What Goes Around

We will be going to America this summer and I am already making my list of what things I am looking forward to. Besides people, here is my list so far. Dr. Pepper in a big cup with ice, salad at the Roadhouse Grill, garage sales where I can buy junk, thrift stores for the same reason, carpet, fresh air, driving without totally stressing out and needing to take a nap, church, wearing shorts, Mexican food, cheese, watching TV, drinking water straight from the tap or even from a hose outside, grass, being relatively normal, Knotts Berry Farm, sidewalks that don't smell like pee, crossing the road without risking my life, bathtubs, drive-thru fast food, Target, shopping for clothes that fit, soft towels that have been in a dryer, dish washer that disinfects dishes, and beef. That is just the beginning of my list. I should also mention that I will miss things here, but it is only for two months so I'm sure I can do without them.

Comments to my blog really boost my ego. I hope that doesn't make you not want to comment. It makes me want to write more. I also write blogs on the Courage Homes blog. Just recently we had a new website created (because the old one was LAME) and for some reason we were now getting lots of comments. The only thing is that they were a bit odd. They said nice things in a weird way. And didn't actually comment on the blog, just very generic. But it felt really good to see all those comments. Until today when I deleted them all because they are spam. Each and every one of the comments was spam (I think). I even had to delete one of the blog postings that seemed to be attracting all the spam. So now my ego boost was boosted in the opposite direction. What do you call that? Ego slam!

When I am under stress I get mean. My responses to people are not loving. Just ask Steve. Well for a couple of weeks now I have been stressed out. I mean totally. My stomach hurts. My head hurts. I can't sleep. And I have even cried (which is not like me). So finally I decided I would like to be prayed for. A friend does inner healing prayer or theophostic prayer so I asked her to pray with me. It is always interesting to see where these prayer times go. We ask God to show me where there is a lie that I believe in my life concerning the feelings I have. Then we ask God to tell me the truth or speak to me in some way. God reminded me of a time when I was young and feeling out of control in a situation. I just felt the need to do something. I can't just sit around and ignore a problem. I must do something. And that is exactly how I am feeling now. So as I prayed about this and asked God to speak, I felt God say to me, "It is good. That is how I created you ...

Sometimes girls coming from a brothel situation think that they want to go back. It is hard to imagine for us who have read up on trafficking and the lies that are told to a girl to keep her trapped. A girl truly thinks that she is making good money. When asked where her money is, the answer is that the brothel owner is keeping it for her until she goes back to her village. We know that there is little or no money being kept for her. It may be entered into a registry for her to see, but what she doesn't see is the payments that she will be expected to pay. She will be charged for room and board, medical, clothing, or anything else the owner can think of. Not until a girl tries to leave does she realize how much she still owes.

Did you know that there is a tribe or community of people in India that believe the women and girls should prostitute themselves as a way to support the family? This is a horrible tradition that continues generation after generation. A young girl, when she enters puberty, will be "sold" for several hundred dollars. After that, a girl can not marry, so she must remain a prostitute. In this tribe, men are non-contributors to the financial stability of the family. They are against changing this tradition. What is wrong with the world?

I think that the Indian street dogs are the toughest around. They seem to be able to survive the strangest ailments. A few years ago there was a dog that snuck into our house while I was picking Micah up from the bus in front of our house. He saw it go in thankfully. The silly dog went into the bathroom and laid down. I couldn't get him to move. I tried pizza and yelling at him to leave, but he just wouldn't. So I went to the neighbor's house and told them that I had a dog that wouldn't leave. They stopped a guy on the street to have this guy help get the dog out. There was a door from the bathroom outside, so it really wasn't a hard walk for the dog, but he just didn't want to go out. So this man had to beat the dog with a stick. There was blood in my bathroom from the dog. I know the dog already had a bloody ear when he came in, but I imagine he got more wounds from the beating. Well a couple of days later, this same dog came walking down the stree...

"In A City With No Hope" by Linzie Joerres "There's a girl who's all alone in a city with no hope All around her, girls are dying, she sees it and she's crying 'cause it all started with their trying to find a better world than the ones they'd always known. She sits alone on the damp floor in the looming dark. Her face has gotten hard and dull and painfully stark. Her heart is growing cold here as she fights the fear of growing old here, forever trapped here in these walls, in this cage. She fights the rage. She was lied to and deceived by the hope of something more. She was tricked into believing that there was something worth fighting for. The woman and man, they opened up their hands to her, promised life to her dreams, made her think that these things were obtainable, reachable, but as she reached, the shackles came down on her hands, and all of her plans went up in smoke as they forced her to smoke to get her addicted. Her life thus far has...