Are we really pro-life?

I took my little 6-month niece/goddaughter to Mass with me on Sunday evening. I look very young and I am not married so do not wear a ring on my finger. I kept noticing throughout the church people looking at me with a look of disappointment and concern. As soon as I noticed they were staring at me they would awkwardly smile. I quickly realized that they probably thought my niece was my daughter and I was a single mom. Because I look so young they probably thought I was a teen/early 20's single mom. All these people apparently were disappointed with me. How pro-life is that? We tell girls to carry their babies to term but then we give them dirty looks for doing so. We need to do everything we can to encourage people to practice abstinence until marriage but if they do not and a young girls gets pregnant we MUST shower her with love and support. We need to honor her and celebrate her for not making another terrible decision. Then we need to encourage her to change her sexual behaviors. I understand now why so many girls feel pressured to have an abortion. If we are going to be pro-life, we need to be pro-life all the way and support girls who choose life, no matter what their situation.

Fasting and prayer for the election

Catholics can not in good conscience vote for a Pro-Choice candidate. Check out this amazing letter from Father John Corapi...

A Call for a Rosary Novena

Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for theBlessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary.These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in thehistory of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took placeon October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved tobe the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radicalMuslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter'sSquare in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoralleadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radicalMuslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritualbattles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was abattle that had its origins in the spiritual order-a true battle betweengood and evil.

Today we have a similar spiritual battle in progress-a battle betweenthe forces of good and evil, light and darkness, truth and lies, lifeand death. If we do not soon stop the genocide of abortion in the UnitedStates, we shall run the course of all those that prove by their actionsthat they are enemies of God-total collapse, economic, social, andnational. The moral demise of a nation results in the ultimate demise ofa nation. God is not a disinterested spectator to the affairs of man.Life begins at conception. This is an unalterable formal teaching of theCatholic Church. If you do not accept this you are a heretic in plainEnglish. A single abortion is homicide. The more than 48,000,000abortions since Roe v. Wade in the United States constitute genocide bydefinition. The group singled out for death-unwanted, unborn children.

No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute aproportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserveand defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.

I strongly urge every one of you to make a Novena and pray the Rosary toOur Lady of Victory between October 27th and Election Day, November 4th.Pray that God's will be done and the most innocent and utterlyvulnerable of our brothers and sisters will be protected from thisbarbaric and grossly sinful blight on society that is abortion. Nowoman, and no man, has the right to choose to murder an innocent humanbeing.May God grant us the wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and counsel toform our conscience in accordance with authentic Catholic teaching, andthen vote that well-formed Catholic conscience.

God Bless You
Fr. John Corapi

Welcome Fall

I've always considered myself a summer girl, but I have to admit that this time of year gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. The crisp fresh air, blue skies, the smell of fireplaces being lit and cool snuggle-appropriate nights are just a few things that I love. I also love wearing scarves, and deep fall color sweaters again. I love picking pumpkins and roasting the pumpkin seeds after! I love the returned smells of hot tea, coffee, chili, baked goods and other comfort foods that are only fitting for cooler weather.

Although we don't get much of it in Southern California, I have fond memories of apple-picking and jumping in piles of brightly-colored crunchy leaves as a child. We would take family drives through wildlife to admire breathtaking colorful sites. It is as though God took a paintbrush to nature Himself! Such beauty!

Ok, its your turn, what do YOU love about fall??

Abortion Extremism

For those of you who may disagree with me, don't worry I am not a U.S. citizen yet, and will not have the right to vote during the next elections. I do feel a responsibility as a Catholic however, to bring up a very concerning issue about one of our presidential candidates.

This following article -- Obama's Abortion Extremism may seem extreme at first, but as I read on, all evidence was supported and accurate, and the author brings up several very good points.

"Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States. He is the most extreme pro-abortion member of the United States Senate. Indeed, he is the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress."

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily get butterflies or warm fuzzies when I think about John McCain, but the question we really need to ask ourselves is: Who is Jesus? What does He want? Ultimately, we should think about these questions before we make any action throughout our day. There is no doubt that a national election vote is a grave decision that should be given much thought and prayer. Please read the article I posted above, and spend some time meditating what Jesus is calling you to do during these approaching elections. May God bless America and its future generations.

Believe it or not...

SPECIAL REPORT!!

Revelation: Obama May Have Been A Fetus

Read about this mind-blowing discovery....

30 seconds of objectification

There's a commercial for an LG cell phone that goes like this: A gil and her boyfriend are sitting down at a cafe and she's talking about something and two pretty girls walk by. The guy looks at the girls and checks out their backsides using his shiny new cell phone and then gets a text from his girlfriend saying "OMG UR A PIG!!"

How many things are wrong with this 30 second spot? Go! (I'm trying to start a discussion here!)

We're NOT boys!

Since the whole feminist uprising (soooo last millenium!) society has tried to tell us that we can do anything boys do just as good as boys and we are equal in every way. Well, that's not entirely true (unless you can name one girl who can pee standing up :P). Males and females totally have differences that we need to celebrate instead of trying to mask.

Yesterday my neighbor and I were letting our babies play. Her son is 5 days older than my baby girl. The were both in diapers, sharing his play gym. The boy was using both hads to grab at toys and anything near him and trying to roll over on his side, while my girl was more interested in looking at his mother and cooing at her then looking back at me, just to make sure I hadn't left. Isn't that amazing?? He is already more interested in motor skills and she already prefers to communicate and we haven't done anything special to make them this way.

