Christmas and Dirt?

Like a little child, I get so excited about Christmas! I love designing the layout of my decorations each year; carefully and deliberately each special ornament is hung on just the right bough; lighted garlands drape the mantle and porch posts; animated snowmen by Hallmark collected for several years occupy the space that will eventually be replaced by the gifts; empty stockings hang from the mantle, each meticulously chosen new this year; Josh Groban resonating "Ave Maria" softly in the background; it's beginning truly to look a lot like Christmas!

As Josh Groban sings "I'll be Home for Christmas" I read my friend,Jeff Rogers, blogpost from today and my joy turns into a sickening sadness that makes me want to tune all of Christmas out and scream: "IT'S NOT RIGHT! IT'S NOT FAIR! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING RIGHT NOW!" Oh, Jesus, break my heart for what breaks yours! Why, oh why, Lord, do children have to eat dirt under the guise of cookies to try and trick their minds into thinking it's food, while their little tummies, distended from starvation, continue to rumble, tears gently falling down their precious cheeks, just wanting a morsel of real food! I almost cannot bear to think about it...all I can say through the tears is: PLEASE READ AND PLEASE PRAY! And always thank the Lord for every single bite that goes into your mouth....never ever take it for granted! So, why is it we have a weight problem in this country?

"Today a dear friend brought me a terrible and yet precious gift. I was surprised by the rush of emotion and anger that came on me upon receiving it, over something so simple... I was distraught and inspired by it at the same time. Tim Krauss and John Martinez are my co-workers in the Gospel and co-leaders in our ministry along with Vicki and myself. John and Tim recently spent several days in Haiti, visiting with 5 of the 6 pastors G.O. works with there in their own communities. Tim has returned to Louisville for a few days and carried with him this small yet profound gift. Tim came into my office today with a scrunched up clear plastic bag. At the bottom of the twisted mass was a sampling of dirt from the interior of Haiti. Tim had presented me with the actual dirt from the mountains of Haiti used to make dirt cookies, eaten by Haitian children and adults to stave off the pangs of hunger. He acquired the dirt in a Haitian market during his visit. Now I have a few dried shards of this Haitian soil, originally bound for the gut of some child or adult sitting on a bookshelf in my office. I’ve known for a long time about the reality of dirt cookies in Haiti. I’ve been to Haiti several times and witnessed some of the challenges there. But there is just something about the actual presence of this substance up close and personal that really brings the weight of the reality to bear on my heart. Tim gave me the dirt and I could instantly feel heat behind my eyes. It was hard, suddenly, to speak without getting choked up. In my hands I felt what was clearly the food of desperation, a lie, told to the body that everything was ok, that it was, in fact, fed. In my hand was a mother’s hope to quench the suffering of her hungry child regardless of whether or not it actually meant anything. But it does mean something… It means we are a broken humanity in need of profound healing. The existence of this “humanitarian crisis” points to the spiritual realities that make its existence possible. The reality of this kind of suffering means that I’ve got no right to complain about anything. However bad I may ever imagine things to be, it’s very unlikely that I’ll ever be feeding my daughters, Sophi and Raena, dirt. It means that as a Christian I can’t sit comfortably by and appreciate how “blessed” I am because I have stuff without remembering that the only reason I’m blessed in the first place is so that I can be a blessing to others. It means that I’m called to figure out what I can do to help make a difference because children in the Kingdom of God DO NOT EAT COOKIES MADE OF DIRT! And if they don’t eat them there they should not be eating them here! Dirt cookies mean we’re in serious need of a savior. If we get a hold of Jesus Christ and let him get a hold of us he will begin to shape us into responders and engagers for the sake of the Kingdom. We’ll be angry about the things that anger him, we’ll celebrate what he celebrates and we will learn to be servants to all. If we learn, as brothers and sisters, to live up to the calling of what it really means to be the People of God, the true humanity, there will be less and less of this kind of thing, but only if its born of love, not guilt. So this dirt sits on my shelf in my office. It tells me to guard against self-righteousness because whether I know it or not some of my economic practices help constitute this grim reality in Haiti just by virtue of my participation in everyday buying and selling. It tells me that making an effort to change those practices is an act of good faith and in line with redemption. It tells me to not forget the severity in which my Haitian brothers and sisters (and others like them) live. It tells me to pray for revival and renewal in the land. It tells me to take heart because our work with G.O. begins to address the issue of hunger in Haiti both with food aid and the Gospel. Lastly, these shards of dirt point me to the promise that a day is coming when all bellies will be filled from the banquet table of King Jesus when his reign over the world is universally revealed. Dirt will be for walking on and the mockery of the adversary will be silenced forever. For those of you that support us through your prayers, your financial commitments, your use of our Kroger gift cards, thank you. Through this support you are at work in Haiti too, helping to bring the Gospel to bear on the challenges that exist there. You help to bear the hope we share leading to the Gospel transformation of entire communities."

