Support Letter for India

I decided I would share my support letter for India here. I mostly covet any prayers I can get. I hope it reads well because I had to save it as a .gif file to post it. We'll see.

At this point, I am only 3 weeks away from the big trip. I've had all my shots and survived that pretty well. I had no lingering effects nor did I get sick at all. I made my list of things to take, but I keep adding to it. I hope I can fit everything in the bag I am taking. I've had Indian food a few times now. While its not my favorite, I can honestly say I liked everything I've tried. Who knew? I also learned my first Hindi word. Namaste, which means "hello." I need to work on my pronunciation, but it's not too hard. I'll try it out on one of my co-workers tomorrow (he's Indian and speaks Hindi). We'll see what he says back. I probably won't know what it means. Anyway, the preparations are in motion and I am pumped and nervous at the same time. I am sure it will be great, but I also think I will see a lot of things very different from my normal life. It will be overwhelming, I am sure.

Going to India!

I can hardly believe this. I am going to India. In June. That's just a little over 2 months away. It happened all of a sudden and so recently that I am still trying to process this. One of our pastors called me up a week ago and asked me to consider going on the church mission trip to India. I had been planning on going on one of the mission trips this year. However, that one was NOT on my list. Funny how that is. I assumed I would be going on one of the trips to a Spanish-speaking country. I figured God would want me to go where I could be *most utilized.* Little did I know. So, here we go. I've never been to Asia. I don't know a lick of ?. I don't even know what they speak in India! I need a crash course in everything India. I am sure I'll learn in the next couple months. I am excited about what we'll be doing there and getting to visit the Taj Mahal. It will be an experience like none other!

It's Spring in Houston

I just have to take note of the beautiful weather we've been having in Houston. It is the short period of the year when you are actually comfortable being outside. The sun is shining, the humidity absent, the mosquitoes hiding (but ready to get out), and the flowers blooming. I love this time of year. And we've had the most beautiful Easter Sunday. The temps were mild and the wind blew gently all day. Perfect. I took the opportunity to take some pics of our azaleas. They will only be blooming for a few more days so I wanted to capture their beautiful color. Enjoy.

Hooter Hider

I suppose it's never a dull weekend when you decide to travel. This past weekend my destination was El Paso, TX. I went there for my cousin's baby shower. While I did hope to have a good time, I wasn't expecting the idiosyncrasies I encountered. Where to begin? How about on the small prop plane that teetered us over the big state of Texas to the brown city of El Paso. In case you're 6" or taller, I would not recommend you getting on one of these planes. In fact, I dare say it impossible. My hair practically touched the ceiling of the plane when I stood up in there. And no, my hair is not that big. We landed by the grace of God and perused through the airport terminal. We had not gotten out the door when we had passed THREE Mexican restaurants. Clue #1, they eat a lot of Mexican here. We hopped in our rental car and followed our beloved Google map. The map was right, but the street names were not. I should clarify. Apparently this city uses the same name for multiple streets. This is very confusing to a newcomer who wants to BELIEVE Google, but is torn by the street names in front of them. After several u-turns and consulting another map, we determined we should head for the NEXT Mesa St. Actually, it turns out that this ONE street winds around some how and crosses the same highway TWICE. Another thing we noticed is that all of the street names either start with 'El' or end in a vowel as in 'El Dorado' or 'Escondido.' And yes, you will need to work on your Spanish accent to properly pronounce these streets. What a way to get things started. We were thankful to make it to our 1-star hotel. There was a big Wal-Mart just across the street and since it is one of my favorite places to shop (sarcasm at its best), we made a quick trip over there. It looked the same as the one across the street from my house, except for the colorful pinatas hanging from the ceilings, that is.

The shower was Saturday evening at a local country club. The place was set on a hill, so it had a beautiful view. The sun was setting when we arrived which made for some beautiful pictures. The room was colorfully decorated as was the life-size stork on the gift table. We enjoyed an authentic Mexican dinner and I even won a prize for guessing the right number of safety pins in the jar! Hard to believe I could do so well at this game. I've only played it 100 times at all the other baby showers I've attended. If I ever get to have one of my own, we'll be sure to play this game too. It's just tradition at this point. My favorite hour of the night was gift time. My cousin received many beautiful gifts, but there was one that remains imprinted in my mind. As she was pulling out what appeared to be a colorful cloth of some sort, she holds up the cloth and then says, "wait, let me practice" and she proceeds to drape the cloth on her chest. She next exclaims, "it's a hooter hider!" A what?! I had never heard of such a thing. Apparently, she wasn't making this up. The cloth that nursing women drape over themselves so as not to show off their milk-bearing appendages is called a hooter hider. I had no idea. I learned a new vocab word. I love just saying it as my tongue gets twisted. I enjoyed many giggles out of that one.

