Sarah Price's Blog, page 14

Organization: Books for Kids: http://www.booksforkids.org/

Books. There is a great power in reading books. With books, people laugh, cry, heal, love, and learn. Obviously, as an author, books are something that I love. But not all children can get books because they don’t even have the money for food or shelter. This organization, however, provides books to children in need. So, I donated four books a month for nine months (actually ten but I need it to fit into the song).

I’m donating this gift for Chevaye Brooks. She is a darling young girl with a super cool grandmother and grandfather who have taught her the passion to learn and love. I can’t think of a better person to donate this gift for. ♥

SING IT: One the fourth day of Christmas, I give this happily:

Four books for little readers,

Three horse riding lessons,

Two meals to hungry men,

And a goat to feed a Sudan family.

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Organization: Seaton Hackney Stables: http://www.seatonhackneystables.com

Over the past few years, we’ve had several groups come to Seaton Hackney Stables to provide riding for autistic children. There is something special about a relationship between a horse and an autistic child that is so different. It’s as if the horses know that they need to take special care of their rider. And the rider? Well, they just seem to know that it is special period. I’ve personally witnessed this. And I want to see those smiles from the children and their proud parents.

So, I have arranged for three autistic children to have a group lesson at Seaton Hackney. I’m donating this gift to Joshua Russell and asking his mother, Barb, for some help organizing this.

I’m hoping that the three participants can learn enough after the gift is finished (remember this same gift gets given again Day Four, Five, Six, etc. for a total of ten group lessons) that they can participate in our Spring Schooling Show.

Merry Christmas, Josh from Aunt Sarah and your bird Coco.

SING IT: One the third day of Christmas, I give this happily:

Three horse riding lessons,

Two meals to hungry men,

And a goat to feed a Sudan family.

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Organization: Market Street Mission – http://www.marketstreet.org/

Almost every community has people who struggle with addiction or homelessness. In our town, the Market Street Mission provides food and shelter as well as spiritual guidance. As men move through the program, they also are given jobs so that they, too, can give back.

I like that philosophy: Give back. They also run a cool thrift store and, every single time I go there, the men are happy, polite, funny, and respectful. They cannot do enough to help me. I really love this organization.

I am donating this gift of twenty-two meals for the homeless men at the Market Street Mission to my “Mamacita”, Angela. She lives with us and takes awesome care of me, especially when I was sick with cancer. When it’s cold outside, she makes me home-made soup. When I’m sad, she gives me hugs and prayers. And she always tries to help those people who are less fortunate, both here in the US and in Venezuela, her home country. So, this gift is for her.

SING IT: One the second day of Christmas, I give this happily:

Two meals to hungry men,

And a goat to feed a Sudan family.

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This season, I decided to make my “gifts” be to those in need. Let’s be serious…there are many more people in need than most people. I believe it is better to give than to receive. I wish more people felt that way (don’t you?).

ORGANIZATION: Goats for the Old Goat –> http://goatsfortheoldgoat.com

How about giving a to returning former slaves and people in South Sudan because of the ongoing civil conflict? One of the reasons that I like this charity is that they are teaching the people how to fish, rather than just giving them a fish.

$60 will purchase a goat with vaccinations and food for one year. The families in Southern Sudan use the goat for milk and breeding. A goat will usually have two kids a year and, by selling those kids, families can afford to send two children to school for one academic year.

That’s pretty cool!

Many years ago, I ran a charity, Focus America, and traveled around the country helping poor communities. The most exciting project that I orchestrated was helping a mission in Pikes County, Kentucky build gardens, chicken coops, and pig pens. The idea was that they could grow their own food. It worked!

The other thing I like about this charity is that they spell out how the donation helps and guarantee that any money donated is spent on the people in need and not on overhead. They also focus on medical supplies, education, and sustainability.

Anyway, since this charity is #1 on my list, I have personally donated an entire year of goats…one a month for twelve months. You don’t have to do that. You can consider a simple $5 donation or just donate one goat. Maybe you could get six friends to contribute $5 and go in on one goat.

As bad as we have it here (now, past, future), it’s nothing like these people in Southern Sudan who have truly suffered…from murders to slavery to starvation. Anyway, this is my pick for The 1st Day of Giving and I give this gift in honor of my husband, Marc Schumacher, who had taught many young children/teenagers/adults how to fish instead of just tossing them a fish. ♥

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Tis the season! Just 24 days until Christmas is here. How will you spend this time?

