Awareness ..

Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change:

A couple of weekends ago, my mom and I traveled from Jacksonville to Punta Gorda for a dear friend's bridal shower. We took the chance of hitting Orlando "before" rush hour traffic .. well, that was a funny joke. We spent every second that we were in Orlando in stop and go traffic. We decided to not make the same mistake with Tampa, so mom my picked out a random back road on the map .. and we took it.

We ate at a local burger and ice cream joint that we found along the way. The waitress was amazed we had never been in before until we told her we just stumbled upon it on our way through town. Apparently it is a treasure in the town we were in.



We continued on our journey and the themes kept repeating: cows, horses, citrus trees, citrus factories, more cows, lots of trees, two lane roads, a Dollar Tree in every town and more citrus trees. One thing that was obvious was the economic status of these very small towns. They were all SO poor.

It reminded me of my nursing school days when we had to go to towns on the outskirts of Tallahassee for clinicals. I was amazed at the poverty level I saw.

Yesterday, Erica made a post about a day of going barefoot. As a former teacher in Jacksonville, she saw Jacksonville's poverty firsthand.

My mom? She's a social worker for the Duval County Public Schools. The stories I hear and the homes I accompanied her in when I was a younger, I will never forget.

RIGHT HERE, right in YOUR city, the poverty level is SO very low in some areas. I believe that people are very unaware of this and insight is imperative.

I see this problem everyday, firsthand, at work.

I have the desire to adopt a child one day. I will not adopt a child from a different country, I will adopt a child from right here in Jacksonville. A child that could possibly end up in our foster care program right here in our city .. or who already is.

I have no picture for this. Just let it make you think. Remember how blessed you are. Never miss the opportunity to ride through the small towns on the outskirts of our big cities to remind yourself. Do what you can to help. I think the most important step is to just be aware. Even in our times of economic stress, there is always prayer.