Pro-Life Victory!

It was a wonderful day yesterday in the pro-life world. This is a HUGE victory!!! Many thanks to Mike for posting this, as I stole it from him.

Check this is out:
Indiana Right to Life is applauding Governor Mitch Daniels for signing into law today the most sweeping pro-life initiatives in Indiana since the Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand with the Roe vs. Wade and Doe vs. Bolton decisions in 1973.

HEA 1210 contains provisions to end all state-directed funding for businesses that do abortions, to establish Indiana's compelling interest in protecting pain-capable unborn children beginning at 20 weeks, to opt-out of abortion coverage in any state health exchanges required under the new federal health law, to require that women considering abortion be given full, factual information in writing, and to require doctors who do abortions, or their designees, to maintain local hospital admitting privileges in order to streamline access to emergency care for women injured by abortion.

"This legislation places Indiana on the vanguard of efforts to protect the unborn, to deny public funds to businesses that profit from abortion, and to ensure that women considering abortion have full and factual information about such issues as fetal development and alternatives to abortion," states Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter. "Governor Daniels has now established Indiana as one of the leading pro-life states in the nation."

Fichter also called Planned Parenthood of Indiana's move to secure an injunction against the defunding provision a delay tactic to keep public funding flowing as long as possible. "We are confident that Indiana will successfully defend this new law and that abortion businesses will be denied access to all state-directed public funds."

"Planned Parenthood Aids Pimp's Underage Sex Ring"

Memorable Moments Captured On Film From My Trip

I am happy to say that I have recovered my photos. It was by accident, but I have them back... From top to bottom...

The first picture is of my sister, my great friend, and myself. We grew up together and so our friend is like a brother to us. Can you say family photo time???

The second photo is just one of the many shots I took of the crowd at the March. Being so short I could not get a great one, but this one was pretty good.

The third one is of my sister and I and two friends who came along with us on the trip... They are seminariens. I happened to be in the car with them for the trip to d.c. and home. Good times. :)

The forth one is of me and my friend. We stayed at her family's home. I was so happy to be able to see her and spend some time with her. I missed her a great deal. She is planning on becoming a nun as soon as she pays her school debts off. :)

The fifth one basically shows our view from where we were sitting for the Vigil Mass at the Basillica.. They were really great seats. :)

The sixth one is of Newt Gingrich! After I took his picture he waved at me. It was kinda cool.

The seventh one is of my sister and our two good friends while we were saving our seats for our group. They are sisters too. :)

The eighth one is of the view from behind where we were sitting for Mass at the National Basillica...And that is not counting all the people sitting in the adjoining chapels and to the sides of us....10,000 people were there for this Mass.

The ninth one is my personal favorite moment I captured on film. Among the craziness in the basillica, my sister and I passed by this chapel. It was the only one with just one person in it. It was a holy moment... I had to get it on film. It was too touching not too. I have no clue who the man is that was praying....

The bottom one is of the National Basillica. Both my younger sister and I said we felt like we were at home as soon as we walked up to this place. We have been there so many times now that we know where to find everything. It was nice to know that the place that made me feel like home is the Catholic church.

“A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles”

I know I have been M.I.A. for sometime now. I have been incredibly busy with preparing for my March for Life trip and then being away for it that I have not had much free time to blog. In fact, I just got home a little while ago and am very tired, which is why this entry will be pretty short. I am only going to list the highlights from my trip and then later on I will come back and go into more detail because there is a lot to say.

My Favorite Moments From The Trip

The road trip to and from with one of my very best friends, Mike Keucher, and another new friend John Kimwando. We had way too many good laughs and conversations that I cannot go into detail here, but they helped make a great beginning and ending to this pilgrimage. :)

Seeing my good friend Jess and spending time with her and her family. They were kind enough to open their home to twelve energetic and fun people and I am very grateful for that. It is because of this fact I was really able to attend the March at all.

Sightseeing around d.c. Sunday afternoon was great times with the whole group.

Attempting to play "pretend" with some friends while looking at the air and space museum.

