You Need to Know

I hadn't clicked to read or see more about the previously mentioned Dr. Kermit Gosnell, because I feared what I would learn..I decided I needed to learn more about all of these atrocious people and share it with who will listen...it disturbs me to the core...it will take a lot of distraction to get to sleep.


This is the truth unbiased.

However you feel about the issue, everyone needs to learn what's really going on. Please spend some time thinking about where you really stand, and read this Report of the Grand Jury on the Philadelphia clinic run by Gosnell.

   I am not going to paste any pictures because it is horrifying to see babies weighing as much as my babies as newborns, with slits in the back of their necks, and I couldn't bear to see them on my blog next to my kids' happy faces. I couldn't help but cry and pray for these babies and for all the defenseless ones to suffer this fate. If you'd like to read the Operation Rescue article on his arrest click here.

Here are crucial snippets from the Grand Jury's report IN THEIR WORDS:

 This case is about a doctor who killed babies and endangered women.  What we mean is that he regularly and illegally delivered live, viable, babies in the third trimester of pregnancy – and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors.  The medical practice by which he carried out this business was a filthy fraud in which he overdosed his patients with dangerous drugs, spread venereal disease among
them with infected instruments, perforated their wombs and bowels – and, on at least two occasions, caused their deaths.  Over the years, many people came to know that
something was going on here. But no one put a stop to it. 

 Let us say right up front that we realize this case will be used by those on both sides of the abortion debate.  We ourselves cover a spectrum of personal beliefs about the morality of abortion.  For us as a criminal grand jury, however, the case is not about that controversy; it is about disregard of the law and disdain for the lives and health of mothers and infants.  We find common ground in exposing what happened here, and in recommending measures to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.

The clinic reeked of animal urine, courtesy of the cats that were allowed to roam (and defecate) freely.  Furniture and blankets were stained with blood.  Instruments were not properly sterilized.  Disposable medical supplies were not disposed of; they were
reused, over and over again.  Medical equipment – such as the defibrillator, the EKG, the pulse oximeter, the blood pressure cuff – was generally broken; even when it worked, it wasn't used.  The emergency exit was padlocked shut.  And scattered throughout, in cabinets, in the basement, in a freezer, in jars and bags and plastic jugs, were fetal remains.  It was a baby charnel house. 

The report goes on to say that in his clinic, Gosnell was the ONLY licensed physician, not even a nurse was employed. The other women there were still called "Doctor" to make the patients feel comfortable. The other employees were also able to diagnose, prescribe and kill too. He himself wasn't certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Because it wasn't about health--it was a profit. By day, although Gosnell wasn't there, (he left signed script pads to be filled out by other employees) the business was prescribing painkillers--which brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars. He stayed home "relaxing and exercising." By night, it was an abortion mill, many times late term---and I mean, like up to their due dates. The Grand Jury continued:

 With abortion, as with prescriptions, Gosnell’s approach was simple: keep volume high, expenses low – and break the law.  That was his competitive edge. Pennsylvania, like other states, permits legal abortion within a regulatory framework.  Physicians must, for example, provide counseling about the nature of the procedure.  Minors must have parental or judicial consent.  All women must wait 24 hours after first visiting the facility, in order to fully consider their decision.  But Gosnell’s compliance with such requirements was casual at best.  At the Women’s Medical Society, the only question that really mattered was whether you had the cash. Too young?  No problem.  Didn’t want to wait?  Gosnell provided same-day service. 

 The real key to the business model, though, was this: Gosnell catered to the women who couldn’t get abortions elsewhere – because they were too pregnant.   Most doctors won’t perform late second-trimester abortions, from approximately the 20th week of pregnancy, because of the risks involved.  And late-term abortions after the 24th week of pregnancy are flatly illegal.  But for Dr. Gosnell, they were an opportunity.  The bigger the baby, the more he charged.

There was one small problem.  The law requires a measurement of gestational age, usually done by an ultrasound.  The ultrasound film would leave documentary proof that the abortion was illegal.  Gosnell’s solution was simply to fudge the measurement process.  Instead of hiring proper ultrasound technicians, he “trained” the staff himself, showing them how to aim the ultrasound probe at an angle to make the fetus look smaller.  If one of his workers nonetheless recorded an ultrasound measurement that was too big, it would just be redone.  Invariably these second ultrasounds would come in lower.  In fact, almost every time a second ultrasound was taken, the gestational age would be recorded as precisely 24.5 weeks – slightly past the statutory cutoff. Apparently Gosnell thought he would get away with abortions that were just a little illegal.  In reality, of course, most of these pregnancies were considerably more advanced. 

