How much difference could one life make?

Lucas Donovan on a walkabout with Grandpa.

I call him Little Bean. When he's a teenager, he's going to love me for it.

When my 43-year-old brother told me he and my sister-in-law were expecting, I thought, "expecting what?"

My family long ago gave up on babies. I've never married, so they weren't coming from me. My brother and his first wife, also, never had children. My parents were grandparentless. And, yes, we lived with heartache.

Things changed a few years ago when my brother remarried. His wife, Jody, had three young daughters from a previous marriage. So now our family had kiddos! I've loved being an aunt to these girls. But a new baby?

Nah. Never going to happen. And for years, it didn't.

Lucas and his daddy.

Life loves surprises.

On Valentine's Weekend 2016, I got a call from my brother late one night. "I need to talk to you," he said. "Something has happened."

Oh geez. Here we go. "Okay, what's going on?"

He blurts out, "We're expecting..."

I added the ellipsis (...) to the quote because that's how I heard it. I kept waiting for him to finish the sentence, while I quietly freaked out, 'How bad is it?! What could he possibly be expecting?'

Brendon, Jody, and Little Bean

Then it hit me. 

Ohhh....expecting.

Got it.

Every life starts small. 

Oh the nephew smooshiness. 

My brother gave me the delivery date and we laughed and cried and debated dimensions. We figured, at this stage, he was roughly the size of a pinto. Or a lima. So I nicknamed him Little Bean.

I wanted to mark the moment his life entered mine. But, also, to give him a nickname that would embarrass him for decades.

I did good.

Lucas with Mommy

Suddenly, this little guy, all by his little self and all before even being born, made me hope again. Dream again. Wonder if the impossible was, at times, possible because - for my family and for this moment - it was.

I laughed louder at jokes, cried harder at movies. I wasn't the one pregnant, but my hormones didn't know it.

This kid made me view any difficult day with less angst because, no matter what happened, life was still coming.

Life begats more life. 

Lucas loves Grandma cuddles. 

He's had a big impact for one little dude. His life has forever altered the lives of his parents, grandparents, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and the list will only go on.

One little boy.

One life.

Since the passage of Roe v Wade in 1973, we've lost 58.5 million lives to abortion.

I'll just leave that right there.

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: 

I am come that they might have life, 

and that they might have it more abundantly."

 John 10:10 KJV

180. The movie making people U-turn.

I stumbled onto this. Twitter is an amazing little site. Not one I visit often. But in there, if you are looking in the right places, you might find a few treasures. This was one of them, posted on David Barton's wall.

So, out of curiosity to learn about this half hour movie he promoted, I clicked the tiny URL...with no intention of watching the full half hour.

I watched the full half hour. So did over two million others, so far. You will, too.

It's simply that good. And not what you think. But I'll let you discover it for yourself, if you choose. Enjoy. And prepare your ideas for the yoga they are about to endure.

Watch it here or on the 180 site. 

UK Advice Columnist: Good mothers smother their hurting babies with pillows

I hadn't planned to make today about abortion. But after posting the inspiring audio of Gianna Jessen's testimony, literally minutes later, I received Glenn Beck's subscriber newsletter with this video.

It's Virginia Ironside, a British advice columnist, who believes the compassionate thing to do with a suffering child is to shove a pillow over their head and hold it down until their body stops thrashing about fighting for oxygen and they die.

Watch the face of one of the program hosts, Susanna Reid, who seems a bit shocked, while Ironside just continues on as if killing your child is the most natural thing a "good mother" would do.

"If a baby’s going to be born severely disabled or totally unwanted, surely an abortion is the act of a loving mother. If I were the mother of a suffering child – I mean a deeply suffering child – I would be the first to want to put a pillow over its face… If it was a child I really loved, who was in agony, I think any good mother would."

Virginia Ironside

First, I think it needs to be asked. Did Virginia Ironside have any children who died mysteriously?
Second, as she grows older, should she be in pain, what kind of pillow would she prefer shoved over her head? Foam? Down? Ruffles on the edges?

Compassion it compassion, Virginia. You shouldn't go without.

Abortion is the act of a loving mother? Killing is now love. Well...that's what Hitler thought, too.

Survivor, Warrior, Princess: Gianna Jessen

I listened to this thinking of Deborah, the biblical judge and prophetess, who inspired an army of men into victory. And I thought of Ester, who faced certain death to defend her people.

That's Gianna Jessen. An abortion survivor and warrior for the unborn. She survived a saline solution abortion, an abortion technique which burns the baby from the inside out. We don't even treat our serial killers to a death like that.

The culture speaks of humanity, of arguing against capital punishment, of sympathizing with captured terrorists, while silently killing babies by any means possible, even if that means cutting them into pieces. That seem upside down to anyone else?

Gianna Jessen has a testimony. It's the example of her life. And it's not only miraculous and charming, it's delightful, funny, encouraging, and joyful. You might remember her from this:



Recently, a video has been circulating of a speech Gianna gave in 2008 where she spoke at Queen's Hall, Parliament House, in Melbourne on the eve of a debate to decriminalize abortion in Victoria. I finally got around to watching it. Now I wonder what I could have been doing that was so much more important than finding the time.

Here's Gianna.



What I wonder is if feminists truly are for empowering women, for women who face insurmountable odds and yet survive and are successful, women who brave opposition and even persecution for their beliefs and rights, women who fight for other women, shouldn't Gianna be their poster child?

I'm sure they're getting around to it. Any day now you'll see Gianna as a guest speaker at a NOW Convention. Any day....