Africa or Bust!

I wanted to let you know about my upcoming trip to Uganda, Africa! If I was still on Facebook I might have created a status such as "Headed to Africa in August!!!" to announce.  But, I am excited to announce this way, and have a chance to tell you a little bit about the trip.

A small (5) group of us will travel to Jinja, Uganda from August 8 - 17.  We will be working with a man named Pastor David, the founder of Father's Divine Love Ministries.  His focus is on widow and orphan care.  The student ministries at our church, through the Heartwork organization,  has been supporting his work for about a year and has raised staggering amounts of money to fund wells, more homes, orphan care, and even a tractor.  This trip marks an advancement in our church's relationship with David and his ministry.

We will be spending as much time familiarizing ourselves with the multi-faceted workings of the ministry in the hopes of coming home and being advocates for the Ugandan people as well as for David and his ministry. He often has to pay the great price of leaving his family and the ministry for 2 - 3 week stints in America at times only to raise $5000.  To put it in perspective, every time he is able to build a new widow home his monthly operating costs rise approximately $1800/month. We also hope to document through photos and video the ways the students have impacted this community through their selfless and compassion-filled giving. 

As most of you know, justice and mercy have long been a mark on my life and heart, and I am excited to see what is in store for me as I very personally experience the plight of the widow and orphan in Uganda.  I have recently been in a stage of waiting and wondering what might be next for me and believe this may certainly be part of me discovering more about the plans for the next leg of my journey.  

I guess that is about it.  I would ask for your thoughts and prayers as I prepare to go, travel and experience Africa.  If you would like to be included in a group to receive updates and prayer requests email me or DM me on twitter: @brystalhopkins. 

Likewise, if you are led to help cover the costs (travel, specialized gear, shots, documents, etc.) of this adventure it is so appreciated. It looks to be around $2000 including airfare. 

You can send tax-deductible donations made out to Third Church to:

Third Church

708 E. 13th Street

Pella, IA 50219

check memo: Brystal Hopkins' Uganda Trip 

If the tax deduction isn't a factor you can feel free to use my home address.

Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers for me and for Dave and the kids as I prepare to be gone and so far away. We are confident that there are big things in store for us as a result of what I experience in Jinja.

With excitement and gratitude, 

Brystal

From the Front Room

Well, it's Thursday evening and I find myself sitting in the dimly lit front room waiting for Dave to get home so we can watch "Iron Man 2".  I have been chasing the movie down for four days.  Stopping daily at the 3 Redbox's in town, checking for it online, all to no avail...then in a flash of hope I found that it was due today at the library and I swooped in and nabbed it. PHEW! It was a close one.

We've decided to try to watch several of these recently released MARVEL hero flicks before heading out to see "The Avengers"...apparently many others have had the same idea.  I've got my name in on reserve for "Captain America" - due tomorrow. I'm sleek and stealth like that.

So here are some other things that I have been thinking about:

• I had fruit snacks today. Sometimes they are so good! 
• T2 told me she sees her teacher's face more than mine, so sometimes she thinks I am her teacher when she glances at me. Not sure how to feel about that. Glad summer is coming.
• I prepped some frosting for T3's birthday cake.  The bakery assured me that the frosting would keep from my last March birthday cake - it tastes fine, but it stinks. I ordered fresh.
• I have to keep hiking my pants up today.  Are they too big? (YAY!) Or are my muffin tops pushing them down? (BOO)
• I made a nasty dinner tonight.  When the kids saw what I was making they were all, "sick! I am not eating that!" It's true I found myself trying to come up with excuses as to why I should have something else...all the while telling my whining kids they "should be thankful I am even making supper" and "you don't know you hate it until you try it.". We supplemented dinner with grilled brats...and drowned aforementioned nastiness in syrup. (Like Buddy the elf!)
• I got very little accomplished today. But T3 and I did read 2 chapters of Zorba the Hutt's Revenge. It's third in a series of who knows how many.  We've already tackled The Glove of Darth Vader, and The Lost City of the Jedi. Riveting I assure you.  So wonderful in fact, the children's librarian laughs at me every time she sees me heading back to that section for the next installment.  She likes to remind me that checking them out ensures that they stay on the shelf! Oh how I wish they weren't on the shelf. The thing that really bugs me is, much like the 'Left Behind' series, they so slowly move through the plot that each book leads into the next and the story never resolves...you have to read the next book! It's some sort of torture I'm sure. But T3 loves them...oh, the things we do for love.
• I'm looking for a nice, cozy, off the beaten path place to go for dinner on our 10th anniversary. My original plan of a local inn that serves a 5 course seasonal meal with wine pairings for each course fell through and now I'm back to the drawing board. Any suggestions? 

Well, Dave still isn't home and I've run out of even moderately interesting musings. 

So, I'll sign off.

Sweet dreams. 

