What Doug doesn't know

No, I don't specifically read to this baby, but anyone in the room when I read to Gabriel gets to hear the story. For all I know, he or she is learning new words along with Gabriel. I don't do anything specifically for this pregnancy yet, though, because I don't feel pregnant. I just feel fat. If I ever get a craving or feel a movement, then I'll feel pregnant.

In the later stages of my pregnancy with Gabriel, I was working at a Northern Tool call center. During my lunch, before it got too cold, I would sit in my car, eat my lunch, and read to the baby I hadn't yet met. Someone gave me a book called "Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go". It is, as it says on the cover, "a book to be read in utero", adapted by Tish Rabe from the works of Dr. Seuss. It introduces the child to all of the characters in Dr. Seuss' books that he or she will meet when they get out and can see the world. It starts out pretty quick talking about Horton Hears a Who, saying, "He saved their whole town, for he knows, after all, a person's a person, no matter how small." Being a prolife person, that makes me emotional at any time in my life. Under the influence of pregnancy hormones, I start crying and have trouble reading this book aloud so my baby can hear it. I have to take a few deep breaths, then I go on to the next parts that describe other Dr. Seuss books that I love. I can read this part with excitement, thinking about my child loving the rhymes and crazy plots like I do. Then I get to the last page and the first line is enough to make me cry:

So now, as my voice
burble-urps in your ear --
with a bump-thumpy sound
that is not very clear --
the words that I am saying
you hear in my heart,
and
know that I wish you
the very best
start.

It's a scrumptulous world
and it's ready to greet you.
And as for myself...

well...
I can't wait to meet you!

That page sends me into uncontrollable sobs. Then I dial up my mother's cell phone. Sometimes I get her, and sometimes I get her voicemail. Either way I tell her what I am doing and that I feel like an idiot for crying. No matter how many times it happens, I continue to read the book and call my mother.

Now, given my reaction to that, do you think I could get through the first line of Psalm 139 without a tear? I would have trouble reading it outloud. That doesn't mean I won't. It just means that the poor child might not understand what I am saying. That's ok. Maybe God will translate.

Psalm 139

Heather started playing music for, and reading to Gabriel before he was born. Apparently, it was a useful endeavor. He first counted to nine a couple of weeks ago. He is working on his ABCs, but isn't consistent with that yet. We aren't going to rush him, but are going to let him be a kid while he can. Heather reads to him before bed every night, and he chooses his favorite books regularly. A couple of weeks ago, Gabriel impressed me. I pointed out every member in the Scooby Doo cast of characters, and he responded by naming them off correctly, not bad for being less than two years old at the time. He turned two years old this week. When people ask his age, I guess we can use years now, huh? No more of the “He’s 17 months old” chronological descriptions. I think that is so silly, when parents tell you that their kid is 29 months old. Gee, can you also tell me how old your child is, in weeks, days, and hours? Thanks.

I don’t think that Heather has started reading to our second child. It is a bit early yet, as we are guessing that Heather is nearing the end of the first trimester. In about two weeks, there will be an appointment with the ob-gyn, and then we will get a prediction based on the obvious evidence of the baby's development. This will be the first ultrasound. I have plenty of faith in Heather's doctor, as his assessment was accurate to the exact day with Gabriel’s birth. Still, I have heard that assessing the day precisely is an art as well as a science. I imagine that he will tell her that she is "somewhat pregnant" or "slightly pregnant" in his usual bedside manner.

But I digress from the topic at hand, the tradition of reading to our children, born and as yet unborn. I do believe that I am going to encourage Heather to read Psalm 139 to our unborn baby. It is fantastic and so hopeful. Check it out:

You formed my inmost being;

You knit me in my mother's womb.

Wonderfully You made me;

wonderful are Your works!
When I was being made in secret,

fashioned as in the depths of the earth,

Your eyes foresaw my actions;

my days were shaped

before even one of them came to be.

I wonder if Gabriel ever waved to God before he was born, or if our second child, as yet unborn, can feel God's loving embrace. Somehow, I have little doubt that that is true. One thing I do know is this: God smiled on us and blessed us, and later this year, we will be a family of four. More accurately, in some ways, we already are that blessed family of four, thanks to Him. As the song says, my God is an awesome God!

Two years old

Our son is two years old today. Holy cow, where does the time go? I have been sitting here doing my paperwork and trying to get some homework done, with great success with the former, and little progress with the latter. I am on DTO Friday, and I expect to spend the morning working diligently on the final assignment for my class dealing with ethics and legal briefs. It is kind of bogus material, especially the depth of the content. This isn't law school, after all. Still, the class is almost done, so it is tolerable irritation.

I just finished my paperwork. I am going to go enjoy being a Daddy with my two-year old son, before he has to go to bed. It's his birthday. I don't want to miss any more of this day with my family.

