Shocking, yes, that I've added 2 blog posts today. But I needed to share this thought, too.

I was thinking today about the long-term implications of the mass of injuries in Haiti. I've been hearing that there are so many people with crushed bones and no orthopedic surgeons around in some parts of the country that the only option is amputation.

What about those who make their livings as subsistence farmers on the steep mountain sides? How can someone plant and harvest his corn crop with a missing leg?

What about the artisans and craftsmen (and women) who make beautiful wood carvings and jewelry that visitors to the country just snap up? How can they earn a living with a missing arm?

And there will be many, many more people left to live with injuries that may cripple their ability to earn a living. I've become even more thankful for Kids Against Hunger and that God has called me to be a part of this organization. I pray that we'll be able to play some part in helping these people to take care of their families for years to come.

I just saw this true story from Jacmel, Haiti. I'm quoting directly from Danny Pye of Joy in Hope:

Mother of 22 day old infant feeding he child just before 5 p.m. last Tuesday. Placed the infant in bed, asleep and walked out of her small home for a short minute. In that short time, the earthquake, house collapsed with infant inside. Family accepted the death of their infant and grieved for her. Today, search and rescue pulled her out...ALIVE...not a scratch, not a mark. On IV fluids and being treating for mal-nutrition...who wants to say now there is no God? 7 days...22 day old infant...

Incredible! To God be the glory!

I have just emailed my Congressman and Senators regarding the crisis facing orphans in Haiti as a result of last Tuesday's earthquake. Please take a moment of your time to do the same. Contact your elected officials through http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Here is the email I wrote. I don't care whether you copy mine or compose your own. But the crisis is real. Please join me in advocating for these children to be united with their families!

Many Haitian orphans who have had their adoptions by US families approved are languishing in orphanages. Orphanage buildings have suffered significant damage from last week's earthquake, and supplies of food and water are scarce. These children and their families were only waiting for paperwork - paperwork which in many cases is now buried under the rubble of destroyed government buildings.

Because of the need for orphanages to be able to take in more orphans and the pointlessness of leaving children who already have families waiting for them, I believe it is essential for the US to allow these children to immigrate to our country, even without Haitian passports. These children already have families in the US to care for them and will not present any financial burden to our country. Therefore, I urge you to:

1) Put pressure on the State Department to issue humanitarian parole visas to adopted children,

2) Put pressure on the Haitian government to allow these children to leave the country, and

3) Respond formally (by email or phone call) to me to let me know how you plan to address the issue of Haitian children adopted by US families who need to be united with their adoptive families.

Thank you for your attention to this humanitarian crisis affecting the most helpless of the people in Haiti.

Seven months ago to the day, last June 13, I was in Port au Prince, Haiti.

We had arrived in the country 2 days earlier and flown down to Jacmel, the country's 3rd-largest city, before driving back over the mountains into the capital city.

As we drove into and through the city, we noted intense odors. We watched people picking through garbage piles. We were shown a market set up by the street outside the "official" government-constructed marketplace. We saw cinder-block buildings surrounded by razor-wire or broken glass-topped security walls. And we saw humanity - people - everywhere. Walking, sitting, talking, looking for work, crowds of people thronged the city.

And seeing all of those cinder-block buildings, no one commented, "Gee, those don't look like they'd stand in an earthquake." Haiti doesn't get earthquakes. It gets horrible hurricanes and devastating floods, not earthquakes. Until yesterday.

I am happy to say that while some of the ministries I know of and visited in Haiti did sustain damage to their buildings, all the staff and children are OK. Frightened, but OK. But they have much work to do in the coming months and years to help their neighbors and communities. Please continue to pray for those who were in Haiti last night and began to do whatever they could to help others this morning.

