A Community

And they say blogging is a bunch of bologna!  I say fooey!

In August of this year, I'll make the trek to Thailand as a photographer with Ember Ink (not familiar, go check them out).  The purpose of this trip is to be the sole resource for local organizations to use to create media resources to create awareness on the global issue of Sex Trafficking.  I really can't share too many details because it is a sensitive trip, and for the sake of relief workers as well as our own team's safety, I have to limit what I share.

But the point of the trip is to be the first part to many parts on creating awareness as well as providing others ways to get involved.  I'm a part of the media team producing info, photos, videos and all the like on the actual field work (while being incredibly sensitive to victims, it is our absolute goal to exploit no one for our own creative gain). 

One blogger, who I'm friends with on Facebook, saw an ad I placed for a local fundraiser I'm doing.  Granted, being an east coast girl, she isn't able to participate in this So Cal fundraiser, but she felt pressed to help anyway... and this is what she did:

As a Scentsy consultant and blogger from Skinned Knees, Christy offered to open up an online Scentsy shop with 20% of the proceeds going towards helping to fund my trip this August.

Let me tell you... I.WAS.HUMBLED.  

A woman I have never met.  A woman who's heart I've only read about.  A woman who believes in Community.  A woman who believes in me.

So, I'm here to tell you about it!  Check out Christy's Scentsy store (Click the picture below):

I'm so grateful for Christy and her heart to serve as well as share in the Community we believe in!  THANK YOU CHRISTY!

If you are specifically interested to find out more about this trip or how you can help, email me at jhen.stark@gmail.com.  

My Very Best

I stood in front of my closet eyeing the items of clothing I was going to donate to my grandparents in the Philippines to donate to the community.  I processed the items of clothing I don't wear and don't really like and began to slip them off the hanger to create a pile.

The pile began to grow bigger.  And bigger.  Finally I was finished and I had an entire trash bag of clothes I realized I didn't wear or want.  And I felt proud.  I felt accomplished.  And then I felt God...

"Give me your best."  

"I'm sorry, what?"  

"Give me your best."  He pressed harder on my heart.

This wasn't an audible conversation.  It was a deep push in my heart to do something that if done on my own prideful accord I wouldn't have easily felt satisfied with my bag of unwanted clothes and felt like I had done "good."

"Give me your best."

I didn't want to do it.  NOT ONE BIT.  I had left my prettiest, favorite, and best items of clothes that I felt would leave me satisfied in my every day upkeep of maintaining America's fashion image.  I left my very best to myself  and gave away the easy unwanted. 

So I sat on the edge of my bed looking into my closet.  

"Ok God, if that is what you want, you have got to help me do it, because you can obviously tell, I really love these clothes."

And as I slowly made my way back to my closet, I asked my husband to be by my side to help me.  To process each item and toss them into the pile, and to say "For this, God, I give you my best."

It's not an easy task.  And it is a task that deserves no praise or accolade.  

I recently joined Jennifer at The Blair Affairs on her project to discover a little bit more of what we actually don't need in our closet by not purchasing an item of clothing for 9 months.  This project is shared as "The Difference Project".  And it is a hard project indeed.  It's not an easy task.  

But as I continued through this project, God pressed it on my heart to go further.  

So I am.  And continue to.  But let me reiterate a previous statement:

It's not an easy task.  And it is a task that deserves no praise or accolade.

I don't deserve to boast.  If my heart and mind were exposed for the world to see as I go through it, you would see a heart that is struggling.  A heart that will try to argue for each item, each choice in order to protect it's selfish desires.  You would see a very tainted heart.

So I deserve nothing.  But through it, I get so much.  Even though this is a hard process and even though it is a battle against the culture I live in that demands prettier, nicer, fancier, wealthier things, I'm resting in Freedom.  And in that freedom, I'm discovering a joy in giving away my very best so that He can have IT ALL.

And I pray that my heart will continue to strive to give more, to love less things, and to embrace His Heart so that my sacrifice will be of worth.