January 21-28, 2007, is Sanctity of Human Life Week.

January 21-28, 2007, is Sanctity of Human Life Week. Deal with it, you pro-abortion death-mongers!

Unless you are the unborn baby of a liberal, relax and enjoy while you continue to RESPECT LIFE!

Let's Talk About a REAL Inconvenient Truth

Yesterday was the March for Life in Washington, D.C. Heather didn't make it to D.C., and we say that is because she was volunteering for the crisis line. Maybe next year, we will all be part of the March for Life, but since money doesn't grow on trees, we will likely march locally, instead. Heather, along with Gabriel, was part of the local March for Life. The point was simple: Respect life.

The declaration by pro-abortionists that a life is subject to the whims of an irresponsible adult makes humanity, collectively, look like a bunch of egocentric, irresponsible brats and barbarians. The fact that there is a huge market for what some coldly consider the salvageable body parts of aborted babies destined to be sold for medical experiments and for transplantable tissue, this fact denigrates humanity. As the Josef Mengele-like 'Angels of Death' continue the fetus-harvest, these same people defend socialism and nanny-state governmental tyranny, while insisting that government should say nothing about abortion to end an inconvenient pregnancy. Well, which is it, extreme liberalism or extreme libertarianism? It can't be both!

Before the March for Life began, the president of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) made a speech that echoes those who feel that children, born and unborn, have an inalienable right to life. In the words of Dr. Wanda Franz, president of NRLC:

Since 1973, more than 48 million living unborn Americans have died from abortion. This is many times more than the number of lives lost in all of the wars we have ever fought since our founding. About 95% of these deaths occurred because the babies were inconvenient to someone. Human life has become cheap. Indeed, in accepting abortion we not only declare the unborn child to be worthless, we render the same judgment about ourselves (2007).

Wow. Very well said.

This family is pro-life, anti-abortion, and extremely proud of it. We are the face of the real pro-choice America. Clearly stated with no rhetoric, no ambiguity, and no liberal distortion, here is that choice: In nearly every case, abortion is the result of consensual carelessness. Stop having sex if you can't handle the inconvenience of an unplanned pregnancy.

Americans need to own their actions, and to accept personal responsibility now!

Franz, W. Dr. (2007, January). Understanding what motivates pro-lifers. National Right to Life Committee. Washington, D.C.

Border Patrol

By now, you have certainly probably heard about the two Border Patrol agents who are spending the first week of 11-12 year terms in prison. Why? Well, for actually showing some backbone and defending our borders. Now, if you listen to the news, you may hear all this rhetoric about how these Border Patrol officers didn’t follow the protocol as required. At this point in time, I think that is somewhat irrelevant. The United States is plainly in the midst of an invasion that is designed to take over the Southwest and reclaim a number of states, including Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California. While Mexico is never going to reclaim the Southwestern United States, in a legal sense, what Mexico is working diligently to do is the de facto theft of American wealth, security, and prosperity for Mexico. Don’t get me wrong. It isn’t the fault of the work-a-day Mexican citizen that their government is corrupt, incompetent, and controlled by criminals and drug cartels.

It makes me sick to see that our much-maligned president doesn’t appear to care about securing the borders. The border fence bill that became law is a joke, and was paying lip service to the more than 70 percent of Americans who call themselves moderates or conservatives. Most Americans are demanding that we secure the borders. One would think that, being a Texan, G.W.B. would actually care about what happens to Texas. It appears otherwise. One has to wonder if the man has sold his soul and sold out this nation to the misguided socialists living south of our borders, all for a legacy. I have supported G.W. in many of his actions, but in recent actions, I believe that he is adrift and the leadership rudder of the current administration is irreparably broken.

I have great admiration and respect for the Border Patrol agents who put their necks on the line to defend our southern border. The illegal alien creep trying to cross the border wasn’t an angel or a boy scout. The guy is a drug pusher who was transporting more than 800 pounds of marijuana across the border INTO America, obviously not for his personal consumption!! Sometimes I wonder when defending America will become a case of doing what is best for the United States first, and taking care of the rest of the world second. If that offends some people, so be it.

Regarding the border agents who are in prison, they didn’t act completely appropriately. I acknowledge that. However, in a thankless job, they should be used as an example of the support we should and must give our border patrol agents. These guys are Hispanic, but so what? They were looking out for America. God bless them. George Bush, please, for once, reclaim your cowboy swagger and pardon these upstanding American citizens. If not, what message does that send to the thousands of agents who are trying to defend our borders against these criminal invaders? Enough is enough! I signed a petition calling for President Bush to pardon our Border Patrol agents who put their lives on the line in defense of America. Consider signing the petition, too. Thanks.

Oh, and God bless you, too.