Broken Families and Chocolate’s link to Child Slavery

By: Gabriela Yareliz

1] I found out today that Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp have separated. This makes me sad. It’s one of those break-my-heart moments. I guess because I come from a broken home, I know what this means for the children invovled. That is always who I think about. When parents divorce, separate or even just leave their children in the care of others- I don’t even see a bad parent. Instead, I see the child standing there with a broken heart.

I really enjoyed a video about Johnny Depp and how he was “stupified” by Vanessa’s beauty when he first saw her.

“I saw a back from about 30 yards away, I saw a back and a neck, and it turned around suddenly and looked at me, and I was stupified. And then it was over.” -Johnny Depp

Watch the video below.

Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis

2] Continuing with the random chain of my thoughts, I was reading the CNN Freedom Project Blog which is to end modern child slavery. There was an excellent article about children in the Ivory Coast who pick the Cocoa beans for our chocolate around the world and no one has passed a law to stop it.

“UNICEF estimates that nearly a half-million children work on farms across Ivory Coast, which produces nearly 40% of the world’s supply of cocoa. The agency says hundreds of thousands of children, many of them trafficked across borders, are engaged in the worst forms of child labor.”

“Scars crisscross Yacou’s legs from a machete. He can’t clear grass in the cocoa fields without cutting himself. During harvest season, he works day after day hacking the cocoa pods. ”

(By David McKenzie and Brent Swails, CNN)

These children are out there slaving away for our chocolate, and they’ve never even tasted it. These children are deprived of a childhood and education.

Video of Children working for Chocolate -CNN

My point? While those who can work with the legal aspects (I hope to be one some day soon) We as consumers play a role. CHOCOLATE STRIKE. How selfish would we be if we continued to give money to those who enslave others?

Many of these children are held against their will and never paid, according to CNN.

The Ivory Coast is also the largest Cocoa producer in the world, for all of the major world brands.

Child Slavery and Chocolate Companies-CNN

Anyway, watch the videos and read the awesome reporting going on about this at the link above. We must raise awareness, because as Martin Luther King Jr. said, and injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Have a great day; and skip the chocolate.

Observant

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Good morning! So, guess who the new Cricket reporter is? Yup- me. Thank you Patalia House (bollywood movie) for peaking my interest. I really need to get a Cricket for dummies book or something. At least I know what a bowler is.

This morning, I looked up at a building and it was a glass encasing for each floor, and on each floor I could see a custodian. All of them waiting for the elevator with their carts. It was neat to see the elevator move through the building.  Elevators are quite magical.

Random thought from this morning’s reading: “Fear not, believe only…” Luke 8:50

I have been thinking a lot lately. My mind has ADHD ever since my editing prof decided to make me open 30 new accounts and keep up with every news organization that is reputable. Half of my days are spent listening to French and the other half is in English-Spanish with me still trying to say merci.

I’ve been thinking about:

1] How selfish we can become. We realize, I think, our own selfishness when we notice others. we are forced to introspection, and I think this is important. Everyday, I am more and more convinced that we should pour ourselves out for each other.

We should give ourselves entirely until there is nothing left for us to hold on to.

2] Our desperate need for prayer and fasting. It is crucial that we also separate time to study God’s word for ourselves. It is not enough to be told something or go by emotion and feeling.

3] People are so complex. But people are people, and we must relate ourselves to them as such. There are also amazing people.

One day they don’t exist, but the next minute they walk into your life, and something in you has already changed.

4] The heart, it is so deceitful. I am still working on the execution of guarding it. Only Christ can guard it for us. It is hard though. It’s that ADHD mentality. (This is where fasting comes in, I’ve heard,- discipline).

5] Tim Tebow is amazing. Everyone knows it. He is an example of what God can do for each one of us when we put our lives in His hands.

6] Lately, I’ve felt like I am 15 again. (Those were not my prettiest years, so maybe the fact that I am short and look that young is God giving me a chance to relive those years hahaha). I’ve been thinking a lot about the good messages in the cheesy movies Disney Channel puts out. Like how a princess is someone who helps others and is beautiful inside. How friendship and trust should be valued supremely.

I’m Disney Channeling it, complete with a more bare-faced look and clear Smackers lipgloss. Yes, Smackers. Reminds me of when I was 10. It’s a good feeling.

7] When it comes to romance…ahh the ever popular topic- these complexities are true:

-one deserves to be someone’s first choice, NOT chosen by default, boredom, selfishness, neediness…

-the person you commit to shouldn’t just be good looking and empty, or nice, great and “cute.” I think we should all reserve our right to have someone who takes our breath away. Now granted, different things will take different people’s breath away- so, yay for that. But it’s got to be that way.

