new project!

im making this t-shirt:

I saw it at Hot Topic and really liked it but not the price. And plus, its fun to make stuff like this.

Only my shirt will be blue.

speech

I had to write a speech for Toastmasters, and I decided to write it kind of about the mission trip to Portland, but mostly about the homeless.
Tell me what you think-

Imagine only owning one outfit. One pair of jeans, and a t-shirt. Imagine having only $5 in all the world to your name. Imagine not being in contact with your family, and not having anywhere to live Imagine taking only 1 shower every 3 weeks, and sleeping under a bridge- if you’re lucky.

Seriously, try to imagine it. I tried to imagine all this a couple of months ago in preparation for a mission trip to Portland, Oregon to witness to street youth and to homeless people in general. I thought I had a good grasp on understanding these peoples’ situation, but when I got there I realized that I was unprepared.

It was the first day on the trip when I realized this. Our leaders took us to a downtown street church called the Transitional Youth, where homeless kids go to eat, hang out, get new clothes and soap and stuff, and watch videos like the cartoon version of The Good Samaritan and The Passion of the Christ. They had racks and racks of old clothes like you would find at Goodwill, and they said, “Pick out some clothes, you’re going to change and be homeless today.” So we all changed, and were wearing stained clothes that were too big and mismatched and stuff, and they gave us a list of things we had to accomplish that homeless people do all the time, such as collect cans and turn them in for money and ask people for spare change.

I was really grateful that they made us do that, because it was really eye-opening. I used to joke all the time that if I failed school and got fired from my job, I could always just become a hobo and live under I-40. I will never joke about that ever again. I know im oblivious to many of the struggles that homeless people have, but I do know that it is NOT an easy life.

So that first day we split our big group into little groups of 5-6 and walked out into the streets. There were two reactions: people either flat-out stared at us, or they totally and completely ignored us. You see, there are pretty much two different WORLDS that I noticed in downtown Portland- you’ve got the wealthy, I-own-2-cell-phones-and-shop-at-AbercrombieandFitch type of people, and then there were the homeless people who were just trying to survive, the people whose community we had just joined. And many of us had previously been in the wealthy group, and didn’t realize it until just then. I really experienced some culture shock.

I can’t say that after that experience I really know how it is to be homeless, though. I think it’s impossible to truly know how it is to not have more than 5 possesions in the world and live on the streets until it actually happens.

Anyway, Portland has the highest percentage of homeless youth. These are kids that were kicked out of their houses cause their parents didn’t want them anymore, or kids that ran away from home because their parents were abusive and/or into drugs and alcohol.

Our groups objective in Portland was to hang out with the homeless and show them Christ in us, and hopefully get them to go to The Door, another downtown church we worked at. As I talked to some kids, I realized that most of them were actually happy right where they were, because things were worse for them before they became homeless. On the street, they had a family of close friends, and they all have each other’s back. The sense of their community is so great.

So yeah, most of them loved their lives, and I even met one or two people who really loved Jesus. This one lady, Madeline, read her bible every day (it was the only book she owned) and she had such a strong faith that it seemed she could take anything the world handed her, even when she had to cut off all her hair because of lice and other pests and when she got food poisoning because she was so hungry she ate out of a dumpster. People like that made me want to be like God even more, so that I could show the homeless that their lives could be so enjoyable when they shared them with the Lord.

So I really liked talking to the kids, hearing about their lives and what they hoped to do in the future. Of course, not everyone was friendly. Some people were even very dangerous, because they were into drugs and alcohol. In fact, pretty much everyone we talked to used drugs. Even Madeline had been on drugs. It’s not something you can easily escape from. But a lot of them were just the nicest people I have ever met. Shane Claiborne, the author of The Irresistible Revolution, said that he was more likely to meet angels in the sewers of the ghetto than anywhere else. I really believe that, too.

