Moving On

I'm not moving, it's just the blog that's moved. My blog has moved to my new beautifully redesigned website at www.carolcool.com. So go follow it there. All of the Blogger posts have migrated there, so you can search for old posts. There's even links to my 5 years of blogs from before that (although they're not searchable). So please join me over there or follow me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/carolrcool), where my blogs are posted automatically. Hope you'll stay in touch!

Change Purse

A few years ago I saw the original Butler Bag in a boutique in Lewes, Delaware. I was entranced.

The thing that made me want the bag was the inner organizer (pictured at left), hence the name "Butler."

I didn't buy it, though. I didn't want to spend the money for it, so I spent six months shopping for a substitute. I bought another bag that didn't work. It hangs in my closet.

Finally, after listening to me lament that I didn't own the Butler, Les told me to get it the next time I was in Lewes. So I did. I bought it in spicy ginger (above right).

I've loved this bag. But now the straps are going, and they don't make this style in any fun colors anymore. So I am back to looking. I bought a bag at an amazing Coach Outlet sale and haven't even unwrapped it yet. I have found someone who works in leather who might be able to replace the handles on my Butler Bag, so I am holding out.

How many purses have you ever bought that just weren't right? Well, now you can put that bag to work. Change Purse is an organization that takes your "didn't work for me" bags and resells them to raise money to battle human trafficking. You can send purses directly to them, or you can host a Change Purse party like my friend Jen Knepper, who began the Lancaster Gifts That Give Hope Gift Fair.

You gather purses and invite your friends. The organization provides you with a DVD and information on human trafficking. You sell the purses and send the money to Change Purse. It, in turn, supports Hope House, a place of restoration for teens rescued from sex trafficking.

If you decide to host a party, I have at least one purse to contribute!

Unusual Christian Environmentalists

We are watching the long version of Pride and Prejudice—the Colin Firth version, of course—and as I began to write this, Mrs. Bennett says this to Bingley,"When you have killed all your own birds, Mr. Bingley, I beg you will come here and shoot as many as you please."

We could adapt that line for the way we are devouring so many of earth's creatures. It seems there is always a new fad food that begins to deplete the earth's stocks: Chilean sea bass, bluefin tuna, chinook salmon, and so many others.

Today I read this interesting interview in Christianity Today. Eugene Peterson, the author of The Message, and Peter Harris, talk about Christian environmentalism in a way I found unique and thought-provoking.

I encourage you to read all of it and then let me know through your comments here or on Facebook what you think of their thoughts, especially on urbanization and on how environmentalism and the Sabbath interconnect.

By the way, you're not invited to shoot any of the birds in our yard.

Give and Criticism Will Be Given Unto You

Forgive the distortion of Scripture in the title, but it seemed appropriate for this topic.

Thanks to the Six Seeds parenting e-zine, I learned an interesting story about the University of Georgia head football coach Mark Richt. He and his wife put their lakefront second home up for sale in order to donate more money to World Vision to help those in poverty. Last year they read The Hole in Our Gospel (which I blogged about here) by Richard Stearns, who was president of World Vision. As he told Chip Towers, who wrote the blog post:

So I’m reading this book and it really affected me. It helped me realize that what we have is way more than we need and that our ability to give is hindered by this property.

I love when God reaches out and talks to someone (including me) about how we personally can show compassion, about how he wants us to be involved in social justice or fighting poverty in our situation.

Unfortunately, when you do respond to what God is saying, it seems criticism is the next gift you get. For Richt, first it was speculation that he was selling the house because his job was threatened due to his team's poor record last year. Once Towers' blog was posted telling of their true motivation, more criticism followed in the blog comments section. People who wondered why he didn't have enough money to give already with his salary. People who were sure this was just a coverup for fear of a job loss. People who judged his motives, his behavior, his relationship with God.

It was a good reminder that no matter what we do, criticism will come. As the apostles Peter and John said, "It's better to obey God than men" because you can't please them anyway, I would add.

What has God ever told you to do that others have criticized you for? Les and I have experienced it multiple times when we invited people to live with us, whether for a few weeks or forever, as in the case of our daughter. I'm so glad we chose not listen to the critics because the blessings and joy have been tremendous (even in the midst of pain that sometimes came).

Don't be afraid to obey God and to ignore the critics. His voice is the one that matters. Share your story of obedience with us so we too can be encouraged (and we promise not to criticize).

A Tree of Life

Grandparents brag. It's what we do. So when our friends Art and Sue Sell began to brag about their grandson Trevor, I was prepared to listen politely but nothing more. Of course there was the initial "just graduated from Temple with a degree in landscape architecture." But then they told me he was in Haiti, and my ears pricked up.

