Be An Orphan's Valentine.

hopechest is partnering with mycrazyadoption.org this valentine's day:
buy a shirt.

give a shirt.

(and shoes.)

to an orphan in ethiopia.

click on the picture above to order yours. 

looking forward to a new year.

what i love about christmas is being with people i love.  my family spends all day christmas just enjoying being together.  it is hard to find my family gifts- because no one just runs into the mall and grabs a sweater or a dvd.  well. except for my dad.  he buys his OWN gifts and then opens a "store" in the living room, then we are able to go pick out what gift we would like to pay him for and wrap up and then we put it under the tree hoping that he forgot that he purchased it in the first place.  but other than that--my family gives the most thoughtful/homemade gifts which makes christmas very special.  from a picture my brother painted me to remember my chicago days- recipes from my sister so i can attempt cooking, a scrapbook from my boyfriend, to my favorite necklace of all time from my best friend amy.  

  

     i'd take my family and friends wrapped up in bows under my tree any day.  

i started this year off right in chicago with my girlfriends and josh (even got an extra night due unorganized united airlines to watch the movie UP!) it was so good to be with amy, laura, and kristina at favorite local swedish restaurant--tre kronor for hours disturbing everyone around us with our constant outburst of laugher reminiscing about living in a tiny apartment with one bathroom and six girls- making two thousand nine the best year to date. 


although it was the best year to date it was probably the most challenging, funny how that works-so many new things happened: student taught. graduated college. got baptized. traveled to thailand. japan. and africa. started dating josh. moved to colorado. and started a new job. lots of transitions but i can see how god has been preparing me for all these changes for a very long time. 


i am encouraged by the large amount of growth that hopechest has had just in the past couple months that i have worked there.  can't wait to see the great things he has in store for me, for hopechest, for my friends, for my family and for all of those kiddos i love in swazi and zambia in two thousand and ten.

The Poor Will Be Glad

i just started reading the poor will be glad last night.  written by peter greer--president of HOPE international. i enjoy books written about poverty and international development- i have read the opposing views of the end of poverty and the white man's burden.  both very in-depth accounts (and way too many statistics for me to keep up with...) of what works and what doesn't in poor countries.  the poor will be glad brings the "christian" spin to the table with a much simpler  way of stating solutions for effectively reducing poverty.  


a story on page fifty-five caught my attention.  greer writes about a famous christian author who went to swaziland, africa to plant a "grand theme park"-- i was originally  picturing swazidisney but quickly the book informed me that this "theme park" would include a golf course, cannery, chicken farms, schools, churches etc.--the goal of this "theme park" was to appease western tourists and house ten thousand AIDS orphans.  the author  creating this park was advised by the u.s. ambassador that his plan was not the best solution to the swazi challenges due to the swazi culture--but he went ahead and gave the swazi king five days to approve his plan to give his organization a ninety-nine year lease on game parks which would in-turn force out local groups that worked on the prime game parks for years.  long story short-swazi press heard what was happening and turned local swazi's against the agenda.  after not receiving the swazi king's approval-- the author returned to the united states with word that "swazi traditions had failed to adequately provide for the multitudes of poor AIDS orphans, and that drastic new measures and bold dreams were required." greer points out  importance of engaging local leaders and listening to their ideas before forging ahead with western solutions.  


this story made so much sense to me, especially after recently returning from swaziland.  what i love about sparkventures (where i interned) and children's hopechest (where i am currently working) is that both of these organizations highly value building relationships with local leaders, and local pastors--learning about the culture and the individual needs of each community to find the best solution to the problems.  i have been with both of these organizations to africa and had the chance to sit down with pastor gift and pastor walter in swaziland and pastor  mumba in zambia to get a taste of their vision and work together to accomplish sustainability for their own community.