VBS Videos

This is of Isaac at VBS 2008 Outrigger Island.

Here is Gracelyn at VBS Outrigger Island 2008

Where have we been?

I have had some people ask me where we have been at….let me tell you….VBS! That is right we had Vacation Bible School last week and it was awesome! 7 children came to know the Lord, we had over 250 children enrolled and my kids had a blast. They didn’t know really what to expect…they were young last year…but this year they got it and they loved it. They both sang on stage the last night ( I am going to try and link that on YouTube before long so the grandparents can see it).

That is what we have been up to, then add that Owen has not been doing so great. He keeps spiking these 104-105 temps and then they are gone within a day. It is strange. We took him to the children’s hospital here in town on Father’s Day night then after a ped. visit on Friday she sent him back to the chidren’s hosital for a full blood and urine testing. So far the white blood cell count is high and so is another number ( I don’t remember the name of it now). The urine came back clear as of today, yes that is right…she called on a Sunday to check on him and tell me the results. The blood will be checked again tomorrow, but so far is showing no growth, which is good news! Please pray this is just a virus and that it will pass on its own.

Abortion and Election 2008

I know this can be a touchy subject.  I know that some of my readers may have delt with this in the past and the pain and guilt haunts them everyday.  I want to bring it up because it will be a major issue in Election 2008.  You might think, it has always been an issue, but this year is different.  Obama has said that if elected he will over turn all “pro-life” bills including partial birth abortion and minors having to seek parental consent.  See link here on FOCA (Freedom of Choice Act).

I came across a site called abrot73.com is is a pro-life website that has taken a very different approach to pro-life.  I really think you should check it out and watch the video at the beginning of their homepage.

Here are some facts that I think you might want to hear and consider when you think of this election.  This issue doesn’t just affect us it affects the 4000 children lost to abortion EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Here are some facts I think we should be looking at and realizing this is a crisis.

ANNUAL ABORTION STATISTICS

• In 2005 (the most recent year for which there is reliable data), approximately 1.21 million abortions took place in the U.S., down from an estimated 1.29 million in 2002, 1.31 million in 2000 and 1.36 million in 1996. From 1973 through 2005, more than 45 million legal abortions have occurred in the U.S. (AGI).
• In 2001, the highest number of reported legal induced abortions occurred in NYC (91,792), Florida (85,589), and Texas (77,409); the fewest occurred in Idaho (738), South Dakota (895), and North Dakota (1,216) (CDC).
• There are 36 abortions per 1,000 live births in Idaho and 767 abortions for every 1,000 live births in NYC (CDC).
• Overall, the annual number of legal induced abortions in the United States increased gradually from 1973 until it peaked in 1990, and it generally declined thereafter (CDC).
• In 1998, the last year for which estimates were made, more than 23% of legal induced abortions were performed in California (CDC).
• The abortion rate in the United States was higher than recent rates reported for Canada and Western European countries and lower than rates reported for China, Cuba, the majority of Eastern European countries, and certain Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union (CDC).
• The national legal induced abortion ratio increased from 196 abortions per 1,000 live births in 1973 to 358 abortions per 1,000 in 1979 and remained nearly stable through 1981. The ratio peaked at 364 abortions per 1,000 live births in 1984 and since then has demonstrated a generally steady decline. In 2001, the abortion ratio was 246 abortions per 1,000 live births (for the states that reported, a 0.4% increase from 2000 (CDC).
• Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended; about 4 in 10 of these are terminated by abortion. Twenty-two percent of all U.S. pregnancies end in abortion. (AGI).

WHO HAS ABORTIONS?

• 82% of all abortions are performed on unmarried women (CDC).
• The abortion ratio for unmarried women is 572 abortions for every 1,000 live births. For married women it is 65 abortions for every 1,000 live births (CDC).
• Women between the ages of 20-24 obtained 33% of all abortions (CDC).
• 50% of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25; women aged 20-24 obtain 33% of all U.S. abortions and teenagers obtain 17% (AGI).
• Adolescents under 15 years obtained less than 1% of all abortions, but have the highest abortion ratio, 744 abortions for every 1,000 live births (CDC).
• 47% of women who have abortions had at least one previous abortion (AGI).
• Black women are more than 4.8 times more likely than non-Hispanic white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are 2.7 times as likely (AGI).
• 43% of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27% identify themselves as Catholic (AGI).

WHY ARE ABORTIONS PERFORMED?

• On average, women give at least 3 reasons for choosing abortion: 3/4 say that having a baby would interfere withwork, school or other responsibilities; about 3/4 say they cannot afford a child; and 1/2 say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner (AGI).

WHEN DO ABORTIONS OCCUR?

• 87% of all abortions happen during the first trimester, prior to the at 13th week (AGI/CDC).

HOW ARE ABORTIONS PERFORMED?

• 95% of abortions were known to have been performed by curettage (which includes dilatation and evacuation [D&E]). Most curetage abortions are suction procedures(CDC).
• Hysterectomy and hysterotomy were used in less than 1% of all abortions (CDC).
• Medical abortions make up approximately 3% of all abortions reported (CDC).