-Sometimes we expect too much. (The above is not too much.) But, though we should reserve our right to be a bit shallow, we’ve got to realize that finding someone who will really care about you- that is special. Someone you really care about; that is not someone you should let go of. No one is perfect.

-Lo que sera, sera…

8] For those who are going through dark times- better times will come, because the sun always rises after the night.

In honor of my Disney Channelish ways:

 

 

Evaporation

By: Gabriela Yareliz
Look who is back… I know after much silence. It’s a tough life we lead. (Smile). It’s back to school, and I am already preparing presentation outlines in French, and trying to decide how I will live through my capstone course. I will. I am convinced all things are possible through Christ. This now means, my life has officially evaporated. Yup. Last time before fall, when it really goes “poof!” because of law school (grin).

At least I still have my books. I finished a Queen Noor autobiography “Leap of Faith.” I felt like it was more about her husband, but whatever. Something had to fill the 600 pages. She is an interesting woman with interesting thoughts. I still don’t know how I’d feel being the fourth wife of a man double my age, but hey- whatever, right? That is why is is called “Leap of Faith.” I am now reading Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. I am surprised I didn’t have nightmares (thank God). Truly tragic. It put my problems into perspective by page 3.

Lastly, I read a book called “Cross Examination,” the author will be coming to UF at the end of Feb. it’s about whether our beliefs make our religion true or if we believe our religion because it is true. It was pure excellence. Logic and philosophy at its best.

In the book I found a quote about Jesus, by C.S. Lewis, that I really liked:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -‑ on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg ‑- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the son of God: or else a madman or something worse.You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Truth.
I have contemplated much lately. So, I’ll have a lot to share on other days. For now, I depart from you to breathe. I have to get into some social media thing because my professor wants me to have the account-lame- no offense to him.

I am just a weird non-conformist who respects authority, but I don’t like people telling me what to do, when what is ordered is dumb. But here goes-
PS. It is End Sexual Trafficking Week!!!

Christmas

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I have finished two books. I am proud of myself. Today on the radio I cried (again) with Kidd Kraddick’s Christmas wish. Today they granted money and $10,000 (money for tuition) to a 19-year-old girl who has terminal cancer and takes care of her brother’s three kids. When you look at other people’s problems, yours seem to disappear.

Also on the radio, Jose Feliciano sang Feliz Navidad and the DJ said “Ole!” Jose Feliciano is Puerto Rican, not Mexican or Spanish (roll of the eyes). Yesterday, on a Christian station the women were talking about what they expect and want for Christmas. All they talked about was a clean house. For an hour! How shallow. Really? There’s nothing more important?

Christmas is coming and I have survived shopping thus far. I have navigated the stores well; found good finds and good sales. I have also managed to avoid eye contact with pushy sales people and the Dead Sea people that always want to put lotion on your hands. They are so friendly- but scary.

This weekend we get to go to a nursing home to sing Christmas songs and then pastor is having a Christmas party chez-lui. That is exciting! A lot of people are out of town though; the students are leaving and final exams are ending for the general population.

Today, for some reason I feel a bit of the Christmas spirit. I struggle with this from day to day. I keep thinking it better kick in because we are only days away. I think of lists to Santa; reindeer; Frank Sinatra (don’t ask); snow; Central Park; lit up store windows; faith; a baby in a manger; a bright star. Despite the melancholy, I feel a stripe of hope.

Final Exams

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I am done. No more final exams. I took my final final. 🙂 I am feeling great. Now, I must start doing what I dislike most, going to stores. It is that season. This morning, I thought no buses were running and I got all scared until some ghetto bus with what looked like Latin written in its header screen pulled up, and a hispanic driver in a beanie said, “Good morning!” Strange- but miraculous.

Now, I have free time! I have a stack of books waiting for me at the library. I already read one book called Praying for Strangers by River Jordan. It was excellent.

In it was a quote I’d like to share:

“The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, buy unoffered prayer.”         F.B. Meyer

And I found these other ones:

“The reason why we obtain no more in prayer is because we expect no more. God usually answers us according to our own hearts.”         Richard Alleine

“Effective prayer is prayer that attains what it seeks. It is prayer that moves God, effecting its end.”  Charles Finney

Prayer- it is what moves the hand that moves the universe :)(anonymous?)

I also must add that the little town of Williston looks amazing in the dark, all decorated. 🙂 A magical Christmas wonderland.

Have a wonderful and blessed day!

