I want to challenge the reader, when this song is being played in public places (restaurants, video stores, etc.) to look around the room and count how many people are singing along.
I was in Blockbuster and five people were singing this song quietly when I walked around.
It is one of my favorites and it is infectious!!!
"why do you build me up, build me up, buttercup, baby just to let me down?"
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
When We Became An Adopting, then Biracial Family
When mom and dad started taking in children, we bore insults from mostly insensitive and not necessarily cruel people. When we became a biracial family, the insults increased.
Some of the hurts we endured:
-A dying grandparent wanted to take photos with just the 'biological' children.
-We would vacation every year in Georgia, but when we welcomed the first non-white child in the family, we were told we were no longer welcome to worship at the local Baptist church we had attended. Unfortunately, many of our distant family members were behind this 'dis'invitation. We were also 'disinvited' for a family breakfast that had become ritual.
-We were told by a black family who we were good friends with, that a white family SHOULD NOT take a black child because we could not care for that child properly...we would be unable to introduce the child to the hurts that s/he might face, be unable to translate culture, etc. We went ahead anyway. We knew the situation at the time: that tens of thousands of non-white children were not being cared for well...they were in group homes, institutions, in foster care. We knew that either situation wasn't ideal. The ideal situation would be that a non-white child would be adopted by a loving non-white family. But we still believe(d) that adopting a non-white child in a predominantly white family is better than being in a system like foster care. So we had to absorb the criticism and the hurts. And use it as fuel to be a better family for the children. Soon, we had several biracial children and this could help them not feel so alone.
-Our neighbors' Uncle Fred and Aunt Sophie. They were a Polish immigrant brother and sister living in the same house. I remember them in their 70's and 80's after they were both retired. Uncle Fred was as cruel as Aunt Sophie was kind. They would give us five pennies wrapped up in tape for a Halloween present. That was the extent of his kindness. Otherwise, his epithets ranged from "you damn kids" when we would lose a baseball in his yard to "did you take in n%$(#$"? One time, my dad made me go over to his house to shovel his driveway after a hard snow. Instead of thanking me, he came out of his house and yelled at me. "What did we hope to get out of this...what were we going to want later?" He called the police and social services several times over the years although nothing ever came of those calls. He was in my opinion, just an all-around jerk.
I love the idea of adoption. I love the theology of it. I love the practical love in it. I love my brothers and sisters. I love being welcomed by them into this new family and welcoming them. It is a reciprocal love.
Some of the hurts we endured:
-A dying grandparent wanted to take photos with just the 'biological' children.
-We would vacation every year in Georgia, but when we welcomed the first non-white child in the family, we were told we were no longer welcome to worship at the local Baptist church we had attended. Unfortunately, many of our distant family members were behind this 'dis'invitation. We were also 'disinvited' for a family breakfast that had become ritual.
-We were told by a black family who we were good friends with, that a white family SHOULD NOT take a black child because we could not care for that child properly...we would be unable to introduce the child to the hurts that s/he might face, be unable to translate culture, etc. We went ahead anyway. We knew the situation at the time: that tens of thousands of non-white children were not being cared for well...they were in group homes, institutions, in foster care. We knew that either situation wasn't ideal. The ideal situation would be that a non-white child would be adopted by a loving non-white family. But we still believe(d) that adopting a non-white child in a predominantly white family is better than being in a system like foster care. So we had to absorb the criticism and the hurts. And use it as fuel to be a better family for the children. Soon, we had several biracial children and this could help them not feel so alone.
-Our neighbors' Uncle Fred and Aunt Sophie. They were a Polish immigrant brother and sister living in the same house. I remember them in their 70's and 80's after they were both retired. Uncle Fred was as cruel as Aunt Sophie was kind. They would give us five pennies wrapped up in tape for a Halloween present. That was the extent of his kindness. Otherwise, his epithets ranged from "you damn kids" when we would lose a baseball in his yard to "did you take in n%$(#$"? One time, my dad made me go over to his house to shovel his driveway after a hard snow. Instead of thanking me, he came out of his house and yelled at me. "What did we hope to get out of this...what were we going to want later?" He called the police and social services several times over the years although nothing ever came of those calls. He was in my opinion, just an all-around jerk.
I love the idea of adoption. I love the theology of it. I love the practical love in it. I love my brothers and sisters. I love being welcomed by them into this new family and welcoming them. It is a reciprocal love.
I Would Never Hurt An Animal
Is a flying bat an animal? That might be a caveat.
A long time ago, in a different state, a flying bat came towards me in a room. Everyone was screaming.
