Help.....someone.

Psalm 82:3 "Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

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Poverty.

It UGLY and we ignore it.

We choose to.

Because we can.

We live in a place that works hard to "GET RID OF" the problem.

We live in a place that works hard to keep the homeless man off the street....so we don't have to be REMINDED.

Some don't want THAT reality staring them in the face while they are trying to get a latte' at starbucks.

Maybe it is the fear. Poeple fear what they don't understand.

All the while most of us are 1 or 2 paychecks away from the life of THAT man.

Sooo....
Most Americans cannot wrap their minds around true poverty.
The kind that is HEAVY with despair and pain.
The kind that SUFFOCATES people.
The kind that keeps SHACKLES around feet that are already covered in MUD.
The kind that FORCES a Mother to GIVE UP her child to and orphanage...so the child will LIVE.
The kind that FORCES a woman to sell her body so that she can EAT mud biscuits.

Most cannot UNDERSTAND because they have never looked into the EYES of a poverty-stricken child....outside of a infomercial.

People are SMUG. They are PRIDEFUL.
Because they want to think that something LIKE THAT could NEVER happen to us in the good ole' USA.

It can and will...someday.

In the meantime .....we need to EXPOSE ourselves to the TRUTH.
Its UGLY....but it's THERE.
It can't be ignored.

God wants us to help those that are in need.

We are called to help those who need help.

We need to be cleansed.

We need to let HIM wash away all the misconceptions and lies thet permeate our thoughts about POVERTY.

We need to let go of GREED and loosen our hands of our TIME and MONEY.

No more sitting back and saying...
next month I'll send that donation.

No more sitting back and saying...
next time Ill give that man a dollar.

Because tommorow is never promised.

You never know when you will find YOURSELF in invisible shackles that hold you down.

So I am calling you today to open your hearts.
Help SOMEONE.
DO SOMETHING.
TODAY.
NOW.

Spread the LOVE.......

Water....... a gift.

Save the CEREAL......boxes, that is!

Cereal Boxes.

Soooo Simple.
What a blessing when you can turn something so useless in to something that can SAVE the life of a family.

Something we take for granted.

Boxes.

Until NOW........
we burned them in the fire pit.
DAILY.

Never even thinking about HOW ELSE it could be used.

But.........
Once again my eyes have been opened a little wider by my sweet friend Heather over at SitaSpell

Click HERE to check it out.

She is an AMAZING foot soldier in Haiti.
On the front lines....being a direct link between the Haitian people and us.

Like I said....cereal boxes.

Almost tooo simple to be true.

1. Save boxes
2. Send them to Haiti
3. They get made into beautiful jewelry that is sold to SAVE a MOTHER.



What an AMAZING way to help the orphans in Haiti!!!

I mean really helping children AND recycling.

AWESOME!

Crystal Ball-ish............

Teenagers scary me....
especially the GIRLS I see.
I see them at the dance studio.
I see them at the park.
I see them at the library.
AND...
for the most part they are BRATS.
Disrespectful to each other and MEAN.

The other day at the library there were two PRE-TEEN girls in the childrens library on the computers.
They had the head phones on and were talking to each other at the same time.
And then...
all the sudden they were cussing.
LOUDLY.
I look at them and motioned for them to TAKE OFF the headphones.
They did.
"I hope you remember WHERE you are. In the KIDS library. STOP!."
They were SLIGHTLY embarassed but quickly MOVED on and returned to their previous conversations.
And started CUSSING again.
Seriously?
Again, I said...."Take off the headphones! Did you not understand WHAT I said???? STOP CUSSING. I will have you THROWN out of here real quick if you do not respect what I say.!!!"
Then these little bratty girls LAUGHED and said, "Let's go meet Matt!"
This really opened my eyes.....
and made me realize that I am sooo thankful for the opportunity to spend the TIME with my daughters EVERYDAY.
TIME to correct their SMART MOUTHS and TEACH them a better way.
I have seen into SOME MOTHER'S future.
SCARY.

Still learning…..daily.

“I do not have to walk to a well, I do  not have to walk to a well, I do not have to walk to a well…..”

THAT is my mantra today.

THAT is what I am concentrating on.

THAT is what I am giving thanks for.

Because I know there are many places in the world today where there is a mother who LOVES her babies and her family JUST AS MUCH as I do…..

and TODAY :

she DOES have to walk to a well for water we would NEVER consider giving to our families.

she DOES have to worry about keeping her babies out of the disgusting MUD …in her home.

she DOES have to worry about infectious diseases killing her babies…tonight.

she DOES have to WONDER when and WHAT she will feed her sweet kids whose tummies GRUMBLE just like my kids tummies grumble.

Sooo…for this I am BLESSED.

For this I am thankful…..

BUT …this morning…..

UUUGGGHHHHHH….

for a HOT MINUTE I was ungrateful and FORGOT.

I was mad….PISSED.

At LIFE.

I was mad because my van broke….we fixed it but- it is just a matter of time. :(

I was mad because our hot water heater went out….3 days ago.

I was mad because the carpet and floor in the kids room was SOAKED …from the hot water heater.

I was mad because we sooooo badly want to buy this land and home…and there is sooo much red tape.

I was mad because it is THURSDAY…which means tomorrow is FRIDAY(I work all weekend) …and I'm already TIRED….from working all week.

I was mad because I just want a VACATION.

And then it hit me…..

after an UGLY 15 minutes in which my husband saw the  depth of my FLAWS….

I am still sooo broken…so YUCKY ….STILL.

I am in a position in life to ACTUALLY SEE HOW blessed I am.

