More Gifts

What do you get the parents who already have everything? This is the question I ask myself every Christmas, Birthday, Mother's Day and Father's Day. My dad is nearly impossible to shop for. If he wants something, he usually just goes out and gets it; and if he wants it but doesn't have it yet, it's usually because he is still researching the heck out of it to make sure it is the best in its class.

I thought for sure that no one could be more difficult to shop for than my parents. That was, until I was face to face with the question, What do you get the parents who have nothing?

A few of my friends have met the children they sponsor and have been so gracious to offer me all of their love, support and words of wisdom as I head to Ghana, Africa. One of my sweet friends mentioned that she wished she had brought gifts for her child's family. I do not know much about Eugene's family. He has never mentioned any siblings or his father. However, he does mention his mother and she has been in a few photos that were sent to me. I really wanted to bring a few special items just for her and the family. Plus, if I bring the practical items as gifts for Eugene's mother, then that just leaves more room for toys for Eugene.

When I went to the Christian bookstore to get a Bible for Eugene, I stumbled upon a promotion to help bring Bibles to Ghana. I know, what are the chances? You could donate $5 and a Bible would be sent to Ghana, Africa on your behalf, or you could purchase a Bible like this one and part of the proceeds would go to the cause. I figured I would go ahead and purchase this promotional Bible and take it to Ghana myself. Seriously, what are the chances? I had no choice but to purchase it as a gift for Eugene's mother. 

Kitchen stuff - don't worry, the plates and cups are plastic. Thank you Target for never failing me. Your stuff is the cutest. 

Because the only things I know about Eugene's mother are that she has a home business and she is wearing white in the two photos I have of her, I decided to stick with neutral colors for most of the items I purchased for her. Even the parents who have everything can use extra kitchen towels and cloths. The sheet was a suggestion from a trip guide sent to me by Compassion. 

toiletries and a fun makeup/multi purpose bag

This tote was one of my proudest finds. I got a great deal on it at the Columbia outlet store. It is super durable and a really nice color. Plus, everything fits inside perfectly. I hope she likes red!

So to all the mom's out there - the ones who have everything, the ones who feel like they have nothing, and the ones who know they have just enough - what do you think? Did I do ok? 

Christmas in June

5 days before my trip to Ghana! I thought I would share with you the gifts I purchased for my sweet Eugene. It has truly been such a joy to give! Just having the opportunity to shop for my little boy over the past few months has been a blessing. I cannot wait to see the look on his face as he tears into these treasures. I can only hope his smile will be half as big as mine. 

Over the past few months I have tried to remind myself over and over that I am not shopping for a nine year old, boy version of myself. Eugene probably has very different taste than me and he may hate things that I love. I tried so hard to study each picture he drew, letter he sent, and photo of him in order to get any glimmer of information about what he might enjoy. However, when my shopping was complete and I laid out all of the gifts, I couldn't help but laugh. If you know me, you will see so much of me in these gifts. I tried so hard to take myself out of the them, but in the end I just couldn't do it.

I understand that soccer is all the rage in every country except the United States. I get it. However, I do not support it. I hate soccer! My future children will not play soccer! It's one of the few sports I just can't stand. Any time you can finish a game at 0-0, it's just hard for me to get excited about it. 

Ok, I am getting off topic...so I bought Eugene a soccer ball to prove that I love him, but you can't honestly expect me to not bring him a football. If you did expect that, you do not know me at all. I can't imagine going to Ghana and not teaching my little boy to throw a spiral. He may hate it, but at least I tried. Yes, after I return to the U.S. you can expect to see a video of Eugene learning to throw a football.

Luckily, I grew up with three younger brothers so I am no stranger to the toys of a nine year old boy. In almost every letter Eugene draws me pictures. He always draws a plane or an automobile of some kind so I was sure to buy a Matchbox plane and HotWheels car. I threw in the Legos and Batman action figure for good measure. Oh, and the Mickey Mouse I bought while I was at Disney World for my half marathon. I wanted to be sure I brought a little piece of Florida to Ghana.

