ONEder Fund

I totally saw this coming. The snow-covered roads, the cars struggling to make it up the hill in front of our home, the school closings... I saw it all coming and prepared yesterday to work from home today- and I am so glad I did. Jackson is at mamaw's, the puppies are already napping (what a life!) and I am preparing for some morning conference calls with lots of hot coffee. I am hoping to finish a little early today so I can go and pick up my little man before there is too much snow on the road for the 5 minute drive over. 

Meanwhile, I wanted to share with you something that really touched me. I have mentioned Kelle Hampton's blog before- she is amazingly inspirational and shares a lot of the same views on life as I do. Well, her youngest, Nella, is just a couple of weeks older than Jackson. And as her first birthday is quickly approaching Kelle has set up a fund to raise money for a cause near and dear to her heart- The National Down Syndrome Society. You can read all about it here and more importantly if you feel compelled to do so in your own heart, you can donate here. 

There are many reasons why I blog. Mainly because I love it, but when a blog such as Kelle's has the power to do something so good, something so selfless for the benefit of others... well, how could you deny the beauty of something like that? 

Back to work for me, but if you're watching the snow pour down outside your windows like I am I pray that you stay safe and warm today!

Our high standard of living is what prevents our high standard of giving.

I have been a big time slacker in digesting and then sharing my notes from this past Sunday's service. But I have thoughts that I really want to get out. Really, some thoughts that I need to get out. 


I mean in no way for this post to be preachy. As with everything I write, I write it 99.9% for my family and me, but if even 1 more person can find value in it then that is all the better, right? Right. So, with that being said there is one quote that really jumped out at me during church on Sunday. 

"Our high standard of living is what prevents our high standard of giving."

That totally hit me because it is so true. 100%, non-debatable true for those of us who even have the opportunity to write and/or read this post. It's a truth that I immediately started to mull around in regards to the upcoming holiday season. With a quick google search I learned that the average American family spends approximately $1,000 on Christmas. This includes gifts, clothing, food, beverages, etc. This costs doubles to $2,000 for those families who travel during the season. This is for the average American family. Average! Which means there are many of us who probably spend much more. 


A second quick google search tells me that there are approximately 112 million households in the US. A third google search would probably do the calculation that my tired and over-stimulated mind is not willing to do at this hour, but we can all assume that ~$1,000 multiplied by 112 million households equates to A LOT of money flying around in the month of December.


And this money. Where is it going? Well, mainly on gifts. Gifts to each other. People with money to spend are spending money on people who have money to spend. Say that three times fast! Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE giving gifts. I love the thrill in thinking of the most perfect gift to give someone I love and then watching them open it. There is something very magical about that. My point, however, is that... well, I have 4 actually:


1. I think we may over do it. We, in my opinion, tend to take the magic out of the spirit of giving by over-giving. We seem to go for quantity over quality. We take the personal touch out of it by making lists of things we want and handing it out to our loved ones. What is the point in that? If you want it badly enough to tell someone about it then just go and buy it. Telling me what to buy you is not me giving you a gift. And to top it all off we put a first filter on our gift giving with a dollar amount... how many times have you thought "okay, I need to buy a $30 gift for so-and-so." I hate that. It's like putting a little price tag on that magical moment I mentioned above. Again, what a magic-sucker. 


2. We are spending that crazy amount of money mentioned above on people who in reality don't need any more stuff. On people who we love dearly and who in reality would probably be totally fine (and maybe even happier) with just spending some true quality time with us this season versus focusing all of our time together on opening gifts. Or maybe that's  just me, I don't know. Going back to the quote I referenced above... our high standard of living is what prevents our high standard of giving... all of that money that is going to be passed around this holiday season, wouldn't it be beautiful if we cut back on how much we spend on gifts and instead give that money away to people who actually need it? 


3. Maybe my memory is failing me at the ripe age of 26, but I honestly can only remember in detail 3 of the gifts I was ever given for Christmas as a child. I remember a karaoke machine and a bicycle and my first puppy, Holly. That is it. That's not to say that I didn't get some great stuff, but the point is that what I do remember are the memories. The priceless, amazing, beautiful memories that in fact have nothing to do with the stuff I got. 


