Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Ask 5 for 5 guest post!

Hi friends,

I stumbled upon this wonderful cause last night and I immediately knew I'd love for Sarah to guest post on All the Places I Call Home. Last year I worked with several families from Somalia, and those kiddos remain close to my heart. Thus, with the state of famine in Somalia, I've felt compelled to do something, but totally unsure what I could do. Sarah provides a really concrete way to act in love and support health for children suffering in the horn of Africa.

Welcome, Sarah from Ask5for5!


Guest Blogger: Sarah Lenssen from #Ask5for5
Family photos by Mike Fiechtner Photography
Thank you All the Places I call Home and nearly 150 other bloggers from around the world for allowing me to share a story with you today, during Social Media Week.
A hungry child in East Africa can’t wait. Her hunger consumes her while we decide ifwe’ll respond and save her life. In Somalia, children are stumbling along for days, even weeks, on dangerous roads and with empty stomachs in search of food and water. Their crops failed for the third year in a row. All their animals died. They lost everything. Thousands are dying along the road before they find help in refugee camps.
At my house, when my three children are hungry, they wait minutes for food, maybe an hour if dinner is approaching. Children affected by the food crisis in in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia aren’t so lucky. Did you know that the worst drought in 60 years is ravaging whole countries right now, as you read this? Famine, a term not used lightly, has been declared in Somalia. This is the world’s first famine in 20 years.12.4 million people are in need of emergency assistance and over 29,000 children have died in the last three months alone. A child is dying every 5 minutes. It it estimated that 750,000 people could die before this famine is over. Take a moment and let that settle in.
The media plays a major role in disasters. They have the power to draw the attention of society to respond–or not. Unfortunately, this horrific disaster has become merely a footnote in most national media outlets. News of the U.S. national debt squabble and the latest celebrity’s baby bump dominate headlines. That is why I am thrilled that nearly 150 bloggers from all over the world are joining together today to use the power of social media to make their own headlines; to share the urgent need of the almost forgotten with their blog readers. Humans have the capacity to care deeply for those who are suffering, but in a situation like this when the numbers are too huge to grasp and the people so far away, we often feel like the little we can do will be a drop in the ocean, and don’t do anything at all.
When news of the famine first hit the news in late July, I selfishly avoided it. I didn’t want to read about it or hear about it because I knew I would feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable. I wanted to protect myself. I knew I would need to do something if I knew what was really happening. You see, this food crisis is personal. I have a 4-year-old son and a 1 yr-old daughter who were adopted from Ethiopia and born in regions now affected by the drought. If my children still lived in their home villages, they would be two of the 12.4 million. My children: extremely hungry and malnourished? Gulp. I think any one of us would do anything we could for our hungry child. But would you do something for another mother’s hungry child?
My friend and World Vision staffer, Jon Warren, was recently in Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya–the largest refugee camp in the world with over 400,000 people. He told me the story of Isnino Siyat, 22, a mother who walked for 10 days and nights with her husband, 1 yr-old-baby, Suleiman, and 4 yr.-old son Adan Hussein, fleeing the drought in Somalia. When she arrived at Dadaab, she built the family a shelter with borrowed materials while carrying her baby on her back. Even her dress is borrowed. As she sat in the shelter on her second night in camp she told Jon, “I left because of hunger. It is a very horrible drought which finished both our livestock and our farm.” The family lost their 5 cows and 10 goats one by one over 3 months, as grazing lands dried up. “We don’t have enough food now…our food is finished. I am really worried about the future of my children and myself if the situation continues.”
Will you help a child like Baby Suleiman? Ask5for5 is a dream built upon the belief that you will.
That something I knew I would need to do became a campaign called #Ask5for5 to raise awareness and funds for famine and drought victims. The concept is simple, give $5 and ask five of your friends to give $5, and then they each ask five of their friends to give $5 and so on–in nine generations of 5x5x5…we could raise $2.4 Million! In one month, over 750 people have donated over $25,000! I set up a fundraiser at See Your Impact and 100% of the funds will go to World Vision, an organization that has been fighting hunger in the Horn of Africa for decades and will continue long after this famine has ended. Donations can multiply up to 5 times in impact by government grants to
help provide emergency food, clean water, agricultural support,
healthcare, and other vital assistance to children and families suffering in the Horn.
I need you to help me save lives. It’s so so simple; here’s what you need to do:
  1. Donate $5 or more on this page (http://seeyourimpact.org/members/ask5for5)
  2. Send an email to your friends and ask them to join us.
  3. Share #Ask5for5 on Facebook and Twitter!
I’m looking for another 100 bloggers to share this post on their blogs throughout Social Media Week. Email me at ask5for5@gmail.com if you’re interested in participating this week.
A hungry child doesn’t wait. She doesn’t wait for us to finish the other things on our to-do list, or get to it next month when we might have a little more money to give. She doesn’t wait for us to decide if she’s important enough to deserve a response. She will only wait as long as her weakened little body will hold on…please respond now and help save her life. Ask 5 for 5.
Thank you on behalf of all of those who will be helped–you are saving lives and changing history.
p.s. Please don’t move on to the next website before you donate and email your friends right now. It only takes 5 minutes and just $5, and if you’re life is busy like mine, you probably won’t get back to it later. Let’s not be a generation that ignores hundreds of thousands of starving people, instead let’s leave a legacy of compassion. You have the opportunity to save a life today!
Check out all the bloggers that joined Ask5for5 for drought and famine relief, and posted for Social Media Week!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

