May 13, 2025 • 50 mins
Hi. Our names are Xindi and Jessica and we just wanted to thank you for joining us on this journey. This first episode will tell you a bit about ourselves and why we think being pro-life is so important.
Thank you for watching The Ever-Living Podcast, a heartfelt space to share the stories and voices of women who champion a culture that values and protects life. Each episode we seek to empower, offering connection, hope, and strength through the journeys of those who work and pray for this cause. Crafted for women seeking purpose and community, we welcome you to join us in cherishing every single heartbeat.
Thank you for watching The Ever-Living Podcast, a heartfelt space to share the stories and voices of women who champion a culture that values and protects life. Each episode we seek to empower, offering connection, hope, and strength through the journeys of those who work and pray for this cause. Crafted for women seeking purpose and community, we welcome you to join us in cherishing every single heartbeat.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to ever Living, a new podcast about valuing life
here on Earth and for eternity. We are your life
loving hosts Cindy and Jessica. Every week on ever Living,
we want to create a space for sharing the stories
and voices of those who work and pray to create
a culture that values and protects life in New England
(00:31):
and beyond. So welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
It's our first episode of Jessica. Yes, so exciting. How
are you doing, Cindy.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I'm doing well. It just got home from work. It's
a it was a really nice day springtime. It's really beautiful.
How is your day?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
And you're you're a teacher, so wrap it up the
school year soon.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Right, yep, just a few more weeks and then we
are done for this summer. So that's exciting, very exciting.
What's what What did you do today?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, I'd say just working working from home today and
I went out and got myself a fun drink. I
have these the still a fun tea place up the
road for me, So I went and got myself a
fun tea. So that was good. And yeah, just enjoying
the weather. It's been a little raeny, but yeah, it's
(01:29):
it's been nice. That it's you know, spring time.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
So yeah, yeah, what flavored tea did you get today?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
So it was actually a strawberry like mango tea. So
basically they're like to clarify, they're not alcoholic teas, but
they did them as margarita flavors for Sinco de Mayo
basically this week. So basically this girl she creates like
all these different fruit flavored teas. So I got I
(02:00):
got a strawberry mango one for myself, and then my roommate,
my poor roommate who's sick, I got her one as well.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Oh so that's nice.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, good to get there. But like these fun nutrition
shops like they have, they're like they have them throughout
I wonder, I wonder if there's any in New Hampshire
as well. But well, like these did to.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Focus on nutrition to extend your life and have a
healthy life. Absolutely, yeah yeah, what else are you looking
forward to anything coming up this month? It?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, so, I mean this month, I'm just excited that
it's a little bit of a slower month for work
for me. I'm going to be doing some more just
working from home, and or a point in this semester
that I'm auditing my student groups, which I'll get into
a little bit more about what I do later in
the podcast. But but yeah, so it's a little bit
(02:55):
slower for me right now. But I'm excited because next
month I'm actually going to Italy and France. Oh yeah,
a trip with my best friend. So yeah, have.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
You have you ever been to Italy or France before?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
I haven't been to Italy or France. I've been to Ireland,
England and Wales in Europe. I did that my senior
year of high school. But yeah, I've never been to
Italy or fans. It's very excited to go to Rome.
With the new pope being elected today.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Right, an American pope for the first.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Time I heard American pope because he's from Chicago. He
grew up in Chicago, so good for them. Yeah, it
should be interesting. But what about you. Do you have
any fun summer plans coming up?
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Well, my youngest sister is graduating college next week, so
probably she is at Fairleigh Dickinson. I think that's a
New Jersey and so drive down there. And actually next
week is also my birthday, so it's kind of special birthday.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Thank you, Happy early birthday.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Thanks. Yeah, May has actually a lot of birthdays for
my family, and you know, Mother's Day, and so there's
my mom's birthday, my birthday, my youngest sister's birthday, and
Mother's Day all in May. So it's kind of kind
of a big month.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Have a lot of life to celebrate in May. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yes, it's celebrating life. Yes, Okay, good day. What's going
on going on? Let's get into introducing ourselves to our
new listeners. So we came up with some questions to
(04:55):
interview each other, get to know each other a little better,
and hopefully the audience I'll also get to get to
know us better. So I'll go first and I'll interview you.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Okay, ready, awesome, All right, sounds good.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Okay. Where in the US, I'm guessing the US. Where
in the US did you grow up in? What decade
did you grow up in?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yes, so I grew up in the United States? Yes,
in Connecticut. So I grew up in the northwest corner
of Connecticut. Torrington is the specific town that I grew
up in. And I grew up in the early two thousands.
So I was born in two thousand and one. And yeah,
I grew up in the okay two thousands, the twenty
ten's so.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah, okay, so that's like the I think of like
the boy band girl band era. It's like the one direction.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I'm trying to think who else was popular? Like the Script?
I was into the Script. They were a little bit
before my like the two thousands. I think maybe the
early two thousands they were popular, but definitely one direction.
What else was popular? I think of like Gangnam Style,
like okay, yeah, like when that came out.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Still popular.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Silly bands, yeah, like the little like plastic like bracelets
they were, or like they were like rubbery bracelets that
were like animal shaped and.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
You can like them, leave them together and make some
shape or something like out of rubber bands or loop
them together.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I think you're thinking of something else. I know what
you're talking about. I think there were there were those
like are you don't about like the tiny ones, like
the tiny.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Tiny rings like colorful that's not silly bands?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Bands? Yeah, No, silly bands were the ones that were
like animal shaped, like they were like animal shaped or
like I don't know, I had one that's like a limo.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Oh interesting, you'll have to do you still have any
you have to show and Tell.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Maybe maybe probably somewhere I have a loop room, but
maybe maybe I can bring them to an episode and
show silly vands. Okay, but yeah, so that was my childhood.
What okay about your childhood? What do you remember most
about your childhood and what kind of kid you were
(07:19):
like or what you were interested in as a kid. Yeah,
so what I remember most? So I have basically grew
up with I have two younger brothers. So I have
a brother who's two years younger than me, So we
were very close growing up. He's yeah, he's currently so
I'm twenty four, he's twenty two. And yeah, we really
(07:41):
grew up together. I remember playing like in the backyard
with him. I remember we used to draw with chalk
on our driveway in our neighborhood and make like a
little city, like we would try to like make remake
our city that we lived in out of child.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah that's pretty cool. Creative.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, no, definitely very creative. I like what else we
used to do, but like I used to make forts
and things like that. But yeah, so two younger brothers,
my and then my other brother, he's sixteen, he'll be
seventeen soon, so he's quite a bit younger than me,
but but yeah, no, definitely had a great childhood, lived
in a pretty nice neighborhood growing up, and yeah, I
(08:27):
was very grateful to have had most of my upbringing
my parents together. My parents unfortunately got divorced when I
was seventeen, but most of my childhood, most of my
early childhood, they were happy and together and that was
very nice. And yeah, as for like what type of
kid I was, I don't say, like, I think I
was unusual as a kid a little bit really, from
(08:50):
like fifth grade on, I was just like a very
like focused, school focused kid, like a lot of kids,
like liked to go outside and play, and honestly, I
wish I did that a little bit more. Like I
think I was like very very driven, okay, and it
was very very academic.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
So okay, so you studied a lot and you worked
hard in school and reading and I assume much.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, okay, very very involved in school and things like that.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
That sounds like we have something in common there, but
we'll find out, okay. So yeah, my next question was
about your family, but you you answered that that you
had two younger brothers and your parents were together until
you were like late into high school, right, So yes,
do you want to talk about more about school? Like
(09:39):
what was your school experience like as a kid, Did
you enjoy it something?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, so I would say I mean, for the most part,
definitely enjoyed school. Like I said, I was very academic,
so school was definitely a priority for me. Studying was
definitely a priority. It was very like college driven. I
felt like I from an early age, I really wanted
to like make college a priority, and which is always
like very interested in like in colleges and like where
(10:09):
I would end up. I think it was just like
interesting to me. I will say, like, yeah, like high
school was also a very interesting time for me because
that was when I started getting very involved in my
faith and that definitely was very influential for me in
(10:29):
high school. And I feel that that was some very
formative years of my life.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Okay, how how did that start in high school? What
happened to go deeper in your Christian faith?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
To my faith? Yeah, so in ninth grade, my parents
were going through some issues. That was kind of around
the time that the problems that they were having started,
and I had felt like very very alone in a
lot of ways, and I didn't really know entirely who
to turn to. So that summer, the summer before my
(11:09):
freshman year of high school in ninth grade, we actually
moved in with my grandmother. So my mom and my
brothers and I we moved in with my grandmother. She
lived in town, so it wasn't a huge change, but
we did move out of our house and moved in
with my grandmother for a time being. And yeah, that
summer was just really tough because my mom didn't really
(11:30):
want anybody knowing about what was going on just between
her and my dad. So I was very alone. I
didn't really have a ton of people to talk to.