Ask The Husband: The Questions

Although I'm an incredibly passionate person, I will keep things not so, convicting on this blog.  I promise.  Because, I have to realize that there are moments, when I'm "waiting" that I have to enjoy the here and now, as you do too, despite the heartbreak we might be feeling for the rest of the world.

And recently, I've received questions that dig further into who we are as a family, so I thought, who better to answer, than the Leader of our Household and the silly man usually rolling his eyes when I log into blogger...   So....

Jon has promised to answer all the questions that come in.  Fun, huh?!?!  

So here's what you do, leave a comment below with your questions or email your questions (if you prefer it more private).  Ask anything you'd like as long as it's appropriate!  Whether its about me, him, our family, this blog, or anything else, ask away and he'll answer in a future post.  Fun.  Pure fun, I say!

Email them to jhen.stark@gmail.com

(I totally got Jon's permission to post this.  I respect and love my husband dearly and this silly side of him is one of his favorite sides.)

___________DO SOMETHING____________

Each post will sign off with a link to an organization you get get involved with by donating, advocating, or sponsoring.  

Be: Amazing - Bloggers for Birth Kits

Photo Via mommyhood memos

I really love it when I find people with like minds.  And I even more so love it when those minds challenge mine to love harder, give more, and live on less.

One in particular who has inspired me, even in creating this here blog, is Adriel over at the mommyhood memos.


Her, and her growing family of now four, live in Australia and serve as volunteers for an organization called YWAM, which has called some amazing people, like my sister, into the mission field.

Currently, Adriel and the other volunteers at YWAM Reef to Outback are serving the people of Papua New Guinea.  Instead of trying to explain their work, I strongly suggest you go HERE to their website, or HERE to Adriel's if you aren't already following her.

However, in her service, Adriel has come up with a way for bloggers, and readers of bloggers to come together to reach a specific cause and one that truly moves my heart:

"Every minute a women dies of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. Ninety-nine percent of these deaths occur in developing nations.  For every woman who dies in childbirth, another 30 women incur injuries and infections, which are often preventable. (Source:World Health Organization.)"

-Taken from Adriel's Blog

I never once had to question my health and life during the birth of my daughter.  But some of you have.  I've read stories of women here in America who's lives were at risk and almost lost while birthing love.

And there are some mother's who have lost their lives here in the States due to complications of child birth.  And those stories are real.  Those heartbreaks in their families are immense.

So imagine, the risk and death's involved in childbirth being the norm.  Imagine.  Imagine the simple act of a clean birth environment being the difference in a child having a mother or not.  Imagine your child growing up labeled as a "curse" because their life took yours.  Just imagine.  NOW  imagine how the simple act of donating $10.00 means life to so many.

For Mother's Day this year, consider a special gift to not only the mother's in your life, but to mothers around the world; or more specifically in Papua New Guinea.

Visit Adriel's blog to read more and find specific ways you can get involved and change the course of the lives of so many.

Little Girls With Similar Ponytails

I had every intention of writing a post about marriage.  Well, about how my marriage is going.  But this morning, I snuck out early to start writing when I made a pit stop and read up on twitter, where I found a post that reignited my heart!

If there is one thing I hope to be clear on this blog, its where I stand in Human Trafficking.  From Child Soldiers to Sex Slaves.  IT HAS TO END...

I still get the treasured honor of rocking my little girl to sleep.  It is a little gem that I don't want to let go of.  The other night I was holding her in my arms next to the open window to help her breathe through a stuffy nose, and as she laid in my arms with her lashes gently resting on her cheeks, I broke down in tears.

I thought of the millions of innocent lives unheld, uncuddled, unloved.  I thought of the battered souls abused, neglected, unwanted.  And all I wanted to do was rescue them all.  I thought of the innocence of my little girl and imagined it stolen from her, and my heart raged with a passion to get it back.

Then this morning, I fitted her beautifully curly hair into it's first ponytail and watched her run around the room in delight as we praised her beauty.  And I saw a little girl before me.  And as I watched her play, I thought of the other little girls with similar ponytails currently lost in brothels as man after man handle her with selfishness and greed.

And my heart shattered.

