Archive for the ‘World’ Category

  • 12 Nov

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Design for Life {by Paulo}

    0

    {my dear husband wrote this, as we are in a time of asking God what he would have us do. this is what he felt. he’s the amazing webdesigner who designed my site, of course!}

    This is the sketch of what my heart burns for..

    I dream of night and day constant everlasting prayer and worship that will affect people, that will change hearts. Not a mega-maniac concept that sees the big and imagines nations changed, that will be a realistic outcome of our intimate prayer life, of hearts being touched by a passion that burns stronger by the day that it stays in the presence of the Holy.

    I want to rescue kids from prostitution and the streets, I want to grow old with them and walk and watch as Holy Spirit transforms their lives. I want to rescue teenagers away from drugs and teach them what I know, teach them what I have in my hand. Teach them how to translate their life story into design.

    I have a dream of forming a design agency made up of young adults rescued from the streets. We will serve the church and help NGO’s and institutions to create relevant and high quality design so that they can bring out their message and in partnership they’ll help us to train and develop more “life designers”, to rescue others from destitution. I want to design for life, to give them a future, to teach them that each line they draw, each typography they work on can mean a chain being broken, how it can mean a message of Hope being brought to the world.

    I want this agency to spread bringing future and proving that Design and Creation can truly announce our essence: that we were created to create, we were designed by God to design, to design life, to design hope, to create the Kingdom of Jesus in this world. Design as a lifestyle, as a fruit of constant worship. This is my dream, this is what I long for; serve the Church and strengthen our Message of Love and Hope by in return giving Hope to those who apparently have no future.

    This is what I’m walking towards, this is what I will look like when I go into full time ministry. I will design for hope, I will write code for the Body so that I can free others to code with me, so that through my art, through my sketches I can show others a way out of the streets, i can give them jobs, show them that they’re life story can be relevant to others around the globe, all they have to do is be willing to pick up a pencil and draw that first line, express who they are, simply design.

    Design for Life
    Pray for Change
    Live for Love

    -Paulo

  • 29 Jun

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    The Vagabond

    0

    Where a suitcase is your only friend
    You never know when you’ll be back again
    And you never really know where
    Your real life ends and your fake begins

    Somewhere in between the airports and the car
    We count where we’ve been
    We add up just how far
    All those miles we’ve traveled have taken us
    And how much more we may have to go

    With imperfect calculations
    Of missed flights and cut locks
    And things broken on the plane
    The things we’ve lost, the things we’ve gained
    Experience tells us it was worth the pain

    Of leaving and giving up
    Of moving and starting new
    Of going on and stopping here
    Of holding back and letting through

    All these miles wasted
    All these faces noticed
    All the things we never knew about ourselves
    Between the lies of lives untold
    All the things we thought we knew
    And how we were so smart

    Temptation is to quit
    Temptation says to resign
    Temptation says to leave the lines and never fly
    But the suitcase never leaves you
    The suitcase never lies to you
    Always tells the truth
    Of your vagabond existence

    (May 29, ’10)

  • 27 Apr

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Mother’s Day for Haiti

    1

    My maternal grandmother’s prayers have always pushed me to reach out to the world, to help others, and to pray for others. Seeing her unfailing devotion to God, always praying, always sharing what she had read in the Bible, really has inspired me.

    In all the times I’ve traveled here and there, and been in all sorts of bizarre situations, I know my grandma is back home praying for me.

    When I went to Africa a few years ago, I rested assured knowing my grandma was one of my many prayer warriors. She prayed for me, despite her missing me. She knows that God is using me in different places to reach out to people who would otherwise not know His love.

    Letting me go to reach out to others is a huge sacrifice for her. Yet, she is always encouraging me, and telling me to keep praying and that Jesus is taking care of us.

    This mother’s day as you remember the moms or grandmas in your life, take a look at these beautiful pieces of jewelry and household decor. Your moms and grandmas, I bet, would love a piece of jewelry that is part of the “Shop for a Better World” initiative that is helping to fund reconstruction efforts in Haiti or Rwanda.  Its a little way of reaching out to help others in need.

    If you make a purchase from “Shop for a Better World” between May 3 and May 8, enter the promocode CLEVERGIRLS at checkout to receive a 15% discount on your purchase of Heart of Haiti or Rwanda Path to Peace items.


    *I was selected for this very special “CleverHaiti” opportunity by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity. All opinions are my own.*

  • 15 Apr

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Host an orphan for the summer!

    0

    How big is your heart?  Big enough to open your heart and your home to an orphan from Eastern Europe for a few weeks?

