Political Thoughts...

Can you believe we are less than a week away from November 4th? What an amazing time in history we are living in. As this election quickly approaches , I am feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information given to us on a daily basis through the newspaper, radio and television. You can hardly get away from it. The frustrating part is wondering how much truth is behind the quotes or sound bites that you hear and what issues are really important. Typically on this blog you find your weekly dose of our cute little Zachary, but I’m actually ‘blogging’ today, I guess, on all the thoughts spinning around in my head.

Most of these thoughts are focused on the issue of abortion. Over the past year and a half I have involved myself with the pro-life group at my church. It has sparked an interest in me to learn about the truths of abortion. Being a person who likes numbers, I started searching for statistics and facts on abortion in our country. I thought if I knew facts and figures, I could have intelligent discussions with people on the issue. I found what I was looking for and it shocked me. Until now, I’ve never quite grasped the size and gravity of the abortion issue in our country. I wonder if the average American is aware of these basic facts.

Here are some of the statistics I have found. Last year 5,000 unborn babies were killed by abortion at Planned Parenthood facilities in Indiana. 5,000 just in Indiana and just at Planned Parenthood! CDC statistics show over a million babies lose their lives each year due to abortion in the United States. Just think if there was an article headline that read “5,000 Children Killed in Indiana This Year” most people would be appalled, but somehow this is justified because abortion is legal.

I learned that the United States uses federal tax dollars to fund abortion procedures. In Indiana alone, Planned Parenthood reported receiving a little over $3,000,000 in federal grants in 2007.

I was also curious about the reasons why women have abortions. A popular pro-choice argument is that a woman should have the right to an abortion if her life is in danger due to her unborn child. This is certainly a serious and tragic situation, but I wondered how often this situation presents itself. I have read two different sources that tell me this number is under 7 percent of the total number of abortions in the United States*. This percentage includes issues with the mother’s health, the baby’s potential health problems and rape or incest. The remaining 93 percent include mainly social reasons such as inadequate finances or that the mother is not ready for the responsibility of one or an additional child. Legalizing abortion for these 7% of women who have been given a very difficult lot in life at the same time allows the 93% abortions per year that are for social or economic reasons. Does the end justify the means?

If killing an unborn child isn’t bad enough, there are legal procedures for abortion that show no respect for human dignity. I would like to propose that if anyone supports partial birth abortions they should have to sit and watch a video of one being performed and then hopefully they would rethink their opinion. Another horrible truth I learned is that there are such things as live birth abortions. In some cases, a child that was meant to be aborted somehow survives the procedure and is born alive. However this child may still be left for dead because they were initially intended to be aborted. This child, even though they are a living and breathing human being, still has no right to life. This has actually happened in our country! I can hardly believe it.

So now what am I going to do with all this information? I am looking closely at our candidates for President and every other candidate on my ballot to see where they stand on this issue. Can I really vote for someone’s economic or education plans when I know along with it comes laws that make it easier for children to be aborted? Laws that will allow minors to have abortions without parental consent or even notification? When pro-choice candidates stand up and tell me that they are working for a better future for our children, I feel there should be a disclaimer that says “only for the ones that are allowed to be born.”

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish." - Mother Teresa


I received this video link in an email. I thought it was good because you can hear what the Presidential candidates have to say straight from their own mouths.
http://americaschoicenow.com/



More information if you are interested
http://www.nrlc.org/

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2008.10.14_George_Robert_Obama%27s%20Abortion%20Extremism_.xml


*source (http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/facts/reasonsabortions.html)


Thanks for listening and don’t forget to vote!

Love,
Megan

18 month check-up

Zachary had a great check-up last week. He weighs 26 1/2 pounds and is 32 1/2 inches tall. Zach decided he no longer likes being "checked-up" and gave the doctor quite an earful as he looked him over. At the end of the appointment he did stop crying long enough to give Dr. Rob a high five!

Zach is getting to be such a big boy. It is getting him into bit of trouble as you can imagine. For example, he is big enough to get into the laundry basket, but not big enough to get out of it! Here he is telling me to stop taking pictures and get me out of here!

The Great Pumpkin!

We headed out to a pumpkin patch today with the Groff family! It was a cool, crisp and beautiful day to be out. We bought pumpkins and apples, saw some animals and drank apple cider! Check out our pictures!

Zach and daddy ready to pick a pumpkin!

So many to chose from....

I like this one!

I can carry it!

Zach and mommy in the pumpkin patch

Josh and Zach

And finally, Zach was really excited about the bees!

Week of pictures

Here is a bunch of pictures of our last week. We have been busy - Zach had his first dentist visit. Not for a cleaning, but for an x-ray! He fell last Tuesday and basically caught himself with his mouth so as not to drop the precious items he had in his hands! So to be safe (and to use up some of our flex spend money in the process!) we took him in to get looked at. No problems, just some soreness! He was not a fan of sitting for the x-ray and I'm guessing all the parents there were thankful that wasn't their kid screaming! :) The dentist told me he did a great job and all kids his age scream at the dentist. Let's be real, I would still scream and yell at the dentist if I could get away with it! In the goody bag they gave Zach was a pair of sunglasses shaped like teeth! Where do they come up with this stuff? Zach likes putting them on but will not pose for a picture. I decided someone was getting their picture with them on! :)
Last Saturday we celebrated Kade Rickard's 2nd birthday. It was a beautiful day for a party! Also Grandma and Grandpa Moloney came for a visit and took Zach around our church festival. Grandma won him a stuffed animal!

Check out the shades!

Kade's birthday party

Have a great weekend!

18 months and 100th post!

I swear I didn't plan it, but what a great way to celebrate our 100th post! Happy 18 months Zachary! We can hardly believe it. Here is an oh-so cute picture of Zach from today. We baked some cookies and Zach mainly enjoyed playing in the flour. He is a great little helper :)

As part of the 100th post I thought I would look back to October 2007 and be amazed at what a difference a year makes in the life of a child. Last year at this time we were watching the Cubs lose their playoff series. (Hmmm...somethings do not change from year to year I guess!) We had not started blogging, but we probably sent this picture out in one of our emails. How cute is this little Cubs fan!

Last year at this time our little guy wasn't very mobile, he was still nursing and was definitely not sleeping! Today he is running, climbing and chattering up a storm. Our favorite words that he says are turtle, wow, and oooh. Zach thinks our dog Pete is hysterical especially when Pete chases his tail or runs his laps in the backyard. Zach loves anything that has to do with throwing or kicking a ball. He loves to watch the dvd of his Aunt Mo's concert -several, several times a day :). He loves his visits from his grandparents, aunts and uncles. About a month ago I started back to work part time and Zach went into an at home daycare. He is doing so well and loves his time there with the other kids.

One thing that certainly has not changed is what a joy Zachary is in our lives and how blessed we are as parents. Love you Zach!

Wooooowwww!

Our favorite new words from Zach are 'wow' and 'ohhhhh'. He exaggerates them when he says them and it is so cute. Here in this video he is playing with his blocks - listen for the 'wows'!