Needless to say the weekend was filled with quite a few surprises and a lot of fun. I am not sure that I am ready to run back to the dry, brown hills of El Paso, but I definitely made some lasting memories there.

My Fifth Marathon

A short five weeks ago, I shared my trying story of running a marathon while having the flu. In retrospect, yes, that was a bit crazy. At the time, it seemed very logical. About two weeks after that fiasco, I decided I would do another one. I really wanted to find out how well I could do under healthy conditions. This proved to be a bit tricky as I didn't want to travel far and wanted to do one relatively soon. I hose the Mardi Gras marathon in New Orleans. Though it is a small race, it boasted a flat, fast course. My plan was to do one long ~20 mile run before the race and just try to maintain my speed as much as possible. One week out, I felt strong and ready.

I was monitoring the weather by the hour almost starting 7 days out. I could sign up the day before, so I decided I would only run if it was a good weather day. For a marathon, this means, temps in the 50s or below, no rain, and no wind. This is pretty much what they were forecasting, so by Wednesday I decided I would run for sure. The plan was to leave early on Saturday to get to New Orleans by early afternoon. I took my fan club with me (like they would stay home) and we made it to New Orleans a short 6 hours later. I'll spare you the details of the road construction, accidents, and standstill traffic conditions along the way. We went straight to the expo, signed up for the race, and then headed to our hotel. We ended up eating at the Hard Rock Cafe, an unlikely choice in the French Quarter. The grilled chicken salad was great, but I would have much preferred the scrumptious hamburger my parents ate. I figured I could have one after the race. Our hotel was conveniently located near the Superdome, which is where the race began and ended. However I didn't realize that it was also right next to an all-night dance club. Little did we know. Apparently there was loud music just outside our window all night. I don't know because I managed to sleep through all of that. I did hear voices of people laughing and talking when I awakened at 5:15 the next morning. They were just leaving the night club at that point. Nice.

I felt good that morning. The weather was perfect and I was excited to race again. There were about 1500 marathoners, so I was able to get a good spot near the front for the start. We lunged forward as a group when the gun went off. I sailed through the first few miles at a fast clip. A bit too fast, I admit. I was caught up with the crowd and feeling good and seeing all the sights of the French Quarter. By mile 5, I realized that I was keeping at 8 minute/mile pace. That is just a bit too fast for me. My goal was to average an 8:24 pace in order to qualify for Boston. Really, I just wanted to improve my time from last year, which was a 3:52. So, at that point I tried slowing down a bit. But every time I looked down at my watch (a Garmin that gives me sort of accurate pace information as well as distance via GPS), I was still holding close to 8 min/mile. Well, I thought I'll just hold on for as long as I can keep this up. The sights were beautiful. We ran through two parks. There were plenty of spectators for the first 16 miles. Every one from the all-nighters on Bourbon Street to grandpa in his pajamas came out to cheer us on. It was quite entertaining. I started to wane around mile 16. I climbed a mountain at mile 17 (really just an overpass). I almost twisted my ankle at mile 18. I took a last swig of Gatorade and downed some jelly beans at mile 19. I was starting to think that maybe I could hit the 3:40 goal. My calculations indicated that I just needed to hold a 9 min/mile pace in order to make that. Easier said than done. My energy quickly left me and I had to fight for every step in the remaining 6 miles. I was just done and wanted to stop badly. I kept telling my self that stopping was not an option! Unfortunately, I got slower with every mile. I wasn't able to pick it up until the very end when I finally saw the Superdome again. I turned the last corner to run the last ~200 yards in. I looked up and saw 3:41 on the board. I took a deep breath and charged to the finish line. Every thing in my body hurt and I felt like I could pass out at any moment. But alas, I crossed the finish line, arms in the air, victorious once again. I was overcome at finishing in 3:41:48. While I just missed the qualifying time of 3:40 I was ecstatic at shattering my previous best by 11 minutes. Praise the Lord! It was awesome.

