Summer Fun

I'm more of a winter person but there are several things that I love to do that are more for summer weather. So here are some things on my list that I'm looking forward to when the weather permits:

Hike up Multnomah Falls
Canoe on the Deschutes in Sunriver
Go fishing for my first time
Spend long days at the beach
Go to Edgefield Manor for BBQ's out on the lawn
Backpack along the Salmon River
Go to Pike's Place and have a seafood lunch on the water
Sit out in the sun...reading a good book
Drink fresh fruit smoothies on a hot day
Stay in a yurt in Lincoln City
Go to outdoor concerts
Get tan!

Starbuck's Quote # 201

Complex problems defy simple solutions. One cannot end poverty by giving money to every poor person, nor is the world cleaned up if everyone rode their bikes to work instead of driving. We need to commit to a total solution for our perceived problems. We need to also remember that most solutions hurt people too. What or who we hurt and who or what we fix is always the tough part of the equation.

-John Adamski
Starbucks customer from Corvallis, Oregon

God's Message to Women

"When I created the heavens and the earth, I spoke them into being. When I created man, I formed him and breathed life into his nostrils. But you, woman, I fashioned after I breathed the breath of life into man because your nostrils are too delicate. I allowed a deep sleep to come over him so I could patiently and perfectly fashion you.

Man was put to sleep so that he could not interfere with the creativity. From one bone I fashioned you. I chose the bone that protects man's life. I chose the rib, which protects his heart and lungs and supports him, as you are meant to do. Around this one bone I shaped you. I modeled you. I created you perfectly and beautifully.

Your characteristics are as the rib, strong yet delicate and fragile. You provide protection for the most delicate organ in man, his heart. His heart is the center of his being; his lungs hold the breath of life.The rib cage will allow itself to be broken before it will allow damage to the heart. Support man as the rib cage supports the body. You were not taken from his feet, to be under him, nor were you taken from his head, to be above him. You were taken from his side, to stand beside him and be held close to his side.

You are my perfect angel, my beautiful little girl. You have grown to be a splendid woman of excellence, and my eyes fill when I see the virtues in your heart. Your eyes are beautiful. Your lips, how lovely when they part in prayer. Your nose, so perfect in form, your hands so gentle to touch. I've caressed your face in your deepest sleep; I've held your heart close to mine. Of all that lives and breathes, you are the most like me. Adam walked with me in the cool of the day and yet he was lonely. He could not see me or touch me. He could only feel me. So everything I wanted Adam to share and experience with me, I fashioned in you: my holiness, my strength, my purity, my love, my protection and support.

You are special because you are the extension of me. Man represents my image - Woman, my emotions. Together, you represent the totality of God.

So man, treat woman well. Love her, respect her, for she is fragile. In hurting her, you hurt me. What you do to her, you do to me. In hurting her, you only damage your own heart, the heart of your Father, and the heart of her Father.

Woman, support man. In humility, show him the power of emotion I have given you. In gentle quietness show your strength. In love, show him that you are the rib that protects his inner self."

What am I Doing to Help?

I watched Invisible Children again recently. Every time I watch these stories I feel so compelled to do something more with my life. I feel as though I'm not doing enough, there's always something more I could do. Those of you who may not know what this is all about, well...let me tell you:

In the spring of 2003, University of Southern California film school graduates Jason Russell and Bobby Bailey, and their friend Laren Poole, traveled to Africa intending to film the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. They found themselves in the northern part of Uganda, witnessing the horrors of a 20 year rebellion in which most of the combatants, an estimated 80% to 90%, are children.

They discovered that children as young as eight were being kidnapped nightly from their homes by a rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army. To avoid capture, the children would wake themselves in the middle of the night, while it was very dark and travel for miles to evade the rebels. The children who are abducted are desensitized to the horror of violence and killing as they themselves are turned into vicious killers. Some escape and hide in constant fear; most remain captive and group into adulthood with no education other than life in the bush and fighting in a guerrilla war.

"Invisible Children" highlights what the community refers to as "night commuters," the thousands of children who migrate out of fear from the villages to nearby towns each night to avoid the LRA abductions. They sleep in public places, vulnerable and without supervision, and in a constant state of fear.

