Simple Truths of Life

I recently read a book entitled "Simple Truths of Life" by Linda Ellis. It was very uplifting with many inspirational and wise quotations sprinkled throughout.  One came to mind this past week attributed to Will Rogers: " Common sense ain't common."  When I came home after work, my daughter greeted me with her cat, John Robie, sitting on her lap and wearing one of those big dish collars. Robie had decided to investigate a doggie treat in the process of being consumed by our aged golden retriever, Alex Dabulls Hickok. Normally an fairly easy going canine, Al took exception to the intrusion and bit Robie near his ear. So perhaps a new simple truth for Robie will be: "Nothing good can come from inserting one's nose between canines and their treats."

DeWitt

I was thinking about DeWitt Jones this evening. He spent many years as a photographer for National Geographic. He is a motivational speaker who has produced DVDs. Here is one of his quotes from his DVD "Celebrating What is Right with the World":

"Vision controls our perception and perception controls our reality."

I've posted a few of my photos from 2010. Maybe not quite as good as DeWitt's, but nonetheless a reminder that it is good to celebrate the beauty of our world and to acknowledge that one can find beauty in each person and in each situation on a daily basis.

At the end of May 2010 I was in Cincinnati and visited the butterfly exhibit at the conservatory in East Walnut Hills. Here was one of my art shots.

I was traveling through Tacoma, Washington in late August 2010 and came across the most beautiful public garden out by Puget Sound. Rows and rows of dahlias were in bloom. Here is just one of hundreds that I was able to enjoy.

Buses & Mounds

A couple of weekends ago, March 11 & 12, I drove down to Belleville, IL to attend a conference on the changing faces of poverty. It was hosted by the Illinois Council of Churches and held at the St Mary of the Snows Shrine. It was an excellent conference - learned a lot and met some great people. I was especially impressed by the bus ministry conducted by one of the local local Roman Catholic groups (St VIncent DePaul, I think). The idea was to retrofit a couple of school buses into traveling soup kitchens. They drive into the poor neighborhoods of East St Louis and Belleville and serve meals to those who show up - lots of children. The bus can seat 24 people at a time and an average of 80 people are served each day. I believe that this model could be duplicated in many communities for not only serving meals, but to provide tutoring and other services.



During one of the breaks, we went out to the parking lot and were served a snack.



Stove in back of bus.

Tables and seats are built into sides of bus.

The sink is up to health code requirements.


Then on the way  back I stopped in Collinsville at the Cahokia Mounds State Park for about a half hour.Wow! There's a great historical museum and then one can tour the many scores of mounds here. It's about 15 minutes from St. Louis and well worth visiting. I want to return when I can spend more time.

Front of the Cahokia Mounds museum.

One of the larger mounds. there is a pathway & stairs to the top of the mound.

Cake walks

It's an interesting term "cake walk". Is a cake walk really that easy? Are you really guaranteed to win a cake? All I know is that our church had a cake walk last Sunday after services and I didn't go home with a cake (which is not all a bad thing). But perhaps it's not so much the winning of a cake, but the walking in fellowship with others that makes life a real cake walk.

Here's the 2 cakes that I made for the event: a peanut butter and jelly cake and a chocolate bundt with peanut butter glaze a liberally sprinkled with mini M&Ms (sure to get the kids' attention).

This is best photo that I took of Brian (in green shirt). When he was in 8th grade he decided that he could organize a cake walk event at our church to raise money for the general fund. This is his third year running this event. Some kids just have that kind of spunk which make you know that no matter what, they will be alright. He's special.

The lucky winner of the M&M bundt.

Max, a guide dog trainee, at his first cake walk.

Last Day in Haiti - February 28

Yesterday we woke up at Dottie's Guesthouse and were back home in our respective beds last night. In the morning, we made the rounds saying good-bye. Junior drove us to the airport. "Nasty Linda" made an appearance with the overzealous redhats - it's beyond ridiculous. The flights back were thankfully uneventful. I now have 2 trips to Haiti under my belt and I continue to feel privileged for the chance to be among such dedicated people who serve their Lord with such loving hearts. I continue to have such respect for the resillience of the Haitian people that I have met. It is a beautiful country full of beautiful people and things just don't have to continue to be the way things are. Haiti just needs a new path. 

So here are my final photos for this trip:

I am with Linda Blankenship, a missionary that I met last year. The Joliet Quilt Guild and Quiltfabric.com have helped me keep her supplied with fabric this year.She lives up in a remote village in the northwest of Haiti. In addition to all of her other responsibilities, she teaches sewing and sews clothing for the indigent children in her village. I'm so glad that we were able to meet up for  a couple of days.



These are the younger students at TLC Barefoot School participating in the daily opening exercies. They begin by singing the national anthem and then spend another 20 minutes singing praise songs. There are 92 students (K-8). They are all on scholarship as they come from very poor families. Breakfast and lunch is served at the school. This school is superbly well run and has a website if you wish to learn more about them.  




Because of the cholera concerns, children are now required to take off their shoes at the door. The majority of the children live in tent settlements where sewage drainage is not ideal. It's really had not to walk in the stuff. At least this way, the chance of contamination is lessened.  At this point, there has been very few incidents of cholera in the Delmas neighborhood.




Here is kindergarten classroom at TLC Barefoot School. Unlike many Haitian schools, the children are not required to wear uniforms. Instead they wear brightly colored teeshirts.



View from balcony at HIS Home. Lots of half finished homes among beautiful bougeanvilla.




Today art shot.



Today's other art shot. Leaves on tree on HIS Home grounds.



Last shot of chickens at Carmel's house. She's arrainged for someone to set up a caged area in the yard as the chickens are fertilizing her patio.