Sign the Petition

If you have any sense of fairness, please sign this petition and spread the word.  The petition can't do anything except keep this situation in the news.  Meriam was a Sudanese Muslim who married an American Christian.  She converted.  On a visit to her parents in the Sudan, Meriam was arrested, along with her 20 month old son.  She is to be executed for changing her faith.  She was pregnant and recently gave birth.  Please keep this situation in the news, until Meriam is freed.

Over 220,000 people signed a petition on CitizenGO in an effort to free Meriam Yehya Ibrahim.

[The 27 year old Sudanese Christian -- who was sentenced to death by hanging for her faith.]

As of this moment, I wish I had better news to report, but thankfully and also sadly (outrageously) her situation has changed. 

This week Meriam gave birth to a baby girl. But disturbing news quickly followed. According to Meriam's husband, Sudanese prison officials left her legs shackled as she was giving birth.
The Sudenese government has announced that they still plan on executing Meriam, but they will wait up to two years so the baby will receive the proper nutrition.

The government does not plan to allow the child's father (Meriam's husband) to see her much. The child will be imprisoned with Meriam, and Meriam's 20 month old son.
At this very moment, Meriam is reportedly being shackled to a "disease ridden floor.” They are being treated less than human. Why? Because of their faith.

If Meriam will deny her faith in Christ and become a Muslim, they will let her go. If she doesn't -- she dies. Meriam is refusing.

We must keep the pressure on the Sudanese government… We must keep this story in the headlines. It is extremely important that we do not forget Meriam. What will help free her (them) is public outrage.

If you have not already, please sign the Personhood USA petition for Meriam:
http://www.citizengo.org/en/7415-save-meriam

If you have signed, please help keep Meriam relevant in the headlines. Spread this petition to your friends, family, and colleagues. We must do our part to keep on fighting for Meriam.

In a recent statement, Meriam's husband, Daniel Wani, a US citizen, has expressed his disappointment over the lack of urgency on the part of the US authorities to help his wife:

"Considering I am an American citizen, I am disappointed with the American Embassy's position from the beginning of the whole case. At the start of the issue, I reported it to them but they didn't take much interest, particularly the consulate. They said they didn't have time. In fact last time, they said they didn't care much about the case. They came late – they intervened when they saw the issue was getting press attention – but the intervention was late.”

The situation -- across the board -- is being mishandled: a lack of interest and urgency from the US government… a lack of interest and urgency from UN officials and others in the international community.

As this petition is being sent directly to the UN Human Rights Commissioner, it is being Cc'd to the President of Sudan (a really bad guy), and the Deputy Chief for the US Embassy in Sudan.

Help us urge them to act!
http://www.citizengo.org/en/7415-save-meriam

Warmest regards,

Gregory Mertz and the whole CitizenGO team

P.S. -- Many of you have already signed the petition. Could you help spread the word about Meriam by asking your friends and family to join you in signing? We can keep Meriam relevant, in today's headlines, with our effort to keep pressuring the proper parties to free Meriam. Together, let's keep talking about the injustice in the Sudan – the Meriam story!
For more information, I invite you to read: http://blog.citizengo.org/usa/2014/05/26/meriam-still-needs-our-help/

____
CitizenGO.org is a community of active citizens that seeks to defend life, the family and the fundamental rights worldwide. To know more about CitizenGO click here or follow us in Facebook or Twitter.--

RIP Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou lost her brother when he was in his twenties.  Even though we may not have lost our siblings, so young, I think we all can relate to trying to replace them with "forcing strangers into brother molds."  Maya died, May 28, 2014.  She and Bailey can now walk silently in eternal woods together.  Requiescant in pace.

Kin

BY MAYA ANGELOU

FOR BAILEY

We were entwined in red rings   

Of blood and loneliness before   

The first snows fell

Before muddy rivers seeded clouds   

Above a virgin forest, and   

Men ran naked, blue and black   

Skinned into the warm embraces   

Of Sheba, Eve and Lilith.

I was your sister.

You left me to force strangers   

Into brother molds, exacting   

Taxations they never

Owed or could ever pay.

You fought to die, thinking   

In destruction lies the seed   

Of birth. You may be right.

I will remember silent walks in   

Southern woods and long talks   

In low voices

Shielding meaning from the big ears   

Of overcurious adults.

