stealing and destroying personal property, as he should. While it is shocking that someone would approach an elderly woman, steal something she was holding and proceed to destroy it, I find the way the Holman's reacted even more shocking. The video, posted by the Holman's, is called "Left Wing Extremist Errorist." Kapp shows no signs of being a left-wing extremist, rather he recognized the horror of abortion. He didn't use the terminology of left wing extremists--used the word "baby" instead of "fetus." At 5:52 in the video, Kapp shakes his head and asks, "Who is your God, man?" Holman's response left me speechless: "Well he's not yours. You serve the devil. You do his work."

Kapp looked stunned and didn't say anything for a few seconds. The heard thing about speaking about abortion is you never know where a person is coming from. If you say someone serves the devil for merely removing the sight of abortion from their eyes, how would they react if they had an abortion in their past? If they were responsible for an abortion? I think the pro-life movement would be so much more effective if we couple truth with love. We need to be sensitive with others. We need to display truth, but not in an abrasive, condemning way. If we come across as judgmental, they will retaliate. If our words sound violent, we should not be surprised if people tune us out or come back even more violently.

I am really saddened by this video, and I think neither person handled themselves very well. This is really challenging for me. When this happened, the Holman was angry. A stranger 50 years younger than him approached his wife, grabbed her sign, destroyed it, then repeatedly told him that he was proud of his actions. That would make anyone angry! But we are told to conduct ourselves with love even then, when it is hardest.

Everything we do to defend life will be futile without love. 1 Corinthians 13:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

What do you think the pro-life movement would look like if we conducted ourselves with the love described in 1 Corinthians?

Dear Anonymous: My Opinion on Birth Control

Somebody named Anonymous who apparently has no face asked me this in a comment. I sat and sat and I thought and thought, but there was no way to answer your question in a comment. So I decided to write a post about it.

Birth control is a very heated argument, and it has been for a really long time. In 1879 law called the Act Concerning Offense Against Decency, Morality, and Humanity was made. It outlawed owning, obtaining, distributing, or manufacturing any literature, article, instrument, or drug that prevented fertilization or caused abortion. Contraception was not only illegal, it was super duper illegal.

Zoom forward a bit to the 1960s when a woman named Estelle Griswold decided to start an illegal Planned Parenthood birth control clinic. She knew she'd get caught, but she was ready for a lawsuit. She became the defendant of, and won, Griswold vs Connecticut. This case stated that while the Constitution never uses the word privacy, it's one of the most basic rights of mankind. It said that the government has no right to decide what a man and wife can or cannot do in the privacy of their own bedroom. In June of 1965, birth control was legalized for married couples.

Fast forward 50 years, and we're still arguing about birth control. It's more accepted in the mainstream world, but with Obama's HHS Mandate that would require all hospitals to administer contraceptives, people are beginning to take a firm stand against it. The Catholic Church is making some serious threats to shut down their hospitals so that they wont be forced to distribute birth control which is against their beliefs. It's becoming religious freedom verses reproductive freedom. There's apparently a war on women going on. It's getting nasty.

All that to say, any and everything I say here I'm sure will cause trouble. But since when can people not have opinions about controversial issues? Since when can we not express them? As always, this is me expressing my beliefs, not shoving them down your throat. If you disagree, I would love to have a conversation with you in the comments. A respectful conversation, not a heated argument.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, here's my opinion.

Many forms of birth control should be made illegal. Before you stop reading, note that I said many, not all. I believe all forms of abortion should be made illegal, because it kills a human being. The truth is many forms of birth control are nothing more than abortion. As I explained here, the dispute as to when pregnancy begins has masked many early abortions as birth control. Everyone agrees that pregnancy begins at conception, but some say conception is fertilization and others say it's implantation. That's eight days difference, and those eight days means life or death for millions of little tiny brand new human beings. Scientifically, life begins at fertilization, but according to some, pregnancy begins eight days later. In regards to birth control, any birth control that prevents a fertilized egg from implanting on the uterus is abortion. I am whole heartedly against those forms of birth control.

Birth control that prevents fertilization from happening, I believe that should be your own decision. Many religions condemn all forms of birth control for various reasons, many of these reasons I respect. As a whole though, I see no reason for the government to outlaw all forms of birth control because of some religious beliefs. Let the environmentalists be environmentalists and let the Catholics be Catholics. We should obey our convictions and beliefs.

But when speaking of life, life needs to be protected by the government. Your religious beliefs cannot allow you to murder someone legally. That leaves the difficult distinction: which forms of birth control are abortifacient (meaning cause an abortion), and which are ok?

Abort73 has a good list of which birth control methods are abortifacient and which are not. I'm only going to talk about one birth control method, because it frightens me how casually it is treated. The birth control pill is a dose of hormones that does three things to prevent pregnancy. It prevents ovulation, thickens the mucus lining to prevent fertilization, and then as a fail-safe it thins the lining of the uterus to prevent implantation in case fertilization does occur. The first two steps that the birth control pill does are fine, but the third, if it comes to that, definitely causes an abortion. In fact, some of the abortion pills are nothing more than high-dose birth control pills. It saddens me that the birth control pill is thrown around so much regardless of the potential damage it is doing. Women take it for all sorts of reasons besides as a contraceptive, but it is known to have lasting damage on women's reproductive health in the future. It plays with life, putting children at risk. While they are only a few cells and can't be detected yet, but they are still human beings. We were all there once.

A friend of mine is very passionate about this issue. She sent me the high-low estimates of how many accidental abortions happen because of birth control--it's somewhere between 6,704,900 and 22,141,900. This is sobering. That is a terrifying amount of legalized murder in this country.

There you have it, my opinion about birth control. If you were asking about my views of fertilization-preventing birth control, I haven't figured out what I personally believe yet. When it comes time for me to make that decision I will do a lot more research, prayer, and ask a whole lot of people I respect. There, I hope that helps! Thanks for the great question!

Tonya Reaves

***Update*** The local CBS television station received new documents regarding the death of Tonya Reaves. Her D&E abortion was performed at Planned Parenthood at 11 am, but after the procedure she began bleeding heavily. The bleeding continued for five and a half hours at Planned Parenthood until she was taken to the emergency room at 4:30 pm. There the doctors had to start from scratch to figure out what was wrong with her. They performed an ultrasound then another D&E. When the heavy bleeding continued they performed a second ultrasound and discovered a perforation. Tonya was taken to emergency surgery at 10:12 pm, but the bleeding was uncontrollable. Her death was completely avoidable, but after bleeding heavily for over five hours at Planned Parenthood before receiving medical treatment was too much. Once she was moved from Planned Parenthood to a hospital, even more valuable time was lost while the doctors started from scratch to discover the severity of her injuries.

