Miss Hoity-Toity

Today, in Church, we talked a lot about things that seemed to be about Sixteen Small Stones. We talked about personal revelation, and I thought about the revelations I have had about SSS and the work in which we are embarking. We talked about service, and I thought about SSS and serving others. Every day, it seems something happens that touches that part of my heart that years to serve. I want to share a personal and rather embarrassing moment. About a week and a half ago, my Dad was staying at the Marriott Hotel in Salt Lake City. As you know, the rest of my family lives here in SLC, and my Dad could have stayed at our house, but since he was here for business, his work put him up in the hotel. Of course, we all went to "hang out" at the hotel and enjoy the pool, etc. One thing we all really enjoy about my Dad staying at the Marriott is his access to the Concierge Lounge. This is a fancy little area on the top (or near top) floor in most Marriott motels. It is an area only people who stay at the Marriott often can access. Since the Marriott costs a FORTUNE to stay in, staying there enough to have Concierge Lounge privileges speaks VOLUMES about a person's wealth and, there for, status and income. Since my Dad's work ALWAYS puts him up in a Marriott, he has stayed in Marriott's enough to get to use the Concierge lounge. To access the Concierge Lounge in this particular Marriott Hotel, one must take the elevator to the top floor of the motel (the top-floor location ensures optimal view from the many lounge windows overlooking Salt Lake City). To get to the top floor, once must actually use a room key inside the elevator to unlock the keypad in the elevator and even be able to push the button for the top floor. This also means only a select few can stay on the floor with the Concierge Lounge. They must use a key to access that floor to even reach their rooms. The Concierge Lounge not only provides a comfortable room in which to sit and watch the big screen TV in a quiet and fancy setting, they also offer (free) meals (potato skins, tamales, sandwiches, chicken...REAL food!) dessert (raspberry cheesecake, carrot cake, fruit, cookies of many kinds, etc.) and snacks (and I don't mean chips and a drinking fountain! We are talking king size candy bars, packets of trail mix, and cans of pop and bottled water, in ice!) While my Dad was here this last trip, we went to the motel to have some dinner. We stepped in to the elevator and a couple of other people were already in there. Something came over me as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my room key. I slipped it into the allotted slot and pushed the twelfth floor button. It was the most sudden and sickening thing that happened next! In my mind, I was suddenly prideful. "WE are going to the TOP floor" I thought, "WE have THE KEY that can lead get us there...to the TOP FLOOR...the CHOSEN FLOOR" as if that made us special, or something.

And suddenly, I was one of those people in Lehi's vision, wearing costly apparel, and pointing from the large and spacious building, laughing at those clinging to The Iron Rod, finding their way to the Tree Of Life. How had that happened? How had I changed? Had it only happened just then? Or was the way I felt the result of small changes over time that I had not even noticed?

I was shocked! To think, two little objects had that effect on me. One little key made of plastic, the same plastic as any other room key, and an elevator button painted with the number "12", the same paint used on all the other elevator buttons. Somehow, those two seemingly insignificant objects, made significant by the understanding of man, had changed me into an arrogant, haughty snot. And suddenly (again), I wanted to be in China. NOW. RIGHT NOW! To be serving the poor. To be living a life that FORCED me to be humble. I wanted it SO BADLY! I yearned for a dirt floor and no money. I LONGED for a life of humility, where I would never again become that monster I had just seen and felt. I want to be changed FOREVER. I want to give everything I have to the service of Others, and the service of God. I wanted to be SAVED from MYSELF...from the wicked, self-centered, greedy, arrogant person that may be inside of me. I wish I could leave now. I wish I could give it all up right now and start my life where I feel REAL and ALIVE and OVERCOME with the Power of God. Where every second of my life is spent in serving His children and in Service for Him! How did I feel that hoity-toity-ness so strongly and so suddenly?

To Bring Light Where There Is Darkness

I have been thinking a lot about what Small Stones wants to do. What is our purpose? So far, it has been mostely random goals and mostly a feeling in my heart and gut that I have not yet tried to explain. I have been contacted by the WONDERFUL, AMAZING woman who helps Katie (kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com; amazimaministies.org). I posted on Katie's blog asking if we could use some pictures of her and her children on our website and on our fliers. I also told her how we have chosen she and her girls for our "projects". In response to this comment, Gwen, who helps Katie from the States, emailed me and asked me to call her later this week. I was so excited and overwhelmed! I felt like I had been emailed by a celebrity!!!! To me, anyone who helps with Katie and Amazima is my HERO and rolemodel! So, Gwen asked me to tell her more about Small Stones and what we are all about. How do I describe to someone a "feeling" and random goals? I have been a little nervous about this phone call, but as I have thought about what I will tell her, I have been able to put into words a little bit what I hope for Small Stones...not really my "vision", because that involves this picture of children playing in a safe place, mothers feeding their children daily, healthy food, a warm home where people gather, a home full of laughter and health and strength, where Taiger and I are a family who opens our arms to the world, where Christ's spirit rests softely on all who enter therein...How do I paint this picture for this woman whom I have never met? Who I will be talking to over the phone? Who doesn't know of my time in China, the pain I saw, the people I touched...How? So, I have made a list of what Small Stones is going to do...through Katie in Uganda, and, later, in China through Taiger and me (and anyone else who wants to come!!!!). This is what I came up with: Sixteen Small Stones is to: bring joy where there is sorrow bring love where there is emptiness bring Christ where there is doubt bring peace where there is unrest bring support where there is weakness bring companionship where there is loneliness bring hope where is hopelessness bring comfort where there is fear bring food where there is hunger bring water where there is thirst bring education where there is illiteracy bring music where there is silence bring clothes where there is nakedness bring rest where there is restlesness bring health where there is sickness bring healing where there is woundedness bring warmth where there is coldness BRING LIGHT WHERE THERE IS DARKNESS.