Bragging Rights...

I promise this will be the last post on my son's debut acting performace in "Hello, Dolly!", but he's so stinking cute, and did so incredibly well at acting, singing AND dancing, that I just cannot help myself! I'm sure you will be able to tell which one he is by the repetition of one particularly good-looking face! My, oh my....how Momma's love to brag! Is that a sin? If so, please forgive me! Meanwhile, please feast your eyes.....
Below is our Guatemalan son, Estuardo (from Guatemala) and his sister, Melissa...

I'm so excited! I just can't hide it!

Have you ever seen a kid in a candy shop? Pure unadulterated joy! Giddy, giggly, hand-clappin’, foot stompin’ joy! I am that kid right now ~ fall of the year, holiday season approaching, more family time together…woo-hoo!!!!! Lolli is a happy girl!!!!

Empty Rubbermaid boxes fill my upstairs hallway waiting to be returned to their beloved home, the attic! Greenery, special ornaments, wreaths, table ware, fireplace décor, mantle adornments are in place~ some in their usual locale, others in a new area! “Joy to the World, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King!”

Looking at my den windows, the sun is shining brightly on the new fallen leaves of gold, red, orange, and brown with splashes of evergreen here, there and yon! The temperature is registering 69 degrees! WHAT?!?!?!?!?! Summer has gone bye-bye; fall is here. Faux snow blankets my mantle, entry hall table and dining room buffet, adorned with my cherished collection of Dept. 56 Original Snow Village Houses! Love ‘em, love ‘em, love ‘em! “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go….” (at least in my house). Only thing missing right now is the tree!

Please peruse my photos and enjoy the beauty, contrast, and intricate design of nature designed by the Master’s Hand; keep looking for my creative design of Christmas décor (if I do say so myself, thank-you for indulging me)~ and choose, this day, to be blessed! Our sweet Lord wants to shower blessing upon blessing on you! Rain in down in abundance, Father, on each who visit here and those who don’t!

17,450!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello, you precious 3 or 4 blogger friends who faithfully check in to see what’s going on in Lollipopandpearls land! You might be sorry you visited today! And, if you are visiting here for the first time, please don’t judge me by THIS post! Please read past posts to see I really am a nice person. However, for the last couple of days I would have made a fabulous character on Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are”!

OK, so let’s play a little game first! May I offer this clue: I detest the number 17,450! There! I offered it! Now, let’s guess why I detest that number! Don’t you go down the page to find the answer! I’m watching you with humongous eyes, claws positioned, and feathers ruffled (ha! That’s a good one, Lolli!)...and daring you to look down the page and cheat! So, that being said….READY! SET!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Whoa! Let’s do this on my time! OK, here we go! READYSET………..stop that! What’s your hurry? OK, 3rd time’s a charm, so here we go, really! ON YOUR MARK……….GET SET……….GO!!!!!! Wake me up when you think you know the answer! ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz!!!! Figured it out yet? What’s taking you so long? At this rate, I’ll have visions of sugar plums dancin’ in my head by the time you get it figured out!!!!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!

(Singing the “Jeopardy” song in my head while I wait for you to guess! And, BTW, in case I forgot to remind you-----I detest the # 17,450! OK, OK, OK, OK….settle down! Don’t make me come over there and meet you outside! OK….