LifeNews quotes an emergency room doctor with 30 years of experience named Dr. James C. Anderson, M.D. He pointed out the habit of abortion clinics sending injured patients to the emergency room without giving the doctors appropriate information concerning their condition. "I have always had to evaluate the situation, come to my own conclusions, and initiate what I thought was appropriate treatment. This definitely created some time delays that were not in the patient's best interest," stated Dr. Anderson. "These delays can have life-threatening implications when dealing with hemorrhage or infection." (More)

**Update** Tonya's family have found an attorney who is looking into a civil lawsuit against Planned Parenthood. (More)

*Update* Congressman Cliff Stearns has been looking into an investigation of Planned Parenthood regarding hiding sexual abuse and Medicaid fraud, and he is now pressing for an investigation regarding Tonya's death. (More)

Last Friday, a health young woman named Tonya Reaves went to a Planned Parenthood in Chicago for a second trimester D&E abortion. She was 24, engaged to be married, and had a son who had just turned one. She was transported to a hospital for hemorrhage. She was pronounced dead at the hospital at 11:20 PM. The autopsy Saturday determined that she died from hemorrhage caused by the abortion. Troy Newman, the head of Operation Rescue, explained, "Abortion deaths like this are completely avoidable. When a woman bleeds to death after an abortion, it is usually an indication of error on the part of the abortionist coupled with a delay in calling for emergency assistance. Planned Parenthood should be held accountable." Abortion clinics are not equipped for such emergency complications, and when an emergency does happen, calling an ambulance is avoided because it brings such bad publicity.

Yesterday, in an incredibly insensitive move, Obama called for more government funding for Planned Parenthood. "Mr. Romney wants to get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood. I think that's a bad idea," the president explained. "I've got two daughters. I want them to control their own health care choices."

Really, Obama? You want your daughters to be cared for by Planned Parenthood? I don't often get angry, but I'm angry about this one. How many more women like Tonya have to die before things change? What will it take for the government to stop funding organizations with blood on their hands?

Tonya Reaves 

Pop Quiz 2

My last Pop Quiz was regarding the definition of the word "conception." We did have a few winners! But not a ton of responses. I'll have to keep nagging you all to get you to respond, or I'll just actually post every two weeks like I said I would :) So for our answer!

All over the place, pro-lifer's have said that "life begins at conception" but the confusing definition of the word means a lot of the time they aren't saying what they think they're saying. In 1965, the definition of conception changed from fertilization to implantation. In order to understand the significance of this, we have to understand the distinct difference between fertilization and implantation. 

Fertilization is the moment when the sperm meets the egg, fertilizes it, and a unique cell is created. This cell, called a zygote, has DNA different from any other DNA that has ever or ever will be created. The DNA determines gender and serves as a blueprint for what the zygote will look like for the rest of his or her life. This moment determines not only all of prenatal development, but all development after birth as well. This is the moment when, scientifically, life begins.

Implantation happens eight days after fertilization. Once the egg is fertilized by the sperm and becomes a zygote, it makes its way to the woman's womb and implants on the lining of her uterus. This is implantation, and happens already after life begins. When the definition of "conception" changed in 1965, it moved conception to eight days after the original definition, eight days after life begins. That may not seem like a lot, but eight days has meant life or death for a lot of people when they, too, were zygotes.

The definition of conception was changed in 1965, the same year birth control was legalized in America. If conception marked the beginning of pregnancy, and pregnancy could be pushed back to start at implantation rather than fertilization, then that's eight more days to work with to "prevent" pregnancy from starting. New forms of birth control (called contraception) can be known as preventative birth control rather than abortion. If we were clear that we believe life begins at fertilization rather than implantation or conception, then a lot of forms of birth control would be considered abortifacient rather than preventative. How many lives have been ended by "birth control" will never be known, but the estimates are staggeringly huge.

And now, the latest and greatest question. In honor of the history of abortion (because I love it soooo much), this question will be regarding that. There are three main court cases that helped legalize abortion, which is NOT one of them? Your options are:
-Griswold vs Connecticut (1965) legalized contraception under the right to privacy.
-R. vs Morgentaler (1971) struck down every abortion law, legalizing it on demand through all nine months of pregnancy.
-Roe vs Wade (1973) legalized abortion abortion on demand in the first trimester, and allowed exceptions in the third trimester for the woman's health.
-Doe vs Bolton (1973) defined "health" to include a woman's physical, medical, psychological, mental, and familial health.

Choose wisely! And looking it up is cheating. I'll try my very very hardest to post an answer and a new question in two weeks. We'll see how that works. Good luck!

To Feminists: Concerning Forced Abortion in China

What if you woke up one morning in the hospital in severe pain and no one would tell you what happened. That alone would be terrifying for me.

What if you were nine months pregnant, ready to deliver your second any day now, then suddenly eleven strangers come into your house to carry you away. They take you to a hospital, insert a syringe into your stomach, and after you pull it out insert another.

Then you wake up, no longer pregnant, but in server pain. No one would tell you what happened. Later you find your uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries were removed to prevent you from having more children.

This is a very real situation for thousands of women. Many, including Zhang Wen Fang, were left in a wheelchair because of complications from the surgery. She lost not only her legs and her uterus, but also her child, her health, her livelihood, and eventually the stress caused her to lose her marriage. She never found out what happened to her child.



Zhang Wen Fang shared her story with an organization called All Girls Allowed, which works in China fighting the one-child policy and the resulting problems of gendercide and sex trafficking. She tried to appeal her case to the government, but she was threatened and beaten by the police. Mr. Guo, the Deputy Minister of the Family Planning Committee (which enforced the one-child policy through forced abortions), responded by saying, "I removed the uteruses of one thousand women, and no one dared to say a word to me."

How is this alright? How can we sit back while women are kidnapped, force to kill their own children, and drugged as their uteruses are stolen? I challenge anyone who considers themselves pro-women to do something about this. How is this choice, when it is forced upon women? How is this health, when it confines women to wheelchairs? How is this making women equal to men?

Let's not forget the visual of what forced abortion really does:

Feng Jianmei, 6/3/2012

Read the Lifenews article or similar posts.

When the Going Gets Tough, the Simple Ability To Write Coherent Thoughts Just Abandons Me Entirely

Some people have natural born talents. Some struggle with things that come very easily to others. I, however, feel like the abilities that sometimes come so naturally from me will occasionally just stop existing.

I'm speaking in particular about my ability to write.

It's a real shame when my capability to write multiple coherent sentences in a row absolutely abandons me, say, mid-paragraph.

