Today Crysten, Elynn, Lauren and I went up to see Marie.  It was so nice out we wheeled her to the little store/restaurant across the street.  She enjoyed diet Pepsi and ice cream. 

Afterwards, we stopped by my cousin's house.  She just buried her 39 year old son, Matthew, while I was in North Carolina.  I wrote about it back then. 

The days aren't getting any easier for Carol Ann, yet.  The reality of a son so suddenly taken is just now setting in.  It comes in waves.  Most of you know what that is like.  It's been 8 years since we lost dad, and I still have those waves at times. 

I came home and found a newsletter from a friend and the Lord reminded me of a song that became special to me years ago, and I wanted to send it to my friend.  It was appropriate for the grieving she was doing. 

Doves and Butterflies is where you can actually hear a bit of the tune. 

Doves And Butterflies

By Christine Wyrtzen from the album For Those Who Hurt

http://www.daughtersofpromise.org/

The old grey farmer

stepped out his kitchen door

In time to see a butterfly

engaged in quite a chore.

His cocoon held him captive

as he pulled to get away.

The struggle was intense

and the man began to weigh

How he could free the butterfly

and let him fly away.

With a knife in his hand

he gently cut inside

And freed the tiny butterfly

who quickly fell and died.

He needed time to fight

for the strength to stand the test

To develop strength and poise

so he could win at life’s great test

And so the need for us to spend

some time in suffering’s nest.

Oh, God, I want to soar

as a dove with butterflies.

I love to see his freedom

and I long to share his skies.

But since you’ve brought this fire

to a place it needs to be

Do your purifying work -

perfect  Your life in me.

And though I’ve not the vision

to see past the pain I bear.

I can rest in grace sufficient

in the heat of my despair.

He wants to breath endurance

to the trials that arise

And mold me into someone

who will comfort and advise.

Oh let His church be patient,

for we’ll soon be butterflies.

Oh, God, I want to soar

as a dove with butterflies.

I love to see his freedom

and I long to share his skies.

But since you’ve brought this fire

to a place it needs to be

Do your purifying work perfect Your life in me.

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Having Babies…Does It Matter to God?

Back on August 22 the local paper reported that Maine has the 8^th lowest rate in the US of babies per 1,000 women of childbearing age.  New Hampshire and Vermont come in first and second. 

It’s not that people are leaving these states… it’s that people aren’t being born.

Our culture has already aborted more babies than the population of Canada.  Imagine, we have wiped out an entire country!!  No wonder there is no one to work, or buy our homes, or take care of our elderly.

There’s more…More U.S. Women are Childless 

by Jennifer Mesko, editor

'So much of our culture has made kids seem like big sacrifices and a big inconvenience.'

One in five U.S. women in their early 40s has no children, according to the Census Bureau. That's double the level from 30 years ago and a record high.

Women age 40-44 who do have children have fewer than ever — an average of 1.9, according to the report.

“A lot of women are not having any children,” Jane Lawler Dye, a Census Bureau researcher who did the report, told The New York Times. “It used to be sort of expected that there was a phase of life where you had children, and a lot of women aren’t doing that now.”

Candice Watters, who left her job at Focus on the Family in 2002 for full-time motherhood, said most women want to have children but may be waiting too long.

"There is the perception, perpetuated in large part by Hollywood, that you can wait until your late 30s or even your early 40s and have a baby without too much trouble," she said. But "it's really difficult for a woman over 40 to conceive."

And the culture isn't helping, Watters said.

"Women feel cultural pressure to get all of their schooling done, and much of their career-building done, before they even start to think about marriage," she said. "My advice is to make getting married and having babies at least as much of a priority as your education goals and career goals."

Watters addresses those issues in her new book Get Married: What Women Can Do to Help It Happen.

Carrie Lukas, vice president for policy and economics at the Independent Women’s Forum, agreed the culture shares responsibility.

"So much of our culture has made kids seem like big sacrifices and a big inconvenience," she said. "There is something to being an increasingly secular society and being a little self-absorbed in not thinking about the legacy you want to leave."

If you are still with me… it gets even worse.  Last weekend, the Christian Civic League held their annual banquet.  The featured speaker was Don Feder.  To see a preview of the documentary, Demographic Winter, go here…

http://demographicwinter.com/index.html 

My friend heard Mr. Feder speak in Washington DC.  Here is her summary of his talk

Below are statistics and brief summary of Mr. Feder's remarks: Humanity is failing to reproduce itself - in significant numbers. In order to replace the population, women need to give birth to 2.1 children each. Since 1979 worldwide, birth rates have fallen by 50%. In 1969 average woman gave birth to six children. Today, women are having an average of 2.9 children. In countries of European Union, the average birth rate is now 1.5 children per woman. Italy & Spain - 1.2, Russia – 1.7. With a birth rate of 1.3 or below, population will lose half its population every 45 years. With the current population downturn, fewer workers will be available to meet the needs of the growing elderly population. By 2050 there will be 2 workers for every retiree in Europe. 20% of industrialized world's population is over sixty years old. By 2030 it will rise.

With 2 senior citizens for every child, how will we begin to care for the rising elderly population? Enter: Euthanasia? "Who will run the factories, farms, military, how will the economy survive with less workers?" says Don Feder. Over past few hundred years, the population has grown from 980 million people to 6.5 billion people. That population explosion has fueled every industrial revolution. The world has seen growth in productivity, scientific research, and more. What happens when population declines? We’ve never experienced this phenomena before. Don Feder has written a new book: "Demographic Winter" – Could it be the suicide of the West?

Don asserts that evil ideas and bad policies have contributed to the "demographic winter."
1. Abortion –
2. Contraception – just under half of the population uses birth control “Wouldn’t it be ironic if what “does us in” isn’t the SUV but the IUD?” Don Feder
3. Marrying later in life, reducing the time/ability to have large families
4. Decline in marriage commitments
5. Culture that tells people to be narcissistic. Happiness comes from careers, pets, travel, possessions, personal growth, everything but having children. (our taxi driver on the way to the Kennedy Center the other night told us he doesn't have children because they're too expensive, though he is married)

Don Feder says, "This is a culture that seems to have no obligation to the past, and no responsibility to the future."

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The Susan Blount Phenomenon