Photo shoot #2

I'm really enjoying myself. today I have been playing around with the attaching flash. When to use it, what direction so aim it. It has been great! God is so good. I feel so blessed that I happen to have all of these great tools at my fingertips. I think I took a little over 100 pictures! :) Because every time I take a pic I always hold the button down and the camera shoots about 5 more... It's great! If the first one doesn't turn out I get 5 more chances. haha.

I just want to say thank you to Britni! I steal a lot of her ideas for picture framing. :)

Let me know what you think!

passion: a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything.

So I, as most people know, am a very passionate person. Passionate for many things. For God, for relationship, for having fun, for dancing...etc. A big struggle for me is that I am surrounded b passionate people as well. I just happen to be surrounded by people who are really good at their passions. :) Because of this, it makes it so hard for me to step out in confidence and pursue my passions. There will always be someone who can do it better...haha. And that is true. However God has been showing me that it doesn't matter!! So I need to just start going for it!! He gave me that passion to enjoy! And to have fun!! I don't need to compare! :) There are 3 things that God has put a strong passion in me for. 1) Dancing 2)Photography 3)Painting/drawing

I have decided to start acting in the desire God has pressed upon me. So even if I'm awful it doesn't matter. I mean it is all for Him. I think god loves it. :)

So here are some picture that I took of Elina this afternoon. My first step into 'just going for it'. ( Thanks Caylan for the stacking toy)










Side note: I have to think that God must have a ENORMOUS refrigerator to fit all of his children art work on it!!

Update on FOCA

I received this letter via e-mail today:


In this letter: A report on the March for Life . . . the petition count has crossed 500,000 signatures! . . . an update on FOCA and what to expect next -- "FOCA-by-Stealth."

Dear Evangelina,

Surrounded by over 300,000 fellow pro-lifers -- many of you! -- on Thursday, the AUL Action team and our families marched up Constitution Avenue here in Washington DC, from the base of Capitol Hill to the steps of the Supreme Court. There were so many thousands of people thronging the streets that at times we couldn't move.

My eight-year-old daughter, Sarah, marched next to me, and I explained to her that we were headed to the Supreme Court so that the judges would know we believe abortion is wrong.

"Mommy," she asked, "how many people will it take to overturn Roe v. Wade?"

How many people indeed. My thoughts immediately went to you -- the hundreds of thousands of you who have signed the FightFOCA petition -- who have taken a public stand to say: our voices will not be silenced.
The day before the March for Life the petition count reached
HALF A MILLION signatures!

As I write today, the number has jumped to almost 600,000. That's partly because many people saw FightFOCA signs at the March.

But it's also because so many of you responded to our call to spread the word to your churches on Sanctity of Life Sunday -- the flyers were downloaded over 20,000 times! Thank you!

The success of this petition is because of YOU. The message has spread through email and through blogs and through Facebook and through word-of-mouth. Your efforts.

In fact, we have been so successful that now Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, and others are saying that they aren't going to try to pass the "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA).

Don't believe it for a second.

If your opponent gives up the frontal attack . . . you better start watching your flank.

We are now seeing the abortion forces waging an incremental battle -- working to pass what we have termed "FOCA-by-Stealth."
They think that if they take FOCA and repackage it and pass it in pieces and under different names . . . that we won't notice.

But with apologies to Shakespeare, FOCA by any other name, smells just as bad. And as they pass the Stealth FOCA's, more babies will be killed and more women victimized by the abortion-on-demand regime.

Case in point: I'm sure you've heard that the day after the March, President Obama used an executive order to overturn the long-standing ban on funding organizations that promote and perform abortions overseas. The media portrayed him as sensitive to pro-lifers because he waited till after the March -- in fact, he released the order at 5:00 on Friday -- a textbook stealth move to keep the story under the media radar.

And now they've added subsidies for the abortion industry into the economic stimulus package. No surprise: Cecile Richards used to be the Deputy Chief of Staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. So it's no wonder we saw Pelosi on the Sunday shows arguing that more tax dollars for Planned Parenthood -- and fewer children -- helps the economy. Incredible.