In the after glow of such a race, I am sore and content. I know now that I have 3:40 within my reach. I don't know when I'll attempt it again, but for now I am okay with taking a week off and enjoying the sweet victory.

Stretching before the race.

My loyal fan club.

A very happy finish.

Toys that make you laugh

I don't often go out with my dog. I should more often. It brings much adventure and laughter. Let me explain. I have a small, white bichon frise. In case you're not familiar, that's him in the picture. Cute, right? Well, he thinks so. His name is Snow. So, we took him to get some ice cream. Okay, let me re-phrase, we went to get some ice cream, he came with us and ended up eating some too. While we were sitting outside with Snow, a woman and small girl walked up to us. The little girl was about 5. Her mom (I presume) said, ask the lady if you can pet the puppy. Snow is beyong puppy stage, btw. So, the little girl starts petting Snow. He behaves very well and even blesses her with a couple of doggy licks. The little girl seems to be enjoying all of this. And then out of nowhere, poses the question. "What is that on his belly?" At this point, I freeze, thinking "surely she doesn't mean his male-piece, does she?" But what else is on his belly? I stay silent as she asks the question again. At this point I am fearful that my mom is going to explain to the little girl just what is on his belly. Thankfully, the mother jumps in and says, "Honey, that's just a toy. Come on now, it's time to go." Well, as soon as they walked off, my mother and I bust out laughing! A toy! Yep, I suppose it is a toy. I never quite thought of it that way. What's worse is that poor little Snow never got to use his toy (was that a TMI?). But at least the mom didn't lie to her daughter, she just didn't tell her the whole story. Not sure what I would have said. Maybe I will use that line one day.

Houston Marathon

I learned a lesson this week. Your first goal when running a marathon should always be to finish. It is too big of a physical endeavor for anything less. I spent the 3 days before the marathon sick in bed. I came down with the flu on Wednesday at work. While I tried my best with lots of rest, it apparently took a lot out of me. Even yesterday I was still plagued with serious congestion. I couldn't breathe out of my nose at all! Thanks to my friend Rhonda, who suggested I try Claritin-D. It worked liked magic and I realized around 1:30 this morning that I would be able to breathe normally again. I awakened feeling refreshed and energized (lots of adrenaline was pumping). As I began the race, I felt fine. But by mile 3 I knew I was in trouble. I was trying to keep my original goal pace, but it was just too fast. I was already tired. Too keep this short ( :-) ), I'll tell you things came to a head at mile 13. I thought I was going to pass out if I had to run up this overpass, so I walked it. A blessing in disguise! I felt much better and decided I would just take it slow the rest of the race. So, I finished the race at a nice trot. It was a struggle every step of the way. It's too bad I was not able to enjoy the run as much this year. But I am extremely thankful for my 4 hour finish. I couldn't have done it without the Lord's strength as I had none of my own. Thanks for all your prayers and support.

I'll let you know when my next one will be as I haven't decided that yet. :-)

You never know

I suppose when people look at me they don't automatically think to themselves, "I bet she speaks Spanish." In high school, I used to battle with friends and other students trying to convince them that yes, in fact, I was fluent in Spanish. Well, just recently a couple of events have happened which point to the notion that perhaps you shouldn't just talk about someone right in front of them in another language. They could understand you!

The first incident was at work. I was there late as usual and it was trash day. Now typically they come by, empty your trash can, and vacuum your office (if you're not there). If you are there, they ask if you want your office to be vacuumed. Of course, this assumes that you are in an office, which I am no longer, but you'll have to wait until the next post to hear about that one. So, back to the story. There was quite a bit of scrap/trash in the hallway because everyone was cleaning out their offices. Three people come by to pick up the trash that day. Does it really take 3 people to do this? Anyway, they sort of ask if the pile in the hallway is trash. Three of us in the offices right around there respond yes. But for some reason they look at me as if I am the one deciding this. I repeat (in English), yes this is trash. So what does the little crew proceed to do? They look at each other and one of them says in Spanish, "she doesn't know what she's talking about. That's not trash." Now at this point, I was already seated back in my chair. If I were a bit more confrontational or cared at all what these people thought, perhaps I could have shot back, "Si, yo se de lo que estoy hablando y eso es BASURA." But no, Holy Spirit in charge, I held my tongue. Personally, I think it was an easy out that resulted in less work for them. But what do I know?

