Chop to It

There's a lot I pretend to know.  And a lot you will never know I know.  And a lot you know I know but you wish I didn't know...

But know this: my brain has been STUNNED.

I knew I got energy from running.  I knew I got energy from coffee.  I knew I got energy from hanging out with my friends.

I did not know I would get energy from my daughters' activities.

At a local hippie kids festival recently, the girls won a semi-private lesson to an extracurricular activity.  We followed through with the invitation.  I was amazed at their "hook" and their presentation, which in one fell swoop shocked me into glazed-eye-where-do-I-sign-hood.

Reservations Before

But I held back.  The skeptic in me held the pen closehold.  We were invited back again the next day.  Meanwhile, I had been so starry eyed I'd even forgotten to ask about the cost.

I talked with a couple of friends, my out-of-town husband, and prayed.  I have never prayed about an extracurricular activity for my children, please don't kick me out of church, but I sensed this was a monumental decision.  Especially for someone as stuck in the Great Depression mindset as me.  I couldn't find exact numbers, but I knew there would be a high cost.

My husband told me to go ahead to the next class, and be courageous to say no if the price ended up being unacceptable.  So we did.

Dessert, Please

As my daughters finished up the second lesson, I almost wept.  The girls had woken up that day asking about karate, asking me if they were behaving well, concerned about having time to practice their moves before the next class.

They were exhibiting diligence.

I almost wept because this was the exact place that not only my daughters, but I needed to be.  I need diligence just as badly as they do.  But also, the activity offered a family price, not by number of children - I was sold.  My husband and I could join in, too? - sold (even though the activity with a baby on my back would be difficult, I am not above it).

This was different from other activities because I wasn't divided from the action, I was invited into it.  You'd think with nonstop interaction I'd want a break, and I do sometimes, but I value any influence on my children and want the option to be present and participating too!

In addition, a tragedy is happening in our community right now.  And so every single parent is holding their children extra tight while praying and planning for a stricken family.  I have less desire for that "break" I thought I needed.  Follow this link to Help the Brown Family

I got to be present as my daughters practiced focus, self-discipline, and forceful speaking.  My daughters got to punch and kick and learn the right setting for that.

More importantly, once they broke a board with their feet they had the most beautiful expressions on their faces. They knew the board was for breaking.  They knew it might break.  But when they broke it themselves, I saw joy and wonder on their faces that they could do it.

With proper training and practice, they experienced the freedom in accomplishment.

The Take Home Test

The energy I got from seeing these precious girls light up with confidence will fuel me for months.  I'll be showing the cheesy video I took for days, to anyone who will look!  But you don't really need to know that.

What you do need to know, because I hope it will help you too, is what I learned from karate in two lessons; first, that respect is a two-way street.  What I saw, as a mom taking a break and watching someone else teach my children, was the way the girls responded to outright respect.  They were eager, they were hungry to learn, and they were smiling.

Obviously I've heard this before.  And I know it.  But I think because there is so much to do, I get lost in the doing and forget the relationship.

Doesn't that happen in life all the time?  At work, with church, in our marriages. Lost in the doing?  No. Look up, look into the eyes.  Respect.

The second thing I learned from two days of karate is what I helped my girls memorize - the school rules:

1. Be my best.
2. Have fun.
3. Improve Every Day.

I think these are my own new rules!  I think if I take them seriously, and by "them" I mean the rules AND my family, things will get better.  I think, too, this is what God wants from me... and I can see it more clearly when it's stripped down to elementary words.

Our home is about to get more fun.  

Save Our Girls

Two recent events have my head swimming.  Could you help me out here?

First Event
More than 200 girls in Nigeria were kidnapped from their boarding school and while some have escaped, none have been rescued.

I turned to a blog for news because the amount of information about this horrifying event is so slim.  Here's a link to what I read:
Why Girls in Nigeria Should Matter

Second Event
I also listened to a very young, very passionate young man speak about the need for action to preserve the very meaning of humanhood.

I thanked him for his passion, the fact that he had the courage as a man to speak to this topic, even as some women attempt to shut men out of the conversation.

What conversation do both of these things answer to?  The conversation that asks this question, "Whose lives matter?"

The Call to Action
The blogger concludes that because the girls are in Nigeria, their lives don't matter to us here.  That may be true.  Africa is very far from us, unimaginable to some.  But if I were the African-based enemy, I would take comfort in the fact that Ukraine is closer and we do nothing there.  I might even be emboldened.

I love the blog about girls in Nigeria: tons of information, and passionate.  But I also dislike it.

It asks for us to do the noble thing and hashtag #bringourgirlsback.  That's important, because in our day hashtagging the issue will achieve something.  But honestly?  Hashtagging is no sword, and a sword is what these bad guys understand.  There needs to be a next step.

The reality of our smartcountry is that this hashtag is step number one: digital action before physical action. Once there are enough hashtags to garner a government's interest, I wonder if our very efficient special forces could go in and solve the problem.

But I don't want to limit responsibility to the government.  Americans can do more than hashtag, can't they?  I love that some are being emboldened to rescue prostitutes from their prisons (see Undercover Work Dismantling Brothels) and I wish men could come together and solve this horrifying case as well.

The enemy knows these smart ladies have the potential to change Nigeria.  That's why they are being held captive.

Yet they need to be set free: by chivalry in the first meaning of the word.

The Twist
The blog I cited above ended with a cool line: "Girls matter. Everywhere."  It's true, and I'll rehash it in her tone: Girls matter, "even" in Africa.

The young man I wrote about earlier was Josh Duggar.  After his talk, I told him I appreciated his staying in the fight for girls' rights, women's rights.  Folks, he does that for American women.  He is fighting for all American women's lives to be valued.

Judging by the effort he and his organization have put into this fight, I would say it is a struggle for Americans to value its own women.

And so I offer up perhaps we don't understand the value of life elsewhere because we are still struggling to value its worth at home.

Because girls matter.  Everywhere.  Even the womb.

Hillary, Duck

This will be really short.
I do not like shoe throwing.
I do not like shoe throwing at Republicans.
I do not like shoe throwing at Democrats.

That being said, I think evasive action is now something every politican should learn.

Um, especially if shoe throwing has happened not once but twice in the past decade... perhaps a class?

Here's my take on the matter: it's just a huge metaphor. Hillary, Duck! Or, Hillary Duck...?

Here's the brainchild of these thoughts.

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