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!!!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Ambria Martin, FOCUS Missionary (next year) Has a Say

I'm so thankful that my parents 23 years ago decided to give me life. I'm the product of an unwed cohabiting couple that was unplanned.Yet to them I was seen as a gift and thus given a beautiful chance at life. At first my life was rough, I was born over a month early, weighing in at 4lbs and almost immediately placed in an incubator. There were moments when the doctors didn't know how I would end up. My parents fought for me though not just in the physical sense but in the spiritual sense. My mother prayed and prayed that I would be a healthy child. God granted her that prayer and I've grown up with an amazingly healthy life. I've been given wonderful gifts throughout this life but the biggest is the gift of two siblings, an older half brother and a younger sister. A few months ago I found out that I'm going to be a Catholic missionary on a college campus next year. I'm so glad that God has granted me the gift to allow me this type of job. I have been given the chance to have a say and i'm so blessed to have parents who cherished that. I don't know how many lives God will change by being able to use me as a tool on a college campus but I can only imagine-- his love is that infinite. While I have a say, my other half sibling didn't. One woman's choice changed my entire family and ultimately brought her grave pain. I want to say right now Cecile, that your idea of a "choice" has killed a member of my family and they didn't even get the chance to ask, "can I live?". No one else was given the chance to speak on that woman's choice yet we all live with the loss of a beautiful person. I have a say and I refuse to allow you mask this issue without showing what an abortion actually does to a family. One woman had a choice and her choice was selfish and manipulative. It continues to devastate my family. I speak on behalf of my half sibling and the rest of the unborn who weren't given the chance that I was and I'm not going anywhere
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