Friends, this is just the beginning. We have a lot of work in front of us.
Please keep encouraging your friends to sign the FightFOCA petition.

We will be using those signatures on Capitol Hill in the days ahead to argue against FOCA and ANY and EVERY piece of legislation that promotes abortion.

The FightFOCA petition says to Planned Parenthood and their Congressional allies: we will not be silenced.

The week before the March, my husband, Jack and I had the honor of attending the funeral of the pro-life hero, Father Richard John Neuhaus.

We were all reminded that in one of his last speeches, Father Neuhaus encouraged the pro-life movement by saying, "We shall not weary, we shall not rest, until every unborn child is protected in law and welcomed in life."

How many people will it take to overturn Roe? It takes you.

Thanks for your work and being a part of this movement.

Yours for Life,

Charmaine

Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D.
President & CEO
AUL Action The Legislative Arm of Americans United for Life
FightFOCA.com
FightFOCA@FightFOCA.com

P.S. -- More pictures from the March are posted on my Facebook page.

Please read this!!!

SO I'm sure some of you also read Caylan's blog, But I really felt this was important to re-post! The more who are notified of this awful story the better! A life could be saved!

"I am currently in Roseburg, Oregon, where I hosted my
sister-in-law's baby shower yesterday. One guest was
missing - Christina Heyniger Howington. While I have known
Christina since we went to elementary school it had been
quite awhile since I had seen her. However, my brother and
his wife were especially close with her and her husband. She
and her husband, Heath and daughter, Alyssa (13) spent
Thanksgiving with my family in Sunriver last week. She had a
wonderful time and was thrilled that Christmas was near. All
seemed perfect in her world. She was full of life, happy,
energetic, and loved her husband of 17 years and their
daughter.

She began using NuvaRing 2 1/2 months ago and started
having headaches. They were not severe so she didn't pay
too much attention. On Thursday morning, she woke up with a
severe headache and began vomiting. She also became
lethargic and wanted to go back to sleep. Her husband rushed
her to the ER where she had a CT Scan. The first diagnosis
was an aneurysm. She was helicoptered to OHSU in Portland
and the diagnosis was changed to a blood clot. Once in
surgery, surgeons were alarmed to find multiple blood clots
throughout her brain. They tried to get to all of them and
planned to do another CT Scan the following day to be sure
all clots had been addressed. Christina's brain began
swelling and her condition became grave. She was pl aced
into a medically induced coma to address the brain swelling
and was put on life support. By Friday, her condition
worsened and her brain began shutting down. She was taken
off life support in a last attempt to address her brain
swelling, but efforts were halted as it was determined that
her brain had no further activity. Christina lost her life
but became a hero as she was an organ donor. Her lungs are
already in transport to California where they will save
someone's life. Blood clots, however, have been found in
other organs such as her liver.

Doctors are VERY suspicious that this tragedy was the
result of NuvaRing birth control. They said they have had
"hundreds" of cases where women are showing up
with blood clots after using this contraceptive. It is my
goal to honor her life by using her story to save even one
other person from this terrible fate. Please pass this
information along. It's the last effort we can do to
honor a truly amazing woman.

Thank you for reading this.

Jill Chartier Guevara

Augustine Colebrook, CPM, LM



Development Coordinator, Thrive: The Rogue Initiative for a Vital Economy
Community Midwife, Wise Women Care Associates
Co-Leader and Mentor, Holistic Moms Network

541-488-7272 office
541-550-9692 cell



Artofbirthing1@yahoo.com"

My life is good. I miss Seth. He is in Florida for business. Thank you Lord for Seth, and Elina...and everyone you have brought into my life.

Dead seed = Life

Before a seed can grow into a flower, it has to die. After my miscarriage, this has taken on a new meaning for me. It's interesting to me how God has left us parables all over the earth. While we are here on earth we are learning how to truly glorify God...It is not until we die that we truly bloom into what we are created to be. Worshipers of Him. My sweet baby is now in heaven fulfilling what God created my small one to be. Thank you Lord for allowing my body to hold, if even only for the short time, a precious child of yours.



btw-
Sorry I haven't posted lately. The internet has not been working.