Don’t be fooled by the blue and brown pajamas- that cutie is McKinsey. The other night I was at my sister’s and I forgot pajamas for Kinsey so I borrowed an old pair of Brayden’s. When she woke up the next morning, she looked so adorable. Don’t you love how babies don’t know the difference or care what color, brand or price things are that we get for them? It makes you think- is a lot of the stuff that we do/get for our babies really for them or us? 
Food for thought…
One of my sister’s best friends from college makes these adorable bows and sells them online. If you’ve every admired a bow in McKinsey’s hair (the little that she has:) it comes from Stephanie’s Brilliant Bows. I highly recommend them. Here’s McKinsey modeling some of her newest ones…
Last weekend Darren’s grandpa came out and helped us plant a garden. I should have taken pictures of them doing it, but here’s a few of Darren working out in the garden watering and pulling weeds. Bruiser likes to keep him company. In a couple months hopefully we will have some yummy home-grown tomatoes, green beans and carrots!
Trevin Wax is offering a chance to win 10 great books for free, PLUS an ESV Study Bible on his blog between the dates of Dec. 15 & 25, 2008. For details on the giveaway go to his blog HERE.
One of my students showed me this website by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP). It’s pretty cool. Check it out and play! Not only is rice being donated, but you are improving your vocabulary!
Melissa, you will love this!
I just received another e-mail update again from a very trustworthy family friend (who is also a Medical Doctor). This aid effort is a very unique opportunity, because as you will read below, funds are distributed to churches and then the churches are helping their communities. Here is the update I received:
The first truckload of supplies from Ethnos Asia will move through Pa’an District across the Thai border and should reach Yangon in 2-3 days. All relief from here will go to churches for their distribution, with E.A. supervision. E.A. is blessed with adequate communication, so we can track the progress and try to be sure that we don’t ship a lot of stuff that will be confiscated! Also, E.A. has been able to deliver some funds, purchasing some roofing materials, food and mosquito nets where most needed. But prices there are rising rapidly as supplies dwindle.
At the moment I have enough medications to treat 2,500 persons for malaria, various forms of dysentery, diarrhea with dehydration, and infections, the most common life-threatening illnesses in this disaster situation. What I now have is about the maximum I can personally carry in. I hope to increase that to a supply of pharmaceuticals necessary for 10,000 persons, to be delivered by colleagues here (or on a subsequent trip if I must courier supplies myself).
Things are likely to move unpredictably here, so I may suddenly be out of access to e-mail or any other form of communication. Your continuing interest and prayers are appreciated. Contributions that probably have the best chance of any organization of actually getting 100% to reliable Christian workers can be sent to: INCOR, PO Box 531, Kent, WA, 98035.
I am sure that by now there are few who haven’t heard about the cyclone devestation in Burma (Myanmar) and the dire need there for aid. According to BBC News:
“Since the cyclone struck on 3 May, aid agencies already in the country have started relief efforts with supplies they had available and by buying from local sources. But they warn that supplies will run out unless more aid is allowed into the country. Christian Aid’s Burma expert Ray Hasan said: ‘Partners are telling that there are outbreaks of disease already. There is no time to lose.’
One of our close family friends made us aware of an opportunity to help in the relief efforts through donations. He is a very trustworthy man, and we have full confidence in his recommendation. He wrote the following in an e-mail earlier this week:
“If you would like to help I can guarantee that contributions through INCOR will have optimal effect with minimum delay, and will pass through Christian hands to the final beneficiaries. Contributions to INCOR, P.O. Box 531, Kent, WA, 98035-0531 will be forwarded 100% to Ethnos Asia and promptly onward to Christians in need inside Myanmar. Please just mark ‘Burma relief’ on the memo line of any contribution check, for which you will receive a tax-deduction receipt in January 2009.”
Disasters and epidemics, as horrific as they are, provide opportunities for Christians to be the hands and feet of Christ. And where one cannot physically go, they can always give.
Matthew 25:35-40
I just got finished with a class of about 25 mangy high schoolers. The thermostat read 86 degrees.
Mangy high schoolers +broken air con = No fun!!!
I love how God uses times like these to reveal the ugliness of my heart that is so easily hidden when everything is going good and I am comfortable. Being uncomfortable is not an excuse. Yet, God gently reminds me that I can choose my attitude and I’m accountable for that choice.
I got this quote from Carly when she went to Thailand. It is taken from Elie Wiesel’s speech called “The Perils of Indifference”….
“In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony, one does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response.
Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor– never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees– not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity we betray our own.”
I listened to his whole speech today. I would highly recommend it. Check it out… Here
Very convicting and challenging. A good reminder that I need to fight against Indifference in my life.
Way back in December, Darren spoke at a breakout session for the Tsunami State Youth Conference. He spoke on the will of God. As you can imagine, it was a popular topic. The room maxed out. There were students sitting on the ground and standing in the back until they finally shut the doors. Everyone wants to know what God’s will is for there life, right?
Darren did a phenomenal job speaking and I often find myself thinking about what he spoke about. I was really blessed and encouraged by his insight. I think so many times I focus on (specifically) what God wants me to do and neglect the how. For example, God is more concerned with our sanctification and living a righteous life than, say, what occupation we pursue. There is such a freedom in not anxiously wondering what is “God’s will” (not the same will that He has already laid out for us in His Word) and focusing on pursuing Christ in everything we do- whether you eat or drink do all things to the glory of God! | Keri Sheckler on Daddy Style |
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