December 1st has arrived. . . warm, balmy, and beautiful. I watched the neighbor hang icicle house lights today while dressed in his shorts and tank top. There is just something wrong about that! Of course this is the Season of the Unexpected. Crazy things happen; a policeman buys a homeless man some socks and $100 boots, someone drops a gold coin in a red metal bucket, a child is born in a manger and saves the world. It's the Season of Big Gifts Given Humbly. It's crazy, ridiculous, unexpected, glorious, wonderful all wrapped up in colorful paper, or in swaddling clothes.
So what can we do, what can I do, to enter this Season of the Unexpected? Drum Roll Please.....
We have adopted a GIRL! I will call her D1 (Daughter 1) for the blogging hemisphere. Here is how it goes: A few weeks ago Preacher Man was talking to us from the book of James. I enjoy the book of James with its easy to understand proverbs and straight to the point message. You really can't get straighter than this:
"Now listen you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you." James 5:1-6
Now, first of all, we are a preacher family living on basically one income. Next to the doctor and pharmacist neighbors we have, we definitely are NOT rich. BUT, we have a lot of education and access to libraries and the world wide web right in our home. I can go to the doctor whenever I need to, and last week my children saw a dentist. We have a home, with running water, electricity, indoor toilets - plural on the toilets! We have two vehicles, a refrigerator that makes ice and serves water, heat and air conditioning that don't require cutting wood, and FOOD!!! I have two large freezers filled with a beef and a hog right now. Believe me, I am wealthier than many can even imagine. I have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence for sure. So what were we to do with that?
Well, Hubby and I talked about it and decided that we could make life better for another child. We asked the boys if they would like a brother or sister, and #1 said he would like to try a sister since he already knows how having a brother goes! Last night I went to www.worldvision.org and found the perfect girl for our family. She lives in Swaziland where Hubby and I had thought a year ago we might be headed. Her birthday is October 1, so Hubby can share birthday nearness with a child like I do. She likes Mathematics like Hubby, and she lives where there are hills and green grass like I grew up around. I won't tell you her name, but it even has lots of vowels like my own biological children.
D1 has a sister, and she lives with her parents. Her dad is a construction worker, but employment is erratic. Her community has been in the World Vision program for several years, and they now have latrines, occasional healthcare, and Bible study groups. She will write to us, send pictures, and be a part of our lives as much as possible with this distance. For our part, we will send her to school, make sure she has food, water, and healthcare access, and we will pray for her. We will write, send packages, and be her "Far-Away Parents".
I know it isn't the same as really having D1 here in our home, hugging her, laughing with her, sharing the good and the bad. But D1 has parents who already do that for her. What she needs, what her parents need, is a little help. And where can they turn in a nation wrought with unemployment and AIDS orphans? Where can they turn? To the Unexpected, that's where. In a land far, far away, that I am sure she can only sort of imagine, D1 has a mother and father who love her already, who think of her fondly, who want only the very best for her. Sort of like our own Father in a land far, far away that I can only sort of imagine. I hope I make Him proud.
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