The Post in Which I Step on Toes

Ah, I'm going to get on my soapbox.  About something that pertains to many Christians, but they either don't want to know about it or haven't even thought about it.  I'm going to go there today, on my tiny blog, and discuss...birth control.

Who am I to talk about birth control?  Do I think everyone needs to have lots of children?  Am I pushing my "big" family lifestyle on the rest of society.  I 100% feel led to post this.  I don't know why me, but...why not me?

 No, I don't think big families are for everyone, and there are days I'd like to have 2.3 children with everyone else and have them going to school everyday and be left the heck ALONE.  Because I'm selfish.  And I'm tired.  I'm not here to push that agenda or anything.  I'm writing to make you think.

Let's clear the air here and first off say that before we (my husband and I) knew what hormonal birth control could do to a baby or to a woman, I was on it.  And it made me very ill.  I was on it before I was married to "control my menstrual cycle" per my gynecologist's advice (and doctors know everything and never have their own agenda) and then after I was married to make sure that we didn't have an "inconvenient" pregnancy.  I had periods of times I was so ill with nausea and vomiting it made early pregnancy symptoms look like a walk in the park.  I was hospitalized at one point.  The hormones did awful things to me.  They have a lovely list of side-effects, and many believe, cause cancer.  (however, to be fair, they may also lessen some kinds of cancer.)


But that's not why I'm on my soapbox.  I mean, if I wanted to be concerned about women's health I'd be on here telling women to stop smoking or taking their children's ADD medication or encouraging everyone to work out more often and stop drinking pop (soda).

The pro-life movement has really been amped up in the past few months with the release of videos describing in horrific detail what happens to aborted babies precious bodies.  Unwanted pregnancies.  Apparently, birth control isn't all it is chalked up to be because there wouldn't be so many babies aborted if their mothers didn't "get themselves into this situation" and use birth control correctly in the first place.   But did you know pro-lifers, that you may be unintentionally aborting your children?  I bet that is news to many of you.

That's my main point;  even pro-life people can be unknowingly aborting their babies because they have gone along with a society that does not value life, values self and selfish things, and sees children (at least more than 1 or 2) as a burden.  Do you know where modern birth control, specifically hormonal comes from?  Here is a link from PBS on the history.  I take this excerpt from that page. "1914-1921 Activist Margaret Sanger coins the term “birth control,” opens first birth control clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and starts the American Birth Control League, the precursor to Planned Parenthood.  1934 Endocrinologist Gregory Pincus creates a test tube rabbit — and is vilified as a Frankenstein.1951 Sanger and Pincus meet at a dinner party in New York; she persuades him to work on a birth control pill.

Dear friends, you claim to not like Planned Parenthood, but you take a medication that directly stems from them that can also abort your babies.  Here's why.  I'm taking this from Web MD, but any gynocologist will confirm it.  Mine included (which is why I will never go back on it, and am so saddened I was ever did).  

How Does Hormonal Contraception Work?

A woman becomes pregnant when an egg released from her ovary (the organ that holds her eggs) is fertilized by a man's sperm. The fertilized egg attaches to the inside of a woman's womb (uterus), where it receives nourishment and develops into a baby. Hormones in the woman's body control the release of the egg from the ovary -- called ovulation -- and prepare the body to accept the fertilized egg.

Hormonal contraceptives (the pill, the patch, and the vaginal ring) all contain a small amount of man-made estrogen and progestin hormones. These hormones work to inhibit the body's natural cyclical hormones to prevent pregnancy. Pregnancy is prevented by a combination of factors. The hormonal contraceptive usually stops the body from ovulating. Hormonal contraceptives also change the cervical mucus to make it difficult for the sperm to go through the cervix and find an egg. Hormonal contraceptives can also prevent pregnancy by changing the lining of the womb so it's unlikely the fertilized egg will be implanted.

Did you read that?  If you believe that life begins at conception, then you need to face the facts here.  "Hormonal contraceptives can also prevent pregnancy by changing the lining of the womb so it's unlikely the fertilized egg will be implanted."  That, my friends, is abortive.  Ok, the chance may be slim because usually the egg will never be fertilized.  But do you want to take that chance???  Many of you have signed The Pro-Life Declaration at www.prolife.org.  Number 3 says, "I believe life should be protected and defended from the moment of conception until natural death."  THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION.  Should hormonal birth control not work, there's a catch-all that makes it 99.9% effective.  It will conveniently abort your baby.  

As a side note, read the following quote from an article I found on Focus on the Family.  The entire article is good (and about why pre-marital sex is wrong), but I took this excerpt:

I also add that we probably wouldn't even be having this conversation were it not for birth control, especially the "pill," and if abortions were not so easy to obtain. Without birth control and abortion, sex would mean a greater likelihood of raising babies, and raising babies would mean commitment, and commitment would mean marriage. That's life in biblical times, so the question itself didn't get much discussion in a world where sex and babies went together much more than they do in our time.

