Dear friends and family,
I never write you letters..or emails OR Blogs! Wow, that’s a weird way to open a church missions trip support letter. It was suggested to use a form letter to follow but it felt even weirder! The truth is that I don’t write anyone letters and if I opened up this letter by pretending this is just the latest in a lengthy chain of correspondence we’ve kept up over a long time, that would feel as fake as when people run out of things to say and ask you questions like, “hot enough for you?” Wow, that was a really atrociously long run on sentence, but I’m excited about this missions trip and I’m not going to let sentence structure stand in my way! (My sisters probably just pulled out a chunk of hair over that horrible misuse of the English sentence structure. Apologies.)
My heart has burned for overseas missions for years (like since the permed hair and staring into Minnesota cornfields days-sorry for that mental flashback). I have been well aware that the gift of motherhood would take precedent over the desire to "globe-trott" for Jesus. What a joy motherhood has been and continues to be! I am glad to be able after many years to take the life lessons (however profound & small they may be) to a new longitude and latitude.
I’m super excited to be going with my church, K2 The Church, to Swaziland, Africa for 11 days in July. Saying yes, wasn’t a hard decision. 11 days of caring for hundreds of orphans and making an impact in a community that is in desperate need, feels like a no-brainer. Nope, deciding to go was easy. Paying for it however, is a real challenge.
I just don’t have $3,500 laying around the house. The thought has crossed my mind of selling my plasma 87 times. Instead, I thought it through and decided to send letters to people I don’t usually write and ask for something I don’t usually ask for, money! I’d love it if you could financially support me on this mission trip. A little, a lot, anything would be great! (Currently, I am at about 35% funded)
Obviously, by now you realize I am not a huge fan of a typical "support letter". However, I DID really like something in the "normal" letters included- a request for prayer. If you could pray about the trip, that would be awesome. I truly believe that prayer changes things, goes before us and works inside of us. We will no doubt face challenges as we prepare to go to the people/children of Swaziland and will have obstacles once on the ground. Knowing that you are praying for the team is something so valuable to me personally and I would be honored to know you are praying!
To give you an idea of what we are embarking on here ya go! Ekudzeni is located to the west of Manzini, Swaziland. There are just over one million people living in the small country of Swaziland, however this small nation faces the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world. One in four adults in Swaziland is living with HIV and 69,000 children have lost one or both parents due to HIV/AIDS. The rural area of Ekudzeni has few employment opportunities and a high rate of alcoholism, and many families in this area go without food on a daily basis. Many children are abandoned and are left to be raised by the community “gogos” (grandmothers). There is an incredible need to support orphaned and vulnerable children in the community.
The Ekudzeni CarePoint currently provides food for more than 200 children—from ages one to 18. There are currently 5 "gogos" who volunteer and cook at the CarePoint. The people at this location have an incredible vision to holistically care for the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of the children at this CarePoint by meeting basic needs and providing life-giving discipleship to give them hope and a future. K2 has partnered with Kids Against Hunger packing highly nutritious meals to send to countries all over the world. So far we have packed 135,000 meals just to feed "our kids" at the Carepoint in Ekudzeni!
While some of the details of our itinerary are still firming up, we will be spending our time in Swaziland in Ekudzeni with the children and people there. Through the leadership of the church there, they are completing the school building currently. By the time we arrive, some of the projects we have helped to fund as a church, like the well, kitchen, fence, and latrines will be under construction. It is very possible that we will be able to serve alongside the church there in completing some of these projects. a short summary of the type of work we will be doing in Ekudzeni, Swaziland for those of you that want to know more. http://www.hopechest.org/community/ekudzeni/">Children's Hope Chest is the organization we are partnering with
(over achievers can go to and read more! )
Below is a link from K2 The Church's website to give financially online towards my trip. Simply follow the online instructions for giving and make sure to add a note in the message box stating "Tammy Holm-Swaziland Trip".
K2 The Church Secure Online giving click here
Donations also can be sent to K2 The Church, mailed to the address below with a memo-Tammy Holm Swaziland Trip.
Thanks for reading my enthusiastic ramblings and down-to-earth approach to fundraising! I am grateful for all prayers and any donations. Looking forward to sharing more of my upcoming experiences in the next few months!
Yours truly-
Tammy Holm
Mailing address -
K2 The Church
193 W 2100 S
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
#1 HALF MARATHON- CHECK
Run a half marathon
The start of the project, the first one the list has now been crossed off.
My dear friend Stacey and I headed to Moab to run the Canyonlands Half Marathon. All the training, running, smart eating, was hopefully gonna pay off.
