Blog - Logan Wolfram

Dog Days of Summer

July 15, 2014 by Logan 5 Comments

Screenshot 2014-07-15 08.18.41

Life has been very full this summer.

The picture above was taken from inside my house far away, but it’s what I want to most remember. Just how there is simple bliss found in creating space for life to happen.

I have been working hard on Allume, and when I’m not, I’m working hard at maintaining margin for my family. We are investing time and making memories. I know that I’m breathing more free.

My kids are thriving this summer and I think it’s due in large part to us striving to find a better work/life balance. When I work and have a sitter here (let’s not kid ourselves and think anyone could run a conference without at least a baby sitter some days) I focus on that. When she’s not here, I have been pretty vigilant about not working as much as humanly possible. (Which for the record, is much more possible than I’d convinced myself a few months ago.)

And then there’s the thing of where we live. We could be moving, or we might not. Who knows?! A few months back, we found 100 acres with a pond, barn, etc and it’s pretty dreamy. We have a contingency contract on it with the clincher being the sale of our house. If we sell, we’re moving. If we don’t, we’re not. It’s bittersweet for me both ways. The limbo is just a place I’m not thinking about right now.

We have been intentional this summer about spending good time with friends, with one another, and generally getting out to enjoy living. We took the boys camping and met up with my friend and Allume speaker, Kristen Howerton, and her family a couple of weeks ago and it was the most fun! We met at a festival that we (my family) honestly didn’t really attend because we really went to camp and spend time with the Howertons. We had a blast getting to know Mark & Kristen and their kids, who for the record, are a fantastic family! Within 5 minutes you would have thought that our kids had grown up together! My boys are still asking when we get to hang out again. (And before you’re confused below…the littlest fella belongs to our new friend Micah Murray.)

I broke out all my international jewelry, tied a scarf around my head, wore a long skirt, and got pretty dirty. People thought I was a legit hippie.

We have gone to the lake and to the beach.

Wind and water are good for the soul.

And we have had our fair share of projects at home.

Mostly, I have had a zillion things to write about, but have given myself the freedom to just not. Sometimes our “no’s” make way for more “yesses.” And when I’m old and gray, I feel sure that the things I’ll remember most, are the yesses that I say to the people around me…to the experiences we walk through…and to the moments I happen to capture on a front swing outside seen from behind a window of margin from within.

How are you spending your summer? And in the times that you aren’t planning, what are some of your favorite moments that have happened unexpectedly?

Atlas Girl

July 11, 2014 by Logan 1 Comment

I’m thrilled to pieces to host my sweet friend Emily Weirenga today as she shares a bit from her new book, one which I had the privilege of reading curled up by a fire in the mountains a few months ago. I love it! Her writing is beautiful, and the story is one that transported me around her life with her. I think you’ll love it too! So please join me in welcoming, Emily today!

Atlas Girl (& Memoir Giveaway!)

By Emily T .Wierenga

Mum had said to sit close to the bus driver, so I sat as far away as possible.

And now an Ojibway man in a red bandana and stubble cheek was snoring on my shoulder.

He smelled like communion wine, the kind my father served in plastic cups which we slid empty into the pew’s tiny cup holders.

He smelled like beer, like the late August summers when I was entering puberty, cleaning up the Corn Fest fairgrounds in my Sunday dress with my family. The beer cans all clanging like empty songs against each other in their black garbage bags, and it was what good Christians did. Cleaned up after sinners’ parties and marched in pro-life rallies and it was always us, versus them. And all I ever wanted was to be them.

But always, we were taught to be kind to them, and so I let this man sleep on my shoulder in the Greyhound bus headed west while I tucked up my legs and tried to shrink inside my 18-year-old frame.

Tried to close my eyes against the cold of the window but it had been two days since I’d hugged my younger brother, Keith, and my sisters, Allison and Meredith; since Mum—whose name is Yvonne, which means beautiful girl— had held me to her soft clean cotton shirt and her arms had said all of the words she’d never been able to voice.

