Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk

Sooo... I don't usually blog about other public awareness campaigns, but I felt sad for this one since it only had 16,000 signatures on the petition. That's like, maybe the population of the town of Camden-Wyoming. Pretty lame.

    Some activists and politicians are trying to get chocolate milk out of schools, on the rational that it isn't a healthy choice for kids. Well, the experts tend to disagree, which is what the folks over at Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk are trying to tell everyone. They simply want chocolate milk to remain a choice in school, since it is a simple, healthy way for children to to get important nutrients. Right now I believe the proposed chocolate milk removal only applies to public schools. If it applies to private schools (which I doubt, but who knows anymore), then I really want to stop it. That starts infringing on private business and personal rights way more than I am comfortable with. I mean, some homeschool groups are legally considered private schools. There is no way you are telling my mom she can't offer chocolate milk at lunch anymore (like she would listen anyway, since she only drinks chocolate milk).

     But here are my feelings on it. First, I love chocolate milk, and I'm an adult. Second, I know kids really, really love chocolate milk. There is no way I'm going to be responsible for sad kids who can't get their chocolate milk. Third - have you tasted plain milk? Unless you get some phenomenal organic or fresh-from-the-farm milk, it doesn't taste too great. It has a weird aftertaste. Bleck! And fourth - since when do they get to tell my kids what to drink? I don't have any yet, but I'm sure that some of you do. Maybe if they take the milk out of schools we could stage protests and sell glasses of chocolate milk for 5 cents outside the cafeterias. I think our point would be made, hands down. :) And lastly, if they get to take away the milk, it opens doors for legislation to take away whatever they want from cafeterias. School lunches are already horrible. Let them wash it down with something that tastes good, please.

     So go on, raise your hand for chocolate milk. Then have a nice cold glass with your favorite cookie. Aaah, delish!

~Sarai~

Changes to Warm Hugs

Since Warm Hugs was created almost a month ago, some changes have been made. First off it is now called "The Warm Hugs Project" instead of just "Warm Hugs."

Second is a change to the donations received. Blankets now can just be new or gently used blankets, gotten from any place you like. Whether you go out to the store and find one or just donate a gently used blanket that just's sitting around your house taking up space, all will be accepted. The change comes from the fact that not too many people seemed interested in making a blanket, and I don't blame them. It's a lot of hard work. Blankets are a big thing that take a lot materials and a lot of time.

Donations are being accepted from now until February 19. So if you are interested in donating a blanket, please email me at avonlea.elena@gmail.com.

~Miri 

Purple for Karissa

On November 7, 2010, 18-year-old Karissa Yoder was in a serious two car accident along with her friend and her roommate in Rosedale, Ohio. She was taken by helicopter to OSU Medical Center. From the accident, Karissa had a severe skull fracture and an area on her left temple that was idented and pressing on her brain. They had to do an emergency surgery. Her family, located in Delaware, then took the long road trip out to Ohio to be with their sister and daughter. Despite the fact that Karissa has yet to wake up from her coma, God has used this accident to strengthen the faith of her family. As of January 26, 2011, Karissa has been successfully moved to Bryn Mawer Rehab hospital. To follow Karissa's progress or buy a bracelet in support of Karissa and her family, click here.

Please pray for Karissa and her family!
~Miri

National Tea Month ~ and Contest!

     Well ladies, for all of you who didn't know, it is National Tea Month. Since I absolutely love tea, I really wish I had known sooner (I mean there's what, six days left?) My favorites are herbal and fruit teas, no sugar or cream or honey added Mmmm...I can taste those warm golden sips right now.  A nice chamomile or other light tea is perfect right before bed, and a zesty fruity one starts off the day wonderfully at breakfast. Lemon and Mint also serve as great energy boosters when I'm tired. On that note...Bigelow Tea is offering a tea giveaway this month.

Bigelow Tea website page - not the Facebook page!

     That's right, if you go to their Facebook page, and click on the "like" button, you are automatically entered to win free tea for....wait for it....drumroll....the entire year! Each month you get a free case of tea. How awesome would that be? But-here's the catch-you must enter by the 31st of January. So hurry on over and get to "like"-ing them on Facebook!

~Sarai~

A Trip to the Sea Port

     Last summer, my family took a trip to a little port. It was a rather warm day and the waves were splashing up over the rocks. We got out of the van and walked along the shore, sometimes getting hit with the cold salt water. As we had been driving down, I had spotted something on the rocks and wanted to see what it was. So we all walked down to see if we could find it. It was some kind of dead sea animal with orange letters spray painted on it. The only letter I could make out was the letter e. But even stranger was the animal itself. It had the body of a manatee but the head of a water dinosaur. We all started arguing over what we thought it was.
     “It’s some kind of dinosaur,” was my argument.
     “It’s an aquatic sea mammal!” announced one of my sisters.
     “It looks like a manatee to me,” was another argument.
     The youngest was just afraid, she admitted later, that it was going to jump up and attack me despite the fact that it was deteriorating and had one of its shoulder blades sticking out of its back. We gave it up and started walking back.
     Then, just as we got back, a happy fisherman and his son came walking off the pier, carrying a small wriggling shark. The fisherman proceeded to take a picture of it with his phone and then they walked back onto the pier, apparently to set it free. We got in the van. Then another man came back carrying the same shark and put it in a bucket. Dinner?

