Did you know that My Country Tis of Thee is the same tune as God Save the Queen? Why is that? Anyone know?
Although the title of this post sounds like something you’d get in your spam box, it isn’t, I promise.
I found this great fundraising org I thought I’d share with you all. It’s the alternative to selling what can end up to be wasteful, non-eco-friendly, non-sustainable, non-fair trade items. If you are working with a school, church or org that is looking for a new fundraiser, I suggest you try this one. (Be sure to tell me when you do so that my purchases can benefit your cause!)
I was up north outside Park Rapids a few weeks ago with some of my Minni friends. It was awesome! We rested, we relaxed, we BBQ’d, we boated, we read on the beach, we napped in the hammocks.
The first night as I slipped away from the fire to swing in the hammock a bit I suddenly thought to ask if there were any dangerous animals that I needed to be on the look out for at all. I was assured that there were none. I knew that, I really did, but sometimes coming back is a bit different and you forget things that you once knew.
We also were on a mini-safari. We saw, deer, beaver, otter, muscrat, wild turkey, turtles and loons. Ahhhh, the safari never ends.
I’ve mentioned Care Creation Kenya before and here’s a great article on line. I just want include a snippit to help you understand the importance of taking care of what we have.
“In God’s fields rats are the problem. They crawled under the old maize stalks that Paul Kiongo Thuo carefully placed on his soil as mulch, as the missionary had shown him, and ate the seeds he had planted in neat rows the day after the rains came. Thuo killed seven of the rodents, but more have moved in. Perhaps it is best to let the seeds germinate first before laying down the mulch, his wife Grace suggests as they stand in the middle of their four-acre farm, where they also grow beans, bananas and cabbage. Thuo bobs his white beanie in agreement. Craig Sorley, a 6ft 3in American with a shaved head, Levis, a lumberjack shirt and muddy boots, listens and thinks for a moment. He has already sought advice on the rat problem from Christian colleagues in Zimbabwe who pioneered Farming God’s Way, which uses biblical teachings to encourage a practice known as conservation agriculture. In reply, his colleagues had asked why raptors had not eaten the rats. But here, on the eastern edge of the Great Rift Valley in central Kenya, where small-scale farmers have traditionally struggled to grow enough food even to feed their families, virtually all the indigenous trees have been chopped down for firewood. The few exotic eucalyptus trees scattered around the farms are not suitable for nesting.
‘You mess with one part of God’s creation and you’ll pay for it another,’ Sorley says, examining a handful of soil from Thuo’s bean patch.”
I sometimes feel like I’m talking to people about this type of thing and people’s eyes are glazing over and their ears are stopping-up. ‘oh, she’s talking all tree-hugger, granola person again.’ I’m not and I think this article puts things into better words than I have been able to do lately.
I couldn’t resist.
Today is my final day with CRWRC. I do not know what’s next but I am applying all over the US and would love to work with international students.
So, there you have it. Until I find something I will be based with my folks here in Liberal KS and would love to hear from you.
I’ll keep blogging, never fear!
I am having Willie Nelson attacks. I’ve been on the road since Monday and loving it. I’ve stopped in Colorado Springs, all over Denver, Greeley, driven through Nebraska and South Dakota (just missing a turtle on I-90) and am now warming myself on the sun porch in Brookings SD.
I love the opportunity to travel and see my friends and catch up. I’ve met children, heard of moves, jobs, surguries, new homes and new boyfriends. I’m sharing my photos and stories and just loving sitting on a friends couch in a sweatshirt having tea. I am being renewed as I spend time up late nights with my friends. It warms my heart.
So if you see me over the next few weeks and hear me humming under my breath, you can be sure it’s a little bit of Willie. Well, Willie or Wicked, that’s almost always in the cd player these days.
I have a variety of new albums online now for your perusal.
Road rules are very different in other places around the world. Kenyan drivers are quite aggressive and any rules that exist seem to be mere suggestions. I’m remembering that this is not the case in the U.S.
I was driving up from Amarillo to Liberal and took a right turn after stopping at a red light. Rubes was quick to tell me, “I’m pretty sure that was illegal.” I didn’t believe her at all and even twenty minutes later asked her about it again. She’s certain I am wrong. I have no idea.
The light turned red and a motorcycle in front of me stopped. I stopped and then proceeded to go to the right of it and turn. There was no turn lane, as such, but there was plenty of space and it’s not like I went up on the curb (like many would’ve done in Kenya).
When I was in Michigan I went to a great little tea shop a friend told me about. As I parked my car on the right side of the narrow street near the stop sign I wondered if that was legal. I had absolutely no idea. But I parked there anyway and sat near a window where at least I’d see if I started to get a ticket or towed. Neither happened.
Re-entry has been OK but there are definately things that are catching me off guard. Road rules are merely the start.
Martin Luther King, Jr was killed in ‘68.
Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act were in ‘64.
Amy Rebeka Thompson was born in ‘73.
Not only have I used the last two years to learn about Kenya and community development but also racism, African American culture and history. I still sometimes feel like I know nothing but I’m trying.
I look at the dates above and marvel at all the history. Those three monumental things happened less than ten years before I was born. That’s amazing to me. We’ve come so far and yet, we still have a long way to go.
I don’t pretend to know or understand the life of minority. I definitely was in the minority in Africa. And yet, it was nothing like what I hear my friends saying their lives are like at times.
I don’t have any miraculous breakthrough. I was just doing some reading earlier this week and realized how close these things happened to the beginning of my life. I think maybe I need to have some conversations with my family to see what they saw and experienced in that time.
If nothing else, these past two years have been a huge learning experience for me and the learning continues.
I’m having a hard time putting things into words. I have a list or two on various pieces of paper tucked into books, my purse or backpack. These lists are full of great things that I would like to blog about for you. The words just aren’t coming out right. I’m trying, so forgive my randomness (more so than usual) and lack of luster in my writing.
My debriefing process required me to visit with a counselor so I saw someone yesterday. It went really well for a lot of reasons. The two I want to share with you are these. 1. I have a lot of things that I want to write to both you and myself (in my journal). However, while I can take short notes and write lists about what I want to say, as noted above, I just can’t get it out. That will come. 2. I’ve always thought that therapy was a wonderfully helpful thing for everyone – except me. However, after my experiences with a counselor in Kenya and this visit I am now comfortable seeing a therapist. Look at me, I’m growing!
Oh, I did go back to that store today. That store where I had my mini-meltdown, if you will. I walked in and greeted ‘my’ clerk. He smiled and went straight to the back room.
I’m OK with that. I successfully did my own shopping this time around.