A few educational gifts - Eugene has told me several times in letters that he loves to read. I am not sure how much he can read in English, but hopefully he can enjoy these items.

school supplies

the basics

According to a recent letter, Eugene's favorite color is yellow. The shirts are Gap, Old Navy and Nike. Oh, and don't forget the Texas Tech shirt and the Florida Gator hat. Does this just scream Danielle's kid or what?

I really wanted to buy Eugene a nice Bible. I don't know how long it will be until his English is advanced enough to read it, but I have hopes that this is something he can hold onto for the rest of his life.

Just to make it a little extra special, I had Eugene's name embossed on the Bible.

Thankfully, everything fit nicely into the backpack I bought for Eugene. Is that backpack cute or what? I poured over the Internet for weeks to find the perfect backpack and yes, of course I ended up choosing a NorthFace. I'll be taking my NorthFace backpack to Africa. Why would I not get one for my little boy? Hopefully he will like the colors and pattern! 

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

Acts 20:35

Every Dog Has His Day

In April after Tim Tebow revealed to Dieon Sanders (see Sunday's blog entry) he had no intention of renaming Bronco the dog, this is what I believe happened next:

Setting: In the car on the drive from the golf course to Bob and Pam Tebow's house (where the Heisman lives)
Tim: Did you hear what Dieon Sanders asked me today?
Robby: No, what did he say?
Tim: He asked if I was going to rename Bronco. Isn't that kind of weird? Why would he ask me that?
Robby: Well, probably because Elway promised you the starting job for 2012 and then went out and got Peyton Manning and it's a little strange for someone so excited to be a Jet to have a dog named Bronco.
Tim: (shocked) Oh my gosh! I didn't even think about that! Do you think it's weird that his name is Bronco? What should we do?


End scene.

Naturally, it would take 3 Tebow boys a grand total of 4 weeks to come up with a new name and announce to the world that Bronco is now Bronx.

So, just to prove my support for the Tebow clan, I took the liberty of compiling a list of new names for "Bronx" just in case this time next year Tim is excited to be....well, who knows what could happen.

Baltimore - Balt
Cincinatti - Bengal
Cleveland - Brown
Pittsburgh - Burg
Chicago - Bear
Detroit - Barry (after Barry Sanders)
Green Bay - Bay
Minneapolis - Bloo (short for Bloomington)
Houston - Bob (after owner Bob McNair)
Indianapolis - Blue (the name of their mascot)
Jacksonville - Banks (after EverBank Field)
Tennessee - Bud (after owner, chairman, CEO and president Bud Adams)
Atlanta - Branch (HQ for the Flacons is located in Flowery Branch, GA)
Carolina - Burg (short for Spartanburg, SC home of the Panthers summer training camp)
New Orleans - Bount (short for bounty)
Tampa Bay - Buc
Buffalo - Buff
Miami - Broward (Dolphin Stadium sits on the border of Dade and Broward County)
New England - Borough (short for Foxborough)
Dallas - Big D (for any of my non Texas readers, this is a common nick name for Dallas)
New York Giants - praise the Lord that poor dog can keep the name Bronx
Philadelphia - Beth (short for Bethlehem, PA home of the Eagles summer training camp)
Washington - Burgundy
Kansas City - Brave
Oakland Raiders - Black Hole but Black for short
San Diego - Bolt
Arizona - Buzzswa but Buzz for short
San Francisco - Bart (short for Marie P. DeBartolo, the namesake of the sports center the 49ers call home)
Seattle - Blitz
St. Louis - Busch (in honor of the Rams first stadium - Busch Memorial Stadium)

Follow Me in Ghana

This time next week I will be in route from New York to London with a final destination of Ghana, Africa. I can't believe I am at the 7 day countdown.

I have been able to exchange emails with some of the people going on my trip, but I have never met (in person) any of my 22 team members. A few of them I will meet in the airport in New York, but many of them I will not meet until I arrive in Ghana. From the little I know about them, they are an eclectic bunch. The youngest is a 16 year old girl from Colorado. However, there is someone in literally every age category and from all parts of the United States. We even have team members from the U.K. and Brazil.

Most common question I am asked: 

What are you doing while in Africa?

Answer:

I have no idea.

