missed this

i've missed blogging. not that i think i was any great blogger or had anything super valuable to share, but i miss how it symbolized the discipline in my life. the outlet for my thoughts. accountability. vulnerability. creativity. i want to start back but am scared to even commit to that. however, i think i will try. many exciting things going on. elections. house hunting. another half marathon. babies? maybe. friends. family. cupcakes. work. house projects. quilts? crafts. invitations for friends weddings. so many things. i want to share my thoughts.

i've been missing my favorite movie lately and think i will watch it tonight- i feel so much like meg ryan when she says,

"The odd thing about this form of communication is that you're more likely to talk about nothing than something. But I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings."

and 

" Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void."

so here's to trying, again, to blog. to sharing my thoughts and creating discipline. 

whats the purpose?

last night, nathan and i were laying in bed chatting about thing that interest us or are important to us, and he asked me why i haven't blogged lately. he was a big supporter of my blogging habit, and i have falling down on the task. its funny that he should ask that yesterday, because it has definitely been something that has been on my mind. i haven't blogged lately. i do miss it. but when i pull up the blogger page, i sit there and think, what's the purpose? what am i actually contributing to the world in writing some words on this post? i follow other blogs, tales of friends in far away places sharing their life, people who i've never met who cook or bake really good and share their awesome recipes, blogs about home improvement, missions, and sewing. what does my hodge podge blog have to offer? sure, i've had a few good recipes, a few good ideas, and some projects that i have mentioned. i've shared some news and research, some personal goals, and some randomness. i've talked of travels and friends. but all in all, who or what am i making better by writing this blog? i'm thankful for the handful of folks that have followed it, but what have i given them? an insight into my craziness? and what good is that?!

i say all this to say, i want to be intentional. i do love to blog. i love the discipline of sitting down and writing. its funny but one of my favorite parts of college was all the crazy papers i wrote. i love the act of researching. of pulling together. of verbalizing. even though i'm not a poetic or inspiring writer necessarily, i enjoy words. and i enjoy sharing my knowledge- be it on coffee, the middle east, my friends, or info i've picked up. i love to learn and share.

so i return. hopefully. life is busy now- but when will it not be?! i am disciplined in my work. i run regularly. i keep in touch with friends. and now, i will make great efforts to blog.

i will blog about things i make- food, desserts, projects, etc.
i will blog about things i research- the news, current events, lifestyle habits, etc.
i will blog about things i do- half marathons, vacations, big accomplishments.
i will blog about things i consume- cupcakes, food, coffee, etc.

i hope if you stop by to read, you will gain something from it. and if you do, please let me know. its cool to hear. i think one of the discouraging things in blogging has been the lack of comments & feedback, so i'm asking that ya step it up a notch! let me know if there's something you are interested in me doing/making/researching. i'm up for a challenge.

so hopefully, i'll continue to blog. and make an impact. even if its just helping you make the best cupcakes ever. or recommending a dinner spot for ya. hopefully, my blog will serve a purpose.

500,000 little women each year

yesterday, as many of you may know, was sanctity of life day. around the country (and the world), many people, churches, groups, and others recognized the sad anniversary of row vs. wade and the millions of babies who have died at their mother's hands from abortion. since 1984 when president reagan designated jan 22 as national sanctity of human life day, groups and individuals used this day to "celebrate the intrinsic value of all human life" ( https://www.care-net.org/custom/sohlshome.php). 


for me, it has never been hard for me to choose which "side" i am on. to tell you the truth, i dont even recognize that there are sides.
i believe in life. period. end of story. therefore, the legality of abortion isn't a question to me. it is wrong. i believe it should be illegal as it is murder. i believe life starts at conception. 


my beliefs are strong, but if they weren't enough, watching ashley's pregnancy affirmed to me the fact that she was growing a child, not a fetus, inside of her. with all of her complications, she had the unique experience of getting almost weekly views inside her body to watch little rhett form. at 24 weeks, rhett could have survived outside of her womb. how amazing is that?

to say that it is an issue to allow women the right to choose, the right to "reproductive freedom" is a complete scam to me. when a woman chooses to have sex, she must accept the consequences. that's where her choice is. if she doesn't want a child, then she has the responsibility to take precautions to prevent that. it is a life. she couldn't kill it once it was born - at least not without consequences. why should she be allowed then?


there are plenty of options out there- adoption, help, etc. i am a huge supporter of adoption, and grateful for the three women who choose to put their child up for adoption instead of abortion, thereby allowing me to have two wonderful brothers and a precious sister. 


and to the women who have had abortions, i believe that in Christ there is forgiveness and love and hope.


this may seem strong, but it is only a glimpse of how strongly i feel about it.


i encourage you watch this video by john piper and check out the links below. 


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/O68MByaMVdM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>iframe>




For further reading, check out the following articles:


"We must guard against the reverse blind spot of the pro-abortion people. They talk much about compassion to women in crisis pregnancies and about the pain of being an unwanted child. But they do not talk about the pain, the indignity, the injustice, the brutality done against the unborn in abortion. And one of their primary defenses against the pro-life efforts is to say that we talk a lot about compassion to the unborn but show little concern for mothers in crisis or unwanted children after birth. To which I respond: let's not have this blind spot. Let's not be imbalanced. Let's admit (on both sides of the issue) how imperfect we are. But let's keep the ledger straight...Restricting the right of doctors and mothers to kill unborn children will not result in greater misery for those children. When the heart of a nation is willing to kill its unborn children to avoid having to care for them, it is hard to imagine this heart being willing to care for them. But if the heart of the nation could be turned so that it was no longer willing to kill its unborn children, then it is not so hard to imagine that this heart could care for them." (from http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/kingdom-compassion-and-the-killing-of-children)


