Adoption Update

Our homestudy for baby #3 is finished! YAY! In fact, ALL of our papers are done. We are just waiting for some of them to be notarized, and for the homestudy to be authorized, and then everything will be sent to our agency, Love Basket. They will check it, translate it into Amharic, and send it off to Addis Ababa. So, there are a few more little steps, but our prayer is that things will move quickly form here, and that everything will be in Africa by Christmas.
Our agency director told us last week that once in Addis, a referral could come in as little as a few days, or up to six months from that time. (It depends upon whether the orphans in the orphanage at that time are actually adoptable or not, or if their histories are unknown without papers that would get them legally into the United States.) Still, six months isn't a very long wait!
Honestly, this adoption process has been so much easier than it was for the other two adoptions. I don't know if it is because the Ethiopian process is easier (it is fairly straightforward and uncomplicated), or if because this is becoming old hat for us. Or maybe, we're just sooooooooo anxious to meet this new baby, and get to know this precious soul, that the paperwork, fingerprints, fees, notarizations, recomendations, and authentications don't seem like a hassle at all. I mean, what wouldn't YOU do, or pay, to get your child out of bondage? What ransom wouldn't you pay to set your child free from life in a third world orphanage without medical care, proper nutrition, clean water; to keep them safe, watch them grow, and give them a forever family? Christ paid a HUGE ransom for me-to give me life- abundantly-and a family, and I didn't deserve it at all. Children, on the other hand, deserve it. What's a few mounds of paperwork? ;)
If you have a few minutes, watch this video! It's famous in the adoption world, and beautiful. Steven Curtis Chapman wrote it after adopting his daughter from China. Blessings,

Time with Dad

Tim and J. have been spending a lot of bonding time together since he's been home. Last week, Tim took J. to get his citizenship cetificate at US Customs and Immigration. J. had a lot of fun manning the camera this day...J. has been a citizen of the US, technically, since his arrival into the US with US born parents-us. However, in order to prove such citizenship, one must apply for the N-600 through USCIS, pay a fee, supply mounds of documents, and go to the local immigration for an interview. After which, you are granted a certificate proving that you are actually a citizen. When must one prove he or she is a citizen of the US? I'm not sure....but Tim needed proof for his job, so we had to go through this arduous process. Tim did most of the talking for J.'s interview, obviously, and the little man passed with flying colors, and was warmly welcomed to the United States with a certificate lined with the same print as that that is on the US dollar.

Hmmm.... "It looks like money," I told Tim when he got home. "This paper IS money!" Tim replied. He's right, I guess, on all sorts of levels.

This morning, Tim woke J. up early, and they went fishing. They came home empty handed a couple of hours later. "The fish are all gone," J. explained. "J. need to go to Papa's house. Catch fish at Papa's house. Papa's house has LOTS of fish." So, Thanksgiving morning fishing wasn't a huge success, compared to fishing at Papa's house anyway, but they had fun and started a new tradition.

We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

He's just too beautiful not to post

I'm shy...

I'm tough... I'm artistic (even when I shouldn't be...)

And I'm sooooooo handsome! (Notice his hair has almost completely grown in from the haircut incident. YAY! Now we just need to get everyones' stomachs recovered from the Cool Whip incident. I think I'm going to put bungee cords and alarms on our refridgerator! And the walls still need to be restored from the blue marker incident.... oh, toddlers...)

There is No Me Without You, by Melissa Faye Greene

I've pondered what I want to say in this post for a week, and I still can't figure it out. Hence, the shock approach. I'm not usually one to communicate a passion via the shock method, nor to evangelize via the hell-fire and brimstone tactic, but the orphan situation in Africa, Ethiopia specifically, is so horrific, so atrocious, and so...unfair... that it's the only approach that seems to communicate a tenth of what I feel about African adoption.

This is Yohannes. He is an orphan in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (where we are adopting). The boy in the picture is also Yohannes-6 weeks ealier. Yes, 6 WEEKS. In the picture=without HIV antiretrovirals. In person=with HIV antiretrovirals. It's called the Lazarus effect, and a simple drug regimine can take these children from the brink of death by AIDS to a manageable sickness that is no longer terminal. Why don't all of the AIDS orphans in Africa have these drugs?

In short=money.

