Sugar & Spice

In 2006, we found out that our fourth child was going to be a girl.  The boys were enthralled by the many gifts of dresses and tights and bloomers and everything fluff and poof. 

When JoyAnna was born, her brothers were absolutely enamored with her.  She was a fascination to them with all of her lace and pink.

We all treated her as if she was our very own doll.  The boys would get so excited about her daily outfits. The first person to see her would serve as the family informant running through the house with the day's fashion update.  

Sometimes we wondered if she wasn't just a bit overwhelmed by all the attention.

Then something changed. JoyAnna started to grow up and the boys began to realize that she wasn't a doll made for their play. She had an opinion and a will -- and a loud, loud voice when crossed.  They didn't like this.

Over time, JoyAnna's love for pink and fluff and everything princess grew while her brother's tolerance of it lessened.  

The boys would linger long over action and adventure while JoyAnna would run straight to anything princess.  The boys would skip anything overly emotional in their animated films, while their sister wanted only the "love parts."  This girl in the family was turning out to be very, very different and they weren't always sure how to handle it.

But I love that God made each of us with unique passions and interests -- and opportunity to love Him and to love others with our unique selves. Hopefully, there comes this point when I realize that who I am is all that I need to be.  Wouldn't that be freeing?

This Valentine's Day JoyAnna is using her unique passion for flowers and pink and everything love to help bring clean water to our friends in Uganda. She's selling flowers to raise money to dig a well.  Our resident Cupid was created for this project and it is simply delightful.

So far we have received 16 orders of roses to be delivered to residents in our local nursing homes!  JoyAnna absolutely loves getting to visit nursing homes.  For years she has brought joy and laughter to the halls of the often forgotten treasures in our society. 

When she was a baby, JoyAnna was passed around like a living doll among women accustomed to nurturing.

As she got older, we found that bringing flowers was a great way to meet new friends. 

As we built relationships, we would bring a few, easy games and sit in the halls and have mini-tournaments.  JoyAnna can be quite a fierce UNO player. 

We still have roses available if you're interested in ordering for yourself, a loved one or an appreciative shut-in.  Send us an email (themains@gmail.com). 

We can't wait to give you an update next week!

Drops & Hearts

In December 2012, three Mains travelled to Uganda with Lahash International. We came home with great memories, fun souvenirs and a few, unsolicited stow-aways. Bryan and I announced our guests to social media as a mock-expecting-mother announcement:

"Bryan and I would like to announce to the Facebook world that there is a new, little life growing inside me!! I've had morning...well, all day sickness for 10-days now. A visit to the doctor this week confirmed that I'm prrr...otozoan host to a little parasite that I picked up in Africa. Bleah!"  

That was our attempt at finding humor in my destructive, unwelcome guests.  I have Giardia, the most common, single-celled parasite worldwide and quite a persistent, little critter with a 6-8 week, average inhabitation.  This big-eyed fellow is passed through contaminated water.

My frequent bathroom visits over the course of these past five weeks have done much to grow in me a passion for clean water sources.  Millions of people worldwide do not have access to safe, clean, water sources.  As in over seven hundred million- that's less than 1 in 10 people globally- WOW!

This week, we had the joy of getting to watch a happy, little ditty from Plumb's upcoming new album.  "One Drop" is a reminder that we can be part of the clean water solution and it's worth a listen if you have the time.

Only minutes after watching this new, fun video we received word that our friends at Amazing Grace Children's Home have a solution to their own need for clean water!  A member of the Lahash Servant Team working with the Home wrote about the need which includes a price tag of $10,000.  That's a lot of spare change...and that's only a piece of the big picture. A lot of vision, research, surveys and local manpower is needed to begin a well project.  Often there are many, many false starts and mis-steps before a solution is found...  And then there's the price tag.  Money is just part of the whole.

Last Fall our family gave to Glass of Hope to help bring clean water to children in Soddo, Ethiopia. As we've followed the progress and set-backs of this well project, we are reminded that  helping to finance water efforts globally is anything but a simple act of charity.  Getting accessible, clean water into the hands of every person is a huge undertaking and requires an incredible amount of resources. Raising funds seems like something we, the family who enjoys easy and unlimited access to clean water daily, can help do.

We got to brainstorming as a family and I'm SUPER excited to share with you that One World Flowers has agreed to team with JoyAnna (and our family) for a Valentine's Day fundraiser!

