Live in Love

The Energizer Betty: She Keeps Going and Going and Going....

2010-01-13T09:06:00.000-08:00

Betty Miller has done it again. We can’t keep her down and she won’t slow down. Betty has outdone herself by hand-making more quilts for children in Africa. Children from the area of Mayenjane in Swaziland were the most recently blessed with the beautiful quilts. Mayenjane is like many of the villages and communities in Swaziland; poverty is the norm, HIV/AIDS is common, and many children are left to fend for themselves. The good news? Love prevails. And in October love arrived in 2 large boxes.

The children most in need in this area visit the Mayenjane Care Point for a meal each day and 20 children attend grade 1 at the care point. (Grade 2 will be added in 2010.) On the day the quilts were delivered it was cold and raining. The grade 1 students were inside, staying warm and dry as long as they could while they anxiously awaited their special surprise. The children could not stand still as 2 large boxes were carried through the door. They wiggled and squirmed, giggled and squealed as they moved closer, wanting a better look at the boxes that held unknown treasures inside.

As the boxes were opened and the quilts removed, the children’s eyes lit up. And when they were told they would each receive their own blanket to keep they began to scream with excitement and joy.

The children prayed and sang songs to thank “Grandma Betty” for their priceless gifts.

Betty has made hundreds of quilts for children in need around the world. Her hands have touched every piece of material, every inch of thread. When the children are wrapped in their quilts it’s as if Betty’s loving hands are wrapped around them, holding them close, comforting them, keeping them warm. Betty’s quilt may be a child’s first time to know love.

Thank you, Betty, for ensuring love prevails. Thank you, Betty, for choosing to Live in Love.

Good Eatin' in Swaziland

2009-09-18T03:32:00.000-07:00

Kwazi

2009-08-18T04:41:00.000-07:00

Kwazi roasting marshmallows for the first time

At 14 years of age Kwazi is an example of the all too familiar life of kids in Swaziland. As of July he is orphan. His mother died 8 years ago and his father died last month. Kwazi has 2 younger brothers, Mbulelo age 11 and Majawonkhe age 8. Fortunately, unlike many children in Swaziland, all three brothers have people to stay with, however, they are not living together. Kwazi is currently living with Lori and Pastor La’Salette. Mndeni, one of the young men and a leader at church, takes him to school each day on his way to work and picks him up each evening. In the next few weeks Kwazi will move to a house 3km away and live with Jabulani, one of the assistant pastors. Mbulelo is staying with Angie, another elder at the church. Angie also cares for Zwelakhe, her 12 year old nephew, who lost both of his parents several years ago. Angie and Zwelakhe have been together a long time and call each other mother and son. Majawonkhe remains close to the only home he has known. He is good friends with a neighbor boy and now lives with his family. The boys see each other on weekends. This becomes a treasured time to play together, laugh, and simply hang out as brothers should. Even Zwelakhe is now part of the “band of brothers”.

Kwazi hangin' with the boys

Many people are coming together to raise these boys, many people who choose to live in love, to be their family and ensure their future. Praise God for the love.

Can you build a house in 1 day?

2009-06-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

You can in Swaziland. All you need are the right materials, the right people, and the love of God. An older woman’s home in the squatter community of 19 was literally falling down on top of her. With the help of dedicated people from the community, the leaders and youth from Christian Family Church and the K-Team from the US (Kay, John, and Tom on a mission trip serving in Swaziland), a house was constructed on a sunny Saturday in June.

The materials for a stick and mud house are self-explanatory. Adding cement to the mud, rocks to the walls, and some nails and wire to secure the long branches ensure a stable structure.

Loading trees that had been cut the day before. These will be used for the frame of the house.

The frame of the house

Jabulani assess the structure

Filling the frame with rocks – watch your fingers!

Mixing the mud

Playing, uhh, I mean using the mud to finish the walls

Night fall did not stop us. All you need is a candle and the Live in Love Rav.

Checking out the new house

Welcome home!

Beauty and the Beast

2009-06-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

Beauty is her name, the Beast is the burns. It is common in Swaziland to cook over fires. Almost a year ago Beauty’s family was preparing to do just this when she fell backwards into the fire. The burns span from her shoulder blades to the bottom of her legs, including her genital area. The pain is unimaginable. For the first many months she used the wall to lean against when she walked, to help keep her balance and hold her up. For the past few months she walks freely without the assistance of the walls but still moves slowly and stiffly. She has not been able to sit since the accident so she is always standing or lying. Despite all of this Beauty remains true to her name, inside and out. No matter how long it takes her to walk and how difficult it is, this doesn’t stop her from getting where she wants to go - usually to play and hang out with the other kids in the children’s ward at Good Shepherd Hospital. The Beast doesn’t stop her from playing, coloring, laughing, and being silly. The Beast doesn’t affect her heart, her smile, or her appetite.
Beauty is not just her name, it is who she is and the Beast will never keep her down.

Hot of the press!

2009-04-21T10:58:00.001-07:00

Syndy just returned from a trip to Swaziland to visit Lori and here are some action shots to brighten your day! Lori is doing great and loving her work. Check it out:

Hangin' out with the kids at '19' (a community feeding location)Talking with Abraham about delivering food to the care points.
More fun with the kids.
Delivering food in one of the villages.
Helping Lomasantfo with her medicine.
Teaching the kids some of their alphabet letters.
Lori and her friend 'Loma'
Teaching 'health' class at CFC School.
Reading the bible with the students.
Striking a pose for all of us here in the States that miss her so much!

She's Back!!

2009-04-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

Ta-Da! Lomasontfo ready to leave Pretoria in her new "going home" outfit

Lomasontfo returned home to find her sisters, their babies, and several children from the community waiting at her home to greet her. While it was dark when we arrived (and I mean DARK as there are no lights due to no electricty) the greeting was full of excitement after Lomasontfo’s 2 month absence.

Lomasontfo continues to do well. Her biggest challenge has been adjusting to her return to Maphiveni including the change in her diet. While away she had the opportunity to eat relatively well. She had 3 meals a day and even had special treats like eggs and chicken. She gained weight and looked strong and healthy. At home the reality is much different. She will get 2 meals a day, Monday through Friday, at the care point, a bowl of soft porridge in the morning and rice or pop with beans for lunch. As for the remainder of the week's meals there is little consistency. Eggs are quite rare and chicken is a once a month treat at her home when her oldest brother gets paid at the end of the month. Needless to say her hunger has been significant the first week as her body adjusted and she has lost a little weight. The good news is she is happy to be back in school, back with her friends, back to church on Sundays, and most of all she knows Jesus loves her.

Dr. Mohamed removing the wires that had been holding Lomason's jaw in place while it healed

Showing off and looking pretty

Live in Love: Kid Style

2009-03-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

Live in Love has no age restriction. Anyone – young, old, or comfortably in between – can choose to Live in Love everyday. Here are 2 kids who choose to Live in Love, all on their own, no prompting from the grown-ups in their lives. They are remarkable and have an early start on how they want to live.

Logan, age 7Logan, like most kids, loves to eat at McDonald’s. While most kids are playing with their Happy Meal toys, Logan does something a bit different. At the age of 6 he thought about children who may not be able to eat at McDonald’s. Logan had the simple idea to donate all his McDonald Happy Meal toys to children’s hospitals around the country. His heart reaches out to other children who need something special to brighten their days; children who are sick, lonely, hurting, or afraid. Logan gives what he has and does so with a smile, no pretenses, no strings attached, nothing expected in return.

Aspen, age 8Aspen has always had beautiful long hair and never wanted to have it cut. That is until, at the age of 5, she heard about Locks of Love, a program that receives donations of hair (must be at least 10 inches long) to make natural looking wigs for children who have lost their own hair to illness and medical treatments. Aspen asked her mom to measure her hair and take her to get it cut. A few days later her hair was on the way, to help other girls. And get this: Aspen did it again last year, her second donation of hair to Locks of Love.

Logan and Aspen are the young ambassadors of Live in Love and we are so thankful for their thoughtfulness, generosity, kindness, putting others first, and, of course, their love. They simply give what they have to those who do not. We can’t wait to see how they grow, give, and love as they continue to Live in Love for many years to come. Thanks, Logan and Aspen!

Return to Pretoria

2009-03-10T22:27:00.000-07:00

The day has arrived for Lomasontfo to return to Pretoria to have the wires holding her jaw removed. On Wednesday the Live in Love Rav will hit the road. On Thursday Lomason will have the wires removed. On Friday she will return to her home in Maphiveni. She has been away for 2 months and quite excited to see her friends, go back to her school, and attend church on Sundays. What a joyful day Friday will be for her!

Lomason continues to heal well. The swelling has decreased dramatically. Look for new photos of Lomason later this week!

Swazi Reality: Lunch

2009-03-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

Visit from the US Embassy

2009-02-16T01:49:00.000-08:00

Visit from the US Embassy
Friday, February 13, was a special day for the children in the rural communities of 19 and Komba. Connie Parker, the American Ambassador's wife, arrived with 150 crocheted bears to share with the children. Her message for the children was of love and comfort. Each bear was unique with multiple colors and shapes. As Mrs. Parker handed the bears to the children there was a multitude of laughing and smiles. Children hugged their bears, held them by the arms and legs, showed their bears to each other, and 1 little guy quickly figured out how to carry his bear without hands, just like his mother carried him as a baby (and how all the women carry their babies).Ah, multiple colors and shapes… sounds like a description of the innumerable ways to Live in Love. Thank you, Connie, for showing the children how you Live in Love today.