Granted, the situation has gotten better since the patents expired for most of the current HIV drugs and generic companies are now allowed to produce them at reasonable prices. But the virus is mutating, as viruses do, and new drugs are needed. The poor-all over the world-will have to wait until the patents expire on these new drugs (about 8 years after the rich get to use them), before they can even consider buying the generic version. And even now, over 4 million in Africa need AIDS antiretrovirals (ARV's), while only 500,000 have access to them. Yohannes received his ARV's from WWO (World Wide Orphans).

I know some people are still hung up on HIV/AIDS as a self-inflicted disease; the "you got what you deserve" mentality. Though I believe in compassion for all, I'm not only talking about the African man who danced with infidelity and is now dying of AIDS. But I am talking about his wife and children. Consider these facts:

*It is believed that the benign (in humans) monkey version of HIV mutated into the deadly HIV we know today when it mixed in human systems with unsterile vaccinations that well-meaning doctors injected into millions in Africa in the 1950's. Whose fault is that?

*The WHO estimates that in the year 2000, 40% of injections were STILL done with reused needles.

*The WHO also estimates that these unsterile injections lead to over 100,000 new HIV infections a year, sixteen million Hep-B cases, and thirty million Hep-C cases.

*There were NO AIDS drugs in Ethiopia until 2005, and they still cost $140.00 per patient per year. That's a lot of money when the GNP is $156 a YEAR (up 5 from the worst in the world.)

*An orphan doesn't have $140.00 a year to buy life saving drugs.

*Patented antiretrovirals cost $15,000 a year per patient. The actual cost of production? Closer to $200.00 a year.

*In 2003, in America, less than 2% of babies born to HIV+ mothers tested positive for the disease. In Africa, in 2003, about 60,000 babies were born HIV+ to HIV+ mothers.

*Also in 2003, the Dr. to patient ratio was 1:134,000 in Ethiopia (nearly the worst in the world). Hence the mass vaccinations with reused needles at makeshift clinics.

*In 2005, Ethiopia had the highest number of AIDS orphans in the world (children made orphan by the disease, not necessarily + themselves) at 1,563,000. There are over 4 million orphans in Ethiopia from all causes, the second highest in Africa.

If you ever wondered from us, or have asked us

1. Why are we adopting from Africa?

2. Why Ethiopia?

3. What about HIV in African orphans? Do all AIDS orphans have AIDS?

4. What are these children coming from?

5. What are the conditions like in Africa for them?

6. What is the adjustment like for them when they arrive in America?

OR, if you just want learn the history of HIV/AIDS-all the way to its roots in monkeys in Africa-and how this disease is currently affecting humankind, how compassion can be shown to the victims, and who are the heroes of this fight, PLEASE read this book! If you are close to our family, and will be a major part of baby #3's life, I'm begging you to read this book. True, it speaks right to my passion, but I'm confident that it will touch your heart as well. There are heroes in the world today; Haregewoin Teferra being one of them, and there are many who need a hero, like 4 million of Ethiopia's orphans.

THERE IS NO ME WITHOUT YOU website where you can read more, and order your own copy: http://www.thereisnomewithoutyou.com/

Hope

Here are some pics from the past week. There are more of C. because Tim and J. went to buy a new F-150 on Halloween. Tim let Judah pick out the truck, and calls it "J.'s truck", so now J. goes everywhere telling people that he got a new truck! He enjoyed that much more than trick-or-treating. However, they both were train engineers that day for their school party. Thanks, Emma, for the costumes!

On Saturday, Tim and the boys got up before the sun to go to a Gleaning for Hope Farm. They are nation wide, and our church participates with one locally. These farmers reserve several rows of crops for benevolence purposes, and Saturday was sweet potato day. Tim and the boys picked all the potatoes they could, loaded them up in the new truck, and delivered them to an elderly neighborhood where some of the widows from church on a very fixed income reside. The boys loved digging in the dirt, getting messy, finding potatoes, and loading them into buckets. Unfortunately, the camera battery died shortly into this trip, so there aren't many pictures to work with. If you want to see something remarkable though, pull up a pick-up truck full of free sweet potatoes to an elderly village in the south. J. calls them "happy potatoes." There were many happy people today! Our homestudy for baby #3 is underway. We should be done with visits with our social worker by the end of next week, and we hope to have the report to our agency by the end of the month. As we sat on the couch with our wonderful social worker last night, I realized, "Wow! We have another baby coming home! This is really happening!" All of our paperwork should be done by the end of the year... and then we wait. Though the wait for a Filipino child is nearly two years, things move MUCH more quickly in Africa. Average wait times are 1-6 months. Happy Autumn,

