Questions to ponder.

I am not sure where to begin on this one, or exactly what to title it. I am sure it will come to me as I go along. I am not sure even which direction to take it.
I have been pondering this for a few days, since hearing about the survival of a baby born at only 21 weeks and weighing only 10 ounces. This is the first baby to have been known to have survived at that early stage of development. Was she really a baby when she was born, or was she a crying blob with arms and legs who had to finish developing to become the baby that she is now after 5 months in a NICU? When exactly does a baby become a baby?
If a baby is not a baby until 40 weeks, then why is so much time, effort, and money put into saving those who are born too soon? Why is there a need for a NICU? Why is the March of Dimes trying to end premature births, if the premature baby is not a baby after all?
How can a person say that a baby is not a baby until it is born when no baby is born at the exact same time as another? If it is normal for a term baby to go 38-42 weeks, then what is it exactly if it only goes, say 36, or 26, or even 21 weeks?
I know of another family who had a baby about a month ago at 26 weeks. Looks like a baby to me, the description sounds like a baby? Is it truly a baby? The ultrasounds that I have seen show a baby, even at 8 weeks after conception. To me, there is no question, that it is a baby. If people would show these women in the abortion clinic a 3D ultrasound of their baby, I think there would be fewer abortions (of course, that would then put the abortion clinic out of business, and we can't have that, now can we?)

Being a Conservative Christian Republican I have a hard time reconciling the differences in my party. I chose to vote "write in" in our Gubernatorial election here in Illinois last November, because I could not compromise my personal beliefs and vote for a candidate who was pro-abortion (choice she calls it). I don't know what I will do in the Presidential election come 2008, if my party chooses a pro-abortion candidate.
Choice? Who's choice? Not the baby's choice. The choice is not made after conception. Let's not punish the baby for the choice of the mother. The baby did not choose that day/night when it was conceived. That is the choice that the mother made. The consequences of the promiscuous lifestyle may be getting pregnant and being forced to carry, birth, and raise that child. The other option is adoption, which is an outstanding choice. I understand that in times of rape or incest, that raising the baby may not be an option, but in those rare cases, adoption is still an option. I know too many couples, personally, who are medically considered infertile and would love to adopt a baby. I see so many ads in the paper every week from couples who are wanting to adopt.
Let's face it, our society today is so selfish that people in general think more about themselves, that they don't take a moment to think about what that new life within them may be feeling as it is murdered, or the feelings of that woman who takes a pregnancy test month after month only to be disappointed because she wants to become a mother so badly.
Sorry to have vented, but those are just some things on my mind as of late.

President's Day

President's Day, what is it? Why do we celebrate it? Some would just call it another day, to others, it is just a day off work or school, and to others still, it is a day to have a sale or go to a sale. I think sometimes these days are taken to lightly.
As a kid, it was a day off school and to go to our annual school Volleyball/Basketball President's Day tournament. Teams would come (and still do) from all over the Pacific Northwest to paraticipate. As a kid, who knew or cared who's birthday was when except for their own? Everyone got the actual holiday off, but if we were eligible, we were able to have Tuesday off as well. If we were on the teams, we were able to have Wednesday as a bonus as that was the tournament championship day.
Yesterday, President's day, was a day that has been set aside by the government to celebrate lives of our presidents. It is put between two notable Presidents of U.S. History. One being, the famous (or infamous to some), Abraham Lincoln, who's birthday is on February 12th and the other being George Washington, our first president and revolutionary, who's birthday is on the 22nd. There are two others as well. Those are the great president of the modern time, Ronald Reagan, February 6th, and the lesser known William H. Harrison, February 9th. This is a day where we honor their memories and celebrate all our presidents past and present (whether we like them or not).
Some call February Black History Month, which is all fine and dandy, but I prefer to call it President's month and I am personally will be proud to have our new daughter share a month with these great people of history.

Heat wave

Yay, it is finally warming up, at least for a little while. If you have followed my previous posts, I am not a huge fan of Winter. The Winters I remember out on the West coast were not too cold. Once in a while we would have some temperatures hover right around 0 for a few days, but not stick around for a month at a time. Our average temperature in our coldest month was probably around 25, with most temperatureas being warmer.
Spring there starts mid February and Fall ends about mid November, so the Winter season was so much shorter than here in Illinois. Here, we can still be shoveling out in mid April when the flowers are starting to bloom.
On Saturday it was 22 degrees here in Illinois (which was warmer than it had been) while at my parents house in Washington state, it was 67. Talk about contrasts!! Though I think that I am not quite ready for 67 yet.
Finally, today it is in the 40's. It is a heat wave--t shirt weather. This is my kind of Winter. If the lowest temperature of the Winter would be this low without becoming a Southerner (not that that is a bad thing), that would be GREAT.
It is supposed to be warmer tomorrow, yay!! The snow will start melting and flowers will start blooming and the trees will start leafing out. I don't think I have seen grass since mid January, though brown grass is not really pretty. Hopefully I will not have to be sloshing through slush on my way to and from the hospital next week.

Correction to Married? To Whom?

I had mistaken information and put an RLDS in front of the "fundamentalist" Warren Jeffs in my post on February 14th. It should be FLDS. He is not a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Sorry about that. His polygamist organization is separate from the Community of Christ.