Trevor started the Montrouis (pronounced mow-wee) Tree Project (MTP) to help reforest Haiti, beginning with the town of Montrouis.  Only about 2% of Haiti's original forests remain, and erosion means the good topsoil washes away, making farming difficult. He's made several trips over past two years, and was actually there when the hurricane hit.

MTP has set up community tree nurseries and works to educate the citizens in how caring for the trees can help them feed their families and make a living. They are teaching the school children how to grow trees and what they mean for their long-term sustainability. They hope to establish an educational community tree nursery on the school property as funds become available.

The school project will cost $3,370, if you would like to donate all or part of it. MTP is also in need of donations to support their on-site project coordinator at a mere $40 a month. Trevor is in Haiti right now planting more trees; you can view photos on his blog.

Here's someone who didn't wait until he had graduated from college to make a difference. He took what he was passionate about—landscaping—and went off and began working on a problem that needed solving. I'm impressed, and I guess his grandparents have more than enough reason to brag.

What's the Difference?

When I worked as a copy editor for a large in-house agency at a corporation that will remain nameless, we had loads of scintillating conversation at our staff meetings. While your work team meeting might focus on action steps, brainstorming or implementation, ours focused on word usage: How do you decide if it's "which" or "that"? If the CEO wants "over" to be used only when its meaning is "above your head," does that make "more than" a superior phrase or simply a managerial quirk? And which is correct: "different from" or "different than"?

I still can't remember the answer to that last one. If I am editing something with one of them in it, I look it up. If I am about to use it in my speaking, I either say something else entirely or say both.

So when I finally got around to reading Same Kind of Different as Me I was really confused by the addition of "different as." But soon the book (by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, with Lynn Vincent) made me not care about the grammar. The true story centers on how Ron Hall, an international art dealer, allows his wife to convince him of their need to minister at a homeless shelter. There they meet Denver, a homeless man who is none too happy to make their acquaintance.

God had bigger plans and wove the lives of these two men together in a way they never dreamed possible. Watch the video to hear more about their unique friendship, and then consider reading the book.


Who do you perceive as different? (Notice how I avoided the whole different from/different than conundrum?) How might you approach a friendship or, at least, an understanding? One thing this book taught me is not to be so quick to see a slight.

Denver eventually tells Ron that those at the homeless shelter figured Ron and his wife were with the CIA because they were asking everyone their name and birthdate; apparently on the street, no one asks your name. The Halls could have perceived reverse prejudice in Denver's not revealing his name; instead they simply persisted in loving. I am often so quick to judge the motives of another, when I might be totally off base. I am asking God to help me accept that there may be valid reasons for the behavior of another that I think is odd or even rude.

No matter how different you think someone is, recognize they are a person cherished by God. Reach out in love. You may just discover an amazing friendship that will carry you through the hard times.

Hunter's Heart

"I'm not going to school," my 6-year-old grandson insisted last Friday. Our daughter Joy was confused because Hunter loves school.

"Hunter, get on the bus."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I am taking the money I was saving for vacation to God's Warehouse [a local thrift store] and buying clothes and toys for the kids that don't have them."

A tornado had hit a section of their northeast Tennessee county and wiped out a community of houses. Hunter insisted that the children who had been affected couldn't wait another day for clothes while he went to school.

Hunter won. Joy loaded Hunter, his vacation change jar and a 4-year-old friend in the pickup and off they went to God's Warehouse. When Hunter asked the person in charge how much he could buy for the $38 in his jar, they told him he could fill the back of his momma's truck.

Because they knew some of the children whose homes had been destroyed, Joy had gotten a list of clothing sizes needed. She set up baskets on the floor labeled by size, and the boys carefully went through the clothing, selecting two outfits for each child. Toys and other items were added to the piles.

Hunter also tried to buy the eight bags of donations an elderly man was dropping off. "You don't want these clothes, Son, they're for old people," the man said.

"Well, there were old people whose homes were destroyed. Please, can I buy them?" The man apologized to the store clerk and placed the bags in Joy's truck instead.

When the truck was full, Joy and the kids took the donations over to those affected. The devastation hit them hard, and Joy worried about its effect on the boys. But there was satisfaction, too, in delivering the things they had picked out and that Hunter had personally paid for.

I'm proud of my grandson. He's been saving that money for months in anticipation of a trip to the beach this summer. And yet he was willing to give it up for what he saw as a greater need.

Yesterday, I got irritated about a very small kindness someone asked me to do. It cost me almost nothing, but my selfish nature protested. I need God to soften my heart like he has Hunter's to the needs of those around me and to help me put those needs before my wants.

What needs do you see today? Maybe you're called, like Hunter, to help those dealing with the tornado aftermath. Maybe it's someone at church that needs a hand. Maybe it's a family member who simply needs us to listen. Whatever it is, act quickly as Hunter did. Don't delay like I did. Allow God to bless others through you.