A Call

Hello friends~

I want to share with you a few things that have been on my heart lately. As you know, about a year and a half ago, I started a program at Lipscomb for Professional Counseling. It has been quite a ride and I've barely just reached the half way point! It has challenged me, opened me, taught me, made me face my own prejudices and judgments, and it has healed me. But by far, I am most grateful for the friends I have made.

One of them, Quincee, has an incredible story! She is an inspiration to me and I am continually blessed by her. One of the first things you realize about Quincee is what a huge heart she has...and that Africa has a huge part of that heart. I've enjoyed hearing her stories & being a part of her life. In the past I've been involved with organizations such as World Vision, WKU's Taking the Initiative under World Vision's ACT:S Program, and Invisible Children...always in working to help orphans. I now have the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing in her life. She is working with an organization called eXile International & has just started a non-profit.

I was contemplating joining her on her trip to Congo this Christmas, but didn't feel like I had a definitive answer from the Lord on whether or not to go. I love to travel. And I like to help people. But I realize how huge the work that Quincee is doing will be and if I'm going to be a part of this, I want to know that it's not just because I want to go. I want to know that the LORD has called me to be a part of His work in this manner. I don't ask this lightly, but if you feel led, please pray with me as I ask Him for direction and discretion. Quincee has spoken with me about how she sees me being involved and I have the opportunity to go with her on her second trip to Congo this coming May. In the next few months I will need an answer. And if that is to go, I will need a lot more to prep for travel.

I have included the email Quincee sent out a few days ago about her non-profit for your information. May the Lord be glorified in your lives!

In Him...





In less than 17 days, I'll be boarding a plane with bags packed and heart awaiting to see my sweet African muffins again! Most of you know that the continent of Africa stole my affections in 2006 when I worked in an AIDS orphans camp in Lusaka, Zambia. My eyes have been opened to an entire continent suffering from impoverishment, rampant disease and warfare. Each time I spent time in Africa, the same thoughts reverberated in my head: How can I even attempt to walk a child, who has suffered so immensely, through healing? I felt I had no training and no skills.

Many things have changed since my initial time in Zambia in 2006. With some graduate training under my belt and the support of such sweet souls across America, I have started a nonprofit organization, The Nameless Project, specifically aimed at the psychological healing of traumatized child soldiers and war-affected children in Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Sudan. These children walk around without any record of their existence, only to be captured by the Lord's Resistance Army (or any other of the 6 militant rebel groups roaming the mountains of Congo) where all semblance of an identity is stolen. The stories of these children are chilling, heartbreaking and heroic. After years of hiding behind AK-47's and being acculturated into the diluted thinking of Joseph Kony and other rebel leaders, these children escape and begin their search for some community to offer refuge. These kids aren't nameless, their stories just go unnamed.

We find these children broken, lonely, sick and seriously traumatized....and I get to spend Christmas with 120 of them in Congo! Each of these former sex slaves has been rescued from the bush after escaping the LRA and the brutal hands of their rebel war leader "husbands." I get to sit across the table from them and walk them through art and expressive therapy. I get to hold their hands while they are dancing by campfires. I get the privilege of singing with them when their tears are too much to handle.

I am so stinking lucky! My hope is that each of you will continue to remember these girls when you are sitting around your Christmas trees, holding candles in midnight Christmas Eve services and opening up gifts from loved ones. I will be blogging while I am over there (although consistency with internet access is bound to be an issue...we're talking about Africa) and I invite you to read along, look at the pictures and watch the change that happens over time. You can follow the blog at namesfornameless.blogspot.com!

One last thing: several people have asked how they can be a part of this journey. There is an immense need with these girls (most of whom are currently pregnant or suffering diseases because of their sex trafficking). I will be taking donated funds to Congo in order to buy supplies while I'm there (because it's less expensive and easier to acquire), but you can't always find everything you need in a third world country. So...I have included a list of things you can donate:

.toothbrushes.
.tooth paste.
.children's books.
.underwear (for girls ranging between ages 3-18).
.art supplies: paint, brushes, construction paper, colored pencils, pencils, crayons, markers, notebook paper, etc.
.soap.


All donations can be mailed to:
The Nameless Project
c/o Quincee
1350 Rosa L Parks Blvd #419
Nashville, TN 37208


I can't wait to share this journey with you!

His,
q


Quincee
Founder
The Nameless Project
1350 Rosa L Parks Blvd #419
Nashville, TN 37208
quincee@thenamelessproject.org
New website launching in January'11: www.thenamelessproject.org

Sharing

I know it's been a while since I last wrote anything and I'm sorry if you've been missing that. School started back & new friends have come into my life. I feel that God is working on me constantly and for that I am grateful.