I recently read a survey, and one of the questions was, “Have you ever given money to a bum?” and half of the people who sent it to me hadn’t given money, food, or time to a hobo! I find this kind of disturbing. I mean, its not like we never come in contact with them. They sit by many major roads in Albuquerque, asking for money. Jesus spent most of his time with the sinners, the tax collectors, the prostitutes. He said that what you do for the least of his sheep, you do for Him. Lots of people say that they admire Jesus for who He was when He was on earth, and they admire God for his everlasting love and compassion, but most people don’t actually put this admiration into action; they don’t hang out and show love to the sinners like Jesus did. When you admire someone, don’t you want to be like them? God says that what you do for the least of His sheep, you do for Him. If you show some care to a bum, you’re basically saying that you love God.

That’s enough to make me put a granola bar and a bottle of water in my car so that I can give it to the next homeless guy I meet on the road. I would discourage giving them money, because a lot of them use it to support their habits, but giving them food is really good, because they need it.

Shane Claiborne also said that he’s heard lots of people refer to the homeless as Jesus, because God said that the least you do for any of his sheep you do for Him. So when you serve the homeless, you’re serving Jesus.

So the next time you see Jesus on the road with tattered clothes and $2 to his name, I hope you show some compassion.

finally almost over

Clinton leaves tomorrow. We are driving him down to Las Cruces, and then we are going to stay in a hotel until Tuesday and help him get settled in.
Its going to be pretty interesting to see what the campus is like. My parents are trying to get me to go there, but I don't really want to. I think UNM is good enough for me.

I think I will be glad when we are finally back home. We've been waiting for clinton to leave for forever... its kind of getting old. I prefer a clean break, rather than, "Oh he's leaving in 3 months... 2months... 1 month... 3 days.."
I'm gonna miss him, but we need to just move on already. And I'm tired of people asking me how I feel, if I'm ok, and if I'm looking forward to being an "only child".
I'm fine, I feel pretty good, and I'm so used to Clinton being gone that I've pretty much already been an "only child". But I will miss him, no doubt about that.
I just want him to leave already.

if you can understand that.

If i were a pocket pal...

I'd be a panda.



I got this huge bag of random buttons from Hobby Lobby. I love buttons. They're probably my favorite thing to use when I'm making stuff.
And ribbon.




elephant!
<-----

:)

hooray

I just quit 4-H!

I have been waiting for this for a long time.

this is a tired momma

i babysat last night. I don't think i should be trusted to babysit.
I don't think parents should rest easy when their children are in my care. But they do, for some reason.
I really love kids though :P They say the funniest things.
We played Uno. It was really interesting, cause they absolutely love that game, but they don't really know how to play. They think that the more cards you get, the better off you are, because then you can skip and reverse and make people draw cards and change colors.
Lets just say that the game lasted forever :)

I have fun while I babysit, but I don't think i'm very good at it at all. I really suck at laying down the law. I mean, how in the world are you supposed to tell a little, cute, big-eyed kid that they can only have one peice of candy after dinner? And they pretty much ignored me when I told them to stop throwing cups of water on each other and running around in the rain and jumping on the furniture. (and it was hard for me to actually want them to stop, cause I wanted to do these things too) But those are the kinds of things that their parents wont let them do, and so I had to set the rules and make them sit in corners. How sad!
I love them though. I only hope that it will be easier with my own children... I'll let them do everything that i wanted to do when i was younger and couldn't. Well, anything realistic anyway :P

cant say this isnt cute

Meet Squints other half! Or his twin sister. You can pick and choose. :)
This is Ginger. Her clothes are made from the same seat cushion that Squints' were made from.
<--- see? a really tiny jumper, just like in The Sound of Music! I'm really excited about Saturday, because I cannot wait to give these to Danielle. I'm so proud of them! I'm also currently working on a cat. If you have any ideas for little creatures I could make, then be sure to tell me bout them. I'm thinking of entering a whole bunch of them in the fair, just to see what people think of them :)

