A season of LIFE!

            This weekend was the official beginning of Fall!  Of course, in my neck of the woods, that doesn’t mean a whole lot.  After all, it is 87 degrees out as I write this at 7 p.m.  Fall in Florida doesn’t necessarily mean cooler weather and it doesn’t ever mean beautiful Fall colors on the trees.  Maybe that is why I am not thinking about the changing of the season so much anyway.  I find myself thinking more about the upcoming election and the changes that might mean for us.  And, I find myself thinking about the issue of abortion in this country.  

I do not know how the election will go.  I honestly try not to think about it too much lest I lose sleep and/or cause myself an ulcer.  As I try to avoid all things political for the next 7 weeks or so, I will be focusing on more positive pursuits instead.  Because two important things come in the Fall that should set our minds and our prayers on the sanctity of life and the importance of fighting for it.

            First is 40 days for Life.  The kick off in my diocese is this coming Tuesday.  We will begin with a prayer vigil at my Church and the prayers will then continue for 40 days in front of the local abortion “clinic” where volunteers will stand every day and offer their heartfelt prayers for an end to abortion and for the many victims of that sinful “choice” in this country.  40 days for Life has become an annual tradition for my family and this year will be no different. 

            Then, October is respect life month.  A whole month, probably not coincidentally the final month leading up to the election, we will focus on promoting a culture of life and spreading the word about respecting the gift of life from the womb to the tomb.  A message this country REALLY needs!

            In honor of this season of promoting and celebrating the gift of life, I want to share a little excerpt from my novel.  Normally, I do not use my blog posts to plug my book but because this issue is so close to my heart and because I want to do all I can to fight for a culture of life and because my novel is ALL about living out pro-life values, I think it is only appropriate…..  So here is just a tiny peek at The Life I Dreamed,  a pro-life Catholic story that will hopefully warm your heart and inspire you to spread the message that life is a gift and children are a blessing:

“Emmy, I am afraid she will have an abortion.  She doesn’t want her mom to find out.  I was thinking maybe if we went with her to tell her mom.  Maybe if she felt she had some support she would make the right decision.”  

“When are we going to do that?” I asked thinking realistically about the logistics of such a talk.  “When do you think we can find the time to sit down with this girl and her mom and have a long heart-to-heart about her future?  And, really, do you want to get in the middle of this family’s tragedy?  It isn’t really our place, and besides we have the kids, and they certainly can’t tag along for that.”

“I don’t know Emmy, but she needs somebody to be on her side.  She needs somebody to help her out and I don’t think there is anybody else.”  Now it was Jason's turn to shrug his shoulders.........

I tried to put the whole thing out of my mind as best I could.  At the store, I concentrated instead on filling the grocery cart without emptying our bank account.  I added up each item on my pocket calculator just as I did every week, and carefully chose my purchases to stay within our budget.  When Marie asked for pop-tarts and Jane begged for the cereal with marshmallows I explained impatiently that those things weren’t on the list but the whole time I shopped my mind was on Kaila Noble.  I still could not really picture her yet in my mind, I imagined a young blond girl alone, scared and worried, and still trying to pretend everything was fine in front of her mom and her friends.  I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe she did need someone; though I was quite sure we were not the best ones for the job....

 The book is available in its entirety from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle edition
If you live in the Tampa Bay area and can get the book from me personally, I also have brand new paperback copies available at a discounted price.