Back to Swaziland

2009-02-16T01:46:00.000-08:00

On Friday, February 6, Lomasontfo was released from the hospital in Pretoria. Her progress and healing has been much faster than anyone expected. She is staying in Manzini, in the clinic at the Mahkolweni Care Point for the next 4-5 weeks to ensure she is receiving proper and sufficient nutrition as her healing continues. The 2nd week of March she will return to Pretoria to have the wires stabilizing her jaw cut. Lomasontfo is enjoying her time in Manzini and is even attending the school, second grade, at the care point.

Lomasontfo's progress in photos

2009-01-30T23:31:00.000-08:00

2 days after surgery with a special friend from Pastor LaSalette

Incision needed to tie off external carotid

3 days after surgery - talking with sister in Swaziland

World problem: How much do you have to mash food so that it will fit in a 9 year olds mouth when her jaw is wired shut and she only has an opening on the lower left side?

Looking beautiful!

1 week after surgery

Stitches out!

Lomason works the camera - she's getting good!

A little school work

Back to silly

Thank you for all your prayers!

Surgery Day

2009-01-26T23:27:00.000-08:00

Silly Faces Always Welcome

Wednesday, January 21, the morning of Lomasontfo's surgery, began with a rousing game of Go Fish. She learned to play this game a few days prior and asks to play it everyday. At 10:00am it was time to go to the theater - no, not another movie, it is what the operating rooms are called here. Upon arrival in the hall outside the OR it was learned the anesthesiologist was running late. Time was passed with reading the bible, talking, being a bit silly, and Lomasontfo taking a brief nap. An hour and a half later it was really time for the surgery. After a prayer Lomasontfo rolled away, more calm and peaceful than I had ever seen her, praise God.

7 hours later Lomasontfo arrived in the ICU. Wow she looks different! The cyst was gone and lots of swelling contributed to her new look. The swelling will eventually go away but the cyst will never return. Her progress has been good and more updates are forth coming.

It is amazing to see God's hand at work, using so many people to make this happen for Lomasontfo. Without this surgery and reconstruction her prognosis was not good. The cyst would continue to grow rapidly and potentially create life-threatening challenges. The love of God, the love of many people here, and the love of people around the world praying for her are a beautiful display of the power of love. What a wonderful way to Live in Love everyday, caring about a child in need, whether near or far, whether you know her or not. Prayer and love - a great combination.

Lomasontfo returns to Pretoria

2009-01-26T23:05:00.000-08:00

The call came from the surgeon that it was time for Lomasontfo to return to Pretoria for the big surgery to remove the bone cyst. A week later the Live in Love Rav4 was packed up and headed across the border into South Africa. Upon arrival the vascular surgeon did his assessment and shared his plan for tying off her external carotid artery to greatly decrease the risk of excessive bleeding during the surgery. With the weekend and nothing scheduled for Lomasontfo her doctor agreed to her leaving the hospital, getting a break before the surgery when she will need to be there for several weeks. So, what is it like for a girl who lives in a rural area with no electricity or running water to spend a weekend in the city? She was in another world...

Everything was new and so unlike anything she had ever seen or experienced before, from the bath tub at the hotel to the escalator at a mall. She went to a movie, Madagascar 2, and simply being in the lobby was on the verge of overwhelming. When the lights went off and the previews started she leaned into Lori and asked,"Is it night?" This was the only way for her to relate to a place so dark despite it being the middle of the afternoon... outside. When she saw an escalator she once again had the expression of confusion, intrigue, and excitement all at once. Something so simple to many of us, something we use often without thinking twice, became an amusement park ride to Lomasontfo. She wanted to try it. As she stood at the top and watched the stairs moving she was hesitant, unsure of how to get on. With brief instruction and a strong hand to guide and steady her she stepped on and instantly was amazed. At the bottom, with a 1-2-3 and another helpful hand, she didn't merely step off but made a great leap, a triumphant accomplishment completed. She had so much fun with this she went up and down at least 4 more times. By the last time she was determined to do it by herself, no "helping hand". The smile, the bright eyes, the energy in her steps and jumps - you would have thought we were at Disneyland. Actually, for her, it was Disneyland.

Another Reality: Road Signs

2009-01-17T02:16:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Swaziland

2009-01-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

The children had a great opportunity to celebrate at the annual Christian Family Church and Children’s Cup Christmas Party. Almost 1000 children and a few hundred adult volunteers were on hand at the soccer stadium in Tambankulu. Children were bused in from numerous rural areas. The children participated in activities including face painting, soccer, water slide, and jumping castles.

Pastor LaSalette gets in on the face painting.

Make shift water slide: long sheet of black plastic, sprinklers, hill....

Look out, comin' through!

A wonderful lunch was served including stew, pop (a Swaziland staple), beet root, cole slaw, and juice. When the children departed they each received a gift bag to take home.

mmmmm....... stew

Can you say "cole slaw"?

African woman are some of the strongest women in the world.

1 potato, 2 potato, 3 potato, 4.......

9 large pots were needed to cook the stew, pap, and rice. The fires were started at 5:00 am to ensure the pots would be hot enough to cook all the food.

While Swaziland couldn’t be further away from a white Christmas, a great time was had by all.

On a side note, do you know how much food and preparation it takes to feed 1300 people?

Take a look…

230 kilograms of meat

(1 of the many uses for a Rav in Swaziland)

Beet root...

...and more beet root

A small sampling of the food waiting to be prepared.

Bongi, Praise and Worship Leader at Christian Family Church International, shreds cabbage at lightning speed.

After hours of shredding, Bongi takes a well-deserved break as the food preparation the night before the party continues through the night.

Grab a knife, grab a veggie, start chopping....

Mother and daughter team Teresa and Danielle tackle the carrots.

Lori chopping and shredding, too

Are we done yet?

The final count:

230 kg's of meat (507 lbs)
50 kg's of potatoes (110 lbs)
20 kg's of carrots (44 lbs)
150 kg's of rice (330 lbs)
30 cabbages

30 kg's of green peppers (66 lbs)

Way too many onions to remember

NEW MAILING ADDRESS

2008-12-30T04:45:00.000-08:00

Effective January 1, 2009 Heartworks/Live in Love will have a new corporate address.

Heartworks/Live in Love
Attn: Synthia Miller
35333 180th Ave.
Pleasant Hill, IL 62366

Thanks to all our loyal and generous supporters for the wonderful year we've had. Please update your records with our new address and keep those donations coming!

Lomasontfo update

2008-12-15T18:31:00.000-08:00

Lomasontfo returned to Pretoria last week for a brief visit and biopsy before the big surgery. Although the doctor was unable to complete the biopsy due to excessive bleeding the trip was good. More information was gathered about the upcoming surgery and after care.Lomasontfo also had her 2nd visit to McDonald’s with her first cheeseburger and several more firsts including a bubble bath, stay in a hotel, eating an omelet, learning to take photos with Lori’s cell phone, learning to use Pastor Mike’s calculator, and shooting straw wrappers. She also enjoyed watching her classmates in a video on the laptop sing songs and praying as they do each morning. She sang along and prayed with them as she watched it over and over again. It was like she was there with them.
On the return drive to Swaziland she said,”Lori, I want the songs.” And spent the remainder of the drive smiling and singing.

In the first week or 2 of January she will go back to Pretoria for surgery to remove the cyst/tumor and her jaw and reconstruct this area of her face. This is expected to take a minimum of 5-6 hours and a hospital stay of 2 weeks if all goes well. Please pray for Lomasontfo, her doctors, nurses, and all those caring for her. Updates and information will continue as well as photos of her progress.

Catch up with Lomasontfo

2008-12-01T17:32:00.000-08:00

(If this is your first encounter with Lomasontfo, check out the previous posts in the blog to learn more.)

Lomasontfo is doing well, back in Swaziland and at school after 1 week in hospital in Pretoria. During her hospital stay the doctor, did extensive x-rays and CT scans. Although the aneurismal bone cyst has grown significantly, at least triple the size in 5 months, the good news is the vascularity has decreased and it is surrounded by bone which will make it easier to remove. The current plan is to remove the cyst and her lower left jaw then reconstruct with a metal plate. The metal plate is modeled after her right lower jaw using 3-D images from the CT scans. Since the metal plate is specifically made for her, it will take 1-2 weeks to be ready. In the meantime, Lomsasontfo has returned to Swaziland until a date for the surgery and return to Pretoria is set, hopefully within the next week. The next hospital stay will begin with a biopsy to determine what is inside the cyst and if it is benign or malignant. The biopsy will begin with a small needle to assess the level of bleeding. If the bleeding is too much the biopsy will not be done and her carotid artery may need to be tied off during the surgery. Along with the maxilo-facial surgeon, there will also be a vascular surgeon and neurosurgeon involved. After the surgery, Lomasontfo’s jaw will be wired shut for 6 weeks. At some point in the future, bone grafts will be attempted and if they work the metal plate will be removed so her jaw and mouth can continue to grow as she does.

While this all sounds, and is, invasive and overwhelming, Lomasontfo is strong, both in health and in spirit. She has many people praying for her, her doctors, and everyone involved in caring for and supporting her. God’s hand has been in this process and will continue to be. He is involved in every aspect, including the considerable financial burden; a refund on the x-rays (has anyone ever heard of a refund from any type of medical cost?), the doctors in the radiology department at a different hospital deciding to do the CT scans for free, and the hospital where she stays taking 20% off all the remaining charges! No doubt He has a plan for this remarkable girl and we can’t wait to see what He does next.

Clarification and corrections from previous posts: Initially Lomasontfo was reported to be 11 years old. She is 9 years old. The confusion originated from her being the 11^th of 12 children. All 12 children have the same mother with 5 different fathers. Of all her siblings, Lomsasontfo is the only child from her father. Both her mother and father are no longer living.

Swazi Reality: Laundry & Cooking

2008-11-16T09:20:00.000-08:00

We Are Marching to Pretoria!