While our prayers are crucial, our money is essential to help right now. I have put together a list of reputable organizations already working in Haiti - many of which I personally visited last summer.  If you've considered making a donation to help in Haiti, I can unreservedly recommend any of these:

Joy in Hope (Haitian Children’s Home) – Jacmel, Haiti (3^rd largest city, also devastated as badly as Port au Prince)

Paypal donations through website: www.joyinhope.org/donate.asp - select “Immediate Needs”

Or mail checks to:

JIH – Earthquake

2731 NC Hwy 55 #251

Cary, NC 27519

World Vision

Donate online: www.worldvision.org

Phone: (866) 280-6587

P.O. Box 9716

Federal Way, WA 98063-9716

Compassion International

Donate online: www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/haitiearthquake.htm

or mail checks to:

Compassion International

Colorado Springs, CO 80997

Samaritan’s Purse

Donate online: www.samaritanspurse.org

Or mail checks to:

Samaritan's Purse

P.O. Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607-3000

Donate by phone: 1-800-528-1980

Orphan Care:

Three Angels Children’s Relief

Significant damage to their building, especially exterior walls, but all children OK

www.threeangelsrelief.org

God’s Littlest Angels

Preparing to take in more orphaned children following the earthquake

www.glahaiti.org 

For His Glory Adoption Outreach

Planning to begin helping and housing birth families of their children

www.forhisgloryoutreach.org/earthquake_relief

Heartline Ministries

Significant damage to their home(s), ministry to the community

www.heartlineministries.org

www.haiti-relief.com

Medical Relief & Assistance:

Doctors Without Borders

http://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org

Partners in Health

Working in Haiti to provide good health care to the poor since the mid-1980’s

www.pih.org

or mail check with “Haiti Earthquake Relief” in memo line to:

Partners In Health
P.O. Box 845578
Boston, MA 02284-5578

My church has often had a Week of Prayer & Fasting in early January. We haven't done it every year, but today begins another of those weeks. I realize that most people think of fasting as being a solitary, individual discipline, something to be kept private between yourself and God. But there is scriptural precedent for corporate prayer & fasting - like in Acts 13. And 1 Peter 2:5 says, "You also ... are being built into a spritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." This verse implies that there is a "together" aspect God intends for sacrifice from His people.

I'm looking forward to seeing what God does this week in my church. We're all feeling like we're ready for God to show us new ways to reach out to our community. But I'm also excited to see new things that God teaches individuals. And I hope He shows me a glimpse of His purpose for me in the midst of it all.

On Facebook yesterday, one of my friends posted that the 5:00 news reported "Some think this will be the coldest winter in 25 years." Really? "Some" think that? And the others - have they even been outside? It's frizzin' cold all over this country, even in places where it's never supposed to get cold.

And yet, even if I go out in the cold, I can come back to my nicely heated home. If I have to drive somewhere, I can heat the car (usually way more than I heat my house, to be honest).

I was looking for an email earlier today from a friend with a picture of the daughter they're going to adopt from China in the next few months. And when I found the email, it said, "pray her through the long, cold winter." At that point I remembered that my friend had told me in the past about the conditions in Chinese orphanages - many with little or no heat through the winter. In some places, the caregivers turn out the lights, lock the doors and leave every night. Yes, many Chinese orphans spend long, cold nights alone in the dark.

So as we pull on another sweater or walk over to nudge the thermostat up a bit, let's remember to pray for these children. Pray for them to live through another long, cold winter. But also pray for them to find "forever families." They did nothing to deserve their plight - but gender and disability have landed many in abhorrent circumstances. And for some, gender and disability may keep them in those circumstances throughout their childhoods.

I applaud people like my friend who are sacrificing much to bless orphaned children. And I applaud each one who even prays briefly for these children. In doing so, you are trusting in the One who can really make a difference for them.

I'm sure I'm a little late for this party. We're supposed to review the "old" year in December and make plans (or resolutions) for the "new" year in January. Maybe I have it backwards since on Christmas Eve our family spent time thinking of gifts for Jesus - things we did in the previous year to serve God as well as hopes/expectations/promises for serving God and others in the coming year. And now that things are a little settled down after "The Holidays," I have had a chance to look back and review lessons learned in the last year. So bear with me for a few moments while I do just that.

Lesson 1: Don't let yourself or anyone you know tolerate a cough that goes on for months

This was the first sign of my mother's lung cancer, but she didn't think it was a problem because she thought it was related to her allergies. If she hadn't been scheduled for foot surgery and the surgeon unwilling to proceed without sending her for a chest x-ray first, her cancer wouldn't have been detected until it was WAAAY too late. After I joined a lung cancer support group, I realized how common this is in lung cancer patients. They have a cough that goes on for ages, and they don't get it checked out until they have "severe" symptoms - like not being able to breathe when lying on one side. So if you or a loved one has a long-lingering cough, get it checked out.

