Without further delay.... here you go... OUR NEW STORY.
Sometimes life is better viewed in reverse. What does that mean? That means sometimes in the midst of living life, it doesn't make any sense at all. Like... at all... at all! It doesn't make any sense... until you look back.
In the late fall of 2011, my husband was asked to run for Ohio State Senate. The senator in our district, wouldn't sign the Heartbeat Bill. That's a bill that says once the heartbeat of a baby is detected, an abortion can no longer be performed. A group of people asked him to act like he was running in hopes that once the senator got wind of it, she would sign the bill. Well, long story short, she wouldn't sign. My husband announced he was running, and just like that we were thrust into the nasty world of politics. He ran a 6 week campaign with $4000 that was given to him along the way (we couldn't ask for money to run a campaign because we live on support... meaning people give to our ministry so we can live.) So we ran using social media and very, very little money. Some have said she used about $250,000. In the end, Paul got 32% of the vote. Pretty good for having little time, little experience and little money!
When it was over, to be honest, I wasn't sad he lost. I had no desire to live that life, HOWEVER, I thought it was so weird he lost. See, we firmly believe God asked us to run that political race; to fight for those who couldn't fight for themselves, to fight for the unborn, and so we were willing. The confusing part was... if we were certain, God asked us to do it... and we were certain... why didn't we win? I was so puzzled.
Then we got asked to move and that was an altogether different and awful whirlwind and I ended up 20 hours away from everything I have ever known.
We weren't in our new location for very long when Paul ran across an article about how some kid and a van was changing the face of the pro life movement. He read it and was so impressed that he decided to send them an encouraging email. However, the email wouldn't go through. He looked over the site some more and realized that this guy wasn't too far from us (like, a mile away). So, he called him. They had lunch the next day and Paul got to hear all about his organization called Save the Storks.
Fast forward almost a year, hundreds of conversations, and lots of prayer and we have joined the team!
Were we unhappy with the job we moved to take? Absolutely not!!! But joining the Save the Storks team just connected all the dots for us. It seemed The Lord had been tilling the soil with what seemed like a random run for office 2 years ago. We believe God used this to get us looking and thinking in the pro life direction. We talked a great talk 2 years ago about fighting for the unborn and then it stopped there.
This is the Holocaust of our time. There have been 55 million abortions, 55 million lives ended. What is our family doing to stop it? What is our family doing to fight for life? Step away from the Bible and what God says about life for a second, even though I could never live without God's Word. Our country was built, established and I believe blessed by the Constitution. In it we are told we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. THE RIGHT TO LIFE! Have we missed this?
So, our family is going to fight. But, we are going to do it in a totally unconventional way. Save the Storks takes Mercedes Sprinter Vans and turns them into mobile ultrasound units. These vans are then parked across the street from abortion clinics. Before our van arrives though, we contact the abortion clinic and let them know we are there. We want them to know that we are not going to protest or talk bad about them, or be mean to them. As a matter of fact, we are going to pray for them. Then we offer them a choice. And with the help of our board member, Abby Johnson, if any of them would like out of the abortion industry, we will write them a check for 3 months of their salary and help them find a new job. As of today, over 90 people have left... including a doctor.
Women that are walking into the abortion clinics are then offered a chance to see a free ultrasound of their baby. Once those women see life on the 3 flat screens around that van, a high majority of them chose life. But, they are not just choosing life for their baby, they are choosing life for themselves. That's why the organization is named Save the Storks. Research has proven and stories have been written about women who've chosen abortion in the past. They spend the rest of their lives in regret and turmoil. We don't want any woman to live like that. We want to save them from a life where the past haunts them.
Once a woman choses life, we connect them with people that can walk along beside them their entire pregnancy, and beyond. This gives them counsel, love and options.
And, like any good story, our story starts off with a bang. Wait until you hear about the trip we just took to pick up Stork van #6! (Not promising any timeline though. Although, I am promising to write more. I really miss writing!)
