Jen's Odds and Ends

This can't be!!!  The Jesus freak, Bible thumper, rightwing wacko, anti-feminist (these are just a few of the names people have called me over the years - I wear the labels with absolute pride) cannot be ProChoice!  Oh, but I am!  I believe that a woman should have the complete control over body! I just think that that choice takes place long before conception occurs which I believe is when life begins (don't bother telling me when the ProChoice doctors say when life begins - I listen to God on this one - a proud Jesus freak, remember?)!  Somewhere along the way, our society has confused needs and wants.  Sexual gratification is not a need.  It is a want.  If you do want to have sex, there are a multitude of ways of doing it so that a life is not conceived (of course, as your resident Bible thumper, I would prefer that it occurs in a marriage)!  Women have the control to abstain or use birth control!  Choice! By the time we have gotten to conception, the choice become

Aren't the beginnings of new years great?  It is like restarting your computer or iPhone - all of the information is still there but refreshed, and we are full of hope as we begin working that things will run more smoothly. We make resolutions based on this notion. On January 1, we feel like we can conquer the world. We are full of hope. Somewhere around February or March, we lose our hope. We toast our New Year and celebrate it's arrival! This past year, 2016, was a terrible year for my family. Nothing particularly bad happened. It was just little things, but they were unrelenting. For the first time ever, I questioned my faith, questioned whether or not I was worthy of God's love. My husband was in the same boat. After months of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, we decided to change churches. It was amazing!  We have a pastor who preaches about no matter how broken we are or how much despair we are in, we are always worthy of God's love (he preaches