More Writings

I am going to start posting my editorials here for everyone to read. I have another blog posted on this blogger website called A Beacon Of Light, that is a collection of writings from different women. I contribute to that as well. That one is more inspirational writing.

I keep saying I'm almost done with my manuscript but I keep writing more so I guess I'm not done yet. It is shaping up very nicely so I'm hoping each time I write some more it will get better. The book will be called: Of One Heart: Being Single in the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. Very specific topic but there is a great need for it.

Jim is just about over his shingles. That is an awful illness because it starts on the inside of your body and goes out to the skin. It's almost like torchering someone. It takes a long time to recover from it, but he is okay now.

I love posting pictures with what I write so I will be doing that quite often as well. I'm a visual person. This picture is of Henry (9)and Moses (12). Moses is small for his age and Henry is big for his age. Henry keeps catching up to Moses. This is the last week of school before summer break so everyone is excited to finish.

Have a great week.

Editorial: The Freedom of Choice Act

The first order of business after Barack Obama becomes President is to kill babies. If you have been following what Obama has publicly announced just recently, he said the first thing he is going to do as President of the United States is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. The Freedom of Choice Act is a bill that will promote abortion-on-demand into American law regardless of what laws already exist.

Americans United For Life (AUL) the first national pro-life organization in America since 1971 has taken it upon themselves to promote a petition which will urge state legislatures to adopt a resolution against this Freedom of Choice Act that President Obama wants to sign.

According to the AUL’s President and CEO, Dr Charmaine Yoest says “The so-called ‘Freedom of Choice Act’ endangers women’s health. It protects and promotes the abortion industry, sacrifices the health of women to radical political ideology and silences the voices of everyday Americans who want to engage in a meaningful public discussion on abortion”.

It was also noted by AUL Action Vice President of Legal Affairs that, ”The Freedom of Choice Act will invalidate common-sense, protective laws that the majority of Americans support including parental involvement, bans on partial-birth abortion and protections for healthcare providers who object to participating in abortions.”
AUL’s model resolution emphasizes that FOCA would nullify more than 550 federal and state laws related to abortion, undermine the right and responsibility of the States and the people to determine abortion policy, and circumvent the States’ general legislative authority as guaranteed by the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
In the case of Catholic Hospitals, Catholic Bishops have pleaded with Obama not to sign this Bill which would require even Catholic Hospitals to perform these acts of murder; otherwise they will have no choice but to close all Catholic Hospitals.
If this Bill is signed then teenagers will be able to get an abortion without parents’ consent, babies who survive botched, late term abortions will be set aside without any medical care or nourishment to die. Even animals are treated more humane when they are put to sleep.
This is an unbelievable scenario. How can we live with ourselves knowing our national leaders are signing bills to kill the unborn who want a chance at life? How can we let this happen in our country? We are a God-fearing people and this is just outright murder.
I am reminded of a quote from a wise person who said: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing". Call your local Congressman and tell them you are apposed to this Freedom of Choice Act so we can all retire at night with the peace of mind that we won’t force anyone to kill babies. We’ll all sleep better, I’m sure.

Be Grateful For What We Have

Last Thursday, our electricity was out most of the morning. Apparently a switch from a substation went down and we were without power for over three hours. Everything I needed to do that day took electricity. Check my email, sew something on my machine, and watch a movie. My crock-pot dinner was even put on hold. We are so accustomed to electricity that it was hard to fill the time while I was waiting for it to come back on.
It’s amazing how grateful you become when something is taken away from you that you take for granted. In case you haven’t been forced into gratitude as I have been, this might help to put your life in perspective. These are statistics from the internet:
“If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the worlds’ wealthy.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare, even in the United States.
If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them, or even touch them on the shoulder, you are blessed because you can offer a healing touch.
If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.”
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I’m reminded by force what I am truly thankful for in my life. I need to remember this all year round. Besides being grateful for electricity, I live in my own home in a nice neighborhood, drive a “paid-for” car and live a healthy, active life. My children are good citizens; and keep active with school, work and church activity. I have food on the table, money in the bank and extended family I can count on any time. I am truly blessed and grateful for what I have. I hope you are too.