The Reverend Ernest Dow, or Dad, had loaded my cardboard boxes full of Value Village clothes onto the bus and kissed me on the cheek and smiled in a way that apologized. I was the eldest, and I was the first to leave. But then again, I’d left long before getting on that bus.

I’d slid my guitar, then, beside the cardboard boxes, its black case covered in hippie flower stickers and the address for the Greyhound depot in Edmonton, 40 hours away.

And we still weren’t there yet, and I hoped there would be mountains.

I should know, I thought. I should know whether or not there will be mountains.

My parents had raised us to believe in God, to believe in music, and to believe in travel.

We’d visited Edmonton as children, piled into our blue Plymouth Voyager and we’d driven from Ontario to California, no air conditioning, living off crusty bun sandwiches and tenting every night.

And there was Disneyland and the ocean and me nearly drowning because I was all rib. My body too tired to care. And we’d traveled home through Canada, through Edmonton, but all I remembered was the mall. West Edmonton Mall and how it had hurt me to walk its miles, thin as I was.

I was hospitalized soon after that trip. The submarine sandwiches hadn’t been enough to fill the cracks. But oh, how my parents taught us to love the open road. We caught the bug young, and here I was, and I couldn’t remember where the Rockies began and ended.

I scratched at the night as though it were frost on my window, but all I could see were the bright yellow lines on the highway, like dashes in a sentence, like long pauses that never ended.

***

This is an excerpt from my new memoir, Atlas Girl: Finding Home in the Last Place I Thought to Look, releasing July 1^st through Baker Books.

As Logan says in her review, “I’m not sure if Emily Wierenga’s Atlas Girl is poetry or prose, or just deserves it’s own category of lovely word crafting, but what I do know is that it is transporting. Her gifted weaving of time and place and story captivated me from the first page and held on to me as I floated, fully engaged, throughout the entire book. Emily said, ‘We don’t live for ourselves. We live for all of those whom our lives touch,’ and her arms reach out and touch the life of the reader as she shares the intersection of people and God in her own life. Cheering, clapping, loving this book and the woman who has borne her soul amidst the pages.”

~ Logan Lane Wolfram, executive director and owner of Allume; author of Life for Dessert

From the back cover:

“Disillusioned and yearning for freedom, Emily Wierenga left home at age eighteen with no intention of ever returning. Broken down by organized religion, a childhood battle with anorexia, and her parents’ rigidity, she set out to find God somewhere else–anywhere else. Her travels took her across Canada, Central America, the United States, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. She had no idea that her faith was waiting for her the whole time–in the place she least expected it.

“Poignant and passionate, Atlas Girl is a very personal story of a universal yearning for home and the assurance that we are known, forgiven, and beloved. Readers will find in this memoir a true description of living faith as a two-way pursuit in a world fraught with distraction. Anyone who wrestles with the brokenness we find in the world will love this emotional journey into the arms of the God who heals all wounds.”

I am excited to give away a copy of ATLAS GIRL today! Just leave a comment below to win.

Click HERE for a free excerpt.

I’m also giving away a FREE e-book to anyone who orders Atlas Girl. Just order HERE, and send a receipt to: atlasgirlbookreceipt@gmail.com, and you’ll receive A House That God Built: 7 Essentials to Writing Inspirational Memoir — an absolutely FREE e-book co-authored by myself and editor/memoir teacher Mick Silva.

ALL proceeds from Atlas Girl will go towards my non-profit, The Lulu Tree. The Lulu Tree is dedicated to preventing tomorrow’s orphans by equipping today’s mothers. It is a grassroots organization bringing healing and hope to women and children in the slums of Uganda through the arts, community, and the gospel.
64519_10153705975080099_2037134714_n
Emily T. Wierenga is an award-winning journalist, blogger, commissioned artist and columnist, as well as the author of five books including the memoir,Atlas Girl: Finding Home in the Last Place I Thought to Look (Baker Books). She lives in Alberta, Canada with her husband and two sons. For more info, please visit www.emilywierenga.com. Find her on Twitter or Facebook.

