It’s that time of week again. Payday for the Klipschs. Which means water for Liberia. 🙂 Will it be so for you as well?

We’re so close to the 4th well. So close. It just takes little somethings from lots of people. Everyone knows lots of people. Forward an email to all of your friends and ask them to go to www.water4christmas.com and donate $10 today. We’re skipping Starbucks (skipping Starbucks?) We’re packing a lunch instead of eating out. We’re doing something a little different for today to make a BIG difference in Liberia.

I was told last night that this water deal is hitting people this Christmas. It’s speaking to you all because you were wanting an opportunity to change the tone of Christmas. From horrible stressor to buy the most and best to investing in a future for people we will never know.

Our brothers and sisters. That’s who they are, right? Surely you could find $10 to give to your brother or sister, right? (Shoot, my sister just gave me $10 to fill my gas tank when I was on E and didn’t have my purse).

$10 or $100. We’ll take anything. Believe me, we will. It’s not us, it’s them. It’s not you, it’s them.

We’re in this together, right?

Much love,
TL

This is another video from the elementary out of St. Louis working so hard to raise money for Water for Christmas. They’re over $500 now, which is remarkable and amazing and terrific.

One particular little boy in this video wants people to know he’s part Sioux Indian! 🙂

Thanks Lori!

Go to Jody’s blog to read her passion about clean water!

Jody wrote this on her blog. I’m just copying it because she said it so well I’m not going to try. But I wanted to make those of you who don’t visit her blog aware of it. Aware of the reasons to act and give Water for Christmas now. Here it is. Just one of the many reasons why.

Brandi left a comment this morning bringing to my attention that the Mercy Ships are pulling away from Liberia this week. Leaving a country with 3 million people with 30 doctors.

I spent the first hour of my morning scouring the internet for more information on health care in Liberia.

30 doctors for 3 million people. ( I do believe we have more than that in Muscatine)
And let us consider the urgency and magnitude of Water in light of this.
80% of all illness and disease is due to the lack of clean water.

80%.

If ever there was a time to move fast and furiously to get clean water to the people of Liberia, it is now.

If there ever was a time to give generously, it’s now.

If ever a time to allow Water to permeate your heart and mind, it’s now.

I was overcome this morning with a sense of urgency and resolve.

For three villages so far, we can eradicate 80% of their sickness and disease.
Do you get that?

We can do something.
It seriously makes me weak sometimes.
Our abilities to DO something.

And how much I want people to GET it.

This is Water. This is Life.

Someone said, “” I do not know what it will take for America to move from Apathy, to Sympathy, to Empathy to Action in the crisis here in Africa”

Oh God, let it be now.

Let us move to action today.

Once, while on a writing retreat, I decided to canoe out to a little island in the middle of a lake and spend an afternoon writing there. No sooner had I settled in, though, then the wind shifted. When I stood up and looked behind me, I saw a big storm blowing in from exactly the direction I would need to go to get to shelter. I immediately untied the canoe and began paddling against the wind, but despite all my effort, I could not make it to shore fast enough. When the storm broke, I was still out on the water paddling as hard as I could. “This is nuts,” I finally thought to myself, “Wet is wet. No amount of paddling is going to change this situation now.” And so, rather than continue fighting against the rain, I picked my paddle up, laid it across my lap, closed my eyes, and allowed myself just to be in the storm. Listening to the rain hit the surface of the lake, I was struck by how little it sounded like water—how much, in fact, it sounded like a dry rattle of stones out in the dessert. And that made me think how at the moment, wet to the bone, adrift in a canoe, I was actually sitting in an incredible position of privilege. Not only did I have the leisure to be out on a lake in the middle of an afternoon, the biggest concern I could have with water was getting caught in the rain. I never wanted for enough water to drink or had to worry about whether or not that water was clean. I might be swept to a distant shore by the wind, but my hometown was in no danger of being swept off the map by drought. When I finally did make it back to shelter, I sat down and wrote “Though the Rain has Relinquished Speech,” thinking about how fundamental water is, and how to be human is to be tied to the rain.
~Sarah

!!!!!!!!SPECIAL WFC AUCTION!!!!!!!
Sarah has generously donated a signed, single edition print of “Though the Rain has Relinquished Speech” to be auctioned off in an attempt to raise money and build wells. This poem will be included in her second collection, The Calculus of Owls, which will be published in August of 2009. You’ve heard a preview of Sarah’s work, now bid on on a copy of this precious poem!!

