Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Reality Check!!

Every year my girls have the option to choose between a friends birthday party with all that entails but then a modest gift OR they can choose a more expensive gift but fore go any party. This year, for the second time in a row, Mari has ditched the party in favor of the GIFT. After much soul searching, Patrick and I decided to let Mari join the texting generation...reluctantly and with strict ties to grades and behavior! So for the past two weeks this has been all Mari has seen in front of her eyes.... You'd think that those cryptic abbreviated texts were the secret to long life and happiness with the way she has embraced this little gadget! Lucky for me the plan came with a parental controls feature that allows me to block service from 9pm to 6am so she gets some sleep. The thing is that the more I saw her with her eyes glued to this little marvel of technology in her hands the more I saw an image over and over in my head.. while Mari and I enjoy the luxuries of our modern world there is a woman very dear to us who has this for a kitchen! Life is not fair...this we know BUT when the disparity reaches this level I am uncomfortable in my own skin. I have a 12 year old to spoil rotten because of this disparity! Why am I entitled to be the biggest "winner" in this relationship? How will my 12 year old ever learn to appreciate the Golden Rule if we only "do unto ourselves"? We've made periodic pushes to remember how very much better it is to give than to receive but I know it is only just words really at her age. So this year will be a very different Christmas for Mari! This year Santa will be leaving a LOT less under the tree for her because this is the year that the truth behind those words becomes real. This year it is going to be BETTER to GIVE than to receive because this year she will know that she "did unto others"! Thanks to the assistance of Todd with Books and Wings and Oscar Martinez Vasquez in Guatemala we were able to arrange for Santa (Oscar) to bring a gas stove to Mari's birth mother! (Okay, so she had to go pick it up from him, small detail in a big story.) No longer will her father and brother need to scour the countryside for firewood! No longer will her mother need to nurse a flame from wet wood during the rainy season! No longer will the family fill their lungs with the smoke and ash of an open fire! Unlike the cell phone, this stove is the secret to a longer life with more happiness!!!!! So Josefa, les deseo y mi familia muchas bendiciones en sus vidas y que pases una Navidad llena mucho amor y un feliz ano nuevo!!!

6 comments:

  1. What a beautiful gift to be able to give that family in Guatemala! It sends an important message to your children about the real meaning of Christmas and giving!

    I hope you got an unlimited texting package with your cell phone company!!! My girls text up to 3500 messages a month!!!! It's way out of control...

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  2. what a valuable lesson for a 12 year old to learn. you are wonderful. and mari will remember this for the rest of her life.

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  3. I am so with you, we cut back because we choose for me to be a stay at home mom and I refuse to go itno debt to keep up with what others give, yes I will still buy presents for the other kids, but very small ones because yes it is fun to get presents but none of them need a thing. We are now sponcoring a child for school and I would love to help them more too, but I also have my eye on trying to adopt again, oh money tree where are you!
    Have fun with the texting for whatever reason I can't stand it.

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  4. That is sooooo awesome about the stove! Can I ask you a question??? When did you tell Mari about her birth mother or should I ask...has she talked to her or wrote her? I'm just curious because I e-mail Isaiah B-mom on a regular basis and she has mention that she hopes/wants to meet home one day. It may be a little different because she now lives in the Unites States.

    Anyways...get a good plan for the texting!!!! lol

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  5. love it love it!!!!!!!

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  6. that is so awesome Suzanne. You are definitely my hero. welcome to the phone world! I will say though that we ended up getting one for josh though in all honesty, it was for us to keep track of him rather than the fun he thought he'd have with it!!! LOL

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