Okay, blog followers - my wife has admonished me by informing me that this blog, thus far, is too serious and rather academic in tone. I am not apologizing for the serious/academic tone, 'cause, well - that's me, much of the time. However, I will do what I can to infuse some humor and frivolity into the blog soon. Undoubtedly, there has to be some humor forthcoming in this experience - we have a girl from Afghanistan, who speaks no English, coming to live in our typically chaotic home for six weeks. And, she already suffers from chronic headaches - I am hoping Sahar can tolerate all of us, along with Allie the Goldendoodle, too. She'll quickly learn just what a handful Chris B. Coker (our 20 month old) is, and she'll fully experience the circus that is our nightly dinner table. In fact, if Sahar doesn't turn around and leave our house within the first week, I will likely consider this experience a success.
Bryan
Friday, May 28, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Interfaith Dialogue
Tonight, there was a gathering of the Solace for the Children host families and some members of Jacksonville’s Islamic community. A conversation and dialogue were lead by Dr. Parvez Ahmed, a faculty member at the University of North Florida, and a popular subject in the local media as of late. Dr. Ahmed was recently appointed by the Mayor of Jacksonville to the city’s Human Rights Commission, but one member of the City Council took issue with Ahmed’s appointment. The controversy fueled significant local debate about the Islamic faith, and in retrospect, was definitely not Jacksonville’s finest hour. Ultimately, reason prevailed, and Dr. Ahmed was seated in his rightful and appropriate place on the Human Rights Commission. Tonight’s event made for a wonderful interfaith dialogue, and there was undoubtedly a certain beauty to the event – a gathering of Christians in one of the city’s predominantly upper-middle class neighborhoods, participating in an interfaith dialogue with members of the Muslim faith, regarding a group of needy children from Afghanistan travelling to Jacksonville in just one week – not something you see every day.
Today, we got the official word that the 16 children and 2 interpreters are due to arrive in Jacksonville next Wednesday (June 2) at 10:15 A.M. All of the host families will be at the airport, to greet the children as they arrive. It’s just a week now – that’s tough to believe. My worries and anxieties about the experience are, admittedly, rather simple… I worry that Sahar and Caroline won’t click, which would be disappointing, since Caroline is so incredibly excited about Sahar’s arrival. I worry about the unknown of just how this new person in the mix will affect our family routine for six weeks. I worry about Sahar’s medical condition…”chronic headaches” can mean so many different things – and, I worry that the headaches might affect her ability to enjoy the Solace experience with our family… The challenge for me – and my goal – will be to allow myself to enjoy the experience, and not allow my experience to be held hostage by simple worries, and premature anxiety about how our family will handle Sahar’s inevitable return to Afghanistan.
My prayer is that this will be a positive, rewarding, eye-opening, and transformative experience for our family – especially our children.
Bryan
Today, we got the official word that the 16 children and 2 interpreters are due to arrive in Jacksonville next Wednesday (June 2) at 10:15 A.M. All of the host families will be at the airport, to greet the children as they arrive. It’s just a week now – that’s tough to believe. My worries and anxieties about the experience are, admittedly, rather simple… I worry that Sahar and Caroline won’t click, which would be disappointing, since Caroline is so incredibly excited about Sahar’s arrival. I worry about the unknown of just how this new person in the mix will affect our family routine for six weeks. I worry about Sahar’s medical condition…”chronic headaches” can mean so many different things – and, I worry that the headaches might affect her ability to enjoy the Solace experience with our family… The challenge for me – and my goal – will be to allow myself to enjoy the experience, and not allow my experience to be held hostage by simple worries, and premature anxiety about how our family will handle Sahar’s inevitable return to Afghanistan.
My prayer is that this will be a positive, rewarding, eye-opening, and transformative experience for our family – especially our children.
Bryan
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Not much longer...
The sixteen children and two interpreters from Afghanistan will be arriving here in Jacksonville in just 10 or 11 days…that’s tough to believe. It is even tougher to believe that Sahar will soon be living under our roof…a girl none of us have ever met, from an orphanage in a foreign country – wow. Caroline is so excited about Sahar’s arrival – it’s almost all she talks about these days – she’s memorized the names and photos of all the 16 children who are coming. Personally, I am both excited and nervous – excited about beginning this adventure, but nervous about the unknown. William, our “in the moment/free-spirited” child, knows Sahar is coming soon and occasionally asks questions. Chris has been shown pictures of Sahar and looks at the pictures when he hears her name.