A Family of Four

A friend called me this weekend to tell me that her husband's plane was supposedly coming in that evening. We thought maybe Tim was on it too. Since we were in town around that time, I went ahead and met my friend at the guys' work to wait for the buses to come in, just in case. And sure enough...Tim was on that plane! Nevermind that I had a wet head from the shower I just took and sweats on. NOT the usual look for picking up your husband from war whom you haven't seen in months! Oh well; it was better than a burka. The boys were elated. Caleb ran to him laughing, screaming, "Daddy! Daddy!" Judah took a little while to re-warm up to him, but all is well now. Tim is home for several months at least, we hope, and life is sooooooooo good! Thanks for all of your prayers during this deployment. Blessings,

P.S. Judah gave himself a very handsome haircut the other day. ;) So no, I didn't do that, and he isn't pulling his hair out in chunks. Evidently, giving oneself a haircut is fairly common for toddlers!

The Best Book You Ever Read?

Let's talk about the best books. The best books EVER. This topic caused great controversy in 1998 when the New York Times released its 100 Best Novels Ever (written in English). I think the overall consensus was-by literary agents, professors and the common reader-that this list sucked. Sorry for the crass word, but really. There are-count them-FOUR women authors on their list.

http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html

There's the Times list that includes Judy Blume's "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret". Hmmm.... Who made this list, third graders?

http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html

There's the Radcliffe Publishing Course's rival list to the NY Times list that also came out in 1998. It has women and minority authors. Imagine that... For me, if Zora Neale Hurston isn't on the list, it isn't a list, and Their Eyes Were Watching God made #23 on the Radcliffe list, just after Milne's original Winnie the Pooh series. MUCH better. Fitzgerald ranks #1 by the way with, The Great Gatsby. Even still, I've only read 37 of the novels represented here, and I think even it is missing a few of the obvious choices, like East of Eden by Steinbeck. http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100rivallist.html

Everyone should read a handful, at least, of the picks from these lists. Reading broadens perspective, brings understanding to conversations and allusions that mystified you before, and molds a person into deeper thinking in general. Read, read, read... Though some of the pics may be just so-so, or leave you and the rest of the planet saying, "I don't get it," at the end (Ulysses anyone?) Every now and again though, a work comes along-fiction or non-fiction-that HAS to be shared. HAS to be handed out, given as Christmas gifts, acclaimed and starred with notes that read, "Read this TODAY! It will change your life!"

Some of the books I've handed out just recently (fiction/non-fiction/English or translated) with a "Read This NOW!" sticker included:

* The Kite Runner-Hosseini (Novel about two best friends growing up in Afghanistan. Traces the time period from the Russian occupancy to the present.)

*The Bible-God (Genesis and John's Gospel, specifically.)

*Angela's Ashes-McCourt (whether you're Irish or not, this novel about Irish immigration during the potato famine is a must-read.)

*The Known World-Jones (Novel about the true events behind American blacks owning black slaves in the 19th century. No line in a novel has EVER effected me like, "I wonder if Moses done ate yet." Except for maybe, "I'm Watchin' God," from Ms. Zora, but that's a given.)

*The Question of God-Nicholi, MD (Compiled essays of C.S. Lewis and Freud in debate format covering God, sex, morality and society.)

*How the Irish Saved Civilization-Cahill (The title is clear, isn't it? ;) Historical non-fiction about St. Patrick and scribing monks.)

*Toddler Adoption, the Weaver's Craft-Mary Hopkins-Best (A must read if you are adopting a toddler.)

*Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal-Moore (OK, some would/have called this one sacriledge, but they are wound a little tighter than I am. Tim and I had AMAZING 2:00am talks about how mystism would have influenced Jesus; New Testament sociology; and Jesus' childhood while reading this together. And it is hilarious. Tim would be crying he was laughing so hard, and read parts out loud to me-even though I had already read the book!)

