I am the mother of two boys and two girls. All four of them are beautiful, in my humble opinion. Girls have been following my oldest son around for quite some time, partly because he’s so darn cute and partly because he’s such a nice kid. My youngest boy demands attention wherever he goes, but does it with such charm that no one minds his presumption. Our oldest daughter passed away almost four years ago, but even with cerebral palsy, her smile and contagious laugh brightened the dourest face. My youngest daughter is [thankfully] oblivious to the fact that all the boys in her class are utterly smitten with her. We are a wild exuberant bunch, with each of us playing our part to perfection, right down to the pitch of scream and intensity of whine and bubble of laughter. I love my boys and my girls (even though they wear me to a frazzle every single day).

I took our family’s personality, both as a unit and individually, for granted until last year when I visited Bolivia. Since then, I’ve wondered how different we would be if we lived in the third world.

Read the rest at Sarah Bessey’s place, where I’m thrilled to be guest-posting today.

If you’re stopping by from Sarah’s blog, welcome! You’ll find a bit of background and a snapshot of my story on the “New Around Here?” page. You can subscribe via reader so you don’t miss a single post from Sri Lanka (pssst – we’re doing a live webcast on Wednesday!).

How do you advocate for the helpless? What kind of challenges have you faced in your efforts? Let’s talk about lessons learned.