Lesson 2: Don't give relationship advice

I used to follow a philosophy that I would never give advice. At some point, I must have become arrogant enough to start ignoring that philosophy, because in the last year-and-a-half, I've given advice or encouragement to two people that has backfired. I've finally learned that I can't possibly know all the circumstances of a situation, and even if asked, I should keep my mouth shut and suggest the person seek God instead of my counsel.

Lesson 3: Live out "Reckless Faith"

I think (hope?) I'll learn a lot more about this in the coming year. Over the course of the summer and fall, I was reading a book called Reckless Faith by Beth Guckenberger while listening to my husband preach a sermon series called "The Crazy Acts of the Prophets." I began to see just how big God is, and that when we allow ourselves to get into situations that we can't get ourselves out of, then God comes through in ways we can't imagine. And every week as I listened to my husband wrap up a sermon in that series, I heard God telling me to start a non-profit satellite of Kids Against Hunger. So I have taken the steps to move forward with that and seen that when I am faithful in small things, God does really big things. Like providing a rent-free facility in response to my giving a 10-minute presentation. I can't wait to see what other things God is going to do as I learn to abandon myself to living in faith.

Lesson 4: God can teach my children academic skills

Talk about living out reckless faith in something that makes no sense whatsoever. I'm a homeschool teacher; aren't I supposed to be teaching my children skills like reading? But, no, I have watched God teach my daughter to read this fall. I've hardly done anything other than stick a book in front of her face, but she reads now. And I've watched my son begin to grasp math concepts that he struggled with under my teaching for YEARS! God has convinced me that the most important things to teach my children are character and service. And I firmly believe that 13 years is more than enough time for them to learn the set of skills that come from academic textbooks. No, it doesn't make sense. I find myself fighting against this philosophy all the time. But now that I'm seeing it work - seeing God come through in helping my kids succeed academically where I haven't been able to help them - I'm learning just a little bit more to trust Him in this.

Lesson 5: Anna Buck is a God-send

Quite literally. The therapy my children have received from her in the past year has made a huge difference in their lives and in our family. We are so blessed to live less than 30 minutes from her office. However, I highly recommend for any family whose child(ren) have learning and/or behavior problems to look at her website (www.annashousellc.com) and contact her. She works with families from all over the country. Compared to the time and energy we spent on other therapies for my son before finding her, working with her has been easy and has produced results we never expected.

Lesson 6: Say encouraging words most of the time and critical words almost never

OK, this is maybe a new lesson for '10 rather than one I learned in '09. But I recently heard a speaker briefly mention the concept of "emotional bank accounts." Some people teach to make emotional "deposits" before "withdrawls," but he suggested trying to "live off the interest." In other words, build up and encourage others so much that they don't even notice the "withdrawls" like correction. I've never consciously tried anything like this, and I have been so frustrated at little things that I say (especially to my daughter) to help - like a small correction when she's practicing piano that makes her really angry. After I started trying to just say as many nice things I could think of (even little things like "You look nice today."), I began to notice that she really wanted to hang out with me. A lot. And then she began to accept small corrections - even larger corrections - with more grace than I've ever seen from her. It's still a bit of a challenge for me, but I'm working on it.

Lesson 7: Take time to slow down and spend time with people

I have been unexpectedly blessed a number of times in the past year when I have chosen to spend some time with friends. In some cases it was planned, but in other cases it was unexpected - like picking up my daughter from her friend's house and spending an extra hour or so talking with her friend's mom. Sometimes getting to the next place or getting home to make dinner isn't nearly as valuable as spending time with people. And it even applies to taking time to spend with my children. It's worth skipping an errand or an activity just to have pizza with my son or listen to my daughter read something she has written. Relationships are going to stick with us for a lifetime - not so much activities.

Lesson 8: The "dream house" is better as a dream than as a place to live

We've been in our "dream house" for close to 4 years. We have a great location with beautiful views over a lake to the mountains. I have an amazing kitchen and more bathrooms than we normally use. We have a lovely "guest suite" that we have been able to share with others from time to time. But it's too much for us. Too much to pay every month and too much to keep it all clean. And something we didn't expect (but maybe should have): neighbors that are more concerned about appearances than relationships. We have loved living here - but it's just too much. So we're probably going to try to downsize in the coming year to something much more manageable. We can be thankful for the blessing of this home and that we've been able to use it to bless others, but it's time to stop trying to live the "American Dream" and start trying to live what God is dreaming for us.

