Virtual Homemaker

Chapter Twenty-Six--In Conclusion...

2009-08-30T23:03:00.003-04:00

We've had a lot of changes at IYN, so I've been too busy to post here much. Some of the information is even outdated, but it still makes a nice story for those who want to go back in time to the beginning of IYN.

But I've decided to draw this blog to a close and replace it with a more current one called My Helping Hand Journal. I've become better at blogging and the Internet in general, so it will be a more professional-looking presentation that is fitting to how far we've come!

I've also been seriously-ill and was diagnosed with an incurable-but-manageable condition called Lymphedema. Now that it has been officially-diagnosed and being treated properly, I'm feeling so much better!

In fact, I didn't even realize how sick I was until my health improved. It just kinda snuck up on me. But I'll be writing more on that eventually and will post a link to it over in my new blog when I have something written about it.

The grand-opening entry in my new blog is called I've Known This Man For Almost Three Years! and it makes for an interesting read. Russell and I will, indeed, be celebrating the third anniversary of when we first met this coming January 15, 2010!

During this time, I've been both a helpmate and a headache to him.

One thing that has frustrated him the most was trying to find a place where I fit into the administration. I'm a writer and not an administrator, so it seemed that, no matter where he put me, I only fit the title he gave me in a limited way. There are plenty of others out there who could do my assignments so much better.

Russell and I discussed this here recently, and he asked me if I had any ideas. I asked him to promise not to get mad if I suggested something that described where I fit into the scheme of things. What I was about to suggest might make me seem a bit too big for my britches, but it turned out that he had been thinking along the same lines.

What kind of title do you give a Jill of all trades and (other than writing) a master of none?

I'm a personal friend who shares his concern for young people who are falling through society's cracks, and I don't do too shabby of a job of writing about this. But there's no real administrative title to go with that sort of job description.

But the title that I ended up with goes back to those times when we would talk for hours on the phone about how to reach out to these children, teens, and young adults who needed so much.

It goes back to those times when I joined him in getting the word out to others about this need.

IYN still has a long way to go, but it has really grown and is known about on every continent on this third rock from the sun!

As I mentioned earlier in this blog, there's this song by Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston called It Takes Two, and that has always reminded me of those early days of having a dream and making those plans one-on-one to make it come true.

If I had it to do over again, I'd definitely do it again--though with more of the 20/20 hindsight.

Or, perhaps, it might be wise not to change a thing, even if it made things happen faster, because it's quite likely that IYN is being rolled out in God's good timing that isn't necessarily our own.

I wonder where we'll be in our mission by the time that three more years have passed...

Warmly,
Ainsley Jo Phillips
Co-Founder of Invisible Youth Network
(I like the sound of that! The shoe fits!)

ONWARD!!!

Chapter Twenty-Five--March And Forward March!!!

2009-01-22T02:49:00.003-05:00

On March 1, Invisible Youth Network
will be launching its street outreach program, starting with focus on
the estimated 4000 children and teens in the San Diego area alone who
are part of the homeless population. Participants are now in training
for this event.

This is something that IYN founder and chairman,
Russell T. Hartsaw, began doing on his own--eventually, being assisted
by a handful of others.

This is how he describes what will be taking place:

____________________

Many homeless youth attempt to survive living on the streets day to
day. To assist them we provide them the following items, when
available:

Backpacks

Clothing, Shorts, Sox, T-Shirts, Medium & Large, Male & Female

Gift Cards, Fast Food, $5.00 Denominations

Hooded Sweatshirts, Medium & Large

Knit Hats

Non-Perishable Food Items

Travel Size Hygiene Items

Sleeping Bags

Wallets

Water Bottles

Beginning
March 1, 2009 the Invisible Youth Network will be launching its new
Street Outreach Program which consists of sending out to the streets
teams of Street Outreach Workers to evaluate and address the needs of
homeless youth.

These teams will go out two nights a week
between the hours of 5:00 - 9:00 PM, and are currently going through a
training process.

We will also be passing-out bags of
McDonalds in conjunction with two local McDonalds restaurants, which
care about these kids as much as we do.

____________________

How can you help?

We need both cash donations and items from our wish list (the latter which must be new merchandise). For details, please go here as well as reading a piece I wrote called What If Everybody Did It?

Besides the street outreach, another project
on which we're working is providing housing and other resources for
these deserving kids, and Russell is currently looking into a number of
possibilities from large, grounded mansions to former hotels. Likely,
several styles of housing will eventually be part of this endeavor with
one common thread:

These will be places where our young people
will feel safe and cared for, have a sense of dignity, and will be
worked with in order to help them to be their best selves. Although
they will be expected to follow a few simple rules (ones that involve
respect for themselves and others), they will never feel as if they're
existing in a boot camp atmosphere.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please share it with people you know...

Ainsley Jo Phillips

Deputy Chairman

Invisible Youth Network

Things To Do/Think About

Coming Soon: My Book!

What If Everybody Did It?

glitter-graphics.com

Chapter Twenty-Six

Coming Soon

...

Chapter Twenty-Four--Making Up For Lost Time

2009-01-21T12:58:00.005-05:00

From around August 25 until the evening of January 4, I was without a working home computer, so I have a lot to catch up on here--including information about new links, new websites, etc.

For starters...

Let me tell you that the information I've written in previous chapters is still meaningful and interesting to read but that a considerable amount of the links are now dated, so I'm going to be using this and some of the chapters ahead to try to catch you up.

The links that I'm going to share with you in the story are all (as of this date) up-to-date.

This story was originally written at Gather and can be found there by going there.

But I'm also copying and pasting it here in this chapter. Again, please don't neglect to check out all of the clickable links...

Yes I DO Know There's A Heaven, But I Love This Song!!!

I love this song from The Other Sister. One part of it says that the person singing it doesn't know if there's a Heaven, and I want to establish that I DO know there's a Heaven. In spite of that one line, I find this song to be so meaningful. Hearing it makes me think of a very touching part of The Other Sister where a misunderstanding has parted Carla and Danny, and they're missing each other, but it also reminds me of how I feel about a very special guy, Russell T. Hartsaw.

In the two years since I've gotten to know him (two years ago this past January 15), Russell--just by being his beautiful self--has become intricately and securely embroidered to the tissue of my heart.

We met (online, that is) at a site called Duno where he was looking for people to take a look at his website. Having not seen his picture, I assumed that this was a young man in his teens or early twenties who had put together one of those popular sites where people could make money while helping him to make money.

He had mentioned about having some interesting videos he wanted people to see, so I thought that these were either videos about how to make money online or else were just some videos he had chosen to make his site more entertaining.

Either way, I wanted to encourage him because there were some angry people there--people who really didn't have any reason to be angry, but you know how things can get sometimes at these sites where people somehow had expected that they were going to get rich quick by starting discussions and/or responding to the same but that it really took a little more work than that--and I was concerned that some of them might eat this eager kid up (i.e. flaming him and calling him a spammer or the like).

Upon arriving, I could see that this kid who went by the handle of "Rusty" was getting a lot of positive feedback. Upon going into the site, I soon realized why.

I also found out that this wasn't a website by a kid but, instead, by a 65 year old man--and it wasn't about getting rich quick but, instead, about getting an awareness of current event issues.

The name of the site (now located at a different url and further improved and expanded) was Russell Online.

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2007 was to put together a dream team of sorts who would just kinda buddy up and share problems and solutions in hopes of helping people who were falling through the cracks of society. Roger, of course, was one of those people, and, now, this other gem, Russell!

I invited Russell to connect with me so that we could further discuss the issues, and that was the birth of a very amazing friendship!

That day, when I invited Russell to hook up with me, I never expected to fall in love with him--but I did.

So, where will that part of our relationship lead? Who knows? I have my daydreams about us where several special songs--such as the one I've shared with you--make me melt into a pool of tiger butter with thoughts of him.

But whether or not we're friends or not doesn't depend on that. We're friends because we're friends, and we'll always be friends. I've told him time and time again that I'm not going anywhere, and I hope he believes me because he's had to deal with so many people coming into his life and, then, disappearing over the years.

If you read very many of Russell's writings, it will soon become clear to you that he hasn't had the easiest life.

At the age of nine, he came home from school one day to find his mobile home had vanished without a trace--and his mom, dad, and dog were nowhere to be found, either.

A few days later, he was made a ward of the state of Florida and sent to an orphanage. When he was around eleven, the staff at the orphanage decided that he needed to go to reform school where he stayed for 1 1/2 years. This was the same reform school at Marianna so often talked about by Roger--and, twice during his stay, Russell experienced the "discipline" offered at The White House. One time was for talking back to authorities, and the other time was because one or more of his grades had gone down.

Upon his release from reform school, he was put into foster care but soon decided to travel by thumb. Part of the purpose of his trip was to try to find out what had become of his parents and dog, and part of it was simply to feel free.

His travels eventually led him to The West Coast.

He was a good worker and held several responsible jobs--but, unfortunately, his earlier experiences also left him with a chip on his shoulder, so obedience to the laws of the establishment really didn't matter to him that much.

For that reason, he ended up spending over four decades of his life on the inside.

This wasn't one solid block of time and also included his time spent at reform school.

There were at least a couple of times where he robbed banks (never with a weapon--only with a note) and purposely botched up his "crime" because he was wanting to be caught and returned to what he'd come to see as a safe, familiar, and, in several ways, very pleasant environment.

Then, there came a turning point where he really felt as if he had the confidence to make it on the outside.

By this time, he had taken courses from the inside that had earned a B.S. in criminal justice for him. He also got to teach adult education classes to other inmates, finding that his classes were always full and that his students seemed to learn a lot. He also became a mentor to a few young inmates.

This feeling of making a difference felt really good to him!

When he was released in the spring of 2003, he also went into therapy as a way of helping him not to escape back into prison when life on the outside became too challenging for him.

Russell was now living in San Diego, California--and he found his calling!

At the time he arrived there, there were about 2000 homeless children and teens in the area. That number has since increased to around 4000.

In each of those kids, Russell senses a part of his own life, and he doesn't want them to go through what he did.

He spends a considerable amount of his limited income to reach out to them with food, clothing, hygiene items, and other things that most kids take for granted--and he just finds different ones of them, hangs out with them, and listens to their stories.

Knowing that he--just one man--could only do so much, he has founded an organization called Invisible Youth Network (or IYN, for short). I hope that each person reading this will check out this website. I also hope that each of you will read something I've written called What If Everybody Did It?

Finally, I hope that you'll share what I've written here with others.

That 4000 kid statistic is talking about the San Diego area, alone. The number of homeless kids nationwide has seven digits--and, worldwide, likely more...

Chapter Twenty-Five
Coming Soon
...

Chapter Twenty-Three--A Special Slide Show

2008-06-26T16:09:00.002-04:00

Chapter Twenty-Two--Unusual Place For An Appendix...

2008-06-07T01:54:00.007-04:00

Most people think of an appendix being at the back of a book.

However, this book is ongoing, so it has no back.

Therefore, I can put an appendix anywhere I darn well please, and this seems to be as good of a spot as any to put it.

The purpose of this appendix will be to display information that's related to Invisible Youth Network, so it's subject to change at any time--as in revision.

I'm going to link this page to various other places.

For starters, I'm going to provide links to a couple of places right here at my Virtual Homemaker blog...

Latest Entry

Preface

This is a link to our online store at Cafepress.

Here are some of our online chapters. Feel free to join any, some, or all of them...

Invisible Youth Chapter @ Care2
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/visibility_and_vision_4_youth

Invisible Youth Chapters @ Gaia (2)

Friends Of IYN
http://invisibleyouth.gaia.com

Homelessness Pod
http://pods.zaadz.com/homelessness

Invisible Youth Chapter@ Myspace
http://www.myspace.com/invisibleyouthnetwork

Invisible Youth Chapter @ Razoo
http://beta.razoo.com/groups/invisible_youth_network_at_razoo

That's all for now. Expect new additions in the near future...

Chapter Twenty-One--Anticipation...

2008-05-27T09:31:00.012-04:00

I have bad news and good news.

The bad news is that Russell has pretty much decided against Memphis as he doesn't see it as a place where the community is anywhere close to being ready to come together to be part of a headquarters for IYN. They have too many other issues to deal with first. Besides, health and other benefits don't compare to what he gets in San Diego. The slower pace of life and what looked to be an almost luxury apartment for a song aren't even enough to put up with the trade-offs.

That's the bad news (or, should I say, disappointing news).

Now for the good news.

Here's the appetizer first...

Russell will be coming here to Indiana to spend Thanksgiving plus a few more days with my mom and me!

Although I'm bouncing off the walls from thinking about this news, it's only the appetizer!

Only the appetizer!!!

Now, we shall get to the feast--which can be best explained by pasting in the contents of an e-mail that Russell wrote to Hemant and me, so I'm turning the "mike" over to Russell now (Yes, I know that the first part doesn't sound too great, to say the least, but just keep scrolling down and reading!)...

