Sigh of…

RELIEF!

Our team has booked our tickets(after some roadblocks and 3hour phone calls), and everyone is SUPER close to meeting their fundraising needs.

THANK YOU ALL for your part in supporting this trip, and the work we will do there! Here’s what has changed about or trip:

*Our original dates were July17th-30th, but due to some hangups with ticket prices our NEW DATES ARE JULY 21st-AUGUST 6th.

*The original plan was to stay at a camping ground, but due to the date change we are now staying in the dorm area AT the Nsoko Carepoint. This is actually a great change for a few reasons: 1) It’s cheaper for us in general, leaving us more money to use for our projects! 2) The money we are spending on lodging now goes straight to the carepoint and benefits them! 3) We will also be saving money on transportation costs 4) we wont be as cold at night! 5) Tents take up a lot of space, now we have more room in our luggage to bring more donations and supplies for our projects!

So, we are now 10 days out, for real! And we’re just trying to sell more t-shirts through Bloom, get our plans together and prepare for the unexpected.

It’s starting to feel a little more real, but I know it wont be completely real until we’re standing in line at LAX waiting to board our 20hour flight. After that, the closer we get and the more we become connected to the people of Nsoko it will become gradually more and more real. By the last day it will feel like the most real thing we’ve ever known, and then coming home will feel unreal. The LA and San Diego pace will be annoying fast, the people will feel annoying cold, and our activities will feel annoying unfulfilling. BUT our beds will feel amazingly comfortable! That I know for sure!

As far as fundraising goes,  I’m SO close! If you’ve commited to donating but haven’t yet, now would be your 15 minutes of fame! If you still would like to make a donation, it will still be effective and helpful. And to those of you who already have, and especially to those of you who have shared this within your circle of friends and they have donated, Thank you. Really, THANK YOU! IT wouldn’t be possible without all of you! I knew it would happen, even in tough times like these, when we all band together, we can really make anything happen. If it’s meant to be, it will be. We’re all just the hands and feet to make it happen here on earth.

So for now, I’m compiling questions for the Legacy Book interviews, healing from my Typhoid shot, gathering my warm clothes, and looking forward to having snot nosed, smiling kids all over me, and to photograph parents that don’t have much time left loving their kiddos. I can’t wait. And I pray that each of you would feel your part in this, and that you would find joy like this wherever you are being used. Whether it’s your own child, your niece, your cousin, your parent… we’re all blessed to know one another, soak it up and realize how important you are to someone out there.

Also, if you would keep our team in your prayers, that would be SO appreciated. We are going to have an amazing time, that is for sure. But we will still be challenged, our of our comfort zones, and confronted with some tough issues. So if you would pray for our protection in both emotional/mental and physical ways, and for our time to be used wisely, and for our travel to be safe and smooth, and for our health…. thank you.

for  last minute donations:

http://adventures.org/give

Click “Missions Trip Participant”

Select “Visions Trip” from drop down menu

Enter “Paloma Ynda-Ramsey” as my name(duh)

Follow the steps –

Eleventh Hour

Down to the wire.

Eleventh hour.

Go time.

Call it what you will, it’s stressful. I’m just gunna get real for a minute, okay?

I’m trying not to stress out over numbers right now. I’m still not where I need to be for my trip account, and if that amount doesn’t show up, I don’t go to Africa. Simple as that. You can’t fly across the world without a plane ticket, you can’t buy a ticket without the moola. I know God is Huge, I know He provides, I know He works in crazy ways. I’ve seen it all first hand, and believe that if it’s His plan, it’ll happen, no matter how stressed out I might be.

Last night at church we talked about Joy. Uncircumstantial, consitent, trusting, peaceful joy. Joy that is deep down, and isn’t shaken by the tough times. Joy that comes from knowing that no matter the outcome, God is at the center of the plan, and that plan is working for your good. All things work together for the good of those who love Him. He who has begun a good work in you will carry it out to completion. I know. But feeling the knowing is different. If that makes any sense at all.

So I’m asking for your prayer. And your donations. And your encouragement. Because sometimes the planning, paying, buying, waiting, discussing, working to get the goal met, is the hardest part. Once I’m there, working with children who are so full of that JOY that it’s contagious, I’ll be more than fine. I’ll be fantastic! Cold, and tired, but fantastic. And that’s what I’m focusing on, hoping for, looking towards; I just need to avoid those momentary thoughts of “uh oh, what if…” cause those bad boys will drag you down in an instant.

Thanks.

No Shirt, No Service!

Wanna know something really cool?
Something you’ll wanna tell all your Uber cool friends about?
Do ya? huh huh huh?
Ok, I’ll tell you, but you have to promise to tell everyone you know!
Ready?

