I just had the privilege of attending the first day of the IGNITE JUSTICE conference 2013, at Forest Hill Church, I went on Thursday afternoon to set up,(after staying up until about 4am the night before working on a poster and display items for our table) then that evening I went to the community meal for The Grove Church to fellowship with beloved members and to promote Neighborhood After school Ministries(NAM) http://thegrovecharlotte.org/youth/neighborhood-afterschool-ministries/ for this upcoming semester(I still need more gardening and green art students if you know anyone interested! http://www.facebook.com/events/515491638471261/?ref=22 ) . That evening I stayed up working on etsy items and promoting NAM and my store, and promoting fundraising efforts(Set up a Gofundme page!!) for this Cameroon trip which is in 5 days! (oh my goodness, breathe!) Anyway, I ended up only sleeping 30minutes. The conference was wonderful and inspirational it was like being at a ministry fair and church and so many wonderful awesome people and organizations were there! My top three favorites:
*ALARM African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries
http://alarm-inc.org/
~Special connection to these guys, Michele Dudley, who was the brains and beauty behind the whole conference (besides God) hooked us up with ALARM, who hosted us(02A) in Rwanda May 2012 and had IWE-Institute for Women's Excellence, where we did the sustainability projects(rainwater harvesting, chicken coop, rocket stoves)
*SILENT IMAGES
http://silentimages.org/
~Special connection to David Johnson and Silent Images, I met him in college speaking for our organization after I had joined STAND (A Student led anti genocide coalition) and then after I became president of the organization, I had him speak on several occasions and he was more than inspirational every single time.
*SAMARITANS FEET
http://www.samaritansfeet.org/
~I just love what they do.
and of course
*Orphans To Ambassadors who I and Jake were representing!
http://www.orphanstoambassadors.org/
and heading to Cameroon with in 5DAYS!
Anyway, so that day at the conference I was so inspired and talking to a lot of people there was great because repeatedly discussing what we do, why we do it, why I'm excited to be going on another trip so soon, my passions, my desire to go back and check in on the past projects, all really revved me up to go on this project, and re-affirmed my purpose to be doing this work! Its not always easy to communicate your heart and life passions to others verbally, but we did our best, and met a lot of amazing people!
We didn't win any of the three grant awards, but great organizations did, so still a success.
6hours into this awesome conference, I was a zombie. 30minutes of sleep does not work. I remember thinking, "Why am I doing this? I thought this was only for college?, Apparently this lifestyle can just continue after college if you just set it up that way?" and at probably 5am I was thinking to myself, I just long to jog or read a book or meditate with no long todo list or deadlines looming over me like a dark angry cloud! And I promised myself I would take better care of myself before the trip! (5days) So after those 6hours of conferencing, I shuffled out to the care and laid down where I took a disheveled hungry nap in the backseat, leaving Jacob to run the table for an hour alone.(I know, I know, I'm not proud of it!) After an hour, I woke up desperately having to use the bathroom, and when I tried to get out of the car, Jacob's weirdo Lexus locked me inside, beeped at me, and I was trapped!!!! with the keys!!! How does this even happen?! I remember hating that moment and looking around desperately for a cup, a jar, anything but there was nothing and I thought, how can I pee in my pants while napping at a conference and how could Jacob ever consider marrying me?! So a few minutes and panicked texts later Jake came and freed me and I helped run the table for another hour.
Then we ran a ton of errands getting more supplies for the conference, Staples, Target, probably some other places I don't remember, and then by the time we were driving home I hadn't been able to eat all day and Jake suggested a $5dollar Big Deal Pizza from Dominos. Sure, Let's do it I said. It was one of the BEST. PIZZAS. IVE. EVER. HAD. and I scarfed down many, many, pieces loving every minute of it. I woke up at 6am spewing and hurling and napping on the bathroom floor. I was like wow, I really set myself up for this! By not taking care of myself whatsoever. By pretending I'm a robot of production and not a human being who needs nourishment in so many ways.
So I could not attend the second day of the conference, but at 2drove to Claremont for dads birthday, where I forgot his presents and my shoes and cried about it in loud scream-sobs (My shoes were in the backseat the whole time, we didn't realize this until the next night when we returned home and after I ended up wearing old cross country sneakers from high school around everywhere) For dads birthday we went to a lovely antique store( I adored it, but I got sick there several times) and then a Mexican Restaurant (yum..) We played Scrabble, it was my absolute worst game in history(I also couldn't add for some reason and destroyed the scoresheet), but I have to say that no matter how sick I was, being with my soul mate and family was my favorite place to be, even in my miserable state!!! So anyway, slept, woke up to pancakes and my wonderful family the next day, was a brat to Jacob all day because my stomach was in such horrible pain I couldn't even stand up straight (I had food poisoning if I forgot to mention that this whole time) ate lunch with Jacobs awesome daddy and then went home. Passed out for several hours and then just out of curiosity checked the Gofundme page and I had raised... FIVE HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS!!! What?! There's no way!!! I scrolled down the list of loving supporters and cried.
ALEX & KATIE WOLPERT
JEFFERY HANKS (DADDY IN LAW! wait, wait.. not yet. too eager....wayyy too eager!)
HALLIE WHITE (JAKES NANA!)
SUSAN MIKHAIL
DEBRA HARWELL-BRAUN AND STEVE BRAUN (MADRE &PADRE!!!)
DANA FRADY
These beautiful people said wonderful things to me and were so loving and supportive I was shocked and totally re-inspired. It feels so good to know that people believe in me!! It makes my trip so much more important to me and it makes me feel even more passionate about making as big a difference as I can while there. Thank you guys, You are sweet angels, And the biggest thanks to the MOST HIGH for placing these supportive angels in my life to uplift me and guide me through my travels. It's hard to breathe knowing how much we are really loved and cherished, each and every one of us. Every body heaving, aching moment of that sickness was nothing compared to the intensity I felt from these gifts and inspiration!!! Thanks GOD!!!!!
http://www.gofundme.com/1toctc
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