birthday girl

July 24, 2010 · 0 comments

in Little Missy

Dear Little Missy-

Today you are four.  It seems as if you’ve been four for a while with how grown-up you act for your age.  At this age you are loving and spunky and passionate and a delight to be around.  Here are some of the things I love most about you:

  1. How much you love others.  The way you scream and run to your Daddy when he gets home from work; the way you shared your beloved puppy toy–that you bought with your birthday money–with G, and encouraged him with ”Yeah, that’s cool G!” when he showed you his handiwork; the way you run to kiss Baby Chickadee whenever she enters a room or you find her; the way you snuggle next to me when we read Bible stories before bed.
  2. I love how much you love puppies.  Right now it is puppy EVERYTHING.  At home, at the park, at the McDonald’s PlayPlace you always want to “play puppy” and crawl around like a puppy, bark like a puppy, pant like a puppy.  Your Daddy and I can’t help but smile when we watch you in action.
  3. You love to help–you help me make pancakes, you help G by bringing his drink to him, you bring Baby Chickadee her pacifier, you get toys for your friends.  Keep this up, little one.  It is a great attribute.
  4. Mostly I just love YOU for being YOU.  All your little bits of silliness, your loveliness and happiness are all YOU.  Wonderful and perfect.

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please pray

July 22, 2010 · 0 comments

in Uncategorized

Usually I don’t do this… I don’t post important things on this blog.  There are certain things that are near taboo on here–politics, mostly–but as for the heavy stuff… usually I just can’t go there.  I can’t go to things that are too heavy for my mind to process, and I don’t want to lay that on you people.

But sometimes something is so important, so attainable in our ability to help, that I have to post.  Or repost, in this case.

I got the following blog post from my sister’s blog, who got it from Tom Davis at beliefnet.  You can find the original post (I changed nothing from the original, just citing my source) here.

Read on and pray daily for this work, for these precious girls.

How to make a profit selling virgins for sex

by Tom Davis

It’s apparently very simple.

First, you establish yourself as a respected community leader who heads up a women’s rights group in India. This will solidify your reputation as someone who protects and defends young girls.

Next, you need to really specialize in something to keep the customers coming back for more. You need, as the marketers call it, a “unique value proposition.” You decide to focus on virgin girls. Highly prized and more expensive than girls with experience.

For clientele, you cater to corrupt police officials, local authorities, and the occasional visiting VIP or dignitary. That way, you’ll always remain safe from raids and prosecutions.

Last, and most importantly, you need a good supply of virgins. For that you have an arrangement with the local boarding school for girls. Potential customers browse through your photo book of potential child sex victims. Once they make their choice, you bring the girls to your brothel to be raped for profit.

Sadly, this true story is unfolding right now in India.

A well-respected women’s leader and her husband run a trafficking and prostitution ring specializing in virgins and young girls. The description above is true in its details, documented by our partners in India.

A rescue operation is in the works, and I am raising funds through this blog to free as many girls as we can. Will you help us?

They have documented at least five minors–all girls–being held as slaves. The rescue plan involves using the local television station to expose the operation, and thereby force the police to conduct the raid.

Will you join me in supporting this rescue operation? Here are the details:

Rescue Operation: $1,250 – ($125 per girl we plan to rescue)
If we successfully rescue 10 girls, that’s just $125 per child saved. This involves setting up the rescue operation, getting the investigative team in place, coordinating with the media and police, and conducting the raid itself. Even if $1,250 rescued only one girl, it would be far worth the investment.

Rescue Kits for Each Girl: $450 – ($45 per girl up to 10 girls)
These kits are the first step in restoring a girl’s dignity. They contain clothing and personal hygiene supplies. The girls are taken immediately to a government after-care facility, and these kits provide each girl with needed supplies for the long journey ahead.

Professional Social Worker: $6,000 – Salary for 12 months
Once in the government after-care home, our partners will send a Christian social worker to meet with each of the girls and begin to counsel them toward long-term recovery. Until the girls are allowed to leave that facility, our partners will provide consistent biblical counseling from a licensed and educated social worker. Providing this victims’ advocate is critical because in many cases girls are returned to the parents or relatives who sold them to the brothel in the first place.

Our goal is to rescue up to ten girls. Although in a similar attempt a few weeks ago, only one girl was freed from her captors.
I will keep you posted, and encourage you to continue to pray, to spread the word, and to give as you are able.

Here are two ways you can be involved:

Join our Prayer Conference Call Today
Our prayer team, iFast58, will pray for this operation on their weekly sex trafficking prayer call. Please join them today (July 21) at 1:30pm Eastern Time.  Call 760-569-9000 ID: 968101. If you can’t make the call, please commit to pray for this rescue.