2008-11-14T18:38:00.001-08:00

Finally! Lori and Lomasontfo have made it to the hospital in Pretoria. After lots of waiting, red tape and more waiting, the cyst on Lomasontfo's neck is being treated by the doctors in South Africa. Please keep her in your prayers over the next week as she undergoes treatment so far from home.

Can you see me now?

2008-11-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

The longer Live in Love is in Swaziland, the realization grows of how easy many things are in the US in comparison. This week brought a trip to the Eye Clinic at Good Shepherd Hospital, a 45 minute drive to the closest eye care. The Live in Love Rav 4 was full: two 11 year old girls with undiagnosed eye problems, an elderly man who is blind, Abraham the wonderful interpreter, and Lori behind the wheel. The breakfast menu during the drive consisted of bread and bananas. Upon arrival at the clinic it took a few wrong turns before we found our way to the Eye Clinic. What relief to discover a much shorter line compared to the line of at least 120 people where we started. The wait to see the doctor was about 2 hours. When we (yes, all 5 of us together) entered the exam room there were other people being examined; you could call it a “community exam room” with minimal privacy and confidentiality. We took our seats in line, once again, on a bench.The older man was seen first. He was diagnosed with glaucoma and cataracts in both eyes. His left eye is completely blind and beyond any repair. The good news: the doctor believes a small amount of vision may recoverable in his right eye. The older man was admitted to the hospital, scheduled to have surgery the next day, and then return home the following day. What joy he will have at seeing his young grandson, a dedicated boy who walks with him, guiding him wherever he goes.Manswane is the first of the 2 girls to be seen. Her left eye rolls back several times through the day. The doctor informed us she has a lazy eye but is too old now to patch and strengthen her eye. The good news: There are no other problems with her eyes.Then it was Hlengiwe’s turn. Her eyes have been red (almost darker in appearance), itching, some bleeding, pain, and her eyelids seem to not open as much. All of this has been getting worse. Upon examination the doctor discovered several things including allergies, significant dryness of the eyelids, conjunctivitis (pink eye), and a staph infection. The staph infection is also in and around her nose as well as her forehead. The good news: the doctor prescribed 3 medications – eye drops, antibiotic ointment, and oral antibiotics and the pharmacy had all the medicines and no line.

The great news: When I asked about the cost for the prescriptions and the older man’s surgery the doctor, a kind Christian himself who has been in Swaziland for many years, said, “Don’t worry about it.” Sure enough we got to the pharmacy for Hlengiwe’s medicines and there was no charge. And the older man? 2 nights in the hospital and surgery for free!

Follow-up: When the older man was discharged from the hospital Friday he had a huge smile on his face… he can see!

The greatest news of all? God is good and still performs miracles everyday, big and small, whether we notice them or not. So, keep an eye out…

Update on Lomasontfo

2008-10-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

While I had hoped to write a post that says something like, “Lomasontfo arrived in Pretoria as scheduled. She has been receiving great care and the cyst is beginning to shrink.” Unfortunately, she never made it out of Swaziland. One word: government. The appropriate actions and documents needed to obtain a medical visa were not complete. Almost 2 weeks later and there is no progress. The good news is that Lomasontfo continues to go to school everyday, church on Sundays, and play jump rope with her friends. Updates will continue…

Swazi Reality: Home

2008-09-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this first post in a series about the day to day reality of life in a squatter community in rural Swaziland.

Love in Action: Betty the Quilting B, Part 2

2008-09-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

Love in Action: The Quilting B, Part 2

TV News Coverage:
http://www.wgrz.com/video/default.aspx?mid=880653512

Last year Live in Love introduced Betty Miller who makes quilts for vulnerable children including 100 quilts for orphans in Kenya (check out the blog post). This year has been no exception.Along with her regular quilting projects, Betty once again joyfully accepted a special quilting mission: the children of Swaziland. Betty’s hands are skilled to make the quilts, but her heart is as much, if not more, a part of the process. She is not satisfied to simply make a bunch of quilts. Oh, no, Betty thoughtfully selects the material. With the children in mind she chooses beautiful colors and patterns, some for boys and some for girls. Each quilt Betty handmakes is unique in color and design. Betty crafts each quilt with gentleness, kindness, and love.When Syndy arrived in Swaziland her bags were heavy and packed full with Betty’s quilts. One bag was ready to bust at the seams! It was so important for the quilts to get to the children that many other items were left in the states, including items requested by missionaries, most of Syndy’s clothes, and all of her shoes. (Thankfully, Syndy and Lori where the same size.) With some sleep, a shower, and a meal, 12 hours after Syndy’s arrival Live in Love hit the road and headed for the pediatric ward at Good Shepherd Hospital in Siteki near the Mozambique border. The percentage of children at Good Shepherd who are HIV+ is staggering. It never drops below 70% and the majority of the time it is 90%. In addition to HIV, many of the children have burns, are severely malnourished, and some are abandoned.The quilts were received with an abundance of smiles, thank you’s, and disbelief that the quilts now belonged to the children, that the quilts were for the children to keep. One young girl spent the rest of the morning strolling around the ward, clasping her new quilt around her shoulders like the elegant cape of a princess. There was no doubt how special she felt.
On a personal note, I can not express fully how honored I was to carry the quilts into the ward on Betty’s behalf. I wanted her to be there to personally select a quilt for each child. I imagine her gently laying a quilt upon a sleeping baby then wrapping a quilt around another child, covering them with her warmth and love.
Betty reaches across the miles, sewing love in the hearts of children. I am thankful to know her and to be a tiny part of her ministry to children in need. Thank you, Betty, for all you do.
If you are interested in donating quilting supplies to Betty's Love in Action Quilting Project, please contact us for additional information at LILBlog@aol.com. The average cost of supplies per quilt is approximately $10 if everything is purchased on sale. Each quilt requires 2 yards of print fabric, 2 yards of matching solid fabric and 2 yards of batting plus the necessary thread, yarn and ribbon for completion. Betty does not accept cash donations for her quilting project but she gladly accepts donations of cotton fabric, thread, batting and gift cards for Joanne Fabrics. Fabric donations must be cotton or poly-cotton blends that are child appropriate. Please NO patriotic patterns or symbolism.

Meet Lomasontfo

2008-09-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

Lomasontfo is like other 9 year old girls. She likes the color pink, likes stickers, and likes to jump rope with her friends. One thing that makes her different is the large vascular growth on the side of her face. She has had this for many months and despite hospitalizations in Mbabane, Swaziland, and Pretoria, South Africa, the cyst has not decreased in size. So, Tuesday morning, she is returning to Pretoria. Lori with Live in Love will be there with her to help her settle in, adjust to being in hospital again, and cope with difficult procedures and being away from the community she knows.

Lomasontfo is representative of many children in Swaziland and Africa. She is an orphan and although she stays with a few older sisters, they have babies and consider Lomasontfo an outsider because she has a different father.

While in Pretoria the doctors will continue their work on decreasing the cyst. The biggest challenge comes from the significant vascularity of the growth. This means they can not cut into it as they would not be able to stop the bleeding and Lomasontfo would not survive. The days ahead may be hard but the “L” team is on it and we’re pretty tough – that’s Lomansontfo, Lori, and Live in Love. Please keep her, the doctors, and those caring for her in thought and prayer. I will post updates this week so please check back.

Word from the Frontline

2008-09-26T04:21:00.000-07:00

Thank you friends for all your prayers and financial support during the past many months while Lori has been getting set up at her new home in Tambankulu Swaziland. I just returned from a 2 week trip there and want to let everyone know first hand that she is doing great! My trip was wonderful and humbling as always and it was amazing to see the work that Lori has begun in this small Kingdom.Over the next several days, I'll be posting stories and pictures from my trip so that you can all share in the mission that God has called Lori to. During my stay with Lori, we visited 6 different Care Points, 2 of the 6 hospitals in the country, the local elementary school run by the Christian Family Church where Lori has plugged in, and 2 countries. We put over 500km on her new 'old' car and enjoyed countless hours of laughing, sharing, praying and at times, even a tear or two.
Please check back often and read about our Excellent Adventures in Swaziland. To be continued soon... Syndy

Photo Tour Update

2008-09-19T03:15:00.000-07:00

It’s day 7 of the Live in Love Photo Tour 2008. Syndy’s cameras are smoking with over 1600 photos and there are 5 days to go. We have traveled to many rural communities, bumping and jostling down dirt roads that were more holes, rocks, and ruts than actually road. We have been a few feet from the Mozambique border. We have seen children smiling with a sparkle in their eyes, wrapped in their new quilts made by "Gogo" Betty. We have seen children so malnourished they are literally starving to death. We have been hugged and thanked. We have had small children grab our hands and hold on tight, wanting nothing more than safe and comforting touch. We have seen poverty, illness, tears. We have seen thankfulness, love, and hope.

Please continue to pray for Syndy while she is traveling, for her safety, health, and return home. Stay tuned in the weeks ahead for Syndy’s photos.

A common sight in Swaziland

2008-09-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

Limited clothes… and if you find something to drink, grab it, don’t wait.

A note from Lori...

2008-09-09T13:58:00.000-07:00

As I begin my 4th month in Swaziland it is difficult to put words to all I have seen and experienced. I am still adjusting to a vastly different culture and socio-economic environment. The poverty, illness, malnutrition, and abuse are, at times, overwhelming. But love is alive here. I often find it in the eyes of a mother comforting her child or in the grasp of a child’s hand in mine.

