And  for the record, it was 74 in Marion, Ohio right now and 77 in Lafayette, Indiana.

…all the pictures of Karol stored on my phone. Enjoy.

This morning I read that our government leaders came to an agreement on the budget, upon further reading of the article, I learned that the defunding of Planned Parenthood was tossed under the bus. Each year Planned Parenthood receives $363,000,000 dollars from the government, that is 363 million dollars. While it “technically” cannot use those funds to provide abortions, the money it receives from the government certainly frees up other money they have to fund, say abortion. (That’s what’s called Fungibility).

There are many reasons that Planned Parenthood should be defunded and the fine people over at the Susan B. Anthony List have written them on a blog post for us. (I was going to make my own list, but hey, why reinvent the wheel?)

1. President Obama and Senate Democrats are willing to shut down the federal government to ensure tax dollars keep flowing to one of their biggest political allies. During his run for president, Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Obama, marking only the second time in their history that they endorsed in a presidential election.[i] They poured money into his campaign and churned out volunteers. Imagine the reaction if a Republican president was willing to shutdown the government in order to prevent a single organization from sharing one penny in the belt-tightening all Americans are facing.

2.  Planned Parenthood is an independently wealthy entity. According to its latest annual report, it has nearly one billion dollars in net assets.[ii] Data shows that over the last nine years, Planned Parenthood has taken in over $500 million in profits.[iii]

3. Planned Parenthood is America’s largest abortion provider. One out of every four abortions in the U.S. is performed in a Planned Parenthood facility. Data shows that since 1970, Planned Parenthood has performed at least 5.3 million abortions. In 2009 alone, Planned Parenthood performed a record 332,278 abortions.[iv]

4. Planned Parenthood’s business model is centered on abortion. Former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson has written that she was given an “abortion quota” and was even told by her superiors to double the number of abortions in order to bring in more revenue.[v] Abortion patients constitute 12 percent of Planned Parenthood clients — 332,000 of 3 million unduplicated clients in its most current report. 37 percent of all Planned Parenthood clinic income revenue is from abortion procedures, according to conservative estimates. Planned Parenthood has issued a directive instructing that all affiliates must have at least one clinic that performs abortion by 2013.[vi]

5. More taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood equals more abortions, fewer adoption referrals.  Claims that taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood results in fewer abortions are false. From 2000 to 2009, Planned Parenthood saw an 80 percent increase in taxpayer funding, receiving $202 million in 2000 and $363 million in 2009. In 2000, Planned Parenthood performed 197,070 abortions while making 2,486 adoption referrals. In 2009, they performed 332,278 abortions and made just 977 adoption referrals. That means an 80 percent increase in taxpayer funding resulted in a 69 percent increase in the number of abortions and a 61 percent decrease in the number of adoption referrals.[vii]

6.  Planned Parenthood is not safe for women and young girls. Recent undercover footage released by Lila Rose’s Live Action shows Planned Parenthood employees in several states willing to aid and abet in acknowledged human sex trafficking of girls as young as 14.[viii] The undercover footage resulted in the firing of Amy Woodruff, manager of the Central New Jersey Planned Parenthood clinic.[ix] It also caused Planned Parenthood to call for mandatory training sessions of thousands of its employees across the country on reporting requirements.[x

7.  Planned Parenthood opposes commonsense measures to protect women and underage girls. Presently, Planned Parenthood is fighting a bill in Illinois that would require its staff and volunteers to be mandatory reporters when they suspect the sexual abuse of minors. They’ve also consistently fought parental notification laws – all the way to the Supreme Court – which would simply inform a parent if their underage daughter is seeking an abortion. They’ve opposed state efforts to impose health and safety regulations for abortion facilities.[xi]

8.  Women have other options for seeking primary care, contraception, STI testing, and cancer screening. According to the Chiaroscuro Foundation, in addition to the tens of thousands of U.S. doctors and hospitals providing this care, there were 1,048 federally qualified health centers in the U.S. which provide women cancer screening,  contraception, and STI testing.[xii]

9.  Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms and is not a significant primary care provider to women. Despite claims made by Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards and members of the media, Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms. They are also not a significant primary care provider in general.  In recent reports, Planned Parenthood acknowledges that it provided primary care only to about 19,700 of its 3 million unduplicated clients. These services have been trending downward for years, from 21,247 in 2007 to 20,235 in 2008, to today’s 19,796.[xiii]

