“Hampton makes a convincing argument that grief and disappointment can be transformed into compassion and joy.”—People Magazine

It is almost Easter, a time when Christians remember to hope because, well, grief was transformed into joy. Cool when People says it, less cool when I cite chapter and verse. But I’m happy to have anyone put the concept forward. What they are referring to is this book, Bloom: Finding Beauty in the Unexpected.

Bloom is the New York Times bestselling memoir where author Kelle Hampton interweaves lyrical prose and stunning four-color photography as she recounts the unforgettable story of the first year in the life of her daughter Nella, who has Down syndrome. Bloom is ultimately about embracing life and really living it.

Does it ever look like a good book! But before you order it, stop by the author’s blog. I was captivated by the beautiful photos of her family, welcoming spring. With a nice camera, I could almost take as nice photos of Ottawa, Canada now. The permafrost is melting. The sun is out. Living in a really cold town brings it’s own springtime joys. I actually stopped and enjoyed the fact that I could see the gravel on the driveway this past week and amazingly, that simple fact hasn’t yet lost its shine.

I posted about this documentary, Hush, before. From a pro-choice director, it apparently outlines the information women are not getting about abortion. The Ottawa showing is March 29th– University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, UCU Jock Turcot University Centre Room #205, 7:00pm.

I will most certainly be there. Spread the words to friends and family in the Ottawa area.

Punam Kumar Gill, Director of Hush

Rabbi Sacks is the author of more than 25 books, including Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence. You can learn more about him, here. I first became aware of him when he gave this speech, printed here in full.

Anyway, Rabbi Sacks is going to be in Toronto on March 15. You can get tickets, here. He’ll be talking about why religion is not a threat. I’ll be there!

In December 2014, a pregnant woman named Cassie Kaake (pronounced “cake”) was murdered. Her baby was 30 weeks gestation, named and known as Molly to her mother and her loved ones.

The family in their grief after her murder were surprised to learn that the fact that she was pregnant doesn’t register in Canadian law. They knew they had lost not just Cassie but a very much chosen and wanted Molly.

Father of the child, Jeff Durham, who happens to be pro-choice, is helping spearhead Molly Matters. Cassie chose to be a mom and as the slide show on their web site would indicate, was excited about the prospect.

And so yesterday, Cassie and Molly’s Law was born: “An Act to amend the Criminal Code (injuring or causing the death of a preborn child while committing an offence).”

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to make it an offence to cause injury or death to a preborn child while committing or attempting to commit an offence against a pregnant woman and to add pregnancy as an aggravating circumstance for the purpose of sentencing.

This Act may be cited as the Protection of Pregnant Women and Their Preborn Children Act (Cassie and Molly’s Law).

It means something when a woman is 30 weeks pregnant–the loss of that child not yet born is profound. Importantly, this forces the judge to account for the gravity of killing two people, not just one, in sentencing. Finally, we all know pregnant women are more vulnerable to attack and abuse, and I believe this will raise the profile of pregnancy, making it matter more. Molly matters, Cassie matters, pregnancy matters, women’s lives matter–all of this matters. These are points to ponder for the inevitable backlash. (Some people can’t handle a Doritos ad, so I expect this will not be smooth sailing.)

Just enjoy this one. Sad and beautiful, all in one.

Brittani and Ian McIntire were stunned to learn that they were expecting twins, Mason and Madilyn. After several doctor’s appointments, the couple learned that one baby wasn’t developing as well as the other.

Mason, who currently weighs in at 9 ounces, has a hole in his heart and an abnormal brain. Madilyn is just over 2 pounds. Mason’s best chance at survival would be to operate on his heart, but doctors don’t want to take that risk because of his brain, Fox 8 reported.

During a recent ultrasound, however, the doctors captured tiny unborn baby Mason’s hand gripping his sister’s much larger hand.

His mom says she is of course holding both these babies, but in a more concrete way, that if Mason passes away, at least he won’t be alone. Life is hard and beautiful, all in one.

Read it and weep.

Scores of people who make porn films for a living pleaded their case to California workplace safety officials: Don’t force condoms or safety goggles or other devices designed to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases on them because those devices will simply stop people from watching porn films and soon they’ll have no jobs at all.

When your job violates your own human dignity,  it’s better not to have one.