Laurie's Everyday Notions

This sweet boy wasn't like many of the other children who struck silly poses when they'd see me with my camera. This boy observed me from a distance. When I asked if I could take his picture he nodded slightly and gave me a small, gentle smile.  His friends on the other hand........... Friends, these are the future game-changers, world-changers, hope-for-the-nations children.  Even that one in your arms - that one which kept you up all night. Snuggle in tight for soon enough that child will be wiggling away.  Even the three year old that is stilling holding on to the "terrible twos" and is making you think that this potty training thing is going to last forever. The struggle is real for that little one who is stuck between a desire for independence and yet still has a desire to stay mommy's little boy. Even that face-always-in-the-mirror teen girl whose vanity may cause you to worry about her shallowness. Yes, one day she will see past hersel...

While in Guatemala with World Help our team was introduced to the many needs in the areas in which we visited. Building a church Building an addition on an overcrowded school Building a home At hearing each need my heart would ache as I desired to do something. My head swarmed with ideas on how I could help yet when I returned home those dreams ceased as I busied myself with my own life of work, managing a home, homeschooling and a too busy schedule. Soon my dreams and desires were replaced with thoughts of inadequacy. How can this work-at-home mom possibly do something of this magnitude?  Yet shouldn't my faith allow me to dare to dream? I've been reminded that nothing is impossible for God and if it be His will, He will make my dreams a reality. But Jesus looked at  them  and said to them, “With men this is  impossible , but with God all things are possible.” Matt. 19:6  So I'm daring to dream again and praying that God equips me to do mor...

long (verb): to have an earnest or strong desire or craving; yearn I have many desires. A month full of "sleep-in-Saturdays", financial security, a return trip to Guatemala, a peaceful home, a new-to-me car that actually works, world peace, a backpacking European trip with my kids for my 50 birthday (yes, that's the next "big" one!) are just a few of the things in which I long for. Funny how one email can totally erase all those longings, causing a new list to formulate.  I long for the end of poverty and hunger. I long for every child in the world to have a comfortable bed inside of a safe home, with a family that eats dinner together and never worries about when the next meal may be. I long for every child in the world to have opportunities to dream and to read and to be educated.  I long for every child in the world to be shielded from the evils of the world ~  war, abuse, injustices, the darkness of violence and human ...

My bank account said, "NO!" My fear said, "NO!" It seemed like a wild, selfish dream to go to Guatemala yet as I cried in disappointment I heard him whisper, "Oh my dear Laurie, where is your faith?" Much like Jesus rebuking Peter. And immediately Jesus stretched out  His  hand and caught him, and said to him,  “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”   Matthew 14:31 Just months before I had written, PRAY! GO! GIVE!  I had prayed for Guatemala. I had given to the efforts of World Help and had sponsored sweet Karina . But despite my words I was hesitant of the GO! Doubt crept in as I thought there was no way that a trip was possible. Not for me, this busy mama trying to make ends meet.  By my own means, my own efforts, there was no way that I'd travel to this country my heart ached for yet in the hands of a great and mighty God all things ARE possible! But Jesus looked at  them  and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but wi...

Although our team was reluctant to leave the comfort of our air conditioned bus, we were stuck. Everyone had to evacuate the bus in order to get the bus back on the road. Look at this view that we may have missed if we were still on the bus, busily chatting with our teammates.    We were headed to the village of Los Limones to distribute bags of food and other items our team had brought (clothing, art supplies, toys and personal care items).  Our team packed over 27,000 meals! Earlier that week we had prepared the food bags to bring to Los Limones. Our team made an assembly line and we quickly began filling the bags with Feed My Starving Children  "manna packs" as well as packages of nuts and dried fruits. The manna packs consist of rice, protein, dehydrated vegetables and vitamins, a combination which could literally save the lives of malnourished peo ple.  "The “dry corridor,” located in easter...

As a World Help blogger, I had been encouraged to write during the month of September on the topic of Children of War but as much as I desire to raise awareness of social injustices around the world I just couldn't. I haven't allowed myself to do much more than skim news article or blog post regarding ISIS. I'd read "Nearly three million refugees...." and move on to find something lighter to read about or check on my Words with Friends, which happens to be my favorite form of procrastination these days. It was just too heartbreaking and quite frankly I was spending my time being self absorbed in my own problems - my ever growing to-do list, my worries about the budget or finding the energy to accomplish all the tasks set before me.  Isn't it just easier to ignore what's going on ain  place that seems a million miles away? But ignorance isn't bliss especially when one desires to follow Jesus. God tells me to not to worry about tomorrow but to care for...

Are you skeptical of sponsoring a child from some far off land?  I get that. I work very hard for my money and the money I do have is stretched very thin some months as I try to make the house payment, pay the bills and feed my family. Some may argue that the $35 sent each month to a sponsored child isn't much but some months, when the bills are piling in and unexpected expenses such as a chipped tooth needs to be extracted by an oral surgeon (yep, this happened this month), an extra $35 seems hard to come by.  Yet as I look at the extras that I seem to manage to add each month - you know, ice cream, movie rentals, and coffee - isn't investing in the life of a child so much more important than the extras. I can live without a trip to Dairy Queen for my favorite banana split blizzard because I've seen hunger.  Are you afraid that the child that you are sponsoring isn't a real live human being?  I got to meet my sponsored child last month  and I can te...