Going to the National Basillica in d.c. for the vigil Mass.

While at the National Basillica part of my group ended up with AMAZING seats. We could see everything. It was wonderful. I guess after four times, by the fifth you kinda know exactly how it works.

Being able to take a picture of Newt Gingrich, who sat just a few rows behind us. He even waved at me and posed for the picture. :)

Ending up sitting across from a group of people during the vigil Mass who know my friend Liz. She was supposed to come with our group, but changed her mind. Anyway as I figured out these people knew her she was on the phone with one of them at that exact moment. I got to talk to her on their cell phone. It was really cool how it happened.

Apparently my mom told me I ended up being on E.W.T.N. as I was walking away from receiving communion. I have never been on t.v. or in the newspaper before, so that was kind of cool too.

After Mass we went on the metro and most of the group on our car broke out singing in Latin. Only with a large group of Catholic people would that EVER happen.

The March itself was HUGE!!!! We ended up being towards the very back of the line so we stood there for hours and hours before we actually began to move.

While waiting to march I had a lot of fun with my sister having staring contests and playing 20 questions. It was some fun sister bonding... I had fun with my other group members, but I enjoyed hanging-out with her the most at that time. :)

After the march my "car" group ended up going separate ways and walked and walked and walked and walked to find a less crowded metro station. Got my work-out in. :)

Eating dinner with my friend's family while enjoying a couple of beers. It was good times.

Enjoying spending time with the WHOLE group after dinner laughing in the living room. Some of us played euchre, some of us were messing on our phones, some of us were getting back masages, some of us were doing homework ... but we were all enjoying each other's company. That was my favorite part of the trip.

I would have loved to post pictures of a lot of these things, but sadly and strangely somehow they got deleted. I really am not sure how it happened, but it was kind of sad. It happens though, and I am sure I will find pictures from other members in the group, so all is not lost. :)

And now I am going to go relax a bit. Even though this may seem like a long post, really it is not long at all. I will be posting more, as I said earlier. :)

The title of this post best says how I feel about my trip... "A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles."

Parents Let Public Vote About Whether They Should Keep Their Child Or Abort...

This just makes me sick to my stomach.... This story made the news tonight. I am appalled about this. The fact that they won't even think about adoption as another option is the most selfish thing I have heard, and yet people here in America have had abortions over giving up their child for adoption more than I care to think about. Their reasoning is just selfish..."If I am not going to have this baby, no one else is going to take care of it either." It is depressing to watch this happen.... This is another reason why we must keep praying and fighting for an end to abortion.

Couple Creates Web Site Poll: Should We Have an Abortion?

News by Mark Berman Opposing Views
(7 Hours Ago) in Technology / Internet

A Minneapolis couple is struggling with the decision of whether or not to have an abortion. But instead of deciding for themselves on what is right, they set up a Web site to let the public vote on this life-altering decision.

Pete and Alisha Arnold said they launched www.birthornot.com because they are "unsure" if they want to have their first child.

Alisha is now 17 weeks pregnant and people have until December 7 to cast their vote. That's two days before the 20-week cut-off line for a legal abortion in Minnesota.

The couple said the vote will "influence their decision heavily." The latest results show an overwhelming 78% voting to keep the baby, with 22% voting for an abortion with more than 16,000 votes tallied.

Alisha writes on her blog:

I'm not convinced that I want to change the status quo. I feel that as I age I've actually gotten more selfish and set in my ways. I'm afraid that I will eventually regret starting a family and 'settling down.' I fear that the constant pressure to be the perfect wife and mother while maintaining a full-time job will eventually cause my brain to implode and lead to a nervous breakdown.

They say their poll is uniquely American, writing:

Voting is such an integral part of the American identity. We vote on everything from the best singer on American Idol to who the next leader of the free world will be. Wouldn't it be nice to voice your opinion and have it actually make a difference in the real world? Why not vote on whether to continue or abort an actual pregnancy?