I had friends, and some of them kind of like
were asking what was going on, But to be respectful,
I just didn't want to, you know, tell anybody we
had a respectful to my mom. I didn't want to
tell anybody was going on. So anyway, so long story short,
(11:52):
when I got into high school, felt very lone, but
I was involved with youth group and I was enrolled
in information class. I'm Catholic, so I was enrolled in
our Catholic church's confirmation class. This was the first year
of it, and part of that was a retreat at
the beginning of the year, and basically as part of
(12:15):
this retreat, because it was like a day where all
of the high school students that were enrolling Confirmation went
and had prayer and praising worship, and part of it
was also adoration. So adoration in the Catholic faith is
basically when the blessed sacraments of the euchriss is displayed
(12:36):
in something called a monstrance. So it's this big gold
thing and basically the Euchros is placed in there, and
Catholics believe that the euchost is the real body of Christ.
So anyways, I'd never been to adoration before. Basically what
it is is the the Euchros is placed in this
this gold thing and it sits up on the altar
and it's a time of prayer. And so I go
(12:59):
to this for the first time in my life, and
I really just had this really amazing encounter with God.
During this time, I'd you know, been feeling really really
alone and I just had some really really awesome prayer
and I just really truly felt God's presence with me,
and yeah, it was it was, It was amazing. And
(13:20):
I went to confession as well, and that you know,
that's like when you confess your sins to the to
God through the priest, and that was just really powerful.
I remember breaking down crying like like just I couldn't
get control of myself, like I was crying so much.
It was like the Holy Spirit had come over me.
(13:40):
And yeah, so that was really like my my moment
that I knew that I really wanted my faith to
be a big part of my life. So yeah, that's
to answer your question, that's that's really how I got
really involved with my faith. That day. I was like
I want to say, yes, So.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
That's amazing, thank you for that with us. Did that
affect the rest of your family too, when you started
like returning to God.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Yeah, I mean I think in ways. I mean, I
don't know, I think over time, like definitely, I think.
I mean, my family definitely was was always pretty involved
in the church, so that definitely it wasn't like they
weren't Catholic and they weren't practicing, but I think I
(14:33):
definitely like they saw that faith in me and that
influenced them. I will say, you know, to go back
to what we're talking about about high school, it was
definitely an interest High school was definitely an interesting time
because kind of once that moment happened, I really did
start taking my faith seriously and my friends noticed that.
(14:55):
And I went to public school, so I wasn't always
the most accepted by my friends in public school because
of my faith, and yeah, that was difficult at times.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, they could notice something different, something something new about
you because of you. Yeah yeah, faith in Christ. Okay, cool?
So what about college? Do you want to talk about
what your college experience was?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Like? Touch on college for sure. So so yeah, after
high school, I went to Yukon University of Connecticut. That's
where I go Huskies. Yes, everybody knows us as the
basketball capital of the world. But that was really great
and I was really grateful that even though I wasn't
(15:47):
accepted a whole lot by my peers in high school
for my faith, I was able to find a community
in college that accepted me for my faith and helped
me grow my faith as well. And that was through
the Yukon Catholic Center. So oh wow, yeah, awesome, that
was one.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
And what did you study? What did you study in college?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
So I studied human development and family sciences, and then
I got a master's in Public policy at the Yukon
Hertford campus. So I did my undergrad at Stores, which
is the main campus, and then I master's public policy.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
That's another connection we have in common because my dad
went to Yukon for grad school. So what did your
dad study? He studied chemistry.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
So cool.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
For a time when I was very little, we lived
in stores like near Yukon.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
So we are cool.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I guess we have that. We're like twins.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
I feel like so many people studied chemistry at Yukon.
They must have like a good department or something.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I feel like maybe it's renowned grad students.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Like studying chemistry. I don't know, but it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
I heard they like make their own ice cream there
at Yukon, Like is that a big thing? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yeah, so there's a Yukon dairy bar. I'm lactose intolerant,
so that was always kind of tough for me, maybe
the bar. But they developed.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Developed some lactose free ice creams or something. Yeah, I
remember what it was when I was a kid. When
I was a kid and we were living at Yukon,
I remember we had like a like almost like a
dog dish, like a plastic dog dish bowl, but it
was just for ice cream. It was like you could
(17:43):
take this dog dish bowl and go reload it with
ice cream or something, and that was like a significant
memory of my childhood. All right.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
So yeah, well, so now that you know you asked
me a bunch of questions, I'd love to could I
ask you a little bit more about your childhood? So
you started on? Okay, so you did you were you
born in stores or did you you know, and I
moved to stores.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah. I was born in China. My parents are Chinese.
They met in China in college, and I was born
like very quickly after they were married. Actually, my dad
was already at Yukon studying chemistry, and my mom gave
birth to me in China, and then shortly after she
(18:39):
brought me to my grandmother, my dad's mother's and father's house,
and they raised me for my first couple of years
of life while my parents lived at Yukon. And then
I think when I was about two years old, my
(19:00):
grandmother brought me to reunite me with my parents, and
that's the start of my American childhood. We moved a
lot because of my dad's career. So after Yukon. We
moved to Ohio and I did like kindergarten and maybe
(19:26):
a little bit of first grade there. And my sister,
my middle sister, was born in Ohio, and after she
was born, we moved and we drove to Rhode Island
and that's where at first we were in an apartment
and then we moved into our first house. And Rhode
(19:47):
Island is where I was in second grade, third grade
up through sixth grade. So basically my most of my
elementary years were in Rhode Island. And after sixth grade,
we moved to New York State, like Orange County, New York,
(20:12):
and that's where I entered middle school and stayed there
to finish high school. So middle school and high school
were in the same I was living in the same
town in New York and suburbs. And after high school,
(20:32):
I got into college at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and
I was there.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
You said you were pretty academic, so that that makes
sense you ended up in MIT.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yes, my parents. Yeah, for my parents, I mean, since
education opened so many doors for them to come to
the US and you know, we're card and and you know,
start their careers, and so they always instilled in me
(21:07):
the value of education, and I enjoyed learning. I enjoyed reading,
I enjoyed math. I just really I had really good
teachers and school was very It just became my passion.
(21:30):
So yeah, I I graduated first in my high school
and went to MIT after that, and I think I
I graduated like a semester early. Maybe I spent like
three and a half years at MIT. And then what
(21:52):
did you study at MIT? My major was biology, Yeah,
but I also had I did a lot of history
classes and for the first time started acting classes. So
that was Yeah. I discovered that I enjoyed acting and
(22:13):
it was a good way to gain confidence and not
be so shy and be more bold, and so yeah,
I think that that really helped me become a teacher,
because as a teacher, you are kind of your front
and center, you're speaking, you're managing kids. So I think
(22:42):
that helped me absolutely.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And how long have you been a teacher? Now?
