what about abortion?

Yesterday, I began what I hope will be a journey of thought as I hammer out some political convictions I've been mulling for several months. Be sure to read my post from yesterday before going further into this one...I figured I'd hit the biggest nail on the head right away today.

One of the most common reactions I get when I mention supporting Obama is "what about abortion?" Let me first start out by saying that this is certainly still a thought in formation and I welcome any and all thoughts and comments. Let me also start by assuring you that I firmly hate abortion and wish it were not even an option. However, having said that, I don't think it is the cut and dry issue that many people make it out to be.

Sure, Republicans are typically pro-life and use this strongly moral issue against their opponents to drum up support from the Christian community. But let me ask a question. Has the number of abortions decreased in the past 8 years of a Republican's presidency? What about the 12 years of Republican leadership in the 80s and 90s? My understanding is that the number of abortions is on the rise. What was done to address abortion recently when the Republicans had control of the White House, the Congress, and had a conservative Supreme Court for two years? So Republicans are pro-life. It seems to me that many Republicans use the abortion issue to get elected, but do little about it once they get in office. It's sort of like a trophy issue that collects dust on the shelf after its won.

To seriously address this issue, I think we really have to look at all the factors that affect abortion and not just protest for the overturn of Roe v. Wade (which in my mind will probably never happen). An article by Tony Campolo I read recently cited a study that said 200,000 abortions could be avoided every year if the government would provide contraception to low-income Medicaid families. Health care and minimum wage issues arise here as well. What does an 18 year old girl do when she finds out she is pregnant? She's working for a whopping $7.50/hr with no health care and no way of taking time off for prenatal appointments, and she can forget asking for 3 months of paid leave for after the baby is born. And then, what about child care? These are all things that I think we middle class Americans take for granted, and yet these are the factors that are pushing many women towards abortion.

I think that in order to truly fix the abortion issue, we have to provide support for people in this situation, not just make it illegal. I feel like the Republicans have by and large left the care of the poor and sick to "Bleeding Heart Liberals." Now do I think that we should use tax dollars to pay for these types of programs? I'm still divided on that issue, but I do believe that a lot of the problems we face in our world today (violence, crime, terrorism, abortion, etc) could be helped, if not fixed, by eradicating the horrific poverty that exists in our world.

If this topic interests you, check out the 95-10 Initiative. I haven't read that much about it, but the basic idea is to reduce 95% of the abortions in 10 years. I plan on reading more about it in the near future, but in the mean time, let me know what you think!

why obama...part 1

When we visited our families in Richmond last week, I received a lot of comments about my Obama '08 bumper sticker on the back of our car. I even received several offers to have it removed! Let me frame this for those of you who are not familiar with our family background. Both Sarah and I come from very conservative backgrounds. My side of the family is very involved in the Republican party in the local and state levels. My mom worked for a Republican representative in the Virginia legislature and even ran for a seat in the VA House of Delegates.

I spent endless hours as a kid stuffing Republican mailers, putting up Republican signs, passing out Republican flyers, and attending Republican events. I enjoyed most of the excitement when I was a kid, but quickly lost interest when I hit high school. I purposefully avoided all things political for many years through college and on into early adulthood.

Over the past few years, however, my appetite for politics has increased almost to the point of obsession here recently. I have found, however, that many of my views have changed from my early upbringing. I definitely wouldn't say that I re-entered the political world embittered by my early experience. In fact, I'd say quite the opposite! I re-entered with an open mind, especially in the previous presidential election where Sarah and I spent hours discussing how we should vote. I've spent endless hours reading about this presidential race as that has been the main focus of my interest. As I've been studying the candidates and following the headlines, I've continually struggled through the thought of how do I let my faith as a Christian influence my political views? I have tried my hardest to avoid political commentary and just let my views come from my own heart and mind.

The main struggle I've come against is the subconscious thought running through many American Christian minds (including mine until recently) that Christians must vote for Republicans. I know that most people would say that is false, but I think there is a very strong tendency to think that in many Christian circles. The problem I am facing now is that I don't really have anyone to talk through with this besides Sarah, who I fear I might drive mad talking about it all the time! So, I turn to my blog to work my thoughts out. I welcome your feedback. I would love to be challenged so that I can work out all the thoughts bouncing in my head.

As I've found myself moving to support Obama in this election, I've hit many questions that I am still working on answering. How can I support a candidate that voted to keep partial-birth abortions legal? How should I as a Christian feel about war? Does being anti-war mean doing nothing about terrorism? Is socialized health care the best way to provide health care to millions of Americans who cannot afford health care? Should homosexual marriage be legal?

