Kentucky & Peru

Spring Break is almost here and Kyrie hasn't let me change the blog till now cause she really needs to get to Peru. But I wanted to tell you where I'm going cause I think it's funny compared to Kyrie's destination. Kyrie will be heading off to Peru and I'm taking a bus to Louisvile, Kentucky. :) I'm excited even though it may not sound as exciting as Peru! When I lived on the Mercyship in Liberia I lived with a girl from Holland. Her name was Anna Van Ast and she married a guy on a the ship from Kentucky and now they live there. That's why I'm going and that's why I'm excited...cause I'm gonna be with my ship family. I can't wait.
:::3 more days:::






I know this is Kyrie in Louisville.. don't be confused though..Sienna is going to Louisville.



this is Anna. She got married a couple months ago in Louisville.

Peru&Me

I'M GOING TO PERU! or at least planning to, over spring break. that's coming up!! it starts march 3rd! that's only ONE week away. 15 covenant-ers are treking down to Haunta, Peru to help missionaries with their work; whatever that may be. We'll be focusing on Vacation Bible School for the children, construction and cleaning of churches in the area and genereally providing help for the missionaries and the people they are trying to reach. The parents of my friend are missionaries and have been for 30 years. I really can't wait to bust out of the states, forget myself and my needs and show Christ's love to others who desperately need it.

here's where you come in!

the cost of the trip is $1,500. So far, i've been able to raise about $750.00. If all of you (this goes out to everyone. friends, family, all ages!) work together and send a bit each I'll be on my way to Peru when March 3rd arrives. Any amount is welcomed and deeply appriciated. thank you so much to people who have helped me already.

If you are interested PLEASE let me know or just email me at khoward@covenant.edu

thanks guys!

"Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls." -John Donne

thank you dear family and friends for our beautiful mail.

randOm. (I know you hate that word, Brae.)

This is a bit random BUT it's always made me laugh and I've always meant to post it. I walked into our room some weeks ago and kyrie was sitting at my desk on the laptop like this! I'm not sure why she wasn't all the way on the chair... maybe she didn't have time. I don't know... but it was very funny to me (and stil is).

v-day's leftovers...

this is our messy, wonderful room. and a little bit of valentines leftovers... see those pillows on our bed? My mom and dad made those for us for v-day and we got this big box on the 14th with those inside! It was the best v-day gift i've ever gotten. Pillows were just what we wanted and Kyrie wanted the checkered one and I wanted the striped. Couldn't have been more perfect.

The flower is from valentines day too... every girl at Covenant was given one at lunch time. It was real nice carrying around a red flower all day...

and the red furry thing was on our desks in the afternoon with some red and pink m&m's. We think they were from our RA.

friday outting

after my last class on friday, i borrowed liz anne's car, picked up sienna and bethany and we escaped from the mountain for a few hours. i love driving! we had some errands to do: get post it notes, depost money, pick up film, the pharmacy--all of which we documented for your enjoyment! ijt's the day to dayness thats fun to see pictures of i think. the aisles of walgreens, pumping gas, looking at eye shadow.

it's freezing cold here! snowed a bit yesterday and quite a bit this morning on our way to and from pancakes. my face was frozen we we got to the koffman's. it's the blueberry pancakes, coffee and being in a home that's get me up and into the cold though. such a blessing.

it's really sad.

So it's getting really sad. The Wingos are sapposedly updating their blog or something. I really just don't understand why their blog has to be removed from the face of the earth! It has upset my morning routine and no more can I glance into the lives of my daily inspiration: the Wingo family. It sounds silly... but it's just SO sad!!! It's something so little but that's life... all these little things that make up a big thing---> my life. Okay so I meant for this entry to be lighthearted and funny and I'm almost getting emotional. :) (ha) I'm signing off now with these few words to Joel, Ashley, Jude, and Zara,

I hope you come back Wingo family. You were one of the little parts of my life that affected the whole. miss you all.

HappyValentinesDay (from forth south to you)

(say it the way Andre3000 sings it)


this was the supa fun vday dance party friday night. almost all of 4S went. will kendell was the dj and did a bomb-diggity job.

i love dancing!

look at Kieth's cool sink!

Kieth is Lowen's housemate and he found this sink and put it in their bathroom and it's my favorite sink in the whole wide world.