Speaker 1 (22:48):
I started teaching in well, I started my master's program
in twenty thirteen part time, and I finished in twenty sixteen.
And I think my first teaching job was the fall
of twenty fourteen. Yes, the fall twenty fourteen was my
(23:09):
first teaching job. Yeah, and yeah, yeah, I've always been
in teaching in the middle school range. So that's kind
of my wheelhouse. Like the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade years,
you know, biology or I teach science. I teach middle
(23:34):
school science, which which includes biology. It includes a lot
of everything. It's just a little taste of everything for
the kids, like the whole universe basically. Oh yeah, it
was probably physics, the universe. I feel like I have
to know so much to teach middle school shirts.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, I imagine that's from what I remember from middle school.
I feel like there was a lot.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Yeah, there's there's rocks, you know, there's human body, there's
there's animals, it's it's everything. But another significant part of
my life was becoming a Christian. And so that about that. Yeah,
that started after college. So I had a college boyfriend.
(24:29):
It'll be funny if you ever see this, but I
had a college boyfriend and and I was like obsessed
with him, and I think if we're talking about faith,
he actually probably became like an idol to me. That
(24:49):
my my, my whole life was kind of revolving around him.
Like no fault of his, just I just you know,
got you were obsessed about it. Yeah, just I'd never
had a boyfriend before, and I think I was just
idolizing this romantic love. And so I think when I
(25:11):
graduated college that's when the relationship like fell apart. He was,
you know, moving on to grad school and then another state,
and that wasn't my direction, and so I think it
was hard to see how our lives would continue to
(25:33):
sync up. And and he was Catholic and I wasn't.
I hadn't. I didn't have a faith at that time,
so I think that was probably a strain.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Anyway, So was he like a practicing Catholic or was
he just like kind of Catholic by name?
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Or I mean I remember I remember he would. I
remember he went to and I've I've went with him
like a couple of times. But yeah, it didn't really
reach me, I guess at that time. Okay, I'm actually
(26:15):
a I guess a Protestant Christian. So that's interesting that
we have you and me. I think it'll be an
interesting mix. Yeah. So anyway, so the relationship fell apart,
and I was really devastated. I was, I would it was,
you know, it was like depression. I just couldn't imagine
(26:39):
going on. And I was really you know, I lost.
I was really hopeless, and I was very sad and
didn't you know, want to do much. I just like watch,
you know, watch sad movies and stay in, stay indoors.
And it was it was a hard time. It was
(27:02):
really hard. But you know, God didn't leave me there.
He sent me help through the form of a friend
or an acquaintance from college who you know, I was
talking to about my breakup and and he he brought
(27:29):
up a verse from the Bible. Is it's Romans eight
twenty eight. And I actually have a Bible here. I'm
just going to open it to make sure quote it correctly.
Romans eight acts Romans. It is a famous verse that
(27:51):
is important to a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
I'm sure I've heard it before. Yeah, I'm not as
good at quoting scripture, but I'm sure i'll recognize.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Okay, Yeah, So Romans eight twenty eight says, and we
know that for those who love God, all things work
together for good, for those who are called according to
His purpose. So it says that for those who love God,
all things work together for good. And I had never
(28:20):
heard that before, and that kind of drew me in.
I was like, Wow, all things can work together for good,
even even my suffering and pain. Right now, this, you know,
this can turn out for good. That's, you know, incredible.
So I started attending his church and I started I
(28:42):
bought I went to Borders and I bought a Bible,
and I started praying in my room. And yeah, and
this woman from the church, she started to meet with
me once a week and go through a study of
the Book of John, which which just asked really big
questions about who is Jesus and what matters in life.
(29:06):
And she would listen to me and listen answer my
questions and hear my struggles. And I think, yeah, I
was looking for hope. I was looking for love that lasts.
I was looking for a light out of this dark
(29:27):
tunnel that I was in. Another verse that was really
important to me at that time is from the Book
of Job and let me try to find that you
will forget your misery. You will remember it as waters
that have passed away, and your life will be brighter
than the noonday. It's darkness will be like the morning.
(29:50):
So those two verses, that's what I really wanted in
my life to forget my misery, to remember it like
waters that have passed away, for my life to be
brighter than the noon day, and for my darkness to
be like morning. So that you know, and I can
honestly say that's true, that that misery that I have
(30:10):
forgotten it, that it that it has become like waters
that have passed away, and that my life. You know,
not every day is awesome, but it is overall. It
is brighter than noonday, and it will be brighter than
noon day for eternity and darkness. What was once darkness
(30:34):
for me is now like the morning.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
So that's good. That's amazing that your friend like was
able just through like a simple Bible verse, was able
to you know, really just inspire you to look into
Christianity more.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Yeah, I think that is the power of God's word.
That it it strikes you at your core, you know
it it it's living inactive So it's powerful. There's power
behind God's word.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
And absolutely, so let me ask you this. Yeah, obviously
for the audience. So, Cindy and I know each other
because we're both on the board of New Hampshire Right
to Life. So you know, beautiful story of your Christianity
your conversion of Christianity. But I'm also curious how did
you originally get involved with New Hampshire Right to Life
(31:29):
and the pro life movement and okay, yeah, just valuing
valuing human life.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Do you want me to share first or do you
want to go first?
Speaker 2 (31:41):
It doesn't matter first, that's fine, Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
How did I get involved with New Hampshire Right to Life? Well,
in twenty fourteen, I was in Boston and I met
my now husband Jason. We met at church in Boston
and after about you know, three quarters of a year
(32:06):
after we met, we started dating and I found out,
you know, Jason was involved in New Hampshire Right to
Life and so he asked, you know, do you want
to come to like a board meeting? Do you want
to come to the annual benefit banquet? And so that's
(32:30):
kind of how I uh got started, got my toes wet.
I don't know's that's sessaying, but that's how I got
introduced to New Hampshire Right to Life, just through Jason
and just coming to meetings and just being more involved
in the events here. Yeah, just I think you know, as.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
The story, you know, I've been on the board with you,
but I didn't know how you got original. We got involved.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
That's that's goal that it was through Jason. Yeah, yeah,
I think yeah. I mean as Christians, I think, you know,
we agree that life is valuable and worth protecting and
worth doing whatever possible to to save. So I think
(33:24):
it's worthy.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Why do you why do you value life? Cindy, I'm
curious what is what would what would you say is
the reason that, oh I should respect life and that
you value.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
I made some notes. Let me just follow up my notes.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Here.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
They are so well, why is life valuable? I think
the biggest reason is because it's valuable to God. Like
we every human being is valuable and precious to God.
He he made us in his image. That's from Genesis
(34:06):
One that God said, let us make man in our
image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the birds of
the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God. He created him male and female. He
(34:29):
created them, and God blessed them. So every human being
is made in the image of God. And so we
have that inherent worth because we like resemble the image
and likeness of God. We're not like we're not like
(34:50):
a tree or a mountain or a squirrel. I mean
as as those are also God's creation, but humans have
a more special soul quality. Did you what did you say?
Speaker 2 (35:09):
And I said, we have a soul, right, and like
we have a soul.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yeah, he said we have a skull. I was like,
we have a skull. We're doing the skull too, Yes,
a soul, yes that God. It says in Genesis too
that the Lord God formed the man of dust from
the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breadth of life,
(35:34):
and the man became a living creature. So yes, we
have that life force that is God breathed into us.
And and that's that's like why we're so precious to God,
is he formed us and he gave us life. And
(35:54):
and that also he loves us like God deeply loves us,
everyone of us, so much that he sent his son
John three sixteen. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only son that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life. For God did
(36:16):
not send his son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him.
