Stop Hunger Now

This weekend everyone that attends our church was urged to volunteer in some capacity within our community. The messages this month have focused on "Full Service." There were a menu of options available for us to choose from. We chose to participate in the Stop Hunter Now event.

For those of you who are not familiar, Stop Hunger Now's mission is to feed the hungry around the world. Did you know that every 6 seconds a child dies from hunger? It is hard to imagine. What makes Stop Hunger Now different than other relief organizations is that they distribute their meals through schools. They do this to help children stay off the streets and to motivate parents to send their children to school. As a teacher that was something I could appreciate!

Our challenge was to help our team of 800 box 100,000 meals. It was am amazing process to be involved with. In just forty minutes our team of 200 boxed over 30,000 meals! We started out helping make the meal bags. Each bag contains soy protein, rice, dehydrated vegetables, and a flavored vitamin powder. Once we rotated out jobs I began helping "run" prepared bags to the weighing station while the hubby started helping box the sealed meals. I finished the day refilling supplies those making the bags needed.

All in all we were so thankful to be able to participate in such an awesome project! This project has opened our eyes to realize how easy serving can be. We hope to become more involved in the future with other projects such as this one.

Below is a video of a Stop Hunger Now event that took place a couple years ago here in North Carolina. The video helps explain the process and how the organization works. It also features local colleges, including my alma mater Meredith College, which was fun to see!

It's the simple things

It always seems to be the simple things that makes us the happiest. Today while checking my mail, I noticed one envelop didn't look like the others. I recognized the handwriting and as fast as I could I tore it open! Inside I found our newest photos of my beautiful nephew! Inside was a sweet handwritten note from my sister-in-law. Snail mail... what a treat! Handwritten notes and letters are a thing of the past. What a treat it was to open the mailbox today and not find only bills or junk mail!

Ironically a blogger I follow wrote about the same topic today! On her blog she had posted a video of a teacher who writes handwritten letters to his former students on their birthdays. All 2,500 of them! There are students who have been getting letters for years! It is an amazing story. As a teacher it inspired me to think of ways to show my students how special they are during the short time they are in my life. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did! Maybe you will feel inspired too.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

My hubby is a firefighter. That means he works every other day for 24 hours with four day breaks here and there. It can be confusing but he loves his work schedule. I enjoy it too and believe it is why our marriage is so solid. Of course I miss him when he is working but what I enjoy about his schedule is on the days he works I am able to have some independent time to myself. As an only child I enjoy spending time alone. It also helps me appreciate the time we do have together much more! Another part I enjoy is the time I am able to spend with my dear friends and family.

Yesterday while he was on duty I had the best girls day! It started with lunch and cupcakes with my awesome friend G who was in town for a visit. We then did a little bit of shopping. The afternoon was topped off with a mani and pedi... my favorite treat! To end the day I went over to my friend KK's for an awesome homemade dinner! We later meet another friend out for a drink! What a day of fun filled with my girl time!

I love the fact that I was able to spend time with three of my favorite ladies in one day! I feel so lucky and blessed to have such awesome friends in my life. They are the most fun and most genuine girls I know!

Winter Wonderland

A miracle has happened in our great state of the south. It has snowed AGAIN! Believe me that is something special as it usually never even snows once! This time something really special happened. The snow stuck to the trees and not the roads! That means two things: a beautiful snow scene and no cabin fever! I couldn't be more thankful. I am convinced that snow this pretty is God's way of saying he loves us in winter!

Last night after a great dinner with friends we trekked home in the snow. We had been keeping an eye on it while we watched the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. Around 11:00 we decided we better get on the road since it was starting to stick a bit. Preston let me drive. It was my first time in 25 years of life that I drove in any type of winter weather. Thankfully it was a success! Driving in slush is not as hard as it looks.

I guess you could say two miracles happened! I survived driving in the snow and our neighborhood looks even pretty this time around.

Feeling the Love

Check this out... I GOT AN AWARD!



I must say I feel honored! I have never gotten an award before. Well there was this time in 8th grade for having the higest average in social studies but that doesn't count. This is SO MUCH better than that! :) A big shout out goes to Jennifer who nominated me! She teaches kindergarten, loves living in the south, and is adorable! If I were you I'd check her out! :)

Okay to accept my award I have to follow a few rules. Here goes:

~Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.

~Copy the award and paste it to your blog.

~Tell us 7 interesting facts about yourself.

~Nominate 7 bloggers that you love and link to their blog.

Check, Check, Uh Oh...Thinking of seven interesting facts is tough. I mean on a normal Monday I could just rattle them off but on demand... that's tough. Let's see what I can think of...

1. My husband and I are high school sweet hearts. Sunday marked nine years since he asked me to be his one and only. Crazy right? We have been "dating" longer than most people stay married!

