Melissa Ohden Survived "Choice" and Lives to Tell Her Story

This is not a political rant. But it has everything to do with the laws of our land.
(And I will add this also...to those who have chosen abortion for whatever reason, please know that God's forgiveness is for all who come to Him. If you are experiencing depression or guilt over this issue, please speak to a counselor.)

Last evening I had the privilege to hear abortion survivor Melissa Ohden tell her story of how she survived an abortion. No, Melissa did not Have an abortion. She Survived her own abortion. Saline abortion. In 1977. In Sioux City, Iowa. At a hospital. Weighing a bit over 2 pounds. Thankfully, the hospital provided care for this tiny infant.

Today Melissa is a delightful, normal, healthy individual. She has a Master's degree and works in the social field. She and her husband are the parents of a one-year-old baby girl. And Melissa is choosing to tell her story...the other side of the story...the baby's story...that baby who, in spite of advocates of "choice", had no voice and no choice.

You can read her interesting biography here.

Many are not aware that now and then an aborted infant lives through the process. Sometimes it is a twin in the womb who misses being detected when one baby is aborted. Other times the aborted baby is simply still alive at the end of the process. Not all of these "live" babies survive...clinics do not always rush to assist the newborn they expected to be DOA. But in Melissa's case doctors and staff immediately took over her care. She was adopted by a loving family in spite of warnings that she might suffer serious health problems due to her early birth and due to the experience of the saline abortion itself. None of those dire predictions came true. And she has become a spokeswoman for the unborn.

I've had the privilege of hearing another abortion survivor tell her story. You can read about Gianna Jessen here. She, too, is now a lovely young woman who experienced the "choice" option and survived. She, too, now speaks for the unborn.

It may be that the law of the land allows for abortion, making it legal, giving women a choice to terminate a pregnancy of an unwanted child. I said it is legal. But it is not moral. It simply cannot be "right" to kill a human being simply because they are unwanted.

Since 1973 approximately 50 Million babies have died in our country due to abortion. In comparison, if you count every war since the American Revolution, our country has lost approximately 660 Thousand men/women in battle (Source:US Dept of Veterans Affairs). Compare those two numbers. We've lost 75 times as many babies as soldiers.

Why is it that when we consider the lives lost in battle we are horrified, but that same horror does not strike us when the deaths occur in an abortion clinic? Why is that?

God have mercy on us as a nation for the stink of our sin surely rises to heaven.

Four Consecutive Nazi Serial Number Tattoos

The scenario:
Four young Polish Jews, standing in line at Auschwitz to receive consecutively numbered tattoos on their forearms. Two are brothers. The other two are strangers. They become separated. All four survive the camp and the war and settle in Israel at the end of WWII.
Fast forward 65 years and read the story here of how the four find each other and meet for the first time since Auschwitz. (The two brothers may have been in touch with each other, but the two strangers met each other for the first time this year.)
Amazing.

How To Winter Over Your Geraniums In the Coldest Climate!

Geraniums tend to be almost as common as weeds in warmer states such as California, but in Iowa they are cherished for their brilliant blooms. However, they are not winter hardy and most people buy new plants each spring.

However, you CAN winter over your geraniums. There are three ways to do this. You can bring the pots indoors and place them near a bright window or a patio door where they will continue to grow. Many times, though, the short daylight hours cause them to grow long and leggy. In that case, trim them back about mid or late February and they'll put out new growth.

But this takes up a lot of space if you have a lot of plants. The second option is to pull up the plants by the bare roots and store them in a paper grocery bag in a cool, dry, dark basement. The plants will shrivel up to nothing and appear dead. In late February or March repot them, give them plenty of light, and watch them grow.

In the first photo newly repotted plants show just a smidgeon of new growth. (Click on the photo for a closeup. Actually, I should have trimmed back much of the dead branches on this plant.)

The third option is to place pot and plant in a dark, dry basement. The plants will appear to die. I cheat a bit and perhaps once a month give them just a bit of water to entice them to live. In the second photo, you can see new growth on potted plants that I wintered pot and all in the basement. The plants had dried down to almost nothing and after bringing them upstairs I carefully trimmed them back to live stems. Today we are getting a quiet, misty rain and I've placed them outdoors, mindful to check nighttime temps, just in case it freezes.

