40 Days for Life Miracle

I just had to share this amazing email I received today from the National Director of 40 Days for Life... It is miraculous, it is encouraging, it gives me hope that we may be seeing the beginning of the end of abortion!


"With man this is impossible, but with God all thingsare possible." -- Matthew 19:26

I've known about this for the past few weeks, but nowI can finally share the HUGE NEWS! The director of the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Bryan/College Station, Texas -- where 40Days for Life first began -- has resigned her job,experienced a profound conversion, and joined our pro-life efforts. AMAZING!

Here's what happened ... Abby Johnson worked at Planned Parenthood in Bryan,Texas for eight years. She was there when the first-ever 40 Days for Life campaign was conducted outside of her workplace in the Bryan/College Station community in 2004. She was there for the next 40 Days for Life effort aswell -- the one that helped to launch the first nationally coordinated 40 Days for Life campaign in the fall of 2007. And she was there for the one after that, and the one after that, and the one after that -- and the one after that! In fact, Abby was able to look out the window of Planned Parenthood and see 40 Days for Life campaigns on six different occasions -- as well as the regular year-round prayer presence organized by the local Coalition for Life, under the leadership of our own 40 Days for Life campaign director Shawn Carney. For all those years, people outside the clinic prayed for Abby. And with all those prayers, Abby finally had a change of heart. She said, "Over the past few months I had seen a change in motivation regarding the financial impact of abortions," she said, "and I reached my breaking point after witnessing a particular kind of abortion on an ultrasound." She quit her job and went across the street to the headquarters of the Coalition for Life where Shawn has been helping her over these last few weeks. Fox News just reported on Abby's conversion, stating: Abby Johnson, 29, used to escort women from their cars to the clinic in the eight years she volunteered and worked for Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas. But she says she knew it was time to leave after she watched a fetus "crumple" as it was vacuumed out of a patient's uterus in September. "When I was working at Planned Parenthood I was extremely pro-choice," Johnson told FoxNews.com. But after seeing the internal workings of the procedure for the first time on an ultrasound monitor, "I would say there was a definite conversion in my heart ... a spiritual conversion." Johnson said she became disillusioned with her job after her bosses pressured her for months to increase profits by performing more and more abortions, which cost patients between $505 and$695. "Every meeting that we had was, 'We don't have enough money, we don't have enough money — we've got to keep these abortions coming,'" Johnson told FoxNews.com. "It's a very lucrative business and that's why they want to increase numbers."

Read the whole story (and see Shawn with Abby) at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,571215,00.html Abby finally saw the truth. The truth which Planned Parenthood often tries to hide -- even from its very own management staff. She left on good terms, and says that Planned Parenthood tried to offer her more money to stay. "But this was not about money or me being angry," she said. "It was about my change of heart on abortion." Planned Parenthood has responded by going to court to seek a restraining order against both Abby and the Coalition for Life. The requested court action warns against disclosing any "confidential information." An initial court hearing is set for November 10, so please keep Abby, Shawn, and the Coalition for Life in your prayers. Seeing is believing, and you have to see this video report aired by KBTX-TV in Bryan/College Station: http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=502

Abby's amazing conversion demonstrates the importance of a constant, persistent, peaceful prayer presence in front of abortion facilities. From that first campaign in 2004, we've prayed forAbby -- and for all abortion workers -- that they would come to see what abortion really is, and that they would leave the deadly business. In this case, those prayers have been answered. We are so proud of Abby's courage to leave the abortion industry and publicly announce her reasons for leaving. And now a familiar face has been seen praying outside Planned Parenthood in Bryan/College Station duringthe final days of this fall's 40 Days for Life --yes, Abby Johnson. God can and will do amazing things -- if only we ask! We must continue to pray and fast for more conversions just like Abby's. In fact, we WILL continue. In the days ahead, you'll learn how -- together -- we will keep this amazing momentum growing. In all, eight clinic workers left their jobs during the 40 Days for Life campaign that just ended -- and reports are still pouring in from across the 212 participating cities, so it could be even more! I have another updated total for you as well. The number of babies (and their moms) spared from abortion during this campaign is now up to ... 542! Praise God for ALL these miracles!

