Muffin Top

No, I am not talking about the muffin you eat. It's the mysterious little roll or big roll that

appears around your waist. Apparently it doesn't matter what size you are the roll appears on most women.

When did this enigma begin? Looking back it seems the muffin top became an issue when the jeans began fitting below the waist! Ironically I didn't have a muffin top until a couple of years ago after I lost 30 pounds. I was finally able to wear those cute jeans that fit below the waist. I was so excited...until I saw this roll. What the heck??? It seems the jeans push all of our extra skin up and out...yes that is what we will cal it extra skin! Small, large, fat or skinny, short or tall the muffin top has no boundaries. And oddly enough it seems most women don't seem to care that they have this roll and their stomach falling out over their the top of their jeans and their tight shirts can't hold them in.

And one more fashion Faux paux...the butt crack. It now seem to be OK for women to show their butt cracks. This to we will blame on the low jeans. Yet again most women don't seem to care. You know they have to know it is showing! Surely they feel a draft. Yes it's true the show of the butt crack no longer belongs to just the plumber.

Remember the pants that use to fit around your waist? Sometimes I wish they would come back in style but then I remember they just made you rear look big! As long as padded shoulders don't come back in style I guess I will live with the muffin top!

Unworthy

That is how I feel right now. Extremely unworthy to do what God has called me to do. Tonight as I was going through the list of children we have who need sponsors I realized 51 have sponsors and 103 still wait. Almost 2 years since this program began and we still have 103 kids waiting for someone to spend a measly $30 a month to change their lives.

Don't get me wrong I am honored to have been chosen to do this. But having 103 kids waiting and some of them getting read to age out is unacceptable.

I'm also mad! People think nothing of buying $30 worth of beer, pop, coffee, cigarettes, or get a pedicure or manicure...I could go on and on but if I approach them about sponsorship I get this "I really can't afford it right now. Things are tight.'' Really?

See the young man pictured above? He has nothing. I mean no food, no bed...nothing. He is 13 and he has waited over a year for someone to step up and say "You matter and I am going to help you."

I have 102 more waiting. All ages, boys and girls. Some who need surgery. Some who are starving. Try and go to bed with that on your mind and heart every night and see how you sleep.

It would take $37,080 a year to sponsor the remainder of these kids and if I had it I would, plus the $36,960 it would cost to feed them and their families ($3o or $2o a month looks much better!)

I often say "God if you give me the money I'll do it." But I know that's not how it works. We are all suppose to help.

Those who do sponsor understand this and I love them! Don't get me wrong, I totally understand we all have our passions, our gifts, the things we want to fight for. But what are we willing to give up to make these things possible?

Do I feel unworthy? Yes. But for whatever reason God believes I along with the help of some amazing friends can do this.

I am human, I am tired, I am overwhelmed, I am aggravated. But this I know:

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

Standing at a Crossroads

I am standing at a fork in the road. A crossroads if you will. I am a wife, a mom, a grandma, a sister a friend. But more than anything I am a child of the one true God. And He is calling me and I desire to obey Him.

When Mike and I founded the Hug Away Foundation our desire was to help families with adoption and go to the orphans of the world and love on them, feed them, give them hope and tell the about Jesus, always glorifying God in all we do. We began in 2008.

In the beginning we were able to offer some grants to a few families but after a year donations dropped and it seemed Hug Away would be no more. I was depressed and felt like a failure. One night I remember praying and I said "God you opened this door and only you can close it." A few days later a friend called me and said she had a good friend from Ethiopia she thought I should meet. When I met him and heard his story I knew that God was telling me "this door is staying open."

Since that day God called us to begin a child sponsor program in Ethiopia and Project Hunger no More. The list of children and families in need continues to grow. And this is why I am standing at a crossroads.

Besides taking care of my family, I work part time and run Hug Away. I know, that I know that I know God is getting ready to do more amazing things through Hug Away and I need to commit more time to the foundation. We use any donations we have for rent of a small office and expenses. Everything else goes to sponsorships, Project Hunger no More and grants if there is anything left over.

Leaving my job, even if it is part time is a unsettling thought. I don't make a whole lot but what I do make helps with the bills. I have tried to think of ways to make money at home but I would be right back to square one. The fact is running Hug Away is becoming a full time job, one that I am passionate about and I love.

I was thinking about me trying to come up with ways to make all of this work when I thought "hmm...why don't' I give this one to God." So I did! And as I wait at this crossroads I know that some amazing things are going to happen! All I need is the faith of a mustard seed and that I have.

Ethiopia Mission Trip Fundraiser

Our t-shirst are in! We will have them from now until October 8th to raise money for our upcoming mission trip to Ethiopia. They are already pre-shrunk (I washed one to make sure.)We have chilren sizes youth small, medium & large for $10

adults small, medium, large and x-large are $15

xxl and above are $17.

If you would like to purchase one or two or more :) please email me at: hugaway@cox.net

We hope you will tell your friends and family about our fundraiser. We have faith that we will raise the money we need. Thank you in advance!

Inquiring Minds

My daughters and I were at the mall the other day when out of the blue my youngest daughter Kennedy asked me why some people are birthed and some are adopted. She always waits until we are in a public place to ask these questions. I told her that I would answer her as soon we got back to the car. We hadn't been in the car two seconds when she said "mom, remember???" Of course I do.
Of course every answer I gave her turned into another question. I tried to explain that we are all born or "birthed" as she put it. This lead to more questions. I felt like I was being interrogated by the Secret Service!

