Abortion - Alicia Johnson

It has been a while since I have posted, life is busy and so am I.  At some point I will get back to this, got some good stuff coming!  But, for now I have a guest blogger.  My daughters are pretty smart (smarter than me, most of the time), so here is a paper my daughter actually wrote last year, I am just now getting around to posting it (procrastinate much, Cory?).  Needless to say, I am proud of my kids!  Without further adoo, here's Alicia:






Abortion

 The Noah Webster Dictionary defines abortion as “the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus.” There are a few different types of abortions but the one that is most common is saline abortion, where they basically pump a chemical solution into the womb.


Abortion is easily one of the most controversial issues in today’s world, but is it right or wrong? Abortions wrong because it violates the principle of the importance of human life and the principle of choice.


Whether people choose to believe it or not when they choose to have an abortion they are choosing to “play God” and end someone’s life. In more than half of America a mother can get an abortion at up to 24 weeks (taken from The New York Times) into the pregnancy, that baby’s heartbeat started at 6 weeks (from What to Expect). Many clinics and pro-choicers try to numb this thought by saying that it is just a fetus nothing more, but doctors have said that the baby is alive! When a mother decides to get an abortion she is deciding that that baby isn't worth anything and that it doesn't mean anything for it to die.


The biggest push that people for abortion have is that woman should be able to have control over their own bodies and that they should have a choice; well those same woman also had the choice not to have sex, and what about that baby’s choice to live? These women can't comprehend the fact that they are destroying a whole life and that they are going to have to live with that choice for their whole lives.


Abortion also comes with its consequences, such as living with the guilt of having taken someone’s life and even the chance that the abortion did not work.


Abortion leaves scars on people’s lives forever. Four out of six women interviewed by DailyMail said that they are now suffering from depression and even panic attacks. These woman are now suffering from an action that they did years ago and it's still affecting them in today’s world.


Another thing people don't realize about abortions are that they aren't guaranteed to work. There are many babies who are born alive with damage to their brain and body due to failed abortions. One woman who this happened to is Gianna Jessen. Gianna’s mother was seven and a half months into her pregnancy when she had a saline abortion. Gianna stayed in the saline for eighteen hours before she ended up being birthed alive, but she was just thrown in a dumpster outside. One of the nurses found her and saved her, now Gianna spends her time trying to make abortion illegal and working towards not just giving the mothers their rights but also the babies theirs. If Gianna Jessen could be such voice for change, then what else could we be keeping from the world.


There were roughly 1.2 million recorded abortions in the United States in 2008 (statistic from Guttmacher) how many of these lives could have been brilliant minds that the world was unable to see because their lives where selfishly ended before they could even begin. In 2012 there were 20 children killed by a mentally disturbed man at Sandy Hook Elementary and the outcry for gun-control and the angry towards the man that killed these kids was massive. How then have we as people become so cold as to think 1.2 million deaths is ok as long as they weren't out of the womb yet. Did these children’s life not count as much as the 20 that were killed at Sandy Hook just because of the weapon of their death?


In Jeremiah 1:5 of the NET Bible it says “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I chose you. Before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.” A prophet is nothing more than one who speaks the truth, whether it in a biblical standpoint, a medical field, or just your “everyday-joe,” life is important. We all have a choice and our choices have consequences whither good or bad, and some of these choices have major consequences on other people’s lives too.


I choose to give someone the chance to make their own impact on this world.


I choose to give someone a chance at living.


I choose life.

I Believe

So many people in today's society try to look at worldly things to get "pumped up". Some things can't come from the world; including having trouble with your self-esteem, feeling unforgivable, or even having fear. Sometimes you need something stronger than what the world can give you; I believe that the stronger cure is connecting with God by reading the Bible.

