Attention Pro-Life North Texas Friends

On Saturday, September 14, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Priests for Life and the Pro-Life Action League (click here to learn more about the sponsors) are calling on pro-life Americans to participate in a National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children to honor the grave sites of our unborn brothers and sisters.

In North Texas, this event will take place at:


Calvary Hill Cemetery 
3235 Lombardy Lane 
Dallas, TX 75220 
(get directions)


- Event will start at 1:00 pm and last for approximately 60 minutes. There will be prayers, scripture readings, testimonies and singing.

- Please bring flowers to place on the gravesite

- It will undoubtedly be hot so please bring water

If you live in North Texas or you are available to travel, please visit the event Facebook page and note your planned attendance.

Solemn prayer vigils will be conducted at these grave sites, of which there are 34 (known) across the United States.

The date of September 14, 2013, was chosen for this event because it marks the 25th anniversary of the burial of several hundred abortion victims in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

To participate in the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children, find information about a September 14 memorial service taking place near you on the list of unborn grave sites.

If no memorial service is currently scheduled at the nearest grave site, consider volunteering as a local leader to work with the national Day of Remembrance team in hosting such an event.

More on CRS

In my last post, I linked to an NCR report that stated scandalous claims involving CRS "don't appear to be holding up", and later commented

"I have left it to the individual reader to also do their own fact-finding and soul-searching. I've only stated that for me, personally, these types of issues seem to come up repeatedly, that my own financial resources are pretty limited, and that at this time I have made the decision to withhold participation."

Here's some more information from American Life League about CHANNEL, a piece of software developed by the United Nations Population Fund, touted as the most simple “contraceptive logistics management information system."

"With funding from Catholic Relief Services, 19 of 33 prefectures were equipped with solar energy sources, allowing UNFPA-supported CHANNEL software to be put into place for reproductive health supply management."

Read the whole thing here.

Again, this is simply my attempt to help keep others as informed as possible.

We've Lost Another Pro-life Warrior

Chris Matera, Vice President of Hike for Life Inc, and Site Coordinator for the McKinney Site, Director of Pro-Life activities and Past Grand Knight of Council 9903, Former District Deputy of District 78 (McKinney, Sherman, Dennison, and Bonham), and Faithful Navigator of Father Michael J McGivney Assembly 3004 passed away on August 17, 2013 after a long illness.

I first met Chris at a Rosary Prayer Vigil outside of Planned Parenthood in McKinney and then at several Hike for Life and March for Life events. The man was a real pro-life warrior and a great example all around. I am saddened by his loss, and I know he will be missed by many.

Here's his obituary. Please note that as of this writing, the link to sign his registry was not yet available:

Christopher A. Matera, age 57, of Van Alstyne, Texas passed away on August 17, 2013. 

He was born March 3, 1956, in Sterling, Illinois, to Lee Angelo and Blanche Ann (Schmitt) Matera. On April 15, 1989, Chris married Noreen Ann Cipriani in Mt. Prospect, Illinois. He proudly served his country in the United States Army. Chris loved to garden and became a certified Master Gardener in the state of Texas. 

Chris was a devout Catholic and an active member of the Knights of Columbus since he joined the organization in February 2000. He held the position of Director of Pro-Life activities and was a past Grand Knight of Council 9903 at St Michael the Archangel Catholic Church. Chris also served as District Deputy of District 78, which is comprised of councils in McKinney, Sherman, Dennison, and Bonham. He joined the patriotic section of the Knights in 2001 and was a Deputy Color Corp Commander and most recently, the Color Corp Commander. At the time of his death Chris was the leader of Father Michael J McGivney Assembly 3004, holding the title Faithful Navigator. At the regional level, he was a member of the Exemplar Team for the Third Texas District of Our Lady of Guadalupe Province. 

He is survived by his wife, Noreen A. Matera of Van Alstyne, TX; father, Lee A. Matera of Overland Park, KS; mother, Blanche A. Matera of Des Moines, IA; sisters, LeAnn Hufford of Polk City, IA, Mary Dunlop of Anthem, AZ and Sara Matera of Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean; brothers, Dr. Andrew Matera of Columbia, MO, Frank Matera of Flower Mound, TX and Michael Matera of Hockenheim, Germany; and thirteen nieces and nephews. 