happy birthday, sweet friend Megan!



Today is the birthday of one of my very best friends in the whole wide world.  Megan is a big ol' 23! I met Megan my first few days at Gettysburg College. She lived just a few doors down freshman year, and after inviting me home to her parents' place for Fall Break I knew we would be best friends. Sophomore year, Junior year (while we were at Gettysburg) and Senior year we were roomies, and let's just say, if she wasn't married and living in Baltimore, I'd love to still be roommates :)

I am so thankful for Megan. In so many ways. 

She is one of those sweet, kind, thoughtful and quiet souls that is so good at loving those around her. She is also spunky and so much fun. Some of my favorite memories with Megan are dancing, long talks over coffee, mini bible studies, and well, just about everything ;) We weren't every very good at studying together though... it seemed that talking always would take precedence. 

Enjoy this flash back of our friendship!


September 2006--first picture of the two of us!
las tres amigas




I guess you just had to be there... this is a classic that I LOVE

SEATTLE 2007
Oregon 2007!
just so cute :)



:)




The Furmans :)




Sooo many good pictures, I just chose some of my all time favorites--which inevitably mean there are some embarassing ones in there, but let me promise you... I have more embarassing ones that I am NOT sharing ;)

Happy Birthday, Meg! I love you!


xoxo,

Saturday, September 3, 2011

irene.

Hi friends!

It's September already and I can hardly believe it! I have been in New York for a full month, and just finished my fourth week at work. Things are coming along, and I am getting more and more acclimated. But friends, it is still a transition. More of one than I anticipated, I suppose.

Last weekend was a crazayyy weekend! Hurricane Irene threw me and the rest of NYC for a loop. Living in a basement apartment, I decided I should probably find another place to stay for the weekend. Not knowing quite what to expect, I took everything off the floor in my room, stacked in my bed, locked up and headed to John's parents' place just north of the city.

Sure enough Irene passed through, leaving NYC mostly untouched. My apartment weathered the storm with true style--no power outages or flooding! Woohoo! However, though Irene was gracious to the city, she certainly had her way elsewhere. It turns out that Westchester county (where I was staying) was hit much harder by Irene than Brooklyn was.

Enjoy these pictures from last weekend's adventure!
trees and branches down 
no, that's not a river... that's a major parkway, with 3 feet of water flooding it!


car struck on a flooded street.
Things have calmed down now, but last week was interesting that's for sure!
Hope you all enjoy this three day weekend. It sure is nice to be able to take a deep breath!

Love,

Sunday, August 21, 2011

i have the cutest brothers in the world.

No if ands or buts... I have the cutest brothers. In the world. Period.



















Don't you think?

New York has been wonderful thus far, but I must be honest, I miss home. Especially my family. I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss these little guys.




 These three musketeers sure do make me smile :)


Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, friends!


Thursday, August 18, 2011

Thankful Thursday: little things that make me smile :)

Hi there sweet friends,

It's my first Thankful Thursday post in quite some time! Today, I'm going to share some little sweet somethings from around my neighborhood that make me smile.

This sweet sign made by my WONDERFUL roommate Sarena, welcomed me home on my first day in my apartment.


A couple blocks from my apartment is Love Lane. Can you think of a sweeter street name than that? Just thinking about it makes me smile :)


Discovering the laundromat just two blocks from my apartment made my day--no joke!

This monthly MetroCard gives me unlimited access to the subway system and boy, let me tell you, it's such a relief to not have to worry about how much money is left on my card and trying to calculate how many trips I think that I'll do in the next week. I love this baby! 

And of course, my decorated "wall" in my cubical makes me smile every time I see it (sorry for the blurry picture--I felt a bit awkward taking a picture of desk at work, so didn't go for a better one ;) )


Soo.. what do you think? Do you have those little things that just make life that much sweeter that make you smile too? Bet you do :)

Happy almost Friday, friends!