I hit the bat clear back to the other side of the room with my tennis racket. I didn't kill it but I made it retarded. We let it go in the front lawn.
A long time ago, in a different state, a flying bat came towards me in a room. Everyone was screaming.
I hit the bat clear back to the other side of the room with my tennis racket. I didn't kill it but I made it retarded. We let it go in the front lawn.
Snowball
We had small experiments with pets growing up. A dog here, two rabbits there, a chameleon.
We had two rabbits: a brown rabbit named Frisky and a white rabbit named Snowball. Frisky died when we were on vacation in Georgia. Someone was looking after it...but possibly not enough.
It only a few weeks after Frisky died that Snowball "died of a lonely heart". It committed suicide by pounding its face over and over into the side of its cage. A mixture of red blood and white fur covering its face. How can a pet commit suicide? Doesn't it know that the owner will have guilty feelings forever?
Poor Snowball.
We had two rabbits: a brown rabbit named Frisky and a white rabbit named Snowball. Frisky died when we were on vacation in Georgia. Someone was looking after it...but possibly not enough.
It only a few weeks after Frisky died that Snowball "died of a lonely heart". It committed suicide by pounding its face over and over into the side of its cage. A mixture of red blood and white fur covering its face. How can a pet commit suicide? Doesn't it know that the owner will have guilty feelings forever?
Poor Snowball.
Friday, October 3, 2008
My Latin Blood is Boiling
After hearing that our delayed, now canceled flight out of India would not resume until the following day with no provision for food/housing, the passengers GOT MAD.
They were arguing with the Indian Airlines staff, when an Italian reporter came up to me. He said rhetorically "You look so calm right now", "How is that?" MY LATIN BLOOD IS BOILING!!!
They were arguing with the Indian Airlines staff, when an Italian reporter came up to me. He said rhetorically "You look so calm right now", "How is that?" MY LATIN BLOOD IS BOILING!!!
Mandy Mowers Quote
Brent: Was M.Night's movie "The Happening" scary?
Mandy: It was scary how bad the acting was.
Mandy: It was scary how bad the acting was.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
12 Year Anniversary with WMF
Jara was kind enough to send an inner-office e-mail about my anniversary with WMF. How I came to WMF is a bit of a miracle in and of itself.
Here are some memories from my time:
1996- brought Papa John's pizza to a board meeting meal. This would kick off the trifecta of Subway, Chinese food, and Papa John's for board meeting meals for six years. Which we became so tired of, that we resolved never to eat this again at any board meeting ever again.
1997- My first overseas trip. Spent time in Chennai and Kolkata. And loved the 40 hour train ride between them (36 hours normally plus cabin fire adding 4 hours). Broke my heart to see such suffering in the world. I remember NOT giving water to a child because it was hot and I was worried about my water lasting through the day. I pray for forgiveness for that moment.
1998- I traveled to Nepal; rode a motorcycle with Stuart Erny, ate momos with Gautam, and saw a fairly undeveloped Gotatar (a lot of rice patties as far as the eye can see).
1999a- I traveled to Romania; played soccer with mine workers and children living on the street. Was assigned position of goalie until I let a goal pass. Then I was pointed to by a 3 foot kid who gestured to get out and to let him be goalie.
1999b- Our first staff retreat in Atlanta. We had something like 60 people. We went to the Coke Museum, MLK Center, and ate on-sale oysters for .25 per oyster....cleaned the place out!!!
2000- We started getting interested in encouraging staff members to invest in 403(b) retirement vehicles through salary deferrals. We saw how much the market had been growing the previous few years. I think the stock market today is lower than it was when we started investing. :-)
2001- Our exploratory trip to Sierra Leone. We see bombed out cars and buildings, pass road check-points that have military personnel and machine guns, and thankfully new staff make a presence there. Ministry continues in Sierra Leone amidst the war-torn population. Later I will get to meet Noah, an inspiration in WMF.
2002- The WMF USA office moves by caravan from Kentucky to Nebraska carrying all 4 staff members' possessions AND all office possessions in one UHaul medium size truck.
2003- WMF leaders travel to El Salvador for a Field Forum meeting. Jared Landreth smiles the whole trip because we are staying at a coffee plantation; we tour their coffee fields and their roasting plant. We also visit the home and grave of slain Catholic priest and leader Oscar Romero.
2004-WMF sees a lot of staff leave the field and refocuses its efforts on caring for staff and making it sustainable in the midst of difficult environments.
