Healthcare for Gunner speaks out for their disabled children

I was part of this group who spoke out about fears that our disabled children will be denied health care when resources dwindle, as they have in Canada.

Divorce is bad for the environment; not too good for families either!

Maybe this is something the greenies can appreciate, that divorce causes more households, and more travel (the weekend shuffle of children) which generates more carbon emissions. Hearing that it destroys children's lives was not enough. Judith Wallerstein found that out with a groundbreaking longitudinal study which she describes in her book, "The Hidden Legacy of Divorce". Read a review here.
Maybe they care more for the environment than for children, oh wait, we already knew that environmentalists don't care about babies!

Senator Fielding from Australia is causing waves with comments like this:
Meanwhile, Senator Fielding - one of 16 children and a husband of 20 years - yesterday continued his battle to explain the many benefits of sticking it out in a marriage.

He said broken families had larger carbon footprints because people moved out, needed to find new accommodation and new utility services."
We understand that there is a social problem (with divorce), but now we're seeing there is also environmental impact as well on the footprint," he said.
Leave it to an aussie to get in trouble with too much truth!

Divorce is parents laying their crosses down;
on the shoulders of their children.

Read the entire article here.

Indecency wins; again!

from One Million Moms
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday threw out the FCC's $550,000 indecency fine against CBS for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction."
CBS purposely "shopped around" in order to find a "friendly court" in which to file a law suit against the FCC. As a result, three liberal judges callously dismissed the fine, essentially giving networks court-approval to broadcast nud-ty on tax-payer funded airwaves anytime of the day or night.
This dangerous precedent now jeopardizes other FCC fines currently being appealed by the morally bankrupt NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox networks. As a result of the ruling by three judges, networks have won the right to do what they've wanted for a long time - to be as nasty as they want to be.
TAKE ACTION
Senator John Rockefeller has introduced the "Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act" (S. 1780) which will inherently stop abuse from activist judges and allow the FCC to fine stations for airing even a single word or image of indecency on television.
Ask your Senator to sponsor and vote in favor of S. 1780 today! Without this law, the FCC is very limited in its ability to hold network stations accountable for indecency.
Click Here to Email Your Senators Now!
Sincerely,
Donald E. Wildmon, ChairmanOneMillionMoms.com

Getting to know Cindy McCain

from the email
"There was an article in the Wall Street Journal on Cindy McCain, John"swife. All I ever saw was this attractive woman standing beside John. I was surprised how talented and involved with world problems she is. Thisis a summary of the article.

She graduated from Southern Cal and was a special-needs teacher. After her Dad died she became involved with his beer distributing firmand is now the chairwoman. Sales have doubled since she has taken overfrom her father.They have a marriage prenuptial agreement, her assets remain separate.
She is involved around the world clearing land mines - travels to the countries on a detonation team and served on their board. They have a 19 year old serving in Iraq, another son in the Naval Academy , a daughter recently graduated from Columbia Univ. , an adopted daughter in high school, and a son who is the finance guy at the beerfirm.
Raised kids in Phoenix , Az rather than Washington DC.(better atmosphere) He commuted.

In 1991, Mrs. McCain came across a girl in an orphanage in Bangladesh . Mother Teresa implored Mrs. McCain to take the baby with severe cleft palate. She did so without first telling her husband. The couple adopted the girl who has had a dozen operations to repair her cleft palate and other medical problems.
They have a Family Foundation for children's causes.She's active with "Halo Trust" - to clear land mines, provide water andfood in war ravaged and developing countries. She will join an overseas mission of "Operation Smile", a charity for corrective surgery on children's faces.

She has had two back surgeries and became addicted to pain killers. She talks openly about it which she says is part of the recovery process. I'm surprised the media is so quiet about her attributes. She sounds more capable than Hillary or Obama. We would really get two for the price of one. A person with business and international experience. John did work for the firm for awhile when he left the Navy. She, however, has the real business experience.
Very interesting."
Could we vote for Cindy instead of John McCain? I like her adoption of a special needs child, and her work for the poor disabled children who need surgeries. She is a gem, no wonder the media haven't reported on her, she is John McCain's secret weapon.

