July 7, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – In this week's episode of Ladies of LifeSite, Maddie, Rebekah, and Clare are joined by Dianne Westen, homeschooling mom of eight and wife to LifeSite co-founder John-Henry Westen. She talks about the founding and growth of LifeSite from her very unique perspective, as well as what it takes to manage a busy home with a large family.
Dianne Westen gives a special insight into the beginnings of LifeSite. When they were newly engaged, John-Henry, though he had a master’s degree in school and child clinical philosophy, decided to leave that career path since it conflicted with his Catholic faith.
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So, after they were married, he began volunteering with a Christian school, but Dianne highlights how she was anxious about him not having a job. She says that once when John-Henry was praying in church, a woman suggested he sell ads for a pro-life newspaper. This led to his working for Campaign Life Coalition in researching pro-life news, and eventually in 1997 together with Steve Jalsevac he founded LifeSiteNews to spread pro-life news in Canada.
Dianne, who was evangelical Christian before becoming Catholic, describes how amazing it is to see the growth that LifeSite took from its humble beginnings, and “seeing how God took that initial step and what he turned it into.”
She also talks about how parenting a large family has been challenging, especially with young children. However, Dianne says that raising a family is a team effort for both the husband and wife, and that their experience has proved it. “It wasn't easy, but we just kind of adjusted our schedule around the babies and his work, and really just tried teamwork to really make that work.”
Dianne provides some easy tips for mothers and wives seeking to create an easy flow in family life. She states how it takes humility before God. We “bring our five loaves and two fish and count on the Lord to bless that,” she says.
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The Ladies of LifeSite is a weekly podcast aimed at providing other like-minded women with the encouragement they need to get through the week while facing the unique challenges of being moms, aunts, sisters, and daughters. To be notified via email when we publish a new episode, click here.
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