And the report says Gosnell's staff would give labor-inducing medications to late-term patients at night, and he would come in at 9 or 10pm, and only deal with the women that were ready to deliver--although some delivered before he came in. He maximized pain and danger for his patients, so as to minimize cost and effort on his part. The only problem for him and his staff, was that they delivered live squirming babies...his solution:

 Gosnell had a simple solution for the unwanted babies he delivered: he killed them.  He didn’t call it that.  He called it “ensuring fetal demise.”  The way he ensured fetal demise was by sticking scissors into the back of the baby’s neck and cutting the spinal cord.  He called that “snipping.”

And many times when he wasn't in the office for a delivery, his fake 'doctors' or even administrative staff (and now we learn even his wife..) did the 'snipping'...like it was nothing. How callous could they be? Of course when the pregnancy was a little too far along (>35 wks..) he didn't want his staff there..only his wife..he saved those for Sundays. And he would then take the medical records home to destroy the evidence. The babies were so grown that he even joked, "this one could walk me to the bus stop!" after murdering him.

After the baby was expelled, Cross noticed that he was breathing, though not for long. After about 10 to 20 seconds, while the mother was asleep, “the doctor just slit the neck,” said Cross. Gosnell put the boy’s body in a shoebox. Cross described the baby as so big that his feet and arms hung out over the sides of the container. Cross said that she saw the baby move after his neck was cut, and after the doctor placed it in the shoebox. Gosnell told her, “it’s the baby’s reflexes. It’s not really moving.”  The neonatologist testified that what Gosnell told his people was absolutely false. If a baby moves, it is alive. Equally troubling, it feels a “tremendous amount of pain” when its spinal cord is severed. So, the fact that Baby Boy A. continued to move after his spinal cord was cut with scissors means that he did not die instantly. Maybe the cord was not completely severed. In any case, his few moments of life were spent in excruciating pain. 

Even the staff took pictures of this baby boy...because they "knew it was wrong." The picture is a huge intact  baby boy in a box...so sad. The 15 yr old employee Ashley recalls another full term abortion:

Ashley heard the infant cry. She saw the baby move while it was on the counter. She estimated the infant was at least 12 inches long. When Gosnell arrived at the clinic, she recalled, “he snipped the neck, and said there is nothing to worry about, and he suctioned it.” 

Another employee witnessed Gosnell's disgusting sense of humor:

Tina Baldwin told the jurors that Gosnell once joked about a baby that was writhing as he cut its neck: “that’s what you call a chicken with its head cut off.” 

 The report then exposes the numerous injuries and even deaths of the patients Gosnell 'treated'. Some were left for hours after having their uterus punctured, bowels and colon torn, unconscious, bleeding, and when family or friends wanted in or out, he wouldn't allow them!!!! They had to threaten to call the cops. He even sent home patients he knew still had baby parts inside them, even when they exhibited signs of serious infections.

    He left his untrained and unlicensed staff to administer labor-inducing drugs, not monitoring vital signs or dosages, which left the women in horrible pain---but he didn't like the screaming or moaning, so he advised them to be drugged into a stupor. The more money you paid, the more pain relief you'd get.

And if you want to hear some real racism:

   Only in one class of cases did Gosnell exercise any real care with these dangerous sedatives.  On those rare occasions when the patient was a white woman from the suburbs, Gosnell insisted that he be consulted at every step.  When an employee asked him why, he said it was “the way of the world."

So who cares about all the black city families who you know can't afford to sue you?

Karnamaya Mongar was not a 'privilged' patient. She was a 41 yr old Nepalese refugee who couldn't speak much English:

  When she arrived at the clinic, Gosnell, as usual, was not there.  Office workers had her sign various forms that she could not read, and then began doping her up.  She received repeated unmonitored, unrecorded intravenous injections of Demerol, a sedative seldom used in recent years because of its dangers.  Gosnell liked it because it was cheap. 

 After several hours, Mrs. Mongar simply stopped breathing.  When employees finally noticed, Gosnell was called in and briefly attempted to give CPR.  He couldn’t use the defibrillator (it was broken); nor did he administer emergency medications that might have restarted her heart.  After further crucial delay, paramedics finally arrived, but Mrs. Mongar was probably brain dead before they were even called.  In the meantime, the clinic staff hooked up machinery and rearranged her body to make it look like they had been in the midst of a routine, safe abortion procedure.

The report goes on to say that even after paramedics arrived, they were able to generate a weak pulse, but the emergency exits were padlocked and exits so cluttered, it took an extra 20 minutes to get her out. And since there was no one to monitor how much, when or who administer anesthesia, there was no way to know how to treat her. She was taken off life support the next day.