Lesson 9: I'm so much better at keeping up with Facebook than my blog

I have to admit, it's a lot easier to put up a one-phrase or two-sentence "status update" than to think up a blog entry. I'm going to try harder this year to keep up my blog, especially to share what's going on with Kids Against Hunger. But I find as my life fills with more things, I spend less time writing. So if you really want to keep up with me, find me on Facebook!

Ten weeks ago, my daughter was still struggling to read Dick & Jane books. She wrestled with words like "this" and "then." If she asked me what a word spelled and I told her, she would remember it the next time she saw it but not the third time she came across it. Even though she enjoyed writing, she couldn't spell much of anything, nor could she read back what she wrote because it was so badly spelled. When I asked her a question, she would often disappear into a blank stare for close to a minute before answering.

Much of this stemmed from an auditory processing difficulty.

Last Friday, I watched her work on the beginning of a phonics curriculum with a tutor during the last session of her Listening Fitness Therapy. She read about 40 words on cards, one after the other, no problem. She had to stop and sound out a couple of the words, but most were as easy for her as they would be for me. Then she worked on spelling several simple words - again, no problem. She could sound them out and use the right letters for the sounds. Last night she read half of Dr.Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish to me, easily recognizing many longer words. And the blank stares are gone.

If I didn't understand some of the science behind the Listening Fitness Therapy, I would think this was a miracle. In only ten weeks, she has accomplished things we've been working on for 3 years. We still have some ongoing work to do at home, including using Anna Buck's Anna's Sound Bits phonics/language arts curriculum. But now I'm expecting she can succeed instead of continuing to struggle in her schoolwork.

What a blessing to find the right key to unlock my child's learning. I am beyond thankful!

Over the last few months, I've had people find my blog as they're investigating Anna Buck's Neuro-Developmental Delay Therapy that we've had my son in since last January. I had meant to blog regularly about his progress, but it appears I haven't written much (if anything) about it since shortly after we started. So I thought I'd update with some of the changes we've noticed in him since beginning:

• Reading: Before starting NDD therapy, he had a hard time reading anything more complex than a simple picture book with a few sentences on each page, even after months of Vision Therapy. However, last summer he became interested in novels written for his age level (he's 10 1/2) and started reading books like The Lightning Thief. His eyes still tire after 4 or 5 pages, but it's a huge step over a short period of time.
• Clumsiness: Many friends have told me they noticed he's much more aware of his body and a lot less clumsy than before. He's obviously much more aware of his body, and much of that change shows in drawings of people - he started drawing pictures of people with features like ears and hair and the occasional neck.
• Panic/Anger: He was always the kind of child who would fly into a panic or get overly angry over small things - losing something, getting surprised, things not going as expected. Wow, he is so much more calm as the "startle" reflex has inhibited over the last several months. If he loses something, he will just look for it and persist until he finds it instead of screaming in frustration and impatiently expecting me to look for it.
• Hyperactivity: Much of this has decreased, but I'm beginning to notice a pattern that couldn't have been obvious when he acted hyper and impulsive all the time. Now it appears to be related to his diet, and we're making some small changes (agave nectar as a substitute for sugar, for example) and considering more significant changes (like significantly reducing carbohydrates in his diet).

We still have a way to go, but it's so exciting to see the changes in him. And we started taking my daughter to see Anna as well. She didn't have as many of the obvious reflex problems that her brother had, but she has had auditory processing and brain integration difficulties that have really interfered with her reading ability and memory. Since she started in September, she is beginning to read much better than before. She has another 3 weeks of "Listening Fitness Therapy," after which the auditory processing problem should be pretty much resolved. Perhaps I'll remember to update about that when she's done!

I wrote this a couple of years ago as a fun parody of Hamlet's famous soliloquy - it isn't meant to make any kind of judgement on whether or not we chose to participate in the activities of Halloween but simply to muse whimsically on the choice. I thought it might be worth posting again for your amusement. Enjoy!

