Sometimes I Write

I’ve avoided posting on my own blog for the past few days because I didn’t want to share my boiling emotions with the world. But enough is enough. I can’t hold it back anymore. I hate the freakin media. I watch very little TV – not for moral reasons – I just don’t have time.

So I didn’t know how bad the hurricane devastation was until I watched Good Morning America on Tuesday. Right in the middle of the show I remembered our friends, the Martins, lived in Ocean Springs, MS, just north of Biloxi. Before even thinking about it we grabbed the phone to call them. Ofcourse there is no power in the area and no cell service either. We shot off an email in the hopes they were o.k. and would check it from their place of safety. We have prayed and prayed for them and everyone else in the south as they deal with this disaster. We heard back from the Martin’s lastnight. They did evacuate in time and are staying with family members. Their house now has three feet of water in it. Steven was headed back today with his brother-in-law to survey the damage and see what is salvageable. At this point they are unsure if their house will be livable again. And they are the lucky ones. Praise God for their safety!

Here’s the anger part: MOST of the reports I’ve seen of the disaster are pointing fingers at president Bush and the government. If you’re a Bush hater you might want to click to another site now. I don’t know the whole story of the delays in relief arriving in LA & MS. I DON’T believe everything the media is feeding me. I understand that when you’re in the middle of a crisis you are desperate for help and getting it yesterday would be too late for you. I think that’s what is happening in New Orleans. A situation of this magnitude takes time to respond to even though there is no time to waste. The situation is dire, but would seeing the President of the U.S. sand bagging the levee himself, or pulling people off roofs make you feel better??? I shouldn’t be surprised, he’s been getting crap from everyone about everything else going on in the world. Let’s just blame him for causing the hurricane too while we’re at it! It has been reported over and over again that even the police weren’t safe from the violence and the looters – so let’s send our President there so we can see that he’s doing something. Good grief people!

My heart is so heavy with grief for Hardy Jackson and the rest of the people that lost, or are still missing their family members. That is awful!! I can’t imagine what it would be like to live in those conditions not knowing when or if life would ever get back to “normal”. I am doing my part by sending money and I hope you are too!

I just finished watching 20/20, a special hurricane report and it lit my fire all over again. Now there’s a cry that racism has had an effect on the relief being delayed. Give me a freakin break!!! Ofcourse it’s mostly black people who are in the greatest need. It’s no secret that New Orleans and in fact all of southern Louisiana are atleast 2/3 black Americans. It was the POOR, not the BLACKS that were forced to stay behind when everyone started evacuating. A lot of them either had no transportation, no money to travel, or no other place to go since several generations of family lived in the same area. Many chose to stay and wait out the storm, not taking the warnings seriously. One black woman said that her family had faced many hurricanes before and figured this one would be the same. A racism problem? I don’t think so. If disaster struck Arizona would we call it age discrimination if relief didn’t arrive to help the thousands of retirees that would be affected? I don’t think so. Why does the RACE card have to come into play? One female black senator was pissed because all of the people fleeing were being called refugees. She said, “They are NOT refugees, they’re American citizens and taxpayers!” Excuse me, but the dictionary at my house defines refugee as a person who flees invasion, oppression, or persecution – in this case -devastation. That’s not some nasty, derogatory label being slapped on these people! One citizen even said the media was being biased and only showing black looters!

Maybe I shouldn’t be as angry as I am. Desperate people say and do things they wouldn’t normally say and do. But where are the reports about the THOUSANDS of churches that are there helping, housing, feeding, and comforting these people??? Why is it the media is showing us pictures of dead people covered with sheets, but avoiding the large groups of people gathered around makeshift kitchens that have shown up to feed people? Why aren’t there more stories of hope and help? Why do we have to keep seeing the same footage of Hardy Jackson talking to the compassionate reporter?

