Abortion and Our Selective Humanity

A bill that would have made abortion at 20 weeks of gestation illegal in Texas died last week, due in large part to State Senator Wendy Davis’ 10-hour filibuster. This past Monday, members of both pro-life and pro-choice camps gathered in front of the Texas Capitol to give voice to their side of the issue. My Facebook News Feed was inundated with abortion-related comments for a day or two. So on and off for the past few days, I have been reflecting on this latest source of turmoil.

I have come to realize that legislation will not change anything on this matter. If abortion is made illegal completely, a black market for abortion will surface; we will see more and more cases of women giving birth and dumping their children in toilets, dumpsters, etc. Just like the use of many drugs is “illegal” yet the drug business is a multibillion dollar industry, illegal abortion places will cash in by slipping under the radar. With this I’m not saying that abortion might as well be legal. I guess I’m just sad that we have gotten to a point where, if an unexpected pregnancy happens, we as human beings even consider it an option to kill a child. This issue is very personal to me, as I’m speaking from experience: I was a product of an unplanned pregnancy. To my mom (who was single and 18 years old at the time) and my grandparents, there was never any other option except, “this baby is coming”. Needless to say, I am so glad they saw me not as a collection of cells, but as a human life in the making, worthy of respect. We live in a nation where it’s all about “defending rights”: a crazy random guy pulls out a gun and kills someone else: “gun control, no guns for anyone, people should feel safe, RAH-RAH!”. A doctor makes a mistake in the operating room: “this doctor should have his license revoked forever, patients should be protected!”. A woman has sex, becomes pregnant, a baby is growing inside her… and she makes the decision to abort. This baby will likely be decapitated, his or her brain pulverized, arms and legs ripped apart from the body, the entire body sucked away with a vacuum. WHO protects this child? Why, because we cannot see this person, are we so indifferent and downright merciless toward them? WHY DO WE EXERCISE SUCH SELECTIVE HUMANITY?

I believe the root problem here is twofold: ignorance and convenience. Do abortion supporters know how exactly an abortion is conducted? Do they know that in the womb, these children have plenty of nerves that allow them to feel the excruciating pain of being dismembered? Do they know that their brains are often squished with forceps, and later sucked away along with any other “leftovers”? I don’t think many people know. And if they do… boy, are we in bad shape. I also believe that convenience is to blame here because I have spoken with pro-choice supporters who have said, “well, conception is just a clean, convenient line that can be drawn so that a woman can decide what to do”. Really? Convenience is your argument? HOW SELFISH CAN WE BE?

I have seen people on Texas A&M grounds showing passersby very gruesome photos of aborted children. I don’t agree with the shock factor used here because, just like legislation, this tactic fails to engage in active, one-on-one dialogue with people. We will not change minds by randomly showing bloody photos to anyone who will look our way. My bet is that this is automatically counterproductive to the cause. And like I said, legislation alone will not change people’s minds. BUT, if we choose to talk to our friends, our relatives, our coworkers, and anyone who currently supports this type of infanticide (because trust me, many of the people closest to us are in favor of making this life-or-death choice) … at least a new gateway for dialogue has been opened. And maybe not today, or tomorrow, will the change happen. We truly cannot touch anyone else’s lives without His hand guiding it all. We have to hope that some minds will change. Maybe someone will go, “okay… how DO abortions take place?” and Google the word (not kidding… typing “abortion” on Google results in jawdropping, extremely graphic images. If you’re brave enough, I invite you to do it, with the forewarning that it may turn your stomach inside out).

And many pro-choice supporters argue that okay, late-term abortion is abominable, but if a woman finds out soon enough that she’s pregnant and decides to abort, then it’s okay because this is not a baby yet.  To these people I say, “aren’t YOU lucky that your mother chose life for you? If you could for one day pull a Marty McFly and travel back to the time when your mother was pregnant, and you saw her debating whether or not to abort you: wouldn’t you want to scream and plead with her not to do it, because you want to live?” My mom and grandparents never saw this as an option: I was going to come no matter what. Had they been guided by a completely different moral compass, I would not have gotten to breathe; run; laugh; cry; had my first kiss; gone to college; met the love of my life; met amazing, lifelong friends; lived the intense highs and lows that life has brought me.  Can you, family members, friends, acquaintances, etc., say that you would’ve been perfectly okay if I had not been given the chance to live? Am I not worth it?

