as of late...

i've NOT been blogging, have i? i am really sorry for that. it's something i enjoy so much, but life has been very consuming lately. however, i'm going to do my best to get back into this, and redeem all the readers i once had the attention of. if you are out there, still checking in on me from time to time, spread the word that i'm fighting to overcome my supreme internet laziness and my tendency to get mentally consumed by everything BUT processing my thoughts outloud. and for those of you who know me, that's a bad thing!
blogging = emotional sanity.

my fight for regained sanity begins...

i'm eating ALOT of these:

but i prefer the ones in THIS package:

they are called "wine gums", and area quite a thing here in SA. i was introduced to them by my friend sherna, who is up on all the old school candy. after doing a bit of research, i found that wine gums are the favorite candy of one of my favorite authors, Roald Dahl. He wrote classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, the BFG, and all the other great books with great artwork you read as a child. Dahl kept a jar of these savory candies by his bed to eat before going to sleep. I wonder if Ryan would go for that?
Wine gums were invented in 1909 in LIBYA of all places, by this kid Charles Maynard. His dad owned a sweet shop, and he was a devout Methodist and teetotaler. When he found that his son had invented a candy consisting of "wine" (not really wine, but that's the name little Maynard chose) he nearly fired him.
Now, wine gums are a hit and survey show the favorite colors are black and red. And if you want, you can buy them in bulk on amazon.com! who would have thought?
wikipedia says that they are manufactured from animal gelatin made from the 'rendering of bones'. that's not going to sell wine gums, is it? i don't even know what that means, but i'm not going to find out because i don't want to find out that my new favorite candy is made from crushed baboon bones!

i've also been all over THIS lately:

it's Hope Prison Ministry
, whose website is inconveniently under construction at this moment in time. all you get is a photo of the founder, brother johnathan, and his family. very random, especially cause they are sitting in front of a wall of bubbles.
the reason i'm getting more into this ministry is because they have adopted a philosophy of rehabilitation for inmates called "restorative justice". man, this will revolutionize your understanding of crime. The Center for Restorative Justice at Suffolk University in Boston says "Restorative justice is a broad term which encompasses a growing social movement to institutionalize peaceful approaches to harm, problem-solving and violations of legal and human rights. These range from international peacemaking tribunals such as the South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission
to innovations within our criminal justice system, schools, social services and communities. Rather than privileging the law, professionals and the state, restorative resolutions engage those who are harmed, wrongdoers and their affected communities in search of solutions that promote repair, reconciliation and the rebuilding of relationships. Restorative justice seeks to build partnerships to reestablish mutual responsibility for constructive responses to wrongdoing within our communities. Restorative approaches seek a balanced approach to the needs of the victim, wrongdoer and community through processes that preserve the safety and dignity of all."
All those words basically center around 3 things: victim, offender, & community. The key in restorative justice, and how it uniquely stands out in the justice system (be it prisons, courts, forms, etc) is to educate offenders on the effects of crime through hands-on activities, conversations, visuals, and role plays, enabling the offender to understand the weight of his/her crime. However, it does not isolate the consequences, but seeks to provide a holistic "restoration" to both offender and victim by providing opportunity for the 2 parties to reconnect in a controlled environment (usually a prison, where the offender is serving time) and the discuss why, how, where, etc of the committed crime. For victims, this means they can ask specific questions and get answers, which might lead to closure and forgiveness, and a better understanding of the one-sided perspective most convicted criminals act from. For offenders, this means honesty, transparency, accountability, willingness, and confession to the victim (and the court if need be to more fully divulge the hidden details of the crime, which often leads to more time served by the offender), whereby the criminal can also receive closure, freedom, and self-forgiveness.
As i sit in with these 20 or so inmates at Pollsmoor Prison (described by Nelson Mandela as "the truth of Oscar Wilde's haunting line about the tent of blue that prisoners call the sky."), watching this idea of restorative justics soften their hardened criminal, gangster hearts, i remember the supreme importance of having someone to share with, someone to trust and open up to. i remember why counseling is so important, and why i love it so much. i remember that no man or woman alive today is meant to live in isolation. i remember that from burma to south africa to moldova to nashville, from gangsterism to drug dealing to criminal acts of violence to government-enforced oppression of a majority to white, upperclass, "fast-paced americans" (as martin lambsdorff labels it)--it's all riddled with pain and suffering and hidden details.
when i lived in burma, i worked at a buddhist monastery. each morning on my taxi ride, bouncing over potholes worn into 60 year old paving, weaving through TWO-way streets with enough room for ONE small car to squeeze through, then making our way to the freedom of exhaust-filled Kaba Aye Road, taking a left away from the city into the beauty of rural Yangon, i always passed by this place called "Marina Estates" or something like that. The word Marina stuck out to me, and i thought i might name a child that one day. But as I drove past that place, I thought about lots of things, and one of the things I remember thinking about was the word "mend". God laid it heavy on me like he does certain ideas to certain people. and for me, i knew that i was called to "mend".
as my awareness of my life-calling developed, i saw this theme again and again: mending. isaiah is full of this idea, and isaiah is full of significance for me. the idea of mending broken hearts, releasing captives, and alleviating suffering became more prominent, especially after i moved to south africa. i really feel God connecting all these wandering pieces of my life, like a grammar teacher correcting an essay paper filled with sentence fragments, making a more comprehensive and coherent thought.

that's just a bit to spark your interest and my brain waves. i'm off to have a chat with my friend melissa! enjoy your life today :)