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Real Name: Kevin Morrison Gender: male Date of Birth: December 19, 1973 Member Since: April 10, 2008 Last Signed In: January 08, 2009 Profile Views: 743 Blog Views: 3321 Cloth Diapers Anyone? Congratulations! It's a Poppy Seed. Buckle up. Here we go again! Thought for the day Uh oh... secularization Color Me Mine Birthday Name that Christmas Carol Birthday Party Reviews April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 
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Extreme Home Makeover
The following is an article I posted in the Northwest Voice about our Spring Break trip to Mexico, so some of you may have read it.
Let me tell you about my house. It's 1,350 square feet, including the garage and it is much too small. The paint is chipping, the trim is rotting, the master shower doesn't work, and there is too much yard work. I wish I had granite counters, real hardwood floors instead of laminate, a washer and dryer that match, a pool, a three car garage so I can fit more junk (not cars), and more energy efficient windows. It bothers me that I don't live in a neighborhood that ends in "Creek," "Park" or "Oaks." In fact my neighborhood doesn't even have a name. Well, maybe it does. I just can't translate the graffiti.
I think about all of this and it bothers me. I pull in my driveway daily, thinking "I can't wait until we can have the house we really want." I'm embarrassed to have friends over after I've seen their houses and I think mine can't compare. I'm embarrassed even to tell them where I live. There are not gates, no key-pads, no community pools or clubhouses in my neighborhood. I wish too often that I had more.
Now let me tell you about the Huante Torres family living outside Tijuana. I traveled with a Bakersfield group representing Christ's Church of the Valley and Kaleo Fellowship to build this family a new house over Spring Break. Eight members of this family, covering three generations, were living in a broken down shack that would fit in my living room with enough space for me to still lay on my couch and watch SportsCenter. And they were happy. The local pastors there decided that their living conditions were poor enough to have Amor Ministries take a look at the situation. Amor Ministries agreed and through their chain of events, over thirty of us from Bakersfield found ourselves visiting this family to give them a very special gift.
For three days, our group, ranging in age from twelve to fifty-plus, mixed and poured cement, framed and raised walls, and sealed a roof that would protect this family for years to come. In fact, the four-bedroom, 484 square foot house was "so big" that three more family members planned on moving into the "spacious" home. Eleven people will be living there, making under two hundred dollars a week between them. You and I would call it the end of the world. The Huante Torres family reacted as if Ty Pennington just shouted "Bus driver, move that bus!" This was more of an extreme home makeover than ABC could script.
My house is a mansion. We lose perspective here in the U.S. We lose it easily and willingly. After three days with the Huante Torres family, my perspective is regained. My house is amazing, and it is beyond me why my family is so blessed to have it. We all should take this trip. Those of us who went down built more than house. We learned more than just a few words in Spanish. And we came back better for it.
1 comments from 1 users
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posted by
Sheeky
on May 7, 2008 at 02:43 PM
absolutly. If I could, I would send every American to a 3rd world country at least once. There is a BIG difference between seeing the commercials, hearing celebrities flaunt what great humanitarians they are, and actually BEING there. Even when times are tight, and I'm worrying about a car insurance payment, someone else doesn't even have shoes. Our perspective is so very easily knocked WAY out of whack. A trip like that sure helps put things back into a right light. The truth is that most, if not every person reading this, is among the 10% richest people in the world. Thats a good perspective check.
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