Role Reversal, Service Work, & Other Random Thoughts

12.06.2011

All is back to normal in the life of Lu. My mom arrived back safely from a weeklong mission trip to Haiti, and I can breathe a big sigh of relief. Y'all know I worry when my parents travel, especially to places like Haiti that are so vulnerable to natural disasters. The funny thing about this past week is that I realized that as you get older you start to worry about your parents as if you were the parent! Just my mom traveled this time, so I was calling my Dad every day, checking up on him, making sure he was eating healthily and monitoring his cold. I'm sure he was completely thrown off by being mothered by his daughter! But, I think that's just the way it goes when you grow up It makes me think of that sweet book, Love You Forever, Like You for Always, when the grown-up boy is rocking his sweet, old mama. Tears!

Anyhooo, it sounds like my mom's trip was extremely powerful, and I'm excited to hear more about it! She went with a small group of women who have founded the Friends of Fort Liberte to revisit the orphanage and school that they've partnered with. My mom brings expertise as a former social worker, and the other women each have areas of specialties that they are using to advocate for this orphanage and others.  I know that there are some people out there who are ambivalent about people doing service or mission work in other countries when there are people suffering in our own country, but I honestly feel like there are some places, like Haiti, where the degree of suffering is in a whole different ball-park than the degree of suffering in the US. And, we at least have a functioning government that can provide some assistance. And, we have public schools that provide free and reduced lunch and a safe place for children, who can't advocate for themselves, to spend most of their day. Not that I'm in the business of comparing sufferings or completely disagreeing with the logic...I'm just one to believe that it doesn't matter who or where you're helping, as long as you're helping.  So, to me, I think it's great that we have people committed to serving in the US and people who feel more called to other areas of the world.  We need people who are committed to helping and serving everywhere!

In other news, I have 1 grad class left for the semester tomorrow and 8 days of teaching left (2 of which will be spent at a conference!) before break! I can almost taste the freedom! Let's just all say a prayer that I get my big paper done! I promise to hop back on Amber & Neely's Holiday Blog Challenge train after tomorrow!

Happy Hump Day Tomorrow!

1 comment :

  1. Your blog is SO cute, where the did background come from? I've been looking for one similar to this in Navy!

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