Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Prayers

Thoughts and prayers for the victims and loved ones of the horrific act of gun violence in Toronto.


I was moved by the Torontonians who showed love and compassion to the injured and dying, ensuring they were not alone in their final breaths. 



Let those of us left behind never cease to treat others with kindness, compassion and love.
We never know what tomorrow brings.

#RIP to those that have gone ahead.
May their families and loved ones be comforted in their grief.


♥♥♥

Monday, March 16, 2015

March Update on Outreach in Kenya

I've been struggling with very low energy levels since just before Christmas and  even the barest minimum of  'to dos' has seemed so much at times.  This has caused me to get very behind in a lot of things.

Now I am feeling a little better.  My energy seems to be increasing.  Warmer temperatures and more frequent days of sunlight help. I started taking Vitamin D awhile back but haven't been too consistent about taking it  for the short time I did take it it seemed to help.

There are a few things I continue to do even when the energy levels are low.

One thing that I never really stop doing is blogging, sometimes tweeting. Here is a cute little carton I came across on line about the priority social media has become in our lives.


I am not on Instagram, Facebook or Tumbler but in addition to posting on my blog I also post to Google + on occasion.  I can't imagine how people find the time to be on all the different social media as well as keep up with other things in their lives. Keeping up with our own blogs daily or even every few days, takes a fair bit of time.  We have to find time to take the photos, select and edit them, upload them, then visit and comment on other blogs. I'm always amazed at people who get hundreds of visitors and comments yet manage to visit other blogs on a fairly regular basis.  Then of course there are those that have hundreds of visitors to their blog complete with comments who never seem to visit anyone else's blogs or if they do, they never comment. 

I am not exactly sure why I was so extra low on energy for so long.  Now am in a bit of whirl of activity to "catch up".  With Spring having arrived I am also thinking about what needs to be done in the garden.  There is always the Fall and Winter debris to clean. I don't do this in the Fall due to all the rain and cold.  In Spring I am often late to the garden and never seemed to find the rhythm. Perhaps that will change some day but for right now I just manage as best I can.  I'm also planning on a visit to see my mom and so I'm putting a care package together. That always involves some planning and preparation and this month is no exception.

Despite lower energy levels, I also never fail to keep up with the  missions in Kenya.  The people's needs there are so great and needs don't take a rest.  I do my best to try to help the people and bring awareness to others in hopes they may also want to help.  In all the years I've been doing this, it hasn't been easy getting others involved but I keep trying.  I truly greatly appreciate those of you  who do stop and lend a hand. The little we can do means so much to another who is burdened by their load.

Several weeks ago I wrote about a young mom who had to be rushed to hospital and ended up losing her baby before it had come to full term. That was a very sad situation especially since the young mom not only lost her baby but she had to remain in hospital for weeks after because she didn't have the funds to pay the medical bills.

I am happy to report that she is now home with her family and can now start her real journey of grieving and healing. Yes, that means while she was in hospital her unborn child was buried.  One can only imagine how difficult this was to deal with on so many levels.  It also meant her other young child and her husband were without her presence in the home for weeks on end as they struggled to cover the medical bills.  They were feeling very low in spirit during this time.

My blogging friends Joy and John, Jan and Regina, and other friends in Kenya who organized several fund-raisers  helped to get her home.  I especially want to thank Joy who I met through blogging through our shared love of crochet.  It was through her very kind efforts to raise awareness of this desperate situation that really helped.

Kindness is so refreshing in this very busy world where people often turn the other way after hearing about someone needs; someone they don't know and who lives so very far away.  Sometimes we become immune to someone's desperate needs when we are bombarded daily through television, internet, social media and newspaper.

I realize too that there are many competing good causes.  Sometimes people have limited means and their our own needs have to take priority. It takes intention and work not to become cold to the desperate situations around the world.

So again a sincere thanks goes out to Joy, John, Jan and Regina for their kindness.  I pray that the goodness you have put out there for this mom will be returned to you in good measure soon.