So, over the next few weeks, I hope to post more of my thought process here for you to check out, read over, comment, and ask questions. I do want to point out that just because I am supporting Obama, do not think I find him flawless! I think one problem with the way we handle politics is that we often assume that because someone supports a candidate, they think he/she is perfect and the debate gets too heated. My purpose is not to evangelize a candidate. My purpose is to get my thoughts straight and hopefully engage some people in some interesting conversation!

my website is back...

After several months of not having a photography website, I finally got one back online. I think I wrote a while back that the last site I had was great, but it cost too much. Then my friend Peter Guy wrote and said he'd host a site for me! He pointed me in the right direction and I put it together over the past week or so. Thanks Peter! I still want to play around with it some more, but it works for now! Check it out:

www.peterdavisphotography.com

Happy 4th!

The past 2 July 4ths have been pretty big for our family. Two years ago, we sat in the front yard of our apartment with Kyla and watched the Culver City fireworks while Sarah was in labor with Avery...she was born the next evening! Last year, we had just moved into our new house in Charlotte and were properly welcomed into the neighborhood North Carolina style with a firework display in every neighbor's backyard! This year, I thought, "What's July 4th without some crowds, sweat, and a parade?"

So we headed to downtown Indian Trail about 2 miles away for the annual celebration and parade. I hadn't been to a Southern, small town parade in quite some time, so we were treated to some local flavor!!! Sarah had flashbacks of the Powhatan parade, but the important part was that the girls had a good time. Kyla quickly decided she loves parades despite the loud engines and fire truck horns...mostly because nearly every float/car/tractor/truck was filled with candy-throwing paraders! It was fun to get out and enjoy the festivities! Below are some pictures from the day!

Kyla and her friend Ella quickly figured out that the best way to get candy was to jump up and down and waive their hands in the air!
Still holding onto the past...

Hangin' wth the Creehans!

Future NASCAR champ

No comment...

Avery tried her best to beat the heat...

Music from the flatbed..."I'm a member of a country club. Country music is what I love. I drive an old Ford pickup truck. I do my drinkin' from a Dixie cup."

Kyla loves dancing to whatever music there is to hear!

Dad was proud to have her wear a VT hat!

words not war...

I came a cross an article on cnn.com yesterday that refers to a report that the US is "preparing a battlefield in Iran." Those are some pretty scary words for me. Now, of course, there is no telling how accurate the article is because some journalists like to stretch the truth and our government isn't always the best at telling the truth. But at any rate, I really hope it is not accurate! I've become a news/politics junkie as of late, and from what I read, it seems that an attack on Iran would be the absolute worst thing we could do right now.

Yes, we need to tow a pretty hard line in keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. But it seems to me that an attack would only strengthen their resolve to continue their development, not stop it. It would also incite more hatred towards the US and would encourage more terrorism. There doesn't really seem to be any way that we could conduct any military operations in Iran that would not require a long-term commitment to staying in Iran like we have done in Iraq.

I've been reading a book called God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get it written by Jim Wallis, the founder of a Progressive Christian movement called Sojourners. In his book, he talks about the need for more than just protesting against certain actions of the government. Instead, he calls for support of better ideas that will change the things you might not like. For example, in the lead-up to the Iraq war, his organization along with several other Christian leaders had drafted a six-step plan for a nonviolent solution in Iraq including a multi-nation criminal investigation against Saddam Hussein. His plan was seriously considered by many lawmakers in both the US and in Great Britain. He spoke in front of several panels and even met with Tony Blair. In the end, however, according to Wallis, the Bush administration refused any more talks about the plan and the rest is history.

Again, we're not privileged to all that happened there, but what I do know is that I want to be active in doing all I can to be sure we don't go through with military actions against Iran at this time. So I went to the words not war petition and signed to make my voice heard. Obviously, signing an online petition will not stop a war, but I feel it is a small start. If you're not very familiar with the issue, you can find a lot of resources here.

i finished kyla's bed...

I put the finishing touches on Kyla's bed and I moved it to her room from the garage this morning. Here are pictures of the finished product.

green thumbing it...

When we moved into our townhouse last year, I really wanted to get into growing flowers, bushes, veggies, etc. I've always enjoyed gardening, but I've never had much chance to do it. Last summer was incredibly dry, though, and I didn't think it was best to start anything in the middle of a drought. So this spring, I started planting some things here and there and I've had a blast! Everything is doing pretty well...I haven't killed anything yet! If I had a little more money in the budget for gardening, I'd certainly put a lot more in, but we're sprucing our place up little by little! Here are a few pictures.

This is the only picture I could find out what our backyard looked like when we moved in...pretty boring.

The sunflowers have been the most fun because the girls and I planted the seeds just a few months ago and they've shot up and given us a ton of beautiful blooms!

The tomatoes are finally starting to come in!