Rocky

I know my blog posts have been more fun and lighthearted lately but will you allow me to switch gears a bit? Is that ok? Several weeks ago I read a book titled “Always Enough” by Heidi Baker (a female minister who works with the poor and orphaned in Mozambique) and I read a book titled, “Relentless” by Dave Donaldson (one of the co-founders of Convoy of Hope, a disaster relief and poverty relief organization). I also just so happened to read both books while I was in Haiti which I believe completed the trinity. The conglomeration of both books against the backdrop of Haiti, started to stir my heart. Heidi Baker explains that love looks like something and we have to seek out what that looks like for each person. She quoted Mother Teresa by saying, “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” Donaldson shared his story of how he and his brothers lo...

So the Giveaway door was officially swung shut this weekend! I know there are more technical savvy ways to randomly choose from a pool of names. Though I went the old school way by writing the names out on slips of paper and choosing randomly from a hat. So with no further adieu the winner of my 300th-Blog-Post-Giveaway is...drum roll pleeeaaasse... and the winner is...Steven! I'm so glad I did the giveaway because I now have all these great ideas for my blog!! Stay tuned for more fun stuffs!!  xoxo, r

I have been quite pleased by the response to my first giveaway post! (Should I capitalize that? Is giveaway connected to post considered a proper noun? Meh.) I now have several ideas for posts thanks to your lovely responses! I worry that I won't be able to deliver what has been asked but I can certainly try. For starters here are some photos I took this past week.  The Farrums and I went hiking near her stomping grounds, Diamond Bar. For some reason some of the water was orange, like really really orange. It was weird. Usually I go to the morning service but this past Sunday the Farrums and I decided to go to the night service downtown. We went to special Faith Conversation discussion afterwards to boot! I was very excited to hear that the Jesus Culture Conference was going on in LA, and was even more excited when I heard Reinhard Bonnke was coming to speak. Also was pleasantly surprised to see Sean Smith up on stage! Too good!  Sadly I could ...

Note: the early-birthday present I am wearing! Birthday poncho Eeeee! Evidently this is my 300th blog post*. Ding ding ding! Yay! Woot woot! I want to do something special for this post but didn't know exactly what to do, but I would like to reward you for all of your hard work in following my dysfunctional ramblings. I wanted to do a "giveaway" of sorts but that would require people wanting to sponsor me, and who is kidding who here? I'm not going to get any sponsors. So it was suggested to me by the Farrums that I do a giveaway of items that I personally make. So there you have it folks! I am making a "Swag-Bag" (in the words of the Farrums). Said giveaway may or may not include:  Handmade post cards featuring my own photography Handmade accessories (for example, a handmade leather envelope business card holder. Or if you prefer animal-frendly, a canvass option!)  Especially for a local Los Angeles winner, I will be throwing in some awesome tre...

I'm back from probably my favorite Haiti trip I have been on, to date. We had a smaller team which made for a more intimate trip, we went for a shorter time which caused us to really make every second count, the weather was more mild and less intense, and I didn't get sick or have diarrhea "stomach issues" at all! And those are just some of the smaller tangible things. Our voyage from the plane, according to my phone. We played games, soccer, and BINGO. We held babies, sang songs, and spent much valued time with our dear friends. We held services, distributed food and clothes. I was also able to spend a good deal of time with the ladies in the Haitian kitchen. This year there was a different boss of the kitchen, and she gave me more tasks, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was also afforded more taste tests this year. I have several stories to tell you. If you would like to hear them just let me know...but in the mean time here are some of my favorite pictures ...