I'm editing chapter four about abortion history. You know, the chapter that I complain about incessantly. Because I'm not happy with any of the numerous versions of it I have written, I'm going over all of them and picking and choosing what is necessary. Sarah Weddington sued to change the abortion laws in Texas, creating the case Roe v Wade which legalized abortion in America. When I was part way through explaining Weddington's oral arguments, I wrote this:

She continued in saying that pregnancy interrupts a woman's life: areas of education, body, employment, family, and other relationships are often sacrificed because of an unplanned pregnancy. Because it so drastically effects her life, it should be her fundamental right to decide whether or not she continues her pregnancy. She keeps going on and on, but I'm sick of writing about this. Is it necessary or can I just say it sucks? 

Oh, but it gets better. Next come's Joy Floyd's oral argument after Weddington. (He was arguing for Wade, the anti-abortion position):

Floyd’s argument is feeble at best. When I first listened to the arguments I was expecting an epic battle for some reason. Really, it was just a pretty woman giving an emotional and passionate plea for “all women” (I wonder how she knew all women agreed with her points) and Floyd just flopping around not making any sense. He played ping pong with the justices arguing whether or not it’s a moot point because Roe delivered her baby already. “It’s a moot point,” “no it’s not, it’s for the good of all women,” “it’s a moot point,” “no it’s not, it’s for the good of all women,” “it’s a moot point,” “you’re stupid,” ect. After a while, he finally brings up the question of when life begins and whether or not abortion is murder. They just tell him that the beginning of life cannot be determined (see chapter two) and he gives it up. 

Ahem. Using verbs such as "flopping" and "played ping pong" is not advised when writing about a Supreme Court Case. Not to mention creating your own dialogue, inserting random parenthetical thoughts that could be considered an insult toward feminists, and this killer last paragraph:

The oral arguments of Roe v Wade are pretty surprising. Weddington gives a passionate plea for women’s rights and goes on about how a pregnancy restricts her freedoms. I can’t help but picture Floyd as an awkward teenage boy who wants to be anywhere but there. 

Ok, that's all. I just needed to humble myself.

3 Down, 4 to Go!

I've been editing my heart out and fingers off. My deadline is Saturday, and I've finished three chapters with four more to go.

Of my completed chapters, I have 12,899 words, 33 printed pages, or 51 paperback book pages. That's just three of my nine chapters, so it's looking like this book will be around 150 pages. That's exactly the range I wanted it to be!

What is a good book size for you? Do you like nonfiction books to be around 150 pages, or longer, or shorter? Let me know what you think. I can't promise I'll make changes because of your request, my goal is content over size. However, I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

This is how diligent I am. Except I sit on the floor and my hair doesn't look like that and I use a laptop, not a desktop. 

Introducing: Pop Quizzes!

As I've been researching, I've been really surprised by some information that I've found. There are so many little-known facts that make a huge impact upon the abortion issue. I thought this would be an interesting way to see if these things are as little known as I expected and for you to learn a bit too. (And to hold me accountable to looking up stuff and continuing research.) I'm thinking I will update the pop quiz every two weeks, but I'll see how it goes and adjust it from there. 

So, without further ado, here is our first question: what are the two definitions of the word "conception"? In the pro-life movement, you hear people say "life begins at conception" all the time. But when is conception? No cheating--don't look it up! At least until after you've answered. When the poll closes in two weeks I'll write a post explaining the answer and introducing another question. 

Take a guess! Don't feel shy. No one will know who you are, there's no shame in getting it wrong. This morning I probably would have too. Please choose two answers and only two answers. Enjoy! 

Freedom of Choice, Forced Abortions

Warning: extremely graphic photo below. 

In America, abortion is seen as a lovely thing that allows people to choose when they have children. They can plan out their families, their lives wont be interrupted by untimely babies, and women are no longer constrained by the inconveniences of pregnancy.

In China, abortion is entirely something different. It's worlds apart.

Because of fears of overpopulation, China has developed a one-child policy. In 1979 China adopted the policy that allowed couples to only have one child, and penalized those who had a second. This has brought on all sorts of problems, problems that we can only wait to see how they will play out in the future. One of the biggest examples is gendercide; because of the culture's emphasis on having boys and the liability it is to have a daughter, many couples abort or abandon their daughters until they can have a boy. This has created a distorted sex ratio that will leave 50 million Chinese men without wives.

The horrors of the one-child policy seem to be catching America's attention more and more. Recently, a photo from June 3, 2012 was released of a woman named Feng Jianmei. She was beaten and dragged into a car by Family Planning Officials. They demanded RMB 40,000 (about 6,300 American dollars), but when her family could not supply the money they forced her to abort her seven month old baby.

After the forced abortion, they laid the body next to her in bed.

This is hard to stomach. How sick that something people fight tooth and nail to defend in our country is the cause of so much suffering and injustice in another? 

LifeSiteNews article, Bryan Kemper's article, original picture, Petition to Stop Forced Abortion in China, All Girls Allowed. 

Post. (Part Two)

Yesterday I edited chapter 1, today I got 2/3s of the way through chapter 2. Tomorrow I have the entire day to work on it, so my goal is to finish two, edit three, and start four tomorrow. 

Things have been going remarkably well lately. I feel so blessed. God is providing me with not only the patients to sit still for hours on end, but the ability to make quick decisions and fast changes and move on. I hate editing because I struggle so much with that, but lately I've been flying through it. It feels so good, especially after how tough last week was! 

My goal is to get my book to proof readers soon, hence the crazed editing right now. If anyone knows of a good way I can print in bulk (preferably inexpensively and quickly), then please let me know in the comments! 

Goodnight, dear reader. You are loved and not forgotten! 

(P.S. The title of this post still shows my inability to think of good titles.) 

Post.

Look at me,  I'm a party animal. 

This past week I had my highschool graduation party. The French family does not take the topic of graduation parties lightly, so I spent a whole lot of time cooking and cleaning and doing other such homely tasks as spray painting a twister board on my lawn and eating cookie dough.

This week I am attempting an entire book edit in a week. I have a looming deadline of the end of June, which is shortened by a family vacation, so I'm trying to get everything ready for proof readers by... Friday. Originally my list of things to do included rewriting a chapter, researching and outlining and drafting and editing (at least once) my two last chapters, and editing the remaining six. However, due to said graduation party and a pathetic spout of discouragement, I'm only managing to somewhat-research and outline the two chapters, edit the chapter I wanted to rewrite (which is much smarter and I feel dumb for not just doing that in the beginning), and edit the remaining six. All. Of. That. To. Say. :

This week is so much editing.

I'm off to my editing cave, I'll try to crawl out at some point and let you know how I'm doing. Or write about my feelings or a movie or an article I just read or how pathetic I feel when I write to much. Right now I'm feeling good, I just finished editing chapter 1! Solid start. Now back to work.

