MLK, Jr. Day

When you visit the website for The King Center you are greeted by audio of Martin Luther King, Jr. This clip contains one of my all time favorite quotes. Dr. King says ... "If you want to be important, wonderful. If you want to be recognized, wonderful. If you want to be great, wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be a servant. That's a new definition of greatness. And this morning the thing that I like about it, by giving that definition of greatness, it meas that EVERYBODY CAN BE GREAT BECAUSE EVERYBODY CAN SERVE. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, (and a) soul generated by love and you can be that servant."

Wow.

Those words have been a huge inspiration to both myself and Drew. Those words are one of the things that fuel why we do what we do ... but that's something to dive into another day ...

The Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday was created to bring honor to the life that he lived and the service that drove him and ultimately ended his life. He was truly an amazing man. He was great ... because he was a servant. In that theme, SafeHouse holds a day of service on MLK day every year. We go into neighborhoods that most people pretend do not exist for the sole purpose of showing them love and friendship.

Yesterday we went to Forest Cove Apartments on the west side of Atlanta. These apartments are located directly next door to the Federal Prison. It looked like a TuPac video ... hoopties rolling by, dealers congregating on the street corners, very young children wondering around alone. I say that just to paint a picture of the neighborhood we were in.

We rolled in with our tents, mobile medical unit, bounce house, hand-up services, entertainment and groceries (compliments of Convoy of Hope). The day went off without a hitch! It was a beautiful day of blacks and whites, rich and poor, urban and suburban, young and old, police and dealers just being people hanging with people. The walls were down, smiles were on, fun was had by all. It was a fitting tribute to my personal hero, Martin Luther King, Jr.

To me, that's what it's all about ... people ... people loving and serving and just being real. I'm so grateful that I got to be a part of such an amazing day!

Hope you enjoy these pictures and can get a glimpse of why we do what we do ...

SO PROUD!!

I know that every mother thinks that their kids are the cutest, smartest, funniest, best kids on the planet ... but my really are! At least that's my opinion. But I have reason to think so ...

Today Emma rushed in the house from the bus screaming and waiving a piece of paper around. At first I was like, "Oh, No!" But once I got her to tone down her excitement and catch her breath, I found out that Emma was put on Honor Roll! She got a certificate, a medal and a coupon for a free Happy Meal ... which I think the Happy Meal was her favorite part. I'm so proud of her!! She's brilliant! She's never made less than an A on anything at school. She loves, loves, loves to read and learn. I can't wait to see what she accomplishes in the future!!!!

Unblocked

I've had a creative block for months. I haven't been writing or painting ... which is usually not a great sign for me, but I think it has been because of all the commotion of the holidays and what not. My creativity is officially unblocked! Yay! I only wish I had time to paint all the ideas in my head right now. Hopefully I will be able to squeeze out some more time to paint this week.

Report Card

I am so proud of my sweet Princess Emma. She came home with her report card today and once again she got all A's!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

On December 30th Drew and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary! Yea us!! We are two seriously odd people that somehow managed to find each other and I'm so glad that we did. So, what do most people do for their anniversary? Maybe give each other nice gifts, go to a fancy dinner, take a vacation ... all of those sound fun, but we went a completely different route. Drew and I spent our anniversary showing 33 teenagers the plight of the homeless in Atlanta. We took them on a tour of Peach and Pine (aka Task Force for the Homeless) which is the largest overflow shelter in the city, showed them "Chicken Run" where people dumpster dive under the 5 Points Marta Station, the Abandominium that houses more than 100 homeless people and "Jurassic Park" where a large number of crack addicted homeless live.

That might sound like a crazy way to spend such an important day, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I will say this, for as weird and crazy as we are, we've made it this far. It's sad to say that our marriage has outlasted most of our friends marriages. I feel so blessed that Drew and I both never stop trying, and working, and striving to better our relationship. It's been a lot of hard work that has gotten us this far! I look forward with great anticipation as to what lies ahead of us over the next eight years.


Peach and Pine.


The resident volunteer dorms at Peach and Pine.


the Abandominium

Avoiding the Trap

The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget. - Thomas Szasz



Wise words. Forgiveness isn't easy for many people in the world. I happen not to be one of those people. Forgiveness comes easily to me ... now, trust, that's a completely different story. Forgiveness is so vitally important in life. It we do not forgive then no forward progress can be made. Sometimes I think I forgive too easily and then fall into the trap of forgetting. Remembering the wrong is just as important as forgiving it. If we forget and just wipe it from our memory, have we learned or grown from the situation?

I forgive, but I can not forget because I have changed as a result of the wrong ... I am wiser and stronger than before and know what to do when a similar situation appears in the future. It's a fine line, though, between remembering and harboring. Remembering is a must but harboring negates ones ability to actually forgive and that's the trap I want to avoid. I have a feeling that this is one of those balances that takes ones entire lifetime to figure out.

Daily Inspiration

According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary the definition of Hero is as follows - a: a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability; b: an illustrious warrior c: a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities d: one that shows great courage.

The first name that pops into my head when I hear the word Hero is my husband, Drew. He wouldn't much agree with that, but those of us who are so privileged to have him in our lives very much think that to be the case.

The second name that pops into my head is Martin Luther King, Jr. Talk about an amazing human being who was driven by passion ... He was passion personified! Not only did he give one of the greatest speechesof all time but he retaught an entire generation how important love and peace are, not to mention the fact that he won the Nobel Peace Price. That's what makes him my hero. He was driven by the same things that drive me ... love, life, peace, family, God.

I have an application on my iGoogle page that gives me a quote from MLK, Jr. everyday. And as you can imagine, everyday when I get on my computer, I am inspired by his words, his life, his passion ... inspired to lead a revolution, inspired to see things from a different point of view, inspired to show love when I really want to rip someone's head off ... but I digress ... the quote for today reads as follows:

"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it."