Imperial County, which is on the border of San Diego County has had 25 earthquakes since Midnight, ranging from 1.6 to 3.0.

Mother nature is diffently on the warpath considering everything that has happened in the last few months all over the world.

Tornados is kicking butt big time down south, leveling communities right and left.

I will be out most of the day. I am doing an escorted walk through Juvenile Hall, as well I have several personal chores to run.

Now for some outstanding news, I was sent a link to the online inner sanctum of the executives, and told to go there immediately.

They voted to take over our endeavors for us in putting together a Homeless Youth Residential Center here in San Diego. I am so excited that I cannot sit still.

What this means is they are taking over the fund raising, selecting the property, etc.

I was told that I could give my input this coming Sunday at the meeting, then butt out and let them take care of business for us. And they will keep us updated as needed.

Totally outstanding.

I was so excited that I was dancing around the room with Rascal, until he threatned to call the stuffed dog division of the SPCA on me.

Now we need to get a handle on our online volunteers, Hemant is working on the executive end of the potential executive volunteers, and making good progress.

{confidential staff business details deleted}

I am headed for the shower, clean-up and an early breakfast out, I have a long day ahead of me.

Have a good day, I will check my e-mail when I get home later this afternoon.

Russell

Chapter Twenty--Move Over, Elvis! Here Comes Russell!

2008-05-22T15:46:00.009-04:00

I remember back when I was a college freshman (1972 at what was then Indiana Central College and is now University Of Indianapolis, or UINDY, for short) and writing a column called HODGEPODGE for the school paper.

A professor and his wife were expecting their first baby on February 25, and, of course, I was all excited about the thought of another new baby coming into the world.

I had to have my column ready and turned in several days before the next edition came out, and it just so happened that the next edition was due out on February 25.

On February 24, I told Dick (the professor--who also happened to enjoy my column) that he and Pat would really love the HODGEPODGE that was due out the next day.

"Oh we will!?!" was his response. If he read my mind and suspected why, he didn't let on.

The next day, I bounced over to his office and congratulated him on the birth of his new baby--and, to my surprise, he told me that there was no new baby.

"I guess your baby will be along later today..." I replied--and was shocked when he told me that there were no signs of this happening.

"But you said that the baby was going to be born on February 25..."

"That was just an estimated time..."

That was news to me. After all, I'd been predicted for December 12, 1952, and I was right on time!

Of course, I'm one of the world's worst procrastinators now. I've started a new blog as therapy to help me to get my life more organized, and I hope that it works.

I went from my prediction to Dick that he and Pat were really going to enjoy my new column to saying something along the lines of, "You're gonna kill me when you read HODGEPODGE today!"

"Really? Why would I do that?..."

"You'll see!"

To make a long story short, neither Dick nor Pat killed me (obviously). In fact, they found it rather amusing to say the least. Sarah Elizabeth Wiehe arrived when she wanted to (just as StoryBaby Jack has done here recently). For years afterwards, Dr. Charlotte Templin used my premature celebration column (along with the more famous one about Dewey winning the election) to show how news stories will sometimes not turn out to be quite the way that they get reported.

Hopefully, this won't be a case of the Wiehes becoming parents before they did or of Dewey becoming President, but I've just got to say it:

Move Over, Elvis! Here Comes Russell!

Yes, chances are good that, later this year, headquarters of IYN will be moved from San Diego, California to Memphis, Tennessee!!!

Russell will be working to get things going in San Diego first, as there's definitely a great need right there that needs to be actively addressed hands-on, but there's also a great need to be addressed in Tennessee and the surrounding area.

This also seems like a place where the community might be more widely receptive (as in a greater number of churches, businesses, clubs, and individuals getting actively involved in our mission) to an organization such as IYN--which, of course, will make IYN more effective all over.

It sounds like a plan to me -- and, obviously, I'm thrilled with the idea of Russell and me living only about 600 miles apart.

But it isn't a done deal yet.

Russell might decide that Memphis isn't the best place for headquarters after all and might start looking elsewhere.

All he knows is that he's getting to the place where he would like to move somewhere with a slower pace while, at the same time, a place that has opportunities to grow IYN.

He won't be cutting all ties to San Diego by any means--just living in another location where he feels that he can live a more restful life and be more effective.

He now has the funds to do this, thanks to an organization called Prosper.

He asked for a loan (won't give the amount here, but, while he wasn't asking for a fortune, he wasn't exactly borrowing money for a hamburger, either) that would take care of his relocation, a new computer and other expenses related to IYN, paying off his current credit card debt (He has a small credit line somewhere between $500 and $1000 dollars available to him.), plus a little for a rainy day.

For many years, Russell has been going into his limited monthly income to do everything from buying snack food for homeless kids to buying them clothing, transportation home or somewhere safe, and telephone cards. He's done this without asking for anything in return except for the knowing that he's made a difference in the lives of these kids.

His goal is to get other people joining him in doing this. Thus, Invisible Youth Network!

He's had a remarkable amount of success in getting people to do this so far, even though it's still just a drop-in-the-bucket compared to how far he'd like to take things.

But he was totally-amazed at how many people at Prosper wanted him to succeed. At this time, he has enough people investing in his loan request that there's no doubt that he'll be getting the loan. On top of that, he will (until the application closes in a few hours) be getting a lower interest rate the more that people bid on him.

Unfortunately, I can't be one of those people because I just joined, and it takes awhile to get set up where you can be a lender. However, I'll, likely, find someone to invest in within the next couple of months.

And, of course, I'll be inviting people to join.

Anyway, I can't say enough nice about it! And, of course, neither can Russell.

I just hope that he decides to settle in Memphis, and I'm totally blown away just thinking about that!!! WooHoo!!!

Chapter Nineteen -- WooHoo, Everybody! It's May 14, 2008!!!

2008-05-14T15:22:00.005-04:00

In the wee hours of the morning (when Russell was newly 67 here in Indiana but still had a short time left to be 66 in California), I sent out this group mailing to several people--and I'm not done yet!

Before I share the contents of the e-mail here, let me catch you up on a few things--such as we have a brand-new website now (designed and maintained by a very nice and talented guy named Hemant Baidwan -- somebody whom I'll be talking more about in the near future). When you click on the hyperlink in the message I'm posting, you'll be able to see it!

IYN has certainly taken off bigtime and shows no signs of slowing down!

I have so much to catch you up on -- hopefully, having time to do this over the next several days.

For right now, here's the mailing -- and do feel free to join the party, even if you arrive a few days late!

Here we go...

WooHoo, Everybody!!!

Here in Anderson, Indiana USA, it's already celebration time! It won't be much longer before it's celebration time out on the West Coast, too--as in San Diego, California USA!!!

Celebration of what?

Celebration of the 67th birthday of Russell T. Hartsaw, founder and chairman of Invisible Youth Network!

For any of you receiving this message who are interested in joining in the celebration, I'm going to give you some special ways to do so!

If you want to send Russell a birthday greeting, only send Riversongs e-greetings because, ever since his computer got a virus after he opened up an e-greeting sent from elsewhere, this is the only kind of e-greeting that he will open.

Or, you can just send him a nice e-mail at his address:

invisibleyouth@gmail.com

and let him know that you're thinking of him.

One thing that I know he'd really enjoy is receiving donations to IYN, and you can go to the following page:

http://invisibleyouth.webs.com/donationcenter.htm

to find out about different areas of donating.

You'll find PayPal buttons there with details about where each one leads to, and you'll also find our wish list.

If you decide to give cash donations on May 14, make them appropriately-festive by donating in one or more of the following amounts (note: Don't let the BIG amounts throw you! I've just added them in case some of the people receiving this have won the lottery or something and can afford them) that go along with his birthday, age, and year of birth:

$5.14

$19.41

$67

$514

$1941

If you would like to send out a box of the items on our wish list (Remember: All items must be new instead of hand-me-downs!), drop Russell an e-mail to let him know that you've sent it. Have the postmaster where you are stamp a nice, big May 14, 2008 postmark on it!

Let's make this May 14 one that Russell and the kids he helps will never forget!

One more thing: two members of his furry family, Rascal (beagle + other ingredients) and Mutsky (sheepdog), have adopted his birthday as their own, so don't forget to wish them a happy birthday as well!

Thanks, in advance, for coming to this virtual surprise party!!!

Ainsley Jo Phillips

Vice-Chairman
Online Chapters
Invisible Youth Network

Editor/Publisher
Vision, Visibility, & Voice

Samples of my writings
can be found by going here:

Bits 'n' Pieces Of A Penlady

glitter-graphics.com

Chapter Twenty

Move Over, Elvis! Here Comes Russell!

Chapter Eighteen--Not Even Enough Time To Connect The Dots (Yet!)

2008-04-10T15:46:00.005-04:00

This will be a very short chapter.

I've been working on a number of IYN-related projects along with both expected and unexpected events that are part of life. For example, my mom's tires. She still can't figure out why the right back tire keeps going flat. Hopefully, she'll get to the bottom of this soon.

Anyway, I'm getting ready to take a much-needed mini-vacation. I'm overdue for one, and it's telling on me. When I return, I'll have a lot to tell.

For now, I wanted to share the link to the latest motivational sheet I created to further expand our mission--which has been very much expanded already! Do I EVER have some stories to tell you when I return! For one thing, it's no longer just Russell, a handful of other people, and I who have gotten involved in getting supplies to our kids!

But more on that later, as my pamper time awaits me!

Remember that there are young people out there who barely know what pamper time is--and some might have never experienced those feel-good parts of life, so please get involved in our mission and make a positive difference!

Now, here's the link...

http://tinyurl.com/3vkb4r

Chapter Nineteen

WooHoo, Everybody! It's May 14, 2008!!!

Chapter Seventeen--Time To Play A Little Catch-Up...

2008-02-28T16:44:00.007-05:00

Just a note to catch everybody up somewhat...

I haven't been writing here that much because I've been working on another very special project, and--between that, the weather, and the flu--I haven't had the chance to get my freezer up here, either, but I'm surviving without it.

Sometimes, things just take more time than you think they will--or, at least, that has been my own experience.

Russell--other than not being exempt from whatever kind of bug it is going around the country and biting everybody--seems to be in very good form these days, and he's happy with how things are progressing with IYN, although he's still disappointed that there isn't even more response than what there has been.

Anyway, this chapter will be short 'n' sweet, because I have to return to what I'm, currently, doing:

Getting publicity out about Vision, Visibility, & Voice, which is the new informative and interactive website I've designed to go along with our mission. I'm still in the process of the early construction of it at this time, but there's still already enough there to make it interesting, so I'm going ahead and getting the word out.

I'm kinda alternating between adding to the site and telling others about it...back-and-forth...back-and-forth.

When you find time and want to, please drop by also and look it over. While it isn't required, it would be great if you'd sign the guestbook, leave a shout in the shout box, and/or leave a comment on the blog. It would also be great if you would get involved in some of the discussions you'll find there. However, 100% lurkers are also welcome!

That's all for now...

Chapter Eighteen

Not Even Enough Time To Connect The Dots (Yet!)

Chapter Seventeen--That Man Keeps Me Hopping!

2008-02-07T20:15:00.003-05:00

Sometimes, I think that Russell's mind travels faster than the speed of sound

(Look at this! Just look at this! As I'm writing this, today is Wednesday, July 23, 2008, and I'm finally getting time to go over this blog and get it spiffed-up--which is why I found that Chapter 17 was still in draft-form. I went into it to find out what was there, and this is what I found--once sentence and not even a period or exclamation mark at the end of it. But I think that this pretty much sums things up!

Russell's mind does work very quickly, and I not only meet him going and coming, but so does he!

Amazing guy--and I just love the stuffings out of him!

Our mission has come so far in such a short time, thanks to God and to so many helpful, generous, and talented people...but, of course, that's all out there in the chapters after this that have already been posted as well as those that are yet to be posted in the future...)

Chapter Sixteen--"When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Go Shopping!"

2008-01-29T12:20:00.001-05:00

I'm happy to report that the going isn't quite so tough now in my own personal life--but, when the going got tough, I definitely DID go shopping (but more on that later)...

For right now, I've got to step away from this blog for a few hours.

The following entry in my latest blog will give you more of an idea of what I'm going to be up to today.

After I return, I'll take up where I'm leaving off now and will tell you more about my day--along with giving you a few fun lessons re: how to promote Invisible Youth Network (or anything else you might want to promote, for that matter).

To be continued...

Obviously, I'm still going in a lot of different directions but will be settling down to tell you more about this soon--like after my new freezer arrives on Tuesday...or, perhaps, it would be more accurate to say that I'll probably be getting back here on Wednesday.

And, at this point, I've decided to continue things in a brand new chapter in which I'll catch you up on a whole lot. Although I'm saying Wednesday at this time, I guess that the more accurate answer re: when I'll be posting here again is:

"I'll see you when I see you!"

