Impacting 100...and counting

It costs Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) $24 to feed 100 kids for a day.
It costs FMSC $168 to feed 100 kids for a week.
It costs FMSC $744 to feed 100 kids for a month.
It costs FMSC $8760 to feed 100 kids for a year.

Last weekend I worked with the Lindemanns, founders of Lindemann Chimney. They, as a company, had gone down to Aurora to pack food for Feed My Starving Children, and wanted to host an event. Mr. Lindemann said their company's goal for this year was to impact 100 people's lives. I love that goal. It reminds me of the movie Pay It Forward, which so intrigues me. Anyway, after a lot of planning and preparation, Lindemann Chimney hosted an event in Lake Bluff last weekend. In the course of one day, they packed enough food that 293 kids could eat 1 meal a day for an entire year. These are kids who would otherwise not eat their daily servings of the nutrients they need to be healthy. These are kids who might not eat at all were it not for Feed My Starving Children food. It took some planning, some fundraising, and a lot of faith, but the Lindemanns and Lindemann Chimney joined the ranks of Feed My Starving Children Event Hosts last weekend, and impacted not just 100 people's lives, but about 293...and the lives of those around the kids who will be eating the food also will be impacted...and the lives of those people whom these kids will continue to interact with throughout their lives...exponential impact.

Oh, and one of the coolest parts for me was finding out that Mr. Lindemann will also be running the marathon on May 7th with me. I was blessed to work with the Lindemanns and I hope to see them again at the marathon!

So how has training been going?

(Read my first blog about the marathon before you read this one!

So far I have really been enjoying the marathon training. I have been following the schedule I found online for marathon beginners. It involves 4 days a week of running, one day of cross training, and two days off. I thought it was crazy to start training in the winter (training started January 1), but it has actually been super cool. I have always hated winter because it is SO cold and you have to stay inside all the time. Being on the running schedule, though, got me outdoors even when it was cold and dreary. With the right clothes and the occasional schedule adjustment or basement run due to snow, winter running has been incredible. I haven't felt cooped up, I have been getting fresh air and soaking up the sunlight (through 3 layers of clothes). Up until this week, I only ran distances I have run before as I trained for a half marathon 6 years ago.

Yesterday I had my first run over 13.1 miles (that's how long a half marathon is), so it was a new "longest run" for me. I ran 15 miles, combining 3 running routes to make a circle around our town.

It was my second bad run of the training. First, I am incredibly grateful to have had so many good runs in the last 10 weeks. Second, it was harder mentally than I expected. I woke up crabby and couldn't shake the crabbiness. I got two new CDs to listen to, and I didn't like either one. However, it is such a feeling of accomplishment to have done something I have never done before. I am not very sore today. I can check 15 off my list and look ahead to the 16 miles I am supposed to run on Wednesday. I think that is a true test for me. I have run 13 miles four times in my life, as far as I can remember, and each time I have been able to take some time off before my next run.

I will keep you updated on the running and fundraising. This week I have to adjust the schedule a bit because we are getting two special visitors at my house! I am so excited, and hope to post some pictures of their visit. They arrive on Wednesday!

Running for A Cause!

Well hello again! Guess what? I didn't disappear off the face of the earth, I merely disappeared off the face of this blog. I hope you have had a good year without hearing from me.

You may have noticed this ChipIn thing above (Does anyone know how to get that to show on the side of my blog? I couldn’t do it). That's what brings me back to the blog, and hopefully will continue to keep me writing for awhile. I have been training to run my first marathon, and so far I have completed 10 out of 18 weeks of training. My original purpose in training was to prove to myself that I could do something I didn't think I could do, and to do something that I'd always wanted to do. As I have been training, though, I wanted to use all of this time and energy to benefit someone besides myself.

So here's what I have decided: I'm raising money for Feed My Starving Children. You can check out their website at www.fmsc.org. For those who haven't heard of them, this organization uses volunteers to package nutritious meals for starving people around the world. There are four ingredients in these meals, and the meals have been created by food scientists to meet the nutritional needs of a starving child for an entire day. The organization has partners in 67 countries who know who needs the food and knows how to best get it to them. You can read more about the partners at http://www.fmsc.org/page.aspx?pid=328. The organization is nongovernmental. They don’t partner with governments overseas and don’t receive funds from the United States.

Each meal produced costs 24 cents to make. My marathon will be 26.2 miles. So I thought I would raise money based on those numbers.

If you would like to contribute 1 cent per mile (.26 total), you will feed a child for a day.
If you would like to contribute 10 cents per mile ($2.60 total), you will provide about 10 meals.
If you would like to contribute $1.00 per mile ($26 total), you will provide 108 meals.
If you contribute $2.00 per mile, you will be donating an entire box of food, which is 216 meals for $52.
$5 per mile ($130 total) donates 541 meals, 2.5 boxes worth of food.
$10 per mile ($260 total) donates 1083 meals, about 5 boxes worth of food.