   The Grand jury then expresses frustration at all departments in place in Pennsylvania that are supposed to oversee clinics..who decided it was politically correct for them to stop investigating clinics at all---for fear they would be "putting up a barrier" to women seeking abortions...Even after confronted with deaths, injuries, even reports from a former employee over a decade ago describing the filth, the over-prescribing painkillers, the underage girls, the late terms...NO ONE did anything.

  Why has this all come to light? ONLY because police raided his offices because of his illegal prescription selling business...and they walked in to find dead babies in freezers and fridges where employees kept lunch, in shoe boxes, in juice or milk jugs, bio-hazard bags in the basement, and even babies' feet (big enough to be full term) preserved in mason jars for Gosnell's personal pleasure. He paid off complaining victims, whose claims were filed with the health dept, but none of Gosnell's long record cause any red flags...for decades.

 A search of his home revealed a filing cabinet in his 12 yr old daughters closet--it had inside patient files, $240,000 and a hand gun.

 The report estimates that he took in as much as $10,000-$15,000 a night mostly in cash for a few hours of killing delivered live babies--the amount doesn't include the drug sales he made.

The deaths of women and of countless viable babies were a direct and foreseeable consequence of the reckless and illegal manner in which Gosnell operated his clinic.

When [employee] Latosha Lewis began work at the clinic in 2000, the practice would perform approximately 20 first-trimester and 5 or 6 second-trimester abortions every procedure night. (they performed abortions on mondays, tuesday, thursdays and Saturdays...and he and his wife did the really late ones on Sundays..) 

Apparently Gosnell used to follow the 24-hr waiting period law, but when patients stopped returning after their initial $125 visit, he disregarded the law and did them the same day, so they wouldn't change their minds (and he could get paid, typically cash).

  Patients poured in from out of state to obtain illegal late term abortions..Some of them left to sleep in the dirty office, with no monitoring--all staff went home. They were given meds to cause painful labor, then knocked out to shut them up, with heavy strong painkillers. Many of them gave birth on the floor, on a lounge, even in the toilet:
   

A lot of times this happened when [Gosnell] wasn’t there. If . . . a baby was about to come out, I would take the woman to the bathroom, they would sit on the toilet and basically the baby would fall out and it would be in the toilet and I would be rubbing her back and trying to calm her down for two, three, four hours until Dr. Gosnell comes. She would not move.

  A supposed janitor of the building mentioned having to clean out the pipes:

 He testified that sometimes patients “miscarried or whatever it was” into the toilet and clogged it. He described how he had to lift the toilet 31so that someone else – he said it was too disgusting for him – could get the fetuses out of the pipes.

When babies didn't come out on their own, Gosnell had his staff push on the women's abdomen to force them out....debilitating pain for the woman and baby. Most of his staff had no relevant training, but he told them of a "grandfather clause" whereby he would train them, which counts as certification...even employing an employee's 15 yr old daughter--who worked 50 hr work weeks in this shop of horrors. Another employee had Hep C--no precautions to prevent spreading it.

  A woman who worked for Gosnell very briefly was simply instructed on how to administer anesthesia in a 15 minute lesson by Gosnell and expected to deal with a full clinic at night alone...she made an excuse and drove away never to return. She subsequently filed reports:

 “she has never experienced an illegally run, unsanitary, and unethical facility such as the Women’s Medical Society operated by Dr. Gosnell.”



Other's testified that they continually for days drugged up women for their procedures, putting them out with meds if they complained or moaned...they said Gosnell even would slap the patients on their thighs to shut them up--and then drugged them. (Some complained of marks on thighs afterward).

  Even when patients had changes of hearts, he wouldn't stop the procedure or remove the laminaria (to dilate cervix) because he didn't want to get caught doing late-term abortions, and he didn't want to refund them. Thankfully one 28 yr old woman pregnant with her first baby, went to a hospital and had the laminaria removed. Her daughter was born premature, and it was verified that she was much further along then Gosnell stated. She is a healthy kindergartener today.

  Obviously he had no qualms with breaking the law--he also commited fraud by collecting funds even from out of state pro-choice funds, insurance companies, and charging for appts with his unlicensed staff, as if they were doctors. Even the evil National Abortion Federation didn't approve the clinic to be associated with them upon inspection---but did NOT report their disgusting findings to the health depts.

