miss elaini ous'

Hello you wonderful people! So a few Tuesdays ago I had something happen to me that’s never happened before.  I was going about my day as normal and then I was off to meet with a friend when I looked for my keys…and couldn’t find them!  What this doesn’t happen to you all the time?! you ask.  Nope.  So I prayed and looked around and behold they were no where to be found.  Fast forward to the next day when I have practically torn apart my house looking for them.  Still no sign of the keys.  Oh and I realized they’d been missing since Sunday so who knew where they were… (I know you’re probably thinking that I have no life if I really didn’t know my car keys were missing from Sunday till Tuesday )  Anyways after canceling an appointment and having to use my parents car I’m trying not to be frustrated and instead laugh at the situation.  At this point I have looked in the freezer, the couch, some other very odd places, and even gotten  suggestions from people on Facebook as to where to look.  My feelings at this point are this: I wish I could type in a “search” on my house and it would tell me where my keys are.  By the time Wednesday night rolled around I was completely baffled.  And then my mom suggested I search the trash.  Yep, you heard right.  You see I had checked the trash but I’d been avoiding the garbage in the kitchen (with good reason mind you!), so I grabbed my hot pink gloves (if you’re gonna wear gloves they might as well be hot pink) and said a prayer and literally kept reminding myself that people all over the world and children in India have to go through trash all the time to stay alive and so I dug in.  It was not pleasant folks.  AT ALL.  And there at the very bottom…I spotted something! Could it be??  YES IT WAS! My keys! You should have seen the look of jubilation on my face as I sat on the kitchen floor laughing in my pjs with my hands in stinking garbage.  Lifting out my keys you would have thought I was holding up a gold medal.  So yeah I need to go get another key made so that this never happens again…   Hope your Tuesday is going splendidly!  Have you ever lost your keys only to find them again?  If you have a funny story please share in the comments!

Oh, and if you’re wondering what do these pictures have to do with this post…well let’s just say my life isn’t always as glamorous as it might look.    Sometimes I get to model for my amazing friend Dorene (who made this incredible hat) and sometimes I have to dig though garbage.  Welcome to my life.

UPDATE!!! $56,849.54  YEAH!!!! OK you’re all incredible! Look only need a little more to push it to the 57K mark.   Want to help?  50 darlings are sleeping on boards still and need mattresses.  So if you want to donate $10 bucks today that would be such a sweet gift.  (Please just mark in the comments when you donate that you want it to go for mattresses.)

(Photos by: Dorene Vandermeer)

I don’t feel that it’s very often that I have a profound moment but yesterday while reading I experienced a known truth in a new way.  These are the words from Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon and it fit so well for my life right now I felt that it could have come from my heart:

“Lord, help me to glorify You; I am poor, help me to glorify You by contentment; I am sick, help me to give You honor by patience; I have talents, help me to extol You by spending them for You; I have time, Lord, help me to redeem it, that I may serve You; I have a heart to feel, Lord, let that heart feel no love but Yours and glow with no flame but affection for You; I have a head to think, Lord, help me to think of You and for You; You have put me in this world for something, Lord, show me what that is, and help me to work out my life purpose: I cannot do much, but as the widow put in her two small coins, which were all her living, so, Lord, I cast my time and eternity, too, into Your treasury; I am all Yours; take me, and enable me to glorify You now, in all that I do, and with all that I have.”

It was as I read over the words “all her living” that the print popped off the page.  Jesus wasn’t as concerned about the money that she gave as he cared about her life.  Not her wealth or the lack of it but the way she was living.  Her story was important to him.  My life, your life, and our living is what matters.  This daily giving of our very selves.  God doesn’t want us to just give him our livelihood he wants us to give him our living out.  To spend all our life on him.  Expending what little we might think we have because it is the little things that matter.  That our every breath might be a praise and every movement a recognition of grace.  Let our lives be a currency of thankfulness.

This penny represents the approximate amount that the widow gave.  And it’s date is the year I was born.  Because I want to give the living out of my life to him.

