Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,100 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Hello world…Hoola for Happiness has decided to make the very scary leap of hosting our blog/website on our own server, which may not seem like such a crazy idea, but believe me, it has been a very large undertaking!

This will be the last blog post on this platform through WordPress.

You can now find us and follow us at www.HoolaforHappiness.org. HoolaforHappiness.com will now go to that website as well.

Our new website will be undergoing lots of beautiful changes over the next few months, so please be patient and drop us a friendly note on our Facebook page

We want to give an extra-special shout-out to our very special friend and helper, Chris Cervellera from Swerve Communications Group, who is helping us get our new website up and running and answering all those pesky questions like, “Where the heck are my old blog posts?” and “How do I edit HTML code to move little things around even though I am nowhere near computer programmer-literate?” THANK YOU Chris…you are a lifesaver

Stay tuned to www.HoolaforHappiness.org as we move forward not only in the online world, but also all over the actual world to spread the JOY of HOOPING and the LOVE of GOD, one hoop at a time, one life at a time.

Peace Out!

In Christ’s JOY,
Carissa and the H4H team

Isaiah 55:12 – “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

Thanks to a few great friends, ahem, Kelly Green Global and Morgan and her  Happy Hula Hoops team, we are able to take 20 travel-customized hoops with the wordless (salvation) colors on them to leave with the Projeto Vida missionaries. They will be able to use these hoops as a tool in sharing the message of faith long after we’re gone!

Here is a quick look at what the colors mean on our friend Victoria’s U Hip Hoops website.

Some of our favorite verses for the five colors:

GOLD:

John 3:16-17 NLT – For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

John 6:40 NLT - For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.

Luke 10:20 NLT – Rejoice because your names are registered in heaven!

BLACK:

Acts 26:18 NLT – To open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.

Psalm 31:7 NLT – I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul.

Psalm 34:5 NLT – Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.

Colossians 1:13-14 NLT - For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

RED: 

Ephesians 2:13 NLT – But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

I Peter 1:2 NLT – God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.

Isaiah 12:3 NLT – With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!

I John 1:7 NLT – But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

WHITE:

Isaiah 1:18 NLT - “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
I will make them as white as wool.”

Psalm 51:7 NLT – Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Isaiah 61:10 NLT – I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!
For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation
and draped me in a robe of righteousness.
I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit
or a bride with her jewels.

II Timothy 2:21 NLT – If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.

I Peter 2:9 NLT – For you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

Psalm 32:11 NLT – So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!

GREEN:

II Corinthians 5:17 NLT – This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

I Peter 2:2-3 NLT – Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

Colossians 2:7 NLT – Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

James 1:4 NLT – So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Psalm 96: 12-13 NLT – Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy! Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise before the Lord, for He is coming!

Psalm 65:12 NLT – The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture, and the hillsides blossom with joy.

Isaiah 35:2 NLT - Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy!
The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon,
as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.
There the Lord will display his glory,
the splendor of our God.

Psalm 67:4 NLT – Let the whole world sing for joy,
because you govern the nations with justice
and guide the people of the WHOLE WORLD.

Muito Obrigada!!!!! (We promise to learn more Portuguese while we are there!)
Carissa and Lauren

Hoola for Happiness Mission: Spread the joy of hooping and the love of God all over the world, one hoop at a time, one life at a time.

Carissa’s first trip to Haiti with hoops was in December 2009, right before the earthquake. Hoola for Happiness was born in July 2010. Since then, we have taken hundreds of hoops to over 10 countries and cities around the US. This is just a short chronicle of the JOY we are spreading around the world

Send a hoop to the world with Hoola for Happiness

This is how most of the children of Liberia have grown up. Civil war between the years of 1990-2003 has left this country torn apart and struggling to pick up the pieces from their past that were destroyed.

I went to Liberia last month with a team of 12 through an organization called Young Life, which works to build relationships with middle and high school aged students and share with them the love and life of Jesus Christ. Our team served as work crew, working at 2 summer camps. We washed thousands of dishes, helped set up tables, prepared meals, organized games and activities, put on skits and built relationships with the kids attending.

Thanks to Hoopnotica, I was able to take hoola hoops which we used as part of our programs. The first day I brought out the hoops, they received many strange stares as they had never been seen before! I demonstrated how to use the hoops and the Liberians were so excited to try them out! Waves of laughter and smiles from ear to ear emerged as each came up to take their turn and try to keep the hoop revolving around their body. By the end of the first camp, we had several great hoola hoopers…partly due to the fact that Africans are just naturally gifted with rhythm! I left the hoops behind with the leaders of Young Life so they can use them as part of skits and clubs when sharing about Jesus.