To treat or not to treat -- that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The rings and knocks of outrageously-clad neighbors

Or to turn off the lights against a sea of begging

And by opposing end it. To hide, to flee --

No candy -- and by fleeing to say we end

The toothaches, and the thousand natural knocks

A door is disposed to. 'Tis a quietness

devoutly to be wished. To hide, to flee --

To flee -- perhaps to eat out: ay, there's the rub,

For in that escape from home what chance may come

When we have shuttled off in the minivan,

Must give us pause. There's the amusement

That makes savage such young lives.

For who would bear the nicks of pumpkin-carving knives,

Th' oppressive weight gain, the proud child's costume

The pangs of despised sugar, the delayed arrival,

The insolence of teens, and the forced thanks

That persistent merit of the giver takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a darkened porch light? Who would Snickers bear

To walk and walk under a heavy coat,

But for the dread of chill on an October night,

The carefully planned costume, now hidden,

No treat-donor guesses, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather compliment the unknown

Than offer them hot apple cider?

Thus conscience does make givers of us all,

And thus the expense of bags of candy

Is compensated with the sticky return of children.

And creative enterprise of the moment

With this regard our apples throw away

And lose the chance for health. Quick you now,

Fairy Princess, Knight, Mermaid, Pirate --

Be all my Skittles remembered.

(c) 2007, Karen Dittman

with apologies to Wm. Shakespeare.

composed by my very clever and understanding husband as we sorted post-vacation laundry

Laundry, laundry, so much laundry -

This is my eternal quandary.

Some's been worn and some has not

(My children do forget a lot).

Down to wash and up to fold:

So does my whole life unfold.

Wash it now and wash it later.

I am the laundry elevator.

Yesterday, I felt the kids & I REALLY needed a break from the books. We're wrapping up our 7th week of school, and we can't usually make it more than 6 weeks without losing motivation and needing a break. (That's part of the reason I start in late July/early August - so we have freedom to take breaks fairly often and can still finish in mid-May.) Since we haven't had a break other than Labor Day, I decided to do a field trip day and take a hike. Living in Colorado, I reasoned, it makes no sense to sit indoors all the time and not enjoy the beauty all around us. We ended up at a creek not far from us. While there, we enjoyed seeing a couple of beaver dams (but no beavers around - the dams are old), a man-made dam with water flowing through the sluice gate, and a woolly bear caterpillar. We don't see woolly bears around here very often - this may be the 2nd I've seen since living in Colorado for 12 years - so it was cool to explain to the kids how we used to predict our winters by the woolly bears we saw when I was a kid growing up in Maryland.

Then today, my son & I took the dog out for a walk, and she found us another very cool item:

I think the snake must have finished shedding its skin not long before we found it because the dog kept reacting like it was a live animal. And it wasn't totally dried out. So we brought it home, did a little internet research on why and how snakes shed their skins, and put the skin in a jar to preserve. Gotta love how great learning opportunities show up on the days when we're taking a break from school!

This is the text of a speech I delivered at my Toastmasters group this morning. It seemed to do a good job persuading my audience not just toward my opinion, but that it's something they should be well-informed about.

Just over a year ago, a judge in California caused quite a stir within the Homeschool community. In a case that had to do with parental neglect issues, he ruled that parents did not have rights to determine their children’s education choices and ordered the children into a public school setting because neither parent was a certified teacher. Now, as shocking as that ruling was – and it was eventually overturned by a higher state court – it probably seems irrelevant to most of you since you’re not homeschoolers. But I believe it is important to be aware of the issues surrounding homeschooling for two reasons. First, education is always a hot-button political issue. If you want to make intelligent choices in voting or communicate intelligently with your political representatives, it is important to be well-informed on the issues. Second, a court may be ruling today about appropriate educational choices for our children – and tomorrow the judge may be ruling about appropriate health-care choices for your children, your parents, or even you. When we allow the government to interfere in personal choices that don’t matter to us, we risk allowing them to eventually interfere in personal choices that do in fact matter.

With this in mind, I want to share with you this morning four reasons why homeschooling parents can be highly successful teachers without state certification. Much of what I have to say today springs from conversations I have had with certified teachers who now Homeschool their own children. They have given me insight into the teacher education process and how it helps – or doesn’t help – in teaching their children at home.

One of the reasons critics believe homeschoolers require state certification is for accountability to be sure they really are educating their children at home and not sitting around watching TV. I agree with that. Colorado law does provide that accountability. Just like children in public schools take the CSAP test, our children are required to take a nationally standardize test or be professionally evaluated every other year beginning in 3^rd grade to demonstrate they are making adequate educational progress. With this kind of accountability, no homeschooled child will be “left behind.”