So God made us. We're in his image, and he
loves us so deeply that he would send his only
son to forgive our sins, to die for us on
the cross, to and be resurrected so that we would
(36:39):
not perish, in order that we would not perish, but
that we would have eternal life, so that we could
live forever with Him. So I think, yeah, I mean
that's like, you know, that's the goal, is like, that's
we're just we're destined to live forever with God.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Yeah, definitely, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Yeah, And it's it is wrong for us to take
the life of another human because that is destroying you know,
what God loves. And that's that's not how we should
(37:28):
treat each other.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Exactly. That's a basic life is a basic human right, right,
Like we should at least all have the the right
to life.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yeah, And I think yeah, Like whether you come from
a Christian a back Christian perspective or not, I think
most all people can see the the value of human life.
Like we can see that we don't want to end
(38:05):
the end someone else's life. We don't. We rejoice when
there is a new life born. We try to, you know,
protect each other's lives and rescue it when it's when
we're sick or when someone's life is in critical danger.
(38:29):
You know, we most everyone would would help someone who
is holding onto life.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Yeah, so that's fair. I mean I think another thing is, like,
you know, we have laws in this country to protect lives, right,
like we have laws against murder. Right, we don't want
people to murder more around murdering each other. And we yeah, exactly,
like we're are the outline of our laws, especially here
in the United States, outline. You know, Yes, we should
(39:00):
and we should respect both lives that are born and
preborn lives as well. So yeah, yeah, And I would
say I have a similar answer to you of you
know why Definitely, I totally agree with you on the
reasons of as you know, why life is valuable and
why we should respect life. And we I also just believe,
(39:22):
like you said, like God loves us, and we're meant
to love and be loved by the Father and to
use the love that the Father gives us to love
each other. And really that is what we're supposed to do.
In this life right on?
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Okay, so do we want to share any I guess
I shared a lot of Bible verses, but we were
going to share one Bible verse each of some of
a life affirming a Bible verse from anywhere? Do you
do you have one?
Speaker 2 (39:59):
Yeah? No, I do. So the Bible of ver is
that I wanted to share was kind of I prayed
about this beforehand, but and this is just it was
kind of the one I found was kind of not
what I expected to share. But I think this is
what God wants everyone to hear. But it's from it's
Genesis thirty thirty one, and basically it's from when Jacob
(40:23):
is basically choosing Rachel over Leah to be his wife.
And so the Bible verse says, when the Lord saw
that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children.
And yeah, and I was just like thinking about this,
and I was praying about this. I just thought this
was such an interesting verse because I feel like in
(40:44):
many places in the Bible, when somebody is despairing or
they're you know, they're just they're just worrying, they're always
asking God, like, please provide me with children, Please provide
me with the gift of children. It made me think
of the story of Abraham and Sarah as well, right, like,
(41:04):
you know, they're at an old age and they're unable
to conceive, and the Lord promises them that he'll give
them a son, and then Sarah is able to conceive,
and it just it just made me think about like
how much we should we should value the gift of
life and the gift of children in our society today
as it's outlined to the Bible. Because in the Bible,
(41:25):
like God is always giving children as a gift, right,
as a gift for him as you know, to satisfy
people's constant prayers, to finally fulfill those prayers. So that
was the verse I longed to share.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
That reminds you of a verse that I wrote down
earlier that Psalm seven three says, behold, children are a
heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
So exactly that children are a reward from the Lord.
It's a gift, a a you know, something, a positive.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
Rear It's funny that we have similar verses that we
brought along to share.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Yeah, well, my actual verses is something different.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
It just okay, okay, Okay, okay, I'm sharing your Actually, yes,
that was mine.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
That was pretty cool. I wasn't think I've never thought
of that that.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
I really was agreed about it. And I flipped to
a random page of the Bible and that was the
one that came up. But it was like, I think
that's is the one that the Lord wants to share.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Probably called that lucky dipping, but just kidding. Yeah, that
that because Leo wasn't love that God opened her womb.
Is that what it says or allowed it?
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Yes, I think definitely. Based on the translation, it may
be different. But the version I said, basically it says
when the Lord saw that Leah wasn't loved, he enabled
her to have children.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Okay, wow, so huh that's kind of a way of
God's showing her love that it would be that she
wasn't receiving that he blessed her with cop So the
verse that I picked is from Psalm one thirty nine,
(43:20):
which is why I asked you, oh, are you picking songs?
Because I'm picking songs. Psalm one thirty nine. It's one
of my favorite psalms. I remember memorizing it like when
I was early in my Christian walk. But I just
picked three verses, verses thirteen to sixteen. It says for you,
(43:41):
and it's talking about God. For you. God formed my
inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful
are your works. My soul knows it very well. My
frame was not hidden from you when I was being
made secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
(44:04):
Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were
written every one of them, the days that were formed
for me, when as yet there were none of them.
So this part, especially, just it. It gives us a
glimpse of what God is doing to form a new life.
(44:27):
That he's knitting us. He knit us into our mother's womb.
He saw our hidden frame when no one else had
ever met us before. But God could see us in
the womb. We were being made in this secret, secret
(44:48):
hiding shelter and calling God's work intricately woven, that our lives,
our bodies, where God was intricately weaving them together and
embroidering or weaving with a colorful thread just kind of
(45:10):
God was like crafting us together, you know, in those
early stages when no one had seen us yet, he
was kind of every one of us was like an
individual craft project. It's amazing weaving us in the depths
of the earth, which is kind of like the womb, right,
it's like the deep underground. Yeah, and that God's eyes
(45:32):
saw our unformed substance. So even when we were like
an embryo, you know, not fully looking like what we
look like today, But God saw us then and even
that in his book, in his scroll, every one of
our days were written down, So even before we had
(45:55):
seen the daylight, like all of our existence was already
kind of declared and recorded and shaped. So I think
that is this to me is like very life affirming
(46:17):
and even at even before you are born, that there's
so much going on. God is doing so much behind
the scenes in a in a hidden, secret, sheltered protected place,
the womb, and he's hard at work, you know, just
(46:37):
weaving us together. None of us are I like clones
of each other. We're all so different, And yeah, I
think that's that's pretty amazing to know that that was
going on, you know, and that's going it's going it's
going on right now, some somewhere in somebody's womb, somebody
(47:01):
is being knitted together and there's babies being born right
now that I guess God finished knitting and now they're out,
so and there's more. There's more lives to come that
are God's going to knit them and weave them together.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
So yeah, I think you said that so beautifully. Yeah,
no exactly, but hey, the Lord used he as a
vessel to share that, so that was that was beautiful.
But I think that's pretty much all we have time
for today, okay, but all our listeners, I just want
(47:49):
to say, you know, we're looking for this podcast to
be a space for to be able to share the
voices of people in New Hampshire right through New Hampshire
right to life I mean this podcast, but also beyond
so throughout New England, throughout the United States as well,
to be able to bring on different guests, different speakers
and interview them and highlight the life affirming work that
(48:13):
they're doing. So yeah, feel free to send us an
email at Ever Living Pod at gmail dot com. So
it's just ever Ever Living Pod altogether at gmail dot com.
We also have a new Instagram we'll be posting on that,
so feel free to follow us on Instagram. It's at
(48:33):
Living ever Living podcast and it's ever dot Living podcast.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Okay, so yeah, so ever not Living Podcasts.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
The other names were taken unfortunately. And also make sure yes,
I know, I was like, Oh, I guess like other
people you have maybe I don't know have shows like
this or something, but yeah, and make sure to give
us a five star review you so that we can
reach new people. And make sure to share with a friend.
That would be awesome as well. But Cindy, do you
(49:07):
want to end in prayer?
