Not again....and again....and again...

Everytime I read it, it feels like the first time....well almost. I think the first time I heard of such a thing it didn't register - you know "She did what?". I still feel shock and disbelief but I am just much more aware of its existance. It still doesn't make sense to me - with all the laws to protect these women, why wouldn't they take advantage of it? So here I sit, with Cali peacefully sleeping across my lap, as I read the news: "Baby born in UA dorm gasping for air"

I just don't understand. I can't fathom it. But it happens - everyday.

I wish I could just hold that little guy and love on him -

how Jesus' heart must break for these children....

I won my first drawing!

I entered a drawing on http://forevernevernalways1.blogspot.com/ to win a t-shirt as part of a fund raiser to help Gwen and her family bring home their son and daughter from Africa! Please check out her blog: http://oatsvallteam.blogspot.com/and donate what you can to help bring these kids home to their mom and dad!

Also please keep this family in your prayers -

"On Monday their daughter Maggie underwent her 1st of 3 surgeries on her scalp/skull to extend it and what I believe is to give room for her brain."

This little girl is a fighter but she needs to be brought before Jesus.

I made a badge!

So I was messing around and made a blog badge :) Here it is! Now can someone show me how to make it link etc! Ahhhhh! I have tried three tutorials and they don't work! HELP!

Look how big they are!

My babies are growing....fast.... they bring such joy to our lives!

Abby's Journey - its a tough place to be - but we are bringing them to Jesus - He is the great healer....

We're heading to California!

Soooo... I am extremely excited about our vacation to California this March! This will be our first big trip with all four of us and I am just soooooo excited!!! This will be the first time that my family out there will see little Cali which is exciting - and my cousin had a baby in January so we will get to see him! We will be in San Diego a few days and spend some time there visiting a friend, going to the beach and hopefully we will be seeing Kyle's cousin preform at the Marine base (he is in the band)! We will also be visiting family in 29 Palms for a couple days which will be a nice time to catch up and visit. I am hoping that at some point we will be able to make it to the San Diego Zoo! I went several years ago with my family and it was huge! Kinsey just LOVES animals so it will be a fun day :)

Another part of the trip we will be (hopefully) visiting Kinsey's first family! I am sending out a letter today to let them know that we will be there and to see if they want to meet up! They have only seen her in person twice - once at 3 days old, and once at 7 months - so I think it will be really neat for them to see how much she has grown! They have seen her in pictures and things - but in person she acts like such a "big girl". You has especially been acting bigger now that she is a big sister! She just wants to help with Cali and make her smile, so I am excited for them to see her love on baby sister.

Something else I am excited about is my double stroller! YAY!!!! Seriously - I am just so excited to finally get to use it! I found out on SouthWest Airlines that strollers are free to bring along! I had considered buying one once we got out there on ebay or something but now I can bring ours!! It looks like I will have to buy a car seat for Kinsey once we get out there because the car rental place "rents" them but its for 9 bucks a day! Give me a break! We are bringing Cali's along with us but I think it will be more of a pain to bring Kinsey's along too - and if I can get one for 20 bucks online then I may just go for that.

I am just sooooooo excited about this trip!!! We are staying in my aunt and uncle's guest house for the majority of the week which will be great! I have only seen them once since Kinsey was born so it will be sooo nice to spend the week with them. They had us stay with them when we went out to get Kinsey when she was born and we just enjoy being around them. :)

Two weeks ago he said it was in the 80's!
They have a pool too so maybe the girls will get to go swimming!