It’s not about not having any options, and it’s not about “you made a mistake, live with the consequences, raise this baby”. If you don’t want to take care of the baby, fine. THERE ARE OTHER OPTIONS. I've seen some liberal people say (almost verbatim), “Imagine, conservatives want us to live with the consequences of a brief mistake that happened on one night!”. Yes, it’s about responsibility, not about “let’s have sex tonight, will get rid of any traces of this mistake later.” But “living with consequences” doesn’t necessarily mean to raise the child. A woman who unexpectedly falls pregnant and decides to give the baby up for adoption has just as many GUTS and courage as a woman who decides to raise the baby. It’s not running away from responsibility, it’s not cowardice. Sam and I have met women who had their children placed for adoption; their decision was based on “I knew I could not afford to have a fifth child, but I wanted my baby to live”. Simple as that. Nowadays with so many infertile couples, birthmothers can ask potential adoptive parents to pay for medical expenses during the pregnancy.  

To those who say, “well, you’re neglecting to talk about women who have been raped”. First of all, I looked it up: in the US, 1% of abortions happen because a woman was raped and does not want to keep the child. ONE percent. On the other hand:

-          “Unready for responsibility”: 21%

-          “Is too immature or too young to have child”: 11%

-          “Has problems with relationship or wants to avoid single parenthood”: 12%

-          “Husband or partner wants her to have abortion”: 1%

-          “Has all the children she wanted or all the children are grown”: 8%

-          “Can’t afford baby right now”: 21%

-          “Concerned about how baby would change her life”: 16%

These reasons, which I have been arguing against and could be very well avoided by placing the child for adoption, make up 90% of cases in the country. *sigh*. These babies are alive, growing, and need to be protected. THEY ARE JUST AS VALUABLE AS YOU AND ME. You and I were once them; only we were lucky to have mothers who said “yes” to life for us.

My Husband, My Hero

Throughout our infertility journey, Sam has been every inch the rock I have needed to lean on: his arms have been open when I've needed a comforting embrace, and his chest has dried countless tears as I clung to him. He's more of a listener than a talker; and I have worried that we may be neglecting HIS own pain: I mean, not being able to produce offspring, that's got to be a big deal for a man. So a couple of times, I have asked him how he feels about not being able to have a baby of our own. He has explained that what affects him most is seeing the pain in me, because he knows that sometimes nothing can make the sadness go away. The other thing that affects him deeply is thinking about events like future Harvey family reunions, where our baby will likely not be eligible for "youngest Harvey in the family", because he or she will not be blood related. But Sam is very much a positive thinker, and is a true believer in God's plan. So even when I get him to talk about his own pain, he quickly reaffirms his faith in God to me, and encourages me to do the same. That is my Sam: inspiring, comforting, faithful.

Last night I got to see a different emotion from him. As a group of us were encouraged to voice our petitions to God out loud (and much to my surprise), Sam stood up and said the following prayer:

"God, you know that we have been struggling with infertility for a couple of years now, and are now waiting to adopt a baby. I pray that You provide us with the comfort and patience we need to joyfully wait for this blessing we know You have in store for us. The waiting can get to be hard, and we need You..."

His last few words came out with a trembling voice; my Sam was finally breaking down. As he sat back down, I embraced his arm, and we both wept quietly. For the first time in three years, I saw his pain. It was a moment both beautiful and heart-wrenching, and I will never, ever forget it.

Sam doesn't voice his feelings too often, but I don't ever have to ask him again how he feels about our struggle; I saw it. I felt it.

Once home, Sam went back to his encouraging self. As I struggled with the news that someone we know is pregnant and had a moment of weakness by asking, "Why us?", Sam said that he believes God needed us to go through this, because a baby out there needs us to be his or her parents. A baby needs US..! What a wonderful realization this was, how beautiful it is to discover a little piece of God's plan for us, and for this child..! Indeed, God has beautiful plans for us.

I will never stop saying it: I love my husband. My husband, my hero.

The Waiting Blues

Last Summer, as I struggled to deal with my anger toward God due to our infertility, I remember being further angered by other women who had gone through a fertility-related heartbreak (failed fertility treatments, miscarriage, etc.) who didn't share their own feelings as they struggled to cope with their personal tragedies. All I read was the words that came from the calm after the storm, and at that point I felt so unique in my barrenness that I needed to see other women be angry, frustrated, etc., imploring God to help them, as much as I was. I wanted to see their weak human nature, to help me feel less inadequate and in true company of others. Well, I'm going to share my struggles.

Today was a rough day. A group of us were discussing man's struggle to choose between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man; I began to explain that my personal struggle has been to give up what "I wanted" (to get pregnant) and to begin asking God to use me as His instrument of peace, through whatever experiences I may need to go through. And I broke down. Half of what I said came out in broken words, with a quivering voice. I barely managed to finish my thought, and proceeded to let the tears flow. In public.