Speaker 1 (49:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (49:09):
Sure, I'd love to.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
Okay. Dear heavenly Father, thank you for this time to
meditate on your word. How you do knit us together
in our mother's womb. And wonderful are your works. My
soul knows this very well. Lord. I pray for all
of our listeners out there and future listeners that they
(49:33):
too will see and taste your goodness and be blessed
and be able to have eternal life with you, Lord,
through your son Jesus. I thank you for the chance
to have this podcast and all the people behind the
(49:56):
scenes who are helping us put this together. And just
may your may be glorified Lord, may your may your
work continue, and may your kingdom come. Thank you Lord,
and in Jesus name I pray Amen.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Amen, Amen.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
All right. So may God bless you and be very
near to you all, and may you be ever living living.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
All right.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Bye everyone, you next week you, next week we'll have
some good interviews. H m hm
Welcome to ever Living, a new podcast about valuing life
here on Earth and for eternity. We are your life
loving hosts Cindy and Jessica. Every week on ever Living,
we want to create a space for sharing the stories
and voices of those who work and pray to create
a culture that values and protects life in New England
(00:31):
and beyond. So welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
It's our first episode of Jessica. Yes, so exciting. How
are you doing, Cindy.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I'm doing well. It just got home from work. It's
a it was a really nice day springtime. It's really beautiful.
How is your day?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
And you're you're a teacher, so wrap it up the
school year soon.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Right, yep, just a few more weeks and then we
are done for this summer. So that's exciting, very exciting.
What's what What did you do today?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, I'd say just working working from home today and
I went out and got myself a fun drink. I
have these the still a fun tea place up the
road for me, So I went and got myself a
fun tea. So that was good. And yeah, just enjoying
the weather. It's been a little raeny, but yeah, it's
(01:29):
it's been nice. That it's you know, spring time.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
So yeah, yeah, what flavored tea did you get today?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
So it was actually a strawberry like mango tea. So
basically they're like to clarify, they're not alcoholic teas, but
they did them as margarita flavors for Sinco de Mayo
basically this week. So basically this girl she creates like
all these different fruit flavored teas. So I got I
(02:00):
got a strawberry mango one for myself, and then my roommate,
my poor roommate who's sick, I got her one as well.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Oh so that's nice.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, good to get there. But like these fun nutrition
shops like they have, they're like they have them throughout
I wonder, I wonder if there's any in New Hampshire
as well. But well, like these did to.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Focus on nutrition to extend your life and have a
healthy life. Absolutely, yeah yeah, what else are you looking
forward to anything coming up this month? It?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, so, I mean this month, I'm just excited that
it's a little bit of a slower month for work
for me. I'm going to be doing some more just
working from home, and or a point in this semester
that I'm auditing my student groups, which I'll get into
a little bit more about what I do later in
the podcast. But but yeah, so it's a little bit
(02:55):
slower for me right now. But I'm excited because next
month I'm actually going to Italy and France. Oh yeah,
a trip with my best friend. So yeah, have.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
You have you ever been to Italy or France before?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
I haven't been to Italy or France. I've been to Ireland,
England and Wales in Europe. I did that my senior
year of high school. But yeah, I've never been to
Italy or fans. It's very excited to go to Rome.
With the new pope being elected today.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Right, an American pope for the first.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Time I heard American pope because he's from Chicago. He
grew up in Chicago, so good for them. Yeah, it
should be interesting. But what about you. Do you have
any fun summer plans coming up?
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Well, my youngest sister is graduating college next week, so
probably she is at Fairleigh Dickinson. I think that's a
New Jersey and so drive down there. And actually next
week is also my birthday, so it's kind of special birthday.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Thank you, Happy early birthday.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Thanks. Yeah, May has actually a lot of birthdays for
my family, and you know, Mother's Day, and so there's
my mom's birthday, my birthday, my youngest sister's birthday, and
Mother's Day all in May. So it's kind of kind
of a big month.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Have a lot of life to celebrate in May. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yes, it's celebrating life. Yes, Okay, good day. What's going
on going on? Let's get into introducing ourselves to our
new listeners. So we came up with some questions to
(04:55):
interview each other, get to know each other a little better,
and hopefully the audience I'll also get to get to
know us better. So I'll go first and I'll interview you.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Okay, ready, awesome, All right, sounds good.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Okay. Where in the US, I'm guessing the US. Where
in the US did you grow up in? What decade
did you grow up in?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yes, so I grew up in the United States? Yes,
in Connecticut. So I grew up in the northwest corner
of Connecticut. Torrington is the specific town that I grew
up in. And I grew up in the early two thousands.
So I was born in two thousand and one. And yeah,
I grew up in the okay two thousands, the twenty
ten's so.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah, okay, so that's like the I think of like
the boy band girl band era. It's like the one direction.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I'm trying to think who else was popular? Like the Script?
I was into the Script. They were a little bit
before my like the two thousands. I think maybe the
early two thousands they were popular, but definitely one direction.
What else was popular? I think of like Gangnam Style,
like okay, yeah, like when that came out.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Still popular.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Silly bands, yeah, like the little like plastic like bracelets
they were, or like they were like rubbery bracelets that
were like animal shaped and.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
You can like them, leave them together and make some
shape or something like out of rubber bands or loop
them together.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I think you're thinking of something else. I know what
you're talking about. I think there were there were those
like are you don't about like the tiny ones, like
the tiny.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Tiny rings like colorful that's not silly bands?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Bands? Yeah, No, silly bands were the ones that were
like animal shaped, like they were like animal shaped or
like I don't know, I had one that's like a limo.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Oh interesting, you'll have to do you still have any
you have to show and Tell.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Maybe maybe probably somewhere I have a loop room, but
maybe maybe I can bring them to an episode and
show silly vands. Okay, but yeah, so that was my childhood.
What okay about your childhood? What do you remember most
about your childhood and what kind of kid you were
(07:19):
like or what you were interested in as a kid. Yeah,
so what I remember most? So I have basically grew
up with I have two younger brothers. So I have
a brother who's two years younger than me, So we
were very close growing up. He's yeah, he's currently so
I'm twenty four, he's twenty two. And yeah, we really
(07:41):
grew up together. I remember playing like in the backyard
with him. I remember we used to draw with chalk
on our driveway in our neighborhood and make like a
little city, like we would try to like make remake
our city that we lived in out of child.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah that's pretty cool. Creative.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, no, definitely very creative. I like what else we
used to do, but like I used to make forts
and things like that. But yeah, so two younger brothers,
my and then my other brother, he's sixteen, he'll be
seventeen soon, so he's quite a bit younger than me,
but but yeah, no, definitely had a great childhood, lived
in a pretty nice neighborhood growing up, and yeah, I
(08:27):
was very grateful to have had most of my upbringing
my parents together. My parents unfortunately got divorced when I
was seventeen, but most of my childhood, most of my
early childhood, they were happy and together and that was
very nice. And yeah, as for like what type of
kid I was, I don't say, like, I think I
was unusual as a kid a little bit really, from
(08:50):
like fifth grade on, I was just like a very
like focused, school focused kid, like a lot of kids,
like liked to go outside and play, and honestly, I
wish I did that a little bit more. Like I
think I was like very very driven, okay, and it
was very very academic.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
So okay, so you studied a lot and you worked
hard in school and reading and I assume much.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, okay, very very involved in school and things like that.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
That sounds like we have something in common there, but
we'll find out, okay. So yeah, my next question was
about your family, but you you answered that that you
had two younger brothers and your parents were together until
you were like late into high school, right, So yes,
do you want to talk about more about school? Like
(09:39):
what was your school experience like as a kid, Did
you enjoy it something?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, so I would say I mean, for the most part,
definitely enjoyed school. Like I said, I was very academic,
so school was definitely a priority for me. Studying was
definitely a priority. It was very like college driven. I
felt like I from an early age, I really wanted
to like make college a priority, and which is always
like very interested in like in colleges and like where
(10:09):
I would end up. I think it was just like
interesting to me. I will say, like, yeah, like high
school was also a very interesting time for me because
that was when I started getting very involved in my
faith and that definitely was very influential for me in
(10:29):
high school. And I feel that that was some very
formative years of my life.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Okay, how how did that start in high school? What
happened to go deeper in your Christian faith?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
To my faith? Yeah, so in ninth grade, my parents
were going through some issues. That was kind of around
the time that the problems that they were having started,
and I had felt like very very alone in a
lot of ways, and I didn't really know entirely who
to turn to. So that summer, the summer before my
(11:09):
freshman year of high school in ninth grade, we actually
moved in with my grandmother. So my mom and my
brothers and I we moved in with my grandmother. She
lived in town, so it wasn't a huge change, but
we did move out of our house and moved in
with my grandmother for a time being. And yeah, that
summer was just really tough because my mom didn't really
(11:30):
want anybody knowing about what was going on just between
her and my dad. So I was very alone. I
didn't really have a ton of people to talk to.