(The title of this post shows my inability to think of good titles.)

((Photo credit to Mrs. Huntington.))

When I Want to Burn Everything I've Ever Written

You know what I hate? Spending hours writing, then at the end of the day deciding all of what you wrote needed to be trashed. It's all worthless. It can't be used, and salvaging it would take as long as it took to write. Monkeys could have sat at a computer and typed random letters, and come up with something better than this.

It's on this kind of day I want to stand on my roof and scream for the entire world to hear,

"IT'S NOT WORTH IT!"

However, like every other day like this that I've experienced, it usually means I just need to move on. Copy and paste the 4,205 words of nonsense and an entire week of work to a file of such passages, and work on something else. I wonder if actually printing the pages and burning it would help me feel better. I bet on a good day I could think of some nice way to conclude this post with something meaningful that would make me feel better, but nothing's coming to me. So I conclude with the wise words of April Ludgate: "hard work never pays off."

New Ministry: And Then There Were None

One of my favorite things about the pro-life movement is the diversity with in it. Abortion is a massive topic that touches every area of life--health, law, industries, economy, religion, the list is endless. Because it is not any one topic, there are hundreds of pro-life organizations and ministries that work on fighting abortion in all different ways. Many accuse the pro-life movement of only caring about the fetuses but kicking the mothers' to the curb. I've seen that to be entirely untrue. Many, if not most pro-life groups focus on the mother. This can mean teaching the truth about abortion, urging women to choose life, helping them in practical ways through their pregnancy, helping them after the baby is born, helping them if they choose adoption, and supporting women who have had abortions.

However, there seems to be a new aspect of abortion that seems rather untouched by ministries. That is, until now.

Abby Johnson was a Planned Parenthood clinic director for 8 years. She began as a volunteer clinic escort, then worked her way up until she ran an abortion clinic. Then one day, she was helping an abortionist perform an abortion. The abortionist wanted to use an ultrasound in order to see what he was doing inside of the woman, and Abby was the one performing the ultrasound. She was shocked by what she saw--not a clump of tissue, but a baby, fighting to stay away from the harmful abortion instruments.

With the help of people praying outside of her clinic during the first 40 Days for Life campaign, she quit her job. Despite the financial difficulties, the lawsuits from Planned Parenthood, the embarrassment of leaving her friends and coworkers to begin working with the "enemy," she walked away.

She later wrote a book titled Unplanned that tells the entire story--from the Planned Parenthood booth at the volunteer fair in college to her praying with 40 Days for Life outside of her old clinic for the first time.

Now for the exciting news: God is using Abby's experience working for Planned Parenthood and dodging bullets trying to get out. In a month she is beginning a new pro-life ministry that tackles ground we've never touched before: a ministry to help clinic workers emotionally, spiritually, legally, and financially. They will provide legal protection from attorneys, funds necessary to quit their jobs and still provide for their families until they find a new job, emotional support, and spiritual counselors to help them on the road to healing.

If you say you're pro-life, you need to be pro-all life. Including the lives (both material and eternal) of clinic workers, abortionists, men and women who suffer from past abortions, and pro-choice advocates. As well as the young, the old, those of a different race than your own, the handicapped, the depressed, the orphans, and the widows. It's a tall order. I'm excited the horizons are expanding for the pro-life movement and a new group of people will be reached.

Life and Death and Apollo 13

I'm really becoming a fan of finding places in our culture where human life is valuable.

I'm a little behind on things, but I only saw Apollo 13 for the first time a few weeks ago. Anyways, it was great, and one thing in particular really struck me. When it looked as if Apollo 13 wouldn't be able to land back on earth, the entire world was captivated by the story. People put their normal lives on hold, gathered around their televisions, and prayed for these lives that hung in the balance. For three lives. Yet how often do we not care about far more than three lives that are hanging in the balance? While it's discouraging sometimes when people don't care about stopping the thousands of deaths each day from abortion, it's refreshing to see the world care about the lives of these three men.

Prenatal Discrimination Act

PRENDA, the Prenatal Discrimination Act, has failed. It would have made sex-selective abortions illegal, but the two-thirds majority needed failed with 246 yes and 168 no. (Read more here).

What's more, today Live Action released another video in their War On Baby Girls series. This time, in New York City, yet another Planned Parenthood employee counsels a woman seeking to abort if her baby is a girl. She says having another girl would be horrible because she wants a boy. What will Planned Parenthood do now? They keep saying they are against gendercide, they seemed to luck out last time by having already fired the employee of the previous video, what will be their next move?

Abby Johnson of Live Action, author of Unplanned, and former Planned Parenthood clinic director, said, "The counselor in this video is a licensed social worker. In this video you will hear her encourage the pregnant women to get a Chorionic Villi Sampling test to determine the gender of her baby. Here's what the counselor doesn't say...CVS testing is very risky...miscarriage rate is 1 in a 100 procedures. Oh well, it's not like they really care about the unborn or risks...or informed consent."

And yes, this has been my second post of the day and it's only 4:30. That's what happens when interesting things are happening in abortion news and I'm trying to draft that darn chapter four about abortion history. 

Planned Parenthood: "Every Child a Wanted Child" Except If It's Bad Publicity

Two days ago Live Action released a video exposing Planned Parenthood's willingness to help women have sex-selective abortions. A Live Action actor came into a Planned Parenthood, explained to the employee that she wanted a boy but would abort a girl, and caught the employees reaction on film. The results, honestly, don't shock me much after watching Planned Parenthood handle themselves in the past. They agreed to go through testing to discover "the sex of the pregnancy" (the word "baby" is always avoided within Planned Parenthood's walls), and abort if the child is a girl. 


However, Planned Parenthood released a statement saying that they fired the employee in the video soon after the incident, before Live Action ever released the video. They said the employee did not handle the situation well, and as they strive for the best quality care for their patients, they let her go. But it still raises a question: if Planned Parenthood's goal is to make every child a wanted child (by aborting the unwanted ones), then what if a girl is unwanted while a boy would be? As they refuse to admit that they are involved in gendercide, they contradict one of their main ideas. They can't have it both ways. 


Planned Parenthood said in one of their statements regarding the situation, "Planned Parenthood cares about staff, and conducts retraining or other personnel action responsibly." As Jill Stanek pointed out, they're caring about their staff by throwing them under the bus and not taking responsibility for their mistake? 

Gendercide: "War On Baby Girls, part 1" from Live Action

Live Action is a pro-life organization that performs under-cover investigations of Planned Parenthood, America's largest abortion provider. So far they have exposed Planned Parenthood involved in human trafficking, covering up sexual abuse, accepting racist donations, and giving women inaccurate medical information. Yesterday they released another project called War On Baby Girls. The first video in the series, in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas, shockingly shows the clinic employee helping a woman plan how to abort her unborn child if its a girl, but continue with the pregnancy if it's a boy. Then she helped her abuse Medicaid in order to fund this sex-selective abortion.

