While I'm away, I still want to hear from you guys!
Skype:
Danika.Foster
You can send me a letter at:
Danika Foster
12 de Febrero 86
Valparaiso, Chile
or Email me:
Danikapf@gmail.com
And, if you like, give me a call! I have a Pennsylvania phone number that rings through my computer:
(717) 502-4232
Friday, February 4, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Quilt Update
The top's done :) We're putting the back the back on and actually quilting it tomorrow, which means FINISHING IT! I already have a plan for my net project, though. this could be dangerous...
The colors in the pictures are really dark because I'm relying on my cell phone camera right now, but I promise to put up better pictures later. At least you can see the patterns now.
Learning by Doing, OR Quilting with My Grandma
I've arrived in Wisconsin, er, well, I arrived in Wisconsin last Thursday, but I've been quite busy with My grandma running errands, visiting Culver's, watching Kiley sing, singing in church, AND scheming up a project.
I'm QUILTING! It's a baby step, a table runner, but I drew it, colored it, and am doing as much of it as I can. I told my grandma, though she'll probably get a lot of laughs out of trying to teach me. Even in the beginning, I thought that knowing how to sew was at least one part I had under my belt. As my grandma too care to mention all of the details of cutting, pinning, sewing, and planning, I tried to soak in every detail, but like a toddler taking her first steps alone, I wanted to keep looking back as if to ask for help as I went to put in the first stitches.
Trying to muster up as much confidence as I could, I sewed together my first two pieces. Ironically, Grandma Sherian reminded me of one of my favorite quotes that she has passed down to me from her mother, my Grandma Pauline, "Just remember, never sew anything hat you are not willing to pull out later." I slowly finished connecting my first two pieces as she worked to get lunch ready yesterday. When I pulled the fabric away from the needle, however, it looked HORRIBLE. Something wasn't quite right. As I began to rip out the seam, (even this I had forgotten the easiest way to do), my grandma came over to help me. "You forgot to put the presser foot down," she half laughed and expertly pointed out. She knew just what the problem was. It was something so simple, yet so crucial.
Like embarking on my sewing project, my last few hours at home were filled with looking back before shakily trying to take my own steps. I wanted to pack my own bags, but I wanted my dad's help. I didn't want to weigh them til they were fully packed, but one of my bags ended up being grossly overweight at the airport. I wanted to be ready to leave, but I knew I'd miss home and pulling away was the hardest part. I tried to be tough, I tried to seem grown up and ready to leave, but I was freaking out about so many things that I wasn't quite fair to the people around me. I wanted to see everyone, I wanted my time away to be significant an important, but what I really needed was to tell more than my blog readers how I felt.
Things have gotten better now that I'm in Wisconsin, as Andee put it, "halfway to Chile." I've had many vivid and slightly tormenting dreams as my subconscious tries to process the change that my conscious is trying to "tough guy" out of. I already miss everyone. I know that I'm being pretty bad on the communication right now, but I'm still processing. My fears, my hopes, my dreams are all coming back to me as pieces, and with the help of my grandma's antique Singer and the environment of my old home town, I'm piecing them together.
I'm QUILTING! It's a baby step, a table runner, but I drew it, colored it, and am doing as much of it as I can. I told my grandma, though she'll probably get a lot of laughs out of trying to teach me. Even in the beginning, I thought that knowing how to sew was at least one part I had under my belt. As my grandma too care to mention all of the details of cutting, pinning, sewing, and planning, I tried to soak in every detail, but like a toddler taking her first steps alone, I wanted to keep looking back as if to ask for help as I went to put in the first stitches.
Trying to muster up as much confidence as I could, I sewed together my first two pieces. Ironically, Grandma Sherian reminded me of one of my favorite quotes that she has passed down to me from her mother, my Grandma Pauline, "Just remember, never sew anything hat you are not willing to pull out later." I slowly finished connecting my first two pieces as she worked to get lunch ready yesterday. When I pulled the fabric away from the needle, however, it looked HORRIBLE. Something wasn't quite right. As I began to rip out the seam, (even this I had forgotten the easiest way to do), my grandma came over to help me. "You forgot to put the presser foot down," she half laughed and expertly pointed out. She knew just what the problem was. It was something so simple, yet so crucial.
