The Dark Knight, Crying Baby Family and Royal Eunuches

So I just came back from watching The Dark Knight.

There is a scene in the movie where the Joker has rigged two barges full of people with bombs. He has given both boats until midnight before he blows them up - but they can save themselves by pressing the detonator on their own barge which will blow up the other barge. They essentially have 15 minutes to decide if they are going to save themselves by killing the other people on the other barge.

One barge is full of hardened criminals being evacuated from Gotham. The other - innocent civilians. The Joker is trying to prove deep down everyman is for himself.

The irony is as this scene unfolds, in the theater there is a real life drama playing out. A crying baby is drawing a great deal of attention. People are yelling at the parents to "take the kid outside." Most of us would have been mortified if our child was screaming its head off and would have taken it outside. But the parents of this baby instead started cursing all the people around them and telling them to shut the F up among other things....lovely.

The clock is ticking on the barges...the hardened criminals being guarded by SWAT members are looking menacingly at the detonator. On the other barge of innocent civilians, women and children are crying and one man becomes enraged that they might all die to "save a bunch of criminals."

Back at the theater the baby starts crying even louder. My family and I are sitting directly above them. My mom, with a little too much Irish fire in her says, "take your baby outside!"

The father of the baby immediately turns around gets about two inches from my Mom's face with a pointed finger and says, "You shut your mouth."

My Dad then jumps up - he is twice the size of this kid pointing his finger at my mom - grabs the kid's hand - makes a motion to shake it and says "Son, it's alright. Let's just sit back down." and pats the kid on the back.

I don't know who was more startled my mom - or the kid. To his credit, he shook my Dad's hand back.

I, of course, am ENRAGED. Point your finger at my Mom?! I wanted to jump over the seat and clobber the dude. Sometimes it sucks to be a girl who weighs a buck-o-five (ok maybe a buck fifteen) .

Batman and the Joker are at this point are going at it fist to fist - bat gadgets to crowbar - Good to evil...

Back at the barges, the harden criminals it's 2 minutes until midnight and one inmate (Tommy "Tiny" Lister who played the royal eunuch in that wretched excuse for a film "One Night With the King" for which I still haven't forgiven him) convinces the police guard to hand him the detonator because he knows how "to take a life."

"Give it to me and I'll do what you should have done 10 minutes ago," says the royal eunuch.

The feeble, whimpering cop turns the detonator over to the criminal - who then looks at the cop with a scowl and tosses it into the river. The royal eunuch then walks back over to a group of hardened criminal buddies and begins to pray.

On the other barge, the innocent civilians and the enraged man who almost press their detonator decide they cannot kill the criminals either.

The Joker - so certain each barge will cave and blow the other one up - didn't have a back up detonator after all. Midnight passes and no one gets blown up.

CRAP, CRAP, CRAP. I want to deck the guy who just pointed his finger at my mom and and the royal eunuch and the innocent civilians ruin it for me.

So I say a mini silent prayer while Batman is dangling the Joker from a building, "Ok, Lord please diffuse my anger. Show me how to honor You? What do You want me to do?"

Clear as day, "I want you to show the punk kid who got in your mom's face, My love."

Sigh.

Lights go up, we shuffle out and so does the loud baby family. I walk up him and say, "Hey even though you pointed your finger at my Mom, I just want to tell you that it's ok. I'm sorry people were yelling at you and I pray that God blesses your family."

He just looked at me and nodded. I could tell he was embarrassed too.

Granted those weren't the most eloquent words, but I tried. And at least by God's grace, I didn't press the detonator either.

CD

International Adoption

When I originally signed up for the trip to Sierra Leone to work in the orphanage, in the back of my mind there was always the possibility of some route toward adoption. Not for me personally - but to facilitate adoptions for others. Why wouldn't this be something amazing - taking children from the poorest country in the world and blessing them with homes?

As a birthmother, I have been involved in adoption for almost a decade. I think it is an amazing, wonderful gift that creates the blessing of a family. The thought of opening an adoption agency with my brilliant and beautiful friends, Dierdre - adoption guru, M.A., LPC and Melissa - wonder attorney, had even been recently discussed by the three of us.

The shadowy underworld of adoptions that has left many couples heart-broken and out of cash and young women being treated as a means to an end should be a thing of the past in America. Sadly it is not. So the idea of founding an agency that was based on the principles of ethical, affordable adoption is a cause I can rally behind any day of the week.

Since coming home, in sharing my pictures and stories about the orphans of Wellington, several compassionate souls have inquired as to their availability to be adopted.

I was surprised when I found myself alarmed and agitated by the thought. Lately, many things we (especially me) do in the Disneyland of America has become a source of agitation in light of how much others lack across the globe.

But these children have a family. They have 32 sisters and 43 brothers, and Pastor Hassan and his wife are their parents. They are close, protective and loving of each other.

The young girls cry when their older brothers must leave for boarding school. Who will protect them now from harassment of the men in the streets as they walk to school?

I know the love and closeness of the Wellington orphanage may not be the standard norm. Undoubtedly there are many children who are not loved by their caretakers nor consider their fellow orphans as siblings.

But even if they don't - is it our power to make this the reality at more orphanages?

What if instead of spending the $40,000 - $50,000 we spend to rescue one child and leave the rest behind - we spent $40,000- $50,0000 on supplying water, health care, quality, loving caretakers, education and hope to the entire orphanage for a decade?

There are appx 300,000 foster children in America that are in need of loving, permanent homes. Domestic, foster-care adoptions typically are a fraction of the cost of adopting internationally.

And what of children who have been taken from there parents in foreign countries (at the parent's request) who were so poor they couldn't afford to feed them - would it not be better to spend the $40,000 to $50,000 on providing the entire family shelter, food and hope for a decade?

Wellington is filled with the brightest and most amazing children. They are the hope of Sierra Leone. They have a vision and a dream to rebuild their country - because that has been instilled in them by Pastor Hassan and the mission teams working with them.

If they were adopted - it would leave a gaping hole in the intellectual and visionary capital so desperately needed to save an impoverished nation.

Teenage Boys Don't Eat. They Pray.

Hi Friends,

If I've you've had time to catch up with me in the last couple of weeks, then you know that you're going to get sick of hearing me talk about a group of orphans in Sierra Leone. The good news is you can now have a break from hearing about the pregnancy center in Norman.

I am now working with 4HIM ministries to expand higher education opportunities for the older children that enable entrepreneurship. All of the children have a desire to be leaders and rebuild their country. The pastor who runs the orphanage is working with 4HIM to lead agricultural, healthcare and education projects that are creating incredible economic opportunities across Sierra Leone.

To launch our education initiative we are working hard to bring three of the boys to Oklahoma to pursue an education that enables them to play a leadership role in 4HIM's efforts. Our focus will likely be construction management, agriculture and hotel management. I wanted to share a quick story about how remarkable these children are.

There is a cell phone at the orphanage paid for with calling cards, so yesterday I was able to talk with some of them. They couldn't wait to tell me their news. They are so excited for the three older boys, who are very much the "respected older brothers" at the orphanage, that all of the boys have started a seven-day fast on Monday. No rice, no porridge for seven days - period. They are praying the Lord will make it possible for the three to come. If teenage boys fasting for seven days isn't remarkable enough - they are also holding all night prayer vigils for their brothers.

I asked Bakarr if he was hungry. He laughed, "Akay, Akay yes I am Creestol! But it is good to hunger for the Lawd."