He is...

EVERYTHING.
And I am humbled to know that I live because he does.

Happy Birthday Jesus Christ.


Merry Christmas to all.
Wishing you all the blessings this season brings.

Take a Walk in Their Shoes

When I first heard about TOMS shoes and what this company does, I immediately wanted a pair.
With every pair you purchase TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One.
As of September, TOMS has given away 1,000,000 pairs of shoes to children in 24 countries.
http://www.toms.com/

TOMS was created by Blake Mycoskie. After visiting Argentina in 2006 and discovering that the children had no shoes for their feet, he developed TOMS as a way to help alleviate the problem. How commendable. I admire him for not only seeing a problem, but developing and implementing a solution.

I purchased the limited edition charity: water Earthwise Women's Classic. Not only will a child be receiving a pair of shoes, but this pair also contributes to the building of three new clean water wells in Ethiopia. How great is that. The print on the shoe is the map of Africa and I know I will be wearing these quite often.

The Other City

The above film premiered Dec 1st on Showtime.

Anyone who knows me knows that the majority of time spent watching tv is spent watching documentaries.
My Husband always tries to persuade me not to watch them so much because he fears that it will affect me too much.
He is right. I am affected. But I like being affected because being affected brings about awareness and awareness leads to change. Im human. And to me there is nothing wrong with being reminded of that. It promotes selflessness.

True, being aware and helping, being selfless, all of these can be achieved without looking at what most would consider "depressing".
But, I just cant help it. They help me to better undertsnad those who differ from me whether it be through race, living situation, culture, etc. By understanding others I feel like it helps me to better understand myself. My purpose even.

Below is a link to the movie. It will affect you more than you know. It tells the story of D.C. and the HIV/AIDS epidemic that is running ramped. It is the side of D.C. that you dont hear about first or often. It is almost as if, when talking about it being the city with the greatest number of cases, you are referring to another city.

http://www.theothercity.com/
Check your local listings.

December is....

National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month

http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/3d.html

Universal Human Rights Month

HIV/AIDS Awareness Month

Hanukkah   - December  1 – December 9

Bill of Rights Day – December 15

Christmas Eve – December 24

Christmas – December 25

Day of Goodwill – December 26

Kwanzaa  - December 26 – January 1

December 1 - World AIDS Day

A total of 33 million people now live with HIV/AIDS. Two million of them are under age 15.

Last year 1/2 million babies were bron with HIV.

In 2008, an estimated 2.7 million people were infected with HIV.

Every day, 7,397 people contract HIV – 308 every hour.

In 2008, 2.0 million people died from AIDS.

Worldwide, women make up half of all people living with HIV.

There are approximately, 1.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S.

An estimated 56,300 new HIV infections occurred in the U.S. in 2006.

African Americans accounted for 46% of all new HIV infections diagnosed in 2006, although they only comprise 12% of the population.

As someone who lost a Brother to this epidemic, I urge everyone to educate themselves against prevention. I also please hope that we will not turn our backs on those who have fallen victim to this disease. If you have the virus, dont try and cope alone.
My Brother was diagnosed  in the hospital a few days before he passed away. His life could have been saved. But as we all know, our biggest lessons come in the form of big sacrifices. He did not die in silence.

The statistics speak for themselves. But our voices should be louder. Don’t stay silent. 

http://aids.gov/
http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/
http://www.joinred.com/word_aids_day/index.html
HIV/AIDS Facts - http://www.lightforrights.org/aids_facts.php

Thanksgiving is in less than a week and many of us already know where we will be celebrating, who will be there, and who will be bringing what. Some of us already know what stores we want to go to, no matter how cold it is, to shop in the days after Thanksgiving.
What an exciting time to see family and freinds, to get some rest, and to be reminded of how Blessed we are.

But I cant help but think about those who dont know from where their next meal will come from. Not a week and a half from now, but today.
While we choose to go out in the cold to shop, some dont have a choice about whether or not they want to go out and face the cold. The cold is home.

I pray all the time for God to help them. To be with them. And I know he will. He always is.

I just want to implore everyone to be grateful for the necessities, the little things this holiday season. Water, food, shelter, clothing. And to think about those who find these things out of reach. To pray for those, who due to their circumstances, dont view this as a holiday, but a day to be reminded of those things they lack.
To be reminded of the fact that they are alone.

Circumstances differ. But one thing we all have in common is the fact that we are human.
God felt that we were all deserving of life. And that alone is enough to guarantee us love and compassion.

What am I thankful for?
Every Second of Every Minute of Every Day that the Lord blesses me with.

Because of you....

In honour of the Men and Women who risked their lives for the freedoms we have today, I say Thank You and Happy Veteran's Day.

Because of you, I can be Me. Freely.
Because of you, We can be. Completely.
Because of you, Their attempts failed. Repeatedly.

We owe so much too soo many brave, resilient, and honorable individuals. May we never forget what we had to sacrafice as a nation to gain what we have as individuals.


To my Husband, a Navy Veteran, I will always be proud of you.