Now lets shift the scene to the car wash place. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon. I got the afternoon off and decided to run some errands. It was so nice to sit outside while I waited for my car to be washed. Once the two ladies drying my car were done, they waved the towel in the air and beckoned me over. I soon got up and started walking toward them. I look at the one extending a receipt toward me and smile big. I get a smile in return while at the same time she says to the woman next to her, "Asi quiero estar yo. Quiero estar haci de flaca." Translation: "That's how I want to be. That's how skinny I want to be." Now while this comment about me was more flattering than the previous, why do they assume that I won't understand what they're saying???

It's really a strange thing. I suppose that it would be less probable walking into a nail salon and expecting to understand the Vietnamese flying around me at record pace. But Spanish is a pretty common language. And even if you're not from a Spanish-speaking country or have parents that are, there is still a good chance that you speak it. So, my little advice to those out there. Be careful of what you say. You never know who understands what you are saying.

High School Musical 2

I can't say that I spend much time watching the Disney channel. And before last Friday, I had no idea what High School Musical was. Well, I got a crash course in this latest craze. I heard about it first on the radio. They were announcing the release of the new movie that evening. I heard that teachers across America were planning movie parties for their students and that kids everywhere were going to be glued to their TVs that night. I wondered what all the hype was about? It's just another Disney movie, right? On Friday night, I went to church to help out with our Girls Night. This is basically an all-night retreat (like a lock-in) we do for all the junior high and high school girls. The kids were excited because someone was going to be DVR/Tivo the movie and then bring it up to the church so they could watch it later that night. Well, I didn't stay for all the into-the-wee-hours-of-the-morning activities, so I didn't actually see it that night. Bu fortunately for me, Disney decided to air the movie multiple times throughout the weekend. I finally saw it Sunday evening. I was only going to watch so that I could stay in the loop with the latest craze in the lives of high school students. Therefore, my expectations were pretty low. But I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a cute movie, funny at times, and had some catchy tunes. The movie was totally clean, which was nice to see. I was pleased to see some quality programming on TV. Now, of course, I want to learn the cheesy little songs. And I want to see the first movie (High School Musical). It comes on in a couple days, so I'll definitely have to DVR it! By the way, my favorite song was "You are the music in me."

Google's Street View

I recently discovered one of Google's latest inventions. It's called Street View and is available on the Google Maps webpage. It's nice in that in contrast to Google Earth, you don't have to download anything to your computer to see it. For cities that have been photographed, you can see real photo images of streets and intersections. It looks like Google goes around and takes pictures at every intersection and along every street. You see everything from buildings to sidewalks to people and cars. So far only NYC, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami, and the great city of Houston have been photographed. It is very cool in that it allows you to see a 360 view of any particular street. You can also traverse the street in any direction. But the funniest thing I have discovered about this is a blog that keeps track of funny pictures that get posted on Street View. Here's the link to that site:
http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-06-03-n48.html
My personal favorite is the guy "caught taking a leak." There's just no privacy anymore! ((-*

Enjoy!

Gelato

I have been slacking again. I can't believe it's been so long since I last wrote. I decided tonight that I couldn't let the month end without sharing a thought here. As I look at the last couple of posts, I see that I have been a bit serious of late, so perhaps I should lighten things up a bit. If you know me however, you probably realize that serious is more the norm for me than not. But no worries, "lightening up" is on my list of things to do. (-;