No kidding! Flowers and hearts and pink and love are what JoyAnna dreams about at night... and sings about during the day.  It's such a perfect match!  Oh, but let me have JoyAnna tell you more about this herself... (if you're receiving this in your inbox, please click here)

So, the short version is: Gorgeous Fair Trade roses for Valentine's day to raise money for clean water in Uganda!  It's a great deal and we'd love to have you join us.  

Click here to get more information from our flyer.

Please note that our non-local friends may choose to sponsor half-a-dozen roses to be lovingly delivered to our local nursing home by our lovely JoyAnna.

Send us an email (themains@gmail.com) or give us a call or text (505.301.5408) with your orders.

Quantities are limited, so please order soon!

JoyAnna, Love, Flowers.. and Clean Water!

Something is still Something

Having babies inspired me to become a jogger.  I didn't jog because I loved it. I jogged because my body needed it.  I would pound the pavement mile after mile while shouting to my bundled, snack-toting children: "Your Mama sacrificed her body on the altar of child birth, now you get to spend however long it takes to help me recover from that!"  (not quite Mother-of-the-Year material)

I started signing up for races that would allow strollers to keep me motivated on my daily jogs. Fellow race participants took one look at me and knew that they were assured a placement at least one above last.  I almost always came in dead last.

I signed up for my first marathon because I had a promotion that made the 26.2 mile race cheaper than the 13.1 race.  What a deal, right?!  Yeah, I had NO idea what I was getting into...but I trained for months and I finished the Marathon!

And then I signed up for another marathon and Bryan and I jogged and walked our way to a 26.2 mile victory.

That's when I declared that I wouldn't do another marathon until my kids were old enough to join me.  Training for one of those is crazy. We had to hire babysitters just to get in our long runs.  I mean, really, that's messed up.  

Fast-forward a few years and I concluded that exercising hurts more than not exercising, so I took on a sedentary lifestyle (well, as sedentary as a mother of 4 can rightly have).  After 10-months of my exercise hiatus, I changed my mind.  Being sedentary actually hurts more.  It was time to get active again.  

I made this decision in the dead of winter in Ohio- a rough time to start an outdoor, exercise routine.  But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, so I took on an exercise partner and hit the road.  My energetic partner is super friendly...

...and completely undaunted by snow and 12 degree days.

This week we signed up for our first race.  We will be jogging a 2-mile race at the end of February. Two miles.  We're not yet up to 2 miles completely jogging, but we're training and very excited.  During Thursday's snowy, windy, cooollllddd jog I thought of how lame 2 miles is in light of 26.2.  Yeah, comparison can be a real joy killer.

Last week Bryan and I attended an event where the speaker asked us to think about the number of people that we directly influence over the course of a week. We were told to share our numbers with our table members and tally the total.  Direct influence: well, there's the 5 people I live with and maybe a couple neighbor kids and a girlfriend or two that comes for tea during the week.  I felt like 10 was a generous estimate and Bryan added 17 to that.  Then the guy next to us pronounced 400 as his number.  I tried to muffle my surprise. Four, double zero?  He's a middle school teacher and he has direct influence over lots of people in any given week.  Suddenly, my 10 seemed so small. 

And that's where I've been stuck.

What I can give seems so very, very small.

January was National Human Trafficking Awareness Month in America.  I'm discovering that Human Trafficking is a deeply complicated, confusing form of slavery. Thinking about it only reminds me of how little I have to offer to the solution. 

I read this article from the NYTimes highlighting America's commitment to combat human trafficking. Honestly, I have spent the better part of my life resolved in my commitment to avoid knowing things that I have little to no influence over -- but this line challenged me: "...educating the public about this crime is a vital part of combatting it."  

Well, huh.  I guess that kills my poorly constructed resolution. My paradigm shift for the week: Educating myself and my family is something that I can do to end modern-day slavery.  Okay, so it's not everything, but it's something.

It's good for me to know that as we gather to talk, yell and eat dip, people are being exploited in shocking numbers.

It's good for me to wrestle with the less known issues behind the issues by reading and thinking. 

Yes, deeply dedicated, courageous people run marathons and ultra maratons and they should be applauded.  And there are some who influence hundreds or thousands for generations as they bravely speak up and live out their unique calling.  This is admirable and praiseworthy.

But I am stupid to compare my 2 with 26.2 and short-sighted to devalue my 10 against his 400.  Something is still something and I'd like to bravely and joyfully live out my particular somethings.