So many women nowadays have self-esteem issues. Girls see people in magazines, and girls want to look exactly like those women; when they don't they feel ugly or not worth other people's attention. Well this is simply not how God wanted us to feel. One day Cynthia was looking in magazine and she felt this way exactly, but she opened her Bible. The first thing she saw was Proverbs 31:25, it says, "She is clothed and strength and dignity and laughs without fear the future." This verse gave her a strength to see who God wanted her to be. This was God's point of the verse, to show us how He wants us to act. She also saw that through Him she could have pride in herself and in God. God gives us these type of verses to bring us a peacefulness and show us that we can become new in Him. We can also realize that we are worthy of people’s attention and that we are beautiful. I believe that reading the Bible can better yourself esteem and give you the self confidence that you could not have had without God.

It is in human nature to do bad things, but that does not mean that you are unforgivable. God can forgive you! One day Daniel knew he had done something horrible, he had lied, he also thought that if people knew the truth they would never forgive him. He talked to his youth leader about it and his youth leader told him to read the story of David. He found out that David was a murder, a liar, a cheat, and even adulterer, yet he was still considered a man after God's own heart. Daniel was overjoyed he knew what he had to do, tell the truth and know that God would forgive him- and that was all that mattered. If you read the story of David you'll see many, many times he messed up, but he always turned back to God and every time God forgave him. This was amazing news for Daniel, and it can be amazing news for you too. I believe that reading the Bible can make you see that you are forgivable!

Today so many people are afraid of war and what other people can do to them. This is not how God wants us to live. Pastor Saeed is a man being held for his faith, he is now going on his third year in one of the world’s toughest prisons. He is beaten daily, among other horrible things, yet he doesn't ask to be rescued. What does he ask? He asks for the guards in charge of him to become Christians, that's all he wants, to be a witness. Psalm 118:6  says, "God is on my side. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" This is why Pastor Saeed doesn't ask to be saved, he knows that no matter what they do to him in prison, in the end he will be in the throne room of God and all the anguish he is in now won't even matter.  Man can do so many things to us, but how many of them are eternal? Nothing that man can do to us is eternal, that is what God is trying to tell us here. That no matter what the world does, God can always forgive us, and we will always be His. If we are Christians we are God’s children and He will take care of us no matter what. So I believe that reading the Bible can give you peace about what is going to happen, because no matter what happens God will always have our back.

So why try getting peace from the world? Somethings only God can help us with the most important things, that's why he gave us the Bible, to learn that God is an all powerful God and that He always has our best interest in mind. So go home and read your Bible you will be amazed at how much it can do.

 

Alicia Johnson

Grace

This morning we got up to below freezing temperatures and icicles hanging everywhere.  I went down to feed the lambs and the horses.  When I fed the lambs, I got mad.  One of my pet peeves is people who don’t take care of their animals.  They are a responsibility; if you own them…they are YOUR responsibility.  Especially if you’re like me and have just a couple of small traps for the horses, we have a responsibility to make sure they are fed and watered.  Same goes for my daughter’s lambs, they are locked up in a stall so they have to be fed and watered.  Especially the lambs, they’re not the smartest of Gods creations.  But when I fed this morning, they had little to no water.  I knew that she did not fill the buckets last night.

This posed a problem for me, since everything was frozen; my hoses were all frozen too.  So off I go with a bucket to fill, at the house.  All the way there I was thinking about all of the things I was going to do to punish her.  I went from a spanking, to grounding, to extra chores and back again.  Like I said, I was mad.  I got to the house and luckily my beautiful bride was there to rein me in a little.  We decided I would not talk to her while I was mad.  I headed back to the barn muttering about how we were going to get rid of those lambs and not have them again.  I how big and bad her punishment was going to be.

Thankfully, I did get convicted by the Spirit to talk to God too.  I was praying for a calmed mind, still hanging on to the fact that I was mad at her.  Still wanting to punish her for her wrongdoing, this wasn’t the first time and she was now out of second chances…

Then God grabbed a hold of me.

He said, “what about you, do you deserve a second chance?” 

I was convicted of my hypocrisy.  Here I was passing judgment; not offering to my daughter what was so easily given to me…grace.  How could I be mad her for a mistake that she made, when Christ never even hesitated when He went to the cross for my self-righteous anger?  I was, and am, ashamed of myself for that.  I have made the same mistakes over and over and over again, but God…still loves me.

