I do...forever?

Okay ,so this semester I am taking a class about family units in a diverse society. I just finished the portion on relationships, mainly marriages. I think growing up everyone has their own imaginary idea of what marriage is like, and what theirs will be like.

I think my idea of what marriage is came from a lot of different sources to create this collage of an ideal partnership that will be wonderful and perfect. I took parts of my parent’s relationship, their friend’s relationship and what the media and Disney told me marriage was like and pieced it together into my own dream of how it will be. Obviously though, now that I am older, I realize that my dream idea of marriage isn’t the reality of it. Not to say that marriages can’t be wonderful, I’m sure they can! All I’m saying is, I never saw any of the princesses divorce Prince Charming, and according to reality nearly half of them would be. Anyways the course has helped me I would say to get a better understanding of what makes a marriage so hard, why half of them doomed to fail.

After reading through all the course content I literally felt like I had sat through multiple marriage counselling sessions haha. I think after seeing everything that can go wrong in a marriage I gained a whole new appreciation for life-long marriages. For me it is inspiring to see that it can be done, but not only that, that it can also be done happily. I love seeing couples that have been together for the majority of their lives and still love and respect each other; it’s quite a feat I would say to share your life with a person. I just think it it’s cool to not only see a couple that has stayed together so long because they are married, but because they genuinely like the other person and enjoy sharing their life experiences with one another.   

Nostalgia

The other night I had the weirdest dream, I was stuck in a world that was made out of candy (Kind of like candy land, but darker). Usually I only remember my dreams briefly for a couple minutes in the morning but for some reason I could recall every detail of this dream. It wasn’t until a couple days later I realized that it wasn’t so much a dream as it was déjà vu. When I was younger computer games would come in cereal boxes if you bought the sugary kind. I finally realized that this candy land I was picturing was from a computer game I used to be obsessed with when I was a kid. The game was called Pyjama Sam and you got to be a super hero, solving problems (probably educational now that I think of it…) and exploring a junk food world that he got sucked into AKA the kitchen cupboard.  I remember sitting at our really old family computer and being amazed by the graphics of this game haha. Anyway this random case of nostalgia caused me to go my own adventure trying to find where my once prized possessions had gotten off to. I will admit to you readers, that yes, when I found my Pyjama Sam game I tried it out, just to see if it still worked of course….. hahaha. The game reminded me of all my other treasures that have become old “stuff” over the years; I remember playing for hours with Polly Pockets that I bought with my birthday money.  I got a little bit of “Toy Storyitis” after finding all this stuff.  I think nostalgia is a more powerful tool than people give it credit for. I think it can inspire people because it often reminds people of who they were before they were submerged into the ‘real world’. Showing how far we have come and changed yet how some things never change. Nostalgia is just awesome. Go find you old toys.

Toy storyitis: When I look at all my old toys, sometimes I imagine/wonder if they miss me like Buzz and Woody missed Andy when he grew up…HAHA!

Extreme Home Makeover!

Extreme Home Makeover, has the best part of the shows at the very beginning or at the end. The beginning is when the show introduces the family that is going to get a new house and why. It also shows the current conditions in which they are living. Needless to say the ending is when the big reveal happens, and everyone cries because they are so happy. Haha. The middle for me was always just kind of extra; I just watched it so I could see the ending. People are sort of funny that way; I will watch a whole show just to see certain parts and to make sure I don’t miss them. I think it’s because I am a sucker for happy endings, I love when everything ends nicely in a cute little package, probably that is an unrealistic thing to happen. It’s the before and after affect I think that inspires us with shows like this one. The affect works by showing you something sad, bad, ugly, mean and turning it into happy good, beautiful and nice. It’s that optimistic attitude they’re portraying, that ‘anything can get better’. I think that is why shows like this can be so inspiring. This show I think is unique though because they don’t just give somebody a new house. They custom make it for each unique family and the community volunteers to make it. They have taken something that could be a simple act of generosity and made so that it can help bring together a community in the process.  

Watch the beginging and the end of an episode, you'll see what I'm saying.

http://abc.go.com/shows/extreme-makeover-home-edition

Bravery at it's Best

Razia Jan is an Afghani woman who was nominated for the CNN everyday heroes’ award. Razia lived in the United States for the majority of her life but after 9/11 she felt she needed to return to her home country and try to make a positive impact. In Afghanistan women’s rights are often oppressed and Razia wanted to empower Afghanistan’s future generations, primarily the girls. Razia opened an all-girls school in 2008 that offers a free education to young girls that would otherwise not get the opportunity of one. Razia mentioned that when most of the girls first began attending the school, most of them could not even write their own names. There are now over 350 girls that are receiving a free educating from Razia’s school. Razia has faced many obstacles in trying to promote this positive change, mostly from certain men in the community that hold power and do not think women should be educated. Even up to the very night before the school opened, men came and threatened Razia to turn her school into a boy’s school, she refused. The school has faced lots of threats and even a grenade bombing that was the cause of many fatalities. Razia doesn’t let that stop her though; she believes educating these girls with help to make Afghanistan’s future more positive. Change is always met with adversity in the beginning but little by little Razia is seeing people’s perspective on female education change. She said a lot of the father’s go from being angry about their daughter’s being in school to being proud. Razia is no doubt a very brave woman to stand up for what is right even when the danger risk is high. She is inspiring people to embrace change and changing the lives of so many people in the process.