One of my loves in life is ice cream. I could eat the stuff everyday for every meal. I like all flavors, all kinds. If we go to the basics, I do have a preference of chocolate over vanilla. But the latter is good too because you can always put chocolate syrup on top! My all time favorite kind of ice cream is gelato. That stuff rocks! For those of you who live in Europe or frequent often, you know what I am talking about. A few months back, a friend told me about a place that sells gelato here in the States, in fact, in the great state of Texas. They have a special family-owned recipe direct from Italy. It's made with whole milk instead of cream and has top-notch ingredients. The place is called Paciugo's (http://www.paciugo.com/) and fortunately for me there is one in Houston now. Praise God! I did some research on their website and learned that they all but spell out how you can have one of your very own Paciugo's. I started to get excited dreaming about my very own all-I-can-eat gelato establishment. They have an application online for a franchise. They give you some steps on how to get set-up and they even list out what it will cost to open a new store. Well reading that must have been when I awakened from my fairy tale dream. Ouch! It can cost up to $372,000 to open one of these dreamlands. So there ended any bright ideas of starting my very own Paciugo's. However, my time on the site was not a total loss. I did learn that they are opening a location just minutes from my house near the Willowbrook Mall next Spring. Wahoo! Now I won't have to travel over 30 minutes to enjoy my very favorite treat on earth. A little bit of heaven just got closer.

Love God, Love People, Nothing Else Matters

Several years ago after reading Purpose Driven Life, I decided that my mission in life would be to love God and to love people. I thought to myself, success at the end of my life would be for people to say at my funeral, "she loved God and she loved people." Well, apparently I am not alone in my pursuit in life. This past Friday, I attended the funeral of one who achieved this lofty goal and did it well. Dan Reiter was the victim of an unfortunate car accident. He was a young 22 who had just graduated from college. My relationship with Dan stems from my involvement in my church's student ministry. Dan and I were part of a team that went to the Dominican Republic about 6 years ago. I was a leader on the trip and Dan was one of the students. That trip was a magical time and I have experienced nothing like it ever again. We all had such a blast and saw God work in tremendous ways. The whole time I knew Dan, I was always impressed with his upbeat attitude and unending kindness towards people. He always went the extra mile to help others. His impact is far reaching as evidenced by the over 1000 comments left on his Facebook page since his death. I am so blessed to have known such a wonderful person. And now I am inspired anew to a live a life that matters; to live a life driven by the pursuit to love God and to love others. Below is a quote from Jim Elliot that was part of Dan's funeral service.

"God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you Lord Jesus." -Jim Elliot, 1948

Water for Life

So, apparently I am still slacking with the frequency of my jblogs. I just can't seem to find the time or energy to sit down and write, but anyway, I'll catch you up on a few things. First, on my list is to tell you about my well. Yes, that's right, a water well, in fact. I bought one recently. I don't know what it looks like or where it exactly it is located, but I know it exists. Let me tell you how this happened. About a year and a half ago, I learned about an ministry led by James and Betty Robison. Beth Moore was starting to appear on their Wednesday tv show teaching Bible study. Of course, I started to watch (via video stream on my computer and later on my ipod). My draw was Beth, but I was soon impressed by all the different outreaches this ministry was doing. In particular, I felt drawn to their "Water for Life" project (http://www.lifetoday.org/site/PageServer?pagename=abt_home). The mission here is to build water wells in remote areas of Africa that do not have clean, running water. These wells are designed to provide water up to a 1000 people in a village for at least 25 years. In their first year of the project, they intended on building ~100 wells. This year, their goal is 200. Well, I decided I wanted to be a part of that. I have had a soft spot for the hungry, the thirsty, and the sick people of Africa for a while. But I always felt like there was nothing I could really do to make an impact there. So, I looked to see how much these wells cost. I soon learned they are expensive! $4800, to be exact. Of course, you can donate nominal amounts that will be put towards building a well. But, immediately in my heart, I wanted to buy a WHOLE well, not just part of one. However, I didn't happen to have $4800 just laying around in the bank. Who does? So, I just kind of put that desire on hold and prayed to God that if He wanted me to do this, He would have to show me where the money would come from. Like I said that was the beginning of last year. If you read my last post, you also know that I bought a new car this year. My lovely 328i (I am still enjoying it!). When I was figuring out how to pay for the car, I did all sorts of calculations, which included selling stock and things like that. One day, it occurred to me that I could just sell a little more stock and use the money I would get from selling my car, to purchase this water well. Brilliant! God answered the prayer! I was ecstatic at how this came about. In fact, when I sold my car, I got even more than just covering the cost of the well. Praise God. So, a few weeks after selling my car, I made the call to Life Outreach International (www.lifetoday.org) and purchased my first-ever water well. How cool! What a privilege to participate in something that will make a difference, something that really matters. I so wish I could see the faces of those who will drink from this water well. I can only pray that it will be a HUGE blessing for them, lasting for many years to come.

jBlogs

I am hoping to bombard you with a slew of jblogs here in the next couple of weeks. Jblogs, of course, are blogs written by Jennifer. Nothing scientific or fancy here, just a way to distinguish my blogs from the millions of others out there. Anyway, I have so many things that I've wanted to write here in the past month and just haven't had the time. I don't know that the near future will be any better, but I'll sure try.

