I'm Not Old Enough

If you know me and my life you may have already figured out what the title of this post is all about... ?

It's this; I am going to become a grandmother and I cannot quite believe it.

Inside I am the same person I have always been and frankly at this time find myself muttering things like:
• It went too fast.
• I remember my mom saying "blank" (oh, gosh she was right)
• I wish I had done "this" differently.
• Will I be able to get to know my grandson living so far away?
• What kind of mistakes can I try (oh so hard) to NOT make.
• and ad nauseum.

It really and truly was yesterday I was pregnant and trading stories with women who:
• had never had a baby
• had at least one baby
• were pregnant with their first, second, third,(etc) baby
• in the midst of rearing
• done raising
• in the midst of releasing
• were full on grandmothers - who I might add were always just smiling like Cheshire cats and walking away to go out to lunch with friends
• etc., etc., etc.

It's no secret to anyone that I am one of those women that as a kid always DREAMED big about having kids of my own. My teen years were punctuated with babysitting and aiding teachers and interestingly visiting seniors in a convalescent home. I grew up with this innate sense of enjoying helping others. I still like to do that, help others I mean.

But frankly I don't like to do it 24/7. Who would? Um, in the past, me. For a large part of my life I did that - all the time. Now, I am very glad to help others from time to time. But now in the mix that includes helping me.

ALL of my close friends are grandmothers, veteran grandmothers in fact. It has been fun to watch them navigate the “becoming one” stage and see them figure it out. I only hope to do it as well.
• I will blunder
• I will fall
• I will make mistakes - all givens.

What I know for sure - I care about him... oh my gosh, I love him already!

I will really enjoy:

• getting to know him
• hugging, kissing and tickling
• playing peek-a-boo
• rocking and singing
• chasing and being chased by the little guy.

I will enjoy watching my daughter and her husband raise him and know they will do a good and thoughtful job. And I will be (am) thankful that they have lots of friends that will be around – what is better than another person that cares and loves? I cannot think of anything to top that. So when I mess up and say the wrong thing or do something I shouldn’t do I will take a deep breath and make "note to self" and then see if maybe it is time for me to take him to the park... or not. In other words, I just want to be a good grandma. (picture me, with BIG SMILE here).

Ethiopia I love you

It's true, I love Ethopia. I love the people, I love the countryside, I love the amazing history of thousands of years, I love the wildlife, I love the flowers and stately trees, I love the avocado mango juice! But I don't love the poverty and the great needs of so many people. I want to fix it, I want to make a difference in lots of lives.... but I can only do my part to help.

I hope you have had time to look at the pictures I have posted on Facebook. I put them up so everyone can look. Even if they are not a "friend" of mine. Please take a moment and view them as if you yourself lived there. As if you yourself had to drink the water and wear the tired and dirty clothes. As if you had to wash your clothes and your body in the brown dirty water.... meaning your clothes and hair and skin are never clean and you are always sick with diarrhea.

The people of Ethiopia are amazingly resilient and hard workers. So many live in poverty with very little to live on. Mud huts and stick homes are the norm, apartment buildings and homes as we know them are few and far between. Our partners, who may live in apartment buildings still have to do their laundry by hand and cook all their food from scratch. Just to make the bread staple, Injera, takes 3 days.

A friend suggested that I should put my pictures on note cards to help raise money for the project in Ethiopia and I think that is a great idea. SO.. if you are interested in something like that just let me know what pictures you would like on your cards and I will work on making it happen. email me at
ms.lisazisa@gmail.com

As you can see by the pictures I have posted on Facebook; water is a great need and along with it training in basic hygiene, water management and sanitation. Yes, open deification is very prevalent not just animals, but people too. Somehow, over the last generations, these very basic habits have been lost. In talking to our partners they are aware and very puzzled as to what happened and when. But they are committed to working hard to make the tide turn!

The project that Lifewater is doing in Southern Ethiopia is almost fully funded. One of the stipulations of the grant is that for every $8.00 funded Lifewater needs to raise $1.00.... Maybe you could consider making a donation to help reach that goal?

Lifewater has recently been blessed with the ability to upgrade the website - here you can read lots of information and stories about projects and see the progress of what is happening. I hope you will look often.

As you can tell, my heart has really been grabbed by the needs of people around the world, I was so humbled and felt so sad when I thought of all I have at home. We are truly a rich people.

Thinking it through.....

I have been doing some reading and really felt compelled to share this. As a point of reference, the author was British.

"I remember once when I had been giving a talk to the R.A.F. an old, hard-bitten officer got up and said, 'I've no use for all that stuff. But mind you, I'm a religious man too. I know there's a God. I've felt Him, out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that's just why I don't believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who's met the real thing they all seen so petty and pedantic and unreal!'
Now in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he was really turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of coloured paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only coloured paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousand of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America."
- C.S. Lewis


I find this so compelling... what do you think leave your comments, please.