(which should be sometime this week...)

Chapter Seventeen

That Man Keeps Me Hopping!

Chapter Fifteen--Trial Separation & The Best Interests Of The Kids

2008-01-25T14:09:00.001-05:00

This is among the most difficult chapters I've composed in this blog.

Russell and I are no longer together.

I'm hoping and praying that this is just temporary, because it just doesn't feel right to me.

Funny thing...

Just a little over a year ago, I didn't even know that Russell existed--and, even this time a year ago when I knew what a treasure I'd found in my new friend who shared a dream with me of rescuing people who were falling through the cracks of society, I never knew how intricately he would be embroidered to my heart by now and how my heart would rip as he yanked out the stitches.

He neither wants me to be a part of Invisible Youth Network nor his life at this time.

I'm afraid I can't grant him those wishes.

Yes, I can grant him space and not intrude upon it, but a piece of my heart will always be left behind there to love him.

And, when it comes to Invisible Youth Network, he can make it so I not only will no longer be a part of his staff of volunteers but he can also ban me (which he has) from any online community groups representing it over which he has control.

However, I'll have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of supporting IYN from the sidelines. I'm still going to plug IYN in any way that I can.

Who knows if he will accept any more donations from me in the way of those things he'd like to have sent to him to distribute to the kids? I don't have that kind of money to send a TLC package and have any chance of having it tossed, unopened, down the garbage chute in his apartment building.

But, with the combination of weather keeping me in and limited funds, I'm not active in that way right now anyway.

One thing I will do, though is to keep encouraging others to send things his way. I'm just one person and can only send so much, and I have other people that I help out, too.

And I'll keep writing about IYN and the young people who need our services.

Writing and blogging are my main talents in all of this.

I'll also encourage people to shop from merchants (both online and off) who give a portion of their earnings to IYN--and this will be what the next chapter of this blog will be about, so stay tuned.

I've always said that, no matter what, I would separate the best interest of our kids from whatever happened between Russell and me.

Even before I fell in love with Russell, I cared.

Even if Russell and I never speak to each other again, I'll still care.

It will take me a very long time to fall out of love with Russell, and I have a feeling that I'll go to my grave still in love with him, even if I live to be 100.

That's not necessarily a bad or sad thing.

I refuse to "settle" just so that others might feel better in knowing that I have that special man in my life and won't be lonely anymore.

Believe me, I would be a lot less lonely remaining single than pretending to be over somebody and going on with my life with somebody else.

Sometimes, it's enough to have been loved for a season and to carry those memories with me for the rest of my earthly life.

Sometimes, it has to be enough just to love that one special person because it feels so right to, even if that person no longer loves me back.

Perhaps, the time will come when I find that person who will make Russell pale in comparison. Perhaps, I'll, again, be pulled up to the drive-up window of my bank, and the teller will see in the glow on my face that something very special is going on, and I'll exclaim to her, "Yes! I'm in love, and his name is __________!"

By then, my hair might be white and my skin transparent, but it could very well happen.

It could even happen this year...but it's not likely...

But then, again, when autumn returns to Indiana, I could be at the station in Beverly Shores, and one of the South Bend South Shore Line interurbans might pull into the station, and I would run to the handsome older man getting off the train with a big, floppy-eared stuffed dog in his arms and we would all embrace before driving to watch the sunset over Lake Michigan.

Or a similar scenario might take place down in Indianapolis with Amtrak.

I still hold out hope of something like this taking place.

For now, though, what matters most of all is what's in the best interest of our kids.

For now and for so long as I'm on this side of life, I'm a virtual homemaker!

Just knowing what kind of a life that Russell has led makes me at least halfway understand why he will get close and, then, put up a wall--not even stopping there, but, also, hurling insults and placing blame from behind that wall.

When Russell gets overworked, he's much more likely to lash out like this, because he's been worn down.

The reason that he gets so overworked is that he's racing against time to help every single young person who is going through some sort of difficulty--for the simple reason that he knows, firsthand, the pain of living this way.

In his way of thinking, he isn't even doing a fraction of enough--and he'll lash out at others (such as myself other volunteers) when we seem to be "wasting our time" with "bullshit" and "chit-chat."

Overall, he just can't seem to understand that he's the one getting in the way of our mission when he starts getting one of his attitudes and driving away willing volunteers.

I've smoothed things over for him time and time again in the way of getting volunteers to understand just how very personal this is for him!

Russell and I are like two parts of a locket. One of our volunteers described the two of us as being the backbone of IYN and, during those times when Russell kicks me out of the organization, things just aren't the same.

And Russell has a lot of administrative and business skills that I don't have, so a lot of things would fall apart without him in the picture at this time--though we're both trying to delegate some of our responsibilities to others.

But this is definitely the time for him and me to draw together instead of rip apart.

Yet, I can't do that if he won't let it happen.

But I can still continue using my own strengths to keep the dream building and coming true in more and broader ways.

So, this is what I'll do.

Before I close, I want to share some music videos with you that remind me of us.

The first one is the very first song that ever reminded me of Russell. The last song expresses the way I feel now. And the other songs in-between fill in more of the fabric of our lives...

It Takes Two

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9OsMFvE_Xc

Making Our Dreams Come True

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8BqNGns3E4

Me & You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPwH6Fkd-90

Til The End

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAvJ2MfnZo4

Chapter Sixteen

"When The Going Gets Tough,
The Tough Go Shopping!"

Chapter Fourteen--Where Do I Begin?

2008-01-09T05:46:00.001-05:00

Things have been so busy that I've barely had time to catch my breath--not just with IYN but with other parts of my life, as well.

But I'm going to try to catch you up just a little...

For starters, here's our latest wish list when it comes to what kind of donations to make.

The first type of donations concern what can be sent by snail-mail/land delivery to:

Invisible Youth Network
c/o Russell T. Hartsaw
940 Park Blvd. Suite #334
San Diego
California
92101

Backpacks
Bedrolls
Bottled Drinks (Non-Alcoholic and non-carbonated)
Gift Cards,--especially Burger King, Jack in The Box, McDonalds and Wendy's.
Food Items (Non-Perishable Snack Food)
Personal Care Items (e.g. combs, travel-sized toothbrush & toothpaste kits, deodorant, travel sized lotion, Chapstick, sanitary napkins, nail clippers)
Hats (Stocking Type)
Hooded Sweatshirts
Hotel Vouchers
Meal Vouchers
Sox
Water Bottles

IMPORTANT: No clothing items in red or blue, as that has a good chance of being mistaken for gang identification and could prove to be dangerous for the wearer.

The second kind of donations are cash donations to various parts of our organization.

I could take you to the page with all of the details without going to a middle spot. However, I'm pretty proud of the poem I wrote about this, and I think it will put you into a happy mood.

Besides, you will also find (contained in the lines of the poem) other ways to help us out.

So, without further ado, I'll just ask you to click here to take you to the poem.

One more thing...

Russell has finally come up with a description of me that tells what I contribute to IYN: Vice-Chairman of Media Relations.

Works for me!

And, so, I've made up a new sig-block that includes that.

The first part of it stays the same, but the graphic at the bottom can be changed to fit the time of year, etc.

Here it is (or as close as I can get to it taking in regards the changes from how it posts here as compared to how it posts with my e-mail...

Ainsley Jo Phillips

Vice-Chairman of Media Relations
@ Invisible Youth Network
Online Journalist

Visit Invisible Youth Network,
and learn how you can make a difference!
Will you Push The (Peaceful) Button?

glitter-graphics.com

Anyway, I think we pretty much have everything covered for now...

Chapter Fifteen

Trial Separation
&
The Best Interests Of The Kids

Chapter Thirteen -- A Progress Report

2007-12-18T15:08:00.001-05:00

Coming within the next 24 hours (or less, I hope) will be a progress report of a very exciting nature!

Please stay tuned...

In the meantime, be sure to read Chapter Twelve, if you haven't already (and, for that matter, even if you have as part of a refresher course)!

UPDATE...January 6, 2008...Things got busy, so there was never any time for an update...so please proceed on to Chapter Fourteen----------->

Chapter Twelve--An Open Letter...To Whom?...To YOU, If You're Reading It!!!

2007-12-03T16:44:00.000-05:00

I hope that this note finds you doing well and looking forward to celebrating whichever holiday(s) and/or special occasions you celebrate during this month (for me, that's Christmas and my birthday--55th this year!--; birthdays and other events of the very special people in my life; and a very special celebration of the college graduation of my "adopted" kid brother and computer guru, Mark, who will be receiving his 4th degree!) and that you'll be looking forward to the brand new slate known as 2008 that makes its debut at the midnight ending December 31 and starting January 1.

I'm sending this message in a lot of different directions--starting with those people on my friends list at Care2 and going with a share at the same place. After that, I'll send it out to people in my address book of my main e-mail address. After that? Who knows!?!

Likely, I'll turn it into a blog-entry and share the url to it in a few more directions!

So, what's all of the excitement about?

It's about making sure that everybody knows that the Care2 community representing IYN (short for Invisible Youth Network) is, for the most part, up-and-running, and all it needs now is participation--which is where you come it.

If you're a member already, you're already there and just need to add your thoughts. If you aren't already a member (membership is free), I hope that you'll join. Either way, you can find important details by going here. One more thing: If you're already a member, why not see how many friends you can invite to join us.

Although membership in our community is absolutely free, we can always use donations for our various projects--and every dollar helps!--so, for those who are interested, here is a page where you can find out more information re: that.

Finally, before I sign off, I've been working on a website of which I'm pretty proud. It's still under construction--in fact, it's one of those websites that will always be a work-in-progress because something new is always going on there--but there's still a lot to see, so, please check it out. Also, please check out Rascal's World and Smart Art International -- and, for those of you at Care2 who wonder where Russell is now (and for anyone else who's interested), check out his profile page at Zaadz and learn about our pod there.

Thanks for reading!

Laters!
AJ

Chapter Thirteen

A Progress Report

Chapter Eleven--Clarence Oddbody Was So Right!

2007-11-20T12:41:00.000-05:00

The following was originally written as a share at Care2...

As Christmas draws near many of us will be looking forward to watching the moving movie classic, It's A Wonderful Life.

I want to share the last part of the movie here (scroll down the page for a link)...

For those who haven't seen it--and I would recommend that you see it a.s.a.p.-- I'm going to give you a summary (without giving too many actual details so that it will be as new as possible for people who haven't yet seen it).

The background leading up to this final part is that George Bailey --from the time that he was a little boy-- had dreams about getting away from his hometown of Bedford Falls and doing something "big" with his life. He would come close a few times, but something always got in the way -- usually, in the form of his putting his own dreams aside so that somebody else could have a better life.

Then, his scatterbrained uncle, Billy, managed to lose the money from the building and loan company while he had his mind on bragging up his other nephew, Harry, who had become a war hero.

If the richest (and most amoral) man in town (Old Man Potter) had been a decent person, the money would have never been lost for long. However, he stole the money while George & Harry's bumbling uncle wasn't looking because he had been jealous of the more popular Bailey family for years and wanted to find a way to bring them down.

If he brought them down, he would have been able to take over the town and turn the people into his slaves to live in his ramshackle tenements while working for peanuts in his businesses.

The loss of the money was the straw that broke the camel's back for George.

While he had always turned down the offers of Old Man Potter to buy him out, he came to him begging to do anything just to have a loan of $5000. He even offered his life insurance policy--to which this evil character made the comment that he was worth more dead than alive, putting the idea of suicide into George's troubled mind.

Just as he had before, George put others ahead of his own plans, because--just as he was about to jump off the bridge--he heard a cry for help from a man who had, obviously, fallen into the churning waters of the river and, instead of jumping in to kill himself, George Bailey ended up diving off the bridge to rescue this man.

But the man wasn't really a man but, instead, a goodhearted--but somewhat retarded--angel named Clarence Oddbody who had been trying to earn his wings for ages, but just didn't quite have the know-how to do it. But God had told him that, if he would take on George Bailey and show him what a worthwhile person he was instead of being a failure, He would give him his wings.

When Clarence thought that he had finally convinced George that people would miss him if he committed suicide, he found out that George was now thinking along the lines of how it would have been better for everybody if he hadn't even been born.

That was when Clarence came up with the idea of showing him what the world would be like without him.

He would find that the name of Bedford Falls would be changed to Potterville, and it would no longer be a family-friendly town but, instead, a town where people slaved for Old Man Potter, lived in tenements, and dulled the pain of their existence with strong drink and unwholesome partying.

His mother would be a childless widow whose scatterbrained brother-in-law had, after his brother's death, run the Bailey Building And Loan into the ground and was now living in a mental hospital having lost his mind over doing this. Of course, at that point, Old Man Potter had totally taken over the business and the town, because neither George nor his brother were there to take it over and run it.

