Auction #1 - Justice Giraffe

Well here is my "very cute something" that I have been working on.    I'm calling it Justice Giraffe (double click on the picture to see it bigger and view the details). Perfect for the little girl in your life ~ daughter, grand-daughter, niece, or friend.  Sorry it it is gender specific, but I fell in love with this fabric.  The giraffe is hand-made by me, and stands approximately 18" tall.  

Auction Rules/Details

The auction begins NOW, and ends Thursday 9:00 pm  PST.  You place your bid by posting a comment in THIS POST with your bid amount.  Please bid in increments of $5.  Whoever is the highest bid at the time the auction ends (9:00pm - thursday) is the winner.  

I am covering the shipping costs to anywhere in the lower 48 states.  

The entire amount of the winning bid will go directly to International Justice Mission (IJM) who does an awesome job at rescuing oppressed peoples - child prostitutes, slaves, widows whose land is stolen, and the list goes on.

I will keep this post at the top of the blog, although I plan to keep blogging while the auction is on.  Just scroll down a bit to see new blog entries.

Let's start the bidding at $5

Let the bidding begin!  

Clear Lake County Fair - Labor Day Weekend

We spent the holiday weekend at Clear Lake with Luke's fam. It's tradition to go to the County Fair. This year for $5, you could ride in the back of a monster truck. Luke, his dad, and Dane all took a spin. Dane LOVED it.

Don't mind the obnoxious parents talking in the background.  It IS ClearLake after all.....

Super Sneak Peak

Here's a super sneak peak at the auction item.  It is actually almost done, but I thought this picture would be more fun and keep you guessing.  I know there's a handful of you that can guess what it is...but don't ruin the surprise!

Feeling the Pressure

Okay, after this post I'm not going to talk about "readership" and such anymore (at least for like a week, haha).  That's because I got a new site tracker, and it said I had 86 hits on the blog, just TODAY!  And you know what that means.....

It's auction time!  

Only now I'm worried about disappointing people with my "super cute something".  What if I've built it up to be more spectacular than it really is and I just can't deliver???

Just remember that I'm a stay-at-home mom to 3 little 'uns.  How much time do I really have to be hand-making stuff?  LOL.

Well I hope this is the first of many auctions, depending on it's success.  And hopefully my things will be spectacular to at least one person :) 

I have a new goal for the auction to go up.  I'm aiming for Tuesday after Labor Day.  So PLEASE don't forget to check back in after the holiday weekend!

Again, I hope to be able to post when I am gone, but won't know until I get there.

Call + Response

Call + Response

A documentary featuring the world's most hidden secret - slave trafficking -  is coming to theatre's  near you this fall.  First tangible act YOU can do - go see this film - and drag everyone you know to see it.  The first thing society can do to help this problem, is not ignore it anymore.  To really see the face of it.  The ugly, dirty, secret face of it.

Feeling Restless

I told Luke tonight that I am feeling anxious.  He asked about what, and I couldn't explain it.  Just "without peace".  My mind has no peace.  Even when I think I am not thinking, I have this restlessness.  I have this sense of urgency, but can't put my finger on exactly what it is.  It's almost anxiety-attackiness (like my made up words?), but I think it is spiritual.  I think God is making me uncomfortable.  Because when we are too comfortable we get complacent.  And I begged Him to never let me be that way again.  So I guess this is an answer to prayer?

Shout out to my readers

So I've had a handful of people e-mail me to tell me they are following my blog. And I'm going to "out" them :)

Thank You blog readers

Brian King of Napa
Tracy Jurasek of Apple Valley
Kate Kalsbeek of Castro Valley (she commented about this blog on my family blog)
Debbie Texeira of San Leandro (she commented about this blog on my family blog)

Matt Moore

Readers that have posted a comment on this blog:
Cami Terpstra
Mary Nathan
Heather Lettus
Amy Moxley
The Brunk
Brian Berry
Bonnie Monk
Lyn from IJM HQ
Brenda Madsen
Elaine Mendenhall

This is kind of fun. I may periodically make a roll call of my readers.

Woo-Hoo! 14 readers!!! Now I just need to make sure I keep it interesting enough so that you all come back!

Your readership means the world to me, especially your COMMENTS!  It's the comments that keep me going on this blog journey.  :)

Genevieve's first day of FIRST grade

Mrs Gunn

checking in

I think I'm up to 5 or 6 readers.  At this rate, I might have 10 by  Christmas :)

Anywho, I'm not getting much sleep lately.  And I am constantly in a state of deep thought.  

My poor kids.  "Mom.   Mooooooommmm - did you hear me?"  

This justice thing is all-consuming.  How was I so asleep before?  How did I just enjoy my American Dream life without being concerned about others in the world who don't have basic needs?  How could I be so shallow?  I vow to never go back.

Okay, so I guess I need to get my very cute something done and get it up for auction so one of my 5 readers can bid on it.  Off to go work on it now :)

2 Readers.

I have 2 readers.  Count them.  2.  Two.  

I definitely don't think I can hold my online auction with 2 readers, especially since one of them is from the IJM headquarters!  (I wonder how she found my blog?)

