Our Last Saturday

This is our last Saturday before Mr. Bean starts his job as our church's interim music pastor. We have spent it by sleeping in and being rather lazy. Once String Bean wakes up from her nap, we will continue the celebration by doing laundry.

Our lives will just be busier starting February 1, so it is nice to have a blah day to just relax and enjoy doing nothing of consequence. Starting in May, our lives will get a lot busier, so I am trying to just enjoy the slow pace of a day like today. Who knows when another will come along?

Oh, and Mr. Bean did get a haircut.

You'd Never Guess It!

I was born on Friday the 13th.

So was my grandfather.

And his wife.

And their daughter.

And her grandson.

And my father-in-law.

String Bean was also born on the 13th. It was a Tuesday.

Open Your Eyes, Sir!

When Mr. Bean and I were newlyweds, we had our photo taken for the church directory. The cameraman said, "Smile!" Before he took the picture he paused and said, "Open your eyes, sir!" Mr. Bean responded with, "My eyes are open. This is how I smile."

Photo by Mr. Bean on December 20, 2009
String Bean: 26 months

Apparently, String Bean inherited that trait from her father.

What Did You Say?!

String Bean's language explosion is here to stay. Every day she is saying new words, even ones we didn't know she knew. Today was no exception.

Mr. Bean was dressing String Bean for church and I was listening to their chatter on the baby monitor while finishing my hair. The outfit Mr. Bean picked out was a brown shirt with a pink corduroy jumper. He put the brown shirt on String Bean and she pointed at it and said, "Brown shirt!" Although, it didn't come out that way.

The first word, "brown," sounded more like "bull" and the second word's "r" was mysteriously missing.

We've gotten a lot of giggles out of that today and even took a video to show her some day. Somewhere along the line she realized we giggled whenever she said it, so she ran around the house saying, "Brown shirt! Brown shirt! Brown shirt!" Or her version of it anyway.

Thank goodness she didn't realize she was being funny until after we'd left church!

Bump!

String Bean is really into ballet these days. She spends many hours in the day practicing her twirls and wearing her tutu.

Tonight she was dancing, got dizzy and lost her footing. She ended up going forehead first into the side of our entertainment center. Many tears were spilt and a huge bump that immediately turned black and blue sprung up on her head.

I can't help but think, now that the crisis is averted and she's sleeping soundly, that when the earthquake happened in Haiti, many kids had much worse bumps than String Bean and their moms were not all there to comfort them.

Please remember to share your resources with those who had very little and now find themselves with nothing.

Ethnocentricity

Ethnocentricity. I'm seeing a lot of that post-earthquake in Haiti.

I doubt any of us would say, "Our country and its citizens are far superior to other people and other cultures in the world!" but that's the attitude I'm seeing on television coverage of the Haiti disaster.

Today a set of parents whose college-age children are missing in Haiti were featured. Although my heart breaks for them, the attitude they had was that the US was not doing enough to find American citizens and that the government needed to get more help to the hotel where their daughters were staying. As the interview goes on, you find that it is one of the hotels were international search and rescue teams have been since the beginning. Meanwhile, most of the Hatians have been left to dig out their own survivors without the aid of international agencies to bring equipment and expertise to help out.

One of the dads went on to say that the US needed to stop providing aid and continue to focus on search and rescue. Meanwhile, there are people who did survive the disaster who are dying of thirst and infection due to not having the aid they need.

Of course, Dr. Phil says, "No matter how thin you make a pancake, there are always two sides." While I recognize these parents are speaking out of frustration, emotion, fear and helplessness, I am saddened that our media focuses on these stories that continue to paint Americans as ethnocentric people who care only about the needs of the wealthy Americans when disaster strikes.

I suppose there is a bit of truth in that though. We live in an ethnocentric country and an egocentric society.

We all have within our power to help those who cannot help themselves. If you haven't already, check out what Samaritan's Purse is doing and consider a financial donation to help out the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Text to 85944 for Samaritan's Purse!

Photo from the Samaritan's Purse Facebook fan page

Samaritan's Purse has just joined the texting revolution! You can now text to 85944 to make a $10 gift to Samaritan's Purse which will be charged to your cell phone bill. Of course we have the link to the left you can contribute that way as well.

I've never done the text-giving before. Have you? Did you enjoy the experience? How does that work for tax purposes? (No, I am not text-savvy.)

A Long, Long Road

If you have been watching the Haiti news, you can see that there is a long, long road ahead of the Hatian people until they are able to rebuild their homes and their lives. In addition to the immediate needs and the obvious needs of housing and government infrastructure, there are unseen emotional needs that need to be dealt with.

As you consider your part, I'd like to point you to a few blogs of college friends of mine who are missionaries living in Haiti. They managed to escape from any obvious trauma from the earthquake, but are feeling the effects of the situation with limited supplies. One of these friends have adopted (or are in the process of adopting) Hatian children and are still in contact with the birth parents whose homes and lives have suffered some damage.

Please take a few minutes and check out what the McCormicks and Ebenhacks are doing together for the people of Haiti. You can still donate to Samaritan's Purse through our link to the left. Thank you for all who have supported the Hatian people in whatever way and through whatever channel you have been able.

Haiti

We want to thank everyone who has given to Haiti through our fund raising effort. We still have about $650 to go before we reach our goal. Can I be honest with you? When I set up this page and informed Amy about it (Like how I didn't ask permission?), I figured if we got $100 it would be a wild success. So, to be at $369.22 after just a few days has blown me away.

There are a lot of people who have shown interest in what we are doing but have yet to donate through our link. Frankly, I could care less whether people donate through our effort as long as they show their support (financially or prayerfully).

Thanks for joining with us and supporting our brothers and sisters in Haiti. You can click on the link to the left to donate to Samaritan's Purse for Haiti relief.

We have so much...

I'm feeling very spoiled about now, and not in a good way. I have a strong, safe house with heat and central air, and yet I complain that it is too small. I have three strong, healthy children, (albeit one has wonky DNA) and yet I complain about the messes they make. I sit here at my computer, I look over at my TV, my shelves and shelves of books that I'll never read again, and complain that I don't have enough. How can I be so selfish when others are suffering so much. I think about Haiti and how there was so much suffering poverty even before the earthquake hit. I don't deserve my prosperity anymore than they deserve their poverty.

I told my kids about the earthquake yesterday and Walnut was very concerned. He climbed into my lap and tried to hold back tears as he asked how he could help the children in Haiti. Then he went to his room and emptied out his bank. He brought me 19 pennies and 1 nickle. It was all he had. If you have anything to give, please consider giving to help the relief efforts in Haiti. You can do it right from this page even. Mandie set up an account with Samaritan's Purse for Just We Moms. Just click the box over to the left. I've already been so humbled at the response we've received.