Live in Love is making strides with the development of the Children’s HIV Intervention Program in Swaziland (CHIPS) in partnership with our good friend Teresa Rehmeyer (view earlier posts about Teresa and check out the blog at http://www.rehmeyers.blogspot.com/). This program will provide access to HIV testing and treatment as well as individual and community support for children and their caregivers. During a 4 hour clinic in the Maphiveni area in August, Teresa saw 64 children. One-third of these children were identified as needing to be tested for HIV simply from current symptoms and limited family history. This does not include the many children who are HIV positive but are not yet symptomatic. There are at least 300 children in the Maphiveni community and Maphiveni is 1 of 7 communities we will reach with this program. You can do the math.

There are more Live in Love programs and projects in the works and we look forward to sharing them with you as they grow.

Thank you for continuing this support journey with Live in Love as we serve the children of Swaziland. Thank you for your support prayerfully, financially, and with words of encouragement. To continue to assist the children in rural Swaziland we need your help. Tax-deductible donations may be mailed to Heartworks, Attn: S. Miller, 150 St. Charles Rd, Carol Stream, IL 60188. Please write Live in Love on the memo line. Prayer is most welcome anytime and anywhere. Encouraging words may be sent to the above address or e-mailed to lorilil@hotmail.com.

Yes, love is alive here… an ideal place to Live in Love.

Live in Love. Everyday.
Choose it. Live it. Do it.
Lori

Children: The Heart of Live in Love

2008-08-24T14:17:00.001-07:00

Next time you think your chair is uncomfortable...

2008-08-24T14:13:00.001-07:00

These are the chairs from the school near Maphiveni. Ouch! Fortunately some of the men who work at Christian Family Church are building new seats and backs for the chairs. They are also painting them bright colors. Stay tuned for an updated photo of the new chairs!

Live in Love: Meet Thobile

2008-08-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

She has the heart of a warrior and a beautiful smile. Her body, however, is wasting away, as fragile as a baby bird. She has HIV/AIDS, multi-drug resistant TB, malnutrition, and pain in her legs that make it difficult to walk. She has been in the hospital twice in the past 3 weeks. When we visited her during the most recent admission the sight was almost too much to bear. The hospital ward was so crowded we found Thobile lying on the floor, under another patient’s bed.

Her mother sat faithfully on the cold, hard floor next to her, where she also slept each night. Thobile was shivering, breathing hard, had high fever, could not walk and weighed less than we had ever seen. We knelt down beside her, leaning in under the bed above her. Then we realized she was reaching up to us. Not with her arms or her head, but with her beautiful smile, shining through her darkness for a moment to convey her joy and love at seeing us, of us simply being there with her. That’s the thing about choosing to Live in Love. It doesn’t matter what you can or can’t do. It doesn’t matter if you’re sick or healthy, rich or poor. What does matter is being there, reaching out with a simple smile in the midst of pain and suffering to ensure someone knows how much you appreciate them, how much you love them. Thobile did not speak that night but her smile said more than any words could. Take a moment today and smile. Really smile. A genuine meaningful smile. It’s another simple way to Live in Love.

A few days later, Thobile was off the floor and on a small cot. Her pain had decreased, her fever was down, and her smile was strong.

Photography Trip Scheduled

2008-08-24T04:38:00.000-07:00

On September 11th, Syndy will be traveling to Swaziland for a 12 day visit with Lori, LaSalette and the Rehymeyers. The list of photographic requests is long but the visit will be filled with energy and excitement. We will be sure to post updates and all our favorite 'pics' later in September when Syndy returns. If you have anything small and lightweight that you'd like delivered, please send it to Heartworks Inc. 150 E. St. Charles Rd. Carol Stream, IL 60188. All deliverable items need to be at the office by Wednesday, September 3rd.

Photo's from Lori and Kay - 1st Week in Swazi

2008-08-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

Lori with a little guyKay teaching Bible study at a Care Point
One of the housemothers--8 toddlers in her care--can you imagine?!LaSalette... sporting her new Live in Love t-shirt imprinted with "Born to Feed" on the back

4th of July - Swazi Style!

2008-07-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

Volleyball, anyone?

The "New Mexico Chili" was the big winner

Caruso and Ellie hangin' as they await the fireworks

Some of the missionary girls from different organizations

For the Americans who live in Swaziland, the 4th of July was a time to come together and enjoy many of the things we would do if we had been in the US. While some played sand volleyball or jumped in the sack race the grills were fired up and the smell of burgers and dogs filled the air. Under the red, white and blue tent was a chili cook-off, popcorn, and cotton candy. A few fireworks colored the night sky to round out the day and a great time was had by all.

Live in Love Follow-Up

2008-07-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

In October 2007, Live in Love visited Swaziland and had the joy of hand-delivering needed equipment for a special project. Daran Rehmeyer, one of the missionaries we have come to know, was starting a glass blowing shop out of his garage to teach teens and young adults this specialized art. As their skills are developed and refined, Daran plans to mentor them in marketing and selling their wares as well as teaching them how to manage their resources properly and empower them to continue to grow.

I recently had the opportunity to watch Daran in his shop and see the tools we delivered in action. The tools are rods that are put into an "oven. After they are heated, Daran dips them into liquid glass and, blowing gently through the other end of the tube, begins to create numerous pieces. Daran currently has an apprentice who is developing her skills in glass-etching and cutting. She has already sold her first pieces! As Daran continues this valuable and life-changing program, Live in Love will keep you updated. Thanks, Daran, for reaching out to the youth in Swaziland with your heart, creativity, and desire to help them. Thanks, Daran for choosing to Live in Love.

New T-Shirt Designs!

2008-07-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

Wear your support for Live in Love! We've added 3 new designs to our inventory. Send us an email to pre-order yours today. T-shirts come in both youth and adult sizes with design print on front side and Live in Love logo on back. Shirts are $25 each or 5/$100. All proceeds go directly to the Africa Project.

Previous designs still available:

Love in Action

2008-07-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

Love must not be a matter of words or talk;

It must be genuine and show itself in action.

"Share A Pair" Is Still On Its Feet

2008-06-16T08:04:00.000-07:00

With my first visit to the Maphiveni Care Point I was delighted to see some of the shoes Live in Love brought to the cooks last October. This is a picture of Maria sporting her fun-colored crocs. We knew it meant a lot to them at the time but had no idea they would be wearing them 8 months later. What a joy!

To read more about the Share A Pair project, check out the previous posts.

Live in Love: First Week in Swaziland

2008-06-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

Live in Love returned to Swaziland this month for an extended stay to work with the children in a rural area called Maphiveni. While Lori settles in and begins the important work ahead, Syndy will visit in September to add her photography skills, her love, and her special touches.

The first week included meeting many people and children, attending church amidst the sugar cane fields where the music and singing almost blew the roof off the building, and seeing the land where the home for children who are orphaned and abused as well as a future hospice home will be built. The setting and views are beautiful and will be an ideal site to help children know they are loved.

A visit with PePe, a girl we wrote about in a previous post, rounded out the week. She greeted us with a smile in front of the orphanage where she now lives.

As we look forward to the months (and, hopefully, years) ahead, there is great anticipation and excitement about what is to come. We invite you to continue this journey with us, viewing this blog often to see the updates and happenings from Swaziland and ways you may help. Current opportunities to join us, to partner with us, include the purchase of a safe, reliable vehicle to transport children with HIV/AIDS to a clinic 1.5 hours from Maphiveni. Please e-mail us through this blog site for more information or send tax-deductible contributions to Heartworks, 150 St. Charles Rd, Carol Stream, IL 60188.

We always welcome encouraging thoughts and prayers and hope you will choose to Live in Love everyday.

What are you doing June 4th?

2008-05-23T09:48:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday, June 4, Live in Love is returning to Swaziland. This begins a year-long mission there with the children in a rural area called Mapa Veni. Despite the poverty and illness, we believe in the power of love. We are excited about this amazing and humbling opportunity.

So, on June 4, wherever you and whatever you are doing, if you have a moment, please send thoughts and prayers for the year ahead.

Thank you for continuing this journey with Live in Love and keep an eye on the blog for updates from Africa!

T-Shirts NOW ON SALE!

2008-05-14T10:35:00.001-07:00

Wear your support for Live in Love!

T-Shirts come in a variety of colors and sizes from Kids to XL Adult.

All proceeds from the sale of these shirts go directly to supporting Live in Love in Africa.

T-shirts are $25 each. If you buy 4, you get one FREE!!

or mail your check and design/size selections to our corporate office:

150 E. St. Charles Rd., Carol Stream, IL 60188.

Thank you for supporting our mission in Africa!

Live in Love is Growing!

2008-02-28T09:48:00.000-08:00

As the international division of Heartworks Photogrpahy, Inc., Live in Love is taking the next step in its growth. Beginning in June 2008, Live in Love will be esatablished in Africa as Lori is moving there to continue the work of this non-profit. Please read below as Lori shares this mission.

It is a joy to share with you I am taking my experience and passion for helping children to a new place: Africa. With the prayers of many people and following God’s guidance, I am going to Africa to serve full-time. I cannot deny what God has put in my heart. God has made it quite clear that Africa is where He wants me. It is amazing how He has grown His will and purpose into such a desire that I am unable to imagine doing anything else.

My home and work will be in Mapa Veni, Swaziland, beginning the first of June. The country of Swaziland is located in the far southeastern part of Africa, bordered by South Africa and Mozambique. Mapa Veni is a rural area in the northeastern part of the country and marked by great poverty and illness. Swaziland has the highest rate of AIDS of any country in the world. Physical and sexual abuse of children is rampant. Death and dying are an all too familiar experience. As the average life expectancy continues to decrease, the number of children orphaned by AIDS and the number of child-headed households is increasing. Children not only experience the loss of parents, siblings, and other family, they often face the same future as they, too, are infected. There is extremely minimal alternative housing for children who are abused, who are orphaned, who are pregnant, who are dying. The government provides no support and actually discourages it. There is little food, no clean water, and unsafe shelter.