Second, if you think about some of the things that help students succeed, one very important element is how well the teacher knows their student. When a teacher understand their students’ learning styles, likes and dislikes, and status of their home life, then that teacher can customize lesson plans to help individual students. Now, I ask you, who knows a child better than the parent who spends every day with them, year after year? A Homeschool parent has no “learning curve” where the students are concerned. Before the school year begins, I already know I have one right-brained, visual learner who learns best in the early morning and is highly motivated by opportunities to play on the computer and a left-brained, auditory learner whose favorite subject is Art and does best if allowed to sleep as late as possible. I can anticipate how my children will respond to new material and structure the day to best fit their personal styles. So if some of the best teachers are those who know their students best, then homeschoolers certainly fit the bill.

And if good teachers are those who know their students well, then even better are those teachers who care about their students’ success. The current emphasis on testing to provide teacher and school accountability attempts in part to motivate teachers to be personally invested in their students’ success. This kind of motivation can work to a certain point, but it can never create a loving relationship between teacher and student like that of mother and child. Allow me to read you a quote from Elizabeth, a mother who is homeschooling her two children, one of whom is high-functioning autistic: “I am not going to give up on my kids…a teacher might think that they have tried everything but they don’t know how to reach my son, and after one year he won’t be their responsibility anymore, but I am his teacher and his mom and I will always keep trying.” Homeschooling parents are much more personally invested in their children’s success than those who teach one year at a time.

Finally, if you still believe that anyone who is involved in educating the next generation should be well-trained, then I assure you that homeschooling parents do seek out all kinds of training resources. I know homeschoolers from coast to coast across this country, and Ido not know a single one who does not read books, attend conferences and seminars, seek out and evaluate curriculum resources, and ask questions of other homeschooling parents in order to do the best job possible in educating their children. Even my friends who have education degrees from college and state certification say that they are constantly doing these things to fill in gaps related to their current situations. They agree that the resources available to homeschoolers are quite comparable to what they learned in teacher training. Since homeschooling parents are personally invested in their children’s education – not just because they know their children will be tested but because they want their children to succeed – they do take advantage of all kinds of training resources.

With the training that homeschool parents seek out, their personal investment in their children's success, their knowledge of their students, and their accountability to the state, they are well-equipped to teach their children without the additional burden of state certification. Are they good teachers for their children? Yes! Do they need a piece of paper from the state to prove it? No!

We gave the kids a couple of Oreos yesterday evening. Watching them - especially my daughter - eat the cookies, I started wondering, "What does this say about their personalities?" I thought surely someone has come up with some kind of quiz to tell you about your personality based on how you eat Oreos, and, sure enough, this quiz is all over the internet:

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Choose which method best describes your favorite method of eating Oreos:

1. The whole thing all at once.
2. One bite at a time
3. Slow and methodical nibbles examining the results of each bite afterwards.
4. In little feverous nibbles
5. Dunked in some liquid (milk, coffee...).
6. Twisted apart, the inside, then the cookie.
7. Twisted apart, the inside, and toss the cookie.
8. Just the cookie, not the inside.
9. I just like to lick them, not eat them.
10. I don`t have a favorite way because I don`t like Oreos.          

Made you choice?          

Your Personality:          

1. The whole thing.     

This means you consume life with abandon. You are fun to be with, exciting, and carefree with some hint of recklessness. You are totally irresponsible. No one should trust you with their children.          

2. One bite at a time.     

You are lucky to be one of the 5.4 billion other people who eat their Oreos this very same way. Just like them, you lack imagination, but that`s okay, not to worry, you`re normal.          

3. Slow and Methodical.     

You follow the rules. You`re very tidy and orderly. You`re very meticulous in every detail with every thing you do to the point of being anal retentive and irritating to others. Stay out of the fast lane if you`re only going to go the speed limit.          

4. Feverous Nibbles.     

Your boss likes you because you get your work done quickly. You always have a million things to do and never enough time to do them. Mental breakdowns run in your family. Valium and Ritalin would do you good.          