My column on Amazing Catechists to offer resources for catechists

I am a columnist on a new website called Amazing Cathechists which is a free resource for all you out there you teach CCD or RCIA classes or homeschool your children in the faith. It's so new, that a few parts are still under construction, but pay us a visit and meet some talented catechists who offer their insights on a wide variety of topics.New columns will be added monthly, and we hope to offer a wealth of free resources for you to use with your students.There is no greater joy than passing on the faith, and I am priveleged to be a part of this exciting apostolate. Lisa Mlandinich, whose story, "Acting Up" is featured in this month's "Faith and Family"magazine is the webmistress and originator of Amazing Catechists. Her puppet scripts can be found at Catholic Puppet Show Ministry at Catholic Mom.com

Worldwide Children's Holy Hour October 5th

Tomorrow, EWTN will broadcast live from the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception a Worldwide Children's Holy Hour. Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City will lead this Holy Hour, which has the special blessing of Pope Benedict, and will be broadcast to 40 Countries around the world.
Join in prayer tomorrow, First Friday, and the eve of the 90th Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun in Fatima. And bring the children!

Faces Like Mine

This post was submitted and rejected as an OP-ED for the New York Times
The discussion about new guidelines for mandatory prenatal testing of all pregnant women for Down syndrome has engendered a movement of parents of these children whose goal is raising awareness of what life with Down syndrome is like. This was the subject of a video produced by reporter Amy Harmon of the New York Times. In the video, she discusses this movement, which has resulted in projects like the book “Gifts: Mothers Reflect How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives”, the Prenatally Diagnosed Condition Act, ( written with the help of the National Down Syndrome Society, and co-sponsored by Senators Kennedy and Brownback ) which mandates that parents of Down syndrome children be given up-to-date information on the life expectancy, the lifestyle of people with Down syndrome, the educational offerings to help them learn, and the chance to meet parents of Down syndrome children. She postulates on what our goals may be. Is it increased funds for medical research on Down syndrome? Is it sufficient numbers to keep the political pressure up to obtain educational programs? While these are partially true, they don’t touch upon the heart of the matter. The mother Ms. Harmon quotes says it best, “we see children with Down syndrome as we go about our daily lives, we wonder if someday we won’t”. Seeing faces like theirs.
I know one person who enjoys seeing faces like hers. Christina Maria, my five year old daughter with Down syndrome loves to see her own face. She spends hours in front of a mirror we have placed at her height in our home, playing with herself, admiring how she looks in her different outfits, singing songs, making funny faces, and laughing at them. She is one of the most self confident people I know, she loves her looks, and seeks others who bear some similarity to herself. She especially loves seeing others with Down syndrome.

I have often gone out with crowds of mothers and children. In our social group, there is a 4 year old little girl named Mary Faith (pictured here) who has Down syndrome, and Christina never fails to find her in the crowd. When they come face to face, they gaze at one another, then easily fall into a play routine whose rules are known only to them. They can play silently in unison for a long time, with none of the pushing which Christina often inflicts on younger children. Perhaps they don’t ‘get’ the rules of how she plays. The Down syndrome rule.

I test her attraction to other faces of Down syndrome. We sit through a slide show of moms and babies with Downs. She is transfixed, and asks me to play it again. Her favorite book for Daddy to read is “Hi, I’m Ben” which has photos of a little boy with Down syndrome. I show her movies way over her interest level which is still at Barney, movies with actors who have Down syndrome, and there again is the silent absorption.

