In case you didn’t get the me!-me!-memo, I’m turning 35 on Halloween. And I’ve started this birthday tradition. I sat here for the longest time tonight, wondering how to start this post. It means a lot to me, and I don’t want to mess it up. I just spent some time on my bedroom floor asking God to give me words, but.

Sometimes I wish he would just log into WordPress and write important blog posts himself. I don’t want to get in the way.

My heart is aching tonight for some women (and girls) right here where I live. They’re carrying tiny little babies in their wombs, but they aren’t celebrating with their husbands and friends about it.

They’re scared out of their ever-loving minds. And with good reason.

I get prayer requests (via e-mail) every week or so from the Pregnancy Decision Health Center here in Columbus. Girls and women who have called or come in to their office seeking help. No names or specifics but enough details to give shape to my prayers.

A single mom of 3 who is 9 weeks pregnant and not sure of the father of the baby.

A 14-year-old girl who is 18 weeks pregnant. Her mother has scheduled an abortion, but the girl doesn’t want to go through with it.

A 12-year-old girl whose 17-year-old boyfriend called in “to get this situation taken care of.”

I could cry. And sometimes I do. And I pray. And I wish I could do more. And I know that “Hey, sorry you’re pregnant, but here’s a book” is not going to make everything better for these girls and women. But I’ve got to believe that God is going to use my loaves and fishes to make a bigger impact than I know.

And with all of you chipping in, I just feel buoyed and encouraged, like maybe, just maybe, we can make a difference.

The president of PDHC is running in a Marathon for Life this Saturday. He’s asking people to donate $1 per mile toward PDHC, and I did that tonight. Maybe you’d rather not donate a book, but you’d like to donate some money straight to your local pregnancy center.

That would be awesome.

He also shared that every Tuesday at noon, he quietly prays outside an abortion clinic here in town for about an hour. He said that sometimes people join him, sometimes they don’t, but he’s never alone. He can physically feel God’s hand on him while he paces back and forth on the sidewalk praying. This abortion clinic is so close to my house. I think I might try to gather enough courage to join him sometime.

I know how “offensive” some pro-lifers can be/seem. I know the line about “why are we so fired up about abortion yet don’t care about the thousands of kiddos starving to death every day?”

I personally don’t think we have to choose between the two. Whether we want to admit it or not, most of us honestly have enough resources to help quite a variety of people. And ALL of them matter to God. And if you can absolutely, positively not afford to give a cent, you can pray. And pray and pray and pray.

So, here’s what I’m asking you to do:

1. Give $10 toward a copy of Expecting for a pregnant woman in need of HOPE. (Donate via paypal or contact me about writing a check.) OR

2. Give $5, and I will pair you up with another $5 donor to give a book. (Again, paypal or check.) OR

3. Buy several copies of Expecting from Amazon (for $10.19) and deliver them to your local pregnancy center yourself. (and please tell me about it!) OR

4. Buy a copy of Expecting for yourself and pray each week for a pregnant woman in poverty in a 3rd world country (I’m working on getting names of women in Haiti and possibly Kenya. This makes me so happy.)

5. Give some $ (any amount) to a person or organization that God has laid on your heart. And do it TODAY.

and 2 more things:

Leave a comment and share what you did so we can be encouraged AND tell one or two (or 500) people to pop on over here and get involved too.

Thank you, friends, for making my 35th birthday the best one ever! (no, it’s not until Sunday–I’m just making it strrrrrrrrretch this year!) Love you much!