I have to say...I never would have dreamed I was going to be able to the Capitol last week after hearing about the bill not passing. I wanted to go but really thought I would wait until Michael came home. Then I got a phone call from Jonathan...a young man on fire for the mission of prayer, especially for the end of abortion. He saw that I had thought about going to Austin and told me he was also trying to gather a group of prayer warriors to go. As I spoke with him on the phone Friday, I knew that I needed to go as the driver of all the people he planned to gather from our area. What better use for our Big White Sail!?!
So the planning began and it just seemed to grow from the two of us seeking a way to get to Austin to joining a larger group of leaders across the state. I really do not consider myself a leader to the masses...I hardly can lead a group locally. I have learned long ago that I can only take what I am given and let things happen as God wills. So, I was grateful just to be in "the know" for the events that would take place at the Capitol so I could witness Pro-life action at its finest. I was truly blessed by this experience and cannot help but share it with anyone who would like a first hand account of the events that took place in the last two days.
Forgive me if I get a little excited...as my daughters said, I am acting like a giddy school girl knowing that such a bill will be passed in Texas to save babies and protect women. Praise God!
SO...we started out at 4:30am from our house to the parking lot to gather into our van. We were supposed to leave at 5am...when all was said and done, we left in different vehicle that was a little smaller and had better gas mileage...there were seven of us heading to Austin...the perfect number! It might not seem like a big group but we were convinced that God had a plan for each of us as we headed out of town to Austin. Besides, I already knew that there were others already there or heading in that direction, so all was good and part of God's plan.
I will skip the past the ride to Austin...only going to say that we had an awesome group who went with the flow of the morning and making several stops as we met our individual needs...and still made it to Austin in record time! We also spent the last 30 minutes of our ride praying for the day and how God would use us at the Capitol! God is good!
We arrived and made the short walk to the building and through the metal detectors. We were now in the lion's den...facing the hoards of abortion advocates (We would later find out that many of these in orange shirts were paid to be there!). I will not lie...we were out numbered and the prohecy spoken in the car ride into Austin became a reality...we were like Gideon's army...vastly out numbered but strong in Spirit!
Now...before I go on let me say that our little group was led by a Godly young man...Jonathan. We also had two women who were true prayer warriors...Charity and Kendra. And then we had myself with baby Zaira on my hip and flanked by Sean (who actually stayed closer to Jonathan most of the day!). We were a small group that spread across three generations fighting for the lives of those who can not speak for themselves.
We joined others from across the state and there was likely four (possibly five) generations gathered together...a grassroots effort at its finest. We were the few but we bravely came together to show God's love in spite of the anger and hate that surrounded us. Am I being extreme in my description? Read on to see what what happened in this spiritual battle for LIFE!
We formed a unit of blue shirts (pro-life group) around the second floor of the Rotunda and some of the the other floors as well. Again...we were surrounded by orange shirts (The pro-aborts choice in color because it was easy to gather supporters from the very liberal University of Texas just blocks away!). Yes, the colors mattered...we were being counted and only those wearing these colors were among this number...truthfully I am not sure if the numbers given out by the press were accurate but we were definitely out numbered.
Jonathan leads a group in different parts of the nation in what is known as Silent Siege...red tape with the word LIFE are placed upon the lips of the silent prayer warriors. This is to represent our desire to stand in silence for those who have been silenced by abortion. From the start of this trip, I promised Jonathan that I would stand with him as he desired because I wanted to be at the Capitol in prayer.
Soon after we arrived, a press conference had been arranged for women who wanted to share their stories of regret for their abortions. This was in an effort to show that abortion does hurt women. Our small group was asked if we would like to be in the room to be a prayerful presence. We entered the room and prayed over the women who would speak and over the room where the press would stand hoping this would open up their minds, hearts and souls to the message to send out to the world! Soon after this...we were informed that there were too many of us and not enough room for the growing size of the press! Just before I left with Zaira, a woman (obviously scripted) ran into the room screaming so loud a message of hate that I could not even understand her words! She was quickly sent out by the State Troopers (many extra men were called in to the Capitol to keep the peace) and left right behind her.
My plan was to stand by the door in hopes of hearing the press conference. However, soon after leaving the room, I began to hear a loud unified voice coming from the rotunda. My first thought...The orange shirts have taken over our efforts to surround the Rotunda in prayer while we were crowded around a press conference! So, I raced back to the Rotunda and to my amazement...a group of blue shirts had entered into the Capitol Rotunda singing Amazing Grace! I would later find out that Jonathan's dear friend Danita (with her small group of 12) began this song as soon as they walked through the metal detectors and MANY others joined in the song as they made their way to the Rotunda. It was truly the most beautiful sound! And it must have hurt the ears of those in orange because they made every effort to drowned out the singing...yet failed as we repeated the song for over two hours amidst their screams!
***Sean promises to share some f the stories he heard that I will blog about in a later post this week.***
We began passing out LIFE tape to all that desired to unify under this effort of prayer. Even though many did not understand the need to place the tape upon their mouths and they continued to sing, the effort to be a prayerful presence did not stop.