The hoops were an amazing way to bring these kids smiles and laughter. Many of these children have brutal pasts-some were child slaves, some watched their parents die right in front of them. We can’t change what happened, but we can spread joy to these children and hope that through this they will come to know where true happiness lies–in knowing the saving power and love of Jesus Christ.

Thank you again for allowing me another opportunity to SPREAD JOY around the world!

Keep Hoola’n,

Sera Manubens

Hoola for Happiness founder Carissa Caricato visited Brooks School in Kenya during June and July 2011, staying with the family of Wilfred Salimo Cheptai and getting to hoop and sing with over 230 schoolchildren. Brooks School needs many things to help these precious kids, and you can make a huge difference with a small amount of money. After watching this video, you can see firsthand their most urgent needs. We can’t wait to go back and bring more hoops, as well as additional resources for this school.

Watch more JOY footage below:

Please consider a $10 donation directly to the needs of Brooks school: https://www.fundraise.com/brooks-school-and-home/keen-to-succeed-kenya

God Bless You, from everyone at Brooks School in Kenya

Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way
And we are the body of Christ
Jesus is the way

I recently returned from St. Lucia on a mission trip where our team led a soccer camp for over 200 youth.  Working with missionaries Peter and Bibiana Morgan, we shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with these youth.

I was blessed to see the Morgans using their gifts to build up Christian youth leaders.  At their church youth group movie night, we watched “Gifted Hands,” the true story of Ben Carson, an inner-city kid living in a single-parent home. Despite having poor grades and little motivation, Ben at age thirty-three became director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital.

At the end of the movie, the Morgans asked questions and explained to the youth about what they had just watched.  They noted how Ben’s mom said to him when he faced many obstacles, “The answer is in you,” and how she was referring to Christ in him.

Whether we are shaking hands, passing a soccer ball with our feet or hoola hooping on our hips, one purpose remains: to be like Christ and share the “Good News” of our salvation in Him.

The mission for Hoola for Happiness is to spread Joy.  Joy comes from Christ in us.  *Please pray for the youth of St. Lucia and their spiritual growth.  Let’s build up each other in the body and use our “Gifted” body parts.

“We are to ‘build up the body of Christ’ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing in maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, but speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head-Christ.  From Him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.” (Ephesians 4:12-16)

You Can ‘Pass the Hoop’

If you are thinking to yourself, “I can’t hoola hoop very well and my hips don’t lie,” no worries because hoola hoops can be enjoyed when used with a group. The game called ‘Pass the Hoop’ easily brings people together to work as a team.

Here are simple directions for this game: Everyone forms a circle, holding hands with the person to their left and right. A hoola hoop should be placed around a set of clasped hands. From this point, they must pass the hoop around the circle without unclasping hands. They can push their body through the hoop and also pass it over their heads. This game teaches teamwork, as they must learn to move together and carefully communicate and coordinate their body movements.

See pics below of ‘Pass the Hoop’ St. Lucian style!

- Kara Teresi
Hoola for Happiness board member

Hoola for Happiness in Kenya at Brooks School

I came back from Africa Monday night of this week with such a full heart, but also a heavy heart to continue the work we started, particularly in Kenya. I cannot wait to go back with Feeding Children Everywhere, Hoola for Happiness, and other ministries, as well as resources to help Brooks School with education needs, clean water and new housing for the orphanage.

I have so many things to share- stories, miracles, pictures, videos, tears and laughter- but these videos will give you a taste of what we lived and experienced over 2.5 weeks in Kenya and Uganda. Katonda Yebazibwe! Praise God for such a fruitful, fulfilling trip ministering to the children of Africa, but even more than that, those kids ministered to my soul in ways they will never know. When the Bible talks about rejoicing always, even amidst the dark and troubled times, these little children live that out daily. With no comforts we consider standard and many times lacking very basic needs, they love Jesus with such a child-like faith that it restores my faith and replenishes my JOY. I will forever be changed.

Psalm 5:11 - But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for JOY. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

John 16:22 – So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your JOY.

Job 29:12 - Because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10100333287056911

Matthew 18:2-4 - He called a little child and had him stand among them. And He said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Isaiah 55:12 – You will go out in JOY and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Thank you for supporting Hoola for Happiness so we can spread the JOY of hooping and the LOVE of God all over the world, one hoop at a time, one life at a time. Click here to Donate.