The Root Collective

June 19, 2014 by Logan Leave a Comment

Today I’m being interviewed by The Root Collective, a neat organization I’ve recently connected with that is creating lovely handmade goods and providing the hope of sustainable employment for men and women in different parts of the world! I’d love to invite you over HERE to read the interview I did with them, but first I wanted to tell you a little bit about who they are and what they do.

In their own words…

From the outside, The Root Collective is simply a store. We offer shoes, jewelry, and accessories that are cute, on trend, and flattering for every personality and style.

And, in truth, we are just that.

But we’re also a lot more.

The Root Collective believes that the products we purchase have a story behind them. And we believe that story should be filled with opportunity, worthiness, and hope. We believe in the power of the consumer to help change the world we live in.

With a simple motto of giving a hand up and not a hand out, we aim to provide job opportunities for those who otherwise would have no access to a proper living wage. With artisans in Peru, Kenya, and Guatemala, our products are handcrafted with love using traditional methods and, often, eco-friendly materials. We partner with nonprofits working within the communities our artisans live. 10% of each product purchased is donated back to one of those nonprofit partners. The coolest part is that you get to choose which of our partners you’d like that 10% to go to.

From the outside, The Root Collective is a fashion company. And from the inside, well… it’s a fashion company you can feel good about.

So hop on over to The Root Collective, check out my interview and the fantastic items they have to offer that are making the difference in the lives of people around the globe! We may not be able to change the world for everyone, but when we make decisions to purchase in places that are making a difference, we begin to be a part of the solution for some. And in my estimation, that’s loving well the person in front of you.

Summer Shrimp with Fresh Corn, Tomatoes, and Basil {A Recipe}

June 17, 2014 by Logan Leave a Comment

Once in a while I come across a recipe that is so simple, I actually even think to myself “this seems too simple to be very good.”

But in my quest to even simplify some of my life lately, I should really remind myself that sometimes it is the simplest things that yield the greatest return.

Lazy day fishing by a pond with my family….super simple, super awesome. Breeze through a hammock with a good book in the back yard… understated perfection. Fresh summer anything from the garden… bound to be nearly divine.

That’s how it is with this recipe. Put excellent simple ingredients together, toss it around for maybe 10 minutes, and seems too good to be true.

But good and true it is!

From one of my favorite chefs, Sarah Foster, I give you a summer dish of epically simple and fabulous proportion!

Sautéed Summer Shrimp with Fresh Corn, Tomatoes, and Basil (serves 4-6)

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, minced (I ran out of shallots and so I substituted a finely chopped 1/2 onion)
1 1/2 lbs large shrimp, peeled and deveined
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 Tbsp butter
1 heirloom tomato cored and diced (I just used 2 regular tomatoes from the farmers market)
kernels from 2 ears fresh corn
6 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips

1. Heat 2 Tbsp of the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the minced shallot and saute for 1 minute, just to soften. Add the shrimp, season with salt and pepper, and saute for about 1 1/2 minutes per side or until the shrimp all turn pink. Remove the shrimp and shallots from the pan and cover loosely with foil to keep warm. (If you need to do this in 2 batches to cook everything evenly, then just divide everything in half and do it twice. I’m lazy, so I do it all at once.)

2. Melt the butter over high heat in the skillet you cooked the shrimp in, being careful not to let the butter brown. Stir in the tomato and corn and saute until the corn is tender, 3-4 minutes. Return the shrimp to the pan, sprinkle with the basil, and stir just to coat the shrimp with the sauce and warm them slightly. Season with additional salt and pepper as needed and serve warm.

I served it tonight with spinach that I quickly wilted on the stove in a tad of butter with salt and pepper. Also, our family LOVES this brown rice and quinoa mix from Seeds of Change that we pick up at Costco. It only takes 90 seconds to warm up and has a good bit less sodium than many of the other 90 second rice packets contain.

