the invisible becomes visible

the children of uganda. living in the "pearl of africa."

image credit

i know that twitter is blowing up with #stopkony, #KONY2012, #LRA, and @Invisible children right now. facebook is no different. we are seeing the power of social media to spread information. it's more than a trend, though it's "trending" worldwide on twitter. it's an injustice.

Joseph Kony's actions are nothing new. he has been abducting children for 26 years. that's longer than i've been alive.

credit: Liza

credit: Liza 

credit: Liza

children like these four ugandan children are taken under cover of darkness and are forced to kill, to mutilate others, and to become sex slaves. all as part of Kony's "LRA: Lord's Resistance Army." this is grossly wrong.

so at the risk of sounding like a bandwagoner, i ask you to take 30 minutes to watch the following video from invisible children. it is raw and honest. we must make a decision to act or to ignore.

"where you live shouldn't determine whether you live" -invisible children

live unashamedly :: laugh uncontrollably :: love unconditionally.

feeding children everywhere

yesterday, i had the opportunity to volunteer to fill food bags for children in ghana, africa. one of my coworkers asked if i would be interested in going and it took all of 0.2 seconds after reading the email to join in with a resounding YES!

i had never heard of feeding children everywhere before yesterday, but i must say they have their system down to an art. and when we were there during our lunch break to fill bags, they were already at 60,000 bags for the day (and counting!). i took a few pics while we were filling (quite the challenge since i was responsible for pouring the veggies in and handing bags to the people weighing them...and couldn't miss my turn or i'd throw the system off).

anyway, moral of the story is that i love what this organization is doing and i hope you'll make time to volunteer and serve somewhere this week. there are so many needs around us waiting to be met if we'd only open our eyes (but that's another topic for another day). i always walk away encouraged with a renewed perspective, and i trust that my efforts will be a blessing to those receiving the final product.

step 1: secure bag under funnel (thanks for the demo, Libby!)

step 2: salt (and some other stuff that i never figured out)

step 3: veggies (my station)

step 4: lentils

 step 5: rice

bags ready to be weighed 

 

bags are sealed and ready to send!!

amy, lisa, libby, and me. aren't the hairnets classy?

bekah

live unashamedly :: laugh uncontrollably :: love unconditionally.

pure and undefiled religion

y'all, isn't my friend Joy gorgeous? i tease her all the time about how photogenic she is. i've never seen a bad picture of her. no one has. i've tried. i even creeped back into facebook pics from before i knew her. nothing. it's incredible! but what i find even more gorgeous and incredible is her heart. this girl has a huge heart for the orphans and widows of Africa, particularly Uganda (where she's living right now). she has a heart that serves without ceasing. she has a heart to carry His name to the nations and proclaim the gospel to all people. she has a heart to nurture and love. no matter where i am, my prayer is that i, too, will have a gospel-driven heart like Joy.

"pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this:

to visit orphans and widows in their distress,

and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

james 1:27

"hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."

proverbs 13:12

live unashamedly :: laugh uncontrollably :: love unconditionally.

happy #30

this morning i woke up to a text from Joy Janszen. normally that wouldn't be anything crazy, but her life isn't normal right now. she moved to Uganda. packed her bags and headed to her second home. it was 2:30 in the afternoon when i saw her text (7:30am here). so i rolled over, pried my eyes open, and logged onto skype from my phone. i managed to get myself dressed and ready for work while talking to Joy. how crazy that i can be in Tampa, FL and she can be in Kampala, Uganda and we can chat like she was back in Texas?! CRAZY!!!! but i love it. and it is definitely the highlight of my day.

happy #30

skype phone date with Joy while she's in Uganda.

[credit to Liza for the idea of posting happies each day]

live unashamedly :: laugh uncontrollably :: love unconditionally.

african touches

i love browns and natural tones. especially when decorating. i stumbled across this little gem of a design and want to make it mine. immediately. love love love the african feel. and love the fact that it's not animal print crazy. take me away??

and i'll gladly take a bubble bath out here. sign a sister up!!

live unashamedly :: laugh uncontrollably :: love unconditionally.