Monday, March 15, 2010

i heart faces- bundled up

this weeks i{heart}faces challenge was a bit of a, well, challenge. i'm not much of a cold weather person and rarely go outside when the mercury dips below 75 (i kid... sort of). i have a handful of cold bundled up photos from when i taught at preschool, but i'm not super comfortable posting those full face kid pics without parent permission. so, after much internal debate, here is a photo i snapped of myself one night when it was snowing. so, while i don't have a bundled up winner, i have inspiration for next winter... (if i decide to go outside, that is!)

head on over to i heart faces to check out some amazing bundled up pics!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

purpose and meaning.

i recently heard a presentation from a businessman who had gone to the Philippines on a mission trip. of all the things i came away with, what stuck with me the most was this. "if we do not live our lives with purpose and meaning, are we really even living?" i haven't been able to get that out of my head.especially with how i have been feeling lately. my life is lacking in purpose. i have everything that more than i need. i started questioning my motive behind big purchases. how could i justify spending $200, $300, $400 on camera equipment but i am not heeding James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."?
another inconsistency with my beliefs came the other night. i was feeling frustrated in my singleness and was considering re-joining eHarmony. before i got to the payment part, i thought of how ridiculous it seemed for me to pay to find someone when there are children out there without enough to food eat, shoes to wear, or a safe place to go during the day. that's when i made the decision to sponsor a child from compassion international.
enough with the whining. take action. i frequently get on a soap box about social justice but i never put it into action because i "didn't have enough money to give." well, looking around at all of my belongings stuff, i realized that i do have enough. and if i have to forgo starbucks a few times, skip a dinner out, or "make do without" than this
makes it all worth it. this is adeline. she is 11 years old and lives in berkina faso,one of the poorest countries in west africa. adeline takes care of the younger children in the home and her mother is only sometimes employed.
it's time to put my money, literally, where my mouth is.
the video shown in the presentation?  the children were walking and picking their way through the garbage dump. they were singing and smiling. they have purpose. and i hope i do now, too.