For Life, David Bereit
National Director40 Days for Life

A Holy Halloween!

Our family tradition of celebrating All Saints Day instead of the secular Halloween holiday is becoming more fun every year! We are so thankful that the school our boys attend also believes in focusing on "things above" rather than "things below!" The K-2 grades dress up as saints and give saint reports to the large group of families who come to the Fall Festival party at the school. The kids learn so much about a myriad of saints, and hopefully it plants seeds in their hearts to imitate those holy saints. After all, we are all called to be saints! On Halloween evening, we invited other Catholic families to join us at our house to celebrate the saints with us. We began the party by praying a traditional Litany of the Saints, asking for their intercession to help us grow closer to Christ. After our meal, the kids played three fun saint games: Pin the Halo on the Saint, Throw the Halo on the Saint, and the St. Therese's Drop Roses Game. Prizes were awarded to the winners (and the losers), and then the kids beat the tar out of some unsaintly looking pinatas that the boys and I made. We may not believe in trick-or-treating, but we still believe our little saints deserve some fun and sugar :) Here are some photos of our "saintly" family and friends at our All Saints Day celebration. I love having holy fun!

Here is Joseph, dressed as St. Hubert the hunter-turned-bishop, with some other saintly friends at the school Fall Festival

Here is our adorable Dominic dressed as St. Francis. Dominic loved being covered with his favorite stuffed animals, just as St. Francis loved preaching to the animals who surrounded him

Here is our ivory-skinned Michael dressed as the dark-skinned St. Juan Diego, the saint who received the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on his tilma

Here is my truly saintly husband dressed as St. Padre Pio, the saint who received the stigmata and many other miraculous gifts to bring others closer to Christ

Here I am trying to look like St. Elizabeth, the wealthy queen of Hungary who often gave bread to the poor, but when the King tried to stop her, the bread miraculously turned into roses and caused her husband to become a Christian

Here is Joey C. playing the St. Therese Drop Roses game. His rose landed closest to the picture of St. Therese, so he won 1st prize

Here is Grace, dressed as Blessed Mother Teresa, playing the Throw the Halo on the Saint game

Here is Agnes, dressed as St. Bernadette, very gently tapping the Black Widow pinata, just as the timid St. Bernadette probably would've done

Here is Michael smashing the pinata in a not-so-saintly-fashion

Here is Joseph, dressed as St. Hubert, with the remains of the deer pinata on his head. I was shocked to see the bright shining "cross" between his antlers, just like the real story of St. Hubert and the stag. It is said that St. Hubert was hunting on Good Friday rather than attending Mass, and just as he was about to shoot the giant stag it turned to face him with a shining cross between his antlers and said, "Hubert, unless you turn from your sinful ways, you will surely go to hell." St. Hubert quickly converted after that experience and eventually became a bishop.

Good, holy fun had by all...

all for the greater glory of God! :)

A Doublely Blessed Day

Today was a day of DOUBLE blessings! First, those praying at our Planned Parenthood this morning were blessed with a visit by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, a very holy man of God who is well-known for his preaching on EWTN, a Catholic television station. He is also well-known for his pro-life convictions, and he truly put those convictions to practice today by braving the bitter-cold Montana weather (in his Friar Tuck sandles no less!) to pray with other vigilers for an end to abortion. Today was the scheduled abortion day at Planned Parenthood, so his prayerful presence gave all of us renewed hope, on a day that is usually clouded with despair. Fr. Benedict encouraged us with these words: "Keep up the good fight and don't loose hope. After all, Mother Teresa said that we are not called to be successful, only to be faithful. God will do the rest."

Later in the day we received a second huge blessing. Hundreds of 40 Days for Life participants had been praying for young local woman who was receiving pressure from her boyfriend to abort their baby. Today, we received the exciting news from the young girl's mother that her daughter has decided to choose life for her child! That is our first confirmed local save in our town! Even though the save did not occur at the abortion facility, I truly believe it was because of the outpouring of prayer from the 40 Days for Life participants that helped the young girl make the right choice. All we did was faithfully prayed, and God did the rest. That's what 40 Days for Life is all about. And blessing upon blessing is the result. Today, my heart is overflowing with gratitude and hope!

