FINALLY! Sister Donna's Heartland Orphanage in Ethiopia

 I am pleased and honored to be able to tell you about 

Sister Donna's wonderful work in Ethiopia.

No Sister Mary Elephant jokes please :/

- or Sister Donna and her All Girl Orchestra either -

THIS Sister Donna is the real deal and she is...

* simply amazing *

Pop some popcorn and settle in for some inspiration... 

~ This is beautiful Sister Donna ~

Look at her lovely smile - she's just radiant :) 

Her entire countenance shines of love and charity,

courage and generosity, selflessness and warmth.

She is smart, determined, and resourceful.

She educates her girls, gives medical care to locals,

and works harder and longer than anyone I know! 

She moves mountains - literally and figuratively.

 Sister Donna runs an orphanage for girls.

This is what it looks like now...

 This is what it used to look like...

with the run-off water from the nearby mountains

first flooding Sister Donna's Heartland compound,

then becoming stagnant and causing deadly malaria.

Finally, after the U.S. army stepped in to fill the water,

local workers labored endlessly to build a barrier wall.

Over 1,000 donkey carts of dirt (20 per day, per donkey)

built this barrier wall to keep Heartland safe and dry. 

After the barrier was built, cactus plants were added

to further anything from getting into the compound.

Local men worked hard to plant the cactus -

children worked picking up stray cactus needles.

Not much is going to get through this!

One BIG concern marked off for Sister Donna!

I wanted to show you some of her precious girls.

Look how hop-scotch is a universal game

no matter where you are in the entire world :)

Here the girls are dancing and playing for joy -

they have new tee shirts and are so happy :)

How sweet is that!

Playing a jumping frog game together -

even the little ones... so cute :)

One of the main sources of Heartland's income

is the beautiful rosaries the girls make by hand.

The income they generate is the backbone of Heartland.

I want to show you some pics of these dear girls... 

Even the youngest ones can make rosaries :) 

All the girls make their own type of rosary -

each with pretty beads and lovely sterling crosses.

 Here is one of the older girls making a rosary.

They are all beautiful - the rosaries and the girls :)

~

Here are some photos I took of the rosaries

when I was fortunate enough to have them with me:

So here's where *YOU* come in if you'd like to help!

To purchase some of these hand-made rosaries,

please go to THIS SITE --------> RIGHT HERE!

On ayindisa.com you'll see Diana and Sister Donna -

Click "view all items"... POW! You'll see rosaries!

Some other important activities at Heartland

include drying hot peppers for "barbari" powder -

Measuring and bagging the barbari powder,

made from the dried hot peppers -

Barbari is a national flavor.

The girls also help in pounding salt,

as salt first comes to them in rock form.

This year's bumper crop was pumpkins.

Above, they are drying the pumpkin meat

and the pumpkin seeds for year-long consumption.

Corn (maze) is an important crop for Heartland,

as maze is the staple of their every day diet.

My friend Diana's organization, Engage Now Africa,

made this maze crop delivery possible.

(Engage Now Africa is in a previous blog post HERE)

Sister Donna teaches these girls EVERYTHING, 

from cooking skills to jewelry making,

and certainly the value of hard work!

And that only touches the surface of their education! 

But of course little girls love to play too!

The nearby lake, above, is a favorite place.

Sister Donna is trying to make sure every girl

can get one of these dollies to be their friend.

After all, everyone needs a special friend :)

And then there are bittersweet times as well...

This lovely girl was adopted by a nice family!

What a wonderful occasion - a brand new life!

Sister Donna is saying her heart-felt farewell.

I'm sure this girl will always be grateful

for Sister Donna and her Heartland home.

Something that constantly inspired me about Sister Donna

was that she has gratitude in nearly everything she says.

She works so unbelievably hard - tirelessly - and yet

she has a cheerful heart, sees the glass half full,

and finds the blessings and beauty in everything.

Bless you Sister Donna, for all you do!

wrap up

~ way cool Beatles lamps at Amoeba Records ~

Hey all! The last few days have been nutsy cuckoo with busy stuff, fun stuff, boring stuff, usual stuff, friend stuff (yay!), driving everywhere stuff, and the Mouse's last volleyball game for the season (yes, they won - go Hart!). I always try to get my blog posts done early in the morning, but I've hit the floor running all week (I love that term because it's such a great visual - lol) and the last few days I just couldn't squeeze anything in. It's all good though, because I've had some stray photos and some new ones that I'm going to put together for a little pre-weekend post :)


First off, several weeks ago we went to our mecca, Amoeba Records, and I forgot to post these pics. We have been redoing the Mouse's room a la British Invasion (sneak peek below), and he had seen these cool Beatles lamps there. I told him the next time we went he could pick one out - I didn't remember there were so many great ones to choose from!