It's been just over three weeks since I returned from Guatemala. Three weeks and I'm still processing that trip. In returning to the normal, everyday grind I forget. I forget the little girl whose front yard is littered with broken glass and cast away shoes and a burning pile of rubbish.  I forget the little girl whose meals show  up three times a week , served by pale skinned people with a funny language. I forget the little girl whose home is made of a dirt floor and walls made of sticks and found objects. I start to forget all that my eyes witnessed, all that I loved. I start to forget how she, this country and her people, changed me. So I visit the pictures often to remember. And as the tears fall I remember the laughter of the children. I remember that there is no language barrier when cuddling a child. I remember that I needed Guatemala more that Guatemala needed me. And my heart aches and longs to return. Sharing over at Jennifer Peterson's, No Words are Ne...

Becoming a "minimalist" is all the rage. Many in our developed nations are striving to live a minimalist lifestyle to decrease the carbon footprint, to find "inner peace" and to achieve stress-free living. As I viewed the Guatemalan homes, which would be more accurately called shanty's, I was struck with the "minimalist lifestyle". A lifestyle that would not be considered peaceful and stress-free but a lifestyle of great need. This small house to the left is just one of many highly sought after designs for minimal living. It has running water, a toilet, and although small, a functional kitchen. This house has solid walls and a floor to not only keep out critters but also the elements. Living in a house such as this one would have little worries of the rains washing away the floor. This Guatemalan, open-air kitchen comes complete with free-ranging ducks and a wash tub. Some villages have been fortunate enough to have a clean water source, thanks ...

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.  When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them,  "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.   I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."   And he took the children in his arms,  put his hands on them and blessed them.    Mark 10:1 3-16 This week my daughter and I are serving with World Help at the Hope of Life in Guatemala. The picture above is just a peek, a mere glimpse, into the fabulous day that we had today. The girl in the crib is just one of the many disabled children who live at "Kelly's House". She doesn't communicate with words but with her eyes, with coos and with sweet smiles. She, as well as many   all of the children, have stolen my heart.  I have so much to...

Yesterday I took advantage of some Cyber Monday deals to complete (for the most part) the Christmas shopping that I had begun on Black Friday. Today it's time for me to give. Won't you join me?  Giving Tuesday from World Help on Vimeo .

I enlisted the help of my daycare families to bring items to fill our " Christmas for an Orphan " boxes. The needs were simple. Band-Aids, pencils, markers, crayons, toothbrush and toothpaste, stuffed animals, matchbox cars, etc.  Yesterday the kids and I organized...........ok, I organized the boxes then the kids rifled through the boxes to see what goodies we were sending (while they did this I talked to the children about the items and how they would be used by the orphans that we were sending them to) and then I reorganized the boxes so that everything would fit! The kiddos were very excited about the gifts that we were sending but were even more excited about the children in whom we were sending the gifts to!  Laurie's Little Sprouts, the name of my daycare, sponsors a Guatemalan girl, Karina,through World Help (the same organization that does Christmas for an Orphan). The Little Sprouts and I talk about Karina everyday! We have a picture of her hanging in the...

I don't know about you but the majority of the people on my Christmas list truly have everything they need. Will I still buy them Christmas gifts? Yes because it is my love language. I love finding the perfect gift in hopes that it will demonstrate my love for the one who receives my gift. But what if I shaved off about $2 per person in order to give someone, one who has little, a gift? Gifts of Hope 2013 from World Help on Vimeo . I buy Christmas gifts for roughly 20 people. $2 per person, 20 people....that would be $40.  $40 doesn't seem much but as I look through my  Gifts of Hope catalog  I see that if I pitched in an extra five bucks I could provide clean water for three people.  In her book Awake , Noel writes, "Americans spend an average of $700 each at Christmas, which with a population of a little over 300 million , works out to over $210 billion.....if just half the population set aside $200 of their Christmas spending and put it tow...

**I began this post yesterday as I wanted it posted on World Food Day. Unfortunately exhaustion consumed me and I was unable to finish it. I'm not going to let being a day late to join the voices that are being raised to end world hunger stop me from completing my task. ** . This morning  Yesterday I was up earlier than usual as my son had an early morning appointment for knee surgery. As we sat waiting for him to be taken for surgery my stomach grumbled and my thoughts turned to food....and coffee. In my rush to get out the door, at an hour earlier than I'm even thinking about hitting the snooze button, I was unable to have my wake-me-up coffee. By 8 am I was longing for coffee and I was starving. STARVING! Friends, I have never known true hunger. I may have been a bit hungry as I hadn't eaten since dinner. Dinner which was only a mere 13 hours ago. I'd live. I was not "starving to death", a phrase which slips so easily from our mouths although ...

I am often humbled when my eyes are opened to the things in my life in which I take for granted. Sometimes it's easy to fall into the habit of grumbling at the work. I'm sure there's a few tired mama's out there that can relate. Dishes, laundry, cooking. The jobs are endless. Breadwinner, nurse, secretary, financial planner, teacher, kitchen manager, gardener......really this list could go on. How hard would each of these jobs be without having access to clean water? With easy access to clean water, water not only to hydrate our bodies but also to use in cooking and cleaning our bodies, washing our dishes, washing our laundry, it is hard to even comprehend how life would be without it. Noel puts it into perspective when she writes, "Did you flush your toilet today? Just once? You have already used more water than the average African has for an entire day --- for drinking, cooking, cleaning, bathing, washing....everything. Just one flush." (AWAKE, pg.94). One...