The liberal press were going around trying to capture moments of debate that the pro-aborts initiated to cause strife. The idea was to start a 'debate' with a pro-lifer and then escalate the argument just in time for the camera to tape the dispute. If this had just happened once, I would have considered it a fluke but it happened MANY times. So my response was to begin walking around to these interactions and place my hand on the shoulders of the blue shirts and pray for them to join the silence. If this did not work, I would lean in to whisper in their ear to pray...this usually got the point across and the debate ended.
As we ran out of LIFE tape, a couple began making new pieces with red tape and a black marker. The woman had a tiny pocket knife that she used to cut the tape (not sure how she got ti through security). It was not meant to be threatening in any way but a camera crew noticed it. I just happened to be standing there at that moment and I stood right in front of that little knife to avoid the camera from recording this 'offense.' I waited for the camera to leave and then told the woman to put the knife away to avoid a confrontation.
We stood in that Rotunda for four hours singing and praying. Then the most awful thing I have ever experienced at a rally. The orange shirts changed the words to that beautiful hymn! I am not sure how they did this but it was evident that they were on a Twitter feed or something to get the lyrics out quickly...I have not been able to find them myself and really do not want to be reminded of what they sang...I just knew that it was not good and something needed to be done! As I stood there...the thought came to me to change our song! I began singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children" as loud as I could. I even had a couple of people on either side of me singing. Jonathan obviously heard me also from the other side of the Rotunda because he quietly walked over to me...handed me red tape and said "This will work better." I acquiesced to his prayerful way and began to prayerfully walk around the Rotunda. I did feel better as I prayed the Divine Mercy chaplet and Zaira fell asleep.
So, I decided to stand in a gap surrounded by orange shirts. I prayed for conversion of heart...for true Love to be shown to them and that they would be open to this Love. And Zaira slept through all the loud screaming, until Wendy Davis (the representative who fillibustered the bill last week) came into the Rotunda. The orange shirts surged in their screams and it woke up Zaira...and she was mad and screaming! And something came over me as this happened... hollered at the top of my lungs, "Wendy...the babies cry out for you!!!" and then I loked around and pointed across the Rotunda...and said..."And they cry out for all of you too!"...I really do not know why I did this...it is not usually my style when I am at a function like this. I really do try to be prayerful and even when discussing my belief...I am compassionate to the ones around me...I want to believe that they are just misguided souls.
So, I took a break...and got myself and Zaira calmed down. We walked around the lower chambers and prayed alone for each representative. We went to the bathroom and dealt with rudeness...I smiled and went about the halls and waited for direction.
Just when I was walking back up to the second level, the Senate Gallery was opening up to determine if there was a quorum. We were allowed to enter the upper gallery to view the Senate session. I really had wanted to be there but Zaira was not ready for more of this so we stepped out and waited for the results. This came right before 3pm....the Senate would not meet as a quorum until July 9th....however committees would come together until the holiday weekend.
Believe it or not...we managed to gather a large group in front of the Capitol right at 3pm to sing/pray the Divine Mercy chaplet...this is the traditional time of mercy and time to pray this prayer (the hour Jesus died on the cross) so I thought it was an amazing grace! It was also another moment of courage and perseverance. It was a time of joy for Catholics and Protestants came together under the prayerful leadership of Danita. She is amazing! She explained the story of the Divine Mercy so pretty...like I had never heard it before...everyone was ready to pray and Jonathan and Danita led us.
It is to no surprise that satan would not want this unified effort to continue without fighting. I am convinced that any time one of us was distracted by one of the orange shirts...satan was smiling. And it did happen...first a group passed by yelling at us...then a man came screaming at us with a wire coat hanger...I thought it ironic that he said we were going to hurt our daughters when he in fact threw the hanger and hit an innocent 12-year old girl who was praying. He was taken away from us screaming.
So the father of this girl, turned to the man and called out "God bless you!" Another man...much older...ran up to him and shouted...."Did you just bless me!" and the exchange continued like this...
"No...but I can."...
"No you can't!"...
"Well...I am praying for you right now."....
"Don't force your religion on me!"...as he walks away.
"Even if you walk away from me, I will still be praying for you!"...
"No!" He runs back and screams as he shakes his fist and then walks away.
"OK...God bless you!" (I spoke with this man later...he says the last remark was heart felt but also not appropriate...and he said he would repent from pushing the man too much.)
Through it all...we continued to pray...and the others continued to shout at us. Most of our group was so in to the prayer that the chaos around them was left un-noticed...and all were blessed.
We were energized and began going around to all of the legislators to pray for them. We specifically went into the office of our personal representatives. We were glad to know that they had voted for the bill. We had a great talk with the staff members and left. As we walked back to our car, we were stopped for an interview from an aspiring journalist who said we were the 'first blue shirts she had seen all day!" I talked to her about why we were there and told her I would pray for her to write a good article and I would love to see it when she was done.
