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As her girls head off for their second lifetime separation,
Crystal says that she is “so proud of them.”
Crystal says that she is “so proud of them.”
Dustin Siggins, Life Site News — Just over 18 years ago, Emily and Caitlin Copeland left their mother's womb, conjoined. Now, the girls are set to leave their hometown of Houston, Texas to different universities after graduating from high school as co-valedictorians. This will be only the second time in their lives that they will be apart from one another. Just days after Emily and Caitlin turned 18, their mother, Crystal Copeland spoke with LifeSiteNews about how the dark time of finding out the girls were conjoined, and considering the possibility of aborting them, turned into a blessing and the knowledge that she and her family “wouldn't change a thing."
Receiving The Diagnosis
Crystal and John Copeland, highschool sweethearts who "met in home room" and got married right out of college, were a typical young couple. Then she got pregnant, and the diagnosis of conjoined twins came. To the couple, it seemed to be the end of the world.
"Neither my husband nor myself were raised in a church," Copeland told LifeSiteNews. "At the time that my husband and I found out that we were pregnant, we were not part of a church, we did not study the Bible. We both believed in God, but didn't really understand what we were believing."
"So we got the diagnosis, and it was an extremely dark time. I had always prayed, all my life, and I prayed heavily that weekend, when we were waiting to find out what the surgeons thought when they looked at the ultrasound video."
Despite knowing the right decision was made almost two decades ago, Crystal says she only came to terms with the fact that she even considered abortion this year.
The waiting wasn't easy, as doctors examined the results of the ultrasound. "We did have friends and family who felt that we should abort the pregnancy. Not having faith front and center in my life at that time, I worried all the time -- I don't know what I would have done if they had come back and told us they did share a heart, that they would not have been able to survive, I agonize over that. I don't know what I would have done."
According to Copeland, the girls were 17 weeks past gestation, and "they were kicking, they were moving, I could feel them, they were very real to me. We already had names picked out. It was very traumatic."
"We were looking for any lifeline, anything that we could latch on to for hope. And when the surgeons came back and said, 'we've reviewed the ultrasound, we think they're only sharing a liver, and we think they have good possibilities for separation,' we grabbed onto that.
We talked about it, and we decided that if there was a chance that at least one of them could survive, and have a normal life, then we would continue the pregnancy."
Copeland says that the couple was "given the option" for abortion, "because [doctors] did not know if the girls were going to share a heart, which is a fatal complication, that kind of thing."
Strength In Adversity
Crystal says that choosing life for her babies, and raising Emily and Caitlin in difficult circumstances helped her and her husband realize inner strength. "I have a terrible fear of blood,” she explained, giving one example. “I've been known to almost pass out getting a paper cut, it's that bad. But the girls obviously had a lot of surgeries and they had to have a lot of central lines run, directly into an artery on their chest." And while she would have preferred to leave the area while nurses handled these responsibilities, the medical professionals told her that children get agitated when their mothers are not around.
"They were little tiny babies," Crystal said. "So I sat in on more of those than I can even remember. And they were horrible, but I did it because my kids needed me to be there and do it."
Crystal says she got so good at home health care - her daughters had larges holes on their abdomens from the separation surgery - that a home health nurse said she would "hire me in a minute."
"I did all kinds of horrible stuff, and I got through it," said Crystal. But she added that she could only do it for her kids. "You rise to the occasion when you have to, then it's gone."
Raising Emily and Caitlin also helped the Copeland's marriage, she said. "It really made us stronger. I know a lot of marriages that are tested can't handle the pressure. It really brought us a lot closer together, and really solidified our marriage in a good way."
Healing And Hope
However, some of the wounds from that period have healed more recently. Despite knowing the right decision was made almost two decades ago, Crystal says she only came to terms with the fact that she considered abortion this year. "I've thought about it over the years, and wondered if I had not gotten that lifeline, what would we have done?""A few months ago, I found out about a family in Houston who had a similar diagnosis -- they were carrying conjoined twins connected in the same way that Emily and Caitlin were, and they decided to end the pregnancy. When I got that news -- I don't even know these people, I don't know their names, I don't know anything about them other than that fact that they were in my shoes, basically --- I was so upset, I cried the whole way home."