A funeral service will be held at 3:00 p.m., Saturday, August 24, 2013 at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in McKinney, Texas. A rosary service will be held at 7:00 p.m., on Friday evening at Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home in Allen, Texas, with a visitation to follow from 7:30 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. To convey condolences and to sign an online registry, please visit www.tjmfuneral.com. 

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to: Hike for Life Inc. at www.hikeforlifetexas.org or St. Michael’s Church, 411 Paula Road, McKinney, TX 75069, in memory of Chris Matera.

National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children, September 14

On Saturday, September 14, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Priests for Life and the Pro-Life Action League (click here to learn more about the sponsors) are calling on pro-life Americans to participate in a National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children to honor the grave sites of our unborn brothers and sisters.

Solemn prayer vigils will be conducted at these grave sites, of which there are 34 (known) across the United States.

The date of September 14, 2013, was chosen for this event because it marks the 25th anniversary of the burial of several hundred abortion victims in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

To participate in the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children, find information about a September 14 memorial service taking place near you on the list of unborn grave sites.

Note to those who live in North Texas as I do: plans are now being made for the site at Calvary Hill Cemetery of the Innocents. Although information about the events at this location are still being finalized, you can get some info by clicking here.

If no memorial service is currently scheduled at the nearest grave site, consider volunteering as a local leader to work with the national Day of Remembrance team in hosting such an event.

National NFP Awareness Week

The USCCB has declared July 21 - July 27, 2013 as "National NFP Awareness Week." NFP is Natural Family Planning. This year's theme is "Pro-woman, Pro-man, Pro-child."

The idea is to educate people about the very effective methods of natural family planning as well as what and why the Church teaches regarding love, sexuality, and parenting.

Here's the link to the program's page. It's full of information such as couples' stories, articles, Church teachings, listings of area resources, and more.

Good Ideas From Texas Pro-Life Action Team

If you can't make it to the Capitol today, here are several things you can do from home:

1. Pray! Pray for conversion of hearts & protection of lives.

2. Tweet! Use ‎#stand4life & ‎#LetTexasSpeak

3. Call your State Rep & State Senator, thank them for voting pro-life encourage them to continue doing so.

4. Watch the hearing & LetTexasSpeak live online.

5. Wear Texas Blue, send in a picture to Deirdre@TexasAllianceforLife.org

6. Order your Choose Life license plate to support infant adoption in Texas.

Thank you for your #stand4life!
-----------------
More about Texas Pro-Life Action Team

My Town Abby

Many times when reading remarks by Abby Johnson, I feel as though she is telling me (and you) "This is my town! I know better than you, because your experiences are not the same as mine. I used to work for Planned Parenthood, and that makes me an expert. Anyone who has different ideas is not as pro-life as I am; maybe not at all."

I know this post will not be a popular one. Then, the truth is generally not very popular these days. Also, it is not my intent to tear Abby down, just to call her out. In the end, I may have the same or similar opinion about some legislation that was the catalyst for some remarks she made. I really don't know. But I do know that it is wrong for Abby to suggest that some very good people who have devoted much of their lives to saving babies have "sneaky" agendas or may not be truly Pro-life at all.

In fact, I remember Abby being upset when she found it difficult to be accepted by many pro-life circles. She was upset that people did not "trust" her. I guess she was concerned that people thought she may have had a "sneaky" agenda or may not be truly pro-life. I'm not throwing out an accusation, just noting a comparison.

A recent example, though not covering all of what I stated in the opening paragraph is this comment from Abby (emphasis mine)

Guys, I am trying to give you arguments to use against prochoice rhetoric. It is important to be equipped when someone says that life doesn't begin until the fetus is born. You can talk to them about the baby's heartbeat beginning at 18 days. If you think you can change someone's mind on abortion by simply saying "life begins at conception. Period," you are wrong. You have to have logical arguments to throw back at them. One of the reasons we are behind in this movement is because we do NOT have enough logic to fall back on. It is easy for me to back someone into a corner using their own faulty ideas. We must all be equipped.

