SO FAR...

Since Lauren's suicide nearly five years ago, the time of year between the approach of her birthday in December and the anniversary of her death in March has been difficult for me. I'm certain the gloomy weather contributes heavily.
So far, and I'm afraid I may be jinxing myself by saying so, I've managed to avoid an outright funk this season. The downward pull seems weaker anyway and for that I'm very thankful.
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Ring the bells
That still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

~ Leonard Cohen, poet & musician, "Anthem"

A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS, PRESIDENT CARTER

"On Novem­ber 3, 2005, for­mer Demo­c­rat Pres­i­dent Jimmy Carter stated to reporters at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Wash­ing­ton, DC, regard­ing his book, Our Endur­ing Val­ues –America’s Moral Cri­sis:
I never have felt that any abor­tion should be com­mit­ted — I think each abor­tion is the result of a series of errors … I’ve never been con­vinced, if you let me inject my Chris­tian­ity into it, that Jesus Christ would approve abortion."
http://www.themoralliberal.com/2010/01/21/what-i-did-was-wrong-former-jane-roe-of-roe-v-wade/
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Someone recently shared with me that her abortion was neither malicious nor violent.
I do not believe her decision to abort her child was malicious, per se, but I do believe her child would disagree with her on the non-"violent" assessment.

CAUTION - THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESS PRESENTS VERY GRAPHIC IMAGES OF POST ABORTION "DEBRIS."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=turg8w61vxA&feature=email
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Refusing
to acknowledge
something
in no way
diminishes
its reality.
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A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS, DALE TURNER

"If our vocabulary did not contain the words trouble, adversity, calamity and grief, it could not contain the words, bravery, patience and self-sacrifice. Those who face no calamity will need no courage. Mysterious though it is, the human characteristics we admire most grow in a soil with a strong mixture of trouble."

A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS, MOTHER TERESA

"But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. "

SHE MADE HER LIST...SHE CHECKED IT 2x...

earrings... jewelry... trampoline... brother... baby doll... microphone... doctor kit... curtain (Oliver ripped hers)... 1012 books...
DSi... guinea pig... 3 dogs... 2 cats... laptop... rat... Tinkerbell... 20 fish... game... TV... 100 Pet Shop (toys)...
She realized she left SISTER and PIANO off the list, so she shimmied them in...
When reminded that sisters and brothers take a long time to grow in a belly, she said, "Uh, HE'S SANTA! I need a brother and sister to be my friends so we can play..."