Harry, the younger son and war hero, hadn't even grown up, because he had fallen through the ice and drowned while sledding as a child because George hadn't been there to save his life--and, as a consequence, all of the men on board the ship that Harry had saved from an attack had also lost their lives.

Bailey Park--the housing addition where buying a home was made affordable and realistic--didn't even exist. Instead, all that was there was the graveyard that took in the earthly remains of the townspeople after their miserable existence on earth had ended.

George had thought that his wife, Mary, would have probably married somebody else (perhaps, even rich Sam Wainright) and had their four kids with him. But that hadn't happened, because Mary wasn't meant to fall in love with anyone but George.

Suddenly, George understood how his life had touched so many others and he prayed to live again--and, thus, the rest of this wonderful movie!

Here's something that might be a treat for you, if you adore little Zuzu (whose touching words provide a beautiful climax for this story) as much as I do. She has always reminded me of my goddaughter, Wendy, when she was that age in both appearance and voice.

Even when it isn't anywhere close to Christmas, the message of that wonderful movie is a very important one:

We can all do something to make a positive difference in the lives of others--and, even when we see what we do (good or bad) as being insignificant, we never know, like ripples resulting from the splash of a tiny pebble, how widespread the results might become!

You might believe that--since you can only afford to give a dollar to a place like Invisible Youth Network--what you do really doesn't make a difference, so you might choose to do nothing. But remember that--if everybody felt the same way that you did--nothing would get accomplished. However, if lots of people donated just a dollar (and the more the merrier), IYN would just about be able to have the sky as the limit!

Having said this, I'd like to take you to a donation page.

When you get there, don't lament what you can't do but, instead, focus on what you can!

At this time, I would like for you to pardon my construction dust (if you're visiting there on November 20, 2007) and--if you haven't already--join the IYN Community @ Care2. It won't be in its current construction mode forever. In fact--if you're reading this at a later date--it's, likely, already up-and-running.

If you would like to read a progress report re: construction, you can go here. Even after the construction is finished, I'll still be keeping this thread as a memory.

November 20, 2007 is the 62nd birthday of a wonderful man named Roger Dean Kiser. I hope that you'll pay a visit to his website and read his wonderful stories, The stories are free, but there IS a donation button there--and a donation that's even as small as a dollar will help to keep this important site running.

There have been times when Roger has thought about closing this site because, along with being a labor of love on his part, it has also been a financial drain to maintain it. Then, he will hear how some young person reading his stories was given the courage not to commit suicide at a low time in his/her life, and he knows that he has to keep the site operating for as long as he can, even if all of the money comes out of his pocket.

He told me that even an occasional dollar from everybody reading his stories would make an amazing difference!

I'd like to end this share by taking you to the wonderful words of a story about the big difference made by a homeless, old man sleeping in a cardboard box--somebody whom the world might have given up on and thought that he was simply taking up space.

This story might be pure fiction, but I have the feeling that it was based on something that really happened--and, even if not, I know that it has, in one way or another, happened over and over again.

I know this from personal experience.

Back in the fall of 1973, I wasn't suicidal but I was definitely very depressed--and depression was a new and frightening feeling for me--and was about to drop out of college.

That was when one of my best friends (Diana Foust, who is now Diana Foreman) wrote me an angry letter when I told her of my plans. The gist of the letter was pretty much summed up in one of the sentences she wrote:

"You'd be a fool to drop out of college with all you have going for you!"

Diana was writing this letter from Logansport State Hospital where she had gone (been placed against her will, actually, by her parents--but it turned out to be a helpful experience) to get her medicine adjusted in hopes of lessening her grand mal epileptic seizures. Thanks to her condition, she hadn't even been able to finish high school.

It was her words that made me change my mind about dropping out--and, today, I have a BA in English! Thank you, Diana, for making such a wonderful difference in my own life during a very low time in your own!!!

I'm writing more of my story in detail in a book, but I will say that I would go on to take some other college courses, and, in one of them, I would learn about a new kind of surgery that would soon be coming to the United States that would cure seizures in epileptics!

In 1985 (when she had just turned 33 years old--almost 30 years after starting to have seizures), Diana became one of the first people to undergo this surgery here in the US, and, by 1986, she was even able to drive a car! She would, soon after that, graduate from high school. Today, she holds a good job with benefits at a hospital in the city where she and her family live.

I'd also like to thank a college classmate (Mark "Animal" Williams--not to be confused with my "adopted" kid brother and computer guru who is also named Mark and whom I wouldn't have met had I dropped out of college back in 1973) for his words of encouragement during this painful and confusing time. He told me to write, and I told him that I no longer had that ability--which was very depressing to me in itself, as I had, before then, been a prolific and entertaining writer.

He told me that I didn't have to write something that was really good but just to start writing, and my gift would return to me.

It has! Thank you, Animal!!!

You never know how far something you do will spread (good or bad), so no person nor deed is insignificant!

Now, here's the story about what the old, homeless man living in a cardboard box did.

I'm hoping to see you/continue to see you at IYN @ Care2, because there isn't a one of us who doesn't have anything to contribute to making the difference in the lives of Invisible Youth.

Ainsley Jo Phillips
Vice-Chairman
Resource Center & IYN Community @ Care2

Chapter Twelve

An Open Letter...To Whom?...To YOU, If You're Reading It!!!

Chapter Ten--Two E-Mails From Russell

2007-10-23T03:55:00.000-04:00

Russell sent the following two e-mails to members of our IYN staff at different times on Monday, October 22, 2007 (Note: I haven't done any editing on either text.)...

We have some serious fire issues here in San Diego today. We have seven major fires here with 45 to 55 mile winds. 250,000 people have been evacuated. Many homes and businesses have been lost, due to the winds the fires are spreading at an alarming rate.

San Diego County is on emergency status by the state and federal government, and it is far from over. They cannot contain the fires because of the winds. And evacuations are on-going. And more communities are being burned to the ground.

As well they have a big fire 100 miles north of us in Los Angeles, Topanga Cannon; many celebrities have lost their homes.

The area I live in is safe, downtown. But there maybe nothing left outside of downtown, all hell is breaking lose.

They have opened up the football stadium for people that are now homeless as well as several high schools that are in safe zones.

I am going to the stadium and volunteer to help out; I know that they are short staffed.

************

We have seven fires burning out of control because of the winds. 250,000+ people have been evacuated, and the National Guard has been called in.

I went down to the stadium and helped issue supplies to the people there. I had my name placed on the call in list if they get short of help, many, many people showed-up to help.

Even the military is flying in supplies for the displaced people.

According to the news there is 1,000 fire trucks headed to San Diego with their crews from Arizona, Nevada and Northern California. They cannot attempt to fight the fires until the Santa Anna winds die down. The winds are approximately 55 mph.

Many homes and small communities have been destroyed to day. They had to evacuate a major hospital today as well.

I do not believe it would be appropriate under the circumstances for IYN to fund raise San Diego for funding for the IYN Christmas Party, they have more serious matters and concerns facing them, and it is far from over. Especially with the many dispaced kids, etc.

***********

In the recent past, San Diego--which was growing towards its present size of around seven million people--decided that it was going to give itself an extreme makeover and re-market itself as a great place to live along with being a major tourist attraction.

This decision was a plus in many ways even though it was a minus for several independent businesses that rented space in buildings that were taken over by the powers-that-be using eminent domain.

People who owned the buildings were, likely, reimbursed at "fair market value" with the only downside being that they had no choice as to whether or not they were selling and for what price.

They would be selling, so they'd might as well get enthused about it.

Those, on the other hand, who rented/leased the space left with nothing but what they had been selling, their own furnishings, etc. They had, due to the inexpensive rents/leases, been able to remain in business and do well.

However, they would find no other affordable property in the area where they could simply start over again--which meant that they were out-of-business.

Many of these Mom & Pop businesses had been owned and operated by several generations of the same family--and it had once been thought that this would be ongoing.

Shortly after Russell and I met (online & phone--although some snail-mail has been added since then, face time still lies ahead), he told me that there were about 2000 homeless teens and children who had migrated to San Diego from many different places--some as far away as the East Coast--(due to a relatively-favorable climate year 'round) because what they were trying to escape was, usually, worse than the prospect of surviving out in the open.

Although there are rare exceptions--and those are, generally, quickly taken care of with supportive people around them while they use a phone card or offered cell-phone to call home, after which arrangements are made for their transportation back there--these 2000 young people aren't Tom Sawyers who leave home because they either don't like the rules, want an adventure, or both.

This kind of a life will grow quickly stale for your Tom and Thomasina Sawyers--who will be MORE than glad to return to curfews, limits on TV/computer time, homework, and staying up no later than ten on school nights after experiencing dodging wild animals (e.g. spiders & snakes), muggers, and pedophiles along with sleeping somewhere that isn't climate-controlled.

Yet, it has been an easy out for so long to choose to assume that these kids are just a bunch of juvenile delinquents.

I don't mean that this is true of everybody, because Russell and others who both have worked with these kids on their own and through a local shelter, church groups, etc. show that there ARE people out there who have a clue.

Quite likely, there have more than those people in the area who have a clue--and would like to help but don't know where to begin. Or else, they're just too overwhelmed with their own problems to allow themselves to think about this issue. They might each be thinking, "There's just too many of them, and I'm just one person!"

But, for some reason, while there are stories of involvement (such as what happened when Russell made the decision to use some money of which had been partially meant for him to pamper himself to, instead, treat ten kids to a fast-food dinner on Fathers Day 2007 and found everybody from employees to diners extending hands to these special kids--and, Russell, who has had plenty of practice when it comes to not allowing himself to become too emotional due to having to by necessity for several years of his life, couldn't hold back the tears that day!), these seem to be rare to Russell instead of commonplace.

TRAIN OF THOUGHT WONDERFULLY INTERRUPTED!!!

My train of thought has been wonderfully interrupted by two more e-mails from Russell!!!

Because I had lain down to take a nap and had paused in my writing right above the red lettering, this was as far as I had gotten in my thoughts before receiving the two updates from Russell.

However, I have still decided to continue with the train of thought on which my mind was riding at the time that I was writing this earlier, and you will find this at the bottom of Russell's latest two e-mails...

************

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your many emails regarding our out of control fires here in San Diego, California. As of this morning 300,045 plus people have been displaced, neighborhoods are continuing to be evacuated ahead of the fires.

They have estimated that at least 1,000 homes have been destroyed, not counting other structures and businesses. Many areas they cannot get into because of the fires. So these estimates are far from accurate.

The National Guard is here to assist in law enforcement, state and federal agencies are here in force with many resources. We have 14 military tanker planes on the way to San Diego to drop fire retardant.

Our fires have crossed the border into Tijuana Mexico, which is now in control in Tijuana. Mexico has offered to send resources to San Diego.

There are several shelters that have been set-up in safe zones. The biggest one is at the Chargers Stadium. Due to the large number of kids there, I was invited this morning to join the Counseling Team there. I will be there 2:00 - 6:00 PM daily, If not longer depending on the needs of the kids.

I am proud of San Diegos merchants; they have emptied their shelves and delivered tons of supplies to the stadium. As well pets are being rescued and cared for, and pet food is also available at the stadium, as well as pet supplies.

Many stuffed animals have been delivered for the kids at the stadium, so they will have a friend to hold on to and comfort them.

Invisible Youth Network will be very visible in the recovery efforts, especially in regards to the thousands of kids involved. Our resources will be re-directed to this area. Keep in mind these kids have lost everything.

This has been classified as the worse disaster to ever touchdown in Southern California.

I am personally devastated and very upset with what is going on, so if I do not respond to personal emails for awhile, forgive me I am trying to hold myself together, so I can be of help to these kids.

************

Anyone who wants to watch what is going on in San Diego, you may watch live videos at:

http://www.kusi.com/

************

TRAIN OF THOUGHT CONTINUES...

I don't want to come across as rubbing the thoughts that I'm about to express in the faces of people who have been through so much already and are due to go through more, but I still believe that it's important to express these thoughts, because they aren't just aimed at the people of that area. Instead, they are aimed at people in general...

Before I begin, I would like to requote a part of Russell's next-to-last e-mail...

"I am proud of San Diegos merchants; they have emptied their shelves and delivered tons of supplies to the stadium. As well pets are being rescued and cared for, and pet food is also available at the stadium, as well as pet supplies.

Many stuffed animals have been delivered for the kids at the stadium, so they will have a friend to hold on to and comfort them."

Now, back to my original thoughts...

I'm taking a risk here in telling you something about Russell, and that is that he can be a grumpy, old man at times--and I can just see him reading this and getting in one of his grumpy, old man moods because I let that cat out of the bag that he can be a grumpy, old man at times.

Well, he has that coming for those times when tells people that I talk too much and would get a lot more done if I didn't spend so much time chit-chatting on Facebook! LOL

Anyway, when I called him on the phone a month or two ago, I found him in one of those moods to where I knew that I couldn't do or say anything right in his eyes.