Again, his words are so inspiring to me. Love is the most important life force. Without love, what do we have? Hate is easy but Love take courage. I want to live every moment of my life out of love, which is super hard for me. My first reaction used to always come out of a place of hurt and pain. I didn't used to care who got hurt in the process as long as it didn't end in more pain for me. That's not the case anymore. I still do react like that more than I'd like to admit, but something inside of me has changed ... it's Love. It's the influence of love around me that has stirred the love inside of me to grow. Love has awakened a part of me that I didn't even know existed because it was being strangled by hurt, pain and hate. MLK, Jr. said it accurately here ... hatred truly does darken life and love illuminates it ... life becomes brilliant, exciting and fulfilling when it's lived out of love.

I really wish I could have met Dr. King. I would have really enjoyed learning at his feet and experience his passion first hand. But I have the next best thing, Drew. His ability to love, his compassion for others, and his passion are infectious. His presence changes people. It's the craziest thing! He inspires and awakens emotions inside of people that that had no clue were even possible. He challenges growth without even realizing what he's doing. It is a direct result of Drew's influence on my life that has allowed me to make the changes within myself that have been made.

I want to surround myself with other Heros ... other people who inspire and challenge me to be the best person that I can be.

You are my Sunshine

Aven is such a cool little girl. Her personality is so bright and happy that we call her Sunshine a lot of the time. She may only be 2 1/2, but she has the funniest sense of humor and her comedic timing is spot on. She is constantly doing something to make us laugh or bring a little sunshine into the day. She rounds out our family perfectly.

Emma has really blossomed into a book lover ... which, of course, makes me super happy. I love reading now, but not so much when I was a kid so I'm especially happy that it's something she's into at the age of 6. I was at my mother-in-law's over the weekend and was telling her that Emma has read every children's book that we have (which is somewhere in the 75+ range) and that I thought that age appropriate chapter books would be a good Christmas present idea for her. Penny promptly lead me downstairs to a large tupperware container filled with books from when her boys were little. Needless to say, we came home with a ton of new books for Emma to read. As a result, Emma spent at least 2 1/2 hours in her room reading yesterday afternoon and when it was time for bed she asked if she could read two more books. We reached a compromise of one and then it was lights out. I went into her room to check on her after a half hour had passed and this what what I found ... my little reader sleeping with her book still opened to the page she was on. I totally melted. This is definitely one of the cutest things she's done lately.

Great minds ...

I had this great blog written earlier about Mother Teresa and how she's one of my heros. I was about to put the finishing touches on it and post it when I got a call from Drew telling me he had just posted a blog about ... guess what? ... Mother Teresa. I mean, I think it's great and all that we are so simpatico but come on ... ugh. Oh well. I decided not to post mine because I though it'd look like I don't have an original thought. I need to be quicker on the draw I guess.

International Hug Day.

In 2004 Juan Mann started the Free Hugs Campaign, a social movement involving individuals who offer hugs to strangers in public places. As a part of the campaign he started the International Hug Day. The campaign caught traction in 2006 with their music video by the Sick Puppies and an appearance on Oprah.

So, with that said ... lets get out there and dish out the love ... hug it out folks!

Most Hectic Weekend Ever!

Most people relax over the Thanksgiving holiday ... eat some turkey, maybe hang the Christmas lights, take in the latest movie. Not us. Not even close. Thanksgiving is one of the most hectic times for us. Not only did we have to do the whole holiday share thing again spending Thursday divided equally between my parents house and Drew's parents house ... but we also help put on the annual SafeHouse Chili Outreach. This year was extra busy because Drew also had a team of 20 students in town for the weekend as well! Yeah, I said it was hectic.

Chili Outreach was amazing ... even though the weather was not cooperative and the whole event had to be moved indoors at the last minute. We had a great client and volunteer turnout! Hundreds were fed, clothed in winter wear and connected to assistance of all types. Amazing day!

Needless to say, restful the weekend was not ... but it was so worth it. Now I think I need to sleep for a days to catch up.

So many reasons to give thanks ...

The Annual SafeHouse Chili Outreach was an amazing day ... despite the pouring rain. There were hundreds helped, clothed and fed. I wish I could share with you all of the stories of the day, but I narrow it down to my favorite ...

Verizon Wireless loaned us 20 cell phones with free service and unlimited minutes so that our homeless friends could call their loved ones. Many, many of them took us up on this and made contact with friends and family that they had not spoken to in months or even years.

One of the many who used this service was a young man who had not spoken to his mother for quite a long time. He made contact with her using our Verizon Wireless Call Home station. They spent over 45 minutes on the phone. When the conversation was over, he hung up the phone, with a huge ear to ear grin handed it to one of the women working this station, gave her a big bear hug then proceeded to walk to the corner of Ellis Street and Courtland Street and hop in the car with his mother!! Even retelling this story now brings tears to my eyes.

There is something so indescribable about being involved in moments like this. This young made is home and off the streets because of myself and every other volunteer that came out and helped us make the Chili Outreach happen. People ask Drew and I why we do what we do and why we choose to spend our time hanging out on the streets with homeless people ... this young man is why. We do what we do because we love each and everyone of them and want to see them restored to being the best version of themselves that they can be. This young man reconnecting with his mother explains why we make every sacrifice, why we live in the city, really why we do pretty much everything we do. Drew and I want to show the world love ... even the part of the world that others chose to pretend doesn't exist.

Love and Conversion

Drew's latest blog says it so much better than I ever could.

Oh My ...

My friend Mark shared this video today via twitter. Too funny.