I know that sounds harmless enough on its own, but keep reading.

At the same time, Abby is always (and I mean always) complaining that pro-life groups and organizations spend too much time fighting with each other. Oh, I definitely agree on that and wrote a very short piece on that last year.

So why am I "complaining" about Abby Johnson?

Yesterday, Abby wrote on facebook (again, all emphasis mine)

I will NEVER understand why a "prolife" group would want to overturn a solid parental consent bill. I have to wonder about some groups...they say they want to end abortion, but work to do the opposite.

After being questioned, she identified the group she was complaining about as "National Right to Life". A little later, she went on to complain about Texas Right to Life as well.

Her complaints were mostly vague (as in no real details) but were centered on some piece of legislation regarding parental consent laws.

I apologize to the reader, but I am confused because at first I thought NRL was against a bill, or was it an existing law? I thought TRL was okay, then later they were bad too. Several people asked for clarification, but I couldn't see a real answer in any of Abby's responses. Abby stated that NRL and TRL were "against parental consent" and wanted to "go back" to parental "notification". I contacted a friend with NRL, but she had no idea of what I was talking about. I tweeted to NRL, but they politely asked me to call a phone number with questions about legislation. Well, I will, but not without REAL information instead of HYPE.

Many respondents also seemed frustrated by the lack of real details.

Several hours later, Abby started a new thread by stating

I remember when I worked at Planned Parenthood in 2005, we were fighting SO hard to stop the parental consent legislation. We knew it would be devastating for us. Parental notification was SO easy to get around. They could give us the number to Walmart or Target or their cousin and as long as we said we made the contact, then they could get their abortion. We knew parental consent would make our jobs much more difficult. And I remember sitting across the hall from all of the pro-life groups...the groups that we were fighting. Well, all but ONE. There was ONE group that stood alongside Planned Parenthood. There was ONE group that opposed parental consent. I remember thinking to myself THEN, "what type of 'pro-life' group would ever not want parental consent?" Well, that same group is continuing to fight against parental consent in our state. Any group that will stand alongside Planned Parenthood is certainly no pro-life group. We must divide from these groups as they are incredibly detrimental to our efforts. The group I am referring to in this case is Texas Right to Life...fueled by the damaging legislation of National Right to Life.

I finally joined in the comments by asking/stating

What is the specific legislation number you are talking about? And I am sorry to hear you advocating "dividing" after all of the complaining about divisiveness. Anyway, it would help to address these organizations if we know a little more. (I contacted NRL and they don't seem to know about this). 

 I don't believe this has been answered yet.

Regardless, I agree with Abby's former position that pro-life groups should not fight with each other. But apparently, I misunderstood, because it seems that what she meant by that was as long as everyone's ideas are the same as hers.

Look, everyone has to do what they can do and handle their little piece. Abby has a lot to contribute with regard to how Planned Parenthood works and how we might best reach those within the organization. But these comments and accusations lead me to believe that her transition from one "side" to the other was perhaps too quick.

I don't mean the conversion part, but that perhaps the over-night sensation and best-selling author thing may not have helped her understanding that many good people have given much to the pro-life cause for a very long time. Perhaps it's wrong to try to label them as sneaky or as not really being pro-life because their ideas ae different.

North Texas Review: Texas Family Medicine

My family moved from South Louisiana to North Texas 7 years ago. While my wife was pregnant with our now-4-year-old daughter, we decided to find a new pediatrician.

A friend suggested we try Dr. Chris Noyes of Texas Family Medicine. She said that although Dr. Noyes did not specialize in pediatrics only, we would be more than satisfied. Well, she was right! Dr. Noyes specializes in people, and we could not be more pleased that we decided to entrust our children's healthcare to him and his team.

Rather than spend a lot of time reviewing each aspect and/or quality about TFM and Dr. Noyes, there are a couple of main points I want to make.

Dr. Noyes has always treated us as though we were his only appointment for the day. I have never been made to feel hurried or that there are any questions that he doesn't have time to answer. In fact, he has always taken an interest in our lives beyond the realm of physical health.

When I have to make health decisions regarding my children, I feel very comfortable in asking Dr. Noyes, a father of five himself, "What would you do for your own children?" Oh, and the kids actually love visiting too (except the occasional shots of course).