Make a Gift to the India Rescue Operation
Click the donate button at the top of this post to make a gift toward this rescue operation. A gift of any size will make a difference. Give even $5 to stop this horror. A $45 gift buys one girl a rescue kit. A $125 donation helps rescue one girl (if we are successful in freeing 10 children). A $500 gift pays for after-care social work for the girls. Make a gift today. All donations are processed by PayPal and received by Children’s HopeChest, a registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit corporation. We are members of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability also. For more information about our ministry, please visit http://hopechest.org.

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Now that I’m driving The Beast I feel the need to put bumper stickers all over the back of it.  Christian has a post on the proper way to go about this, but mostly I just want one: A Fox Racing sticker.

Hubby and I have long planned on placing one in the back window of our vehicle just like his parents did on theirs, but a super-cool sticker on the back of a 2001 Intrepid wouldn’t have worked.  On the super tough Beast it will.  But we can’t find one.  A few weeks ago the five of us went to the mall, walked around until we found the recently moved Pac Sun store (maybe not recently moved?  I don’t really know) and trooped into the store where NOT ONE PERSON  made eye contact with us.  The employees certainly didn’t say hello.  Are we–one dad, two preschoolers, one mom wearing a baby in her wrap (mine isn’t a Moby Wrap, it’s actually a much prettier one that Jessica made for me)–that uncool?  I remember when salespeople in those we-think-we’re-hip stores actually wanted us to buy their wares.  Now they try to make sure we don’t.  Hmm.

But I will not be deterred by those snotty kids!  I’ll just buy one online.

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or else i couldn’t have written this week’s column.

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Even before I was pregnant certain things Hubby ate grossed me out.  What hurts me the most are the items he puts ketchup on, only to call the resulting nastiness delicious.  He can put ketchup on ANYTHING and call it good.  If he deems something too dry or not flavorful enough then out comes the Hunts.  But whenever he puts plain potato chips in a bowl and pours ketchup over the top so that he can eat them with a spoon I make him stay out of the room I’m in.  The smell, the sounds, all of it makes me nauseous, even when I’m not pregnant.

But now there are these:

Really?  There are people out there who think this is a good idea?

[edit: Hubby said he also likes ketchup on Corn Flakes.]

[edit: ...or not ON Corn Flakes.  Sorry :) .]

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There are lots of firsts with a new baby and G loves to point all of them out.  He gets it from me, of the “Look!  The first time Baby Chickadee is riding in a shopping cart!  How cute!  I should totally write this down in her baby book.”  But in a few years/months I will have forgotten how much she weighed at birth.  Oh, and I don’t even have a baby book for her yet.  Or for her sister.  Poor children who aren’t the firstborn.

Anyway, here are some of our firsts:

the first time G and Little Missy see their baby sister:

holding his sister:

holding her sister:

first time in her bouncy seat:

at her first t-ball game:

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My brother-in-law quit his job and started his own business.  We’re pretty excited.

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nesting, with a side of crazy originally published june 18th

the glow period originally published june 25th

and for today’s column you should go buy a newspaper and see me in print.  seriously, it’s only  $.75.

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spoiled

July 1, 2010 · 3 comments

in just me,yummy food

I have not had to cook a single dinner since Baby Chickadee was born.  Only one or two times have I had to make a lunch, and by “make” I mean “throw some peanut butter on two pieces of bread.”  Thanks to my awesome friends and family we have eaten well for the past two weeks.  I am spoiled.

But here are some things I’ve learned:

  1. Other people prepare entire meals for their dinners.  Whereas I love taco soup or mexican chicken casserole because all the vegetables and meat are contained in one dish, other people actually have sides, like bread and yummy vegetables that are separate from the main course.  I need to step up my game.
  2. My friends are really good cooks.  And now Hubby knows this as well.  So what may have started as a quiet voice in the back of his head is now glaringly true: Other husbands eat better than he does.  I need to step up my game.
  3. I am never going to lose this baby weight if I keep eating so well, especially if we get a new pan of brownies or a plate of cookies or a freezer pie every night or THREE DIFFERENT DESSERTS IN ONE DAY.  I have to eat all of it!  It would be rude to let it go to waste.  Luckily some of it can be frozen because, really, even I can only handle so many brownies in one day.

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[Little Missy's "dog" barks at G's Spiderman]

G: Well, that dog is mean, and I’m obviously not going to buy him.

Little Missy: No, his “Woof” means that he wants to be buyed.

G: Spiderman doesn’t speak dog.

Little Missy: That’s okay, my doggy talks languages.

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