7 Quick Takes – Vol. 2

~ Laura ~ Leave a comment

7QuickTakes

*This is a day early since I’ll be out of town.

— 1 —

This week I’ll be in North Dakota for a mission trip! I’ve never been on one before, and am looking forward to the experience. We’ll be doing service projects, working with kids, and other stuff all on an Indian Reservation. Stories to come!

— 2 —

This past week was ridiculously stressful. But I can’t really blame anyone because it was my own darn fault for putting things off and not asking for help with a paper soon enough. I was not given clear instructions and was basically left with several empty pages to fill and nothing to put on them (it was a business paper too). I had kind of forgotten how terrible it is to be so stressed out because I hadn’t done that for a long time. Let’s just say it’s not happening again any time soon.

— 3 —

Does anyone know how to properly clean an area rug? I have a thin-ish rug on top of my tile floor that’s gotten a bit dirty, but don’t know how you’re supposed to clean it…

— 4 —

On my trip to and from North Dakota, I’ll be soaking up these two books.

   

I started the book on joy on the way back from the March for Life last month. It’s a really beautiful look at joy as a theological virtue and a response to following God’s will. I’m not done yet, but would highly recommend it so far. On that trip, I also read Abandoned. It was quite an eye-opening book which I’ll be writing a review on soon. I’m so glad to have re-found my love of reading.

— 5 —

Benedictine had a beautiful Mass in honor of Pope Emeritus Benedict (is that what we’re supposed to call him now?) right before his resignation. The bells tolled for 10 minutes straight at 1pm CST as his resignation went into effect. As I ran to class from Mass, I thought it was neat to be part of such an important moment in history. Here’s a video of BC’s tribute.

— 6 —

I’m not a huge Taylor Swift fan (seriously, the girl needs some coaching on emotional chastity), but thought this video was hilarious. It was going around Facebook and I figured I should see what people are cracking up about. Haha! Who in the world thinks up things like this?

— 7 —

I didn’t get the RA job I mentioned last week, but take it as an indication that I’m meant to dedicate that time to the pro-life club on campus. I have big ideas and tons of energy I plan to devote to stirring up pro-lifers on campus 🙂

And now, after a very long week, I bid thee farewell.

Far better is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much, nor suffer much, for they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Thank You.

~ Laura ~ 1 Comment

Every time I hear about someone who follows my blog, I am blown away at what this has turned into. I’ve only been active in the pro-life movement for about a year and a half, but it already feels like forever. In that short time, so much had happened: jobs, blogging, and so much more. Just a couple years ago, I could never have imagined anything like this happening. For goodness sakes, five years ago I wanted to be a Broadway star. God sure had other plans 🙂

A funny thing about being in the pro-life movement in that you never, ever, know how many lives you have saved or touched. Whether you’re a faithful prayer warrior outside a clinic, a volunteer at a pro-life organization, or a leader of a big organization, you’ll never know. I can look at all the statistics from my blog, but I’ll never really know how many people read what I write. You guys inspire me every day to keep working harder in the pro-life movement.

I’ll never really know the impact of what trying to do God’s will has, but what I’ve already heard awes me. I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you. Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring. Thank you for being you.

The root of the abortion issue

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The abortion issue is really so simple. It’s not the complicated, indecipherable, and ultra-personal thing Planned Parenthood tries to tell you it is. Head over to Live Action to read my latest post on this topic.

7 Quick Takes – Vol. 1

~ Laura ~ 1 Comment

7QuickTakes

Welcome to 7 Quick Takes – the weekly posts where I write about 7 random things which may or may not be significant to you or me in any way. Since I usually write about abortion or Catholicism, I’m going to make an effort to write about other things here: whatever’s going on in my life, something I run across that I want to share, or just a random tidbit something funny. Enjoy!

— 1 —

Today was a beautiful day, as in a beautiful winter day: sunny and chilly. Sunshine is always awesome. It wasn’t very sunny on Thursday after it snowed about 8 inches (see below), so it’s been fabulous to soak up some rays before it starts snowing again (BTW, the sunshine made me realize how pale I’ve gotten since summer – yikes!).

DSCN3733

— 2 —

I have four tests/midterms this week. Let’s just say I can’t wait until next weekend when spring break begins!