Kenyan flower ~ Sending you all a little green in honour of Saint Patrick

In February I wrote about another humanitarian food aid mission to the Pokot people in northern Kenya.  You can read more about that mission here.  Then last week some of my Kenyan friends went on yet another humanitarian mission to the Pokot people in the northern part of Kenya.  This time they went to an entirely different region which was even more isolated than where they usually minister to the Pokot people.  On the team's return journey the terrible terrain was too much for the SUV they had borrowed from their church and they were stranded far from home where things were very expensive.

When my friends go on voluntary missions they basically have to raise the food donations and fund their own journey.  The team leader has to sign a form to acknowledge responsibility for the vehicle when they go on food aid missions and that means there is no help from the church when things go wrong.  In any case, the churches my friends attend are not like the big, prosperous churches in America.  Their congregations are made  up of hard working humble people who are mostly eking out a living through small scale farming.  They grow their own corn and vegetables and if they are fortunate they have a few chickens, goats or possibly a cow or two for milk.  They have very little in the way of extras and cold, hard cash.
 
The mission was to an area of Kenya that is very hot and dry and you cannot grow anything (sorry though the  precise name escapes me it is north of a place called Chemolingot). The locals raise goats and camels as their means of sustenance.  In places like, as in most other difficult to access communities in other countries, food and necessities are incredibly expensive because of the cost and time involved in importing the food.  Fixing the car was also very expensive and  not very straightforward.

Photo Credit:  Jonah, Missions of Hope


Mechanic help had to be summoned from about 6 hours away. The insides of the care were taken apart and the mechanic returned to Eldoret with some of the parts.  The team members had to wait until the next day for the mechanic to return with the car parts.  The team members had a real awakening of just how hard it is for the people in the area as they said they have never seen such high costs in all the places they have travelled.

Thankfully the car worked after the mechanic brought the car parts back and attended to the vehicle.  The cost of repairs was great and it was urgent.  The team had a very long journey home and arrived home at 5 a.m. on Sunday morning.

 These are a few photos of the hungry children that were fed on this mission.


The children are enjoying bread and liquid refreshment in these photos.

Photo Credit:  Jonah, Missions of Hope

Photo Credit:  Jonah, Missions of Hope


The team members also left behind food items and clothing for the people.

Friends, these needs are very real and the hunger is very difficult to experience or to see.

It is what drives my friends to help and what drives me to assist them.

Photo Credit:  Jonah, Missions of Hope


You see the people in these isolated areas of Kenya are literally starving.  

When drought comes they are hardest hit and commodities are out of their financial means. 

My friends are not well to do.

They too  live close to the edge economically.

But they know that the people they are helping live even closer to the edge.


Kenyan cactus plant.

I want to welcome all of my new followers.

If any of you have an interest in Africa and Kenya and you want to find out how to help with the missions needs, please get in touch (email on profile page). I mostly help in Kenya where we try to feed the hungry or look after their medical needs.

Also, if you are travelling to Kenya soon and want to take a missions team with food aid or medical helps,
let me know.  I can put you in touch with people who could use your help.  If you are going alone or with a friend, and you have enough funds to pool, even that would be a great help.

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Have a great week.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to those of you who celebrate.

Monday, February 13, 2012

I Love

There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. 
- George Sand - 

It's a great thing to be able to love and to be loved. Whether it is your family, your friends, your special loved one or people you don't even know, like the widows and orphans in a far away place.

I didn't bake these but aren't they pretty? I had to share some with my family.

~ MAGIC OF LOVE ~
by Helen Steiner Rice (Poet)

"Love is like Magic and it always will be,
For Love still remains Life’s Sweet Mystery!
Love works in ways that are wondrous and strange
And there’s Nothing in Life that Love cannot change!
Love can transform the most common place
Into beauty and splendor and sweetness and grace!
Love is unselfish, understanding and kind,
For it sees with its Heart and not with its Mind
Love gives and forgives, there is nothing too much
For Love to heal with its Magic Touch!
Love is the language that every heart speaks,
For Love is the one thing that every heart seeks!