This is the lamp that Mouse chose, which I really love. It's their various album covers.

~ sneaky peek ~

And here's the sneak peek of Mouse's room... from left to right: the Welsh flag, the Scottish flag, and the United Kingdom Union Jack flag. Cool, eh? That's the only peek you're gonna get. We still have more to do, but it's looking really awesome already. And of course I'll blog about the "before" and "after" when it's finished!

~ Cheryl's amazing tee shirt ~

 Okay, does this not win the prize for the GROOVIEST tie dye shirt EVER?!?! I will answer for you: YES. Yes, it does. My wonderful friend Cheryl Elm went back east and among other things, visited the extremely unique town of  Northampton, MA. And when she came upon this wild little store, what did she think of? Nope, not Jerry Garcia. Not Wavy Gravy. Not even Ben & Jerry's. She thought of ME :) And she brought me home this AMAZING shirt! Oh Cheryl, I love you xoxo

~ Jamie's beautiful Gerbera daisies ~

 Jamie is one of my dearest friends, and has been for years. But the two of us trying to get together or even just talk on the phone is beyond ridiculous. Our lives are just crazily running parallel to each other but rarely crossing. It's always been that way. So when we DO get together, it's an absolute JOY. We go to the same place, we eat the same thing, we talk as fast as we can, we have the most wonderful time, and it's over before we know it. It's just our ritual. Well when I got sick after the holidays and fell off the face of the earth, it not only practically took an act of God to get us together again, but I had missed Jamie's birthday :( Well would you believe, when we saw each other this week, I wasn't the only one with a gift to give. There was Jamie with a gorgeous vase full of one of my favorite flowers, Gerbera daisies. That's my Jamie xoxo

~ the little things are the BIG things! ~

And last but certainly not least... ta-daaa! You didn't think I'd get a pedicure this week and not SHARE it, did you?! This turned out SO CUTE, you may actually have to click on the pic and see it close-up! Because my rhinestone polka dots are just too adorable :) I went with my friend and pedicure buddy Diana. My precious Diana whom I've also known for years and years. My life and my kids' lives would not be the same without Diana. She is out of town so often, and does so much for others, and is busy loving her sweet grandbabies, our special time to see each other is when she's finally here and we both need pedicures. We sit next to each other and catch up on everything, and then we go get Subway sandwiches. Another happy little ritual that means a LOT to me xoxo

And that's my wrap up for now! 

Diana's quest

Diana has been my dear friend for 22 years. She has held my newborn babies right after my husband. She has gone on trips with me. She has stayed in the hospital with me. She has helped my kids learn to swim. She has held my hand when the climb was too steep. She is the first one to roll her eyes over my germ phobia :) We have watched endless movies, exchanged countless gifts, eaten an insane amount of Mexican food, received who knows how many pedicures, cried occasional tears, and perhaps most importantly, laughed extraordinary amounts of laughter. Diana has been the most wonderful friend, but she is also the most wonderful person. She is loving, giving and has the most generous heart. I have to tell you about her amazing quest, because it is very important. 

This is Diana and her *awesome* husband Larry. Many years ago, while still raising their 3 kids and just after completing her RN degree, Diana went as a volunteer nurse on an expedition to Ethiopia, Africa. She and Larry took their whole family. It touched their hearts so much, Diana and Larry decided that helping the people of Ethiopia was their personal quest. They have since gone on many expeditions - usually twice a year. In fact, Diana eventually became the person in charge of them. And now, after more hard work than you could possibly imagine, Diana has finally launched her own non-profit organization for the people of Africa! The website is up and it is a beauty! So well done and so informative! You must go visit to see what her work is all about! Click below!

ENGAGE NOW AFRICA

Engage Now focuses on 5 main areas: to empower the women of the villages (the ones who really get things done) through micro-credit programs, to teach about basic health care and immunizations, to get clean water to the villages.....

..... to help with orphan support.....

..... and to help with education for all village children.

In May/June of 2009 my oldest son Daniel was an intern for Diana, as he is studying education in third world countries. He will always be so grateful to her for that amazing opportunity. It touched him deeply. He loved Ethiopia, especially the people. Please take some time to look at Diana's site and the difference she is making.