Hey, don’t ya’ll just love the Fall weather, with the gorgeous turning of the leaves…..WHAT? Oh, sorry, I took off on a rabbit trail….where was I? (Stupid 17,450! I cannot stand that number, can you?) No, I know you can’t….at least not if you’re a nice, generous, loving, sincere, faithful friend! You can’t like that number! WHY can’t you, you ask? Because you can probably sense a little disdain in my tone about that number, and because you love me and you ARE my friend, and you hurt when I hurt and you don’t want me to walk this journey alone, then I KNOWthat you also D.E.T.E.S.T. the number 17,450!

Ok, so welcome to my Pity Party! I so appreciate your being faithful to stop by! Make yourself at home! Free food, free entertainment, come as you are….and you might wanna bring your ear plugs! If you see anyone else walking around aimlessly and bored in blogland, please give them an open invite from me to attend my party. I probably should do a Mr. Linky thingy so others can link up!

WHEW! I’m feeling a little better (hehehehe)! (At first I accidentally typed “bitter”—as in, “Whew! I’m feeling a little bitter!---rather than “better”) Well, I’m that too, but I won’t bore you with the details….

So…..you ready? OK, sit back, relax, and hold on for the ride!

My wonderful laptop has been such a steady source of joy for me, and has served me well for the last couple of years. Of course, I bought her used off of Craigslist, but she has purred when she was s’posed to, gone to sleep when I told her to…and woke up when I needed her to! I mean, she has truly been my friend. However, I believe she is beginning to age a little bit, not unlike me. She can’t help it, I understand that. And, I have yet to find any hormonal supplement—natural or synthetic—that will help her perk back up. She and I are alike in many ways: we’re slowing down, we take our time more often than we used to, and when we tire out, we just go to sleep whenever and wherever we darn well please, thank-you very much!

Well, ole Gertie (short for Gertrude)---no, wait…..that’s what I call my GPS! Ok, ya’ll need to help me name this precious little darling! Suggestions welcome! (Oh, and have I mentioned that I wish the number 17,450 had never been created?..........Just askin’!......... Don’t go gettin’ all sassy!)….

I made mention of this slowing down sitch-i-a-shun to my husband on Saturday and asked for suggestions. Of course, always the practical, honest man, he reminded me that I had way too many photos saved to my hard drive, not to mention the myriad of audio and video files also taking up space on the little precious one! He further quietly and politely suggested that I “might” want to burn them to a CD/DVD and get them off my hard drive, freeing up space, thereby causing my 'puter to run more smoothly and faster! UGH! I did not want to take the time; but, always the submissive, obedient, eager-to-please my husband wife that I am, I took his suggestion and jumped right in with both feet! I mean, I got drenched! I was immersed in computer .*@&#^&^@*#&$^$^, I tell ya’! Oh, I could not wait to see just how fast ________ would run when I was through. (Now we must think of a name for her quickly, or there’s no tellin’ what she’ll do to me next!)

SO, I burned 2 full CD’s of photos from my computer. Everything was going very well! Being the organization freak that I am, all my photos arein fo lders. The “Family” folder has several subfolders; my recent trip to Ghost Ranch, NM also has multiple. Each of those need their own CD space! Now, grab a remote and put me on “pause” for a moment, (I DID NOT say put me on “mute”; I said “pause”) ‘cuz I have some more ‘splainin’ to do. Apparently the previous owner of this computer was set up with an administrator name of ROX, whatever that means, or whoever that is. I know not of!!! When I purchased the computer, I set myself as the Administrator! Unbeknownst to me some of my files were in the ROX group of files. After I had burned most of the photos to discs, Rodney and I discussed that perhaps I should just get rid of ROX. I mean, he/she was taking up space on MY computuh! So, I gently and with tears in my eyes, bade ROX fare-the-well, into the Recycle Bin, and then, as any good computer guru does, I “dumped” my Recycle Bin! Are you impressed yet? I mean, look at all the computer lingo I know! I even know LOL, ROFL, BFF, BTW, BRB….and ASAP, R2D2, and so much more!

