Seven Quick Takes: My Random Sick Thoughts

~~ 1 ~~

I am sick, and I do not respond well to decongestants. This morning, I've already caught myself mixing up who's and whose and thinking that $456 + $4 = $500. So be warned, and be charitable. :p

~~ 2 ~~

If I were a better person, I would write a post about how my sickness is nothing compared to the suffering of waiting orphans, or the grief of families who have lost children, or something like that. But I'm me, so I'm just going to say boy, do I hate being sick.

~~ 3 ~~

Aisha made it over her $1000 goal! Thanks so much to everyone who contributed! If you still want to contribute, you can do so, or you can pick one of the many children who are still far away from their goal. Donations can be made here. (Speaking of which, there's currently a bump match--for every child that gets bumped over $500, one child will get bumped over $1000, up to a total of $3000 donated.)

~~ 4 ~~

Still looking for Christmas presents? Look at Sevenly.org. They choose a different charity every week and sell clothing. $7 of every item sold goes to the chosen charity. This week's charity is Reece's Rainbow! The goal is to reach $25,000 raised by December 24th. The shirts are pretty cool-looking--I'd buy one if I weren't broke.

~~ 5 ~~

I am home for Christmas, and it is good to be home. I have almost all my Christmas presents bought and wrapped.

~~ 6 ~~

Speaking of presents, I stupidly left half the supplies I need to finish K's Christmas present in my dorm. Oh well. I will have at least a week to finish in between getting back to school and seeing him.

~~ 7 ~~

Please pray that Russia does not finalize the ban on international adoption that they are working on passing right now. This would be devastating to so many people, most of all the orphans.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Book review: Brief Light

An embarrassingly long time ago, I told my internet friend Sally Thomas that I would trade a review of her new book for a free copy of it. (Do I have to put in some kind of legal disclaimer here? She did not pay me, but I get to keep the book. Unless she doesn't like this review, in which case she can ask for it back! Just kidding, she didn't say that.) The book is called Brief Light: Sonnets and Other Small Poems and you can buy it right here.

I warned her, and I'll warn you, that I don't really know anything about poetry. I can more or less check if something scans, and I can tell you whether or not I like something, but that's about it. Nor do I really know what a proper poetry review consists of.

Disclaimers over. I really liked this book. The first poem, "Choice," literally took my breath away. There were other poems like that, to which I had an immediate emotional reaction. (These were mostly the ones about kids. Or death. Not sure what that says about me.) Others I had to read a couple times to understand. And there are also some that, to be honest, I feel like I just didn't "get". This is a problem that I always have with poetry (and certain kinds of prose too). I have trouble getting past literal meanings. But I found Brief Light to be--I don't want it to sound like I think it's shallow, because that is NOT what I'm trying to say at all. But it did seem more accessible to me than a lot of the modern poetry I've read. Very few of the poems left me with that "What the heck was that about?" feeling.

So I recommend this book, even if you aren't much of a poetry person (I tend to like the kind of poetry whose meter is so strong you can bounce up and down to its rhythm, with a very predictable rhyme scheme, and this is not that kind of poetry). It is very cheap (less than $7.00) and has some very moving poems. It's definitely a book I want to keep and come back to.

Teamwork Tuesday: Carter

I haven't been doing my Teamwork Tuesday posts recently....I am sorry! Unfortunately this will have to be a short one because I have a paper to write.

Little Carter is five years old. He has Down syndrome and needs a family now. His profile says that he is "strong and attentive" and that he shows perseverance. He is learning to feed himself and can pull himself to standing. These are all behaviors that he will lose when he gets transferred to the mental institution. Someone needs to save him from that fate!

Carter is on the angel tree this year. His warrior, Kristi, has a giveaway for him. The top prize is a Samsung Galaxy tablet! Click here to see the rest of the prizes and enter! Please pray for him and donate if you are able.