There is one more I will add to this list in the next week or two, and it will have a HUGE sticky note attached that declares, "Read This NOW!" I'm holding out because it deserves its own post; it's that important, and I haven't quite figured out how I want to present it yet. So, stay tuned to future posts. Especially the next post. It may be even more interesting than books! ;) But even if books have always bored you, read anyway! Start with Winnie the Pooh and work up from there! "Pooh Sticks", from the first Winnie the Pooh book, has me laughing just thinking about it now. I dare you to read it to your kids, with a British accent, and not laugh out loud.

I've been tagged

Tiffany Shaw Tagged me. (She's linked on my sidebar.) So, I'll bite. The idea is to list eight things about yourself-probably things that aren't extremely well known-and then tag eight other bloggers to do the same. However, I don't think I know eight other bloggers that don't have specialized blogs. Mine is one of the few I read that is a hodge podge of information. So, I'll list eight, as asked, and tag three. Is that cheating? Probably, but here goes:

1. I could eat nachos five nights a week and be happy about it. They have to be the kind I make, though: whole grain chips, cheese, grilled chicken with goya, jalapenos and lettuce. And a glass of milk. OK-when Tim is gone, some weeks I DO eat this five nights a week.

2. I mix my cereals together. You know, like 1/2 a bowl of frosted mini wheats and 1/2 a bowl of chocolate lucky charms. That was dinner last night, actually. Yummy. (My kids eat better than I do; don't worry!)

3. What else is Yummy? House. It's bizarre, I know. He's a little old for me, crippled, and mean. It isn't Hugh Laurie and his British accent that has me drooling, either-it's House-the character. So, when most of my girlfriends are going ga ga for McSteamy (who does absolutely nothing for me, by the way), I'm stuck on House. I think it's the tee- shirts.

4. I miss my Jeep. Terribly.

5. Though I learned it as a child in English, I can now only sing the New Testament song in Khmer. In English, I get stuck at Galatians and have to start over, and over, and over, until eventually I just switch to Khmer and sing the whole song. My children will grow up asking each other, "Is Reevoreenah in your Bible? I can't find it in mine."

6. My dream life would be to uproot the husband and children who I love, reposition ourselves into the developing world and start an NGO. Preferably something that utilizes both Tim and I's gifts in the fields of, say, orphans or diplomacy.

7. My favorite wine is Mirassou's Cabernet Souvignon. Unfortunately, studies came out last month that show as little as 2 glasses of wine a day increase a woman's risk for breast cancer significantly. On the other hand, one or two glasses a day lowers the risk of heart disease significantly. So, now I must choose my fate: heart disease or breast cancer? I think I'll stick to one glass a day, and pray for the best.

8. When I lived in Cambodia, I would catch geckos and let them loose in my room. They eat the mosquitos. And I think they're cute. Except when you lie down, turn on your aircon, and one-startled beyond measure by the sudden droning of spinning fans in his new abode-makes a flying leap out of said aircon unit and lands on your face. THEN, they're a little creepy.

Who am I tagging? Let's see...Jen Reijgers, Karen B. and Heather. You're it!

So much to do, so little time...

My memory is sketchy. It always has been. Some have said it's lacking selectively, as opposed to physiologically. Either way. If I remember your birthday, you are special indeed.

Therefore, I have a list many pages long on purple paper that I have kept for years hidden in a drawer of my desk. It is a list of many of the experiences I've had thus far in life, some good, some not so good. However, if an event makes the list, it's meant to be remembered for reasons that may only ever be known to me, though many of the lessons are obvious. For example, if I've seen the devil in a black cat sitting ominously on the top of a car, I learn to avoid cats. Remember that cat, mom? That was one evil cat.

I was adding to this list today, as I do every few months, and I couldn't help but to look back at old entries. I won't say that these are my favorite entries; they're quite random actually, and certainly less personal than many. But here are a dozen life events that struck me today-with a little bit of commentary:

1. I've watched the Millenium sunrise on the border of Mexico with my husband.

2. I've ridden a bamboo raft to the Golden Triangle.

3. I thought I was experiencing the second coming while sitting in a church alone in Japan reading my Bible. I wasn't. Just an earthquake. I did actually walk outside however, once the shaking stopped, and pondered how odd it was that in a land of Shintos, I was the one left behind. Oh you laugh, but if you were the one looking out into an empty street, you might have really regretted that time you cheated on a speed math test in third grade too.

