last night's movie. followed by a little nature.

ginger bloom

i'm pooped today.

last night we watched a movie, "Machine Gun Preacher".

true story.

about Sam Childers, a former drug dealer, bad-ass...biker...felon.

(to make a long story short...)

Childers 'found religion'...ends up going on a missionary trip to Uganda with his church,

to help build homes for refugees.

while there, he wants to go north, to Sudan.  into the war zone.

after witnessing the atrocities of the Lord's Resistance Army...

Childers makes it his personal life's  mission to work with The People's Liberation Army...

to save the children of South Sudan.
save them from starvation & disease.

to save them from the murder, torture, rape, mutilation by the LRA.

he fights back.  hard.

he tries to provide the children with a life...of hope.

he builds the Children's Village.  currently home to 200 orphans,
although they have housed 1000 kids over the last 13 years.
a church, school,  kitchen, playground  and soccer field.

watching this film was heartbreaking. emotional. shocking.

i couldn't get to sleep. not 'til 2:30 in the morn.
my mind was overloaded. 

i couldn't stop thinking...
of what goes on in this world.
what people DO to people.

it made me ache inside.

i had a post all planned for today...but this is not it.

it just seems...not fair...to them...to be taking pictures and smiling and joking.

am i being too sensitive?  yeah, maybe.  it's tough not to.

i try to imagine...

giving up all the comforts of home.

a daily shower.  tv.  a/c.  a filled fridge.  stocked pantry.  a bed.  clothes.  a washer/dryer. 

an oven.  a car.  left overs that get forgotten & moldy. 

i have a bank card.  a credit card.  a laptop.  electricity.  a home.

i don't really worry about a group of people storming in with guns
or setting our house on fire while we sleep.

it's hard to imagine living in their world.  the fear.  the terror.

children being kidnapped & forced to kill.
forced to witness their parents being murdered.  at any time.  any day.

damn.

the more i talk, the more depressed i get.

SO...

here's a few pictures...of the twelve i was planning on.

ON TO 

my world...

july 4th

dragonfly

a Crab spider doing some web repair

Red-shouldered Hawk, front yard. a little far away for my camera...so a little blurry.

of course...ANOTHER yard mushroom...a strange looking round one.

AND two little grasshoppers...on the Hibiscus...munching away.

be safe. stay cool.
laura