05-21-09
new york is hard.
- Rach
05-20-09
it’s important for me to remember these things
at the end of every season it’s hard not to wish time away. one thing i’m constantly trying to learn is to be present, to embrace the moment, to cease focusing on my future or my past and be here now. i’m not great a living in the moment. my mind is often elsewhere, dreaming or planning or hoping.
so, to remember what i love about this city, a list:
- exploring central park
- street/subway musicians
- walking through Grand Central and Times Square on the way to work
- watching multiple episodes of How I Met Your Mother with a good friend.
- street jewelry in SOHO
- summer nights at Blockhead’s
- late night chats w/all 4 roommates (few and far between)
- being a train ride away from the beach
- the awesome people i work[ed] with ( and since they are helping me write this list, they wanted their names mentioned: so here you go, mary, anetha, and selina!)
- actual seasons!
- public transportation
- celebrity sightings (though i only saw Elizabeth Hasslebeck, Jane Fonda, and Seth Rogan, and Ralph Lauren [is he a celeb?] and Condoleezza Rice [thanks for the reminder, Susan!]
- watching shows/movies about new york and recognizing places
- the view of the skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge
- flying into LGA and seeing the whole island at once
- pinkberry, red mango, and chipotle (Nashville has none of these….come on Nashville!)
What did I miss??
05-18-09
family
“One minute you’re standing in a new city with nothing but a suitcase and the next you’re surrounded by family.”
- felicity
Family.
i’ve always defined it as the people i’m related to by blood or at least by marriage. i grew up in Tennessee and went to elementary, middle, high school, and college in the same town. family used to be something i took for granted. they were always there when i needed something. they took care of me. i never had to worry about my basic needs because they were already met.
I have learned so much from my family. the older i get, the more i understand myself by getting to know them. my father is the most loving and generous man i’ve ever met. my sister makes my day a million times better any time i get to be around her. my mother is my rock and the strongest person i know. my step-dad loves me like i am his own. and i have aunts, uncles, cousins, and step-familiy who are equally as amazing as my immediate family.
when i meet new people in New York they inevitably ask, “so, why did you move here?” i get a lot of weird looks when i tell them i moved up here to help plant a church. most new yorkers don’t even know what a church plant is, let alone why i would move all the way here just to help with one.
what i really want to tell them is that it’s because of my church that i have a family in new york. i have people to spend time with, people who will help me if my basic needs aren’t being met. they may not know everything about me because i have 28 years of junk stored up, but they sure do love me. they are the first people i think of to call when something happens, the people with whom i share triumphs and failures.
the last time i went to Tennessee one of my roommates came with me. we were on the plane headed back to the city after a great weekend. we were both sad to leave, and she turned to me and asked, “How can you do it? How can you get on a plane and leave your family behind?”
The truth is, I’m always leaving family behind.
05-02-09
introducing….
Stella from India!
She’s 9!
I chose her because I love her name and I love how annoyed she looks in this photo. 
05-01-09
poverty.
one of my favorite things about traveling is the people i get to meet and, in turn, the stories i get to tell.
some stories are funny, some are just neat, and most have an ending i can wrap up for you in a package with a nice bow.
unfortunately, some stories don’t seem to have a happy ending. they’re hard to write about, to talk about, to even think about.
this is why missionaries have to “debrief” (to use the southern baptist terminology). this is why, when people ask me how [insert country here] was, all i can say is “amazing” or something of the sort, and hope my smile is genuine enough to portray my gratefulness for getting to go and be part of something so…well, amazing. this is why i still haven’t written all that much about Africa – i’ll be processing it for the rest of my life.
when we pulled up to the project site on our first day of merry everyday gift giving, the children were in line to receive their Christmas presents from CHI. as i got out of the taxi, i realized that their presents were a large vat of cooking oil and a large package of noodles. Such a contrast to the clothes, toys, books, crayons, bikes, etc. that we give and receive here, huh? Most of these families eat because their child is sponsored by Children’s Hope International’s Greatest Need Project. Through donations they are able to provide shelter, medical care, and other critical resources to Ethiopia’s orphaned and at-risk children.
the woman pictured above is the mother of two grown women and the grandmother of two beautiful children. They live in a “house” that is essentially…well, a shack. It is no bigger than my current bedroom, but 5 people reside there. Their “kitchen” is a small fire pit just outside their “door.” The grandfather is long gone, and the father died of AIDS – though, thankfully, neither the children nor their mother contracted the disease.
I have seen the face of poverty, and it is suprisingly beautiful.
I’ve been following the journey of the Compassion bloggers in India, and have struggled to keep my heart hardened to their stories. As much as I want to read them, I don’t want to be moved. I don’t want to be changed. I like my life just like it is thankyouverymuch. And I’m quitting my job soon and moving without the guarantee of another job. And I’m going back to school and will again be a poor college student. And I don’t have an extra $30 a month. And I already sponsor a child through World Vision – that has got to be enough! And…and…and.
No. it’s not enough. I read this story this morning and God spoke loud and clear (and of course I cried on the bus, which is something i seem to do a lot). Admittedly, the thought of helping just one child overwhelms me, because there are so many who need help. But God spoke: One at a time. One day. One child. I think i can handle that.
Confession: Last night I spent $15 on a concert and then $16 on a cab home, totaling $31. For that small amount of money i could have released a child from poverty. Reread that sentence…if i stayed home ONE night, i could have provided some basic needs for a child living in conditions no human should ever have to endure.
So where does that leave me? I’m going to sponsor a child in India. I’m going to write her (a girl, because I already sponsor a boy) letters and tell her she is loved. I’m going to pray for her. I’m going to get to watch her grow up. I am going store up treasures elsewhere – and by ‘elsewhere’ i don’t even mean Heaven, i mean India.
Join me.