Recently, I took my girls to a movie screening in Manhattan’s HBO Theatre, to see “Mr. Blue Sky” where a girl with Down syndrome falls in love with her childhood friend. The crowd was full of Hollywood types, whom the producer hoped would take an interest in the film. I was horrified to realize we were sitting directly in back of one of them, with his head at kicking height for Christina’s restless feet. After a tense few minutes, where his wife’s head was kicked, the film began, and as Christina saw the actors with Down syndrome appear onscreen, her feet stopped, and she sat up, attentively watching the entire show. She clapped at the end. So did I.
We are fortunate to live in a community which is the center for Independent Group Home Living. Adults with Down syndrome are in the stores, the church, working in the restaurants and supermarkets. There is Camp Paquatuck in town, where busloads of children with Down syndrome and other disabilities come each summer. Very few people here do a double take when they see a face with Down syndrome. I only appreciate this when I bring Christina out of my town, and feel the stares. I don’t blame them, seeing faces with Down syndrome is a rare treat.

Inclusion into society is a beautiful thing, and we have much to learn about accepting physically and mentally challenged people. But, once in a while, when I am so different looking than everyone, I just enjoy seeing faces like mine.

Great column in the Dallas Morning News

The author of this column, Virginia Arbery teaches in the Humanities Program of University of Dallas, and is the mother of 8 children, including 20 year old Julia who has Down syndrome. She writes;
Julia’s life soon began to bring out the excellences of others. She brought our little college community even closer together, a joy to the students and a prize to anyone who held her. Early Intervention trained us to stimulate areas of her brain by waking up facial muscles, working to get her to sit up or to crawl – a task she never mastered, scooting instead with her two hands and bottom.
I would go from teaching the Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers, to a large room uptown with five other mothers propping up their floppy babies. Nothing else has ever quite brought home the meaning of “all men are created equal endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights and among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
We were all working for that fullest expression of life and happiness for our babies. I thought about the “prudent” mothers who had aborted their own children with Down syndrome. I grieved for those who, exercising their reproductive rights – a new appropriation of the older notion of liberty, which was rooted in duty – would never know the profound satisfaction of raising such a child.
HT Catholic Poster Girl

Married Couples reject the blessing of children

According to a study released July 1st by the Pew research center, Public Concern over the Delinking of Marriage and Parenthood. Adults of all ages consider unwed parenting to be a big problem for society. "At the same time, however, just four-in-ten (41%) say that children are very important to a successful marriage, compared with 65% of the public who felt this way as recently as 1990".

According to a Washington Post article, "This might be explained by a greater emphasis on soul mate relationships in marriage and an increasing recognition of the stress involved in raising children, said Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. There is also a more widespread belief that having children is a choice, she said. "Marriage and kids were kind of hyphenated before," she said, "and now the hyphens have been removed."

This is the direct result of forty years of ignoring Humanae Vitae, which begins with the following acknowlegement, " The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships. " Hardships are thought to undermine marriage, and many couples try to avoid any type of sacrifice, for the good of the marriage, their own comfort,freedom of lifestyle, and financial success. It's all about personal satisfaction, and marriage, though it remains the ideal of many, in practice, is becoming less important.
"In the United States today, marriage exerts less influence over how adults organize their lives and how children are born and raised than at any time in the nation's history. Only about half of all adults (ages 18 and older) in the U.S. are married; only about seven-in-ten children live with two parents; and nearly four-in-ten births are to unwed mothers, according to U.S. Census figures. As recently as the early 1970s, more than six-in-ten adults in this country were married; some 85% of children were living with two parents; and just one-birth-in-ten was to an unwed mother."

Where have all the children gone?

Patrick at Driving Out the Snakes has a post with some depressing news about where children rank in importance in American's opinions on marriage.Eighth. What could be more important than raising up the next generation?
My next door neighbor said that instead of having a second child, they would be getting a boat. A big one. Then they got a second dog, which their son calls his brother. So sad. He used to look through my fence to watch my girls playing together in the yard.
Kimberley Hahn, in her wonderful book on incorporating the Church's teaching on life into your home, Life-Giving Love, said, "the best thing you can give a child is a sibling, someone to love them when you are gone".
God bless those brave Catholic parents who have large families, and put up with all kinds of grief from perfect strangers. My friend Alice Gunther writes about the different reactions she sees to her family of seven children here.
I could only have three children (I lost three children to miscarriage) and now my OB said that carrying a child to term at my age would be enough to help Blessed Mother Teresa qualify for sainthood. Come on Mother, I want twins!