The Truth About Yawning

The other morning when Dominic had just gotten out of bed he did a huge yawn, and said with conviction:

"The sleep came out of my throat!"

Cute and kinda true :) I love it when my kids make me laugh. I really need to laugh more often.

I Got Published!

Well, shockingly, our local newspaper published my Letter to the Editor. Not so shockingly, they gave my piece a liberally slanted title by using the phrase "Anti-Abortion Rally" rather than "Pro-life Prayer Vigil." Figures. If you'd like to read the piece, here's the link:

http://www.helenair.com/news/opinion/readers_alley/article_b38920e6-bd37-11de-8046-001cc4c03286.html?mode=story

40 Days for Life Candlelight Vigil

I am very blessed to be the Vigil Coordinator for our city's 40 Days for Life fall campaign, and this week we had a Candlelight Prayer Vigil at our local Planned Parenthood to mark the mid-way point of our campaign. It was bitter cold, but a very blessed evening. Young and old alike, of many different faiths, attended the prayerful event, and it was an evening filled with music, prayer, and hope that someday the tragedy of abortion will end in our country. For those of you unfamiliar with 40 Days for Life, it is a pro-life movement that is striving to peacefully end abortion one soul at a time through prayer, fasting, and being loving witnesses for life outside of abortion clinics. Since 40 Days for Life began in 2007, more than 1700 babies and their mothers have been spared from the pain of abortion (and those are just the ones we know about)!!! To learn more about his amazing campaign happening in over 212 cities across the globe, visit: http://www.40daysforlife.com/.

This is the 3rd 40 Days for Life campaign we have held in our town, and each campaign we try with all our might to get the media to cover any of our events...always to no avail. I feel certain it is because the abortion issue is so contraversial and the liberal media simply doesn't want to cover conservative stories. I thought the media was supposed to be fair and balanced and cover any newsworthy events objectively??? So why is it that they will cover a gay pride parade, but not a pro-life prayer vigil??? I was so irritated by this discrepancy that I wrote a letter to the editor last night. I'll let you know if it gets published, although I highly doubt it will. Here's what I wrote:

I find myself frustrated that “politically incorrect” issues often do not get media coverage, so I feel compelled to highlight a local event apparently deemed “too sensitive” for the media to touch. The heartiest pro-lifers in Helena braved the bitter cold on October 12th to celebrate the half-way point in the “40 Days for Life” fall campaign. To me, the most touching part of the event was the 2000+ birthday candles that participants lit and blew out as they prayerfully circled Planned Parenthood. The birthday candles represented the number of babies in Montana not celebrating their first birthdays this year. The multitude of candles graphically gave a sense of the sad prevalence of abortion in our country, even here in Big Sky Country. How many birthday candles would it take to represent those babies nationwide who will not have birthdays this year? I truly believe that because of 40 Days for Life campaigns happening all over the nation, next year there will be far fewer birthday candles needed. As of day 22 of this fall campaign, there have been 251 confirmed reports of babies and their mothers being saved from the pain of abortion nationally. Now that seems newsworthy to me.

Remembering Sebastian

Two years ago today our little Sebastian was born and brought to Heaven. The memory of that day stirs up many emotions, but this year I am thankful that some of the sorrow has dissipated and has been replaced with peace. I keep picturing holding his little body, perfectly formed, in my hands. He was beautiful. And now I know how beautiful it is to have a saint up in heaven interceding for our family. I will try to focus on such thoughts rather than the pain of missing him and our 2 other children in heaven. This photo is a painting called "Escort to God" by Melissa Dayton. My friend Denise gave me this print when I miscarried, and it brings me so much comfot to picture my babies being escorted to God by angels. I can't wait to get escorted to Heaven someday and hold each of my heavenly children in my arms.

"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away,

Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Job 1:21