Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

"Get busy living, or get busy dying"

Andy Dufresne

Seriously, who does not love the movie Shawshank Redemption? And do we not make this choice...whether or not to fully live...in small ways each day?

I have realized that I can often fall into the following cycle: read/see/hear something that makes me angry /bitch to Jimmy/ do nothing.  A few months later I read/see/hear the same thing or something similar/I become angry/ bitch to Jimmy/ do nothing.

So in order to get busy living- I can either stop getting angry or I can do something. I'm going with option number two because I'm not sure option number one is possible for me.

The past week I have been frustrated in relation to the consumeristic nature that we in the developed world live by.  Please note the 'we'. I am in no way excluding myself from this category.

An example of something that initaties this cycle for me: the ridiculous amount of coverage on the Carnival Fantasy.

Side Bar: Our family is on a media fast, so officially I shouldn't have even known about this. But, media fasting is harder than anticipated. And for Valentine's Day Jimmy and I just wanted to relax on the couch with our wine after getting the kids to bed and check out something on TV (you call it pathetic, I call it life with three kids). Back to the point...

Please don't get me wrong. I am sure that those five days on that ship were bad. Horrible in fact.  But no one died. One dear passenger tried to give those listening some perspective,  "I always had water. My belly was full. So that was a blessing".

5000 children die each day from dehydration. Each Day. Millions don't have access to something to eat. Many children don't go to school because they walk for miles to get water for their family. Dirty water. Water that brings disease. CNN- how about covering that and getting people motivated to do something?

So we at the Eskridge house will "Get busy living" by helping others have the things we take for granted everyday- WATER and FOOD. We felt there was no better time than Lent to spend time prayerfully looking for ways we could give a little extra to others. And with the blessing of a tax refund on the way, we have some funds to do it.

“In a world filled with clutter, noise, and hustle, Lent is a good excuse to step back and rethink how we think and live. In a world of instant gratification, it’s a chance to practice delayed gratification – to fast – so that we can truly appreciate the blessings we have."

Shane Claiborne

We would love to see some others join us. Have a refund coming to you? Want to give something extra for Lent? What injustice is bothering you today? What can you do about it? Not sure? We hope to have others join us in two of the projects we will be doing during Lent:

1. Food for Orphans:
Many of you are aware of the Project Hopeful FIG Awassa program Jimmy and I are involved with. 8 of the orphans in that program are not yet sponsored. Because the orphanage no longer receives support from outside sources, they need funds to supply food for the children that are not sponsored. $100 will cover food for one child for 6 months. So our goal for the 40 days of lent: $800. Let's help all 8 kids have food for the next six months while we pray for sponsors to step forward.
The link to give: FIG Awassa Food (Put FOOD in the message line)

2. Coffee to Water
Many of us have come to depend on our morning cup (or 3) of coffee. I estimate our family spends around $25 a month on coffee. So our goal by May 19th is to ask people to donate what they would normally spend each month on coffee to Charity Water and bring clean water to those without it. $1000 will provide 10 families with clean water. Charity water gives 100% of it's publicly raised dollars to its water projects. To give to our water project, follow this link Coffee to Water.

I will update on how each project is going. Thank you for considering giving. No gift is too small.

"If you can't feed 100 people, just feed one."

Mother Teresa

A Sibling Group of One

Most of the time, I am thrilled to talk about adoption. I have become closer to God through this process than anything else in my life so how can I not share that? But sometimes I don't want to answer that perfectly innocent question from a stranger,  "You have kids, how old?"  Me, "I have 3- 2 six year olds and a 2 year old". Stranger, "Wow, twins". Sometimes, I just want to smile and nod, but it's not in me so there comes the story- in varying amounts of detail.

Sarah Bess and Davis have been together since they were 2 years old. We have a weird birth order thing because we had Sarah Bess, then when she was two we adopted Davis, who is a month older than her. (This is counseled against in the adoption world, but we didn't really 'plan' it this way. And I would tell anyone that asked that it has been great for our family).

The two of them have such an awesome brother-sister relationship. They love, play and fight on a daily basis.

When we decided to adopt Gabre, knowing that she was 4 years younger than them and that their bond was quite strong, I always thought she would be a little left out.
Then there was today. I am sick. And I spent most of the day in the bed. What smacked me over the head is that, it is no longer the two and the one...she is now part of their herd. They play together. They laugh together. And yes, they fight together. They are each their own being and they are one. And it brings me great joy. They are one.

And it reminded me of my 2013 one word that I never posted about. In 2012, my one word (that turned out to be two) was Be Still.  To learn about this concept you can read one word.

My word for 2013: 

As I struggled over the words to explain this African philosophy, I went back to do some reading and decided I could never explain it as well as Desmond Tutu.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu offered this regarding Ubuntu in 1999:

A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, based from a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.

 

Open. Available. Affirming. Non-threatened. Belongs.

Tutu went on to say in 2008:

One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

 

Doesn't this want to make you shout "Ubuntu" from the hill tops...what hill tops, I don't know, but just shout it!

Let's stop dividing ourselves. By race. By country. By religion. You are no better than me, I am no better than you because we are one. 

I just finished this AWESOME book, Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan (thanks Paige!). During the course of saving these children, Conor turns to God. He eventually goes out to buy a Bible and he asks his friend running the children's home, who is Buddist, what he thinks about him buying the bible. His friend answers, "I know you were doing the right thing for you. We both saw that light, I think. We just saw different things in the light." Connor goes on to write, "I liked that idea. I also liked that both of us were completely convinced that what we had seen was the truth, and we could speak about it so openly with each other. Under this one roof, we had a Buddhist, a Christian, and two dozen little Hindus. And we couldn't be happier."

We can't exist in isolation. What I do affects the whole world. What you do affects the whole world.  Do I spend extra on fair trade coffee to know it wasn't produced by child slaves? Do I give the extra $100 when I see the need? Do I stop cleaning the kitchen when one of my kids really has something to show me?

So in 2013, I will focus on this word. I will pray and listen on this world. And I will hope that more of us see our interconnectedness. That more will know, that we are one.