Here are some other descriptions from the Feed My Starving Children website of what certain donation amounts will provide:
$52 provides 216 MannaPack meals (1 full box)
$208 provides 864 meals for patients in a malnourishment clinic (4 boxes)
$855 will fill ½ pallet with MannaPack meals to support a mountain village (approx. 17 boxes)
$1710 provides an entire pallet of meals to be packed with His love (33 boxes)

I’ll take ANY donations, whether 1 cent, 1 dollar, or $10,000! You should know that ALL of the money donated will be given to Feed My Starving Children. I will not be taking any cut of the donations. I know a lot about this organization, so if you have any questions, just let me know!

I’ll also be keeping you posted through this blog about my training, the fundraising, and the marathon.

Where I should be

I often lay in bed at night and think about the kids in Bolivia. I see the big picture of everyone from the orphanage hanging up in my room and one or two of them will jump into my thoughts. I think about them as I brush my teeth. I dream about them sometimes. Sometimes I make up conversations in Spanish that I would have if I could go back and talk to certain kids. I miss them. I miss Bolivia. I miss doing what I was born to do. I miss walking with those kids. I didn't do anything profound, I just walked with them. I greeted A. every morning at the first house I passed as I went to devotions. At the second house I would without fail see M. who wanted to ask me if he could do something- what he wanted permission to do changed week by week, but was rarely something I had authority to grant. Mt. would yell at me from the third house that he didn't have any homework. R. would ask me if he could play on the computer today. It was the hardest job I ever had. It was the most exposure to Spanish I ever had. That particular job isn't exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life, but it was a giant leap in the right direction, and it was perfect for me at the time. I don't know if I really made an impact on anyone, but I know they made an impact on me. I think about Bolivia every single day.

During my days here in the States I am focused on me. I am here to get a teaching certificate and it is hard to persevere. It is a lot of work, a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of me, me, me thoughts. I have to do this, I need to read this, I want to look like I know what I am talking about, I need to write this paper, I need to do these observations. Me. Me. Me. Me first. Me last. Me in the middle.

I want to run away. Back to my banana "plantation" where I watched the "sunrise" in the form of morning mists. Back to my rocky hill full of ants and invisible bugs that buzzed in my ear all night long. Back to powdered milk/chocolate mix/coffee in the mornings. Back to dumping a bucket of soapy water on my red concrete floor. Back to the four o'clock breeze and the nighttime bug symphony. Back to "my" kids who were never really mine. I miss them. I miss it all. I want it all.

And yet I must stay here. I am doing this all for them, but with no guarantee that it will be worth it. There is no guarantee that I will go back, no guarantee that I will be a teacher after all this schooling is over, no guarantee that I will ever have that kind of life again. Today is what I have. The US is what I have. I am in the land of abundance and yet I cling to memories. I "should" be there. I must be here. Should I be here? I hope all this "me" business one day turns out to really be for them. I hope all this "me" business opens doors. I won't know, I suppose, until I am finished if it was worth it.

So for now I stay. For now I write papers, read books, write papers, read books, write papers, read books. Maybe one day I will write books and read papers... For now I pass up time with friends, pass up my morning run day after day, pass up opportunities to explore, create, write, dream...For now. Now is not forever. One day I will go "back" to the real me.

Do not confuse your vested interests with ethics. Do not identify the enemies of your privilege with the enemies of humanity. ~Max Lerner, Actions and Passions, 1949

Living It

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.
Henry David Thoreau

Top 12

These are the Top 10 (turned into 12) things for which I am grateful right now. I meant to take my own pictures, but decided to collaborate with the genius of others to accent my thoughts instead. Each of these pictures uniquely describes the idea to me.

1. Opportunity- I am so blessed to be a part of a place, a time, a family, a life where I have the opportunity to explore, the opportunity to experiment, the opportunity to have dreams, the opportunity to follow dreams.




2. Potential- Discovering a child's potential is my passion. Helping children discover their own potential is my purpose.



3. Nature – Brilliant greens on cloudy days, flowers blooming one after another, silent snow blanketing the night, sunny warm days, breezes, hills, mountains, oceans, lakes, shade, growth, peace




4. Health – I have never appreciated health so much as during a recent sprained ankle. I wake up everyday, get out of bed, breathe, run, live, love, laugh. I am blessed.



5. Running – Yes, I run for physical health benefits. But that's not what keeps me running. I run for sanity, for peace, for its healing qualities, to be one with nature, to hear the crunch of gravel beneath my feet, to hear my breathing, to have a sense of accomplishment, to feel proud about who I am and what I have done today.