5. Dunked.     

Every one likes you because you are always up beat. You like to sugar coat unpleasant experiences and rationalize bad situations into good ones. You are in total denial about the shambles your life is in. You have a propensity towards narcotic addiction.          

6. Twisted apart, the inside, and then the cookie.     

You have a highly curious nature. You take pleasure in breaking things apart to find out how they work, though not always able to put them back together, so you destroy all the evidence of your activities. You deny your involvement when things go wrong. You are a compulsive liar and exhibit deviant, if not criminal, behavior.          

7. Twisted apart, the inside, and then toss the cookie.     

You are good at business and take risk that pay off. You take what you want and throw the rest away. You are greedy, selfish, mean, and lack feelings for others. You should be ashamed of yourself. But that`s ok, you don`t care, you got yours.          

8. Just the cookie, not the inside.     

You enjoy pain.          

9. I just like to lick them, not eat them.     

Stay away from small furry animals and seek professional medical help - immediately.          

10. I don`t have a favorite way, I don`t like Oreo cookies.     

You probably come from a rich family, and like to wear nice things, and go to up-scale restaurants. You are particular and fussy about the things you buy, own, and wear. Things have to be just right. You like to be pampered. You are a prima donna. There`s just no pleasing you.

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But here's the funny thing: neither  my daughter nor I fit any of these. My son is an "eat it all at once, live life with abandon" kind of person, no question. Or he dunks sometimes - and that fits his "messy" lifestyle, too.

I (like my mother, interestingly) like to take the cookie apart, eat one cookie half, and then nibble through the other cookie half with the filling. That doesn't fit any of these categories - maybe the slow, methodical personality. Or maybe a mixture of several.

But my daughter is the one who is totally off the chart. She takes the whole thing apart into 3 layers. Then she slowly nibbles away at the cookies while occasionally taking a small nibble or lick of the filling. It can take that child 10 minutes to eat one Oreo! I think it shows her complete artistic personality - she absolutely marches to her own drummer. You can see it in how she chooses to dress (often with a swath of fabric wrapped around somewhere just for a little "splash"). And she always wants to do something musical, crafty or arty. But at the same time, she has a tendency to be very methodical and perfectionist in things - this is the child who used to sort her M&M's by color before eathing them. I don't know if it shows that she's a crazy, mixed up person or not - but it's how God made her, and I find it refreshing.

So, be honest, how do you eat your Oreos?

When I was about 13 years old, my dad & I went with a church youth group on a ski trip to Wisp Mountain in Western Maryland. At the time, Wisp was well-known for The Face - a run on the face of the mountain covered with moguls. Huge moguls. Moguls as tall as me (I was pushing 5 feet at the time). But Dad skiied well and helped me learn to ski the moguls, so I learned to make it down The Face alive and uninjured.

Fast forward about 30 years. I've been up and down The Face of life a number of times and hit some pretty rough mogul fields: infertility, depression, marriage and parenting struggles. Sometimes I've made it over the moguls with grace, and sometimes I have completely wiped out. And sometimes when I wiped out, I created obstacles that made the track harder for others around me. I have rarely picked myself up after crashing - usually someone has come alongside me and extended a hand of grace to help me get up and keep going.

Lately I've seen a lot of people I love hit some pretty big moguls. Some are falling because someone else wiped out in front of them. Others are seeing a mogul coming and don't know how they're going to get over it. I wish I had the right words to help them through these tough times. The best I know is to listen, pray, and offer support and encouragement.

"You, my friends, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 2:1)

"If anyone lacks wisdom, let them ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to you." James 1:5

What do you do when you see a person standing on the side of the road holding up a sign telling you they need food and money?

I usually drive by, wishing I at least had a granola bar or something to give them, but unwilling to hand out money. And then I have a looooong conversation with my kids about why that person is standing there in the median and why I didn't give them any money.

One of the moms from my homeschool group got a great idea from her husband for what she started calling "Bags of Blessing" to help homeless people. (Shout out to ya, Angela!) Several families got together last week and put together ziploc bags (gallon-sized) filled with very helpful items that we can carry around in our cars and hand out to people we see in need. The bags include:

• water bottle
• 2 pkgs of vitamin-enhanced flavor powder (to add to the water)
• granola bar
• toothbrush (generously donated by a local dentist)
• toothpaste (ditto on the donation)
• hand sanitizer
• lip balm
• tarp or rain poncho
• Bible

I also hope to buy a roll of bus tokens to put in each bag as well.