My work load is heavy but manageable (and will be even more so once I'm caught back up). Today I want to share with you one of the reaction papers that we're required to write for our Human Sexuality class. It's an interesting class because the textbooks aren't what I expected -- they're Principles and Practice of Sex Therapy and Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction.

This is in reaction to the fourth chapter of Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction:

Marriage…we see it laid out for us in the Bible, in Song of Solomon, in the relationship between Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden. It is a relationship that is meant to be the most fulfilling and intimate one we will ever have with another human. Sex is to be something that brings you closer to your loved one, to develop a deeper connection and foster an increasingly more loving way of communication both in and outside the bedroom.

To think of sexual addictions played out in marriages… It is incredibly difficult for me. Sex addictions are so diverse. They can manifest in such a variety of ways. So the way a spouse deals with this can be just as varied. And that presents such a magnitude of weight in my mind. How do you know what’s best? How can you offer help to someone when the manifestation of their sex addiction is so unique to them. How do you offer help to their spouse?

Laaser says on page 64 “[…] if you live around a sex addict, you may sense a “feeling” of sexual energy. Even though you may not be aware of the sexual practices taking place, you have an intuitive sense that something is wrong.” I knew something was wrong. I could feel the tension in the air, hanging heavy around me, coating everything it touched like the drug residue that coats the inside of a meth house. My mother knew something was wrong. She blames herself for not pushing harder than she did for my father to come clean. But would it have made any difference? Even to this day, I don’t think he admits that he’s a sex addict. You cannot begin to hope to change without first realizing and admitting truth.

Even by knowing what to look for…even if you get good at recognizing the signs of a sex addict, what does that change in the grand scheme of things? We can hope for something better for that person, but without their willingness to be vulnerable and honest, their life will continue to be nothing more than a repeating downward spiral of darkness.

New Beginnings & Old Feelings

This week began a new semester of grad school and today I couldn't be less excited about it. Actually, I'm somewhat anxious about what my future in this program holds. I will need to start my two semester practicum placement soon and I don't know what all that will entail. Trust. That is what I keep hearing. Just trust! But if you know me, you know how hard that is for me. So what do I do in the mean time? Well...at the moment, that would be sulk & eat yummy foods. Hopefully tomorrow it will be get up early & spend some quality time with God. Should be interesting to see where things go.

Open

To pour your heart out to someone is difficult. Even if it's just words on a page, you still have to read them. You need to be honest with yourself and a lot of the time, that's hard.

To really know yourself...to know your heart and mind...takes work and time. You face your demons. You stand in the dark and hope that there's light. Or maybe you see light and have to hope that's the end of things.

But I think that ultimately, our lives are spent in this space - this search. I think that we spend our days and nights thinking over things and never really knowing.

To Dream

I finally got around to seeing Inception tonight and it was incredible. I left feeling that my entire life perspective had been altered. I know that feeling...to have a dream within a dream within a dream...to be in that state & realize that you were just dreaming, only to realize that what you think is true and right and real, is still off somehow and then to discover that you're in yet another dream.

It got me thinking though...how much of our lives are spent like this? How much time do we spend living in a dream, not connected with reality? What happens when we lose our grip on that last shred of truth? Does our world go dark? Or do we just begin to repeat our dreams over and over again? How does this alter my view on mental health patients? What it is they deal with on a daily basis in the strong hold of their delusions and hallucinations?

And what implications does this have for the Christian life? What if our time here on earth is but a moment dreamed? And when we die here, we wake up to the truth, to the reality that is Christ? How would that change the way we live our lives here in this dream that we call life on earth? How does that play into the shared dreams we have with others?

Our lives are not impacted only be ourselves but by those we come in contact with...whether that be someone you glance at as you drive down the road or your dearest friend & spouse. How do their dreams affect ours and vice versa? Well I haven't the slightest.

But it certainly gives me something to think on.

waiting...

takes its time
takes your thoughts

slows you down
speeds you up

brings much to light
leaves all in darkness

to be vulnerable is to be open to hurt
be open to risk, to chance

so will you wait awhile with me?

To write again:

My heart's on fire
And I can't seem to breathe

You sleep in my dreams
And I hope I'm in yours

Don't take your time
Don't wait too long

I need you here
I need you home

I miss the days I spend in your arms
I miss your smile and the way you laugh

I can't seem to find my mind
As it swirls around in the light of you

About to explode my heart pumps harder
My body in knots as I wait for your response

Will you say yes or will you say no
When will you come home to my heart