Kiva Loan Paid Off

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I received word on Monday that one of my Kiva.Org loans had been paid off.Â? (For those not in the know, Kiva.Org allows you to lend as little as $25 to people in third-world countries to help them to start small businesses.Â? They partner with microlending institutions and they have a really high success rate.)

I am really proud of Hagigat Kurbanova and of her repaying the loan and I feel blessed that I was able to be a part of making it happen.

So… I had the choice of having my $25 investment returned to me or… I could re-lend it out again.Â? I totally chose to re-lend it and this is my new loan from that money.Â? (This person also needs another $175 lent to her at the time of me blogging to make her loan complete and I think there’s a 2 day deadline coming up for her, so she’d be a prime candidate if you want to get involved.)

I also have two other loans out: one for a dressmaker in Lebanon that is 25% repaid and another that I made today to a Lebanese grocer.

Grace in My Day

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When I got to the post office tonight, there was a really sweet note in my box from a lady in the area updating me on family news and also telling me that she hoped my foot was doing better.

Then, I saw the package key and so I retrieved the package from the box and took it home to open it.

Oh. Em. Gee.

It was the most beautiful handmade quilt with a backing and side edging in purple and blue batik-prints and a front panel with all these different kinds of sunbursts on them.Â? I mean, it’s professional-level quilting.

I am soooooo not worthy!!!!

(And I am writing the thank-you note as we speak.)

What’s Up These Days

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[+] Day of Blogs went well. I raised $105 which isn’t bad considering that I really did no publicity for myself this year. The event itself raised about $12.5K I think — I need to go through and do the final tally tomorrow. I’m looking forward to having Blogathon back next year and having Cat and Sheana and Heather dealing with the minute details of running things though!

[+] I’m off crutches (as of Saturdayish) and working on healing the foot and ankle. The foot is better and the pretty colors are gone. The ankle, on the other hand, was rotating and popping in its socket on Thursday so I’m in an aircast now.

[+] I got to go hang out with the Incarnation peeps on the 20th as Jon was at Boy Scout camp and I didn’t really want to be at church alone. It was nice to go down and just be able to worship as Jen and not as Pastor Jon’s wife.Â? It was also quite spiritually feeding to do liturgy that I’m at home with doing and which gives me comfort and lets me be the somewhat high-church person I am.Â? After church, I hit up the evil store, 2-J’s, and then went home.

[+] I finished up the latest Philip Yancey book which is on prayer and I really recommend it.Â? It made me think in a good way and it also subtly changed how I think of prayer, especially in a healing context.Â? I know that the way I’m praying for people now is different and I’m hoping that I continue to learn more in that direction.