  Gosnell had been permitted to kill and maim for money even since the 70's---he and a friend invented a "super coil" abortion method that they put into practice in an experiment they called "Mother's Day Massacre"--they bused in 15 women from Chicago to perform abortions on mother's day...the women were not told the abortions were experimental---that they would have a ball stuck in them, coated with thick gel...and that once the gel melted, spikes would be revealed and dice up their babies----obviously causing numerous complications, sickness and death. EVEN after all that, his business thrived for another 40 yrs...making him rich. And all of this is now in the public eye because of a drug raid...


Please pray to end abortion and all child abuse...pray to guide women away from the hands of the evil abortion industry. 

Now THIS is Change

About a week ago I wrote about the abortion doctors in New Jersey/Maryland killing babies with their carpool business across state lines (for late term murders)...about the horrible and not-isolated case of the 18 yr old whose bowels were pulled through her perforated uterus during one of these murders. Well thanks to organizations like "Operation Rescue" (which is where I saw the initial story...you'd never hear about it otherwise) the 'doctors' have been arrested and are being charged with murder as they should. And now after the arrests, the mainstream news is finally reporting on it.
     
 More details are coming out about the dirty abortion mill, including a freezer with 35 dead babies inside...some thought to have been nearly 36 weeks along....disgusting. The 'doctor' and his aborting accomplice were uncooperative at the hospital they reluctantly took their patient to, and wouldn't even give their name to the hospital.

    Maryland fortunately is one of 38 states that since 2005, has laws allowing murder charges against people who kill 'viable' babies...even that term is always changing, but for now the law is at 23 weeks (was considered 28 weeks by my obgyn in NY when I miscarried...medical/technological advances are keeping very premature babies alive earlier and earlier)... So far this law had only been applied to people who murdered or injured pregnant women and their fetuses. I am glad it's finally being applied to the blood-money-hungry evil doctors. It's disgusting to think about abortion at all, but to think of women carrying a baby for months and months, feeling the kicks, most-likely seeing the ultrasounds (if the abortionist allowed them to) and still going through with an illegal and dangerous procedure over state lines, to kill a baby that they could so freaking EASILY give up for adoption...it's inexcusable.

   That these 2 creeps (she was even allowed a medical license after lying about credit card fraud for which she did time in the Army--and he lost his medical license in 2 states...citing 'violations that endangered the public') have finally been charged and kept from more killing, gives me hope that times are changing. How can we be the most free and civilized nation, while abortion is legal, subsidized and people are so oblivious to the abortion business, blinded with 'women's rights' rhetoric? Looks like 'back-alley' abortions aren't so much different than abortion clinics, where the law is not respected, let alone life and dignity.

   It gives me hope that the more these cases are exposed, the more people's eyes will be opened that there is no magic 23 week happening in which a mysteriously bulging belly, becomes a baby. The term viable will have served only as a catalyst to bring us to the realization that the sperm meets egg, implants itself, cells divide....life has begun.

 The corruption in the abortion industry is so rampant..unless you're an avid pro-lifer (or are friends with one lol) you'd never know what goes on. Some articles worth reading:

Univ. of New Mexico using tax $$ for their free-standing abortion clinic....here's one of many 911 calls UNM has made:

And here's an abortionist in north Texas that admits he was a "back alley abortionist" before Roe v. Wade, and admits he knows he is killing. He has a "women's surgery center" to circumvent the law that stipulates that you can't perform abortions before 16 weeks...unless you have a 'surgery' center..?? 

This guy is a 'nice' abortionist though right? He's an ordained Baptist minister, and when he kills your baby, he says a little prayer. How sweet.

And this case has been going on for a while...this sicko was also killing late term babies, and even collected their parts. It was recently revealed that his wife (a cosmetologist) assisted him in his filthy Philadelphia abortion mill:

Kermit Gosnell

"Pearl Gosnell, a cosmetologist by training, assisted her husband with the latest of abortions at his ill-kept Women’s Medical Society mill on Sundays, when the other staff were not present, according to a grand jury report. The viable babies were delivered alive then murdered by “snipping” their spinal cords with scissors. Authorities discovered the severed feet of larger babies kept in jars lining shelves in the clinic during a raid that uncovered the macabre illegal abortion scheme, which led to the arrests of Gosnell and eight of his employees, including Pearl."

Planned Parenthood botched Abortion sends woman to hospital in Sioux City, Iowa.

Pre-Christmas abortion sends Stockton, CA woman to hospital--from 'Pregnancy Control Medical Clinic'...really? pregnancy control? like pest control. nice.

