DEEP WATERS

Next Sunday, many of us will be glued to our television screens for one spectacular event. Some will watch for the football. Others will remain captive for the hilarious commercials. Others still will hang out for the game just to witness Beyonce's half-time show.  (Bet she won't lip sync  this one...) Anyway, whatever we consider the main event next Sunday, most of us will be watching. As an adoptive mother  and adoption advocate , I'm always looking out for adoption stories  around me. Today, I thought I'd share stories I've discovered in next week's Super Bowl. Of course I must begin with my beloved Ravens... Michael Oher Michael Oher has a story that's been told before. If you've had the opportunity to watch Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side , you've heard Michael's story  already. One of twelve children, Michael grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. Due to his father's frequent incarcerations and his mother's...

As I watched the inauguration of the second term of President Barack H. Obama, I could almost hear the voice of Martin Luther King Jr. reverberating in the background. And I think of the phrase that has been repeated more than once today -- "The Beloved Community." "The Beloved Community"  was a term first coined in early 20th Century by philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce, who founded the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Dr. King, also a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, popularized this term and sparked its evolution. For Dr. King "The Beloved Community" described a country -- a world even -- of justice and equality and hope. A community of faith and love, where people of different races, cultures and socio-economic groups can live together, work together and worship together. In 1956, Dr. King spoke these words following the U.S. Supreme Court Decision to desegregate the buses of Montgomery, Alabama: "The end [of segregation] i...