Three Cups of Tea - Locally

I've been listening to Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Thank you to my cousin Jodi for recommending the book. I checked it out from the library and have very slowly so slowly listened to it. (As an aside, I listen while running and since running has not been on my agenda much in the last few months it's taken quite awhile...and itunes was not cooperating either.)

Very briefly - Greg Mortenson through the Central Asia Institute (http://www.ikat.org/) has been building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan since the 90's. He was a climber who failed at climbing K2 and got lost on the way down. He wandered into a village and realized the lack of education that was available to the kids there. Read the book, it's really quite interesting.

With the events that lead up to September 11, 2001, he was seeing that a moderate education was the way to fight terror, one student at a time. He has sacrificed so much to build schools and has a passion for that part of the world.

I think it's wonderful what he has done and I hope to read his next book too to learn more about what has happened post 9/11.

A few weeks ago it dawned on me what is happening at Camp David of the Ozarks (www.campdavidozarks.org) is something very similar to what Greg Mortenson is doing right here in my town. It clicked for me that Ben and Grace are really trying to change a culture as well one child at a time. They are trying to change a culture right here in Missouri! I've always been supportive of Camp David, but this book has given me much deeper significance to what his happening at camp.

Camp David provides hope for children of prisoners. There are 40,000 children of prisoners in Missouri alone. Unfortunately most of these kids are not growing up in homes with loving and devoted parents. Many of these kids are in the foster system or living with a relative because their parent is in the system. The statistics for how many of these kids will be in the system is baffling.

During their 5 day camp experience at Camp David, each child is surrounded by the love of Jesus Christ as well as lots of people who are caring for them and giving them hope. After a week each year, they can have hope that they have a Savior and life can be different. I'm in awe of all of the teenagers and other young adults who give of themselves for these kids every week.

This year, in each of the six weeks of camp, at least one camper chose to follow Christ! What a great privilege to be able to work with this ministry that is making inroads into a culture that does not have much hope. Camp is a big undertaking and lately I've realized how much of an impact that it can make. They are not touching every child of a prisoner in the state - not even close. They have touched the lives of about 160 children this summer but we can hope and pray that's 160 kids who have way more hope than they have had before and will have the ability and courage to break out of the mold of their family!

One kid at a time by one meal at a time for me! It all makes that early alarm clock to go make breakfast worth it!

Phelps County Fair

Last year I found out that there was an "Open" class at the county fair in the "Home Arts" section. I decided to enter a few of my things and I got ribbons for almost everything and some cash to boot!

This year three of us, the boys and I, entered over 30 items between cooking, gardening, horticulture, crafts, art and photography.

Here is a picture of my stash that I sent to the fair. (Thyme - 2in potted herb, zinnia, black-eyed susan, whole wheat bread, rolls, white bread, drop cookies, zucchini bread, and yellow tomatoes.)

I didn't get a picture of the boys projects, we had to get to the fair and then to baseball practice. They entered their banners that they created that I first blogged about here. They also baked cookies, entered some art projects, some flowers that they helped to grow and some photography. (Another post of their stuff...I didn't get a group shot done of their items beforehand.)

We are going to the fair on Saturday to enjoy the rides and maybe the Demolition Derby and pick up our ribbons and prize money!

Those who have influenced me - Jean

Jean and her husband and newborn moved to the small town that I lived in growing up when I was a tween or early teen. (I could probably figure this out, but does it really matter...no.)

Her husband was a ceramic engineer and worked at a local factory that made toilets. She was the stay at home mom to her small child. We met them because they came to our church. I grew up Lutheran - Missouri Synod. Our church wasn't very big and so you got to know people pretty quick especially if they came to something besides just the church service on Sunday.

Their family started to grow. We started a church in our town and our families with a few others were the core group that ventured out. Their family started to grow as well as I did and I was asked to babysit for her while she held a meeting at their house. I was very excited to have my first babysitting job! The meeting was of the Le Leche League which was something very different for me. I was born in the 70's when breast feeding was not embraced so this was a way different concept for me. (She did it, but to be in an entire room full of breast feeding moms as a tween...a little different.) As you can probably tell, Jean helped introduce me to some different ways of doing things than I was exposed to in my house.

Over the years as I spent time with them, the snacks at VBS were a little different. Some of the food in their house was a little different. They bought food at a co-op? Why in the world would you need to do that I thought...whole wheat flour? Isn't "Home Pride Wheat" good enough? (If you don't know me very well, these questions may not be funny to you...if you do know me, I hope that you are laughing.) The parents and kids shared a bedroom...why stumble to another room to get a crying small child? Books scattered everywhere...how many books could a kid want you to read to them?

We moved away from our little town when I was 17. It was a huge move for my family emotionally. I had lived there since I was 4. We only moved two hours away, but I was leaving what was the town that "I grew up in". One of my sweetest remembrances though was Jean writing each of us in our family a letter. I found it so very thoughtful that she would take the time to tell me what knowing me (not just my family) had meant to her.

So the profound impact that she has had on my life is seeing a Christian woman live out her life. She was not just a Christian on Sunday or when people were watching. She made our church family her family because they didn't have other family around. (Neither did we!) I saw her be passionate about things she believed in which centered around healthy living for her family. She was willing to share her life with these three or four giggly girls in Sunday School for a few years. She trusted me with her kids! She showed that she cared and made me realize that I need to do that too. I think that I do the worst at showing people that I care about them of the other things that she has taught me...because I did choose to nurse my kids and I use a whole lot of whole wheat flour! I'm going to guess that she may have wanted to home school more too, but it may have been a little too hard. Too hard, not because of her kids, but because of the social environment.

One last thought...Jean chose to be around the other families in the church though I know that we were judgmental of how they chose to run their family. I believe that Jean did what was right for her family regardless of what others thought. I'm realizing that we probably hurt her in some of those ways and I'm sorry about that.

Now I need to go and find her to thank her!