This is the day!

[Every day brings a new day!
And today begins the rest of your life!
Seek to live life for God.]

eating lunch with you.

sometimes just sitting.
being with someone special to you.
is better then talking to them.

two people sitting in the sunshine.
on the grass.
having a picnic lunch.
taking a break.
from the day at school.

maybe saying a few words.
asking how the day is going.
or telling a funny story.
[but mostly just BEING together.]

i love these times with my sister tali!

it hit me the other day.
pretty hard.
that in three months.
she'll be off and married.
a wife, living with her husband.
still my little sister.
but no longer little.
and no longer living in the same house as me.
no more carpooling to college or sharing lunches together.

i will miss all these things.
the good times.
and even the times we've fought.
as we know, life isn't always 'flowers and hotdogs'.
i love all the times we've had growing up together these past 18 years.
no one can take those memories away.
and i wouldn't trade them for anything.

but that doesn't make these big changes any easier.
i will miss her being around the house.
and fighting over the car with her.
or laughing about some things no one else would understand.
God has blessed me in so many ways.
and I have grown immensely through my relationship with my sista talitha.

now to focus on the positives.
i look forward to seeing their new home.
and going over for meals.
and seeing her and her husband together as a married couple.
and to see where God leads them in the path of life.
near or far, but always serving Him.
and i look forward to the advice she'll have to offer me.
when my turn comes (Lordwilling) to be married.
since she'll have marriage experience already.
which is weird to think of, but it's true.

i am jealous sometimes.
and i cry too.
but i know this is all in His hands.
and it's in His perfect timing.
i love how God's plan unfolds, even when i don't understand it.
in each of our lives.
so different for each one of us.

i will always love my tali girl.
(here i am starting to cry now.)
and i am truly happy and excited for you and joshy in this.
i wasn't at first.
and that still creeps in sometimes.
but God has done so much work in my heart.
and i am only able to say this happened by His power.

thank you so much for being who you are.
i feel honored to be one of your bridesmaids.
i look forward to the special day.

in the meantime though.
lets keep focusing on the present.
keep enjoying our rides to and from hfcc.
and our lunches together in the sunshine, or the rain.

life is so much better with you in it. :)

mucho love to you foreva and eva, big sista cil xo

today.

we drove up and parked.
began cleaning up the little park @ 2nd and Seldan in downtown detroit.
some local people were just sitting on the benches chilling out.
we pulled weeds and picked up all the garbage around the park.
then we set up the bbq stuff, the tables, and alllll the food.

i met an energetic man named stephen who's a great-grandfather and only 54. he just moved here from texas last summer. me and t prayed for him. he smiled and was so touched when i asked could we pray for him...he said of course! so we did. he said we blessed him so much today and brightened up his life. we didn't even do a whole lot, but he was soo blessed.

then there was irita. she has lots of grandkids. she's a good grandmother to them, lets them come over even when she's tired out. she's going back to school right now so she can become re-certified for her job. she talked and shared with me about her life. i didn't say much back to her, just listened. i prayed for her too, and she thanked me. then she left.

the food...the smells and the smoke of the bbq grill drew people towards the little park we were at today. hungry&homeless. hungry for food. and more. homeless and poor people flocked in from around the area. the line was steady for an hour or so.

one man had a hurt leg and was very quiet and hunched over.
he had the world's troubles written all over his clothes and his face.
wondering where he's come from and where he's going now...

i wonder about these people.

I love them.
they're my neighbors.

Love God. Love your neighbor.
[the two greatest commandments.]

i love the words of God...

"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:5-9

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:36-40

and i love the words of mother teresa...

"We must acknowledge the dignity of the poor, respect them, esteem them, love them, serve them. Often I think they are the ones to whom we owe our greatest gratitude. They teach us by their faith, their resignation, their patience in suffering. They allow us to help them. We should experience not pity but compassion towards them." -Mother Teresa

"The greatest poverty in the world is not the want of food but the want of love. You have the poverty of people who are dissatisfied with what they have, who do not know how to suffer, who give in to despair. The poverty of the heart is often more difficult to relieve and to defeat." -Mother Teresa

i am eager to continue to learn to live like this in my own life.
Loving God first and foremost, and loving others second, and loving myself third.

"those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31

that's all for now.

Never be afraid to trust

"NEVER BE AFRAID TO TRUST AN UNKNOWN FUTURE TO A KNOWN GOD." [-Corrie ten Boom]

this is my life:

taking a lovely afternoon stroll in the 'hood with the chilins.

opa doug reading to patrick.
he lovessss books! they both do in fact. :)

Me and Erin. my sweetie pie.

My mom with her granddaughter Erin Mairead
in September 2008

THINK ABOUT IT

I was going through some writings and things from my time in South Africa again tonight and found this writing (the source is unknown). At Ron and Lynn's farewell dinner Lynn read this story which provokes much though and maybe some emotions. She got it from her Ron's friends Pam and Michael Hudson who are in Accra, Ghana. So, go ahead read through it...and then think about it and tell me what you think...



Think About It...

If we could reduce the world's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:

60 Asians, 14 Africans, 12 Europeans, 8 Latin Americans, 5 US Americans and Canadians

49 would be female
51 would be male

82 would be non-white, 18 white

89 heterosexual, 11 homosexual

33 would be Christian, 67 would be non-Christian

5 would control 32% of the entire world's wealth, and all of them would be US citizens

80 would live in substandard housing

24 would not have any electricity (And of the 76% that do have electricity, most would only use it for light at night.)

67 would be unable to read

1 (only one) would have a college education.

50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation

33 would be without access to a safe water supply

1 would have HIV

1 near death

2 would be near birth

7 people would have access to the Internet

If you take a look at the world from this condensed perspective,
the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes evident.

If you woke up this morning with more health than sickness, you are luckier than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced a war, a loneliness of an imprisonment, an agony of tortures, or a famine
You are happier, than 500 million persons in this world.

If you are able to go to church, mosque or synagogue without fear of
harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are happier, than 3 billion persons in this world.

If there is a meal in your refrigerator, if you are dressed and have shoes,
if you have a bed and a roof above your head, you are better off, than 75% of people in this world.

If your parents are still alive and still married, then you are a rarity.

If you have a bank account, money in your purse, and there is some trifle in your coin box,
you belong to 8% of well-provided people in this world.

If you read this text, you are blessed three times as much, because someone has thought of you.

You do not belong to those 2 billion people which cannot read and... you have your computer!

This is your World! And you are able to make changes! Hasten to do good works! Think of it!

[source unknown]

i want joyful Jesus hands

"There is nothing dreary or doubtful about (the life). It is meant to be continually joyful.... We are called to a settled happiness in the Lord whose joy is our strength." -A Chance to Die p.241

I read a story, or writing rather, today about how our hands can be used to serve others and do things for others. We can and must use them in powerful ways. We need to use them to share Jesus' love. [our hands are no longer ours, but they belong to Jesus.]

Lord, I pray that you would bring me the joy and strength which comes from You alone that I might use these hands for You each day. To serve you and serve others, and to love you and love others.
in Your name. amen.