For many people, it is a time of joyous celebration. Friends will gather and lift their cups to toast to the upcoming holidays. Houses will be decorated, presents will be purchased, and, as December 24th approaches, the pews at church will begin to fill.

Have any of you noticed that? While I confess that I do not attend church EVERY weekend, I do attend regularly. When the holidays approach, I notice that there are more and more people who attend each worship session. I welcome those people, as we all should. But I miss them after the New Year begins. Ironically, the same thing happens at Easter.

If you read Psalm 22, it starts off with ” My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” Have you ever thought those words? Have you ever felt so distraught that you cried out to God, wondering why something horrible happened? Or, even worse, why something wonderful didn’t happen?

I discussed this during my November 11th morning coffee video on Facebook. However, it is good to revisit this topic. You see, all of us are human and, as such, are not perfect. Sin is part of our nature, unfortunately. Sometimes we forget that we don’t always get what we want or even what we need. But God does not forsake us. He has a higher plan for each and every one of us (Jer 29:11). Through the good and the bad, we must remember to continue our worship and praise for God. Even though Psalm 22 starts off questioning why God has abandoned him, he does not forget that God is good and worthy of worship: ” I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.” (Psl. 22:22).

During this holiday season, we will praise God and thank him for the gift of his son. But the celebration is not just during December. It must be all year long. While most of us know this, we need to live this. And if we DO live this, perhaps we need to remind others. This year, give the gift of faith to those who need it. Welcome them to worship and, when you stop seeing them attend, reach out to them to invite them back into the fold. For without continuous celebration, they will not thrive and be prosperous in the soul.

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I started this week by discussing seasons after someone sent me a Dear Sarah question. So I thought I’d continue that discussion by mentioning my books, The Amish Seasons.

One of my favorite verses in the bible is To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven… (Ecc. 3:1). Life is so full of seasons, isn’t it? And, like the weather, the seasons tend to repeat themselves.

When a baby is born, they are in the spring of their infancy. As they grow, they passed through a summer (discovery), autumn (mastery), and winter (end of their infancy). The same can be said for toddlers, preschoolers, young children, teenagers, young adults, adults, and the elderly. It’s a continuous cycle. When one season ends, another one begins until our parting day from earth. I find that a reassuring thought in my own life. So many of my peers tend to compartmentalize their lives in four stages: spring, summer, autumn, winter. They look at their life as being the tail-end of autumn which, to me, is a dreary thought. I must prefer looking at my life as a continuous series of springs, summers, autumns, and winters. I might be in the autumn of raising my children (since they are almost adults) but I am in the spring of my dancing and painting lessons and the summer of my writing career! However, since I’m starting to write new genres, part of my writing career has shifted back to spring!

See how that works? It’s much nicer than just thinking middle-age is the beginning of the last part of our lives. YUCK! Of course, I remain perpetually 23 years old so that doesn’t really apply anyway.

For many people, winter is a time to hunker down and relax. Nightfall seems to creep up before our morning coffee has truly awaken our eyes. When some families join together at night, supper tends to be earlier and evening “good nights” follow shortly thereafter. That’s how it is in my house. However, the Amish tend to use this time to enjoy each others’ company. They will play games such as Scrabble or Rumikub (awesome game, by the way). They like games that help expand the mind. While they might not be working in the fields outside of their house, they are working the fields within it.

I try to get my family to play games. Sometimes they will humor me. When we were in Belize last year (oh how I long to return to that treehouse in Burrell Boom and see my friends, Dawson, Marie, and the others who were so kind to me!), Cat and I played Bananagrams almost every night. There was a lot of bonding that went on during those weeks in the jungle. This year, we will spend most of the winter in Florida. I intend to plough during those winter months…and I don’t mean just a garden plot at the farm. We reap what we harvest and we harvest what we plough. So, I will plough more quality time with my family and friends who visit us. After supper, we will play games or color or simply go for a walk to check on the horses. That type of ploughing creates a crop that will reap a bountiful harvest!

How do you plan on ploughing through winter?

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Dear Sarah,

What do the Amish do during the winter?

Angela P.

Hi Angela,

This is a great question. When most of us think about “Amish,” we think farmers. However, in more congested areas like Lancaster County and Holmes County, many Amish people work outside of the house. There simply is not enough affordable land for all Amish people to be farmers. So, for the most part, the Amish do whatever they normally do in the other seasons: They work.

