New Day with Science

I am frankly embarrassed about yesterday's post and hoping that no one read it. I feel like I have allowed myself to become quite the whiner and I resolving to be stronger and more positive. Yesterday I was once again reminded what a good husband I have. He came home and was very sympathetic about my bad day. He also took care of JAC all evening and made me a wonderful dinner of frozen margaritas and tater tots. It was awesome and I am very thankful for such a fun husband and friend.

Since I don't sleep as much as I used to I have more time to ponder and "research" things. When JAC was born I bought a subscription to Newsweek and I use it as a springboard for topics to ponder. Today I am pondering the role of family in faith.

When my grandparents were here a few weeks ago we went to the newly remodeled Museum of American History. Hidden in the basement was an exhibit on how science has played a role in our history. This exhibit was my favorite but a section of the exhibit was dedicated to the "The Pill." It lauded The Pill as a scientific discovery that freed women, gave them more control, allowed them to enter the work place and become more equal to men. While I was initially taken aback that there would be an exhibit on The Pill in a museum visited by large numbers of school children I had to agree that birth control has in many ways improved women's' lives across the world. Jess and I have had many conversations about perhaps not have any more children and instead just being satisfied with our little JAC but there is a movement that thinks about birth control and children in a completely different way. This movement is called the "Quiverfull." (Read more about it at http://www.newsweek.com/id/189763/page/2). The movement does not believe in birth control and instead believes that every child is a blessing - an arrow used in the Christian faith. It also believes that motherhood is the most important thing that a woman can do. The more extreme followers of the Quiverfull movement have gone as far as to imply that the Christian faith has been held back by birth control and that having more christian children would essentially result in more warriors for Christ. The Quiverfull movement is a stark contrast to the Feminist movement and each extreme has its drawbacks. For instance, the rise of the Feminist movement also resulted in fewer mothers at home raising children and perhaps less respect for the stay at home mom. The Quiverfull movement could also put a huge financial strain on a family not ready feed and take care of 10 plus kids. I feel like there should be some middle ground and I'm choosing to focus on quality of child rearing at the moment instead of quantity but I don't judge others who make a different choice. It seems like motherhood is changing drastically from what it was in the past and many Americans are still trying to get their footing. Science has allowed much older mom's to get pregnant, and women to have multiple children but it has also allowed for women to opt out of motherhood completely. I just stop and wonder with a nation leaning so heavily on science, will the results eventually lead us to lean more heavily on God?

In other matters science - I have always felt that JAC looked like Jess and most of my family members agree. I've even been a bit disappointed that he doesn't look more like me. I was given hope that this might change because I had a friend suggested that it was a scientific fact that all babies look like their Dad's when they are born as a survival mechanism. If a baby looked more like their dad then their dad would be more likely to claim their progeny. I've done a little research and this does not appear to be true. Babies do not look more like their dads but instead their moms are more likely to suggest they look like their dads and this power of suggestion helps fuel the connection between dad and child. In other words the moms have an invested interest in the dad believing the child looks like them and so they subconsciously plant the suggestion. Here's a link if you want to read more about it. (http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/parenting/archive/2009/02/13/why-babies-look-more-like-dad-than-mom.aspx). I am slightly disappointed but mostly glad. My husband is a handsome guy and I'm happy JAC will look like him.