Love Story, Love146 Our name is her story

In 2002, the co-founders of Love 146 travelled to South East Asia on an exploratory trip to determine how they could serve in the fight against child sex trafficking. In one experience, a couple of our co-founders were taken undercover with investigators to a brothel, where they witnessed children being sold for sex. This was their experience. This is the story that changed our lives.


"We found ourselves standing shoulder to shoulder with predators in a small room, looking at little girls through a pane of glass. All of the girls wore red dresses with a number pinned to their dress for identification. They sat, blankly watching cartoons on TV. They were vacant, shells of what a child should be. There was no light in their eyes, no life left. Their light had been taken from them. These children...raped each night... seven, ten, fifteen times every night. They were so young. Thirteen, eleven… it was hard to tell. Sorrow covered their faces with nothingness. Except one girl. One girl who wouldn’t watch the cartoons. Her number was 146. She was looking beyond the glass. She was staring out at us, with a piercing gaze. There was still fight left in her eyes. There was still life left in this girl...

"...All of these emotions begin to wreck you. Break you. It is agony. It is aching. It is grief. It is sorrow. The reaction is intuitive, instinctive. It is visceral. It releases a wailing cry inside of you. It elicits gut-level indignation. It is unbearable. I remember wanting to break through the glass. To take her away from that place. To scoop up as many of them as I could into my arms. To take all of them away. I wanted to break through the glass to tell her to keep fighting. To not give up. To tell her that we were coming for her…"

“Because we went in as part of an ongoing, undercover investigation on this particular brothel, we were unable to immediately respond. Evidence had to be collected in order to bring about a raid, and eventually justice on those running the brothel. It is an immensely difficult problem when an immediate response cannot address an emergency. Some time later, there was a raid on this brothel and children were rescued. But the girl who wore #146 was no longer there. We do not know what happened to her, but we will never forget her. She changed the course of all of our lives." -Rob Morris, President and Co-founder

We have taken her number so that we remember why this all started. So that we must tell her story. It is a number that was pinned to one girl, but that represents the millions enslaved. We wear her number with honor, with sorrow, and with a growing hope. Her story can be a different one for so many more.

http://love146.org/love-story

Love is...

I woke up thinking about the passage in 1 Corinthians 13...


Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (NIV)


Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. t does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (NLT)


Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies. (The Message)


I'm challenged this morning because I don't feel very loving, nor do my relationships. Thankfully I'm a work in progress and so are the people in my life.

I desperately need to find some beauty today, I need room for my soul. I hope you find some too.

Ciao.

Top 5 things I miss about having Jade home

This is for you, honey, in case you forget, now you'll have it in writing. =)

1. I miss having you to watch TV with, no one else cares about Top Chef or Housewives.

2. I miss having you ask how my day was and actually listening to what I have to say.

3. I miss you being my biggest fan when it comes to culinary adventures/experiments, you like 95% of what I make. The others here, not so much.

4. I miss having an errand buddy.

5. I miss having you say, "come here, I wanna hug".

Recipe of the week: Tomato & Avocado Salad

The first time I had this salad was 10 years ago when my Aunt was visiting for my sister's wedding, I've been making it ever since, with a few twists. Sometimes I use kalmata olives instead of black olives and sometimes I add a little feta cheese on the top. (I made it last night with tomatoes out of my garden and it was wonderful!) As always, play with it and find out what you like. Let me know what you think. A Votre Sante!

4-5 large tomatoes diced
3-4 avocados cut into small chunks
1-2 can(s) black olives cut in half
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Add the tomatoes and olives in a medium to large bowl, drizzle with olive oil gently fold in the avocado. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve right away so the avocados don't brown.

Settling In

I write this today sitting in Mammoth Lakes, CA. It's so beautiful in this part of the state! See for yourself at http://www.mammothweb.com/index.cfm I really needed this for my soul, unfortunately I haven't been able to unplug as much as I had hoped, there's been lots to do for my uncle's memorial service this evening. I have been out for a walk and a run and today we're going to the top of the ski area

It's been a week since I moved Jade into her dorm at LMU, moving day I was a disaster, on more levels that one. Day 2 was better, they had welcome stuff for the parents and a wonderful Mass at 5:00 pm. I really love the Jesuits, if I could find a church like that near me, I think I'd go quite often. It was an emotional service, I felt really settled and very good about where she's at. I miss her like crazy but I'm adjusting to a new normal. Thank God for technology! Texting, cell calls and FB chat are keeping us connected!

Something I realized is that we went from having 3 kids at home to two, there was a time when we only had 2. Then, when Christian goes to college, we'll only have 1 at home and there was a time when we only had one....what a strange paradox. Then it will be just the two of us...like before kids. I guess that's when we've really worked ourselves out of a job.

I'm heading out for a walk, to just enjoy the majesty of the mountains. I'm finding beauty, I hope you are too.

Ciao