First on my list is my beautiful new car. After having it for a month or so now, I am still thoroughly enjoying it! The new car smell has not worn off and I love smelling it every time I get in. The BMW 328i is everything I expected it and more. One of my co-workers was right when he said that you just get in a better mood when you get in the car and start driving around. Most fun has been watching my blue xenon lights turn on in the dark. They are self-leveling lights so they do this fancy dance up and down each time they turn on. I call it the " light show." I'll include a picture here so you can picture me in my new car easily. It's a dream! God-willing it will serve me well for many a year.

Spring in Houston

It's been a while since I have last written here. Much has transpired and life has picked up quite a bit. But I wanted to stop and smell the roses for a moment. Most of you know that my beloved Houston is quite the hot, sticky, humid place for most of the year. But for a few short weeks we get the most incredible weather. It seems to have extended beyond its normal duration this year and I am thrilled! The air is dry and cool with a steady breeze that gently kisses your face. The flowers are blooming with every color imaginable bursting forth. The dogs are waddling their tales about as their owners delight in taking them for a walk. The picnic tables are popping up everywhere and I have yet to see a car drive by with their windows up. It's a joyful time in Houston and I am enjoying it immensely.

Pray a lot

Has anyone ever noticed that we tend to pray a lot more when we find ourselves in a crisis situation? I know for me I tend to pray a lot when I need God a lot. That is when I think I need God's help a lot. Truth of the matter is, I always need God's help a lot. What happens, I think is that things start to go okay, life clicks along, and I think I am the one making that happen. So, then I don't think I need God and I stop asking for His help. Bad thinking! I always need God's help and I always need to be praying a lot. Isn't that what 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us? I like the way The Message puts its, "pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. " No matter what happens - good or bad, pray. I do thank God for those times when I am moved to pray more. I may not like going through the situation at the time, but I never regret the closeness to Him that comes when I do.

Ashley Stockingdale

For those of you who have read Kristin Billerbeck's books, you recognize the name in the title to my blog today. I am most of the way through the second of this series of books on Ashley Stockingdale. I feel like I have become quite familiar with this girl. It is almost to the point of feeling like I actually know this girl. Billerbeck does an excellent job of portraying Ashley as a real person with experiences and thoughts that are all too true. So my puzzlement at this hour is not whether or not all of her crazy experiences could actually happen. But rather why she seems to think Dr. Kevin Novak is not the right guy for her. I mean he is handsome, charming, chivalrous, and totally into her. And did I mention he is a doctor? There also seems to be quite a bit of chemistry between them, so what's the problem? If any of you have any possible explanations, please enlighten me. (-:

I know this is random, but I really want to know. Maybe I'll find out by the end of the book...

Made to Love

I am totally loving Toby Mac's new song called "Made to Love." It's already made it to my "most played" list on my ipod. Everytime I hear it, I want to get up and dance! The music is peppy and lively and the words resonate with my core. So, go ahead and listen and dance and sing at the top of your lungs. (-; Enjoy!

