My daughter is a ballerina.

That may not mean much to many, but when you gave up the dream of having a daughter, and 8000 miles away from home you find her, those things that weren’t possible become so important. There was a senior girl who volunteered to teach the small ones ballet, so for the first time in over 100 years, they had a ballet recital at RVA.

Some things are better in theory. Jo worked so hard to teach them, but it was one of those events where it was important not to make eye contact with anyone else. Many of the girls would just look blankly into the audience until they were shoved to the next place they were supposed to be at. Some would start twirling wherever they stood. One little girl just would walk to the front of the audience and smile at the audience. It didn’t help that Matthew was sitting next to me, and got a severe case of I shouldn’t laugh but I can help it.

No matter: my daughter is a ballerina. No one can ever take that away from me.

I have done lots of traveling lately. The CNN exposure offered some opportunities that I didn’t think I should turn down, but I arrived in NY at 7:30 am after traveling over 28 hours, ran to a hotel, shaved and showered, then ran to a meeting at noon, went back to the hotel, ran to another meeting that started around four and included dinner, and then ran back to the hotel to sleep. The next morning, I went to Michigan for a conference and it went like that for over three weeks.

I discovered something profound that I need to share with everyone:

I am too old to do traveling like that anymore.

I came back tired and sick, and realized the toll it takes not only on me, but more importantly on my family.

There is a weird dichotomy in the Christian life. We are called to excellence, and to give it our all, but at the end of the day, we know that it is all in His hands. Some Christians err on the side of not doing anything, and being presumptive of God’s will. Others feel like they need to do it all, and God becomes an afterthought to their effort.

I want to give it my all, but I’m finally realizing that when I try to make things happen, they don’t. I had an unsolicited opportunity to speak to a foundation, who gave an enormous gift to the feeding program. I worked hard to prepare and submit a paper to one conference, was accepted to speak twice, and the first time my voice was so shot no one could hear me. The second time, I was paired with another speaker who talked the entire time, and I didn’t get to say a word.

He makes the grain grow.

I don’t.

I did get to see JT for a few days at another conference, and it was such a joy. We were together for three days in Phoenix, and we decided to see the new Batman movie opening night at midnight. The next week, I was in Montana on a college tour, and one of the activities was to watch Batman at a drive-in in Butte. The next week, I watched it in Nairobi with Matthew.

There should be a funny punch line here, but it isn’t coming to me.

We have a shot, if a couple things go our way, to have 20 computer centers up by the end of the year. There are some hard issues that have come up lately, and we don’t have any easy answers to deal with them. We covet your prayers. In spite of it all, the centers continue to be built. If kids are going to have a chance to escape poverty, this is the best tool we have.

We were able to purchase the food for the last term of the year. We have added almost 400 students, to a total of 18,370 children who will receive a lunch for the next three months because of your kindness. The cost has gone up again to about 7.23 per student for three months, or up to $2.41 a student per month. The increases have continued, so we are so grateful for your generosity.

I was at a school recently, and they asked me to help with an English lesson. They were constructing sentences, and the exercise went like this:

If I ___________, then I ______________.

One child said:
If I am tickled, then I laugh.
Another said:
If I am happy, then I sing.
But the one that got me was this:
If I am hungry, then I cry.

When I left the school, it occurred to me that was the goal. The end of tears of hunger. That no child goes hungry and every child gets a chance to have a life with opportunity, and the hope of better things for their children.

Our job in life, if we have been lucky enough to be born in the United States, is to protect and defend the weak. When you realize that, you understand you have been given the greatest gift and opportunity you can be given.

The end of tears of hunger. That is a good goal, isn’t it?

Your pal,
Steve