Here’s the fine print:
The bidding will begin NOW over at www.dancingforwater.blogspot.com. It will end Thursday (12/11) evening at 7pmCST. Please leave your bid under the link below the “Sarah G” post labeled “Comments.” Check back throughout the two-day period to participate in this “blog auction.” The bidding will begin at $20. (Remember how we told you that $20 gives one African water for 20 years. Truly, your bid matters!!) If you are unable to check this blog throughout the period of the auction, feel free to send your highest bid to dancingforwater@gmail.com and we will bid on your behalf.

ALL PROCEEDS GO DIRECTLY TO charity: water.

The winner (the highest bidder as of 7pm on Thursday, December 11th), will be asked to send an email to dancingforwater@gmail.com identifying themselves. We will then provide them an address to send their check (made out to charity: global so that it’s tax deductible). The winner should also provide the address to which we will ship the print free of charge.

Now….GO!

Snow/rain/sleet all day today.

My car was more zamboni than car today.

I barely made it to Trysten’s school this morning.

So my favorite husband drove us to my classes this morning. We’ve been home since.

I love snow before Christmas. After Christmas, I wish it’d go and never come back.

That said, I do love having 4 discernible seasons here in Iowa. Yippee midwest.

(You can’t blame us for Illinois’ crazy governor. We’re the better half of the Iowa/Illinois deal). 🙂

I hope you saw on my last blog that we’ve raised over $16,000 during the Water for Christmas “campaign”.

That’s 3 wells.

3 villages.

Hundreds of people.

I love it. But there’s always more work to be done. We know that clean water for everyone is within our generation’s reach. The only way it can be done, however, is to do it together. To walk arm in arm through the negativity, resistance, doubters, naysayers and anyone/thing else that might get in our way.

I know you all are in. I’ve seen your names on our donor list. You are all in and I’m so thankful for that.

For those local folks, be all in more. Let’s literally walk arm in arm and let’s do it at a PARTY!!!

This Sunday (December 14, 2008) from 4-7 PM there will be a party.

Specifically, a silent auction party. You can bid and, with that bid, take a shovel to the Liberian ground and search for water. It’s a pretty cool deal. We’re not done yet, so be there.

4-7 PM at the Geneva Country Club in Muscatine.

It’d be worth the drive, whatever that drive may be for you. Because there will be good people there. Good people who care about clean water.

And really…you know you want to meet them.

So these are my kids in action. They love, love, love to dance. I think all kids do. Dancing, like most things, is all about perspective. What I consider dancing may be barely moving to some and vice versa. What I love about it, though, is that whatever it is, it brings joy to the person doing it and typically the person watching it.

Kids, for me, are the greatest place to seek joy. Even when they let little things get them down, it’s only a matter of minutes before it’s forgotten and life takes over. I constantly seek to be more childlike in that way (among others).

The awesome part about having built 3 wells (total is over $16,000 now) for Water for Christmas is that we know some things have changed for the Liberians getting the wells in their communities.

We’ve saved lives. There will be less rape, less time away from family for children. More time for doing fun things.

Things like singing. And dancing.

So here are my kids, giving their best imitation of how they would feel after a refreshing glass of clean water. I think, with the possible exception of jumping off couches, they’ve gotten pretty close.

Thank you for caring. For not tuning out. For actively choosing a different way to look at the world. The choice you’ve made is more difficult. Ignorance is surely bliss, but the life you’ve CHOSE of your eyes being opened, will be rewarded here and in heaven.

To being more childlike!

Today might have been the most fun we’ve had as a family in awhile. (note: the kids might disagree). It was time for a Christmas tree so we decided to skip church and go Christmas tree hunting. Where did we hunt for this tree?

Well in our own backyard of course! Leslie told me to title this “Going Local” or something, which would be just as fitting. I chose, however, a quote from Chevy Chase’s “Christmas Vacation” because that was more how our day went.

Bundled up the kids,

drove the car back into the woods a bit then hiked the rest of the way up to where the soccer fields usually are (my bootcampers will remember this long jaunt from my boot camp class). We got up there and I spotted a “Christmas” tree right away. We still felt we owed it to the kids to find the best one so Zach and Tariku went on a hike deeper in the woods to be sure.

