Book Give Away!

Life in a Shoe is hosting a giveaway of Vision Forum's exciting new adventure series, Ballantyne books.

These books look great! Just hop over to inashoe and leave a comment to enter!

A Good Day

Today I'm going to close the laptop, and spend the day enjoying life. I've gotten too attached to my debates, and need to focus on spending time with my family. I'll be back, but with a bit more discretion.

Blessings

Waking up in pain has got to be one of the most miserable experiences of life. Today I woke up in pain that not only startled me with its intensity, but also served as a blatant reminder that I did, indeed, miscarry.

After popping a few Advil I whimperd back to bed to surf the web. I read some stories of death and destruction and reminded myself not to turn on the news.

Then something amazing happened. My little boy came bounding from his room and jumped up into bed. Sure he's not supposed to leave his room in the morning until I get him, but today that didn't matter. He snuggled up to me, lay his little blonde head on my shoulder and gave me a kiss.

What more could a mommy want?

I realized how wonderfully blessed we are to have Holden. God has given us the most precious gift imaginable and for that I am thankful.

Happy Father's Day

What Do We Want? To Save Babies. When Do We Want It? NOW!

So everyone is famaliar with the pro-life feud. I don't even know a non-biased site to link to. We all know the problem. Abortion has been around since polyester shirts, and it doesn't despite our best efforts, it seems it's determined to stay.

We see babies dying everyday. Some for 33 years. It's easy to understand why people have thrown their hands up in the air and declared "enough!".

Enough incrementalism, enough waiting periods, enough parental consent. Ban abortion now! Only, the ban didn't pass. Not even in the most conservative state in the union.

So what do we do?

Do we attack each other and spend money that could save babies on hate ads? Do we cut ties and burn bridges? No! We celebrate our victories, even if only symbolic, and move forward.

For the first time in a long time we have momentum. A specific type of abortion has been banned! NARAL is scrambling. Why are we stopping dead in our tracks?

We are beating ourselves. We must end this battle and focus on what all must do to end abortion in this country. Together we can make a difference.

A New Standard of "Clean"

So sewage is backing up into every toilet, tub, and shower in the house. Yuck

I'm having the city plumber over to access the situation.

This presents a small problem because I haven't exactly been able/willing to clean in the past week. I couldn't do clothes/dishes due to the water problem. Nor could I bathe my self or my son (don't worry we went to the in-laws for that!) I couldn't cook, so there are approximately 15 take out "left overs" in the fridge.

Why didn't I take care of this sooner you ask? Because apparently this particular issue is one that the city deals with, not warranty. Who knew.

Anyways, today I developed a new standard of "clean". "Clean enough for the plumber".
Dishes- In the dishwasher (though obviously, not washed)
Clothes-A mixture between in the washer (though obviously, not washed) and in the
closet.
Trash-Taken out! New bags in!
Clutter-Thrown in the Closet/Thrown Away.
Carpet-Swifter "vacuumed"
Tile-Wiped up with a paper towel
Child-Wiped up with a (different) paper towel.

I doubt Martha Stewart would approve.

Oh yeah, one last thing. Fabreeze sprayed throughout to mask "brown sewage" smell. And a word to the wise, never try to clean the sewage in the shower before the problem is fixed...just trust me on this.

Thank you everyone.

Thank you everyone for your support. You have helped me more than I could say. You are all such blessings.

How I'm *Really* Doing...

When ever I read of someone going through a personal tragedy I'm always amazed by their grace. Christians especially amaze me with the strenth of their faith. Perhaps it is just me, but I know that I have not been as strong as I portray.

I didn't lie about anything. I KNOW that this was God's will and that it will bring glory to Him. But it hurts.

I find my self irritable for no reason. I don't want to play with Holden or talk to Oliver. I just want to crawl into a hole and not think about anything. Of course, I don't...and I don't allow Oliver to either. Instead I nag and complain and am all around horrible.

It's not how I want to be, but what I want doesn't seem to carry much weight anymore. So please, pray that my heart will be changed and that I can begin to see God's magisty in this. My flesh is railing against my soul, and I fear that the flesh is winning.

God bless you all.

What Pro-Choicers Think About A Pro-Life Split.

We've heard alot lately about the split opinions prolifers have regarding the PBA Ban. It has honestly gotten a bit ugly. I was looking at some feminist blogs today and found this over at feministing.

Anti-Choicers Beefing over SCOTUS decision.

Sweet.

A number of Evangelical Protestant and Roman Catholic groups are brawling with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson for praising the Supreme Court's Federal Abortion Ban. Some are even accusing Dobson and other anti-choice leaders of building a "pro-life industry" of misleading information and "relentless fundraising."

Dobson has been declaring the ban a victory while other anti-choice groups are saying it's more of a disappointment, claiming it serves merely as a "manual" of late-term abortions and condones them "as long as you follow its guidelines." A group even released a letter in a full-page ad to Dobson saying that he's giving inaccurate information to other anti-choicers and should be called out for it. In response, Focus on the Family's Vice President Tom Minnery commented that they celebrated the ban "because we, and most pro-lifers, are sophisticated enough to know we're not going to win a total victory all at once. We're going to win piece by piece."

Oh, so you're the sophisticated pro-lifers, huh? Where does that leave the rest of y'all? You're just going to let them call you classless like that? Fight! Fight! Fight!

Between the fact that a quarter of a billion dollars has been raised towards the ban and Dobson's perpetual shmoozing with SCOTUS judges makes it apparent that the "true" pro-life agenda may not necessarily be Dobson's priority anymore (or never was, for that matter). And it's not like this is anything new for right-wing politics, but the difference now is that the anti-choice masses are catching on; some say it could be the biggest split in the anti-choice movement in over a decade. And we like this.

We must stand together!

I Miscarried.

I really am not sure how to write this post. I first want to say that in all of this I give glory to God. I know that Satan was bound, and that this was within the will of God.

Though we are hurting, I know that God is always to be praised. We do not understand why, but God knew all the days of the life of our child and knew that they would be short.

We praise God for allowing us to know this child, even if only in my womb. This experience has brought us closer to God, and reinforced our faith. We have grown as parents and as children. We have been shown where we need improvement, and strive to rectify those areas.

Most importantly, we have been forced back down on our knees, and have been brought back into the presence of God. For that we are thankful.

We will never forget our baby bee. We pray that we will meet all of our lost children in Heaven where we will rejoice with the Lord.

Thank you for all of your prayers. Though this is not the outcome we had hoped for, we know that the will of God was done.