My Storehouse Is Full

Went to the grocery store today. I got a lot of food. My cupboards were full, fridge was stocked and I even bought some tasty sweets for me during the kid's naptime.

While unloading the groceries, I thought about all the children in Pakistan that are literally starving.

(This is gonna get real. Matt doesn't like to talk about this stuff because it hurts his heart. It hurts mine to, so much I cry, BUT not talking about it doesn't fix OR help. We can not stick our heads in the sand, avoid the news and say, "Oh really? Didn't know." We are obligated to help.)

I read a story, here is a blip,

Suhani Bunglani fans flies away from her two baby girls as one sleeps motionless while the other stares without blinking at the roof of their tent, her empty belly bulging beneath a green flowered shirt. Their newborn sister already died on the ground inside this steamy shelter at just 4 days old, after the family's escape from violent floods that drowned a huge swath of Pakistan. Now the girls, ages 1 and 2, are slowly starving, with shriveled arms and legs as fragile as twigs.

Make you sick to your full stomach? Yep, it had the same effect on me.

The debate I'm having as I write this is, "Do I post a picture of one of these kids or spare you the pain it will cause your heart?" I'm not sure what to do. I'm not sure you'll get it otherwise. But we'll see.

A woman loses her newborn because she has no food to nourish herself so she can nurse! We live in a world where I complain about no pumpkin puree at the store, when thousands of miles away a woman is covering her child because it died from starvation!

I'm not trying to make anyone feel guilty. I'm not. That is not my intentions. My intentions are to bring this to light. To shine a spotlight on it. I was unaware the flooding in Pakistan was so severe. Why was I unaware? Because I refused to read, I didn't want to be sad.

Well, sad sad things happen. Some things we can't change and some things we can try to change.

This is becoming lengthy and for that I'm only barely sorry.

I went to bed last night asking myself how can I help? Well, I found it this morning. It dropped right into my lap, so I knew I had to help.

I'm dropping it right into your lap so you too can help.

I donated on the governments website.

I donated $5.00. $5.00!! You can also donate $10 or $40.

Here is the site. Once there if you scroll down it will tell you where your money will go.

Here is another site that lists all the organizations that are helping and how you can donate to them if you'd prefer.

All I ask is you donate.

Now go! (I went ahead and hyperlinked two organizations. If you click above where it says, "Here is another site." That has a bunch of org's with websites and phone numbers to donate.)

Red Cross

Save The Children

A Letter

Have you ever noticed how Paul greeted people in his letters, the sincerity, the passion? Notice how his love of Christ oozed from the words he wrote?

The way he wrote the salutation in his letters, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Eph. 1:3

I got oozed on the other day.

I opened a letter from my Compassion child's pastor, Juan.

"Dear Friends,

I kindly greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May you succeed in your personal life and at home with your family!"

As I was reading Pastor Juan's words, I could feel the rawness of his love for Christ. I could feel his passion for his community, for the kids.

Then a few weeks later, our first letter from our child arrived! I was giddy with excitement.

Our child is three, so she obviously didn't pen the letter, but her father did.

When Matt read the letter, he looked at me and said, "Do you realize this letter came from the hands of our child's father?!"

Honestly, I didn't think that far. But he was right! He held that letter as he wrote in pencil the words he wanted to say to us. He shared his appreciation for us albeit all in Spanish, but someone translated for us below Santiago's words.

On the back someone drew a tree. I love this tree.

As hesitant as I was to get a Compassion Child, it's the best thing we've done in a long time.

I encourage you to go to their site and sponsor a child.

Don't have the money? Yeah, we didn't either. We eliminated the people that come and spray our lawn for weeds. How much was that? The exact amount we pay for our child!

Go check out their site.

www.compassion.com

Car Spotting

Chloe is very observant, as most kids are I guess. But it's the things she observes and remembers that is so amazing to me.

Chloe can recall things from when she was two. I find that fascinating. The littlest things, she remembers.

But it's the things she observes that got me thinking and paralleling. I like to parallel things into a good blog post.

Driving around town, Chloe always talks about how cute cars are. I notice a car's cuteness, like how stunning the Bumblebee Chevy Camaro is that resides in my town. Or the automatic door closing minivans I see in the school parking lot.

Chloe notices cars to, but not like I do.

She notices cars sitting in lots waiting to be fixed. She notices the color of the car, not the fact that it is missing a bumper, mirrors and the whole left side is rusty. She notices cars that I find yucky. She sees them and as she says, "So cute, Mom."

I realized something during one of these car spotting moments.

Chloe notices the cars I never see. And I notice the cars she never sees.

How does that equate to my Christian walk?

