i choose to love.

i haven't been writing here lately...

like for a very long lately.  

and it's because, well, i haven't wanted to write about positive things 

as i wasn't feeling super positive. 

our "back-side"

i wanted to write, but i didn't feel like being funny, or witty....

sometimes i just wanted to spew my whole story out there.

i decided i needed to sit on that for awhile 

(since i tend to tell too much MOST of the time). 

the "front-side"

i am nearing the age where people begin to think real hard before they say everything they are feeling 

(sad).  

it feels, oh-so-good to get it out, 

but the regrets hurt later. 

and this is one reason why i knew i couldn't "come back" just yet. 

how much do i want to share? 

what if i write some things that my child(ren) will read later and be hurt by? 

it's been such a struggle deciding. 

so i just don't. 

i have been keeping those feelings for my close friends and some adoptive mamas who 
"get it". 

  

i'm gonna try to start from square one again. 

clean slate. 

the past is behind me, and i have faith that everything will just keep getting better. 

here goes 

(thinking positive-thinking positive) :0)

  

do you ever feel like you're living someone else's life for just a little while?

like nothing seems real? 

cause you are blessed beyond measure and you just don't feel worthy?

cole thomas...13 years old

soo blessed beyond measure.

only one fell in...i won't say which one......very explicit instructions were given on this picture day :0)

i seem to have some very special blessings in my life.

i hope my love is apparent. 

zachary daniel--10 years old

i hope it is felt by those i hold close to my heart.

a friend once said to me,

"love is not a feeling. love is a choice."

it made me feel better, but a little lot confused.

i always thought of love as a feeling.

luke casey--8 years old

and then i found another explanation.....

you are soo wise , daddy.....we're listening.

love is a choice.......

 it's a choice.....

aregash faith dejene

and when you choose to love......

the feelings come.

 

feeling love can take time.

it's different for everyone.

i understand this now.

i was pretty hard on myself.

love takes time.

what's soo hard about that?

but it's what makes the world go 'round.

and it feels so good to love....

and BE loved.

something we think we always knew,

but never thought we'd struggle with.

love is a choice......

and when we choose to love,

the feelings come.

i choose to love. 

i CHOOSE to love.

it's just that simple

a hungry child can't wait

Guest Blogger: Sarah Lenssen from #Ask5for5

Family photos by Mike Fiechtner Photography

Thank you Kendra at 4boys2girls and nearly 150 other bloggers from around the world for allowing me to share a story with you today, during Social Media Week.

A hungry child in East Africa can’t wait. Her hunger consumes her while we decide ifwe’ll respond and save her life. In Somalia, children are stumbling along for days, even weeks, on dangerous roads and with empty stomachs in search of food and water. Their crops failed for the third year in a row. All their animals died. They lost everything. Thousands are dying along the road before they find help in refugee camps.

At my house, when my three children are hungry, they wait minutes for food, maybe an hour if dinner is approaching. Children affected by the food crisis in in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia aren’t so lucky. Did you know that the worst drought in 60 years is ravaging whole countries right now, as you read this? Famine, a term not used lightly, has been declared in Somalia. This is the world’s first famine in 20 years.12.4 million people are in need of emergency assistance and over 29,000 children have died in the last three months alone. A child is dying every 5 minutes. It it estimated that 750,000 people could die before this famine is over. Take a moment and let that settle in.

The media plays a major role in disasters. They have the power to draw the attention of society to respond–or not. Unfortunately, this horrific disaster has become merely a footnote in most national media outlets. News of the U.S. national debt squabble and the latest celebrity’s baby bump dominate headlines. That is why I am thrilled that nearly 150 bloggers from all over the world are joining together today to use the power of social media to make their own headlines; to share the urgent need of the almost forgotten with their blog readers. Humans have the capacity to care deeply for those who are suffering, but in a situation like this when the numbers are too huge to grasp and the people so far away, we often feel like the little we can do will be a drop in the ocean, and don’t do anything at all.

