August and September have been busy months for both Ian and I. In hosting guests, Ian going back to school, preparing for the Klondike (at lease one of us made it without injuries), and harvesting our own wheatgrass, life has a way of filling up!

Ian has begun classes to pursue his doctorate in psychology. I am immensely proud of his determination and drive. Though it gives me pleasure in seeing his natural gift being used, I remember all too well the pressures that a large course load, writing papers, and working can bring. But as I like to tell him, this transition gives me a better chance at being a super wife, at least for the next four years, haha.

Ian with the first fruits of our homegrown wheat grass 

For the second year in a row I ran in the Klondike, a 110 mile relay race from Skagway Alaska to Whitehorse Canada. Unfortunately Ian injured his knee and was unable to join us...there is always next year though! Perhaps it was our team name, We Got the Runs, that sustained me through my 16 mile leg at 3:00 in the morning.

Or maybe it was the rainbow unicorn poop cookies that my nurse made us? Regardless, it was a great memory and a bonding experience for our clinic (thanks Kate for sponsoring us!)

And of course, what would August or September be without our little, Miles. Since Ian has been so busy with school, I got to take him on the annual zip line trip. We had a really great time zipping through the forest, dancing to the "Eye of the Tiger", and taking selfies.

Miles continues to bring much laughter to our match and enjoyment to our lives. In the last year and a half that we have been together we have really grown to love this little guy.

After my parents left we had a friend from Oklahoma visit. Ian first met Faith and her family while he was in graduate school at Oral Roberts. Five years ago Ian and I took a road trip to OK where I first met the Wamsley family. Shortly thereafter we moved to Alaska, and as tales of adventure made their ways back to Oklahoma, Faith patiently saved up her money hoping to come someday. Fast forward through five years of determined saving and sure enough she managed to do it!

Though we had to work much of the time, she was great about meeting new people (she may know more people than we do now) and experiencing Alaska fearlessly. Ian and I were happy to treat her to a day cruise through Tracy Arm Glacier; after seeing a pod of humpback whales, mountain goats, seals, waterfalls, and glaciers I think she was very happy as well.

But still, what I remember most about her time here was the way that she so graciously and automatically shared. Even though she lives on a fixed income, sharing her organic food, samples, and recipes seemed a natural extension of herself and of something higher.

As a self proclaimed humanitarian I would like to think that this is also my natural response. Unfortunately this has not always proven to be the case. There are a few times in my life that I am not only ashamed for what I have done, but am also humbly reminded of the continual journey of self discovery that I still on.

One such time came while I was in Haiti on a medical mission trip. As our group was walking back to the car after an afternoon at the beach, we passed a clearly starving older Haitian women selling some fruit. Sitting there in her dirty tattered clothing, she offered us limes and papaya that she most likely picked from a tree that morning. Though I acknowledge her and politely said no thank you, I like most of us continued walking up to our car. My friend Kim, however, stopped and bought most of her produce.

Kim and her daughter, Marley

When we got back to the clinic I noticed the fruit. She told me that though she was not going to eat it, she wanted to help the women. You see, in Kim's act of kindness she not only provided this lady much needed money to buy food (rice, beans) she also validated her as a human being. I can still see this woman in my mind and to be honest, it breaks my heart that I didn't respond in such a way. It also fills me with great love for Kim and her automatic responses to others.

I have thought about this story often, at least two times a week since then. And let me tell you, I have learned. Never again will I politely just walk on by.

Bono, the lead singer in the band U2, has a song called One, possibly my favorite of all time. In it he sings of love being a temple, the higher ground. Though so many of us can belt this out and shake our heads yes in agreement, like the lyrics proclaim, we ask people to enter, but we often make them crawl. We treat them as if we never had love, and then expect them to go without.

Recently a friend of mine shared a YouTube video of a homeless man sharing his food. It is absolutely worth checking out (www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUg-GHVE3Ps). As a matter of fact, I encourage you to spend the next 3 minutes watching now.

In it, an actor goes up to people at a mall food court and asks them for some food because he is hungry; everyone turns him down. A different actor than gives a bag of McDonalds to a homeless guy in a park. Shortly thereafter the first actor comes along and asks for some food. Without hesitating the man opens up his bag and shares everything. They repeat this scenario with money and each time the homeless man shares. Isn't it something that often the poorest of the poor are the ones who practice love's way best?

With all that is currently happening in our world: the beheadings, the violence, the destruction of our planet, the exploitation of its people, I often question what has happened to us as a species? How did we get so far removed from love?

So with this on my mind, and my 34th birthday fast approaching,  I decided to put my words into action. I got this idea from a friend of mine (thanks Dana!) and starting on my birthday, September 21, I am going to begin a "no buy year" and donate what I would have spent on myself to a charity. No buy means no buying anything new.....no new clothes, no new shoes, no new stuff.

This will not include food, and maybe allow for the occasional used book or a few used things from Goodwill, but for the most part, not buy anything new. My intent is that hopefully each time I lust after some new material thing that I do not need, I will come to automatically think of the Haitian woman and the other 99% of the world who go without daily.

As Bono's lyrics say, it is important to me that when I leave this world it will not respond that I have been a disappointment and have left a bad taste in its mouth. I want to leave hoping that somehow my actions, like Kim and Faith, have inspired someone else to choose a higher way as well.

Blessings, peace, and above all love,
Sarah