Bringing Hope To the Suffering

Acknowledging that there was pain in my life was a tough realization to come to last year. But last year I had to start over and take a hard look at myself. In September 2011, I found myself living at home, working part time, scrounging for money, barely being able to hold onto the idea of hope, and running (in the literal sense) from any pain I might possibly feel while living out my life.

I think it was fair to say that while I did have a home, friends who had a home that let me in and a boyfriend whose family welcomed me into their home, I had my bags packed and was ready to run. It sounds cowardly, but it was the sad truth.

Granted I still struggle with communicating and responding to people, rather than just reacting, fixing, and fleeing from painful situations. But in July, 2012, after graduating from a year at Freedom Session at Faith Assembly of Lacey, taking a self employment business class that taught me how to hone my skills as a professional, learning to budget money, and examining in my heart what I wanted to do with my life, I ended up finding, applying and subsequently taking a position with the Red Cross in Tacoma as a (Listener/Story Teller).

I also became a facilitator's assistant and signed up for an other round of Freedom Session. I am still the secretary for Lutheran Women's Missionary League, and I am going to be on the Board of Evangelism at Trinity Lutheran Church come January. Life and Times as my mom always says!

My Red Cross job entails bringing hope to the hopeless and alleviating suffering endured by those affected by a natural disaster or emergency. Just recently, I was creating a flier about our Holiday Giving Campaign and the graphics on it that were created by National, said Let it Hope, Let it Hope, Let it Hope. I just smiled knowing personally that for me, hope is the result of faith and faith is something I realized I had to hold onto last year when times were bleak. Faith & Hope is what I cling to now to stay sane and healthy.

After a year of getting to know my mom's passion for healthy living, I now leave my apartment every morning with a vi shake in my hand and vitamins in my pocket. I want to lose weight and know that I can if I eat healthy, drink my vi and exercise. I look forward to holding Challenge Parties at my apt complex's community room soon too. What I am really excited about is that I have my own apartment now (#B52, wifi is titled "Rock Lobster Network" and it looks like a pink bomb went off when you come in).


Life has suddenly become fast, furious and fulling, but I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to say that my life's entire work whether it be Mon-Fri or on the weekends is to bring hope to the hopeless and alleviate people's suffering. God is surely an amazing God who is full of grace and mercy and will use what you have been through to help others.

The Lovely Adventures of Jack and Jill in Olympia

Jill leisurely danced to a 90’s love song being sung by a soulful singer in the dark cove on the second story of The Pig Bar in Olympia. She nonchalantly swayed her hips from side to side and closed her eyes so that her ears could listen to the music being sung. Jill was enjoying herself and relaxing by the sound of Olympia.

Watching her was Jack who was seated on the black leather couch underneath the large flat screen T.V. in The Pig Bar. He took a bite out of his pulled pork nachos and then a sip from his cold beer every time she finished going side to side with her hips.

The bartender watched the two of them and silently smiled.  “It’s the time for love again I guess” He thought to himself and poured another glass for the gal and another beer for the guy.

Upon a bold move by Jack and help from the bartender, Jill released her phone number and a few days later the date was planned.

“We’ll go out to eat at Wally’s and then enjoy a sunset at the marina,” Jack spoke carefully.

“Okay sounds great!” Jill answered.

Jill felt butterflies turn in her stomach as she looked through her closet. To her surprise, she hardly had any good weekend date clothes. Luckily she saw a store that looked like a closet called Mandelins . So the next day she went back to the closet store to find an outfit for the date.

Upon entering Mandelins she noticed the twice worn clothes on the racks and realized it was a consignment store. But a pleasant surprise awaited her as she started to sift through the clothes…practically everything was a brand name piece. Torrid, BGX, AGB, Jones New York, Alfani, Karen Scott, Calvin Klein, and the names went on and on. The next surprise was pleasantly shocking…the prices were low enough on the pieces of clothing so that she could afford them.

“This place is great!” She exclaimed to the cashier.

