Category Archives: trying to matter

rethinking good 5,723 times

Posted on by
Reply

My friend Lin called me a few days ago and asked me a simple question.

“I have a few coats I want to donate.  Do you know a good place where they can maybe help someone in need?  Maybe a homeless shelter?”

Well, if you’ve ever met Lin, she’s my sister from another mother.  So that question turned into this…

“How about if we both start collecting coats from everyone we know, see how many we can get and bring them down to Dallas in early November?”  Of course, we couldn’t stop there.  The it evolved into, “Let’s set a radical goal of 5,723 coats and blankets!  (The 5,700 is the approximate homeless ‘point in time’ count in Dallas and 23 is the day we started this idea)  We can get businesses, churches and individuals to help us out.  We’ll blast it out on social media and tell everyone we can!”

Thus projectwarm.us was born.  Here’s the skinny…

What is projectwarm.us?

Project Warm Us is just a way to get some much needed warmth to the homeless.  Our goal is to collect 5,723 coats and blankets to be distributed to the homeless population in Dallas.  We will be passing these on to ourcalling.org for distribution on Thanksgiving day.  See below for all our distribution partners.

How can I help?

Donate your new or gently used coats and blankets.  Any gender, any size, adults, kids, it doesn’t matter.  We need them all.  The drop-off locations will be posted as we arrange the locations.   Continue reading →

think different [day 359]

Posted on by
Reply

This is part of an old Apple shirt that I made into a new shirt.  I like the tagline ‘think different’.  It’s a great slogan and it can be applied to many things.  I didn’t think about this when I was coming up with my new domain name, but it’s the same concept.  Rethink good is thinking differently about what is good in life.  It seems as though society is always looking for better, distracting us from the good things surrounding us.  Today, I’m going to step back and look at everything differently.  I have a crazy busy day ahead of me, but filled with good.  Good work, good friends, good chaos, good kids… I could go on.  Even bad things are blessings and can be good.  It’s all in how you look at it.  Have a really good day.  :)

the anatomy of a gift [day 336]

Posted on by
1

Let me start by asking a few of the big questions here.

Is re-gifting good or bad?

Is it okay to get rid of a gift?

Should you ever give a used gift?

I think people mostly view these as bad things, and although there’s no simple answer to these questions, there are some instances when they’re good.  Let’s first look at the anatomy of a gift.

Okay, so there’s no image that perfectly represents all gifts, as they’re as different as snowflakes.  ”It’s the thought that counts…” is the first thing you hear about gifts.  If this is true, then is re-gifting or giving away a gift you received considered symbolic of the thought, the gift, both or neither?  I suppose it all depends on the gift itself, the person that gave it to you, the occasion and the thought behind it.  Again, there’s no easy answer.

I’m blogging on this topic, as it’s been on my mind a lot as I downsize.  I have gotten rid of things people have given me, and yes, even put them on my blog.  I won’t lie, it feels a little weird, but at least it’s honest.  I haven’t re-gifted anything, probably because I don’t really get many gifts.  Don’t get me wrong here, I actually like this gift status.  I’m not married, my kids are young and I don’t have any family close by to share holidays with.  Considering that I’m not a fan of holidays, this works fine in my life.  But when I do get a gift, it’s usually something meaningful.  Continue reading →

historia en los corazones… [story in hearts]

Posted on by
Reply

You know I have a difficult time doing anything simple.  I started painting these hearts, and was about halfway done, when I had an idea.  Yes, I usually change direction midstream on art projects.  :)  The hearts have meaning because we love all of the kids at Casa Hogar Elim, but how about if they tell a story?

I painted these on the wall in the teen girl’s dorm at CHE, on a column near the new fridge, as we were redecorating their space.  The colored-coded and carefully numbered hearts tell a story and reference a scripture in the Bible.

Can you figure it out?

Here’s one hint:

The scripture reference is in the old testament.

I’m going to use Google translator and make this in Spanish too.  Not sure how that will work…

Usted sabe que tengo un tiempo difícil hacer algo simple. Empecé a pintar estos corazones, y fue realizado a mitad de camino, cuando tuve una idea. Sí, por lo general el cambio de dirección en medio de la corriente proyectos de arte. :) Los corazones han sentido en que amamos a todos los niños en Casa Hogar Elim, pero ¿qué tal si le dicen a una historia?

Pinté estos en la pared en el dormitorio de niña adolescente en CHE, en una columna, cerca de la nevera nueva, como nos decorar su espacio. El color-codificados y cuidadosamente numerados corazones contar una historia y una referencia escrito en la Biblia.

¿Puedes averiguarlo?

He aquí una pista:

La referencia de la Escritura se encuentra en el antiguo testamento.

New clues.

The hearts represent 5 numbers.  Three of the numbers are the scripture reference and two are clues.