"For example, are you willing to explain why a baby's right not to be killed is less important than a woman's right not to be pregnant? Or are you willing to explain why most cities have laws forbidding cruelty to animals, but you oppose laws forbidding cruelty to human fetuses? Are they not at least living animals? Or are you willing to explain why government is unwilling to take away the so-called right to abortion on demand even though it harms the unborn child; yet government is increasingly willing to take away the right to smoke, precisely because it harms innocent non-smokers, killing 3,000 non-smokers a year from cancer and as many as 40,000 non-smokers a year from other diseases? And if you say that everything hangs on whether the fetus is a human child, are you willing to go before national television in the oval office and defend your support for the "Freedom of Choice Act" by holding in your hand a 21 week old fetus and explaining why this little one does not have the fundamental, moral, and constitutional right to life? Are you willing to say to parents in this church who lost a child at that age and held him in their hands, this being in your hands is not and was not a child with any rights of its own under God or under law?" (from http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/being-pro-life-christians-under-a-pro-choice-president)


"God is calling us in this verse—he is calling all Christians—to expose the dark and fruitless work of abortion . . .

1. To expose the fact that there are 1.5 million abortions in America every year—27 million since the Supreme Court overturned the public conscience of 48 states 19 years ago.
2. To expose the fact that 30% of all babies conceived in America are killed by abortion.
3. To expose the fact that medically women are told not to have abortions before the seventh week of pregnancy (see the Yes/Neon booklet), and yet by the eighth week the heart of the baby has been beating for a month, there are measurable brain waves, there is response to touch, there's thumb-sucking, grasping with the hands, swimming with the arms in the amniotic fluid, distinct arms and legs and sexual organs. This much must—not may, must—be present before most abortion centers will cut the baby to pieces with a suction machine 4,000 times a day.
4. To expose the fact that 9,000 babies were killed after the 21st week of pregnancy in 1987, fully formed and on the brink of being able to breathe for themselves—killed, legally!
5. To expose the fact that in Minnesota we have a fetal homicide law that makes it "murder to kill an embryo or fetus intentionally, except in cases of abortion"—in other words, it's unlawful to kill the unborn child unless the mother chooses to have it killed. And that is a strange and dark criterion for lawful killing.
6. To expose the fact that "There is inescapable schizophrenia in aborting a perfectly normal 22 week fetus while at the same hospital, performing intra-uterine surgery on its cousin" (Steve Calvin).
7. To expose the fact that viability outside the womb is not a criterion of personhood and right to life, because we ourselves don't want to give up our personhood and our right to life if we must be sustained on a respirator or dialysis machine the way a baby has to be sustained by a placenta.
8. To expose the fact that the size and reasoning power of a tiny person is irrelevant to human personhood because if it were, we might allow tiny and unthinking newborns to be killed.
9. To expose the fact that genetically human embryos and fetuses are utterly different from all other animal life; if they are just left alone, with nothing added but nourishment, they will grow up.
10. To expose the fact that if it is unlawful to crush the egg of a bald eagle, it is not excessively restrictive to make it unlawful to crush the egg of a human.
11. To expose the fact that when two legitimate rights conflict—the right not to be pregnant and the right not to be killed—justice demands that we give place to the greater right, the right that does the least harm—the one that does not willfully kill.
12. To expose the fact that there are thousands of crisis pregnancy centers in this country ready to help, and almost all of them are free—unlike the abortion mills that charge plenty of money—and the older the baby, the more they charge.
13. To expose the fact that there are no unwanted babies in Minnesota. Mary Ann Kuharsky (President of ProLife Minnesota) said in the Tribune she would take any baby whose life depended on it, and there are hundreds like her.
14. To expose the fact that it is hypocritical to speak as though choice were the untouchable absolute in this matter and then turn around and oppose choice in matters of gun-control and welfare support and affirmative action and minimum wage and dozens of other issues where so-called pro-choice people join the demand that people's choices be limited to protect others. It's a sham argument. All choices are limited by life.
15. To expose the fact that trespassing to save life is not a crime and that it does not undermine our legal system, but on the contrary endorses the one foundation stone without which that legal system in this land will fall, namely, the inalienable right to life. There will be no law but the law of individual choice (=anarchy) if the foundation stone of life's value is destroyed. And abortion is destroying it." (from  http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/exposing-the-dark-work-of-abortion)

"With regard to peaceful rescuing I stand where I did three years ago: It is not a crime to trespass to save human life. If a child is choking on a toy in his back yard surrounded by a fence that says, KEEP OUT, NO TRESPASSING, it is not a sin or a crime to jump the fence and try to save the child. If a child is trapped in the second story of a burning home, it is not a sin or a crime to put a ladder to the window and enter without permission to save that child. If a blind child is trapped in the median of a busy street and about to step into traffic, it is not a sin or a crime to cross the street and guide him to safety even if the sign says, “Cross only at crosswalk”. If a child is drowning in a lake where the sign says, “No swimming” it is not a sin or a crime to rush into the water and rescue him." (from http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/taste-see-articles/abortion-rescuing-and-your-action)

Fifteen Pro Life Truths- http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/taste-see-articles/fifteen-pro-life-truths-to-speak

(WARNING- GRAPHIC) Here is a video of an abortion being performed- http://www.abortionno.org/

Extensive listing of further reading: http://www.abortionno.org/index.php/site/abortion-related_articles

Here are some chilling facts on abortion and its wide spread destruction on our future generations: http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/