New Year, New Resolutions

How cool is this thing?!?!?!

It is officially 2012!  It has been a few weeks since the new year and I am finally getting over my disappointment that we don't have flying skateboards or clothing that can grow or shrink to the right size at the press of a button (thank you Back to the Future 2 for getting our hopes up), and can move onto to actual goals and hopes for the new year.  This does not mean that I am giving up on the flying skateboard by the way, and if it could have the ninja turtles on it like the one I had when I was seven that would be ideal.

One thing that I have completely slacked on the past couple of years is recording my adventures over in Kenya on paper.  There are some pictures and random stories, but there have been some pretty incredible moments and stories I've been able to witness or be a part of that I have not shared about The Hill or these beautiful kids.  So one of my 2012 commitments (this sounds more permanent than resolution and does not include a gym membership), is to record these stories and share them as much as I can.  2012 is the year of storytelling and I am going to work on being a better story teller.  I have some friends who are great storytellers and I love a good book or movie that tells a great story.  Shawshank Redemption, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Help.... the list goes on and on.  Great stories stick with you forever, run you through a gambit of emotions before reaching their resolution (that is always better with a John Williams soundtrack), feel more like an experience than a narrative, and you never regret opening yourself up to a great story.  Anyone who knows me could tell you I am not so great at telling stories (either they get a "little" exaggerated OR a little boring), and I want to get better at this because I believe we are made to live a great story.  So I want to tell stories this year.  These stories will be about the kids, the staff, life in Kenya, life in America, or just stories about people who I think are telling pretty great stories with their lives and have inspired me in some way.

The girls in these pictures each have their own unique story and they are inspiring.  Tapapul, Brenda, Nanyu, Nancy, and Karen are strong girls and have gone through more trying times than most of us see in a lifetime.  The saddest part is if you asked them to tell their story or even talk about themselves a little bit they would get embarrassed because they do not believe anyone would really care to know their story.  That might be the most tragic part about their lives.  It is not that they have gone through some rough things, or seen atrocities that children should never have to see, but that after all of that they don't believe they are worth being loved or that people will be inspired by them.  There are few things more inspiring than the 7 year old girl that has lived in extreme poverty and endured physical abuse, and can still open herself up again to being hugged and feeling safe just months after living in those conditions.  These stories are not to be bottled up and kept on a shelf somewhere, but they are to be shared and inspire change.  My hope and prayer is to have the right words to tell these stories the way they deserve to be told.