3 things you can do to combat sex slavery

Watching the movie Nefarious: Merchant of Souls reduced me to a blubbering mess.  

It is not a feel good movie.  Not the kind where you sit with a bowl of popcorn, feet up on the couch, and kick back waiting to be entertained.  It is the kind that confronts you with the facts of modern day slavery.   Sex slavery to be specific.

This movie covers everything from initial recruitment to victim liberation.  I learned that trafficking is based on an exploitation of vulnerability.  I learned that in a place like Cambodia you can buy a beer for $4, a bunch of grapes for $5 and a girl for $3 and charge it all to your credit card.  I learned that even in a place where prostitution is legal there are still girls in brothels that have been sold into that lifestyle by their parents.

As we watched I was reminded that all around the world there are women and children being abused, neglected and exploited.   And they need our prayers.  They need advocates brave enough to intervene.  Education and money alone will not stop evil from advancing in this world.  

There is only one Power great enough to overcome evil...let us turn to Him!  

The goal of the Child Development Foundation, the organization we work with,  is to eradicate the commercial sexual exploitation of children here in Belize.  Each week we meet for prayer.  We pray over the different awareness programs we have scheduled, we pray for the counseling clients we see, we pray for the victims of abuse and exploitation, we pray for each other to have the strength and endurance to keep on working.  We pray for the funding we need to keep creating awareness throughout the country and the monies needed to build a safe house here in Belize.  This movie was hard for me to watch but it also showed me that CDF is on the right track in fighting this evil.     

And according to the movie there are some things each of us can do to help fight this battle:

Please join us in prayer for the victims,  pray about what you can do to promote awareness about this issue wherever you are, and pray about becoming a partner with us in this effort.

behind the veil of the sex industry...

The first film in the Nefarious Documentary Trilogy comes out on DVD May 1st... help spread the word!

Synopsis 

“Modern slavery.” It sounds like a paradox. Hasn’t humanity progressed? Didn’t we leave slavery dead on the battlefields of the American Civil War? Didn’t social reformers like Lincoln and Wilberforce legislate against such cruelty over a hundred years ago? So we had thought. But, with over 27 million enslaved people in the world, human trafficking is once again the battlefront of the century.

Regardless of nationality, victims are systematically stripped of their identity, battered into gruesome submission, and made to perform humiliating sexual acts on up to 40 strangers every night. Most are held in dingy apartments and brothels, forced to take heavy doses of illegal drugs, and monitored very closely. Victims are often thrown into such ghastly oppression at 13 years old. Some are abducted outright, while others are lured out of poverty, romantically seduced, or sold by their families.

Nefarious, Merchant of Souls, is a hard-hitting documentary that exposes the disturbing trends in modern sex slavery. From the very first scene, Nefarious ushers you into the nightmare of sex slavery that hundreds of thousands experience daily. You’ll see where slaves are sold (often in developed, affluent countries), where they work, and where they are confined. You’ll hear first-hand interviews with real victims and traffickers, along with expert analysis from international humanitarian leaders.

From initial recruitment to victim liberation—and everything in between—the previously veiled underworld of sex slavery is uncovered in the groundbreaking, tell-all Nefarious, Merchant of Souls.

Thanksgiving in Belize

Yesterday we took the day off from the counseling office and had a quiet day at home.  

We ate at The Wing Stop just like last year.

Spencer and Tom had the Spicy Mango wings and I feasted on Lemon Pepper flavored wings.

We also watched Source Code and Red Riding Hood to keep up our movie watching tradition on holidays.  

Today we are sharing a traditional Thanksgiving meal out at the Baptist Training Center in Camolote with other expats and missionaries in the area.  Since Thanksgiving is not a holiday here in Belize many people had to work yesterday and children had to attend school.  A Friday dinner just seemed to be the best time to get everyone together.

Enjoy your holiday weekend...I know we plan to enjoy ours!!

1 Chronicles 16:34

Weekend Update

We are headed to Belize City for a day of doing nothing!  We plan to eat lunch, catch a movie and just chill.

Peace, everyone and have a great weekend!

Percy Jackson

We saw Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief with a group of friends this past weekend. Not having read the book I asked the 11 year old what the movie was about. She gave me a quick synopsis and I prepared myself to see young Percy Jackson go on an adventure!

It is always fun to see movies in the theater here with a large group of people... even if you don't catch every single word of the Russian you get the point of what is going on. One of the jokes was not lost on us Americans. There is a quip about going Tennessee and the type of music they play there. The loudest laughter came from our row!

