one more week of lent! whoohoo! next sunday i'll be back for good... until next year, probably, when i'll do it again. :) i have lots to talk about, so i'll see you next week!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
dads & daughters
you all know i think curtis is the best dad ever... he is wonderful with the girls! he's got some competition here, though... a single dad who read to his daughter every night for 3218 consecutive nights! through travelling, teenage years, her dating (and his!)...this is worth the 5 minutes it will take you to read it!
Monday, March 01, 2010
from kristina
This letter was received today by mom's friend and student at asbury, Gary. It speaks for itself.
Dear Gary,
It is I Kristina. I pray Jesus is still holding your close in his mighty hands and I look forward to the time you will return to Sudan and I will see you again. Your prayers and letters are a source of the love of God to me. I feel now I want to tell you my story. When the Arabs attacked my village in 1998, they raped and killed my mother. My 2 sisters they also raped and then they, along with my brother were tied to the back of their horses and taken away as slaves. I have not seen them again. I was only about four years old, but I remember very well what they did to my mother and family.
My father was a doctor, and he tried to help our soldiers. But when the Arabs killed my mother, he took me and ran far away to Ethiopia. He was a good man and tried to keep me safe. But we traveled for many months by footing, and so many people died along the side of the road. I remember when my father would get tired and have to put me down, I was always tripping over the dead people because my legs were too small to lift them high over the piles of bodies.
We stayed in Ethiopia until the war reached there, too. So then my father ran with me trying to get back to our village. He hoped maybe it would be safe there by then. It took us many more months of footing, and I almost drowned as we crossed many of the rivers. They were so rough and my father was starting to go a little mad so he couldn’t hold onto me very well anymore. Finally, we made it back to Nyamlel, but shortly after that he died.
Some grown men helped me to bury him, but then they left me alone. I heard them say, “There are simply too many orphans to worry about this one.”
But, “this one” was me, and I was worried.
I laid alone on top of my father’s grave for many days just waiting for the hyenas to eat me, or to starve to death so that I would not be alone anymore, but with my mother and father. After some days, I grew tired of crying and began to go out into the bush looking for leaves to eat. I ate them, but they made me so sick that I just crawled back on top of my father’s grave.
Then one day a man came walking by. He found me sitting on my father’s grave. He told me his name was James Lual Atak; he asked me my name and where my parents were. I told him they were dead and I was alone. He said, “Come follow me. I will take you to New Life Ministry (NLM), and if you will follow the way I teach you, you will grow strong and you will not be alone anymore.”
I did not know what was NLM, but I wanted to grow strong and not be alone anymore, so I went with him.
At first, we didn’t have any proper food, but James Lual Atak taught us the right way. He taught us to pray. He taught us to read and to write, and then one day Mama Kimberly came to visit us.
All I remember about her the first time I met her is that she kept crying. I thought, “This woman will never be able to help us because she is always crying.”
But then she left and she returned after many months later and you were with her. You also cried and I wondered about your people. I did not understand why you had come. Lual Atak told us when you left, you left us money for food. Since that day, the food has never stopped. Even now that we are so many---500 orphans---the food never stops. I read in the Bible about Manna; I think it is like that. Only now we get “pigeons,” too, because we have a weekly bull slaughter for meat.
I read your letter to us how you told me about how many people in America pray for me and all my friends here at NLM. It also told me that you are the ones who send the money so that we can eat every day, learn about God and His only Son Jesus, and have a safe home to live in.
Sometimes, I still go visit my father’s grave where I used to sleep, and I feel sad. I am glad I don’t live there anymore. I know that he doesn’t live there either, but He lives with Jesus, where I will one day, too.
Thank you for loving all of us orphans, and for raising us up properly!
--Kristina
Dear Gary,
It is I Kristina. I pray Jesus is still holding your close in his mighty hands and I look forward to the time you will return to Sudan and I will see you again. Your prayers and letters are a source of the love of God to me. I feel now I want to tell you my story. When the Arabs attacked my village in 1998, they raped and killed my mother. My 2 sisters they also raped and then they, along with my brother were tied to the back of their horses and taken away as slaves. I have not seen them again. I was only about four years old, but I remember very well what they did to my mother and family.
My father was a doctor, and he tried to help our soldiers. But when the Arabs killed my mother, he took me and ran far away to Ethiopia. He was a good man and tried to keep me safe. But we traveled for many months by footing, and so many people died along the side of the road. I remember when my father would get tired and have to put me down, I was always tripping over the dead people because my legs were too small to lift them high over the piles of bodies.
We stayed in Ethiopia until the war reached there, too. So then my father ran with me trying to get back to our village. He hoped maybe it would be safe there by then. It took us many more months of footing, and I almost drowned as we crossed many of the rivers. They were so rough and my father was starting to go a little mad so he couldn’t hold onto me very well anymore. Finally, we made it back to Nyamlel, but shortly after that he died.
