8 years and counting

Emily turned 8 Sunday. She got a guinea pig as an early birthday present and named it Waffles, but it died three days later of a respiratory infection, which I didn't know guinea pigs could get. Luckily, Mom and Dad had two weeks to return it, so they got another one and Emily named it Milky Way.

I'm not one for rodents, but it's pretty cute, although it, too, is now sick, so I hope it doesn't die. (Emily tried a couple of fish earlier this summer, and that didn't work, either.) Mom says this one also has a respiratory issue and ear infection. To quote Mom exactly, "He stumbles around crazy like, bless his heart." She has to give it antibiotics, and she said it makes her appreciate Daisy (the dog).

Emily likes it, though, and totes it around everywhere. She said you can't touch it after putting perfumy things on because it is "sensitive to scentses."

Pete and I went to TN over the weekend to partake in the celebrations. Emily had just returned from Justice (formerly Limited Too for those of you in the dark like I was) and showed me the hand soap that she got at "Bed Bath and Body Works."

The next day (Saturday), we went to the park to meet a bunch of Emily's friends, including several girls with more energy than the Energizer bunny and a cute boy named Phillip who always wanted to sit next to Emily. She had a Hawaiian theme, so everyone got leis. (Mental note: It's easier to know which kids belong to your party that way.)

Oh, and I got to decorate cupcakes for her Sunday school class. I tried to make a baseball, but it looked like blue ivy.

Abortion clinic

I went to an abortion clinic with Stephanie, Ester and Mike on Saturday.

Stephanie goes a lot and told me to expect one group of protesters to have posters of aborted babies and microphones. She was right. As I drove up, one man stepped a little closer to my car with a disgusting picture of a baby. Another guy yelled at me not to do it as I parked in the parking lot.

Of course I wasn't there for myself, which they realized when I moved my car to the street. Protesters aren't supposed to park in the parking lot I guess. I waited on the other three to get there and we stood on the sidewalk (we aren't allowed near the building).

We didn't yell or call people murderers as they walked in the door like the other group did. We just asked people as they drove up if they wanted some information. A few people took it, but most didn't. One man said he and his girlfriend (?) would read it before they went in, but I think her mind was made up.

I honestly think the other group of people (all guys) have good intentions -- they made some true, hard-hitting points -- but I think their approach is all wrong. Maybe a mic is the only way to be heard sometimes, but yelling at people just turns them off. Yes, deal with the issue, but also consider the people involved. And evangelizing, while important, might not be the best place to start in such a situation.

One Hispanic woman brought her daughter to give out information. Another older lady sat in a lawn chair, videotaping the protesters. Stephanie said she puts videos on YouTube to show how crazy "we" are.

On the flip side, two security guards hung around their SUVs, smoking, playing a guitar or turning on loud music to drown out the mic. One got into an argument with one of the protesters and threatened to blow him away. (So that's OK, but you agree with abortion?) He ripped up one of Ester's handouts after asking if he could have one.

Some women looked upset driving up. One couple had a little girl in the backseat. Most avoided eye contact or drove into the parking lot as quick as possible.

I’ve never been in their shoes, so I can't pretend I know what they are going through, but I do know that ending an innocent life is wrong.

We see it on the news all the time: a person murdered at the bus stop, a parent drown his 3-year-old. We shake our heads and know it’s wrong, but what happens when abortion comes up?

Maybe a woman says she isn't ready to be a mother. I can relate to that. I’m 24 and married, I have a job, and I’m not ready to be a mom, either. I’d like to be someday, but babies take time, energy and money. They’re a lot of work.

But a pregnant woman is already a mother. A baby begins forming at conception. It has a heartbeat at 21 days old. It wouldn’t be easy to swallow if I found out today I was going to have a baby, but it would be my responsibility and Pete's, too. Actions have consequences.

One woman said she wasn't there for an abortion. I think she drove a friend.

Maybe a person doesn’t personally agree with abortion, but thinks people should make their own decisions.

If a person came up and held a gun to your friend’s head, what would you do? Hopefully you would plead with that person not to shoot. But if he then turns to your friend’s child, what do you do then? Say, “Well that’s OK, as long as her mom agrees”?