He soon shared the reason for his foul mood. He had just seen a report on the local news that the estimated number of homeless youth in San Diego and the surrounding area had doubled from the estimated 2000 once reported to an estimated 4000.

He had been expecting that, by that time, IYN would have already been set up to help more of those kids.

I told him that we'd already come a long way in that ten of our kids had already been placed in loving homes and that people were starting to take note of us and send donations to help many others.

"It doesn't happen overnight," I reminded him--to which he replied that, while this was so, it should be happening much faster.

"You guys over at Care2," (referring to those of us who had been put in leadership positions) "should be working harder to get the other members more active."

"We are..."

"Oh no you're not! You're all just doing a bunch of chit-chat--and you're the worst one of all at this..."

Usually, with enough talking things through, I can get to what's bothering Russell at a time like this--and, this time, it was his disappointment that the kids couldn't count on us to do something big for them in October as we had originally planned on doing.

Our original plans had been to have a kind of festival in Balboa Park on the third Saturday in October that would include food (originally, a barbecue but we decided that more like a picnic would work better), games, and entertainment. Then, in December, we would have a Christmas party for them.

The object of these occasions was at least threefold:

1. Give homeless kids in the area the chance to have some really good moments in their childhood that they would enjoy in the present and cherish the memories of in the years ahead.

2. Let people of the community get to know them so that they would become more than statistics to them.

3. Encourage donations for their care along with making connections that could result in safe and happy placement of them.

However, he had discovered that it would take at least three or four months in order to get clearance for something like this to take place, so the October festivities were out-of-the-question.

Still, we had Christmas to look forward to--and Russell had decided to look at more private places such as a church or reception hall when it came to venue.

However, he wasn't even sure if this would be something that we'd be able to pull off when the development of our organization was taken into consideration.

Still, he was going to be going out into the community in order to try to generate interest among area businesses, churches, and other organizations.

Russell has told me that, when 911 is called in San Diego to report a fire, every representation of emergency vehicles will rush together to the scene with lights flashing and sirens blaring and howling. That is, there will be at least one police car, one ambulance, and one fire engine, because you never know what you'll find at the scene of the disaster, and they have to be prepared for anything and everything.

There have been many times when we've been talking that those sounds will make it clear up and into Russell's open window on the third floor of his apartment building--and it was during a conversation that we were having late on Sunday night (actually, already the wee hours of Monday morning, Anderson, Indiana time) when I could hear those familiar decibels slicing through the still of the night and drowning out Russell's quietly-playing television while making it necessary for him to raise his voice slightly in order to be heard over the din.

Then, all was quiet once more, and we continued talking about a number of things.

Of course, we talked about IYN, and Russell had a lot of nice things to say about different members of our organization and how they were making a positive difference in the lives of the kids (Yvonne, Dana, and I were among those mentioned in this positive light!).

He did a little grumbling about some things as well, but most of the conversation was upbeat, and we did quite a bit of cutting up, too. I've told Russell that he could be a very successful stand-up comedian if he ever decided to go that route!

Shortly after we met back in January, Russell told me that he was going to say the word "elephant" and see what came to mind.

Of course, I began to picture an elephant and my mind and could describe its characteristics and to remember various things that I'd thought of about an elephant in the past.

He went on to tell me that--even though I hadn't been thinking about elephants before he'd said "elephant"--I could still come up with all sorts of thoughts and memories about elephants once he did.

This showed how miraculous the brain was when it came to storing a limitless number of thoughts and memories until they were needed--after which those thoughts and memories would come to mind.

This past Sunday night/Monday morning, I began talking to Russell while still sitting in my office and looking over things on my computer, but the time came when I just wanted to take the phone into the other room, put my legs and feet up, cover myself with a blanket, and continue talking to Russell from this more comfortable position.

His voice is so soothing that it wouldn't make me unhappy just to drift off to sleep listening to him talk and to awaken to the sound of his voice the next morning.

He told me that he would be going to sleep soon and that Rascal would pick a spot--usually, with his nose tucked under Russell's chin right up against his Adam's apple--and they would lie there all night with Russell's arms wrapped around Rascal.

"Lucky dog!" I responded with a sigh.

Under normal circumstances, the "elephant" called "my October 21-22 conversation with Russell" would have brought back the associations that I mentioned--along with his plans to celebrate his recovery from being under-the-weather with some fresh air and sunshine on the first two days of the new week.

Monday, he had told me, he would be spending part of the day in the border town of San Ysidro visiting the little independently-owned shops with their intriguing merchandise and grabbing a bite to eat somewhere.

On Tuesday, he would be taking the bus out to a very nice location of Hometown Buffet that would not only give him a great all-you-can-eat meal but, also, a ride past lots of beautiful homes and other pleasant scenery.

He had a game plan to arrive when they were still serving breakfast to where he would not only be able to enjoy some great breakfast food but, also, get admitted at the breakfast price--and, then, linger on into lunch!

Yes, those would be the things I would have remembered when I thought about our last telephone conversation--and thoughts of the passing emergency vehicle parade probably wouldn't have even come to mind, had life gone on as normal.

But, obviously, it didn't--and I believe that what we heard in the wee hours of the night were some of the first vehicles called to the scene of what would become part of the after that followed the before...that defining time much like the difference between sunrise and sunset on September 11, 2001 (but, thankfully, with far less loss of life--though even a single casualty is one-too-many).

Since I began writing this tenth chapter of this beautiful, ongoing story, time has passed, and it's now the afternoon of Thursday, October 25.

The last time I checked, the winds had died down and the fires had been put in their place. What is left now is the aftermath--and the future...

One way to turn into a saint is to cross over to the other side, because people are then inclined to want to remember you without your warts.

San Diego--and much of Southern California--went through a kind of death earlier this week.

Like the grandfather clock in that famous song, the clock of business-as-usual "stopped short never to go again" when the San Diego and surrounding area that had been taken for granted just days ago "died."

Many times over, Russell has been touched by those who have reached out along with him to the kids he's trying to help. Still, he wonders--as I also do--why the available help is still not in proportion with the size of the city.

We also wonder why it is that being a vagrant is often equated with being a criminal--even a criminal of felony proportions!

Do you also see the irony in how this story was broadcast only a little over two days before life changed so drastically to where homelessness had more of a personal feel to it instead of something that only happened to "that kind" of people!?!

No matter! We are now on the other side of a turning point going towards the future. Those who still have are giving generously to those who don't still have, and even those who don't still have still seem to have their hopefulness still intact--and, perhaps, even more now than before this happened.

For some reason, disaster--while it can bring out the worst in people--will, often times, bring out the best instead.

Will this feeling of good will, hope, and generosity last?

We can only hope...

I'm going to end here with another e-mail that Russell sent to us yesterday afternoon...

Good Afternoon,

There is a lot going on in my neck of the woods, I will not comment on it other than to say that there is a million plus people that have been evacuated. Futher details is all over the national news.

I worked an earlier shift at the stadium today. They have approximately 10,000 displaced people there. President Bush will be in San Diego, California tomorrow.

In regards to the IYN Christmas Party, as of today we have joined forces with a venture that many of the homeless kids in shelters from Arizona throughout California is planning with some sponsorship from relared agencies. Their Christmas Party. They are all coming together in San Diego on Saturday, December 15, 2007 for the event.

(One paragraph of confidential correspondence to our staff deleted.)

Again I would like to thank you for the many emails that I have received, and the donations that we have received which will go towards our contribution to the Christmas Party for the homeless kids.

Russell T. Hartsaw
Founder & Chairman
Invisible Youth Network

http://www.freewebs.com/invisibleyouth

Russell Online

http://www.freewebs.com/russellonline

Chapter 11

Clarence Oddbody Was So Right!

Chapter Nine--Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree!

2007-09-29T15:56:00.000-04:00

It looks as if now our first big bash for the kids will be on the Saturday before Christmas.

Russell has written about it, and I'm going to be posting here what he wrote (with a handful of edits, but these are still his words).

Note: The following is a rant that I wrote when I prepared this for posting on Saturday while--due to circumstances mentioned below--I had no idea when this would be viewable by the public. If you're reading this now, that means that the events discussed in the rant are now history, but you can read it if you want to, as this might have happened to you in one way, shape, or form.

But it's not really the most important part of this message--just a description of what was going on at the time--so it's up to you whether you read it or skip it.

I would like to thank the people at Blogger for getting this situation corrected as quickly as they did.

Unfortunately, I don't know how long it will be before anybody gets to read this chapter because there's a problem that seems to be caused by site robots locking this down as a spam blog. One of my other blogs is in the same condition.

I can't help but wonder if this were caused by a site robot detecting something on its own or if it were caused by real humans trying to cause trouble and inconvenience who decided to flag these two blogs.

There ARE actually people out there--and don't even get me started!--who seem to have too much time on their hands, and they looooooove to do things such as report blogs, surveys, etc. that don't deserve to be reported.

They are, I believe, of the same kind of moronic species who love to create computer viruses, and their more sinister types can even turn a penny into something very evil (but I won't give away that recipe here).

Anyway, this will get straightened out soon, I hope, because this information needs to be given out.

But don't worry! In one way or another, the mail will go through!

For when it finally posts, here's Russell's announcement (originally posted in places such as Care2)...

End of rant and on with main wonderful message...

IYN Christmas Party

The Invisible Youth Network is planning a Christmas Party for an estimated 4,000 homeless kids in San Diego, California where our Headquarter Division is located, on Saturday, December 22, 2007.

These are for kids who sleep on the streets because, for one reason or another, they are scared to return home, and, by sleeping on the streets, they are every day battling hunger, hygiene, predators, sickness, weather and a multitude of other issues.

We are aiming for entertainment, gifts for each kid, potluck meals and refreshments. As well as getting the business, professional and religious communities involved in this endeavor. And we encourage each of you to do something similar within your community, through your church, civic group or work place.

I am asking our members (Note: The members to whom Russell is referring to in this message are those who are part of our online community at Care2--and even they are not required to do this but just encouraged to--but I'm sharing this as a request for anyone wanting to be part of this wonderful occasion!) to donate $2.00 - $5.00 towards this endeavor for these kids. My donation will be $25,00 as well as coordinating this event in San Diego, California.

If you would like to donate by mail you can send your donation to:

Invisible Youth Network
940 Park Avenue, Suite #334
San Diego, California 93101

c/o Russell T. Hartsaw

If you would like to donate online you may do so at:

http://www.orgsites.com/ca/youthoutreachinternational/_pgg1.php3

If you are thinking of sending a gift for one of these kids, please refer to:

http://www.freewebs.com/invisibleyouth/foodbankprogram.htm

Thank you for making a difference!

Russell T. Hartsaw
Chairman
Invisible Youth Network

Chairman_iyn@yahoo.com

Chapter Ten

Two E-Mails From Russell

Chapter Eight--"The Times They Are A-Changin'"

2007-09-05T06:58:00.000-04:00

There are both advantages and disadvantages to being in on the ground floor of an organization.

Here are a couple of advantages:

Years later when we have long joined the better-knowns (e.g. Habitat for Humanity, Save the Children, Amnesty International, March of Dimes)--Yes, Russell, it's going to happen!--those of us who were with Invisible Youth Network "way back then" will be able to look back and realize how far we've come in our mission!
We make up part of a special group that will give IYN its shape and sense-of-direction.

Then, there are those disadvantages...but, actually, more like inconveniences rather than disadvantages...just a part of being a young group...

One of those disadvantages/inconveniences is that we're trying to do a big job while only having a small staff that is active and established.

The other one of which I'm thinking is not really a disadvantage at all but, instead, something good that sometimes becomes an inconvenience:

We are still in a stage of seeing what works great, doesn't work at all, works well but could work much better, etc.

This results in, among other things, memos such as this one from Russell:

The new Invisible Youth Network website is located at:

http://www.freewebs.com/invisibleyouth/

Our new website has the following capabilities:

Chat
Designs
Forum
Group
Members
Messages
People locater by cities
Revenue
Web Host Support

And several extras to fix-up your site.

Please make the appropriate changes in your blogs, websites, whatever.

Our old website is now our new Research Center.

The Care2 administration has informed me that by using the Host Announcements on the groups, each member of the group will receive a copy.

However I suggest that we do not flood our members with several messages. Just messages of importance.

The Invisible Youth Network has to date 1,400 + members, this is a lot of potential resources and donations. I do not want these members falling through the cracks.

I have stopped counting your individual groups, as it takes an act of congress to get your counts. I do not have the time and patience for it. From now on I am only counting Care2, zaadz.com and our website members.

It is 1:26 AM Russell time. I have accomplished a lot in the last three hours, so I am off to bed.

Russell

One thing I've having to do is to make revisions in my blog information. Although I don't plan on going back to every single blog page and updating it, I'll be updating several of the main ones along with making announcements here and there.