http://www.myspace.com/tobymac

Oprah's Leadership Academy

Last Monday I watched a special on ABC. It was on Oprah Winfrey's new school for disadvantaged girls in South Africa. I had seen the previews the week before and knew I wanted to watch. It was an incredibly inspiring program. Oprah went back to her homeland of South Africa and decided to build a school for girls there. The coolest part of the program is when they showed the interviews of the girls applying to the school. Oprah basically went around to all these different villages looking for girls who would be interested in attending the school. Once she found them, she had them come in for interviews. You can't even imagine the circumstances and family backgrounds these young girls had. They all looked around the age of junior high, but what took me by surprise was their attitudes. These are girls that often live with just one parent or grandparent. They live in shacks (at best) with no inside running water or electricity. They showed one such shack with a single bed that is shared by the 5 in the family. Food is scarce and they often rely on one meal a week. A week?! I get cranky when I only get 1 meal in a day. In order to get to school, they often have to travel over an hour and awaken before dawn to catch the bus. I am not sure what I expected of them considering their background, but needless to say it wasn't much. Well, my preconceived notions were shattered. They each came in confidently and excited to meet Oprah. They were eager to express themselves and did so in articulate ways. They informed Oprah of their talents, their intelligence, their hopes, their desires, their dreams. I think Oprah fell in love with each of them. How could you not? They were all excited and spunky and beautiful. They knew they had nothing and yet they knew what they wanted and they knew to value the opportunity in front of them. One of them was bold enough to ask about college. She posed the question to Oprah, "what happens if we graduate from this school? what if we want to go to college? who will pay for that?" They cut to a commerical break right then. I hate it when they do that! Upon return of the program, Oprah informed the girl that she would. Any girl that graduates from Oprah's school can choose any university in the world and provided they get in, Oprah will pay for it. Amazing! Later in the program they showed the opening of the school and all the girls arriving. The girls live on campus in their own room with a roommate. They were given all new clothing - including uniforms for school. The school is complete with computer labs and all sorts of equipment. I am proud to say that HP donated over $500,000 in computer equipment along with technical support for the next several years. The looks on these girls faces as they embraced all of this was priceless. I was moved to tears watching it all. Awesome. It was such a beautiful picture of hope and love. I was inspired and encouraged. I prayed for those girls and all those to come. I hope their dreams come true and beyond. They are the future leaders of South Africa. They have the power to change their lives, the lives of their families and of their country. I hope they see it all come true.

And then came my conviction. It is easy to think that because Oprah has a lot of money she can do all this stuff but that we can't. But the reality is we are called to love. We are called to reach out. So, how am I doing in that realm? Do I reach out to the less fortunate? Do I think of ways to help the poor and the disadvantaged? Sure, from time to time. But not often enough. Not as a priority. I would like to change that. I would like to be overcome with compassion that moves me to action. I may not be able to build big schools or provide vaccines to every child with AIDs, but surely I can do something. I intend to do so. I will start by caring. Really caring. And really praying. And asking God to do something big through me or even something small. But something. Then I will see those smiling faces again. I will see their eyes shine and their joy overflow. And I will know deep in my heart that I have done what I am suppose to do, what I was made to do.

beautiful eyebrows

Hair seems to be on my mind a lot lately. Not other peoples hair, but my own. I seem to have a lot of it and in all kinds of places! Not to get too graphic here, but really, do I need all this hair? In my vain attempt to look beautiful, I consider doing all sorts of things to get rid of this unwanted hair. There are many techniques including cutting, waxing, bleaching, threading, epilator, laser, tweezer and yes of course, my favorite shaving. I have tried most all of these except for laser. I can't say that I find any of these to my satisfaction. There is always something that's not quite right like the fact that there is excruciating pain inflicted upon you. And so then the question becomes how much pain do I want to tolerate? There is also another component to all this hair madness. And that is where you go to get these services done? It seems that there is a salon on every corner willing to do one or more of these services for you. How do you know which one to go to? Well, I can tell you from personal experience where not to go. In comes 'Exhibit A' to our upper right. This pictures shows you what happens when one chooses to go the cheap route in eyebrow waxing. I walked into a place the other day and asked, "do you wax eyebrows?" "Yes, honey, sure, we do for you" came the response. Immediately, a strange feeling came inside of me and I instantly remembered the "Beautiful Nail" video. For those who haven't seen it, you must:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8126430922330991484&q=genre:comedy&pr=goog-sl&hl=en
So, I ask, "how much?" "Fi dolla, honey" "Okay, I say" Several painful yanks later, I look into the mirror. I have to look long and hard to find my eyebrows. Where did they go? Oh, there I see them- two thin lines brushed across my forehead. I guess I can't complain I have too much hair now - at least not on my eyebrows. I won't even go into details of how my chin ended up. The red splotch on my face has not gone away yet. Lesson learned. Pay the extra money and get it done right. No more nail places for my eyebrows anymore. I am going to a specialist!

If anyone has any advice on who, what, where, and how with the bikini wax thing, feel free to let me know. That's next on the list.