Today, Caroline and I spoke about Solace for the Children at both the early and late services at our church. I could not have been any prouder of Caroline – she spoke so confidently – her passion for this experience was so obvious.
For those of you who share Rhodes College connections with Sara and me, you may recall Chris Emanuel from the class of 1992 – Chris was a senior at Rhodes when Sara and I were freshmen. For a few years now, Chris has been a pediatrician here in Jacksonville, and we are very blessed that Chris has been our pediatrician since we moved here in 2003. Chris is playing a major role in the Solace program, serving as one of the lead pediatricians for the Afghan children. We are so thankful to Chris and his colleagues at Baptist Pediatrics-San Jose for being so quick to embrace Solace.
The children will arrive in Jacksonville next week on June 2 or 3 – each host family will be meeting their assigned child at the airport when the group arrives, accompanied by the two interpreters. Angie Cosper, the Jacksonville program coordinator, is currently finalizing all of the arrangements. On the subject of Angie…
Angie and Chip Cosper were, with the exception of my work colleagues, some of our first friends in Jacksonville when we arrived here over seven years ago. For those who don’t know the Cospers, they are some of the most open-hearted, giving people you will ever meet. They are the type of friends who are inevitably there in your time of greatest need. It is because of the Cospers that Jacksonville has gotten one of the first branches of the Solace for the Children program. Angie formed a relationship with Patsy Wilson, the Solace founder, when Angie and family hosted “Fakahria”, a young Afghan girl here last year, when Fakharia required major heart surgery. Fakharia is returning to Jacksonville next week for the summer program, and will be staying with the Cospers again.
I imagine some readers are anxious for me to place a picture of Sahar on the blog – as I previously mentioned, pictures of the Afghan children are somewhat of a sensitive issue. Regardless, with Angie’s and Patsy’s permission, I will likely post of a picture of Sahar once she has arrived at our home.
Please keep the prayers and positive thoughts coming our way, as we prepare for experience.
Bryan
Today, Caroline and I spoke about Solace for the Children at both the early and late services at our church. I could not have been any prouder of Caroline – she spoke so confidently – her passion for this experience was so obvious.
For those of you who share Rhodes College connections with Sara and me, you may recall Chris Emanuel from the class of 1992 – Chris was a senior at Rhodes when Sara and I were freshmen. For a few years now, Chris has been a pediatrician here in Jacksonville, and we are very blessed that Chris has been our pediatrician since we moved here in 2003. Chris is playing a major role in the Solace program, serving as one of the lead pediatricians for the Afghan children. We are so thankful to Chris and his colleagues at Baptist Pediatrics-San Jose for being so quick to embrace Solace.
The children will arrive in Jacksonville next week on June 2 or 3 – each host family will be meeting their assigned child at the airport when the group arrives, accompanied by the two interpreters. Angie Cosper, the Jacksonville program coordinator, is currently finalizing all of the arrangements. On the subject of Angie…
Angie and Chip Cosper were, with the exception of my work colleagues, some of our first friends in Jacksonville when we arrived here over seven years ago. For those who don’t know the Cospers, they are some of the most open-hearted, giving people you will ever meet. They are the type of friends who are inevitably there in your time of greatest need. It is because of the Cospers that Jacksonville has gotten one of the first branches of the Solace for the Children program. Angie formed a relationship with Patsy Wilson, the Solace founder, when Angie and family hosted “Fakahria”, a young Afghan girl here last year, when Fakharia required major heart surgery. Fakharia is returning to Jacksonville next week for the summer program, and will be staying with the Cospers again.
I imagine some readers are anxious for me to place a picture of Sahar on the blog – as I previously mentioned, pictures of the Afghan children are somewhat of a sensitive issue. Regardless, with Angie’s and Patsy’s permission, I will likely post of a picture of Sahar once she has arrived at our home.
Please keep the prayers and positive thoughts coming our way, as we prepare for experience.
Bryan
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Blogging with caution…
I will be blogging with caution this summer – for those of you who followed the blog about the loss of Sara’s dad, you might find this blog to be a bit different. When posting to this blog, I must be mindful of various sensitivities, predominantly rooted in the Muslim culture and the fact that Afghanistan is a war-torn nation. So, there will be some subjects I avoid altogether and other subjects around which I will delicately dance – you get the picture. And, speaking of pictures – I am not sure how many I will be posting – I am going to have to play that by ear – that’s a sensitivity, as well.