And a New Mexico abortionist quits business...for his sanity. "Let someone else carry the burden.."

unfortunately, he isn't referring to the burden of killing day in and day out as he is still seeking part time work as an abortionist..he just wasn't getting any business thank God. So the stresses of running a business dependent on blood money was too much for his sanity, but not cuttin up babies and vacuuming them out. 

The list is never-ending. Abortion must be made illegal, doctors must be charged, women need to be held accountable, and tax dollars need to be taken from any facility offering abortion. 

Vote for Ron Paul!

 

We have Officially Closed!

Sorry no new pics..had hectic day, but we have closed on our home! Awesome feeling. And it was half the price of our first home---what could be better?! Next weekend we buy our paints and ladders and accessories :)
   Excited to turn this house into what John and I have envisioned for the past month. Will do video walk throughs of before, during and after the process for your viewing pleasure :)

  We have worked with the most hard-working buyer's agent/realtor who really took care of so many things behind the scenes, and always worked with our best interest in mind. He also helped us find this amazing apartment almost a year ago (crazy it went by fast!) and we highly recommend him to anyone in the Houston area looking for housing. Very good guy, and always available to answer questions and represent us throughout the hoops homebuyer's must jump through. He was full of great recommendations/referrals from lenders to flooring experts to arborists! We will be working with him in the very near future--especially since he found us such a great deal; John is already looking at the next house in the coming year or so.

  If you or someone you know is looking to buy or rent in the Houston areas:
 www.davidthelocator.com

Christmas Party

Review-- Josh was John's buddy in the Navy, and they currently work for the same company here in TX. He and Monica have had us over a few times, and graciously had us over for Christmas parties with their beautiful huge family.

   They started their get-together at 2pm yesterday, but since the babies would nap after church around that time, and John worked til 6pm, I told her we would get together another time...Monica quickly texted back "oh it will be an all day and night thing--you should come once John gets off!"---And I said "I was hoping you'd say that :)" haha.

Monica Me & Reindeer Olivia :)

 I can't say enough good stuff about how welcoming they all are! It makes it so much less stressful to see Lucas and Olivia playing and interacting with everyone, and they truly treated us like family as well :) Everyone was so accomodating and loving! And Monica is just one of those people who are natural nurterers---she made us plates of delicious mexican food (complete with amazing tamales!!!!! made by a family friend) and catered to the babies all night too. It's so appropriate that she's a nurse :) I wish I was a natural nurterer; I'm some other "-er" I'm sure lol.

    Then we talked to Josh about our new endorsement of Ron Paul :) He was happy. I am scared to jinx it by saying we back him, because everyone else has disappointed us. I have been reading and watching more about him and feel almost every stance he takes is well thought through and makes sense. He is trying to get the country back in line with what the Constitution intended. Time to get some t-shirts made :)

   I am getting better at keeping track of uncles, cousins, aunts, parents, grandparents, and in-laws though lol. Everyone of us had an awesome time. We watched a little slideshow of old family photos--so cute. John watched football with his man-pals lol. I got to have a little jam sesson with 3 guitar players in the dining room--it was so so so fun!! And the babies ran throughout the house getting toys and snacks all night.

    Then Monica and Josh gave them presents! So sweet and thoughtful---then they gave us chocolate and a card offering to babysit for JOhn and I to have a date night---we are taking them up on it! We totally trust them with L & O :)

 It was comforting to be a little part of a huge family on Christmas. I hope this is the start of a long friendship, as these are great people to know and share memories with :)

 Here are some clips of them jamming---so pretty sounding--I love her classical guitar!

My computer is messed up right now so I could onlyupload this video, but those three sounded awesome. I got to play a little with them, and hope to do more! I was even thinking so far ahead as planning to put together a little band to audition for x factor next year lol.

They were all excellent players and singers---and that kid with the long hair has a beautiful rich voice---he could make it on any of those shows!

Anyway, we all had a great time and hope to crash more family get-togethers lol!

  Thank you so much for bringing Lucas and Olivia some true Christmas joy--not just toys!

Merry Christmas 2011!

We celebrated Christmas today, and it has been so fun! Here is a long video of this morning when they woke up and saw everything! The video is pretty shakey since we were moving around a lot, but it's still cute. Lucas and Olivia really enjoyed their gifts, and the idea of Santa bringing them, and eating the graham crackers we left out :) Enjoy! And here are some pictures:

 these are so hard to walk in and they slip on the hard floors, but she loves them ;) Like i knew she would!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The Last Shipment :)

Yesterday we got the final bunch of toys we got with gma+gpa+granny's gift money--here are a few snippets of the kids enjoying them:

Our stupid dog Tyrone (who typically doesn't chew up stuff like Shmoopy does..) devoured Olivia's new pony today under the desk when we were playing with Lucas' Tinkertoys---those were a great idea! There were some cool ideas for things to build with the junior set we got and Lucas keeps asking us to build different ones :)  Here is the 'monorail' which we call the roller coaster:

And after I went to the gym, daddy built this guitar and mic stand from the brochure--awesome huh!?:

Thanks grandma and grandpa and granny!