Bloom Clothing has made our Swaziland trip their beneficiary for this quarter! That means that our team/trip gets 7bucks from every shirt sold, and they’re cool shirts that they designed with our trip in mind! (Thanks Bloom!)

So go buy one, or twenty! Seriously, GO!

Are you going? Well, get on it!

(To donate straight to me:

http://adventures.org/give

Click “Missions Trip Participant”

Select “Visions Trip” from drop down menu

Enter “PalomaYnda-Ramsey” and follow donation steps… THANK YOU!!!)

What would you ask?

I seem to be running into some sort of writer’s block lately. Even simple emails… I’m struggling to find the right words. Maybe it’s because the pressure is on, time is ticking away, and I just want to make sure I say what I mean. But it isn’t coming as easliy as it usually does, which is a little frustrating but I just have to run with it!

This Sunday I’m leading our Swaziland team meeting to get everyone on the same page and excited about the Legacy Books. Before then I need to make a mock up of one so the less visual people can get a better idea of the project.

And I’m here to ask for your input! Hopefully, if you’ve been following along, you understand the basic concept of the Legacy Book.

So if you don’t mind, would you think about something and let it sink in, and then respond in the comments section?

Ok, so….. If you were a young child in Africa, and you knew that your mother was not going to be around for much more of your life, what would you want to know about her, your family, your culture?   OR    if you were that mother, and you knew your time was limited, what would you want your child to know about you, their family, their culture, what you loved about them? (I say mother because it is very rare that the fathers are still in the picture, they have either already passed away, or have chosed to leave the family altogether, by choice)

I would really appreciate your input. I feel like getting different perspectives will only make this project stronger. We’re working to provide/preserve memories for families that will soon be losing a parent(most likely the last living parent), and I wouldn’t want to overlook anything important.

Thanks for helping out! This is a great way to be involved, and your opinions are greatly appreciated!

My 4th of July plans are better than yours!

Aide for Africa Pancake Picnic & Rummage Sale!

July 4th, 2009
6am-2pm: Rummage Sale!
8am-12: Pancake Picnic! $10donation/$30 per family
12-2pm: Hot Dogs and Lemonade $TBD

150 Hemlock Unit A
Carlsbad, CA 92009
(across the street from the beach!)

We’ll be there all day, raising money for our trip to Swaziland! Please stop by and buy some grub, goodies, or just drop some moola in the bucket. We need all the help we can get! If you live in the area, please stop by and invited anyone and everyone you know!

If you want to email this info, re-blog, tweet, or just yell about it from the rooftops, go ahead! We’re really working as a team and trying to raise as much money as we can! We know it’s a tough time financially for many, but everyone needs to eat breakfast!

Who likes waffles?

Just met with 2 other team member who I’m working on fundraising plans with. We’ve got a killer waffle breakfast/yard sale in the works for 4th of July! Hopefully it’ll end up being a big help, we sure do need it! If you’re in the North County San Diego area, keep you eye out here to hear more about it!

I’m so stoked about everyone on our team and the things we’re planning. I may be totally exhausted today, but I’ve got enough brain power to be excited about what God is doing, and will continue to do, through this team and this vision!

Now, I’m off to watch some TV and veg out.

One month out

Today is June 15th, which means I’m approximately 32 days away from flying across the world from San Diego to Swaziland!

We had our weekly meeting yesterday and talked about the financial part of this trip, which is certainly the least fun and most challenging part of it all! We found out our totals so far, and I’m about 1/5 of the way. That total was probably a little under where we are at, because all of the donations that were sent in by mail are not processed into our accounts yet. If you are planning to donate, I encourage you to do so as soon as possible so that I can meet our deadline of $2000.00 by the end of this month. That breaks down to needing about $90.00 donated each day until then; or 15 people donating $100.00 each; or 30 people donating $50.00 each; or 60 people donating $25.00 each! [directions for making donations are on the sidebar] If you can make any size donation, please know that it is so greatly appreciated! Thank you for your support! Also, if you are the praying type, please keep our team in your prayers, we need all the support we can get, and as the trip approaches there is more and more room for anxiety and discouragement, so thank you for lifting us up!

We’re starting to really up our level of fundraising activities, and 3 of us are heading that up from here on out, so we’re meeting tomorrow to get down to business! If anyone has an amazing idea, feel free to share!

I’m also meeting with Morgan on thursday to go over details and logistics for the Legacy Books, which I’m super excited to get started on actually pulling it all together! I think this project is just going to be such an amazing experience for all of us, and hopefully a huge blessing for the AIDs support group we’ll be working with…

At our last meeting we went over KidsGames, which is our other focus. Did I mention we’ll be working with 300 kiddos? Sports, games, songs, a message for each day… for 300 kids. We’re all going to sleep like logs every night, but it’s going to be such a blast!

