Life Experiences and Information that Changed my Views

So, I use to be a republican. I hate to admit it, but I voted for George Bush... twice. However, over the past few years, God has allowed me to see the other side of the coin. I use to look down on people who received ANY type of government aid saying that they were obviously lazy people. Well, God humbled me. I was a junior in college when I got pregnant with my first child. Now I admit, that I definitely sinned in having sex before marriage. In fact, I was actively trying "not to have sex" with my boyfriend, which is why I wasn't on birth control. I reasoned that if I was on birth control then I would be more likely to have sex. Well, one day we messed up again, and I got pregnant. My whole life changed. Being college students and only having a part time jobs wasn't enough to support a family. Additionally, because I was still under my parents insurance, my pregnancy wasn't covered. Many young people who find themselves in this kind of situation decide to terminate the pregnancy, but I did not feel that this was the correct course of action for us. I always knew that I wanted children (although admittedly not this early) and I knew that I couldn't bear the emotional burden of giving my child up for adoption. If I wanted to keep my child, have a healthy baby, and have medical coverage during my pregnancy, I would have to get on MEDICAID. I was so greatful that medicaid existed. While at the health department they also got me signed up for WIC, which was incredibly helpful after the baby was born since formula was SOOOO expensive. And I did try and breast-feed, but the baby wouldn't gain weight so we had to resort to formula. This experience made me change my mind on the topic of medicine. I now believe in at least some kind of socially subsidized medical care.

Now, I don't want you to think that I am by any stretch of the imagination that I am a single mom. My boyfriend soon became my husband. We decided to get married before the baby was born. He quickly found himself a full-time job, which only paid $6.50 an hour, but we were greatful for that. We decided my schooling was extremely important so I kept on going to school & kept my part time job. But even with my husband working full-time and myself working part time, we still qualified (and needed) assistance with the medical coverage for the baby. I accidentally got pregnant with my second daughter soon after my first was born. I had a hard time with birth control... I had many adverse reactions to the medication and the month I got off of hormonal birth control... we got pregnant and that was after taking the morning after pill.... so I really believe it was God's will for my second daughter to be born.

Due to the great expense of child care, I was a stay at home mom for a while... My husband actually got a decent job so we were making it by... now we still had the kids on Medicaid and WIC, which we needed but we were doing ok. Well, then my hubby got laid off and b/c we had no savings (we were living pay check to pay check) we had to go on welfare. We were only on Welfare for 1 month, but it did get us on food stamps too, which I had never thought about applying for. My husband then bounced from job to job (which admittedly wasn't good on his part)... so finally I decided to go back to work b/c now we qualified for childcare vouchers which were necessary for us to be able to afford for me to work.

Right now, my hubby and I both work. My hubby only works part time... mostly b/c there aren't many full-time jobs to be had in Myrtle Beach right now... we have 14.4% unemployment.... but he is looking so let us know if you know of any full time jobs. We no longer qualify for childcare vouchers so I am using student loans to pay for the daycare... we are coming out slightly ahead by having me work, but it also enables us both to go to school. We will both be graduating this summer so we are looking forward to getting better paying jobs. Now we still have WIC and Medicaid... so we still don't make enough, but thanks to student loans (which we will have to pay back) we are able to fill the gaps until we both can get better jobs.

The reason I put all of this out there is so that way you can know where I am coming from.... and YES, my life experience has affected my political views. NO, I do not make my decisions based solely on emotions, but as someone who has needed assistance, I know what it is like.


From now on, I will be posting news articles, much shorter personal stories, scriptures, etc.