Who says if it's free it must be crap?

I love JJ Heller's music. Her other CD's are The Pretty and The Plain and Only Love Remains which are in constant play on the 'ole iPod. So I have high hopes for her new one...

WHICH IS FREE UNTIL NOVEMBER 1ST!





You are welcome :)

Livi's 6th Birthday!

Shaken back into reality...

Seismic activity is analyzed on a computer screen at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California July 29, 2008, after a magnitude 5.4 earthquake in Southern California.

Just getting back from vacation we had a little 'rattler'... Welcome back to Cali!

(And we were thrilled that Megan was able to experience one before she heads back to tornados)

What a difference...

This little girl was such a thin, tiny little thing when she came to Three Angels. She was light as a feather and so timid - her personality seemed to mimic her physical state, like she was shrunken. This is Taina last May:


This past trip I noticed a remarkable difference. Her skin was clear and her eyes were bright. She had lost that red tint to her hair (a sign of malnutrition). In fact, it looked like she had grown much more hair altogether. Her personality had also grown - she was engaging and cheerful. And she has a family - I think her knowing that has been a tremendous factor in her metamorphosis. Taina in June '08:

Couldn't Just Leave It Alone...

Obviously I am slowing down on my blog posting. I'm just really busy lately with Three Angels admin stuff and wanting to spend more time with my own kids. (I was telling a friend the other day that I need an Intern...) So I'm going to take a break for awhile.

But I certainly couldn't leave my last post as the one everyone looks at while they visit my page waiting and pining and yearning for my next post...

So I'll leave these pictures of my dorky children for your viewing pleasure:


You are welcome.

Please Pray for Peace

UPDATE: All the children at the Orphanage and School are just fine. The house manager says it is business as usual.

I received an email today from the headmaster at the Three Angels school stating that he had to shut the school down early because of local unrest in the streets. I don't know any more information than that. Please pray the peace comes quickly and that God's protection is on the children at Three Angels.

I posted a little while ago that our food costs in Haiti where rising and rising and we aren't the only ones feeling the financial strain. Many people also have read that article about children having to eat dirt cakes.

This is all very real. Please help.


Below is the AP Story on the rioting in Haiti:

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Hungry Haitians stormed the presidential palace Tuesday to demand the resignation of President Rene Preval over soaring food prices, and U.N. peacekeepers chased them away with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Food prices, which have risen 40 percent on average since mid-2007, are causing unrest around the world. But nowhere do they pose a greater threat to democracy than in Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries where in the best of times most people struggle to fill their bellies.

"I think we have made progress in stabilizing the country, but that progress is extremely fragile, highly reversible, and made even more fragile by the current socio-economic environment," U.N. envoy Hedi Annabi said Tuesday after briefing the Security Council.

For months, Haitians have compared their hunger pains to "eating Clorox" because of the burning feeling in their stomachs. The most desperate have come to depend on a traditional hunger palliative of cookies made of dirt, vegetable oil and salt. Read more

Easter Weekend

A short little slide-show of our weekend in Paso Robles. The kids had a great time, well, just being kids. (Digging dirt holes, playing with chickens, planting sunflowers, hanging out with cousins and grandparents, etc.)

Becker's Boobie Bonanza

One of my husband's co-workers, the famous and fabulous Jodi Becker, invited me to be a part of the Susan G. Komen's Breast Cancer 5K. This amazing lady put together a KFI team that ended up raising over $10,000! We had a great time at the Pasadena Rose Bowl and it was ALL about the Ta-Tas.

Here are some pictures of the big day!

Jodi Becker, Producer Michelle Kube, Me.


Jodi made some 'boobie flags' for us to wear...



Team KFI! To read more about our big day check out Jodi's blog.

Red Tape = Broken Budgets = Hungry Bellies

Tons of Food Rotting in Haitian Ports

No wonder food has been so expensive lately. Please consider making a donation to Three Angels Children's Relief to help us as we wait out this problem.

Ships are seen at the port in Port-au-Prince, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2008. While millions of Haitians go hungry, containers full of food are stacking up in the nation's ports because of government red tape leaving tons of beans, rice and other staples to rot under a sweltering sun or be devoured by vermin.The backup of containers containing food and other supplies at this impoverished country's ports is so severe that lawmakers are complaining and it is being felt 600 miles away in Miami, where overseas cargo traffic to Haiti has ground almost to a standstill.(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) (AP)

What I'm Reading Now.

I'm a huge Mark Driscoll fan (Mars Hill Church in Seattle) and thankfully people know that. So lately I have received a couple of different copies of his latest book from friends and my husband. Maybe that is indicating a problem... hmmm...

Anyway, it's called "Vintage Jesus". I had listened to his whole sermon series by the same name and it looks like he put it all in print. Who says theology has to be boring? I think this is a great sermon series for the new Christian and the Lifer who needs a gut check.

