Breast Cancer Awareness: More Helpful Than Bra Color

To raise breast-cancer awareness and encourage women to get early mammograms, yesterday Facebook users posted a number of “cutesie” reminders, including the color of their bra.

So I scratch my head and wonder, again, why we don’t propagate something a little more useful and, um, sensible, something that may actually have a real effect on lessening cases of breast cancer.

And I know I have a blaring flaw when it comes to “lightening up”, but I see everything in connectedness; five seconds after hearing about the “bra-color craze” I had  traced back to the woes of how the Industrial Revolution is tied to the increase of breast cancer…I can’t help it.

But seriously, one of the main preventions of breast cancer is having babies, menstruating less (i.e. pregnant more) and breast feeding.  It’s not rocket science why we’ve seen a dramatic increase in breast cancer over the last 60 or so years.  But nobody’s saying, “if you want to reduce your risk of breast cancer, have more babies, and stay home so you can breast feed them”. (Because let’s face it, that opens the discussion to a whole lot of cause and effect that we don’t want to talk about.)  Well, I just said it.

And I know women who have had several babies, breast fed them all and sadly, still got breast cancer;  I’m not discrediting early detection.  Notice I said it would “reduce” the rate, and I believe scientific evidence proves that.  So, how cool would it be if we started some Facebook group craze about these facts?  Any ideas?  I’m game!

And for many more fabulous benefits of breast feeding, follow the link below:

“We know that breastfeeding drastically reduces the risk of developing breast cancer. For this reason alone, it is worth committing to breastfeed.” Nature’s Brilliant Plan:  Fact About Breastfeeding

Update:  You can now join “Breast Cancer:  Awareness That Makes A Difference”

A Wanted Child

“You were such a wanted child.”

Gathered around by a few, soft lights with some of our closest friends, we wished little Cooper a happy 8th birthday by speaking a short blessing over his upcoming year. It was a sweet time, and I left with his mother’s words echoing in my heart….

“You were such a wanted child.”

Cooper is the third born, and the first child Robin and Scott had after their vasectomy reversal.

A wanted child.

The words keep ringing. Have I spoken this to all my children? Do they know they are wanted? Do I live with them like they are wanted? Do those who spend any time with our family see that my children are wanted?

In an age where birth control makes it so simple, no, mandatory that we “control” the children born to us, is it any wonder why it’s so easy to arrive unwanted? In a controlled environment, any variable that changes unexpectedly is deemed “unwanted”. It’s a mistake, a plan gone awry.

We don’t even know we do this to our own children. How many times I’ve heard a child described as “an accident”. An immortal soul–a living miracle of God–an accident?

We should shudder at our evolved thinking toward life. We should read the Bible again as little children…

“It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.” Psalm 100:3

And now, I look at my children…“you are such wanted children”. Let me say it with my life.

A few snuggles before we go….

One Crazy Lady With Her Large Family

They say that I am crazy for letting you be born,
But one look at your angel face makes crazy all the scorn.

They say we can’t afford you–that you’ll need a lot of stuff,
But your pudgy cheeks remind us that our God is big enough.

They say it’s strange–eight kids so far–and ask what’s wrong with us,
How could we know that proof of married love would cause this fuss?

God’s Word tells me He made us, so when they look at you,
I’ll tell them not to ask me why, because He made you too!

Kelly Crawford

Where Do Babies Come From?

“The lady in the next line exclaimed, clearly shocked, ‘You’re PREGNANT?  Was it planned?’ I didn’t say anything, too busy getting my jaw off the floor. But the little girl thinks and says, ‘God plans everybody’.” -Mary

“And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.” Genesis 4:1

That verse struck me when I read it out loud.  You don’t hear that much from a woman who has just given birth.

The thing is, we are unable, in the familiarity of technology and the ability to control almost everything, to step back, and with child-like eyes, the eyes Eve had, consider the subject of reproduction in its simplicity, and just be willing to see it for what it is.

Could I kindly steer you away from the “buts” and “what ifs”…I don’t think it matters at all about whether it’s wrong or right to use birth control, what methods are acceptable, etc. I think what matters about children and God’s gift of bearing them is that we start at the right place, longing to know and share God’s heart about His creation and embracing the revelation of that as it is written both in His Word and in our bodies.

“I have gotten a man from the Lord”.

Adam and Eve knew one another…the beautiful, holy, unaltered marriage bed where conception is only seen as a “gift from the Lord”, not something to fear or avoid.

Is that how I view my own reproduction?

Do I have child-like eyes of faith?

When once I get that the Lord gives children, my heart is changed.  I am now grateful with an unspeakable awe that He would grant such a gift.  Perhaps the barren woman has a better understanding of the miracle of an open or closed womb.  Does that require a rigid set of rules concerning my fertility?  No.  When my heart says with Eve’s…”the Lord gives life“, it is enough.

The Mother-heart Knows No Bounds

I once thought mother-love had bounds–that a heart could be filled up,
Until my second child was born, and my love was just as much.

But that was it, I was convinced, there’s little room to spare,
And then my daughter came along and found more room in there!

Surely three would be the max, my heart could hold no more–
Astonished when I found myself in love with number four!

And then I knew–God made the mother-heart a boundless place,
Fertile with a living love growing with new grace.

I never would have dreamed that number eight could be so sweet,
You’d think by now there’d be no thrill in touching tiny feet.

But oh the mystery of it all! It’s like the very first time,
Children are the endless joys that make this life sublime.

Woman Leaves Legacy of 1400 Descendants

A woman who understands her real power…

In the midst of diapers and dishes, sometimes it helps to gaze into the future and remember that these little people are men and women you’re raising–a heritage from the Lord.

“The commandment to “be fruitful and multiply” the Krishevsky family follows quite closely.

Rachel Krishevsky got married to her cousin, Yitzhak, just before turning 19. The couple brought seven sons and four daughters into the world. In accordance with haredi custom, Krishevsky brought up her children to see children as a great joy. Her children subsequently adopted her outlook and produced 150 children of their own.

These 150 children continued the commitment to be fruitful and multiply and themselves had no less than 1,000 children. From here, the lineage continued even further, and Rachel Krishevsky was blessed with a few hundred great-great-grandchildren.

Rachel Krishevsky died at age 99 on Saturday surrounded by loving descendants.”

One of her grandchildren said about her:

“Grandma was a God-fearing woman her whole life, and her door was always open to the homeless and poor near the market who were looking for a place to eat,” added the grandchild.

“She knew the entire book of Psalms…”

(From y-net news)