4. Most importantly, all of this craziness with all of the gift-giving and shopping chaos in my mind does 2 things: A. it makes everyone stressed out and exhausted. Running from here to there and back and forth and checking this off of your list and stressing about what to make and what to get so and so. It's chaos. AND B. it is all the biggest distraction ever for the real reason behind the season. It's funny, I can find in 1-2 clicks of my mouse all of the stats I need on who plans to shop where and with how much money this holiday season, but when I tried to find how many people plan on going to a church service to honor baby Jesus it was nearly impossible to get a straight answer. Who wants to play a bet on what is a bigger percentage: the number of people planning on shopping multiple times over the holidays or the number of people planning on worshiping? Sad, huh?


Do with these thoughts what you want. Do nothing at all if you wish. The point for me was to ground myself in what I really want the holidays (and every day, really) to be about for Jackson throughout his childhood and hopefully throughout his lifetime. I have already exhausted my post length for today, but I am going to brainstorm "out loud" on here in the coming days on how I can put these thoughts into practice with holiday traditions that are nothing short of extraordinary and completely unordinary in that showering my little man with gifts will not be the star of the show. 

Arc in the Park

Jackson, Nanna and I had a great time at the first annual Arc in the Park this afternoon! This was a walk-a-thon sponsored by The Arc of Dearborn County which is a non-profit organization that helps those with developmental disabilities. The day could not have been any more perfect for the event and JP loved riding along in his stroller. If you would like to learn more about the Arc please visit their website at http://dearborncountyarc.org/. 

The Great Debate

I feel like in our society there is a giant usher who asks you where you want to sit. More specifically, on what side of the aisle do you want to sit. The left side or the right side. And you're expected to choose what side your seat is quite early in life. 


What he doesn't tell you is that when you choose your seat you are also agreeing to agree with all that "that side" agrees with. That when your friends, family, co-workers find out where you sit they may look at your differently and will most likely stamp some sort of stereotype onto you. 


Well, I don't want to sit anymore. I want to stand. I want to stand for what I believe, not what my "side" believes. Let me explain. 


Growing up, I was unusually political for a little girl. I wrote letters to the President, I volunteered for campaigns, I could speak the political-speak very easily and I knew where I stood on issues. 


I passed this love of politics on to my younger brother. When he was only 5 years I remember a specific occasion when we went out for lunch together at Pizza Hut and we were having a conversation about World War II and the political and social implications of that era. Did I mention he was 5? And I was only 17 for that matter. Jordan went on to share his love for the politics by campaigning for George Walker Bush in his 2nd grade classroom, while passing out snacks he would ask his classmates who they planned to vote for (as if they had a vote!) and would "suggest" that they might consider Mr. Bush. Meanwhile, I was at Purdue having parties with my friends to watch all of the debates and major political milestones of the race. I bled red- both literally, of course, and politically. 


But, I had an ah-ha moment today. You see, I have been grappling with why my passion for politics seems to be fading fast. Why is it that as I get older (I lose that term loosely since I am 26) my "love" for politics is simply not there like it used to be. I am in no way apathetic. To be clear, I am not apathetic about anything in life because that my friends is what I consider to be laziness of the mind. But, I also realize that I no longer want to choose a side of the aisle to stand on.


I don't want to choose a permanent seat on either side of that aisle because at the end of the day I simply don't agree 100% with what either side stands for and I certainly don't agree completely with how either side is choosing to manage their agenda. 


Instead, I am finding that when it comes to my view on issues I am looking not through the "political" lens, but instead through the lens of my values and my faith. This is not a whole lot different than how I took positions before- always based on my values- but now I am eliminating that "3rd party" -the political party. I know who I am, I know where I stand and I know which causes and issues mean the most to me and I will spend my efforts focusing on those directly, in whatever ways are appropriate. 


I am not completely naive, I realize why political parties exist, I realize their purpose and why they are needed, but in my tiny role in this world I am coming to peace with the fact that I will most likely  not make my impact by involving myself in those parties. I will go about it in different ways, ways that are completely, 100%, whole-heartedly in line with what I believe to be right- no compromises, no "almost" agrees, no sort-of lean that way kind of stuff. 


On a last parting thought, I will tell you that I think Jordan was years ahead of me in getting to this realization. He may not be able to express it in words, but I think that Jordan already looks at things through the view of his faith and I hope that he continues to do that. If so, he will be years wiser than me. 


And finally, if you actually read this entire rant post, then I will treat you with this adorable video of Jackson from bedtime a few nights ago!