When news of the famine first hit the news in late July, I selfishly avoided it. I didn’t want to read about it or hear about it because I knew I would feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable. I wanted to protect myself. I knew I would need to do something if I knew what was really happening. You see, this food crisis is personal. I have a 4-year-old son and a 1 yr-old daughter who were adopted from Ethiopia and born in regions now affected by the drought. If my children still lived in their home villages, they would be two of the 12.4 million. My children: extremely hungry and malnourished? Gulp. I think any one of us would do anything we could for our hungry child. But would you do something for another mother’s hungry child?

My friend and World Vision staffer, Jon Warren, was recently in Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya–the largest refugee camp in the world with over 400,000 people. He told me the story of Isnino Siyat, 22, a mother who walked for 10 days and nights with her husband, 1 yr-old-baby, Suleiman, and 4 yr.-old son Adan Hussein, fleeing the drought in Somalia. When she arrived at Dadaab, she built the family a shelter with borrowed materials while carrying her baby on her back. Even her dress is borrowed. As she sat in the shelter on her second night in camp she told Jon, “I left because of hunger. It is a very horrible drought which finished both our livestock and our farm.” The family lost their 5 cows and 10 goats one by one over 3 months, as grazing lands dried up. “We don’t have enough food now…our food is finished. I am really worried about the future of my children and myself if the situation continues.”

Will you help a child like Baby Suleiman? Ask5for5 is a dream built upon the belief that you will.

That something I knew I would need to do became a campaign called #Ask5for5 to raise awareness and funds for famine and drought victims. The concept is simple, give $5 and ask five of your friends to give $5, and then they each ask five of their friends to give $5 and so on–in nine generations of 5x5x5…we could raise $2.4 Million! In one month, over 750 people have donated over $25,000! I set up a fundraiser at See Your Impact and 100% of the funds will go to World Vision, an organization that has been fighting hunger in the Horn of Africa for decades and will continue long after this famine has ended. Donations can multiply up to 5 times in impact by government grants tohelp provide emergency food, clean water, agricultural support, healthcare, and other vital assistance to children and families suffering in the Horn.

I need you to help me save lives. It’s so so simple; here’s what you need to do:

1. Donate $5 or more on this page (http://seeyourimpact.org/members/ask5for5)
2. Send an email to your friends and ask them to join us.
3. Share #Ask5for5 on Facebook and Twitter!

I’m looking for another 100 bloggers to share this post on their blogs throughout Social Media Week. Email me at ask5for5@gmail.com if you’re interested in participating this week.

A hungry child doesn’t wait. She doesn’t wait for us to finish the other things on our to-do list, or get to it next month when we might have a little more money to give. She doesn’t wait for us to decide if she’s important enough to deserve a response. She will only wait as long as her weakened little body will hold on…please respond now and help save her life. Ask 5 for 5.

Thank you on behalf of all of those who will be helped–you are saving lives and changing history.

p.s. Please don’t move on to the next website before you donate and email your friends right now. It only takes 5 minutes and just $5, and if you’re life is busy like mine, you probably won’t get back to it later. Let’s not be a generation that ignores hundreds of thousands of starving people, instead let’s leave a legacy of compassion. You have the opportunity to save a life today!

Would you help? ASK5for5 for Africa famine & drought

dear bloggy friends and facebook friends,

 I have taken it upon myself to ask you if you would join me and over 100 other people to post about this! this is in my heart and i really want to help make a difference! 

it's just one of the little things we can do for others around the world and it just takes a few minutes! 

are you with me? 

let me know and i will get the info for you.  

read this message from my friend sarah who started this campaign:

:

Calling all bloggers! I am going to be guest posting on 100+ blogs next Monday for Ask5for5, and am looking for many more. If you have a blog, or read a blog(s), would you kindly allow me to guest post about the plight of those suffering from drought and famine in East Africa or ask your favorite blogger to let me? I will provide all of the content, and you just cut and paste!

it's THAT simple.
we get you the info and you paste into a new post. 

that's it. 

and you save. 

save lives.