That’s it! See…super simple, super summery, and super delish!

For more awesome recipes from Sarah Foster, I highly recommend both of her cookbooks which can be found on Amazon! This recipe is from Fresh Every Day, which is probably my favorite of the two!

The Marrow of Living

June 2, 2014 by Logan Leave a Comment

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.” – Henry David Thoreau

Last month I wrote about functioning with a lack of margin in our lives. I had begun to feel like life was a whirring blender and I was getting chopped up in it. Sufficed to say, that is not how I want to live.

I’ve always been of the opinion that if there are things in your life that aren’t working for you…CHANGE IT.

I realize that sounds very black and white and it’s not really always that simple, but the truth is that hard decisions are never simple. Priorities need to get shifted and sometimes making space to breathe can even mean scheduling unplanned time.

A few days after the margin post I went to the lake with a handful of my closest friends. We had great plans for jump starting summer’s bronze glow on our skin and sipping sweet tea on the edge of lounge chairs all day.

Turned out, it was cold.

* * *

I’m sharing at Allume today! Hop on over to read the rest…

Grilled Basil Salmon with Pineapple Jalapeño Salsa

May 23, 2014 by Logan 5 Comments

Screenshot 2014-05-23 09.21.29

I’m learning something about myself, and it’s that what comes out of my kitchen is often a barometer for the state of my heart. If I’m cooking fresh and delicious food, it’s honestly becoming an indication of the amount of margin I’m creating in my life. If we’re picking up dinner, then it probably means that I’m spent and don’t have much left to give.

Sadly, we’ve been picking up dinner a lot lately.

But I’m working to create more margin in my life… exiting extra facebook groups, making business calls and working on Allume during set office hours, plugging in my phone in another room for the afternoon. I want more of my life back, and truthfully, something about the internet and all of the noise can easily just get in the way.

Cooking for me has always been a love. And as my 8 year old went for seconds last night and kept exclaiming how much he was enjoying this yummy new dinner I made, I realized again how much my family feels love in what I serve up for them to eat.

Hospitality really begins with those who live in rooms just down the hall. If I can’t give them my best, then I don’t need to be moving on beyond that to extend it elsewhere either.

So, give your family some love this week…and might I suggest that you can even begin by putting the following on their plates for dinner!

Grilled Basil Salmon with Pineapple Jalapeño Salsa

4 salmon fillets cut 1 inch thick (about 6 oz each), skin on
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp light soy sauce or tamari
Juice of 1/2 orange
8 basil leaves cut into thin strips
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
I also added probably 2 tsp lime juice, and 1 Tbsp honey (but that was going off the reservation and adding my own stuff)

1. Rinse the salmon fillets under cool water, pat dry with paper towels, and place skin side down in a shallow dish. Rub the salmon fillets with the olive oil, drizzle with the soy sauce and orange juice (drizzle honey and lime now too if you want to add it), and sprinkle with the basil. Turn the fillets to coat with the marinade, press the basil into the flesh side of the fillet, and turn them skin side up. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.

2. Prepare a hot fire in the grill (or heat a grill pan over medium heat to hot, almost to the smoking point.) Remove the salmon fillets from the marinade, season with salt and pepper, and lay the fillets, skin side down, on the grill for 4 minutes, brushing the flesh side with the reserved marinade. Turn the fillets and grill for an additional 4 minutes, spooning the marinade over them as they cook, until the fish is opaque and flakes easily when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife. Remove the fillets from the grill, peel off the skin, and place them, skinned side down, on a serving platter or individual plates. Serve immediately topped with the grilled pineapple salsa (or any fresh salsa of your choice would actually be delish as well.)