While these facts and the lives of these children may be overwhelming, I believe there is hope. I believe hope’s name is Jesus. The goal is to glorify God through sharing and explaining His love and the hope of eternal life with Christ to children who do not understand the concept of love or the meaning of hope. With the love of Jesus, aspects of the ministry will include
· helping children understand and cope with illness, loss, death, and grief
· encouraging children to express themselves
· supporting children to see themselves as the beautiful people they are, that they do exist, that they do matter, and that they are loved
· assisting children to create remembrance items and experiences at the end of their lives or family members’ lives to aid with grieving

I will work closely with Pastor LaSalette Duarte who has lived in Mapa Veni for more than 25 years. She started and runs a church, Christian Family Church, and school. She also partners with Children’s Cup missionaries (www.childrenscup.org) to oversee their Care Points where children in this area receive a meal each day. Together we will serve and care for the children in this community through the church, school, care points, and monthly medical clinics. We will meet needs as they arise, as we can, and as God leads. We are planning and building a home for orphans, abused children, and young girls who are pregnant as a result of sexual abuse/rape.

I am going to Africa with Live in Love, the international division of Heartworks Photography, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit corporation established in 2002 (www.heartworksphoto.org). The founders of Heartworks are professional photographers dedicated to serving vulnerable children locally and around the world. The fundamental need for photography in this region to remember the children who are lost and die each year, as well as the therapeutic opportunities it provides, makes us a well-rounded team. To read more and see pictures about Live in Love, Swaziland, our previous trips, and some of the people we have and will continue to work with, please visit www.supportlil.blogspot.com.

How may you help?
· Prayer
· Financially with a tax-deductible donation
· Share this with others
· Purchase or donate needed equipment and supplies (list is included with this mailing)
· Purchase a shirt (or 2 or 3!)

If you would like to support and contribute financially, your donation is tax deductible. One time, annual, and on-going monthly funding is needed. Startup costs to support the ministry are $20,000, which is primarily for the purchase of a vehicle. On-going costs are currently estimated at $1,300 per month. At this writing 30% of startup costs and 40% of on-going monthly costs have been met. You may write a check payable to Heartworks Photography, include Live in Love on the memo line, and mail to Heartworks Photography, 150 St. Charles Rd., Carol Stream, IL 60188.

Thank you for joining me, for partnering with me to give children a voice, to show them and help them know love and hope exist and can be theirs. If you would like to receive correspondence and updates by e-mail, please send me your e-mail address.

The Power of Love

2008-02-14T11:47:00.000-08:00

Is there anything stronger than the love of a parent for a child? Team Hoyt would argue “no way”. Who is Team Hoyt? Just a father and son, Dick and Rick Hoyt. They compete together almost continuously in marathon races. When they’re not running marathons they are doing triathlons — the daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

So, what makes them so special? “Nothing” would most likely be their reply but if you saw them running, swimming, or biking you would beg to differ. You see, Rick can’t talk or walk. When Rick was born the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and cut off oxygen to his brain. While the doctors told his parents there was “no hope for their child’s development,” and that they “should just put him away — he’d be a vegetable all his life,” Dick and Judy Hoyt brought their son home and were “determined to raise him as ‘normally’ as possible.”

As Rick grew “the Hoy’ts were convinced Rick was just as intelligent as his siblings. Dick remembers the struggle to get the local school authorities to agree: "Because he couldn’t talk they thought he wouldn’t be able to understand, but that wasn’t true." The dedicated parents taught Rick the alphabet. "We always wanted Rick included in everything," Dick said. "That’s why we wanted to get him into public school."

A group of Tufts University engineers came to the rescue, once they had seen some clear, empirical evidence of Rick’s comprehension skills. "They told him a joke," said Dick. "Rick just cracked up. They knew then that he could communicate!" The engineers went on to build — using $5,000 the family managed to raise in 1972 - an interactive computer that would allow Rick to write out his thoughts using the slight head-movements that he could manage. Rick came to call it "my communicator." A cursor would move across a screen filled with rows of letters, and when the cursor highlighted a letter that Rick wanted, he would click a switch with the side of his head.

Rick told his father he wanted to participate in a five-mile benefit run for a local lacrosse player who had been paralyzed in an accident. Dick, far from being a long-distance runner, agreed to push Rick in his wheelchair. They finished next to last, but they felt they had achieved a triumph. That night, Dick remembers, "Rick told us he just didn’t feel handicapped when we were competing." Rick’s realization turned into a whole new set of horizons that opened up for him and his family, as "Team Hoyt" began to compete in more and more events.”

More events meant Dick would have to become a long-distance runner. When Team Hoyt began competing in triathlons Dick not only had to become a long-distance biker but he also had to learn how to swim. "I sank like a stone at first" Dick recalled with a laugh "and I hadn’t been on a bike since I was six years old."

As they continue to compete nationally and around the world, Rick experiences success in other areas. He graduated from Boston University with a degree in special education and works at Boston College’s computer laboratory assisting in the development of “Eagle Eyes”, mechanical aides that can be controlled by the eye movements of a person who is paralyzed.

Team Hoyt’s message is simple, “Everybody should be included in everyday life.”

Thank you, Team Hoyt, for showing us 1 more way to Live in Love.

The text in italics is from the web-site http://www.teamhoyt.com/.

To view an inspirational video about Team Hoy, visit http://www.sermonspice.com/ Don't be surprised if you need a tissue.

Pepe's Art

2007-11-27T19:34:00.000-08:00

2007-11-22T10:19:00.000-08:00

Be thankful everyday, Live in Love, and pass it on.

Love in Action: Simply Teresa

2007-11-20T17:25:00.000-08:00

A mother of 4, a nurse, a missionary, and the medical director for Children’s Cup in Africa. Compassionate, generous, loving, fun, intelligent, strong, humble, courageous. So many ways to attempt to describe a woman who seems to be all things to everyone she meets.

Teresa Rehmeyer lived a comfortable, and what most would call successful, life in Louisiana with her husband and 4 children. Contentment would seem obvious but not for Teresa and her family.
They knew there was more and in 2005 they made the change of a lifetime. Teresa and her husband moved their family to Swaziland in the south eastern part of Africa to serve orphaned and vulnerable children.

Teresa now runs a clinic, providing medical care to the 4000 children currently involved in Children’s Cup Care Points throughout Swaziland and Mozambique. Teresa cares for children with everything from fevers to cuts and wounds to complications of HIV/AIDS to severe physical and sexual abuse. She does home visits in the poverty stricken areas where the children live. She visits the children when they are hospitalized to follow their care, providing them with a familiar face, support, and love in the dirty and frightening institutions.

Abuse, violence, disease, neglect, and death are rampant here. Teresa values and loves the children when their own families, their own communities, and their own society do not. The children look to her to relieve their pain and suffering. The children look to her for healing and for hope. She is their light in a dark world and she always provides.

Lara Logan: The Real Lara Croft?

2007-11-20T10:07:00.001-08:00

Meet award-winning journalist Lara Logan, who has been reporting from war zones for the past 15 years. Fictional woman Lara Croft intentionally puts herself in dangerous situations to save the world. Real woman Lara Logan also puts herself in dangerous situations, but to share the world, not to save it. That is until she and soldiers with the 82nd Airborne literally stumbled upon an orphanage in Iraq. They just happened to peer over a wall. What they saw on the other side was like nothing they had previously seen during their time in Iraq. Lara was determined to share the horrific conditions of an orphanage for boys with special needs and their rescue by these soldiers. So how does Lara Live in Love? Through her dedication to the truth - in war, danger, terror, and the hope that exists and persists in the midst of it all.

Lara was named one of Glamour Magazines 2007 Women of the Year. The publication's article is below.

The Truth Teller
Lara Logan, war correspondent

“When we both covered the war between Israel and Hezbollah, I’d get to the scene of an attack, and invariably Lara would already be there. ‘What took you so long?’ she’d ask.” —Anderson Cooper, anchor of Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN and host of Planet in Peril, just out on DVD
By Susan Dominus

Pinned down during an attack by insurgents in Ramadi, Iraq, Lara Logan asked herself two questions as bullets whizzed by her head: “Where can I get the best pictures?” and “Where can I stay alive?” Logan, 36, chief foreign correspondent for CBS News, has been having those thoughts—in that order—ever since she was a 17-year-old reporter in her native South Africa. On the job, she’s dodged gunfire everywhere from Angola to Afghanistan and in 2003 covered the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, where she’s been almost nonstop ever since, even as the number of foreign reporters there has dwindled.
A bundle of energy who gets by on “three or four hours of sleep a night,” Snickers and Red Bull, Logan is fueled by one urgent mission: to tell it like it is. “If journalists weren’t in Iraq, any politician could say what he liked and no one would be the wiser,” she says. During the past year, the deadliest since the invasion, she saved children’s lives with her expose of horrific abuse at an Iraqi orphanage. “Lara shoots video herself when she doesn’t want to put the crew at risk,” says CBS anchor Katie Couric. Says Logan: “How can you show people reality if you don’t go see it yourself?” Bearing personal witness to “the cruel reality” of war is, she says, “what I was put on earth to do.”

