My little monkeyshines.

Okay, the pictures on my blog refuse to let me arrange them to go along with my text, but it's been at least a month since the grandparents have gotten new baby pictures, so we're going to play a game. I'm going to caption the pictures the way I would have if they were in order, and you get to guess which order they come in.

We had Easter brunch at church, and I forgot to bring a bib, so we tried to protect the dress with a dishtowel tied around her neck. Effective? Not so much. So by the time we got to Easter dinner, it didn't really matter that a lot of it went down her front. I was beginning to cringe every time I glanced at her dress and hope desperately that I hadn't gotten dry clean only by mistake.
Here is a poor attempt to capture her culinary artwork. The spots got bigger as they were farther down the dress. Happy Easter, everybody, or Happy Resurrection Day, as we used to say. This year Seth and I followed the great tradition of getting Annika her first Easter dress. Doesn't she just look like a little lady with a bit of ballerina thrown in?

Well appearances can be deceiving. This little lady knew no restraint in her lovely dress. She was all over everything in it.

In other news, Boo Boo has discovered how to climb.

I'll turn around for an instant, and she'll be up on something: a couch, a chair, a step, a stroller. She's so proud of herself. She can't understand why I make her get down.

She started by climbing into things, like the furnace vent cupboard.

Not pictured: She also likes climbing out of my arms and onto the table. We've had a few boo boos (no pun intended), like the way she took half the skin off her nose when she went down the front steps at a roll, but for the most part, she's handling the development rather well.

That's all for now. Here's hoping my next post will be in order.

Love you all.

Jennifer

Excitement out of discouragement.

Well, we're done, . . . and yet we're not! We're going to keep going. In fact, we're going to the next level and organizing all of our pro-life organizations into a coalition for life. We're still sitting outside the abortion clinic twice a week, and we hope for bigger and better things.

It turns out that none of my compatriots were discouraged by the story in the Sun. In fact, they were ecstatic that we got front page treatment, and they reported three separate groups who came up after the article to express thanks and encouragement. One of our directors quoted Ghandi, who said, "First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Then they fight you. Then you win."

Moreover, we have more reasons to rejoice.
1. We know for certain that seven babies were saved from abortion.
2. which means that seven women and presumably seven men were saved from the devastating physical and emotional effects of abortion.
3. We estimate that over 150 volunteers from 15 churches and organizations put in over 1000 man hours, passed out over 400 informational pamphlets to Planned Parenthood clients, and talked to over 1000 people (not including the ones who screamed insults at us from the street), both pro-life and pr0-choice.
4. Our largest vigil stood 17 people from as far away as Port Angeles (that's 2 hours away).
5. Our neighbor, who started out bitterly opposed to our presence and even faked traffic signs to keep us from parking on his street, had a sudden change of feeling, asked for our prayers for his sick wife, and offered to let us park on his lawn. (That one blew me away.)

Sometimes, maintaining my momentum in the middle of something is difficult. When I posted last, I was discouraged. It was the last week of our vigil. We were having difficulty keeping all our prayer times full. I was out there four out of six days one week, and I know people who hardly ever left the site. That Friday, I saw five young women go in the clinic in the space of an hour, and not a one would take a pamphlet from me when they came out. I called my mom and nearly cried. Then Saturday that article came out saying that Planned Parenthood hadn't even had a drop in business. (I found out later that that is a common tactic of theirs, and that our observers estimate that their business on abortion days has dropped by 50 %.) I was ready to stow it and walk away. I didn't see what good we were doing. I didn't see who we were helping. It just all seemed hopeless.

And yet, look at everything that was accomplished through us, and look at everything God did behind our backs. God answers prayer! So keep praying.

Love to you all,

Jennifer

p.s. Niki has learned how to climb on furniture. When I trust her balance enough, I'll take a picture.

Oooh, I could just cry.

I really get tired of being everybody's whipping boy, you know? Our local newspaper ran a story on 40 Days for Life. I don't know what the rest of my comrades were expecting. They seem to run with the theory that any publicity is good publicity. However, I was expecting something to be said about 40 Days for Life and our mission to save babies, maybe a few comments on how life begins at conception or the dangers of abortion to women (what was I thinking? I mean, really?). Instead, the article chose to focus on the controversial and graphic signs that we've been using this year. (I can't find the article back. It was published by the Kitsap Sun.) They made us sound like idiots using ineffective and offensive means to interfere with the legitimate business of a community partner for whom "abortion constitutes only 4 to 8 percent of their business."

Granted, the signs are very disturbing. They show pictures of early abortions, babies that have been dismembered. That's what abortion is. I'm not always comfortable with the signs. Sometimes I think they're very effective. Sometimes I think we'd be better off leaving abortion as a concept in people's minds and just using words. Sometimes the signs make me a little sick, (especially when I'm riding a hormone wave). But people need to appreciate that what we're showing with that sign is what's happening inside that clinic behind us. "4 to 8 percent of their business" equals 10 to 15 babies who meet that fate every two weeks. That's 300 children a year. Don't those children deserve to have their fates known?

The part that makes me feel the worst is that I know we are trying to save our community from a great evil, and being portrayed like this makes me feel like we've been kicked in the teeth. I know that we're blessed when people to say bad things about us because we stand up for what is right (Matthew 5), and I pray that these cursings will turn out to be blessings. Like the Apostle Paul told Timothy (2 Tim. 4: 1-5), people aren't going to listen to sound doctrine. They're going to listen to people who will tell them what they want to hear so as not to be inconvenienced. I suppose as a society, we're no more corrupt than any other society that has risen to the top of the world -- Rome, Constantinople, the medieval Court of Love. Lovers of self, lovers of money, not lovers of God or good, disobedient, disrespectful -- these are all the marks of human nature apart from God, and we were a part of that nature too before He saved us (Eph. 2: 3). So we keep going. After all, they can't make us leave.

But in brighter news, BooBoo is walking, and I have proof! We finally managed to capture her halting steps on video. And she's also developing other skills too. What a busy little bee I have! Praise God for life in all its tiny miracles.