Tonight I am going to a meeting  at Cornerstone (our church) with a representative from IJM.  I will post more when I get back. 

2 Readers.

Two.

????

First tangible action

So it's time to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak.  I've been doing a lot of talk about DOING SOMETHING, yet am still trying to figure out what I CAN do.  I'm still in that process, but am tired of waiting, so I'm going to make my first move.  

Right now I'm not sure how I can tangibly do something besides send money to a well-respected established organization like IJM.  So that's what I'm going to do.  But I want to do more than just send in what I can afford.  I want to multiply my money.  I want to use my money (and dare I say skills) to bring in even MORE money.  Your money :)

So I'm going to hold an ONLINE AUCTION for a very cute something that I'm going to make. The winning bid will receive this very cute something, and I will donate the ENTIRE amount to IJM.  In fact, I don't even want the money to touch my hands.  I will have the winning bidder send the money directly to IJM, and when they send me the receipt for their donation, I will send them the very cute something.  I will cover shipping too!  

Are you intrigued?  

The key to this online auction is to have a lot of people watching the auction, and hopefully bidding!  The hard part is, I have NO IDEA how many people are reading this blog.  I signed up with some site tracker thing, but it's not working.  It says there has been zero views - which is impossible because I have like 8 comments and a handful of e-mails from people who have been on the blog.  So I'm asking that everyone please post a comment to let me know you were here, so I can see what kind of readership I have.  I'm also asking that once I get the auction item listed, you will help me by telling everyone you know (via e-mail, facebook, myspace, forums, etc) to check out the blog and the auction.  I'm *hoping* that people will bid higher than usual knowing that their money is going to a GREAT organization to help rescue oppressed people.  

So what do you think?  

Please post a comment to let me know you were here!!!!!

***PS -I'm going to be gone on vacay next week, I *might* be able to blog via my iphone, not sure yet.  I hope to have the very cute something listed sometime the following week.  I'm hoping Monday the 25th.  But no promises!

Irresistible Revolution

I'm reading Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution.  It's a little early to review it as I'm only a quarter of the way through.  But so far the one thing that the book has taught me (or reminded me) is to see Jesus in everyone.  Matthew 25:40  "And the King shall answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me."
That 5 year old being raped in Cambodia is Jesus. Would I really turn my back on Him? So why would I not rescue that child as I would rescue Jesus?
It's understandable to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the world's problems, but it can't be an excuse to not do something.
I think everyone has heard the story of the boy with the starfish, but if you have somehow missed it, here it is....

There was once a boy at the beach, picking up starfishes and throwing them back into the sea.
A man came along and told the boy: "Boy, there are thousands of starfishes all along the beach. You are not possibly going to be able to save every one of them."
The boy continued, picking up another starfish and throwing it back into the sea and said "It matters, to that starfish." And picking up another "and to that starfish", and another "and to that one"....

No individual is going to be able to stop world hunger. But we can each help a starfish. Maybe that will be one child, one family, one village.

The Family-less

I read an article that Steven Curtis Chapman wrote, shortly after one of his adopted daughters was tragically run over by a car and killed.  He said that if just 7% of Christians adopted one child, the world would have no more orphans.  I don't know where he found his data, but if it's accurate, those facts are amazing, and convicting.  

Limitations

I've realized that while I've claimed to be "following Jesus" these last 16 years, I have been following Him with limitations...that I set.  I was willing to serve Him in the capacity of my comfortable home in Pleasanton, where it was really important that my kids were established in a neighborhood and could have the same friends from kindergarten through graduation.  Yep, that really was a top priority to me.  

I was willing to "sacrifice" some money; you know, 10% tithing and various other ministries that we chose to support.  We were even sooooo missions-minded that we were "willing" to take our young children to Africa with us for 3 weeks.  Ha!

While I never told God "I will serve you from Pleasanton, and with this much $", that is exactly what I was doing.  And I'm ashamed.

I can now honestly say that I will serve Him in His capacity, wherever, and sacrificially.   Maybe that will be here in Pleasanton, and if it is, I know that I will be called to do much more than I ever dreamed.  And maybe we will be called to physically go feed the hungry in Sudan, or to the inner city of Bankok to rescue children from brothels, or maybe to China where we will be led to adopt one of the thousands of little girls who are family-less.   All are terrifying to me.  But more terrifying, is not being in His will, and not taking care of the oppressed, the hungry, the abused, the forgotten.  

Luke was afraid that we would not be led in the same direction, and that would cause conflict between us.  But I have faith that God will lead us together, and if we are not together, we are not listening to Him.  

So now my prayer is "Bring it on God, bring it on".   (Stolen from Catherine Rohr the founder of PEP - Prison Entrenpeneur Program).  

my heart is heavy

It's been a long day and  a long night.   All good stuff (Leadership Summit conference during the day, and our friends visiting from Kenya over tonight).  There was so much to process from the conference today, I'm pretty drained.  

So I'll just leave you with this article to read.  It's not an easy read, but these people's stories have to be told.  And we owe it to them to hear their stories.  (Thanks Cami for sending this to me).