Even though this is just one tiny difference, we really should be celebrating what makes us uniquely women. Being Equal doesn't mean being the SAME. Eve was Adam's equal partner before the fall, but "male and female He created them." :)

Dove on "beauty"

I don't know about the rest of you but I am sick of the Dove soap adds trying to redefine beauty for us. They say that their purpose is to challenge societies ideas of beauty as thin and shapeless and say that curves are beautiful too. They have completely missed what women really need to hear these days. We don't need to hear that curves make us beautiful, instead we need to hear that what makes us beautiful has nothing to do with our bodies. Our beauty comes from who we are not what we look like. We are all made in the image and likeness of God and that makes us beautiful. We need to take the focus off the body. Women will not really embrace the way their body looks until they know their true dignity apart from their physical appearance. No one would deny that Mother Theresa was one of the most beautiful women to ever live. Clearly this has nothing to do with her physical appearance. It has everything to do with the fact that when you look into her eyes you encounter our Lord and his Blessed Mother. That is what makes us beautiful as women. So please Dove, if you want to launch a real campaign to redefine beauty look to Our Blessed Mother as your model. Put her face on all your billboard instead of half naked women who happen to be the opposite of what society claims is beautiful.

The Problems of Premarital Sex

Last night Leo and I were at dinner with his cousin and her boyfriend having a political/spiritual discussion. They are both pro-life, yet voting for Obama. Lame. When talking about the abortion issue, we naturally got into the discussion of teen pregnancy. To them, the major unfortunate consequence of pre-marital sex, is pregnancy, so their solution for these teens is birth control.

Most of my clients at the crisis pregnancy center were in my office because they were concerned they were facing an "unplanned" pregnancy. The ones who were not pregnant, generally breathed a big sigh of relief when I shared the results of their test with them. In their eyes, their crisis was over. In my eyes, this was only the symptom of a crisis. This wasn't just one bad decision to have sex with their "partner." This was the result of a series of bad decisions that led them, by the grace of God, to me.

So when they think they're in the clear, and they are ready to walk out the door after the negative results, I hit them hard. Not physically, though sometimes that might be what they need (j/k), but we proceed to discuss their relationship, and why they're having sex. 

To me, the saddest part of their choice to have premarital sex is that they develop these disordered attachments towards the boys they choose to give themselves to. These girls wind up permanently bonded, through oxytocin (a hormone which is meant to permanently bond them to their spouse, or child) to that male they first have sex with. They can't see clearly or make rational decisions because their judgement is clouded by their physical attachment to this person. Their lives are thrown upside down but they think their right side up. Their bodies think they're in love.

This is why birth control is not allowing women to keep their freedom by preventing the "burden" of children, but is rather stripping them of their femininity and allowing them to be objectified all the more in premarital sex.

The beautiful consequence of these actions is that God creates new souls to love. The sad part is that the people in these relationships don't know what love is, so they need be shown. Birth control prevents the life giving consequence of premarital sex; it does not prevent the heartbreak. And yet, so many see it as a simple solution. If they only knew the truth...

My hubby's aunt posted this on her blog ad I thought the guy made some interesting points. My fave point was how our schools indoctrinate kids to be liberal. Sad, but true.

As baby screamed in the carseat on our way to and from dinner with our friends I couldn't help but think of people who sigh, eye roll, or make rude comments (right next to you, as if you can't hear over the crying!). Some days it's enough to make you feel like you should never take the baby outin public. I guess they were such perfect babies and children that they never made a peep in public! Their parents must have had it so easy. And I'm sure such perfect people also had perfect babies that were also quiet in public every time. Right. :P

The hardest place for the baby to cry is during Mass. We normally go to a High Mass said in Latin so it's silent...except for Baby last night. Right before the Consecration she decided to let out a nice big burp and during communion she was tired and just started wailing (I like to think of it as chanting with the choir). I know some people think that you should never bring babies and little ones to Mass so they won't distract others, but how will they learn??? Jesus said "Let the little children come to me" and we really shouldn't be depriving these little Saints of time with Jesus. Even though they aren't always aware of what's happening and may not understand, the Lord definetelyis planting little seeds in them each time they spend time with Him.

Healthy Snack

I found a great recipe online for "Healthy" Banana Oat Muffins. My hubby made these for me and the baby, and we absolutely love them! They are made with whole grains, and make a great breakfast and snack!

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners or coat with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the bananas, brown sugar, egg, vanilla and oil. Combine the whole wheat flour, oats, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder and baking soda; stir into the banana mixture until blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 25 minutes. Cool for a few minutes in the pan before attempting to remove them.

ENJOY!!!

Planned Parenthood, hurting women since 1916

I am extremely concerned about a recent article I read. In North Carolina, two college members of "Students for Life" visited separate Planned Parenthood clinics, posing as underage women (ages 14 and 15) who had had sex with their mothers' live-in boyfriend. For both visits, Planned Parenthood staff acknowledged that this situation was defined as statutory rape, yet neither case was ever reported. Both girls were also given birth control pills without their parents' consent (allowing the situation to continue longer), and were sent home to take the After Morning Pill, to cover the rapists' crimes.

Read the entire article here.

Now I realize that in society's eyes, the majority of people have trouble understanding why artificial birth control is harmful to women. Similarly, there is a large number of people in the world who do not understand how harmful abortion is to women. I know that it is safe to say, however, that the MAJORITY of society KNOWS that rape is detrimental to women, young and old. Can someone PLEASE explain to me how an organization that claims to "support women" can actually let something this serious slide by?!?

Feast of Guardian Angels

Happy feast of our Guardian Angels!

I'm sure we can all think of times when our Guardian Angel has assisted us during our earthly pilgrimage. Not only do they protect us from physical danger, but in many cases they can help us in times of temptation. I find it humorous that almost every time I say something mean, especially towards my husband, I tend to hurt myself (walk into something, trip, bite my tongue, paper cut, and other little clumsy things). I truly believe that my guardian angel enjoys teaching me little moral lessons!!