So I’m making an effort to weed “I’m starving” out of my vocabulary. It isn’t a healthy statement for me because I really am not starving. Thousands of people in desperate poverty are, I’m not.

The method of treatment is to make a small incision in the area of the foot that is injured and use a probe to send radio waves to “kick start” inflammation and begin the healing process.  I would have to be off of it for three weeks and then begin to be able to walk on it again in the boot.  It isn’t something I would need to do right away, giving Shawn and I time to pray about what we want to do.  Basically it comes down to how long I want to play the boot game.  I can go out of the boot and go back in when I have pain.

Please pray that Shawn and I would have wisdom in what we should do.

Since that time we have become interested in the goings on of this very large nation.  India covers 1,269,210 square miles.  The estimated population for 2009 is 1,198,003,000.  When most of us think of India we think of Bollywood or those hour long conversations with a call center for our computer’s hardware or software OEM.  We don’t generally think about the residents that make up the rest of the country.  According to The World Bank, India has the highest concentration of poor people in he world.  According to The World Bank 42% of India’s population lives on $1.25 or less a day (http://xrl.in/34sy).  That means that at a population of 1,198,003,000 approximately 50,316,126 people live on what we pay for a soda at a fast food joint.  India also has a higher malnutrition rate of than any other country in the world!!

So, I’ve tried to think of India in this way.  Forgetting the call centers and the movie musicals and focusing on that 42%.  God has really been laying on my heart to pray for India when I pray for Nikita.  This is her home for the next dozen years at least.  I want it to be a place that cares for it’s people.  That seeks the welfare of all it’s population not just those who are in a caste that they feel deserves their respect and time.  Through prayer I know that God can change a nation.

Lovely Nikita

Statistics taken from here, please visit the site for more detailed citations.

For me it all started one night on my computer. At that time I was on MySpace and was browsing my friends pages. I started looking on Hillsong United’s page and their different friends. My heart broke. Here were people who are fighting daily for the poverty stricken, for those who are enslaved for sex trade, etc. And what was I doing? Sitting at home on my computer, in a nice home, living a cushy lifestyle.

Tonight I made a comment to Shawn about 9/11. He had a profound observation. He said that his mindset has changed regarding it. I asked in what way, and he said, “We memorialize and remember 3,000 people who died that day, but we do nothing to remember the 25,000 children die in poverty everyday because the common person and the government doesn’t care because they are just the least of these.” His observation caused me to stop and think. I recently heard a pastor say that we can’t have the gospel and not fight for social justice. Part of the Gospel is fighting for those who are down trodden, who can’t help themselves. I want to be someone who fights for these people. Who doesn’t forget the thousands upon thousands of people who die every day simple because they can’t get fresh water or medicine or mosquito nets.

If you or someone you know has taken these steps please contact me or have them contact me at missiovitam@gmail.com.

I am looking to feature at least 2-3 stories per week.

Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

Kitchen Aid Action Shot

Accidently spilt oats all over the counter while measuring them out. Sure hope real recipe blogs do stuff like this.

Ghiradelli - My favorite

"Secret" Ingredient. The cookies are sprinkled with coarse Kosher Salt before baking. This sends them over the edge on the yum scale.

The Sous Chef. Don't worry this Sous Chef had no paw in the prep or baking of these cookies.

The Kitchen Cleaner. Very apt in cleaning any crumbs from the kitchen floor.

These cookies are the bomb

Then, we started to pray.  The main reason for putting the money down first then praying was this was the last of this model they were building and if we wanted it we had to put money down.  So we did.  Our God was gracious and we were willing to listen to His voice.  We decided that we weren’t supposed to buy the house.  There were two factors.  1.  While we could “afford” it, it would have stretched us and we would have had little breathing room financially, and 2.  It was an hour drive each way to and from town.  I’m sure that if we could have comfortably afforded the house the 1 hour drive may not have been so heavy a situation.

As I look back now I’m so glad that we listened to God.  When we were buying the house the housing market was at the top of it’s boom.  A couple short years later it’s at the lowest it has been in years.  We probably would either be foreclosing or having to short sale the house today.

I saw this picture today and the others we took when we toured the house.  It sparked one of those “ohhh” responses.  We still love the house we’re in that we bought before the boom hit and we can afford.  And in the recent months we feel that God is calling us to actually down size rather than having a big fancy house.  We simply want to hear and heed His voice and be content in all that He calls us to.

Because of this I learned to fend for myself.  I became accustomed to being by myself and preferring to be.  I became extremely independent (on top of being a first born).  But I also became critical of those who say they’re my friends.  I struggle very deeply in trusting that people like me and want to be my friend rather than just acting like they do.  This obviously strains relationships on my end.  It is difficult when you don’t feel loved let alone liked.  It isn’t fair to your friends when you are second guessing if the time they are investing in you is real or if it is something they feel they are supposed to do.

I am unsure if I’ll ever get over this hurdle.  I can only pray that God would only bring people into my life that really do enjoy my friendship.

Brown Sugar. Splenda. Cinnamon.  Butter.  Mmmm

Unfortunately they didn’t turn out as pretty as Hungry Girl’s. But they were still tasty.