This election season, I am tired of hearing...

.. it's a womans body, she should have the right to do as she wishes about her reproductive organs. I am not talking about your reproductive organs when I say I am Pro-life (anti-choice, as planned parenthood refers to it). Remove them if you wish, That's your right, take a birth CONTROL pill, that's your right, abstain, that's your right. I will stand by my belief, however, that what an abortion does is end another life. It isn't your life that's removed after all, but that of another. Do not say it's a part of me, therefore it IS me and I can remove it as an appandage.


¶ Funny thing is, most pro choice abortion programs will try to use the Christian or religious definition of a soul to define when life begins. I don't think any scientist would deny that a human life begins when it has the ability to replicate it's cells, multiplying and growing. After 21 days, it's heart is pumping blood of it's own unique blood type, completely separate than that of the babies mother. All organs are in place soon thereafter. How much more "alive" can you get? Do not use God to define a life, then deny God has the right to create a life.

¶Then there is the standard, "If I were raped..." Less than 2 percent of abortions are done due to rape. Furthermore, there have been studies stating that victims of rape that chose to keep their babies actually fare better mentally because something good came out of a horrible situation. This isn't to say that I would EVER want to make that decision, nor do I think that abortion should be completely taken off the table completely. The problem is, if you only let rape victims have an abortion, then everyone becomes rape victims and innocent men will be sent to prison, therefore everyone should be able to have one.

¶The truth is, 90 percent of abortions are done as a lifestyle choice, meaning that the mom had sex, got pregnant, but did not want to BE pregnant. 1 in 4 pregnancy's end in abortion. That is 1.5 million abortions in the united states annually, only 20% of which are under 20, So stop blaming it on the teenagers. 47% are repeat abortions. Why, when birth control is so easy to obtain, are there so many women having lifestyle choice abortions?

¶ I know that abortion may have a place in our society, just don't try to define away what it is. Maybe it should be left of the table for those extreme and horrible situations. I wouldn't wish that decision on anyone and I do not condemn any woman who has made that decision. However it should, never, ever be of no consequence.

¶ What some pro choice advocates want in regards to expanding abortion: Abortions available to ANY age without parental consent. Is (or was) legal in 14 states Late term abortions as far as into the early 3rd trimester.

¶This is a good article link on the subject if you're interested. www.prolifephysicians.org

For a long time, I always assumed that it was a small problem, within a womans rights to make a responsible decision. When I started learning what the procedure involves, how many are being done, and the lengths that planned parenthood and similar organizations go to in order to continue the expansion, I became ashamed of not knowing what I thought I knew.

What upsets me the most is the attempt to devalue the mother and child bond during pregnancy. I knew within days, that I was pregnant both times. It drove my doctor crazy that I came in so quickly. They were people and my job was to grow them until they were ready to come into the world. To say they were not of value until they breathed their first breath is an insult to them, to me and to God. Planned parenthood gets infuriated when people bring up Scott and Lacey Peterson. They did not want to see him convicted of two murders because it undermined their claim that it was a fetus and not a baby. I could go on and on...

They are also adamant that a girl as young as thirteen should have an abortion without parental consent. What kind of world do we live in that a girl cannot get her ears pierced without consent, but abortion is ok? The important thing is to keep an open dialog and to understand the issue.

Our Lucky Number 13 Anniversary

It will be thirteen years since we promised to Love, Honor and Cherish (Obey, Hah). There has been sickness and health, richer and poorer , but through it all, I love him more now than ever.

Just this week, with my moms memorial, I realize how much Joe does for our little family. He has been my rock through the years and this week was no exception. He arranged my moms roses when I didn't have the strength to face the task. They were perfection, honoring mom and in turn honoring the relationship that she had with Joe. There was so much that he has done to help me get through her passing that I can't begin to write them all.

I have been flipping through all the letters that he has written over the years, to me, to our boys, and I am amazed at the depth of my feeling for him as I see the love he has for us. How is it that he can be so forgiving when I'm not on my best behavior? How can he look past my many flaws as if I were flawless?

He is also an amazing daddy to our two little men, teaching them all that they need to know as they grow in his image. Teaching them love , respect, and the importance of hard work, yet the value of family time.

I am quite lucky to have him as my partner. Walking beside me through all that life may throw at us.

I have what is known as Mommy Brain

I've discovered something about being a mom. There have been studies that make what I'm about to say fact. The official terminology is "Mommy Brain"

My I.Q. has always been a respectable 135-140. I know because, every few years, I've taken one, starting when I was in School. After having Matthew, I took one online and discovered it had dropped to 132. Disapponting, but I could live with it. I don't know why it's always been so important to me, but it has.

