Politics Are Better Than Reality TV!

Usually it takes a lot of effort for me to become interested in politics. I must admit that I have only been semi-interested with Obama vs. McCain. Until recently. Tonight completely changed that. The DNC kept my attention on the same level as Lost! Something within me has really stirred to truly care about learning as much about these two men as possible. I have been and am currently watching the video that Rick Warren did and reading various articles. I am kinda weirded out by how sad I am that I have to wait a week to see how McCain will address various issues. Exciting stuff, exciting stuff!

Unemployment Never Felt So Good!

Guess who is now without a job? If you guessed me, you win! I recently quit working with the Lion that tames the Food. I did have another job that I was starting that would take Food Lion’s place. So, if I had a job but don’t now I bet you are wondering…why? Well, sometimes I am not such a good listener. The place that I decided to try to work at was one that the Holy Spirit tried to warn me not to get myself into but the anxiety and greed of money had me working there anyways. Let me just say that if God doesn’t want you somewhere…DON’T BE WHERE GOD DOESN’T WANT YOU! Anyways, I quit after my first week of working. So now I am just taking time to settle into grad school. I am still looking for employment but am willing to wait until it is a position that God and I agree should be sought.

I love what I tagged this under! I guess that ”working woman” as a category won’t be getting used for a while

Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

For those of you who don’t know, I started graduate school this week. I am a “spaggie” now. I am a student of UNCG and North Carolina A&T. I just finished my last class for the week. Yay to no classes on Fridays. Although I am tremendously excited about all the new information and skills that I am going to gain over the next two years, I am wondering if I really know what I have gotten myself into. I have so many papers and such all throughout the semester. So, I want to ask my friends to do me a favor. Please don’t allow me to become too isolated from society

Reminiscing About Jamaica

July 19th:

• My first time being out of the country! Once we landed in Mo Bay, I noticed the increase in heat immediately. The ride from Mo Bay to Mandeville (where we were staying) was the roughest ride I have ever been on in my entire life. I will never complain about the roads in NC being bad because I think I got to encounter the worst roads ever. It rained the whole night because a tropical depression was coming through. I was sitting in the dark with a bunch of people that I did not know in a Bible College in Jamaica during a really fierce rainstorm. I did have a moment of wondering what I had gotten myself into, but I was also extremely excited about the unknown.

20th:

• We went to the Richmond Church of Christ. The service was pretty long and we were told it would have been longer had it not been for a funeral that the members were going to. I really enjoyed the service. It was kinda weird not knowing any of the songs they were singing and even if i knew the song, not really knowing what part they were on because I couldn’t understand them. I must admit that when the worship leader started singing the saying ”make a joyful NOISE to the Lord” came to mind. A lot of the people there sing in the same way you would talk, which doesn’t make for the greatest listening enjoyment. A few moments after critically judging the peoples’ singing abilities, God laid some knowledge on me. I felt Him say, ”They don’t care about what they sound like or how loud they get because they are singing to me. Who are you singing to?”. Dang. Needless to say after that my perspective changed. I took a moment during our service to just listen to all of us (American and Jamaicans) singing praises to our Lord. It was beautiful. As the group was traveling back from the church, we passed a school that had an amazing quote. I thought it was a blessing from God and His way of showing me that He would be dropping a lot more knowledge on me throughout my time there. The quote said: “To live we learn.”

21st:

• First day of Vacation Bible School! We had a church to go to in the morning and in the evening. The morning group was at Richmond. They were so mannerly. The afternoon group was at a church called Waltham. Not so mannerly. I was Karen’s assistant at both churches. I am thankful that things worked out that way because I think that working with Karen during this trip really helped us connect more. I was so nice to her the whole week…to bad that was Jamaican Natashia.
• I went to New Hope Orphanage. As soon as I walk in I was overwhelmed. Babies are crying everywhere. There just aren’t enough workers for each kid. I heard this one baby in particular crying his eyes out. He had his hand stuck in this door type thing in his crib. As soon as I got his hand out and wiped the snot off of his face, his arms shot out for me. That was the case with all the kids there. Even with the workers and our small group that went, there weren’t enough people to hold each child. There were times that I had two kids on my hip and still another asking to be picked up. And they did not want to be let go, but that was ok because I didn’t really want to let them go. I met “my twins”. Jafari and Jabari…so freakin’ cute.