The couple is denying claims that this is some sort of a pro-life publicity stunt. They told Gawker, "We are taking this very seriously. It's definitely not a pro-life campaign, we believe in a woman's right to choose.

One visitor to the site posted a comment that perhaps said it best:

If you're dumb enough to let random strangers on the internet decide the fate of your family, then you are certainly not mature enough to be parents. You need professional help.

Fighting To Keep Childhood Innocence

This past week it seems as though the majority of the conversations I have held with my friends have all at one point or another focused mainly on sex. What I mean by that is we have discussed how sad it is that the kids nowadays are becoming sexually mature at an early age. Just this evening one of my friends was telling me how an eleven year old she knew of in her hometown had become pregnant. Eleven years old. It completely shocked me. Thinking back to age eleven I was just beginning to kind of notice boys. Sex completely grossed me out. Most of my friends have all agreed with this being how it was for them as well. It seems to me that children are growing up way earlier than they need to.

I became even more curious about how serious this may be down the road for the future of these kids. Apparently in one public middle school they handed out a sex survey which was very detailed. You are welcome to read more about that if you click here. I am very saddened to hear that such a detailed sex survey is being handed to seventh graders. I am not a parent, but I am pretty sure if I was a parent of a child at that school I would be furious. There is a study that has been going on with this age group which you can read about by looking here. Obviously there is a huge factor in this study which I do not agree with, and that is pushing more condoms into Middle schools. I do not think that will fix this issue... In fact that just tells them that having sex that young is ok.

Here are some more facts I have found:

Nearly half (46%) of all 15–19-year-olds in the United States have had sex at least once.

By age 15, only 13% of never-married teens have ever had sex. However, by the time they reach age 19, seven in 10 never-married teens have engaged in sexual intercourse.

Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia explicitly allow all minors to consent to contraceptive services without a parent's involvement (as of January 2010). Two states (Texas and Utah) require parental consent for contraceptive services in state-funded family planning programs

Of the 18.9 million new cases of STIs each year, 9.1 million (48%) occur among 15–24-year-olds.

Although 15–24-year-olds represent only one-quarter of the sexually active population, they account for nearly half of all new STIs each year

Each year, almost 750,000 women aged 15–19 become pregnant.

Ten percent of all U.S. births are to teens

1 out of 5 people will have an std withing the next few years.

These are only a few statistics and if I had more time tonight to really look for more I would. This is enough for me to read and know something is not working right when it comes to our kids.

Sometimes I wish I was born in a different century when everyone cared strongly about their reputations and how other people viewed them. Sex was supposed to be for marriage, as it should be today. All I can keep doing is working on being the best role model I can for the kids I am around. I want to be held accountable because I do know I have quite a few people who do look up to me. With lots of prayer and focus on my goal I am pretty sure I will not go wrong. I know, that is much easier said than done.

"Smile! Your mother chose life!" :)

It is fair week here in my home county. Fair time is usually the signal that Summer is quickly coming to an end. One of the last big "hurrah's" before school goes back into session and such. See friends you have not seen in awhile by happening to run into them. It is time to forget about dieting to enjoy to incredibly unhealthy, but delicious fried fool... deep fried oreo's, deep fried pickles, deep fried snicker bars, fried pork tenderloin sandwiches, ice cream, corn on the cob, funnel cakes, elephant ears, kettle corn... the list goes on and on. I enjoy hanging out with the different animals, more specifically the billy goats and horses. Waiting at least twenty minutes or so to ride the best rides on bracelet nights. Going around for freebies at the many different booths. Fair time is easily a highlight for me every Summer.

This year I also helped out with our Knight's of Columbus Pro-life booth. At first since no one was sitting there with me I thought I would become bored fast. I realized though that by sitting there looking bored people walking by were less likely to check out the booth. I then began to ask people if they wanted free tootsie rolls instead of just waiting for people to come up and by them. I found most people donated a lot more that way. I sold at least ten of our bumper stickers and a few other little things we had at the table.

