Archive | September, 2011

I’m sure it was evident to most everyone who knew me but sometimes it takes me a little while (or a long while…) to see something in myself.  You see this thing I have shows up in all different forms. I pushed to do well at piano, I wanted to excel at speech, I didn’t want to do such and such because I was afraid that it wouldn’t be just so.  Heck I even looked for a pair of black pumps for OVER a year because I wanted them to be perfect (O.K. that and I wanted them to be comfortable which is basically an oxymoron).  Ahh but perfectionism was a mean master to me.  It drove me to miss out on the fun of piano at times, it kept me from enjoying the thrill of speaking in front of people.  It held me back from pursing my dreams.  It isn’t wrong to want to do something well.  In fact that is a good thing but good things can take over our lives and when they do that they stop being good for us.  I am not perfect and the only One who is perfect is Jesus.  The incredible, beautiful thing is that he has made me perfect in him.  So I can rest and stop striving.  I can do my best and be content.  I can push publish on a post even if it isn’t just so… Because I am imperfect I see how much I need the perfect One.  Does perfectionism hold you back from really growing into being your best??

Maybe I should let you hear from one of the children you have helped. 🙂

Joythi
1.  What do you remember from your life before coming to the  home?
My name is Joythi I am studying in pre-school.  Before I come to Nelatur home, I just use to enjoy with my friends and I never go school.   I never obey my elders and my grand mother use to say, “You are so small you have to go school and you have to obey your elders”, but I never listen to her.

2.  What is the best part about living in a NELATUR home?
I come to NELATUR home through my church pastor.  Actually I don’t like to go school.  But when I see NELATUR home children I was very interested to go school and study well.  So, I decide that I will study until I get to be an engineer

3.  If you were going to describe God to your class, what three words would you use to describe God?
•    God was died on the cross for my sin.
•    Jesus loves me so much.
•    I will walk in Jesus way.

4.  In ten years, how old will you be? What do you want your life to be like at that time?
In ten years, I have 17 years old.  I just want to see in my life will be so beautiful.  And that I able to help others, those are like me.  And I love Jesus very much because, even though I don’t have father, I can feel that heavenly father is mine.

These home parents have two children of their own and they have taken in 10 girls to raise and love and support!  Please pray for them!

  Joythi is the smallest one in her home.  In the last 6 months we have seen her experience the joy of the Lord like never before!  She is truly loved in her home and where there is true love there is freedom!  She always has a smile on her face now!  It is so great! Joythi loves to sing and dance and so do her sisters!  Please be praying for Joythi!

If you haven’t donated please consider doing so today.  We only need 1,000 people to donate $14 dollars to reach our goal!!! 😀

They are three words that are spoken too often and not enough.  “I love you.”  We say we love this dinner or that store and then turn around and say I love you to a person.  Are they the same love or have we just become lax in our thinking?  What is true love?  I know…big question right.  Yet I think everyone is looking for it in one form or another.  I believe that true love is sacrificial.  It is putting someone else’s needs before your own.  It is bearing hurt to keep reaching out to someone who doesn’t care how you feel.  It is taking the time to serve another person when you could be doing something a lot more fun.  It is laying down our lives.  Can we do this?  No.  Before you get depressed let me tell you though that there is hope.  We can love like this if we know the One who is love.  Jesus showed true love when he sacrificed his whole life for his enemies.  Enemies!!! The very ones who nailed him to a cross, who mocked him, who tested him every day of his life, well these were the ones he came for.  Not perfect people.  He came for me, an imperfect person.  He came for you.  When he said “I love you” he not only meant it but he showed it.  If we surrender to that love then we will be able to turn around and truly love others.  But until we do that we will just keep longing.  Longing to know where true love lies.  It doesn’t lie in clothing, money, or fame.  Should we stop saying “I love you” just because we don’t have pure love for others?  No, but let us be willing to give our lives for others because we first have been loved by Jesus.

P.S.  I love this tunic type shirt/cardigan because my brother had it made for me as a Christmas present.  It was so thoughtful and sweet of him. 🙂  Also I’m not sure how I’m going to take pictures outside since the rain is going to set in really soon…they might all have to be in this spot since it is slightly covered.  (Yes it was raining when we took this.)