Sahar and eighteen other Afghan children will be here in less than a month now. In my last post, I spoke of my greatest worry about this experience…it’s not the language barrier or the pending disruption to our household routines. My biggest worry is how our family will ultimately deal with the inevitable act of sending Sahar back to Afghanistan – back to an orphanage, nonetheless, and generally deal with sending all of these children back to a country at war. This has been my greatest concern since we first considered participating in the Solace program. I really had to engage in some deep thinking, prayer, and soul-searching about Solace…until it all finally ‘clicked’ for me. First, it’s important for everyone to understand that adoption is not an option with Afghan children – just Google “adopting children from Afghanistan” and you will quickly learn this. The concept of adoption is not acknowledged in the Muslim culture, and adoption of a Muslim child by a Christian family would be unfathomable. Children in Afghan orphanages stay in those orphanages until adulthood, if they live that long. Thus, the Solace for the Children program offers what is, in all likelihood, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these Afghan children – one chance to experience a different way of life, and simultaneously have medical needs met which cannot be met in their home country. When this clicked for me, I chose the title for this blog, Summer of Solace – because our family is providing a “summer of solace” for an Afghan child…solace from a war-torn country…solace from poverty…solace from many things… And, when you consider the peace-promoting objectives of Solace…those objectives cannot be met if the children do not return to Afghanistan.
As host families, we have begun to learn bits and pieces about all of the 18 children coming to Jacksonville, and have seen pictures of each of them. The most profound and touching story thus far involves a young girl who is reachable in remote Afghanistan only by a two hour donkey ride (I’m not making this up). My understanding of her medical need is that one of her arms has substantial buildup of scar tissue, due to burns she has received – this condition seriously limits use of her arm. Simply keeping track of this young girl in such a remote location has proved quite challenging for the Solace representatives on the ground in Afghanistan.
Out of respect for the Muslim background of these children, this will be a pork-free six week experience for our family and the other host families. We have been asked to avoid shellfish as well, due to potential allergies. For those of you who know how very much I love bacon, shrimp, and oysters…well, you know how I am feeling.
Bryan
Sahar and eighteen other Afghan children will be here in less than a month now. In my last post, I spoke of my greatest worry about this experience…it’s not the language barrier or the pending disruption to our household routines. My biggest worry is how our family will ultimately deal with the inevitable act of sending Sahar back to Afghanistan – back to an orphanage, nonetheless, and generally deal with sending all of these children back to a country at war. This has been my greatest concern since we first considered participating in the Solace program. I really had to engage in some deep thinking, prayer, and soul-searching about Solace…until it all finally ‘clicked’ for me. First, it’s important for everyone to understand that adoption is not an option with Afghan children – just Google “adopting children from Afghanistan” and you will quickly learn this. The concept of adoption is not acknowledged in the Muslim culture, and adoption of a Muslim child by a Christian family would be unfathomable. Children in Afghan orphanages stay in those orphanages until adulthood, if they live that long. Thus, the Solace for the Children program offers what is, in all likelihood, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these Afghan children – one chance to experience a different way of life, and simultaneously have medical needs met which cannot be met in their home country. When this clicked for me, I chose the title for this blog, Summer of Solace – because our family is providing a “summer of solace” for an Afghan child…solace from a war-torn country…solace from poverty…solace from many things… And, when you consider the peace-promoting objectives of Solace…those objectives cannot be met if the children do not return to Afghanistan.
As host families, we have begun to learn bits and pieces about all of the 18 children coming to Jacksonville, and have seen pictures of each of them. The most profound and touching story thus far involves a young girl who is reachable in remote Afghanistan only by a two hour donkey ride (I’m not making this up). My understanding of her medical need is that one of her arms has substantial buildup of scar tissue, due to burns she has received – this condition seriously limits use of her arm. Simply keeping track of this young girl in such a remote location has proved quite challenging for the Solace representatives on the ground in Afghanistan.
Out of respect for the Muslim background of these children, this will be a pork-free six week experience for our family and the other host families. We have been asked to avoid shellfish as well, due to potential allergies. For those of you who know how very much I love bacon, shrimp, and oysters…well, you know how I am feeling.
Bryan
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