Look, having birth control so easily available (did you know your teen can get it without you knowing it?)  and some parents, even Christians, put their daughters on the pill so they won't get pregnant.  That's better than a kid that will ruin their life, or an abortion, right?  Wrong.  I believe that premarital sex is a sin, but unwed pregnancy is not.  This is a GREAT article if you really disagree with me there or I rocked your world with that statement.  Please read it, I could never say it better.
Another one to read is this.   If you do nothing else, and think I'm raving mad about advocating against hormonal birth control, please read and consider the words of others in those links.  If you are anti-abortion, please consider helping those who have chosen not to abort by not treating them as the black sheep.  Celebrate the life they have inside of them.  Help the unwed mother who made bad choices, but still cares for a little one from the Lord.  Support adoption.  If you cannot adopt yourself (as my husband and I cannot as we wouldn't pass a homestudy per bedroom situation, let alone we currently couldn't do it financially) support those who are adopting.

Do your own research, I've included some links in this post, but don't take my word for it.  Or your just your doctor's.  Really look into this for yourself.  

Big White Van

First of all, I know I hardly blog anymore.  Those of you who know me well know why, and I truly do miss it.  But tonight I had to share.  Too much of a story for FB.  

Our kids are in their second year of AWANA and they love it.  This is their first year doing the AWANA Grand Prix.  I did pinewood derbys when I was a little girl, but #1 did not.  My dad owned a workshop full of woodworking tools.  #1?  Not so much.  We were a little intimidated by this project, but he and the kids (and I) had a good time doing this anyway.  

The older the kid, the more we had them do by themselves.  None of them got to use power tools as #1's jigsaw is a little unpredictable and we wanted to be safe. However, they were in charge of sanding, painting, and we thought putting on the wheels.  But that proved to be a bit of a challenge and #1 ended up with that task also.  It's our first year people, give us some grace.  

So here is Sweet Pea's "car".  When it was time to cut them, I had the boys draw on their block of wood where they wanted daddy to cut.  Rosebud announced she just wanted it to be a triangle (well that won't go very fast).  Sweet Pea?  "I want a big white van!"  We own two full sized white vans so I guess she just figures when you say "car" you mean ginormous box on wheels.  #1 did his best to cut out the shape of it, but the jigsaw got fidgety and the front windshield didn't turn out as he wanted.  I think it is fine, but this just ads to the story.  We both marveled at how wonderfully aerodynamic it would be.  Basically she had the clunkiest car at the derby.  The large van and the triangle we laughed about and moved on.

We gave everyone sandpaper and had them smooth the edges.  Sweet Pea REFUSED.  Fine.  Your car.  You're not going to win anyway.  She painted the whole thing white and then wanted me to put on windows.  After she painted the white, we let it dry overnight.  In the morning...well...she had at some point in the night or wee hours of the morning gotten up to continue painting.  With orange.  And no brush.  Just unscrew the lid and dump.  We also have orange paint on our hardwood.  And on my Norwex.  I was super pleased.

The boys thought her "big white van" was pretty ugly but I left it.  It is, after all, her car.  I proceeded to have WAY too much fun painting on the windows, and a few other details.  I then tried to put on the wheels.  I did a terrible job.  #1 had to take them off and try again, but even then not all 4 wheels sit on a flat surface at once.  Whatever, she's not going to win anyway with that big clunker.  

 Here is LMM with his car.  He called it "Lightning Bomb".  Big surprise.  The wonderful gray things are weights we had to hot glue on the front at the church because his car weighed in at like 2.3 oz otherwise. It was nicely sanded, and before the weights, it was nice and aerodynamic.  He placed 5th in his age group if I remember right.

 Snug's car was also worked on for a long time but weighed like nothing so we gave it some heft when we got there.  He had a good time working on it.  He placed 7th in his age group.

 Little Miss "I want a triangle car" placed 3rd in her age group and beat her brother's cars consistently when they were matched up in a heat.  (Some computer system let all the cars race but put the kids into their age group for placing).  They were a little disgruntled.  #1 and I were pretty amazed.  Who knew a triangle car would be so speedy?  You will notice we also had to add weight to her car to get it to 4.9 oz (they can be 5oz)

 Big White Van?  Well, let me tell you about Big White Van (they had to name their cars and that's what she named hers).  Big White van was WAY over weight so #1 had to use the drill provided and pretty much make Swiss cheese out of the bottom of it.  Big White Van did not lose a single heat in the "main" competition.  EVERYONE was amazed.  Really?  This monster of a vehicle was winning?  Really.  They were actually timing them with a computer and she was the winner every time she raced.

 Not only did she win first place in her age division...she went on to the final showdown.  There were 4 age divisions and they did 4 races with the top car from each age group, averaging the 4 races.  She got second place.  An extremely CLOSE second place.  With her Big White Van.  She then proceeded to "we are the champions" with her trophies in clenched fists and a big 'ol grin on her face.  Her brothers would have like to have had some of those spoils.  Don't worry, we know what to do...

Basically next year we'll just leave them as chunks of wood, pour paint on them, put their wheels on crooked, drill the bejeebers out of their undersides till they make weight, and launch them down the track.