Anyway..... I am excited. VERY. VERY. VERY. Excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A nice weekend

Well we had a great weekend and got to spend some time with my side of our family. It was pretty packed - homecoming at my very small Christian high school, three basketball games on Saturday, a birthday party, a Valentine's Banquet, church and some visiting with other relatives. :) All in all it was a nice time to spend with everyone and see them with our babies. It's always nice to see our families with our kids.... I think there is something special about seeing our parents love and adore our children - and our kiddos love it as well :) My sister and brother (7 & 9 years old) were especially excited to show off their nieces to all their friends at the homecoming game and their birthday parties. They love to show other kids their pictures and tell them that they are an aunt/uncle. Its adorable. Kinsey loved having 10 little girls chasing her around and wanting to play with her. I was the oldest high school graduated at the homecoming which was a bummer because I had hoped to chat with some friends I don't typically see since we live about an hour and a half away - two hours away. I did get to say some short "hello"'s to a couple people, which was nice. Its been 8 years since I graduated, I can't believe its been that long - but it also feels like another lifetime. Funny how that happens.


Sunday we went to church, had lunch with my family and it was nice enough to spend some time outside. My brothers love to lower the basket a little bit and practice dunking. Last summer there were several dunk contests as they lowered the basket to 9 feet. Its hard to believe but my little brother Jacob who is just 14 years old, can now dunk on the 9 foot rim. Justin (who is 9) can't dunk but he likes his picture taken as he does a jump shot. I enjoy taking pictures of them as they do these fun things :) During the summer my other two brothers loved to participate in the "dunk contest" and get fun pictures taken of them too - and they are 21 and 23 :) I have a feeling once the summer gets nice and they come home from school there will be another one. Especially now that "little" brother Jacob is growing :)

Jacob in mid air :)

Empty me
Of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition
And the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord empty me of me
So i can be
Filled with you

Its bath time :)

Bath time with baby!

Finally Something Happy :) !

I thought I should post something that will make everyone smile instead of the depressing things I have been thinking about lately! There is so much joy around me - my girls - so I want to talk about them :) Kinsey is learning more words all the time and its so fun to hear her jabber away. Especially when she is trying to tell you something. Veggie Tales are her absolute FAVORITE - we have the CD playing alot...Veggie Tales: Sunday School Songs! She is so cute as she sings along with the CD. She also doesn't call it Veggie Tales but "Bobby" instead. The CD is great, I enjoy singing along with her as we listen. She holds up that tiny little index finger when "This Little Light of Mine" comes on and says "No, NO" when the "...don't let Satan blow it out" is said.... she likes to blow at her finger too :)

Cali is just growing, growing, growing!!!!
She is at 15 lbs now and is 3 months old! She is a chatter box like Kinsey & I so in the next couple years poor Kyle won't be able to get a word in edge wise. I know we will have lots of fun having girl talk.... I hope haha :) Cali's hair is curley which is super cute :) She absolutely loves to smile. Her favorite thing isn't a thing at all - but Kinsey! Kinsey is just so good with her! She enjoys pushing Cali on the swing or reading her a book or talking to her. Cali just lights up and smiles when Kinsey does anything. Its adorable!

Now.... here are my girls!


This video is Kinsey pushing Cali and singing to her...
she stops after she realizes that I am watching :)

Cali at 3 months old :)

Kinsey loves to get tickled!
I love her pig tails :)

Baby G

There is a little guy I'll call baby G who could use some prayers right now. I can't give all the details (hopefully I will be able to soon) but if you could keep him in your thoughts and prayers, as some big decisions will be made regarding him soon. Pray for wisdom for those who will be choosing the direction his life will go. Also for the family who is looking after him now. Pray for all the parties involved. Its in God's hands and we know he will provide.

Try to imagine....

A woman is in labor - delievering her first born - a baby girl. The baby is beautiful! She has dark blue eyes and perfect little toes. She has her mommy's smile and her daddy's nose. The doctor gives the mother a drug so she will dilate and go into labor....and she does. The doctor uses forceps to grab the baby by the feet and pull her down the birth canal. The doctor pulls her perfectly formed body out of her mother - all of her body except for her head. He takes a sharp object and shoves it into the back of the little girl's head. He takes out the object, inserts a vacuum and takes out the baby's brain. The little girl's lifeless body is then delievered. This happens here - in this great country. If you are outraged - you should be. This type of delievery is called partial birth abortion. This kind of delievery is performed after 20 weeks of pregnancy until . This type of procedure was banned in 2003 but our current President will soon inact a law that will once again allow this to happen all over our country.

