Snow days & preschoolers

I had the best yard on the block this morning. Most of the other yards had pristine, fresh blankets of white snow. Mine did not.

This morning I was supposed to get up early and head to a very important meeting. It was the kick-off meeting for a new year with Urban Hope Academy, and we had some important guests lined up to come learn more about partnering with us in the vision.

But yesterday, it snowed. And snowed. And snowed. And instead of preparing the rest of my meeting notes last night, I helped prepare my preschool-aged son to go out and play in the snow. Which he did with reckless abandon until nightfall.

So this morning, while all the other yards looked so clean, mine was a minefield of footprints, snow angels, Tonka tracks, and splattered snowballs. Theirs looked pretty, but mine looked like it had been thoroughly enjoyed.

Sigh. I thought I had one plan this weekend, but God had another. Lord willing, we will regroup for the Partnership Meeting next Saturday. But this weekend's unusual snowfall was an opportunity to relive the joys of viewing life through the eyes of a 4-year-old.

Welcome! But there's a problem . . .

I had a surreal experience a few weeks ago. While at home seeking to pass the time during the early stages of labor, I decided to follow up on a news story I'd heard that morning. I found myself surfing the internet to see if the model number of the "gently used" crib in the new nursery matched one on the list of cribs being recalled for a dangerous, potentially lethal, design flaw. Alas, it did.

The irony of the situation struck me. Here I was literally hours from welcoming a precious new person into the world - one that God was entrusting to me - and I was about to put her into a hazardous position.

A few years ago, the Children's Defense Fund launched a campaign aimed at what it calls America's "Cradle to Prison Pipeline" for poor children children of color - especially boys. (www.childrensdefense.org/helping-americas-children/cradle-to-prison-pipeline-campaign/) This campaign supports programs and policies which advance the healthy development and education of children. The problems of children growing up in poverty are not new, but CDF's shocking verbiage of babies being funneled toward imprisonment because of the circumstances of their birth is chilling. What if my baby was doomed before she ever got here?

Fortunately, my husband is the resourceful do-it-yourself type, so the crib was repaired by the time baby and I came home from the hospital. But it did make me think about all the children in this city that God is entrusting to us, His Church, who are headed for danger unless we intervene.

So I begin 2010 with a new metaphor for what Urban Hope Academy. Every time I look at that crib and think about what could have been, I need to say a quick prayer that God will allow us to create a safe haven for more of his precious little ones.