WHO IS PERFORMING ABORTIONS?

• The number of abortion providers declined by 11% between 1996 and 2000 (from 2,042 to 1,819). It declined another 2% between 2000 and 2005 (from 1,819 to 1,787) (AGI).
• Forty percent of providers offer very early abortions (during the first four weeks’ gestation) and 96% offer abortion at eight weeks. Sixty-seven percent of providers offer at least some second-trimester abortion services (13 weeks or later), and 20% offer abortion after 20 weeks. Only 8% of all abortion providers offer abortions at 24 weeks (AGI).

ABORTION FATALITY

• In 2000 (the most recent year for which data are available), 11 women died as a result of complications from known legal induced abortion (CDC).
• The number of deaths attributable to legal induced abortion was highest before the 1980s (CDC).
• In 1972 (the year before abortion was federally legalized), a total of 24 women died from causes known to be associated with legal abortions, and 39 died as a result of known illegal abortions (CDC).

THE COST OF ABORTION

• In 2005, the cost of a nonhospital abortion with local anesthesia at 10 weeks of gestation ranged from $90 to $1,800, and the average amount paid was $413 (AGI).

MEDICAL ABORTION

• In 2005, 57% of abortion providers, or 1,026 facilities, provided one or more types of medical abortions, a 70% increase from the first half of 2001. At least 10% of nonhospital abortion providers offer only medication abortion services (AGI).
• In 2005, an estimated 161,100 early medication abortions were performed in nonhospital facilities (AGI).
• Medication abortion accounted for 13% of all abortions, and 22% of abortions before nine weeks’ gestation, in 2005 (AGI).

ABORTION AND CONTRACEPTION

• Induced abortions usually result from unintended pregnancies, which often occur despite the use of contraception (CDC).
• 54% of women having abortions used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. Amont those women, 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users reported using the methods inconsistently, while 13% of pill users and 14% of condom users reported correct use (AGI).
• 8% of women having abortions have never used a method of birth control (AGI).
• 9 in 10 women at risk of unintended pregnancy are using a contraceptive method (AGI).

ABORTION AND MINORS

• 40% of minors having an abortion report that neither of their parents knew about the abortion (AGI).
• 35 states currently enforce parental consent or notification laws for minors seeking an abortion: AL, AR, AZ, CO, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA,WI, WV, and WY. The Supreme Court ruled that minors must have the alternative of seeking a court order authorizing the procedure (AGI).

Home

Coming home from vacation seems to be a lot of work.  It takes me a few days to get everything put away, the laundry done etc.  I am happy to report that we are home and everything is put away etc….now we are just trying to get everything done to put the house on the market (that is taking some time).

The kids are loving tee-ball, swimming and just summer time in general.  I am busy with work (this week I am working almost 38 hours), most of them when the kids are sleeping.  So I am a bit tired.  It is a blessing though, we are paying our bills, paying off debt and able to buy all our homeschooling material etc. up front.  We had over 500 dollars worth of repairs on our van and Saturn and God provided me with enough hours at work to cover the costs!  God is so good.

I just wanted to check in to tell everyone we are home and safe.  I will try to get back into the swing of writting soon!

Wedding

We are still in Michigan.  My sister’s wedding was wonderful and I wanted to share a photo with you.  This is me and my little girl, we were both in the wedding.

 

Here is the ring bearers (yes there were 3 of them)!  Isaac is the one of the left…..he was so handsome!

 

Last, but not least the bride and the ladies.

 

They just left a few hours ago for their honeymoon and I am sure they will have a great time. 

A Little Seminary Humor

A friend just emailed this to me….I think you may think it is pretty funny.  Dave and I were laughing about it…..hopefully I am never one of those sitting in the front row on the verge of tears.

 

 

 

#3

Could the time go any faster?  I feel like it was just yesterday that we were in the delivery room anticipating the birth of our 2nd child.  Unsure if we would be adding our second boy to the family or our first girl.  When it came time to finally push we were beyond excitement.  I pushed once and the doctor told me to stop….then she told me to cough once and then the baby was born.  The doctor held the baby up and let me yell to everyone that could hear me “IT’S A GIRL” 

I could not hold in my excitement of this little life.  We had had some close calls with this baby….fearful of losing her the day after Christmas of 2004 when I had emergency surgery for my appendix and told of the drugs that they gave me could have hurt the baby, then to being 38 1/2 weeks along to be told my body had stopped growing and I was only measuring 32 weeks preg. and that the baby needed to be delivered right away.

We loved the name Abigail but after all of that we decided that if it were a girl we would use the name Grace because by God’s grace she had made it to term.  If it were a boy we didn’t have a name. I was just sure it was a girl.

Well, this morning she woke up telling everyone who would listen that she was 3 years old.  She is such a bundle of joy in our home.  She love babies and dolls so much.  She lines them up every morning to feed them their breakfast, then she puts them on the couch to watch tv, then we have to change them and put them down for naps etc.  This goes on all day long.  She is so smart and sweet.

We thank God that he has given her life and He has given her to us.  We don’t deserve her and are so thankful for her.

Happy Birthday Gracelyn!  You are very much loved by so many people.