I had friends, and some of them kind of like
were asking what was going on, But to be respectful,
I just didn't want to, you know, tell anybody we
had a respectful to my mom. I didn't want to
tell anybody was going on. So anyway, so long story short,
(11:52):
when I got into high school, felt very lone, but
I was involved with youth group and I was enrolled
in information class. I'm Catholic, so I was enrolled in
our Catholic church's confirmation class. This was the first year
of it, and part of that was a retreat at
the beginning of the year, and basically as part of
(12:15):
this retreat, because it was like a day where all
of the high school students that were enrolling Confirmation went
and had prayer and praising worship, and part of it
was also adoration. So adoration in the Catholic faith is
basically when the blessed sacraments of the euchriss is displayed
(12:36):
in something called a monstrance. So it's this big gold
thing and basically the Euchros is placed in there, and
Catholics believe that the euchost is the real body of Christ.
So anyways, I'd never been to adoration before. Basically what
it is is the the Euchros is placed in this
this gold thing and it sits up on the altar
and it's a time of prayer. And so I go
(12:59):
to this for the first time in my life, and
I really just had this really amazing encounter with God.
During this time, I'd you know, been feeling really really
alone and I just had some really really awesome prayer
and I just really truly felt God's presence with me,
and yeah, it was it was, It was amazing. And
(13:20):
I went to confession as well, and that you know,
that's like when you confess your sins to the to
God through the priest, and that was just really powerful.
I remember breaking down crying like like just I couldn't
get control of myself, like I was crying so much.
It was like the Holy Spirit had come over me.
(13:40):
And yeah, so that was really like my my moment
that I knew that I really wanted my faith to
be a big part of my life. So yeah, that's
to answer your question, that's that's really how I got
really involved with my faith. That day. I was like
I want to say, yes, So.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
That's amazing, thank you for that with us. Did that
affect the rest of your family too, when you started
like returning to God.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Yeah, I mean I think in ways. I mean, I
don't know, I think over time, like definitely, I think.
I mean, my family definitely was was always pretty involved
in the church, so that definitely it wasn't like they
weren't Catholic and they weren't practicing, but I think I
(14:33):
definitely like they saw that faith in me and that
influenced them. I will say, you know, to go back
to what we're talking about about high school, it was
definitely an interest High school was definitely an interesting time
because kind of once that moment happened, I really did
start taking my faith seriously and my friends noticed that.
(14:55):
And I went to public school, so I wasn't always
the most accepted by my friends in public school because
of my faith, and yeah, that was difficult at times.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, they could notice something different, something something new about
you because of you. Yeah yeah, faith in Christ. Okay, cool?
So what about college? Do you want to talk about
what your college experience was?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Like? Touch on college for sure. So so yeah, after
high school, I went to Yukon University of Connecticut. That's
where I go Huskies. Yes, everybody knows us as the
basketball capital of the world. But that was really great
and I was really grateful that even though I wasn't
(15:47):
accepted a whole lot by my peers in high school
for my faith, I was able to find a community
in college that accepted me for my faith and helped
me grow my faith as well. And that was through
the Yukon Catholic Center. So oh wow, yeah, awesome, that
was one.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
And what did you study? What did you study in college?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
So I studied human development and family sciences, and then
I got a master's in Public policy at the Yukon
Hertford campus. So I did my undergrad at Stores, which
is the main campus, and then I master's public policy.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
That's another connection we have in common because my dad
went to Yukon for grad school. So what did your
dad study? He studied chemistry.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
So cool.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
For a time when I was very little, we lived
in stores like near Yukon.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
So we are cool.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I guess we have that. We're like twins.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
I feel like so many people studied chemistry at Yukon.
They must have like a good department or something.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I feel like maybe it's renowned grad students.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Like studying chemistry. I don't know, but it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
I heard they like make their own ice cream there
at Yukon, Like is that a big thing? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yeah, so there's a Yukon dairy bar. I'm lactose intolerant,
so that was always kind of tough for me, maybe
the bar. But they developed.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Developed some lactose free ice creams or something. Yeah, I
remember what it was when I was a kid. When
I was a kid and we were living at Yukon,
I remember we had like a like almost like a
dog dish, like a plastic dog dish bowl, but it
was just for ice cream. It was like you could
(17:43):
take this dog dish bowl and go reload it with
ice cream or something, and that was like a significant
memory of my childhood. All right.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
So yeah, well, so now that you know you asked
me a bunch of questions, I'd love to could I
ask you a little bit more about your childhood? So
you started on? Okay, so you did you were you
born in stores or did you you know, and I
moved to stores.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah. I was born in China. My parents are Chinese.
They met in China in college, and I was born
like very quickly after they were married. Actually, my dad
was already at Yukon studying chemistry, and my mom gave
birth to me in China, and then shortly after she
(18:39):
brought me to my grandmother, my dad's mother's and father's house,
and they raised me for my first couple of years
of life while my parents lived at Yukon. And then
I think when I was about two years old, my
(19:00):
grandmother brought me to reunite me with my parents, and
that's the start of my American childhood. We moved a
lot because of my dad's career. So after Yukon. We
moved to Ohio and I did like kindergarten and maybe
(19:26):
a little bit of first grade there. And my sister,
my middle sister, was born in Ohio, and after she
was born, we moved and we drove to Rhode Island
and that's where at first we were in an apartment
and then we moved into our first house. And Rhode
(19:47):
Island is where I was in second grade, third grade
up through sixth grade. So basically my most of my
elementary years were in Rhode Island. And after sixth grade,
we moved to New York State, like Orange County, New York,
(20:12):
and that's where I entered middle school and stayed there
to finish high school. So middle school and high school
were in the same I was living in the same
town in New York and suburbs. And after high school,
(20:32):
I got into college at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and
I was there.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
You said you were pretty academic, so that that makes
sense you ended up in MIT.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yes, my parents. Yeah, for my parents, I mean, since
education opened so many doors for them to come to
the US and you know, we're card and and you know,
start their careers, and so they always instilled in me
(21:07):
the value of education, and I enjoyed learning. I enjoyed reading,
I enjoyed math. I just really I had really good
teachers and school was very It just became my passion.
(21:30):
So yeah, I I graduated first in my high school
and went to MIT after that, and I think I
I graduated like a semester early. Maybe I spent like
three and a half years at MIT. And then what
(21:52):
did you study at MIT? My major was biology, Yeah,
but I also had I did a lot of history
classes and for the first time started acting classes. So
that was Yeah. I discovered that I enjoyed acting and
(22:13):
it was a good way to gain confidence and not
be so shy and be more bold, and so yeah,
I think that that really helped me become a teacher,
because as a teacher, you are kind of your front
and center, you're speaking, you're managing kids. So I think
(22:42):
that helped me absolutely.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And how long have you been a teacher? Now?
Speaker 1 (22:48):
I started teaching in well, I started my master's program
in twenty thirteen part time, and I finished in twenty sixteen.