2. I am learning how to shag. For those of you who don't know, shag is a type of dance that started in North Myrtle Beach, SC. It's a lot fun and I am really excited to learn how! People usually dance the shag to beach music. We'll be coming to a wedding reception near you soon! This video has some clips of people shagging down at the beach. The song is by one of my favorite beach music bands - Coastline. We go and see them every year on 4th of July!



3. I love absolutly LOVE baseball. I love watching it, talking about it, and going to games. My team is the New York Yankees! I know, I know... but I live in the south! Yeah well, I have good taste, especially in baseball - so there!

4. I am a turkey hunter. I just started a couple years ago so I don't have a lot of bragging rights yet. I go with my dad so it is a pretty special time for me. Some times we let my husband tag along... If he's lucky!

5. I teach kindergarten! I love my job and I feel thankful to be able to have a job that I enjoy. I look forward to each day because no matter how crazy or borning the day was before... tomorrow is always a new day and you never know what to expect!

6. Key West is my favorite place in the entire world. I would move there tomorrow if someone could promise me a job, a boat, and a place to live!

7. I am a recent adict to the "Twilight Saga." I began reading the books after I watch the first two movies. I know I did things a little out of order but that is what makes me me! I certainly beat to a different drum - that's for sure!

So that is a little bit about me. Check out my nominees for more awesomeness because let's face it... I'm a pretty cool chick!

We're Expecting

White Wave Designs

A Peachy Kitchen

Kelly's Recipes

The Przygodas

God Played a Hand in Fat

Adventures in K-Vega

Be patient with me... God's not finished with me yet!

This morning I found this video on another blog I enjoy reading. The video is called "Cardboard Testimonies." It is amazing. Each person shares their own personal testimony only using two sides of one piece of cardboard. I have seen the video around the internet but never sat down to actually watch it. I did today and I am so thankful I did. It is amazing to see how God works in others lives.

If I had to give my own cardboard testimony it might look something like this...

Lukewarm Christian that prayed for my husband. (Front)

Worshiping Christian that prays with my husband. (Back)

If you were to give your own personal testimony what would it say?

(If you decide to watch the video - which I HIGHLY recommend - make sure you turn off the music below at the bottom first so you can hear the video)

Squirrel Patrol

One of the loves in my life is our 6 pound Yokie. She is an adorable, tiny little thing with a lot of bark... I mean spunk. Since she was a puppy she has despised squirrels. During the day she finds a little perch on our couch and looks out into our yard. It's part of her routine and she loves it. She could sit for hours. She's looking for squirrels. Each time a squirrel comes into the yard she goes nuts! We fondly call her our personal "squirrel alarm." Yesterday I had thrown out some seed for the birds on the snow. A squirrel must have needed seconds because he came up onto our porch.

I didn't even have to look to see what she was so upset about.



Now we are not ones to taunt her but we couldn't resist. I opened the door and shouted "Get 'um girl." And off she went. She was pretty proud of her self. She didn't get him but at least she got him up the tree!



I guess chasing squirrels is hard word because this is what I found around an hour later.

You cannot be serious!

This entire weekend I have tried my hardest to be positive about snow days. For those of you non-teachers out there snow days = make up days in a teachers world. Before I started teaching I LOVED snow days. Don't get me wrong, a snow day here or there is fun. It is nice to sleep in on a random Wednesday morning due to snow. However, tomorrow marks snow day number three. One of my girlfriends just called to break the news. Today and yesterday I stayed positive about. I kept thinking to myself, "Its okay... I don't mind making this up. I needed a break from my kiddos and I have lots of work to catch up on." Even today while I worked in my classroom I was appreciative of the extra work day.

Those happy feelings stopped around 5:45 this afternoon. Tomorrow is another snow day and guess what that means? They have now taken day 1 of spring break from us. I don't mind a snow day but start messing with my spring break and we have a problem! I am confused by this decision and I am not thrilled to loose that day. When I retire I am going to run for the school board so I can help plan a calendar that doesn't take away those special, treasured days in spring (spring fever REALLY exists - trust me I have witnessed it first hand with 25 kindergartners). Y'all know if it snows we are going to miss two or three days... clearly! I guess a man must plan that schedule because if a woman did you know it would have those days already planned in.

Oh well I guess I must stay positive and thankful that I have a job that helps keep me off the road (at least for a little while). I did get a lot done today (a definate positive). Besides LOST comes on tonight. What could get better than that?

This is what is keeping us from school. Apparently lots of roads around the county still look this way. I hate it for them!



At least it was pretty! It was nice to have a weekend to stay inside, play in the snow, build warm fires, and eat yummy food! I guess snow is God's way of telling us Southerners to slow down!