What the HELL is going on?!?!

Yesterday, in a town not too far from us, three men tried to kidnap a 14 year old girl in BROAD DAYLIGHT in the middle of the day!! A month ago, another little girl was taken midday and has yet to be found. A few months ago, a child was taken at Pike Place Market here in Seattle RIGHT FROM HIS MOTHER! Fortunately, she had the guts to chase this guy down and take her son back! All over the United States, kids are getting snatched. It used to be you could say 'well, sad for that kid, but REALLY, where were their PARENTS?'. It used to be that it was only kids left alone for long periods of time that were vulnerable..the so called 'latch key' kids, the kids whose parents were raving alcoholics who left their kids in the car while they were inside the bar. No more. Now it's kids whose parents are often RIGHT THERE..or at least right inside the house. They look out the window to see their child then look away to grab their coffee cup and turn back and their child is GONE. I don't know about other states, but in WA state, the laws are NOT stiff enough. Family law in general is a joke in WA state (Mary has been in contempt five times, sixth motion filed next week and she's only been fined, never seen a jail cell!).

So...what do we do? We be vigilant. Even though we don't want to, we teach our kids that this world ISN'T safe...that everyone DOESN'T love them. We educate them in reality. We equip them to deal with not just 'stranger danger' but that seemingly 'nice' people may not be so nice. And we pray. Maybe NOW is the time to start that again if we don't already. Pray like we've never prayed before. Love our kids like we've never loved them before. Appreciate every single MOMENT like we've never done before.

And then we take a deep breath...and we let go. We let our kids be kids as much as we possibly can. It may not be much these days....but we MUST let them be kids as much as we can...because if we don't...we let the bad guys win.

We can be smart AND safe...and our kids CAN have a childhood dammit. I swear MINE are going to!

Hugs to all,
Jaye