This would've been enough for Christmas itself huh!?

Well, we'll see what Santa brings these spoiled little wahini's tonight :)

We are celebrating Christmas on John's day off tomorrow, so Santa comes tonight! yay!

Lucas & Olivia's Gifts

We got gift money from John's family for the kids' Christmas, but since Lucas and Olivia are just now sort of able to grasp the idea of Santa Clause, we decided to get them gifts on Amazon and let them have them now so they can distinguish between gifts from gma & gpa & granny, from the presents they get Christmas morning from Santa.
    Unfortunately, they came in 3 different shipments, so for the past 3 days we've been getting boxes delivered---leading L & O to think they will be getting toys everyday! lol. We are set to get the last shipment sometime today. I'll update then. The first day we got this Leapfrog Tag Junior toy, which reads books and does activities with your toddler. It's awesome because you plug it in to download each book's sounds (we have 2 books so far) and you can also download their name! So this little guy says "Olivia" or "Lucas". Lucas plays with it some, but surprisingly Olivia really took to it and is starting to follow the instructions and knows her shapes :)
      

Lucas is like a grown kid now--he doesn't want clothes or books--he wants toys! Although yesterday Olivia played with his leapfrog junior and he played with my scarf...

  

   Then yesterday morning we got a big box---we ordered this play kitchen and it's awesome. It was a great price too. It was hard for me to put together at first because as people in the reviews had said, some of the pieces didn't connect just right so they weren't flush. I slightly modified a couple pieces so it fits right. It makes water, stove and grill noises and has a phone. It was fun to watch them play with it all day without the tv. It even has a little seat to feed your baby in---which will be great for the dolls Olivia might* get from Santa :)
Look at Lucas' snarky comment---"it's no book! it's toys!"

 Handy mommy finally finished!

 Time to feed rainbow bright :)

 This is Olivia saying a bratty, "mine!" when I asked for a drink...

Here's a little compilation of videos taken yesterday:

 He was cooking crabby patties like Spongebob.

Thanks grandma kaka and granny--they are very happy already and it's not even Christmas yet :)

    We figured we could get a big thing like that since we will be moving soon and they can have a big play area finally. We also donated a bunch of toys and clothes to goodwill. I already started packing shelves up and taking down pictures. We are moving ourselves this time so I am trying to pack things now so that once the flooring and paint is done, we can rent a truck/van and gradually move our things at our own pace. We are set to close this coming Tuesday!

    And then Susan is coming out to visit and teach the babies some new dance moves while I paint in January. It will be so fun to record their interactions with aunt Susan because its been almost a year and they are talking pretty well. And have lots of attitude too! Pretty awesome for her to help watch them too-excited to start painting, but I know this will be a bigger challenge than the Williamsburg house so I am just gonna take it one room at a time.

   Anyway, the kids are getting spoiled, but I love to see them using their imaginations. Plus Lucas has been excellent with potty training. He knows when he needs to poop, so he tells me to take him to the bathroom, instead of his little potty--and once I set him down he smiles and says "go away mommy. go away mommy!" so he can have his privacy. And I guess my always talking about gross stuff or laughing at farts etc rubbed off on him, because he is so proud when he takes a big poop, or multiple ones--he brags to us all. :)

   Another bad habit we unintentionally started...it happens to all little boys, but he thinks it's so funny (and we can't help but encourage when we bust out laughing) when he informs us that he has a "boner!" I heard Olivia saying it in the bath the other night and then I heard Lucas telling her "no, Lala has no boner". She got mad. Yeah not a great habit. We have time before Kindergarten for them to stop saying it right?

I Wish Ron Paul Could Win...

But I just can't see him getting enough support...he says some pretty extreme things at times, and I'm not even so sure I agree with him 100%, but for the most part, from what we have to choose from, I suppose you could call me a Ron Paul-er for now. I don't think there's anyone that wouldn't LOVE to see Gingrich whip Obama in a debate, but it seems Gingrich has too many skeletons in his closet..however keen he is. Perry's a joke. (And for the record, I thought his ad was RIDICULOUS when he mentioned "gays serving openly in the military"...like really? out of all the issues we are facing, that's the one you choose to highlight in your 'Deep Thought's'-ish cheesy ad?!) Cain's long gone.(how unfortunate that he turned out to be a perv...it's not totally proven, but from the interviews I've seen, I tend to think at least some of it is true..did he really think that wouldn't get out in a presidential bid!?) Romney? Maybe...Santorum---I love him but he doesn't have a chance. Don't care for Bachmann's style--she seems all about rhetoric with no concrete message.