So we had a little service for ROX, and I got back to business. Rarin' to go burn my last 2 CD’s of Family and Ghost Ranch, I set the computer up, grabbed a couple of blank DVD’s, tried to open the files with those photos, and….yep…you FINALLY guessed it (took you long enough!) No photo or video files to be found! Zip, natta, zero, empty set! I searched, Rodney searched, and we searched together, left no stones unturned…GONE! Bye bye! 2 of the most important files of photos for me, and no hard copies printed yet! Oh, no, far be it from me to have done that! Why should I? I have them saved on my computer where they are safe, right?! Uh-huh!

After calmly and rationally sitting down with a cup of coffee in hand, a good book (some valium)---did I say that? No, I didn’t. Someone else must have uttered that….AND….after whining about what I could do, I got online and purchased, for a mere $39.95, a recovery program. After downloading the program, I told it to scan for ONLY .jpeg, .bmp, .avi, and .wmv files (i.e. photos and videos). I started the search around 7 pm Saturday; at 9 AM Sunday morning it was STILL scanning!!! That is 14 hours by my calculations! When all was said and done, guess just how many of those darling little files it found? VERY GOOD! You are ssooo smart! 17,450 photos and video clips!

After picking myself up off the floor, I determined to go through them all and find only the ones I not previously burned to CD. The results showed, “17,450 photos found; 0 restored”! I searched for a “restore” button, to no avail! Not one to ask for assistance quickly or easily, I continued trying to figure it out. I caved, got online and into a “Live chat”! Woo-hoo! After conversing back and forth with a techie, I was told to hit “restore”. “Uh, sir, there IS no “restore”! “Yes, ma’am it is right there under the purchase button, blah, blah, blah!” “Uh, no sir….here is everything written on my screen”….and I proceeded to write it all out. His final answer was “Oh, well, I guess you cannot restore them, ma’am!” To which I sweetly replied, “Excuse me, but is your program not called a “PC Photo Recovery Program? I seem to remember a few hours ago authorizing a $39.95 charge to PayPal, and that money was transferred from my account quickly. I would like a refund, please!” He agreed to refund the money, and would send me an email to that effect! (BTW—he DID send the email, but I have yet to see the refund posted!). I then paid another $39.90 to another company and downloaded their program AFTER removing the previous one. Guess how many files the new program found? 17,450! (Have I mentioned that I break out in hives when I see, hear or think that number?) I have the option of saving to a CD/DVD or another drive. So after formatting several discs I told the program to save to CD/DVD and would you believe---I KNOW this will shock you! It would not do it! Once again, my husband to the rescue! He brought me his trusty little zip drive, and I have been able to save about 1000 photos at a time on that drive, THEN burn a DVD from the zip drive, then delete all the files off his zip drive to start all over again. And as of this very moment, Tuesday evening at 8:55 PM CST, I think I am within about 200 files of being through! When all that is complete, I get to put them back onmy computer, delete duplicates and those already burned…and my computer may be running so smoothly and so fast that I may have to chase it out the door! What will I do with all my time after this is done? Any suggestions? NO?!?!?!?!

Well, I have a suggestion for you…with regularity move your photo/video/wave files from your computer to some other type of drive, so your computer won’t get bogged down and you won’t have to spend 3 days going around the world and back to “recover” your deleted files!

And, just so you know….It is with joy and thanksgiving that I now bury the #17,450! Thanks to you dear friends for allowing me to vent, I now feel certain I will survive!

"We are the World"....Part 4.....GOOD NEWS!

I love autumn! I stand amazed that trees can bear green leaves in the Spring; remain green all summer long; gradually turn from green to vivid hues of yellow, orange, red, brown, or some combination thereof; fall from the trees just before winter, leaving branches devoid of their natural décor; only to have those same branches birth new leaves again in the Spring!

The cycle of life as designed by the Master Artist Creator of the Universe…God Himself!

