yes, i am ok.........

i know many of you have thought i have fallen in a deep Korean hole since i have not posted in nearly a month. i am sorry.........things here with school have been really crazy, stressful and non-stop. i think about posting, but somehow in the craziness of the day it gets overlooked. by the time i get home i am usually shattered tired and do nothing more than lay on my couch. exciting, eh? moving 7,047 miles away from friends and family leads me to laying on my couch more?!?!?!? anyhow, here i am again...........resurfacing to the blog. thanks for the thoughts and emails asking where in the heck i am............i am glad to know that people wonder and are curious about my life here. thanks!

so the most thought provoking thing i have done since last blogging was see the movie, Blood Diamond. it is about the conflict in sierra leone in the 90's which is western africa. the movie is intense and from the people who i know who know africa pretty realistic. i was completely moved by this movie in many ways. for the first time i found myself praying for the continent of africa. it is hard to wrap my wee head around the idea that an entire continent is riddled with instability, disease, crime, AIDS, and poverty. i have never been there so to some degree i feel like i should not be allowed to draw such conclusions having no such real first-hand experience. part of me though is moved enough to wonder how the entire world can stand by and watch africa's issues get to the magnitude they have. in the past few years i have met people who are making issues more public with the save darfur campaign, one campaign, and then most recently the invisible children. it amazes me how as one of the world's super powers (the US) that people can be ok with letting things just happen or looking the other way thinking that someone else will solve and/or help the problem. recently i had to help my kids create a chapel for the elementary school. we chose the theme of compassion as it was the Christ-like attitude of the month. in doing this my kids learned verses, songs, and skits that all had to do with compassion. in sitting here writing this email one of their readings comes to mind. it was titled "Excuses, Excuses". the reading was about the excuses that people use for not helping others such as "Someone else will help....", "I will be ridiculed for helping them....", "I don't have the time...." to list a few. In response to the excuses some of my kids read verses from the Bible to justify why we should help. so i have to wonder why we just sit and go about our daily lives without even thinking about what is going on in the rest of the world around us. when i first decided to write this email i knew what all of you would say, "Here she goes again on her 'save the world idealist' kick". i know it is a movie, but i have to wonder what i can do, as a Christian, to help or contribute to the bigger picture of helping others. God specifically says that we should help each other and love our neighbors and Jesus even gives the good samaritan story (Luke 10:30-37) as an example of how to live our lives. so i ask myself........am i going to be the samaritan that helps the other or the pharisee that moves to other side of the road?