Monday, May 23rd, 2005

We woke up bright and early and met several families for breakfast. In total there were 21 Snowflake children that arrived in DC (23 if you count Maura’s twins that have yet to be born:). As all the families had not yet arrived in DC, a few of us were scheduled to walk the halls of Congress. We hoped to pass out flyer’s and educate any Congressional Representative who had time to speak with us.

In order to get to the Cannon building (one of several Congressional buildings), we decided to take the metro. What an experience that was! Tanner and I had never seen a subway system so this was definitely new for us. I have slight fear of height issues and going down that escalator was making me dizzy. The metro is supposed to be easy to maneuver but when you are in a large group with several children, easy is not the word that comes to mind:).

It turned out to be quite a walk and my feet still feel swollen for walking in dress shoes so much this week…OUCH! (Sidenote: To my sister in love Brooke – just wanted you to know that yes I got a pedicure, yes my toes looked cute, and no I did not commit the horrifying fashion faux paux of open toed shoes with nylons…thought you’d be pleased to hear that. On that note, Grammy said that she thought I looked classy and was glad that I did not wear black…thought that would bolster your confidence in me LOL).

When we arrived at the Cannon building, we headed straight for Congressman Pitts office. Congressman Pitts was one of a few House Representatives who were opposing this bill and organizing the press conference. You will notice in some of the pictures that many of us wore stickers that said “Former Embryo”:). This captured attention. Congressman Pitts office had also arranged to distribute shirts amongst the families for all of our snowflakes. The shirt reads “This embryo wasn’t discarded…” Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program. If THAT doesn’t capture attention, not sure what would:).

Side Note: I know that many people have been curious as to why Jim and I allow Tanner to be in the public eye. We have been asked if we think it is right to use our children as a “billboard”. Here is our answer. We feel that God chose this for our family and for our children. Just as I did not choose personally to be the daughter of a pastor, did not choose to share my dad with so many others, did not choose to be under the microscope growing up…..GOD chose that for me. The job of my parents was to raise me in a way that would enable me to live true to MY calling. They did that and I benefited. Jim and I feel the same about our children. We know that God called us from early ages to stand up for the preborn. God has put both of our children in a very unique situation to be able to testify for life as they were both held by us before they were deemed viable. God made this choice for them and we believe He expects us (Jim and I) to teach our kids how to use the story that God gave them to protect the innocent. Others may disagree with this belief but we are accountable before the Lord. His priorities are what comes first and we believe this is what we have been called to. At some point both of our children will be old enough to make their own choices and decide if they want to continue down the road that we feel they have been called to. Jim and I pray that they will but the decision will be theirs. For now, our job is to train and equip them. Additionally, this is not just their story as some suggest. It is also Jim and I’s story and we feel called to share it.

We attempted to visit several of the congressman or their designated staff but most were unavailable. The Gray’s and Tanner and I did get to spend some time with Congressman Shadegg’s (from AZ) staff representative. Natalie was very generous with her time and very supportive of our position. She assured us that Congressman Shadegg would oppose HR 810. The Gray’s also met with Congressman Flakes office (also an AZ rep). The Republican Reps in AZ tend to be very conservative and the vast majority of them are Pro Life so I expected that we would be preaching to the choir.

After lunch, we were told that Mary Walsh (executive producer for some CBS shows) wanted to interview some families. Tanner and I along with the Gray’s, the Murray’s, and the Tesdall’s participated in this interview. I still have not seen what was aired but I did hear that Tanner was on Good Morning America on Tuesday morning and that a short portion of my interview and Tanner were on Worldview with Peter Jennings on Tuesday evening. My mom called and wanted to know what in the world Tanner was doing tackling “that little girl” on GMA. LOL. That was little Mary Elizabeth:), Peter and Suzanne’s lil’ snowflake. Mary is teeny tiny and oh so cute.

Tanner and I were interviewed last and by that time Tanner had reached the end of his rope. He was getting very tired, thirsty and grumpy. I had to hold him during my interview and at one point he was so frustrated he started to cry. I was actually surprised they aired any of my interview due to this. I also found this interview to be difficult. When you are doing an on camera interview, you have to be very conscientious to only look at your interviewer. You should not be addressing the camera person nor the person holding the mic. Sadly, I am incapable:). I tried so hard to keep my eyes on the interviewer but I continually caught myself drifting. It is instinctive to me to address “my audience” with eye contact and that is a habit that dies hard.

We weren’t expecting this day to be quite as busy as it was and by evening’s end, we were tired tired tired. A few of us mustered the energy to go to dinner together and had a lovely time. (By the way, I know most of these details are not interesting to the general public but I will want to remember them:).

I would say we managed to get to bed early on Monday night, but alas, we did not. It was pushing midnight once again and I knew I was wearing my child out. I prayed God’s grace would cover him through the crazy hectic schedule.

I also interviewed with the Boston Globe on Monday…article can be seen here.

And ah yes…one thing I forgot! On our way home from visiting Congress, Tanner was walking along the hotel wall (I didn’t see this but he had already been told not to do it) and had a hard fall. He scratched his nose, arm, and elbow. Doesn’t that just figure? The day before a big event, kids always put battle scars on their face! Aaaaghhh!!!! Why oh why did he have to scratch his nose right before our press conference!!!! Sheeeshhh!