"I was upset all day," Crystal explained. "I could not process that they had chosen to end their pregnancy. I think, really, that was God's way of letting me know how I would have reacted if we had gotten that news. I was so horrified that they had ended their pregnancy -- I think that was God's way of telling me 'let this go.'"
With her daughters heading to different universities -- Emily to Houston to be a wedding planner, and Caitlin to Concordia University in Austin to be a Lutheran schoolteacher -- Crystal says she is "looking at some wide-open time come August." With both girls in band, as well as cheerleading (Emily) and softball (Crystal), Crystal says that her "appointment book was full."
"I'm going to have to start volunteering at church a lot more," she says. "I told my husband he's going to have to get a lot more interested in my hobbies, and he just looked at me like I was nuts."
As her girls head off for their second lifetime separation, Crystal says that she is "so proud of them. They are the most competitive, driven girls -- all on their own, in their heads. They accomplished everything they wanted to in high school, and they have no regrets."
Having been in the same classes in small schools their whole lives, Crystal's girls are "very worried about going to separate schools."
"This is going to be really hard on them." However, modern technology -- iPads and Facetime -- will allow Crystal's once-conjoined daughters to continue to be together, even as life takes them in separate directions. » Full Article
About the Author
DUSTIN SIGGINS is the D.C. Correspondent for LifeSiteNews. He is formerly the primary blogger for Tea Party Patriots, the nation's largest Tea Party organization, and has been published by National Review Online, Roll Call, HotAir.com, Huffington Post, Real Clear Politics, and numerous other publications. He is the co-author of the forthcoming book Bankrupt Legacy: The Future of the Debt-Paying Generation, which examines the implications of high national debt on young Americans. » Full Bio
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America’s Number One Radio Talk Show
The Party Yhat Lives And Dies By Photo-Ops Says
“No Photos! Zilch, Zero, Nada”
“No Photos! Zilch, Zero, Nada”
Partial Transcript
RUSH: This is Neil Cavuto yesterday afternoon on the Fox News Channel, and he spoke with Mike Brown, the former FEMA director under George W. Bush. They’re talking about the immigration crisis Southern border. Brown had a good point, by the way. But I want to see if you pick something up in this bite. Neil Cavuto said, “There are a lot of differences, but the one commonality, when you get to the scene of the incident — and President Bush was criticized for getting to Katrina too late; this president for not getting to the border at all. So, which is worse, Bush getting to the scene too late or Obama not even going?”BROWN: During Katrina, you had a focal point, you had the New Orleans Superdome, and that focal point allowed the media to really focus on what was going on in that natural disaster. What you don’t have in the border issue is the focal point. The media hasn’t been able to get in, so there’s no focal point for anybody to focus on, so the American public doesn’t get that this humanitarian crisis is as bad as the natural disaster in Katrina. But the president’s not going to go because this really fits the Limbaugh Theorem, that he uses the words that he’s involved, he’s paying attention, his staff is briefing him, but he’s not gonna go ’cause he doesn’t want a photo-op.
RUSH: Did you catch that, folks? Did you? Former FEMA director “Brownie” referred to the Limbaugh Theorem to explain what Obama is doing vis-a-vis this humanitarian crisis, and he’s right on the money. He understands the Limbaugh Theorem. I’m so thrilled. I’m so excited when somebody outside this universe understands and he gets it. And, you know, it’s also a good point. It, in addition to this… Look, there’s another point I want to make here, too, ’cause I think this is important.
Whenever there is a crisis involving children, the Democrat Party can’t wait to show it to you. They put the children all over, they give us all the details about their plight and their story, and there’s none of that here. And I was joking the other day about a telethon. “Where’s the telethon? Where’s the hashtag?” The truth of the matter is, there will never be a telethon. Because if you do a telethon, if you’re gonna do a Sally Struthers-type thing, you’ve got to give the backstory.
You have to explain who these kids are, how they happened to get here, what in the world is going on — and there’s nobody on the left that wants to go there. In fact, it’s just the opposite. They’re doing everything they can to prevent the story from being told. They don’t want anybody to even take a picture of these kids and the others that are immigrating illegally. They don’t allow cameras in. They’re not allowing the media in. This is one of the first Democrat Party programs for the children where they do not and will not allow anybody to see a single photo.