BLUE LIKE JAZZ : 2 - Awkward

One of the most impact-full scenes in Blue Like Jazz for me was at the end (SPOILER ALERT) when Don finally addresses the Pope (a brilliant atheist friend of Don's at Reed College) in the 'confessional' after he has passed the position of Pope on to Don for the next year...it sounds weird and too hard to explain, but stay with me.

He has joined this friend in several offensive acts of vandalism and in the process has discovered that as a young boy he [the Pope] was very hurt by a leader of the church.  In this closing scene, Don puts his desire to be excepted by his friend on the line and apologizes (a bit on behalf of the church) for the hurt that was caused him...something the Pope didn't even realize Don had picked up on.  As Don, for seemingly the first time, dawns the door of a serious heart-to-heart the Pope comments, "This is about to get weird isn't it?" To which Don replies, "Probably."


Sometimes to take the step from buddies to friends we have to be willing to cross that threshold of "awkward". But I think often Christians invite themselves into these sacred of conversations with people they haven't earned the trust and respect of yet.  Often don't we see our not yet believing friends as projects?  Aren't we secretly waiting for that little comment that allows us to stick our foot in the door and leave it there even if the person inside has decided they'd rather shut it?

I am not saying that spiritual conversation has to be limited to deep friendships and that opportunities don't present themselves in less intimate settings and relationships, but I am saying that sometimes we rush these conversations to the point of not being as effective as they might be if we sat back and really listened, invested, loved and spoke out of a deep conviction and love for that person.  To wait until the conversation is less about conversion and more about restoration. (Not to imply that conversion is not important.)

It's just that in this scene it struck me that this character [the Pope] had spent a decade or more defaming the church, God, and anyone who was silly enough to believe - and yet without knowing befriended one of these sillies [Don] and in the end was deeply effected when that friend-who hadn't spent their relationship preaching, but listening and loving-finally took that step. The Pope opened the door and invited Don inside. You see, the 'awkward' conversation was atypical for their friendship, but it wasn't offensive or insensitive.  It was weird.  They put that out there and forged ahead into it together, and the result was beautiful.

Sometimes, I think it would be easier if I wasn't known as a Christian.  Is that horrible?  I don't know.  There is just so much hurt and preconceived notions about "Christians".  I would love it if I lived in such a way that I reflected Jesus and people like the Pope wanted to be around me, and in the end I would authentically love them enough to have that "weird", hope-filled, restorative, conversation. And that they would love me back enough to listen.

The Potty Problem

I've felt like my blog posts are much to serious most of the time.  In fact , if you don't know me, you might think me quiet and contemplative, when most of the time I am neither of those.  I love to have fun.  I love to laugh.  I wouldn't be characterized as "quiet" by anyone...so why is my blog so...I don't know - serious?

I think it might be because I often use my blog time to work through the things that I muse on throughout my otherwise mundane days.  When I sit to write and think, I'm not that keen on dwelling on, what is to me, ordinary.  I want to feel like I am engaged in worthwhile thought and often stories of the lunch conversation, while funny, don't seem life-changing.

Today however, my blog is my venting spot for something much less earth-shattering than some former topics. Today I lament the adventure I find myself on for a fourth time. One I wish was over. The burden of potty training.

I have successfully trained three kids - almost effortlessly.  That fact itself might be enough for some of you to believe I deserve what I am getting - which is an approaching one year anniversary of trying to toilet train my youngest.  Yes, reread that. One YEAR.

My other three were pretty much getting the hang of things by 2 1/2.  T4 wasn't showing much interest and everyone always said,  "He'll let you know when he's ready."   I thought, "I'm not really in that much of a hurry. I've changed diapers for 6 years, what's a little longer?"  and "The longer I wait the easier it'll be." Boy was I wrong.

My precious littlest is not being defiant or ornery.  He just isn't getting the hang of it.  He's filled up sticker charts, he's moved marble 'potty points', he's picked a toy and earned it off the top of the fridge. He even spent a glorious 2 weeks last summer naked.  (Much to my elderly neighbor's chagrin.) Still, no dice...or deuce, I guess is more like it.

I thought perhaps in my 'busy mom of 4' I was just not being consistent enough - too busy with chores to take him or not watching for his cues close enough. If I would just buckle down, he would get it.  Then,  a few months ago he spent a week with my mom, and unfortunately she notice he doesn't give any cues.  No matter how long he sits on the toilet - the duty always appears in the pants and not the potty.

SIGH...big sigh.

So, now we've got preschool, and art center, and the pool on the horizon.  Not to mention my severe disdain for changing a teenager's diaper (I know I am overreacting). So after 8 years of parenting, I bought cloth diapers. We're trying a cloth diaper liner in undies with plastic pants (to save our 4 month old carpet from the demise of it's predecessor.) And the reward for a turd is a family trip to the local ice cream shop.

I could really use some ice cream.