Archive | September, 2011

Continued…

We put masks up for all different reasons.  Some people put them up to hide who they are or to show others what they think someone else wants them to be.  But just because we put a shield in front of our eyes doesn’t mean that something isn’t behind the facade.  It doesn’t make what we are trying to hide disappear.  In fact I think it compounds the problem.  Because we are living a lie.  And when we do that we lose the beauty of honesty and truth.  We hurt ourselves from truly looking out and seeing.  No…taking off the mask can be hard as the full light begins to hit the eyes of our soul but when we face the Light the shadows flee.  The obstruction that skews our vision of who we are and how we view others dissipates and the sparkle of eyes freed will be more beautiful than any mask could ever be.  Are you putting on masks?  Please consider taking it off regardless of what anyone thinks.  Isn’t freedom always better than a cage?  Let’s leave the masks for the theater…

What keeps you from taking off your mask?  Are you willing to take it off now?  Please leave your comments below.  🙂

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!!!

I love it when hands cover bright eyes and a game of peak-a-boo occurs.  It always amuses me how little children actually think they are hiding just because they can’t see you.  And of course it’s cute too.  Yet as we get older those hands that we used to cover our eyes with turn into masks that we hide behind.  Granted we don’t cover our faces anymore we just cover our souls.  It’s pretty safe to say that everyone has some mask…or masks.  With them you can change what you want people to see you as and depending on the time, place, or people around you might have enough masks to outfit a whole cast.  Are we really fooling everyone else or are we just deceiving ourselves?  Are those masks distracting people from seeing who we really are or are they just obstructing our vision?

To be continued…

!!!UPDATE!!!  $36,292.56 😀 Anyone want to tip it over the 300?

This is one of the children YOU have helped. 😀  Thought you might like to hear from this young gentleman yourself.

Akash – Tangutur Home

1.  What do you remember from your life before coming to the Tangutur home?

My name is Akash I am studying 6^th class, before I come to the Tangutur home, I use to play on the streets with street children.  I use to smoke and talk bad words.  I never go school and I never obey my elders.  I don’t know what life I am living.

2.  What is the best part about living in the Tangutur home?

I come to the Tangutur home through my church pastor. When I come to the Tangutur home, a few days I did not adjust with other children. I feel likeI want to run away from there. But one day my pastor told me, if you feel want to run away from here don’t run without telling us. God gave you a great opportunity to live here. So pray and ask God that your mind will be change into the Jesus.  Then I just started to pray as I am praying, really my mind get a some relief, and peace, then I stopped to smoke.  Now I get a fear of God inside of my heart.  I am going to school.

3. If you were going to describe God to your class, what three words would you use to describe God?

• Jesus is redeemer; he was done many wonders in my life.
• Jesus is our savior; believe him and pray to him.
• If you love your parents, you can love Jesus.

4. In ten years, old will you be? What do you want your life to be like at that time?

After ten years I may get 22 years old, that time I just want to see in my life wonderful for others.  I want to become a doctor.  Then I able to help poor children and struggling people

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It’s hard to believe that 100 days ago I was smack dab in the middle of wearing this dress and that it was Father’s Day.  Feels like a dream or that it happened to someone else and not me.  Do you ever feel that way?  We hadn’t even tipped the $5,000 mark.  And it was halfway through… yet praise the Lord here we are 100 days later and over $36,000 raised.  Sure some days I don’t think we will make to to the $50K mark but then I remember and can be at peace.  It never has been my project to begin with.  It was/is God’s and he will do exactly what he wants.  I don’t know what will happen in the next 100 days.  Maybe nothing that I would normally consider exciting but one thing I do know.  It will be exciting.  Why?  Because I am living it with the one I love, Jesus.  And he has given me this incredible thing called life.  And I don’t want to miss one moment of it.

In the last 150 days:

I wore the same dress for 100 days in a row…

I have blogged daily for 150 days

Approved almost 2,000 comments

We have raised over $36,000!!!!!

We have helped open 11 new orphan homes

We have fed children in need

Prayers prayed and blessing experienced…countless

Lives touched?  Well I don’t think I’ll ever fully know till heaven but I do know mine was changed and I pray yours was too

I’m truly grateful for this opportunity and humbled that you would all join with me.  Thank you.  I can never say that enough.

You may or may not find a post on here tomorrow… 😉

I pray this isn’t the last UPDATE I put in a post:  $36,257.56 😀 😀 😀

P.S.  Thank you to my sweet cousin Ben for thinking of me and bringing this beautiful scarf back from his travels abroad.

Tissues, tea, and vitamin C… Yep totally sick.   Thankfully I have no where I need to be and plenty of studying to do.  🙂  Sorry if I look a bit peaked in this pic.  It kinda went: Click, Sneeze, Click, Sneeze….

