The state of Virginia has passed a bill that it is mandatory for women to have an ultrasound before choosing to have an abortion. The ultrasound is external and there is an exception in cases of rape. The bill has been taken to the governors desk and is awaiting his signature. The women in Richmond, VA have been outraged over this bill. There were several arrests today of protesters on the steps of the capital building, and police were there in full riot gear!
I've heard the complaints of the women that the government has no right to tell them what to do with their own body. I've heard the complaints that making the decision to abort is hard enough without having to see it on an ultra sound, and women think it's cruelty. I get what they are saying, but what about the child who is being killed? Does that child have no rights? Did that child ask to be created? If a woman has the right to decide to kill her unborn child- then the least she can do is have to look at that baby before she does it! This in no way has infringed upon the rights of the woman to make the decision to abort her child, but only offers information that her baby is alive and kicking inside her- something she may not have realized before. If the woman changes her mind because of this there is another life saved! If the woman continues- there will be no more guilt present later then there would have been without it! If a woman does not truly want a child, they would be able to go through the pregnancy, hold that baby in their arms and then give it up for adoption. I believe most women who have abortions would have never done it if they were able to hold that child in their arms first. There is no harm doing an ultrasound to make sure a woman is not making a mistake, before changing her life and the life of her child forever! There are so many families and other women out there who can't have children and would do anything for an opportunity to adopt a child. If you really just don't want to have the baby and raise it on your own, at least give someone else the chance to give that child a better life.

Obedience

Wow so over a year since I've posted on here!! There has been so much that has changed in a year! We had another baby so that makes 5 mini-coopers! I started college this January. It was the scariest thing I've ever done, I have no idea what possessed me to take on another challenge like that while raising and homeschooling five little girls, six and under, but I did. I am now only two weeks away from being finished with my first two classes (Bible & English) and four weeks away from starting my last two of the semester (apologetics & English). I've never been a very academically minded person, nor did I ever think I'd actually go to college. But I did it, I am, and I'm actually doing considerably well! I've managed to keep a 95 in english and a 94 in Bible the entire time! This is such a huge deal for me! School was never my strong point but I am determined to change that! Who knows maybe I'll go on to be a scholar of some type ;) lol.

So we are still plucking away at 1st grade with Pumpkin! She is doing REALLY well! We tested her the other day and she tested at a 3rd grade reading level!! Not bad for a 6 year old who should still be in Kindergarten! Little Bear is still beginning to get interested in school. She is still only 4 so I haven't tried to push her much, we are still working slowly on her name and tracing letters but haven't gotten too in depth yet. She has to want to learn for it to be effective. Sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't, hopefully once she is five, she will be there mentally to really start digging in next year!

We've been having some trouble with discipline recently. Last sunday we allowed the girls to buy one movie (digitally) to watch as a family. When it was over, Pumpkin bought another without asking! We explained to her that mommy and daddy has to pay for the movies and we will only allow her to have one a week as a special treat; she was told to not ever do that again! At nap time that day we all decided to lye down, but she woke up, snuck out to the living room and bought a couple more movies and rented a few others! This time she didn't get off so easy! She was not allowed to watch T.V. the rest of the week, and she had to help me around the house this week to work off the money she spent! And daddy figured out how to put a password on there so we won't have this happen ever again!

So after a few days of praying and talking to Nathan about it, I decided that what the girls really needed in order to really take obedience seriously was an intense lesson on the "fruits of the spirit". So we started it tonight! We are starting week 1 with the lesson on "Obedience". Each day we will learn about different bible characters in the bible and how they were or were not obedient and what happened to them. Then the next week we will go on to the "fruits of the spirit"

Tonight we learned about Adam & Eve and how even though they loved God they didn't listen to Him. So even though they loved God, and even though they were sorry they still had to be punished for what they did! An example is once you eat poison, you can't undo it! Pumpkin looked at me wide eyed and stated, "WOW mommy, I'm GLAD we aren't in that story!" lol I'm excited to see what these lessons do for the girls and their obedience. At the end of each week we will have a special treat if everyone practiced obedience this week! So far so good!