However, I suspect that might not really answer your question completely.

Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you!

Today we celebrate with friends and family. I am looking forward to my large gathering this afternoon and yes, I will be insisting on some game playing! Fellowship is where it’s at! Wahoo!!!

But we need to also thank God for all of our blessings. Remember my Tuesday blog? Blessings come in many shapes and sizes. Today I am thankful for the liberation I have felt over the past three years of my life. Who would have thought that breast cancer and almost dying (while feeling great!) would help me find liberation? I have severed the cords of tyranny in my life and surround myself with good, positive energy.

Now, let me tell you about my Thanksgiving. I have a haunting obsession with Pilgrims. I love watching Pilgrim movies…of which there are not enough. I read Mayflower books over and over again at this time of year. It is hard for me to imagine how scary that journey was for the 100+ passengers that departed from England to cross the sea. When they arrived, there were no buildings to seek comfort, no crowds to bid them hello, and no stores of food to nourish their weary souls. Just forest and lots of hard work. And native Americans. And winter. Anyone of those would intimidate me. But they persevered. And soon, after a period of suffering, they flourished. And more people came. Soon the New World wasn’t quite so scary.

What we often forget is that the Pilgrims came here to escape religious persecution. If you read the book, Martyr’s Mirror, you will understand what real persecution is.

I can’t imagine living in a country where we could not worship God in the manner I want. I cannot imagine being told who and how to worship. That would be terrible, in my opinion. These pilgrims did more than help create a success story of survival in the New World. They created a foundation of freedoms and liberties that continue today. I often wonder if our country would be so focused on freedom of speech, choice, religion, etc. if the Pilgrims had not made that journey. What if America had begun as a penal colony?

So today I will read aloud about November 9, 1620 when the Pilgrims first saw land (after three months of yucky travel). I will read aloud about the first Thanksgiving and possibly have people re-enact it (I love having my guests participate in theatrical productions!). I will remind everyone that we need to be thankful for a lot more than food, health, and prosperity. We need to be thankful for those Pilgrims who took that amazing chance in order to permit us, almost four hundred years later, the ability to worship God in the manner of our own choosing without fear of punishment.

*It is important to note that Jamestown was already established prior to the Pilgrims’ journey as were several other settlements in Virginia and also one in New York.*

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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving so I thought I would share one of my all-time favorite books that I read…re-read…and re-read again at this time of year:

*Abridged version (and less expensive) –> The Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ New World by Nathaniel Philbrick *

In today’s world, there is so much “PC” ingrained in our culture that I’m not really certain what our children are being taught about Thanksgiving. I’m fairly certain that my children know very little about the Mayflower and the Pilgrims. I’ll talk more about how I celebrate Thanksgiving in tomorrow’s blog, but I do want to give you a sneak peek why this book is such a part of my family tradition.

Each year, I read from this book to those gathered around my table. Sometimes I have guests re-enact different parts of the journey (yes…I actually type up scripts for them). It puzzles me why my children don’t know more about all of this since they have clearly been a part of my Thanksgiving celebrations for the past 14 and 18 years. Perhaps because the original holiday is not “PC” and, for many people, it has changed to a day where we celebrate our blessings rather than God’s blessings. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I do like to reflect on the origins of the holiday. Those origins center on God, faith, and the right to worship as we see fit. I’d hate to see that lost on the younger generation so I do encourage you to consider reading this book (or any others about the Pilgrims…incorporate it into your discussion at the gathering tomorrow).

This book is wonderfully written and, for any of you curious or who would like to integrate a bit of history into your celebration tomorrow, I encourage you to buy the eBook and peruse it. You will be inspired by the wonderful narrative about the Pilgrims life before leaving England, their terrible journey across the Atlantic, and their initial days of suffering in the New World.

Nathaniel Philbrick writes with a great flare for details based upon historical fact. And while considered non-fiction, it reads like an action-packed fiction novel.

As a direct descendant of Native Americans that lived on the East Coast, I am well aware that the arrival of the Pilgrims and other settlers changed the history of the indigenous people. It changed the lives of my ancestors, too. Still, I am proud to share the history of the holiday with my friends and family. Sometimes being “PC” is just too exhausting, isn’t it?

Well, I’ll be anxious to hear if any of you pick up a copy. This truly is one of my favorite books in my reading library.

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