Like embarking on my sewing project, my last few hours at home were filled with looking back before shakily trying to take my own steps. I wanted to pack my own bags, but I wanted my dad's help. I didn't want to weigh them til they were fully packed, but one of my bags ended up being grossly overweight at the airport. I wanted to be ready to leave, but I knew I'd miss home and pulling away was the hardest part. I tried to be tough, I tried to seem grown up and ready to leave, but I was freaking out about so many things that I wasn't quite fair to the people around me. I wanted to see everyone, I wanted my time away to be significant an important, but what I really needed was to tell more than my blog readers how I felt.
Things have gotten better now that I'm in Wisconsin, as Andee put it, "halfway to Chile." I've had many vivid and slightly tormenting dreams as my subconscious tries to process the change that my conscious is trying to "tough guy" out of. I already miss everyone. I know that I'm being pretty bad on the communication right now, but I'm still processing. My fears, my hopes, my dreams are all coming back to me as pieces, and with the help of my grandma's antique Singer and the environment of my old home town, I'm piecing them together.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Hike. Pray. Protest.
You shoud know for factual purposes, they have Peter leading a wayward life until age 33 but, he got saved at age 19. At 33, he started Restoring Eden. And, Restoring Eden teaches environmental stewardship as a form of Christian discipleship, not as a requirement for salvation. Also, while Restoring Eden believes the common good needs a collective voice, they suggest that civil disobedience be a last resort - but it is always on the table.
As far as the salvation issue goes, yes, I agree. It is very close to the beginning of the article, though, so maybe it'll be glossed over in the scheme of things. I had a nice chat with my theology professor this semester when he was talking about the redemption of man and how we often make it over personal and I challenged him on making it worse than that: strictly anthropocentric. The Bible says that Christ is coming to redeem ALL THINGS. We're right up there and equal with creation, redeemed WITH creation not through it, but not without it. As one of my indigenous friends, Terry LeBlanc, likes to say: "If you want to get some mainstream Western Christians fired up, remind them that, Christ died for you AND your dog."
I really liked the article for the most part. I actually found out about it on my dad's Facebook, then made an 11 PM run to a local store that was selling it. I thought it was funny how having a conversation with someone makes you a "friend" of theirs, but it was a good conversation and her quote about her school being "the buckle of the Bible Belt" has certainly rung in my ears since Powershift. I've found a lot more direction in my life and my role in Christian Environmental Stewardship since then, and I'm even more excited now!
It's really interesting. Since Powershift (a sweet alternative energy and environmental themed conference for mostly college-aged youth), where the interviews were conducted, I've gotten to see how coal not only leads to violence and destruction of our Earth in the US, but also in El Salvador (people are getting SHOT) and how it's a hot topic even in the UN now-a-days (visiting the UN for the CSD: Commission on Sustainable Development last year was also LARGELY eye-opening) that is becoming very political. Even my campus (Messiah College) gets our energy from a company that is mainly a coal company :( Actually, I can't wait to show the magazine to President Phipps and talk to her about Messiah's 5 year sustainability plan and what that REALLY means.
I was excited to hear Obama's SOTU tonight, but even China's already beating us at investing in green energy. What's really sad, though, is when out investments in green energy end up (pardon my language) raping other countries. When I was in El Salvador, I talked to an indigenous man whose crops all died when a us company bought up a lot across the dirt road from his village and fumigated it to try and grow "native" crops for biofuel development. After funding his country's civil war, we're still taking advantage of the marginalized of his country because we're still trying to cheap out of our responsibilities to God, the Earth, and our fellow Man. THAT is uncalled for and definitely infringing on the commands of Jesus.
AND, as far as Peter Illyn and hiking the PCT with LLAMAS goes... I wish I would have thought of that first. I LOVE llamas.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Oh, January, Oh
Again, I have been captivated by my radio and I am going to share with you again.