This is what the other two and myself did:

(She thought she was stuck)

Nothing better in the short time they were away so we went back to the first one we saw (or rather, the only one we saw). And declared it ours. Zach commenced to cutting down with the weakest saw Camp has (we found out once we started cutting).

Trysten was excited about being old enough to hold the saw:

Zach cutting

The boys soon went to “help”, Doozie opted to stay in my arms.

Then we remembered that we had to drag the tree to the car. So I got the 2 cameras and Doozie, Zach got the tree. Next year we might strap the tree to Aristotle (the dog) and let him drag it to the car.

By this time Dailah was saying it was “coldie, coldie” approximately every 30 seconds which was cute to begin with and then became something else altogether. The boys didn’t listen to our sage advice when telling them not to stick their gloved hands in snow or their hands would get cold. After threatening his fingers were falling off, Tariku sprinted down to the car.

When he saw I kept slipping with my fake Ugg boots and various things in arms and hands he said, “Here mommy, hold my hand, I’ll hold you up.” Though sweet, it was totally unrealistic and I knew he’d come down too and probably scream the loudest should the worst happen.

But we made it! Lips were blue, cheeks were red but the car was warm(er). Zach threw the tree on the car and we were off the 300 meters to the house. The tree rolled off once but Zach just threw it back on top and we were good to go. Look how happy they all were!

Zach and the boys stayed out to cut down the tree a bit more and Doozie and I went in to make some hot cocoa. When we were in she kept saying “better” as it was much better in there. But she looks cute warm or cold. See?

The boys soon got too cold as well and left daddy to fend for himself with the tree from the wild. We soon settled down with hot cocoa as the kids wrote their lists to Santa Clause.

After which we ate some not-so-local food (unless the Kraft Mac and Cheese is made here, which I would be thrilled about). After bellies were full and no more threats were being made of frostbite, we tackled the decorating of the tree. Zach and I had a personal laugh about the look of the tree. It’s very rugged, lots of personality. Trysten named it “mohawk” and I think that’s perfect. This is what I saw when Zach told me to come upstairs to see it.

Decided to give it some beautifying before we made any snap judgements. The kids had a great time decorating and Trysten even asked where the Christmas music was when I hadn’t turned it on right away (a boy right after his mommy’s heart). I personally liked how ALL the ornaments were on the bottom 1/3 of the tree, right where we knew Abe (other dog) would sniff at them and fall.

The tree is not quite sturdy so the ornaments were prone to fall off easily. Here are a few of my favorites. This one is from Zach’s now-deceased grandma. It has her picture in it so Trysten put it on the bottom so it could rest easy.

This one is from Zach and my first Christmas as a married couple. We went and bought 2 ornaments. Spent a good time trying to pick ones that would be sentimental and this is what Zach picks. The guy isn’t even a fisher, but he thought he was funny. Unfortunately, I agreed he was and this now decorates our trees forevermore.

My grandma makes ornaments for us every year. If not for her, we’d have NOTHING and I personally LOVE getting them out every year to see our names on them. They are my true favorites. Here is one of my faves, a little angel.

Then it was time for Zach to put the angel on top of the tree. Since the tree was so big, it actually bent at the top. So the angel is instead on the 2nd tier (ish). Good laughs again.

Finally finished, and without a doubt, this tree is my favorite as a family and might be the most memorable for all time.

In fact, we were all so exhausted that we put Dailah in her bed to sleep. About 20 minutes later Zach went downstairs when he heard something and found Dailah had went out of her room in the hallway and couldn’t go a single step more. She fell asleep there.

Hope your day was filled with as much good old fashioned family Christmas as ours!

So I saw this video and it’s exactly what I’ve tried to say since seeing Ethiopia. Watch it, please.

The website at the end of the video looks pretty rad too and a fellow ET adoptive blogger mommy who is pretty rad herself mentions it here if you’re interested.

To make sure you watch the video, here are a few reasons why:

“Africa has taught me that possessions in my hands will never be as valuable as peace in my heart.”

“In places where despair should thrive, I find adults DANCING and singing.”

“Relationships and faith provide joy.”