Grilled Pineapple Jalapeño Salsa

1/2 ripe pineapple, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1 small red onion, diced
1 jalapeño pepper, cored, seeded, and minced (recipe called for 2, but that would have been too hot for my kids)
1/2 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger (1 inch piece), and if you didn’t know, you can buy fresh ginger & store it in the freezer for whenever you need a piece
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp white vinegar
juice of 1/2 orange
juice of 1 lime
1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro leaves
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Prepare a medium fire in the grill. (I grilled the pineapple before I did the fish, so while the fish was cooking, I was chopping the grilled pineapple.) Place the pineapple rounds on the grill for 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown on both sides. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

2. Cut the pineapple into 1/4 inch chunks and discard the cores. Place the chunks in a large bowl. Add the onion, jalapeños, bell pepper, ginger, honey, vinegar, orange juice, lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper and toss gently to combine. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Serve over grilled salmon. (We also thought this would be great on my recipe for slow roasted pork tacos, or any grilled chicken or fish.)

Bon Apetít ya’ll!

This recipe was originally found in one of my favorite cookbooks, Fresh Every Day by Sara Foster

Ignite

May 16, 2014 by Logan 1 Comment

I spend lots of my time focusing on equipping and training women to use their voices for the Kingdom of God in my job at Allume. It’s a privilege to see women steward their resources and abilities to share the message of Jesus. But primarily, Allume rounds up a group of women ranging in ages from about 25-60. Not to say that there aren’t younger voices present, but it’s just not the bulk of what I’m dealing in on a daily basis.

So when one of our all-time favorite babysitters, Chloe, told me recently what she was doing at her high school, I just wanted to give nod to the next generation who are setting the world on fire for Jesus too.

And you know what, I just think it’s worth celebrating what one young woman I love is doing!

I think it’s worth sharing about this in Chloe’s own words.

Ignite began as a dream I had over the summer, which at the time I thought was unattainable. However, God has shown me that through Him all things are possible. I have known this from childhood, but to see Him actually apply this elementary teaching in such a huge way in my life renders me speechless.

I am a Co-President of Solid Rock, a small Christian organization at Hillcrest High School in Simpsonville, SC. We meet on Friday mornings to worship, pray, and hear teachings from local youth pastors. I’m not sure how to express this in so many words, but the atmosphere of Hillcrest is dark. Our goal is to change that, but with a force of so few it feels impossible. That’s where the dream comes in. I dreamt that we could host the original founder of Solid Rock, Clayton King, in our school in an event that would bring Christians and non-Christians together and serve as the impetus behind a radical culture change in our school.

Fast forward a few months, and I was babysitting for a pastor in the area. He inquired after Solid Rock and I told him about my dream as a wish that would be great but not reachable. To my surprise, he brought out his cell phone and insisted that I call Clayton and ask him himself. Mr. King immediately responded to me with an emphatic “yes.” That “yes” was echoed by my friends, my teachers, my principal, my church, other churches, and people I had never met before, when I began to share what was going to

Today, there is an Ignite team of youth pastors and student leaders that meet together to plan our event. So far thirty churches around Upstate SC have pledged support. Ignite will take place on May 18 at 6 pm at Hillcrest High School in Simpsonville, SC. We will have bands, iPad giveaways, t-shirts, anything that will make this event exciting for people in attendance.

Our goal for this event is to see thousands attend and hundreds receive Christ. We have a capacity for 5,000 on one side of our football stadium. Through this event, I want to change our school. I want to change our city and I want to change the lives of the broken people that I see every day in the hallway. However, making a one-time decision is not enough. We speak the name “Ignite” as a projection of how this will affect the lives of the students attending, but we also know that fire has the tendency to die out. This is where the local church comes in. After decisions are made, we will have the students fill out decision cards, and distribute the cards among the churches that are closest to the particular student. It will then be up to that youth group to provide a welcoming

Although I know that God will ultimately provide, hosting Clayton King and bands and iPads and t-shirts and promotions has proven somewhat costly. We are looking at over $5,000. But I know that God is a God of abundance and He will do way more than just cover our expenses. Your church can support Ignite by giving directly to Solid Rock and designating “Ignite.” Please bring your youth group and friends to our event. Promote it to other churches. But most importantly, pray for us.

