A Mother's Nightmare

I read this through "Life with Hannah & Lily" whom I've had a link to on my sidebar here for several years now. I am passing along this story in the hope that someone, somewhere can help this poor mother who is suffering the hell of having her own beautiful son be kidnapped by his father to another country. I cannot imagine it. I do not want to. I can only pray for this mother & her son to be reunited quickly. Look at the picture...that's Sara & her son. Please, if you know anyone who might know anyone who can help, please take a moment to pass this story on as well, thanks.
I have pasted this from the original post at Bailey's Leaf.


A friend of all of us at the gallery, Sara, is in the fight of her life to have her son returned to her. Her son was born in January 2008 in State College, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a U.S. citizen.

From the "Bring Abdullah Home" flier:


Abdullah Eli is a victim of Parental Child Abduction.

Abdullah Eli has been "deceptively removed from Ohio on March 4, 2010. [The father] deceived [Sara] into providing consent to travel outside of the United States on the written promise that Abdullah would be returned to his home in Ohio on May 4, 2010. Abdullah is known to be unlawfully and wrongfully retained in the home of his paternal grandparents in . . . Turkey."

"Sara is now fighting for emergency custody of Abdullah through Ohio courts, and is filing an application with the U.S. State Department for the return of her son through the Hague Abduction Convention, which is the primary civil law mechanism for parents seeking the return of children from other treaty partner countries. Additionally, Sara is fighting to have overturned the hasty and unlawful custody ruling which granted [the father] full custody of Abdullah on March 19, 2010- only 13 days after [their] arrival in Turkey."

Sara is reaching out to everyone who might be able to help bring Abdullah back home. If you or anyone you know are well-versed in situations such as these, please feel free to contact her at saradwrds at g mail dot com.

Please feel free to pull the permalink and to post to your page(s). The more that people hear of Sara's story, the more links we can have to people who may be able to help.

True Star Quality

Last night were the Academy Awards. I can usually take them or leave them (leaving them more often than not). I DO enjoying seeing what people are wearing, of course, as well as the awards for Best Makeup and Best Costuming. And last night Colin Firth was up for Best Actor (which he SO should have won!) so I tuned in. Sandra Bullock won for Best Actress. She's ok. I don't jump at the chance to see her movies, but they are usually pretty decent.

But last night she earned some big brownie points with me thanks to her acceptance speech. It was charming, funny, and sincere (unlike so many others who seems highly contrived). Most of all, she thanked moms. ALL moms, but indirectly those moms who have adopted children. As someone with one of those moms, I'm grateful & lucky.

She honored "all moms that take care of the babies and children, no matter where they come from". And her own mother for "reminding her own daughter's there's no race, no religion, no color, nothing, no sexual orientation, that makes us better than anyone else. We are all deserving of love."

You're a true star, Sandra!

Boys are Dumb

Yesterday I had to experience something new, and I'm not pleased about it.

When you go through a break up its painful & you can yell & scream. When a friend goes through a break up you feel their pain & let them yell & scream and offer some jokes & gin. But when your 14-year-old daughter has to experience her first break up you want to hold her tight and keep her from growing up anymore so she never has to experience it ever again.

Her "perfect" boyfriend (I say that because up until now I thought he was, and always said I couldn't have handpicked a better boyfriend for her) broke up with her...and in typical dumb boy timing...2 days before their one year anniversary of dating. (At least now she doesn't have to get him a gift, right?) Now, you must understand that only the day before he was saying how he was going to take her out to dinner & a movie. (GRRRR, says mama lion protecting her cub.) He wants to stay friends, and amazingly so does she. So why do I want her to yell & scream & make HIM feel bad? (Personally I think her best revenge is making everyone like her at school and do really great in all her classes so everyone talks about her and he realizes he dumped a great girl. )

So I did what a mama could do and declared "Girls Night!" and made Paul stay home with the little ones while I took the kidlet out to see "Mama Mia!" (the perfect mother-daughter movie, by the by...wonderful & hilarious & you can't help but sing along) and then out for extra large ice cream treats. I think she felt better by the end of the night.

I just hate that some boy hurt my baby, ya know? Boys are dumb.

May the Bastards Rot in Hell

So, the upset of the holidays...

The kidlet turned 14 a few days before Christmas. She went to Michigan to visit her dad & extended family. Had a great celebration for both birthday and Christmas...and raked in a load, let me tell you...almost $400 in gift cards & another $170 in cash. So, like any teen, immediately hit the after Christmas sales with her dad.


And promptly had her purse stolen by some bastard at Great Lakes Crossing shopping mall.

I hope this bastard grinch who had the nerve to steal someone's purse during the holidays, let alone a kid's purse gets the serious karma coming to him/her! I hope he/she rots in hell. Seriously, I do. How can you do something so pathetic?

