The Baby G Mini Site has been modified to suit each of our child’s pregnancy/birth stories as they happen. We hope you enjoy the years to come as we look forward to our growing family!
It’s a popular belief/hope/dream among pro-life supporters that the United States will eventually overturn Roe v. Wade when there are no longer enough pro-abortion voters to uphold this “law”. In a few generations, pro-abortionists will have killed themselves off by the very ideal they support. They are not having children, and the ones they do have are seeing no benefits to having their own families with all modern society has to offer to appease their individualistic and self-centered desires.
This article written by Eric Scheske for Catholic Exchange offers one dimension of how this theory may actually become reality. Living in Austin, I’ve noticed the behavior described in this article is not uncommon among local pet owners.
I just love this quote referenced in the article:
“Caesar, once seeing some wealthy strangers at Rome, carrying up and down with them in their arms and bosoms young puppy-dogs and monkeys, embracing and making much of them, took occasion not unnaturally to ask whether the women in their country were not used to bear children; by that prince-like reprimand gravely reflecting upon persons who spend and lavish upon brute beasts that affection and kindness which nature has implanted in us to be bestowed on those of our own kind.” (Plutarch, Parallel Lives: Pericles)
I wouldn’t consider this article necessarily applying to only married couples choosing pets over children. If you’re single, please consider this list (Mt 25:35-36) of those who would greatly appreciate half the affection you would possibly offer to a pooch.
It seems in the last few weeks I’ve been revisited with the conversation about whether once a woman has children should she continue with her career or stay home and raise her kids.
Where to start…I am fully aware that women have and continue to make a significant contribution to the workplace. I also know that some families can not realistically afford for one spouse to stay home, and for single parent families it is out of the question.
I remember short of finishing up with graduate school, my mom asked me what I would do when I had children…I wasn’t even DATING anyone at the time. I told her the obvious answer…Keep working! I didn’t go through some 7 years of college to stay home! And that is the mantra that our society sings everyday to women in the workplace. It is seen as a WASTE to have paid good money and spent all that time in college “just” to stay home.
Our materialist world doesn’t help the matter either. It is all too easy to fill our lives with “things” we think we “need.” The mortgage, the second NEW car, all the electronic gadgets and gizmos that make our life easy, cable TV, eating out every weekend (or every other day for some folks), going out to watch movies in the theater to watch all the latest movies, and don’t forget a vacation every summer to some exotic place… How can a family possibly live on one income that doesn’t exceed 6 digits???! Let me tell you, it’s quite possible! Is it easy…not always. It’s not easy for us some days. It takes a lot of discipline, sacrafice, and faith that God will provide.
But how can this be since it is so “expensive” to have children? I went to get some blood drawn the other day and while I was waiting I saw a magazine with the latest figures of what it costs to have a baby these days. They quoted a number around $7,000. I laughed so hard I nearly fell over in my chair! (Imagine that a pregnant woman falling over in her chair…) Including the hospital delivery, we didn’t spend more than probably $3,000 to $3500 the first year. And half of that was for the hospital for both of us. If I had any idea it would cost $7K to have a child, I think I would give it a second thought as well.
Then of course comes disappointing all the people that worked so hard to help you get where you are…your parents, your mentors, your professors, etc. When I decided not to continue with my PhD, I felt the same way. And at one point I found that the only reason I was still in the program was that I didn’t want to disappoint anyone. I too had my list of people. I finally talk to a mentor about it. He reminded me that their main concern was getting a hard working PhD student to do their research. Now I left for different reason than having a family, but what I found it was WHO really cared about SHARON and not what Sharon could do for them. I still have a couple of mentors that would take me into their grad program to finish right now if I wanted to do it. This opened my eyes to what people in the work place find important.
So am I completely opposed to working… Not at all, but it is not my first priority. My husband and my children are. I just got a new job as the Program Director for the Natural Family Planning (NFP) Center here in Austin. It’s a nice little side job that I can do primarly at home. It keeps me involved in ministry work and that which I am passionate about. But before I’m a Program Director, I am a wife, a mom, child development researcher, a master chef, and a financial manager. I guess what it comes down to is that I would NEVER trade a bigger home ( would downsize first), a new car, dining out, the crazy movies, the new gadgets, etc. for the first and every smile, the first tooth, the first word, the first steps and every other joy of my children and husband.
