What Parents Do on Vacation

Well, Tucked In parents anyways.

We go to theme parks and take these pictures.


We skip picture opportunities with a Marilyn Monroe lookalike so we can capture the real girl of the hour:

We ride bikes with two seats because we don't feel quite right riding independently.


We eat fish because three children hate fish at home (frozen fish sticks excluded).


We laugh at each other a lot and do NOT get defensive. Real Gil had me cracking up over this sweater.

"Would you be mine? Won't you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor?"

And I had him laughing at my continued persistence to order Pumpkin Raviolis even though I have yet to be satisfied with them. I've officially given up and am now ordering anything with butternut squash. Pumpkins are out, squash is in.



We return home ready to hold and snuggle and wrap up little excited bodies, even though all they want is the Ring Pops we carry.

And now, twenty-four hours later...we are doing what us parents do best. (At least Tucked In parents)

Planning the next getaway.

Mathare Valley

Have you been following Kristen at all?

This mother-of-three writes a popular Christian blog, We Are That Family. She is currently in Kenya for her first trip with Compassion International. I have faithfully followed her documentation and wondered if any of you would like to follow along as well.

By the way, she is in the very same slum that my parents are very involved in (Bridge Ministries), along with Compassion International and Compassion Canada. The footage of Mathare Valley is too much for me to grasp, and these photos don't even come with smells or sounds! How does a rich American like myself make sense of this reality? And how do I talk about recipes and haircuts and Curious George (my reality)?

As I threw away the leftovers on my childrens' plates (and let's be honest, my own plate), I am again stuck with that terrible, perpetual question: "What do I do for these children of God?!!" What are we as a family doing? Not enough. I know that. We pray for them. We force ourselves to read current articles no matter how uncomfortable they make us feel. And we sponsor a Compassion child who we have all grown to love, to pray for by name as our "little sister." And most importantly, we walk in His strength and allow Him to reveal other areas where He wants to use us.

But do we do these things because we want to be used by God or because our guilt is so big that we must allay it somehow? Perhaps, in my own case, a little bit of both.

On one hand, I am so thankful that we get to ask, "What are we going to eat for dinner?" instead of "Will we eat dinner?"

How does one rest spiritually in the midst of footage of such physical suffering? It must be in seeing the one Source of true hope, even in Mathare Valley, who never leaves His own. "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him." (Ps. 103:11) This family, tucked into Him, are praying that He sees us as available and willing.

Resting in Him Who Hears,
Karen

Weekend Reading

For those of you that want to read instead of clean this weekend, here's a few favorites from the week...

Why we love Compassion

Top 100 Women Blogs if you have a LOT of time and ambition!

Do you get many emails, some newspaper articles, forwarded on to you? One thing I always try to do once I receive these is to check Snopes for confirmation of the email sources. Many, many times, I have discovered that the emails were completely false! For example, have you received the one about Thomas Jefferson writing long ago about banks and big government being the country's greatest demise? Completely false. Check your emails here.

Sweet words on purity for any of you young girls brave enough to have come to my blog for a quick visit. (Welcome!)

Interesting article from a secular perspective for us Apologia homeschoolers. From Romans 1, it makes sense - we look foolish yet again! I'm okay with it. How 'bout you, Mrs. K.H.?

Resting this weekend,
Karen