Over $1 Million in Blessings and Counting

Have you ever had a week so spectacular that your heart won't stop beating out of your chest? That's what is going on up in these parts! It is a mind blowing, miraculous affirmation that living a life of purpose, service and integrity creates both the community we enjoy and the reality we desire.

Sooo what's so mind blowing?  First, my friend Demaris has been praying for her grandson's spinal tumor to stop growing. And miracles occurred this week. Which really got me to thinking about how grateful I am for my son's health and my own.  Dylan celebrated his 11th Birthday this week, which I must say as a mom brings me more joy than any other event, accomplishment or affirmation. If my one success in life was to raise this fine human being, my life would be well spent. God's using my life for more is just the icing on the cake.


And the $1 million in blessings? That is how God is using my life. We, the Credit Union Strategic Planning we, (Melina, Scott and I) are actively inventing programs for credit unions to reduce poverty.  And it is a ton of work and months waiting on the sidelines to hear if our programs are funded. Today we heard.  The US Treasury granted our client, Hawaii First, $457,000! It is the only credit union in the nation to receive a CDFI NACA  grant. That large sum is the full amount we requested in the application they hired us to write. The money will be used to help low income native Hawaiians to move from debt to asset building. This follows on the heels of our client in NYC being one of only two credit unions in the nation that received a CDFI Supplementary Round funding- and ours was the largest. That award was also for $500,000, to help immigrants, the poorest of the poor for three generations to obtain micro-business loans. These two grants along with the others, places our total of funds secured through the US Treasury to deploy to low income people in distressed communities through credit unions well over $1 million in the last two years alone!

That, AND the US Congress is recognizing our separate project The American Debt Relief Challenge on the official House Record for saving consumers over $20 million to date. We've really saved consumers over $20 million. I think of that impact and I'm humbled about the days my insecurity gets the best of me. We all have those days when we are down or tired. What purpose or service is there for us to share and be in integrity with using our life as a gift?

If you ever want to talk about finding your purpose, email me.  I love that conversation. Then lets put action behind it. You can be any you, you want to be.

Doing Good

Back in the day (elementary school), I had a tormenting friendship with the boy who went to my church and lived at the end of the street. He was a stinker and I was a prissy little girl. In middle school, he fell (or I pushed him) off of his trampoline. In high school, he had a visible hump on his back. I always felt guilty (because he teased) that I gave him that hump during the famed "trampoline incident." We were good buddies through the tormenting, teasing and life's accidents. Our first jobs were at the strawberry farm together. We were in drivers ed. together and even confirmed and left our church at the same time when they fired our beloved minister. We graduated high school and haven't seen each other since.

He called today and it's been over 15 years. He heard of Dylan's and my heart break, my facing life's challenges head on and like so many other friends was just extending his friendship (over miles and years). He called to offer to come out and help me with my home construction woes and to give pearls of wisdom about life, kids and common sense. One of the many things he said that touched me,

"If you do nice things and you're a good person, people will help you."

(even after you push them off a trampoline, apparently)

His wife and kids are lucky to have him, as am I to have such a wise friend.

Writing of friends and doing good, Melina and I had a great trip to Loon Lake to support our friend Demaris. We shared our gifts: Melina sang at her wedding and I took the photos.

Demaris was a beautiful bride.