Long term, I have no idea where God will take Ignite. Some of my fellow Ignite leaders want to see it become a non-profit organization, taking Ignite from school to school. I am just happy to have played my small role in what God is doing to build His kingdom here in the Golden Strip area.

Can I get a standing ovation for the power of perseverance? For the initiative taken by a few students…STUDENTS! I not only want to celebrate what God is doing in the lives of the next generation, but I’d love to ask you to come alongside and support them as well. Pray, encourage, attend (if you’re in Upstate SC), and prayerfully consider giving to support these students as they seek to ignite their own generation for Jesus as well!

Way to go Chloe! I’m so proud of you!!!

**If anyone wants to donate, it’s super old school with a check sent to Hillcrest High School, ATTN: Jill Ball (the Solid Rock sponsor). The check should be made out to Solid Rock Club specified for “Ignite.”

Step Into Brilliance

April 23, 2014 by Logan 5 Comments

I lost a friend to death this week. The poor and broken lost one who championed their wellbeing. The world lost a dreamer who got out of the clouds and actually dug his hands into the mud of living.

The sting of death burns hot. It sears into the depths of our hearts, piercing souls that were made for much more than what this broken world can satisfy. We don’t have to pause long to know that we were made for more than this…

But we take heart, because we know that the hope of heaven, and the hope we have in Jesus is greater than the burns of this earth.

Make no mistake though, burns leave scars.

And as my friend Tim Willard says, “what if we view our life’s scars as beauty marks?”

If we live in a way where burns become the things that point to testimony of God’s goodness and redemptive power. Where beauty isn’t defined by what we see, but by how we become.

I want to live broader than the way life seems so often. To step into the things that are broken, but set my eyes on the things above so they don’t get dusty from looking at the dirt below my feet too long.

“We want to break free from the temporal and live from an eternal perspective…. Step out of the shadows and into the brillance… to meet the God of the mysterious.”

The God of the mysterious….the God who makes sense of the seemingly senseless. The God whose wonders never cease.

There are things in this life that will never make sense, and I don’t want to die on the hill of useless striving to understand that which is beyond my understanding.

I want to step out of the shadows and into the brillance…into our Home Behind the Sun…. and I want you to step there with me.

My friend Tim has a book releasing next week that invites us into the brillance…into the sunlight…into the journey. Grab it now and thank me later as we soak up the sun of a great God together.

Also, please join me in praying for and lifting up my precious friends at Pure Charity as we walk to find the sunlight in the midst of loss that feels so utterly cloudy.

Into marvelous light I’m running
Out of darkness, out of shame
By the cross You are the truth
You are the life, You are the way

I once was fatherless
A stranger with no hope
Your kindness wakened me
Awakened me, from my sleep

Your love it beckons deeply
A call to come and die
By grace now I will come
And take this life, take Your life

Sin has lost it’s power
Death has lost it’s sting
From the grave You’ve risen
Victoriously*

*lyrics from “Marvelous Light” by Chris Tomlin

Hope Runs

April 16, 2014 by Logan 4 Comments

I’m really excited to have a guest post today from my friend Claire Diaz-Ortiz. I met Claire a couple of years ago at Allume and am excited to have her here today to share a piece of her story. See, Claire and I have some things in common…a love for people, a love for Africa, and an inexplicable arresting of our souls by the God who’s plans are so much different, and so much better than we’d ever dare to dream.

“It’s about what it means to live in the now when the world is falling down around you. It’s about what it means to hope for the things you cannot see. Most of all, it’s about how God can change your life in the blink of an eye.”

With words like that to describe her book, I’m sure you can understand why I couldn’t wait to have her here to share it with you. Yes…to it all….hope in the God who changes lives in the blink of an eye.

So, meet Claire:

Africa does something to your soul.

You step off the plane, feeling the thick air on hot skin, and you know that you will be different.

This is how it happened for me.

In 2006, I went back. She had been calling me, ever since the first trip. The trip where I sky-dived out of a plane and saw a yellow lion and held the hand of a tiny, smiling girl.

