Way to do something!

Thursday was the last meeting of my sociology class. They surprised me by presenting me with a $50.00 gift certificate to buya.org, a web site that you can shop for specific needs around the world.  They ended class by looking at what they could do, and doing something. Just imagine what we could do if we continued to see what was needed and made a commitment to do something. My class did something.

I was shopping tonight, trying to decide if I get a goat, chickens, medical care, meals, and many other possible purchases. I ended up giving the $50.00 gift certificate to feed 200 children in Haiti.

It was tough. I think the hardest part for me is wondering what needs, out of all the needs, I should send the money to. In the end I just had to pick one.

A big thank you to my class. You all made my day! And because of you there will be some children who's day you made, as well.

Share the bear!

I was at Caribou coffee today with my daughter. We brought our computers. I was doing schoolwork and blogging, She was writing a confirmation paper. We placed our stuff on a table, just as two people got up from sitting at the fireplace. We "quacked", I'm sorry, I mean we claimed front row cushy leather seats facing the fire.

In between the chairs was a bear shaped footstool. My daughter was the first to cool her heels on the bear. There was no room for my "lil piggies". There was plenty of room for the two sets of shoes to find a resting place. It was so much better when we shared. 

I'm not sure we can measure if one person shared more than the other. If we look at shoe sizes my daughter probably was the more giving.

Living by faith

I was listening to a podcast while driving. I decided I needed some tunes to rev me up. I switched to shuffling through the rock genre selection.  It took a minute for "Brilliant Disguise" to rev up and blast through the speakers of my Malibu. It was soul-food.

I looked at my iPod with inquisitiveness. How had it done that so quickly? My emotions had been saved by my finger on my iPod. And other than knowing simple iPod maneuvers, I had had no idea how the machine had pulled it off.

My iPod isn't the only thing that I don't know how it works. There are many things in life that I don't know how if works. I don't know HTML so thank God I can go to a web site and type, which I know how to do, and the web page does the complicated work for me. How? I have no clue. I could go on. In each area there are people who know how things work, but I don't know and it looks very mysterious.

My faith works like that as well. I have gone from "knowing" what it means to be a Christian, to not being sure. As God has gotten "bigger", or rather, as my self has shrunk to a more realistic assessment, there is more and more that I don't understand. So...I live by faith. I work on practicing what I do know, and figure out the nuts and bolts as needed. And if I don't know everything, that is okay by me. I don't know that I have to, and more accurately, I am able to.

Point and say "Bluetooth"

In my lecture today we were covering psychological disorders, and specifically schizophrenia. When I talked about people talking to themselves and responding to stimuli that isn't there, one of my students brought up that it sounded a lot like customers at his store with bluetooth headsets. 

He stated that he saw many people in his store walking around who appear to be talking to themselves. And when they would get into arguments by themselves, it looked even worse. People yell into the air. When others looked at them with puzzled expressions, they simply point to their ear and say "bluetooth".

I got to thinking, what if we gave every delusional schizophrenic a bluetooth looking device. It wouldn't need to be operational, just pulse light in metered intervals. I wonder if schizophrenics would be viewed  and treated with greater understanding, and if they were treated with greater understanding, would they still behave so bizarrely? 

I suspect not, but it was intriguing to think about.

Boiling water

I was wondering what the temperature was for boiling water. I did what I normally do when I don't know an answer, I consult the internet.

I found this web page and am still unsure if it isn't a joke. But in an information age, I sure got information!

How to boil water! Check it out!

Pictures from the Haiti trip

Click here for the link to see the pictures that we took from Haiti.

Connecting at baggage claim

Sitting at the Miami airport on my way to Haiti, I was waiting to join up with the others in my party. I staked out a couple seats in baggage claim.

Two women were sitting next to me discussing past hurts that they had inflicted on each other. Their voices were elevated as they hurled insults at each other. From what I could tell it was a mother daughter duo. I thought it would end within ten or so minutes. 

It didn't. It was still going strong when I left my seat an hour later. The others in my party were incredulous at the intensity and ferocity that they were verbally attacking each other.

It reminded me that no matter where I think I got hurt in my life, I need to deal with it and let it go. What may have been hurtful for the two of them were inconsequential to the larger public. As an observer of their conversation it looked like the hurts had long ceased to be divisive and appeared to be a tool that they used to stay connected.

Unprepared

It's 6 degrees below zero! What is this woman thinking? She is walking across the street in a jean jacket, hunched over from the wind that cuts like a knife. She is a distance from businesses that could could shelter her. Instead she curls into herself while she waits for the light to change.

My kids over the years have attempted to go out into the larger world, less than prepared, believing that they were in no danger. 

I know we can't prepare for everything that life will throw our way, but this woman reminds me that I want to make sure I'm prepared for the things I AM aware of.

Faith like a child

At the mall the other day I saw a baby go by me in an infant seat. What struck me was that the seat was being held by two girls about 8 or 9 years old. They each had a hand on the handle and were walking on either side of the infant seat. As they passed me, the infant was sound asleep, completely unconcerned about the transportation arrangement. The infant's mother looked far more concerned.

Jesus said that unless we have faith like a child we can't enter into the kingdom of heaven. Here was faith of a child, asleep, completely unconcerned about its safety. 

As I have gotten older I focus more on security, wanting to know that I am safe. And yet, Jesus is telling us to rest in my environment and be more like that infant. I want to believe that I am in control of much of my life, but that is not the case. Just this month I have had several students face life-threatening illnesses that they never saw coming.

I guess I need to lay back in the cradle, and let go of the worry of the conditions of the ride.

Cantfinditis

It was my birthday last week. I got this birthday card from some friends. They identified a condition called "cantfinditis", that affects teenagers and husbands. As I have aged, I have gotten a more severe form of this condition known as "cantfrigginfinditis". 

The good news is that since I have lived with this condition most of my life, possibly due to undiagnosed ADHD,  I'm well positioned to overcome this debilitating condition as age assaults me.

Now if you would excuse me. I need to stop blogging at this time and look for my car keys.

Blood donor reject

I went to give blood today. I entered a bus that had been reconfigured into a blood drawing lab and station. I was shown to a tiny room with a desk where I was interviewed by a woman on the bus.

They drew blood from my finger, then while I was dabbing at the blood, proceeded to ask me questions about my sex life. The one that made me chuckle was if I have had sex with anyone in exchange for money, drugs or other favors, maybe because they didn't add "from anyone other than whom you are married to". I think the question perfectly targeted the whole notion of risky sex, at least from a viral standpoint...but I digress.

They got to the part about whether I had been out of the country. With Haiti a mere two weeks behind me, I answered yes. The interviewer typed it into the computer. The computer rejected me, and as a true coward, left the woman to actually tell me. The computer identified that I was not in the one safe place in all of Haiti, which is probably where the cruise ships dock.

While it didn't stop the interview, when it was over the woman told me to come back in a year.

I walked to the front of the bus, my head hung low...

Well, at least until I got off the bus and was able to stand up straight again.