Now that I'm a mother...

Now that I'm a mother, I see things differently...

Now that I'm a mother, my heart rejoices differently...

Now that I'm a mother, my heart hurts differently...

Now that I'm a mother, I get angry differently...

Human Trafficking.

Two words I have read over and over again throughout the past months. My sister has blogged about it. She has run to raise money to help fight it. I didn't get it. My friends have blogged about it, tweeted about it, called other to action about it...I didn't get it.

Two and half weeks ago I became a mother. I became a mother to a daughter who has a name. A daughter who means more to me than I ever expected. A daughter whom I love more than life itself. A life I can not imagine selling to someone else in order for me to be able to eat.

I'll be honest, I didn't ever pay much attention to what human trafficking was all about. I read the words and heard about these organizations that are fighting it, but I didn't get it. Then today I read a blog written by someone who has a t-shirt that simple states "she has a name". It was about why she likes this shirt and then it tells this story:
The story behind “she has a name”: There was a john (male paying for sex), a pimp, and a prostitute. The john asked the pimp what the girl’s name was. The pimp said, “She doesn’t have a name. She’s whoever you want her to be.”

These words broke my heart.

They broke my heart because I spent years thinking of the name I would choose for my daughter. Her name needed to have meaning. It needed to be special because she is special. Ultimately, her name was chosen because of my mom, grandmother, friend, Paul's grandmother, and Ruth from the Bible. Her name means something to me, her mother.

The thought of someone saying that who she is isn't important makes me crazy. She is important to me. Her name means something to me. Her life means something to me.

And the lives of these girls who are being trafficked all over the world mean something to someone. They are girls with names that were chosen just for them and they need to be remembered. They need to be valued.

Now that I'm a mother I see the urgency to spread information about what human trafficking is, who it effects and how to help. Because if it were my daughter I would be praying for someone to help Julia.

Here's some organizations leading the war against human trafficking:
www.AsOurOwn.org
www.Shehasaname.com
www.love146.org

How can you help?