Very simple and not very expensive (without the bus tokens, they're about $4 each) - and a ton of fun for a group of families to do together. And now I don't have to feel quite so helpless to help the homeless.

My son is driving me crazy.

"There's nothing to eeeeaat," he whines. "Nothing good, anyway."

I have just returned from a third-world country where children are quite literally starving to death. Malnourished babies aren't getting their prescribed nutritional supplement because they have to compete with other family members for it (and a baby can't stand up and say, "That's my mamba! You can't eat it!") People of all ages live on a staple diet of rice and beans and maybe some goat or chicken day after day after day.

And my son stands in front of a pantry and refrigerator fully stocked with a variety of nutritious food (some of which he begged me to buy for him) and complains about his choices.

I can't get that kid to Haiti fast enough.

cross-posted from the "Pneumas in Haiti" blog

Haiti gets into you.

It gets under your skin and up your nose and all over your feet.

It pours over your head like a cold shower and drips out of your pores.

It slams your vision with images of people - faces you may or may not remember, but in places you will never forget: thronging an open market, picking through a garbage heap, lying alone in a crib reaching up to be held.

It won't be silent, filling your ears with beeping horns, crowing roosters and enthusiastic music at all hours of the day and night.

As it jostles you down rutted roads, it jolts your expectations with startling contrasts: tin-roofed concrete block houses surrounded by lush mango trees, a beautiful home that lacks running water, families bathing and washing clothes in a muddy river minutes away from a clear blue ocean.

And, somehow, while you are distracted by all of its sights, sounds, and smells, Haiti creeps and seeps into your soul. Compassion for its people wraps around your heart and squeezes until you weep for the overwhelming multitude of needs. Who can fix it? No amount of money seems sufficient to satisfy all the starving children, build the necessary infrastructure, and educate millions of illiterates. You begin to understand the mindset of people who live only for today because there is no hope for tomorrow.

But there are bright beacons of hope shining with the love of Jesus all through Haiti. No one can fix everything, but each can help some. Offering hope to a handful of people at a time, they follow God's call to bring up a generation with hope beyond today or tomorrow ... hope into eternity.

Pray for these people who are committing their lives to serve the Lord in Haiti.

And pray for Kris, Andy, Linette, Rebecca, Shane, Michael and me as we seek how God wants to use us in and for Haiti's people. We can wash off our bodies, but we can never rinse Haiti's hold out of our hearts.

A friend of mine set up a blog for our Haiti team to blog about our trip. If you'd like to follow us, check it at http://pneumasinhaiti.blogspot.com.

I thought I'd pass on a few updates to some things going on in my life & family:

* Mom called yesterday. Because her lungs are still healing from the radiation treatments, her pulmonologist said it would be ill-advised for her to take a trip to our altitude. We're kind of bummed that she & Dad won't be able to make it for our daughter's music program graduation next week. And I'm praying hard for a full recovery so she will be able to visit us in the future. She loves our mountains!

* Speaking of music, yes, my daughter is finishing a 3 1/2 year program through Children's Music Academy. In that time, she has learned to play piano (very well, actually), read music, and understand basic music theory. The program has also provided fabulous ear training as well as instruction in singing, guitar and recorder. I am so proud of all the work she has done and especially that she has learned a very challenging piece of music (Hayden's "A Minuet Trio") all on her own.

* What a difference a diet change can make! My husband AND daughter are both living a dairy-free lifestyle, and both have seen significant improvements in their allergy-related asthma. My daughter had been coughing all the time for over a month, and now her cough has completely cleared up. But even better, I have noticed a huge change in her attitude. She has always had a "budding control freak" streak, and I have had to push hard for respectful speech and behavior from her. In the last 2 weeks, she is almost a different person. The sweet side of her personality has come out, and she tells me she feels much more rested all the time. My hubby has also found that eliminating all forms of dairy from his diet has significantly improved his digestion. So our family life is really improving - even if I have to change some of the ingredients I cook with and we have to be super careful about eating out.

* I leave for Haiti in a little over a week. Hard to imagine! God has already poured out His blessings on our trip preparations and provided abundantly for the financial needs. I'm really excited about the team who is going as well as the people standing behind us and praying for us. I will try to post some specific prayer requests before we leave.