The Mars Hill website is awesome and chock-a-block full of great resources. I've blogged about his secondary website The Resurgence, which is also excellent. Driscoll typically teaches expositionally (check out his series on the book of Ruth - Awesome!), but he will sometimes take a departure and do one like this.



Here is the official description:
Roughly two thousand years ago, Jesus was born in a dumpy, rural, hick town, not unlike those today where guys change their own oil, think pro wrestling is real, find women who chew tobacco sexy, and eat a lot of Hot Pockets with their uncle-daddy. Jesus' mom was a poor, unwed teenage girl who was often mocked for claiming she conceived via the Holy Spirit. Most people thought she concocted the crazy story to cover the fact she was knocking boots with some guy in the backseat of a car at the prom. Jesus was adopted by a simple carpenter named Joseph and spent the first thirty years of his life in obscurity, swinging a hammer with his dad.

In Vintage Jesus, one of America's most influential young pastors teams up with a seasoned theologian to lead you on a hilarious theological journey chasing Jesus through Scripture and pop culture. The authors provide timeless answers to twelve timely questions about the most important man who has ever lived. Each chapter concludes with answers to common questions about each subject.

Contents

• Chapter 1 Is Jesus the Only God?
• Chapter 2 How Human Was Jesus?
• Chapter 3 How Did People Know Jesus Was Coming?
• Chapter 4 Why Did Jesus Come to Earth?
• Chapter 5 Why Did Jesus' Mom Need to Be a Virgin?
• Chapter 6 What Did Jesus Accomplish on the Cross?
• Chapter 7 Did Jesus Rise from Death?
• Chapter 8 Where Is Jesus Today?
• Chapter 9 Why Should We Worship Jesus?
• Chapter 10 What Makes Jesus Superior to Other Saviors?
• Chapter 11 What Difference Has Jesus Made in History?
• Chapter 12 What Will Jesus Do upon His Return?

These questions are answered with insights from people such as Jesus himself, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Luther King Jr., Hugh Hefner, Jack Bauer, Fidel Castro, Oprah, Kanye West, Gandhi, Homer Simpson, Mike Tyson, Gil Grissom, and Madonna, along with some demons and a porn star. There have been seventeen thousand books written about Jesus, but none is like Vintage Jesus.

Thanks Megan for the 'Vintage Jesus' bumper stickers. I am now an official groupie.

the many faces of livi

She is now officially at the age where it is purt-near impossible to get her to smile naturally at the camera. I think Calvin hit this stage at about the same time and I haven't had a decent picture of him since Kindergarten.


I'm a little late with these pics but they are from Liv's Valentines Day party at school.

The latest TA Slideshow

I already posted this on our Angel House blog but wanted to throw it up here as well for my family peeps:

My Little Magnet

That is how I feel about Bethany. Her quiet little way of worming into my heart every time I see that smile is something I crave.


God has something so special for her and I cannot wait to see how her story develops.

Shopping Day!

My friend Leah, her son Jacob and I went down to 'The Valley' to the teaching supply store and got all stocked up for our trip down to Three Angels this week. It was so much fun picking out all kinds of learning resources for these kids! A huge thank you to those that pitched in to help buy these awesome items! This is SUCH a huge step up from only being able to use dry textbooks and a chalkboard - the teachers will be so excited!


We were able to purchase writing boards, math games, fraction manipulatives, fact family boards, a complete microscope kit, prepared slides, anatomy puzzles, reproducible workbooks, stamps, maps, compasses, french vocabulary flash cards and dictionaries, see & solve games, learning workbooks, science games, pencils, arts & crafts projects, alphabet and handwriting teaching tools... and much more!

Thank you for being a part of blessing these kids and supporting their education. Don't forget to consider becoming a school sponsor! We still need 298 more people willing to donate $27 / month to send a child to school at Three Angels.

We Heart Cookies

The kids and I made Valentines Day cookies yesterday and had lots of fun decorating them.

Note to self: Do not turn mixer on when there are 3 cups of sifted powdered sugar in the bowl...

Happy VD everyone!

February Trip to Three Angels

My next trip to Three Angels in Haiti will be on February 21st. I am hoping to get some instructional materials for our teachers there. Last October, thanks to the generosity of people like you, I was able to bring down anatomy forms, geometry manipulatives and a ton of classroom basics like paper, pencils, tape, scissors, etc. The teachers and the students were so excited to know that people in the US cared about them enough to be so generous!

I believe it is incredibly encouraging to our teachers to get some actual teaching materials that are simply not available in Haiti or beyond our budget. Imagine teaching in a partitioned classroom with only a chalkboard, a few shared textbooks, pencil and paper. I would LOVE to bless them with some of the following items:

• French Bibles
• Math centers (anything except for money)
• Science Kits - $149 each
• Learning Centers - Science - $varies
• Activity Tubs - Science
• Fact Family Math Boards
• Fractions Math Boards
• Math workbooks (we can photocopy pages)
• Globe & geography tools - (world maps , not US)
• GIFT CARDS to Lakeshore Learning, Amazon, Staples, etc.

