Count Days, Not Calories

Several nights back, I was wakened at 1:00 A.M. by this urgent thought: You only have fifteen years left, you know.

Obviously, I didn’t go back to sleep. Instead, I slipped out of bed and went downstairs to seriously pondered what I had just heard. You only have fifteen years left, you know. This wasn’t a gloom-and-doom message; more the kind of reminder a spouse gives when you’ve lost track of time: “You know we have to be ready to leave the house in half an hour.” Or perhaps, it was more like the gentle words of a friend, “We really need to attend that meeting; it will mean so much to Julia if we are present.”

I’m suspecting the Holy Spirit was nudging me, since I’ve never really been any good at math. At least, something was prodding my subconscious in the middle of the night, after I had slept for a while and my mind was rested, and when I was not distracted with any of the “to-doings” of my daily life.

Let’s see … 15 years x 365 days equals 5475 days left to me. In 15 years, I will be 81. How much world traveling, strategic-living do I think I will be doing then? Click here to read more: http://goo.gl/QMn8F

Sleeping on the Danube

“There aren’t many Americans who can say they’ve slept on the Danube,” laughed my new friend Catherine Sevier. She is an R.N., PhD, and former Vice-President of the Diabetes Foundation. Catherine, along with her husband David, was in charge of the Health Consultation track for the Hope for Europe Congress II. Our little group of 42 folk (out of the larger 1000-plus attendees) were rooming in a “botel”—a ship-turned-hotel docked at Quay 21 on the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary. Read more here: http://goo.gl/OMk9P

Scavenger Genes

Some of us were born with a scavenger gene. I confess that I am one. I can’t resist the temptation to comment (obnoxiously) when complimented on an article of clothing or a new household item, “Goodwill—five bucks,” or “St. Vincent’s Resale Shop—three dollars.”
So when I saw the kitchen cabinet (without a hole cut in the top for a sink) discarded at the curb in front of the house of a son’s neighbors, I realized it was exactly what I had been praying for to store all the messy leftover paints and supplies that had been gathering dust on a rusting metal shelf in the garage. Click here to read more: http://goo.gl/s9o2Z

Need Some Bridesmaid Gifts?

Hannah T. put this photo on her Facebook page. She was in Nairobi when Karen Mains and Carla Boelkens visited in April. Hannah was a month away from her wedding date while working on some projects for staff at African International University. We were with her in the sewing room when she chose her gift bags. This was so much fun, and we thought Global Bag Project bags for bridal party gifts was a terrific, eco–conscious, globally–aware idea!

Last year, Ashley B. gave Global Bag Project bags as gifts to her bridal party as well. Here’s what she says,

"We loved the bags and they are often used. This is such a wonderful project. My bridesmaids were so happy to know that their gifts were not only awesome, useful bags, but that they were partnering with the women of Kenya with them. Continue the g