   I think Ron Paul is an honest man with strong convictions. We'll have to learn more about his stances on everything else to officially endorse him lol. Romney is the safest bet so far. And he's kinda hot. And seems clean and articulate.

  Anyway here's Ron Paul's latest ad--his strong pro-life stance is often overshadowed by his 'extreme' views regarding foreign and economic policy. But his being pro-life isn't a recent convenient position to bolster support (as seems to be the case with Romney)---in fact, Paul, a former OBGYN has delivered >4,000 babies :) I respect him. In this ad they interview women who were former patients. Paul has delivered their children.

Dana Vachon's 'Absurd Becoming Grotesque" 2011

This guy is on Red Eye occasionally. He's very witty and has an odd intellectual sense of humor that is not always easily deciphered, sorta like Dennis Miller's long drawn out metaphors with references to things, places and people that the average person isn't familiar with...but it's still well written and I like the parts I understand lol.
   He wrote this article listing the big events that defined the year 2011, most of which tell of a hopeless lost generation. FUN!
http://www.observer.com/2011/12/207408/

My favorite lines:
  "This past year took the world deep, and the world made noise, but unlike Ms. Weiss, it had, in its soreness, no luxury of bed rest."

"Kurt Andersen rightly described the moment as creatively stagnant, perhaps exhausted, a late imperial Gaga-ing of high empire forms."

"Occupy Wall Street evoked 1960s protest culture while failing to learn its lessons—that the police always win because they have the guns, and that the Flower Children became the Manson Family."

Awesome

As Bad Rachel notes, "5,000 Syrians have been massacred by Bashar Assad since March, including 300 children. How are those sanctions workin’ out, Mr. Obama?"

Precious Life

I always thought Christian Bale was pretty awesome, but now I like him a little more.

This was taken from a site in support of Chen : www.freecgc.blogspot.com

 He has been in China promoting the nation's submission for Best Foreign Language in the Academy Awards for a movie he was in called "The Flowers of War." While there he learned about a blind lawyer and civil rights activist named Chen Guangcheng, who has been imprisoned, tortured, beaten, for years all because of his work in attempting to uncover the forced abortions and sterilizations of villagers in Linyi, Shandong. The Chinese nation's laws regarding their "family planning" methods are pretty vague; they supposedly support "informed choice", which would make forced abortion/sterilization illegal. But somehow many local police are permitted to enforce brutal population regulation methods, while torturing, demeaning and killing it's citizens. And ever since Chen has been revealing his friend's, neighbors experiences, government agents in unmarked cars kidnap, beat and threaten him his wife, neighbors, and family of neighbors. He has been framed with "destruction of property and gathering crowds to disrupt traffic" just to have a reason to imprison him. He has been kept from having any contact even with his wife. He was able to escape once but was found. He was able to smuggle a video of himself out but the day after, he and his wife were severely beaten. He was threatened after doing an interview with an American paper. He has since been named one of the biggest influential people in TIME magazine. Chen is a very selfless devoted person, who constantly says that the cause is bigger than any case he took on, or even himself. He has been separated from his wife and daughter...


Even when Christian Bale drove hours with a CNN reporter to try and see Chen and show support, he was "roughed up" by guards and had stones thrown at him. It's so scary to read what happens around the world...or even in this country (trying not to think about that horrible Brooklyn elevator murder story..) but at least I feel there is some sense of justice here. I feel somewhat protected by the law and government. It's obvious that no one in power in China cares, or are even complicit in Chen's continued imprisonment and torture, not to mention the forced abortions and sterilizations...women are beaten or have a large needle stuck up in them...they are usually later in their terms.

   It's hard to imagine feminazi being proud of China's forced abortion, or India's gender imbalance due to elective abortions--when the parents learn through ultrasounds the sex of their babies (they don't want girls, partially because they will have to pay dowrys.) Abortion is a gruesome and cruel act. Although it may seem more "civilized" in our society, it is not. And it's still more common than you'd like to think. Look at the open cases going on here in Texas, where at least 5 clinics were leaving dumpsters full of aborted baby parts, urine samples, abortion pill scripts, patient personal information. They were allowed to just be so careless, and were obviously only concerned with keeping the money flow in their abortion mills. They don't care about laws (24 hr wait, parental notice, late terms) they don't care about parents, they don't care about WOMEN and they don't care about babies, born or not.