You can watch a short video about what Razia is doing by clicking on the link below:
       
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2012/08/02/hero-razia-jan.cnn

March Break Madness

Happy Friday! It’s the day before March break begins so today I’m going to be doing a bit of a special post. I found three videos that are sure to make you smile, and remind you that inspiration doesn’t always have to come from something deep or profound. I hope these make you laugh really hard, which is something we all need to do a little more often. I came across the first video and just couldn't resist, does it not just radiate joy? You can see that Lily is so excited she doesn’t know what to do with herself and just starts crying. The parents were shocked at her reaction which makes it even funnier. There is no way that someone could watch this and not laugh or at least smile. The second video is from Ellen who never fails to make me laugh. I think my favourite part is when the little boy puts actions to the words. I think it also helps that the little boy is so darn adorable and is trying so hard to get all the words out. The last video is a blast from the past, you see when I was younger I was a huge fan of the show America's Funniest Home Videos, it was impossible for me to watch that show and stay sad or angry. These videos may not be inspirational in the traditional sense, however for me watching things like this never fail to make my day a little brighter. They bring me back to my six year old self who still believed in fairytales. Growing older has meant dealing with reality and a lot of times that is not fun, but watching this stuff, I think, reminds us all that our 6 year old-selves are still a part of us. We don't have to forget the fearlessness and innocence that we possessed as children and we shouldn't let the world and reality steal it away.

Kisses From Katie

I first heard about a girl named Katie Davis when I was on a volunteer trip last summer. All I knew was that she wrote a book called Kisses From Katie and a lot of the people I was with there were really into it. A couple months later I came across Amazima Ministries Promotional video and half way through watching it I realized they were talking about the same Katie Davis girl! Katie Davis was a regular high school student with big dreams and goals, she was the honor role, student president, prom queen type of student. In her last years of high school, before she decided what she was going to do the year after she went on a short term mission trip to Uganda. Many people would say after trips like that "it changed my life," but for Katie Davis it actually did. Katie decided that after high school she would take a year off and go teach kindergarten at the school and home Amazima Ministries provides for orphaned children. That year long commitment drastically changed her life, as she decided to permanently stay in Uganda, and become a mother to 14 little girls. I think this story is so inspiring because Katie saw people that needed help and decided that she would be the person willing to give it. Everything and everyone in society gave Katie a million excuses as to why she couldn't do this; she was too young to be a mother, she couldn't handle the responsibility, she needed to go to university, she should return to her "real" life but Katie ignored all of it a just followed what she believed to be right. I’m sure the 14 little girls who call her mom are glad that Katie defied the "norms" and chose to stay. Katie might not be able to give her daughters all the material stuff the we often mistake for being part of a "good parent," however she has given these girls the oppertuinity to feel cared for, loved and part of a family.  She could've gone back to her comfortable life in the states, gone to university and settled down, which is what everyone around her was telling her to do but Katie did not let the unknown hold her back. Katie may have gone with the intentions changing this village for the better however I think she would agree that these children and people have completely changed her in the proccess. Katie Davis's book is called Kisses From Katie and she talks about her life and experiences as a mom, missionary and director. Of course there are always critics when it comes to stories like this, but the way I see it is, she is just trying to help these kids and make a positive change, no matter what your view is on anything else, I think it is evident that she really loves what she does.

Spying on Mother Nature

The other night I was having a really hard time falling asleep, because I read long past the time I should and then I can never fall asleep afterwards. I finally got sick of lying in bed and got up to get a drink of water. As I stood at the sink, I looked out the bathroom window onto the street. It was 3 in the morning and no one was out. All I could see was the dim glow of the street light and millions of small snowflakes falling from the sky. I sat there memorized the beauty that was right outside my door. Everything was coated in a thick layer of snow and there was absolutely no movement except for the snow fall. The moon was clouded over but still visible in the navy blue sky. I sat there feeling so peaceful to be able watch what nature does when we are asleep. Here’s this street that I grew up on for my whole life, thinking I knew every nook and cranny it had, taking my breath away because of some snow? I thought maybe I was just over tired, and technically I was, but watching nature work before we wake up and disturb it, is really an amazing experience. This reminded me of how beautiful our world is and often times we don’t slow down enough to see it. In the morning people woke up grumbling because of the snow they would have to shovel or plow, and the salt they would have to put down so they wouldn't slip. I did not hear anyone wake up and say, “Wow that is beautiful.” I guess what I am trying to say is as humans it is almost our second nature to look at something through the spectrum of “what’s wrong with it” but I dare you to wake up at 3in the morning and watch the world around seeking out what’s good about it, you won’t be disappointed.