Needless to say, the kidlet is still upset about it. Rightfully so, her birthday AND Christmas were just stolen from her!!

I hate people.

Tron to Bot!

This is too Cool!

Are you crafty? Do you like to shop? Do you like getting surprises? I am. I do. I love to!
That's why I was thrilled to stumble across SWAP-BOT! This site just seems to cool for words...but I'll try to explain. Basically you sign up (Free!) and you join a swap, you send stuff to a stranger, someone sends you things. Simple, right?
Ok...let's try this again. For example I signed up for the stationary swap. I will be given an international partner to whom I will send a brand new stationary set (I will look at their profile to see what kind of things he/she likes). Likewise, said partner will send me stationary. We've swapped! There are all sorts of categories for different swaps (I'm sticking with some rather simple ones first) from sharing art work to cooking tools or recipes to purses filled with goodies! It's free, it's fun, and the best part is you get a surprise in return. I love that!!

Shop & Save a Life

Today begins the start of a wonderful new opportunity for you to be charitable while doing your shopping. Parent Bloggers is giving everyone the kick to raise money for their favourite charity in the most ingenious way...by doing what we all love...shopping. "So what does that mean, Kimba," you ask. It's sooo simple. Following this link, shop online with any of the retailers on the site's pull down menu (you'll be surprised to find many of the big name sites on there -- Disney Store, Hallmark, Linens 'n Things, etc.) and I've set it up to that 50%...yes, 50% of the proceeds go to the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.

Multiple Sclerosis is an often misunderstood disease because not only does it affect every person with it differently, science still hasnt' determined exactly the cause yet. As a result, funding is often minimal to the research for a cure. Insurance companies & Medicaid won't always cover the care & treatment of individual's with MS. That's why any funds that can go to finding a cure are so important.

You see, my mother suffers from MS. Besides being a wonderful mom to me & my many siblings, mom used to be a professional figure skater & an award winning dancer. She was full of life & vitality. A petite blonde with a pixie haircut, I don't think I ever saw my mother wear anything but spikey high heels. She was hip & fashionable and she & my father loved to travel the world. She grew up in Chicago & loved the city. When I was in college she had started stumbling, & her legs felt weak. She was eventually diagnosed with MS. The disease attacked her fast, and within a couple of years she was in a wheelchair. This physically active woman no longer had use of her legs. My father cared intensely for her, and she willingly tried anything & everything that might help (including enduring bee sting treatments...something I could never do!) Unfortunately NOTHING has helped. She does not have the sort of MS that goes into a recessive state (like Montel Williams has), but instead her is ongoing. My mother now is forced to reside in a nursing home, unable to any longer wheel herself around, or even feed herself. Mentally she is bright & alert. Physically her body is a shell that she can no longer control. It's sad & difficult to see, knowing I can't do anything for her.

Ah, but I can! And so can you! Again, please consider shopping on line through iBakeSale, so that 50% will go to Multiple Sclerosis research. And just so you know, if you join you can set up your own funds (whether they be for a cause or the "charity begins at home" cause), though I hope you'll consider being a part of my MS group. My mom & I thank you.

Here are a few facts about MS:

Multiple Sclerosis is the most common progressive and disabling neurological condition in young adults
Approx 2.5 million people worldwide, have Multiple Sclerosis
Around 400,000 people in the United States have Multiple Sclerosis.

MS doesn't kill, but it does shorten a lifespan by an average of 7 years.

MS affects women 2:1 over men in the US, and 2:1 caucasion over other races.

The rate of developing MS is 1 in 800, meaning you probably know someone who has it or you will get it...what better reason to help find a cure?

Into the Wild

Spread literacy, free a book into the wild. I've tried to tell people about my favourite way of passing along the gift of reading, but I don't think many have joined in. So, I'm posting about it again today. It's fun, its relatively free, and its that random act of kindness that you put out into the world that, in my opinion, can only reap good karmic rewards.

The way Bookcrossing works is basically this: you go to their website, sign up, and then enter the books you are going to release and then where you're going to leave it. (Very simple.) Then you can purchase their waterproof bags or bookplates (or I think they have some you can just download for free), write the info on the bookplate, stick it inside the book, then leave the book somewhere. Anywhere...a Starbucks, the shopping carts at the grocer, your doctor's office, a park bench...literally anywhere it could potentially be found. (I found my first book stuck on a giant lion statue in a park.) Hopefully someone finds the book goes to the website (as instructed on the bookplate), enters the info and the intent is that they will then read the book, and then do the same thing...releasing it again back "into the wild" for someone else to find, read, & share.

The weather is getting nice, people will be outside more, give someone a book they may never have picked up before...today! It's cool. You should be so cool.