5 - Tricked Ted

Last night, our friends/neighbors, Ted and Katharine, hosted a birthday bash in honor of Ted's upcoming 25th birthday (which is actually tomorrow - his golden birthday). A few highlights of the party included:

• Phenomenal Indian food (compliments of Katharine)
• The gift vase (donations "to" Ted for an organization in Haiti that he will be visiting next month on a trip with his law school)
• A big batch of chai (made by me, but recipe credits (which is what it's all about) go to Devin and his Indian host parents)
• Guests ranging from (at least) 7 different countries and spanning a good 4 decades (and you know some good conversation came from that)

But perhaps one of the most entertaining moments was when Katharine brought out the cupcakes and we sang to Ted... and he tried to blow out the candles. Poor Ted. He got tricked, and as you can see from this picture, he was quite (good-naturedly) upset about it. I think this was his 3rd go at the candles...

And in case you're wondering, no, he couldn't actually blow them out. Katharine got a few to stay out on her first attempt, which only infuriated Ted more (again, good-naturedly), so he ended up going over to the sink and sending the trickster candles to a very watery death.

2 - Hats & Scarves for Haiti

My little brother, Jacob, is working on a pretty cool project. He's currently knitting hats and scarves, then selling them and donating all the proceeds towards Haiti relief efforts. Since Sunday, he's raised $625! But, it gets better. He's donating all the money to the LCMS World Relief fund, and the donation will be matched by Thrivent Financial: $1 for every $2 he puts in. So, $625 + $312 = $937 for Haiti. 

But, it gets even better yet! He is currently taking orders (hat, scarf, color, length, etc), and he is shipping across the US. Which means you, too, can help! Oh, and did I mention that he's a freshmen in high school?! 

Today's photos are a compilation of pictures of the scarf Jacob made for me as one of my Christmas presents (and yes, I did take them all). He also made scarves for each of my sisters, my mom, my aunt, my cousin, and my grandparents... and we all love them.

It's all very quality work, and the material he uses is super soft and toasty warm! I always get compliments when I wear it - which has been quite a bit since Christmas...

Some of you may know this, but I actually spent portions of two summers ('02 and '03) doing mission work in Port-au-Prince. We worked with Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, and our main projects were running VBS for the kids, doing construction on the church/school (which has now sustained major damage), setting up a feeding program ($30 feeds a school child for an entire year), and building relationships and encouraging our Haitian friends as they work tirelessly to help their people.  

The churches in Haiti have long been the main "relief workers", and quite honestly, I believe that they are the ones who are in the best position to help from this point on. Obviously, the majority of the pastors and workers are Haitian, and they are established and recognized organizations. Beyond that, the pastors and church members know the people, know the neighborhoods, know the greatest needs, and know what needs to happen in the future. Giving through LCMS will provide tremendous resources that will be very well used - for immediate relief and sustainable recovery and rebuilding efforts.

If you are interested in helping Haiti by purchasing one of Jacob's hats and/or scarves, please leave a comment, email me, or contact Jacob directly at:

hatsandscarvesforhaiti (at) gmail (dot) com

Sorry for spelling it out - it's to try and block spammers (they're pretty awful these days). Checks can be made out to "LCMS World Relief" and are 100% tax-deductible. Thank you for your support!!!