Just a few minutes ago, I revised the online version of an activity sheet that I composed for IYN. I had just (in the past couple of days) made 100 more copies of the hard-copy version. I had been thinking of making 200 copies. Fortunately, I didn't.

The next copies I make will, of course, reflect the revisions. With these, I will simply staple a small slip of paper informing readers of the recent revisions.

Personally, I'm pleased with the changes. The new main website of our organization has so much more potential for holding the interest of visitors than the old one did--but the old one definitely also holds the interest of those who want to further delve into what we're all about.

This is all for now.

In the days ahead, I'm going to be writing a new chapter (one per day until I get everybody caught up), but I can't really tell you what each one will be about. I would like to continue and finish what I've already started, but this is a time of a lot of changes happening, so I can't really say for sure what I'll be posting.

You'll just have to stay tuned in order to find out...

Chapter Nine

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree!

Chapter Seven--John Lennon Was Right!

2007-08-26T23:34:00.000-04:00

Yeah-Yeah-Yeah!
Life IS What Happens To You While You're Busy Making Other Plans!

Let's do a little history here...

We're now in Chapter Seven--and Chapter Seven was supposed to have been where Chapter Four continued after we went off in another direction. But, of course, Chapter Four originally was to have been one chapter that didn't have to be continued, but it got so darn long...

Anyway, I think you have the picture of how things have been.

In short, things are getting very busy, and I've been pulled in a number of directions.

For right now, I'm just going to say that this is a kind of transition--a place for me to kinda catch my breath before going on to the next chapter, which can't really be written until I've finished the current campaign (which has taken much longer than originally planned).

As I see it, tomorrow will be the day when I write a real progress report. For now, however, I'm just letting everybody know that this blog is still being written...

Chapter Eight

"The Times They Are A-Changin'"

Chapter Six -- Born To Be Revised!

2007-08-13T08:49:00.000-04:00

As I've mentioned here and here, I'm in the middle of a special campaign. Originally, it should have all been done on Saturday, August 11, but I was only able to start laying the groundwork on that day and decided to do it on August 12 instead.

However, August 12 found me with still more groundwork to lay, and--while I got a great start on it that day and now have my ducks in a line--the places I wanted to contact were closing for the day, so I only got three out of 12 contacted and will be finishing that up today (August 13).

Not to worry, because I went to other phases of the project--plus the getting my ducks in a line was an important phase in and of itself.

Yes! I know that I'm talking in riddles--but come back here at the end of the day, because I'm going to be adding to this blog-entry in the form of an account of the entire time.

In the meantime, let me repeat the importance of checking this out and, also, invite you to become a member of our brand new group at Razoo where, if we get a minimum of 100 members by September 15 (and membership is free!), we will be eligible to be put into a contest where we could win $10,000 for our organization!!!

Anyway, this is as good of a stopping place as any until I get back here again...

...............................

Just popping in for a minute
...

I'm on my way out to finish the campaign I began over the weekend. I had planned to finish it yesterday, but it just got too late--and it's on its way to becoming too late again--but not quite, because I finally got started yesterday around five-thirty, and it looks as if I'll be on my way by one or one-thirty today. This makes a lot of difference, because the places I'm needing to go all close at eight.

So, as Aunt Marce always used to say, "I'll see you when I see you!"
...
Oh yes! It's now Tuesday, August 14--and, yes, it's still 2007!

...

Today is Wednesday, September 5, 2007--and time to wish my cousin, David, a very happy 54th birthday! I've actually made two blog-entries since making this one but haven't had time to connect them, so I'm just here to connect them...

Chapter Seven

John Lennon Was Right!

Chapter Five -- Better Late Than Never...

2007-08-12T11:06:00.001-04:00

This chapter will be a short one, as I'm running behind the way that it is...

This is just to let you know that I'm celebrating Invisible Youth Network In Action Day one day late--but that's better than not celebrating it at all...

Confused?

I bet you are!

Don't worry, I'll let you know what I'm talking about when I get back from celebrating...Oh yes! Don't hold your breath, as it will be several hours from now (possibly, even tomorrow) before I make another post here.

Anyway, I'm outta here...

One more thing! Please check out what lies behind this link--and, hopefully, share your thoughts there along with the 27 others who, as of this writing, already have!

NOW, I'm outta here...

Chapter Six

Born To Be Revised!

Chapter Four -- Celebration Week!!!

2007-07-10T12:53:00.000-04:00

Lots Of Great Reasons To Celebrate!!!

I don't believe that I'm going to forget Independence Day 2007 and the days surrounding it for so long as I live and have the ability to remember things!!!

On the first day of July, I was told a secret--a secret I wanted to shout from the mountaintops, but one that was best kept a secret, as "There's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip."

Sharing this secret and, then, having it not come true would have been a big letdown for our kids should any of them had the chance to read it (though, as you will find out later, it would have been like the chance of a snowball surviving an inferno for this to have happened).

It was on that day that Russell had another surprise for the kids.

He had eaten at this new Mexican restaurant a few days before and had given the owners--a fun brother and sister--one of his business cards. The sister had asked him to give her more details about what he did, and that was when he told her about the kids. She and her brother invited them to come in the following Sunday for meals on the house!

The kids were such a big hit that the owners told Russell that they were welcome to come in twice-a-week for free food after that--but they also took him aside and told him something else: They wanted dibs on Jo Jo--but they wouldn't take him until the other nine kids had been placed. They would be checking with their friends, relatives, and neighbors to see how many might be interested in taking in a young person in need of a home!

Russell would be told the following Sunday whether or not this would become a reality. In the meantime, we weren't going to tell the kids anything because we didn't want to build them up just to let them down. They had been let down enough.

Even before this had happened, Russell reminded me that our kids wouldn't always be together as a unit so not to get too attached to them. Too late, Russell! Too late for both of us!

Of course, I knew that they wouldn't always be in the situation that they were now in--that was the idea: Get them off the streets a.s.a.p. Then, begin to work with another group of ten kids.

Still, our first family-of-ten would always hold an extra-special place in our hearts!

I told him that I didn't ever want to lose track of a single one of these kids and that I would be making up little packages for them that would include, among other things, two self-addressed envelopes apiece that had been stamped with Forever Stamps.

I had already decided to make this Fourth Of July a time to take a mini-road-trip to "destination unknown" while collecting my thoughts. I'd wear red, white, and blue; bring a minimum of one disposable camera with me; eat at least one good meal; and, wherever I happened to be that night, enjoy the fireworks. Beyond that sketchy framework, I'd be playing it by ear.

One thing for sure would be that I'd be passing out some information slips that I was having made at Copy Connection (on the corner of 10th and Scatterfield 765 643-6070, in case anybody reading this happens to be in Anderson and would like some quality printing done. We have some other great printing places here as well, but this is the one that I use most. When I have something done elsewhere, I'll be sure to tell you about them!).

What I had done was to copy the same information over three times and copied onto light-pink paper that would be divided into thirds, with the information being the urls of this blog, our organization's website, my latest website (still in its early stages of development), and my e-mail address for receiving feedback.

The day before, I was in the Family Dollar up at Southdale Plaza (a couple of miles north from home), and I kept seeing all of these wonderful food items and was getting into the mood to do a little TLC-Package-shopping--but not just then.

So, as I left, I asked the check-out clerk if they were keeping any sort of hours the next day--and she told me that it was going to be business-as-usual.

I told her that I'd be coming back to do some more shopping, more than likely.

A note here: The first Family Dollar store where I went to get things for a TLC-Package was out in Edgewood (a community just west of Anderson), and the one other Family Dollar where I went was up in Michigan City along U.S. 20.

One thing that Family Dollar has are these individual-sized snacks (e.g. potato chips, nachos, etc.) that sell four for a dollar! On my first trip there (since I started making up TLC-Packages), they were three-for-a-dollar, and I thought that THIS was a sweet deal, so I'm now totally-blown-away!!!

Here's a tip about another place...

If I hadn't already bought all I needed at that time of my four-for-a-dollar snacks at Family Dollar up in Michigan City, I could have also bought some of them at a Mom & Pop place in Town of Pines called Spotlite--and, next time I'm up there, I'll, likely, make it a point to buy some of them there as well.

Spotlite is a combination gas station, grocery store, and deli (plus, they have some kind of TV business going on, too), and their sandwiches are made-to-order and absolutely delicious!

In case you don't already know, Town of Pines is west of Michigan City on U.S. 12.

Anyway, once I tied up a few loose ends at home on the Fourth, the first place where I went was back to Family Dollar.

At one time, there had been a post office on the grounds of Indianapolis International Airport called Air Cargo, and it was open (had full window service) 24/7 & 365. I had, on several occasions, gone there shortly after a new year had arrived in order to send out mail to people with a January 1 postmark. One one occasion, I had been in the area for The Fourth of July. There had also been a number of other holidays when most post offices would be closed (as well as on occasional Sundays) that I had fun sending off items and getting postmarks like one couldn't get from one's average post office.

However, that began to change.

Air Cargo was phased out as a public post office, and their services were delegated to the Park Fletcher Post Office a mile or so away.

For a short time, Park Fletcher had everything just like Air Cargo but gradually began to cut back on services.

The last time I had used their services, there was no holiday postmark option for regular mail, but there still was for packages. I imagined what a treat it would be for the kids to get packages with a Fourth of July round date.

As it turned out, the post office no longer was open at all on Sundays and holidays and only open until eight at night on other nights.

But, backing up a little...

After I went shopping for items to fill two or three boxes (those items being what would be making up my special packages for our kids along with a variety of non-perishable foods and even a couple of toys--though Russell told me to quit wasting my money on toys, because homeless kids weren't in the mood to play due to their focus being on survival, so I'm passing that advice along to anyone else who is reading this. However, they DO enjoy receiving things such as postcards that represent where you live. In a future chapter, I will write about what it's like to be a homeless kid--as well as how kids get into this situation in the first place. It's a real eye-opener! READ it and don't hide your head in the sand!!!), I decided to grab my first Fourth of July picnic of the day and go eat it at this beautiful place called Flagship Industrial Park.

Since I was in a hurry, I simply grabbed some delicious items from the Southdale Plaza location of Family Dollar (where I had just finished my shopping) to make up the picnic I would be eating. When I was out the evening before, I'd put together a wonderful meal from the Gas America across from Flagship's main entrance off of Martin Luther King Blvd. (formerly, Pendleton Avenue, and a.k.a. State Rd. 9/Indiana 67).

Of course, wherever I went, I would leave behind at least one of the pink information slips I'd had made at Copy Connection.

Let me stop here in my story to tell you that I met some really fantastic people in my travels. With some of them, I remember their names. With others, I don't. However, I remember most of their locations, so I've decided that the best thing to do is to describe them, where I met them, and what they did and forget about naming them.

Originally, I was going to write this and use every name (generally, first names only), but I hope that they're happy having their stories told--and, if they happen to read this, they'll know and they can point themselves out to their families and friends.

We in Anderson and the surrounding areas of Madison County are excited to announce that Nestle has decided to build a big, wonderful complex southwest of the city. This is due to open sometime within the next few months, and its construction has already come a long ways and looks very impressive.

I decided to enter Flagship Industrial Park from that direction and, at the very least, enjoy the view and take some pictures of the progress.

However, I was hoping for something more--and I got what I wanted!

In case you were wondering what, it was people!

I was met at the beginning of the road by a security guard, and he asked me where I was planning to go. I told him that I was going to wander through there to get to Flagship where I would be enjoying a little picnic, gathering my thoughts, and getting some things done, explaining that I was part of an organization that helped homeless youth.

After that, I gave him one of the mini-handbills on which I had placed the following information:

Virtual Homemaker

http://vh1952.blogspot.com/

Invisible Youth Network

http://www.orgsites.com/ca/youthoutreachinternational/

AJ Online

http://www.freewebs.com/ajpenlady

Contact:

ainsleyjo@riversongs.tv

I encouraged him to look at the information for himself on his computer--and, also, if he had the chance, to share it with some of the Nestle brass. I had pictures in my mind of Nestle doing a number of things from donating some of their delicious products to participating in some way during Invisible Youth Month. Even so, I won't hold it against them if they don't, as deep pockets only run so deep, and there's only so much that can realistically be spent on even the best of good causes.

However, it really would be cool to at least have them as one of our partners where we put one of their links on our website while they put one of our links on their website.

Even if that security guard never even came in contact with one of the brass, he was an individual in and of himself with his own contacts. Who knows just how far the information on one little pink slip of paper would travel!?!

He told me that he was going to call his co-worker (at the other end of the property) to let him know that I was okay to pass through.

I told him that I would be back through the same way on a return trip to catch the back way into Pendleton.

When I got to the other end of the property, I told the other security guard that I was that lady he'd been warned about! LOL Then, I gave him one of my handbills.