Daniel is now one and I've been feeling a bit out of sorts lately. Slower and more confused. The back of a cereal box has become quantum physics. I decided to get back online and take another I.Q. test. Three I.Q tests later and my suspicions were confirmed! It is now 110! That is 22 points, shocking isn't it! I've read that "Mommy Brain" is caused by learning all the new skills needed for raising a child. Changing them, feeding them, keeping them from sticking a cheerio up their nose. Is there really not enough room in my brain for this without thowing out what's already in there? I've realized that if I continue having children, before long, I will be "The Missing Link"

So Joe and I decided to go to Matagorda Bay this weekend to try a new park out and because we haven't been camping in weeks. We left on Friday knowing that storms were rolling into the Houston area, but we weren't too concerned because Radar the Weather Dog, said that the storms would stay well north of Matagorda. We do check these things out before we just drive off onto the sunset. We get there and set up camp, having a lovely Friday afternoon.

We got to bed around 10:00 and wake up around 3:00 am to the wind blowing pretty swiftly over the bay. If you have ever slept in a tent during a storm, then you understand what sleeping in our type of camper is like. It seems much bigger than it usually is. We have been through it all before, so we weren't too alarmed. As I'm drifting back into dreamland around 5:30, I hear Joe saying that it must be clearing up. I make some comment about it being the calm before the storm and fall asleep. I wake up around seven to the wind shaking the camper and notice that Joe is gone.

Daniel is awake by this time, so I get up to make his bottle. I look out the window and simultaneously turn on the TV. I notice the funny looking green sky in the horizon and look to the right of it and notice.... A waterspout blowing over the marsh behind us! Then I hear that Stupid Weather Dog on TV talking about the tornado sheer markers that have jut been spotted off of Matagorda Bay. The camper is shaking so badly that the beds are popping up. I try to open the front door, which at a point, is ripped out of my hand and slammed against the camper. Panic mode sets in.

Where is your daddy? I ask Daniel as he looks at me without an answer. I have this picture in my mind, of Joe being blown off the pier (holding his fishing pole of course) and swept out into the Gulf. Nobody is there to save him because nobody else would leave their camper in a storm like this. No sign of Joe anywhere, not on the pier or the beach. I go between daydreaming about how smart my Next Husband will be, to wondering how I'm going to manage to get both boys to the Suburban which has now become the safest place to be during a Tornado. I pick up Daniel to take him and buckle him in, Then I notice Joe walking down the river bank, hunched over from the wind, pulling the.........

....Kayak! Never in all my imaging's did I see him taking the Kayak out in what I remembered as a pretty good storm during our nighttime conversation. By then, I notice that the Tornado filled storm clouds have passed just to the west of us. In the meantime, My kayak has just sailed about 20 feet from its home on the top of the suburban.

Turns out he decided to go kayaking because it looked liked it had all passed over. Now, about this park, It is at the end of the Colorado River where it slams into the Gulf of Mexico. The kayaking in the river is pretty tame, unless there are forty mile an hours winds pushing you into the breaking waves of the Gulf. Joe says he's paddling along, (without a care in the world) when he notices that the air temp drops about 30 degrees cooler from the north wind (mixing with the warm south air=tornadoes!) . He also notices some other fools paddling really quickly (upstream, mind you) back to the shore. Cowards, he thinks, as he turns around and sees the same green, tornado filled sky about the same time I did. Then, and only then, mind you, he decides he should head back in. HMMM. Luckily, it isn't that far back to camp, but he was fighting the current And the wind, so it was quite a paddle. He paddled to the nearest shore and pulled it all the way back to camp. I am sure he was debating on whether to battle it out with the tornadoes when he saw the look on my face.

This, my friends, is why I believe in God. The rest of the weekend turned out beautifully. The mosquitos were really bad, but that is another story. Oh, where is Matt in all of this, you ask? In bed, asleep, the whole time. He wakes up and hears the rain gently pattering on top of the bed and says..... "It sounds like a storm outside."

Camping anyone?

Men

Joe's back hurts. When I was sick, the dishes didn't get done for three days. Now, he can't change a diaper. After Joe helped clean the house a few days ago, (when we were expecting company, his family) when I still wasn't quite well, he says "You're welcome for the cleaning the house, Har, Har." Don't get me wrong, I know what it feels like to want help when you're sick. Thats the point.
The weird thing is, he is usually very helpful, but for some reason, whenever I'm sick, suddenly, he needs to take a load off, have a nap, take a break, play video games. etc.
Now, his back hurts.

K

08