A Friend

Day Thirty - Well, today is the last day of June and the last day of my photo challenge. It has been fun. This photo is a favorite for me this month. I think it may be my favorite because this is my favorite person. He told me this morning as I was taking the picture that he didn't want to be in my blog. I told him he didn't have a choice. He's my best friend and the person that I wanted to capture. He really is an incredible guy. I can say that cause it's true and I know that he'll never read this and won't know that I'm all gushy and stuff. He often knows what I need before I do. He calls me on things that I need to be called on. He encourages me when I'm down. He says, "I got you" when I'm sad. He has seen me cry more than any other person in the whole world. He has made me laugh until the tears stream down my face and I can't breathe. He doesn't give up on me. He cares about me and he practices really hard to be the friend that I need. I am so thankful for my friend, Jeremy. He is my lifetime friend.

Soft

Day Twenty-nine - Wow. Today has been a whirlwind. Elle and I went to the city with our friends Lydia and Corinne to celebrate the end of school. We saw the movie, Brave. It was really nice to have a day with friends, they are very special people. Then when I got home there was a phone call from a cousin from Saskatchewan that was passing through and wanted to stop by. What  an awesome surprise! So they are here, sleeping in their camper for the night before they continue on their journey. We just pulled the kids off the trampoline and put them  into bed and here I am getting my blog in for today just under the wire. I actually knew that today was going to be one of those days and I kinda cheated with my photo. I took this picture yesterday. My brother and sister-in-law's rabbit had babies a few weeks ago. Here's one of them. He looks big, but he's not. You should see his mama! (And no that is not a "your Mama" joke!) He is the epitome of soft. I think if you looked up soft in the dictionary you would find baby bunny's fur listed there. Too cute. Anyway....Good night. I'm done....

On the Shelf

Day Twenty-eight - I love reading. I love books. When I was going over today's photo topic, I was stumped for a bit trying to think of what I would shoot. And then I had my 'duh' moment and knew exactly what I would take a picture of. Here it is...one of the book shelves in our house. I thought that to go along with this post today I would offer some suggestions for summer reading a variety of categories. Here we go...

Fiction (fun and light):
1. Rhys Bowen's Her Royal Spyness Mystery Series - It's hilarious. Set in the 1920's, a distant relative of the queen of England, 28th in line to the throne, gets into all kinds of mischief trying to keep up appearances while living on nothing. The queen, from time to time, asks her for special favors which usually involve a murder going down. I always laugh.
2. Anything written by Cecilia Ahern. She wrote P.S. I Love You. Her stories are kind of like modern day fairy tales. Again, funny but always with a twist.


3. Alan Bradley's Flavia DeLuce Mysteries - A fiesty eleven year old chemistry whiz that solves mysteries. Not children's books, though it may seem so. Very entertaining.

Fiction (great stories)
1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett - If you have not read it and only seen the movie, you really should read the book. It is fabulous.
2. The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway - read it.
3. Anything written by Adriana Trigiani. She's great. Real characters. Good stuff.
4. The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
5. Little Bee - Chris Cleve
6. One Day - David Nicholls
7. Juliet - Anne Fortier
8. The Fisherman - Larry Huntsperger
9. The Orchard - Jeffrey Stepakoff
10. The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Fiction (Classics)
1. JANE AUSTEN IS A GENIUS! READ ALL OF HER BOOKS!
2. Oscar Wilde is also a riot. Start with "An Ideal Husband" or "Lady Windemere's Fan". He definitely has society pegged, nothing has changed in over a hundred years...really!
3. The Blue Castle - L.M. Montgomery (still one of my favorite authors)
4. Jane Eyre - Charolotte Bronte

Fiction (to read aloud to children)
1. Kate DiCammilo's Mercy Watson Series - I always read these to Elle in my very best southern accent. They are about a pig and her very out-of-touch-with-reality owners. Very fun!
2. Anything written by Dr. Seuss. (Fox in Socks really does hurt my tongue!)
3. Ramona and Beezus - Beverly Cleary
4. Barbara Park's Junie B. Jones Series - Oh my these are so funny. These books chronicle the school days of a little girl named Junie B. Kindergarten and grade one would be really something if she was your student!!!

Non-Fiction
1. Little Princes - Connor Grennan
2. The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls (cannot believe this is true!!!)
3. Interrupted - Jen Hatmaker
4. Sacrilege - Hugh Halter
5. Crazy Love - Francis Chan
6. An Irresistable Revolution - Shane Claiborne
7. Searching for God Knows What - Donald Miller

Really, I could go on and on and on. There are so many great books out there. Hope you get a chance to do some summer reading...hit the library and grab a stack!!! Happy reading...

Bathroom

Day Twenty-seven - Ahhh. The bathroom. A place that I go for five seconds of uninterrupted peace. You may think it crude that my photo today is of a toilet but today I have something to say and the toilet picture is key. (And there will be no potty humor, I promise!)