Here is my daughter Cali.

She is just minutes old after she was removed from my body... You cannot convince me that an hour before this photo was taken

that my daughter was not a baby - a child - a person.

At five months old the "fetus" looks just like a little baby you could

see in a nursery with little toes, fingers, eyes, eye brows....

As I uploaded the picture of this child

who is just 5 months old in the womb

my 21 month old daughter Kinsey pointed and said

"Baby, Baby!" when she saw this picture...

if only others could see what she sees....

"Out of the mouth of babes" :)

Partial Birth Abortion been banned in the United States since 2003, however, President Barack Obama has promised to sign

"The Freedom of Choice Act"

which would soon allow women to have Partial Birth Abortions.

Please join me by fighting against the Freedom of Choice Act.
Click here!

I am "Pro-Life" except for when....

And before you get your gloves out to fight me - this isn't me trying to convince you that I am right and you are wrong. I don't want to get into this whole Pro-life/Pro-choice debate. I think science has pretty much proven that the egg and sperm put together creates a life so .... lets move on and let me say what I have to say....

I don't think about this constantly - but when the topic of abortion comes up, its hard not to. And with Obama pushing abortion as much as he has been - its hard to not hear about it at every turn.

I am sure you have heard this before... I know that I have. Maybe you've even said it yourself... I doesn't really make sense to me but let me fill in the blank if you don't know where I am going with this - "I am prolife except for when the the baby is conceived through rape or incest." Many "pro-lifers" stick by this - maybe they believe it shows "compassion". I don't really see how - can't we still be compassionate while still valuing life, despite how it was "created"?

"I am prolife except for when the the baby is conceived through rape or incest." If you believe this statement is true then you devalue the life of my baby. I don't understand it - why is my daughter's life any less valuable because of how she was conceived? Why is her life not worth fighting for? I feel anger when I think about it. I feel anger that evokes strong emotion. I feel helpless - so I cry. It's like you're trying to tell me that babies are pure and helpless and worth saving - except... except mine is not.

Guess what? My daughter is valuable, and she is beautiful, and Jesus created her. He knew how she would be conceived and he loved her anyway - He has a plan for her. He also saw what her first mom went through - and wept. He wept for the loss of her innocence. We don't have to "choose" between mother and baby - we can choose both.

You may be interested to hear from people who experience this directly - adults conceived in rape and those who have been raped but chose life:

http://www.rebeccakiessling.com/Othersconceivedinrape.html

Look at my daughter and try to think of a reason she isn't as valuable....

She loves to be tickled :)

I eat my words as I hold my baby...

I had talked in a previous post about the woman who had eight babies in addition to the six she already had. While I stick by the fact that she should not have aborted any of her babies - I question the wisdom of the fertility doctors who allowed this happen. Now while some - very few - families may be able to pull off this kind of family, I don't this is typically a good idea.

This woman has been described as "obsessed" with having kids by her own mother.

I think the issue is that this woman is 1. a single woman, 2. She already had 6 children that her parents were predominantly taking care of, 3. She used IVF for ALL 14 CHILDREN! Yep, she used a sperm donor for all her kids.

While I don't think what a person makes (financially) should play a role in becoming a parent - I question this woman's ability to provide for her children, afford all the special needs her children will have, and pay for these pregnancies / the IVF. The woman had told a friend that she was being "paid for it". This makes me think that there HAS to be something more to this story that we are not being told.

It seems to me that her motives are selfish for having children.

Anyway, I wanted to say that while each of her children's lives are valuable - it was incredibly irresponsible on her part and her fertility doctor's part.