Too many topics in this blog post to count.

Just kidding, there's 4. This is a blog post to celebrate the return of my computer from Belgium and God putting a bunch of stuff on my heart. So in this blog post there's a lot! Let me hear some thoughts if you're so inclined! 

I can't turn a blind eye to these women, we are connected, soul to soul.

There is a saying in Haitian Kreyol "tout moun se moun" that means "every person is a person" and that speaks volumes to me. I've realized that even though that is TRUE, people don't get treated like that. Like every person is of equal value. If I get raped here in America and choose to go to the police, I can have my attacker arrested and potentially locked up if they can trace his DNA. In the Congo women are raped and tortured repeatedly, and the men who do this to babies, children, teens, women, older women, and yes even grandmothers aren't put to justice. No one traces their DNA. ----> That wouldn't happen in America. So why aren't we helping?

Isn't every person a person?
Doesn't everyone deserve help?
If you don't know about rape in the Congo and how it's used as a weapon of war, you should check this out. Be informed.

I understand that it's not pretty and we feel helpless, but so do they.
Before World War II, I'm sure there were whispers of what Hitler was doing. 
People knew, but they didn't want to know. 
I watch movies of the Holocaust and I see pictures of concentration camps and my heart cries out "Why did you wait? Why did it take so many people dying and families being ripped apart?" and I don't want to one day look back on my life, and my generation, and see that we saw, but we didn't SEE. 
We knew, but we didn't want to know.

Me.

I do not completely relate to the song 'Fire & Rain' by James Taylor. Yet I connect soul to soul to the mourning that is expressed through this song, and I hear myself mourn right along. I know it's random, but it does get to me, that we're not singing about the same thing in our hearts but I'm connecting so much with the song anyway. I love that humans can connect with each other without experiencing the same thing, because at our core we can relate. 

Loss of a heart to heart relationship. 
Feeling lost and alone.
Feeling insignificant. 
Loving someone who doesn't love you. 

These are a few of the things that everyone can relate to. I was riding the metro the other day and I was sad, and it occurred to me that I could turn to the person next to me and say "I'm really sad because I found out the hard way that it's true what they say, that you can't be friends with your ex. We broke up ages ago but the friendship just ended, and it feels like my heart has been broken all over again" and you know what?
I bet they'd know what I was talking about.
Everyone has had their heart broken.

Stained glass. Watercolor. Sunset over mountains.

I've been painting a lot recently, and it provides an intense level of introspection that I enjoy. It also causes tears and stress and my heart being open to things that I never took the time to listen to before. Then there's healing and realizations and well...I can now definitely see why people say that artists are moody.

Soul Family love on the streets of Brussels

I love this. I love how God provides. I love that where there are short comings in some close relationships in my life, they are made up for in abundance through relationships that He has placed in my life. Like my family. Where there is no value on my feelings, there is value given by the Ginger. When there is no listening, there is a patient ear found in Veronica. Where there is no encouragement, there is support from Marissa. Where there is instability, there is a constant rooted stableness in Cristen. I could go on and on about the beautiful people God has put in my life, but you get the awesome gist. These are the people that no matter what happens and who gets angry at whom, the relationship will still be there when the walls fall.