[We're looking for possible sponsors who would like to support our team in exchange for having your company name/logo on our shirts. We will be wearing this shirt during some team activities and will be photographed wearing them, so you would end up getting a little advertisement and also show that you've supported a great cause! If you might be interested, let me know!]

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Sleeping bag purchased, letters sent out, fingers crossed, prayers are constant and the clock is ticking.

Work is winding down for the summer, which is great timing because I’ll need all the time I can get to prepare for Swaziland!

We’re meeting almost every sunday, and we’ll be meeting as a team every sunday before we go for the last month. This sunday we’re training on KidsGames activities…should be super fun!

Saw UP last night. It made me cry. Go ahead, laugh at me. But boy did Carl love Ellie! So sweet. And 3D is weird. Just had to say that. Also, the short they show before the movie had all of us cracking up!

I’ve got a ton of photos edited from the past month, those will make an appearance here in a day or so.

The couple I originally was working with for their wedding decided they had to cut back on their budget and “let me go” so to speak. But the great news is that a friend referred another couple to me. I’m hopeful about working with this couple! Fingers crossed over this too. Isn’t it amazing that I can still type with all of my crossed fingers!? I know, I’m talented.

[PS: The info is still on the right if you would like to donate to my Swazi trip! Also, check out the fundraiser photos and let me know if you're interested!  Thank you to all who have! You become part of the trip by supporting us and the cause!]

If you only had 40 years…

What if, from the moment you were born, you were only expected to live for 40 years?

I would only have 16 years and 2 months left to live if that were true. My mom would have been gone for 11 years, and my grandparents would be long gone.

That is reality for the people in Swaziland, according to Unicef’s most recent report from 2007 of the state of the country. There is basically no middle generation. It is grandparents raising babies, and when the grandparents pass away it becomes babies raising babies. In 2007 there were 56,ooo children living as orphans because of AIDS. Fifty six thousand. And the estimate for people of all ages living with HIV in 2007 was 190,000. Those are some huge, sad numbers.

It’s overwhelming.

You’re only one person. What can ONE person do for 56,000 children, or for the 190,000 living with HIV? And what can only ONE person do, from across the entire world?

I don’t have every answer. I probably don’t have anything more than suggestions for you, actually. But I know what I am going to do about it.

This July I am spending 2 weeks, with a team of eleven other young adults, in Swaziland, loving on all the kids we can. And giving the Gogos (grandmothers, the ladies who are caring for the kids) a little break.

I feel absolutely blessed to be able to do this, and even more so to be contributing to the Legacy Book project.

Sinethemba. I have hope. The name of a sweet baby boy that our team leader met. His mother, Dudu, was dying of AIDS when Morgan met her, and last we heard she was not doing very well. The Legacy Book project was inspired by Morgan’s encounters and relationship with Dudu, a woman who was heartbroken to be leaving her son. The vision for this project is to give the children who will be losing their parents something to hold on to. Memories, photographs of the parents and children together(a rarity in poor rural areas), family history, advice for their futures, things their parents loved about them. Invaluable gifts to a child whose memories will fade, whose heart will long to remember what his mom’s hugs felt like, what her dad’s voice sounded like, the songs their family has sung for years.

If we can help preserve those things, if we can help the parents leave behind a legacy for generations to come to enjoy, then we have done our part. A small part in showing those children that they are valuable, loved, worthy, and not overlooked; that their parents loved them, that their lives can be healthier and longer, that they too can make a difference in someone’s life. That they are special enough for a group of 12 twentysomething year-olds from California to fly across the world to hang out with them, play soccer, teach them anything we can, write down their stories, capture the special way their mothers smile when they look at their child, and freeze a moment in time where parent and child were enjoying the moments they had.

My focus is to be the photographer who captures these moments, to record a part of the life each family is living, and to give the children these photos to keep forever, even past the time when the picture of their mother’s face is still clear in their minds. I’m honored to be a part of this. I’m preparing to cry, a lot, but I’m honored to be able to use my gift to bless others.

Because one person can make a difference.

{If you would like to be a part of this project by helping me meet my fundraising needs, please follow the instructions in the box up on the sidebar titled “Swazi- July 09″. (My  goal is $1,000.00 by June 1st, and a total of $3,00.00 by the end of June, and we leave mid July) Thank you in advance for any donations made! Things like this are not possible without many people coming together and doing what they can to make it work. And if you would like to keep this trip in your prayers, that is also a fantastic contribution, thank you.}

Brainstorm, but not the productive kind.

Do you ever have times where there is just so many things bouncing around in your brain and heart that your mouth and fingers can not possibly keep up or make sense enough of it to share ANY of it?

I think that’s where I’m at. Hopefully I can sort through atleast some of it soon so i can get back to posting.
If there’s anyone out there who’s been bored by my lack of communication, just bear with me. I’m not brain dead, quite the opposite at the moment.