Christmas Stars

Reach high,
                  for stars lie hidden in your soul.

Dream deep,
                  for every dream precedes the goal.
                                                                                                             Pamela Vaull Star

My wish for you
On this Merry Christmas Eve:

Just for a moment,
Slow down long enough to Reach for your own stars.
Take a momemt to deeply Dream your very own dreams.

For Christmas Magic is in the air.
And it falls upon "grown-ups" too....

Winter's Light

December 22nd.....Winter Solstice came.

Snow.

I wish.

(Send me yours.)

Winter's light.

I see your light.

Let it shine.

Talk About SHINING LIGHT.

Sister Kathryn, I am lucky to know her. She is a most remarkable woman.

Sister Kathryn was my first nun.
I grew up in a small town in Georgia. In a Southern Baptist Church. I had never met a "real-live nun" before.

I remember meeting her. It was at a board meeting for a local non-profit organization that I had just joined. Excuse me, what did you say? She's a nun? Did I hear that right? She didn't look like a nun, not like the nuns I had seen on tv anyway. She was dressed like the rest of us. She did not sing; she did not fly.

Sister Kathryn was gentle, yet firm. She knew what needed to happen, and she expected the board, of which she was a member, to make it happen. And I could tell immediately that no one in that room wanted to disappoint Sister Kathryn. Revered, that's what she was. (And now that I think about it, I'm quite sure she founded that non-profit organization, as she did so many in the area.)

One thing in particular that struck me about Sister Kathryn, which was very different from the other board members (including me- ha!) was that she didn't have a big ole ego getting in her way.

Egos have a way of interfering with a lot of non-profit work.
Not here. Not with her.

I liked her right away.

Sister Kathryn rocks.

When I wrote my "Here's The Thing" column for the Sister Act Issue of maryjanesfarm Magazine, I wrote about Sister Kathryn.

I soon learned that I couldn’t interview her because she had left to go to work in Kenya with orphan girls. When I found out where she was, I joked with one of her friends, "Doesn't Sister Kathryn know how to rest on her laurels?" I knew she didn't. She has already accomplished so much in her life; she has already helped so many people.

And instead of sitting around, drinking hot tea, and writing her memoirs, she's off in Kenya, saving girls from the harsh streets.

That was a year ago.

Sister Kathryn is working with a small orphanage and school for girls called St. Clare’s Centre, located just outside of the city of Meru in Kenya. These are the orphans we are working to provide nightgowns for. (http://www.sweetdreamskenyanorphans.com/) You see, Sister Kathryn is how this whole nightgown project came about. Her being there inspired my daughter and me to try to SHINE some LIGHT there too. Light shining is contagious, yanno.

Here’s in part of what I wrote about Sister Kathryn in the column:

Sister Kathryn is an Adrian Dominican Catholic nun, which means her mission is, in part, to “seek truth, make peace, and reverence life.”


Sister Kathryn did more than “seek truth, make peace and reverence life” in a rural Georgia community. She gave the people there the gift of compassion. How did she accomplish it? She cared about them and then taught them how to care about each other.


And when they started caring about each other, they saw things.

They saw things they had previously ignored, things they had swept under the rug. They saw things like hunger, homeliness, child abuse, lack of medical care, elderly living without basic necessities, and domestic violence.

Sister Kathryn then taught the people how to help each other. She spent years creating programs, forming non-profits, and working to build much needed facilities.


When I tried to contact Sister Kathryn, I couldn’t. At 75 years old, she’d gone to work in Kenya for three years. Having learned that young girls are routinely abused and severely disadvantaged there, she decided to help. Many girls in Kenya live in horrible poverty. They go to the streets when both parents die (often of HIV/AIDS), or to escape dire situations. It is not uncommon for girls to be sold as wives/slaves when they are six to twelve years old. Human trafficking and Female Genital Mutilation are widely practiced. Sister Kathryn went to Kenya to save these girls, to “reverence life.”

So that's Sister Kathryn.
Sister Kathryn is coordinating the Sweet Dreams Kenyan Orphans project in Kenya.
We have the easy job, raising the funds. She has the hard job, taking care of fabric, sewers, sizes!

Can you help us spread LIGHT?

Ten Bucks has never gone so far.

For more information, go to http://www.sweetdreamskenyanorphans.com/.
Click here to learn how to donate.

Thank you, Dear Light-filled Friends.