On my second trip, though, things would be different. Because this time, Africa would never leave me.

I go back to climb a mountain. Mt. Kenya, a big one, ready for the tattered running shoes I’ve already used to get to the Base Camp of Mt. Everest. I’ve been traveling for a year, you see. Taking trains through Siberia, bumping on rickety buses in rural Asia, reading hundreds of books on deserted beaches the world over.

Little luggage, little money. Lots of heart.

When someone recommends a guest house near the base of the mountain, I jump. It’s cheap, they say. It’s for me, I say.

The guest house is owned by an orphanage, they say. Oh, I say, not caring. It’s a place to sleep.

It is when I arrive at that guest house, and that orphanage, that something changes. That I feel, in a way I never have before and never have since, that my life is about to change. And so I ask God to open my eyes so that I can see.

I never do climb the mountain.

After a few days in the guest house, I decide to live in the orphanage for a year.

I start a small nonprofit organization called Hope Runs, and I spend a year running in the red dirt with tiny children and lanky teens alike. And when the year is over, Africa is not done with me.

"Hope Runs" Nyeri, Kenya. May 12 and 13, 2007.

image by J. Carrier

Because there is a boy. A boy I fell in love with on that first day, and a boy I fell deeper in love with as the course of that year progressed. And now, we have found a way to bring him home. Home to the United States, to a new family with me, and to a different world.

Hope Runs: An American Tourist, A Kenyan Boy, a Journey of Redemption is the story of this journey. A story of a young woman, a younger boy, and two lives that were turned on their heads in one afternoon under the bright sky of wide Africa.

This is our story. A story of meeting, and a story of living, and a story of everything that has happened since.

This is a story of hope. We all have stories, and this is mine.

Do You Know Your Story? What is it?

In honor of the launch of Hope Runs, I’m giving away a free ebook, entitled, Share Your Story. Download it here.

Win one of 3 Copies of Hope Runs:

To win a copy of Hope Runs, do one or more of the following things. Leave 1 comment on this post for every item you do.

Like this blog post on Facebook.
Tweet this blog post.
Post this blog post on Pinterest.

Remember, for each thing you do, leave one comment. (So, if you post on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, that would be three comments.)

(Or, buy a copy of Hope Runs and get $150 in freebies.)

About Hope Runs:

Sammy Ikua Gachagua had lost his father to illness, his mother to abandonment, and his home to poverty. By age ten, he was living in a shack with seven other children and very little food. He entered an orphanage seeing it as a miracle with three meals a day, a bed to sleep in, and clothes on his back.

When Claire Diaz-Ortiz arrived in Kenya at the end of an around-the-world journey, she decided to stay the night, climb Mt. Kenya, then head back home. She entered an orphanage seeing it as little more than a free place to spend the night before her mountain trek. God had other plans.

Hope Runs is the emotional story of an American tourist, a Kenyan orphan, and the day that would change the course of both of their lives forever. It’s about what it means to live in the now when the world is falling down around you. It’s about what it means to hope for the things you cannot see. Most of all, it’s about how God can change your life in the blink of an eye.

About Claire Diaz-Ortiz:

Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@claire) is an author, speaker and Silicon Valley innovator who was an early employee at Twitter. Named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company, she holds an MBA and other degrees from Stanford and Oxford and has been featured widely in print and broadcast media. She writes a popular blog at ClaireDiazOrtiz.com and is the author of the new book, Hope Runs: An American Tourist, a Kenyan Boy, a Journey of Redemption.

Sufficient

April 3, 2014 by Logan 3 Comments

Fleeting thoughts
leave gaps
filled by restlessness.

So much at stake,
to steward well…

Yearning to walk in wisdom
of years yet attained.
Still… given
by the God in whom I trust.

He is all-sufficient,
and fills in the holes
of my inadequacy.

I follow curious.

Apparently, it’s National Poetry month. National Ice Cream Month is in July…that one comes to me easier, but might even leave me feeling less full.

I’m finding something I love in poetry lately….