Grateful for:

a long hug and a kiss on the forehead from an auntie

hearing the beautiful accent of a sweet friend on another continent

being able to talk to someone who is in a different day…! Gatta love time change

a walk through a picturesque park with trees arching overhead

sunlight spilling forth at evening to make everything golden

a creatively wrapped package with gifts and a note that brought tears to my eyes

a cousin connection moment where she totally understood

for the strength from Jesus to make it to day 140

I could go on and on… What are you grateful for today?  Mind telling me one thing in the comments?  I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to Claudia for sending me the most beautiful package with this wallet/clutch.  (She brought it back from Cambodia!)  It made my day and the note is one I’ll keep for forever.  🙂

P.S.  Hope you like today’s outfit since I didn’t have time to do more than just throw something on… 🙂

O.K. so this project must have done something to me in the fashion department.  I would NEVER have put this combo together before but after seeing this,  this, and this as well as countless other combos with these colors I just had to give it a try.  The worst that can happen is that I hate it.  And actually I think it is kinda fun.  I love bright colors!  My dad thinks it makes me look like a popsicle so that isn’t too bad either. 😉  I really should have had different shoes though and some bright lipstick would have been helpful… What do you think?  Yay or nay?  Have you ever thought you would never wear something only to find you end up liking it later?  I figure that since I’m in my 20’s now is the time to experiment. 🙂

Anyways in more important news this picture was sent to me yesterday of the little boy that made me this picture! Totally melted my heart.  I so badly want to give him a hug and spend time with him.

And this picture of the hands was sent to me by a sweet reader who went to India.  Thank you Laetitia for sharing this with us!  I hope that someday that will be my hand holding one of the orphans little hands. 🙂

Look at this UPDATE!!!!!! $35,979,45 😀  So whose going to push us over to the $36K mark?  We only need a little bit!

Hey everybody! My trip was wonderful. 🙂  The wedding was incredible and so much fun.  Definitely danced the night away.  The rest of the week consisted of going shooting with my cousins, taking a long walk at a picture perfect park, playing music (again with cousins), going to the lake and making sand castles, etc.  So yeah we did a lot and it was fun but coming come my body fell apart and I was sneezing the whole flight home.  Since I’m sick I’m going to go curl up on the couch today.  Hope you all are well and I will hopefully be back to new soon! 🙂

P.S.  Bought this whole outfit minus the shoes (and a matching scarf) at the Salvation Army years ago for $5. 🙂

Dear wonderful people,

Today I am coming home!  Although I am sad to leave my family and friends in MN I am excited to get back to see my dad, sleep in my bed, and see my friends in Portland.  O.K. gatta go.  Flying most of today.  Hopefully I will be back to regular style blogging but we’ll see.  I may need a few days to recuperate!

P.S.  I love seeing the view out the airplane window.  And if there are clouds I always want to jump in them even though it wouldn’t be like fluffy cotton like I imagine them to be. 🙂

xxx

Don’t have much time to write but of course had to say hello to all you lovely people! I love hearing how you are spreading the word about the orphans and taking an interest in their plight.  From the bottom of my heart thank you!   Thank you for loving these children.  Thank you for helping them to have a hope and a future.  They may be little but as Dr. Seuss would say, “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

Yay for an UPDATE: $35,829.45 😀

I’ve been in a waiting stage since the “end” of the project.  It hasn’t been easy but it has been good for me.  Actively waiting yes, but still waiting.  And this may sound silly but I don’t know what I am waiting for exactly.  Then I read this quote by Ann Voskamp, “Waiting is just a gift of time in disguise- a time to pray wrapped up in a ribbon of patience- because is the Lord ever late?”  That spoke straight to my heart.  I don’t want to miss the gift of waiting.  There is so much beauty in just being fully present where I am right now and taking it all in.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on “waiting” in the comments.  What did you do when you were at a crossroads in your life?

Dear wonderful readers,

Today marks a very significant day in American history.  It has been a decade since the attack on our country and the World Trade Centers crashing to the ground.  As I spend time with loved ones today I am reminded of the courage some people had that day to lay down their lives for others.  I am grateful to them and their families as well as for the men and women who daily serve our country.  I am blessed…

Today’s quotes are on courage…

Courage is contagious.  When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened. ~ Billy Graham
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.  ~Ambrose Redmoon
Courage is almost a contradiction in terms.  It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.  ~G.K. Chesterton