I got the flu a week before the race and lost 6 lbs. Not good, so I rested and didn't run at all for 10 days pre race. The nerves were high but thank God for moral support! My friend Stacey and I keep saying..."We are doing this!" with the dear in the headlights stare!
In the gitters of the morning (we may have) forgotten our race bags, had no pins, and no patience to wait for a proper porta potty. (thank you big giant rocks of the canyon) But we nervously jumped into the massive crowd and waited. It was breathtaking in beauty to look around at God's creation and marvel, rocks and river meeting and thousands of people running for the goal. I am amazed that of all the people I know, Stacey and I are both fulltime working moms that are very involved in church and our families and we proved that it can be done. No excuses, no way out-if there is a will there is a way! She ran from mile 5 with "gigantar" blister forming on her foot. And mile 10 it hit us, holy cow. Mile 10-13 was the hardest thing I have ever done. Mentally that was a new ceiling I broke through, challenging and eventually rewarding! At the home stretch we hear families cheering and we can see the finish line when we hear people looking in our direction.... "GO GRANDMA!!!" We turn around to see grandma closing in! We made eye contact with each other and dug for the last energy we had to finish! We laughed later about that "grandma almost beat us". ( I am sure hundred of grandma's finished before us too) We ran the whole thing, I am sure Stacey could have knocked off 10 min from our time if running alone. But she hung with me the entire race.
We finished in 2 hr 40 min. My goal was no walking and don't get picked up by the carts! (Step up from "not to die") Neither happened and I didn't feel sick at all afterwards which was a plus. However we were super sore, and poor Stacey the "gigantar" blister was huge by the next day!
You might be wondering -then what was the point? What did ya learn? What I took away from this is all my fears slowly trickled away when I took a bite out of this fear of the word "marathon" and started to chew. The idea and process took awhile to chew, swallow then digest. But man did I feel full afterwards. Tears of joys -that I didn't let fear hold me from trying and also from succeeding.
Fear was only there to hold me prisoner to the possibility of failure. Once I realized, worse thing is I fail then a new world of possible opened up.
The start of the project, the first one the list has now been crossed off.
My dear friend Stacey and I headed to Moab to run the Canyonlands Half Marathon. All the training, running, smart eating, was hopefully gonna pay off.
I got the flu a week before the race and lost 6 lbs. Not good, so I rested and didn't run at all for 10 days pre race. The nerves were high but thank God for moral support! My friend Stacey and I keep saying..."We are doing this!" with the dear in the headlights stare!
In the gitters of the morning (we may have) forgotten our race bags, had no pins, and no patience to wait for a proper porta potty. (thank you big giant rocks of the canyon) But we nervously jumped into the massive crowd and waited. It was breathtaking in beauty to look around at God's creation and marvel, rocks and river meeting and thousands of people running for the goal. I am amazed that of all the people I know, Stacey and I are both fulltime working moms that are very involved in church and our families and we proved that it can be done. No excuses, no way out-if there is a will there is a way! She ran from mile 5 with "gigantar" blister forming on her foot. And mile 10 it hit us, holy cow. Mile 10-13 was the hardest thing I have ever done. Mentally that was a new ceiling I broke through, challenging and eventually rewarding! At the home stretch we hear families cheering and we can see the finish line when we hear people looking in our direction.... "GO GRANDMA!!!" We turn around to see grandma closing in! We made eye contact with each other and dug for the last energy we had to finish! We laughed later about that "grandma almost beat us". ( I am sure hundred of grandma's finished before us too) We ran the whole thing, I am sure Stacey could have knocked off 10 min from our time if running alone. But she hung with me the entire race.
We finished in 2 hr 40 min. My goal was no walking and don't get picked up by the carts! (Step up from "not to die") Neither happened and I didn't feel sick at all afterwards which was a plus. However we were super sore, and poor Stacey the "gigantar" blister was huge by the next day!
You might be wondering -then what was the point? What did ya learn? What I took away from this is all my fears slowly trickled away when I took a bite out of this fear of the word "marathon" and started to chew. The idea and process took awhile to chew, swallow then digest. But man did I feel full afterwards. Tears of joys -that I didn't let fear hold me from trying and also from succeeding.
Fear was only there to hold me prisoner to the possibility of failure. Once I realized, worse thing is I fail then a new world of possible opened up.