As I enjoyed my little picnic, I began to look through what I'd bought and to decide how I was going to put everything together.

One thing I needed for sure was a note to go out to all ten of our kids.

We interrupt this blog-entry to give you a very special report...stand by...

This is getting to be a very long blog-entry (You will notice that the posting will probably list it as being put up earlier than the date I'm actually posting it--which is because I put it up to see what it would look like once posted), and there's a special Chapter 5 that needs to be put up no later than tomorrow, so I'm going to put this story on hold and pick it up in Chapter 6. UPDATE (August 12, 2007): This story will pick up in Chapter 7 instead of Chapter 6, due to next story being a two-parter...

An important thing to add right now is that all items sent to be used for our kids should be new ones instead of used ones, because many of them haven't had anything new in a long time--if ever!

Please save your used items for organizations that accept them, as there are plenty of those out there as well.

On this note, I will close, and this wonderful account will continue in Chapter 7--but don't forget to read Chapters 5 & 6...

Chapter 5

Better Late Than Never...

Chapter Three -- A Little More About Those TLC Packages

2007-07-01T18:58:00.000-04:00

I would like to dedicate this chapter to sharing a few thoughts about the TLC packages...

Food is always needed, and there are many ways that you can provide food--among them:

Load up priority mail containers with snacks that are packaged and don't require refrigeration, heating, and/or can-openers. These can be individual packages of munchies such as potato chips, nachos, Sun Chips, popcorn, trail mix, onion-ring-flavored snacks; single-serving packages of raisins; juices and ades in non-fragile, individual containers such as single-serving plastic bottles and juice boxes; sealed cups of shelf versions of gelatin dessert, pudding, and fruit in juice; any kind of candy, cookies, or other packaged-and-ready-to-open-and-enjoy dessert that won't melt in-transit; can-opener-not-needed containers of tuna/tuna salad--but no other kind of meat (most don't care for Vienna sausages, for example, so no use to send those); and be sure to include packages of plastic eating utensils (mostly, spoons).
Send greeting cards in which you've enclosed certificates and gift cards to chain-type restaurants such as McDonald's that have locations in San Diego.
Send donations--either by check or money-order using snail-mail or else by PayPal using e-mail.

One thing that the kids seem to enjoy is how the gifts are starting to arrive from all over--even from foreign countries such as Italy and Germany!

Items that represent where you live such as pictures, postcards, maps, newspapers, menus from local restaurants, and other neat things are fun, educational, and connecting!

But don't forget to always send something necessary as well.

Although these kids need to have the chance to have childhoods and teen years, survival is at the top of their list for the moment.

Here are some of the items that they need besides food--which can be paid for with donations, gift cards to stores that are all over such as Sears, J.C. Penney's, etc., and even by finding and packing some of them:

back packs
bedrolls/blankets
socks
stretch-knit caps to keep their body heat in at night
soap
deodorant
band-aids
shampoo
brushes and combs
casual clothing
phone cards (for land phones such as pay phones)

Tip: If anyone reading this works for a motel or has a collection of those little soaps, shampoos, lotions, facial tissue, etc. collected during their travels, consider sending what you don't want for yourself in a TLC package.

Tip: When sending care packages, don't pack too many heavy things together or it might slow down the transit. During a time when I mailed several packages, my heaviest one got separated from the others and arrived a couple of days later. I had sent bubble solution because I'd imagined the kids really enjoying blowing bubbles, as that's a wonderful, carefree thing to do in nice weather. Unfortunately, the wands and the solution didn't arrive together, and the kids had too much of a focus on survival to think ahead to the arrival of the jars of bubble solution, so they left the wands with Russell. I told him that he could donate them to a residential shelter if he wished, but I believe that he's going to keep them and see if the kids will show some interest in the near future.

One thing (heh-heh) I did was to send a "package of interest" to our ten kids with instructions not to show it to Dad until they were ready to involve him with it properly. That might have happened today. I'll probably be hearing about that. I'm saying no more until I know more (heh-heh)...

And, on this note, I'll close this chapter...

Chapter Four

Celebration Week!!!

Chapter Two -- Doing At Least Something While Waiting/Wanting To Be Able To Do More

2007-07-01T14:03:00.000-04:00

It's going to be five in the evening back here before long--meaning that it's getting close to two in the afternoon out in San Diego. I wonder if Russell is still out with the kids or if they've worn him completely out and he's on his way back to his apartment to get a little rest.

I know what Russell and the kids were up to a couple of hours ago--feeding their faces at a Mexican restaurant owned and operated by a brother and sister team.

According to an earlier e-mail from Russell, this was to have been a surprise for them--and the beginning of something regular and wonderful.

You see, starting with this meal today, the owners have decided to have the kids in for a meal twice weekly!!!

This is just one shining example of community involvement in this very worthy cause.

If we had our way, there would already be safe places set up for every single kid walking in similar "shoes" to those of the ten to whom Russell has become a father figure. These ten kids (whose ages range from 9-15) only make up a fraction of all of those needing food, shelter, and comfort in the San Diego area alone.

One night, Russell and I were talking on the phone, and he was sharing how he loved to go to this one area of the city where a large number of kids had created a kind of village for themselves in a secluded woods.

He would bring them packages/containers of food and beverages that required no heating and/or refrigeration. A handful of these kids would trust both him and their surroundings enough to venture out of hiding to take enough food for themselves and several of the others who chose to remain in seclusion.

I told him that I would really like to help, and he was happy to hear that.

Upon talking to a postmaster, I found out that there are these priority mail containers that travel for a flat rate of $8.95 (plus--optional but recommended--another 65 cents in order to be able to track their progress).

These containers are designed to seal with very little--if any at all--trouble and each one can hold a large amount of items such as individual bags of munchies (e.g. potato chips, cheese curls, nacho chips); plastic bottles/cardboard boxes of ades and juices; single-serving boxes of raisins; cups of store-on-the-shelves gelatin and fruit cocktails; etc. I was also able to include a package of 51 spoons for them.

I believe that the first time I just sent one box to see how it would go over. I was happy to find out that my package got rave reviews (and the kids couldn't believe that somebody from all the way in Indiana had sent it!) and had plans to send another one or two packages on the heels of the first one.

However, a lot of other things came up to where I was unable to go on another shopping spree, so I decided that, this time around, I would send cash in a greeting card.

After all, I was wanting to send a little cash out to Russell at that time anyway--enough to get him the filet mignon steak with all of the trimmings about which he'd been dreaming ever since he had tasted his first--and last--one two or three years before. He has planned on treating himself to a steak dinner in June, but other expenses had ruled that out.

No way--if I had anything to do with it--was Russell going to miss out on that steak dinner!

So, I sent him enough money to buy such a steak dinner and said that he could use the left over money on buying the kids some snacks. Of course, I intentionally made the "left over" money a considerably larger amount than that of the steak dinner.

But I was serious at the time about Russell's being good to himself with enough of that money to purchase and enjoy his dream dinner.

I have learned--from almost six months of knowing this unique man--that he doesn't always follow directions.

However, I wasn't at all upset when he told me that he was going to use ALL of the money on taking the kids out to eat--that his steak dinner could wait awhile longer.

That's just Russell Thomas Hartsaw for you--but, as you will soon see, the very angels he planned to help insisted on giving back!!!

He had made advance arrangements with a near-by McDonald's to check the prices and see if the manager would object to his bringing in a few homeless youth to eat there.

The manager told him that he would match him dollar-for-dollar in purchases--which meant that there would be plenty for the ten kids who would be coming in to eat, plus lots to take back to the woods to both share with their friends and have more for themselves!!!

Russell and I were growing more and more excited by the minute and couldn't wait for the big day--which happened to be Fathers Day!--to arrive.

I'm going to close this chapter with Russell's own words (which also tell the wonderful story of how I went from being just a virtual wife to being a virtual mother as well--thus, the handle of Virtual Homemaker!) on this and will continue with my own in the next chapter...

************

Donations to the Invisible Youth Network Food Bank, make it possible for us to feed homeless youth no matter where we find them.

And as well, more stories are possible like the one that you are about to read.

Through a generous donation from Ainsley Jo Phillips our Executive Director - Special Projects for the Invisible Youth Network and a matching donation from a local McDonalds Restaurant here in San Diego, California, I was able to take ten homeless youth to lunch on Sunday, June 17, 2007 at 2:00 PM at McDonalds.

These kids range in age from 9 through 15, and are 10 out of an estimated 2.000 homeless youth walking the streets of San Diego, California alone.

There was no end to McDonalds generously to the kids. After the kids munched down on all of their favorites, the Manager gave each one a doggie bag filled with goodies to give to a friend in need. The Manager did not stop there; he gave each kid a gift card that was good for more of McDonald's favorites.

The Manager informed me that he would market the other McDonalds restaurants in Southern California on our behalf to follow suit and reach out to these kids. And will get back to me with a list.

This is not over yet by a long shot.

Many of the employees and customers were walking up to the kids and handing them money and business cards. Yes these kids were stunned as I was.

The kids got together trying to figure out a way to show their love and appreciation to Ainsley. They came up with a unique way, and I agreed to put it together and send it to Ainsley, after I wiped the tears from my eyes.

I tried to buy my own lunch, the kids would not hear of it. They insisted that they feed me, and they did. I had 10 kids giving me bites of their lunch. I may never eat again.

I applaud Ainsley, McDonalds, their staff and customers for giving
these homeless kids a day they will not soon forget.

And yes I got awarded to, never a bill at the Manager's restaurant. But how much McDonalds can you eat? Those kids broke world records
on that today.

There is a God and good people out there.

Russell T. Hartsaw
Chairman
Invisible Youth Network

Here is what the above said kids had me prepare and send to Ainsley, in a certificate format.

Certificate of Adoption

Presented to:

Ainsley Jo Phillips

Our Adopted Mother

Thank you for reaching out to us, and showing us your love. We shall pick out a star this evening and name it after you. You shall be our guiding star forever.

Your new teenage homeless family:

Betty Anne F.
Bobbie A.
Gerald S.
Jo,Jo
Little Warrior
Robin M.
Ronnie C.
Sonny W.
Survivor
Tabitha S.

You will be in our prayers and thoughts Mom.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

A large percent of homeless kids leave home due to physical and sexual abuse. Our goal, intentions and mission is to make sure that they do not make this jouney alone.

Help us ... help!

Russell T. Hartsaw
Chairman
Invisible Youth Network
940 Park Boulevard, Suite 334
San Diego, California 92101

E-mail Us:

This is taken from our web site at:

www.orgsites.com/ca/youthoutreachinternational

Where their is a PayPal donaltion button located as well.

http://www.orgsites.com/ca/youthoutreachinternational/_pgg4.php3

Chapter Three

A Little More About Those TLC Packages

Chapter One -- Early Stages Of The Dream

2007-06-30T23:10:00.000-04:00

Russell has told me at various times that he really hates telephones--yet, in spite of this, our telephone conversations have very seldom been short ones.

I'm one of these people who pays a flat rate to get unlimited long-distance in the USA plus reasonable rates in various other countries. This really works out great for my "adopted" kid brother and computer guru (Mark) and me, because we're able to stay on the phone together while troubleshooting my computer along with doing other online activities that I'm not yet able to do on my own.

Take our online store (that is, the Cafepress store associated with Invisible Youth), for instance...

Without sounding as if I'm bragging, I took care of the appearance of the storefront on my own, and I think that I did a great job of it! But, when it comes to doing Adobe Photoshop, I'm still quite wet-behind-the-ears. Therefore, I will tell Mark what kind of graphic I'm trying to design, and he will set out to design it: tweaking it until it, at the very least, matches up with the vision in my head but, usually, turns out even better!

But Russell and I got to the place where we were talking several times a week and, usually, at great length--until he told me that this had to stop. He reminded me--as well as himself, I think--that he really hated telephones.

Furthermore, he really didn't have a lot of time for "chit-chat."

If this sounds cold and heartless to you, let me quickly disabuse you of this notion.

Russell is neither cold nor heartless--not by ANY stretch of the imagination.

He simply has a very good reason to budget his time--and that has to do with an overdue dream of his: building an organization that will be truly effective in dealing with the issue of teens and children becoming invisible in a society that has the means (if they would only apply them) of giving these young people the visibility and empowerment that they so richly deserve AND have a RIGHT to!!!

Russell not only has sympathy for these kids but, also, empathy, because, at the tender age of nine, he became one of them.

Even before then, his home life hadn't been ideal by a long shot.

His mother was his dad's second wife--a woman who had never been fully accepted by her in-laws (who had doted on the first wife) with this attitude of nonacceptance trickling down to Russell.

This, along with other factors, caused tension in the home--a tension to which Russell's mom responded with shrill tirades. When the noise and tension got too much for Russell, he would run away. He knew that he would, eventually, have to return (especially, when several people in town--including the chief of police--knew him and would make sure that he got back home again), but he would, at least, have a few hours of peace and quiet.