The bathroom is a place I take for granted. I've always had a bathroom, with a toilet and a sink to wash up. I've never really thought about what it's like to not have one. I am privileged more than I know. I turn on the tap and water magically appears. I flush the toilet and all is well. I can have a shower and the water is hot with lots of pressure. The only time I ever have to use anything but a toilet is when I'm camping and I'm not overly fond of that. I am spoiled on top of it all.

I read a statistic that caught my attention. Forty percent of the world lacks basic water sanitation, resulting in disease, death, wastewater for drinking, and loss of immunity. That's crazy. I read another stat that made my jaw drop in comparison to the first: Ammericans consume 26 billion liters of bottled water a day. That's a lot of water. Here's some sad stats: 42,000 deaths occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation. Ninety percent of those deaths are children under five years old. At any given time, half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-related disease. More people are affected by the negative impact of poor water supply and sanitation than by war, terrorism, and weapons of mass desctruction. Wow. These stats may seems like a downer, but we need to know these things so we can do something about it. That's the purpose in sharing them. I truly can't stand that I just gave you some numbers because people are not numbers. The people that are affected are someone's child, someone's mother, someone's uncle. These are real people with stories and history and a future. Hopefully a future that we can do something about.

A few years ago our church partnered with an organization that drills water wells in the desert of northwest Kenya. We raised money to build a well. The organization is called Nehemiah Construction Ministries. Their heart is to "reach out to the widows, orphans and the underprivileged of our world." Their "passion to help comes from Jesus' words in Matthew 25:40, "As you have done unto the least of these brothers of mine you have done unto me."" These people have changed lives by drilling water wells where there is very little water. Tens of thousands of people now have access to clean, fresh water. This is a miracle for them. This is life-changing. It's more than just water to drink. It also means that agriculture can be viable. People not only have water, they also improve their diets and can create a business. This is huge! These are the people in the statistics whose situation was altered. But there is more to do.

I don't write today with the intention of making you feel guilt. The opposite actually. I want you to glimpse the possible. I want you to see how these statistics can be changed...how people's lives are forever altered when we care, when we reach out in compassion to brothers and sisters around the globe that we just haven't been privileged enough to meet yet. We can make a difference. Together we can make something that seems hopeless; beautiful.

I cannot finish this post today without this powerful quote by Robert F. Kennedy: "Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills - against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence...Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ....

It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples will build a current which can sweep down on the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Wow....all that from a picture of a toilet. Who knew? If you are interested in partnering with Nehemiah Construction Ministries to bring water, hope and life to people in Kenya, check out their website: http://www.nehemiahconstruction.ca/. Together we can change things.

Where I Shop

Day Twenty-six - So this morning Coen and I made a whirlwind trip to town to get some groceries for us and some supplies for the games at Elle's class party this afternoon. The "Where I Shop" part of today may seem boring but you can find all the things that you need to have a really fun time. So as bland as a trip to the grocery store may seem it can lead to this....

Needless to say, this was really fun. If you ever want to give it a try you'll need shower caps, shaving cream and Cheetos. On person gets to get messy and the other one throws Cheetos at the messy one's head...pretty hilarious! I think the party was a hit!

 On a side note, Elle's class is one terrific bunch of kids. It's been so much fun getting to know them and their parents over the past two years. I look forward to many more class parties with these awesome kids!!

Something Cute

Day Twenty-five - This is Darla. Darla is one cute kitty. She's also a survivor. When she was just itty bitty she was separated from her mama. She lived on her own for three days before she was found. Even now, she's small and independant. Her brother, Alfalfa, lives with us too. He's huge in comparison. He's also a lot more needy. Falf is always in your face wanting attention. Darla's a lot more subtle. She's my kind of cat. She keeps me company when I'm working outside and I don't have to keep swatting her away. On hot days she likes to lay on the deck in the shade...kind of where I'd like to be too but the weeds are beckoning.

On my mind....

Day Twenty-Four - These girls have been on my mind today and lots of other days too. Neither of them are close by so I had to scrounge up a photo from a few years ago with both of them in it. Their names are Amy and Autumn. They are two very special girls to me and my family. The word special sounds so lame trying to describe what they mean to me. Long ago, I was their youth pastor. I watched them grow up from teenagers to women. Now, I am privileged to say, they are my friends. They inspire me. They make me laugh. They are wise. They are beautiful on the inside and out. They are strong and courageous. They love God deeply yet differently. They shine. I am so blessed that they keep in touch as time goes by. Amy leaves for Africa next week to work with children for a month. Autumn is in Saskatchewan doing an internship for the summer in children's ministry.
 I am always so excited to see them and to hear what is happening in their lives. I have listened to them share their hearts. I have heard their dreams and plans. The time spent investing in their lives is priceless to me. When I see them now investing their own lives into others, especially kids, I am moved....
They are in my heart along with so many other amazing young people that I've had the privilege to know. Today my thoughts and prayers are for you, Amy and Autumn.