I Have A Say Thanks to My Mom and Dad!!!

Being the oldest of 11, I am so thankful, especially now, for my Mom and Dad saying "yes" to life! Growing up, we never had a ton of money. My Dad was a high school chemistry teacher and my parents decided from the beginning that they wanted to have one of them home with us. My mom gave up her teaching career, and raised me, followed by 10 others! My Mom also taught all 11 of us at home for part of our childhood before we would head off to Nativity Catholic Grade School. My Dad worked long hours, eventually earning other degrees so that he could first become dean, then principal, and finally, when I was a sophomore, he was named Roncalli High School's first president. My Dad and Mom both sacrificed SO MUCH for us.

I remember, even as a young person, getting stared at by people, and I remember the comments they would make. I can still hear a dental receptionist asking my Mom "Are these all yours? You know how children are made right?" followed by a real insidious but ditzy chuckle, followed by a secretarial gum crackle. My Mom and Dad were always tight budget wise, and I'm sure at times ached with a desire to not have to take bags of clothes from other families so that we could have clothes. I'm sure my Mom and Dad had desires to simply go to Nordstrom and buy us and give us all our own new clothes and Gameboys and Reebok Pumps etc. I'm sure they at times really wished they could just get a new car and not have to drive a fifteen passenger van around. I'm sure at times they wanted really badly to just go to a restaurant and sit back and enjoy a big expensive meal instead of having to cut coupons and craft together economic meals on the stove.

But they chose life for us, and they chose sacrifice for themselves.

I often think about that ditzy secretary now when our family gets together almost every weekend for dinner to laugh and hang out. Some of the siblings might be out of town or busy with other obligations, but inevitably, all weekend long, every weekend, our family gets together. Sometimes, when we're out at a restaraunt, I see the couples who are alone with each other. They hardly talk to each other and the loneliness is palpable. A part of me feels bad that we're having so much fun with our 8 tables shoved together, telling stories, laughing good hearty and healthy laughs. Sometimes I wonder if one of the couples sitting in the restaurant quietly and solemnly is that dental secretary - who now has piles of money and can eat wherever she wants, but doesn't have hardly anyone to share it with. My heart breaks for the people who are alone, especially the ones who are alone because, when they could have been having children, they instead bought into the contraception lie and lived for themselves only.

I have a say today, and so do my ten younger brothers and sisters, because my parents chose life. Mom and Dad - thanks a million!!!

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Katie - an Adoptive Mother

I am writing, not about my parents choosing to give life, (yes I am thankful for that), but that the biological mother of our boys chose to give life. It took me several months to actually realize this. The biological mother of our boys made a great decision at the beginning not to terminate her pregnancy even though many friends and family pressured her to do. The second great decision she made was that she could not provide the home that these boys needed and deserved and to put them up for adoption. However, in between those two great decisions she made a lot of bad decisions that could have lifelong consequences for our boys. Through the first month of caring for our 2 boys, when we were stuck 800 miles away from our friends and family, the boys were going through withdrawals from the things she did while she carried them, and that made me angry.  The good thing is they came out of the withdrawals by the end of the first month without any major medical treatment.  On Facebook a friend from college posted and said “what a wonderful gift, she chose to give life and put these boys up for adoption to loving parents rather than an abortion or keeping these boys in a bad situation”. I stopped in my tracks as I read it and realized, yes what a great gift, she chose to give life, and all the other stuff doesn’t matter anymore. So for that I am thankful a complete stranger chose to give life, and give us the best blessing we could ever ask for (x2).
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