Happy Birthday Uncle David!!!

love, sienna & kyrie

hear God

From Blaise Pascal's "Thoughts"....
"What a chimera, then, is man! What a noveltly! What a monster, what a chaos, what a contradiction, what a prodigy! Judge of all things, imbecile worm on the earth; despositary of truth, a sink of uncertainty and error; the pride and refuse of the universe!

Know then, proud man, what paradox you are to yourself. Humble yourself, weak reason; be silent, foolish nature; learn that man infinitely transcends man, and learn from your Master your true condition, of which you are ignorant. HEAR God." (capitals added by sienna.)





We read this in my "Culteral Heritage of the West" class this morning which has come to be my favorite class I think. When we read and discussed Pascal's words I was reminded of how complex and confused we really are and how we're really just like clay. We don't like that so much though. We want to mold ourselves and everything around us. We want to make our own truths and follow our own laws. But that won't work. God's laws are truth and he is the potter. I am the clay. I just have to keep telling myself that he's a better artist than me.

I saw her smile.

On Tuesday afternoons I go to my church for a couple hours to hang out with the kids and help them do some of their homework. It's a program called GLAD and I can never remember what that stands for. But it's an afterschool program for the elementary schools around our community to keep kids out of trouble and help them build relationships with "mentors." (I hate that word though.) The kids are fun for me to be around and I look forwards to Tuesdays when I can take a break from my mountain and be with free spirited and crazy children who ask funny questions and help me jump around. For those two hours I'm totally absorbed in their lives and words and mine seems to fade compleatly. I love it when that happens.

There's this little girl though named Asundra. She didn't warm up to me easily at all. We're still working on it. One day a week isn't much and so the relationships can be slow. Asundra is very hestitant with me and seems slow to trust. She doesn't look at me when we talk and she mumbles a lot. When I talk to her I get the feeling she just gives me the answers a "teacher" would want to hear. She doesn't feel comfortable around me and she doesn't care to learn how. Asundra is hisbanic and speaks beautifully fluent spanish. She has many of her girlfriends at GLAD and that seems to be enough for her. She talks fast and loud with them. She opens up with them. She sings with them and dances too. I see her personality when I watch her with them. But Asundra isn't as free with me. She shuts down and sees me as "tutor" instead of friend. She sees me as judge intead of equal and instead of a girl named Sienna whose thinks she (Asundra) is amazing and beautiful. It's frusterated me in the past couple weeks as I've tried to be undestanding of her and talk with her and get her to see that I just want to be her friend and not someone who speaks endless rules to her. As we do her homework together I try new ways of explaining things or I get up and do a dance randomly for her and try and make her laugh. Then I'll ask her to shake it like Shakira...It works sometimes and I'll see that faint smile and feel for a couple seconds like I've got her. But then it's gone and she's closed up again.

But yesterday I saw her smile. The smile lasted more then a couple seconds and she smiled at me. I got to church at 3:15 and my girl, Shakayla, ran out of the church when she saw me and gave me a huge hug and said something like "hey girl!!". She spotted my camera that I had hanging over my shoulder and I quickly took that oppertunity to ask "Can I take a picture of your beauitful face!?!" She got all excited and looked straight into my camera as I snapped a perfect shot. We took a couple more and then Shakayla ran inside. She was out again before I knew it with Asundra and my other little girl, Maria, to show them my camera. Asundra wanted their pictures together and indiviudally but more then ever she wanted to take pictures. So I showed her. I showed her where to look and what button to push and how to hold a camera. I did it with her once and then let her try it alone.

And that's when I saw her smile.
and she kept smiling too. Homework time went a lot better yesterday after our that photoshoot. When I was helping Kashayla with her homework and would look over at the usually sullen Asundra, her smile hadn't faded.

and it made me smile too. a lot.

Asundra

Asundra & Kashayla

photo taken by: Asundra

a bad picture.

this is just a bad picture all around but it's the everyday. so i like it.

blessed saturday morn.

carter lobby.

ice cream.

my red cup.

hoodie & sweats.

bethany's smile.

2 random people jumpin' in the picure

a good day.

sittin' around

this was Saturday morning right before we went on a long walk to Aunt Collyn's house. We were waiting for Max and Kyrie was snapping pictures and I'm looking at the camera weird.

i've got short hair!!

and now we look different!

more pictures coming soon.

aroundTHEroom