Did you know
that
God is Love.

1 John 4:8


HAVE YOURSELF A WONDERFUL VALENTINE'S DAY. 
IF YOU ARE ALONE, SHARE YOUR LOVE WITH A STRANGER BY DOING 
A RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS.
IT WILL FILL YOUR HEART WITH LOVE.

IF YOU HAVE SOMEONE WHO IS SPECIAL IN YOUR LIFE
DON'T FORGET TO LET THEM KNOW.

 

Sunday, December 25, 2011

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, 
The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 
~ Isaiah 9:6



God is love. ~ 1 John 4:8

 


Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ~ Matthew 19:19


Monday, February 14, 2011

It's All About Love

I Corinthians 13
 


Valentine's Day is a day of love,
For showing that we care,
And if we read the Bible,
God describes love there:
If we speak like celestial angels
From heaven up above,
All our words mean nothing
If we don’t have Christian love.
Love is patient, love is kind;
It doesn’t brag or boast;
Love conquers pride and envy;
It is never self-engrossed.
Love is not rude or angry;
Forgiveness counters wrong;
Love stays away from evil;
It sings a truthful song.
Love is full of trust and hope;
It always perseveres;
Love never fails; It’s faithful;
To the Bible it adheres.
And if you give this kind of love
To your special Valentine,
You’ll be loving right in harmony
With God’s own sweet design.
 




By Joanna Fuchs
 
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! MAY YOURS BE FILLED WITH LOVE

Friday, June 26, 2009

Love is an Action


My little children, let us not love in word,

neither in tongue;
but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:18

Friday, May 29, 2009

Thoughts to Ponder



To realize
The value of a sister/brother:
Ask someone
Who doesn't have one.

To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple.

To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.

To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam.

To realize
The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother
Who has given birth to a premature baby

To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize
The value of one minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize
The value of one-second:
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident.

Time waits for no one.
Treasure every moment you have.
You will treasure it even more when
You can share it with someone special.

To realize the value of a friend or family member:
LOSE ONE.

The origin of this letter is unknown.

Hold on tight to the ones you love!



[Received from my relative, Darlene with thanks and a few modifications.]

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Rain Falls, a Promise is Made

raining,raining,raining - the weather this time of the year

After a week or more of blessed sunshine, it was pouring rain overnight and into the morning. Rain brings a freshening of the earth, in addition to a cleaning for our enjoyment on another sunny day. It just so happened that my reading for the day was also about rain.

In Genesis, chapters 6-9, I read again about the flood that God sent upon the earth due to the evil and violence in the world.

11The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

13And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Genesis 6:11-13


But God found in Noah, a perfect man for his generation.

Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

Genesis 6:9


So he made a way of escape for Noah, his family and all the animals, both clean and unclean by getting him to build and Ark and enter into it for the duration of the 150 day period (Genesis 7: 24) over which the water prevailed on the earth.

I've loved this story about Noah and the Great Flood since childhood. It is because it is so incomprehensible to my human mind that man could be so wicked and violent so as to provoke God to flood and encompass the entire earth. Yet, God in his awesome love and mercy would save the world and even the animals so that the world could be inhabited once again. This speaks to me of how awesome God's love and mercy really is. He didn't have to save us but for one Godly man, He did! Praise His Name!

This wonderful story concludes with God's promise to us to never again send a flood to encompass the entire earth; the mark of which is His beautiful rainbow.

11And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

12And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

13I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis 9:11-13


Whenever I see a rainbow, I am reminded of this wonderful story and God's promise to us, His children. I am grateful that God keeps His promises.

It Was a Spectacular Day! ~ Skywatch

Hello friends and fellow bloggers, It was a spectacular, sunny day where I live. It's still rather chilly from my point of view but the ...