Missing the Music

I miss making music.

I haven't played a tuba in almost four years and it makes me a little sad. 

It's Tuba Christmas time and I think that makes it a bit sadder.  Have you ever heard of Tuba Christmas?  Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like.

                                           (credit: tlc.howstuffworks.com)

Tubas and euphoniums and baritones all over the place!  At the one in Akron, Ohio that I used to attend, there were Christmas lights on tubas. 


But tubas start at $6,000 and that is WAY out of the budget.

Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color.
-Nietzsche

Obsession

I've always hated that word. Obsession.

Though I'm starting to think that, growing up, my mother was at least a little bit right. I know that I have always fixated on certain things for a time, but I always hated the word "obsession."

I might have to re-think it.

I could sleep last night because of this:

(Credit: Not Martha)

And I want to bake over 500 cookies for church.  Candy cane kiss cookies, chocolate truffle cookies, jeweled tree cut outs...

Maybe it's an obsession a fixation.

A Message From Covenant House

Last Friday one of the main buildings in our shelter for homeless kids in Mexico City burned.

No one was injured, thanks to the quick and remarkable response of our staff. But the building suffered serious damage from fire, smoke and water and we won’t be able to house kids there for at least a couple of months. Forty kids lost their homes.

For the time being, our kids are staying in a house lent to us. But it's a terrible thing when homeless kids finally find safety—and then their shelter burns down and leaves them homeless a second time!

One boy was sobbing uncontrollably outside the burning shelter, and when our staff went to comfort him he explained that his home had burned down before and that’s what had left him homeless on the street.


Please help us raise the estimated $250,000 we need to rebuild this shelter for homeless street kids in Mexico City. That would be a special Thanksgiving gift for all our kids.

Covenant House Mexico, known locally as Casa Alianza, not only helps homeless kids find their way off the dangerous streets. It also gives them the skills they need for a future filled with hope. Many of the kids we help are victims of human trafficking, sexual abuse, or have addiction problems. Many are HIV positive.

Your gift will enable us to repair the fire and water damage, fix the electrical wiring, replace the furniture, and fireproof the complex to make sure this can never happen again.

Christmas Gifts That Give Life

Sorry I've been absent. I had to make 50 cheesecakes last night and tonight I'm making 10 AND potatoes and I'm sick. Don't worry. I use gloves and face masks. :) But this is all an excuse that I'm not really going to write anything and just send you somewhere else.

If you're looking for Christmas gifts that do some good with your money, you should check out this post:
http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/2010/11/its-that-time-of-year-again.html

Refresh Everything Project

Has anyone heard of the Pepsi Refresh Project? Pepsi is giving money to worthy ideas every month to help support projects that YOU vote on.

There is one that is very close to my heart and it's a place based in New York but all over the country called Covenant House.

Covenant House provides housing, therapy and love to homeless teens. They take in teenage girls with children, foster care runaways...anyone who needs God's love and an adult's love in their life.

If they win the $250,000 from Pepsi Refresh, Covenant House plans on completing these goals:

* To provide food to 1000 infants & toddlers in our Mother/Child program
* To help homeless mothers build a future for themselves & their babies
* To stay open 24/7/365 to any kid who comes to our door

You can vote every day for the month of November. It doesn't cost anything and, if you have a Facebook account, you can vote by logging in using your account.

If you'd like to vote for Covenant House, please visit here. But you can vote for anything! To see all of the projects that Pepsi Refresh has, please visit here.

Christmas Cookies!

My husband just asked me if I was an elf.

I want to know...what's your favorite holiday cookie? Do you have a holiday cookie? And...if you don't...what's your favorite everyday cookie?

A 17th Century Prayer

And definitely one I need to live by (parts I need to remember bolded):

Lord, Thou knowest better than I know myself, that I am growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion. Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all, but Thou knowest Lord that I want a few friends at the end. Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains. They are increasing, and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others' pains, but help me to endure them with patience. I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken. Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a Saint – some of them are so hard to live with – but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people. And, give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so. AMEN.

Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
- Psalm 37:3-5

The Cost

I used to give to Mocha Club. Have you ever heard of it? It's the idea that $7 a month, the cost of two drinks from Starbucks, could change someone's world.

So I was thinking and Googling...

The average American spends $2,698 on entertainment, $6,133 on food and around $400 on cigarettes.

My church actually posted a really great study.

- For 10 cents, you can provide one feeding for a baby in a refugee camp
- For 50 cents, you can provide food for a baby in a refugee camp in Tanzania or Angola.
- For the price of the Sunday newspaper, you can provide food for a day for an AIDS orphan or street child in South America or Africa
- For $10, you can provide a small grove of trees to protect the soil from erosion in Zambia
- For the price of a baseball game ticket (but not in New York...like bleacher seats), you can provide enough maize, bean, and groundnut seeds for a Mozambiquan family to replant after floods

I mean, I could implore you guys to give or to give monthly, but I'm not going to (though does saying that still count?). I also don't want to make you feel guilty about how you spend your money (I always feel guilty and I don't want that for you!). I just want to lay it all out because my husband and I always feel that there's never enough in the bank account...but those pennies that we pick up on the street could do some real good.