    New Horizons for Children runs an orphan hosting program which allows children to experience America and the love of a Christian family for 4-5 weeks.  The hosting programs run every winter and summer, and they’re looking for families to open up their hearts to host for the summer right now!

    Their website has more details about the hosting program and a listing of all the kids available to host, with photos. The kids are from Russia, Latvia, and the Ukraine, for this summer.

    The really awesome about New Horizons is that alot of these kids end up finding their forever families while in the US. Sometimes its the host family, sometimes its another local family. There is nothing more amazing than seeing the transformation in kids’ lives as they are adopted into a loving family.

    If you can’t host for whatever reason (I can’t because I’m overseas!), consider sponsoring a child for part or all of their program costs to allow another family to host them. Or, pick one or two to pray for. Pray for the kids, that a host family will find them, and they will find their forever family in the US.

    What I think I like best about New Horizons, as an organization, is that the people on staff actually host as well. And adopt. LeAnn, the founder, who I nannied for a few years ago, started the program after adopting one of her sons, when God put it on her heart to help more orphans, not just the “few” (ok, 7… or is it 8?) kids her family could adopt.

    Pray and see how God might have you involved in this awesome ministry to orphans in Eastern Europe.

  • 08 Apr

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    The Hallways Smelled like Death Today

    0

    the hallways smelled of death today

    of bullet holes in far away graves

    and lungs that couldnt stand to breathe

    leaving behind all the ones who loved

    who stood so strong, so proud, descent

    to tears in shock and hands unbent

    to eyes aglow with wondering dread

    of who this time might be dead

    the smoke from the guns cleared away fast

    rumors of physchopaths

    we’re locked up tight

    the procedures never seem to get it right

    what we expect and what we can’t ever

    seems so uncertain

    these manners and means

    this culture of cultures resounds the team

    no one knows where or how or what to say

    accepted truths won’t go away

    to tumble down the airport line

    saying goodbye goodbye

    because the death that traced its way here

    won’t go away like the dust to the air.

  • 26 Mar

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    savior of the month

    0

    wishing to find the hope in the blind

    the ones who cannot see beyond the pain and the rain

    and try to be free by flying free south always

    all the time wondering when

    the savior of the month will come down

    when the savior of the month will ride in on a star

    from the southern cross to venus’s tip

    he comes up riding on the horse on the hill

    the stray horse full of fleas and other debris

    the savior of the month is salvation to the soul of the wrong

    planning to fail again, fall again, die again

    he falls off the horse

    scared silent breathing up the hill

    the humid air beats upon the face

    of the little girl who only needs

    to be saved to be rescued to be loved

    to be held on the lap

    with curls being stroked

    and love profusely pouring out

    the savior of the month comes down

    from foreign lands and foreign tongues

    but whats that?

    I don’t know anything

    I don’t even know love

    don’t try to explain in English to me

    how much I love you

    or how much you care

    because I don’t want to understand

    the savior of the month always leaves me

    alone here without a tear to shed behind

    but hope therein it lies

    that not a tear falls and hoping that these fears fall

    from the stars with the savior to the earth

    shed again

    lighthearted breathing air that frees

    that saves that comes to save

    that always saves me

    June 2005, Recife, Brazil.  (just a little bit of cycnicism… i think i’ll be writing the sequel to this poem soon…)

  • 27 Feb

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    What Makes it All Worth It

    0

    This past year has been a roller-coaster ride, and not always in a good, fun way!  Sometimes I’ve questioned God with a “Why would you have me do this or go through this?”  The answer, I believe, can only be found in retrospect.

    Why would God have me spend a few months working hard with the kids at a children’s home, only for things to go wrong there, and us needing to pull out due to the home’s administrative issues?  I poured my life into the kids, loved on them, got attached to them, and still wonder where they’ve ended up.  The last time I was there, I found that that a few kids had gone back to their parents, and they were happily living with mom and dad.  But what about the rest, I ask sometimes?  What about Luisa?  What about Gugu?  Gugu was to be adopted by the caretakers of the children’s home, but due to the administrative issues, they had to leave as well, and left their little boy at the home.

    Then, at church on Thursday night, as I was at the Motoculto (Motorcycle Church) to take photos and say goodbye to dear friends who are moving, I caught sight of a little boy who looked just like Gugu.  I didn’t think it actually was him because of his history.  He had no family to ever go back to and was, quite frankly, a difficult child, but he was still young enough to potentially be adopted.

    Gugu’s story was heartbreaking, his mom and her friends had burned him, as a little baby, with their cigarette butts and other drugs.  He had lived at the children’s home since the state took him away (rightly so…) from his mom.