Also, there have been instances where we have been seen by Dr. Heather Sheffield as well. Our experiences with Dr. Sheffield have been similar to those with Dr. Noyes.

There is something else about Dr. Noyes that makes me particularly proud of him. He is very open about his faith and about being pro-life. The very first time that I met Dr. Noyes, before he knew anything at all about me, he made it very clear that he was pro-life, that his practice would always be consistent with his pro-life beliefs, and that he does not do patient referrals for practices, procedures, medications, etc that are not consistent with his pro-life beliefs. I love that!

Texas Family Medicine website *** facebook page *** contact

Texas Family Medicine
8380 Warren Parkway Suite 100
Frisco TX 75034

Phone: 214-387-8288
Fax : 214-387-8289

Office Hours: Monday - Friday 7:00a.m. - 5:00p.m. Saturday 8:00a.m. - 5:00p.m.

The ABC's of Abortion

I have always found the language of the pro-abortion crowd confusing, but it seems even Planned Parenthood now agrees with me about the ABC's of Abortion. Honestly, I've always believed the pro-abortion word games were intentional and not a mistake.

Choice

For instance, the whole "pro-choice" thing. Do they really mean they are for choice? Probably not, since abortion proponents don't want women to see ultrasound pictures of their babies. They might see the baby moving and choose not to kill it you know.

Safe

"Safe" is another complicated term for the abortion crowd too. Well, it's definitely not safe for the human baby that is killed. It's not safe for the women who die or are physically wounded during the killing of their babies. It's not safe for the psychologically damaged women, men, friends, and family who suffer because of the killing of these babies. This doesn't sound safe to me. Yet, those who are for abortion, do not want women to be properly informed of these facts. Is that what they mean by "choice"?

Legal

"Legal"? Oh, I guess it is legal in this country theses days. Slave owners were legally free to choose to own slaves not too long ago either.

Rare

"Rare"? 55,000,000 (that's 55 MILLION) babies killed in the womb (and many outside of the womb) does not sound rare to me. In fact, the number of babies that are killed by abortion in this country every year out-number the deaths of Americans in all wars combined. Oh, and that includes actions against pirates too. Most of those war heroes made a choice to lay down their lives. Some of course really did not have a choice. NONE of the babies killed by abortion are given a choice.

Reproductive Rights

"Reproductive Rights" is the latest attempt to confuse. Come on! This one is simple. No one wants to infringe on the rights of women to reproduce. At least not yet, that is. In China, women are forced to abort their babies; population control, you know. If that sad day ever comes to America, the abortion crowd will have to choose to rethink this one too. "That could never happen here!" Well, when the government decides it is no longer economically feasible...

Planned Parenthood

"Planned Parenthood"; the best example of the intentional twisting of language. Planned Parenthood is about abortion. It's what they do. It's what they advocate. Anything that might steal away their abortion business (like choosing not to kill babies) is not the choice they mean. Parenthood is not really their plan.

What DO They MEAN by CHOICE?

No matter how the pro-abortion crowd twists, rearranges, and attempts to confuse the ABC'c of abortion, the question remains; "What do they mean by choice?"

If you choose to share this post, please use the hashtag #Tweet4Choice 

Beginning an END to Abortion

Not long ago, I posted about some pro-life problems. For far too long, we have been divided. For far too long, we have been reliant upon political parties and/or candidates with far too little true concern about pro-life measures. It is time to make a new start, a real start if you will. It is time for the beginning of the end to abortion.

Texas Pro-Life Action Team has set out to do just that; beginning the end to abortion. The grass-roots organization's focus and efforts will be on ending abortion in Texas, but could very well be used as a model for groups and organizations in other states.

By training people to become their own lobbyists in the Texas Legislature, the group hopes to teach them to form relationships with their elected officials in order to apply pressure when it comes time to vote on pro-life bills.

The first training session is set for Saturday, February 9, 2013. The Crusaders for Life at the University of Dallas in Irving will host the event.

I will be posting more about the training and other efforts by Texas Pro-Life Action Team as more information becomes available. Meanwhile, I encourage you to visit their website, to like their page on Facebook, and to follow them on twitter.