Friday, January 20, 2012
The 2012 Fear Project's beginning
I don't make New Year's Resolutions. I sometimes do goals or a vision for the year ahead. I am not against it I just don't take lightly the things I set out to do. So making a lofty goal and then failing isn't an option! However this year, something has been happening inside me over the past 5 months. So leading into 2012 I guess I was being prepared for what I would set as a "project" or God forbid I use the R word.... RE....solution.
Many that follow me on facebook see that I have turned into a runner. (All those who don't please pull yourself off the floor and back on your chair regain breathe and continue reading) I said a sentence this summer that I believe God totally "caught" me with. The word Marathon came up amongst my friends and I spewed out " Ahhhh, marathons now THAT scares me!". Almost right away I knew God was gonna try to tell me something about that statement! Of course week after week I ran and God impressed one thing onto my mind and heart. " You need to run a marathon-BECAUSE it scares you". Of course my "get out of jail free card" was to tell Peter in hopes of hearing "now that's crazy talk". But he agreed and said ya you need to go for it and that ...You totally can do it. Plan B failed. Time to suck it up and face my fear.
2 friends and myself March 17th are gonna do it, a half marathon in Moab. The date is creeping far to fast closer and I am nervous. And scared who is kidding. July 6th I started running....and now a REAL race. I can't even believe it 7 months ago to the day, I started exercising for the first time in (gulp) 3yrs! Yesterday I hit a milestone-I RAN TEN MILES!!!!
Funny how small promptings can lead into something bigger and even more scary. This is only the baby step beginning of what the 2012 Fear Project holds for me (and those around me). I had to give a bit of the back story so people could get where I was coming from.
I am swallowing the remaining pride this year, crushing all hurdles that have stopped me from pursuing dreams and challenging my insecurities and fears to a stare down-nose to nose.
I woke up and realized that as long as the fears stay at arms length away....nothing EVER will change. To offer a complete shock to the system I am pulling it all BRUTALLY close to my face and staring it down with a resolve to not walk away. At least not to walk away the same.
My next blog entry will be one to read for sure.....check back soon.
Many that follow me on facebook see that I have turned into a runner. (All those who don't please pull yourself off the floor and back on your chair regain breathe and continue reading) I said a sentence this summer that I believe God totally "caught" me with. The word Marathon came up amongst my friends and I spewed out " Ahhhh, marathons now THAT scares me!". Almost right away I knew God was gonna try to tell me something about that statement! Of course week after week I ran and God impressed one thing onto my mind and heart. " You need to run a marathon-BECAUSE it scares you". Of course my "get out of jail free card" was to tell Peter in hopes of hearing "now that's crazy talk". But he agreed and said ya you need to go for it and that ...You totally can do it. Plan B failed. Time to suck it up and face my fear.
2 friends and myself March 17th are gonna do it, a half marathon in Moab. The date is creeping far to fast closer and I am nervous. And scared who is kidding. July 6th I started running....and now a REAL race. I can't even believe it 7 months ago to the day, I started exercising for the first time in (gulp) 3yrs! Yesterday I hit a milestone-I RAN TEN MILES!!!!
Funny how small promptings can lead into something bigger and even more scary. This is only the baby step beginning of what the 2012 Fear Project holds for me (and those around me). I had to give a bit of the back story so people could get where I was coming from.
I am swallowing the remaining pride this year, crushing all hurdles that have stopped me from pursuing dreams and challenging my insecurities and fears to a stare down-nose to nose.
I woke up and realized that as long as the fears stay at arms length away....nothing EVER will change. To offer a complete shock to the system I am pulling it all BRUTALLY close to my face and staring it down with a resolve to not walk away. At least not to walk away the same.
My next blog entry will be one to read for sure.....check back soon.
Friday, November 11, 2011
My Help (courtesy of The Help)
To all the " daily circus" fan(s)-
I do know there is one person reading at least. Thank goodness I am not trying (obviously) to make blogging a business! Right? Blogging is the cheapest form of therapy next to my Frogurt meet ups with my girlfriends. Which also prove very effective! So time to get back into it again.
Well it has been 6 months (shameful blush) since I wrote last. Not because I have not wanted to at times. But let's rewind to explain.
May was a crazy month for us alot of changes at church and that meant extra hours of preparing and work. Our hearts were gearing up for taking our first foster child, we had even found a child we felt very connected to and got our hopes up. We prayed for her like crazy yet were not chosen to be her forever family and we trust that she is placed with the best forever family. So hard to be totally fine with that NOT being us.