One day, he returned home from school to find an empty area where the family's mobile home had been. A tri-state search would turn up no signs of his parents and Toy (the comical, little Boston Terrier who had been his most trusted companion--even saving his life one time when a fire started in his bedroom from a tube radio!).

There's a part in the movie, Home Alone, that always makes me cry. For those of you who haven't watched it, I won't provide the spoiler except to say that there was an old man in Kevin's neighborhood of whom he'd always been afraid.

During the days of Kevin's ending up the man of the house, he got to know the old man and realized that he wasn't such a bad guy after all. In fact, this neighbor had a very painful situation going on in his life, and Kevin ended up helping him to resolve it.

The part that really gets to me is when Kevin is looking out the window and observing his neighbor's newfound happiness while having a conversation with his mother. The tone of the conversation shows that Kevin didn't even realize what a special thing he'd done--not that he didn't realize that he'd done something good but seeming to have the attitude that it was just what anyone should do (something in the same category as doing his chores and/or homework on time or brushing his teeth).

I've now realized that there are going to be two places in this movie that will get to me bigtime--with the second place being at the first when Kevin wakes up to an empty house after his family accidentally leaves him behind when they take off for Europe.

They hadn't gone to bed on the best of terms the night before--so, now, Kevin has the idea that the reason that they're gone is that he must have wished them away.

Kevin's way of coping with this discovery isn't to dwell on the past--something that couldn't be changed--but, instead, to figure out how to survive in his present circumstances.

Russell responded in much the same way when he came home to nothing--likely, feeling deep inside as if he had something to do with this since there had been so many times that he had run away.

What he did right after the discovery shows this to be so...

He went to his best friend's house and just hung out as usual while not mentioning a single thing about what he'd just discovered.

After a time, his friend's mother asked him if he wanted to stay for supper, and he said that he did.

It wasn't until she told him that she'd call his mother to check and see if this would be okay that Russell told her that she wouldn't be able to do this, because nobody was there anymore.

She thought surely that Russell had to have been mistaken, because things like this just didn't happen. She loaded him and her son into the family car to drive over there and show Russell that he must have simply gotten on the wrong street--that everything was still there.

To her shock, she found out that this wasn't so--and called her husband (the police chief) at work. He didn't believe it, either, until he had seen it with his own eyes.

Russell stayed with his friend's family until a few days later when he became a ward of the state of Florida.

I believe that the following article does an excellent job of telling what happened after that...

The Invisible Youth
by
Dana Lefey Maeve
Chief Executive Officer
Invisible Youth Network

I reviewed our clearinghouse outreach site “The Invisible Youth” recently and discovered that Russell, Founder and Creator of The Invisible Youth, in his infinite wisdom, has created a place of help for youths to find answers. Why?

He was a homeless youth, abandoned by his parents, and the system punished him for his ‘crime’. He then became the very criminal they formed and deprived him into being. In the forty-four years that he was incarcerated, he discovered why he survived the cruel irony of his childhood. He survived to stop homeless youths from becoming the ‘feeder’ for the all too profitable business of the prison systems.

Ninety percent of those placed in our Juvenile Justice Systems come from the Child Protection Systems. Ninety percent of those juveniles become the adults who populate our Criminal Justice Systems in prisons. Child Protection Services and Child Welfare obviously are not protecting our children. And though they are a large part of that inefficiency, so are we as a community. No matter what our excuses are, we take no notice of a child that is being abused. We don’t want to get involved or if we decide to make that call, we are not taken seriously, or worse; the child is placed into the system and there they stay.

They are institutionalized and abused by the system. No love or compassion are they offered. Nor do they ask for it. Instead they learn that there is no power in being a child. Some never make it out of the hell we put them through. Some only make it to the larger, more overwhelming criminal element of prison.

I have to ask myself and now ask you; how difficult is it to take compassion on a homeless or abused child and offer them a meal, a kind word, a warm and safe place to sleep? Or offer a listening ear and an empathic response to their cry for help? How difficult is it to offer their single parent a break for the night or a chance to rest between work and raising their family? How can we turn away and pretend they just do not exist?

How can we allow our neighbors and friends to starve and go without heat in the winter, when we know they are laid off or are out of work and have no resources to take care of their family? How can we do not one damn thing, when we listen to a man verbally and physically abuse his wife, night after night, and not offer her and her children a safe haven or give her help when she asks? How can we look at ourselves in the mirror or sleep at night when we know that we are abusing these people, these children, just as much as the system and the abuser, by not taking any action or speaking out to stop it from happening?

What is it going to take to feel their pain, to release them from shame and total despair before we help them? What if it were you and your family? Don’t tell me it will never happen to you, for it can and will.

Open your heart and feel the beat of their empty drum. Wake up and see with your eyes. Listen to their spirit as it screams into the night, instead of turning your ears deaf to their agony. Look into their soul and offer a hand up and give help to those who need us most. Love them unconditionally. They are your brothers, your sisters, your siblings, your children, your parents. Give them Hope!

Russell along with the volunteers at “The Invisible Youth” are giving them hope one child, one youth at a time. He sees himself in their eyes and lives. These invisible youths can become whole again and be adults that have goals and interests and dreams. And maybe even families of their own that they teach and raise with unconditional love.

Sentencing them for the ‘CRIME’ of being abused, homeless and alone is why they become the very thing you and I teach them to be and then judge them with fear as something to be despised in the same closed hearts that created them. Put an end to our contempt and abuse for our own creations. Help them while they still have a chance.

They are the Invisible Youth.

Author's Note: The Invisible Youth is an international outreach program for the homeless youths in our country, the USA. We are a clearing house of information, mentoring program and so much more for the sole purpose of helping the Children of our Future.

************

In short, Russell's dream is to save the young people who are currently falling through the cracks from going through what he went through--and worse--and it frustrates him that things aren't already in place, even while being encouraged by the progress that we've already made.

Our lengthy telephone conversations--which no longer take place several times a week but, instead, one or two times on average--still have a lot of length to them, considering that Russell hates telephones. However, even the length of them has been considerably reduced--or, at least, that's the original plan at the beginning of each call.

So, I hope you're curious about what a man and a woman talk about to each other late at night--and I hope that you aren't disappointed that a lot of our conversations focus on building this dream as quickly as possible.

In just a matter of a few months, Invisible Youth Network has gone from being a dream tossed around by two people living hundreds of miles apart communicating by computer and phone while sharing their dream with a handful of friends and other associates to a growing organization that is starting to be recognized on a larger scale.

Chapter Two

Doing At Least Something While Waiting/Wanting To Be Able To Do More

Preface

2007-06-27T14:58:00.002-04:00

Today is Wednesday, July 23, 2008, and I'm adding something here when it comes to reading this ongoing book from its beginnings:

Don't expect all that you read here to be accurate and up-to-date!

For awhile, I tried to update the different chapters to the best of my ability and, finally, gave up, because we're a growing and developing organization that is subject to change, so read the past chapters with the idea that you're reading history, and go to the most current chapters to find out our latest developments.

However, keep in mind that there's one thing that is NOT going to change with that being that we're about the young people whom we help! They come first! We will NEVER compromise that part of our mission!!!

Onward now to the original preface that will follow the divider...

~~~~~~~...................................~~~~~~~

This is a blog, but I'm fixing it to read like a book by inviting everybody to stop here and read forward.

Each section of it will be chapter (and identified as such) and will be given a title along with being a chapter.

The name of this book of a blog is Virtual Homemaker, and that might imply to some that I'm both a wife and mother--and, if this is the case, you've come close. However, this isn't something in the traditional sense by any means.

I will tell you about the wife part first in short form.

I've told this story so many times here and there in Cyberspace that it doesn't need to be told in long form, but I'll just tell it as introducing the rest of the story.

On January 15, 2007, my Cyberpath crossed with another Cybertraveler by name of Russell T. Hartsaw.

After checking out his website, (Update, December 1, 2007: At the time I first saw this website, it was one dealing with issues affecting society such as homelessness, crime, senior issues, etc.) decided that I wanted him on my dream team--that is, among some of the most unique individuals I've come across online who are doing their part to make this world a better place.

Through countless e-mails and phone calls, we became closer and closer within a matter of just a few weeks. I knew that I had gotten to crushing on him some, but that still wasn't really what it was all about when I popped the question to him.

Marriage?

Well...kinda...but not really...

One of my online friends had, a few years before, created a kind of Cyberfamily where she gave roles to different people. Some of it even sounded downright silly--such as how she picked a man in his late thirties (Note: When checking this late, great angel out, be sure to take note of his birthday, because, in light of this story, it will knock your socks off!) to be her grandma. But it was actually quite understandable, because she wasn't going by age, gender, and things like that but, instead, by personality traits.

Because I had so much admiration for Russell, I wanted to demonstrate this by honoring him with the role of being my Cyberhusband. When I composed the "proposal," I wasn't thinking in terms of, "I've found the man I want to marry!" Not consciously, anyway. It was just a way of telling him that we had become a dynamic duo when it came to changing the world for the better! Nothing more and nothing less.

We, indeed, did have a marriage of sorts, and this would make it "official."

That is, if he accepted.

He not only accepted, but he even designed an official-looking document saying that this was so.

Our "wedding" took place on February 19, 2007.

At some point along the way, I began to see Russell in a different light.

The virtual marriage had been a kind of ritual to show how strongly we felt about making a difference in the lives of people who had fallen through the cracks. It was a way of saying that we had really teamed-up when it came to making the world a better place. It had absolutely nothing to do with romance.

There was no denying that, by this time, I had developed a crush on Russell--but I thought of this crush along the same lines as the kind of crush I have on Keith Hamilton Cobb and Henry Winkler. I also had the feeling that Russell was crushing on me some, too.

At this point, I'm just going to start sharing my own feelings (on the subject of romance/falling in love), because I'm not one to put words in Russell's mouth--even if the words my wishful thinking puts there would be/might be/are the same ones that are actually in his own heart.

I'm doing this partly just because how I feel just feels so wonderful that I want to shout it from the mountains, but I have a more important reason for doing so that will soon become apparent later in this preface.

Anyway, when did it began to become more than platonic for me when it came to Russell's and my friendship?

A lot of factors figure in there, but I believe that the three main ones consisted of when he shared his bedtime prayer with me (a prayer that consisted of simple but beautiful words spoken with the heart of a child); listening to him talking about his dog, Rascal (who might just look like a stuffed dog--albeit, an adorable one--to the rest of the world, but Russell and I believe that one or more good spirits bring(s) him to life in a very special way); and the wonderful way he goes about sharing something with me that will improve my computer experience. From over 2000 miles away, he'll say that he has something that he wants to show me, and he'll take me through each step to get there. When he does this, I get this mental image of us as two little kids where the boy is taking the girl by the hand as they go down this path in the woods towards some discovery that he's made, and he's so excited that he's pointing the index finger of his free hand at something out ahead while looking back at the girl while she looks at him with anticipation.

I can also remember some of the main details when I spoke my heart about the change in my feelings towards Russell for the very first time.

It was sometime in late February, and I was running some errands. He was very much on my mind that afternoon.

I did some banking using the drive-up, and the teller was giving me the biggest, brightest smile--and I suddenly realized why: It was in response to the expression that I must have had on my face!

That was when it just came pouring out of my mouth! I said something along the lines of, "Yes, I'm in love, and his name is Russell!!! I'll be telling you more about him later!!!"

The teller grinned back even more broadly. The next time I came to the bank and she was my teller, I had this information slip ready that contained a url leading to Russell Online (the first website I'd ever seen of his). (Update--November 28, 2007: Russell has turned this site over to his special angel dog, Rascal, who, so far, is doing an excellent job with it! I believe that Russell still helps out with the design of it, but Rascal barks the orders! LOL)

But, that day--the day I said those words aloud--after exiting the drive-through basement of the bank, it seemed as if the sun were shining extra brightly and the entire world looked more beautiful! Every love song playing on WERK reminded me of him that afternoon. I went to different places, and I could tell that people knew that something extra special was up with me!

This is the first poem I've written about Russell--and it's called To Russell With Love.

If you think that you're preparing to read a romance novel, let me warn you that there's no guarantee of romance in this booklike blog. I've filled you in on some background, and it all sounds pretty romantic, I'm sure.

But I have a special reason for telling this story in the preface, and it has to do with my mission with these kids.

There might come a time when I'm forced to give up my romantic notions about Russell--though, if it were left up to me, this dream would never die but would just keep on getting more and more beautiful and wonderful with the passing of time!

However, I'm making a vow right here and now that, no matter how things turn out between Russell and me, the greater dream is here to stay--that being the dream of making a positive difference in the lives of Invisible Youth!!!

Having said this, I'm going to take you with me on a wonderful journey--a journey that I hope you will feel like embarking on as well...

Chapter One

Early Stages Of The Dream