how’d this happen?

i feel inspired by molly’s post.

here are some things i never thought i’d do:

1. enjoy the music of taylor swift (t. swift, as emily says).
2. ever buy ANYTHING at taco bell (t. bell, as soph says).

well, yesterday i went to t.bell to buy the cheesey fiesta potatoes while listening to t. swift. (only fearless, you belong with me, and white horse, though)

oh, and in order to make twin babies stop crying, i danced around the kitchen with my scarf to the song “you belong with me.” it’s the only thing that made them happy.

there ya go. i gave in.

[inspiration]

While browsing through a book I bought Lacy a couple of years ago for her birthday, I came across an amazing excerpt from a letter Mother Teresa wrote.  This book is full of quotations and excerpts that Mother Teresa said throughout her ministry in India (and, in no doubt, the entire world).  The following is a segment of a letter that she wrote to Presidents Saddam Hussein and George H. W. Bush in January 1991.  She pleaded with them:

I beg you with my whole heart to work for, to labor for God’s peace and to be reconciled with one another… In the short term there may be winners and losers in this war that we all dread, but that never can, nor never will justify the suffering, pain, and loss of life which your weapons will cause… please choose the way of peace… You may win the war but what will the cost be on people who are broken, disabled, and lost.

This incredible woman’s wise words will echo throughout our future, and they especially do within my heart. Another world is possible!

Chew on this:

If all the money that is being spent on finding ways to kill people was used instead to feed them and house them, clothe them and educate them– how beautiful that would be. We are too often afraid of the sacrifices we might have to make.  But where there is true love, there is joy and peace.

–Extract from a press release to the Cairo Conference: 1994.

how great Thou art.

Praise the Lord for natural beauty. If you haven’t seen the Grand Canyon, let me tell you it is well worth the trip.
I went for the 4th of July weekend with three friends, where we encountered some hilarious moments, natural wonders, and the grace of God. Not everyone can say they’ve had a Bible study in the Grand Canyon. But, I can… and it was pretty awesome.

And below is a funny little video we filmed on the 4th of July at dusk on the edge of the Grand Canyon.  It was just so fun and beautiful!

more pictures to come.

Worship with Jamaicans

This video shows Marty leading worship in the Maypen Infirmary (poor house) near Harmons, Jamaica.  Watch, enjoy, and praise Him!

doesn’t this just make you want to hang out with jamaican kiddos?

check out the jumping kid. ah!! so cute.

this is when sophia and i went up the hill on the last day to see matilda. we ran into these kids and they were so loving and adorable. and people wonder how someone can be miles away from home in an impoverished town without yearning for home. i’m sure i’ll experience that once i get to where i’ve committed to for 2 years.

inspiration comes through passion!

Nicholas Kristof is an Op-Ed journalist for the New York Times. He travels to the most dangerous and impoverished parts of the word to write articles about desolate and oppressed people whose stories need to be told. What he writes, he admits, is not the “newest” news, but it is more detailed and more passionate than many news articles we normally read discussing the tragedies of the world. Below is a link to Kristof’s New York Times blog. Do yourself a favor and visit it.

Kristof’s Blog: On the Ground

I originally discovered Kristof through the True/False Film Fest in Columbia, MO.  A friend and I went to the Missouri Theater to see what we thought was going to be a slightly intense film about a reporter who writes about the injustices in the world. However,  we were fortunate enough to behold a film that brought tears to my eyes and invoked a discomfort within me.  I say fortunate because that discomfort provokes me to do something. Kristof says that his goal is to make his readers uncomfortable. He succeeds.  Read his columns on nytimes.com, visit his blog, and watch the documentary about him and his travels.

here’s a little taste of ocho rios.

ocho rios is the last place we go in jamaica before we leave from montego bay. here’s a video of what the streets sound & look like. loud, dusty, and fast paced. i love it!

jamaica. is. glorious.

this little boy and i really clicked. it turns out, he loves the song “no air” by jordan sparks & chris brown, too! here’s the story:

one night, i was doing dishes in the kitchen after dinner in the harmony house.  sophia, stipo & i decide it would be more fun to sing while we wash, so i broke out into my favorite r&b song, “no air.” [i do not endorse what chris brown did to rihanna at all. however, that song is just so sang so beautifully.] anway- as we’re singing, i hear a little voice from behind me singing it, too. so i turned around, and there way little tahjay just smiling and singing it proudly, too! so i walked over to him, asked if i could pick him up, and then we danced around the kitchen singing “no air” together. it was beautiful!

little terry

Oh, who’s that, you ask? That’s just Terry. The most perfect little boy ever (besides Jesus)… I love him.

feminism.

“We are all benefiting from the great feminists who struggled and suffered and worked to give us everything women now enjoy… I refer to myself as a feminist, and I do it with pride.” – Cybil Shepherd, feminist