Every Fourth Sunday

This past Sunday at our Friends Meeting, the First Day School youth group prepared food to take to a local park to feed the hungry. It is part of the Food Not Bombs effort that feeds the hungry in our closest "Big City" every Sunday afternoon at 1 pm. This was the first time my family participated. Everyone who shows up for a meal is given a number and are served according to that order. No one is turned away. However, if you have one of the last numbers, it is more likely than not that very little food is left on the table as you make your way through the line.

The food preparation portion the effort energized all the kids. The physical act of serving food to the hungry was not embraced by all of them. My boys were a bit reticent about serving food at the park. They all hung back and watched as their sisters and the other youth stepped up to the table to serve food to the many, many folks who had shown up for a meal. As you can imagine, many of those in need of a good, full meal were a bit off putting visually. It was obvious that many were homeless and had not had access to a hot shower in days. Many were suffering from the lack of even the most basic medical or dental care. Others were struggling with mental health issues.

As Noodle12 and Politician10 watched from the background, they slowly warmed up to the idea of stepping up to the tables to serve the food they had prepared. First cautiously and then more enthusiastically, they began spooning food on to plates and engaging in conversation with the folks holding their plates out. There were many "please and thank you"s, many sincere and friendly questions asked of my children, and much smiling and laughter from both sides of the table. The day was a pleasant sunny spring day. Music played in the background. Some folks danced. Men played chess. The distinction between those serving and those being served was not always clear. The overall atmosphere bordered on festive.

I knew for my adopted children, this would be an experience that I was not sure how they would handle. All of them spent their early years chronically undernourished. Politician10 often tells me of the grass and tree bark they would eat just to get something into their stomach to quell their severe hunger pains. I was a bit worried about the memories this encounter might bring to the surface for them. On the other hand, I believe they have a unrealistic impression of America. They have known since they day they got here, that hunger is no longer a concern for them. There is more food than they could possibly eat. They mistakenly assume this is true for all Americans. They have been unaware that people can and are also hungry in America. Throughout the afternoon they showed no outward signs that they had made the connection between their early experiences with hunger and what they were witnessing on this particular Sunday afternoon.

As the afternoon wrapped up and the last few folks made it through the line, I felt Politician10 tug at my shirt sleeve. He whispered, "Momma the last people through the line are a man with children and there just isn't enough food for them. What can we do?" I glanced over to see a young father with three young children probably close to the ages my Ethiopian children were when they came to us. I watched as the last bits of food were being portioned out between their four plates. Where plates had been piled with food earlier in the day, these plates had small heaps of food that did not even cover the bottom of the plates. I reached for my purse only to realize that I had left it in the car. I suggested that Politician10 speak to his father about how to handle the situation. Politician10 and his father decided they would offer him some money. They approached him and remarked to him that they had noticed that he and his children had not gotten much food. They asked him if he would accept some money so that he could buy more food for himself and his children. The man smiled and said, "Yes, that would be most appreciated."

I have no idea if Politician10 saw the similar circumstances between this man and his Ethiopian father. I have no idea if Politician10 saw his and his sisters' plight in the faces of these three young children. I can only suspect that he did. I know I did. I also know that he wasted no time in taking action. Although none of my children articulated this, I believe they learned in that hour or so that people are people. They saw and experienced the inherent dignity and worth in every person. They have all asked when we will be going back to do this again. My answer is as often as we can and certainly every Fourth Sunday with the First Day School youth group.

Long Time No Blog

Six months is a long time between posts. All is well here, we've just been busy and, honestly, I was suffering from a lack of inspiration to blog. The lack of inspiration is most likely due to the lack of a full nights sleep since the Nugget was born -- not that I'm complaining. I just forgot about all that sleep loss when you have a baby. A few times I've said, "I should blog about that", but mostly I've just thought I should blog and then stared at the screen with nothing happening.

It is a chilly, rainy March Saturday and the Nugget has finally started to crawl which means he has transformed from chronic FussBucket over his frustration with his lack of mobility to Mr. Happy Baby overnight. The change in his disposition has been remarkable now that he is master of his locomotion. This also means he is not constantly demanding to be picked up and taken to his next desired location. This means I am suddenly finding myself with free arms and free time.

