North Dakota Abortion

As you might know by now, I am from North Dakota.  Recently our legislature began pushing a new bill that would outlaw abortion past six weeks after conception.  This created quite the rousing for all North Dakota citizens.  Whether you are pro-life, pro-choice, or somewhere in between, isn't really relevant in this post as I'm not going to get into a huge debate about it.

The interesting thing I found in this story was the number of people on my Facebook feed that would openly post either for or against the new bill.  Again, don't want to debate, but I believe it should be up to the mother and only the mother.  I don't believe any slut that has had 9 abortions already should be able to get one either and I personally would never want to abort something that I helped create, but that's debating and we'll stay away from that.  The point of the post is why would you want to kill something that you created in your body? It isn't about if you can or can't do it, but why would you want to? What part of a person makes the decision for someone to kill a part of them that they took part in creating? 

As I go further into this, it's becoming harder and harder to not debate, but just hang in there.

Recently my sister lost her baby a little over two weeks before her due date.  My sister is over 30 years old and has been trying to have a child for awhile now.  How fair is that?  Someone who wants a child more than probably I could ever imagine, only to have nature decide that she can't.  On the other hand, there are thousands of people every day that forcibly end their child's life.

I understand there are many exceptions to abortion and every story is different, but I can't even fathom the logic behind that.  Someone that wants a child so much and is denied and someone who doesn't want one at all, only to have it destroyed.

It doesn't quite make sense to me but what am I to do about it?  If you feel like putting in your two cents to this post, I hope you do.

Family Strong

I have returned back to North Dakota from our family trip to Colorado.  I must say, I am glad to be home again and able to sleep in my own bed.  However, it is never easy to leave my family in Colorado.  I don't cry very often, but I have a hard time watching other people cry, especially my mom.  When I see my mom cry, it's almost impossible to keep my eyes from tearing up.  Maybe it's because I've always been a mommy's boy and seeing her cry means I know she's hurting in some way.  My brother and his wife gave her the first two and only grandchildren she has and it is always hard for her to leave them as it is for all of us.  The entire way home she was just looking at pictures and videos from the trip over and over again.  I know that we will all see each other soon though and that's what pulls us all through.

We have always been a pretty close family.  If something is happening in one of our lives, it affects all of our lives.

While we were all down in Colorado, my sister received a text from a friend that is currently in the hospital due to prenatal complications.  She is doing fine, just has to remain in the hospital for the remaining weeks of her pregnancy.  In the text she wrote how our family deserves a medal because we made a 1600 mile round trip to Colorado to be there for the birth of Carter.  She goes on to say how she has been in the hospital for five days and none of her in-laws have come to see her even though they live within 100 miles of the hospital.

My entire family listened as my sister read the texts aloud and you could tell by the shock on all of our faces that this thought had never crossed our minds.  We basically packed and flew to Colorado at the drop of a dime.  A medal might be an exaggeration, but that's how our family is.  We're there for each other, no questions asked.

With Easter weekend winding down, I just want to say love your family.  You might not always see eye to eye, but they are your family and they always will be.  I love all of my family and I honestly don't think I would even be alive today if it wasn't for all of them.

Here's a couple of more photos from our trip.  Hope everyone will take some of what I said to heart.

Kisses from Alexis for Uncle Brock.

Alexis welcoming her brother Carter to the world with some kisses.

North Dakota: Born and Raised

I've had about enough of this.

I am a true North Dakotan.  I was born here, raised here, and still live here.  To tell you the truth, I will probably never leave this state.  The only circumstance that would incline me to leave this state was if I received a job offer elsewhere that involved much more money than a job I would receive here.

I lived in the same house from the time I was born until I was 18 and graduated and moved to college.  I go to college 30 minutes from my home town.  I know some of you think that is probably really lame and that I'm just scared to grow up and move away, but I'm really not.  I love to travel whenever I can.

The point of this post is the never-ending bitching I hear from people in this town.  I love living here.  It's calm, relaxing, and provides me with anything and everything I enjoy.  However, there are people that are in the same boat as me.  They have lived here their entire life.  Unlike me though, they take every opportunity to complain about it.  All I ever hear is how much this town and state sucks.  It's really frustrating.  I don't live here because I have to.  I live here because I want to.  I love North Dakota.  To those who complain, I always say why don't you leave then?  Nobody is making you stay here.  They never do though.  They just keep complaining.  So here it is...North Dakota has it's drawbacks, just like any other place you could live, but I think I am a much better person having grown up here.  If you don't like it, get the hell out!