I mean really…..

You have to be pretty blessed in order to recognize how BLESSED YOU ARE.

Things have to be pretty awesome in my life  for me to be able to worry about things like :

the water heater?????

the van?????????

the CARPET????

I mean I CAN actually worry about thing like THAT.

Things that are NOT life threatening.

All those things we can fix….

we can get a new van.

we can fix the water heater.

we can clean the carpet.

But in those WEAK , NASTY moments …..

I find the real me.

The me that still needs sooooo much work.

The me that is RAW and earthly.

The me that is still so COMFORTABLE.

It is in those moments that I am sooo AWARE…

of the lessons that still  need to be learned.

It is in those moments that I feel ALIVE….

because of the CHANCE to learn those lessons.

Thank you God….thank you.

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Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the
world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the
world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”- 1 John 2:15-16

Overheard…….

Little girl on the football field: “My Dad is the BEST Dad EVA!!!!!!!!”

Sheba : “Nu-Uh!!!!!”

Girl: “Uh-hu!!!”

Sheba:”Nu-uh! Because …MY DAD is the best Dad Eva!!!!!!!!”

Awesome!!!!

Gobble ,Gobble!!!

THIS was lunch today…..They “gobbled” it up!!!!

Happy Native American November!!!!

T

Just like ME…part 2

We went to TGIFriday’s for “Dunch”.

Otherwise known as …the time between Lunch and Dinner.

We had a great time and made some SWEET MEMORIES with our SWEET friends.

THEN…on Sunday, we did and art project…

We painted giraffes.

They ended up REALLY CUTE!

 

Honours giraffe:

Shashamanes’ giraffe: 

Shebas giraffe: (no name needed though…she signed it herself. Sweet!)

Just like ME……

We have a tradition in our house.

If it is your birthday…..when you wake up-the living room is decorated in balloons and streamers in your favorite colors.

The kids LOVE it and it has become something that is EXPECTED.

They KNOW that when they wake up there will be THAT waiting for them.

Its fun and easy.

Sooooo…today when Shasha woke up on her 8th birthday ….

THIS is what she saw…

She WAS NOT surprised…but she LOVED it..

(Helium balloons are a NEW touch for us…FUN!)

 

Dear Shasha….

You were my first daughter.

I knew when I saw you that you were one SWEET GIRL.

I knew that you would challenge me and test me.

I knew that you were stubborn and strong willed.

I knew that we were in for a ride.

And I knew this because you are JUST LIKE ME.

You are strong, emotional, passionate,stubborn and caring.

And with time and cultivation you are learning to give and be compassionate.

I see you learning lessons and I am thankful.

Thankful that GOD is forgiving enough to give me a second chance…THRU YOU.

I love you more than words can say.

I love you more than you will ever know.

Love …Mommy

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Go, Malachi, Go!!!!

Teaching reading is one of the most STRESSFUL, HARD, TME CONSUMING things I have EVER done.

THAT in itself should get a WHOLE YEAR or two ALL to itself.

It is HARD.

Not like face it then MOVE ON ..hard.

More like…stare you in the face EVERYDAY , HARD.

And it is one of those things that HAS TO BE DONE.

Its not like some of the other subjects that you can skip over as a homeschool Mom.

I mean really….

some days we  don’t get to science…Oh well.

some days we don’t get to history…oh well.

some days we don’t get to our flashcards…oh well.

But…..

You CAN’T skip the reading.

It is a CORE subject.

I mean who REALLY wants to be the homeschool mom who never taught her child(ren) to read.

That would for sure be the TALK of the TOWN.

I can hear it now, “Do you know that weird family with the dreads??? I hear that they homeschool and they never even taught the kids to READ!!! Figures……Weirdos.”  LOL

That is what goes on in MY HEAD anyway.

I’m sure that IS NOT what would happen…

BUT

I don’t really want to chance it.

AT ALL.

And the craziest part of it all is that all children are different.

REALLY different.

Zeek is not a reader.

He knows HOW….he just dosen’t like it.

He does it…because I MAKE HIM.

And teaching that child to read was THE HARDEST thing I have EVER done.

He is in 4th grade and JUST THIS YEAR …he “gets it”.

He reads and UNDERSTANDS what he read.

But he was 9 when he “got it”.

It was a LONG JOURNEY…..that we are still walking.

Then came Shasha….

I never even really remember teaching her…she just KNEW.

One day she was just reading…I mean- I taught her the SOUNDS….but she put them together and was READING.

Just like THAT.

At age 6….she LOVED read~and still does.

NOW…is  Malachis’ turn…

my WILD CHILD.

The child that WON’T sit still….EVER.

He is a hyper 6 year old boy…

REALLY HYPER.

I mean…EXTREMELY HYPER.

Seriously…..He is my child that challenges me the most.

He TESTS me.

He TEACHES me…by TESTING me.

So…I just KNEW that teaching him to read was going to test my patience.

I figured…because I can’t EVER get him to sit down…this would be NO DIFFERENT.

I figured I would have to CHASE HIM DOWN to get him to read.

I don’t.

He LOVES reading and it is one of the ONLY things that makes him sit still. 

He will actually CALMLY sit and READ a book.

I mean…sit on his bottom CALMLY and read.

CALMLY….without getting up.

SIT.

QUIETLY.

and

CALMLY.

And he LOVES it.

He QUIETLY loves it.

Awesome.

Sheba is next….

let’s just PRAY that the last child will be easy on me.

I figure that right about the time I figure this whole homeschooling thing out …they will graduate.

LOL.