For Lara’s reports and photographs about the children and their rescue soldiers, follow this link, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/18/notebook/main2946477.shtml

2007-11-01T10:58:00.001-07:00

"Love and being loved is the greatest of human joys, the ultimate human experience. We can exist without love; but we are not living fully as human beings without it."
Edward E. Ford

Love in Action: La'Salette, Superwoman

2007-11-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

She may not be faster than a speeding bullet nor be able to leap a tall building in a single bound, but La'Salette Duarte is a super woman. Portuguese by birth, La'Salette has lived in Swaziland for more than 25 years. She can not contain the love, joy, and hope that is within her so it naturally overflows to those around her. It is contagious. La'Salette currently runs the Children’s Cup Care Point in Mapa Veni in Swaziland. Although this care point is relatively new, there are already 250 children from the surrounding communities who come here every day for a meal, often their only meal.In addition to the care point, La'Salette continues to lead the church and school she started many years ago in the same community. This region is 1 of the most devastated areas in Swaziland. (On a recent medical mission trip, the physicians, highly experienced with health care in rural and underdeveloped areas, said the children and adults were much more sick than other areas of Swaziland.) The church is located in an old machine shed on the edge of the sugar cane fields. La'Salette has been converting it into a church and school complete with 4 small classrooms and a teen room where the teens in the community can spend time, find refuge, experience comfort, compassion, and love, and know they are not alone. La'Salette adds her own personal touch throughout the building, ensuring that what some may consider “minor” or “unnecessary” details are present. These include pretty decorations in the women’s bathroom, murals on the walls of the school, a fountain, and brightly painted wheelbarrows with colorful flowers planted inside. La'Salette knows that love, to Live in Love, is in the details. La'Salette will keep going, keep growing the care and services she provides and supports.

Love in Action: Susan and PePe

2007-10-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

Sub-Saharan Africa is more heavily affected by HIV and AIDS than any other region of the world. An estimated 24.5 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2005 and approximately 2.7 million additional people were infected with HIV during that year. In just the past year, the AIDS epidemic in Africa has claimed the lives of an estimated 2 million people in this region. More than twelve million children have been orphaned by AIDS.
UNAIDS, '2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic'

When you learn of the statistics of AIDS in Africa, the numbers are staggering. It is difficult to comprehend, to fully grasp what 24.5 million people really looks like. It may help to put a face or 2 to this epidemic, to get to know someone living it. Meet Susan and PePe…

Susan (Sisana) and PePe are bound together by life, by death, by sickness, by poverty, by hope, and by love. At first glance one may assume Susan and PePe to be mother and daughter. At first glance one may assume PePe to be 5 or 6 years old. At first glance you may not even notice them at all. The reality is they are not mother and daughter, PePe turned 10 this year, and they often go unnoticed. In October 2006, PePe was very sick as a result of having AIDS. She was not expected to live much longer. Susan, who was a cook at the Children’s Cup Care Point where PePe came for a meal each day, provided for most of her care. PePe’s mother had died of AIDS 5 years prior and PePe’s father was suffering from the same illness. In a sense, Susan rescued PePe. She took PePe to the clinic, fed her, cared for her, and brought PePe into her home. Susan gave PePe things she hadn’t known in many years, things she possibly never knew. Susan showed her love and gave her hope. The amazing part? Susan was also dying of AIDS.

The end of PePe’s life was drawing close, or so everyone thought. PePe’s strength, though, along with the love and hope Susan fostered in her, put up a tremendous fight. A year later, October 2007, the unimaginable is reality. PePe is still alive. And not just alive but thriving. Today she is taller, has gained weight, attends school daily, likes to jump rope and color, and smiles every chance she gets. Oh, yes, the smile… something that did not in exist 1 year ago. No, her AIDS is not cured and she will still die, but not today, not this year.

While PePe grew stronger, Susan’s health deteriorated. On May 19 of this year, Susan lost her battle with AIDS and was finally able to rest and be at peace. Below is a brief note from the Daran and Teresa Rehmeyer’s blog (rehmeyers.blogspot.com), missionaries with Children’s Cup, who know both Susan and PePe:

Sisana Nxumalo
A product of a hard life. She still had a heart for her community and the children there who no one else cared for. She will be sorely missed. I pray for a hundred more who have a heart to care for those who have no hope. Sisana knew hope's name is Jesus.1965.......19 May 2007

How does something as ugly as AIDS bring about the beauty of hope and love? How does something that tears people apart also bring some people together? The only answer I have is to truly Live in Love…

A spot of good news: Look at PePe today - Oh, what a difference a year makes!

Last Full Day in Africa.... For Now

2007-10-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, October 16, is our last full day in Swaziland and 1 of our busiest days of the trip.

We started early with a 1.5 hour drive back to Mapa Veni near the border of Mozambique to visit the church/school and the Children's Cup Care Point. Mapa Veni is 1 of the poorest areas in Swaziland. It is covered with sugar cane fields and many of the people who live here are "cane workers". Christian Family Church and school was started by La'Salete, a Portuguese woman who has been living in Swaziland for over 25 years. She is one of the most beautiful women we have ever met and we have "reserved" a post space just for her. The school has 59 students in grades 1-7 sharing 4 small classrooms. The church is attended each week by hundreds of people from the surrounding communities and La'Salette continues to lead and grow the church as pastor.

During our visit to the church and school, Syndy photographed each class, the teachers, and then the whole school together. At the Care Point, also lead by La'Salette, we had the honor of distributing more shoes from the "Share A Pair" project. Syndy photographed all the children and staff at this Care Point, which was much more work than at the school due to the presence of 200+ children! What a blessing for all these children. Because of La'Salette, Children's Cup, and the women who volunteer their time, energy, and love, more than 200 children now have a meal everyday.

We spent the afternoon at Makholweni Care Point and Clinic. Teresa runs the clinic every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon with children coming from all the care points to receive medical care. Lauren, a psychologist, works with Teresa at the clinic providing counseling for specific children who have experienced severe trauma and abuse. The care Teresa and Lauren provide is invaluable. They are filled to overflowing with love and compassion for the children. They are Living in Love.

Our day concluded with a brief stop at Gabby's soccer practice. Gabby is Teresa's and Daran's eldest daughter. She is an avid soccer player, hoping to receive a scholarship and play for university. Syndy was behind the camera again, photographing the players as they warmed up and a team photo. As the sun began to set, we left the girls to their training.

Quite a variety in our day. From churches to schools to care points to cooks with new shoes. From clinics to children waiting in line for their food to an organized soccer practice. Just a few of the many faces, the many sides of life in Swaziland.

Share a Pair: Stylin' and Smilin'

2007-10-18T17:28:00.000-07:00

Zombodze Care Point Distribution

Mapa Veni Care Point Distribution

Mahkoweni Care Point Distribution

By the sea, By the sea, By the beauitful sea

2007-10-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

Mozambique is a country located in south eastern Africa on the coast of the Indian Ocean. We stayed in the capitol city of Maputo Saturday night and attended church with Carol and Issac Williams at the Children's Cup Care Point they lead on Sunday morning. With 70 adults and 250 kids attending the chruch service, Carol and Issac have their work cut out for them! They are young, vibrant, and have a glowing heart for God.

5 Things To Do When You're Stuck at a Border Crossing in Africa

2007-10-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

Ah, yes, the Mozambique border... Hot, humid, no place to sit, and did I mention the guard at the gate with the uzi? Ok, I'll cease the drama, and while the former sentence is all true it was just a really, really long wait. No pain and suffering, no problems, no close-calls or near-misses. Just heat and waiting and sweat and sweaty tired kids and are we there yet?....

1. Bring a snack
2. Bring water
3. Wear comfortable shoes and clothes
4. Have a sense of humor
5. Don't be in a hurry

Lions and Tigers and Bears - Oh, My!

2007-10-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, well, not tigers and bears, but definitely lions! We took a short break from the busy schedule Friday night and Saturday morning to visit the Hlane Royal Game Park with the Rehmeyer clan (missionaries with Children's Cup, reymeyers.blogspot.com). A game drive Friday night followed by impala stew and traditional African dance around a large fire and a second game drive Saturday morning provided a nice get-away. While we did not see large numbers of animals we did have amazing close encounters with the lions. We watched in awe a lion pride with 1 male lion, 3 female lions, and 2 young male lions, getting as close as 20 feet to the "Lion King". Of course, we were in our Land Rover safari vehicle so we had some protection. They are beautiful and look so cute and cuddly... then they yawn and you are quickly reminded of their wild side. You don't want to get any closer to those teeth.

At noon on Saturday we bid farewell to our game guide, Johannes, and headed for the Swaziland/Mozambique border. Leaving Swaziland was quick, easy and painless. Entering Mozambique was another story....

To see more of Syndy's wildlife pictures from Hlane, visit her personal blog: www.SynthiaBAfrica.blogspot.com

Love Comes In All Shapes and Sizes

2007-10-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

Friday morning began with sun shining through the windows for the first time since we’ve been here. We knew it was going to be a memorable day.
Kristen and Charles are Children’s Cup missionaries and friends we have come to know. Charles has already returned to the states for a new ministry opportunity and Kristen is joining him later this month – hopefully with their new baby girl they are in the difficult process of adopting here in Swaziland. “Jules”, the current favorite in the name category, is 1 month old and in the abandoned baby ward at a government hospital. Friday morning Syndy and I had the honor of meeting Jules and sharing bath and feeding time with her and Kristen. A beautiful baby, a beautiful woman, wrapped up in love. Everyday brings new challenges as the adoption process is filled with red tape and poor communication. Despite the difficulties, the emotional ups and downs, and an unknown outcome and future, Kristen and Charles choose to Live in Love and are committed to bringing Jules home.

Our next stop was a return to the RFM Hospital's children's ward to deliver the photos Syndy took the previous day. The smiles from the children and the mothers began the moment we walked in the door. With their memories of the day before, the pleasant surprise was apparent in their expressions and reminded me of how often they have been let down and no longer expect people to follow through with what they say. Mother's faces glowed, children's eyes lit up, and God brought joy to a despair-filled place.

The morning continued with the first "Share A Pair" shoe distribution. Old, dirty, worn-out shoes were quickly shed as the cooks at the Makheweni Care Point picked out their new shoes, courtesy of the kind giving of our friends and family. The women showed off their new shoes to each other and 1 women even started dancing. Smiles, hugs, thank you's, and happy soles rounded out our visit to these beautiful women.