I went back to the house and talked with her about the importance taking care of these animals that God has given us.  We also talked about grace and what it means.  I think she already understood it, but I think we all need a reminder.  Grace is more than mercy, grace is more than forgiveness.  Grace is a divine love that brought Christ down here to pay for my sins.  If Jesus loved me enough to forgive what I have done…then shouldn’t I be able to offer the same to my daughter?  I love my daughters like no other, so we will talk again about our responsibilities...but this morning was a lesson in grace.  For me and I hope for her.

Learning to Drive and New Words

My daughter, Alicia, is starting to want to drive.  As soon as we are headed out of town toward home, she starts asking.  “Can I drive?”  She is pretty relentless and other than the fact that it’s a little stressful, I cannot think of a reason not let her drive!  She is actually a pretty good driver, beings how she is our little dare devil.  Faith is not so quick to want to learn, but its coming.  It is a rite of passage with all kids, despite their parents’ wishes!

All this got me to thinking about when I started learning to drive.  When we lived in Loveland Colorado, my grandpa had a farm.  It was a pretty good definition of a family farm, my uncles worked on the farm right along with him (when they finished with any outside job they might have.).  When haying time came, a trailer was pulled out to the field and everyone either threw bales on the trailer or stacked.  My brother and I’s job was to drive the tractor while the adults stacked/threw hay.  We couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6 years old, so we were scrawny little things.  My uncle George used to put the tractor in low and put one of us on, and away we would go.  Seems simple, doesn’t it?

Add to this story the fact if we wanted to stop, we didn’t have enough weight in our behinds to push the clutch down….or that the first few times we were scared to turn the steering wheel!  Oh the fear, that first time!  I remember I was excited and scared all at the same time!  My goal at the time was to be just like my hero...my Grandpa.  I was going to be a farmer when I grew up!  So every time I had a chance to get on a tractor, I jumped at it.  Of course at that age…opportunities were few and far between!  One of my favorite times was always haying time…..

Minus 9 Degrees and 8 Bucks

About 3 years ago, the Queen and I surprised our girls the week before Thanksgiving and went to Denver for about four days.  The purpose was to show them some snow, as they had never seen the stuff before.  Growing up in Colorado I have seen plenty of snow and have come to believe that snow is highly over rated!  But, these are my kids and they wanted to see some real live snow….so….

We arrived in Denver and of course you get the city of Denver snow, after it has been on the ground for a while…gray and piled up on the curbs.  Not what the Queen and the Princess’s had in mind!  But we persevered!  We took them to the zoo, which I had not been to since I was a little button and which I will give a plug to.  Go to the Denver Zoo in the wintertime, it’s a little cold….but all of the animals are outside and like all animals in the crisp air….they were playing.  We enjoyed that for the day and fiddled around Denver for the next day or so…but still that request to see some white snow….

Me Gorg....Cavemen Cowboy

Once you start writing things down, it pretty funny what starts to come back into your mind.  There are just little statements that have a lot of meaning as time goes on.  This lead to the thought that there are some things I am comfortable talking about and there are some that I am not.  For example I am comfortable talking about horses, starting colts, my kids and especially my Bride!   The things I am most uncomfortable talking about have mostly to do with being in mixed company and bodily functions, the natural acts that man does.  If you didn’t understand that…I am talking about the “s” word!

Now my when my kids were about 5, as most kids that age do, they asked a lot of questions.  I once asked Faith why she asked so many questions, she said “Daddy, I just want to know lots of stuff”.  It’s hard to argue with that logic!  I think they struggled mostly with words that sounded the same, were spelled different and had a different meanings.  Words like bread and bred.

I Used to Dress Myself

Just the other day I had a realization how much I have come to rely on my wife, when I had to ask my daughter if the pants I had matched my shirt.  It struck me then, I used to dress myself…..

In college I was a pretty snappy dresser, well as far as three pair of wranglers and four shirts is considered snappy.  I didn’t have a lot of choice, but I was happy with my limited choices.  You can hardly go wrong with wranglers, everything goes with them!  What others thought of my wardrobe?  I didn’t really care, I was a sharp dressed man and that’s how I choose to remember it!  I was happy with how I looked and that was all that mattered.