10.  Polling shows Americans don’t believe efforts to defund Planned Parenthood are extreme. A March 2011 poll conducted by The Hill, before Planned Parenthood became a critical issue in the budget debate, showed that Americans are virtually split in half over whether Planned Parenthood’s funding should be left alone or completely cut. Forty-six percent said it should be left alone; 42 percent said it should be completely cut. The poll has a 3 percent margin of error.[xiv] When asked specifically about taxpayer funding of abortion, polls consistently show a healthy majority of Americans, 60 to 70 percent, oppose their tax dollars funding abortion.[xv]

11. Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, was a strong believer in eugenics. Following is just a sampling of her documented beliefs. “In this matter, the example of the inferior classes, the fertility of the feeble-minded, the mentally defective, the poverty-stricken classes, should not be held up for emulation…”[xvi] Referring to immigrants and Catholics, she wrote: “[They’re] an unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all.”[xvii] She also wrote, “The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.”[xviii] Planned Parenthood is carrying on her legacy today, centering itself on population control efforts. In a recently filed tax return, Planned Parenthood stated as part of their mission statement that they are committed to “a U.S. population of stable size in an optimum environment.”[xix]

12. Planned Parenthood has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of employee time in order to protect its government handout. Planned Parenthood has flooded the airwaves with TV commercials[xx] and radio ads[xxi] in order to protect its funding. Its employees – whose paychecks are subsidized by tax dollars — have participated in bus tours and rallies across the country.[xxii]

(for footnotes, check out the Suzy-B Blog.)

Benedict turned seven months on Thursday! Seven months, where does the time go? I wanted to get pictures of him on Thursday, but he moves too quickly for pictures now. Today he finally slowed down just a bit and we were able to get a few pictures of our mover.

His brother and sisters love to play with him. They find everything he does to be fascinating.

Caecilia gave him his nickname, Bencky-Benck, in the tradition of many nicknames, because she cannot say Benedict.

Lately, they have been taking to calling him “Bencky-Benck”. I do not think they remember his real name.

He does not seem to mind though, as he is just so laid back and easy going, as long as you keep his tummy full and his diaper changed.

I have been wearing my babies since Karol was first born. I have two NoJo BabySlings, which are  great when the babies are small, but as they get bigger, my shoulders and back really take a beating, so I was looking for something that distributed the weight a bit more. While searching, I found out that Sarah had a sling making gig. I liked what I saw, so after a few emails, I ordered a wrap and I love it.

First let me tell you about the ordering process. Sarah has options for you  to choose from or you can tell her the fabric that you would like. I finalized my order on a Friday and had it in my hands by the next Wednesday! Now that’s fast service. Sarah also includes a DVD with instructions on how to wear your baby.

So, without further ado, I offer pictures of the awesome wrap:

You can share 10 things about you and your wonderful better half, by joining the party here.

1.

I met my husband while he was in seminary. No, we did not “get together” at that time, he was a seminiarian! I had no thoughts of that at all.

2.

We never dated. We saw each other again (after he discerned that he was not called to the priesthood) and knew that we were supposed to be married.

3.

The only time we argue is when I start it. Even then, it is usually one sided, with me doing all the talking. He is usually right, most of the time.

4.

We were married on October 2, 2004 in Lafayette, Indiana at the beautiful St. Boniface Church surrounded by our beautiful family and friends.

5.

Since our wedding day, we have had seven different addresses in four different states. We move an average of every 18 months. Usually while I am pregnant or nursing a wee one.  The last move was the biggest move, from Ohio to South Georgia and I was eight months pregnant.

6.

Joshua has no problem with coming home from work and making dinner. He doesn’t have to do this often, as I make dinner most nights. It helps out though on those few days I am too lazy/busy to make something.

7.

We are working our way through the Star Trek Series. We have watched all of Enterprise, The Original Series and  The Next Generation. We are almost done with Deep Space 9 and half way through Voyager. Yes, we are dorks.

8.

Joshua has “caught” each of our babies, at home.With Caecilia, he did it all on his own, as our midwife had not arrived when Caecilia decided she was not hanging on any longer.

9.

Joshua has no problems with helping me fold laundry, change diapers, wash dishes or vacuuming.

10.

Joshua is the best helpmate I could have ever asked for and he is doing his best to drag me to heaven.

