A Christmas Gift Idea

For the last three years I have been giving crappy presents for Christmas. Well, maybe not crappy. Well thought out but probably not very fun. When I say well thought out, I really mean it. It is hard to choose. Every year I stare at the computer screen, making impossible choices as to where to send my money in honor of my loved ones while tears stream down my cheeks because of the overwhelming amount of need and at the frustration of being one of the people who send money instead of one of the people making things happen. At the incredible injustice of the world. I use the Global Giving website. There are thousands of grassroots projects requesting money in almost every country in the world. How do you choose?

Combat Malnutrition in Kenya with the Moringa Tree?
Moringa trees are rich in vitamins A, C, calcium, iron & potassium; higher in protein than soybean meal; drought resistant, add nitrogen to soil; anti-bacterial; used for household water purification; a source of edible oil, bio fuel & cattle feed. Trees purchased fund education for EYAC members. Planted at orphanages & schools, the trees provide a sustainable solution for malnutrition. Training women in business and product development will provide empowering income-generating opportunities. Fantastic idea, right?

Empower Marginalized Young Women in Ghana?
In our holistic school-based program, marginalized women turned apprentices develop their seamstress skills to transform hand-dyed fabric and up-cycled plastic sachets into handmade bags, wallets and aprons simultaneously taking classes. They receive the tools necessary to practice a trade, make a living and become self-reliant leaders of their communities. Each girl graduates from ABAN with over $200 USD and the skills to use it wisely to provide herself and her child with a brighter future.  Sounds great!

Puppets Against Abuse in Kinshasa?
The work of Puppeteers Without Borders (PWB) is to give local educators, artists and puppeteers the tools to address the specific problems of the Kinshasa society by training them to create strong, compelling performances which can encourage new understandings and behavioural change. At the same time our puppeteers will train local social workers to use puppets as a therapeutic tool to help the outcast children overcome the effects of their traumas, that are a result of being accused of sorcery.   I didn't know this was a thing... but I do know that for children, play therapy can be life saving.

Rescue Children Suffering from Severe Malnutrition in Nepal?
Through an innovative program of nutritional therapy using only locally produced ingredients, NYF has helped save thousands of children afflicted with malnutrition. While the children are recovering their health, NYF nutritionists teach the mothers safe nutritional practices and proper food preparation. This not only ensures that the children stay healthy once they leave the NRH, the entire family's nutrition benefits from the mother's training.  They say that 50% of children in Nepal suffer from malnutrition and that most of that malnutrition is caused by not understanding proper nutrition, not poverty.


Simple Surgery to Restore Eyesight in Ehthiopia?
In particularly remote areas of the Gamo Gofa region, there are currently little or no eye care facilities, yet a simple surgery is the sight-saving answer for thousands of affected Ethiopians. With effective surgery, someone's suffering could be over in a matter of hours. This could change so many lives!



Stop South Sudanese Mothers from Dying in Childbirth
Our Onura Maternal Survival Project will pay for sterile medical supplies; a childbirth delivery bed; and training for midwives on handling delivery complications and providing prenatal and postnatal care, newborn care, and family planning services.  Did you know that in some parts of Africa, a woman has a 1 in 12 chance of dying in childbirth during her life time? 1 in 12!

See what I mean? Thousands of well thought out, worthy causes. Thousands of people who's lives could be made infinitely better. But who should be chosen? And, who should be left behind?   So.. if you are scrambling for last minute gifts or can't find the right thing for those people in your lives who have everything, give it a look.  Cover some of those that I don't choose. Just pick two people and replace their gifts with gifts in their honor from a worthy cause. I don't have a big following (Hey you 19 awesome people!) but even if just the 19 people who have followed my blog picked two charities to give to, that would be 38 organizations.  That's a LOT more than I can do on my own. And, every time I write a new post I get about 200 hits. I know most of these are my mom (Hi mama!) but lets say 100 are from other people. That's 200 organizations that could get money. Cool, right? Just consider it. And maybe pass the word...

Thoughts...

