Safest Cities in the U.S.

So, they've released the safest cities in the U.S.....Out of 371 cities that released certain information, Seattle was 262....San Bernardino was 348!!!! and St. Louis was....371. I'll be praying for you, my friends in St. Louis!
Portland wasn't on the list....
Stay safe.

More pics...

Because the first post wouldn't let me post all of the picture in one posting....

Pumpkin Bars for the FBI...?

Nope, this time they were pumpkin bars for a little Murder Mystery party my sister and brother had at their home...for whom, I'll add, are so much more fun to make pumpkin bars for than the FBI. And they're nicer, too!
In these pics, you'll find my decidedly balding brother-in-law who was Hannibal Schlecter, the worlds only kosher eating cannibal...he bic-ed his head just for the event. It was decidedly creepy.
I'm Madam Aretha Garlique...a fortune teller who ends up being a vampire!
My sis wasn't in any of the photos, but she looked so great as Lizzie Bordeaux, a Frech hotelier.
And, as you can see, everybody had a good time, good wine, good food, good laughter...and I ended up dead!

The Girl in the Cafe

I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago...and it really impacted me. In fact, I was surprised by how good it was since I wasn't expecting it. So, I recommend it but know that there is some language, sex, and other issues. But, 30,000 children die each day because of poverty and we seem to be able to handle that just fine. (When you see the movie you'll understand why I put in that last line...)

An increase of 1500% in 10 years...

That's an increase of child internet porn in the last 10 years...a statistic that nauseates me as I think of all the little ones I know and love; my neices and nephews, my friend's kids, the children I have taught, the children I've nannied, the children's hands I've held in Calcutta, in Sri Lanka...all so vulnerable. My friend John sent me this email. I hope you join us by lighting a candle. A favorite verse of mine is this: Light illuminates the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
(Make sure to watch the TV commercial...it's powerful.)

The innocent victims of Internet child abuse cannot speak for themselves.

But you can.

With your help, we can eradicate this evil trade.

We do not need your money.

We need you to light a candle in support of .

We're aiming to light at least One Million Candles by December 31, 2006.

This petition will be used to encourage governments, politicians, financial institutions, payment organisations, Internet service providers, technology companies and law enforcement agencies to eradicate the commercial viability of online child abuse.

They have the power to work together. You have the power to get them to take action.

Please light your candle at lightamillioncandles.com or send an email of support to light@lightamillioncandles.com.

Together, we can destroy the commercial viability of Internet child abuse sites that are destroying the lives of innocent children.

New Issue of The Other Journal

Please check out the new issue of The Other Journal: Earth to Christians.... and tell your friends!
You'll find the site listed on my side-tab...

Amy Carmichael

I've been re-discovering Amy Carmichael, if you will. She was a huge influence on me in college (through her writings and life story), and in the last 10 years or so I've explored other writings and people...but she so often hits it right on:

"He who begins, finishes; He who leads on, follows behind to deal in love with our poor attempts and our mistakes; to cause His blessed pardon to flow over our sins till they are utterly washed away; and to turn to flight the foe who would pursue after us. He is first and He is last, and we are gathered up between, as in the great arms of eternal lovingkindness."

I love those words...that I am caught up in the eternal arms of lovingkindness, those arms that time does not effect, and that love that my circumstance or sin cannot not change. He is first and He is last and we are gathered between...in a place of rest and refuge.

Jonah and Me

My sister was showing Jonah my blog and when he saw the pictures of me with his sister he said: where's the pictures of me and Bepo??? Here they are....
I went with Elisabeth and the kids to the Apple Festival at the Portland Nursery this weekend. Lots o' fun to be had....and plenty o' apples!

My Strange Life...

Last night I decided to make muffins for a meeting our office was hosting with the victims specialists from the FBI and US Attorney's office. So, I went and bought muffin mix, cracked a few eggs, greased a few pans and suddenly realized: I'm making muffins for the FBI...

I also wanted to attach a link to an article my dad sent my about human trafficking...
https://webmailcluster.perfora.net/xml/deref?link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfgate.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Farticle.cgi%3Ffile%3D%2Fc%2Fa%2F2006%2F10%2F06%2FMNGR1LGUQ41.DTL

Darfur

A couple weeks ago my friend Kristen Compston, who I met and spent 4 months in Calcutta with, sent me this email about Darfur. I thought it was great and worth posting...

"last night i had the honor of hearing Paul Rusesabagina speak about his experience in Rwanda and how he feels that darfur is escalating to the same need for assistance that Rwanda was in the early 90's. this morning at work i was reading the paper and somewhere around page four or five there was an update on darfur. it said that the UN is considering sending troops to support the understaffed African peacekeeping force and to try and get Sudan to sign a peacekeeping agreement; which the UN acknowledges has a slim chance of working since Sudan has told them they don't want to make a peace agreement. call me crazy but it seems to me that this line of thinking hasn't worked that well in the past, why do we keep relying on it?"this is the twentieth century, not the middle ages. who would allow such crimes to be committed? how could the world remain silent? i have tried to keep memory alive, i have tried to fight those who would forget. because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices. i swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. we must take sides. neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. silence encourages the tormenter, never the tormented. sometimes we must interfere. when human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must- at that moment- become the center of the universe." -Elie WieselDarfur has been embroiled in a deadly conflict for over three years. At least 400,000 people have been killed; more than 2 million innocent civilians have been forced to flee their homes and now live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad; and more than 3.5 million men, women, and children are completely reliant on international aid for survival. Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter."how much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? for we know the one who said 'vengeance is mine; i will repay'. and again, 'the Lord will judge his people.' it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God." - hebrews 10.29-31this verse calms my anger that God is not idle, he is outraged my what has happened and what continues to happen all around the world. but it strikes fear into my own heart, as a believer i am God's plan to alleviate suffering in the world. how am i not joining with the oppressor when i hear that 400,000 people have died and do nothing, it doesn't affect my day in the least. it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.let this affect us, let is ruin our days, and break our hearts. join in the suffering of the millions of men and women of darfur. let their pain leak into our lives. "if we don't have courage we will do whatever we can to run from or alleviate our own pain. excessive entertainment, shopping, food, drugs, alcohol, sex, and even manic exercise are common opiates of our society. i, too, have tried to escape. but in the end, i have (mostly) turned around, looked suffering in the eye and stared it down. this is when the evil part of suffering loses it's power and becomes redemptive. but suffering is only redemptive when love is there." -The Cry, WMFso, if you've made it this far, all the way to the end of this email, don't just walk away unscathed, hurt, cry, get angry, do something. visit www.savedarfur.org and send letter to congress and the president, tell them that it's time to step in. fall in love with a cause deeper than ourselves so that we can all stand up and mean it when we say "we've had enough." "