And I think my first teaching job was the fall
of twenty fourteen. Yes, the fall twenty fourteen was my
(23:09):
first teaching job. Yeah, and yeah, yeah, I've always been
in teaching in the middle school range. So that's kind
of my wheelhouse. Like the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade years,
you know, biology or I teach science. I teach middle
(23:34):
school science, which which includes biology. It includes a lot
of everything. It's just a little taste of everything for
the kids, like the whole universe basically. Oh yeah, it
was probably physics, the universe. I feel like I have
to know so much to teach middle school shirts.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, I imagine that's from what I remember from middle school.
I feel like there was a lot.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Yeah, there's there's rocks, you know, there's human body, there's
there's animals, it's it's everything. But another significant part of
my life was becoming a Christian. And so that about that. Yeah,
that started after college. So I had a college boyfriend.
(24:29):
It'll be funny if you ever see this, but I
had a college boyfriend and and I was like obsessed
with him, and I think if we're talking about faith,
he actually probably became like an idol to me. That
(24:49):
my my, my whole life was kind of revolving around him.
Like no fault of his, just I just you know,
got you were obsessed about it. Yeah, just I'd never
had a boyfriend before, and I think I was just
idolizing this romantic love. And so I think when I
(25:11):
graduated college that's when the relationship like fell apart. He was,
you know, moving on to grad school and then another state,
and that wasn't my direction, and so I think it
was hard to see how our lives would continue to
(25:33):
sync up. And and he was Catholic and I wasn't.
I hadn't. I didn't have a faith at that time,
so I think that was probably a strain.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Anyway, So was he like a practicing Catholic or was
he just like kind of Catholic by name?
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Or I mean I remember I remember he would. I
remember he went to and I've I've went with him
like a couple of times. But yeah, it didn't really
reach me, I guess at that time. Okay, I'm actually
(26:15):
a I guess a Protestant Christian. So that's interesting that
we have you and me. I think it'll be an
interesting mix. Yeah. So anyway, so the relationship fell apart,
and I was really devastated. I was, I would it was,
you know, it was like depression. I just couldn't imagine
(26:39):
going on. And I was really you know, I lost.
I was really hopeless, and I was very sad and
didn't you know, want to do much. I just like watch,
you know, watch sad movies and stay in, stay indoors.
And it was it was a hard time. It was
(27:02):
really hard. But you know, God didn't leave me there.
He sent me help through the form of a friend
or an acquaintance from college who you know, I was
talking to about my breakup and and he he brought
(27:29):
up a verse from the Bible. Is it's Romans eight
twenty eight. And I actually have a Bible here. I'm
just going to open it to make sure quote it correctly.
Romans eight acts Romans. It is a famous verse that
(27:51):
is important to a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
I'm sure I've heard it before. Yeah, I'm not as
good at quoting scripture, but I'm sure i'll recognize.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Okay, Yeah, So Romans eight twenty eight says, and we
know that for those who love God, all things work
together for good, for those who are called according to
His purpose. So it says that for those who love God,
all things work together for good. And I had never
(28:20):
heard that before, and that kind of drew me in.
I was like, Wow, all things can work together for good,
even even my suffering and pain. Right now, this, you know,
this can turn out for good. That's, you know, incredible.
So I started attending his church and I started I
(28:42):
bought I went to Borders and I bought a Bible,
and I started praying in my room. And yeah, and
this woman from the church, she started to meet with
me once a week and go through a study of
the Book of John, which which just asked really big
questions about who is Jesus and what matters in life.
(29:06):
And she would listen to me and listen answer my
questions and hear my struggles. And I think, yeah, I
was looking for hope. I was looking for love that lasts.
I was looking for a light out of this dark
(29:27):
tunnel that I was in. Another verse that was really
important to me at that time is from the Book
of Job and let me try to find that you
will forget your misery. You will remember it as waters
that have passed away, and your life will be brighter
than the noonday. It's darkness will be like the morning.
(29:50):
So those two verses, that's what I really wanted in
my life to forget my misery, to remember it like
waters that have passed away, for my life to be
brighter than the noon day, and for my darkness to
be like morning. So that you know, and I can
honestly say that's true, that that misery that I have
(30:10):
forgotten it, that it that it has become like waters
that have passed away, and that my life. You know,
not every day is awesome, but it is overall. It
is brighter than noonday, and it will be brighter than
noon day for eternity and darkness. What was once darkness
(30:34):
for me is now like the morning.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
So that's good. That's amazing that your friend like was
able just through like a simple Bible verse, was able
to you know, really just inspire you to look into
Christianity more.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Yeah, I think that is the power of God's word.
That it it strikes you at your core, you know
it it it's living inactive So it's powerful. There's power
behind God's word.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
And absolutely, so let me ask you this. Yeah, obviously
for the audience. So, Cindy and I know each other
because we're both on the board of New Hampshire Right
to Life. So you know, beautiful story of your Christianity
your conversion of Christianity. But I'm also curious how did
you originally get involved with New Hampshire Right to Life
(31:29):
and the pro life movement and okay, yeah, just valuing
valuing human life.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Do you want me to share first or do you
want to go first?
Speaker 2 (31:41):
It doesn't matter first, that's fine, Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
How did I get involved with New Hampshire Right to Life? Well,
in twenty fourteen, I was in Boston and I met
my now husband Jason. We met at church in Boston
and after about you know, three quarters of a year
(32:06):
after we met, we started dating and I found out,
you know, Jason was involved in New Hampshire Right to
Life and so he asked, you know, do you want
to come to like a board meeting? Do you want
to come to the annual benefit banquet? And so that's
(32:30):
kind of how I uh got started, got my toes wet.
I don't know's that's sessaying, but that's how I got
introduced to New Hampshire Right to Life, just through Jason
and just coming to meetings and just being more involved
in the events here. Yeah, just I think you know, as.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
The story, you know, I've been on the board with you,
but I didn't know how you got original. We got involved.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
That's that's goal that it was through Jason. Yeah, yeah,
I think yeah. I mean as Christians, I think, you know,
we agree that life is valuable and worth protecting and
worth doing whatever possible to to save. So I think
(33:24):
it's worthy.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Why do you why do you value life? Cindy, I'm
curious what is what would what would you say is
the reason that, oh I should respect life and that
you value.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
I made some notes. Let me just follow up my notes.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Here.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
They are so well, why is life valuable? I think
the biggest reason is because it's valuable to God. Like
we every human being is valuable and precious to God.
He he made us in his image. That's from Genesis
(34:06):
One that God said, let us make man in our
image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the birds of
the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God. He created him male and female. He
(34:29):
created them, and God blessed them. So every human being
is made in the image of God. And so we
have that inherent worth because we like resemble the image
and likeness of God. We're not like we're not like
(34:50):
a tree or a mountain or a squirrel. I mean
as as those are also God's creation, but humans have
a more special soul quality. Did you what did you say?
Speaker 2 (35:09):
And I said, we have a soul, right, and like
we have a soul.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yeah, he said we have a skull. I was like,
we have a skull. We're doing the skull too, Yes,
a soul, yes that God. It says in Genesis too
that the Lord God formed the man of dust from
the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breadth of life,
(35:34):
and the man became a living creature. So yes, we
have that life force that is God breathed into us.
And and that's that's like why we're so precious to God,
is he formed us and he gave us life. And
(35:54):
and that also he loves us like God deeply loves us,
everyone of us, so much that he sent his son
John three sixteen. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only son that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life. For God did
(36:16):
not send his son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him.
So God made us. We're in his image, and he
loves us so deeply that he would send his only
son to forgive our sins, to die for us on
the cross, to and be resurrected so that we would
(36:39):
not perish, in order that we would not perish, but
that we would have eternal life, so that we could
live forever with Him. So I think, yeah, I mean
that's like, you know, that's the goal, is like, that's
we're just we're destined to live forever with God.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Yeah, definitely, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Yeah, And it's it is wrong for us to take
the life of another human because that is destroying you know,
what God loves. And that's that's not how we should
(37:28):
treat each other.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Exactly. That's a basic life is a basic human right, right,
Like we should at least all have the the right
to life.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yeah, And I think yeah, Like whether you come from
a Christian a back Christian perspective or not, I think
most all people can see the the value of human life.