» Daily Rushbo
» The Rush Limbaugh Show
624,000 Crimes Committed By Illegal Aliens
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Drug Dealing, Human Smuggling, Murders, Rapes, Home Invasions
SEAN: “As I sat there today and I’m hearing about these “OTMs” (Other Than Mexicans) people that they are apprehending from Yemen and Pakistan, and other countries, that made me nervous, and the other thing that really stood out is that there have been 624,000 committed by illegal immigrants in the state of Texas! And we’re not talking about petty thief here. We are talking about everything from drug dealing to human smuggling and murder and rape and home invasion. We saw video of one such home invasion. 624,000 crimes! Did I hear that right?” ... » Hear This Not-To-Be-Missed Interview
NEWS BRIEFS: JULY 12, 2014
Current Events And Commentaries
Obama Opens America’s Borders To
Jihadists Bearing Drugs And Bombs
Jihadists Bearing Drugs And Bombs
America Is Being Destroyed By This Horror,
And The Politicians Of Both Parties Permit It To Continue
Lead Story by Suzanne Eovaldi, Western Journalism —
The risk of attacks by violent ISIS jihadists crossing our Southern border has taken on ominous proportions, according to a former Defense Department analyst who believes this event could happen “sooner rather than later.” “ISIS may be working to infiltrate the US with the aid of transnational drug cartels,” continued Michael Maloof. The violent MS-13 Mexican gang is known to have members in over 1,000 US cities and could provide conduits for jihadists, helping them transport weapons and supplies needed to set off terror bombs the magnitude of 9-11 or worse! Suitcase nukes, agents of bio-warfare, and suicide bombers are NOT BEING screened in the mass invasion along our Southern Border, even as travelers face longer wait times to board US planes. Face it–the thing is OUT OF HAND!
One reporter asks: “Why would jihadists need to build fancy airplane bombs when they can easily transport serious WMD’s across America’s wide open Southern border?” Over 70% of our Border Control agents are acting as babysitters, changing diapers while the Southern Border is a come-on-in-free zone for violent Islamic warriors who hate America. “This jihadist group ISIS and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi have promised direct confrontation with America,” warns TX Congressman Ted Poe.
But not only are jihadist border-jumpers coming across. Last week, an east Texas Walmart shopper found on the store’s parking lot a prison wristband of Hagi Enea, a Romanian immigrant who was arrested in Pinal County, AZ on May 21, 2014. When she called the AZ county’s prisoner intake, she was allegedly told that “they are released back into the local community if someone PAYS A BOND ON THEM.” A quick Facebook search of Enea’s profile says he’s in Madrid, Spain, even as the Mineola, TX shopper is looking at proof of Subject ID #349873946!
So let’s look at this crisis very clearly. If you multiply the number of illegal anchor babies described on US BIZOP government websites as 65,000 by the estimated $5,000.00 bounty drug cartels reportedly charge to transport each illegal child 1,400 miles from Central America across Mexico into our country, you have the staggering sum of $325,000,000.00 going into crime cartel coffers FOR THIS YEAR ALONE! They have more than enough cash to bail out jihaddis and fund their attacks on the United States! And what about the added flow of drugs because our Border agents have to take care of the “children,” rather than our open drug routes? Here’s a perfect storm of a somnolent and drugged civilian populace, a flood of jihaddis bent on destroying the United States, and a do-nothing President who’d rather fund-raise than protect America’s borders.
Qurans and prayer rugs were found along the east Texas border as far back as 2012, when OTMs (Other Than Mexicans) were allowed to freely roam into our country. One Border Control agent said that even though he sees cartel and gang member tattoos, our government won’t allow him to question or detain these “children.” Pictures on the web of many young males jammed into east TX detention rooms show veritable classrooms of gang mayhem and death.
The website madworld.com, which broke the story of the quick release of prisoner Hagi Enea, is asking “Why are there no reports of foreign nationals other than Mexicans and South Americans being reported?” Walmart’s donation of men’s sizes 3x, 4x, and XXL underwear to DHS is further proof that children aren’t the only illegals crossing the border. Where are donations by Walmart for baby diapers and toddler training pants? Well, they can’t shop; but the adult males can put American dollars in cash registers, right?