Personally, I want to state that I am very encouraged by the vision of this organization. The abortion machine likes to hide behind the false notion that it is somehow part of "healthcare". I see this as a great window of opportunity, but that's enough for now.
---------------------------

Texas Pro-Life Action Team are a group of concerned citizens who want to end the culture of death and make unconditional respect for human life the foundation of a renewed society via two means: grassroots political training and public witness/activism. Read more here. Use the  Contact form.

---------------------------

Crusaders for Life promotes the dignity of life from conception through natural death through their prayerful presence at a Dallas abortion clinic each Saturday, as well as through lectures and visits to a local retirement home. For more information, contact Jennifer Wallace at 972.721.5000 x5165 or at jwallace@udallas.edu.

A very small start: Do what you can

This morning, a friend of mine posted this on facebook:

Status Update
By George Gano

Do what you can
Mother Teresa used to say that she did not add; she subtracted—and she was not talking about arithmetic skills. You’ll never win at the game of measuring the success of service in numbers, she was pointing out. The total of those in need will always outrun your efforts to catch up with it. Though her Missionaries of Charity have helped hundreds of thousands—perhaps millions—of people, they cannot reach everyone. If, however, you see, as she did, every person to whom you give aid to be another person subtracted from the mass of suffering, the numbers game changes—especially if you consider each one of them to be a child of God. In trying to feed the world’s hungers, you don’t have to do everything, but you can do something.

This is exactly the direction I am being moved to. But to further explain:

If you have the job of cleaning a 3-story house and look at the task in front of you, it can be daunting. But if you can specialize in the kitchen and work together with many others who specialize in other rooms, the job seems much more manageable.

And even more important, if you can trust the others to do their part, and they can trust you to do your part, and you can resist the urge to tell each other how to do the others' jobs, you are much more likely to get the job done more efficiently and effectively.

Are you paying attention pro-lifers?

Pro-Life Problems

I think it's past time that we admit we have some serious pro-life problems. I often see references to the "pro-life movement", and here is where the problems begin. You see, there really isn't a pro-life movement, but rather many different movements with many different agendas.

First of all, pro-life encompasses much more than ant-abortion efforts, but it is those efforts that I am most concerned with at the moment and the subject of this post.

Among those who wish to see an end to abortion are those who want to see it completely abolished and those who believe there should be exceptions. There are those who think that abortion should be illegal and those who say "You can't legislate such things, but rather have to change people's hearts and minds". There are those who reject any legislation that includes exceptions, those who desire "personhood" amendments, and those that will accept anything that will limit or lessen abortion to any degree. Some think we should focus locally, some nationally, and some globally.

There are those who will not work with anyone outside of their particular organization or Faith or even local church. There are those that will work with many others "but not them".

Of course there are many who are willing to put all differences aside, placing the babies first, and work together for them.

It is these that we need more of. That's not to say we  should not all find our niche or an organization we can work with, one that we feel we really fit in with or agree with, just that we should try to keep our eyes on the big picture.

I intend to greatly intensify my postings on this and related topics. Let's not let our individual ideas become differences that divide us.

No real pro-life candidates, but one LOVES abortion

I never intended to go a whole week without blogging, but there were some family matters and other issues that were more important. For starters, Brandon was ill all last week, and even before. Poor boy missed his last football game. Even worse, he hates missing school, and had to miss 7 1/2 school days. He was really excited to get back yesterday. Additionally, last week my oldest daughter, Amanda, popped in for a surprise visit for a few days.

Honestly, I did not want my first returning post to be about politics, but it will be.

I saw this article on facebook this morning. Of course the intention is to shock me from thinking that Mitt Romney was pro-life and has changed his position, and so this somehow cancels out any pro-life-first voter discernment.

I won't bother to link to the numerous posts I have made about Romney not really being pro-life. But I am a bit disturbed that some make this a big deal, while not fairly pointing out that it is President Obama who seems to be "in love" with abortion. It is President Obama who has made very loud and clear his support of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest provider of abortions. It is President Obama who has supported late-term and even partial birth abortions. You know, the ones where the baby's head is delivered, and then a pair of scissors is jammed into the back of it's skull. It is President Obama who as a State Senator voted more than once to not protect babies who survive abortion, but to instead leave them in soiled linens to die.