“Yes, I love it. You’ve got a great outfit here too.  I love that you picked out the pink pencil skirt and white lacy, cap sleeved, top. You must be going on a date!”

“Yes I am,” Jill said while the color in her cheeks rose. “The guy who asked me seemed nice enough and I kind of let my guard down at this little place downtown so I guess I’ll just have to live with the consequences. Hopefully it will turn out to be a good consequence.”

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The Date
As Jack and Jill pulled up to Wally’s Sub and Sand which shop, the anticipation in Jack’s abs tightened as he thought of enjoying a good sand which with such fine company. Jill stepped out of the car daintily and put a simple smile to put him at ease.

Wally’s offered the two full sandwiches that they could each customize to meet their tastes in food. There was also entertainment because along the wall were drawings of scenes of local Olympians eating delicious meals at Wally’s.  Jack drew a drawing of Jill illustrating to her how beautiful she looked to him with her hair pinned up, eye lashes darkened, lips colored and white lace top accenting her feminine shoulders. Her polite smile turned into a real one as he pinned the napkin portrait on the wall with the rest.

While driving to Boston Harbor Marina, Jack and Jill chatted about their likes and dislikes, commented on the cold February weather and relaxed while watching the wide open sky, forests and fields pass by them.

Once they got to the marina, Jill interest sparked in the scenery even more.

“Can we walk down by the boats and get closer to the Puget Sound?” Jill asked.

“Of course, just be careful the wooden docks are a little wobbly.” Jack answered.

As they walked down the stairwell from the parking lot to the dock and then from the dock to the lower docks on the water, Jill thought of the local families who come and enjoy this place and how she might have one of her own someday.

Walking along the dock, a seal came up and greeted them both with a watchful eye. Boat owners tinkered on their boats and the masts on the boats chimed with the others. The cold air swooped in around them and Jack moved closer to Jill to make sure the wind wouldn’t cut through her light layers of clothing.

At the end of the dock was a bench. Jack offered her the seat and she took it. They sat together and watch the boats sail by, the kayakers’ row and the clouds move past the foot hills that sat just beneath the white capped cascades in the distance.

Jack sighed to calm himself down even further and then put his arm around Jill. She smiled expressing the tingle of warmth that she felt spark within her heart.

“Thank you Jack, I was getting cold and you warmed me up,” she said to break the ice even further.

“You are welcome Jill, you are a beautiful lady and this is the most beautiful place I could think to take such a lady.” 

Facing Giants

Our family dog, Zorro, is a small pooch. He is a Lhasa Apso and as cute as an ewok. He doesn't care how small he is or how cute he is though.

 While sitting in the living room enjoying some late evening T.V., I heard Zorro barking. My brother and I went to investigate in the back yard. Zorro had chased a raccoon way up into one of the trees.
A giant, dark, furry animal with sharp teeth didn't scare him and neither have big dogs. I remember when a friend of ours brought over their giant dog for Christmas and he barked at the giant dog letting him know whose house it was.

Instead of cowering behind the glass door with his tail between his legs, Zorro approaches his giants and lets them know how he feels. If Zorro can face his giants so can you. It doesn't matter how small and cute you are, or how big you are, be an ewok and scare the Emperor's best troops off of their flying mopeds!

Key Lime Pie

While working in the kitchen this week, someone mentioned key lime pie. A instant craving for it came up and the sound and thought of it reminded me of my family at home who enjoys it. That evening at dinner I mentioned it during conversation, a young girl named Rhianna next to me piped up excited at the thought of making one.


“I made one of those just last week! Can we make one tonight?” she said.
“Sure!” I replied surprised. And so it started, the process of making a pie. First, ingredients had to be gathered, which Tylor, one of the summer staff guys, graciously went into town twice after acquiring cream cheese frosting the first time instead of cream cheese. Then Rhianna and I squeezed the life out of several limes, cracked open several eggs to get egg yolks, put in some creamy ingredients, mixed it all together, cooked it and put in the refrigerator to set, but there was no patient waiting. After 45 minutes we enjoyed our pie….soup….since it wasn’t quite set yet.