This month of January in Grantham has been unexpected and although not my original plan, I have been where God wanted me to be and he has affirmed that.
So come the silent things. Those tidbits that you store up in your heart, unspoken worries and people that you wish you might have found the right words to tell them how you feel about them, the things you take for granted, the times your heart already aches for missing, like snowflakes, then little things fall on you, piling up, and chilling you.
The opposite seasons are already playing with me. Here I am in winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The promise of Chilean summer is right around the corner. Although I have missed out on Chilean Spring and it will soon be shifting into fall there, the spring in heart will come in newly formed relationships and newly explored territories.
In Chile I will not only be in an opposite season of my peers physically, but I will also be in another season of my life. As my friend Sarah said to me so simply, "Tu experiencia va a ser tu experiencia," or "your experience will be your experience."
I think what has really hit me is that though I know this experience will be formative and transformative, it will also be completely my own. I'm leaving this place until August, the longest time I've been away from Central Pennsylvania since we moved here. After Grandma Sherian leaves, everyone is unfamiliar, every experience is new, and everyone familiar is "back home," or at least in one of the places I have called my "home."
Messiah, if I've held back, I'm sorry. If I've said too much or grown too attached, I'm sorry.
Goodbye, Grantham.
And, familiar enough that my heart could have accidentally communicated to them into a song, some lyrics of wisdom from the Decemberists:
January Hymn:
On a winter Sunday I go
To clear away the snow
And green the ground below
April all an ocean away
Is this the better way to spend the day?
Keeping the winter at bay
What were the words I meant to say before you left?
When I could see your breath lead where you were going to
Maybe I should just “let it be”
and maybe it will all come back to me
Sing oh January oh!
How I lived a childhood in snow
And all my teens in tow
Stuffed in strata of glow
Hail the winter days after dark
Wandering the gray memorial park
A fleeting beating of hearts
What were the words I meant to say before she left?
When I could see her breath lead where she was going to
Maybe I should just “let it be”
And maybe it will all come back to me
Sing oh Janu…
Oh January oh
This month of January in Grantham has been unexpected and although not my original plan, I have been where God wanted me to be and he has affirmed that.
So come the silent things. Those tidbits that you store up in your heart, unspoken worries and people that you wish you might have found the right words to tell them how you feel about them, the things you take for granted, the times your heart already aches for missing, like snowflakes, then little things fall on you, piling up, and chilling you.
The opposite seasons are already playing with me. Here I am in winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The promise of Chilean summer is right around the corner. Although I have missed out on Chilean Spring and it will soon be shifting into fall there, the spring in heart will come in newly formed relationships and newly explored territories.
In Chile I will not only be in an opposite season of my peers physically, but I will also be in another season of my life. As my friend Sarah said to me so simply, "Tu experiencia va a ser tu experiencia," or "your experience will be your experience."
I think what has really hit me is that though I know this experience will be formative and transformative, it will also be completely my own. I'm leaving this place until August, the longest time I've been away from Central Pennsylvania since we moved here. After Grandma Sherian leaves, everyone is unfamiliar, every experience is new, and everyone familiar is "back home," or at least in one of the places I have called my "home."
Messiah, if I've held back, I'm sorry. If I've said too much or grown too attached, I'm sorry.
Goodbye, Grantham.
And, familiar enough that my heart could have accidentally communicated to them into a song, some lyrics of wisdom from the Decemberists:
January Hymn:
On a winter Sunday I go
To clear away the snow
And green the ground below
April all an ocean away
Is this the better way to spend the day?
Keeping the winter at bay
What were the words I meant to say before you left?
When I could see your breath lead where you were going to
Maybe I should just “let it be”
and maybe it will all come back to me
Sing oh January oh!
How I lived a childhood in snow
And all my teens in tow
Stuffed in strata of glow
Hail the winter days after dark
Wandering the gray memorial park
A fleeting beating of hearts
What were the words I meant to say before she left?