Editorial: Abortion: An Issue Still Debated

With our new administration comes new policies and we have been inundated with so many policies, it is hard to keep up. As discussed before, the Freedom of Choice Act is one of those policies. This bill is the 110th of the United States Congress which “declares that it is the policy of the United States that every women has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child; terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability or terminate a pregnancy after viability when necessary to protect her life or her health”.

Upon further investigation of this bill it was made known that it prohibits a federal, state, or local government entity from denying or interfering with a women’s right to exercise such choices. I think many citizens would agree that the federal, state or local government should have no say in what women do with their babies. This has long been a battle fought in court but the whole situation should not even be discussed in a government office. This debate should be kept privately between those involved. It has gone on far enough and should be kept out of Congress.

Just recently something interesting happened. It was brought to my attention last week that there had been a mailing campaign going on. It was the snail mail kind of campaign which encouraged people to send red envelopes. It was started by one unknown person who had a desire to affect the abortion debate and it caught on to become an internet phenomenon. The Red Envelope Project resulted in thousands of envelopes heading to the White House over these past few weeks to protest President Obama’s pro-abortion policies.

On the back of each red envelope sent it said: “This envelope represents one child who died in abortion. It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception.”

I really liked that last sentence: Responsibility begins with conception. There are many opinions given in books and in the media telling us that life does not begin at conception. It is hard for me to believe this. As a fertilized egg develops into an embryo, the end result is the same: a child is born. The end result also being that if you abort an already fertilized egg, the child is not allowed to be born. It’s that simple. We should promote life not death.

It is sad that a country with such great developments and scientific discovery still has to argue whether to bring children into the world. We should all be pro-life unless the pregnancy would threaten the life of the mother. This is an issue that goes on in debate. Maybe one day we will all catch the vision of a better world where we don’t kill our own babies.

Mother's Day Approaching

Mother's Day is coming up this weekend and I wanted to post something to commemorate my motherhood. After giving birth to nine children, it is amazing how my life has led to different twists and turns and what I have learned since 1982. I now have two grandchildren and about to have another. My oldest two daughters are married a with the third engaged. It has been an amazing life and I'm very thankful for it. Three of my nine so far have served missions and all of them are productive, hard-working people.

Having children is such a blessing and I believe that many couples do not believe this. They are afraid of what adding on to their union will do to themselves. If they are selfish, then the children will suffer. If they are willing to sacrifice something in their life for something better, then children are a welcomed blessing. What else is there to live for if we do not have people who are important to us in our life? Certainly, leisure and travel activities become unimportant after a while. You can travel around the world many times and still not have joy when returning home.

I saw "The Bucket List" last year and it is the perfect example of what I am writing about. The one man who had cancer, had a family with a wife of many years. He wasn't considered wealthy in the financial world but he had children and grandchildren. The other man with cancer had female partners over the years but not one that stuck around. He even had a daughter but they were estranged. He lived on his own in a very nice condo, had lots of money from his corporation but really didn't have much joy. When it came down to it, the man who lived my himself realized that family was really important and made the effort to visit his daughter to patch things up and see his grandaughter.

I hope all of you mothers will enjoy the day with your families and appreciate who you gave birth to. Life is so much better with those who you have worked to have a relationship. The world is a better place.

It has been so long since I have written here. I almost forgot that I had this blog because I have been so busy with other things.

Naomi is married now to Jonathan Holifield. It was a fast trip on the weekend of March 14th to Nauvoo but a wonderful wedding. They are really happy together.

Since Caleb has been gone and then Naomi married we have rearranged the bedrooms in our house so that now we have an actual office. It has been so wonderful to have all my writings and books and assignments with my desk and computer in one room. Jim is such a wonderful husband to me and we are really happy together. School is coming close to an end and I have so many writing projects to do during the summer it will be amazing to get them done.

I am almost done with my manuscript: Of One Heart: Being Single In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and have four other manuscripts to send to Covenant Book if they accept this latest one. I am so hopeful and pray that they say yes.

Caleb is doing so very well on his mission right now. He has lived in Mexico for two months now and since he has always had a native Mexican companion, his spanish has improved greatly in a short time. He baptized a sister there last month and they continue to teach several families each week.

We also managed to plant a garden right after we got back from Nauvoo and the other reception in Daphne. It is florishing and we will soon have tomatoes to pick.

Have a wonderful spring day and I hope all is well with you and your family.