Do I overlook the people that are missing a bumper. Do I overlook the people who are rusty. Do I overlook the people who have a few dents and scratches and dings. Do I overlook the people who have been driving down the road less traveled and have the scars to prove it?

Chloe doesn't overlook those cars.

Does she see the people I miss? Will she continue to see the 'cars' that no one else may take a second look at?

I have a lot to learn from this 4 year old.

Job

I often look at the sky and am so overwhelmed with amazement, I don't want to stop looking. I want to soak it in, the colors, the smells, the aliveness it has as the sun is setting. I stop for a moment, but a moment doesn't seem long enough. I want to stand there forever, letting the world pass me by, as they miss out on the 'show' put on by the Artist.

I often look at the sky during a storm. The lightening bolts go to and fro. They have a mission, they've been told where to go. I listen to the rumble of the thunder, sometimes I feel it in my heart and my feet. I smell the air, it has a taste, a taste that always precedes the rain. I want to capture it all and save the images, feelings and the smell forever. I listen to the Concertmaster entertain us with His sounds, I listen for His voice.

But it's the times when there is no sunset and no scent of rain, that I stumble the most.

I often count years.

How will I be in 5.
How will I be in 10.
How will I be in 15.
How will I be when my kids have kids.
How will I be when.....

I stand in awe of His wonders, but I put a wall up around me.

I see His artistry and yet I feel like He can't fix me.

I see my MS and say, "He can't. It's beyond His reach."

I ask myself everyday, "He can, but will you let Him?"

When I find that these thoughts are taking hold, I run to Job 38-42.

Here's a few of the many verses where God talks to Job in chapter 38..

24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?

25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,

26 to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it,

27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?

28 Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?

29 From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens

30 when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?

Golden Ticket to Pad Buying

Took the kids to walmart the other day. That's what you do in a small town; go to walmart. If we lived in a semi bigger town, we'd stroll target, but B'ville hasn't come into the 21st century.

I digress.

I needed some face soap, so we walk over to the cosmetic section. Cooper is in the cart diligently working to buckle himself and Chloe is meandering her way behind me, saying hi to literally every single person we pass and if they stop, she begins telling her life story and showing her bug bites.

A cute couple with a car seat in their cart walked by, heading towards the checkout stand. He was pushing and she had her arm hooked through his, they weren't moving very fast.

The curious person in me looked at the contents of their shopping cart. It contained one item and one item only.

There's only one reason a cute petite girl like herself would have a huge bag of these in her cart.

(glancing in car seat)

Brand new baby!

Inside I giggle.

I can remember a time when having to go to the store to buy feminine products was like having a near death experience. I'd buy the tampons and attempt to mask the box with a box of muffins, or brownies or something from the food section. Or I'd buy a magazine, lay the box on it's front and put the magazine over the top of the box. Walking through the store, I'd carry them under my armpit, where it probably looked as if I was gonna smuggle the things out. And if it weren't illegal to steal tampons, I probably would have.

Then I got older, college age, and it's still an awkward moment at the store, but not as bad as high school.

In college, little did I know there's a rite-of-passage that happens for most women. It's this feat that gives a woman full range of conversation with other women; no holds barred. It's the 'walking on smoldering ashes' moment, the killing a bear with your bare hands....

... having a baby.

Once the baby is born all topics are fair game. Women talk about bowel movements of themselves and that of their new child. Boobs, cracked and non cracked. Stitches, tearing, cutting, pain meds, no pain meds etc.

It's then that going to the store to buy pads, and the biggest most absorbent pads you can find, isn't a big deal! I mean, you've conquered the world! You've got your golden ticket. The world will see those pads on the conveyor belt and a little piece of them will say, "Oooohhh," while nodding their head in understanding.

There's one thing you have to keep in mind.

Remember to bring your golden ticket.

The baby.

Otherwise you're just some girl buying really bulky pads.

Wordless Wednesday

Non Wordless Wednesday

Most Wednesdays I partake in "Wordless Wednesday," but I can't today. I have a good reason.

This little girl is four today!!

I know everyone wonders what their child will be one day & I'm no different.

But more than wondering what she'll be, I wonder who she'll be.

Will she be the girl that loves the Lord so much, Matt and I look at ourselves and say, "Where did she learn such passion?"

Will she love people? I think this will be the case. She is very good about saying hi, asking a name and wondering about the person. She has a tender heart.

Will she be a bug specialist? As of now, it's looking likely. She truly believes every bug placed in her path was put there by the Lord. She's right I guess, but where she learned that I have not a clue.

I hope she becomes a woman that knows who she is in Christ and that light shines brightly to all that meet her. Now it's up to Matt and I to make sure that light always stays lit.