Passing along a heartwarming story

I am passing along the story of the amazing charitable efforts of my good high school friend, Tiffany Nelson Bergman. She and I had great times in Spanish class and on the cross country running and skiing teams. Tiffany always had a smile on her face and a kind word to say. Reading about her preparations (they will be giving up a lot!) to begin her journey and what they will be doing have warmed my heart.

She, her husband, and two adorable daughters will be serving for two years with Mercy Ships, a global charitable organization that primarily provides free, life-changing surgeries to those who cannot afford them and would most likely never receive them. These surgeries correct conditions for which people have often become outcasts and include: cataract surgery, club foot repair, vesicovaginal fistula repair, cleft lip/palate repair, and other repair of disfigurement and tumor growth.

Please go to her blog to read about what they are doing. I think she will warm your heart too.

Her story uplifts me in so many ways and particularly got me thinking about what it would be like to get rid of most of our "stuff."

"Stuff" just seems to get more credit than it deserves! Over the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to get rid of stuff and can't stop asking myself why we have so much junk! Material things not only require money, but they take up space, get broken and need to be fixed, get old and need to be disposed of, and somehow take on unnecessary importance. And then it seems we need "better stuff." All of this just complicates lives and crowds out more important things. They crowd time, the mind, the heart, and our physical space. Needless to say, I am trying to find balance with "stuff," and sometimes feel like the "stuff" is winning . . .