Soon after June rolled around we got a phone call to take our first placement. That was a flurry of a day. 1pm got a call and we picked her up at 7pm. So things happened fast. "A" stayed with us for only a week. She moved to another foster home that was close to us and she also enjoyed our church K2. So we have been taking her as much every time we can and kept in touch with her over the past months. "A" is a sweet girl and once she can get motivated for her preparing for her dream- I think she would make a great social worker. I haven't seen her in weeks and my heart is sad about that.
June-August was a bit of recovery for the soul. I found myself searching parts of my self I really hadn't been able to see before "A" came into our lives. Peter and I felt like we needed to take a "hold" on actively searching out the child that would join our family for awhile. I think we have gained great knowledge and experience this summer. I think we are getting more focused on the age range we will be pursuing in our foster adopt journey. But I do feel the speed of the journey has slowed down rapidly. Which now, I am ok with. ( However has taken me a few months to be ok with that)
September brought new change. The girls transferred to public school. That always brings new challenges along with some financial relief! For the most part it is going well. I am thankful they finally got a seat on the bus and my running is a little less crazy everyday! Back in the routine of school is nice, and fall weather here is amazing. I embarked on something with thanks of my friend Trudi. She got a bunch of us women at church to make a team for the Dirty Dash. Which is a 10k Mud Obstacle course! I went from 3.5 years with no exercise to running 3 times a week! And the biggest part is I HATED RUNNING. And well now, I think I kinda crave it. As some would say this life lesson is gonna preach someday! We did the mud run and it was one of the most fun things I have done in a while! Training continues and I will have to post a new post about that soon. (Bonus part is I have lost 13 pounds!) Oh ya and we got another dog. (insert moment of silence for my sanity)
October was a blur, can't remember much of that actually. But I do know November has been great! Had a great birthday with a realization I am almost "Mid Thirties" (ew??!!) I don't know if I like that term and I in the same sentence. But really I am just getting more anxious about bigger and better things. Like changing the world, bring cultural change and solving global problems. (All pretty easy things to solve!)
November brings people and countdowns more people arriving! I have my sil Malin coming for a visit. Then my lil sister E. Then some friends from Cali. THEN (big fingers crossed and praying and hoping) more family! So we will have a flood of people in our home soon and I wouldn't have it any other way! I wish everyone would come and visit!
Should I bring up December since I have a hunch I will get to busy to blog?
OK! December comes with a giant red marker to cross off a bucket list item! We got tickets to see Andrea Bocelli at MGM Grand in Vegas. We got good seats too! I am working hard to fit into a REAL ( like fancy) dress too. Imagine that a chance to get dolled up! So I am brushing up on the Italian and getting the list ready for my sister the babysitter! Vegas here we come!
If you have read this far you might be wondering about the title of this post. You might have guessed I just saw the movie The Help. The main character said something in the last scene that moved me. Something to this effect "When I write the truth of how I feel, I never felt such freedom". I felt that like hit home for me. So out I walked from that movie thinking, it's time to dump all the feelings out and be free once again.
So here I am back again. Still the same me just totally changed.
I do know there is one person reading at least. Thank goodness I am not trying (obviously) to make blogging a business! Right? Blogging is the cheapest form of therapy next to my Frogurt meet ups with my girlfriends. Which also prove very effective! So time to get back into it again.
Well it has been 6 months (shameful blush) since I wrote last. Not because I have not wanted to at times. But let's rewind to explain.
May was a crazy month for us alot of changes at church and that meant extra hours of preparing and work. Our hearts were gearing up for taking our first foster child, we had even found a child we felt very connected to and got our hopes up. We prayed for her like crazy yet were not chosen to be her forever family and we trust that she is placed with the best forever family. So hard to be totally fine with that NOT being us.
Soon after June rolled around we got a phone call to take our first placement. That was a flurry of a day. 1pm got a call and we picked her up at 7pm. So things happened fast. "A" stayed with us for only a week. She moved to another foster home that was close to us and she also enjoyed our church K2. So we have been taking her as much every time we can and kept in touch with her over the past months. "A" is a sweet girl and once she can get motivated for her preparing for her dream- I think she would make a great social worker. I haven't seen her in weeks and my heart is sad about that.
