time for a rant{after a summer of silence}

And how do they know? How do they know we're Christians?
Do they know it by how we look?
By the clothes that we wear?
Or do they know it by our love?
And the way that we care?
Love?
What love?
The love for our sisters and brothers?
But what about everyone else?
What about all the "others"?
What about the wife beater?
And the husband cheater?
What about the unmarried girl, pregnant and alone?
Who are we to judge?
Can we pick up the first stone?
They're all broken people!
But are we to good for them to come under our steeple?
Love is not telling them that what they're doing is okay.
Don't get me wrong, that's not what I'm trying to say.
Hate the sin, but love the sinner!
Show them Jesus and teach them to live better!
But you know what? Too often we get so focused on loving the "others"
That somehow, we forget about loving our brothers.
These people who are broken, are watching us to see
How I treat you and how you treat me.
How can we say that we love those people out there,
When we don't take time to show the struggling one among us that we love, that we care?
Why do we get worked up about such petty little things?
When we do that, are we truly fixed on Jesus and the hope that He brings?
And why do we let differences in our relationships get in the way?
Does it really matter, since Jesus could come any day?
Someone please tell me why we say such hurtful things!
Why are we so insensitive to the pain that our words can bring?
Love, love, love. We fail at it so often.
Yet maybe there's still time for Christ to cause our hearts to soften.
Our heart's cry should be that His love will flow in us and through us,
So that when people see our love, they'll know we've been with Jesus.
John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

This I Will Miss

 

 

hanging out and singing late at night

Womens worship on Thursday mornings

Jasmyne and Brackston

 

Meals with lots of people in a small space

Small, but alive basement churches



 

Riding the subway

Halal food stands

Starbucks within walking distance

 

extremely overpriced everything(this I won't miss)

And most of all.....these two precious little angels who stole my heart.

 



How Time Flies

Well, here I am. Two days into the last week already. It feels like it's been forever since I left home and yet it feels like it hasn't been that long. On one hand, I'm ready to go home. On the other, I'll really miss being here. C'est la vie.

 

 

Last Wednesday & Friday we walked about 30 minutes to Flushing Meadows Park. It is a pretty large park---it has a small zoo, the Terrace on the Park banquet hall, lots of walking paths, the Mets' stadium, and much more. If I lived here all the time, I would constantly be going there. It was fantastic to be able to get some sun and to sit in grass and make dandelion chains. When we went on Friday, we visited the little zoo...not sure if that was a hit or not---he was terrified of the sea lions, and some of the animals were hard to see. Here are a few pics from that.

 

 

 

The bear was a big hit. In fact, when it was time to leave, he didn't want to go--just wanted to sit and watch the bear. He kept repeating one of his new favorite sayings, "Oh whoa!" and even asked if he could touch it. :)



A Tour of My {temporary}Home

The past several days have been simply glorious---spring finally came!! We've spent most of our mornings outside this week walking and playing at parks and we might even get to go to the zoo later this morning. My skin is just loving all the sunshine it's recieving!

 

I forgot that I was going to post a picture of that bowl's price tag...so here it is. :)

 

I've also beening meaning to take a video tour of where I live and finally did it today. Enjoy!

 





Photos From Last Week

More photos from last week. Enjoy!

 

 

Times Square in the daytime

 A display from the American Girl Place

 The Apple store

A Painter in Central Park

self-explanatory. :)

A compass/sundial thing in front of the Hall of Science

A display from a store that had lots of vintage(not nessesarily antique) things....the price tags were astonishing...it.was.insane.

For example: See the wooden bowl in the very front? I don't know what kind of wood it was, but it felt pretty light. The design was something that could've been made quite easily. There was nothing extra-ordinary about it. Wanna guess how much it cost? I'll post a picture tomorrow of the price tag. :)

 

A fountain in Central Park

Jay getting a cartoon drawn of himself in Central Park

 

 



Long Time No Post

So...looks like I haven't posted in a whole week...it wasn't that there wasn't time...there just wasn't much to talk about. Timmy spent the whole week with his grandparents in PA so in the mornings I was able to sleep a little later and sit in on some classes(on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) as well. In the afternoons I just did what I usually do...help as needed. Thursday morning the head cook(Ruby) and one of the assitant cooks(Linda) wanted to go grocery shopping so I made lunch and baked cookies all morning(which was really easy to do because it was Poverty Day and all they were allowed to eat was rice...for lunch we could mix onions, garlic, green peppers, and some celery into it but that was it). On Friday Jay Z and Elycia Yoder flew in midmorning. We spent that afternoon on Times Square and walked on 5th Ave. for awhile as well. Saturday, we slept in then went to the New York Hall of Science and walked south on 5th Ave down to Washington Square where we took a long and much needed rest and were even able to watch some street performers. That night we rode the Staten Island Ferry to Staten Island and back(which was a fail both Sat. night and Sun night cause the only ferry they were running was one without a deck and so you couldn't see the amazing skyline like usual). Sunday we went to Life in Christ for church then went to Henry and Deb Blanks for lunch. In the afternoon we walked through Central Park for awhile and then went to Staten Island again(which, as was previously stated, was another fail). And now I'm sitting on a soft couch relishing the feeling of having my feet propped up.

 

These are just a few of the pictures...I'll post more later.

 An AMAZING chicken gyro from a Halal stand

On poverty day, instead of outreach the trainees had an activity called poverty simulation. They were all divided into "families" of four or so and for a living had to make paper bags with paper and a flour-water glue. They would sell them to the shop keepers and try to make enough to pay that week's rent. If they couldn't make the payment to the Slum Landlord, they would be sent to Mr. Deep-in-debt and would borrow money from him in hopes that they could pay both him and the slum lord by the next week. If they couldn't make the payment, then they would have to go live under the bridge which is next to impossible to get out of. The whole setup was made to fit a real slum as much as possible. Though everyone had fun, it was humbling to think how many people actually live like this. How many people can't just clean up the mess an hour later and walk away like we did.

 Wall of m &m's in Times Square

Wall of legos in the lego store at the Rockefellar Center

St. Patricks Cathedral

Yesterday afternoon one of the other nannies and I went and visited St. Patricks Cathedral(which was under renovations and will be for the next several years). Here are the pictures from our little excursion.

 

 

 Inside the subway station

 Coming out of the subway station into Manhattan

 The picture above is from another smaller cathedral that we stopped at on the way

 This picture is for my Dad cause he always thinks it's funny how in Pollyanna the Preacher has to walk way up the stairs to preach. This isn't quite as high up, but still. :)

 A whole store full of Lindt chocolate ;)



Crystal standing in front of the doors of another cathedral we walked past.