A Little Bean

It’s been a tough 18 months.  In April 2011, doctors discovered a mass pressing against my then 8-year old’s heart.   A few days later, a pediatric oncologist delivered the diagnosis…Cancer.  Since that day, I’ve doubled over in pain from kidney stones, ended up in the ER with skyrocketing blood pressure, followed an ambulance carrying my daughter to the hospital after she fell and momentarily lost consciousness, and then there was early Spring, 2012.

During a particularly difficult stretch of treatment for my eldest, my wife privately shared that another little life would enter into the world in just a few months.  At that point, I think we both felt a bit overwhelmed, but joyful.  God chose to bless us with a new life and a “light at the end of the tunnel” of sorts during a dark time in our home.  The kids, especially our courageous little cancer patient, squealed with joy when he found out another little brother or sister was on the way.  Our whole family embraced the news, and anxiously awaited our little one’s arrival.  However, his or her birth was not to be.

In week 17 of pregnancy, a nurse searched for our child’s heartbeat and found none.  An ultrasound told the story, our little one passed.  The Doctor scheduled a time to induce labor, and my wife and I experienced the heartbreak of birthing a child already giggling and squirming in the arms of God.  That night I collapsed on the narrow hospital cot and wept.  After a few hours, the nurses handed my wife a “keepsake kit” to treasure, a forever reminder of the one that we’ll meet one day.  Tiny little feet and hand impressions told a story that many deny.  Clumps of cells don’t boast hand and foot prints, but a baby created in the image of God does!

At last evening’s Vice-Presidential debate, the moderator posed the abortion question to both candidates.  Paul Ryan answered that his pro-life conclusion stems from not only his faith but from “science and reason” as well.  He proceeded to share that when he and his wife expected their firstborn daughter, doctors administered an ultrasound at 7 weeks.  A heartbeat raced in that little one’s body, a form resembling a little bean.  To this day, Mr. Ryan occasionally refers to his young daughter as “Bean,” a nickname not to belittle God’s Masterpiece, but to serve as a constant reminder of life’s precious beginning and developmental stages in the mother’s womb.

Vice-President Biden and Paul Ryan share the same religious background, Catholicism, but Mr. Biden sees the abortion issue in a different light.

“My religion defines who I am, and I’ve been a practicing Catholic my whole life…And it has particularly informed my social doctrine. The Catholic social doctrine talks about taking care of those who — who can’t take care of themselves, people who need help. With regard to — with regard to abortion, I accept my church’s position on abortion as a — what we call a (inaudible) doctrine. Life begins at conception in the church’s judgment.  I accept it in my personal life.

But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews, and I just refuse to impose that on others, unlike my friend here, the — the congressman. I — I do not believe that we have a right to tell other people that — women they can’t control their body.” (Debate Transcript, October 10, 2012)

Refusing to impose that on others?  Quoting one of the Vice-President’s lines from the debate,

“That’s a bunch of malarkey.”

The President’s healthcare plan forces religiously affiliated institutions and Christian owned companies like Hobby Lobby to cover the cost of contraceptive care, including abortive pills and services.  As of September, 28 lawsuits pended against the government over the healthcare mandate forcing people to violate religious beliefs and moral conscience.  So, those who refuse to impose greater restrictions upon a woman’s right to choose, demand pro-life advocates to bear the cost of slaughtering babies in the womb.  To the current Administriation:

How about refusing to impose Planned Parenthood’s ideology upon a populace of which a majority agree that abortion is America’s holocaust?

It must be tiring carrying around all those double standards.

Three weeks and counting…

(Oh, and another “little bean”sprouted, and my wife’s 12 weeks along…we’d appreciate your prayers.)