4. I've held the cold hand of a dear friend in a coffin. Thank God that's only happened once.

5. I've kissed my husband at night on top of the Eiffel Tower. Everyone should do that once in their lifetime. Not kiss my husband, persay, but your own husband...or wife. Whatever.

6. I've thrown up into Lake Geneva in Switzerland with a friend after eating waaaaay too much Toblerone chocolate. Obvious lesson here: go easy on the chocolate, even if it is the best in the world.

7. I've been lost in the jungles of Thailand on a wayward elephant...and ended up getting very wet in the Mae Taeng River.

8. I learned how to cook from a dear French friend and our Vietnamese/Chinese housekeeper...in Cambodia. No, girls, I may not know what to do with cupcake wrappers, but I can make some yummy springrolls, mango shakes and poir belle helene for dessert! ;)

9. I've won a little money pool sharking in a few shady places. (Steve, I'll never be as good as you. I like to actually give the other guy a chance to scratch before I clear the table. But you know what I do better than you? Ski. Yep. I don't puke my way down the mountain. ;) )

10. I "meowed" with an old man high on opium outside of a club in Rangoon. Really, he was "meowing", like a cat, and together we made cat harmony. We meowed John Denver's "Take Me Home" (or is it titled, "West Virginia"?) It was bizarre, and yes I was sober, though probably a little high on second hand contaminates. I think my name is on a brick outside of a little dive called Mr. Guitar down the road from the "Tooth Pagoda", just in case I ever wonder, "Did that really happen?" I can go back and check.

11. I baptized a woman in a pig trough in South America after she came up to me and said, "I'm here for the free gift." My response? "Uhhhh...OK. Why, let me tell you about that free gift...I'm sure I have Romans 6 in your language here somewhere..." Funny how simple evangelism can be contrasted with how complicated we often make it.

12. I've pretended I was Princess Grace with a friend at the palace in Monaco, complete with haughty princess walking and British accents. Though, Princess Grace was American, and my friend and I both were fluent in French which would have been more realistic, but whatever. We were regal for an afternoon.

13. I've had a son come to me with an ouchie and ask me to kiss it because he really believed that if I did that, it would be all better.

OK, so that's a baker's dozen, and the python experience in Vietnam wasn't listed, but what are some of your stand-out memories? I know many of you have lived events that I could only dream of that I will want to add to my "Things to do before I die" list. Yes, I like lists. Speaking of great accomplishments, way to go on the ten miler this weekend, Kim and the lesson learned. You are amazing!

Peek-A-Boo, it's October!

October...

Thus begins my favorite season-autumn. Hopefully, the temperature will drop from the eighties we're still experiencing here, rain will fall, and we'll be blessed with some cool rainy autumn nights so that I can sit on my screened-in porch with a cup of tea and good poetry (Frost or Neruda or Yates...) listening to the rain until the wee hours of the morning. Ahhh...heaven.

(Side Note: baby gates are intended to keep babies out of rooms. This is an unmet goal in our house, except when they both try to climb over at once and realize that they can't swing their legs with the other one sitting there. They find themselves stuck. I won't tell you how long I let them sit there. Let's just say that I enjoyed lunch this day without any little hands reaching for food off of my plate...)

October is also AIDS Awareness month, Hispanic Heritage Month, National Book Month, and National Popcorn Popping Month.

We're in Ramadan right now; Eid is on the 12th. Happy Eid all you Muslims. I think the Jewish holiday Sukkot fell at the end of Sept. this year. We Christians have what this month...Halloween? And let's not forget Columbus Day. There's nothing like overtaking a country from the natives to show brotherly love. Oh, I crack myself up...

Good thing October is also Sacrasm Awareness Month. Finally, a month for me.

The 17th is the Day for the Eradication of Poverty. If that happens in a day, please let me know. I'll begin looking to the skies for Jesus' return on the 18th, which also happens to be Bald and Free Day.

While we're in the spirit of this, let's invent one called, "Don't Buy Your Kids Toys Because They'd Rather Have Fun in a Box Day".