Stay tuned for more videos in the War On Baby Girls series. In the meantime, you can sign this petition to ban sex-selective abortions nationwide. 100 million girls are missing today. There are 100 million more boys in the world today due to this gendercide. What happened to equality, women's rights, and feminism? Girls are being killed just for being girls. That has to stop now.

Chapter 4

Today's goal: write chapter four (currently titled "'73") in under 5,500 words in four and a half hours.

Remember me complaining here and here and a bunch of other times too? Same chapter, only I finally feel like I'm starting to understand the material I'm writing about. Spending a semester studying this topic, writing a research paper on it, and finally giving a speech about it really made it click. Imagine that. Unfortunately, I'm scrapping most of the previous draft I have and starting fresh. I'm so hard to please sometimes!

Norma McCorvey, or "Jane Roe" of Roe v Wade

Most people know that Roe v Wade is the case that legalized abortion. Some people know the details of the case, and even fewer know anything about the woman named "Jane Roe" who made the case happen. "Jane Roe" is a woman named Norma McCorvey. I read her book Won By Love a few years ago, and right now I'm in the middle of I Am Roe. Both are incredible reads, but I don't think one should be read without the other. I would definitely recommend them. The life of the woman who became "Roe" is really remarkable, and something that should be taken into account when looking at the abortion movement as a whole.

Definitely go read the books. McCorvey's life is heartbreaking at times; she needed the love of Christ but could only find drugs, alcohol, and one night stands. Won By Love tells of how she came face-to-face with the love that she desired, and in the most unlikely place imaginable: the young daughter of a pro-life advocate who worked next door to McCorvey's abortion clinic. Through the love offered by the people who should be her worst enemy, McCorvey met Christ and eventually became pro-life. I don't think I've ever read a more moving testimony of God working in someone's life.

Life and Death and...the AVENGERS!!

I'm not usually one for action movies. While they can be fun, completely lacking a plot is one of the most annoying things a movie can do. Even if there is a plot, not having good characters or character development or anything at all realistic is really annoying. Well, I don't know if the Avengers somehow managed all of that perfectly or if I was just in a super good movie-watching mood when I watched it, but I loved it.

Maybe I just liked all different superheroes with all different back stories, habits, styles, and struggles all trying to put aside their differences and work together. Iron Man's arrogance, the Hulk's anger issues, Captain America feeling outdated, Thor being a mythical god...ect, it made for an interesting plot.

Or maybe I just like the idea of superheroes.

Or maybe I realized just how much superhero movies appeal to the part of us that wants the good guys to win, that wants evil to lose, that wants human life to be spared.

I'm beginning to realize the parts of our culture that does value life. The Avengers have to work together in order to protect millions of people from dying at the hands of evil. Near the end of the movie, New York City is under a huge attack and many authorities wanted to drop a nuclear bomb on the city in order to keep the attack from spreading. The Avengers want to spare as much human life as they can, so they have to find a way to save the world as well as the city.

I like superhero movies, cause with each daring and incredibly act they are protecting the lives of the human beings. Too many action movies show thousands of people dying during a really cool shot of a building blowing up. Superheroes value and protect human life.

Life and Death and Parks and Rec

Last week's episode of the best TV show ever, Parks and Recreation, brought up some interesting questions. When City Counsel candidate Leslie Knope accidentally insulted a man in a speech, only to find he had just died, people were horrified. What she said would have been fine if he had been living, but because he had recently passed away it was unacceptable. Now me, being the Parks and Rec fan and nerd that I am, couldn't help but ask questions.

What is it about death that makes us respect those who have passed?

We go to funerals of people we barely knew or aren't even fond of. Why is that? Why is insulting a deceased person extra offensive, even if it's the truth? Why do we honor the dead, even those whose life we never honored?

I think this has to do with our understanding and value of life. Which leads to more questions.

How much do you value life? If you had to put a price on it, what would it be? To what extent would you go to save the life of someone you love, somebody you know, or a stranger? Saving a life could mean jumping in a frozen lake to save a drowning person, pushing someone out of the path of an oncoming car, stepping in when a person is being mugged, preventing suicide, performing life saving surgery, being at the right place at the right time to call 911, or sending money to developing countries to provide food, water, and medicine to the poor. Whatever it may be, is it worth you sacrificing your time, energy, and resources for?

We all value life to some extent. It's not entirely about courage, bravery, or sacrificing. While that's definitely part of it, I think it's mostly about our value of life. Do we ever not value life enough? That's an extremely dangerous mistake to make, but I do it all the time. Where do we need to value life more? Whose life am I not valuing?

(Also, congratulations to Leslie for winning the campaign.) 

Pro-Abortion Irony

Oh the irony. Everybody knows that Christians are the hypocrites of the world, and the pro-choice side is completely logical. Right?

President Obama is by far the most pro-abortion president our nation has ever seen. He invited Nancy Keenan, the head of NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws) to the White Houses' Christmas party and he's met with Cecile Richards, the CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, four times in the White House alone. He's repealed abortion laws, voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (which criminalized infanticide), and gave this promise to Planned Parenthood. All that to say, he's extremely pro-abortion.

However, this week the White House made a pretty surprising change to their security system. The Director of the White Houses' Visitor's Office, Ellie Shafer, is now including the unborn in her tours. When you're signing up for a tour of the White House and you're pregnant, you must sign in your unborn child too.

Planned Parenthood in D.C. 

I find this quite ironic. You can go to the White House and have to sign you unborn baby in, then right afterwards walk 0.6 miles to the Planned Parenthood down the street and have that baby killed. Abortions in D.C. can be performed up to the due date, but the unborn are included in the headcount when giving tours in the White House for security purposes. It looks like the only safe place for the unborn is in the White House, even with the extremely pro-abortion president we have.

Douglas Johnson, the legislative director of National Right to Life, pointed out to Lifenews that when registering your unborn child, you must indicate the gender. If you don't know then you have to report it after birth. But what do you do if you abort your child? Do you have to report that, too?

Oh the irony.

Abortion and Cannibalism

Warning: this post is about a very gruesome topic. I believe understanding the abortion industry and culture is important, but it's definitely not for everyone. I strongly caution you before reading on. 

I get daily email updates from many different pro-life news sources. I at least skim all of them, and if the title of an article catches my interest then I'll read the entire thing. Because of this I've found countless resources, beautiful testimonies, and encouraging updates about new abortion laws in place in North American and Europe. However, there is a downside.