I don’t know when it happened; I started out selecting my own wardrobe.  Felicia would make a few pointers every now and then.  But I was in control of my clothing situation.  Over the last 22 years she has selected almost all of my clothes and has made lots of good choices.  I still wear wranglers, but there have been some changes.  It started when Wrangler came out with the Riata dress slacks, she got me one pair…they were black.  Then it was a khaki colored pair, if you had told me 20 years ago that khaki was a color….I’d have just thought you were making stuff up!  Khaki wasn’t even a word!  Then another color and some of those preppy cinch jeans (I had to start wearing those to work, didn’t want them to be the best looking pair in my closet!).   Before long, it was amazing how worldly my closet looked….well if you consider riatas and wranglers amazing.  It was amazing to me anyway.

I recently started a new job and after 22 years of wearing wranglers to work every day, I was told I had to dress business appropriate.  I thought I had been!?!?!?!  After all, my wranglers were starched! 

So we inventoried my closet and bought two more pair of riatas.  Now there are a couple shades of black and khaki, plus one pair of army green ones.  My wife has kept me color coordinated through the years and I never realized it was happening!  All of the sudden I am in a position of not knowing if something matches….I usually ask Felicia before she leaves for work…..to dress me for the day.

So there I was, walking down the hall in our house, asking my daughter if my shirt and slacks matched…..and it hit me….

I used to dress myself….

Maybe I am, and was not back then, such a snappy dresser?  Surely not……maybe I didn’t have a good sense of style back then….nah!  I dressed just like all the cowboys I knew, I was a snappy dresser back then! 

I just don’t have a clue about what goes together now…..

Big Chief and Some Crayons

A couple of days ago my girls were asking about a tablet and a nook color.  I started asking them questions about what they meant, and as near as I can figure…….

I need to buy a big chief tablet and some crayons they can color in the corner with. 

I thought this was a strange request, especially since they are fixin’ to be 8^th graders.  But I am a dutiful and mostly wrapped around their finger father, so I started looking in the store for the items they required.  The big chief was more difficult to find than they crayons, but I persevered and found what was needed.  Heck I even picked up a pack of number 1 pencils, nothing but the best for my kids!  When I brought the items to checkout…my kids just rolled their eyes!  I don’t understand….

So I questioned them again, they just kept saying a tablet and a nook color.  I am starting to think my kids are a little ungrateful…I mean, come’on….it was a big chief and some crayons!  I still don’t understand why they want to color in a nook….and why can’t they just call a nook what it is…a corner? 

We discussed this for some time and I just kept coming back to the big chief and some crayons….I really like the idea of this.  It is fairly cheap, a lot cheaper than what some kids are asking for.  I mean, do kids really an ipad and one of those thingys you can read books on?  I think that is what is wrong with the world today, kids get what they want without putting out any effort.

Lucky for my kids, their wants are pretty cheap.  They are only going to have to rake grass once to pay for that big chief and the crayons.  If they had wanted one of those ipads or them book thngys, It might have meant the whole summer to pay off those!

P.S.

I love my kids and want to supply their needs, but not without some effort on their part.  I did know what they really wanted, it just was a heck of a lot of fun to wander around in the store with them asking for big chief tablets and crayons.  Hmmm….maybe that is why they are a little embarrassed by me…naww!  That can’t be it.

P.S.S.

How many of you know what a big chief is?

Suppository Writing

Some time back my daughters had a “bring your parents to school day”.  My kids didn’t want me to go, they are always afraid that I will do something that might embarrass them; I don’t know where they get that?!?!  I would have shown up like I normally dress, tall boots and my hat…..but, that is ok.  At some point all kids are embarrassed by their parents.  All that said, their teacher taught the parents something that night, which led to last night at our house.  The girls have been on spring break, which makes this so unusual (in my point of view).  I would not have been caught dead doing something like this when I was their age.  They were doing some….school work!  I know, I know….highly unusual, but we were not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.  Until I found out it was homework for me.  It turns out it is a way for the kids to teach their parents what they learned (relearned?) on the “bring your parents day”.  I felt a little like I was in England.  They were speaking my language, but the words didn’t mean the same things.  They were talking about pillers and suppository writing. 