The 2nd is Name Your Car Day; the 7th is World Smile Day, and the 21st is Count Your Buttons Day. Those are real. Really. Look it up.

The Full Moon is on the 25th, and Daylight Savings Time doesn't roll around until Nov. 4th this year.

With enough prayer and heavenly intervention, we may be able to add Burmese Independence Day to the list, though Gambari doesn't seem to be having much success with diplomatic negotiations as of yet.

What other holidays are in October? Timmy Comes Home Day! I can't say on the world wide web on which day we will celebrate this momentous occassion, but barring any unforeseen circumstances, we are in the final month of living as a family separated. There is a light shining brightly at the end of this lonely tunnel, and November will be met with a family reunited.



Enjoy your October, and don't forget to name your car, eat some tacos-after sundown or after the 12th if your Muslim, smile, read a book, count your buttons, kiss your spouse home from war, and oh yes...end global poverty.

Burma update

Updates for Wed: Protest numbers were down to about 10,000 from 100,000 in Rangoon Wed. Riot police were set up at several points along the route, and they blocked off Shwedagon pagoda. Live rounds were fired over their heads. Many-monks and nuns-were beaten, tear gas was used, and between 100 and 300 of them were arrested. BBC is reporting one dead.The monks strongly urged civilians not to march with them this day, though it is estimated that about 5,000 members of the NLD did. So....it could have been worse? However, the condition of the "bloody monks" is unknown, the general public is outraged that force was used against the Sangha, and the country is still far from freedom. The links below will take you to reports about yesterday's events. There are no videos of this, only pictures. There are no reporters in country right now, apparently. For this reason, it is still unknown what happened in Mandalay yesterday, and several other smaller towns where marchers numbered in the 10,000's, and crack down was expected. Regime violence will certainly be the most brutal where there aren't video cameras.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/09/26/myanmar.protest.ap/index.html

and http://www.bbc.com/ This is the BBC's top story. Click on video/listen, and you can watch their video.

President Bush announced more severe sanctions against Burma today. Of course, sanctions have put factories and market places out of business, leaving tens of thousands to starve to death. The military is funded by China.

AND it is rumored that Suu Kyi has been moved form her house to Insein prison. Insein can only be compared to , I don't know...hell.

Here is the copy of an AP article on http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/pm/weblog.php?id=P278
Burma regime planning to infiltrate demonstrations to spark violence
24 Sep 2007
Burma Campaign UK sources in Rangoon have reported that soldiers have been ordered to shave their heads, in possible preparation for infiltrating peaceful demonstrations. They would start rioting or attacking police, providing the regime with a pretext for a brutal crackdown on protestors. Sources indicate that soldiers from Light Battalion 77 in Rangoon have been given the order. Sources also report that the regime has ordered 3,000 monks’ robes from a factory in Rangoon. It is a tactic the regime has used in the past, including at the Depayin massacre in 2003, during which Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested. Regime militia dressed as monks were involved in the ambush which left up to 100 democracy activists dead. Despite the widespread expectations that the regime will use violence to suppress protest, the international community has been remarkably silent, with the French government being the only one to make a strong statement warning of consequences if the regime responds with violence. ASEAN has also expressed concern. “The regime has been held in check by the peoples’ respect for the monks andthe fact that the world is watching, but the scale of protests means they will be looking for options that allow them to justify a crackdown,”said Mark Farmaner. “The UN Secretary General and other world leaders must speakout and make it clear that a violent response in unacceptable. At the momentthe international community seems to be willing to watch from the side lines as the regime moves closer to a massacre. If the regime does attack protestors, this will have been one of the most widely predicted massacres in recent history, and makes a mockery any government’s claim to becommitted to human rights.”

The Beginning of the End?

UPDATE: LATEST VIDEO (as of Sunday, Sept. 23rd): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji_R-g8T-N4 The video clip embedded here is from Thursday. The protesters are now up to 20,000, the government is rumored to be ready to use violence against them soon, and a massive protest led by the monks alliance is scheduled for Wed. this week. This hasn't happened since 1988, and even then, not to this scale. In 1988, thousands were murdered in the streets and Suu Kyi was imprisoned for the first time.

