Wednesday, February 4, 2009

That's the Best Elisa Could Do? & Three Cups of Tea


Elisa can be very sweet and helpful most of the time. I came home from a meeting and found this heart from her on my bathroom mirror.

But she definitely has her moments of stomping off, crying and all that fun stuff. It worries me for teenage years. The other day she was trying to insult me and said, “Oh, yeah, well you….” thinking for moment, “You are obsessed with making dessert!” What? It’s true, but with all my faults that is what she comes up with? I started laughing and so did she and she wasn’t mad anymore. (I doubt it will be that easy to get her to smile next time.)
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While helping in Elisa’s class today, I learned of a man named Greg Mortenson who climbed K2 in Pakistan in 1993. He got lost on his way down and found a small village, where he saw children writing with sticks, dipped in mud. He went home and, after a discouraging start, was able to raise money to build them a school. Since then he has built 78 schools in rural parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan and founded the non-profit organization Pennies For Peace . He wrote a book called Three Cups of TeaOne Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time, which made it to #1 New York Times Bestseller, so probably some of you have heard of it. After learning this in Elisa’s class, I went home and looked online to see if my library has the book. They have several copies, all checked out, so I put a hold on it. It sounds very interesting and inspiring. I also learned that he wrote a young adult version and a child’s version of his book to help teach all ages. You can find them at Three Cups of Tea . I know I should have waited to read the book before posting this information and I will probably post a review here, but I wanted to share this so others can start to read it too.

Sometimes we think that we aren’t great enough to make a difference in the world. Mortenson's example and this quote remind us that we ourselves are the only ones holding us back from doing that.

NBC newscaster Tom Brokaw calls Mortenson, “one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, who is really changing the world”.

3 comments:

  1. Someone else told me about that book and said it was really good. Let us know what you think ~You obsessive dessert girl!

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  2. Lol - that dessert comment will sure teach you to mess with her! The book sounds really good. Isn't that a wonderful way to be described - "one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, who is really changing the world"? Thanks for the heads up!

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  3. I have this on my "to read" list--I've heard great things about it! I'm anxious to hear what you think.

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