Like we can see that we don't want to end
(38:05):
the end someone else's life. We don't. We rejoice when
there is a new life born. We try to, you know,
protect each other's lives and rescue it when it's when
we're sick or when someone's life is in critical danger.
(38:29):
You know, we most everyone would would help someone who
is holding onto life.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Yeah, so that's fair. I mean I think another thing is, like,
you know, we have laws in this country to protect lives, right,
like we have laws against murder. Right, we don't want
people to murder more around murdering each other. And we yeah, exactly,
like we're are the outline of our laws, especially here
in the United States, outline. You know, Yes, we should
(39:00):
and we should respect both lives that are born and
preborn lives as well. So yeah, yeah, And I would
say I have a similar answer to you of you
know why Definitely, I totally agree with you on the
reasons of as you know, why life is valuable and
why we should respect life. And we I also just believe,
(39:22):
like you said, like God loves us, and we're meant
to love and be loved by the Father and to
use the love that the Father gives us to love
each other. And really that is what we're supposed to do.
In this life right on?
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Okay, so do we want to share any I guess
I shared a lot of Bible verses, but we were
going to share one Bible verse each of some of
a life affirming a Bible verse from anywhere? Do you
do you have one?
Speaker 2 (39:59):
Yeah? No, I do. So the Bible of ver is
that I wanted to share was kind of I prayed
about this beforehand, but and this is just it was
kind of the one I found was kind of not
what I expected to share. But I think this is
what God wants everyone to hear. But it's from it's
Genesis thirty thirty one, and basically it's from when Jacob
(40:23):
is basically choosing Rachel over Leah to be his wife.
And so the Bible verse says, when the Lord saw
that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children.
And yeah, and I was just like thinking about this,
and I was praying about this. I just thought this
was such an interesting verse because I feel like in
(40:44):
many places in the Bible, when somebody is despairing or
they're you know, they're just they're just worrying, they're always
asking God, like, please provide me with children, Please provide
me with the gift of children. It made me think
of the story of Abraham and Sarah as well, right, like,
(41:04):
you know, they're at an old age and they're unable
to conceive, and the Lord promises them that he'll give
them a son, and then Sarah is able to conceive,
and it just it just made me think about like
how much we should we should value the gift of
life and the gift of children in our society today
as it's outlined to the Bible. Because in the Bible,
(41:25):
like God is always giving children as a gift, right,
as a gift for him as you know, to satisfy
people's constant prayers, to finally fulfill those prayers. So that
was the verse I longed to share.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
That reminds you of a verse that I wrote down
earlier that Psalm seven three says, behold, children are a
heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
So exactly that children are a reward from the Lord.
It's a gift, a a you know, something, a positive.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
Rear It's funny that we have similar verses that we
brought along to share.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Yeah, well, my actual verses is something different.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
It just okay, okay, Okay, okay, I'm sharing your Actually, yes,
that was mine.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
That was pretty cool. I wasn't think I've never thought
of that that.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
I really was agreed about it. And I flipped to
a random page of the Bible and that was the
one that came up. But it was like, I think
that's is the one that the Lord wants to share.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Probably called that lucky dipping, but just kidding. Yeah, that
that because Leo wasn't love that God opened her womb.
Is that what it says or allowed it?
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Yes, I think definitely. Based on the translation, it may
be different. But the version I said, basically it says
when the Lord saw that Leah wasn't loved, he enabled
her to have children.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Okay, wow, so huh that's kind of a way of
God's showing her love that it would be that she
wasn't receiving that he blessed her with cop So the
verse that I picked is from Psalm one thirty nine,
(43:20):
which is why I asked you, oh, are you picking songs?
Because I'm picking songs. Psalm one thirty nine. It's one
of my favorite psalms. I remember memorizing it like when
I was early in my Christian walk. But I just
picked three verses, verses thirteen to sixteen. It says for you,
(43:41):
and it's talking about God. For you. God formed my
inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful
are your works. My soul knows it very well. My
frame was not hidden from you when I was being
made secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
(44:04):
Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were
written every one of them, the days that were formed
for me, when as yet there were none of them.
So this part, especially, just it. It gives us a
glimpse of what God is doing to form a new life.
(44:27):
That he's knitting us. He knit us into our mother's womb.
He saw our hidden frame when no one else had
ever met us before. But God could see us in
the womb. We were being made in this secret, secret
(44:48):
hiding shelter and calling God's work intricately woven, that our lives,
our bodies, where God was intricately weaving them together and
embroidering or weaving with a colorful thread just kind of
(45:10):
God was like crafting us together, you know, in those
early stages when no one had seen us yet, he
was kind of every one of us was like an
individual craft project. It's amazing weaving us in the depths
of the earth, which is kind of like the womb, right,
it's like the deep underground. Yeah, and that God's eyes
(45:32):
saw our unformed substance. So even when we were like
an embryo, you know, not fully looking like what we
look like today, But God saw us then and even
that in his book, in his scroll, every one of
our days were written down, So even before we had
(45:55):
seen the daylight, like all of our existence was already
kind of declared and recorded and shaped. So I think
that is this to me is like very life affirming
(46:17):
and even at even before you are born, that there's
so much going on. God is doing so much behind
the scenes in a in a hidden, secret, sheltered protected place,
the womb, and he's hard at work, you know, just
(46:37):
weaving us together. None of us are I like clones
of each other. We're all so different, And yeah, I
think that's that's pretty amazing to know that that was
going on, you know, and that's going it's going it's
going on right now, some somewhere in somebody's womb, somebody
(47:01):
is being knitted together and there's babies being born right
now that I guess God finished knitting and now they're out,
so and there's more. There's more lives to come that
are God's going to knit them and weave them together.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
So yeah, I think you said that so beautifully. Yeah,
no exactly, but hey, the Lord used he as a
vessel to share that, so that was that was beautiful.
But I think that's pretty much all we have time
for today, okay, but all our listeners, I just want
(47:49):
to say, you know, we're looking for this podcast to
be a space for to be able to share the
voices of people in New Hampshire right through New Hampshire
right to life I mean this podcast, but also beyond
so throughout New England, throughout the United States as well,
to be able to bring on different guests, different speakers
and interview them and highlight the life affirming work that
(48:13):
they're doing. So yeah, feel free to send us an
email at Ever Living Pod at gmail dot com. So
it's just ever Ever Living Pod altogether at gmail dot com.
We also have a new Instagram we'll be posting on that,
so feel free to follow us on Instagram. It's at
(48:33):
Living ever Living podcast and it's ever dot Living podcast.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Okay, so yeah, so ever not Living Podcasts.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
The other names were taken unfortunately. And also make sure yes,
I know, I was like, Oh, I guess like other
people you have maybe I don't know have shows like
this or something, but yeah, and make sure to give
us a five star review you so that we can
reach new people. And make sure to share with a friend.
That would be awesome as well. But Cindy, do you
(49:07):
want to end in prayer?
Speaker 1 (49:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (49:09):
Sure, I'd love to.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
Okay. Dear heavenly Father, thank you for this time to
meditate on your word. How you do knit us together
in our mother's womb. And wonderful are your works. My
soul knows this very well. Lord. I pray for all
of our listeners out there and future listeners that they
(49:33):
too will see and taste your goodness and be blessed
and be able to have eternal life with you, Lord,
through your son Jesus. I thank you for the chance
to have this podcast and all the people behind the
(49:56):
scenes who are helping us put this together. And just
may your may be glorified Lord, may your may your
work continue, and may your kingdom come. Thank you Lord,
and in Jesus name I pray Amen.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Amen, Amen.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
All right. So may God bless you and be very
near to you all, and may you be ever living living.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
All right.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Bye everyone, you next week you, next week we'll have
some good interviews. H m hm
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