I was initially upset with myself; how could I embarrass myself by crying in such a pitiful way in front of our friends? The worst part was that I couldn't stop crying; while Sam went into the grocery store to pick up things that we needed, I stayed in the car having my emotional moment. Letting the tears fall, and praying. It's been a rough month or so actually, since we've been waiting for baby for nearly four months now. The waiting period of adoption does get tough.

I eventually realized something that brought me great comfort: my sadness about being barren no longer comes with anger toward God. Where anger and frustration once lived, quiet prayer and trust, albeit weak, now dwell. My sadness has not left me, and I really doubt that it ever will. I will always struggle to see other women with full, fruitful bellies and their little ones. I will always have to fight the urge to resent. But I trust that He leads our lives, and that He is using us to teach others about His love and infinite mercy.

When you read books about adoption, writers tend to say that a barren couple should be finished mourning their infertility before they consider adoption. I only agree with this statement somewhat, as I truly believe that the sadness never leaves. I think the difference comes when instead of asking, "why me??", you begin thinking, "well... I'm very sad that we can't do this... but I also see hope."  My hope dwells in God, and I am in awe at how much He loves us all.

I dare say that if we would've been able to have children with no problems, Sam and I may not have come to study His word more closely, and may not have started searching to be closer to Him. I may have not begun to learn what true, undefiled, pure trust in Him can look like. We would've kept on living our lives in a whirlwind (I probably would've earned my Master's in Architecture), not bothering to pause and truly meditate on Him. After the darkest part of our storm, I love Him more than I thought I ever would, because He not once abandoned us. I once thought that He was not here, and at that time I was doing all the talking; I was angry, proud, frustrated, envious of others. I was in such a dark place. Once I let go of what I so intently wanted to hold on to, I began to feel free, and peaceful.

Mark this as a blue day for me. I am still sad, I will always be. But God holds us together. I can feel it.

This is one of my "life changing" songs, Laura Story's "Blessings":
http://www.lyricshall.com/lyrics/Laura+Story/Blessings/

Baby's nursery

Every time I look at the future nursery, I can't help but smile: it truly has been a labor of love for this beautiful miracle we've got coming. Enjoy the photos!

Found these decals on Amazon; they fit so well with the tree! 

Paintings I made 

Future cuddling / reading nook :)

Sketch v. Actual Room :)

Welcome to the New Look!

I have to admit: Blogger does NOT have the best template editor in the world. But I was finally able to put together something more like us, and I'm so happy with it! Welcome :)

P.S.: I didn't do this on purpose, but I just realized this is my 100th post. So woohoo for new blog look, let's pretend I totally did it to celebrate my 100th!

Sharing our Knowledge: Looking for an Adoption Agency

We're about to enter our third "waiting" month; the baby's room is slowly taking shape, and things seem to be... nice, calm, and happy. It's been an amazing year so far, and I pray that we remain focused on the many blessings to come, no matter how long we need to wait.

Our path to adoption was not an easy one; after being diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Failure (POF), it took me about a year to grieve our infertility, break down emotionally, give in to His will, and move on to where we are now. Sam, being the "perfect for me" husband that he is, patiently waited as I moved on from overwhelming sense of loss to quiet hope. Once I was ready to look into adoption, I wanted to find as much information as possible on how to get started: websites, books, friends of friends who have adopted... you name it.

So, even though I know there are a billion information sources out there on the adoption topic, I thought it would be good to construct a guideline on how to start this journey, based on our own experiences and research. Consider this Part 1 in what I'm sure will be a developing series for anyone trying to figure out where to start. Since we are working with a private adoption agency, this is where my focus will be.


Which Type of Agency to go with?

The decision to adopt our baby through a private agency was based on several factors:

- We briefly considered international adoption, but soon learned that a prospective adoptive family needs to travel to the child's country of origin at least twice: once to receive that government's approval to adopt a child, and once to pick up your child and bring him/her back home. While we deeply respect families who feel called to do this, we decided there were plenty of children here in the U.S. who needed a family and a home. Also, we decided that travel abroad and associated expenses was not for us (POF = low energy to begin with!). I have read that international adoptions can run from $20,000 up to $50,000 depending on which country you adopt from and which agency you go with; this is a pretty healthy range and gives families more flexibility as far as expected expenses goes.

- We also read about lawyer-facilitated adoptions, where the adoptive couple looks for a birthmother on their own; the lawyer may or may not specialize in adoption. This route allows families to get creative a far a finding potential birthmothers: I read about a couple who literally wore "We're Expecting... to Adopt a Child Soon!" t-shirts during family outings around town, and they found their birthmother this way. I have to say, we wanted to feel a bit more protected; we felt that a private agency with years of experience handling the process would be a better source of knowledge for us, in all aspects of adoption (rather than just the legal part). We also wanted to find an agency that provided counseling services to potential birthmothers, to help them realize the emotions of loss that come with having their child placed for adoption.