The interesting thing is, Jason, Bobby, and Laren had no idea their rough documentary would make it into the public eye, let alone make such a large impact on the community. They first screened "Invisible Children" in 2004 for friends and family and soon expanded to high schools, colleges, and organizations. The film has sparked a movement to bring assistance to the children of northern Uganda.

In September 2004, the filmmakers formed a nonprofit organization called Invisible Children, Inc. to coordinate the efforts of those who want to help. The organization has started an education program and a bracelet campaign that provides employment to Ugandans and helps fund the education program.

There is a website you can go to to learn more about this organization and be apart of the bracelet campaign. With each bracelet, there is a story of a different child. And all the money goes to aid this movement. I encourage you to be apart of it too: www.invisiblechildren.com

I have 3 bracelets already. Wear them...and remember.

Missing India

Yes, I am back from India. I didn't want to leave. I remember sitting next to Ben on the plane ride from LA to Portland, about ready to land at PDX...I turned to him and said "I already miss it".

India was beautiful. I had an amazing time. I saw so many things that I had never seen before and some of it pretty shocking. The people were friendly, traffic was chaotic by American standards, cows and dogs everywhere, people walking in and throughout the traffic, camels walking alongside the roads, people sleeping on the sidewalks, women tapping on the car windows at stoplights begging for money or food. The first day we got to India, after Blair and I got settled in our room and I looked out of the hotel window, three floors up from the street, and I said to Blair "I feel like I'm watching National Geographic". I seriously felt like I was living out a picture that I've seen in that magazine.
There are so many things I could write about. But it is difficult to put an experience like that into words. India is a place where you just have to go...and truly experience everything that it has to offer.

I miss it very much. I'm not a very emotional person, people close to me know this. But after India, just thinking about my time there and how much of an impact it made on me...makes me tear up. And the songs Ben has written over the past years that he's been in India, and I've heard these songs several times, they have a special meaning to me now...they have become personal. These songs bring India back to me. I didn't realize just how much I would miss it. It physically hurts that I'm not there anymore. 3 weeks was not enough time to be there.

I can't wait to go back.

India Bound

This year I had the amazing opportunity to go to India. I had wanted to go about 2 years ago. Got scared and backed out. Kicking myself ever since then for being a wimp and not stepping out of the comfort zone. Well, I stepped out. Not so easily though. It took a lot of thought and urging from some close friends of mine.

Early on in 2005, I got this strange urge to email Ben (he was living in India for a few months then). At that point in time he was just an ex-boyfriend of mine, who I occasionally talked to when we hung out with our friends from church. But I just felt compelled to send him a little note from home, telling him that there are people thinking and praying for him. Little did I know where this one little email would lead us.

We emailed back and forth for the whole year that he lived there. He would tell me about everything he saw and experienced there. Share with me some stories of people he met. Then..here it comes...."You need to come to India".

At this point, my stomach is all in knots. A slight headache is creeping up. India? Mmmm. Not so sure. I had heard stories from my sister, my brother-in-law, and one of my ex-roommates..they had all been there before. They didn't have any bad stories at all, in fact they were all pleasant stories. It was just the thought of me traveling all the way across the world, into a country that I knew nothing about. The thought freaked me out a little bit. But the more I thought about the possibility of me going, the more I started to pray and ask God if this is something I could do.

Then Ben came back home to Oregon in February 2006. A couple months later...the view of my future changed quite a bit. Ben and I were pretty much inseparable from the time he got back in town. It was just a matter of time before we would become "official". I knew coming into this relationship that I would have to come to grips with India. This country is extremely important to Ben and I knew that if we wanted to head into the direction our relationship was going...I would have to make a decision about India. And the only way for me to really do that was to go. Village was sending a team January 2007. I had 9 months to think, pray, and prepare myself for all the reasons I was going on this trip.

Well, 9 months flew by but during that time I really got to know a lot about India and a lot about myself. The team went through months of training so I was really feeling prepared and amazingly, I had no nervousness about it. God gave me an incredible peace. I was SO ready to go. So excited to finally get to this country that I had heard so much about.

The whole experience leading up to the trip was enjoyable. Tiring. But nothing that I couldn't handle. I'm really looking forward to more traveling in the future.

Baby Blogger

I'm new to the blogging world so you will have to be patient. I will try my best to blog somewhat frequently. We'll see how that goes. I've attempted blogger before...then gave up. But I'm back after much persistence from the boyfriend. :o) Hope you enjoy!