    So at Motoculto, I saw him there, with a family, an older couple, who clearly were doting on him, the mom holding him tightly in her arms like a little baby, even though he’s nearly 3 years old.  And, to boot, a friend of mine went to the children’s home this weekend, and, sure enough, Gugu had been adopted!  Well, I already knew that, but it confirmed that I actually did see him!

    Sometimes God has us do things, and we’re not sure how they all work together, or how they will all work out, and its painful to love and then leave, yet its a part of life.  Sometimes I’ll still pray for kids I’ve worked with, all over the globe, not ever knowing where they are or what happened to them.  All I can hope for is that they are walking with Jesus and doing well.  But seeing this one kid adopted, really makes any work and any trials worth it.

    I’m not saying I had anything to do with the adoption, but just knowing that one of the kids I worked with had a very happy ending to his time at the children’s home makes the work there worth it.

  • 02 Dec

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Peace in Rio

    0

    I’m just posting quickly, as it i late here, that Rio de Janeiro is in crisis.  What happening isn’t making it to the news outside of Brazil much.

    Basically, the police, army, marines, special forces, etc have invaded an entire favela complex of 9 favelas and everyone who lives there either had to flee or has to stay in their houses without chance of rescue or getting out safely.

    Unfortunately, because of the way things go here in Brazil, I can’t say what I really think about this whole thing online…

    I do believe that the govt is trying to “clean up” the city and get rid of favelas for the Olympics and World Cup that are coming up in the next few years.  But, killing people and forcing them out of their houses, and searching through every house, turning everything upside down is not a just nor fair nor right way to make a violent city get any less violent.

    I am not for the drug trade, but I believe in mercy, and the ones who are taking over the favela are merciless.  The official death count hovers around 40, but the “official” count is not anywhere near the real count.  We need peace in Rio, but more violence and street war is never the answer.

    War does not bring peace.  In this season of Christmas, when we celebrate the Prince of Peace coming to earth, take a few moments and pray for Peace in Rio.

  • 23 Nov

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    HIV “Halted”?

    0

    According to the BBC, the HIV epidemic has been “halted”.

    I had to read their article. I saw the headline and immediately thought “What on earth?  How can AIDS possibly be halted?”

    Then I read on.  Basically the number of new infections is declining worldwide.  Except in sub-Saharan Africa, where the BBC says 70% of all new infections are occurring.  Wow.

    I don’t really know what to think, or whether even to believe this.  Because if it so happens that now organizations and governments say “Oh, the AIDS crisis is getting better” and they stop fighting the disease as hard, then there could be a spike in new cases again.

    I think we need to keep doing whatever we are doing to fight HIV.  I don’t think that the infection rate in sub-Saharan Africa is bound to get much better anytime soon.  Somehow I don’t see how 17.5% of adults in South Africa being infected with AIDS is a good thing. Even if the rate of infection in sub-Saharan Africa stabilized, there would still be an epidemic of AIDS just as big as the one we see now. It just wouldn’t be growing. Isn’t fighting AIDS about getting the rate of infection down, and the number of people infected to go down as well?

    In other HIV-related news, the pope finally decided that condoms are ok in certain situations, like for a prostitute to use so they don’t contract AIDS.  I think its about time we stop condemning the prostitutes and making them feel shamed or feel powerless against AIDS.  Maybe that alone will make the HIV rate decline in Brazil.

  • 10 Nov

    Posted by
    emily


    Category

    Operation Christmas Child

    0

    Its that time of year we’ve all been waiting for!  Its SHOEBOX time!!!

    What am I talking about?  Shoeboxes?

    Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes! Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse that uses a simple shoebox filled with toys, gifts, clothes, school supplies, and candy to reach out to the lives of children all over the world.

    Simply fill an empty shoebox with age-appropriate gifts and drop it off at a local church or other drop-off location.  The boxes go around the world and are given as Christmas gifts to children who otherwise wouldn’t have any gifts.  It is often the first gift that child has ever received.

    One of the kids I nannied for a few years ago had received a shoebox in the children’s home she had lived in Latvia.  She told me that the hair things were the best part!  Of course, she was a typical pre-teen girl!

    The boxes go to real kids, with real lives, pains, joys, and need.  This girl I nannied for was adopted and helped me pack some boxes in 2008, she was, of course, really excited to help me!

    Last year Samaritan’s Purse started allowing you to track where your boxes went if you donate the $7 for shipping online. Some of the boxes I packed went to Nepal, Panama, Cameroon, and southeast Asia!

    Shoeboxes are given to local churches and ministries and distributed through them. The churches are able to use them as a wonderful evangelism tool to reach out the kids and their families.

    OCC has a great how-to-pack a box video.

    Happy Packing!

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