Kefir, Kefir, Kefir

My newest healthy thing.... and one I will never leave Kefir. I used to drink it when I lived in Northern California. It was so hard to find though - you know those were the days when health foods were looked down upon and there was no such thing as a health food store. People that grew their own stuff were considered out of the mainstream and raw milk was impossible to find.... unless you bought Alta Dena and people were getting sick from it.
With the economy bottoming out and people waking up to what is local I am excited to suddenly find healthy food available in abundance. My next quest is to find raw, unpasteurized milk from a small farmer and make my own kefir. Check out this article and actually the whole site. You won't be disappointed!

Health benefits abound... including it is wonderful for lactose intolerant people. The health benefits list is so long that you should just copy and past this into your browser -
http://www.yourkefirsource.com/category/kefir-benefits

You will be amazed - Oh and if you have a source of raw, unpasteurized milk that you trust, get some kefir grains and make your own!

A sense of peace

Yes, it's true I am surrounded by a sense of peace. I like it, who wouldn't? I recently had a scare when I went in for my yearly check-up... fortunately no, there is nothing to be concerned about. But in the process I, of course, did a lot of research to see what I would be facing IF and what I could do to make sure that IF didn't happen I at least could make some changes that might help out with keeping the old body functioning.

Low and behold.... there were several things I found out.... one chicken if it is not natural, range, organic and every other healthy word you can think of, produces something called xenogestenes and those in turn can make a woman produce fibroids. Not good for any woman at any age, but in particular not something a woman my age wants, needs or hopes for.

So, I will pay excruciatingly high prices for fowl and just eat a bit less.... actually as someone I know pointed out to me, grocery chicken is shot full of water so when you buy an "everything healthy" bird that weighs 5 pounds you will get 5 pounds of bird (including bones). Now doesn't that make us all feel better? I mean really that means that our dollars really do go further purchasing "everything healthy". Overall, I do purchase very wisely and almost "everything healthy" but there is more I can do so I will. And while I do that I will be thankful that I can afford to do so.

Right now, I am having a great time visiting my nephew Jesse and his fam. We have been having a lot of fun, and laughing a lot too. My next hope and dream... to get a Wii and Rayman,; oh my it is hilariously fun. Tomorrow we will get ready for the Battle of the Bands they are putting on for the high school kids and Rise Up International and Meg and Andy will be here too.

Saturday, evening I fly home and get ready to go to Palm Springs with girlfriends next week for a couple of days. Off-season = CHEAP. Ye-Ha more fun ahead!

Then to top off all this "comp time" we will see Les Miserables at PCPA's outdoor theatre in Solvang. Followed by a mad dash to get ready to get back to work!

Learn new - keep growing

I heard a report on NPR the other day that was really interesting -
The story? Well, let me just say, as I listened I was amazed.

The topic was Relationships - Saudi Arabia and the United States - the commentator was tracing from present day back to the interest the US has in the country. He listed off presidents from Bush to Clinton to Bush blah blah back and back. I almost turned the radio off but am so glad I didn't.

It seems that FDR, yes FDR, that is how far back the relationship traces... was flying over the country and looked out and thought.... Hmmm, looks like this is a country that could become a big agricultural hub, we should connect with them.

Now I don't know about you but my mind does not, repeat NOT work that way when I am flying and look down. What kind of an amazing mind, a creative mind, an entrepreneurial mind is that that God created!

- So FDR then went home and set to work looking for a way to meet with Saudi King Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud, warrior king of his country.




After a lot of amazing negotiations FDR managed to get the king to meet him on a large destroyer, the U.S.S. Quincy in the Great Bitter Lake, Egypt.

The king, being a king, had certain things he wanted to bring with him.... for instance; a few of his special wives and 100 of his finest sheep. Now don't roll your eyes, this was his culture, his life and this is what warrior kings did/do. Don't expect that he should just be happy that the President of the United States wants to see him and on a big ship no less.

The two met and FDR noticed something.

You see he was looking for a way to connect with the king and he didn't know what or how he could figure that out. Until he saw the warrior king.... who was in his 70's and had difficulty walking... FDR seized the moment and presented the king with his back-up wheelchair. The result? The beginning of a friendship. FDR recognizing the need to respect the Saudi culture and knowing that smoking was taboo chose to smoke in the recesses of the ship, so as not to offend the king. i.e. respecting his culture.

And that's the story of how the United States of America and Saudi Arabia first became friends. The rest is let's just say an "oily history".

Hilarious Girl

I love that I am getting old and I am still learning! HA! That's good.
So I have been taking an ounce of acai juice with a teaspoon and a half of flaxseed oil every morning for the last couple months... well I just added the oil two weeks ago. But hey I have a lot more energy and my dry eye is going away and my skin feels better. So good.

I also realized today that as I was listening to the local news hearing all these younger people being mentioned for either arrest or awards, etc. That as each name was said I was rehearsing the names in my mind; hoping that if it was an arrest I would NOT hear the name of a former student. I mean for heaven's sake, I was holding my breath! Love and caring runs deep. And by the way no arrests and one award for the home team! good. but not good for those who were arrested. sad.

I got one of those exercise balls. very fun.

Ha ha, I just noticed that every paragraph starts with "I" - I guess this is a self-centered thing these blogs.

Tomorrow should prove interesting. That's all I can say right now.
Peace