Turns out a tornado did not pay a visit to Lowndes County this morning. We did have some serious wind though:

From the Weather Channel.

**I have been working on this post since Sunday Night. One of the goals I have for myself now is to be in bed by 10 pm, sans computer, so this cuts in to my blogging time. **

I had the best time this weekend. The homeschooling retreat was all I was expecting and more. I received so much encouragement and advice for my vocation! I took plenty of notes and plan on sharing them with you all over the next week or so.

In addition to enjoying a great conference, I enjoyed spending a bit of time by myself, a sort of mini retreat. I drove up early on Friday morning, made it through Atlanta traffic and arrived at the church in time for Mass. The first day of the conference was a temperament workshop, very very very informative. I will be doing further research in to my sanguine temperament.

After the workshop, we had a talk, then I was off to the hotel, checked in and hung out for a bit. I had a whole evening to myself, what was I going to do? Well, in planning my trip, I found an FSSP parish in Atlanta that had confession, stations and Mass, that evening. so I headed out. Twenty five miles away…one and a half hours on the road, but it was well worth it. Thankfully I left with plenty of time to get there, so I arrived with time for confession. I stayed for Stations and Mass (EF) then went back to my hotel.

Well, first I stopped to pick up a toothbrush and some toothpaste, and to pick up something to eat, as I hadn’t had anything since lunch at that point. I saw a Kroger store so I stopped, ran in and picked up what I needed. I also picked up some flour, as I knew we were out back home. (A buck fifty five. Flour here, is 2.50 and good luck finding unbleached. Heck, good luck finding anything that isn’t self rising.)

Oh and the ride back to the hotel? Twenty five minutes.

At the hotel, I ate my dinner then ordered room service for breakfast. I got ready for bed and laid there watching tv for two hours. First, did you know that there are young people on Law and Order? Did you know that guy from “Clueless”, the one who liked Cher, but Cher was clueless about it, is (was) on the show? And the guy from “Romeo Must Die”, who called Jet Li “Dim sum” is on it too?

Yes, it has been a long time since I have watched that show, a long time. The last time I watched it regularly, Lenny and Mike were the main officers. I remember watching it when I was in junior high. I cannot believe that it was still on the air up until last year!

I watched some bad (read: lame) reality tv, then went to bed. I slept across the king size bed, because I could. When my alarm went off the next morning, I could have slept for a few more hours, but knew that lovely room service was coming soon, so I got up and showered.

I headed back to the church where the conference was being held and went to Mass, then over to the conference. I promise to share with you all what I learned and tips I received, in another post or three.

After the conference was over, I headed out to Trader Joe’s to scope things out. Let me just say, TJ would be my grocery store of choice if there were one near us. I picked up Quinoa, couscous, bananas and butter. After checking out, I scooted over to Chipotle. I had planned on having it on Friday night, but I really wanted to share my Chipotle experience with Joshua, so I got two Bowls, some chips and guac and headed home. Yes, I transported butter,produce, flour and Chipotle from Atlanta to The Valley of Augustus’ City.

Joshua had bought for me, a year ago, a cd of a talk by Joseph Pearce to listen to, so I popped that in for the ride home. I learned a lot about Middle  Earth, a lot.

I left Atlanta, with a very positive image of the city. It is beautiful to drive through and the people there are so very friendly. No, really, I have never met such friendly people.

Like I said at the beginning, I plan to share lots of things from the conference, so keep your eyes out for future posts!

I woke up shortly after 4 this morning to a raging thunderstorm. I said a quick prayer of thanksgiving because they were supposed to start around 2, so I got to sleep a bit more.

Anyway, I looked at the weather on my phone and saw TORNADO WARNING for our county. I woke J up and ran to get the girls (k had migrated to our bed at some point) and headed for the hallway. Joshua grabbed some blankets and the toddler matresses for us to sit/lay on and put the kids on them.

I grabbed Benedict and headed for the hallway to sit while checking my phone again. The tornado was north of town, about 15 miles from us, and heading away, but the storm was really heavy here.

When things started quieting down, I ended up taking B back to our room and laid down in my bed, soon to be joined by the other kids, leaving J to sleep in the hallway.

Thankfully we were not affected by the storm and the power is still on :).

The kids want to know all about tornados now. I wanted to show them a video but the internet is down :(.