Beignets... inspired by The Princess and the Frog

If you have seen the movie then you know that in the cafe scene this treat is one of the dishes featured when we see Tiana at work.

The French word Beignet (ben-yay) means 'fried dough'. After researching recipes from New Orleans, reading about the history of the beignet on line, I started experimenting and came up with a recipe that my two trusty taste testers approved of!


Alida's Russian Beignets
1/2 cup water
2 Tbl sugar
1/4 butter
3/4 cup flour
Dash of salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
Oil
Powdered Sugar

To make the choux:
Combine water, sugar, butter and salt in saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring while the butter melts. Turn down heat and add flour all at once, stirring until the mixture forms a ball. Turn off heat.

After making the choux: Add vanilla and eggs one at a time, whipping vigorously with wire whisk, until mixture is smooth and shiny. Let sit in fridge for a bit to cool.

Drop by rounded teaspoons into hot oil. Fry a few beignets at a time until they are golden brown. Keep a watch on the temp of the oil so as not to cook too fast or burn the beignets.

Remove them with a slotted spoon and let drain on paper towels. Makes aprox. 2 1/2 dozen.


Tom and Spencer enjoyed this batch the best and we all think they taste like the Russian doughnuts that we love called 'ponchiki'.

Bon Appetite!!!

Taras Bulba

Tom and I went out to see this movie yesterday with some friends of ours. The movie was based on a short story written by Nikolay Gogol and put out just in time for the 200th anniversary of this great Ukrainian-Russian writer. Set in the 16th century it is a semi-historical tale of patriotism, bravery, love and betrayal. The movie is centered around the mighty Cossack Taras Bulba and his two sons, Andrey and Ostap.

This is such a well made film and it holds your attention the entire way through. The battle scenes are explicit... lots of blood and guts that I tried to shield my eyes from!

I do admire the Cossacks. They were depicted as having great faith, living life to the fullest and never backing down from a fight for what they believed in.

calling Dr Seuss fans!

if you like Dr. Seuss then go see this movie... we did and we loved it!!















Tom and I felt that it was very close to the book and the computer animation was very close to the Dr. Seuss drawings. We would really like to see it in English but it was nice to be in a foreign country and watch something that provided good memories from childhood and be comforted... even though it was not in our native language.

Letters From Iwo Jima

The Island of Iwo Jima was located between the American armed forces and the mainland of Japan. General Kuribayashi and the young soldier, Saigo, stand tall and face the battle with courage, strength and dignity. I don't normally enjoy war movies but this one was well worth watching!

Prayer request:

Both Tom and Spencer are sick... Tom has not gotten out much this week. He felt good while the guys were here watching the football game on Monday but after that he took a turn for the worse. I made soup and we have lots of orange juice so he is being taken care of!

stocking up!

Friday July 27, 2007

Today was grocery day! We had nothing left in the apartment. When we were finished with our shopping we had more than we could carry comfortably so Spencer asked if we could take a taxi home. Carrying groceries home on the bus is not my idea of excitement so we hailed a taxi!

The most exciting item we brought home from the supermarket is... tortillas! We don't normally find them in the store so I grabbed them up along with some avocados. I didn't get any meat for tacos, we will have to find that tomorrow.

Spencer got up early this morning and went over to the school to drop off our passports with Tania so that we could get registered here in Krasnodar. You have to be registered within three days of entering the country and each time you change cities you have to register in the new city. We registered in Moscow and now here in Krasnodar.

We topped off the day with a movie. We watched Premonition with Sandra Bullock. It was different. It takes a while to understand what is going on. Spencer thought it moved too slow. Tomorrow we will watch Astronaut Farmer with Billy Bob Thornton... we keep hearing great things about that one.

Both of us are still feeling jet lag. Hopefully, by next week we will both be at full speed!

Transformers!

Friday July 6, 2007




We went out to see this movie last night. Nathan and Spencer really enjoyed it. They both remember the toys and the cartoon from their childhoods. It was surreal to see them so nostalgic for something that seems like "only yesterday" to their dad and me!

Tom's sister Liz went with us and she sat near Spencer and pointed out to him that former president Gerald Ford's son Steven was in the movie... neither Tom nor I picked up on that.

As I watched all the action of the robots, cars, military personnel, computer experts and alien specialists from Sector 7, I could not help but think of all of the past and current transformations in our lives.

Nathan no longer living with our family, Spencer being the only child (almost adult) left at home, Tom and I preparing for life after raising kids. We are transforming into a different kind of family. One that will involve long distances and adult children.

Weren't they just born yesterday?

