• Just Another Day •

Just another day has gone by. One that I thank God for. He has provided such rich blessings. Green grass I played in today while working and taking photos of someone's little girl, green full lush trees that gave us shade, a nice breeze... lunch with a friend that was enough to make me full for two days with fresh veggies and cold cuts. Soda with ice (which I knocked over and spilled and didn't seem to upset me as much as it would have before). The chance to watch my son hop on the school bus and ride it to summer school, my daughter off on another school trip with friends with swimming, golfing and bowling to look forward to. Wow. Such little things we enjoy for 'extra' curricular activities that other children don't even know exist. My oldest son lounging at home, playing in the yard with the dog, chasing the chickens and watching movies and playing video games in the a/c. :o) It's been a beautiful day. I used to think sometimes we waisted days because we didn't accomplish anything in them. Now I know a day is never waisted if I can see the beauty I'm surrounded with and appreciate the blessings that are so abundant in my life.

Yet, there's always that thought in the back of my mind. As much as I've smiled today and been so grateful and shared stories with yet another person of how much Haiti needs us I still think to myself I wonder if there is a child somewhere that is waiting for me. He or she may not know it yet. I don't know it yet, but my heart still aches and thinks of all the children and people of Haiti who need me. Who need us. All of us. Knowing I serve a great and wonderful God that is the creator of all things, I know He created the people of Haiti and loves them as much as he loves you and I. They are near and dear to His heart. I just wish others could see them with the same eyes that He and I do. ;o)

"My brothers and sisters, if people say they have faith, but do nothing, their faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save them? A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or food. If you say to that person, 'God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat,' but you do not give what that person needs, your words are worth nothing. In the same way, faith that is alone--that does nothing--is dead.

--James 2:14-17

And, well.... Holy smack. I see all faces differently now. My paper boy just delivered my newspaper and I have a new paper boy. And he's a handsome young man! A handsome young, african american boy that I tried not to gawk too much as I look at his beautiful skin and giant brown eyes, and his tight curly hair as he makes me smile and makes my heart skip a beat. He's a welcome site. I miss my Haitian friends and family. How do you explain to the paper boy your sudden urge to give him a giant hug and ask about his day! lol I digress..... ;o) Sounds funny, to talk of the new paper boy but one must understand something, the number of african american families in my small mid-western town is slim to none. But they are a welcome site to me. I wish there were more. My sister Diane's children enjoyed playing with the 'other brown people' they saw this week on vacation. They need playmates, cousins of a sort.... Kristi would thrive with someone else 'like her' around besides her brother. Someone to be like and know she is beautiful and special. Someday.... in His time.

It reminds me of the sound of my teenage daughter at the age of 3 or 4 when she peeped her head over the back of a booth in taco bell and exclaimed "Look at the brown boy momma! He's pretty! I like brown boys!" I guess it's always been in her heart too. She now, at only the age of 16, feels my need to 'save the world'. I love my children. I'm a proud momma.