One More Soul

*This was written in my spiral notebook almost 2 weeks ago.  But I've been busy baby-having ~ welcome, Adah Marie!

What with the recent HHS mandate / compromise fervor and the subsequent interest in the Catholic Church's position on contraception, two of my favorite writers have tackled the topic with clarity and wit : Ms. Borges and Bad Catholic Part I and Part II. 

So how do we Howells live our Faith being open to new life with a 1:4 chance of cystic fibrosis shadowing every pregnancy?  First fact is that there are hundreds of genetic issues that children can be born with and hundreds more conditions that children can develop or catch once born.  Second fact is that we are called to live a vocational, considered life based on sacraments and living well ; not an entitled, fast food life, based on my life, my way.

Here's our life, quickly :
Marriage is a sacrament.
Sex is good.
Children are a blessing.
NFP is too much work.
    ~Like, when it's time to consider charting or children, children always win!


What's so bad about another baby, CF or otherwise?

Money?  Ever heard Cat's in the Cradle?  A picnic with PB&Js is better than a plane ride to Disney.  A fun family game of hide and seek beats a show at the theater.  Kids don't really like steak anyway ; they prefer hamburger helper.  Presence, not Presents.

Alone time?  Teens can stay home with littles or take charge of backyard play or monitor DVD viewing for a coffee date, a bubble bath, a telephone call, or locking oneself in the bathroom.  Before teens is admittedly tough, but they do grow up and get there.

Health therapies?  It eventually eases up on parents  (Physically, not emotionally, but that's true for all children.).  My teen is in charge of his own nebulizers, his own clapping with a flutter valve, his own exercise routine, and makes sure he eats like a horse.  He handles hospitalizations by himself, too, although visitors are very important.

My hope and prayer is that this is encouraging, especially for CF parents.  You already know that your kids are extra excellent ; they're stronger, deeper, sweeter.  The world is better.  Heaven is better.  One more soul.

As I gaze into the face of my new, tiny daughter and wonder about CF, about suffering, about her life span and hospitals and IVs ; my heart breaks.  Here is where the theological Truths of our Holy Faith and the primitive pain in the reality of a suffering child crash together.  I am afraid and I am weeping.  But I am not filled with fear, because she is a beautiful gift.  Because of Jesus.

                                                     Thanks to Bad Catholic again.



Serving my King the best I can,
Allison