[Janeytwo]

[quote=Mom2blessings] My mother struggled immensely to feed her 4 kids, thanks to a deadbeat dad. We lived for a year without running water. We had holes in the floor, ceilings and walls. [quote]

Your mother sounds a lot like mine. Tough and brave. I commend them both for the things they faced. In my mother's case, I am thankful she followed her own counsel and not "society's" dictates that she stay married in order to be respectable. She committed a sin in the eyes of many different religions. She divorced. And probably saved mine and my siblings souls in the process. I use the word "souls" because I don't even want to think about who we would've been if she hadn't made the choice to end her marraige.

One thing though, I am hoping in what I'm reading that you're not romantacizing poverty. Poverty is horrific and there is nothing noble in it. I can tell you from personal experience that the last thing I'd want for any of our children is for them to know what it's like to go 3 days with nothing to eat but a bag of pumpkin seeds and some watered down coffee-mate from an old jar in the back of the cupboard. The only time I find myself at odds with others over adoption is when it involves someone poor who is considering placing. In the case of poverty, I would always recommend surrendering because no child should be subjected to poverty.

And therein lies one of my biggest problem with Pro-Life. I often hear Pro-lifers talking about life being sacred while at the same time supporting cuts in welfare. I mean, okay....are these people interested in the care of our country's children or aren't they? Which is it? It's not enough to say, "I'm against abortion" I need to hear that Pro-Lifers are "for" the children that are being born. And quite frankly, anyone who supports cuts in welfare, education and health care for poor families is not for children. I believe that that may be what Brenda was trying to say though I am only forumlating things the way that they appear on the boards.

Also, I understand and do respect what you're saying in that you would "live in a tent" in order to provide for your children. Clearly you love them.

But the State wouldn't care about that. Your love would be of no concern to them whatsoever. Your children would be taken from you on the grounds that you were unfit and unable to provide a stable home for them. It has happened before. And I would submit that in this day and age, your mother and my mother would've suffered the same fate and then you, me, our siblings....we would've ended up in foster care.

I'm reiterating here but as I've said a few times in this forum, I would ask everyone, Please PLEASE do not romantacize poverty. It is an ugly and violent life.

Thank you.