Thursday, March 4, 2010

Rain=An Umbrella


So today Cali got some rain....and I was using my pok-a-doted umbrella. Naturally I would I did not want to get soaking wet. But, to my surprise everyone around me was looking oddly at me. Not sure if it was the fact I had an umbrella and they did not or if it was the fact I had a colorful pok-a-doted one. I am guessing they all felt left out in the rain, pun intended, and were wishing they had an umbrella with them. I know I was! This is why I have followed my mothers advice and leave mine in the car. Also it never hurts to check the forecast before walking out the door. :0)

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Little Steps for Lasting Change


Have you ever wanted to do something to help raise money for someone else? I have always thought the bigger the event the more money that comes in….it is true to some degree. But, recently I have found some simple ways to help support the missions and charities you have a passion for without throwing a city wide event. Here are some simple ways……

-Baking for Good
This is an online bake sale with mouth watering treats! They have different community spots open and give 15% of all orders placed under the community fundraiser back to the group. You can contact them for information on having they post your mission, charity, or group on their site. Emily is a doll to work with and it is not as hard as you would think. Really this is a great easy way to raise money…oh and a delicious way too!


-Paper Bead Necklaces
So many people have oooed and awwwed over my paper beaded necklace from Africa. Rightfully so it is really cool and helped someone in Uganda earn a monthly income. But I want to share a secret…you can make them at home! To raise money for a mission trip I am leading this spring myself and a few friends are making the beads and creating stunning necklaces with them. All you need is paper of any kind and any color, a glue stick, coffee stick, and some clear nail polish. The link below will give you how to instruction; as simple as 1 2 3. The out come is great and you can sell them to support the causes of your choice.

-A Garage Sale
We all know about the tried and true classic garage sale for extra money. We all know about it because it works but I have a fun twist…have many garage sales on the same day at different location. For example my mission’s team picked a day and will be having two to three locations open to raise money for the trip. Also they will have flayers to pass out to people who come by with info and addresses of the other locations. This way all areas get more traffic and more money will be raised in a shorter time span. The team also asked family, friends, and neighbors for donations of items to sell. People got to support the team and so some early spring cleaning. All in all a win win situation.

These are just a few ways I have found to raise money for your mission trip or to support your fav charity. All of them came from thinking out of the box and seeing if other would want to help the cause and working for change!

Working...

Working for Change is a statement that has been on my mind a lot the last few weeks. Not like the slogan used in the latest presidential campaigns but one that is showing how the small things add up and start the ripple effect. This is even how I have started to sign my emails related to working in Africa. I love the meaning of it but was not 100% sure of where it came before I started to use it.

We are all born for something, birthed will skills and talents uniquely for a God given calling. Many know what they are born for and are doing it and others are lost in the valiant sea of doubt and lack of purpose because the enemy is controlling and trying to drain them in. and then there are some that know what they were born for but are working one getting there….learning the meaning of walking by faith and not sight. Looking at my life and were I am at this time I would say….I am the one that knows but is working on getting there. In a year or so there is the move to Africa but for now I am in the great land of Cali working 8-5 5 days a week.

God in the “oh so fun” and sometimes even down right “hello!!!” ways of getting my attention is showed me how He has invited me to join Him in something. There is a revolution in my soul and spirit that God has invited me to actively participate in; one that I was blind to even when it is taking place in me. This invention did not come in the mail often like invitations do. This one came from the quite moments of a mind seeking the “off” button before bed each night. Some where in the still and the quite moments with a mix of deafening inner thoughts. Through all of this came the invitation in the form of a question. “What are you doing now?” Well me being me I thought….TRYING TO GET SOME SLEEP (something I have been truly missing the last few weeks)! But then out of the natural reaction of my mind it started to mull the question over and over and over…..and over.

What was I doing now? Working to make a living and to pay bills (like everyone else). Taking classes to become a licensed minster (not like everyone else). Oh and I am getting ready to go back to Kenya in a few months. To my overly tired body with its overly awake mind…it had hit on something. Truly I just wanted to save it on the mind’s shelf till morning but that was clearly not going to happen. So I mulled it over some more in the darkness of my room curled up in my comfy bed. Mind spinning 1,000,000 miles an hour. Then like a World Rally crash the words…”working for change” popped up. That is what I should be doing. I work in a place there change is needed, my heart is called to Africa and change can not come soon enough there, and I could live every aspect of my life with the purpose of CHANGE. WOW I got it! Thanks and good night…..oh heck no! This was so a no sleep night.

Through the night more and more ideas and ways to work for change came to mind. From how I shop, where I shop, what I do in free time, what I watch and listen to, how I eat, what I think about myself and others, what takes up my brain power, to even sleeping…ideas just flooded my mind. This invitation of posing a question by God was…something I could not ignore nor would not have an impact one me. I love it; not a fan of losing many nights of sleep but it is so cool to see how God is calling me to live right here and right now.

So the new chapter is entitled “Working for Change” and page one is being written. The grassroots movement of TOMS is how I am viewing the world; getting something that I need that will make a lasting positive impact on someone else and seeing how we are all so beautify interwoven together. I am so excited to see this new chapter looks like and how I will be used in big and small ways for CHANGE (I am also hopping for more sleep now). But I have to ask….So…..”What are you doing now?”