Chew On This

Amazing Love

My friend is leaving next Saturday for 5 weeks. She and her husband are taking their 12 year old daughter and 3 year old son to the Ukraine where they will be adopting 3 preschoolers with Down syndrome. I am so amazed and inspired by their unbelievable act of faith that I am overwhelmed.

In the Ukraine, orphans with Down syndrome are sent to an institution if they are not adopted by the age of 5. Once in the institution, they are ineligible for adoption and usually die within a couple of years there. The children my friend is adopting are all 5 years old. Her family is literally saving the lives of these three children.

If any of you do not know who God is or what He is about, this is it. It's not about rules and regulations. It's not about judgements or condemnation. It's about love. It's about stepping out of our comfort zone and believing that we will be given the strength to do something amazing in the name of love that we would never be able to do (or maybe even want to do) on our own.

I've gotta tell ya... I haven't blogged in a while because I started this thing on a whim and then once it got rolling a little and a few people were reading on a regular basis I couldn't decide whether I had anything truly worthwhile to say or not. And to tell you the truth, I still don't know. But my friend emailed this evening to let us know they are leaving next weekend to take what I think may be the most incredible step of faith that anyone I know personally has ever taken. I know she will be blessed. God is so good and has blessed me already beyond anything I could ever deserve but I think there may be blessings that I forfeit because of my desire to remain safe within my comfort zone. Just writing that feels a little uncomfortable. But I don't want my life to be about playing it safe and missing the kind of beauty my friend is about to participate in.

When I used to perform (singing and dancing... don't laugh) we used to talk about "leaving it all out there" on the stage, not holding anything back. What would my life be if I let all of my faith, all of my love "out there"? What would God do through me?

Whoooaaa... Is this turning into a deep blog?

Maybe that's why I never seem to get my housework done. Not enough meaning in it for me. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Not Being Lazy

I'm going to expose an area of my life where I may have been lazier once, but have since been educated and am decidedly not lazy now...

I'm getting a little fired up. I'm reading a blog discussion involving some parents' outrage over having to submit to background checks in order to volunteer at their kids' school. That's not the policy at my kids' school but I wouldn't have a problem if it was. Those of you who know me personally know that the issue of child sexual abuse is a hot button issue of mine and I am wondering what you all think about this.

(join a discussion about this on my community here)

I think just the act of the school requiring the background check sends a strong message to the community that they take the issue of child sexual abuse seriously and the kids are safer for it. I am a believer in checking out EVERY adult that comes into contact with my kids. This may or may not include a background check.

The fact is that 1 in 5 kids will be sexually abused before they reach 18 (http://www.darkness2light.org/KnowAbout/statistics_2.asp). Checking out the backgrounds of the adults in contact with our kids, and submitting to such checks ourselves, is just one step towards lowering that statistic and making sure our kids don't become a part of it. Here is a great resource for learning some other steps we can take:
http://www.darkness2light.org/7steps/7steps.asp

This isn't about fearmongering or paranoia. It's about being realistic and empowering ourselves with knowledge so we don't have to be naive or paranoid.

Thought you all might wonder what things I pursue that keep me from cleaning and organizing... This is one.