Yes, that's right - I have a plane ticket to Africa and I do not know anyone I am going with and I have no idea what we will do while we are there. For someone like me, who finds it nearly impossible to function without a plan, I am surprisingly calm about all of this. Maybe it's because my dad is stressed out enough for both of us. He is terrified I am going to be kidnapped and sold in to slavery. As for me, it's only when I start to tell someone about the trip that I start to realize how crazy it all sounds.

Just in case I do not get a chance to blog before I leave, if you are interested, (no pressure) this is how you can keep up with the day-to-day happenings of my adventure:

Flickr - Whatcha GHANA Do?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniellelaselva/sets/72157629773989862/

Twitter - @WhatchaGHANADo 
https://twitter.com/#!/WhatchaGHANADo

4 years of sponsorship = LOTS of letters and photos

My #1

Armed with my scripted questions, I am happy to report that Bailey and Mrs. Knaub were able to get answers to a few of my questions - most importantly, my #1!

The first question that was asked was in relation to scene 3 - What happens to the house in Denver? Well, although the Tebow brothers were only renting the house, now that they no longer need it, the house is up for sale. If you are at all interested and happen to have a few million dollars cash, you can be the owner of the house formerly lived in by the former Denver Broncos quarterback.

I am happy to report, the next question asked and answered was my infamous #1 - Where do you keep the Heisman? Drumroll please...The Heisman is at his parent's house. I have asked many people this question and everyone has some idea of where it might be, but no one is ever confident in their answer. However, leave it to my mom to hit the nail on the head.

I flew to Florida to spend Christmas with my family last year and over dinner one night I posed the Heisman question to my family. I thought for sure my brothers would have some kind of insight into the mind of a guy and where 50lb of football glory may be housed. Without missing a beat my mom responded: Oh, I'm sure it's at his parent's house. If one of you had a Heisman I would not let you take that thing across the country. I don't even let the boys have their baseball trophies. I was pretty surprised. I had not even explored this theory as a possibility. But my mom was so matter of fact, like I didn't even need to bother asking a Tebow because she already knew the answer.

Well, mom, you were right.

Thankfully, the Knaub's decided to push the question a little further and find out exactly where this thing is on display - on the mantle, displayed in its own room alongside a host of other awards, on a coffee table in the living room, keeping a door propped open? To this Tim responded, "You know, I don't know where she has it."

So that's awesome, the biggest award in college football and it's at his mom's house...somewhere. It could be in the attic for all he knows.

The Knaub's were a little too embarrassed to reenact scene 2 - the question about Bronco the dog. However, when Deion Sanders posed the question, they were sure to ease drop in order to get the answer. I will give you the play-by-play of the conversation. Also, keep in mind this conversation was had on April 13. We all know if you were to ask that question today, you would get a different answer.

Dieon: Hey Tim, so are you going to rename your dog?
Tim: No, why would I rename my dog?
Dieon: Isn't your dog's name Bronco? Isn't that kind of weird to have a dog named Bronco?
Tim: (in pure innocence and a little confusion) No, Bronco is his name. You don't rename a dog. Why would I change his name?
Dieon: probably thinking (like the rest of America) - Well, you rename him because Elway screwed you and it's weird for Mr. Excited To Be A Jet to take his dog named Bronco for walks in Central Park.
Dieon actually says - Never mind. Forget it dude. 


I guess if I couldn't have Bailey ask about Bronco the dog, Dieon is a good enough backup. Plus it's nice to know Dieon and I are on the same page. I mean, it's a good question!

Also, the Knaub's wanted me to know that I shouldn't blame Tim for the book signing disaster of 2011. They said I need to blame his brother Robby. Apparently Robby spent the whole weekend pulling Tim away from conversations and making sure they made the necessary rounds to celebrities and guests. You know, I can actually respect that. All is forgiven (but not forgotten) from the book signing mishap. Just don't let it happen again boys. The Knaub ladies also loved and I mean LOVED this mysterious Angel guy who I blogged about. Go figure.

So there you have it America, (or at least my 10 readers) you may not be as excited as I am, but now you know where Tim Tebow keeps his Heisman. The only bummer is that now I need a new opening line if I ever do meet him. Suggestions?