Eleven Children, One Mom and Dad: Pro-Life

Showing posts with label Pro-Life. Show all posts

Friday, June 29, 2012

First Guest Post!

I thought I would share a wonderfully written testimony as our first guest post. We won't have many guest post, but this one was too good to pass up. God bless! - Sarah

Learning to Love- A Story of Hope
Written by Anonymous

"Dear, Little baby inside, I'm trying to love you.

I want to love you.

My guilt is outweighing the love I should have for you. My heart aches. Your life was an accident. A sad accident that has brought me doubt. How could I ever say that I don't want you, yet I have no idea how to love you?

I wish to love you. Maybe someday I will love you. Right now, my fear is much stronger than my confidence. Please, little baby. Give me time. Give me forgiveness"

A few years ago I wrote this letter knowing my child would never see it. I wrote this because the notion of abortion laid heavily upon me. I would not abort- that was my hard-fast decision. But I still did not want this child. I was too young, I thought. I was barely out of high school. My life was just starting! Each weekend I watched my friends living it up, and I knew my time for adventure was quickly ending.

Why me? Other girls mess around and they don't get pregnant? Why did I? Wasn't I being sexually responsible? I cried, I self pitied, I prayed to wake up from the nightmare. I told only a few, very close friends. This baby was my secret. And it stayed that way....for awhile at least.

The day came where I had to go home and tell my parents. I shook as I boarded the plane from my college town. How could I tell them? I thought of their reactions. Would they yell? Would she slap me? Would he humiliate me? Find courage, I thought. This little life need courage even more than love right now. One breath at a time.

Their initial reaction, whatever that may be, would be justified (I gave myself a pep talk). Deep breathing, and speak clearly. I fully expected to be ambushed with questions and words of guilt. Instead though, I was greeted with a lot of love. They loved me anyway. They weren't mad- maybe a little disappointed, but not mad. It was a small relief but nothing compared to the fear of my future and overwhelming sense of shame.

My mom took me for an ultrasound. I was 6 months along. It was a boy! Great- but I still didn't love him. I felt nothing but emptiness.

Another month passed, he was growing and thriving, and I decided to keep him instead of giving him up for adoption. Slowly making those choices, I finally started to feel a small amount a hope. Maybe my life wasn't ruined, just different, maybe even a little bit better.

At 9 months, my baby would be born at any moment. I set up a little bassinet for him next to my bed, and bought a car seat. My boyfriend would come around from time to time. He was loving, but preferred the adoption route and gave me little emotional support. I was on my own with this, but that was okay- I had confidence and I believed my love for my baby would only grow in time.

My love did grow. It grew until I was overflowing with it. My baby boy was born and he was little and perfect. He was beautiful. I starred at him for hours that first night. I loved him more than I had ever loved anybody else. I cried out all of my sorrows and fears onto his little bundled body. He was my future and I whispered in his tiny perfect ear, "to my little baby in my arms, I will love you forever."

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

“There is no difference in a life that lasts 30 minutes or 100 years"

I had to pass this story along. If you don't read the whole thing, please at least read what her husband said about her. It gave me the chills, it's so beautiful! They are calling her the next Gianna Molla, what a witness!

Emotional goodbye for young Italian mother who died for unborn child

(CNA) Hundreds of Italians gathered at the Church of St. Francisca Romana in Rome on June 16 for the funeral Mass of Chiara Corbella, a young Catholic woman who died after postponing her cancer treatments in order to protect her unborn child.

At 28 years of age, Chiara was happily married to Enrico Petrillo. They had already suffered the loss of two children in recent years who died from birth defects. The couple became popular speakers at pro-life events, in which they shared their testimony about the few minutes they were able to spend with their children, David and Maria, before they died.

In 2010, Chiara became pregnant for the third time, and according to doctors the child was developing normally. However, Chiara was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and was advised to begin receiving treatment that would have posed a risk to her pregnancy.

Chiara decided to protect the baby – named Francisco – and opted to forgo treatment until after his birth, which took place on May 30, 2011.

Her cancer quickly progressed and eventually she lost sight in one eye. After a year-long battle Chiara died on June 13, surrounded by her loved ones and convinced that she would be reunited with her two children in heaven.

“I am going to heaven to take care of Maria and David, you stay here with Dad. I will pray for you,” Chiara said in a letter for Francisco that she wrote one week before her death.

The funeral Mass was celebrated by the Vicar General of Rome, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, who recalled Chiara as “the second Gianna Beretta,” the 20th century saint who sacrificed her life in similar circumstances to save her unborn baby.

Chiara’s spiritual director, Father Vito, delivered the homily and remembered Chiara as a young woman who chose to risk her own life in order to be an example to other pregnant women, “a testimony that could save so many people,” he said.

Chiara’s husband, Enrico, said he experienced “a story of love on the cross.” Speaking to Vatican Radio, he said that they learned from their three children that there is no difference in a life that lasts 30 minutes or 100 years.

“It was wonderful to discover this love that grew more and more in the face of so many problems,” he said.

“We grew more and more in love with each other and Jesus. We were never disappointed by this love, and for this reason, we never lost time, even though those around us said, 'Wait, don’t be in a hurry to have another child,'” Enrico said.

The world today encourages people to make wrong choices about the unborn, the sick and the elderly, he noted, “but the Lord responds with stories like ours.”

“We are the ones who like to philosophize about life, about who created it, and therefore, in the end, we confuse ourselves in wanting to become the owners of life and to escape from the cross the Lord gives us,” he continued.

“The truth is that this cross – if you embrace it with Christ – ceases to be as ugly as it looks. If you trust in him, you discover that this fire, this cross, does not burn, and that peace can be found in suffering and joy in death,” Enrico explained.

“I spent a lot of time this year reflecting on this phrase from the Gospel that says the Lord gives a cross that is sweet and a burden that is light. When I would look at Chiara when she was about to die, I obviously became very upset. But I mustered the courage and a few hours before – it was about eight in the morning, Chiara died at noon – I asked her.

I said: 'But Chiara, my love, is this cross really sweet, like the Lord says? She looked at me and she smiled, and in a soft voice she said, 'Yes, Enrico, it is very sweet.' In this sense, the entire family didn’t see Chiara die peacefully, but happily, which is totally different,” Ernico said.

When his son grows up, he added, he will tell him “how beautiful it is to let oneself be loved by God, because if you feel loved you can do anything,” and this is “the most important thing in life: to let yourself be loved in order to love and die happy.”

“I will tell him that this is what his mother, Chiara, did. She allowed herself to be loved, and in a certain sense, I think she loved everyone in this way. I feel her more alive than ever. To be able to see her die happy was to me a challenge to death.”

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Back in the Day . . .

So lately I have been reminiscing. Being around a sibling really helps and when we went to California we all had a blast talking about the good 'ol days. :) Robert and I laughed and laughed about all the ridiculous animals we had. I swear we could have been considered an animal shelter. You name it we had it! Someday I will scan some of the pictures I have of the animals, but for now I wanted to post some old pictures to share. Enjoy and have a wonderful day! May Our Lady guide you and the Angels protect you. :)