I thought this a very interesting article. And as I'm still not sure how to vote in this next election (is anyone running from the Constitution Party?), I thought this encouraging.
Living the Pro-Life Message: John McCain's Adoption Makes His Views Real
by Laura Echevarria
July 7, 2008
LifeNews.com Note: Laura Echevarria is a LifeNews.com opinion columnist. She is the former Director of Media Relations and a spokesperson for the National Right to Life Committee and has been a radio announcer, freelance writer active in local politics
I learned something new about John McCain this week.
I knew that he and his wife had an adopted daughter and that Cindy McCain had brought her home as an infant after visiting Mother Teresa in India.
What I did not know was that when they brought their little girl back to care for her and save her life, they brought back another little girl as well. She was adopted by one of McCain's aides. The story in the Jerusalem Post reads:
Also little-known is the story of McCain's youngest child. As a result of a 1991 Cindy McCain visit to Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh, the McCains adopted an infant daughter dying from a host of health issues.
The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save the little girl's life, so the McCains, already the parents of six children, brought the child home to America, and paid for desperately needed surgeries and years of rehabilitation.
That child is their teenage daughter Bridget. In fact, there was a second infant girl brought back from the orphanage that the McCains saved. She ended up being adopted by one of McCain's aides, Wes Gullett, and his wife. "We were called at midnight by Cindy," Gullett has stated, and "five days later we met our new daughter Nicki at the LA airport."
This fall, Nicki will be a high school junior. Even after years of expensive medical treatment for the child, Gullett says, "I never saw a hospital bill" for her care. It is an extraordinary man who commits himself to such generous and heroic acts; it is an extraordinary politician who won't utter a word about such acts for political aggrandizement.
We in the pro-life movement want to see our politicians really mean it when they say they are pro-life. How many candidates would adopt a severely ill child, bring home another very ill child, pay for the care of both and not blow their own horn about it? I can think of very few.
The pro-life movement has butted heads with John McCain in a number of areas such as embryonic stem cell research and campaign finance reform but John McCain has a very long record that consistently attests to his pro-life credentials. I believe that he will appoint justices in the mold of Roberts, Thomas, Scalia and Alito. I believe that he will continue to promote pro-life policies firmly established under Presidents Reagan and Bush (41) and continued under our current president. I believe that John McCain will do what we in the pro-life movement hope to do: advance the pro-life cause.
I also firmly believe that John McCain will pick a running mate who will work with him on these issues and fit comfortably with the pro-life movement.
Some pro-lifers will choose to sit out this race and not vote, but if they do, their non-vote will allow Barack Obama a greater chance of taking office.
Obama clearly is even more pro-abortion than Bill Clinton which, I'm sure, most of us didn't think was possible. When he was in the state legislature, Barack Obama voted against the Illinois version of the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act and spoke out against it. Contrast this with John and Cindy McCain who were willing to bring home two severely ill infants, adopt one and pay for the care of both.
John McCain won't blow his own horn, but I will. What more can the pro-life movement need for proof than to find a candidate who puts his words into action and doesn't use those actions for political gain?
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Gideon Markos Terwilleger
Okay, so I'm still in Pittsburgh, but can't wait any longer. Last Friday we received the referral. The very day I wrote about being in the wilderness. The call came at 4pm. After reading the referral, which included 2 pictures, and 3 short pages of information, we sent the information to the adoption clinic at the U of Minnesota. They, in turn, sent back to us a clear bill of health (based on the medical information). We approved the referral on Tuesday of this week.
So, we welcome Gideon Markos Terwilleger. He is 7 weeks old tomorrow. The information we received is that he is healthy, 10.5 pounds, 15 inch head, and 21.5 inches long. He has now been moved from the orphanage to the transition home in Addis Ababa. He will live there and be taken care of by AWAA staff running the home.
The not-so-good news is that we will not have the adoption finalized in Ethiopia until late October or early November, due to the courts closing down for the time.
But we have a son. And he's a handsome looking fellow, too. I'll see if I can't upload a picture when I return back to Moline.