How did we time travel from being 27 with a three year old and a newborn to being 44 with kids who are no longer kids?

Life happens, transformation is a part of that. If someone would have told Tom and I when we married twenty-five years ago that one day we would be living in Russia and learning Russian in our forties, we both would have laughed so hard at them our sides would have ached.

Yet, here we are... eager to get back to Russia, worried that we will have forgotten basic words during our time away, curious to learn about transformations that have taken place in our absence.

What transformations has life brought your way?

What would you pay for a good cry?

Monday was movie day. The guys went to see Shooter and the gals went to see Bridge to Terabithia.

Bridge to Terabithia was about the power of children's friendships and how they transform our lives... when you are going through your awkward phase alone it is much more difficult than if you have a friend to share that struggle with. Friends can make life bearable. Friends can make life fun. My childhood friend succumbed to breast cancer last year. Margaret was one of those friends who changes who you are and I am grateful for her influence in my life.

Sitting in a chilly movie theatre on a Monday afternoon with a wriggling mass of small children it was hard to tell if this was going to be an enjoyable experience whether the movie was any good or not. Mondays at the dollar theatre all you pay is 50 cents. No wonder the place was jumping with little ones. Fortunately, the movie was a good one and the children were well behaved.

By the end of the movie many of us were so touched by the action on the screen it lead to tears. So what was the price of a good cry? You already know... only 50 cents!

Captain Jack is Back!

Are you going to see Captain Jack? We are! We used Fandango.com to purchase our tickets early. We didn't want to take a chance on the movie being sold out! So if you are wondering about us at 11:35 am on Friday... just know that we will be sitting in a movie theatre waiting to get through all the previews to see Pirates of the Caribbean at World's End!

Spider Man 3

Nathan, Spencer and I went to see this yesterday and we enjoyed it a great deal. However, our trip out of the parking garage was not so enjoyable.

We had to take the stairs since the elevator was out of order. We came down behind a group of teens smoking marijuana. I hate that smell! I said this aloud so they would hear. The guy whose turn it was with the joint stepped out of the way so we could pass the group by. I guess I should be grateful for his manners?! It is amazing what some people will do in public.

pursuing happyness

Ok, so I remember when a friend posted to her blog back in January using the title "The Pursuit of Happiness" it made me want to go see the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness". At the time we were still in Russia so I thought I would have to wait for the DVD.

I even sat through the Oscars with our family after we got back to the states and had those thoughts again after seeing Will Smith and his son Jaden. On Wednesday Spencer, Hailey, Tyler, Kim, Paul and I went out to actually see it! Tom stayed home to watch the basketball game on TV.

I enjoyed the movie... I teared up several times. It was inspiring to me that Rich Gardner was able to make his dreams a reality. I am a sucker for a rags to riches story!

Tomorrow is the big reward day in Dallas for the boys... they are going to a mall and to the movies. I am proud of Spencer for working so hard even though he didn't have too. He's on vacation!

I had a short chat with our oldest son Nathan tonight via email, he has actually done some driving and it went well. I am sure he will be happy for us to return the car so he can get in more driving time. We are heading back on Saturday. And of course I am proud of him too!

at night at the movies

We took the kids to the movies last night and they all enjoyed seeing Night At the Museum. It was fun to hear them laugh. I am not a Ben Stiller fan so I didn't enjoy it as much as everyone else did. I did like Robin Williams... he is one of my favorites.

Spencer gave me not one but two e-cards for Women's Day so he scored major points!

The Ultimate Blog Party is winding down but I truly do appreciate everyone who was able to stop by. I noticed that there are over 900 blogs listed on the party site and I know I have not made it to most of them yet!

I am writing this early because we have a big day and night planned for tomorrow. Two of the kids are skipping school to spend the day with us and we have Celebrate Recovery to attend! <== Click on the highlighted words and go to the ministry link when you get there!

simple joys

Spencer and I went out today to pick up new internet cards and bus passes for the month. Our time went very smoothly. At the bus depot we were able to get off the bus, purchase the passes and get back on the same bus before it pulled off again.

We got off on Krasnaya and then walked down to the UTK building to buy the new internet cards. It was lightly misting out as we were walking. Once we picked up the internet cards we continued on down Krasnaya to a video store where we found two new movies. The Wild and X Men 3. The guys have been wanting to see X Men 3 for quite sometime so that was a major find.