God looked upon each part of His Creation and said, “It is good!” He determined the necessary conditions for life to burst forth, to thrive, and ultimately to pass away. Before the fall of man, a perfect world existed…and it was good!

Because of “man’s” insatiable appetite for things forbidden, sin entered the perfect world, incessantly leaving its revolting stain on humanity! The consequences of sin include (but are not limited to) pain, suffering, guilt, anger…and above all else, spiritual and physical death! Those consequences are

…inconceivable.
…inevitable.
… unavoidable.
… unpredictable.
… incomprehensible.

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful natureand following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” Eph. 2: 1-5 (NIV)

(There is so much more to share from this book, but I don’t want to belabor the topic for too long! PLEASE purchase the book, read it, then pass it on for others to read. Knowledge is POWER! Together Everyone Accomplishes More—that spells TEAM!)

THERE IS GOOD NEWS!!!

“Sometimes I would like to ask God why he allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it.”
“Well, why don’t you ask Him?”
“Because I’m afraid He would ask me the same question.” ~Anonymous

This race we are running is a marathon, not a sprint.

From p.163 in the book A Hole in our Gospel, Stearns records these stats:
~Life expectancy in developing nations increased from 6 years in 1960 to 66.1 in 2005.
~The under-five child mortality rate has been cut in half since 1070.
~Preventable child deaths have fallen 50%since 1960 from more than 20 million per year to fewer than 10 million

~The percentage of the world’s people classified as hungry has been reduced from 33 to 18% over the past 40 years.
~The percentage of people with access to clean water in developing countries went from 35% in 1975 to 80% in 2007.
~Polio has been almost eradicated from the globe.
~Adult literacy has risen from 43 to 77% since 1970.”

Another very encouraging cause was developed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2000 known as the “Millennium Development Goals”, with the following ambitious goals:

~~Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
~~Achieve universal primary education
~~Promote gender equality and empower women
~~Reduce child mortality
~~Improve maternal health
~~Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
~~Ensure environmental sustainability
~~Develop a global partnership for development

It does my heart good to see efforts being by various groups at the local, state, country and international level to eradicate world hunger and it’s devastating results. Still far from where we need to be, we are making progress. The one thing we ALL can do, no matter our location, age, ethnicity, or status, is PRAY!!!! As the old African proverb says: “Pray, but when you pray, move to your feet!” To the degree that you are able, move from prayer only to prayer with action. In the words of Paul Harvey: “We’ve drifted away from being fishers of men to being keepers of the aquarium”. Not everyone can physically hook the fish ~ some need to care for them in the aquarium. Yet, there are many unaware of their calling to be “fishers of men”, with a “I can’t do it!” YES. YOU. CAN.

“I CAN DO all things through Christ who gives me strength” ~ Phil. 4:13
“I can do ALL THINGs through Christ who gives me strength” ~ Phil. 4:13
“I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST who gives me strength” ~ Phil. 4:13
“I can do all things through Christ WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH” ~ Phil. 4:13

A Tension of Faith

Billy is a friend of ours from a former church! His faith in a living God, personally and intimately acquainted with each of us, and his living testimony of that in his life, is nothing short of amazing~ truly a "God thing"! Billy knows what it is like to live in plenty and in want; the season of his life is uncertain just now. Yet, he believes in those 2 favorite words of mine in the whole of the Bible: "But God..." And he knows that God WILL SUPPLY ALL his needs "according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus" ~ Phil. 4:19! What a testimony to each of us in this day and time! Be blessed!

Harvest orf Friends Block Party!

