Because the babies are important!

Leeann proudly displaying her baby bottle with a note she put inside.

Leeann wrote this on the card she put inside of her bottle.
Translation: "Leeann gave the money to the babies because the babies are important."

Just about a month ago Leeann held a coffee shop where she served hot cocoa and cookies to some of her favorite people, who in turn gave her money to donate to Options Pregnancy Resource Center. You can read more about her coffee shop, and fantastic customers here.

At that time, all she knew is that she was raising money to help mommies make good choices for their babies.

A week or two later she accidentally saw a picture of the holocaust when she snuck up behind me while I was watching a documentary about cancer on my laptop. That of course, led to a whole set of questions. And, because I am committed to not lying to my children, and her questions kept flying persistently (which I, personally, take as a sign that she very well might be ready for an honest, age-appropriate answer), she learned a lot that night.

By the end of the night she knew about the holocaust, abortion and exactly how babies are born. This all happened in the span of time it took Rob to go to the store. I'm pretty sure he'd rather of been a million miles away for this conversation!

At first she got really angry (when I told her about the holocaust). She literally stomped her feet, clenched her fists and through her tears just about started shouting, "Why would a mean man do that to those people? Did he even do that to children?"

When I told her that yes, children were killed too, she asked a lot of questions to try to wrap her mind around this travesty. I then took the opportunity to tell her that sometimes people think that other people are less than human. She asked if the mean man's soldiers were mean just like him. I told her that they really believed that these people weren't as human, or worthy of life as others, because they believed that what the mean man said was true.

This eventually led to a parallel example about abortion. I told her that the mommies who choose to abort their babies aren't mean mommies, they just wrongly believe that the babies growing inside their tummy aren't human, or worthy of life. And because of that belief, if they find out they are pregnant when they don't want to have a baby, they will sometimes choose to kill that baby, even if they don't believe that what they are doing is killing.

Then I told her that's why I was so proud of her for raising money to help mommies make good choices for their babies. Because, when they see a picture of the baby growing inside of their tummy, they see that the baby is real, that it's a human, and that it's alive. And most of the time when they see these pictures, they choose life for their babies.

She looked up at me from across the counter and said, "But I didn't have an abortion!"

Her words caught me off guard for a moment, but I knew what she meant. I told her she was right, Nai-Nai (that's what she calls her birth mom) chose life for the baby inside of her tummy. I went over and gave her a big hug and informed her that I'm sooooo very glad she did! She then excitedly told me that she's going to help other mommies chose life for their babies and then asked me to see what an ultrasound looks like.

So I showed her a picture of Titus, at 20 weeks.



Politics and religion aside, how can anyone deny the reality that this is a life? It has value, and meaning, and purpose. It is no less human than you and I. In fact, it's not an "it". It's a boy. He's my son!

This picture was taken at 19 weeks. Many abortions are preformed at this stage, or even later.  

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Yesterday, Leeann got a chance to visit Options for the first time. She got a tour from the Director, and she got a chance to see where mommies get ultra sounds of their babies.

She also got to see the rooms where the mommies talk to the staff at Options and try to process what to do about an unexpected pregnancy.

Our friend, Mrs. Tina, works at Options and showed Leeann where the mommies and workers sit to talk.

In all, Leeann raised $136.81. We were told that ultrasounds essentially cost $50 each through Options. Leeann is elated to know that she raised enough money for nearly 3 mommies to see pictures of their babies. And her prayer for them is that they'll make good choices for their babies once they see these pictures.

That's my prayer too! Karen, the Director of Options, told Leeann that she's a life saver. You should have seen her face light up when Karen told her that!

Leeann is such a precious, thoughtful little girl. I know I'm a little bit biased, but I think the world of my beautiful daughter. And, I think the world is a better place with her in it. No--I'm sure of it. I wonder how different, how much better and brighter this world would be if the 46 million babies that have died since abortion became legal in 1973, had been given the precious gift of life?