इ वों'टी बे लेट.

sometimes you just have to ask me questions.

and i've realized that i'll always be there to answer them.


i've began to learn a couple things about myself these past 2 months.
i have this new incredibly strong desire to meet people and hear their stories.
if i begin to get comfortable with someone, i've started to see that i slide my heart right around them and often times i get away with it.

but people start asking me questions now. deep, intimate questions, and i start handing them my heart.

what i've taken away from this is that it makes me cringe when i feel like someone isn't listening. but, when someone asks me a question my cringing drifts and i begin to speak.

i think i'm continually clutching onto this vulnerability of mine, and sometimes it makes my heart ache when it's not with the people that know me inside and out.


perhaps that's a part of it.

Hoppípolla

my life goal:


to continually find the common good in others and embrace it.

because. everyone is incredible.

"just go out and get it."

what's your story?

harsh weather, sleeping on the floor, and the thought of no food doesn't stop the motivation to keep on going.

i came here expecting to starve and was only amazed at the hospitality here.

it is true to say that what you experience and all that you do can never be fully celebrated unless your laughter, tears, and smiles are collaborating with others.

i am humbled. i am touched. i am so incredibly grateful.

i wish the entire world could have seen this and shared this.

it is good to know that there are those of us who are here who are the fire-starters. who cherish an unspoken promise to do all that they can for others.

i wish you could have been here with us. all of you.

i can't fully express all of this or i may brake the keyboard with a flood of tears streaming down my face.

community. desire. rhythm. perseverance. persistency. humility. laughter. love. respect. integrity. friends. family. friendship.

we never complained. we slept out on the concrete for 11 days because we all knew that this is how it ends.

we were here in oklahoma city to end the longest running war in africa, who would have thought?

as people began to trust us and respect us, they came to ask us questions, they came to bring us food, they came to bring us joy and laughter. and they came to join us.

i can't even put this entire thing into words. i am out of words, i don't know which ones to use.

i have never been a part of such a loving community.

we came here because we promised those kids that we would never leave them. that we would stand by them. that we would be their voices. we came to stomp over the limitations our society places on us. things that are out of reach are reachable when you reach for them. when you reach really. really far for them.

we came to show those kids that they are worth it and that there are people here who care very deeply for them.
we came to love them and to love each other.

we sang. we danced. we laughed. we cried. we hugged. we became exhausted and found fuel in others who helped bring us joy.

we all have these insane stories. we all have this opened door that continually leads us to even more open doors. we can all do something.

we can do it with love. respect. and integrity.

we have all of this love to pass on because we were loved first.

after holding original former child soldier drawings in my hands. tears strolled down my face as a child drew his mother being chopped up. and when i dried my tears, they only started again when i saw a child's drawing that was completely smeared because he wept as he conveyed his story.

these children are real. and this has been going on for 24 years.
and we closed our eyes for so long.

now that they are open and they continue to open. we can never close them.
we can never separate ourselves from loving one another.

we did it. we did it. and we are not finished.

as jordan, liz, and i heard the news that senator coburn had released his hold while we were speaking at a college, we rushed back to everyone to celebrate.

we ran out of the car before it rolled into a complete stop. tears strolling down my face in happiness and laughter, i felt proud as i sank down in hugs. we did it.

as we talked with coburn on the phone. he told us thank you.
for being so respectful and peaceful.
for doing this the right way.
for making him feel pressured to find a compromise.

we finally did it.

and the lra bill is now passing unanimously in the senate.

it took so long to get here and we did it.

now it's time for some representatives to get on board.

i can only pull away from this campaign knowing that people are so absolutely, incredibly wonderful when given the chance.

people bring you joy and it fuels you.

and you can do it. we can all do it.

we just did it.

we all want peace.

so. just go out and get it.

height and depth, length and width of this abundant love.

and what if we didn't take chances? what if we don't take chances?

do you ever meet those people who just won't ever jump? it almost breaks my heart to see them only focus all of their energy on the faults and all on the corruption. perhaps times when corruption is nonexistant.

isn't our lives about taking chances, isn't it about jumping, isn't it about loving, isn't it about being vulnerable, isn't it about sacrificing?