What is love?  Isn’t that the age old question?  I’ve been thinking about what true love really is since I had an interesting conversation on this subject with a family member back in September.  We throw the word around so much that I think we have lost what it really means.  (At least I know I have been guilty of throwing that word around…)  I’m still learning what this little yet powerful word encapsulates and means.  One thing that I’ve been awakening to even more is that true love is sacrificial.  Not superficial…SACRIFICIAL.  No, it’s not all about little hearts.  And the key word in sacrificial is sacrifice.  What is sacrifice you may ask?  It is a surrendered offering.  So when we truly love we surrender ourselves.  When we love someone we seek to offer them ourselves.  To lay down our lives to serve them.  To seek another’s good interest and not our own.  Really, truly, purely loving someone takes a divine strength.  Thankfully Jesus went before me to show me.  His very heart ran red liquid love and he offered up his life so that I might be saved.  He gave up everything he had and deserved so that I could have what I didn’t deserve.  Life and the knowing of true love.  “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:2

For love’s sake will you give some of your worldly goods (money) to those who have none?  Will you give to the sweet orphans today so they can experience real love?  I’d love to see the total rise past the $57K mark… Wouldn’t you?

One year ago today on an unfinished blog a freaked out girl pressed the publish button and sent out her first post.  That girl was me.  Of course “real” posting/blogging didn’t start until May 1st but I just want to remember the faithfulness of God to me in stretching me out of my comfort zone not all at once but in degrees.  Blessed and grateful.  Today pushing the publish button is a joy.  And a gift.

These pictures are a re-post from last year.  

I went into a store last night and it looked like Valentines day had thrown up all over the front of the place.  Despite the fact that Valentines day has been over commercialized and that there are so many different opinions about it… Anyways I have always like this holiday because I have happy memories of making cards and cookies with my older sister.  Of course hers looked like they were for the Martha Stewart catalog while mine looked like a craft project gone bad.  The point is I had a fun time and got to make something to bless someone else.  So will you be making Valentines this year?  (If I’m going to send some I need to get movin!)  What about sending one to someone you don’t think will get one and let them know just how important they are?

UPDATE!!! $56,759.54 How incredible is that!?  Getting close to $57K mark.   Sooo how many of you think that we can get to that mark by Valentines Day?  Wanna send some love to India and get these darlings mattresses?  (5 of the 20 homes still need mattresses and if you want to donate towards that then please leave a comment in the box provided when you donate)

Isn’t it so easy to get caught up in the cycle of “When this happens then I’ll be happy”?  If I were in this season of life, if I had this job, this house, this outfit, this friend, this vacation, this body, or NOT this, that, and the other thing then I’ll be content.  The myth of self fulfillment.  Let me tell you a little hint:  IT WON’T HAPPEN!  These things won’t bring contentment.  Only one thing does bring that deep soul satisfaction yet so often it seems that I forget that.  I get muddled up in the lie that something will make me content when only someONE will.  If I’m not filled up to overflowing from the endless source in Jesus and instead trying to drink up something else…well that something else will eventually run dry.  Sooner or later it will.  Guaranteed.  Then the searching begins all over and the thirst is stronger.  Because we haven’t been satisfied.  Thankfully there is hope for me and for you as well if you want it.  John 6:35 says this: Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”  Beautiful, refreshing, soul watering, heart quenching truth.  I want to always find my contentment in Jesus and the gospel and that starts for me right now by being grateful for all that he has done on my behalf.  Doing that right there makes me satisfied.

A few things I’m thankful for:  shopping with mom and dad for clothes for dad and laughing so hard, a child’s book that shows a familiar story in words that sink deeper and makes me ponder anew, a friendship that has withstood the test of 14 crazy, changing, wonderful, formative years, and the shoes God brought me! (more on the shoe thing later)

Will you join me today and be thankful for what you have presently?  If so feel free to leave a comment about what it is you are thankful for.

UPDATE!!! $56,392.54  If you keep donating I’ll certainly keep updating!  If you want to donate towards mattresses (5 of the 20 homes still need them) then please leave a comment in the box provided on the donation page.  Thanks!

Searching tirelessly for rest.  Isn’t that what we do?  Looking for rest for our souls, minds, and these bodies we dwell in.  We wear ourselves out with the searching while all along it is right there for us.  It’s in the pausing that I can see that Jesus is God and I am not.  The laying of my head down that reminds me that I need him.  And if he cares enough to give to his beloved sleep will he not much more give us rest.  For his promises are true.  When we are sluggish with the cares of this life then let us dwell on the words of Jesus, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)  It is in the coming and the surrender that we give over our burdens to God and there that we find perfect and complete rest.  Not in our doing but in his.