Love. It comes in all shapes and sizes. A family, a photo, a pair of shoes... It doesn't take much, just a little love.

Much To Share...

2007-10-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

We are back to Swaziland and back on-line! Friday afternoon through Sunday evening was spent traveling in Swaziland and Mozambique. There are several posts below to catch you up on the past few days. Thank you for reading and sharing the experiences with us!

Say Cheese

2007-10-12T03:46:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning was spent in the children's ward at RMF hospital. While the children don't know the phrase "say cheese" to help smile for a picture, there were still plenty of smiles for Syndy's cameras. There were 35 kids there, ranging in age from 1 week old to 12 years old. It is more different than we can even try to explain from any hospital in the US. It is not possible to not be deeply affected by the conditions. And, yet, the children still smile. What a lesson...

Survivor every day here

2007-10-10T23:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight, Thursday night, is "Survivor night" on TV in the US. Here in Swaziland it's Survivor every day. Yesterday we visited 1 of the Children's Cup Care Points for a few hours. While there we talked with the women cooks who were making the children's 1 daily meal in a large black caldron over a fire. It was foggy, damp, raining, cold, and yet they faithfully provide for the children. We also attended a portion of the school day. Ndombia and Prudence are the 2 teachers at this care point, teaching the children and this poor community through 3rd grade. Ndombia and Prudence live in this same poor community as do the cooks. Among the may highlights of the day was our visit with PePe, a 10 year old girl with AIDS. We met PePe during our visit last year when she was brought to our Medical Mercy clinic with a high fever, mouth sores, TB, and going into septic shock. Even with the quick response of the lead physicain and pediatric ICU doctor, Dr. David Beyda and a pediatric ICU nurse, Aimee Franken, we did not think PePe would live much longer. By the grace of God and through much prayer, we saw a healthier and happy PePe yesterday. Still only the size of a 6 year old, PePe was full of smiles even coloring a picture for us. She still has AIDS and she will still die, but not today or tomorrow. She has more time in this world to know Jesus, Her Lord and Savior, to not fear death when it does come, and minister to others through her more than difficult journey in this life on earth. She is a true Survivor, each and every moment of each and every day. She is a living example of Living in Love.

First Morning in Swaziland

2007-10-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

AFter a 2.5 hour delay in Jo-burg we finally made it to Swaziland at 8:00 last night. This morning we woke to rain and fog but it doesn't dampen our spirits our the work we're here to do. Today we're headed to a hospice organization in the morning and a pediatric ward at one of the hopitals in the afternoon. Our ride is here so we will add more later. Have a great day and Live in Love

On our way... FINALLY!

2007-10-08T12:38:00.000-07:00

We left Chicago this morning with over 300lbs of luggage and lots of hugs and prayers from family and friends. This is our departure at Chicago O'Hare. With the help of Durrell and 'Tom' our skycap, we managed to get all our luggage checked thru with no extra charges and we're now en route. A short layover here in Washington Dulles then on to Jo-burg before we reach our final destination tomorrow evening in Manzini Swaziland. Next blog from the southern hemisphere on the other side of the Pacific!

Shoes Shoes Shoes

2007-10-06T17:50:00.000-07:00

The Shoe Project... Share a Pair

2007-10-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we began the strategic task of packing for Africa. With weight and dimension restrictions as well as a small plane from Johannesburg to Manzini, “strategic” is a nice way of saying, “Oh, my gosh, how are we going to do this?” We had hoped for 75 pairs of shoes, not sure if we would get that many. To our joyful surprise, our friends and family spread the word about the "Share a Pair" Shoe Project to their friends and families and the generosity has been more than we ever expected. Current count as of last night is 111 pairs of women’s shoes and more are being donated each day. I have a feeling we will be packing shoes up until the day we leave! Of course, we’re not sure how we’re going to get our own stuff there, like clothes to wear and Syndy’s camera gear. Ah, another strategic packing challenge for another day. We look forward to sharing photos and stories on this blog as the "Share a Pair" Shoe Project continues, from final packing and count to distribution to the women cooks in need. Stay tuned…

As always...Live in Love, share a pair, and give someone in need the opportunity to walk a mile in your shoes.

Swazi Thoughts - October, 2006

2007-09-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

As we prepare to return to Swaziland, the memories of previous mission trips come flooding back and we anxiously look forward to another opportunity to Live in Love in a country that so badly needs our love and compassion. I thought I'd share a journal entry I wrote just weeks after we returned from Africa last October. I hope that in sharing it, you can get a better idea of what my personal motivation and passion are for this vast mission field.

"It’s now been two weeks since our medical mission team left Swaziland Africa, a Kingdom smaller than the state of New Jersey, embedded in the northeast quadrant of southern Africa. Upon returning home from any mission trip, I am always forced to succumb to the routine of my ‘normal’ life, leaving behind the sights and sounds of people less fortunate than us. Incredibly, after two weeks, my mind is still racing with thoughts of the amazing people I met, the miracles that were accomplished and the lives that were affected.

As I reflect on our trip, I am continually astounded by the compassion of the Children’s Cup missionaries. A team of 7 Americans, they minister daily to the basic human needs of abandoned, orphaned and vulnerable children. Never before have I witnessed such commitment to a cause that is so worthwhile. These missionaries don’t give lip service to their plan of action; they give their hearts, their sweat and their tears!

During our first prayer gathering on Monday morning, one of the missionaries asked us a thought-provoking question: “Why do we do what we do?” He then went on to say, “If lives don’t change because of what we’re doing, life is pointless.” This really made me think. Not just about our mission trip and why we were there in Swaziland but about life in general. How many of us can say that we are changing lives by doing what we do? Are we living a personal life that exemplifies God’s love? Have we followed God’s calling in our professional lives? Do we find time to donate our energy to a worthy cause in His name? Are we changing lives? The good news is, as long as we have life to live, we can make changes and change lives!

When asked about my trip to Africa, I’m still speechless. It’s hard to sum up our trip in a few words. I guess in one sentence I can say that my heart was touched and I’m anxious to return! The children of Africa need our help and Children’s Cup needs our support. It’s easy to become focused and overwhelmed by the amount of need. I choose to stay focused on the nearly 1,800 people we saw in Clinics and in knowing that we met some of their needs. I focus on the thousands of children that the Cup Missionaries feed each day through the Care Points. And finally, I focus on the ongoing ministry that Ben, Suzie, Daran, Teresa, Charles, Kristen, Patrick and all those on their Swazi Team are accomplishing one child at a time. Thanks to them, these children are no longer forgotten." - Originally written October 2006 by Syndy

Live in Love Africa Tour 2007

2007-09-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

It’s time for Syndy and Lori to hit the road and take to the skies again. On October 8 we depart for Swaziland and Mozambique, 2 countries in south eastern Africa. This is a return to Swaziland for us but a “first” to Mozambique.

So, what takes us to this part of the world? Several things but in a nutshell to serve in Love, to Live in Love. Now for the details…

We will be working closely with the missionaries from Children’s Cup who live in Swaziland and serve the vulnerable and forgotten children in this area. A beautiful example of choosing to Live in Love in everyday. The missionaries have many responsibilities including running care points where children may come once a day for a meal, often their only meal of the day. As a nurse, Teresa also runs a clinic where the children may go when they are sick or injured.

Syndy will combine her professional photography skills with her love for children who are vulnerable and in need. She will work in numerous venues including the creation of profiles of individual children to share with others and extensive photography of the children, staff, and the missionaries. Every photo Syndy composes is meaningful and has a story. One of the special projects is visiting the children’s ward at a local hospital. With permission from family members, Syndy will photograph the children and provide the families with a printed portrait of their child; a memorable, and possibly the only, keepsake of this kind for the families. Check back often to learn about all the projects Syndy is doing in Africa.

Lori will utilize her knowledge and experience to begin developing hospice and palliative programs with Teresa and the Children’s Cup team. This is an overwhelming need with a high rate of HIV/AIDS and minimal to no services for end of life care for children. Many of the children are orphaned due to HIV/AIDS and now face the same future. Our goal is to help them understand what is happening, decrease their fear of the unknown, ensure them they will not be alone, and give them the hope of what is waiting for them. Check back to see the progress and possibilities.

Additionally we are completing the “Shoe Project”, a tangible way to serve those who serve. Many women (about 75 at last count) cook the meals at each Children’s Cup Care Point. That’s 15 Care Points with up to 5 women each. The women live in the same rural and poverty stricken communities as the children but volunteer their time and energy everyday just so the children in their communities can have a meal. These women still have their own families to care and cook for at the beginning and end of the day. These beautiful and strong women choose to Live in Love every day.

Daran, Teresa, and their 4 children will be our companions, drivers, and tour guides throughout our time in Swaziland and Mozambique. Their kind, giving, and caring hearts are apparent in all they do. (www.rehmeyers.blogspot.com)
The women who cook, Daran, Teresa, and their family, the missionaries, their staffs, and so many others in Africa and in the states who support this tender work, their love for others shines in them and through them. I believe they know no other way to live.

If you would like to help Live in Love or Children’s Cup support the vulnerable children they work with, please contact us at lilblog@aol.com. All financial contributions are tax deductible. All prayer support is just plain good. Both will make a difference in the life of a child. Both are appreciated more than you will know. Both are 2 more ways to Live in Love.

Please join us on this journey as we post regular updates, stories, and all the “happenings” from the southeast coast of Africa. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

As always,
Live in Love – LiL

Bubbles...the International Language of Laughter!

2007-09-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

2007-09-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

"To love means never to be afraid of the windstorms of life; should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the beauty of the carvings."