Just because you can’t see the baby or doctors hide the ultrasound doesn’t mean there’s not a life in there.

Maybe a woman was raped or the baby is deformed. I can't imagine dealing with that and hope that people in that situation know there is support for them. Yet God says no child is a mistake. There’s a plan for each one of His children. We may not understand it yet, but He has our best interests at heart and uses situations, even like that, for good.

Abortion isn’t the easy way out; it’s not a solution to any anxiety, anger or pain. This is a decision that follows a person a lifetime and ends the life of another.

One boy, probably about 17, drove his girlfriend on Saturday. I didn't hear all he said to one of the protesters, but it was something along the lines of "well, we didn't want it." It's not asking a waitress to hold the tomatoes; it's a person.

My friend had an abortion last year at the age of 21. She wonders what her baby would look like, how he or she would smile or if her son or daughter would have her sense of adventure and bad sense of directions.

I don't know the people who went to the clinic Saturday, but I care about them. They have options; some couples would love to have children but can’t. There are doctors who will see them for free and others who will help care for that child. An innocent child shouldn't suffer because it's inconvenient for the parents. We all have a right to life.

Game night

Pete and I decided to host a game night last night. This is what I found out:

1.) Game night is not games + friends.

2.) Game night is Pete mowing + me pulling weeds and picking up sticks in the yard for 3 hours + cleaning the house + making punch and a meat/cheese/cracker platter + putting mirrors and candle holders on the wall + buying and hanging the curtains I've been wanting + staying out of Pete's way when he gets flustered hanging the curtains ("It would have cost 10 cents more for a decent anchor!") ... and THEN games + friends.

The mowing and cleaning had to be done anyway, but I was thinking how much work goes into hosting something and it made me laugh. You want to be a good host, but I'm sure that guests rarely notice the dusted blinds, clean windows, weedless flower beds or spotless toilets. Still, I want everything to be just right; heaven forbid they go home with dirty bare feet or spot a spot on the stove. (Of course, I'm also one of those who likes to be tidy and says everything has its place, so I'm often like that even when no one is around.)

We ended up with 9 people, including Kevin and Catherine's cute-as-a-button 8-month-old, and it was a lot of fun. We ate, talked and made fun of each other during Cranium (think human puppeteering and Pete trying to act out a hampster wheel). We never fully finished it, but Pete and I were dead last. (I say it was because our playing piece had a bouffant that weighed it down.)

Hanging Rock (in the rain)

Alex wanted to go camping for her bachelorette party, so last weekend, me, Sarah, Sara and Alex piled into Sara's Jeep and drove to Hanging Rock. Matthew (Alex's fiance) stayed behind to hang out with Pete, talk guns and play video games until 4 the next morning. :)
We stopped at Steak 'N' Shake on the way up and service was slow so we were back on the road a little later than we expected. Sarah started feeling sick (combo of curvy roads and a milkshake?), but it eventually passed. We got to our campsite and pitched a tent in the rain. Alex told Sara to bring her rain jacket, but didn't bring her own, so she probably got the wettest. (She said she didn't believe the forecast for 60% chance of rain.) Sarah turned a trash bag into a trendy, cap-sleeved tunic.

We had plans for s'mores, but couldn't build a fire in the rain, so we watched the big family across from us, cooking and laughing under a couple of tarps tied to trees. They were prepared. I told the group we should be friends with them so they would give us bacon in the morning. We ate the s'mores ingredients, had drinks and wore tiaras and glow bracelets instead. (We had way too much food, but then again, is that possible?) I also brought along a bride-to-be quiz for Alex, and of course her answers were entertaining.

Later, the four of us scrunched into a tent, talked and listened to the rain come down harder, hoping we wouldn't get wet. We didn't! Success! We did, however, get little sleep thanks to the loud rain and hard ground, but oh well.

The next morning, we hiked to a waterfall. It was so misty and the rain so frequent that we never actually saw Hanging Rock or went canoeing. Still, as the Sara(h)s put it, it was way more fun than it should have been.