2. I cannot stop thinking about this:
My friend at our agency posted this announcement:
Help remove the rock from my stomach. We have a talented, smart, helpful, and responsible 14 year old girl in our CHI European program who makes me worried sick. You can contact me for a picture but believe me she is an amazing beauty. She has done nothing to make me worry, its what will likely happen to her that has me so unnerved. We know what will be ahead for this attractive girl if she doesn't get a family. Please contact me or Nina Thompson for more information. This truly is about her very ability to use the gifts she has been born with.
Then I read Nina's personal response:
Least of all those of us with teenage boys and girls. It is not just the girls who are at risk. In some countries in Eastern Europe the largest export is human beings. The sex trade is a billion dollar industry. Children who have no families are at high risk for exploitation. Not just teens, children. Children “go missing” from the orphanages. Most commonly these children are lured, sold or forced into the sex trade. Pimps are sometimes informed by unethical orphanage staff when a child is “aging out” and they wait to pick the child up outside the doors of the orphanage. Children and teens are sold for as little as $1500. Knowing this is a crushing weight to my soul. Human life is held very cheaply.
I read the profiles of young teens every week that say how bright they are. How they excel in Math. How they love to dance. How they want to be a teacher, a doctor, a psychologist. And all I can think is there are few families for young teens. I dread knowing that if this young girl or boy is not adopted, that the small spark of hope is likely to be crushed. 10-15% will commit suicide by the time they are 18. 60% will end up in prostitution.
Her full text: Hard Questions
Don't I know someone who could adopt her? I'd bet money that this child is from Ukraine. I could be totally wrong, but the shoe fits.I want the church to get involved in international adoption so badly that it hurts. It makes sense. Would there be enormous obstacles? Absolutely, but that never held it back before. There has to be a better way to get more people involved in understanding that adoption is missionary work and the most incredible way for one to experience how and why the family is central to God's plan of salvation.
You know what church calling I really want? The one where I work with women and children all over the world to set up legal adoptions for LDS families. The one where I work at a women and children support center and it's staffed by missionaries and ward/branch members to help these women get proper education and support so that they feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves--complete with health care, pre/post-natal care, mental health classes, addiction recovery.
Would it be possible to foster some of these young girls who have aged out in homes in the U.S.? Where families agree to help them get more education, provide a home?
Can you imagine the impact this would have on communities? On the stability of children within single-parent families?
As soon as I write it down I can see a hundred reasons why it wouldn't work.
...but I'm going to wait for the phone to ring anyway.
And, this article will make you even more grateful for the peace in your home:
Rescued From Exploitation
This, this, this...people can't believe that this is possible "When I was sixteen, I met some Mormon kids. The Mormon families were so different from the way I was raised. I was raised in these homes and neighborhoods where there was lots of abuse. To meet all these LDS families where you walk in their home and there’s a piano, and above it is a picture of the Savior with little kids–it’s the most heart-warming thing. And there’s a mom and a dad, and they like each other, and they make jokes and tickle each other and kiss! I was like, whoa, is this for real? "
3. Crockpot lasagna is awesome.
4. I finally ate a good meal at Herm's--people rave about it and I apparently just needed to order something different than what I had the first time. I visited with two good friends about aura colors. Scientifically, I am intrigued by how the colors change and what they may tell us about how the body is functioning. I have to admit I would love to have a reading. I think it would be fascinating.
5. Against my better judgment I am finding that the articles in the BYU Magazine are really good. In fact, for several months now I have read them cover to cover--with the exception of the "jokester-super-funny" mail-in stories on the next to the last page. I have my standards. This last month contained an article by a math professor, Tyler Jarvis. I used the first part about the Traveling Salesman Problem in my lesson on Sunday. NEVER even knew this was a real problem--those numbers? The cost? Holy crap. This is a must read. "That's How the Light Gets In"
6. Also this week, Lachlan learned that if you haven't pooped for a week that it will give you a horrible stomach ache (we almost went to the ER for suspected appendicitis before discovering the real problem) AND Jack found the courage to join some boys who were learning to play basketball. He told me tonight that he was going to try really hard to learn to bounce the ball. Oh, and Louisa is going back to preschool--this time with the Little Aggies at the CPD on campus. Her teacher was nice enough not to actually say the word tyrant on the first day. So that was good.