Speaking of compassion – where is it for the thousands of children that die EVERY DAY from disease and starvation in Countries all over Africa. We have to hold summits, and relief concerts, and raise funds to help them while it’s too late for the little bloated stomached, bones protruding, crippled children. Where is the compassion for those that are homeless and hungry EVERY DAY on our AMERICAN streets? Too often people are judgmental about them saying and maybe even believing that they are all drug addicts and deserve their lot in life. There are BABIES AND CHILDREN sleeping on the streets of Denver tonight. Where is the compassion for children and elderly that are dying in hospitals around the country right now. They may be completely unaffected by the hurricane devastation, does that make them any less needy of our love and financial support?

I don’t want to hear one more person spout off about us sending “our young men and women” to fight someone else’s war in another country when they could be here aiding with the rescue operations. I don’t want to hear about racism. It is not just the black Americans coming to the aid of the hurricane victims. It is not just black Americans giving blood and sending $200 million dollars to the Red Cross, and opening up their homes to strangers. It is not Republicans or Democrats choosing who gets the immediate help and who is further back in the line. This is an opportunity for EVERYONE to chip in and help. This is an opportunity to UNITE for the common good of all victims. This will last for months – plan ahead. Why does there have to be someone to blame?

PLEASE JUST DO YOUR PART AND DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON TV!!!

I suppose this post will ruffle some feathers. It has been copied from my friend Jeff’s blog. I appreciate him sharing it. I welcome feedback, but please be respectful. I’ve read way too many overheated comments this week on other blogs. Here it is:

A Different Take on the War on Terror

Melanie Morgan, a radio talk show host on San Francisco’s KSFO, visited Iraq recently, conducting interviews and talking with the troops. The San Francisco Chronicle had promised to run her written account of the experience upon her return. The paper reneged (I suppose her article didn’t fit their agenda). Melanie’s take is quite different from what you hear day-to-day in the Mainstream Media. After reading this, it really angers me when I hear Cindy Sheehan say that the deaths of our brave soldiers over there are “meaningless.” Is she not spitting on her own son’s grave when she says that? Read the article here.

We watched The Justice League Unlimited with Max lastnight. What a show! Good guys joining together to defeat the bad guys. (Isn’t that always the plot?) There was Wonder Woman, The Flash, Batman, Green Lantern, and many others. I’m a sucker for a good story about good vs. evil whether it’s in animation or not. One of the characters asked, “What are you supposed to do when you have the weight of the world on your shoulders?”, and another one said, “Plant your feet!” That’s good stuff.

I know I could take this and make a spiritual lesson about how we don’t have to plant our feet because we have a God to cast our burdens upon, but I’m not going to. I think sometimes you just have to see things for their face value. These heroes were saving the world. They were concerned what it would mean for evil to triumph. Life as they knew it would be doomed, not just for them, but for their loved ones and even those who were indifferent to their help. They “planted their feet” because SOMEONE had to. They risked themselves (as they do in every episode) to save others. THAT is true heroism. Do you know any heroes? I know I do! 🙂

Speaking of princesses…

This is Sabrina Abreu de Oliveira. She lives in Brazil and she’s six years old. She has been a part of the Nowell family since November, 2003, and we love her dearly! She lives with her parents, who work as laborers, and her sister Samia. She writes us the best letters with the help of her translator, Ayla. Like Max, she is a budding artist and draws pictures all over her letters. This is the story of how she joined our family:

Benny and I had been thinking about sponsoring a child through Compassion International for awhile. (Like there is anything to think about!) We had been to several concerts where Compassion was being promoted, and we decided to wait and make the decision as a family – really to let Max have a part in choosing our sponsored child. Max was thrilled with the idea! Benny took him up to his office so they could get on the Compassion website. They filled out all the necessary information – in Max’s name. Max decided he wanted a girl, then 4 pictures of children from different countries appeared on the screen to choose from. Max looked right at Sabrina and said, “That’s her”. He was so excited he couldn’t sit still. Then he asked Benny when we were going to get her. He thought we were adopting her and she was going to come and live with us! He was really upset when Benny explained to him that she was indeed part of our family, but she still had a family of her own in Brazil. We had talked to Max about adoption ever since he could remember, so he just assumed that this was it. Pick your child, then go get them. (I wish!)