YOU ARE THE WORLD TO SOMEONE

I read this quote today on the Starfish Foster Home blog. I LOVED it, and it really tells how I feel about the work we are doing and the work EVERYONE can do! You can bet it will appearing on our website. I just LOVE it!

“To the world you may be just one person, but to one person, you just may be the world.”

William Revisited

GREAT NEWS! I am SO THRILLED! William and Patience are being adopted! WOW! A little boy who, only a few months ago, lay on a mat on the dirt floor, miserable with excruciating pain from his burns, is now hopeful and well. I cannot believe the turn-around he has made! I will post the "then" and "now" pictures, because I cannot believe how you can see the difference in his eyes. Remember after he was burned and Kingsley said he just lay in the dirt and cried all day...from pain, perhaps, or hopelessness? Now look at his face! He and patience look so happy. Thank you, all, AGAIN for your prayers on their behalf. Look at the way your prayers have changed this sad little boy into a child of hope and joy!!!!! Thank you!!

THESE TWO ARE HOW WILLIAM LOOKED THEN

AND THIS IS WILLIAM AND PATIENCE NOW!

TRY and tell me the work Sixteen Small Stones is doing is NOT important!

People say, "There are too many people who need your help!"..."You can't save the world!"..."You aren't Mother Theresa!"..."You don't have any money! How can you help anyone?"..."You have to let this dream go. That is all it is. You can't REALLY do this!"..."You are one little Mormon girl (yes, someone really said that!) from Salt Lake City...what could you possibly be able to do?!" When I hear these things from people, I just shrug and smile. Because I know that we have God on our side. And with God, ALL things are possible! I also think of the faces of the people we have helped. I am pretty sure they are dang thankful that we didn't listen to everyone who said we couldn't make a difference. Because, to that person, we made a difference.

So...THANK YOU to everyone who has said to me "YOU CAN!", because I will either way, but hearing encouragement sure gives me the courage to keep on trying. THANK YOU to everyone who is helping with Small Stones! Look at the good you are doing in the world! For one little boy and his sister, you changed the world!

WEBSITE!!

WE HAVE A WEBSITE! WOO HOO! Okay, so it isn't finished yet, but you can check it out at 16smallstones.com. It is so exciting! Check it out and let me know what you think!

Happiness and Happy

I don't know really what to say or how to say it. My heart is broken by Happy! Really! In so many ways, that just sounds so right. That is how God wants it...for us to be broken with happiness. After all, men are that we might have joy. That is one of our reasons for being here. But the "Happy" I am talking about is not happiness, but rather a little girl named Happy. She was only alive for four months, and in that time she suffered greatly. She only weighed four pounds when she died. She had a hole in her heart and I believe she felt and understood great things. When her Mother brought her to Katie (kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com) she was barely clinging to life. Katie did all she could for her in the 72 hours between the time she met her and the time Happy went to Heaven. In those 72 hours, great things were accomplished through this little, TINY girl. Doctors from around the world were contacted about Happy, and they spoke of Happy in a meeting with doctors from every corner of the globe. These doctors were moved to action by this little girl, and they were making plans to improve medical care in Uganda, where Happy was from. Many doctors wrote to Katie to tell her how Happy had changed them, had broken their hearts in some way. So a little girl with a broken heart, was able to break the hearts of others for good. From all over the world, people have been writing to tell Katie how they have been touched by Happy. Because of Happy, there will be great changes in the world. SO much good will come because of this little girl. There is a great cycle. Someone's pain and death can bring thousands of people joy and life. So Happy changed the world. For four months, she was in pain and felt suffering. But she was loved greatly by those around her. Her mother, who wept at her death, I think must have rejoiced in her birth. For four months, there must have been great pain and sorrow. But in the last 72 hours of her life, she brought about greater change in the world than many or most of us will bring about in our 82 years of life. In the last 72 hours of life, she caused changes that will bring much happiness to the world. More happiness than maybe she felt in the four months of her life. So, although her life was full of pain and sorrow, Happy was aptly named.

Board Meeting and Katie/Amazima

My computer has been dysfunctioning, so I haven't been able to post! Thanks to Jeremy, my computer is now working, so I wanted to post about our first board meeting! As I said in my last post, for our meeting we had a barbecue in the park. It was really fun and we accomplished a lot! We decided that our Long Term project should be sponsoring one of the children at Amazima Ministires. (You can read more about that ministry by clicking on the badge on this blog OR reading kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com) Of course, I was really excited by this decision because I have been closely following Katie's blog for some time now, have commented on her blog, and she has commented back on mine. This ministry is really close to my heart for several reasons, but ONE reason is because Katie is doing just what I want to do in China! She is an amazing young woman and a true inspiration to me. We decided our Short Term project should also be with Amazima Ministires and Katie! Imagine my joy and surprise when everyone voted for this Short Term project! So, we are going to send a care package to Katie and her thirteen daughters! I was amazed and surprised that we voted for BOTH of our projects to be Katie and Amazima! I didn't push for her to be our projects, and I just named off all of the places we could use for our projects. It was amazing to watch as everyone on our board voted for us to help Katie and Amazima. I was also humbled with the realization that God knew all along this is what we were going to do, and that is why I have felt so strongly about working with Katie. It is amazing to look back over the past year and realize how God's hand was in all of this, and how He knew almost a year ago that we would be called to help Katie. I am anxious to see what God has planned and how He wants us to help Katie and Amazima.

This is our board...plus one! From left to right:

Me (Breclyn), Jeremy, Ryan (our "OTHER", who is not on our board because he is so busy, but is helping in any and every way he can), Bryttan, and, down in the front, Taiger