Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Thankfulness Tag

Joy tagged me with five reasons to be thankful.  So, here goes:

1.  My sweet husband who not only tolerates my many emotions, but loves me regardless.  We make a pretty cool team and I am so thankful he asked me to marry him on a summer evening in 1991.

2.  My great kids!  Madison and Sage show me everyday what God's unconditional love looks like.  Having them makes me want to be better tomorrow than I am today, each day.

3.  My family.  Each person in my family has helped shape me and mold me at some point along the way.  I am so very thankful that God placed me into the family that He did, for each person that makes up the very colorful and wonderful family that I am a part of.

4.  My friends.  One in particular.  How she saw something in me when there wasn't much to see.  How she always encourages me and mentors me and exemplifies a truly godly woman, wife and mother.  She always brings out the best in me.  She is a mom to five outstanding kids that radiate God's love in so many ways and places.  I thank God for friendships.

5.  Hope.  I am so thankful for hope.  I am so thankful for the hope that Jesus placed into my heart that someday I get to worship him face to face in spirit and in truth.  I am so thankful for the hope that this life, with all of its joy and sorrow, isn't as good as it gets.  The best is yet to come.

6.  The part of our family that lives in Ethiopia right now.  I thank God for the child/children God has planned for our family.

I am tagging:


Happy Thanksgiving!

Meet "Our Kids"

Russ Weir put this video together of the kids at Kebebtsehay Orphanage in Ethiopia that Red Letters Campaign is sponsoring.  For those of you who have read some of my previous posts, this is it!  This is what it is all about.  Enjoy their smiles!  And there are still plenty of kids to sponsor if you are interested.



Saturday, November 22, 2008

Rise Expected in Ethiopia Orphans

Found this article.  Hard to picture Sage or Madison as the head of a household, but by God's grace they were born in the U.S. and not in Ethiopia.  225,000 households run by children by 2010?!?

Ethiopia to see sharp rise in orphans running households:  NGO
Nov 7, 2008

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Ethiopia will by 2010 see a four-fold increase in the number of orphaned children aged between nine and 19 who are heading families due to AIDS, poverty and conflict, a local NGO said on Friday.

Some 225,000 households will be run by children, up from 77,000 in 2005, Addis Ababa-based African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) said in a report.

"This is going to be an explosive problem," said Assefa Bequele, the agency's director.

"In some households, the oldest child is also the principal care-giver to a terminally-ill parent," said the report.  

Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest countries.  The government estimates that 1.5 million Ethiopians are infected with HIV, while the World Health Organization says nearly 2.8 million are infected.




Saturday, November 15, 2008

More Sponsorship Info




Here's a new video from Children's Hope Chest of their recent trip to Ethiopia. Check here for more information on sponsorship.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Sponsorship Info

Anyone interested in sponsoring an orphan in Ethiopia?  Anyone interested in visiting your sponsored child on a yearly trip with a community of people also sponsoring orphans in the same orphanage?  How cool does that sound?

I wrote a little about it here, but late-breaking details at Amy's blog!  Go take a look and see if this is something where God would call you to jump in and be involved!

We are pumped!  Not only are we excited about adding to our family by way of Ethiopian adoption, we are so happy to connect to other children who will grow up in Ethiopia and be a part of loving them and serving them through sponsorship.

Update:  And go take a look at Joy's post on sponsorship.  I love the way she shares on this same topic!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Bad Basketball Behavior

Madison had a basketball game this afternoon.  I saw something at her game today that made me cringe as a mom.

The opposing team's coach was young, possibly his first teaching job out of college.  During the first half of the game (when his team was ahead) he became frustrated at his players.  Remember, they are sixth grade girls around the ages of 11 and 12.  The coach got mad, stood up from his chair on the sidelines, turned around and raised his clipboard over his head and slammed it on the chair.  I was appalled.

A few minutes later was a break between quarters.  He gathered his players around him on the side of the court and proceeded to scream at them, with gestures and hand motions to match.  I could tell he was screaming because I could hear him from where I was sitting on the opposite side of the gym among all the commotion of the crowd.

Later in the game he threw his pen down with enough force to shatter it across part of the gym floor.

Am I over-reacting here?  I don't really like to see high school coaches act like this, but their kids have at least had some experience playing the game.  These are young girls just learning how to make plays and work together as a team!  What could they have possibly done wrong to warrant such extreme and outrageous behavior from their coach?

So, I wrote a letter to his principal.  It was a polite letter and stated the facts of the young man's behavior.  The goal of my letter was not to criticize as much as it was to encourage this young educator to mature in his coaching skills and choose more age-appropriate behavior.  Personally, I would have loved to have written a really nasty letter, but refrained because I really and truly want this young man to become a good coach, a good teacher and a good mentor to his students.  

I realize the principal may throw my letter into file #13, but at least I tried.


Tuesday, November 4, 2008

I Voted

The kids' classes held mock elections this week.  Sage wore a VOTE NOW t-shirt to school today that we bought at Old Navy for $1.  During our morning carpool, all kids were voicing their opinion on how today's election would end.  Madison said is was not fair that kids didn't get to vote.  I assured her that she will be 18 soon enough!  Everywhere I went today, conversations were buzzing with anticipation of the vote.  I like that word... vote.  

And as our kids headed off to bed, we told them how we will support, honor, uphold, respect and pray for our new president-elect.  Our vote did not result in a win for our candidate, but nonetheless, we still exercised our right to vote.   And that is a precious thing.  I hope our kids always know what a honor and privilege we have as U.S. citizens to be a part of the democratic process.  We are so thankful to have been born in a country where we choose our leaders.  We are so thankful to live in the United States of America.