In Christ’s abundant JOY,

Carissa

I was missing my dear friend, Carissa Caricato, founder of Hoola For Happiness, who is currently traveling to London, Kenya and Uganda to spread the joy of hoola hooping with the many children along her way.

by Michael Blitch Photography

I was thinking how it might be raining where she was in London today too. It was just last Sunday when she and I were on the beach with friends hooping and smiling in the beautiful sunshine-happy times! We all gave our best poses for this funny picture…

Too bad it was bad weather today. Then I remembered something my grandpa was known to say on days like this, “You have to make your own sunshine today!”

I started to grin; I knew what I was going to do to make my own sunshine today- hoola hoop on the beach. If only grandpa was here; I’ll just have to wait until I can see him hoop in heaven!

I decided to try some tricks with the hoop, attempting to lift my leg up and hoop with one leg. My attempt failed miserably, so I tried instead to lift it over my head and I did not do much better with that either. I laughed and decided that I better stick with moving it on my hips.

I believe the Ugandan children will be great hoola hoopers. I had a friend in college who worked with a Uganda children’s choir one summer, and the children tried to teach her how to move her hips like them- there is no way she even came close. Sorry Kristen if you are reading this, but it’s the truth.

The next moment, I saw a little girl with blond hair and bright blue eyes skipping towards me in her bathing suit with a big smile on her face. I asked her if she wanted to hoola hoop. Her response was priceless, “Yes, and can I show you some tricks?”

I gladly handed her the hoop. Boy did she show me some tricks! With ease she moved it around her hips and down to her legs and then lifted up her leg and did it with one leg, to my surprise and applause. Then she moved it up over her head and then brought it back down to her hips again. Quite the impressive performance!

I looked up and noticed her family and others nearby watching with expressions of joy; in the most incredible way, the rain and clouds seemed to be moving away and the sun was now beaming bright on the sand. Literally a night and day difference in the weather. I did it. I had made my own sunshine and it turned out to be one of the most beautiful days at the beach- thank you Lord!

The little girl was named Tori Vaile, and her sister Aubrey and their two cousins, Sydney and Corrine Beadle, were all good hoola hoopers and swimmers. Here is a picture of us all together saying ‘Hoola For Happiness!’

Later, Tori’s dad, Brian sent me this message.

Kara,

Thanks so much for relating and spending time with our girls in the water and socializing with them. I know they really took a liking to you. You have a gift of relating to children. Not many people have that “gift.” Use it wisely and you will get so much happiness from it. You will be able to mold, shape and be a positive influence in young people’s lives that will be their “turning point” and turn their lives into a positive direction forever.

I know, because I have the “gift” as well. Nothing feels better than teaching a youngster who is “on the fence” to decide which side of the fence they will fall on. When I get a kid who is headed for the “wrong side of the tracks” and turn them around to the positive side….it feels like I just won the LOTTO!

-Brian

I hope that this post encourages you to know there are unique gifts that God has given you to use for His glory. Smile! It can send rays of light for someone who is experiencing a dark moment. Laugh when you mess up trying to do something new. Choose to spread joy wherever you are. Make your own sunshine today!

The girls enJOYing  hoola hooping forward, backward and all around!

-Kara Teresi

Today is the day! I am all packed (well almost) with 50 collapsible hoops from Hoopnotica and toothbrushes and toothpaste for the kids in two suitcases, and UNO cards and all my personal stuff in a big backpack for 17 days! My heart is about to burst wide open…I cannot wait to get there!

I hope to blog several times throughout the trip, unless technical difficulties abound! Stay tuned or follow Hoola for Happiness on Facebook for updates.

Some things I will be doing in Kenya (5 days):

• Staying with Brooks School and Home
• Children’s ministry through play (hoola hoops!)
• Helping them with a new website and multimedia projects

Some things we will be doing in Uganda (9 days): (I will be joining a large mission group through Kelly Green Global)

• Free medical and dental services provided daily in villages
• A pharmacy is set up to distribute medicine to villagers
• HIV/AIDS Awareness teaching in schools and at Pastor’s conferences
• Malaria nets and eyeglasses distributed to villages
• Women’s ministry through God is Grace, where women are able to provide for their families through skills such as sewing, jewelry-making and farming
• Working with Orphans (most excited about this as we get to love on lots of kids and play with them, including hoola hooping!!!!!)

Sincerest, biggest THANK YOU to everyone who made this trip possible though financial support, hoop donations, prayers and positive thoughts. I carry all of you with me to Africa!

Some verses that I LOVE for Missions:

Isaiah 55:12 “You will go out in JOY and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

Isaiah 43:6, 7 “I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”

Acts 20:24 “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with JOY, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the GRACE of God.”

In Him where fulfilling JOY abounds!
Carissa Caricato