Showers of Blessings

I was showered with such a kindness and love that one only experiences in a church like ours. Events like last night remind me why I love my church and why we stay where we are. We are constantly reminded of God's grace and love to us through other believers.

I don't know how many of you will ever read this, but again, ladies, thank you. I cannot thank you enough for your kindness, love, and generosity. You truly outdid yourselves. I counted over 30 of you there and can only count on one hand the number that were missing and I know those ones had valid reasons for not making it. Again, I thank you immensely. I had a wonderful time with all of you.

We look forward to using the wonderful gifts that were showered upon us last night.
My other two kids loved going through it with us and celebrating the new life that will be born within the next few days (within 10 days)

Married? To whom exactly?

I watched an interesting show on ABC last night. It was called Primetime: The outsiders. The topic was polygamists. Since I had studied Mormonism in high school for my senior year research paper, the LDS church is a topic that has interested and intrigued me for years.
The modern day LDS church claims to frown upon the practice of polygamy.

Here is a brief history on polygamy in America:
1823-1827 Joseph Smith received the "Book of Mormon" in the form of golden plates from the "angel of light" (see 2 Corinthians 11:14) Moroni.
He taught the doctrine of plural marriage after the group arrived in Nauvoo Illinois, but there are conflicting accounts of whether or not he personally had more than one.
After his death in 1844, the LDS were forced out of Illinois, and they went to SLC Utah where Brigham Young was able to institute the doctrine of polygamy claiming it to be a "new revelation" from God. He of course took advantage of that one and had at least 27 wives and 56 children.
In order for New Zion (Utah) to gain statehood, the church had to abolish these teachings and did so; though there are still rogue LDS members who practice it. Some of them call themselves the reformed LDS or Community of Christ (their leader, William Jeffs, was recently arrested on charges of forced marriage, and other sexual issues involving minors).

Now, about this particular program. They interviewed one particular family. The man had two wives and 9 children. The first wife was 30 and they had 7 kids; the second was 20 and they had 2. Both of these women of course, had come from a home where their father's had multiple wives, so this was normal for them and it was what they wanted for their own families. As one who lives a normal monogamous life, I look at them as being odd for wanting that, but that is all they know.

The basic premise of Mormonism is that the men will one day be gods and that the more wives they have, the greater god they will be when they reach heaven. The only way for a woman to get to heaven is to marry a man (Imagine that!!). So, these women welcome more wives, so that their husbands can be greater. They also believe that there are spirit babies in heaven (that god is reproducing with his many wives) and it is their duty to create many babies to give these spirit babies homes, and the more wives the husband has, the more babies.

They say that it is not about sex, but that they are obeying the commands of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures because he was married and had many wives, so they are following his example. (I don't know from what scriptures they have taken that from). My husband says to me "Why don't they just read the Bible?" In answer to that, they do read the Bible (the KJV to be exact) and study it along with their own books The Book of Mormon and The Pearl Of Great Price (new revelation given to Brigham Young in SLC).

Their own Book of Mormon says in Jacob 1:15 --"They began to grow hard in their hearts, and indulge themselves somewhat in wicked practices, such as like unto David of old desiring many wives and concubines, and also Solomon his son." Also in Jacob 2:23 --the author calls this practice "whoredoms", again in verse 24 "Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord." Then the author commands in Jacob 2:27 "Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall NOT any man among you have save it be ONE wife; and concubines he shall have NONE."

I was wondering what kind of jobs all these men had to take care of their wives and all those children. Well, the first wife (possibly wives) has a job as well as the husband while the newer wife (wives) stay home with the children and care for the home. Of course, the newer wife is looking forward to the husband's marrying again, so her job is made lighter.

The women did honestly say that there was some jealousy there when the husband would choose the other to be with on a particular night or when he would take the other woman out on an excursion. DUH!! I figured there would be, I just did not expect them to admit to it.

They also interviewed a group of teenagers who were looking forward to the day that they would marry and have that same lifestyle. The young men of course were looking forward to having more than one wife and the girls were looking forward to being a part of their own polygamist families. These same children had very moral lifestyles up to this point in their lives.

In my Christian mind, I cannot understand how someone could truly believe that stuff, but I guess by the grace of God, I was brought up in a Christian home learning to read and study the true Scriptures. He could have put me in a home like that where I would know nothing different. Thank God for his Sovereign Glorious Grace.

...And it still snows...

I posted last week about how much you have to love Illinois. Well, it still snows. I think Winter has been long enough. Granted, we had 40 degree temps all through December and half of January, which was a record for around here of how many days it was above 40. I just don't like Winter and am tired of seeing a bleak whiteness outside. It is pretty when you get the first one or two snowfalls, but when it has been on the ground for a month straight, it gets kind of boring.
As I write this, however, I must be truly thankful I do not live in New York state where they are getting snow by the foot. I heard that some places it is up to 12 feet of snow on the ground now. How does that work exactly? What do you do with so much snow? How does the plow get rid of it all? It just amazes me that somewhere outside of Northern Canada, Alaska, or Antarctica could get that much snow at once.

My husband asked me where they put the snow that falls in downtown Chicago. As with any big city, they can't just pile the snow in a parking lot as there are only parking lots every few blocks. There are not large store lots where you can just park mounds of snow. They can't just pile it along the roads as they are so busy that it would cause traffic hazards. What do they do with it all?

Needless to say. I am ready for Spring!!