Life is Beautiful

This morning we went to an event at our church that we have been planning called "Life is Beautiful."  It was a celebration of life, and certainly a counter to all the news of late that has been going on, where certain governments have been celebrating the opposite.  In short, the issue of abortion has been very much in the national debate, and this morning our church hosted an event for all the churches and politicians to attend, one that expressed the point of view that in fact, life is beautiful, and worth saving.  You can see above one of the things we did at the end of the morning, a release of over 3,000 butterflies, which represented actually the number of abortions that take place each day.  Behind Mommy you can see one of the Katinas, the band we've been listening to for quite some time now, and long-time friends of Free Chapel.

Mommy and Madison are seated inside a small terrarium constructed in the lobby, a smaller area where butterflies were released.  Families could pose for pictures inside, as butterflies fluttered about. We've done this sort of thing a few times, but it was still pretty neat to see it here at the church.

As you can see, there were a lot of people at the event.  A network broadcast it live, and the amount of people that attended was so great that there were many seated in overflow outside, watching things on a large screen.

Here you can see the Katinas opening up, and playing throughout the event, between speakers and closing things out as well.  One of their CDs is part of our travel music down to Florida - we remember seeing them when we were at the old campus of Free Chapel, the north campus, which of course was long before the main campus was even constructed.  That's about twenty years ago.

The theme of things was the butterfly, so as you can see there were butterflies constructed for the event, decorations hanging all over the church.  You can also see one of Madison's friends from school here, which was nice to see.  Madison was surprised to see her, and the two were having a great conversation afterwards, walking around to see the butterflies and eating the cupcakes and snacks available.

The butterflies in the terrarium were fluttering around us, very nice for photos, but of course the big draw of the morning were the speakers.  One of them in particular was a remarkable woman named Gianna Jessen, who has an incredible testimony and is a walking counter to so many arguments. 

She's a miracle on feet, an inspirational person with contagious joy.  We have a regret that she couldn't speak longer - we could listen to her as long as she wanted to speak.  Mommy follows her on social media - we're big fans.

We had all kinds of decorations outside, along with this nice little swing here.  It looked nice this morning, with overcast skies and the ground a bit on the damp side.

It was a big morning, a nice event.  It was important for Madison to be there, to hear the details of the testimonies.  Both speakers were spot-on and relatable, real and captivating.  There is a world that offers an alternate view to this morning's events, so it was good to hear this side of things.  She certainly won't hear it in schools or elsewhere.

The rest of our day was spent preparing for our Palm Sunday service, but also with a bit of cleaning up at the house too.  We had a great day today, playing games, doing some writing and just chilling at the house.  But the big thing was the event we went to this morning, something important that Madison hopefully won't forget.  Life is beautiful.