How To Make A Nightgown

Help Give This Sweet Child

at St. Clare's Orphanage in Kenya

Sweet Dreams

source: Friends of Kenyan Orphans

When my daughter and I came up with the idea of sending snugly pajamas to the orphans who Sister Kathryn (next post is about Sister Kathryn!) works with at St. Clare's in Kenya (okay, I'll tell that part of the story soon too), we didn't realize how tricky it would be to pull off. We thought all we'd have to do is collect 340 gowns and pajamas here and then ship them over there. Voila. Done.

Not so, not so.

I soon learned that we could collect all the pjs we wanted to here in the USA, and we could ship them over there to Kenya, but most likely, they would never ever reach the girls.

Very few items shipped to Kenya actually reach their intended destinations. Packages are often stolen on their way. Or government officials seize them. Or governmental taxes and tariffs are so high on that end that it is impossible for the recipients to pay to pick them up.

So what to do, what to do.

Enter Bud Ozar. I told him my idea about the nightgowns. He, in all his brilliance, came up with the PERFECT answer.

Raise the money for the pajamas HERE IN THE USA and have the pajamas made THERE IN AFRICA.

Then, not only will the girls get nightgowns that are culturally appropriate (I hadn't even THOUGHT of that!), but money will go to a local seamstress and help her support her family.

I loved his solution.

Next issue. How to accomplish finding fabric and seamstresses in AFRICA. Now, that's a biggie, isn't it?

Enter "That Sister Kathryn."
(come back tomorrow for a post about "That Sister Kathryn.")

"I will take care of it here," she wrote in an email.
I squealed out in delight when I read her words. My daughter did too.
"That Sister Kathryn!!"
And "That Sister Kathryn" has.

"That Sister Kathryn" has located the fabric needed,
"That Sister Kathryn" has identified the seamstresses,
"That Sister Kathryn" has negotiated the prices,

And now all we need is to raise the funds.

So I am asking for your help. Please give generously to this worthwhile cause if you can.

It will cost only $10.00 per nightgown!
Ten Bucks has never gone so far!

Yes, ten dollars really does make a difference in this particular project. Every single ten dollar contribution HELPS! It gives another girl a nightgown! It gives a seamstress in Kenya income! It also gives you a tax donation!

Head over to http://www.sweetdreamskenyanorphans.com/ and click on the HOW TO HELP page for information about how to donate. Or here's a direct link to that page.
100 percent of your donation will go to have the nightgowns made for the orphans.

Sister Kathryn

source: Friends of Kenyan Orphans

Thank you, Good Friends.

Together, we can bring Sweet Dreams to orphan girls very far away.

Peace, Y'all!

Sweet Dreams to You and Yours!

Sweet Dreams

I posted over at The City Farmgirl Blog at www.maryjanesfarm.com about our Christmas Pajamas tradition.

That tradition has led us, my daughter and me, across the globe to Kenya.
Not physically, just in our minds and hearts.
Kenya is where Sister Kathryn is right now.
Physically. AND in her mind and heart.
(More about Sister Kathryn in a later post!)

Many of my posts will talk about this program until we raise all the money needed for every single orphan girl at St. Clare's Centre in Kenya to have a snugly nightgown. I also started a new blog at http://www.sweetdreamskenyanorphans.com/, that will focus on the plight of the girls in Kenya and this particular project.

So, at last! It is off the ground. It is finally time to raise the money. All the groundwork is in place.

Now we need your help!
Can you give a nightgown for a Kenyan orphan girl?
The cost is only $10.00 per gown.

And as you'll see, there's LOTS of bang for your charitable buck with this program.

For starters, each ten dollar donation will provide one nightgown for a Kenyan orphan girl residing at St. Clare's Centre. There are 340 girls there right now.

The ten dollar donation won't simply buy any ole nightgown for one of the girls. It will be used to purchase fabric and pay a seamstress IN KENYA to make a culturally appropriate nightgown especially for one of the girls.
The innovative structure of this program helps not only the orphan girls, but also the local Kenyan seamstresses who desperately need money to buy food, clothes, and medicine for their families.
The concept for structuring it like this is the brainchild of Bud Ozar, founder of the non-profit Friends of Kenyan Orphans. Thank you again, Bud! (More about Bud in a later post!)