I have also read countless horrifying articles. News reports from policemen going into abortion clinics that have never been inspected. Rusty instruments, patients' medical documents strewn around, no medical waste bins, blood-splattered freezers filled with jars of aborted babies. The worst, though, is the cannibalism.

Krishna Rajanna 

An abortionist named Krishna Rajanna was caught dumping medical records in a recycling bin. Being a "doctor," he should now that in his state, a patient's sensitive medical records must be kept by the doctor for ten years, then disposed of with a shredder or by burning them. When he was inspected, authorities found his abortion clinic was a horrendous mess. The chaos of his clinic lead to him (either accidentally or on purpose) eating a fetus, though I will spare you of the details. As I said at the beginning, understanding the abortion industry has its place, but there are horrifying details that are hard to get past. If you want to learn more, though, here are the two articles and the police report about him.

So there's one abortion doctor, but are there other connections between abortion and cannibalism? Recent reports show: yes.

China's infamous one-child policy leads to millions of abortions and infanticides each year in an attempt to cut down the population (by half? How can a country stand to lose half its population in one generation? But that's another post for another time). A pharmaceutical company learned how to profit on these millions of deaths. They found they can buy the cadavers of babies killed through infanticide or abortion, dehydrate them, make them into pills, then sell them pills as "stamina boosters." When people were caught smuggling them into South Korea, the pills were taken and tested for DNA.

They were 99.7% human.

More than 17,000 pills were found being smuggled from China to South Korea. How many more are there?

This is very troubling to me. Are there other connections between abortion and the horrendous practice of cannibalism? It makes sense, if life can be thrown away with a couple hundred dollars then what makes a deceased persons' body sacred? What should tell us to give any respect to the bodies of the dead? What's the difference between the meat of a human and that of a chicken or a pig or a cow?

This is why the fight for life is so important. We are so far from a culture of life, where every life is valued, respected, and been worthy of our protection. In a culture of life there is no abortion, no murder, no rape, no bullying, no selfishness. This is impossible for us to create because humanity is so broken and depraved. However, God already died for every sin, including abortion, infanticide, and cannibalism. He rose from the grave but left our sin there. He and only He can create a culture of life.

Teen Mother Choices International

I've been looking for an organization like this for a while. Teen Mother Choices International is taking Pro-Life to the next level. They come along side of the girls who choose life and help them in the most practical ways, such as finding them a mentor, taking them through life skills classes, paying for childcare so the young woman can go to school, and even helping them out with taxes. I love how Christa March, the founder of TMCInternational, explains it:

"It's not about glorifying teen motherhood. It's honoring those women who have chosen to give their children life. And saying that we're going to help you do whatever it takes to be independent so you don't need anyone--not the government, not a bad boyfriend." 

I'm sick of hearing people say that we should look down upon teen moms because they were irresponsible to get pregnant in the first place. We've all made bad decisions, and we all have to live with them. If we as the church don't help teen moms, then who will?

"'Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven--for she loved much. But he who is forgive little, loves little.' And He said to her, 'Your sins are forgiven.'" (Luke 7:47-48)

The teens who choose life for their child deserve respect and honor. They could have taken the easy way out with abortion, but instead they did the sacrificial thing, put their own lives on hold, and chose life. Choosing life is not a one time decision, it's a commitment to making that decision everyday. They are laying their lives down for another, isn't this the greatest kind of love we're told to emulate?

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) 

Stand With Teen Moms Day is on May 6, 2012, one week before mothers day, because teen moms became moms just a little earlier than most women. 

PepsiCo No Longer Using Aborted Fetal Cells

Whether you're pro-life, pro-choice, or undecided, this should still be good news.

PepsiCo, the makers of Pepsi, had been using aborted fetal cells to test their flavors. Besides the fact that it's using deceased human beings to make a soft drink taste right, it's a gross practice that should never have been allowed. (It reminds me of the Bodies Exhibit that is traveling around the U.S. At first it caused a lot of controversy because the bodies displayed in the exhibit may have come from Chinese prison labor camps.)

However, good news! PepsiCo announced that it will no longer be associated with Senomyx, the organization that used the aborted fetal cells. That means Pepsi, Gatorade, Quaker Oats, Tropicana, and Frito Lay are no longer tested on aborted babies.

Wreaking Havoc, One Misspelled Word at a Time

I just practiced my speech for tomorrow, and I realized just how frequently I mix up words like "contraception" and "conception," or "birth control" and "birth canal." I've been researching and writing about this for years, and I just now realize my book is probably filled with those mistakes? It's like a copy editor's nightmare. Oy vey.

Update: When I typed the title, I wrote "Type" instead of "time." Maybe it's just my fingers this week.

Grace

On Wednesday I give a 20 minute speech I've been working towards all semester on a paper I focused on all last semester. It's the capstone project of not only senior year, but of all of my papers and speeches in highschool. This is the worst possible week for me to get sick.

Last night one family member was up vomiting all night, another woke up with a cold so bad she cannot speak.

What a reminder that everything I do is because of God.

The One With Planned Parenthood and the NBA and Hitler and Some Other Stuff

Well guess what. After I thought I had finally gotten in the groove of keeping up with a blog, I fell right back out of said groove. I went to Florida for the week to go scuba diving followed by a week of spring break (meaning no school to procrastinate from, thus no motivation for blogging), then the final home stretch of senior year began when there's simply no time for procrastination. I graduate from high school in 28 days, which either means I'll hit another gold mine of blogging inspiration or you wont hear from me at all. I'm rather unpredictable. But for the moment, I chose procrastination over writing four papers and a speech.

In other news, be sure to check out my nifty little poll in the right side of the page (---> that way's right) and let me know what you think. I'm absolutely sure more consistent writing will help my blog out a bit, but for some reason I'm still incapable of that one. I'm working on it.

Also! Abortion news, cause there's been a lot. Here's the most interesting, exciting, resourceful, inspiring, and thought provoking bits of abortion news. And one completely unrelated and under-viewed Youtube video that will probably make your day. No, it will make your day.

Cecile Richards

Interesting. Time Magazine released their 2012 Top 100 Most Influential People in the World list, and again it included Planned Parenthood's CEO Cecile Richards. Of the 25 people in the list who received more negative votes than positive on Time's website, Richards' had the most negative votes by far. (45,395 for Richards' compared negative runner-up Mitt Romney with 14,003). Richards placed 84th this year and 69th last year. (Article)

Exciting. Mississippi might be the first state to become abortion-free due to new regulations for clinics. Abortion doctors are required to have hospital connections in case of emergency in the abortion surgery, something the remaining Mississippi abortion doctors do not have. Pro-choice activists are fighting this legislation, which I find very curious. Why are so-called women's rights activists fighting legislation that would save women's lives? Why not spend your time and effort protecting women from unsafe abortions?