We have really enjoyed receiving her letters and updates. It’s been great teaching our kids about the needs of others and they have a hand in that every time we send her letters with pictures, stickers, coloring pages, etc. They’re also learning that money is a good thing when it is used to help other people. We try to write back to her as soon as we receive her letters since it takes awhile for mail to be delivered. It’s amazing to watch her grow and develop. We hope to be able to visit her someday, but until then we’ll continue to send financial support, love and encouragement her way. We are committed to her for as long as she needs us. Her picture sits in our livingroom along with the other Nowell children. Everyone that enters our home sees her beautiful smiling face!

$32.00 a month. That’s giving up a family meal at Chili’s. That’s so much less than most of us spend/waste on little things we don’t need. That’s all it takes to sponsor a child in need through Compassion International. We thought when we decided to sponsor Sabrina that we were blessing her life and giving her hope, and we are, but she has blessed us in so many unexpected ways. We are thankful for organizations like Compassion, World Vision, and others like them that provide opportunities for us to give and serve, and look beyond our own needs. We are thankful to have Sabrina, our little Brazilian princess, in our lives!

It seems I’ve been on this princess kick lately.

First I read Captivating which basically says that we women want to know, and be told we’re beautiful and we’re worth fighting for. (AMEN!) From an early age we want our fathers to dance with us, we want skirts that twirl, and we play dress up and games that we are the heroine or the rescued damsel of the story. It’s no wonder Disney has made millions off the princess theme. (I’ll take that over Barbie any day!) And I absolutely loved The Princess Diaries and most other princess stories – especially Ever After with Drew Barrymore. I thought Ella Enchanted was dumb.

The theme was presented to me again at the Women of Faith conference. Nicole Johnson has an incredible skit about it, which made me cry, ofcourse. She has also written a book, Keeping a Princess Heart in a Not-So-Fairy Tale World. Sheila Walsh has a book for little girls about it. It’s called Gigi; God’s Little Princess. There’s a whole gift pack you can buy. It comes with the book, a pink princess t-shirt, a sparkly tiara with fuzzy pink trim, and a pink case to carry it all in. (Guess what Zoe is getting for her birthday this year.)

Then we watched Ice Princess as a family tonight. Zoe, at age 2 1/2 liked it, and Max decided he wants to go skating for his birthday :). (I hope it’s not THAT cold here in late September) jk

It seems to me the recurring theme is that the princess in all of these situations and stories has something to overcome. I can relate to that. I think most women can. I like knowing that I have overcome some difficult circumstances in my life. But I also like the thought of being rescued, whether it be by a knight in shining armor (mine came with cowboy boots and lariat), or by the God who created the universe and thinks of me as his beloved princess…a true daughter of the King of kings. I like the femininity of it. I like the vulnerability of it. I like pink. That’s been “my color” for the past two years, can you tell? lol

I’m puzzled by the number of friends I have who don’t like pink. A friend recently said to me that she was glad she had a boy and if she had had a girl she would have been wearing a lot of green and yellow. (???) She’s not alone in her tastes, and I just don’t get it. I love pink – it’s girly. I want my girl to be girly whatever color she’s wearing, but she sure looks cute in pink – which is her favorite color. More than once Benny has taken Zoe to the store with him with her dressed from head to toe in pink ballerina stuff, tutu and all. He is great at letting her know that she’s beautiful and worth fighting for. He’s great at letting me know that too.

I have some questions for you:
Men – do you let the women in your life know they are beautiful? Do they know how much you love them? Do they know you would fight for them? Be it wife, daughter, sister, or friend, they NEED to know.

Ladies – Do you know you are beautiful? Do you know how much you are loved? Do the men in your life know how much you love and/or adore them? Do you let them know that they have what it takes? Be it husband, son, brother, or friend, they NEED to know too.

Yep, there’s definitely something to this whole princess thing. I wonder if I’m hearing the message that is meant for me in it. I would assume there is one since it keeps popping up in my life. Maybe it’s just the reminder that I am one. What do you think?