I'd like to take a pause this week on giving updates about our family. Instead, I think we need to focus on families...moms and dads, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc. who have been thrust into a war, and have been forced to flee from their home.
I can't imagine what it would be like to live somewhere that has been invaded. The sound of the sirens and shells, long lines to get food, money, and exit the country...these are not things that we've had to endure.
When I lie awake at night, I think about the Ukrainian people, as a whole, who are now living in terror, forced to other parts of the continent. I also think about the Russian people...and I feel deeply sad for them. They did not ask to be a part of this, yet their economy, their livelihood, their freedom, their access to truth-telling press...these have all been removed or destroyed.
I struggle with how we can help...what can I do from half a world away? In fact, there are many ways to provide assistance. This article from the Guardian contains several different charities that accept donations.
I love the Ukrainian flag. The blue half is for the sky (hope) and the gold half is the country's wheat fields (prosperity.) With the sunflower as the national flower, as well as the fields of wheat, I'm reminded of Kansas, which has the sunflower as the state flower. I have old memories of riding in a car, looking at the endless wheat fields, when visiting my grandparents in Kansas.
This then leads me to think about my ancestors, who came to the United States (Kansas) from that part of the world. Who did they leave behind? Do we have distant family who is being uprooted by this act of war?
Each and every day I pray, multiple times, that the people who are being impacted will be watched over with love. It's time for them to be free to wake up from this horrific nightmare.
Ukraine Sunflower Fields is a painting by Laura Zerebeski
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