You may be right.   

Your slow return from

Regions of terror and bloody

Screams, races my heart.

I hear again the laughter   

Of children and see fireflies   

Bursting tiny explosions in   

An Arkansas twilight.

The Violet Iris

I was greeted with the most awesome sight, as I walked down my sidewalk, this morning.  There was an iris which exhibited the deepest purple possible.  It was sych a rich color!  I've seen violet that looks black.  This wasn't it.  It definitely was purple, solid, with a deep hue.  To make it even more awesome, it was still early enough at 8:00 AM to have several drops of dew still clinging to its petals.  The dew sparked like diamonds.

God was blessing me.

A Very Good Bad DayI

Ordinarily, a cold, windy, drizzly day would be a bad day.  This was not so, this cold, windy and drizzly day.  Hubby and I were invited on a Senior Citizen's trip.  We know some of the senior citizens who belong to the Senior Trail Blazers. They walk around town every Wednesday.  Hubby and I belong to the Trail Hikers, and we hike through state parks and other wooded areas, on Thursdays.  There are some people who belong to both groups.

Can you follow that?  Well, that's how we were invited to go on the Senior Trail Blazers' picnic to Castle Island in Boston Harbor.  They didn't have enough people to fill the bus, so knowing that hubby and I enjoy walking, we were asked to join the picnic.

The weather this morning was cold, windy, and drizzling rain.  The prediction was that this weather pattern would last all day.  Even so, we went, hoping that the trip would be canceled.  It wasn't.

We went to Boston.  We walked around Castle Island.  Although we did have the picnic on the bus.

 We all laughed about it.  We did enjoy the walk.  The rain wasn't pouring hard; it was a drizzle.  It was cold and windy but we knew that, and were dressed properly.  It really wasn't bad at all.  In fact, we enjoyed ourselves.

Think about it.  You can't garden, mow the lawn, or do any outdoor activity.  What would we have done, if we stayed home.  Blog?

We got out and watched the planes land at Logan airport.  We saw a container ship being unloaded.  We even saw a crazy para-sailer surf at Carson Beach.  We met new friends.  We laughed alot.

We even stopped at Bubbling Brook on the way home and had ice cream.

It was a good, bad day.

Going Deeper

I picked up a Bible I once used in a Bible study class, awhile ago.  It was highlighted in three colors.  I had forgotten what the colors meant, but I figured them out.  I also remembered that reading with that highlighted method used to bring me deeper into the meaning of the scripture.

So this morning, I read the Readings of the day, and then highlighted them accordingly.  It took me an hour!  I never did get to Morning Prayer.  But I have to admit, this method is a Lectio Divina gimmick.  Before you know it, you see the scripture differently.

This is how you do it.  Read the scripture.  Highlight or underline in one color every time the verse is a command, e.i., "Do unto others..." (Luke 6:31)

Change to another color.  Highlight every time the verse states a truism, e.i., "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  (Matt 11:30)

Lastly, use a third color.  Highlight all promises, e.i., "...you will inherit the kingdom of God..."  (1 Cor 6:9)

Your Bible will be marked up, but it will be well used, and it's yours anyway.

Memorial Day

It rained on the Memorial Day parade, so we didn't attend.  It's not the same, anymore, anyway.  When I was a child, the family went to two parades.  The first was my home town's and we went and visited my relatives in the Protestant cemetery.  The only one in town and really everybody could be buried there.  Then in the afternoon, we went to the parade in the neighboring town.  And we visited my relatives there.  More relatives were in this cemetery--the Catholic one.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, no one in my immediate family is buried in my current local cemetery.  My adult kids have never visited a cemetery and planted flowers on graves.  We have never had the opportunity.  We live too distant from family.   That's the way it is.

Unwanted Books

This morning I was sorting through books.  I was helping the library for their book sale, tomorrow.  I found an almost brand new Bible.  It had a name and date.  I cleaned from the bookplate that this Bible was bought in 2013 for a 9th grade religion class.  It looked brand new.  I surmised it was hardly used and now that school is almost over, the student gave the book to the library.

How sad!  A Bible can be used for a lifetime.  Even if one isn't religious, a Bible is a reference source.

Education is wasted on the young.  Of course I bought it.  I'm also praying for the person who donated the book, that he especially be graced with understanding to know how important the book he threw away is.