   It's ridiculous that regardless of law and oaths and the quality of the medical schooling, "doctors" are allowed to maim women and get paid. Reading about this girl Christin Gilbert, who had down syndrome, was raped, impregnated and forced to abort late term in Kansas, and died because they were sloppy and careless, is so frustrating and sad. She was left to die from the abortion and pills they gave her following the abortion, and since the crooks at the clinic didn't want to call attention to their abortion office, when they eventually did call an ambulance, they told them not to use their sirens or act with any urgency. Consequently, Christin bled from every orifice and died of sepsis. And Dr. Tiller and Dr. Carhart were at fault...but since Dr. Tiller was murdered, no further investigations were done, no one was held accountable. And who had the authority in Kansas to investigate?? Kathleen Sebelius....Obama's choice for the appropriate role of "Secretary of Health and Human Services". Another case in Maryland/New Jersey ( the mill was evading late term abortion laws, and carpooling young very pregnant New Jersey girls to finish abortions in Maryland), a girl had her uterus perforated, her baby's dead body shoved into her stomach, and had her intestines being pulled out of her vagina. She barely survived after being transported to 2 hospitals. It's never a "safe procedure" and it ALWAYS scars the mother mentally and physically.

   Today at the dr's office while waiting the 2 hours I always end up waiting, I met a woman who Lucas and Olivia started talking to. She was really sweet and confided in me that she was to be a grandmother soon and was not ready to be...she said her son is only 19 and he's not even with the girl anymore...and then she said the girl's mom wants her to have an abortion. The girl's mom is now calling asking for her money to pay her daughter's medical bills, because although she is covered on her private insurance policy, she refuses to keep her on it unless she aborts. Isn't that a lovely mother? She also hits her pregnant daughter (she is bi-polar). I felt so bad and tried to encourage this nice lady to do all she can to keep that baby alive. Looking back on it now, I wish I had done more. I wish I could personally help the girl. I wish we could adopt that baby....I know someday we will adopt...I tried to give her information (websites) to help inform the girl and her mother of the irreparable damage abortion does. I really hope she gets help in preventing that mom from forcing her daughter to abort...All I can do now is pray...damn I wish I would've thought more about it then and got her name...

 Pray to end abortion and all child abuse.

Curteman Christmas Cookie Party

~*Monica & Josh's Kid's Christmas Cookie Party 2011*~

 We went to  our friends Josh and Monica's house last night for a Kid's Christmas Cookie party. That girl has SO many cousins! I was so glad we went because the kids had a blast! They immediately became part of everyone elses family...climbing into their laps and playing with the dogs and running around with the older kids. Here they are decorating delicious sugar cookies..there were so many, we took some home without frosting...and they screwed up last night's fitnesspal tracking for me lol.

 I was trying not to care so much whether they made a mess with the frosting/decor...

 Olivia and her rainbow mouth :)

 contemplating when to take the frosting away lol...--> one of
Monica's lovely cousins helped Olivia :)

 Daddy and Olivia with their mustaches :) 

 I have to hold Olivia like this to clean her before she wipes her face and hands all over walls and furniture..or someone's clothes...or the dog!

Can you tell by his face who came in the door next!?


 Monica's dad was so cool--he came in and played Santa for about 45 minutes!..during which time Olivia and Lucas continually snuck into everyone else's picture or lap time...It was so much better than the mall because they had time to think about what to tell him! Lucas said "cars" and "balls" and lastly said, "bring presents!" Olivia just kept saying "presents!"

 This is "Mr & Mrs. Clause" aka Monica's cute parents :)

 Trying to pose them in front of the tree...they were loaded with sugar from cookies and candy by the time...so hyper!

 Monica and her dad--she did a great job hosting the party. We are joining them again on Christmas night once John get's off work :) Unfortunately even though her husband Josh works for Air Products too, he has a different position and is forced to work pretty much everyday..they don't have enough people to do his job so he has no choice. So after working the night before and then getting up to get things ready for the party, he had to leave during the party to go work. The pay must be awesome, but he's tired and I'm sure wants to stay for Christmas fun :( I realized I'm very lucky that John has the choice to work overtime or not.

 Olivia talking to Santa for the 5th time :) Funny enough, once he came back in his regular clothes and wanted to play with her, she didn't like him and gave him her mean scowl she does lol.

Finally a group picture...even if we're not all looking at the camera, at least we're together :)

Thanks Monice and Josh!