God Bless America

Well, my computer has crashed so my blogging has been put on hold for a while. Then I figured out that maybe I could do it using Jared's laptop. The only problem is that I cannot get the pictures from my camera into this blog. I have tried everything. So this blog is minus some pictures but maybe I can post them later.

Every February we have a February dinner in honor of all that happens this month. We have a special menu which is as follows:

Heart Salad

Love Potion

Groundhog loaf (Meatloaf)

Delaware Potato Boats (in honor of George Washington's birthday)

Lincoln pennies (carrot slices in honor of Lincoln's birthday)

Brick oven rolls (remembering the log cabin that Lincoln lived in)

Cherry Cheesecake (in honor of Washington's honesty)

Banana Cream Pie (in honor of our freedom to choose to not like Cherry Cheesecake)

I also made a fun little wreath for the door with odds and ends I found in my craft room. This time we invited a woman from David's work, Ann Marie. She even got to sign our special table cloth. I try to have anybody who comes for dinner sign it with a washable pen and then I embroider their signature into it.

Anyway, she returned recently from a trip to Afghanistan where she worked with women who are in prison. We thought it would be good for the kids to learn a little bit about that part of the world, especially since Uncle Micah is now over there. She showed us a lot of pictures and told us what things are like over there.

The legal system in Afghanistan doesn't really work in favor of the women. A woman can be convicted if any man accuses her of a crime regardless of whether there is any evidence or not. A man, on the other hand, can only be convicted of a crime if there are at least 4 witnesses who testify against him.

Generally the women who go to prison take their children with them because there is nobody else to care for them. So she showed pictures of the prisons full of little children. Some of the women are in there for really strange things.... one woman is in prison because her father stole something and they weren't able to find him so she was sent to prison in his place. One woman's husband committed suicide so she was sent to prison for not stopping him. One woman was in because she was convicted of kidnapping. She has no idea who she was supposed to have even kidnapped.

I asked Ann Marie what she was doing to help. Could they change the legal system? She said not really so they are working on training the women and then assisting them once they get out of prison because they are shunned from their homes and villages if they have been in prison. It's very difficult to survive on their own in that type of society so Ann Marie was there with another lady who is trying to help them survive once they are out.

I also asked her if the people there like the Americans. She said that all the educated people love America and are so glad we are there but the uneducated are superstitious and don't like the Americans. In fact, she said that one village received all sorts of clothing and medical supplies from a charity in America and the head guy told everyone in the village that it was evil and would kill them so they burned it all up. Yet, in some areas, they truly welcome American aid. It was fascinating. The kids seemed quite amazed that it was such a different place as far as freedom goes. It's hard to imagine that every place isn't like here. God Bless America!!!