Paisleybokeh

Garage Sale

Hmmmm.... I have nothing to say.

There are so many ideas that have gone through my head in the past couple I days I don't know which one to choose... I could write about history, prayer, complacency or one of the billion other semi-deep things I've though about but instead I'm going to write a list.

Over the past couple weeks my youth group organized and held a garage sale to raise money for World Vision.

With four main people we managed to raise $703 in one day... so I figured I should probably figure out what we did so maybe we can pull it all together again next year :). This is where the list part of this blog comes in. Here's a list of everything I need to remember next year:

1. Remember to plan ahead!
2. Make sure the church is actually free the day you plan to have the garage sale. (This year we made the mistake of scheduling before checking the calendar for other events and had to reschedule.)
3. Make announcements and have them put in the church bulletin and other places.
4. Make sure there is one place set aside where people can drop things off.
5. Advertise... Craig's list :)
6. Prepare to spend at least 3 hours the evening before organizing stuff.
7. Make signs beforehand so they can be dropped off the morning of the garage sale.
8. Make sure you have change.
9. Be prepared for things to not go as planned... but hey, whatever works.
10. yeah, overprice... cause people are going to want to pay less.
11. This is the worst blog ever... but it's really just so I remember all this stuff if I ever plan a garage sale again :)
12. Make sure you have enough tables.


All that stuff was really obvious, oh well :) I wrote a blog and that's all I had to do!

That's all I've got, <3 Paisleybokeh

Death of a Tulip

Valentines Day Tulips, Unedited

What's the difference?

Hey ya'll, whats up?

For the past 30 hours I haven't eaten.
Nope, it is not actually a big deal to me, but there are children all over the world who are on a 24-7 fast. Nope, it's not by choice. Their parents simply cannot afford to feed them. They're stuck in a circle of hunger with no way to get out. Without nutrition to fuel their bodies their parents cannot get jobs. It's a simple fact that you cannot work when you are too weak to even stand. Their days are spent finding clean water, or any water at all. When the only water they can find is dirty, they are forced to drink water they know will make them sick. Their already weak bodies cannot fight against the diseases carried in the water. By the end of the day they have gotten nowhere. They have not moved forward, after hours of hard work they are no better off than before. They can't do it alone.

Meanwhile I wake up, eat a breakfast of cereal, toast, or some other tasty nutritious thing.
Then I jump in my handy-dandy little gas-filled car and drive to school.
At school I learn. I learn everything I could possibly need to know.
Remember, while I'm doing this those other kids are busy walking almost 5 hours just for water.
In the middle of the day I take a break to eat lunch. I get to eat almost anything I want.
All of my choices are healthier and more nutritious than those other kids could dream of, they're also more delicious.
After this I get to learn some more, hang out with my friends, and I don't have to worry about my sister, brother, or one of my parents starving to death.
When all that's done I drive home where I get to have whatever snack I want, or even whatever drink I want. Milk is almost unlimited :).
Then supper... let's not even talk about how blessed I am when it come to dinner.
Not only that, I can access clean drinking water from anywhere I am in probably less than two minutes. I can turn a faucet and instantly have gallons of fresh, cold, clean drinking water.

The whole time I have been living my normal life, children have been dying of preventable diseases. These diseases are things we Americans don't even think of as diseases.
Things like hunger and thirst.
Really, what does all that have to do with my life?
I would like to think God as blessed me with so much so that I can just enjoy it,
but I know that's not the truth.

For just $1 a child can be fed for a day.
$30 could feed and care for a kid for a month.
$180 can help feed and care for a child for six months
$360 can help feed and care for a child for a year!

I have been blessed, how can I return the blessing?
If I can help to feed even one of 1 million children, will I do it?

Luke 6:38
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

2 Corinthians 9:6-12
^"6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever."^a]">[a] ¹⁰Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.¹²This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God."

James 2:15-16
"Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?"

Would you be willing to help me support a child for even a day?
If you would like to, comment on this blog or send me an e-mail at echornor@gmail.com

Thanks for listening.

That's all I've got, Paislybokeh <3

Steinbeck?

I've never been the type of person who has a favorite author... or even a favorite color, number or any of those things people ask you about in ice breakers (my favorites used to change and continue to change almost every week) so the fact that I may officially have a favorite author is a breakthrough on my part. I used to like Lewis and then throughout my entire sophomore year his worst books were jammed into my head. So, I will NOT allow myself to read only Steinbeck for the rest of the year. Even though I currently have six Steinbeck books on my desk... but they're short, so it couldn't ruin my opinion of him forever, could it?

The milkweed assassin bug...

This week I'm going to try to combine writing and photography... that would be easier if I had pictures of people. Let's face it, plants don't really give a person a whole lot to talk about. So I just looked through my pictures and I decided I'm going to use a picture I took today in the backyard. Most of my pictures are taken in the backyard, but right now the backyard looks sorta dead. So here's the picture:

Yep, terrible picture :), but cool bug! I first noticed this bug in the backyard probably six months ago. How many months did it take for me to figure out what type of bug this was? About six months. Isn't that sad? All it took was searching one phrase in google and I found out that this is a milkweed assassin bug. Okay, so that really doesn't matter and it's not going to change my life.

I mean, yeah there are ways it could change my life, but I don't see that happening. So then what does this have to do with anything? It happens to do with the fact that this is not the only thing I put off for no reason. There are way more things that I should research when I think about them, rather than waiting for the time when I need to know the answer and I don't have google or a Bible instantly available to me.

That's all I've got, Paisleybokeh <3