By the way, sandwich trays or dinner plates from the thrift store are perfect under the pots to protect your floor or deck from water and dirt.

My Taste Buds are Changing

One of the weird things about my chemo treatments is that I feel surprisingly good.

Another weird effect is that my taste for food is changing. Yesterday for a snack I ate a large dish of cold cooked spinach! And it tasted Good!

Radish and Lettuce and Beets, Oh My!

Our small back yard is just large enough to include a very small garden and today's spring weather prompted us to begin planting. Radishes, lettuce, beets, collards and kale and a few pepper plants. It's a bit early for the peppers but there are only four, so if we have a cold night we can cover them. We left space for some tomatoes and squash and other things that need warmer weather.

We have two raised beds and we plant some odd areas as well. Just enough to enjoy fresh veggies during the summer. We also have an area of asparagus and we're anxiously awaiting the first tips out of the ground! Soon!

Faithful Promises

Those first few tips of green are always so welcome in the spring for they promise winter is on its way out. While some of my daffodils are planted in areas where sun warms the earth, others are planted in areas where shade from the house and deck slow their spring burst of growth. I must be patient!


Having flowers blooming at different times is good. That means when one group begins to dry and close up their spring faces, another group will begin blooming.


The daffs make lovely bouquets and I love to have a few on the kitchen table to add a bit of cheer.

The crocus, on the other hand, simply add their cheery token of warm spring days...a reminder that winter is over. When the ground begins to feel a bit of sunshine in the spring I check out my kitchen window each day to spot the first bit of color and celebrate spring's arrival!


I love these words from that old hymn, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" for they remind me of God's constant faithfulness and care for His people. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest! Whatever the season we know that we are in His care.

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Read This News on Ovarian Cancer

If you've been reading this blog you know I've lightly mentioned that I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in January and am currently undergoing chemotherapy. I was startled and stunned, to say the least, when I awoke from gall bladder surgery to have my doctor tell me that while removing the gall bladder he had found ovarian cancer with cells throughout the abdominal cavity. Stunned! Yep, stunned!

In the past the medical establishment has maintained that ovarian cancer is "symptomless". But that is not entirely true...it is just that some of the symptoms may masquerade as something else. A news article today by the Associated Press mentions some things that women should be more aware of. You can read it here.

The article begins like this..."Suddenly experiencing weeks of bloating, the need to urinate frequently, eating changes and abdominal or pelvic pain — either one of these or a combination — could be a tip-off to early ovarian cancer, according to several groups of cancer experts." The problem, of course, is that these same symptoms can be indicative of other problems and women might become unduly paranoid if they are seeing these symptoms. The only way to determine the cause is to see your doctor/gynecologist.

One symptom that I experienced when lying in bed was feeling so full that my breathing seemed to be shallow rather than the deep diaphragm breathing. I also had an unusually high alkaline phosphatase reading on my blood tests during my annual physical. When I googled "alkaline phosphatase" I noticed that such a reading could be indicative of cancer, gall bladder problems, liver or bone problems. And so I asked for an ultrasound of the gall bladder which, of course, led to the laporascopy surgery during which my surgeon discovered the cancer.

Fortunately, chemo is relatively kind to me. I am experiencing no nausea, only minor aches and pains for several days after chemo, and of course, the necessity to watch my blood counts with weekly tests. I recognize that I am extremely fortunate.

I'm still a bit stunned by it all. But I also recognize that all my days are written out by God before I was ever born (Psalm 139:16-18). You can run your cursor over the scripture and click on "more" to read the entire text. I'm looking forward to the end of June when I will have completed the chemo sessions and be back to normal!

Now! If they could come up with a laporascopy procedure that would be minimally invasive and relatively inexpensive as a means to visually check for ovarian cancer. They do acupuncture on preborn babies. Why couldn't they do an acupuncture procedure that would pull out cells from the ovaries/abdomen for cancer tests?