Praise to the Lord.
Isaac T
So, we welcome Gideon Markos Terwilleger. He is 7 weeks old tomorrow. The information we received is that he is healthy, 10.5 pounds, 15 inch head, and 21.5 inches long. He has now been moved from the orphanage to the transition home in Addis Ababa. He will live there and be taken care of by AWAA staff running the home.
The not-so-good news is that we will not have the adoption finalized in Ethiopia until late October or early November, due to the courts closing down for the time.
But we have a son. And he's a handsome looking fellow, too. I'll see if I can't upload a picture when I return back to Moline.
Praise to the Lord.
Isaac T
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Great News
So I have really great news, but will wait until I return from Pittsburgh to tell you all! It's really good stuff!
Friday, July 18, 2008
The Great Wilderness
Well, I'm back from Moldova! Wow! What an amazing experience and opportunity to be involved with what God is doing all over the world... and specifically Moldova.
Tomorrow morning I leave for our annual youth missions trip to Pittsburgh. I believe this will be the 7th group I've lead to Pittsburgh for youth summer missions. It'll be my 11th time to The Pittsburgh Project, as I went 4 times myself in high school.
But now on to the reason for the blog.
I gotta be honest, I'm hitting rock bottom with this whole adoption deal. Originally we were told to expect to receive a referral 3-7 months from the time our paperwork reached Addis. That was December 20. So three months was March. March rolled around. No referral. April. No referral. Then we were told expect 5-7 months (as referrals had slowed down). So May rolls around. No referral. So when we called our agency to decide what to do about my trip to Moldova, our coordinator told Kathee that currently (this was in May) the majority of referrals for infant boys comes right at the 6th month mark. Great, so that was June 20th! Sweet action. So Kathee and I talked about what to do if/when the referral came when I was in Moldova (as when you receive a referral you have one week to decide if you want to accept the referral). So we had the plan set and ready. So when I came home July 8, and still no referral, I was a bit discouraged. So now we sit at July 18 (Friday) with Sunday being July 20. For those of you counting with us, that's 7 months from the date our paperwork arrived. However, we did receive an email from their blog saying that infant boy referrals are now 7-9 months from the time the paper arrived. So here we sit. And here I get more discouraged.
HOWEVER!!! Last Sunday, thanks to one of the co-teachers who is leading the adult Sunday School class on teaching the inductive Bible study with me, I was equipped with the knowledge that would impact the next day as I was driving to work. I was reflecting on the wait, asking for the Lord to give me strength to remain hopeful and joyful. I was asking Him to give me the strength to be strong for Kathee so she doesn't have reason to dispair. I was asking for patience in the process and to know that He is still in charge and everything is working according to His time. It was then that the lesson from the day before hit me. We were studying Deuteronomy 8. It happens during the Israelites wilderness sojourn. It's there that it hit me, I am in the wilderness right now. This whole adoption seems dead, or in the least, it's gone dormant (on our end... not on the end that matters). All we hear is "more time, more time." I see no progress. However, the Lord says essentially remember and do not forget all that I have done for you. And so in this time, as I/we wait eagerly for the referral to come, I am called to remember all that God has done in this process going back to when we still lived in Minnesota (7+ years ago). Remember all that the Lord did to lead us to this agency. Remember the Lord leading us to adopt from Ethiopia. Remember being accepted into the program with AWAA. Remember how quickly things came at the beginning. Remember how surprised adoption people were with how quickly things were falling in to place. Remember all the hard work Kathee did in getting EVERYTHING ready. Remember, remember, and never forget.
So that is what I'm forcing myself to do. I don't want to be like the Israelites who forgot. Who took God for granted and started taking what God did for them and saying/thinking they did it on their own.
So that's where I am. I'm still daily forcing myself to remember. I'm still praying for strength to not become cynical and sarcastic. I'm still praying not to become angry at AWAA for continuing to stretch out our time (as if they were in control of that anyway). And so I head to Pittsburgh. Hoping that the plan we set up for while I was in Moldova will be used when I'm in Pittsburgh. I hope that call comes today!