BEGINS: Monday October 19th (at 12:01 am Central Time)
ENDS: October 24th (at 11:59 pm Central Time)
**Click here to link up!!! (Starting Monday)
_______________________________________
Lynnette is hosting this "Harvest of Friends Block Party" and has invited us to participate. So, please join us this week, share about you, and hop around through Mr. Linky to learn about others. Be sure to leave comments: it should encourage others to visit your site AND it you link up through Lynnette's site, you are eligible to win prizes! WOW! Thanks, Lynnette! So, here we go! Sssssssssssoooooooooo......in Lynnette's words:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, so it's only been a few months since the last one, but I'm ready for another blog party! How about you?
The last "porch party" was a huge success! I had 119 people link up! I had so much fun visiting EACH and EVERY one of you!
Why another blog party already you might ask. Just because. Is that specific enough?
Well, actually... since we all hop around to visit each other on a regular basis, I personally think it's fun to get to know everyone better, and what better way to do that than at a PARTY! Plus, you never know, there may find a kindred spirit out there that you haven't met yet!
Besides... parties are just plain ole' FUN!
It's not a big formal event like the annual party through Five Minutes for Mom (Oh heavens no! I'm not nearly that organized and I hate formal events!) - it's just another fun - spur of the moment - Lynnette event.

So, here's how we'll do it this time...
1. JUST LINK UP! You don't HAVE to do anything special. (Now is that easy or what?)

2. If you want to (and I hope you will), create a blog post introducing yourself! I'm going to provide 20 questions. You may answer them all or just pick a few (or come up with your own) - it's up to you. They're just off the wall, fun questions that will reveal a little about your personality.

3. Please do your best to hop around and visit other party participants through the week.

4. So that we can get more participants (thus more visitors for you), make sure you let your readers know what you're doing by putting up the Harvest of Friends - Blog Party button on your blog post AND your side bar (just through the week) and tell them to join you in the blog party. *Blog buttons are in this post.

5. Link up to MckLinky (starting on Monday). If you do a blog post for the party, please link up that actual post for us.

SO ANYBODY AND EVERYBODY - LINK UP!!!

I plan (hope), once again, to come by and meet everybody (although if it's a big party, it might take me a little while - but I promise to try to come by!).

20 Weird Questions That Will Give a Little Insight Into Who You Are
(Pick whichever ones you want to use , use all of them - or make up your own)

1. What is your favorite thing to snack on while you're blogging? Pop Secret Homestyle Popcorn and Coke Zero
2. What is one thing you wouldn't want to live without? My bioidentical hormone creme compounded just for my body!
3. Beach, Mountains or Farm? Where would you live if you had a choice? Love to visit the beach but wouldn't want to live there; love the mountains and changing of seasons and LOVE SNOW...so I would say "mountains"!
4. What's your least favorite chore/household duty? Cleaning commodes--Detest it!
5. Who do people say you remind them of? Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter)

I used to have dark hair so use your imagination, OK?

6. Prefer parties and socializing or staying at home with the fam? I'm a social butterfly and love to entertain in my home; I also love to spend quiet time with my family!
7. What's your all time favorite movie? "The Sound of Music"
8. Do you sleep in your make up or remove it like a good girl every night? Most of the time I sleep in it; however, I wear mineral makeup so it's not too bad for my skin!
9. Do you have a hidden talent or a deep desire to learn something that you've never had a chance to learn? What is it? I can raise the left side of my lip only while raising only my left eyebrow; I desire to learn to play the guitar

10. What's one strange thing you're really good at? Find errors in the printed word on any source of print
11. What first attracted you to your spouse? You really want to know? His butt!
12. What is something you love to smell? Wysteria, Lavendar
13. Tell something about you that you know irritates people. Telling them the details of things, meaning I talk to much!
14. When you have extra money (HA!) what's the first thing you think to do with it? Give it away to some person in need or one of the children we sponsor
15. Are you a silent laugher or a loud laugher? What makes you laugh the hardest? Usually a loud laughter; hearing embarrassing moments, seeing funny videos, listening to my son do imitations
16. Where is your favorite place to shop? Thrift stores/Goodwill/Yard and Garage Sales
17. What's one thing you'd do more often if you had more time? Watercolor paint/scrapbook
18. Are you a big spender or frugal? Fairly frugal, but don't mind spending a lot if it's something we need (like a new roof, major yard work, new used vehicle, etc.
19. Who is your favorite character of all time (from a movie or book)? (Can't be real) Eeyore
20. Would you want to be famous? No, don't want that pressure and everything that goes along with "status"; only would want to be famous in God's eyes by being obedient and by caring for the helpless/poor/orphans/widows