If you would like to procure and send any of these items please email me and I can give you my mailing address! (shannon@threeangelshaiti.org)

Some things to remember:

• I will need your gifts by February 20th.
• We have 335 students in Preschool - 6th grade.
  
• Materials should not be dependent upon language (our kids speak Creole and are learning French)

What a Waste

Okay, I ain't no tree-huggin', granola eatin', birken-wearin', patchouli-smellin' greenie. (with long arm-pit hair to complete the stereotype) But over the last 6 months or so I have been trying to cut down on the massive amounts of junk mail I get. It drives me nuts. Not only is it a complete waste, I do not need to have temptation delivered to my mailbox.

I invite you to join me via Catalog Choice in declining receipt of unwanted catalogs and advertisements. Just enter your mailing info and then select the merchants you don't want to get stuff from. They do all the work for you after that. I'll admit it, the hardest ones for me to select were Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware...

Not all of the catalogs I get are on the website yet but it looks like more and more are added each month. I'm still waiting for World Vision to be listed - they send me stuff every month! But that is a whole other post...

Blessing us.

This is a long one but well worth the read, especially at the end. It has caused me to question what kind of blessing I expect. This letter was sent by a missionary working in Kenya.

Dear friends,

I cannot express what it means to know that people are standing with me in prayer as Kenya continues to walk this difficult journey of political unrest. For me, the issue I am really praying about is the idea of calm vs. peace. Like so much of the world, Kenya is used to living in calm but not peace. I do not want to simply return to the "calm" where we put up with one another (although it feels much nicer). There are deep issues of hatred between tribes that unless/until they are addressed will continue to resurface. In the midst of this evil, I believe that God is trying to reveal His heart for this place, for His people. There is a deep cleansing that needs to occur. So, we continue to pray. I wanted to share these reflections from an experience I had this past week...

Like so many other Friday’s, I went to the HIV/AIDS clinic this morning to treat patients. Like any other day, people walked to the clinic or were carried on the back of bicycles. They waited in the open air corridors of the clinic to be treated.

One man arrived critically ill and desperately needed to be referred to a larger hospital just one hour away; but unlike other days, there was no vehicle to take him. The road towards town contains blockades as the post-election violence continues. So, the possibility of extending treatment or even relief to this dying man seemed impossible. Rachel, the Health Practitioner I was working with, unwilling to give up asked if I would go on a walk with her. I agreed, and we walked a few hundred meters up a large hill to the police station to request them to escort this man to the hospital. As we were walking, a group of women, displaced from their homes, greeted us. They explained that it had really been raining upon them over the past few days, and they asked her for her white lab coat. She responded that she still needed it for work.

I was not prepared for the sights I was about to see. A mere ten miles from my village I entered a refugee camp. As I reached the top of the hill, I was greeted by a lady who I used to eat in her little restaurant. With tears in her eyes, she said: “welcome to our refugee camp.” I looked into the faces of hungry and dirty children. They were playing in the middle of their refuge amongst 20,000 others who had been chased as their homes were burned to the ground. I recognized others I have treated as patients at the HIV clinic. A deep sadness entered my heart. Tears filled my eyes, and I feared if I allowed them to flow they might not ever stop. I talked with a little girl, and she asked me where I was from. I told her that I lived in Kipkaren; and she simply replied, “me too”. The only difference is that her home is no longer. She is struggling, along with 300,000 others who have been displaced within their own homeland, to survive. It is hard to imagine the kind of politics, the tribal hatred that could lead to this injustice.

After arrangements had been made with the police for transporting our patient, we started back down the hill. A little girl, maybe six years old, was carrying water on her head as she climbed the hill. Her name, Upendo (which means love in Kiswahili), struck me. She represents all that we have been called to do as followers of Christ.

Overwhelmed by the devastation of this land, I remembered these instructions that say: “Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and the needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9).

And then it began to rain. It was not a light, gentle drizzle but a big rain. For a moment, in a small way, I felt their struggles. This may seem obvious; but without a shelter to enter, it is cold and wet when it rains. Without food to eat, hunger is felt. Without peace, there is no rest. As we walked through the rain, Rachel said: “now I know why they needed my coat.” I am convinced, although uncomfortable, there are times we need to know. I recently came across this prayer that has challenged, once again, my view of what it means to be blessed.

May God bless you with discomfort

At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejections, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
And to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
To bring justice and kindness to all.

So, I am opening my mouth on behalf of those without a voice. God has shown us what is good and what is required. We are to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him. May God lead our hearts to love more fully and to follow Him wherever He leads.

May God bless you... With love, Juli

Still nothing.

I have nothing to say when others say it all so much better.

Cool like That

I haven't had anything original to say lately. This chick does however...