Then she told me she was tired of being the baby and could we get baby sister from Vietnam? Can I have a snack? a drink? May I get some new flip flops?  Can we go swimming? Can we watch a movie? Why would the store charge $34 for a shirt? Do they think people are rich?
Honestly, there are days I want to pull my hair out! Then I look at this little one that God brought into our lives a little over four years ago and I can't imagine life without her. On the bright side she is keeping my brain very active!

Coming Home!

I have been waiting to say this for four years...Our Marine will be home in about 13 days! He left home at 18 after he graduated high school to become a Marine. He will come home 22 years old. The past four years we have written, text, emailed or skyped when he could. And he has come home on leave a few times.  But the reality is he has been gone four years and we have missed out on a lot.
I will never forget when he told me he wanted to join the Marines. He was a junior in high school and wanted me to sign some paper that said he could enlist right after high school or something like that. I was so against him joining,  I wasn't going to sign anything!
When he was a Senior he came to me and said "mom in a few months I will turn 18 and graduate within a couple of days of each other and I am going to join the Marines with or without your blessings. I would rather have your blessings."
A few days later I was driving to work, praying and asking God for guidance in this situation. This was my baby boy and the thought of him leaving to fight and possibly die, well, I just couldn't deal with it. So there I am sitting in my car when I heard a voice say "Elaine, give him your blessings and I'll take care of him." I almost wrecked my car! I looked at my radio, it was off. I looked in my rear view mirror, no one was there. Then I heard it again. "Elaine, give him your blessings and I;ll take care of him." All of the sudden this peace came over me and I realized I had just heard God! I couldn't wait to go home that evening and tell Dustin that he had my blessings! And when I did he smiled gave me a big hug a kiss on the cheek and said "that's all I ever wanted mom."
The day we took him to the recruiters office was not easy...at all. When we pulled away the dam burst! I felt like my heart was breaking. I reminded myself of Gods promise and that made it a little easier. He went through some rough times but he persevered. Four years have passed and now he is coming home...for good! We are grateful for everyone who prayed for Dustin. I am grateful for a God who keeps His promises!

On leave!

Waiting for Dustin to come home for Christmas

Buses taking them to their planes for deployment

  

Skyping

Home from Iraq!



Ashley his sweet girlfriend! I know she can't wait for him to get home!



Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

America

I was watching ESPN with my husband the other night. They were talking about a salary dispute and how some player was only going to get like 20 million instead of some other crazy amount of money to play ball. I can't tell you how badly that upsets me! Seriously? We have people starving in America, not able to afford our outrageous insurance premiums so they can go to the doctor and we idolize a sports figure so much that they get paid millions of dollars a year to play a sport.
My youngest son is a Marine and he makes close to poverty level. On top of that he HAS to have a couple of 100 dollars a month taken out of his check for the chow hall weather he eats there or not. And he has to pay for other things I think the military should provide for them. Not just him all our men and women who serve in the military. Why? because America is broke! We can't provide for our men and women who choose to fight and die for our freedom but we can sure pay an actor or sports figure or a CEO millions of dollars every year because that is how as Americans we base our priorities. We pay ridiculous amounts of money to go to ballgames, movies and buy all the products that they sell so they keep jacking up the prices.
See, those actors and sports figures are thrown in our face 24 hours a day 7 days a week. But those who fight and die for our freedom, the unsung hero's are pushed way down the priority pole. Oh sure once in a while like Memorial Day, Veterans Day the 4th of July we will see a TV special to remind us they are still out there. And if the President or some higher up decides to visit them at a base or wherever in the world the are fighting to give them a 'atta boy' you will see them on the news. But how often are we reminded everyday that there ARE men and women fighting to keep America free? They are the ones who should be paid millions of dollars a year because without them you wouldn't have your actors, sports stars, freedom of speech (don't get me gong on that one!) freedom of religion and everything else we take for granted every single day of our lives.that we do every day.
My prayer is that America gets back in to the grace of the one true God. Our God is a gentleman. If He is not invited He will not show up. We have used our freedom we have to push Him out of our schools, our government, our homes and out of America. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to look back and see how America has gone down hill since we began pushing God out.It is what it is.
 Yes, we have the freedom to choose our religion and the freedom to believe or not believe in God. And we have the freedom to do whatever we LEGALLY want to do. So why don't we as Americans stand up and do what's right? We have men and women fighting and dying every day for us. As I type this somewhere in a war zone there is a young man who just graduated from High School and he is scared! But he will not let any of the men he is fighting with know this. Truth is they are all scared, who wouldn't be. But they are doing all of this for America. They are doing this for you and for me.
We have been blessed, our son will soon be coming home for good! Sadly, there areto many families who can't say that. To those who have lost anyone in war or because of war I am so sorry for your loss. My heart breaks for you.  I can't even begin to imagine the heartache and loss you feel. I know it doesn't make the pain less but I want to say to you that myself and many others are humbled and grateful that your loved one fought for our freedom. We will never take it for granted!
God Bless those who fight for us and may God Bless America! 

 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
    Be strong (confident) and of good courage, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.   Joshua 1:5-6