Meniscus

Our dear friends (and I hesitate to say friends because they are like family to us), Scott and Becky Lycan are living the majority of the year in South Africa doing some amazingly loving work among the people there. They have started a non-profit called Meniscus. I met Scott and Becky through Tyson who has been very close to them since his college days. Scott actually performed our wedding ceremony. Needless to say we look up to this entire family and admire them on so many levels. Okay, so I thought I would copy and paste a portion of a recent newsletter we received updating us on all the life changing things they have going on in the townships of South Africa. One project I personally want to share with you is something Becky has been a key part of, and that is Project Hands of Grace. Project Hands of Grace was developed to help women acquire skills in sewing, needlework, crocheting, kitting, weaving, and business skills. The women make homegoods, clothing, and other unique items to sell in Masoyi township and other places. I actually have a few of these items stateside and photos, so let me know if you would be interested in purchasing any or have ideas for a venue to sell them. One thing that really touched my heart is that many of these women are older "grandmother" types who have lost their own children to HIV/AIDS. They are caring for their orphaned grandchildren. Some have HIV/AIDS themselves and they walk a remarkably long distance to meet with the sewing group each week. I believe there have been enough sewing machines acquired now for each lady to use one. Here are some photos that Becky sent. I just love them.

This woman's daughter died of HIV/AIDS and she is now taking care of her grandchild.

Here are the women gathered around the table working on their projects. You can see the joy and pride on each of their faces as they work on their creations.

Here are the details from a recent email outlining the other projects going on there:

Litsemba “Hope” Community Center

With the completion of the center building, training and program development are in final stages for the following ministries to begin work:

• A Pregnancy Care “Options Center” in cooperation with Youth for Christ South Africa. This ministry targets young people dealing with pregnancy, providing community support, training, and skills development in areas of basic decision-making, goal setting, pre-natal care, sexual integrity, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, personal ethics, healthy parenting, gender roles, becoming a good spouse, marriage building, nutrition, and goal setting.
• An After School Tutoring for students in grade levels 10-12, focusing on math, science, and English.
• A Micro-Enterprise Development program in partnership with South Africa’s Phakamani and Opportunity International which identifies and equips local entrepreneurs in small business development. This program helps individuals prepare business plans, makes low interest micro-loans, and mentors through the first two years of the business start-up.
• LifeSkills for Success offers training in self-esteem, goal-setting, job application and employment preparation, managing health and money, writing a business plan, and assertiveness training. This program is a collaborative effort with Youth for Christ and the RSA Dept. of Health & Human Services.

Total cost to renovate the Litsemba Center in preparation for the programs: $19,600 USD + 1400 volunteer hours. Your support has provided Meniscus the ability to directly contribute $2,600 USD + 900 volunteer hours towards the completion of this project.

We are in urgent need of funding for our portion of facility & program costs. $250 USD per month enables existing projects to grow and new programs to launch from the Litsemba Center.

Discipleship and Leadership Training

25 young adults are now being trained in the Discovery Bible Study method, basic micro-church planting and discipleship. These young leaders are being released two-by-two to go into the community, find people of peace, and begin planting small, reproducible, gospel-sowing groups that meet local needs. DBS groups meet weekly four days a week. Becky and Scott Lycan do not lead these groups, but serve as strategy coordinators and “aunts & uncles” within these groups. Just this week a new DBS has started in our own neighborhood. Both neighbors are recently unemployed and realized that this is a time to draw close to God. They knocked on our door and asked us to help them!

Feeding Projects

Meniscus partners with South Africa’s Mamkulu.org to provide food staples for local children (particularly orphans and vulnerable children) who are unable to qualify for government programs, typically because they lack proper paperwork –parent death certificates, birth certificates, immigration & health cards, etc.

Project Hands of Grace

Meniscus partners with this non-profit women’s sewing guild which empowers women to feed their families, learn micro-enterprise skills, and develop a strong community of faith and mutual support. A Discovery Bible Study group meets weekly after every sewing group gathering. Fifteen women are engaged in the Masoyi work, and over 100 family members are being feed. A second Grace project site will be launched within the next month.

Second Harvest

This seasonal gleaning program through which local farmers and produce distributors supply free access to fresh fruits and vegetables has provided over 6 tons of food to needy homes, especially targeting widows, ‘grannies’, orphans and vulnerable children. A recent donor contributed an additional 4 ½ tons of dried beans. All gleaning to-date been through volunteer efforts led by South African partner Kobus DeWit. However, this work has been temporarily suspended for lack of finances for transportation.

Needless to say they are making a HUGE difference there and at the same time their needs are real and substantial. If this touches your heartstrings and you would like to support them in this valuable social justice, community development endeavor it's super easy to go to www.meniscusinc.com and donate through paypal. Think about giving a one time gift or even sending monthly support. Most of us can't pack up and move to Africa (although I wouldn't doubt it if we do at some point), but we can support the efforts of those who are directly pouring out their time and energy to help the poorest of the poor.

By the way, I would love to hear your comments after reading about this. What stands out to you most? Do you have a heart for the poor or for social justice, microbusiness, etc.?

Closing out the Summer - Concert Style

We ventured out last Saturday night to the last summer concert at a lake park near our house. It was a beautiful evening minus the heat and bug factor.