-  We met with an agency that specializes in adoption through the state of Texas (adoption and foster-to-adopt), but after learning that a child may be taken away from our home up to 18 months after receiving him or her into our home, Sam told me that he didn't think I would be able to handle this emotionally speaking, especially being our first child. We are considering this route for the future though, since the U.S. foster care system has SO many children starving for love. One major positive: costs are significantly lower (I'm talking as low as $5,000) when adopting a child through the state.

- We also called into some big-name, nationwide adoption agencies that advertise all over the country. The idea of larger exposure (which likely results in being picked much sooner) was very appealing, but given the fact that some states give birthmothers a much longer period of time to change their mind about the process (California allows SIX weeks after the baby is born!), we decided against this approach. Our adoption agency, Adoption Affiliates, is based in Oklahoma and Texas; in Oklahoma, the birthmother must go to court in person to voice her desire to relinquish parental rights; Texas has a "48 hours after birth" stipulation for signing relinquishment papers.

What to Ask Adoption Agencies...
I strongly recommend that families searching for an adoption agency has a list of questions to ask all agencies they contact. In my experience, some agencies are very generous when it comes to offering you information over the phone, while some have to hear you almost beg for information before they give you details. The list below is by no means a comprehensive one, but should be a good place to start:

- Ask for a detailed fee breakdown: We found that agencies that provide you with a detailed description of where your money will go tend to be more transparent and open when it comes to money. Many agencies have hidden fees they will not mention unless you ask many questions; we stayed away from these. In the fee breakdown, the following questions should be answered:
       - Does the agency charge different fees if you adopt a child of a specific race? One agency we spoke with charges 1.5 times more money for a Caucasian child than for a child with full African-American heritage.
       - Most agencies have some type of introductory meeting, where they will meet in a classroom-type setting. What do they charge for this? We saw fees ranging from $100 to $600.
       - What are the expected legal fees? Do they have a lawyer on staff, or can they recommend someone to work with?
       - Who will pay for hospital fees? What happens if the baby is born premature and/or the mother has complications and needs to stay at the hospital longer than expected, who pays for this?
       - Do the fees change if the birthmother is carrying multiple babies? One agency we spoke with charges $7,000 extra per additional baby.
       - Are there any other fees nos listed on the fee breakdown that you need to be aware of?
     
- Does the agency test birthmothers for drug use and STIs, or do they just ask her about it and trust that she is being honest?
- Does the agency provide counseling for birthmothers before AND after the baby is born? Thorough counseling can decrease the risk of a birthmother changing her mind once the baby is born.
- Does the agency make every effort to find the birthfather to have him sign the relinquishment papers? Many agencies will not bother to do so.
- If the baby needs to go to foster care right after he or she is born, do they have someone on staff who can be the foster parent? If not, do they have someone they work with?
- Does the agency act as an intermediary between birthfamily and adoptive family when it comes to communication between the two?
- What is the expected waiting period, do they have a waiting list?
- There are tax incentives for adopting a child; will the agency be able to help you come tax season?
- Does the agency require the adoptive family to be members of the same church? Sam was raised Baptist and I am Catholic; our application was rejected because we did not grow up in the same church, even though we worship together and have discussed how we will raise our children extensively.

I know this list seems overwhelming; pace yourself! It's not so bad :) Say a little prayer before you start, and have a notebook where you can take notes about each agency you call.

Next post: We found our agency! Now what? (AKA: The Home Study).

(Image credit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jan/07/child-benefit-who-entitled-what)

Open Letter to Our First Miracle

Hello Sweetheart,

I can't believe I'm writing you for the first time, ever. Your Daddy and I are so, so excited and hopeful; we can't wait to meet you..! You may not exist in this Earth yet, but you have been in God's plans all along. He knows that your Daddy and I have been so eager to grow our little family, and He has provided a way for it to happen. Praise Him for His love, and faithfulness!

Last night I dreamed of you for the first time. It was... SUCH a happy dream! I held you in my arms, and you felt so good, so heavenly, so perfect. I'm trying to keep patient while we wait for you; as we wait, we have been preparing for your arrival: we have your crib, your car seat, even some precious little clothes for you. I have imagined a wonderful nursery that I hope you'll love, and little by little it's coming together. Sometimes I get stressed because I want everything to be just perfect for when you arrive, but I am realizing that this "waiting period" is precious; so rather than worrying about things, I am thinking more and more of you, and how delicious it will be when you complete us.

I want to be the best mom I can be for you; I know your Daddy feels the same way. We love you so much, and will joyfully and patiently wait as long as we need to wait until God decides we are ready for His most wonderful gift for us: you.

Forever in love with you,

Mommy