Give.

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone." 

"The Wise Woman's Stone"   

Author Unknown

image credit here.

the lil' things..

yea.. sO, if u read my last post about enlightenment, passion and all that good stuff, you now KNOW that my joy/passion (wutever u wanna call it) is to work with youth.

Assata asked for a lil' handmade gift... for her birthday.

anyway, i made this lil' box for my cute friend Assata.. one of the junior high girls that i work with.. and she let out a VERY high-pitched squeal!! talk about makin' a girl's day..

i told Nadine that i don't make things for my own gratification, but as i write this, i can't help but wonder if there's a slight bit of joy received when we GIVE from our hearts. needless to say, Assata liked her lil' presents. =)

..meeting the needs..

people all over the world are exploited.. working hard & can barely feed their families..

i'm very much an advocate of FAIR trade.. which simply means.. a workman is worth his wages.. (Matthew 10:10b)

in other words.. if "he" works, pay "him" for what "he" does!!

i know of a few awesome websites that assist the needy & downtrodden..

you can go HERE.. HERE.. or here.

These are some items that i thought were totally cool.. from the hunger site.. perhaps they'll make nice Christmas presents??

some really nice "house" ornaments..
and a really sweet birdhouse.. i like it's vintage-y feel.. =)