I couldn't even tell you the name of the band, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

Naturally the best part of the evening was watching Samuel live it up. He bounced and danced to his hearts delight.

Wordless Wednesday

What caption would you give this photo?

First Steps

Yesterday was two months to the day that this little All-Star began crawling, and he took the most steps he's ever taken. I think it was about 3 or 4. I grabbed the camera and took these pictures while Tyson cheered him on. We told Samuel he had a deadline to meet because a friend at work told Tyson that she had figured out that most babies walk exactly two months after they crawl. It looks like the friend at work's theory is pretty true. By the way, we were just kidding about the deadline. ;)

I love his little feet. They're so fat right now and he curls his toes to keep his balance.

Whoa! Keep it steady little guy.

He even paused to politely acknowledge his "Mamarazzi."

Good job Buddy!!

Introducing...

This dream is finally becoming a reality! It's been a long time coming but "Gina Carr Photography" is taking off! I had my first official portfolio building photo shoot yesterday with precious baby Lydia. We had a great time and fought through the hot and humid weather to capture some priceless photos. The start up process has and is taking a lot longer than I ever expected but I'm beginning to see things coming together and it's so rewarding. I think the fear of the unknown and fear of failure has kept me from moving forward all this time, but taking little steps of faith here and there has helped. I've got lots of ideas for adding to and taking the blog in a new direction, so stay tuned. Here's a sneak peak from my time yesterday with this sweet baby girl and her mommy...

_____________________________________

Honey, What's That?

As usual, our precious little one woke up around 6am for the day on Monday morning. He was probably especially eager since it was his 10 month birthday. I thought I would be writing to you about that, but this takes precedence. Here's the scene: Samuel is looking like an angel sitting in his bedroom floor quietly thumbing through his basket of books. He looked engaged enough that Tyson and I could manage to get to the coffee pot, pour ourselves a cup of coffee and stagger into the living room. I kept one ear tuned in to any pitter patter coming from Samuel's room in case he suddenly decided the return air vent or bathroom toilet was more exciting than his basket of books. Okay, so back to the living room...the two of us are just trying to get both eyes open and nursing our cups of coffee. I was sitting on the loveseat and Tyson on the sofa. All of the sudden something cought my eye from across the room. I didn't have my contacts in yet, so it looked to me like a large dark brown "something" stuck to our two inch blinds on the window to the left of our fireplace. All I could mutter was, "Honey, what's that?" After I got those words out I sort of froze in place. Tyson stood up and leaned towards the window. I'm thinking frog or small bird at this point. Even though neither of those are what you expect to find hanging from your living room window blinds either. Tyson clarified for me. "It's a bat!" I was up off that loveseat, grabbed the computer, grabbed Samuel and locked us all in our bedroom in about 2 seconds. You might be asking why I grabbed the computer. Some of you know already. G-O-O-G-L-E! Here's what we frantically typed: "How do you get a bat out of your house?" Long story short, Tyson had the bat and got it out a few minutes later. He just walked up to it (it was sleeping), grabbed it w/ a towel and took it outside. This made me chuckle, the instructions said to talk softly to the bat. You've got to be kidding me! I did ask T if talked softly to him when he came back. He said he didn't have to. I guess the little bat was sleeping so soundly he didn't realize what was happening. We're thinking it came through our chimney and out the front of the fireplace. We have the vent shut, but apparently the little dudes can flatten themselves and get through tiny cracks. Great! I taped a large piece of cardboard over the front of the fireplace just to make myself feel better for the time being.

Not exactly what we expected to wake up to and definitely not what I'm hoping to find again any time soon. My adrenaline is pumping again just thinking about it.

Signing "More" for the First Time

We've been introducing the sign for "more" to Samuel for a little while now, and a couple of days ago he really took off using it during meal times. I used signs alot as a developmental therapist with most of the children I worked with and found it really helpful. Many people are skeptical of teaching their children signs for fear they'll just rely on the sign instead of speaking, but research shows the opposite. It can actually enhance language development and take a lot of the frustration out of communicating w/ your baby. What I've always found to be amazing is how much is in those little brains waiting to come out! The approach I've always used is to introduce one sign at a time until they master it then move on. I wait until the opportunity arises then model it. Playing with bubbles and meal times are a great way to introduce "more." I would put a few puffs in front of him and when they were gone I would say "Do you want more?" and do the sign. Then I would take his hands and help him sign more and quickly give him more puffs (or bubbles or whatever). I'm not trying to act like the expert. I just thought I'd share the process for any moms out there that would like to give it a try and wondered where to begin. Here's the downside...once they learn "more" it becomes their universal word for "give me that now!!" Oh well. I'll just introduce the sign for "no." :)

Look at Me!

It seems like lately Samuel is doing something new on a daily basis. It's so exciting. Here's what I can think of for this week: He's leaning in to "kiss" us when we say "give me a kiss!" Oh my goodness, I squeal with delight everytime. He's standing on his own more and more, trying to clap, and he's beginning to wave "bye bye." His clapping and waving is proving to be consistent w/ how he does everything else, very shall we say passionately. He claps his hands as fast as possible and waves his arm like a speed waver. Oh boy...

Here's a short video of him standing and clapping. Excuse the fact that I sound like the biggest dork ever. I just get so excited. I can't help it.

We love you all!