Christmas Joy

Merry Christmas from our family!!!!

We're settling in for a few days of vacation together. The snow is falling outside.

Our hearts rejoice in the Greatest Gift of All and in in the joy of family togetherness this Christmas season.

O come let us adore Him.....

We'll give Him all the glory....

We'll praise His Name forever.....

For He alone is worthy....

Christ the Lord!!!



December

Just a small peak into our home this month...

Red and Green and popcorn

warmth of home

celebration of the One who is Love

            Happy times at Grandma and Grandpa's house with all the cousins. Story time with Grandpa

                                                                packaging gifts

Lottsa snow

hand-stitching

cookie baking

 Christmas sprinkles



adoration
awe
.... our Redeemer came!!!!

p.s.

Almost as soon as I clicked the publish button for my last post, I knew that I was wasn't quite done.

I will never get everything clarified that there is to clarify.

However:

I did not mean in any way to negate the importance or value of taking a more public role in the cause for life.  If Jesus is nudging you towards  more involvement, than by ALL means, you better be listening closely to him.

If he tells you to put that bumper sticker on your car, do it!

If he is asking you to attend that next prolife banquet, go!

If he is asking you to care for an orphan, go for it!

If he is asking you to volunteer at the local pregnancy center, do it!

Become informed. Be willing to speak. Be eager to serve. Affirm life.

My last post was written from the dungeon perspective. That dark place where nothing of importance ever seems to happen.  That place where I wonder if I am doing anything of eternal value. That place that is just so dark I can't really see very well. That place where Jesus lets nothing go to waste.  That place where Jesus is growing my roots.

I've tried to claw my way out of the dungeon  a few times.

He says, "It's not time yet. I have more to teach you. You need a stronger root system"

So. If you're in the dungeon with me, take heart.

 Affirm, accept and love life around you.

You are Pro-Life!

If  you're emerging from that dungeon....

Don't be too scared to blossom.

You have strong roots.

Affirm, accept and love life!

You are Pro-Life!!!

 

 

 

I am Pro-Life

I am pro-life.

I've struggled with the idea of what it means for me to be prolife for a number of years. It's not that I struggle to affirm  prolife ideas. I am all over that page!!!

 But, I've struggled with how I fit into the pro-life picture. 

How can  I claim to be pro-life but be so very uninvolved in all the rallies and banquets?

I don't even have the space to volunteer at the Right to Life booth at our county fair.

The door to fostering and adoption has been closed for us, at least temporarily.

I do not volunteer at the pregnancy center that is not even a block from my house.

I'm not even involved in our church's ministry to city kids.

Hulllllo....How can I claim that I'm pro-life?

It's something that I care about so much that I want to be involved at every level and at every event where the words "pro life" are uttered.

I want to be an advocate for the unborn.

I want to put my arms around the pregnant teenager and enable her to make the choice for life.

I want to adopt all the unwanted and unloved kids in the world.

So, I have had to wrestle with all these desires to be involved in a wonderfully good cause. I've had to let Jesus reshape what it means for me to pro-life right now at this stage of life. I've had to go to the proverbial dungeon. I'm down digging around in the earth, getting tangled in all the roots.

This is what He has showed me:

ANYTIME I let the little ones come to me as Jesus did...............this is being pro-life!!!

EVERY little face that I look at represents a mother who made a decision for life,  perhaps at a very difficult time in her life. That life that she chose still needs care. That mother and that child still must know that the choice for life was a GOOD one. It was a choice that I support and I am still here to stand with both mother and child in that decision.....this is being pro-life!

Accepting the gifts of my own womb with delight and joy.....this is being pro-life!


Seeing all life as being valuable and precious.....this is being pro-life

Having 3 little ones crawling ALL.OVER. me even as I write this post.....this is being pro-life.

I believe in being pro-life at a grass roots level.

Therefore:
I scrub toilets.
I make 3 meals a day.
I say 'yes' to the neighbor kids.
I donate gently used items to the pregnancy center.
I babysit for my friends.
I bake cookies for the 80 kids that come to club.
I nurse a little girl 8+ times a day
I smile at the tired mom with toddlers bouncing in and out and around her cart at the grocery store.
And I say, with full assurance:

I AM PRO-LIFE!!!!

And I want to say to you, Dear Reader-
Please do not make excuses for not being pro-life. Do not justify saying 'no' to the opportunites that Jesus brings your way to give to the cause for life.  But also, remember, you're very likely more involved in the pro-life cause than what you realize. Embrace life today!