6. Friendship – there’s nothing like the feeling of spending time with a person that loves me, inspires, me walks with me, KNOWS me




7. Worship – music, song, voices, expression, fellowship, unity, singing with every tribe, nation, and tongue



8. Music – deep expression of the soul, enhanced by every mood, it awakens my soul, gives it a voice, and lets it sing.



9. Inspiration – Nothing inspires me more ;-)



10. Creativity - One of the things that inspires me most. I love seeing/hearing/experiencing the expression of the soul



11. Perspectives - There are multiple ways of looking at things. I love seeing beyond.



12. Dance - Such a beautiful act.





Photos by Marc Adamus, Ian Plant, Guy Tal, Jerry Greer and XRock-AngelX's Photography

Freedom

What is freedom? Opportunity. Potential. While wealth can enslave, poverty in its essence does enslave. Freedom includes the right to a good education, for without education, potential is limited and opportunity dies. Freedom involves a life free from fear, where governments enable and cherish their people rather than enslaving and killing those who disagree, look different, appear weak. Freedom allows a people a say in how they are governed, rather than a government that dictates who can and cannot live, what can and cannot happen, how things can and cannot be. Freedom includes a right to proper nutrition and clean water, basic medical care and proper shelter. Freedom includes the ability to explore potential, to follow dreams, to create opportunity. Freedom includes the ability to work, to provide for one’s family, to have a say in who you marry and to create a family if you choose. Freedom: a basic tenet of a handful of governments, a basic right for some provided, a basic right for most withheld, stolen, and abused. Those of us who have freedom, who cherish freedom, who believe in freedom should not by our actions, our prejudices, our purchases, our employment, our habits, our luxuries, or our choices prevent others from experiencing freedom. The freedoms the United States holds dear should not include the freedom to do as we please to other nations or peoples, to manipulate others to get what we want, to rob others of basic rights and freedoms so that we may enjoy luxuries we blindly consider necessities. We have allowed our freedom to corrupt us instead of using our freedom to free others, and we have the responsibility to change that abuse of freedom.

African song

Bright orange dirt paths and roads are threatened by wild vegetation eager to take back their rightful claim to the cleared land. War is waged in return by the red-orange ground, covering all surrounding plants in a thick dirt covering. Women grace the path, floating by with baskets of laundry, buckets of water, or bins of bread, fruit, and wares to sell. Nearby women and men alike bend at the waist, machete in hand, clearing brush and farming the land, while others methodically sweep dirt floors and yards with straw brooms. There is a melody in this land. It is not the melody of Africa itself, but of the beautiful African peoples making a life in the territorial landscape. We are connected, these people and I, yet they carry in them an elegant song that I seem to have lost. The struggles have strengthened them, while my comforts have weakened me. When one suffers, one better appreciates easier times. When death invades, life is more readily cherished. When hunger looms, one treasures each meal. Where isolation invites death, community breeds life. I seem to walk through a muted world, while theirs crescendos and decrescendos.

The television shows death, starvation, poverty. These surely coexist with the peoples of Africa, but they do not define them. They chain and shackle these beautiful people, but they cannot silence their music. Where poverty rages, what is the responsibility of the rich? Where starvation eats a body until it kills without mercy, what is the responsibility of the well-fed? Where death looms imminent, what responsibilities do the "immortal" Western civilizations bear?
Those who have the luxury of education have the responsibility of educating. Those who have the luxury of three meals a day have the responsibility of ensuring others have the same possibility. Those with the luxury of medical care have the responsibility of providing it to those who needlessly die to curable causes. Where there are children, there should be hope, but we give hope to the Western white-skins and give condemnation to children of color. We have allowed and even enforced policies that entrench poverty, which allow babies to die because there is not enough food or even basic medical care, and then we condemn the poverty-stricken for not using birth control as a way to solve the "problem."

Oh, America, founded on such incredible principles, for what and for whom are we living? Those who seek personal gain will lose all and enslave others; those who accept personal sacrifice for the benefit of others will be blessed, will be strengthened, will be changed, while enabling a person, a people, a culture, a nation, a land, a world to rise out of cyclical and system-enforced poverty and realize potential, experience freedom, earn an education, and lead their own to higher heights, soaring through a world of possibilities. Let those who "have" not forget or shirk their responsibilities. Let those who "have not" hold on to hope. Let the common thread coursing through our veins allow us together to soar, to dream, to imagine, to teach, to create, to inspire, to live in freedom. It is time for this nation, the land of the free and the home of the brave, to rise up and cause a revolution, that all nations would one day describe themselves the same, that the whole earth would be the land of the free.

When Anything is Possible

I spent time observing a first grade classroom this week. The teacher's philosophy about children, life, and learning is something she is excited to talk to me about, and something that is completely evident in her teaching. She treats these children as though anything good is possible and expected. And suddenly, anything is possible! She treats them as though they CAN learn, and not only that, but as though she expects that they WILL learn, and they find themselves learning on an incredibly advanced level. The academic "WOW" of the class is sometimes shadowed, however, by the incredible level of maturity she is helping to teach them. Respect, acceptance, manners, kindness, encouraging attitudes, and more are fused into every lesson. "What is" does not determine "what can be"; "what can be" determines "what is". The assumption of potential has exponentially multiplied performance and future potentials. I am inspired. I am so very blessed to have been assigned to this classroom.