So here's a funny recently provided by SonicBoom5 who is now SonicBoom6. For her birthday she asked for a doctor's kit. In the kit, was a clipboard with a pad of paper for filling out patient information. Most of us have had the flu over the past two weeks and she has been doctoring us. She usually fills out the patient profile by asking us for our names, age, etc. One day I was picking up pieces to the kit, when I glanced at the clipboard. I had not realized that one of the lines to be filled in on the patient profile was "Sex". As I looked through all of the sheets, I noticed she had placed a number in the "Sex" blank. Politician10 had a 0. Lashes8 had a 0. Everybody had a 0 except for me. That blank on mine had a 3. She happened into the room and starting looking at them with me. We started talking about them and I asked her a few questions including what the numbers meant. She said, "You know the number of times you have had sex. Once for Noodle, once for Lashes, and once for The Nugget."

Adventure, Thrills, and Near Escapes**

This morning as The Greek made a sandwich for lunch, I looked over the ingredients list on the jar of mayonnaise. The front of the jar says "Hellmann's Mayonnaise with extra virgin olive oil". The ingredients list on the back reads as follows:

INGREDIENTS: WATER, OILS (SOYBEAN OIL, EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL*), VINEGAR, WHOLE EGGS AND EGG YOLKS, MODIFIED CORN STARCH*, SUGAR, SALT, LEMON JUICE, (SORBIC ACID*, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA) USED TO PROTECT QUALITY, XANTHUM GUM*, CITRIC ACID*, NATURAL FLAVORS, OLEORESIN, PAPRIKA, BETA CAROTENE* (COLOR).

*INGREDIENTS NOT IN MAYONNAISE

My questions: Does my mayonnaise in fact have olive oil or not? I could certainly live without the modified corn starch or the beta carotene or the xanthum gum, but I bought this because it said it had olive oil. I am quite perplexed by the inclusion of ingredients in the list and then the asterisk stating that they are not in mayonnaise. What kind of marketing strategy is this? Have I been duped?

**Adventure, Thrills, and Near Escapes not in this blogpost.

Shelter

Wordless Wednesday

Power and Living an Intentional Life

I love Jennifer's blog Faking It.   Her posts are always smart and insightful and timely.  This post really resonated with me, especially her last paragraph.  

That my actions, both big and small, have the power to affect those I love, and even those I don't know,  in such dramatic ways as to change their life's projection possibly forever does really, as Jennifer says, "bring me to my knees".  It is really humbling and frightening and sobering for me to realize not only that I possess this power, but that I am vulnerable to the powers of others to forever change my life's course.  It makes me wonder in what ways my life is what it is because of another person's power (good or bad) to take me to a place I'd never thought I'd find myself.  After all, I was never getting married and I was never having kids. I was going to have a very important career and I was going to live in a very big city.  And gosh here I am, married with not just your 2.5 kids but 6 kids.  I do have a very important "career", but not the one I was anticipating.  I am looking forward to the day we move to our 70 acres with few neighbors and a 45 minute drive from the nearest mid-size city.  Jennifer's thoughts make me even more aware of how important it is to live in the present moment and to act with deliberate intention rather than to simply act or react without considering the power my actions will have on others - those I love, those I care about, those I'll never meet.  It is definitely something I strive for but generally and often fall short of.  Thanks for the post Jennifer and I must remember to "use my powers for good and not evil".

So Far....

Lashes7: Daddy, you know what?

The Greek: What?

Lashes7: Crud is my favorite word so far.


The sibs can testify to this. Lashes7 is almost giddy when something doesn't go his way because he gets to say "crud".
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I am reminded of a conversation with Lashes7 from a few months ago.

Lashes 7: Momma, how many bad words are there?

Me: I don't really know. It more depends on "how" words are used. For example, the word "butt" could be used to talk about a body part or it could be used as a mean name for someone.

Lashes7: I know what the five worst words are.

Me (a bit hesitant, but curious): What are they?

Lashes7: Well,I don't want to say them but they start with d, s, f, c, and a.

Me: (now really concerned as to what the "f" word and the "c" word might be). What is the word that starts with "s"?

Lashes7: Stupid.

Me (a bit relieved): What about the word that starts with "c"?

Lashes7: Crap.

Me (more relieved): What about the word that starts with "f"?

Lashes7: Fudge.

Me (confused): Fudge?

Lashes7: Well it isn't really fudge, but I don't know what the real word is.

Me: What do you mean?

Lashes7: Remember Ralphie in that movie "A Christmas Story" says it. Only he says that he didn't really say "fudge" that he really said something else. I just don't know what he really said.

Me (changing the subject): Who wants to make cookies when we get home?

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The words starting with "a" and "d" were what you might expect. I guess I can live with an almost eight year old thinking the five worst words are ass, damn, stupid, crap, and fudge - so far that is....