And here’s another important thing to know. 100% of your donation goes to have these special nightgowns made. Yes, 100 pennies of every single dollar of this project will go for fabric and labor. No other costs. Nothing hidden. It’s all done under the umbrella of the organization that helps these children, Friends of Kenyan Orphans, a small and lean organization that is operated by volunteers. http://www.friendsofkenyanorphans.org/.

Your donation is, of course, fully tax deductible as Friends of Kenyan Orphans is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, tax ID #26-4047939.

To make a donation through PayPal, go to their site and follow their link to PayPal. http://www.friendsofkenyanorphans.org/?page_id=199

Or, if you'd like to send a check, the mailing address is:

FRIENDS OF KENYAN ORPHANS
920 Berkshire Road
Grosse Pointe, MI 48230
Attn: Sweet Dreams

In order to contribute to this specific project, it is very important to SPECIFY THAT YOUR DONATION IS FOR SWEET DREAMS KENYAN ORPHANS.
Just make a note of "SWEET DREAMS" in the message/notes section or write it on your check.

Then, make sure to email me bekateal@gmail.com and let me know about your contribution so that I can send you a special and personal thank you note. Also, if you are making the contribution in the name of someone else, just tell me the names of the people you are giving each gown in. Each $10 can be a separate gift; or maybe you want to give several gowns in someone's name. It is your choice. Just let me know when you email me. I’ll send you a special email back for you to print out and wrap up for gift giving. Dont' worry, I will have it to you in time for Christmas if you are making the donation for a Christmas present. (Feel free to email me with questions as well.) Thank you so much for your generosity. This is a great way for us to work together to help the world be a better place.

Peace.

Sister Kathryn with Elsie

Elsie is the child we sponsor through

the Friends of Kenyan Orphans sponsorship program

Parents, Watch Your Children

The country is shocked and saddened by the murder of a 7-year old girl here in Georgia, little Jorelys Rivera. I'm sure you've heard about it. It's a horrific story. And let me tell you what: I used to work in the circuit where that murder occurred, and I feel confident that this case will be handled in such a way that the entire country will feel justice was served. (Unlike the Anthony case.)


The airwaves of Atlanta radio and tv are filled with experts and heads of non-profits telling us parents how to teach our children to protect themselves from becoming a victim. They tell us to teach our children what to do if it happens to them. Teach them to fight; teach them to run; teach them to scream. These programs have offered solid advice. I'm thankful for them. Child advocacy and child protection have always been one of my professional focuses.

However, just a minute ago when I heard yet another clip about teaching our children how to protect themselves from predators, I knew I had to come to this computer and get something off my chest.

Hence this post.

What about us?! What about the parents?!

THROUGH ALL THE PRESS,
I'VE YET TO HEAR FROM ANY OF THE EXPERTS OFFER THIS VITAL PIECE OF ADVICE :

PARENTS, WATCH AND PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN.

We, as parents, must eliminate, to the extent we can, opportunities for our children to become victims.

• How many times have you been at a store and watched a Mom talk on the cell phone, completely ignoring the 4-year-old child running around the store?
• How many times have you been at a public playground and wondered who was with them? Where "their adults" were?
• How many times do you go to a theater, mall, bookstore, concert, ballgame, public bathroom and see a kid, unsupervised and alone?

I know, I know. This isn't a popular thing to say. (As if.)

I was on a field trip once and made comments to some moms like what I wrote above.
One of the moms turned to me and said, "Well, I'm not going to live like that, in fear."

I asked the woman this: "Are you car doors locked right now?"
"Of course," she said.

Yes, of course.
Protect the crap in your car, but not your kid.

Anyway, as parents we can't expect our children to protect themselves. They are children. They simply can't. Children giggle and laugh and play and believe most everything anyone tells them. How can we expect them to tell the different between a good person and a bad person? As I've always said, you can't tell a predator just by looking. They don't usually look like what you think they do.

Part of the job description of being a parent is protecting our children. Sure, give them the tools: teach them stranger-danger, good-touch-bad-touch, all that. And yes, talk to them about what to do if they are approached. But don't expect them to protect themselves. That's what we're here for. Otherwise, we'd just lay eggs and go, wouldn't we?

Parents, watch your children.

Christmas Dreams

 

Oreo, in last year's INCREDIBLE southern snow

I just put up a post at The City Farmgirl Blog about
DREAMS
FIR
SNOWE.
Come over and visit me!
I'm doing a drawing for a MaryJanesFarm 2012 Calendar.
All you need to do is leave a comment here or there!
Tell us what aroma means Christmas to you?