We then drove to Austin House of Prayer and prayed for two hours praising God for the day and asking to be uplifted for the remainder of the month. It was the end to a great day! We drove home....just as pumped up as we came...we were enjoying the company of each other and wishing we could have stayed longer. We were home around 1am...almost 24 hours from the time we left. I did not fall asleep until closer to 2am as Amanda was awake and listened to my day.
By the way...I was so proud of Sean for standing in silent prayer for FIVE hours! He was a great prayer warrior for LIFE. And also for Zaira who was such a good baby to be in a car and in my arms for most of this time....she did a great job!
BUT....I was up and ready by 7am....I emailed everyone I had in my account and sent messages to Facebook all day. I even signed up for a Twitter account...ready to do my part from home to get the message out to others.
Tuesday we had many more blue shirts than orange at the Capitol. The committees were meeting and hearing testimony from the public. Over 3000 people registered to give their opinion on the bill. Only 100 people were actually able to give their opinion in testimony...it was an almost even split from both sides with a slight favor on the side for LIFE.
However, the greatest victory was the continuous effort with an impromptu rally at the lower part of the Rotunda that was live streamed to the world via the internet. One after another people stood and prayed and gave testimony about their personal abortion story. These courageous blue shirts were met by resistance circling them like prey...chanting "Hail satan!" I watched from my home and wished I could be there...and I prayed! I prayed for their perseverance...I prayed for conversion of hearts...I prayed that St. Michael would battle for them! This was truly a spiritual battle!
So ended the second day of the special session...the decision was made that the bill would continue to the next step. This will be next week and I hope to be there to encourage those in the Capitol to finalize this decision. To God be the glory in this amazing state of Texas!
Then...because the children enjoyed themselves so much last week...we headed to the library to do another round with steam-punk...this time with jewelry. The girls...for some unknown reason sat this one out...too bad as the boys had a blast with several others from around the area. And...even Brendan and Edward got a chance to create some jewelry. AND...Edward won the drawing of a special prize...and he won a cool owl watch that opens up to tell the time! 
Zaira and Jonathan might be the smallest bowlers but they loved the game! They both enjoyed 'holding' their balls and rolling them around the floor.
We might not be the best bowlers in the 'league' but we know how to have fun! Zach scored the closest to his predicted score...Sean scored the lowest...and Trevor scored the highest! Darn if I did not leave the prizes at home! I will need to get them to the winners next week!
We were up early this morning to get out the door in time to get to the airport. No one had a problem getting ready but we ended up leaving about 30 minutes later than planned....that was OK as traffic was not bad and we made it to Houston in record time. We even had time to sit and try to determine which escalator Michael would come down. It was also nice to sit as most of us were not feeling well...we have summer colds and very congested. We did not let this get us down as we were practically floating on air anticipating his arrival. 
SO...Michael's first activity upon his return was not to enjoy a fireworks show...but to dig a hole and change out a pipe on the main line! So much fun!
Now...before I go on let me say that our little group was led by a Godly young man...Jonathan. We also had two women who were true prayer warriors...Charity and Kendra. And then we had myself with baby Zaira on my hip and flanked by Sean (who actually stayed closer to Jonathan most of the day!). We were a small group that spread across three generations fighting for the lives of those who can not speak for themselves. 
Soon after we arrived, a press conference had been arranged for women who wanted to share their stories of regret for their abortions. This was in an effort to show that abortion does hurt women. Our small group was asked if we would like to be in the room to be a prayerful presence. We entered the room and prayed over the women who would speak and over the room where the press would stand hoping this would open up their minds, hearts and souls to the message to send out to the world! Soon after this...we were informed that there were too many of us and not enough room for the growing size of the press! Just before I left with Zaira, a woman (obviously scripted) ran into the room screaming so loud a message of hate that I could not even understand her words! She was quickly sent out by the State Troopers (many extra men were called in to the Capitol to keep the peace) and left right behind her. .jpg)
Believe it or not...we managed to gather a large group in front of the Capitol right at 3pm to sing/pray the Divine Mercy chaplet...this is the traditional time of mercy and time to pray this prayer (the hour Jesus died on the cross) so I thought it was an amazing grace! It was also another moment of courage and perseverance. It was a time of joy for Catholics and Protestants came together under the prayerful leadership of Danita. She is amazing! She explained the story of the Divine Mercy so pretty...like I had never heard it before...everyone was ready to pray and Jonathan and Danita led us. 
It is to no surprise that satan would not want this unified effort to continue without fighting. I am convinced that any time one of us was distracted by one of the orange shirts...satan was smiling. And it did happen...first a group passed by yelling at us...then a man came screaming at us with a wire coat hanger...I thought it ironic that he said we were going to hurt our daughters when he in fact threw the hanger and hit an innocent 12-year old girl who was praying. He was taken away from us screaming. 
Danny arrived this morning before we headed to church with his daughter Kaleigh. He told me she was an expert with tile who loved to grout! So while he completed the laying of the tile...she worked on grouting the area. 