Sooooo….I won’t be having any more outfit pictures for a little while after tomorrow…  Frankly I need a break but at the same time if I’m completely honest I’m kinda nervous about changing up the blogging style and possibly breaking my streak of posting…the tiny part of me that is competitive (usually only with myself) wants to see how long I can go.  Kinda dumb but true.  Also I’m concerned that the money for the project might go from slowly dripping in to non existent.   Annnnd while I’m being completely honest I’m afraid all you wonderful people will just disappear….I’ve sorta become fond of you all. 😉  Comments??

Hope your week is off to a wonderful start my friends!

P.S.  Hope to have an Update for you soon and I hope you like day 150 tomorrow. 🙂

What a journey this has been… It has been exhilarating and tear inducing and everything in between.  I have had the honor of hearing from some of you who are halfway across the globe as well as connecting with new people.  I never thought I would put together outfits and put them on a blog.  Ha! I never thought I would actually have a blog.  But here I am today finished with wearing the black dress and yet still trying to raise the $50K…  I still hope to go to India and meet these amazing children.  As I sit here and write this I can hear delighted squeals and giggles from the other room where my nephew and niece are playing a game.  Such life and joy in them.  They are loved and well taken care of.  I am thankful that you have joined me on this adventure to give that same joy to little darlings in India.  God has been so faithful and I’m blessed.  I pray you have been too.  I pray your heart has been so touched by the plight of these children that you can’t help but go and do something.  Friends I am thankful you have been here with me… 🙂

Quote time!!!

“‘Safe?’ said Mr. Beaver… ‘Who said anything about safe?  ‘Course he isn’t safe. but he’s good.  He’s the King, I tell you.'”  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

“Maybe it’s this — a stillness before God invites the setting aside of achieving — to allow the simple grace of receiving.”  Ann Voskamp

“God created the world out of nothing, and as long as we are nothing, He can make something out of us.”  Martin Luther

Hope you all are having a great weekend!!!

And I am SOOOOO excited about an UPDATE!!! 😀 $36,146.31 😀  So can how fast can we make it to $37K???  Please tell your friends and ask them to donate.

We are consumers.  Advertisements constantly bombard us to buy this and that.  They tell us we won’t be satisfied until we get what they have to offer.  Our culture breeds us to want.  Stuff.  And then more stuff, but we miss out on consuming the one thing that really matters.  The one thing that will satisfy us.  The ONLY thing that will satisfy us.  A relationship with Jesus.  We go out to eat and we look in store windows longingly at things yet do we “taste and see that the Lord is good!”?  (Psa. 34:8)  Our culture tells us if we just have one more thing we will be happy.  But it is a lie.  Instead let us be consumed with loving the one who is Love.  Let’s feast at his table.  It won’t disappoint.  Thoughts on this?  Let us hear it in the comments. 🙂

So I guess this is perfectionism 102 today since part one was a few days ago. 😉  Someone asked how I was overcoming the negative results of perfectionism and let me just say that I’m learning.  I have by no means arrived or even have good answers for you.   I think it starts with recognizing that you are a perfectionist and from there you have to figure out the why?  Why is it so important (to the point of stressing you out) that something is done to what you consider perfect?  Before you can change you have to do that.  I think perfectionism is often rooted in control or pride.  For me personally I think a lot of it had/has to do with fear.   I think learning to let go of your life and give it to God is the only place that lasting change happens.  By all means do your best (we should in fact) but do it for God and not for yourself.   Living a stressed out life isn’t worth it.  What are you trying to prove by being perfect??  Also after talking with my mom about this (btw this is a large topic in general…) we agreed that often it stems from finding our identity in doing.  Instead our identity should be firmly rooted in Christ.  When we walk confident in the knowledge that we are His then perfectionism will turn into delightfully doing our best instead of being a slave to perfect….which doesn’t exist except in the person of Christ.  Thoughts and questions?  Please leave them in the comments. 🙂

Hey everyone! Hope your week is going well.  You already have done so much to help the orphans but I was wondering if you would be willing to ask 5 friends to give $5 dollars for these sweet children.  $5 dollars feeds an orphan for a month which works out to about 90 meals.  Wow that is like us buying two coffees or something.  Or you could just hit up one friend for $25. 😉 How ever you’d like to do it is fine.  I realize that might put you out of your comfort zone and frankly asking you to do this is out of mine but I think part of the reason we don’t have things is because we don’t ask!  Funds have stopped coming in and I think we need a little boost!

P.S.  Due to your great comments I think I will be talking more about perfectionism tomorrow…