As promised here are some of my kiddos with their new mattresses!  Those beaming faces just made my day and I hope they make your day better too.   There are still 5 more homes that need mattresses which works out to a cost of about $2,500.  Thanks to all your generous giving 15 homes have been provided for!!!

UPDATE!!! $56,247.54    If you keep donating I’ll certainly keep updating!   If you want to donate towards mattresses please leave a comment in the box provided on the donation page.  Thanks!

It’s been a little while now but a few months ago I had some requests to do this hairstyle.  It takes under 5 minutes and is best done on dirty hair (for reals).  In fact I was having a hard time with my hair for these pictures because it was too clean!  I’m going to explain as clearly as possible how to do it but I’m hoping the pictures help.

1.  Make a side part.

2.  Section off the portion of hair from the small side of the part down to behind the ear.

3.  Now take that section and divide it into 3 equal parts and braid the hair slightly up.  Finish the braid and rough it up a bit.

4.  Now take the braided hair and lay it across the top of your forehead, but not too high (I pulled mine down as low as possible).  Secure on the opposite side of your head with two bobby pins crisscrossed.  If needed use hair pins to secure the braid along the top of your forehead.

5. Enjoy wearing! You can also curl the rest of your hair or just wear it messy. 

I’ve been debating about whether or not to do posts without pictures and just write….I think I would post more often but I really don’t like seeing a post without a picture so I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!  Thanks everyone and I hope your week is off to a great start.

P.S.  I have an update coming and hopefully pictures of the children that have received mattresses.  Only 5 more homes have yet to be provided for so if you want to give towards that please do and just make sure to leave a note in the comments box when you donate.  Thanks everybody!

(Photos by: Dorene Vandermeer)

While in Chicago I was given the blessing of talking with a group of ladies about the project, orphans, and what God has been doing in my life.  There was also a time for the other women to share what God had been leading them to do.  It was an amazing evening and I went away so encouraged.  Not to mention that our lovely host Debbie did an amazing job creating a beautiful atmosphere.  I felt so privileged to be there with the incredible women from Warm Blankets and seeing all the little touches they had added to make the night special.  One idea that I had was for the women to write on a mirror in lipstick their “word” or dream for this year.  Looking at it I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with gratefulness at how God is moving in his people to make a difference.    I hope that each and every one of them went home and wrote their word on their own bathroom mirror.  In fact let me challenge you to go write your word on your own mirror.  I’d love to hear your word in the comments if you feel comfortable with telling me.

Special thanks to Kyle for coming and taking all these great pictures for us!  Also thank you Debbie for all you did to make us feel special and at home.  You are a perfect hostess!

P.S.  For those of you that have been around for a while you may or may not have noticed that I’m wearing THE little black dress.

(Photos by: Klye Flubacker of Kyle Flubacker Photography)

Oh the weather outside was quite chilly but I was so happy I barely noticed the 5° weather.  Yes, you heard me correctly.  Did I mention it was cold?!  We bundled up, got frosted with snow, laughed, talked (and talked some more), ate, and altogether had a lovely time.  My time in Chicago was wonderful and literally a whirlwind.  It was really delightful getting to hug (for the first time!) the friends that have been so important in this fundraising process.  I can’t wait to get the pictures so that I can share them with you and a little bit about my time.  I was given a very special gift and I’m looking forward to showing it to you as well.   I’m so blessed to have been able to strengthen friendships and develop new ones!  How are you all doing?  I hope you are smiling today.

P.S.  All flights to Portland (and 250 other flights) were canceled due to weather.  Thankful I was able to make it home.

From left to right: Christine (Deputy Director of Orphan Rescue Operations and my main point person), Janet (VP Financial Accountability and the lady who gives me the official updates), Craig (President and CEO of Warm Blankets), and Kristen (Orphan Rescue Operations Specialist and one of the 12 days of Christmas project ladies).  Other picture is me with Tressa who is the Vice President of Orphan Rescue Operations and and the most incredible connector ever!  All of these people are SO wonderful!

All iphone photos…