~Miri~

The Christian Purpose

     When I was little I used to stop, right in mid-step, and ask myself, why am I here? What’s the purpose in this if I’m just going to do the same things over and over? Is this even real? You may find yourself asking yourself the same questions and even, What’s the purpose of the Christian life? For a while, I didn’t even know how to answer the question myself even though I grew up in church and had probably heard the exact answer to that question ten hundred times. But it wasn’t until, after I had walked out to a large field for a work out session, and was walking up and down the tree-lined lane, that I found the answer. I had been arguing with I like to call the Celebrity Me.
     We all have one inside our head, telling us, well you could be this or you could be that. It’s always telling us what we could be to elevate ourselves to new heights. Celebrity Me has another name-Satan. And that particular day, he was trying to trick me into being somebody that would glorify myself and he was promising I would get there. But that’s not the purpose of the Christian life and I made sure that I told him so and in quite a lengthy and successful (on my part; he left me alone) argument.

The Purpose

     In the entirety of the New Testament, the word go appears 283 times. In the four Gospels, it appears 196 times and in Acts alone it appears 57 times. Go is a pretty common word. But Jesus used this word for His great commission. In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus says to his disciples, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.”
     Through this commandment, Jesus basically lays out the purpose of the entire Christian life before his disciples (and not just the Twelve-a disciple is anyone who follows Jesus, including you) clearly for them to see. To illustrate, I’m going to use a very common example.

Shine

     Imagine for a minute that you’re sitting in a darkened room, holding an unlit candle, and you can’t see anything, right? Darkness is the absence of light. Then someone lights a candle. Now, the lighter that lit the candle represents Jesus touching somebody’s life. That person, then, with their newfound, childlike faith, reaches out to, let’s say a man named Dan. Now Dan’s candle is lit.  You can see the light of the first person and Dan shining through the darkness. But you still can’t see anything else. Then Dan reaches over and lights Mike’s candle. Three lights now shine through the darkness. Mike reaches out and lights Carrie’s candle. All the while, the first person is still reaching out and lighting other people’s candles. So is Dan. And Mike. And now Carrie. Carrie lights Ally’s candle. Ally’s lights Andrew’s candle. Andrew lights his little sister Ella’s candle. The first person is still reaching out. Dan is still lighting other’s candles. So is Mike. So is Carrie. So are Ally, and Andrew and now Ella. Soon someone lights your candle.
     You can see again, right? The whole room is now bathed in light. There’s still darkness where shadows can’t be chased away, but you’re not caught in darkness anymore. Jesus lights out internal candle when someone reaches out and introduces us to Him and we get saved. But we don’t just hold onto that light for ourselves. Like the old child’s song:

This little light of mine

I’m gonna let shine…

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine

     Instead we take it out and shine it into the dark places, lighting up the dark places of the world. We reach out and light other people’s candles. Because, if you shine bright enough, they’re eventually going to ask questions.
     My favorite verse comes from Philippians 2:14-15. “Do all things without murmurings and disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights (or stars) in the world.” Stars shine pretty bright. They are millions of light years away from earth but yet they faithfully come out every night and shine down to give a bit of light to the darkened world.
     We aren’t millions of light years away from our fellow human being. They live right beside us. They shop at the same supermarket, the same mall. They go to the same gym. They play on the same team. They go to the same game, concert, and production and watch and cheer right beside you. Yet most of us don’t give them a second glance.
     I’m not saying that you have to turn to the person next to you and immediately start presenting the Gospel. It doesn’t always work that way. You have to wait, pray and see how the Spirit leads you. Sometimes, He’ll tell you to immediately tell the person. If they don’t come to repentance, don’t worry. You’ve planted the seed and the seed will grow. Other times, you just make friends, and, slowly, through your influence, your words, and your attitudes, they’ll come to see something different in you, something more. And they’ll want to know what that is.
     So “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

~Miri~

~Warm Hugs, Intro~

I promised more on Miri's "Warm Hugs" project - here's the initial post!

So Miri, inspired by Alex and Brett Harris' books "Do Hard Things" and "Start Here" decided to sponsor a blanket drive for local homeless shelters in our area. After doing some research, she found that we have 14 alone in our tiny county. One of them is even a children's shelter. Her project calls for 50 handmade blankets- all knitted, crocheted, knotted, sewn, etc. by volunteers on the Harris' Rebelution forum. Once she gets them all in (deadline being Feb. 6), she plans to pass them out amongst the various shelters. We'll be uploading photos and other such updates as the project progresses. I think it's a pretty awesome and practical idea myself. 

 What selfless project could you embark on in 2011? Check out those books and the Rebelution link for some inspiration. Be sure and leave us a comment about your project.

Want to help? Email us at avonlea.elena@gmail.com! We'd be glad to have you!

~ Sarai

It's 2011!!

Welcome to our corner of the world. We're actually in the process of transferring Avandela from another blog server, so it might look a little a funny around here the next few days. We've got funny stories, pictures, essays, and information on Miri's project "Warm Hugs" coming up real soon. So please keep checking back!

In the meantime, Happy New Year and God Bless from both of us!