A Something Place: July 2010

25.7.10

It's time I shared about: AFRICA

I have a lot on my mind lately. As in right now. So anyone who reads all of this should let me know. Ill be very impressed. And let me know if anything impacts you in anyway. Thanks.

One thing I feel I have not shared about as much as I should is Africa. That was life changing. I still remember so clearly the day we were driving back and my dad told me that the things I was feeling at that moment needed to stay with me, that I couldn't have this experience then be the same person that I was before it happened, a month later. So I haven't. I often think back to Africa. I think about how blessed I am and what I have. I think about what these people didn't have. (All of these pictures are taken by me, from MY trip)

What they have to do to even get ends meat. The things the women endure from the men. Taking care of children all on there own. I remember someone there telling us that a lot of the time women have so many children that they will take them to the market and purposely lose them because they can't afford to pay for them. They abandon them.

That because of the Kerosine they use to light the fires in their homes, almost 50 % of children fall into a fire and are badly burnt. They don't know much to treat it, and they think the best thing to do is run to get it out. Even us teaching them STOP. DROP. and ROLL. could save so many lives.

The fact that these people lie around the hospitals if they are lucky enough to even get in. When they are hurt, they are broken, but no one has the knowledge on how to fix them. And what little knowledge a doctor does have he will make them give up so much just so he can treat that little thing. The fact that these hospitals weren't even a cleanly place. That even being there was dirty. Was tiring. Was smelly.

The fact that they don't even know what brushing their teeth is. How many times do we complain about doing such a task as this? That it takes up our precious time. That it is wasteful and we hate to do it. Have we ever thought that people on the other side of the world have never seen a tooth brush. Don't even know what brushing their teeth means? It's little things like this we take for granted EVERYDAY.

The fact that we have SHOES. That we don't have to go around walking everywhere, with trash, and droppings, and such dirty floors with unclothed feet. Has anyone ever stepped onto a bathroom floor without shoes on, say, if they are going swimming or something? And thought they would die by how gross it was for their feet to touch that dirty floor. The people in africa have worse floor. And they never have shoes.

The fact that we aren't in such need of little things like pencils and toys that we have to reach our arms out every time we see the opportunity of getting something? That one little thing will benefit our lives so greatly we would fight a crowd just to get one little thing. That we need ANYTHING that much.

The fact that our roads are nice enough, when we go on a LONG car ride it isn't bumpy. That they are so smooth we can read, or sleep, or write, or watch a movie. Have any of us every stopped the think about the blessing we have of smooth roads?

This is how bumpy the roads were. My camera was held still.

How many times do we realize what we have? We have SO MUCH. but something hit me on this trip. We have too much. We take for granted what we have because we have everything. We don't realize what a blessing it is to eat when we want to. To have plumbing. To live with people who care about us. To have a town that smells good. To be able to brush our teeth. To be able to go in public without watching our pockets. To be able to feel safe. To have a school to go to. To have shoes. To have cable. To have blankets. To enjoy our lives. We don't realize what we have.

And that's the difference between us and the people of Kenya.

While we have so much. They have NOTHING but YET:

They. Understand.

They realize what they have. They understand what blessings they have in their life. They learn to embrace life. They find joy in everything that they can. Even with everything I've said that they don't have. They just get what we seem to not be able to, they look at what they do have.

They are some of the happiest people I've ever encountered. The people of Africa were the most gracious, beautiful people. They were fascinated to learn the things about health that we had to teach them. They found happiness playing with a small ball. They sang songs they knew with all of their heart. They laughed as they placed duck duck goose. They found pleasure in the company of others.

When I was able to go to the school and talk to the kids they laughed as they asked me why I was white. If I liked Obama. What those things on my teeth were (braces). If I was married. How many siblings I had. As I talked to these kids I realized that with each person they come in contact with, they want to know about them. They care about the person and what is happening in their life. What types of things surround their everyday whereabouts. Something it seems we Americans can't grasp ourselves.

When I talked to a man at the hospital we conversed about his dog. Then he asked me about my home and if I love it. As I replied yes, in my mind I heard myself complaining. I don't know why I am not grateful for where I live. As we continued to talk he asked me about America. He told me that he wanted to visit it someday. I then proceeded to ask him if he would want to live there. To which he replied: No. Just visit. Kenya is my home. I love it here.

THAT stuck to me. We have SO much more in America. We have everything that these people don't have. Everything that we feel sorry for them for not having because without these things we think they can't truly be happy. We are so wrong. The truth is, materialistically they have nothing. We have everything. But yet their lives have everything, while our lives seem to be so filled with self pity.

These people hold the secret to happiness. We should learn from them.

This. Is. Happiness.

Don't mind the naked baby :)

Mice in the Pasture.

My friend Lydia might kill me. But I just think these pictures are too funny. Oh the days of 8th grade.

p.s. I'm still that white. embrace it.

24.7.10

Lucky Charms

I try everything.

You don't even show thanks for what I do.

I just mess up when it comes to you.

I share my very inner most special things with you.

I show up places for you.

I wait up for you.

And your response is always a little disappointing.

I just feel like my efforts go un-noticed.

That's all.

I don't mean to be unkind.

I'm very sorry.

23.7.10

It's Dawg Time!

I like surprises.
I don't like certain surprises.

I am content with life right now.
Last night was a blast.

Good plans of action:

Squirt gun attacks
Alan's car breaking (not good, but funny)
Going to Will's and buying milk
Going to Days and buying smart water
Walking up on the tall thingy all the way up Timpview Hill
Accidentally screaming "your mom" at two people on a scooter
Taking pictures in the parking lot/freezer
Alan constantly running away from me at Days
Sneaking up and "scaring" Elna and Nanette
Jumping on Elna's tramp
"It's hard to do when you're......." "Pregnant." "yup."
Rapping while Dane and Alan kept the beat
Alan trying to rap and the only successful part of the song was "MAN"
Elna having the softest toilet paper ever
Roundhouse kicking the smart water bottle
Catching bunnies at the cemetery
Putting Dane's car in neutral all down timpview drive, and having Alan and Dane push, while Elna drove, and I sat on the back of the car
Finding a pillow in the street
Looking at the temple from the prettiest view
Playing the HAHA game
Discovering everyone's real laughs
Making a square with our elbows
Going to rock canyon park and rolling down the hill. (of which many cool attempts at different things did not work)
Dane's picture of a hot "chick"
Listening to David Archuleta on the way home.

Yup. And THAT is what a grand night consists of.

19.7.10

Because sometimes Jello feels good on your toes.

So today I am very happy. Life is good. Life is GRAND. Today while running with my dear friends Caroline, I told her my new motto. "Treat everyone like it's their birthday, everyday."
My week at EFY was AMAZING! There is nothing else to say. Everything was perfect. Everything was wonderful. I feel like a completely different person. And I hope that I can stay this way.

So as I read Nicole's blog (she doesn't even know I read her blog) I decided to do the same thing. Go through my pictures of this past year and pick out a few of my favorite memories. So here are a few. okay A LOT! This will be a very long post :)