My fingers ache. They are as wrinkled as prunes and smell like conditioner. After two heads full of tiny corn rows my eyes are starting to cross. I was never good at braids. I am not good at doing my own hair. I am getting a handle on theirs.
I think as I braid, my hands falling into a now familiar rhythm, fingers moving on their own.  I think about how I pictured my life. I think of the children I pictured when I was pregnant. Little girls with long smooth hair and freckles.  Chubby pink cheeks. Eyes like my mom's and the Loy lips to go along with them. The Norwegian bone structure from my father peeking out through the baby roundness.  I wonder what my life would have been like. Who they would have been. Who I would have been if things had gone according to plan and if things had not gone wrong around 12 weeks. And then the next time around 6 weeks.  Do I still grieve for them? For the me I could have been, still trusting that really bad things won't happen? Maybe.  Sometimes I think of those little girls and long for them.
Then I look down at the straight rows emerging from my fingertips.  I see the dark ringlets run riot in the next section to be braided. I feel a small pat on my foot from my first and now middle daughter. I hear the laughter coming from upstairs as my eldest and youngest race to see who can get their pajamas on first, and smile as I hear their feet thunder down the stairs. My life is different than I thought it would be. My children are not who I envisioned when I was picturing my future. But they are mine. And they are perfect. And when I look at them, I see my children... not who I was anticipating, but better than I ever could have imagined. And for that, I am oh so thankful.

My Mimi-girl

I mentioned it in the last post, but I need to talk a little bit about this. My sweet baby? My little tiny, newborn clothes at 11 months Mimi?  She's 5. Yeah. I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. I was in denial up until the day of her birthday am in denial. How can she be so big? How can that tiny baby be this vibrant, smart, stubborn, mischievous, gentle, tender hearted, sensitive... kid? It breaks my heart on a daily basis. She is so beautiful. So tall and graceful. She has those incredible eyes that still catch me by surprise sometimes. She has a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue... she is a force of nature.  Meron has a tough exterior that belies the soft, tender, easily crushed center. Her first response to anger? To do whatever it was again while giggling manically.  I'm not sure if she is saving face or trying to do it until we laugh, but we have learned that with her, anger is never productive (which can be difficult when she is doing something she has been asked not to while giggling manically).  Things with Mer... they are on her terms.
We frequently talk about what kind of animals our kids would be if they were animals (things get boring once the kids are asleep...). Hana is an egret (long legged and awkward in situations that make her uncomfortable but magic in her element) or sometimes a dog (super eager to please and sensitive to criticism). Kai is a bear cub (super cute and cuddly but is generally falling down or rolling around on the floor at any given time) or a rhino, charging ahead through life headless of obstacles. Meron, she is always a cat. Aloof if you demand affection. Graceful and agile, incredibly cuddly and affectionate when and with whom she chooses. Gentle and nurturing to littler kids, with wicked claws and fangs that appear from nowhere when provoked. Earn her love and you will be richly rewarded, because she loves deeply.  Her penchant for dancing on tables and her aversion to clothing makes me a little afraid for her college years, but wherever she goes in life I am confident she will do things on her terms. In her way. And she'll be great. But, I don't want her to go.

I have already lost baby Mimi, toddler Mimi and 3 and 4 year old Mimi. Preschool Mimi will be gone soon, replaced by Kindergarten Meron. And what, exactly, am I going to do without her? When she gets too big to sit on my lap or carry on my hip? When she wants to go to hang out with friends instead of thinking that the perfect day means hanging out with her entire extended family? When she moves out and goes to college?!  I think she'll move closer to me again when she has babies though, because if they're anything like her she's going to need LOTS of help and she says she wants to have 20 kids, but STILL!  I know, people survive this sort of thing. Kids are supposed to leave, so exciting to watch who they become, blah blah blah. I get it. I'll be excited to get to know the older versions of her, but this one is just so dang delicious. I just want to freeze time and keep her all to myself.  Anybody an inventor? I have a proposition for you...

A Joyful Noise

Meron is 5. I can't believe she is that big. And she got a drum set for her birthday. She and Hana have decided to form a band that sings about fairies. It is loud at our house... and very exciting.

Photo Op

 And why we can't have nice things.