Some grown men helped me to bury him, but then they left me alone. I heard them say, “There are simply too many orphans to worry about this one.”
But, “this one” was me, and I was worried.
I laid alone on top of my father’s grave for many days just waiting for the hyenas to eat me, or to starve to death so that I would not be alone anymore, but with my mother and father. After some days, I grew tired of crying and began to go out into the bush looking for leaves to eat. I ate them, but they made me so sick that I just crawled back on top of my father’s grave.
Then one day a man came walking by. He found me sitting on my father’s grave. He told me his name was James Lual Atak; he asked me my name and where my parents were. I told him they were dead and I was alone. He said, “Come follow me. I will take you to New Life Ministry (NLM), and if you will follow the way I teach you, you will grow strong and you will not be alone anymore.”
I did not know what was NLM, but I wanted to grow strong and not be alone anymore, so I went with him.
At first, we didn’t have any proper food, but James Lual Atak taught us the right way. He taught us to pray. He taught us to read and to write, and then one day Mama Kimberly came to visit us.
All I remember about her the first time I met her is that she kept crying. I thought, “This woman will never be able to help us because she is always crying.”
But then she left and she returned after many months later and you were with her. You also cried and I wondered about your people. I did not understand why you had come. Lual Atak told us when you left, you left us money for food. Since that day, the food has never stopped. Even now that we are so many---500 orphans---the food never stops. I read in the Bible about Manna; I think it is like that. Only now we get “pigeons,” too, because we have a weekly bull slaughter for meat.
I read your letter to us how you told me about how many people in America pray for me and all my friends here at NLM. It also told me that you are the ones who send the money so that we can eat every day, learn about God and His only Son Jesus, and have a safe home to live in.
Sometimes, I still go visit my father’s grave where I used to sleep, and I feel sad. I am glad I don’t live there anymore. I know that he doesn’t live there either, but He lives with Jesus, where I will one day, too.
Thank you for loving all of us orphans, and for raising us up properly!
--Kristina
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
liberathe
hooray! the day has finally come!
last year i made a small business loan through Kiva to a woman in senegal who wanted to purchase pigs to expand her small business that supporter her family of 8 children. i just received notice this morning that the loan has been repaid, and my money was available for me to withdraw, or loan again... obviously i went with loan again!
kiva connects people through lending to alleviate poverty. lending partners - just people like me - each lend a small amount to an entrepreneur who is building a way out of poverty for them & their families. once the business is thriving and making a profit, the entrepreneur repays the loan, and you can loan again. one small loan can help dozens (or more!) small business owners create a new life... not of handouts, but of self-sufficiency, dignity, and success.
meg helped me choose a new business woman to support... liberathe - a woman who sells local food & drink to tourists in northern rwanda. she is raising 8 children, and wants to expand her business to help pay their school fees.
if you have a minute, go check out kiva. your $25 could change a life... and then another... and then another...
Sunday, January 24, 2010
when i am so hurt & so furious...
Be Still, My Soul"
by Catharina von Schlegel, 1697-?
Translated by Jane Borthwick, 1813-1897
by Catharina von Schlegel, 1697-?
Translated by Jane Borthwick, 1813-1897
Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.
Be still, my soul, though dearest friends depart
And all is darkened in the vale of tears;
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrows and thy fears.
Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repay
From His own fulness all He takes away.
Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
i hope kyra gets rich.... REALLY rich....
my daughter is rolling in expendable income these days. between christmas money, birthday money and babysitting, she's got maybe $75 burning a hole in her pocket! :)
yesterday i received in the mail the most recent initiative from world vision: medicines and micronutrients for refugee/war ravaged children. with corporate sponsorship, any donation multiplies 15x... so a gift of $1 multiplies to $15, etc. i told kyra that i was going to give something to world vision, and that she could too, if she wanted... her heart is always directed toward those in need. she eagerly skipped upstairs to find her wallet, and came down with a couple of folded bills... which i unfolded to reveal $25. a third of her money.
i was reminded that the year the tsunami hit in sri lanka, she had just gotten $40 for her birthday, and asked if it would be ok if she gave the whole amount to the tsunami relief effort. which she did. without anyone asking her to. and with so much joy.
so i hope kyra gets rich. really, really rich. the world will be made more beautiful by her regardless...but if there were more kyra's in the world, imagine the relief of poverty & pain there could be.
maybe Jesus was on to something when he said we must become like little children...
Thursday, January 07, 2010
out of body experiences
i realized last night that i don't know what i look like anymore.
i was looking through pictures from thanksgiving, and there i was... smiling, holding babies, making faces, caught unawares... and none of them looked like me. at least not the me i think i see when i look in the mirror. how can that be?
how can that girl be me? i barely recognized her...though i couldn't put my finger on the reasons why.
it was very disconcerting.
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