Spencer and I walked about 8 blocks to the next bus stop and were a little frustrasted to have seen the bus we needed pass us on the way. The bus we ended up taking was only going as far as the depot so we had to change buses to get all the way home. The bus change was the highlight of Spencer's day. He has been saying for the last three months or so that he wanted to ride one of the new buses and today he got his wish. He sat down next to me with a great big smile. I had not seen him that excited for awhile. Simple joy....riding a new bus!

long day

We had a Social Ministries Team meeting and then a meeting at the BLTC following that.

We came home in the dark, both of us (Tom and I) tired and hungry. I made dinner and some pumpkin cookies for dessert and then we decided to watch a movie.

We watched Reds... http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/reds/about.php although it has good reviews it is one of the most boring movies I have ever seen. Spencer said it was THE MOST boring for him. He went over to Judi B's today with Sonja to watch part of the marathon Judi was doing with the Lord Of the Rings trilogy. He says he only stayed about 4 hours and just saw one of the 3 movies! Nathan didn't go because he did his LOTR movies over the weekend!

We have snow on the ground and it is cold outside and in. We are wearing light jackets or sweaters in the apartment. Transportation here is slow. This morning we took a taxi over to the meeting at Tim and Joy's so that we would not be too late. Our taxi driver got confused and took us a little too far. I recognised we were going the wrong way and he apologised and only charge us the minimum fee for the ride. Which was a blessing because when the weather gets bad they will charge extra for using up gas for the heater!

Merry Christmas!

The guys say that today has been fun. We got up and went out to Krasnaya Ploshad (our mall) to shop for Christmas presents and for our movie for the day.

Tom came home with a new electric razor and some music CD's.
Nathan had new head phones, movies and some music too.
Spencer has new music.

I will have to go shopping another day because they don't sell yarn at the mall. I will be purchasing some cashmere to make a sweater.


Our family movie was.... Serenity. http://www.serenitymovie.com/ After watching the series on DVD we had to get the movie to answer all the questions we had from the series. The movie is action packed and did not disappoint!

We had dinner at McDonald's and everyone was stuffed to the gills and there was nothing to clean up afterwards.

It is very different celebrating in a country where Dec 25th is not Christmas. There has been nothing on TV, no celebrations and all businesses were open.

Orthodox Christmas is January 7th. You can read more about how Russians celebrate here:
http://russian-crafts.com/customs/christmas.html



So far all of you who do celebrate today... Have a wonderful Christmas!

Holiday Fun

Last night we were with the Watson family. Nathan, Spencer and I went over for dessert and to watch A Christmas Story. Seeing how Joy decorated for Christmas made us feel very festive. And it was like Christmas is "actually real" for someone other than us. Everywhere else we go we realise that the decorations are for New Year's (including the trees) and not for Christmas.

However, seeing an American home decorated for the holiday actually reminded us that we are not the only ones celebrating on the 25th.

Tom joined us after his AA meeting and then we all came home together. Tom and I stayed up way too late and missed out on the church serivce this morning.

I think I was in a funk and really didn't want to go and that is why I didn't set my alarm. This is our last Christmas with Nathan at home. Tom says that I have already started to grieve and that is healthy. We do want to send him off in a healthy way. And it is also important that I acknowledge how I feel about losing him. The only consolation is knowing that he is going to be with Mom and Dad.

Alexei and Lena stopped by to wish us a Merry Christmas. After that Olya came over with her friend Luda (as in Ludmilla)and her two teenage girls. Anya is 13 and Nastia is 14. They are studying English and wanted to practice. We asked and answered questions in a mixture of Russian and English for a few hours. We had to remember to speak slow so that they could understand us when we spoke English. We drank tea and ate a cake that they brought over as a hostess gift. Thirteen year old Anya likes to write and has written some fairy tales. While 14 year old Nastia likes cars and wants to be a designer. Luda is currently studying to be a psychologist so she had questions for Tom as well.

Both the girls and Olya were suprised that I knew who Dima Bilan is (a singer who came in second in Eurovision). I was watching the night he won and have heard his song on the radio and on TV since then.

After everyone was gone we were pretty tired. We decided to order pizza and watch some movies. We checked out the delivery menu for our favorite pizza place and decided to try some new things. We ordered:
barbecue beef pizza
salmon pizza
assorted meat pizza
chicken pizza

The barbecue pizza was more like a chopped steak pizza. The salmon pizza was salmon, green beans and cheese. The chicken pizza was chicken, cheese and olives. Tom was not real thrilled with the salmon pizza even though he is a big salmon fan... just not on pizza!

It is just after midnight and Spencer is already in bed while Tom and Nathan are watching the 3rd Lord Of The Rings movie. This is Tom's first time seeing it!