50 million

Talk is good but action is even better.

Yesterday was Sanctity of Life Sunday. In the bulletin, we had a Roe Vs. Wade quiz, the answers to which are pretty much nothing short of dreadful. (that's not a strong enough word) The original ruling had no restrictions, for instance, at what stage in a pregnancy an abortion may be performed. We also looked at a few statistics concerning the number of abortions done SINCE the 1973 Supreme Court ruling - 50 million, more than all the deaths from all the wars the U.S. has been involved in, by a long shot. That was talk and it would have been powerful enough to make the point.

But later the grandpa of a little girl in church who was just about a year when she was diagnosed with cancer, came up to give an update on her. She's been undergoing chemotherapy - she will face the 7th round in the next week. She's 18 months now.

Right before the sermon, Pastor Sliper had the parents of the family who wins the prize, among other things, for having the most children, stand up. On Saturday morning, Pat and Jodi are leaving for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to bring three orphaned siblings home to join their 4 biological children and their two adopted Guatemalan sons. Their oldest daughter got married this summer. We prayed for them as they prepare to go.

I don't know if the worship committee had planned for all this in the same service or not. I guess God had it planned though. Just the other day, I heard someone rant that Christians seem to harp on the anti-abortion message exclusively and miss the other parts of the pro-life message. I don't agree. It may just be our church that I hear what I would consider a fairly well-rounded pro-life message, but I suspect not. If I had a dime for everytime (on the radio, in magazines, at church, from friends) I've heard only the adoption part of the "Life is Precious" campaign, I'd have a few dollars in my pocket.

And besides that, even if we do err, as Christians, on the side of harping too much about preventing abortion and not the other aspects of respecting human life, we still are the only ones who have the answers from THE ANSWER written down in our language to read. When was the last time you heard about Planned Parenthood offering adoption assistance, layettes for newborns, job opportunities for single moms...

Sam's birthday

compromise

Sam is working on his U.S. Ambassador skills: last night after he and Priya had already eaten a before bed snack, he looked in the cupboard and found some graham crackers je wanted. I told him he'd already had a snack. "Half," he said, lifting his hand like he was directing the choir, "half."

rest

Here are a few of my observations on the definition of a well-adjusted parent:

• They know how to be efficient with limited time. (they getlots of stuff done)
• They rarely raise their voices even when the state of the house, of the next meal or of their childrens health or behavior are in disrepair. (they have things under control)
• They let their children cry for a few hours over a couple days in a campaign to teach them to sleep independently at a young age. (they sleep at least 8 uninterrupted hours each night or at the very least do things after the children are sleeping)
• They know when they need to drop the kids off at the sitter for a few hours so they can work on writing their next novel or to workout. (they have accomplisments to discuss with other intelligent adults).

interruptions

After I nailed down that my in ability to finish nearly any projects I start stems from my disgraceful absent-mindedness coupled with the high rate of interruptions, I started making a mental note of the sequence of events on a given morning.

While I'm cleaning off a clean path on the kitchen countertops, Sam wakes up, usually crying. (what he encounters those finals minutes of sleep or at the moment he opens his eyes, I'd like to know). He wants the first round of breakfast, usually toast, sometimes an egg. While he's munching toast, I'm still clearing off a dirty knife, toast crumbs and a cutting board from yesterday's breakfast. Priya wakes up, mostly in a sore disposition. Sam wants juice. I remind Priya to quick use the bathroom, then encourage her strongly again, then mention that she doesn't get breakfast until she done that. Peanut butter and toast crumbs are gracing the countertop I just cleaned.

We move to the dining room for the first round of breakfast with both kids...three steps forward (two knives and one cutting board cleared), four steps back (two dirty plates, two cups, a dustpan full of crumbs on the floor and a pool of milk on the table.)

Oh well, at least the nutrition is better than an alternative such as toaster strudels which require no utensils...

Sam put three words together in a sentence the other day: Trap - nouse (mouse) - in.

We've had some rodent issues lately and apparently the issue has made an impact on Sam. He faithfully checks the trap behind the nightstand at least a couple times a day. Every hole he sees, must have surely been put there by a "nouse."

Some kids' first sentences are about warm, happy, fuzzy things. My kids think its normal to bury dead animals and obsess about catching rodents. I guess I've never claimed to be normal myself so they will always be at least half not-normal.

First a disclaimer: Yep I admit that I, of all people. probably have no leg to stand on talking on this subject. But I'm going to think about it anyway.

I read this just today:

We are uncomfortable that thousands of children on other continents starveto
death. We grieve over the ravages of disease in impoverished places,especially
when the diseases could have been easily treatable; but we casually hold the
antidote for the sin epidemic in our hands as let thepathogen with eternal
consequences consume its many victims unhindered.

Can I just step out and say that I am slightly weary hearing of fad causes. By this I mean things that have been a problem for years or decades or centuries, but that some or several celebrities (i.e. presidential candidates, actors or actresses) discovered one day while they were either trying to relate to the little guy to boost their poll numbers or they actually stepped out of their glass houses long enough to realize that the whole world doesn't live like them.AIDS has been around for many years, has orphaned many children, destroyed relationships, but suddenly we all are supposed to praise a certain female presidential candidate because she PROMISES five billion dollars to fixing the problem. I wish somebody there would have had the courage and the opportunity to stand up and remind her that promising to throw lot of dollars at a cause doesn't fix it. Unless she's donating five billion of her own dollars, she should spend her time talking about what she can realistically accomplish.

And what if the actor and actress that like to pride themselves on their multicultured family, went to Africa to hold and feed AIDS babies or adopted a sibling group whose parents are casualty numbers without the smiling in front of the camera with their perfect hair and lipstick. What if we strove to adopt kids orphaned by AIDS, even if it was expensive and two or three of them came together? I think that might be obeying Jesus mandate to "go and make disciples." If their faith in Jesus Christ is pure and true, like the presidential candidates are falling all over themselves to tell us, shouldn't their money (and time) go to causes hat get their hands dirty, that care for sick humans, showing them Jesus love and keeping their words to a minimum. But of course, talk is cheap and actions are costly. And for us regular citizens too. I suspect it might be easier to write out a check to fund more research that promises some lofty solution, but much more difficult to write out a check to support somebody who has put feet to Jesus words and making the Solution visible.