Romney is not pro-life anywhere near to my liking. But you just can't be any more pro-abortion than Obama.


   

Biden, Ryan; Will a Catholic Ever REALLY Step Up for the Unborn?

Last night I watched the Vice Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan. Both men claim to be Catholic, but have extremely different ideas about not only how their Catholic Faith should or should not be an influence on their public lives, but also on just what the Catholic Faith teaches regarding various issues, especially abortion.

Now, with 2,000 years of our developing understanding of Christianity and an ever-changing world, there are many Catholic doctrines which may be misunderstood, misinterpreted, or worse, misrepresented. We have the Magisterium. We have the pope. We have our bishops. One should not be doing their "evolving" apart from these.

But on what should have been the clear defining moment of what the Catholic Faith holds true about the sanctity of life and especially the Church's defense of the unborn, both Biden and Ryan failed to step up. Worse, because they are high-profile public figures, they added to the scandal which has long existed because of the likes of such cowardly men (and women).

By the way, the first known Church statement in defense of the unborn is from about the year 100 AD.

Near the end of the debate, the candidates were asked about their Faith with regards to abortion.

Paul Ryan started off well by saying that you cannot separate Faith in your personal life from your public life. Check. He affirms that life begins at conception. Check. He identifies himself as "pro-life". Check. Moments later, however, he re-asserts that "the policy of a Romney Administration will be to oppose abortion with the exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother". No check. This is not what the Catholic Faith teaches Mr Ryan. Life does begin at conception. Placing these automatic "exceptions" for abortion weakens the pro-life argument and devalue lives. They devalue innocent human lives.

Of course Joe Biden is so far removed from an acceptable representation of what the Catholic Faith teaches that he would have done better to just say, "Pass." He starts by saying "My religion defines who I am." He then says that he is particularly informed by Catholic Social Doctrine. For my non-Catholic friends or my lesser-aware Catholic friends, this is often (not always, but more often than not) code language for "I am about to distort and misrepresent the Catholic Faith to be some quasi-liberal entity" which may even sound good and logical but is actually Satan in the works. There's that forbidden fruit reference again. Anyway, "Smokin' Joe" continues, saying that we need to take care of "those who can't take care of themselves." Wow Joe, like unborn babies? Nope, not Joe. He continues, "with regard to abortion"  saying that he "accepts" that life begins at conception (Of course he calls it "the Church's judgement"  which ignores the fact there is also scientific proof.) but that he refuses to impose that upon "equally devout Christians, Muslims, and Jews." But he has no problem imposing forced payment for abortions and abortificant drugs by all of us who oppose such evil. He continues to ignore scientific evidence against his position by referring to the baby in the womb as a woman's "own body". Hello Mr Biden, at conception, the baby's DNA is unique. It is NOT the "Mother's own body".

I've posted and had enough. You can see the entire debate below. The parts that I referenced begin at 1:12:30.

Romney Revelations

At this late stage of the presidential campaign, I suspect that voters who are most concerned about abortion issues were not moved one way or the other by the supposed "new" revelations about Mitt Romney's views regarding abortion. Yesterday, Romney said,

"There’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda".

This should go without saying, but for those whose number one concern is the least-restricted, uninhibited, tax-funded availability of abortion, there is probably nothing that can be said or done that would change their minds about voting for Barack Obama.

For those whose number one concern is to "take what we can get" with regards to an even slightly more pro-life-friendly president than Obama, there is probably nothing that can be said or done that would change their minds about voting for Mitt Romney.

For those "hard-core" pro-life voters who are beyond merely disgusted with the current system and the political machines backing either of those candidates, there is probably nothing that can be said or done that would change their minds to vote for someone other than either Obama or Romney.

Lisa Graas posts "Romney and Abortion – Top Tweets" which shows the various positions taken regarding Romney's statement. I admit that I did not dig into the prior tweets of any of the tweeters in Lisa's blog post, but I'm pretty confident that their positions on Romney will be found to be consistent before and after the statement.