Resourceful. In honor of Hitler's birthday yesterday, go watch this thought provoking 30-minute movie.

JaVale McGee 

Inspiring. Anyone remember the connection between Tim Tebow and abortion? His mother's doctor recommended an abortion during her high-risk pregnancy, but she refused. Thanks to her brave decision, one of the most popular NFL players is still alive and well today. A similar story came out about NBA's JaVale McGee. His mother was scheduled to have him aborted, but after she suddenly began to reconsider and an answered prayer from God, she canceled her appointment. Now he's playing for the NBA and rocking a sweet name with four capitalized letters, of which I am a bit jealous. (Read article here).

Thought Provoking. And finally, Planned Parenthood decided to follow along in the footsteps of the widely successful 40 Day's for Life campaign by creating 40 Days for Prayer for Abortion. The reactions regarding this have been very interesting. Is this religious freedom? Is it sacrilege? Is it mocking 40 Days for Life? Is Planned Parenthood intimidated by the Christian group? Should we be outraged? I would say this should encourage us to pray for those in the pro-abortion movement who view themselves as Christians. Pray that God will work on their hearts and open their eyes. (Here's the article).

Completely Unrelated. And finally, to leave you with a good laugh. This is really old and really, really under appreciated. "I patrol the whole Canadian border from Washington State to Maine...State." Enjoy.

I Want Your Input!

My blog seems to finally be getting some readership! I still feel like I'm just rambling on about nothing that anyone would want to read about, but blogger lets me see statistics of how many people view it each day. Either you really are an actual person who reads my blog, or blogger is trying to make me feel better about myself.

Because I want this blog to be less me rambling about anything on my mind and more me writing things that you enjoy, I want to get your opinions. I want to write things that you want to read!

In order to do that, I need to hear from you, so I've created a poll (on the right column, next to this post). What type of blog post do you enjoy the most? What type of post would you like to see more of? Such as:

• Bible stories told from my point of view. (Examples: "A Nabal Fable," "Lunchables") 
• My thoughts and applications of Scripture ("Sparkle or Osteoporosis," "Mark 2:1-2") 
• Stories about my life ("Breaking Things in Unconventional Ways") 
• Updates on my book writing ("Super Duper," "Chapter 1, Chapter 1, and...Another Chapter 1") 
• Pro-life resources, books, website, ect. (all October Baby posts, "Be My Vote," "Unashamed Narrow-Mindedness") 
• News, pro-life and otherwise ("Kony 2012," "Where Are the Feminists Now"
• Other (such as this one, this one, and this one) 

I'd also love to know how you read my blog. Do you see posts on facebook? Do you follow me on blogger? Do you get them through email by subscribing? What time of day do you read blogs? There's no poll for these questions, but I'd love to hear what you have to say in the comments.

Help me make this the best blog it can be!

This was a totally self serving post that requires reader participation. Yikes. I hope I don't ever do this again.

Breaking Things in Unconventional Ways

There are those people in your life who are always are getting hurt, or the ones who are super good at everything, or the ones who make a mean grilled cheese sandwich. I, however, am none of those people. I'm instead finding my own way: the kid who breaks things in unconventional ways.

It all started a few years ago when I was making something on the stove. I don't remember what, but whatever it was it boiled over and got the inside of the gas burner wet. It proceeded to make this obnoxious ticking noise for the rest of the day, so my very wise parents advised me to leave the burner on low until the moisture dried out.

Not ten minutes later, I smelled something odd and looked over to see much larger flames than that gas stove is capable of. After a split second of panic followed by another split second of confusion, I ran over to see what was going on. An odd shaped plastic thing was sitting directly on top of the burner in flames. I, being the brilliant young woman that I am, turned off the burner and somehow got the plastic thing to stop being on fire. Upon further inspection, I discovered the now pretty well melted plastic piece was the button you press to open the microwave. Evidently the heat from the burner being left on had melted the button on the microwave, which was mounted over the stove, enough for it to fall out and catch on fire.

Essentially, I melted the microwave.

To this day we've never fixed that button. We just use those thermometer covers to shove into the hole the button used to attach onto in order to open the microwave. It's still amusing when people come over and try to use our microwave but don't know about the cup full of thermometer covers on our counter. And it's embarrassing when I'm using someone else's microwave and I catch myself searching their countertops for thermometers.

The melting the microwave incident was a few years ago. The saga of Becca Breaking Things In Unconventional ways continued a few nights ago.

I was unloading the dishwasher, like my mother had told me, with a friend of mine. I was turning to put something in a cabinet and accidentally knocked over the jar of olive oil sitting next to stove. We were already making a ton of noise (but trying really hard not to), so when I didn't break I thought it was nothing. I stood the jar back up and continued putting things away. However, we both noticed a weird crackling noise coming from the stove. I looked closer at the stove and noticed a long crack in the glass. It was spreading. It was growing. It was cracking. And there was absolutely nothing we could do.

Well, I did say, "JONATHAN LOOK AT THAT!" followed by a quick and slightly panicked, "WHAT DO WE DO?!" and confused looks and astonishment and that sick feeling in your stomach after you break something expensive of your mothers.

Looks like the olive oil won this time.

We took everything off the stove because it was already beginning to sag and would probably cave in soon. Then came the heroic moment I'm most proud of: I remembered to unplug the stove! After the house fire incident of 2011 in which I alone saved the day by calling 911 (well, firemen also helped save the day), I knew that something bad might happen if the stove broke and there was electricity still running through that thing. Then I woke up my parents and they slightly freaked out. Being awakened by the panicked voice of your daughter saying, "Mom! Dad! You're needed downstairs! I knocked over the olive oil and it hit the stove and it broke! The olive oil is fine, the stove broke!" I'm sure is pretty stressful. They came down and my dad remembered to unplug the gas too (come on, I did my best) and they looked at how cool the cracks were then they went to bed. Then Jonathan and I finished the dishes and he left and I went to bed.

Then after sleeping for a little while I heard it start raining really hard, so I got out of bed to close my window. In the half asleep trek across my floor I stepped on a needle and it bent and I couldn't get it out of my foot so I had to wake my mom up again in a pain-stricken panic. It was traumatic. I was curled up in the fetal position on my bed whimpering and holding my bloody foot while my mom was standing in my door holding the needle she just pulled from my foot looking confused, because, after all, she had just woken up from a deep sleep for the second time in an hour. After a few seconds of this, I yelled, "Just throw it away!" She did, then walked back down the hall. Halfway there she decided she needed to mother me, so she came back and patted me on the head and mumbled something along the lines of, "it'll be okay" and left me to care for my wounds alone.

I never did close my window.