This Saturday, Rhianna got up during testimony time and shared about how God called her name while she was working in the peach plant. When he called her name, her faith was affirmed to believe that God can do anything. She said she had given her life to Christ in 2008, but not fully since she hadn’t quite believed God could do everything, like speak to her. This week though was a break through.

Proud and happy for Rhianna, I believe she sets a great example for us all. We are like key lime pies. We need good cream cheese, not just cream cheese frosting, to have strong flavorful faith that can be enjoyed by all and it takes time to set us in our faith. Plus God continues to work in us to make our faith as delicious as possible so that we don’t just have faith soup.

Dried Peaches and Soup go to Hungry Kids

After breakfast this morning, Fritz, one of the directors here at Gleanings for the Hungry, shared about his recent mission trip to Haiti where he went with a team from Gleanings to help people in the recovering country. The slide show began with pictures of individuals giving out dried peaches and soup to hungry people, then it progressed to tell a deeper of story of circumstances aligning and an amazing accomplishment coming together.

The story started to unravel with a picture of a resort by the water coming up on the screen, after seeing many pictures of the hungry being fed, this one seemed kind of odd. But it turned out that there was a woman who worked there that really had a heart for the kids and the team prayed with her about this woman's longing to do something for the local kids.

A week later, when the team came back, she had hired a nanny and brought in 6 kids. The neat thing about this is that the team had been wanting to build a house for Rick's daughter Kim, who is a missionary there that watches over children. In introducing Kim to this woman, a greater purpose for the house was now set...to open an orphanage where Kim could share the responsibility of watching over orphaned children with this local woman.

Donations came in for the house and local people helped build the house and it came together in a couple months. "It was really incredible," Andrea Merrill, who went on the mission trip last year.

To learn more about their trip, go to http://gleanings.org/?p=2182

Snapshot

I am excited for tomorrow. At 8am I'll be flying out of SeaTac on my way to Fresno where I'll meet my guy and be taken into Dubina, CA to the Gleanings for the Hungry YWAM Base. This will be my first mission project and I admit I am nervous for how I'll adjust from working eight hours a day in front of a computer to physically moving and working with my hands this summer.

I am hoping that they will teach me how to cook since I hear they need help in the Kitchen and I am sure I'll get a chance to see first hand how the peaches are processed through the equipment, dried and shipped out. The latest batch went to Kenya!

I really think this will be good a chance for me to get out of my head, step away from my career, take a break from writing and just experience life and people. After going through the intensive college years, working my hardest at several internships and establishing my reputation in the local business community...my brain is just kind of tired. The break is a welcome one.

I am also excited to support Tylor while he works driving a forklift day to day feeling useful. This last year has been a struggle to find consistent work and it is nice to hear him happy and feeling fulfilled. Seeing him every day in this environment will be new and uplifting for us. :)

My Review of Crush Master 10 Speed Blender in White

Originally submitted at CSN Stores

Features:

• 10 Speed blender
• White finish
• Multi level stainless steel blades
• Heat resistant glass blending jar
• Ten speeds plus pulse
• One touch ice crush
• Motor overheat protection system
• Safety interlock system
• Fas...

Crush Master 10 Speed Blender in White

Good Sturdy Product

By Monica from Olymipa, WA on 5/19/2011

 

4out of 5

I am actually very impressed with the blender itself. The blender jar is a very tough, thick, and durable glass (perfect for a blonde klutzy destructible force like me). On one side of the jar, it gives measurements for cups and ounces, while on the other side, it gives liter measurements. This is very handy for a recipe stickler…not me…but for someone who is of course.
The blades in the jar seem to be pretty durable, sharp, and strong. They are long and have crushed up our over-frozen ice cream into perfectly creamy milky mixtures. Just think…with this Crush Master, I can crush ice and make smoothies! This will go over very well during the three days of our Northwest summer when everyone is salivating for an icy smoothie.

(legalese)