There was one man in particular I remember the most from my time working at the booth. He was easily sixty something years old. He came up to my booth with his grandnephew and after they both looked at the booth for about five or six minutes the proceeded to donate their money. We were selling these bumper stickers that say, "Smile! Your mother chose life!" The older man saw them and bought me out. Granted there were only three left, but still it was something. He then had his grandnephew help him put them on all over his shirt. He told me how he was disgusted by the idea of abortion. I learned he had seven siblings who all had huge families, but he was not able to. He helped raise his nieces and nephews. He talked about how sad he was that he was not able to have children. His grandnephew (I want to say he was about ten or eleven years old) was incredibly polite, and also donated money to help with the "Crisis Pregnancy Center."

I enjoy hearing a person's story. Everyone has one, and there is always something to take away from them. I know that if I had sat there all grumpy because there was no one with me, I would not have met this man and heard what he had to say.

Planned Parenthood Brochure From 1952. Check It Out.

A friend of mine shared this link with me off of facebook. It basically is an old brochure Planned Parenthood used back in the fifties. It shows how they stated that abortions do kill the lives of babies. If you are interested in checking this out, you can click here. Very interesting.

Love Life

"In Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me..."

Psalms 139:13-16
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.

This particular Bible quote always amazes me. It takes my breath away when I think about how from the beginning of time God has planned on creating me... the exact day, the exact moment... He knew the time frame. He knew the parents I would have, the place I would live, how society would be in the area I would grow up. He pictured what I would look like in His mind. He knew how long I would live, and even though I have free will, He knew me enough to know how I would choose to live my life... He gave me this life because He knew what I was able to handle, and every time I hear that verse I am always amazed that I am so important to Him... out of all the ALL the incredible people who have lived on this planet He still had time to think about me and my life and the purpose for it. It seems so crazy to me, but that is the truth.

The truth is He did not just do that for me, He did that for each and every person that has been placed on this earth. It is astounding....

The other night my family got into a discussion on evolution (if you knew my family this particular subject coming up would not surprise you in the least...). I know that evolution is real... caterpillars turn into butterflies; tadpoles into frogs... Even though I know that it is real, after reading quotes from the Bible like the above one, I have a real hard time believing I came from an ape. I just can't one hundred percent believe in that part of the evolution theory. My older sister and I agreed that if we were from apes, then how come there are not any more ape/people walking around today... why can't we still see this transformation going on? Her fiancee said "well, stages could take thousands or millions of years.." but that is not enough of an answer for me to really believe that... I guess that is one of those questions I will hopefully be able to ask God if I ever do get to meet Him...

Funny thing is I did not exactly mean to start talking about my thoughts on the evolution theory, but that is the way my mind wandered tonight. In my head I thought this blog would go in one direction, but it went on a little "detour" from the way I wanted this to go. That is part of the fun of letting my mind wander. I never know where it will take me...

Just another night with my family

Well I have had a busy few days... Last night I was able to attend a simply beautiful french horn recital. One of my very dear friends gave her senior performance, and I am always amazed at how effortless it seems for her to play that instrument. Maybe even more so because she happens to have asthma so she has to work twice as hard to play it. Afterwords her mother held a little reception and it was nice to meet more of her family. She talks about them ALL the time, so it was nice to put some faces to the names she talks about.

Tonight I was able to attend a Latin Requiem Mass, and it was done beautifully. There is no better way to spend an evening than attending and being part of something so, in every sense of the word, awesome.

Now I am just sitting here in my living room in my pj's... I feel so relaxed after that Mass that there is nothing major really going on in my head like normal. My dad is watching the movie, National Treasure a few feet away from me. My mom is going through all her new pro-life posters and such for the church bulletin. Every few seconds my dad is calling to me to turn down my music...the music is hardly audible to begin with, and it just makes me giggle that my dad can hear it when he is usually so good at tuning other things out. My mom calls is selective listening... My mom is trying to have me look at each poster as she holds it up. "Look at this, Teresa. Isn't this just somethin?" and of course I answer, "Yes, Mom. It really makes you think." It kind of makes me laugh. Between those two things I am even more distracted from pondering...