This habit can get pricey really fast, so I hope I stop breaking things. Or at least I hope my parents will still love me and continue to tell themselves, "at least it's funny."

Lunchable

A couple thousand years ago when the Roman Empire was pretty big and Jesus was in the middle of preaching and doing miracles, something really incredible happened to a lunchable, twelve homeless guys, a little boy, and five thousand people.

The coolest lunchable-eating kid I could find
on Google Images. Look at that hair!

Jesus wanted to get away from people for a little bit, so he hopped in a boat. Generally boats are a pretty sure-fire way to get away from someone who's bugging you. I mean, I've never tried it, but you're completely surrounded by water and you have their boat, what could go wrong? Well, something went wrong for Jesus. 5,000 people ended up finding Him. If you don't know anything about Jesus, you need to know He has a heart of gold. Instead of being annoyed with His 5,000 fans/semi-stalkers, He had compassion on them and spent the day preaching and healing them. (By the time the healing went down they were back on land, thankfully. That would be tricky business.) In the evening the disciples decided it was time for the crowd to go away and get their own dinner. Instead, Jesus said, "They need not go away; give them something to eat." The disciples knew there were a ton of people there and they themselves were broke and homeless, they certainly couldn't feed 5,000 hungry people. So they turned to their best option for the crisis at hand: the little kid and his lunchable. They brought him to Jesus. 

The boy had five barley loaves and two fish. First off, that's probably not enough food for two people, much less 5,000! Secondly, barley loaves sound kind of gross, and thirdly, I'm picturing the fish raw and having sat in the sun all day. I certainly hope I am wrong, because that would smell terrible and be so gross. All that aside, a couple of pieces of bread and some nasty smelly fish isn't enough for 5,000 people, plus 12 disciples, plus Jesus! But the disciples, always being helpful, brought the boy to Jesus anyways. He told them to make everybody sit down and watch the Master. (Literally, Jesus is the Master. He's God.) 

That's right: lembas bread. 

"Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to those who had been seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted" (11). Get this-- Jesus made a little boy's lunchable (which I'm still convinced sounds nasty) feed a few thousand people. It's like He made barley bread into lembas bread. All the people had to do was sit down and wait for Jesus to provide. All the disciples had to do was have faith that God can make the ridiculous happen. All the boy had to do...well, he didn't have much choice. I guess the disciples kind of stole his lunch. 

We hear all the time about how we need to be like the little boy, and give God the little that we have and let Him use it. I realized this week that this story is so much more than that. I am the disciples, going on wild goose chases because God says so without knowing or understanding His will behind it all. ("Write a book for teenagers about abortion while in high school? I have no credentials. No one would want to read it. Abortion is so controversial, my voice will be lost in the noise. It wont go anywhere." Nobody would have been fed if the disciples had listened to thoughts like these. Just do the little God tells you to, having faith that it'll fit into His master plan, which is incredible.) I am the five loaves and two fish--kinda gross, really smelly, but God will break me and make me into something He can use. Who am I to hold back anything? I can be a smelly lunchable or a feast enough for 5,000. I am also the 5,000, just sitting back and waiting to receive God's gift without ever considering the price that was paid for it or the power it required. 

"And when they had eaten their fill, He told His disciples, 'Gather up leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.' So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten" (12-13). When God provides, He doesn't provide just enough. He provides an incredible abundance.

Bonus round: when searching for a picture of lembas bread, I found a recipe. I love the internet and the nerdy people who inhabit it. And while finding the lunchable kid I discovered that pocket espresso exists. I'd say this was a successful blog post. 

October Baby: Gianna Jessen

Meanwhile, while everyone else in the world is talking about the Hunger Games and March Madness...

Here's another episode of Why You Should Go See October Baby! When director Jon Erwin heard Gianna Jessen speak, he was stunned by the fact that some children survive abortion. As he thought about it he began writing script, a script that eventually turned into what is now October Baby.

Because I just can't get enough of Gianna:

If you haven't heard of Gianna Jessen, youtube some of her speeches--specifically the one in Australia. Her story is so beautiful and stunning, she really lives out what it means to talk about abortion with truth and respect.

Her song played in the first video, Ocean Floor, is available on iTunes, and the film October Baby is in theaters now.

It's important to go see October Baby as soon as possible, preferably this weekend, because if they don't do well the first weekend they wont stay in theaters long. So go! Go twice! Go seven times! You'll probably see me there.

You can see more preview videos and buy tickets here. 

October Baby: Shari Rigby

March 23, October Baby comes to theaters! This is me trying to more thoroughly convince you to go see it. It's definitely worth the time and money. I love this clip; Ms Rigby is beautiful and so vulnerable, and God is using her to reach so many people in her situation!

Speaking the truth about abortion while being respectful to those effected by it is a major challenge, but October Baby does it perfectly. It's definitely a must-see.

Grammar Matters, People

When people type like THIS and like this it makes me feel as though I am being PUNCHED REPEATEDLY in ThE fAcE!

Seriously.

October Baby: March 23!

The hardest part about pro-life work is treating it correctly. On one hand, abortion violently kills an innocent child. Meanwhile, the people in abortion clinics as employees and as scared girls who feel they have no other option are real people who really exist, not baby killing monsters. At the same time, countless women suffer silently from the pain of a past abortion or abortions. When educating people about abortion, what should our attitude be? Do we treat abortion like a genocide, like the holocaust? Do we speak about it sensitively and avoid talking about the baby all together as not to hurt a woman who has had an abortion? There are so many examples of people and organizations and articles (probably some of my own) veering too far on one side or the other.

On March 23 a movie called October Baby is coming to theaters. When I first heard of the movie a few months ago I was incredibly skeptical. I tend to be wary of Christian movies, music, and art in general. While it's certainly not always true, there is a lot of poor Christian art out there. However, when I had to privilege of seeing a prescreening of October Baby a few weeks ago all of those thoughts vanished. October Baby is a beautiful piece of art that tells a beautiful and heart wrenching story of very real characters. It's a stunning and quality movie with a strong Christian message. It's a movie about abortion, but it's doesn't feel like a movie about abortion. It's a story about people effected by abortion. It shows the abounding forgiveness and love of God after abortion, but it shows the pain it takes to get there. This film shows that abortion is murder, but it does so in the most stunning way I have ever seen.

On March 23 it comes to theaters, and I strongly recommend seeing it. See it twice! See it seven times! If it doesn't do well the first weekend it will leave theaters quickly, but this movie deserves being in theaters for a while. People need to see it.

I get so discouraged watching movies and TV shows that tear you down. While they're entertaining, they portray life so negatively. This movie, however, is absolutely beautiful while it shows that life has value and is worth living. It's honestly the only movie I can think of that has this message, a message the world is aching to hear!