2005-I travel to Argentina and Brazil and spend great time with our staff there. In Argentina, I am able to attend an Argentinian BBQ or Asado. There may be a video of me dancing after that dinner. I don't where it is.
2006-Partnership Platform is introduced in a more formal way in Sri Lanka. PP is one of the most exciting initiatives in missions (I think) in that it is creating opportunity for true partnership between the West and the majority world. Each WMF organization is a sister organization to the other. I have a hope that each field ends up looking like a picture of heaven. There might be Romanians, Canadians, Kenyans in a place like Peru and there might be Peruvians, Bolivians, and New Zealanders serving in Nepal.
2007- The Great Flood. Our office is inundated with water from a tenant upstairs who left the (I forget)...toilet or the bathtub running. We spend several months recovering, because of construction, paint, insurance funds, etc.
2008- I travel to Bolivia and Peru. A lot of my favorite people in the world are in WMF. Many of them are living in Bolivia and Peru. Just when I think I get to be away from the pomp and splendor of the 4th of July festivities in the States, we meet some missionaries from the US in Peru and celebrate with fireworks at their house AND sing the national anthem. There are small US flags everywhere by the food and I think some people have US flag decals on their faces.
Here are some memories from my time:
1996- brought Papa John's pizza to a board meeting meal. This would kick off the trifecta of Subway, Chinese food, and Papa John's for board meeting meals for six years. Which we became so tired of, that we resolved never to eat this again at any board meeting ever again.
1997- My first overseas trip. Spent time in Chennai and Kolkata. And loved the 40 hour train ride between them (36 hours normally plus cabin fire adding 4 hours). Broke my heart to see such suffering in the world. I remember NOT giving water to a child because it was hot and I was worried about my water lasting through the day. I pray for forgiveness for that moment.
1998- I traveled to Nepal; rode a motorcycle with Stuart Erny, ate momos with Gautam, and saw a fairly undeveloped Gotatar (a lot of rice patties as far as the eye can see).
1999a- I traveled to Romania; played soccer with mine workers and children living on the street. Was assigned position of goalie until I let a goal pass. Then I was pointed to by a 3 foot kid who gestured to get out and to let him be goalie.
1999b- Our first staff retreat in Atlanta. We had something like 60 people. We went to the Coke Museum, MLK Center, and ate on-sale oysters for .25 per oyster....cleaned the place out!!!
2000- We started getting interested in encouraging staff members to invest in 403(b) retirement vehicles through salary deferrals. We saw how much the market had been growing the previous few years. I think the stock market today is lower than it was when we started investing. :-)
2001- Our exploratory trip to Sierra Leone. We see bombed out cars and buildings, pass road check-points that have military personnel and machine guns, and thankfully new staff make a presence there. Ministry continues in Sierra Leone amidst the war-torn population. Later I will get to meet Noah, an inspiration in WMF.
2002- The WMF USA office moves by caravan from Kentucky to Nebraska carrying all 4 staff members' possessions AND all office possessions in one UHaul medium size truck.
2003- WMF leaders travel to El Salvador for a Field Forum meeting. Jared Landreth smiles the whole trip because we are staying at a coffee plantation; we tour their coffee fields and their roasting plant. We also visit the home and grave of slain Catholic priest and leader Oscar Romero.
2004-WMF sees a lot of staff leave the field and refocuses its efforts on caring for staff and making it sustainable in the midst of difficult environments.
2005-I travel to Argentina and Brazil and spend great time with our staff there. In Argentina, I am able to attend an Argentinian BBQ or Asado. There may be a video of me dancing after that dinner. I don't where it is.
2006-Partnership Platform is introduced in a more formal way in Sri Lanka. PP is one of the most exciting initiatives in missions (I think) in that it is creating opportunity for true partnership between the West and the majority world. Each WMF organization is a sister organization to the other. I have a hope that each field ends up looking like a picture of heaven. There might be Romanians, Canadians, Kenyans in a place like Peru and there might be Peruvians, Bolivians, and New Zealanders serving in Nepal.
2007- The Great Flood. Our office is inundated with water from a tenant upstairs who left the (I forget)...toilet or the bathtub running. We spend several months recovering, because of construction, paint, insurance funds, etc.
2008- I travel to Bolivia and Peru. A lot of my favorite people in the world are in WMF. Many of them are living in Bolivia and Peru. Just when I think I get to be away from the pomp and splendor of the 4th of July festivities in the States, we meet some missionaries from the US in Peru and celebrate with fireworks at their house AND sing the national anthem. There are small US flags everywhere by the food and I think some people have US flag decals on their faces.
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