For most of you, this clip won't put you in tears. I've been on the edge of my seat however the past couple of months watching from too great a distance as these events unfold in Myanmar (Burma). (Don't worry, Timmy. I'm not jumping on a plane. Yet... J/J!) Unfortunately, I have to utilize the BBC to get information as American networks do not cover the story. The only American in the public eye who seems overtly interested is Jim Carey, of all people, who put out a public plea on YouTube last month. I was estatic while searching videos on YouTube this morning because there were several clips of the Burmese monks' protest. This is in stark contrast to not long ago when atrocities happened here that no one knew of because no one saw them outside of "the black hole of Asia." Therefore, there was no intervention, and the terror got worse. Thank you, you brave souls who smuggled these clips out of Burma this week.

Many of you won't understand why this protest is such a big deal. I don't have the time to tell you about all of the starvation orders put on villages-especially the Christian tribes in the north of Burma. (A starvation order is when the junta comes in and says, "If you grow food here, we will kill you, your children, and burn your crops." The junta would rather they grow poppy, or die off.) Or about the thousands of political prisoners, the mass shootings in the streets during previous attempts at peaceful protest against the ruling regime, the rape, child labor, the stealing of children for the purpose of bolstering child soldier forces, the poverty, denial of democracy, etc...

Or how I've been followed in the streets of Rangoon, forced out of country for evangelizing, had the film ripped out of my camera, stopped in taxis and on foot for interrogations by plain clothes officers, been taken into "safe" rooms at tea shops so spies couldn't overhear conversations I was having with Burmese friends; how I've had all of my comings and goings carefully recorded by spies around the inns I stay in while in country, or how we would walk to church one at a time, staggered over the course of an hour, so as not to give away the church location and thus put its members at risk. I would classify all of these incidents as mere annoyances, however; nothing that even compares to what happens to the Burmese who don't have a little blue passport in their pocket.

Protest against the ruling militia in Burma has meant, and may still mean, suicide at worst; torture at best. What these monks are doing is the bravest thing I've seen done in a very long time.

The people's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who the junta has kept under house arrest since her election as president two decades ago, emphatically calls for peaceful overthrow of the regime. No commandos in the night, no weapons, no violence; simply use peaceful defiance for freedom as Ghandi utilized it against the British and Martin Luther King marched with in Alabama and Washington. The problem is that when the people have done this in the past-peacefully protested-they have been shot down in the streets. But now, for the fourth day in a row, hundreds on monks are peacefully protesting in the streets and claim they will not stop until "the enemy of the people" is removed from power.

So, why am I nervous? Well, I wonder if the regime will shoot at the monks too. It's doubtful; the militia is Buddhist as well, as is most of Burma. But everyday that these videos are released, more and more unrobed citizens are marching. There is more and more applause from civilians on the sidewalk. There are more ordinary people with children at their sides standing on their porches in protest like the monks asked them to do, more and more wearing yellow for Suu Kyi, more and more defiance in the streets. This in a country where groups of more than five are forbidden by the junta's law in order to prevent organized protest.

I'm nervous because these monks are marching right in front of the little house church I work with. I have friends and former students supporting this protest. What will happen to them?

I pray that they know that eternal freedom cannot be taken away from them. As the Christian song goes, "They can have my body, but they can't have me. Take away my sight and still my soul will sing..." nothing the militia does to them can take away what Christ can give, or has given, them. With that knowledge, I pray they have the endurance to continue marching peacefully in the face of the militia's weapons, to bring change and hope and life and the blessing of earthly freedoms, like freedom of speech and religion, to their starving land. If they succeed here, it will prove once again to the world at a time when such a reminder is desperately needed, that change-even to the point of government overthrow- must not always be proceeded by violence. That hope has me on the edge of my seat.
The Burmese people have never been as brave as now, so outspoken and defiant against the horrors they've endured. I'm tired of scanning lists of political prisoners online and finding the names of former students of mine. I'm tired of worrying about the safety of the members of the little house church. I'm tired of wondering why I didn't get a Christmas card from this or that student, like I usually do. Frankly, I'm tired of praying for compassion, peace, and humanity in Burma. But I will continue to do so until the regime's clenched fist lets go of my Buddhist friends and sisters and brothers in Christ who were blessed to be born in Myanmar at such a time as this.

See the links on the sidebar under Aung San Suu Kyi's picture for more information about how you can support the plight of the Burmese people.