what kind of love are you giving if you're not taking chances besides selfishly motivated love?

what good is it to just sit and watch? it's not enough to just believe in something, you have to take action.

i wonder how much we won't accomplish in our lives out of fear. or the mentality that someone else will do it. which, unfortunately, i feel like goes in a complete circle because someone else is thinking the same thing.

through out everything i'm doing, i'm beginning to see more and more the generation differences between my parents and me.

it's so strange. they think i'm so ridiculous and crazy and they don't understand why i do the things i do and they think it's a waste of my time.

i think i've figured out that i'm more open-minded and more of a visionary then they are.

i can't understand their mindsets, you know?

the world is so huge.

our community isn't just the walls of our town. or our nation. it's the freaking world, how insane is that?

bizarre, wonderful, beautiful.

what a great gift from god.

and so the question is and remains and always will be. what do you do with this gift of life?

sit and watch or get up and dive right in?

do you live a life of selfishly motivated love or sacrificial love?

what do you do with the gift?

photograph by wayne levin

namaste.

"Laying down your life means making your own faith and doubt, hope and despair, joy and sadness, courage and fear available to others as ways of getting in touch with the Lord of life."- Henri Nouwen

This is my heart's rhythm; it's the beat of my heart's drum.
I've come to realize that I'm not a typical person my age. I don't know what it is about me. I just have this need to embrace this adventure of mine-life. To not sit still because there's so much more to this place that we just don't know about and so much more we can do to make it a better place.

After much contemplation...or the bare minimum-one of the two, I've grabbed a hold of a piece of what kind of person I am. And this is the only way I can make sense of it.
I just have this God given love, this desire to love people as much as I possibly can, doing as much as I can for them. I just don't let up and I keep going and going and going, until I discover that I'm shutting down from exhaustion and I can no longer love the people that I love so deeply. While taking a step back and looking at this problem I run into so often, I've come to the acknowledgement that I need to learn to love people without getting tired. I need to learn and understand that while God calls us to love each other, he also calls us to love ourselves. I just forget to pursue myself sometimes. Or all the time. I forget to assist myself along the way. I forget to make sure I'm healthy before I pass on the love. It's something to work at, cause I hate running out of fuel.

Somtimes it makes my heart ache when people worry about me. Whether it's from what on earth is going on inside of her head, or what on earth does she think she's doing?
I think I have a weird system of going about things/ I have this strange ability to not worry and just jump first. Pros and cons though of course when it comes to being an insane optimist that loves every single person they meet.

I hope to postpone starting college in the fall. There is just so much more to life and learning that a text book can't offer. And I want to dive right in for a while and take a swim. I'm pretty set on the idea and fact that I know I can get an education and there are kids that can't, and I'm willing to put my own life on hold in pursuit of that. Not forever, I know and understand that my education is crucial to be even more equipped to assist people. Educating myself for others has become my inspiration for college..whenever that happens. But, man, does human rights and international justice have a hold of my heart strings.

I kind of just grasped the fact that I'm young...really young. And sometimes I have this insane need to do everything, as much as I possibly can and I forget that I'm 18 and trying to take strides into changing the world as my life. Which it is. But, I forget that I'll continue to grow up. Continue to learn, grasp, challenge, strengthen, and grow along the way. Sometimes, I just forget. But, at the same time. I'm just not afraid to go for it and be an inspiration. Age doesn't mean anything to me and I love grabbing onto my potential and running with it for things that really matter to me and others.

I am content with the heart that God gave me and I love it. And I know that I am something special. I am so special. We all are. And I hope and pray people can begin to grasp this fact about themselves. That they too are so incredibly special.

But, this is the way I live my life. This is why. I embrace this about myself. I embrace the need to lay down my life. I embrace this vulnerability of mine. To put down my own fears in hopes of benefiting others.

There is absolutely no love without vulnerability.

You have to learn how to accept and give love. You have to discover what it is for you to lay down your life for others. You have to clutch onto this vulnerability and let your love grow tall.

However, I feel like this clutching onto is a life process. There's always room to dig deeper.

To learn more.

And I've only reached as far as my finger tips can stretch. But, that's just the surface.

Laying down your life is the search and pursuit.