But I didn't lose hope.

I poured out my heart each time begging the Lord to send me!  To send my family.  To send THOUSANDS and MILLIONS to rescue the innocent and redeem the abusers.

We aren't a better breed.  We aren't in any higher stature than anyone else.  But we have much that we must give back!  

And I write what I write to encourage.  My stories I share aren't to depress a Nation that has so much with so much potential to help, but to encourage those to do something about a world that is so desperately in need of Hope and Love.

There is so much to be done!  So much!

I encourage each of you to GET EDUCATED.  Believe in the POWER OF PRAYER.  AND DO SOMETHING.

http://www.worldvision.org

http://www.invisiblechildren.com

http://emberink.blogspot.com/

http://sixtyfeet.org/

http://www.compassion.com/

http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

http://demiandashton.org/

and there are many many more....

or visit this blog to see what inspired this post of mine and other links to check out.

The Blair Affairs

She Breathed Deeply

and... if you know of any links that you think I should share, LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW!

BE: Amazing v.1

I couldn't have been more humbled that there are people in my own community in such a need that our culture is so quick to ignore, pass, judgement, and turn a "it's your own fault" eye.  But I discovered that among many who choose to live within themselves, are others who give beyond their means.  And these people inspire a change that I believe will ignite a generation of Hope and Love.

And it is my passion to see this blog transform into a space where I get to share my heart.  And this new page, BE:Amazing, is where my heart will reside and where I'm hoping, your's will too.

This is the story of normal people who do amazing things!

Abba's Pantry started back when a family discovered that children in their community of nice homes and fancy cars were going without food.

They fall short of perfect.  They haven't anything big or grand to make them more special than the next.  But this family, of a Husband and Wife and their kids and grandkids, chose to find as many possible outlets to feed the hungry in the community they live in.  And they do it, because they have a Love that they are desperate to share.

What started out small grew and grew as they now serve the community beyond what they can imagine.  From Thanksgiving baskets to daily grocery drops, this family has grown into a ministry of many volunteers and willing hearts to serve.  And with their Church behind them, they've been able to reach more and more families and more and more needs.

Jon and I got the chance to shadow them as they deliver food to two mobile home parks.  We first pulled into Fresh & Easy where they pick up donated food labeled "Waste", which in turn, is actually good food that is unsellable by law.  So what most, if not all, grocery stores throw away, Abba's Pantry (as well as many other organizations) picks up and distributes daily to families in need.

On these two particular days it was just Jennifer and her daughter Niki, and on the second day, Jennifer and her granddaughters passing out food.

And our hearts were humbled as we pulled into each park and saw the excitement on eager faces that didn't just look forward to food in their bags, but the hugs and intentional chats they would get from Jennifer and Niki and any other who volunteered that week.

This family and ministry offer more services of food drops, as well as fresh food basket deliveries, this event captured is their weekly delivery of food to families.

We are incredibly inspired by the hearts of the Underwood family and for the volunteers who have said "yes" to Love.

The ministry would like to thank:
Fresh & Easy
Calvary Chapel Wildwood

Speaking Out Without Speaking

Invisible Children.

If you haven't already heard about them, please check them out!

There is a war going on.  And children are being kidnapped and abducted to fight it.

Innocent children.

And I just can't sit by and do nothing.

So until I figure out other ways, Invisible Children is providing outlets for the voices of the oppressed to be heard... without speaking.

Protection Plan Update: Collines from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.


There is a movement.  A movement not many have heard of.  A movement to go beyond ourselves for the children unseen and the lives untouched.  And that movement involves a piece of this...

The Protection Plan from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.



So, Jon and I took the pledge.  A pledge to spread awareness, a pledge to donate our money, a pledge to raise money, and a pledge to spend time in silence in order to speak out, without speaking.

So how can you help?

On my sidebar you'll see two little icons where you can make a donation.  My hubby checks his and would be super stoked if he reached his goal before I did... so can we make that happen?

Also, you can be active and advocate by spreading awareness, writing congress, and getting educated on what is going on in Sudan, Northern Uganda, and the Congo.