Living Out Loud

A mom steps out of her comfort zone to help children in need at a Winter Jam concert

by Karon Decker

Last night, I went out of my comfort zone. Way out. I went to a very loud, very crowded (16,000+ people) Christian rock concert in downtown Birmingham, with a 5-year-old old who has some socialization issues. Now, on one front, I was smart. I left John and Emerson at home. I am sure this is the reason I am alive today and able to write this post.

Why, you might be asking, did I go so far out of my wilderness, my gardening, and my secluded state? For those of you who don’t know me personally, you might not know that the types of things I find comforting are, well, not in the main stream. I don’t mind sleeping outside, I like snakes, I find bugs that don’t bite or eat my garden intriguing, I grow almost all my own food, and we don’t have a TV….

So, here’s the reason I went anyway: I got an e-mail from Holt International, the agency that placed Isaac with us, asking if we would volunteer at the concert to sign up child sponsors. I couldn’t in good conscious say ‘no’ given how morose I have been about the world around me being oblivious to the “real” issues going on. This was my chance to go and sign people up to sponsor kids who are hoping to be adopted – kids like Isaac. Unfortunately no one ever chose to sponsor Isaac when he was in care.

Isaac struggled with the concert and the crowd. He tested me constantly. I brought three PB & Js, two apples and one orange, one bag of trail mix and a bottle of water. He kept begging for food. I know this “game” well. He wants to see if I am a good mom who will feed him. Unfortunately, he plays this game until I run out of food and he fulfills the prophecy. When the food ran out, he started shouting, “I don’t like you anymore!” This though, was what the night was all about — preventing great kids like Isaac from developing the permanent scars of neglect and trauma, so that they can join their forever families with much more ease.

Our task was simple. Isaac and I were given a stack of kids who needed a sponsor. We needed to walk up and down the aisles during intermission and convince the people who stayed in their seats to sponsor. I am not sure how I feel about the way I went about getting sponsors, but it felt downright honest, probably too honest for the South, but oh well. I had Isaac look through the stack and pick the kids he connected with. Then, I told their story. When they looked at Isaac and then to me, they would seriously ask me questions like, “Is he one of the real orphans?” I would kindly explain that he WAS, but now he has his forever family. I would tell them that I brought Isaac because he wants to help other kids like him. Isaac would then explain that his purpose in life is to make sure that kids are never hungry.

Well, we signed up 15 people in 20 minutes. It’s hard to say ‘no’ to a five year old who has survived it when he asks you to do something about it. It was worth stepping out of my comfort zone.

My favorite part of the evening was walking back to the car in the cool evening air. We left after we did our work, well before the concert was over. The streets were mostly empty. We walked freestyle, while creating patterns out of the bricks. We laughed. It was just the two of us. During that walk, for that moment, we were just a normal Mom and son.

Volunteer at a Winter Jam concert!