out of the woodwork

These pictures are terribly blurry. I finally talked Ryan into getting a nice camera when Lincoln was born after repeatedly telling him "I promise I'll learn how to use it!!!" and pulling the "we'll save money in the long run" talk. Well, I'm learning, but it will be a long process. I realized when we went for an evening walk the other night, I have no idea how to take a picture of people with the sunset in the background. I had two options: 1. capture the beautiful sunset and blacken out Ryan and Lincoln or 2. make sure it's light enough to see Lincoln and Ryan but completely white out the sky. It's a work in process I tell ya.

The sunsets have been so colorful, one of the perks of Arizona. Now if I can just capture a beautiful sunset with my boys in front of it, THAT will be a picture that gets framed for display. I'll take the white sky for clear pictures of my boys any day though.

Our evening walks have become a little ritual I really look forward to. And so do all of the neighbors. We never realized we had so many young families in our neighborhood until the evenings started to cool down. There's a parenthood club right here on our street! yippee!

This morning we had a service project for church. I was planning on feeding Lincoln and then have Ryan watch him while I was gone, but as I went upstairs to hand off Lincoln, Ryan was dressed and ready to go with me! I was stoked! Seeing my husband on an early Saturday morning, painting at a church service project, with little Lincoln in the stroller by his side.... I don't think I could be any happier.

Oh wait, maybe the fact that Papa and Nana Z are coming over to babysit tonight while Ryan and I go to a fancy-shmancy restaurant (compliments of his work).... let's just say it's a great Saturday and it's only 10am.

counting my many blessings

I had the opportunity today to volunteer with a dear friend and her coworkers at the soup kitchen. It wasn't my first time, but the times I have been are few and far inbetween. But I wanted to write my feelings to help motivate myself to make the effort to volunteer more.

There is nothing more rewarding than giving to those who are in need. I looked at their faces and wondered what circumstances brought them to this point in their life? This is someone's child living on the streets. Have you ever stopped and seriously considered how your life would be with no home, no job, no car. I stopped and thought what I would do, where I would go.

The work that is accomplished through donations and volunteers is remarkable. We fed over 1500 people today, breakfast and lunch. To see that these people are taken care of for three meals a day and that everything is run by volunteers, clothes that are handed out- donated, and the food served was prepared and donated as well.....completely humbling. I'm so grateful for the blessings in my life and know that because I have been blessed, I need to give back to others. It's a blessing in itself serving those in need.

There's always one person who expresses so much gratitutde, it makes donating your time worth it. There was one guy who, as I handed him his fork, reached out to shake my hand and with a warm smile, said thank you for everything you are doing. After he finished eating, he came back again to share his gratitude. I don't know his name, I don't know his story, and I don't know where he will be sleeping tonight, but I do know that sacrificing a few hours of my time, touched at least one person's life.  

Kiva

I came across 366 Random Acts which is a blog about a guy who is performing acts of kindness every day this year (366 days this year!) and recording the acts of kindness on his blog to share with others. Wow. This blog is super awesome to follow because EVERY SINGLE DAY he is doing something, small or big, to make a difference in someone's life.

Here's his post on the Kiva organization which brought me to make a donation myself. Also, if you follow THIS LINK, you can receive $25 free to donate to a person or group of your choice. But why stop there? If you're able to do more, donate more, and if not,  $25 will make a difference for someone. AND, you can also share this site with others and that will be helpful as well. :) Below is the woman I donated to and her story via Kiva.

Lourdes is 43 years old and is a hard-working and, above-all, enthusiastic woman. She lives with her 17-year-old son who she loves very much and who is her happiness and purpose in life. She also lives with her husband who is her right hand and above all supports her in all that she undertakes to do. He works on his farm where he harvests corn. Together with Lourdes they contribute to the household expenses. Their house is located in the city of Pisco, which is characterised by beautiful beaches, and is also near the Ballestas Islands, which receive an infinite number of tourists all-year-round to see their fauna and amazing landscapes.

With a lot of hard work, and saving a lot, she works in her business selling chicken soup and other dishes on her menu. She works around 8 hours a day and receives up to 20 customers a day. She has been working in her business for 2 years. It was a bit difficult for her at first, but as the days passed it improved.

She believes her business is going well because she is very friendly with the customers and above all because she is a good cook.

Lourdes is very grateful to the Kiva lenders since thanks to their help she will be able to buy tables, chairs and a freezer. In this way she will be able to provide a better service to her customers and maintain better food supplies for the preparation of her dishes. This will improve her income and allow her to continue fighting each day to make her biggest dream come true: to give her son a good education.