All It Takes Is One Voice....

I don't post much about faith and religion because really I believe it is your own personal choice. How you get to God is your road to travel. That said, I will come out and say that Bill and I are an interfaith couple (Bill is Catholic, and I'm Jewish) raising our kids Jewish. Add the interracial mix of our family and it becomes an interesting road.

I don't know if it is because we live in the South, but I feel the contant pressure of Christianity. It is everywhere. I know some Christians will say we are taking God out of everything but I think everyone including myself needs to face the facts that our country is diverse and we need to try to respect all religions. We can learn from everything.

I have become a little less tolerant this pressure. It bothers me that at Emily's school (a public school) that have a Holiday Program (they don't call it Christmas Program) that they sing Silent Night and O'Bethleham. I think Frosty the Snowman is okay. She read a book last year called the Best Christmas Pagaent Ever which had a lot of references to Jesus in it. I kept my mouth shut.

That said, last year, Emily's elementary school PE teacher tried to start an Early PE Club which would start at 7:30 am. The PE Club was suppose to be an exercise club but if you read the pamphlet you sooned learned that the exercise was only a little part of the club - the rest would be talking about Bible and Character Building. There would be prayer. Whose Prayer, Whose Religion - of course the Teacher's. Let's not forgot the healthy breakfast they were serving - Chicken Biscuits.

My silent objections could not be silent anymore. This was a school club sponsored by a school teacher endorsing one religion over another. I took issue with it. It is against the law to have a school endorsement of prayer. I struggled over if I should say something. I didn't want Emily to be singled. We also feared retribution. But I could not live in fear when I felt that this was so wrong.

So I contacted the Principal who would look into the matter. I was the only one who complained about this club. No surprise there - we are probably one of very few non-chrisitian families. The school hemmed and hawed. Not sure what to do. I ended up getting the Anti-Defamation League involved. They wrote a cease letter to the school superintendent. Eventually it was decided that this club would only be a PE club. The club went on and Emily joined and had a great time.

This year, I waited to see what would happen. There are ways to have a religious club in school - it cannot be teacher involved. And at elementary school, it is really hard to have a club without teacher involvement. Another way would to have a local church sponsor the club before school - they would have to pay rent for the facilities. I wanted to see if this club would start up again.

It has but it is still just a PE Club. I cannot believe that one voice stopped this.

One voice, my voice.

My Little Firefighter

The Vocal Ricky

Ricky is so much more vocal than he was a month ago.
Not that we understand much he says. I take that back.
Bill and I call it Ricky speak. We can understand some thing in context.

His favorite new phrase - Mama Car?
He also asks Is that Mine? Everytime I put something in the shopping cart - he asks is that Mine???

Oh yeah also Hammmmbaga everytime we pass a McDonalds or Burger King. Kid eats out too much!!

You can do It - Help Change a Life of an Orphan!

In January 2008, I adopted my son, Ricky from China. Ricky was born with a cleft lip and palate.

In the United States, this is not considered a life threatening medical need. However, in China, babies die from it due to the inability to feed appropriately and high risk of infection.

Luckily Ricky received lip surgery in China when he was 7 months old (most US children receive this surgery within the first 2 months) and is currently thriving at home with us.

I volunteer for an organization called Love Without Boundaries which provides the most loving and compassionate help possible to orphaned and impoverished children in China. We provide humanitarian aid in five key are as: Education, Foster Care, Healing Homes, Medical and Orphanage Assistance.

Currently there is a baby in need of help. Please consider a small donation (any amount is accepted) to help change the life of this little boy:

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/medical_sponsor_child_detail.cfm?child_id=1002&mc_id=101

To see more on what LWB does please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bBIEF-j7Jc&feature=channel_page