22nd:

• Went to the orphanage again. God spoke a lot of truth into my heart about love. I realized that these kids constantly display outwardly what each of us desire throughout our life: Love. God gave me a little glimpse into what selfless love is by being around those precious babies. He showed me how great His love for us is as well. The fact that I wanted for each child that I held to just feel love radiating out of me and how I just deeply desired for them to experience that throughout their lives  was from a person who had only spent time with them for two days. God was like “Tashia, you are loving on these babies like whoa, but I love my children far much more than this.” That threw me for a loop and has really opened my eyes to the depth of God’s love.

23rd:

• The group went to a street service with Mount Pleasant Church. It was an amazing time of worship and seeing the church there passionately telling more people about Christ. I was a part of the best dance party ever! It was with this lady that had to be in her 50’s or maybe 60’s. She was gettin’ it! Karen and I got tired. That lady could have danced for days. It was really fun though because it was dancing unto the Lord.

24th:

• Last day of VBS at Waltham. They were our rowdy bunch. I think it meant more seeing how they had changed because seeing how their love for us had grown was more obvious.
• Richmond held a service for us to thank us for doing VBS. I think almost everyone in the church sang for us. One of my main men, Javol, gets so into his singing or playing the drums. He has a wonderful time praising the Lord and no matter whether he is leading worship or speaking God’s truth, he wants others to get excited. His passion and energy are contagious.

25th:

• Last day of VBS at Richmond. My little man, Raaj, gave me about a dozen hugs. This meant a lot because this kid hissed at Karen and I the first day. He wouldn’t interact with us. I think we got him with our dancing skills. At first he just looked at us like we were crazy but eventually joined in. Then he started sitting beside me and giving me a hug each day before he left.

26th and 27th:

• We left for Negril (the beach). It was gorgeous, but honestly I would have rather spent the last couple of days with the kids back in the mountains.
• As soon as I got in the airplane, I started praying. I was so God-focused during my time in Jamaica. I cared about what He wanted me to do. I put others before myself and felt like I was really serving everyone around me like we are called to do. I hardly picked on Karen and I only lied about half of the time. I really prayed that what I had learned would continue to be lived out back in the Boro.

I know that this is a lot, but it’s not even half of all that I experienced in nine days.

Ev’ryting Ok

I returned Sunday from a week-long missions trip in Jamaica. This was my first trip outside of the country. I was with only two people that I knew from the whole group and I was really nervous about being able to successfully do the responsibilities that I had been given. The week was hard, but in a good way. I was an assistant to Karen at two churches where we were doing VBS. Our morning church had kids that were saints while the afternoon crew definitely had me praying for strength. Jamaica doesn’t just have beautiful landscapes, it has beautiful people. Inwardly beautiful. I love the fact that I have never waved so much at complete strangers in my life and that they actually waved back. I took part in one of the best dance parties ever after a street service where a lady that had to have been about 60ish showed me how to move. I danced (whether in VBS with the kids or in the church services) like I have never danced before. It was really dancing to the Lord and I liked it. My time at the orphanage taught me a lot about God’s love and almost had me bringing home twins! A lot of things that I wouldn’t have expected the Lord to teach me on a missions trip He did. This is just an overview of some of the things. I think I am going to share my journal entries or at least what I was blessed with doing each day. The missions leader that went with us said that it would be a “life-changing trip”. I hated hearing that because I think it sounds so cliche, but that is exactly what this trip was for me.