 

Empty Campus; cold morning

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Hello! It is freezing outside. Yes, the cold front reached us in Florida. Horrible. This time I was prepared. I am wearing a black long sleeve boatneck, a purple scarf tied around the waist. A black corduroy blazer, and a navy corduroy coat from Gap with black fuzzy gloves that leave their fuzzies on EVERYTHING. But I am warm. My hair looks like I did it with dynamite.

The campus is empty. Not a creatue was stirring, not even a mouse…. okay maybe not. A nice looking Asian girl ran into the lab in her heels. Public Relations major- probably. They always walk around here in heels as if this were New York.

I sat here as the fog outside dissipated, finishing my dvd cover design for class. I am starting to become satisfied with it. Now a charming and smiling fellow in flannel walked into the lab. Smiling to himself I am sure about the empty lab. This never happens. You usually have to fight a-la GOP candidates for a lab computer with the sacred InDesign program in it.

Today I greeted a custodian and went straight to the newspaper box as usual. Today is Thursday- which means Fashion and Style section in the New York Times. Except there are officially no newspapers available on campus. Sniffle. This made me sad. Thursday of all days. Oh well.

On Kidd Kraddick, Kelly Raspberry told Jose he should make a live nativity scene in his front yard for Christmas since his wife is going into labor any minute now. I thought this was hilarious.

Anyway. This was a quick update of the happenings and a morning in my life on reading days before final exams start for some and end for me next week.

I am about to start eating my lunch and it’s only 9 a.m. I know- this is what the cold weather does to you.

Stay warm!

PS. I found an awesome story about an Occupy Wall Street Protestor getting a job on Wall Street. I was just thinking of the reporter who found this story. They must have been in utter bliss. It is a great story! Check it out:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/07/us/occupy-wall-street-job/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2

PSS.

John 14:

John 14

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions;[a] if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.[b] 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”    6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

The Answered Prayer

12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask[c] anything in My name, I will do it.

(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2014&version=NKJV)

Changing the hand of God

Recounted conversation by: Gabriela Yareliz

The hand of God is one that cannot be hindered. In ways that is very comforting. His plan will happen; God does not lie.

In a moment of faltering faith, I expressed the opinion that what will happen will happen, could I really change the future?

My mother then reminded me of Moses. God was angry with the people of Israel. They had broken the covenant.

Exodus 32: 9,10 tells us what God said to Moses:

.9  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

And so God is ready to destroy these people. But suddenly, Moses begins to plead for the people.

Exodus 32:11

And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why does your wrath grow hot against your people, whom you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?

Of course, Moses here is a type of Christ. He represent Christ as a mediator and saviour. Someone who didn’t give up on us, humanity. But here we can also see that Moses’ prayers and pleading with God change the course of history. God listens to Moses and has mercy on the people.

And so, if ever your faith falters, remember that God is good. He hears us and our prayers can change the course of history.

Prayer changes things.

“And the Lord said, “I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name.”Still the prophet did not cease pleading. Every prayer had been answered, but he thirsted for greater tokens of God’s favor. He now made a request that no human being had ever made before: “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.”

God did not rebuke his request as presumptuous; but the gracious words were spoken, “I will make all My goodness pass before thee.” The unveiled glory of God, no man in this mortal state can look upon and live; but Moses was assured that he should behold as much of the divine glory as he could endure. Again he was summoned to the mountain summit; then the hand that made the world, that hand that “removeth the mountains, and they know not” (Job 9:5), took this creature of the dust, this mighty man of faith, and placed him in a cleft of the rock, while the glory of God and all His goodness passed before him.” Patriarchs and Prophets pg.328, Ellen G. White

When we are filled with the boldness of Moses; when we commune with God; when we are obedient and find favor in His sight; God makes all of His goodness pass before us.

A.W. Tozer

Compiled by: Gabriela Yareliz

“A man by his sin may waste himself, which is to waste that which on earth is most like God. This is man’s greatest tragedy and God’s heaviest grief.”    ―  A.W. Tozer

“No man should desire to be happy who is not at the same time holy. He should spend his efforts in seeking to know and do the will of God, leaving to Christ the matter of how happy he should be.”

A.W. Tozer

“God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves.”    ― A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

“We can afford to follow Him to failure.  Faith dares to fail.  The resurrection and the judgment will demonstrate before all worlds who won and who lost. We can wait.”    ―  A.W. Tozer, Born After Midnight

“True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the One who cannot lie.”    ― A.W. Tozer

(http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1082290.A_W_Tozer)

 

In the midst of finals, study guides, final projects, printers that are spewing out hundreds of pages in seconds, Christmas shopping, crowds, traffic- I hope you retain your sanity. May God give you peace and the stamina to continue.

