Speechless... We WON?!?!?

I am speechless.

Reality hasn't sunk in yet, and I keep pinching myself, asking, "Did I really get that phone call from our attorney this afternoon?!?!"

My family and friends assure me that I am very much awake. And the presence of 134 new related emails that have appeared in my inbox in that last couple of hours confirms it.

I'm afraid I sounded very unprofessional and giddily happy when reporters were calling me for comments this afternoon. I was so happy that I didn't care what they thought of my crazily ecstatic comments. (Yes, it's always dumb to get so emotional that you don't care what you're saying to the media!)

The Missouri Supreme Court decided the midwifery case in our favor!!

On July 4th, the felony status of Certified Professional Midwives in Missouri will be lifted, and they will be free to practice.

I guess I'll eventually grasp how this will change my life and plans sometime soon... maybe.

For now, Psalm 146 echoes my heart tonight...

Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
While I live, will I praise the LORD:
I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that day his thoughts perish.

Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the LORD his God: Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is:

Which keepeth truth for ever:
Which executeth judgement for the oppressed:
Which giveth food to the hungry.
The LORD looseth the prisoners.
The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind.
The LORD raiseth them that be bowed down.
The LORD loveth the righteous.
The LORD preserveth the strangers.
He relieveth the fatherless and widows:
but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

Year in Review, Part 19

August 2nd dawned bright and sunny. With only a couple hours of sleep, our crowd of faithful volunteers were up at the crack of dawn preparing for the day's events, hauling food, chairs, directions, and signs around. While a dozen or so people prepared the Capitol for the arrival of several hundred supporters at the rally, one of our supportive physicians and I hurried over to our attorney's office to prepare for the day in court. After directing the national Fox News folks around, we seated ourselves in the courtroom that was quickly filling up with film crews, microphones, and reporters, pens in hand. Judge Joyce appeared and we listened intently to the arguments from both sides. In the end, we all felt like it had been a very fair hearing for both sides and anxiously wondered what her decision would be. She would issue it about a week later. When the hearing was over around noon there was quite a gauntlet of reporters to interview us before we headed to the Capitol.

Back at the Capitol building, our many volunteers had everything running like clockwork, keeping several hundred people organized. I didn't have to do anything but sit and listen at the rally. It was the most wonderful feeling to be one of the audience, for once letting others scurry around, making it all happen... And I still haven't got over how well the whole event went! It just so far exceeded our expectations. Even the national media expressed shock at "how big this whole thing is!"

We served pizza to everyone who came and families spread out across the Capitol lawn...

Kim, a Missouri midwife donned a creative "Lady Liberty" costume
and made it onto national TV!

The film crew that Fox News sent, interviewing a midwife about the law and midwifery...