June-August was a bit of recovery for the soul. I found myself searching parts of my self I really hadn't been able to see before "A" came into our lives. Peter and I felt like we needed to take a "hold" on actively searching out the child that would join our family for awhile. I think we have gained great knowledge and experience this summer. I think we are getting more focused on the age range we will be pursuing in our foster adopt journey. But I do feel the speed of the journey has slowed down rapidly. Which now, I am ok with. ( However has taken me a few months to be ok with that)
September brought new change. The girls transferred to public school. That always brings new challenges along with some financial relief! For the most part it is going well. I am thankful they finally got a seat on the bus and my running is a little less crazy everyday! Back in the routine of school is nice, and fall weather here is amazing. I embarked on something with thanks of my friend Trudi. She got a bunch of us women at church to make a team for the Dirty Dash. Which is a 10k Mud Obstacle course! I went from 3.5 years with no exercise to running 3 times a week! And the biggest part is I HATED RUNNING. And well now, I think I kinda crave it. As some would say this life lesson is gonna preach someday! We did the mud run and it was one of the most fun things I have done in a while! Training continues and I will have to post a new post about that soon. (Bonus part is I have lost 13 pounds!) Oh ya and we got another dog. (insert moment of silence for my sanity)
October was a blur, can't remember much of that actually. But I do know November has been great! Had a great birthday with a realization I am almost "Mid Thirties" (ew??!!) I don't know if I like that term and I in the same sentence. But really I am just getting more anxious about bigger and better things. Like changing the world, bring cultural change and solving global problems. (All pretty easy things to solve!)
November brings people and countdowns more people arriving! I have my sil Malin coming for a visit. Then my lil sister E. Then some friends from Cali. THEN (big fingers crossed and praying and hoping) more family! So we will have a flood of people in our home soon and I wouldn't have it any other way! I wish everyone would come and visit!
Should I bring up December since I have a hunch I will get to busy to blog?
OK! December comes with a giant red marker to cross off a bucket list item! We got tickets to see Andrea Bocelli at MGM Grand in Vegas. We got good seats too! I am working hard to fit into a REAL ( like fancy) dress too. Imagine that a chance to get dolled up! So I am brushing up on the Italian and getting the list ready for my sister the babysitter! Vegas here we come!
If you have read this far you might be wondering about the title of this post. You might have guessed I just saw the movie The Help. The main character said something in the last scene that moved me. Something to this effect "When I write the truth of how I feel, I never felt such freedom". I felt that like hit home for me. So out I walked from that movie thinking, it's time to dump all the feelings out and be free once again.
So here I am back again. Still the same me just totally changed.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
What May(be)
May is going to be huge for us as a family.
So much is going to be happening in the next 30 days.
Pray for us as we are seeing steps in our foster/adoption journey. I really hope in a couple weeks to give a more detailed update on where we are at in the process. God works opposite of how we do-at least it feels that way. It is funny, that the series we are going through at church is called just that "Opposite Way".
We have started the ball rolling with expanding our family, we have someone in mind. We have no control, so that is the best place to be in (I guess) when needing God to show off His amazing power. Now we are in a holding pattern until the week of May 22nd. Nothing like perfecting the patience "thing"!
Not like there is much going on that week in our lives, our church-my workplace-is going thru the biggest transition in the history of it's existence!
Words to describe how I am feeling this month of May-
Excited.
Giddy.
A little bit freaked.
Anxious.
Nervous.
In Awe.
Full of faith.
Edge of my seat.
So much is going to be happening in the next 30 days.
Pray for us as we are seeing steps in our foster/adoption journey. I really hope in a couple weeks to give a more detailed update on where we are at in the process. God works opposite of how we do-at least it feels that way. It is funny, that the series we are going through at church is called just that "Opposite Way".
We have started the ball rolling with expanding our family, we have someone in mind. We have no control, so that is the best place to be in (I guess) when needing God to show off His amazing power. Now we are in a holding pattern until the week of May 22nd. Nothing like perfecting the patience "thing"!
Not like there is much going on that week in our lives, our church-my workplace-is going thru the biggest transition in the history of it's existence!
Words to describe how I am feeling this month of May-
Excited.
Giddy.
A little bit freaked.
Anxious.
Nervous.
In Awe.
Full of faith.
Edge of my seat.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Lioness Arising Road Trip
My good friend Kari and I headed up to Boise for a Women's Conf.
(Picture taken in Twin Falls, ID on the way home)
It was amazing, Lisa Bevere was speaking from her new book
Lioness Arising
I am exploding to blog about the effects from that weekend and
her book.
(give me more time to formulate it and then-
watch out world!)
The best quote I can give you is this
Be at rest with your strength and at ease with your power.
-Lisa Bevere
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter failureshoot....8th annual
Another yet of stressed, imperfect lightning and unwilling childrenfor the "Easter pictures"
I have to have to prove to them in 15 years that they
DID match once
ACTUALLY had their hair brushed
However
What is still left to be seen is ONE
Just one year getting a GOOD picture of all
Nonetheless........
They are adorable.
They are adorable.
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