Shopping and Kids

Yesterday I went shopping with my wife and two daughters.  The girls are being inducted into the National Junior Honor Society and needed some new clothes.  Seems like everything they do nowadays, they need new clothes for the occasion.  As I trailed them through the store, I really tried to be interested.  But it is kinda hard when their taste in clothes is so drastically different than mine.  I am a boots and jeans guy and dressing up means I starched the shirt and jeans.  Felicia and the girls were talking about slacks (I thought that was what you pitched when you roped a calf!?!?!) and looking at flouncy shirts.  They asked me about some of them, but stopped asking when I started telling them how low cut I thought the shirts were….to be honest, my wife is pretty conservative too, and our girls don’t wear anything that is too low.  But, I am the overprotective Daddy and I want everything buttoned up high and tight!

All of this got me to thinking about what my life is has been to this point.  I live in a sea of estrogen. 

Are you Crazy?

These were the words of Felicia, my wife, when I sent her this picture.

Tales from the Dental Chair

In honor of my kids finishing the 6^th grade today, I am going to tell a story on them (or on me, as the case may be!).

When we go to the dentist, I usually take the girls and get my teeth cleaned at the same time.  We have been using the same lady since the girls’ first visits, when they were around 6 or 7.  In fact she was our neighbor for a period of time, so the girls were very comfortable with her.

This starts out just like any other visit, the girls take turns getting their teeth cleaned as Pam talks to us about what they are doing and what her kids are doing.  Just normal chit-chat stuff.

My Kids Make Me Laugh - Alicia

Alicia is my little daredevil.  She believes she can do most anything.  She was the first one to ride a bike, the first one on a horse, and if I remember correctly the first one to walk.  She also has a sense of humor that pokes out once in a while to hilarious results!

We had been in Houston all day and were discussing what we were going to eat and had been talking Mexican food.  Only problem with that is that Faith is gluten intolerant, so there are limited places where she can eat.  Well Felicia and I had really talked ourselves out of eating in a restaurant and the girls really didn’t have a choice in the matter.  We had decided to just go home and fix something there.  All of the sudden Alicia says, “Wait a minute, wait a minute…that’s just crazy talk!”  Of course we died laughing, still went home and ate, but we laughed all the way home!

She is not much of a hugger; you usually get some form of the a-frame or side hug.  She will give full frontal hugs, but you kind of have to push the issue.  When she was little she would not hug me (or anyone for that matter) if my shirt was off, she always said she did not want to hug the hair jacket!  I don’t want any regrets here either, so I usually force the issue and get my hugs!

We have gotten them pups twice and the interest just isn’t there for the dogs.  Cats are a different story, if her sister wasn’t allergic to cat hair (soft spot for her sister too…she gave up her cat for Faith) she would probably find all kinds of strays cats to pick up!

If you can’t tell from the last two posts…I love my kids and think they are the smartest, most beautiful girls in the world!   I am really dreading the day that them nasty boys start taking time away from me!

As I said last time boys….hurt my girls, I hurt you!

My Kids Make Me Laugh - Faith

My daughters generally don’t try to be funny, but sometimes (as the TV show used to say) kids say the funniest things!

Faith is my soft hearted one; she is quick to let the dog love on her and any other animal for that matter!  We are always hearing from her teacher how she is helping some other kid at school through a tough time.  So we have come to expect her tenderhearted moments.  She is also the shy one, doesn’t want to talk to new people or sometimes even people she knows!  What she doesn’t realize is how funny she is, without even trying!  She will say something funny and after we are all dying laughing, she’ll say “what…what… what are you laughing at?”

A while back the girls were in the back seat of the truck playing something on their iPod thingy.  It was some kind of dare game and all of the sudden Faith says, “What is the opposite foot?”  We just died laughing!