Well the fact that I blogged about my distractions shows just how I have nothing to really write about. Instead I think it will be a better idea for me to get off and focus my attention on my parents, or more specifically my mother, since she has been trying to get if ever since I sat down to use the computer... Oh, I love my family. :)

"The Call"

Keegan Alexander is finally here! :)

Dinner at Chili's - $20.00
Washington March for Life trip - $300.00
Colts/Jets AFC Championship play-off tickets/ trip - $500.00
Watching your baby nephew come into the world - Priceless


Yes, that is what I have been spending my whole week-end waiting for. Yesterday around ten a.m. my older sister called to tell me she was in labor and on her way to the hospital. She ended up being in labor for well over thirty hours. I spend around that time in the hospital. I am pretty much exhausted from not much sleep... but that does not compare to all the pain my big sister went through... She did not get any pain relief until around 9 this morning, and then at about 1 p.m. they finally gave her some pytosin to help speed the process along. It was not long before her contractions were coming fast and strong... so they ordered her an epidural around 2:15... for whatever reason it would not take and so when she began to push she had hardly any pain meds. I felt just awful for my sister... She was a trooper. Let me tell you my baby nephew is the cutest little thing... What a way to spend the week-end that is so focused on the pro-life movement. It was simply amazing... and what a rush too!

Keegan is 7 lbs. and 19 1/2 in. long I will be posting a picture of the little guy on here very soon. :)

March For Life - 2010

"My Chance"

Kids Help Keep You Young At Heart

Tonight was a fun night for me, other then studying for a test I have to take tomorrow.....
This week-end happens to be another very big "party" week-end here in my hometown. The huge college rival football game is tomorrow; I.U. vs. Purdue, and it happens to be held here at home this year. While a lot of my friends were getting an early start on being drunk, I on the other hand decided to help out at a "Parent's Night Out" event held by a local group to help support the Crisis Pregnancy Center. There were a few other college kids who also opted to help out with this event and it turned out to be a lot of fun. I was able to hang out with some of the kids that are no longer at the daycare I work at anymore and even played a little Sorry with a few of the other college students. We were all having fun acting like little kids. There was even a huge "dance" party, where we all did do the Chicken Dance. I haven't danced the chicken dance in so long. It was simple kid fun tonight, and the best part about it is I will not have a hang-over tomorrow.
There is something about spending time with kids. Their enthusiasm for the simplest things just rubs off to those around them. That is why I love being around kids so much. They help keep me young at heart. I don't think I'd be as excited about some things as I am if I didn't hang around them as much as I do. I wouldn't have traded tonight for anything. Some people may think I am crazy for that statement, but it's true.
I am somewhat excited about tomorrow's game only because I have decided to do a little tailgating. This will be my first tailgating experience. I've never gone the whole time I've been in college. It will hopefully be fun. I am praying that the weather stays like it was this afternoon for tomorrow, otherwise I might chicken out and stay somewhere warm. Who knows.

Who Woulda Thought.....

As I have mentioned in previous posts about my Psychology professor, which you can read if you click here, likes to make it known how he dislikes the Catholic Church in general...
Well tonight my teacher apparently had to go out of town so we had a sub come in for him. I have to say I was so happy after class with the things this woman, Mrs. Frost, said. Tonight we covered a lot of the theories of the different stages people mentally and psychologically develop throughout life. When we came to the part about the stages of the the baby in the womb I was somewhat nervous about what this woman would say. Thankfully though, I found out I should not have been worried. While talking about the stages of pregnancy this woman kept emphasizing how life does begin at the moment of conception. I think she repeated that at least five times during class, and each time I could not help but smile at her for it. Not only that, but she also pulled up a number of pictures that showed the way the baby looks inside the womb as it develops, and they were very cool pictures.
There was one part of class where she did show a video that was easily skewed by the pro-abortion agenda. It was an interview about how parents should make sure they know that if they find out their baby may be born with a birth-defect (such as down's syndrome) that terminating the pregnancy is their best option... which obviously to me is so not the right advice... After she showed the video she did tell the class that the tests that are out there to tell whether a fetus may have a birth defect are not always accurate (bingo), and just because the tests may say there is a chance that a birth defect will appear in the child does not mean it will. She went on to say that she happened to know a number of couples that were told to terminate their children because the child would most likely be born with a birth defect. Each of those couples ended up deciding to have their baby and not one of them ended up being born with any sort of defect whatsoever. She told us to really think about what we are doing before deciding on aborting a child because a test and doctor say it's in the best interest... I think after she said that my mouth partially dropped open because I am not used to having a teacher telling the students not to "abort a child."
After class I went up to her and told her thank-you for what she said, and then left class. It was such a nice contrast to my regular Psychology professor who is so obviously anti-Catholic and anti-whatever the Church stands for. It was a breath of fresh air. I was very pleased....

