inRL 2014

Last weekend I participated in in(Courage)’s inRL event! I did it last year and it was a lot of fun. Friday night everyone views a live webcast on their computers and then on Saturday we all meet up inRL (in real life) locally all over the world.

During Friday’s webcast Sarah Mae shared that she had an abortion at age 16. She didn’t say a lot about it in the webcast but after it was over she tweeted a link to her abortion story that she had written here. I have known a few people that had abortions but never the full details of what went through their mind when it happenned. Sarah Mae’s story really struck me…it’s hard to explain. 

Over the years I have learned so much about being pro-life. Honestly I haven’t done much in terms of preventing abortions other than praying for the unborn and praying outside a clinic once. I think I always assumed people had abortions becaSe they felt they had no other options, were ashamed, or just didn’t want a baby. 

I never really thought of these women as victims. to hear Sarah Mae’s story and how all of her family that was against her and to think how many other teenagers are in the same situation every single day..it seriously broke my heart because then I think of all my friends that want a baby so badly and are unable to have one.

It really gave me a new perspective on the whole process and abortion industry (not really the right word but basically what it is right now). Especially if you have an abortion or get pregnant under the age of 21…I think it’s worse for teens even. If you get pregnant and want to keep the baby or want to give him/her up for adoption but you have 10 family members against you to “take care of it” it’s a hard situation to be in. Especially bc a lot of these people come from non Christian homes.

I don’t know that I would have the strength to go against my family. I’m not sure where I’m going with this other than we need to be compassionate to all we meet because you never know how your Christian heart is going to help others and maybe change their minds about a bad decision. 

So that was Friday….now onto Saturday!!!! 

I really enjoyed all the videos I watched. It was funny because a lot of them were shot at Allume last year as I remember people talking about the filming and I recognized some of the same outfits and some of the speakers stories were similar from…I’m glad I wasn’t the only one that noticed that and my friend Aprille tweeted about it too!!

Recently I have had a lot of friends have miscarriages and to hear the videos of those that also had them was really touching. I’ve never had one but my mom did and I know it can’t be an easy time….esp when we live in a world where they get brushed off like nothing. 

On Saturday I went to a local meetup ad well. Some of the people there I met last year and some were new. It was fun to go out and socialize with other women. Some shared their story of things they have been working on like blogs, writing, businesses, and publishing. We made a really cool craft. A prayer jar to put words in and look through and remember things that happened. 

 

 

One thing about this Saturday is that it was the 20 year anniversary of my dad’s passing….how it’s been that long I have no idea…but it has. And for the first anniversary in years I was able to openly talk about it and not cry or have it bother me. Last June was the first Father’s Day in YEARS that I went to mass. I have really come a long way the last few years it’s kind of insane. If you go over to his website I have recently posted some new things including a song a former student wrote and all the masses that have been said in his memory this week. 

 

So to end this post on a happy note the whole theme of the weekend was community and sharing your stories with others. You need to find the right time and people to share your story and we need to be a welcoming community and not shut people out we all need community!! Even us introverts in the world we still need community!! The best quote from the webcast comes from Ann Voskamp, “Don’t start with a PROGRAM start with a PLATE.”