Rescue beacon signs in Chinese are now up along the Southern border to provide information for assistance. One Chinese national told an agent that they can only have one child back home! It’s hard to understand why Texas governor Rick Perry can tell TV audiences something we already know–that this is a “humanitarian crisis,”—while he still refuses to activate the TX National Guard to stop this “monumental tragedy.” The fact that American citizens have taken to the CA and AZ streets is proof that we no longer look to Obama or to the states for defense of our nation’s borders.
America is being destroyed by this horror, and the politicians of both parties permit it to continue. » Full Story
One reporter asks: “Why would jihadists need to build fancy airplane bombs when they can easily transport serious WMD’s across America’s wide open Southern border?” Over 70% of our Border Control agents are acting as babysitters, changing diapers while the Southern Border is a come-on-in-free zone for violent Islamic warriors who hate America. “This jihadist group ISIS and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi have promised direct confrontation with America,” warns TX Congressman Ted Poe.
But not only are jihadist border-jumpers coming across. Last week, an east Texas Walmart shopper found on the store’s parking lot a prison wristband of Hagi Enea, a Romanian immigrant who was arrested in Pinal County, AZ on May 21, 2014. When she called the AZ county’s prisoner intake, she was allegedly told that “they are released back into the local community if someone PAYS A BOND ON THEM.” A quick Facebook search of Enea’s profile says he’s in Madrid, Spain, even as the Mineola, TX shopper is looking at proof of Subject ID #349873946!
So let’s look at this crisis very clearly. If you multiply the number of illegal anchor babies described on US BIZOP government websites as 65,000 by the estimated $5,000.00 bounty drug cartels reportedly charge to transport each illegal child 1,400 miles from Central America across Mexico into our country, you have the staggering sum of $325,000,000.00 going into crime cartel coffers FOR THIS YEAR ALONE! They have more than enough cash to bail out jihaddis and fund their attacks on the United States! And what about the added flow of drugs because our Border agents have to take care of the “children,” rather than our open drug routes? Here’s a perfect storm of a somnolent and drugged civilian populace, a flood of jihaddis bent on destroying the United States, and a do-nothing President who’d rather fund-raise than protect America’s borders.
Qurans and prayer rugs were found along the east Texas border as far back as 2012, when OTMs (Other Than Mexicans) were allowed to freely roam into our country. One Border Control agent said that even though he sees cartel and gang member tattoos, our government won’t allow him to question or detain these “children.” Pictures on the web of many young males jammed into east TX detention rooms show veritable classrooms of gang mayhem and death.
The website madworld.com, which broke the story of the quick release of prisoner Hagi Enea, is asking “Why are there no reports of foreign nationals other than Mexicans and South Americans being reported?” Walmart’s donation of men’s sizes 3x, 4x, and XXL underwear to DHS is further proof that children aren’t the only illegals crossing the border. Where are donations by Walmart for baby diapers and toddler training pants? Well, they can’t shop; but the adult males can put American dollars in cash registers, right?
Rescue beacon signs in Chinese are now up along the Southern border to provide information for assistance. One Chinese national told an agent that they can only have one child back home! It’s hard to understand why Texas governor Rick Perry can tell TV audiences something we already know–that this is a “humanitarian crisis,”—while he still refuses to activate the TX National Guard to stop this “monumental tragedy.” The fact that American citizens have taken to the CA and AZ streets is proof that we no longer look to Obama or to the states for defense of our nation’s borders.
America is being destroyed by this horror, and the politicians of both parties permit it to continue. » Full Story
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In This Crushing Tirade
In This Crushing Tirade
“He selectively chooses which powers he wants to use.”
More Videos From Western JournalismStory by Justin Koski, Western Journalism —
Rush Limbaugh made a great point: how can Obama manage to shut down all kinds of government, but for some reason he can’t shut down the border? He points out that Obama is picking and choosing which laws to ignore, and also “selectively choosing” which of his powers to use.
“Obama was able to close down Washington Mall, he was able to stop veteran’s ceremonies, he’s able to shut down a Blue Ridge Parkway, he was even able to shut down the Grand Canyon, visits to the Grand Canyon, he’s able to shut down visits to Jellystone National Park, he was able, while the World War II memorial was shut down, he allowed for a pro immigration rally… yet he tells us that he can’t shut down the border!” » Read Full Story...
Obama’s Washington
» Cagle Cartoons/Western Journalism