Taking the pill will most likely mess with attraction of the opposite sex....

This really does not surprise me....

Study Shows Birth Control Influences Mate Choice

By Stephanie Jacob

Can taking birth control pills influence who you’re attracted to and who is attracted to you? New literature published in the journal "Trends in Ecology and Evolution" suggests just that.

Women who are ovulating are said to prefer more manly men -- those with more masculine facial features, a competitive nature and fewer genetic similarities to their own -- than when they are not ovulating, according to background information in the study.

And men have been found to be more attracted to women during the time of the month when they are ovulating and most fertile.

Women who take the pill, however, don’t experience the mid-cycle change, hormonally, and are more consistently in a state that mimics pregnancy.

“The use of the pill by women, by changing her mate preferences, might induce women to mate with otherwise less-preferred partners, which might have important consequences for mate choice and reproductive outcomes,” Alexandra Alvergne, Ph.D., lead author of the study, told Health.com.

The pill’s influence on reproduction is of particular interest to the study authors. “The ultimate outstanding evolutionary question concerns whether the use of oral contraceptives when making decisions can have long-term consequences on the ability of couples to reproduce,” Virpi Lumma, Ph.D., co-author of the study, said.

Past animal studies have shown that genetically similar mates have a harder time producing offspring, and the offspring they do produce are, in turn, less fertile, according to ABC News.

But other experts downplay the significance of those findings. “In the human world, infertility from genetic similarity has not been found to be true, even though people have suspected it,” William Hurd, M.D., a fertility expert at the University Hospitals Case Medical Center, told ABC News. “Doctors tried for years -- they thought that recurrent miscarriages were related to genetic similarity, but they couldn’t find an example.”

Hurd also points out that the study doesn’t talk about trends in mate selection, but only about preferences.

“Probably the biggest change in my lifetime is how people meet each other: online and using programs that match them for compatibility,” he said. “That’s probably going to have a massive effect on how people end up dating and ultimately reproducing. Just because you like someone with a square jaw in the middle of your cycle probably doesn’t affect who you end up with.”

Getting Theoretical While Watching House

I am a huge fan of the show House. Tonight's episode was very interesting. In it there was an African dictator that became extremely sick and came to America to find a cure for his illness. The interesting thing about this whole show was watching how the characters were dealing with trying to save one man's life, because by saving his life it would most likely help kill thousands of other innocent people through genocide by that dictator. It brought up a point a good point. Is it okay to kill one man to save thousands of others?
After watching that episode I have become somewhat very confused. Part of me feels like it is okay to kill a person to save thousands of others, but then another part of me totally disagrees with that. I mean do I think it is okay to kill a doctor that does abortions even though he is helping to kill thousands of innocent lives? It is all very confusing to me because I do not think it is right to kill an abortionist, so I suppose it is not okay to kill a dictator threatening genocide either. Then again I go through this inner battle with myself because isn't one death more preferred to losing thousands of innocent lives? It is a very fine line right there and I am thankful that the story in House was obviously something I hope I'd never have to encounter because I am not sure how I would act myself...

"You Tube and Planned Parenthood Exposed.... interesting stuff."