Song currently stuck in my head: Blacking Out the Friction by Death Cab For Cutie.
Love that band! :P

feeling free

Sometimes when the sky goes dark
The clouds roll in
Rain hits its mark;
Sometimes when the winds stretch far
I feel
Like I
Could
Fly

Meet... Squint

Wanna hear a story?
Well, when we were on the mission trip in Oregon, I was in our room combing my hair when Danielle came in. I only saw her from the corner of my eye, so I couldn't see her that clearly, but I did notice that she was carrying a long red cloth (I thought it looked like a fancy dress). So, without looking up, I said something along the lines of, "Hey Danielle, I didn't know you brought such a nice dress with you. Its really pretty!" I liked the color.
Danielle was like, "Dress? I don't have a dress!" And then I saw that what she had in her hands was a giant red curtain from the living room downstairs, and she was covering the windows with it.
She started to make fun of me, saying that she was Fraulein Maria from The Sound of Music and was going to make all of us clothes from the curtains. We had a good laugh about it, and I have been calling her my 'Fraulein' ever since.

Well, the other day I was showing everyone the new Octopus and the Owl I made, and Danielle started calling them 'Pocket Pals', because whenever you feel lonely you can just pull one out of your pocket and then you would be cheered up. She put them in cups and napkin holders and her jeans, and was just playing around with them.
When I put them away, she was like, "Well now I'm going to get lonely without my Pocket Pals!"
So I told her I would make her one, and she said to make it clothes out of curtains because thats what every Fraulein loves.
I don't think she actually thought I would make her a 'Pocket Pal', but I was already forming an idea for one in my head, and I think this is the best one I've ever made because of the lederhosen he's wearing. I went online and looked up <--- 'lederhosen', cause thats like what the little boys are wearing in The Sound of Music when Maria makes their clothes out of curtains. Then I found some fabric from a chair we used to have and I made a tiny pair of lederhosen out of it.
Aren't they cute? :P

And below is a picture of the monster, whom I call Squint. I'm so proud of him.

Here's Squint with Owl and the Octopus. (haven't come up with names for the others yet. any ideas?)

I think I'll make a little girl monster for Squint to hang out with.

Can't wait to give these to Danielle on Saturday! :)

what i've found

At random points during the Portland mission trip, Danielle would ask us what God was showing us and what we'd learned so far. I could never really give her a collected answer, though, because it was so random and I didn't have my thoughts together.
Plus, I don't think that I really realized all God showed me until about 2 weeks after I got back from the trip. And that was...

1) How to be happy in any circumstance. LOTS of people in Oregon have pretty much nothing going for them; yet they bear with it. Madeline only had her friends and her Bible, but she praised God for everything in her life. I definitely want to be like that, and I'm working on it...

2) How to drop everything in this world to serve God. Its so easy to forget that He is the reason for everything in our lives- the reason to actually live in the first place! I'm constantly getting caught up in such material things, and then I have to stop myself and just remember that they can't truly make me happy, only God can. And I must do everything I can to work for God, because in serving Him I grow closer to Him. Its an incredible feeling :)

3) Just to be still and know that He is God. He has a plan for everything, and so if something doesn't go my way, I'm ok with it. Because that's what God wants, and if it's what God wants then I want it too.
So comforting.

i hate my hair

I think its time for a new hairstyle.
And I kinda want to chop all my hair off. But that might be a pain, cause i would have to straighten it probably every day. Or put lotsa stuff in it...
This would be cool--->

but it would probably turn out a little
more like the one below.
Which I dont think is all that attractive.
It would probably be a LOT frizzier, too.



Plus I think I would be really sad once I realized that I had no hair left. I happen to love my hair, but it gets really super exasperating sometimes.
A lot of the time.

And dreadlocks would be cool... but people have been saying how hard they are to manage. And trying to manage hair is what i want to escape from...