I think she was having a blond moment because the game was telling her to do something on one foot and do something else on the opposite foot.  In reading it, she didn’t tie the concept into what it had actually said.   It was just an innocent question, and of course led to her “what..what” statement.

Another time we were on our way to church with their grandparents and we were talking about what to buy for one of the aunts’ birthdays.  My mother-in-law said, “ I don’t know what to buy for her.”  We talked a little longer and all of the sudden, kind of under her breath Faith says, “you know what to buy for her…”.  Of course we all asked, “no, what?”.  She says, “ oh, I don’t know, I was just asking!”

She is also my hugger.  She always wants to hold your hand or hug.  I sometimes fuss at her a little because it seems she always wants to do this when we are hot and sweaty from working outside.  I have been convicted in the last few days about that.  There will come a time when she is not around to hug or hold hands with, and I don’t want to be filled with regrets about my hugger!

The Lord has blessed me with two beautiful daughters who, I regret to say, are coming up on the age when boys become an interest.  Makes me a little sad that time has passed so quickly, just yesterday I carried them out of the delivery room.  One in each arm and they fit from my elbow to my palm.

Boys, just a warning….if you hurt my girls, I will hurt you!  Just kidding….or am I?

Are You Smarter Than A 6th Grader?

Haven't written here in a few days, but I was really struck by what I did not "remember", this morning. 

My girls were studying their Language for a test this morning.  They were talking about imperative sentences, implied you, excalamatory sentences, etc.  What?  Is this another language, what are you talking about?  I realized I could not help them one bit, if they passed the test it was all them.  How did this happen?  Did they not teach it when I was in school?  That had to be the case.....along with the whole walking up hill both ways in waste deep snow thing!

Then it crossed my mind how much I "enjoyed" english when I was in school.  It was just one more burden I had to bear at that time.  Could it be that I just wasn't paying attention?  Surely not, I was attentive in school (mostly, I think).  I still remember some of the history I was taught....I think.  I still remember William Jennings Bryan ran for president a long time ago.  Hmmm....seems I remember that name because of an episode of trying to look through my eye lids (teacher accused me of sleeping...the nerve of him).  I remember some of the math....what I still use today.  Wait, I couldn't help Faith with math last week.  Something about adding fractions....

After all of these ruminations, it appears I was not a very good student.  I did just enough to stay out of trouble at home.  Which leads to this thought.  If you don't have a college education, you're probably not going to get a very good job.  So we are going to push our kids to have really good grades and try for every scholarship that might be available.

Wait...I know something I can help them with in school, no...nevermind.  Even the ag classes have changed.

Moth Balls Are Terrible Breath Mints....

Back when my kids were just starting to walk, my wife had job function that required her to be out of town every other week for about 3 months.  So my kids (twin girls) had a lot of Daddy time.  My first reaction was one of a little bit of fear.....alone, by myself....with 2 year olds!?!?!  How could she...but I got over that pretty fast (I do like being a Dad).  So, on with the moth ball story...

One night we had just finished supper and Faith, the oldest, came to me and said "I no like candy".  Well the first thing I noticed was the bad breath, I'm talking dead dragon, 15 feet is way to close breath!   Then I thought where did she get candy?  Then noticed the white thing in her mouth and had her spit out out into my hand.  When it hit my hand, it dawned on me what it was....panic!  Is she poisoned, do I need to get to the hospital now.....what to do first?  I called my sister-in-law, who is a pharmacy tech and is our all knowing when it comes to meds, and she called poison control.  Never thought of that....note to self: write that number down.  She immediately called me back and said not to panic.....ha, to late!  Turns out, while not good for you and can make you sick, moth balls will not kill you!  But where did she get it.....duh, I had put them under the house (we had a mouse problem and they don't like the smell either).  I must have dropped one or Faith crawled under the house, either way she had it in her mouth!  Thank God, she was ok! 

I guess there are two lessons to be learned here:

1.  Always pay attention to what your kids put in their mouths.
2.  Moth balls are terrible breath mints.