— 3 —

Speaking of spring break, I’ll be heading up to North Dakota for a mission trip on an Indian reservation next week. It’s something I’ve never done before and am looking forward to. We’re going to be serving several communities within the reservation by doing service projects and hosting events for kids. I’ll be sure to write about how it goes!

— 4 —

Fr. Pontifex is coming to my school tomorrow night which should be neat. He’s apparently a YouTube sensation with his rap-type spoken word videos. Here’s one of them:

— 5 —

I really miss babies. I miss babysitting and holding babies. I’ve been trying to find a family to babysit for out here, but don’t really know how to go about that…so I made a Pinterest board for cute babies. Here’s one of them to make you smile. ISN’T S/HE SO CUTE?!?!?! If anyone wants me to babysit, I can make myself available 🙂

Awww. I MISS BABIES!

— 6 —

I have an interview tomorrow for a RA position here at BC next school year. Hopefully that goes well! I’ll know by Friday how it turns out.

— 7 —

I have very much enjoyed writing these random things. Keep coming back every Sunday night to see my quick takes for the week – now carpe diem!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

The Thin Mints are calling

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It’s that time of year again. Your doorbell rings and instead of a Bible-toting guy in a suit or a sketchy salesperson, you find cute little Girl Scouts politely offering you cookies. They are some of the best cookies after all – how can you resist that smiling face? Sadly, I’ve found out too much about Girl Scouts USA to knowingly support them anymore. Read on to find out why.

*Please be warned that this article contains topics which may not be suitable for children.

The main reason I will no longer support Girl Scouts is because GSUSA has a long history with Planned Parenthood (America’s abortion giant) and their agenda. 

  • Betty Freidan (co-founder of National Organization for Women and NARAL – both radical supporters of abortion) joined the GSUSA board in 1970 and removed the word “loyalty” from the Girl Scout oath in 1972.
  • World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) is mentioned in“Family planning: meeting challenges, promoting choices” by Pramilla Senanayake which states:

“This project began in 1990 with funding provided by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)… It is co-ordinated by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the World Assembly of Youth, theWorld Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) and the World Young Women’s Christian Assocation (YWCA).

…

Training youth leaders in communication, sex education, contraception, abortion, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), pregnancy, sexual relations, childbirth, child care, etc.; “

  • A Girl Scout leadership manual presented 9-12 year olds with the opportunity of visiting Planned Parenthood to “learn about health issues” in a puberty workshop.
  • “MEdia” Journey Book designed for girls ages 11-14 included a link to womensmediacenter.com – an organization who partners with this lovely list provided by honestgirlscouts.com (which was curiously removed after this was brought to GSUSA’s attention)

womensmediacenterpartners

  •  And one of the biggest controversies over this was when the Planned Parenthood brochure titled “Happy, Healthy, and Hot” was distributed at a conference hosted by GSUSA. I’m not even going to talk about what was in that. You can see for yourself at that link.

The CEO of GSUSA admitted this herself:

Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood worker wrote further about this and revealed more details as a person who saw what happened. Read her side here and here.

From the mouths of former Girl Scouts…

 

What many people are conflicted about with this controversy is that individual chapters decide what organizations to partner with. That means not all of them go out and are involved with Planned Parenthood. Many chapters are involved with churches and other great places that really do teach girls good things. However, anytime money is sent back to headquarters, you now know exactly what it’s supporting. That is something I cannot justify doing.

Learn more about this connection at Honest Girl Scouts and Speak Now Girl Scouts.

In the end, I refuse to support Girl Scouts not only because of their partnership with Planned Parenthood (and other similar organizations) , but also because of the role models they present to the young girls of America. Girls need to know that they don’t have to be “hot” to be amazing young women. We are worth so much more: more than our bodies, and more than the standards of the leftist feminists of the US. Our beautiful young girls – our future – are being swept into an organization which has the potential of changing then into young women who define themselves by their bodies. We. Deserve. Better.

If you, your daughter, your friend, or someone you know is part of Girl Scouts, please pass this message on. Tell her she’s worth more. There are other organizations (such as American Heritage Girls or Little Flowers) which promote the true dignity of girls and women.

P.S. If you can’t stand to be without GS cookies, never fear! I found this recipe for Thin Mints on Pinterest 🙂

P.P.S. I did not include all the details on this controversy because of the graphic nature of the content. Please contact me of you would like more info. Be sure to check out the links I included too!