But, as I usually end my letters or emails, "safely in His grip." To that I end this post. I am safely in His grip. And to that is, according to the Heidelberg Catechism, one of the only things I am truly able to hang on to in life... that I am not my own, but belong, in body and soul, in life and in death, to my FAITHFUL Savior Jesus Christ.
I'll blog when I get back from Pittsburgh!
Isaac T
Tomorrow morning I leave for our annual youth missions trip to Pittsburgh. I believe this will be the 7th group I've lead to Pittsburgh for youth summer missions. It'll be my 11th time to The Pittsburgh Project, as I went 4 times myself in high school.
But now on to the reason for the blog.
I gotta be honest, I'm hitting rock bottom with this whole adoption deal. Originally we were told to expect to receive a referral 3-7 months from the time our paperwork reached Addis. That was December 20. So three months was March. March rolled around. No referral. April. No referral. Then we were told expect 5-7 months (as referrals had slowed down). So May rolls around. No referral. So when we called our agency to decide what to do about my trip to Moldova, our coordinator told Kathee that currently (this was in May) the majority of referrals for infant boys comes right at the 6th month mark. Great, so that was June 20th! Sweet action. So Kathee and I talked about what to do if/when the referral came when I was in Moldova (as when you receive a referral you have one week to decide if you want to accept the referral). So we had the plan set and ready. So when I came home July 8, and still no referral, I was a bit discouraged. So now we sit at July 18 (Friday) with Sunday being July 20. For those of you counting with us, that's 7 months from the date our paperwork arrived. However, we did receive an email from their blog saying that infant boy referrals are now 7-9 months from the time the paper arrived. So here we sit. And here I get more discouraged.
HOWEVER!!! Last Sunday, thanks to one of the co-teachers who is leading the adult Sunday School class on teaching the inductive Bible study with me, I was equipped with the knowledge that would impact the next day as I was driving to work. I was reflecting on the wait, asking for the Lord to give me strength to remain hopeful and joyful. I was asking Him to give me the strength to be strong for Kathee so she doesn't have reason to dispair. I was asking for patience in the process and to know that He is still in charge and everything is working according to His time. It was then that the lesson from the day before hit me. We were studying Deuteronomy 8. It happens during the Israelites wilderness sojourn. It's there that it hit me, I am in the wilderness right now. This whole adoption seems dead, or in the least, it's gone dormant (on our end... not on the end that matters). All we hear is "more time, more time." I see no progress. However, the Lord says essentially remember and do not forget all that I have done for you. And so in this time, as I/we wait eagerly for the referral to come, I am called to remember all that God has done in this process going back to when we still lived in Minnesota (7+ years ago). Remember all that the Lord did to lead us to this agency. Remember the Lord leading us to adopt from Ethiopia. Remember being accepted into the program with AWAA. Remember how quickly things came at the beginning. Remember how surprised adoption people were with how quickly things were falling in to place. Remember all the hard work Kathee did in getting EVERYTHING ready. Remember, remember, and never forget.
So that is what I'm forcing myself to do. I don't want to be like the Israelites who forgot. Who took God for granted and started taking what God did for them and saying/thinking they did it on their own.
So that's where I am. I'm still daily forcing myself to remember. I'm still praying for strength to not become cynical and sarcastic. I'm still praying not to become angry at AWAA for continuing to stretch out our time (as if they were in control of that anyway). And so I head to Pittsburgh. Hoping that the plan we set up for while I was in Moldova will be used when I'm in Pittsburgh. I hope that call comes today!
But, as I usually end my letters or emails, "safely in His grip." To that I end this post. I am safely in His grip. And to that is, according to the Heidelberg Catechism, one of the only things I am truly able to hang on to in life... that I am not my own, but belong, in body and soul, in life and in death, to my FAITHFUL Savior Jesus Christ.
I'll blog when I get back from Pittsburgh!
Isaac T
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