Sunday, 01 March 2009

• oh the unexpected

  This morning, after church, I left Patrick to talk with a friend and went to get Caleb.  I got stuck for a minute in the usual crowd of people piling out of the service.  I stopped to grab the last strawberry on the tray in the lobby for my little guy.  After that, I started to walk toward the stairs to the nursery when I saw a little boy at the bottom of the stairs and thought, "Oh, how cute...he looks just like Caleb" and looked away to make my way up the stairs.  I took another step, thought...wait...looked again... it WAS Caleb!!  All that happened in like an instant.  I don't blame myself for not knowing instantly that it was my one and only child because he just shouldn't be there!!  I'm still picturing his little face staring into the crowd of people rushing up and down the stairs around him while he was clinging to the railing for dear life.  So many things went through my head all at once.  I just grabbed him and stood there completely confused.  How did you get out of the nursery?  Did someone take you out?  Did you sneak out?  How did you get through the glass door and the gate that is incredibly difficult for an adult to open?  Is anyone looking for you?  Do I yell at someone or just be thankful that you're ok?  I could not believe he was standing there.  I still had to get his bag, so I brought him back up to the nursery and made darn sure they knew that they let my child get out.  I was mad, but I did my best to be calm and speak to the girl quietly so no one else would get worried about leaving their child in the nursery.  I tried to put on the fruits of the Spirit and not rip someone's head off...I mean, I did just walk out of church.  He was fine.  Disaster averted.  I found him...not someone else.  I just told them that they need to fix the gate and please please please be careful!!

  It's not a small-town church.  We're relatively new as a family and people don't just know my son to know that he might be out of place.  We absolutely love our church, but it's a doozy trying to get through that lobby on a Sunday morning.  There are hundreds of people at our church and not very much space to fit them all, especially when it's a service that has another service directly following.  Not only do you have hundreds of people filing out of church, you have hundreds more filing in at the same time.  The nursery is awesome.  They have a great computer system that prints out little stickers with codes for each child and their parents (which I now realize does little good if the adult-proof baby gate is broken and your child is an escape artist).  They are not babysitters.  The people that work in the nursery have a heart for babies and they pray over them and speak life into them and sing with them and just plain love on them.  I'm always so impressed with the people I hand him off to.  It's a peaceful place.  Caleb takes his backpack in his hands and goes right in.  All that said....no matter how much affection I have for this church, I can not even imagine who I would have strangled if my son was not there when I handed them my little sticker to prove he belongs to me and they couldn't find him.  I am almost absolutely sure he would have headed straight for the door and right to the train yard across the street (cringe!) by the time they discovered he was missing.  AH!  I can't even imagine!  Thank you God for drawing my eye to that last little strawberry.  Caleb's head was just past the tray out of focus, which made me notice him.  Otherwise, I would have just kept looking up for the quickest path between bodies to get through the crowd of people, while Caleb was off to dodge cars to get to the trains.

  After the dust settled on all of that, I had to remind myself that this is just the beginning of dealing with the unexpected events of having a toddler.  He's not even 2 yet!  My brave, adventurous little boy.  One day...he will get in trouble for a stunt like that.  Through all of it, I was proud of him for making it all the way down the stairs all by himself!  It's a wide stairway (one side for people walking up, one for down) and he walked right down the middle.  The railing is high and spaced too far apart for a little person learning to maneuver the stairs.  He wasn't able to walk down by himself even 3 weeks ago when the stairs were empty and this morning he did it with 50 people walking on either side of him.  That probably helped, actually.  Step...grab a leg...step...grab the rail...  I'm so glad that's over.

  My little boy potentially being lost at church is nothing compared to the mothers in this tribe that are actually losing their babies in Ethiopia.  I have to share this story with you.  I'll just post a small portion here, but please go The Rock Global Missions page and read a first-hand account of Kristen, a YWAM missionary in Ethiopia.  Our church is calling it the Ethiopia Project, but we are coming alongside YWAM missionaries who have drained their bank accounts trying to rescue children who will be killed by their own tribe if they do nothing.  There is an urgent need that has been brought to the attention of our church leaders just this week.  We are praying that God will change the hearts of these people and reunite the 6 children that have already been saved with their mothers someday soon.  Please, read... and pray.

  

  The people of the Kara tribe in rural Ethiopia, have a tradition-rich culture.  However the tribe lives in fear of evil spirits who can bring ill fortune to the tribe.  The Kara use the word “Mingi” (pronounced 'min-ghee') to describe subjects they consider cursed or otherwise imperfect. There are many different ways in which a thing may be considered Mingi; but there are a few that are more common and have severe consequences.  One example is when a women becomes pregnant outside of an arranged marriage with a paid dowry. A second example of Mingi is when a married couple become pregnant before announcing their intention to the rest of the tribe.  Another example is when a child’s top teeth come in before the bottom teeth.  The Kara believe that the presence of Mingi children on their land curses the tribe.  Their solution to this perceived threat is to kill the child.

  Read on... here.

   

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