ONE OF GOD'S BIGGEST BLESSINGS TO THE CANTON/SOEHNLEN FAMILY

Wow, Just wow.  I cannot believe that our precious little granddaughter is four years old already.  I don't know if it seems to have gone this fast for her own parents, but to us aging adults, it truly seems like no more than a year ago, she was born. 

I want to share something personal.  When Sam told me she was pregnant, I was not overly thrilled.  Actually, she didn't tell me.  Sarah was talking to a friend over Aim ( A chat thingy) and left it up on the computer.  Just for the sake of argument, for the one time in my life I wasn't snooping, it was just there.  Sarah was telling a friend about Sam being pregnant.  (if you want to rob a bank, please do not take Sarah, because you will be in the hoosegow looking out NO DOUBT!  She cannot keep a secret)  When I read this my head went right into the proverbial sand.   I was hoping Sarah was just kidding.  She wasn't. 

I'm a planner.  I admit.  I blame it on my place of employment.  We have plans for plans and contingency plans for contingency plans.  I like an orderly life.  I like things in progression.  I'm old fashioned.  I like graduation, college, college graduation, marriage, babies, etc etc.  So this little peanut of a surprise took me a little bit to get used to.  OKAY, it took me like a week.  After that, I was fine. For the record, I was NEVER EVER mad, I was worried. 

It's no secret, so I'm not going to sugar coat it,Taylor was not exactly planned.  She could, by no stretch of the imagination, be a statistic.  Pro Choice people tend to think of abortion as a woman's right to choose.  (to me, this is about a baby,  more than it is about my rights as a woman)  Father's don't get a voice because it's only their baby, not their body.  This, in my mind, is so not logical, I can hardly stand to discuss it.  I stand by my opinion, that a heart beat is a life.  Period.  Let me add one thing and it may sound like a contradiction.  I DO NOT STAND IN JUDGEMENT of those who have had abortions. (the only exception to this is if you are using it as birth control)  I know there are many times, where life overwhelms.  People get scared, they do not see any other solution.  There seems to be nobody there to offer a hand, in fact the only people who may show up are those to tell you how wrong you are. I know this sounds like another contradiction, but I don't even want to see Roe V Wade overturned.  This needs to be a decision that comes from the heart, not because the government tells you it's wrong.  I would challenge all Pro Life people to put down their picket signs and give girls/women a reason not to abort.  Volunteer to help a girl in need, volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center, there are many, many ways to help without judging or being hateful. We need to put this Pro Choice VS Pro Life stuff away in an election.  There has not been a  Republican president yet (they are the ones who use this debate in their campaign) who has solved this problem and there never will be. I can think of no good reason for a late term abortion....don't even go there with me. When this happened under the Clinton administration I hated that man. I view it as pure evil.  I would rather die first than kill a child that is viable...meaning they could live outside my womb.... That is the end of my rant....   My point is both Ben and Sam understood what was important and knew they were not alone...they chose life.

This little girl has brought us more joy than we ever thought imaginable. (when I say "us" I mean both Ben's family and ours.)  We cannot imagine life without her.  I've heard parents explain how they worry about being able to love another child.  I never worried about that as a mother, but it enters my mind as a grandma.  Now I know, without a doubt, this will not be a problem of course, but it did enter my mind.

I guess with this simple blog, I just want to thank Sam and Ben for choosing life and giving us what we really didn't know we wanted or needed. What seemed like an obstacle or an inconvenience turned out to be one of God's many blessings that comes wrapped in something we humans don't recognize as a blessing at first......a baby.   Thank you God, for seeing the big picture.  We wouldn't change a thing!