It's Catchy And You Can Dance To It

Boo-rack Obama Wishes You a Happy Halloween

I think everyone knows my political leanings for this election, but in case you don't, here is an artistic expression of my choice. Many thanks to Yes, We Carve for some awesome templates. After three knives, four toothpicks, one potato peeler, a pair of scissors and a screwdriver, I was able to come up with these. My hands feel arthritic, but I think it was worth the effort. Hopefully, Nastia the neighborhood kitten won't destroy it.

LBJ Endorses A President

Video

A Big Ask for Family and Friends

Family Legacy (the organization that puts on Camp Life in Zambia) started a program last year that gives everyone the opportunity to get personally involved in the development and welfare of the orphans we worked with in Zambia.  Part of my responsibility back home in the States is to get my kids sponsored.  I know this is a tough time to ask for a financial commitment, but please consider making a monthly investment of $36 per month to help feed, clothe and educate one of my 13 boys.  The schools in Zambia are less than ideal and surprisingly they are not free.  There is no tax base to support the schools so everyone must pay to receive an education. The money you give goes directly to that boy (or girl) and his family.  It's administered by the local Family Legacy office in Zambia that is staffed by the same camp counselors I worked with this summer.  Only 5 percent of the $36 goes to administrative costs.

Two of my 13 boys have been sponsored.  That means there's 11 ready for your assistance!  Once you set up automatic credit card payment, you'll receive a welcome packet and will be able to write letters to your kid(s) and receive letters back.  Most of the older kids can speak and write English. If not, they'll use the Family Legacy ambassador in their local community to help write the correspondence.

If you have more questions about the program, feel free to contact me at bevo14 at gmail dot com.  I can send you more photos of the specific child you're interested in sponsoring in addition to the notes we took about their family situation and any prayer requests they've mentioned. The photo above shows my boys from this year. I was fortunate enough to have eight of the same boys as the year before.  The names in green need sponsors; the boys in pink are already sponsored.  You can select anyone you want, but I'd like to ask someone consider Dickson.  He suffers from painful headaches and has extremely poor eyesight.  

If you'd rather sponsor girls, Dawn and Betty have more than 20 girls needing a sponsor.  I can put you in touch with them. Just let me know.

To view more details about my boys, please click on the Father's Heart website.  In the Ambassador search page, please type my name in the appropriate fields. You'll see my boys listed on the following pages.

I know many of you may be a bit leery of these sponsorship programs. In all honesty, I was a bit skeptical, too. However, this summer my mind was put at ease.  One day while in the local village, one of my boys named John pointed up the hill to a remote brick structure that looked like a deserted motel.  It was the orphanage where he lived.  John had lived on the streets for two years and one day decided to walk up to the orphanage and see if they would take him. He was 11 at the time.  I asked John how he was able to pay the school costs. He said, "I don't know who pays my tuition; I just know someone takes care of it."  That someone was Father's Heart.

If committing to $36/month seems out of reach right now, please consider tag-teaming with a family member or friend to help out the kids in Zambia. 

Thanks for taking time to learn about this program.

Yes, We Carve

Yes, We Carve is a site devoted to pro-Obama pumpkin carvings. You can download stencils for free here.

Will I be making one? In the words of Governor Sarah Palin, "You betcha!"

In fairness, you can download McCain and Palin templates here.

Class Act

Lullabies

One of the highlights of this year's Zambia trip was meeting (and hearing) Erin Ivey -- a fellow Camp Lifer and singer/songwriter from Austin. Since most of my friends these days have kids, are expecting kids or want kids (that's me...but first things first), here's her "Lullabies" website with three free songs for your little ones.

She'll be playing in the Rollins Theater at the Long Center if you are interested in seeing her live.



Her regular music can be heard on her website. She plays Cedar Street each Wednesday night.

Red River Rivalry, iPhones and a Home Office

Where did September go? Where's October going? I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. It seems each blog entry these days begins the same way.

I started my new job at Convergys on September 15 just in time to be at home and watch the stock market nose dive. So far, the job is going well. My co-workers are based in Lake Mary, Florida, Cincinnati, Ohio and Dallas. I was in Dallas one week and in Blanco for an offsite the following week. The days at home seem to go by extremely fast. Molly is loving the home office set-up. She usually sleeps on the perch at the top of the stairs, and waddles around for few minutes before plopping back down for another 2-3 hour snooze. I'm adjusting to life with a Blackberry. I miss my iPhone dearly, but it's found a good home with Mom. She's texting, downloading music from iTunes and adding photos to the phone like a pro. Once our company switches back to Exchange, I'll likely go back to the iPhone. Until then, I get my iPhone fix when I see Mark or Mom.

Here are some photos of the home office set-up. I still have a few pictures to hang, but the major re-arranging and decorating is done.




I hosted a Texas-OU Red River Rivalry party at my place last Saturday. What a game! Here are some photos from the party.






ESPN College Game Day is live from the Forty Acres this Saturday morning. They're setting up on the South Mall so it should be a nice setting for some fall football. I'll post some photos here so check back.