Kyle Cupp posts "Romney Just Doesn’t Care About Abortion Policy". I wish I could accuse Kyle of just creating an attractive title for his post, but in the end, I believe that Romney is foremost a politician and does not care about abortion policy; at least not anywhere near as much as I would like him to. About pro-lifers and regarding Romney, Kyle writes,

"His opponent’s a real believer in reproductive rights, so Romney can flip-flop and self-contradict and play the moderate here and still appear preferable to their eyes."

Kyle gets this dead on. (With my only objection being Kyle's use of the pro-abortion term "reproductive rights".) Obama is a real believer in abortion. He supports the most liberal and radical policies regarding abortion, and he believes that you and I should pay for them regardless of our own beliefs. It is hard to imagine any politician bold enough to rival Obama's position regarding abortion.

That is exactly why I will again hold my nose in November, check the Romney box, and then begin doing what I can to protect the unborn.

Click here and save a baby

My youngest kiddos from a previous Hike

I got a late start, but you can help me save the life of at least one baby. The estimated costs of saving a baby in North Texas is $625, which is my goal. Every and any amount helps.

Please help me support Crisis Pregnancy Centers by donating to my pro-life cause with Hike for Life.

Hike for Life is a pro-life walk held once a year in various locations around Texas that raises money for area Crisis Pregnancy Centers and raises awareness of the dignity of all human life, from conception to natural death. The funds raised by Hike for Life are distributed to Crisis Pregnancy Centers in the area where the Hike is held.

Thank you for your help!

Please help me save babies

Please help me support Crisis Pregnancy Centers in saving unborn babies by donating to my pro-life cause with Hike for Life.

Hike for Life is a pro-life walk held once a year in various locations around Texas that raises money for area Crisis Pregnancy Centers and raises awareness of the dignity of all human life, from conception to natural death. The funds raised by Hike for Life are distributed to Crisis Pregnancy Centers in the area where the Hike is held.

Thank you for your help!

The Weighting Is The Hardest Part

I've been writing about examining all candidates with a prayerful and properly formed conscience and keeping faith and morals in the political discussions.

There can be such a will of some people to defeat a particular candidate that they don't even want to hear or read anything, and I mean anything, that might cause them or others to do anything but march on in a robotic trance, with blinders on their eyes and fingers in their ears.

As Christians, we have a greater responsibility and allegiance to God than to any politician, political party, and even to our country.  Of course our country is important, but as Christians we are responsible to cooperate with God in our witness to others first, hopefully transforming the country through God's Grace.

The most common responses I have received so far have been:

Romney "is pro-life".

-Well, there's more to being pro-life than being anti-abortion.  And Romney is not always anti-abortion. And even when he is, I do not see such conviction that I believe that he will actually do anything other than say he is pro-life. There's more on this, but you can do a little research on your own right? (Of course we know Obama is definitely pro-abortion and even pro-infanticide so do not misinterpret or distort what I am saying.)

What " if your vote results in dramatic worsening of the situation for pretty much everything you care about (a bigger evil staying in power)?" and "A vote for a third party candidate is a vote for Obama."

-That is part of the discernment that one needs to consider. But it's a part and needs to be taken to prayer and considered in the whole of the process. When our conscience is clear, we will proceed with assurance and peace, not fear. The Lord does not give us a Spirit of fear.

"I know Romney is not perfect. He was not my first nor second choice in the primaries but he he is better than Obama."
-My intention is to get people to think about the weight of their vote on their souls before the weight of politics. Honestly, it's not for me to judge someone who wrestles with the full grasp of facts and takes that (hopefully with prayer) into the voting booth.

I was going to rant on a bit more about this, but Lisa beat me to it.  (Ah, good for me and for you.)

No, it's not easy, but it is your responsibility.  And although Tom Petty's song "The Waiting" was definitely composed with a different end in mind, the chorus of that song reminds me of this process.  Here it is (with my changing of that one word <2x>):

The weighting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The weighting is the hardest part
(The Waiting, by Tom Petty - with editorial liberty)

So try not to get angry about any of this, just think and pray and discern until you truly feel at peace that you have taken into account all of the information. Soon, the weighting will be over.