BREAKING NEWS:

The standoff in Alabama is over!!! The boy is safe. The suspect is dead.

I told you I've been obsessively monitoring this story.

THANK GOD!!!!! :)

The situation in Alabama

This has nothing to do with my family but has been on my mind almost nonstop.

I am so bothered by the hostage situation in Alabama; I've woken up in the middle of the night. It's the first thing I check when I log on to my computer. I just want to read that it's over.

A child with special needs and ADHD, being forced to stay in a 6' by 8' bunker.

I hate when I read quotes like, "It doesn't appear that Dykes' intention is to harm the child." No. Only traumatize him by shooting his bus driver and then abducting him. Otherwise, no harm intended at all.

I can't imagine what his parents are going through... to be able to see where your child is but unable to help him or get to him. The thought turns my stomach.

A Kindergarten boy chosen at random. It hits way too close to home.

Every day it just keeps going on. Every day I hope he'll have compassion on this boy and let him go. And every day it continues.

I want this to end soon... and end well.

Connecticut

I haven't posted about what happened on Friday because I have no original thoughts on the subject. But I remember that right after Hurricane Sandy I was a little sickened when a blogger that I love from NYC barely mentioned it, and instead, she continued to post pics of her favorite outfits and trends.

I think there's a time for levity in the midst of tragedy, but I also think sometimes you need to acknowledge what's just happened.

Then I felt a little guilty that I had done the same thing. Posted about a Christmas party and being finished with my class right after this horrible thing has happened.

Like other posts I've read on fb, I'm tired of the debate on gun control. I have my personal beliefs but I don't want to talk about politics when kindergarteners were murdered. I don't know that it's the right time to use the tragedy to prove your standpoint on guns. To me, it's time to be caring, feeling people and hurt and pray.

Like posts I've read on fb, I'm proud of the teachers who shielded the kids. It makes me proud to be a teacher. But my husband isn't a teacher and he'd have done the same thing. I have friends who are CPAs or Interior Designers, and they'd have instinctively laid down over those kids. I don't mean to take away from the heroism at all. They are heroes. But I think they're heroes because they did the humane, nurturing thing-- protecting a child. And I choose to believe that, unless one is either a psychopath or a sociopath, everyone would do the same in that situation.

I don't say that to belittle those teachers. I say it in hopes that most of our society would rise to the occasion and stand in the gap too. Sadly, I may be wrong.

My heart is broken for that community. I feel sick to my stomach when I think of the empty beds in homes across that neighborhood. I hate that there are people in this world that would do such horrific things. I don't understand them.

I've prayed more fervently and more often this week than I have in a while.

I'm praying for Connecticut. I'm praying for my sweet friend, Laura, and her family who are dealing with an entirely different set of shocking and sad circumstances. I know Who to talk to and I know where to turn when my heart is heavy. And I'm incredibly thankful for our Savior who is the Prince of Peace and the Comforter. I trust He'll work everything out according to His purpose.