My computer is not a happy camper the last several days, so I'm borrowing Rick's to say hello. (I can only check emails when my computer's in the mood to let me, and going on websites is pretty much out of the question for now.) I have a lot on my heart to share, and am afraid this post might jump topics rather rapidly, but I'm going to take advantage of a working computer and type it all out while I can.
We are soon to enter "National Infertility Awareness Week". Rather than trying to recreate all the infomation for you, feel free to follow this link.
There are a lot of changes happening at my home church. One new step is that Rick and I now have a home fellowship (small group) meeting weekly at our house, one of about 30+ groups meeting church-wide! It looks like the church may soon be set to launch a Celebrate Recovery program, and in conjunction with this, I'm praying about how God may be able to use me to help establish some form of organized local care/support ministry for fertility-related loss issues within our church and community. This has been my heart's desire for many years, yet the timing has never seemed to be in line with God's plan. I'm excited (and a bit nervous) to watch as His plan seems now ready to perhaps begin to unfold in this area. The recent loss of baby Sarah, the daughter of a young couple in our "young adult ministries" group, who was born at 22 weeks and lived just 45 minutes, is a painful reminder of why such a group is so urgently needed.
My health has been problematic over the last several months, especially manifest in painfulness, weakness (loss of grip, etc.), tingling and/or numbness in my hand and feet. My doctor ran a host of tests, but was unable to find anything new, so at this point we are presuming these issues simply to be new manifestations of CFIDS. There is some newer medical research and corncern indicating that CFIDS may actually be a degenerative and/or progressive nereological condition, afterall, so we may just be entering new territory in the ongoing journey of these past 16 years. Please pray for wisdom as I seek a new doctor as mine has just moved out of state.
If you are trying to contact me via email, I am sorry if I have not responded or if I haven't even received your note. Feel free to post a reply here (but please be aware that your note will be publically viewable) and I'll make sure to let you know when my computer is back on its feet again (I'm thinking it may be a while before that happens).
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month
In 1988 President Reagan declared October to be "Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness" month. Last week, the US Senate, once again, proclaimed October 15th as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day (follow link for more info).
Proclamation 5890—Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month
October 25th, 1988
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Each year, approximately a million pregnancies in the United States end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of the newborn child. National observance of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, 1988, offers us the opportunity to increase our understanding of the great tragedy involved in the deaths of unborn and newborn babies. It also enables us to consider how, as individuals and communities, we can meet the needs of bereaved parents and family members and work to prevent causes of these problems.
Health care professionals recognize that trends of recent years, such as smaller family size and the postponement of childbearing, adds another dimension of poignance to the grief of parents who have lost infants. More than 700 local, national, and international support groups are supplying programs and strategies designed to help parents cope with their loss. Parents who have suffered their own losses, health care professionals, and specially trained hospital staff members are helping newly bereaved parents deal constructively with loss.
Compassionate Americans are also assisting women who suffer bereavement, guilt, and emotional and physical trauma that accompany post-abortion syndrome. We can and must do a much better job of encouraging adoption as an alternative to abortion; of helping the single parents who wish to raise their babies; and of offering friendship and temporal support to the courageous women and girls who give their children the gifts of life and loving adoptive parents. We can be truly grateful for the devotion and concern provided by all of these citizens, and we should offer them our cooperation and support as well.
The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 314, has designated the month of October 1988 as "Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month" and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this month.
Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the month of October 1988 as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth.
RONALD REAGAN
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:13 a.m., October 26, 1988]
(October is also National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.)
Proclamation 5890—Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month
October 25th, 1988
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Each year, approximately a million pregnancies in the United States end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of the newborn child. National observance of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, 1988, offers us the opportunity to increase our understanding of the great tragedy involved in the deaths of unborn and newborn babies. It also enables us to consider how, as individuals and communities, we can meet the needs of bereaved parents and family members and work to prevent causes of these problems.
Health care professionals recognize that trends of recent years, such as smaller family size and the postponement of childbearing, adds another dimension of poignance to the grief of parents who have lost infants. More than 700 local, national, and international support groups are supplying programs and strategies designed to help parents cope with their loss. Parents who have suffered their own losses, health care professionals, and specially trained hospital staff members are helping newly bereaved parents deal constructively with loss.
Compassionate Americans are also assisting women who suffer bereavement, guilt, and emotional and physical trauma that accompany post-abortion syndrome. We can and must do a much better job of encouraging adoption as an alternative to abortion; of helping the single parents who wish to raise their babies; and of offering friendship and temporal support to the courageous women and girls who give their children the gifts of life and loving adoptive parents. We can be truly grateful for the devotion and concern provided by all of these citizens, and we should offer them our cooperation and support as well.
The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 314, has designated the month of October 1988 as "Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month" and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this month.
Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the month of October 1988 as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth.
RONALD REAGAN
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:13 a.m., October 26, 1988]
(October is also National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.)
And the Winner is...
Anne is the winner of the Free Book contest . Congratulations, Anne!!!
Anne has been notified by email and has been asked to respond with her mailing address by Oct. 15. If I have not heard back from her by then, I will hold a second chance drawing and name a new winner at that time.
Anne has been notified by email and has been asked to respond with her mailing address by Oct. 15. If I have not heard back from her by then, I will hold a second chance drawing and name a new winner at that time.
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