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Testify to Love

2007-09-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

All the colors of the rainbow
All of voices of the wind
Every dream that reaches out
That reaches out to find where love begins
Every word of every story
Every star in every sky
Every corner of creation lives to testify

For as long as I shall live
I will testify to love
I'll be a witness in the silences when words are not enough
With every breath I take I will give thanks to God above
For as long as I shall live
I will testify to love

From the mountains to the valleys
From the rivers to the sea
Every hand that reaches out
Every hand that reaches out to offer peace
Every simple act of mercy
Every step to kingdom come
All the Hope in every heart will speak what love has done.

Lyrics and music by Paul Field, Henk Pool, Ralph Van Manen, and Robert Riekerk. © 1996 Windswept Music/MCA Holland.

Love in Action: The Kenya Quilting "B" - as in Betty

2007-08-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

How are an orphanage in a town in Kenya and a quilter in Niagara Falls connected? It’s a true story about the crafting of love.

Scene 1:
You never know when the opportunity to help someone will present itself. You can’t predict where you will be or what you will be doing at the precise moment that opportunity knocks. You may even be scrubbing the kitchen floor. Betty Miller’s advice is keep your ears open and listen. She knows. She was scrubbing the kitchen floor.

It was 15 years ago when Betty was on her knees, soap and water on her hands, listening to the radio. A woman began talking about children with cancer at the hospital in Buffalo who needed quilts. Betty “skidded over to the counter with soapy hands to get a pen and write down the phone number." Soon after she called and spoke directly with the woman who started Project Linus and began volunteering her quilting skills. Now, at age 77, Betty is quilting more than ever.

Scene 2:
The town of Kakamega is in western Kenya, about 30km (18.6 miles) north of the equator. There is an orphanage in this town run by a woman named Vicki who is known as the “Mama” of the orphanage. While the orphanage was originally created to house 50 children, they are at capacity and hoping to grow to care for 100 children. Local police sneak more children in daily.

The orphanage building was constructed in part by Niagara Community Church in Niagara Falls, New York. The church supports the orphanage and purchased the beds and the mattresses. With so many children now at the orphanage, the sleeping arrangements are not as comfortable as they once were. Some children sleep on the mattresses on the floor and the other children sleep on the bare bed springs. (Think about this the next time you want to grumble about an uncomfortable bed.)

Scene 3:
Guess where Betty goes to church? This is where the beautiful connection begins.

Betty had the opportunity to meet Vicki “Mama” at Niagara Community Church. When Betty learned they were in need of quilts she immediately jumped at the opportunity to serve, just like she immediately jumped up from the kitchen floor 15 years ago. Betty quickly committed to making 100 quilts before January 2008. That’s 4 quilts a week in 25 weeks! Betty does all the quilting herself at her home in Niagara Falls. She has a quilting room set up in her basement and has several friends who help her with cutting and tying the final quilts. Her long time friends and neighbors Eileen Cook and Marilyn Thaylor give Betty lots of support along with Lois Row and several others from the Wesley Quilters of Niagara Falls. In January, a mission team from Niagara Community Church will deliver the 100 quilts to “Mama” and the orphans in her care. Imagine how much these quilts will mean to the children at the orphanage as they go to bed each night on a mattress on the floor or on bare bed springs.

Betty hand makes every quilt. This means her skilled and loving hands touch each piece of material and every thread with gentleness and great care. Each quilt, just like each child, is cherished, special, and unique. Each quilt will go from the loving hands of a quilter to the once unloved hands of a frightened child. Because of Betty, the children will know there is someone else who cares about how they sleep at night, someone who cares enough to make something just for them to have as their own. Webster’s dictionary defines the verb form of quilting as “create by stitching together". Thank you, Betty, for stitching love together so the children may hold it in their hands and wrap themselves in it.

Everyone has something to share, something to contribute, something that makes a difference. Keep your ears open and listen.

The average cost of supplies per quilt is approximately $10 if everything is purchased on sale. Each quilt requires 2 yards of print fabric, 2 yards of matching solid fabric and 2 yards of batting plus the necessary thread, yarn and ribbon for completion. Betty does not accept cash donations for her quilting project but she gladly acceptsdonations of cotton fabric, thread, batting and gift cards for Joanne Fabrics. If you are interested in donating quilting supplies to Betty's Love in Action Quilting Project, please contact us for additional information at LILBlog@aol.com. Fabric donations must be cotton or poly-cotton blends that are child appropriate. Please NO patriotic patterns or symbolism.

Shopping for supplies...

Betty's quilting workstations set up in her basement...

Working on the quilts...

Works in progress and some of the finished products!

Music is much like Love

2007-08-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

Music is much like love. It has a vast range of emotions, is difficult to describe, and most people have experienced it in one form or another.

It expresses what we cannot. It is the language of the soul and often impacts us in ways we don’t fully understand. Sounds a lot like love, doesn’t it?

Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words. ~Robert G. Ingersoll

There is something very wonderful about music. Words are wonderful enough; but music is even more wonderful. It speaks not to our thoughts as words do; it speaks through our hearts and spirits, to the very core and root of our souls. Music soothes us, stirs us up, it puts noble feelings in us, it can make us cringe; and it can melt us to tears; and yet we have no idea how. It is a language by itself, just as perfect in its ways as speech, as words, just as divine, just as blessed.
-Charles Kingsley

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
Victor Hugo

Music is love in search of a word.
Sidney Lanier

Music… one more way to Live in Love

What is love?

2007-08-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

What is love? Is it only for the young or reserved for the old? Is it real? Is it conditional? Is it honest? Is it a 9 year old boy in a rural village in Cambodia who was abandoned as a baby because he was not “normal” only to be taken in by another family, who now walks, communicates with basic sign language and grunts, and has more energy, compassion, and charm than anyone else in his village?

And what about living in it? The verb form. Putting love into action? Actually living in love…every moment of every day, regardless of who, what, or where. What is this? What does this look like? Is it rescuing a homeless cat and her kittens from an old barn and giving them a home? Is it a parent getting up in the middle of the night to comfort a child who is scared after a bad dream? Is it a child getting scratches from the thorns only to reach the perfect rose for his mom? Is it a woman dying of AIDS caring for another woman’s child who is also dying of AIDS?

Live in Love. Where did it start? 2 people brought together in a genuine friendship? A bookmark found in a pair of jeans in a department store? When Jesus died for us on the cross? The beginning is not important, the continuation is… the sharing it with as many people in as many places around the world.

And if you live in it, you will become it.

Smile... No translation needed!

2007-07-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

It crosses borders, ages, languages.
No experience reguired.
Smile and see what happens... Welcome greetings peer around corners.

Syndy shares photos and smiles with a girl from a village in Cambodia.

My sister, my friend.
Better together.

Friends are good.

2007-07-16T00:15:00.000-07:00

Treasure the love that you receive above all.

It will survive long after your gold and good health have vanished.

Og Mandino

Hangin' with the boys

2007-07-16T00:04:00.001-07:00

Syndy and Lori hanging out with the boys in Cambodia.

Live in Love: In Action

2007-07-15T23:50:00.000-07:00

Her name is Somaly Mam. As a child she was sold into a brothel as a sex slave in Cambodia where she was beaten, raped, and tortured. At the age of 30 she became a spokeswoman for women and children tortured in the brothels of Cambodia. Somaly has created an organization (AFESIP) with the goals to save and socially reintegrate people who are victims. Her organization accomplishes this through counseling, training, opportunities to work, and then reintegration into society. She has dedicated her life to rescuing girls and young women from sex slavery in Cambodia. She often receives death threats but this does not deter her work. Somaly says, “I just want to give them love, for real. It’s what I needed.”

(To view a video of Somaly Mam and to learn more about her work, visit cnn.com, CNN Heroes: Somaly Mam)

Please visit again for more stories of Live in Love: In Action

The Johns and Pauls had it right....

2007-07-15T23:47:00.000-07:00

Whether it’s the Beatles (All you need is love) or the Bible, Johns and Pauls know about Live in Love. The apostle John wrote and spoke about it often, including his statement in 1 John 4:16 about anyone, everyone who lives in love. Many of Paul’s teachings were about love. In Ephesians 5:2 Paul wrote, “Live a life of love” and in 1 Corinthians 16:14 he stated “Do everything in love.” We can find countless examples of Live in Love throughout history as well as in our present, everyday lives. At home, around the world, sometimes where we least expect it. Take the challenge – how many examples of Live in Love can you find?

And a child shall lead them...

2007-07-15T23:43:00.000-07:00

It was the hottest day yet of our week long medical mission trip to the Tae Kao province in Cambodia. We set up the clinic early in the morning after driving on dirt roads that ended before we arrived at our destination. After that it looked like a dry, desolate, dust bowl as far as we could see. I’m not sure if there were roads or we were simply headed in a general direction. I thought to myself this is a place that appears to have difficulty sustaining life. And without life, how can there be love?
Throughout the day the sweat literally ran down our faces and the rest of our bodies. The temperature was well over 100 with humidity to match, scorching sun, no breeze, and no rain in sight for a few more months. And yet they came. No cars or busses with air conditioning. A few on scooters or motorcycles, some on bicycles, but most of them walked in the unforgiving heat with no water, no shade, and no promise of anything at the end of this day’s journey. While I was in awe at what they went through, the distances they traveled by foot, just to arrive here to see the “white doctors” and receive medical care, there were 2 visitors who stood out among the rest; a young girl and an older woman, one leading the other by the hand. Just to hear the description I, like most people, would imagine the woman holding the hand of the young girl, with the young girl following. But, no. I was wrong, again. The young girl, the child, was holding the hand of the woman. The woman was blind. She followed the child, the child led her. There has to be love here. And with love, then there can be life.

The woman could not have made the journey alone. We all have limitations that prevent us from making the journey alone. Live in Love and you will never walk alone.