 

Holiday Spirit

By: Gabriela Yareliz

So, this weekend was great. Sabbath was lovely, and then after church we went out with some families from the church, ate, and walked around the festival of lights display at the North Florida Regional Hospital. It was magical. Lots of lights and sparkly things- music and young people hand-in-hand having some romantic night out and snapping photos of each other holding candy canes which I am sure will later make an appearance on Facebook.

The weather was really nice. I had my Spain sweater on, and I was a bit of an idiot because I had a racerback under it so I did get a bit cold, but that was because of my stupidity. Then, yesterday was the Sounds of the Seasons celebration concert at The Philips Center. It was hosted by Bernie Machen (UF pres) and he wrote a killer poem including “anthopology-loving” Rick Scott. It was awesome. I was thrilled. The music was divine and the conductors are truly maestros.

While at work, my brothers assembled the Christmas tree (something I was not in the mood to help out with this year), and it looks beautiful.

This weekend I was thinking about how excited I would always get for Christmas. I’d play Christmas music in September. I made a list. I decorated my room, complete with tin-foil snowflakes. My American Girl Dolls would be in their special dresses. I would read Richard Paul Evan’s The Christmas Box. I would find eggnog, and eat Turron sent from Abuela in P.R., a nougat dessert originated, I think in Spain.

It was the best time of the year. My Christmas spirit has fluctuated since. I mean, Christmas is the perfect time to remember the people who are missing in your life (familiy members who have left or died). But still, despite my melancholic apathy this year, between my thin racerback in the lit-up night and my orange-ish foundation look yesterday at the Philips Center (I was very upset about this), I somehow found peace, and I did begin to succumb into the Christmas Spirit. The music seduced us all softly into a tranquility and peaceful joy yesterday.

By the way, my foundation is like orange on me now, because in a lapse of two weeks, now that it gets darker so much faster, I’ve gotten pale. I was tan two weeks ago; and now I am white, white, white. As white as olive people can get, you know what I mean.

And so yes…. and this upcoming weekend is going to be amazing. Not only is it “13th Sabbath” and the children will do the program, but I have a special trip I will have to tell you about after the fact. 🙂 This will hopefully include pictures 🙂 Also, I am preparing for a duet in a Christmas song medley at church. The First Noel. I hit notes I didn’t know were humanly possible.

And so this week begins with jolly good tidings 🙂 A law school acceptance letter (number 5) and a design final tonight. Bummer.

But even though I know I must slave over my law final study guide… There is so much to be happy about. God is so good.

 

 

“I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive; I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise- to fly “-Nicki Minaj

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

Blessings

By: Gabriela Yareliz

It has been an amazing day so far and it’s only 9:51 a.m. Yup. It started out with me getting an extra hour of sleep after my exam filled day yesterday. I pulled out my new make up palette and had some fun with some new eyeshadows while listening to Kidd Kraddick. While driving to school I belted out to “All I want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey (it was great, too bad you missed that)…

I got to school; the sunshine is everywhere. I found out that I got a good grade on my economics final yesterday, which means a good grade in the class overall. I drank orange juice this morning, and it’s like the whole world is wonderful today. It was great yesterday too, but today takes it to a whole new level.

(If you aren’t having one of those days, I am very sorry. My sympathies.)

Kidd Kraddick is in New York today. I’ve never been there, but I wish I could go see Central Park. That is the one place I’d want to go see. If that was all I saw and then was forced to leave, I’d be satisfied.

Anyway… I have been taking my prayer life to a whole new level lately. I think it’s important to realize the power we can have through prayer. Prayer changes things right? We can make things happen; we can change someone’s world…

I have been spending a lot of time in prayer. Sometimes sacrificing sleep (a lot of the time actually). I can only imagine how Jesus felt when He’d spend the WHOLE night in prayer! I haven’t even done that! But such was the need He felt to be connected to the Father. If He needed to be connected, imagine lowly me! (I really need to stop using exclamation points today. As my reporting professor said, there is only a limited amount of exclamation points one should be allowed to use in a lifetime- I think I just spent all of mine).

The point is, that I’ve felt more in peace and different through this prayer-a-thon situation. I encourage you to try it yourself…

Slowly, He begins to mold our minds more and more, and our desires become His desires, and His peace becomes ours.

I wanted to share the lyrics to Laura Story’s song, “Blessings”

“We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe
‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It’s not our home

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise”

 

Have an amazing day-