When I could see her breath lead where she was going to
Maybe I should just “let it be”
And maybe it will all come back to me
Sing oh Janu…
Oh January oh
Saturday, January 22, 2011
(less than) A Week 'til Wisconsin
Oh, to be at ease in having my final plans worked out!
As it turns out, I will be flying to Wisconsin instead of taking the train (my original plan), which puts me in Philadelphia on Tuesday, saying goodbye to Messiah on Wednesday, and Flying to Wisconsin on Thursday, 5 days from now!
Everyone's questions to me lately have been to the tune of, "Are you excited?" "Are you nervous?" Are you packed?
The answers to these questions are of course complex. For the first time, I really feel like I'm going to miss the smallness and the familiarity of Grantham. Ever since I was little, I've always plunged into the new and unfamiliar, embracing change and embracing adventure. I've always seen myself as outgoing, and more of a global citizen rather than a local citizen. I had told myself that four years at Messiah would "no big deal" to be close to home as I would be taking flight afterwards. The truth is, I have become very attached to Messiah and to my Friends here. The "Messiah Bubble" as we affectionately call it is small and it is maybe a bit constricting at times, but something inside me feels nervous to leave for once. Maybe it's because I will be returning to SENIOR YEAR of college, or maybe it's because I feel like I'll be missing out on a key transitional time. Not being packed and not feeling like I have enough time to get to everyone is also killing me...
Either way, I feel much more ready to head out and much more empowered to keep on packing now that I have actual plans. My flight to Wisconsin is booked and my flights from Chile to Wisconsin of course were taken care long ago.
Ready or not, HERE IT COMES!
As it turns out, I will be flying to Wisconsin instead of taking the train (my original plan), which puts me in Philadelphia on Tuesday, saying goodbye to Messiah on Wednesday, and Flying to Wisconsin on Thursday, 5 days from now!
Everyone's questions to me lately have been to the tune of, "Are you excited?" "Are you nervous?" Are you packed?
The answers to these questions are of course complex. For the first time, I really feel like I'm going to miss the smallness and the familiarity of Grantham. Ever since I was little, I've always plunged into the new and unfamiliar, embracing change and embracing adventure. I've always seen myself as outgoing, and more of a global citizen rather than a local citizen. I had told myself that four years at Messiah would "no big deal" to be close to home as I would be taking flight afterwards. The truth is, I have become very attached to Messiah and to my Friends here. The "Messiah Bubble" as we affectionately call it is small and it is maybe a bit constricting at times, but something inside me feels nervous to leave for once. Maybe it's because I will be returning to SENIOR YEAR of college, or maybe it's because I feel like I'll be missing out on a key transitional time. Not being packed and not feeling like I have enough time to get to everyone is also killing me...
Either way, I feel much more ready to head out and much more empowered to keep on packing now that I have actual plans. My flight to Wisconsin is booked and my flights from Chile to Wisconsin of course were taken care long ago.
Ready or not, HERE IT COMES!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
I have a date... with the Consulate!
After MONTHS of paperwork and unnecessary stress,
MY VISA HAS BEEN APPROVED!!!
With that said, my schedule boils down like this:
Jan 24 leave Dillsburg
Jan 25 Date with the Consulate
Jan 26 Leave Philly
Jan 27-29 Wheaton (tentative)
Jan 29 Lodi
Feb 7-8 Travel to CHILE
Pray that all this shuffling goes smoothly!
MY VISA HAS BEEN APPROVED!!!
With that said, my schedule boils down like this:
Jan 24 leave Dillsburg
Jan 25 Date with the Consulate
Jan 26 Leave Philly
Jan 27-29 Wheaton (tentative)
Jan 29 Lodi
Feb 7-8 Travel to CHILE
Pray that all this shuffling goes smoothly!
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Another slant of the article I didn't really agree with was when they made it sound like the girl that they quoted's parents and my parents were in the same boat.
My parents wouldn't kill me if they knew I'd been speaking out for the environment in radical ways... they DO know and they fully support me :)