Not for the Faint of Heart

A friend of mine has been on an incredible journey this year. She has been a participant of the World Race which is put on by Adventures in Missions (www.theworldrace.org). It is a year long journey that literally takes you across the planet serving in radical ways to people at each stop. My friend has been keeping a blog of her adventure and I've been living vicariously through her stories of poverty, depravity, love, and the redemptive power of Christ.

Her most recent blog has been on my mind all day. So much that I had to spend my lunch break praying over the people she writes about.

It's not for the faint of heart.

Take a moment to read the entry here and let your eyes be opened to reality. Then read through the rest of her entries.

Hope Fundraiser!

Who likes Boston Butt?!?

Boston Butt Fundraiser

Now through Nov 22nd!

Reach Orphans With Hope is having a Boston Butt Fundraiser to raise money for our orphan outreach projects including: orphan child needs, the Summer Orphan Program, and post-adoptive family support.  For those who don't know, half my time at work is dedicated to this awesome organization.  They are an orphan advocacy and humanitarian aide group for international, older orphan children.  You can find out more about them at www.reachorphanswithhope.org

Pre-Order Cost $30.00

Now through Nov 12th you can pre-order a Boston Butt by getting ahold of me or calling Reach Orphans With Hope (I answer the phones too) at 205-229-2707.  The cooked Boston Butts will be available for pick-up on Saturday, November 22nd from 8:00am - 12:00pm at The Church at Brook Hills Student Building Parking Lot.  I can bring them to Sylacauga that afternoon for all the Sylacauga folks!  Walk-up orders are also welcome on delivery day until we are sold out!

Order yours today and have it just in time for Thanksgiving crowds and Iron Bowl Parties!

Outback America

We are slowly getting caught up! A few weekends ago was Outback. This is a weekend retreat held at Farmlinks (golf course close to us) that is designed around relationship-building. You attend with a partner (typically husband/wife, father/daughter, father/son, mother/daughter, or mother/son). Stephen and I had the great privilege to attend at husband/wife coaches, meaning we got to help lead a group of husband/wife couples through the weekend. Not really teaching, because that is all done by the speakers, but helping to facilitate their times together and be their guides through the weekend. We had a great time! We had 4 couples in our group and all of them had been married less than a year! Here were the lengths of the marriages: 6 months, 4 months, 2 months, and one engaged couple! Isn't that crazy! Stephen and I were the old married couple of our group :-) And how great that we had an engaged couple - what a fantastic investment in preparing for your marriage.

Here are a few pictures of the weekend. It is truly beautiful out there and a great place to reflect on the Lord.

Another reason this weekend was special to us is because this is the location Stephen proposed to me 2 years ago. It was up on the mountain-top at Outback, and we got to go back to the exact same spot where he proposed. It was our first time to go back since that time, so we made sure to stop for a moment to reflect and be thankful. And of course to take some pictures! These pictures look almost exactly like the ones we took right after Stephen proposed - minus the showing off of a shiny new ring. :-)

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Again, we're trying to play catch-up here.  Jeff turned 50 on Sept 28th and we had a surprise party for him at our house!

We are so thankful that he is a regular part of our lives here in Sylacauga.  Jeff is a godly man who is quick to serve and to give a hug and a smile.  He is a blessing to all who know him and I always leave encouraged when spending time with him.

It was a blast throwing a surprise party for his birthday (much credit to Janet and Jayci for handling all the details and putting it together)!  Here are a few pics of us getting ready for the big event.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures during the actual party, but just take my word for it that it was a great one.

Jayci wrapped our presents for Jeff

Don't they look awesome!  I need her to give me lessons in bow-making!

Our fun musical card!

And of course, the cake!

Happy Birthday again Jeff.  We love you!!!  

It's been a big year for birthdays...lots of parents turning half a century old :-)  Just one more left...we'll be sure to do it big Dad!

Time Flies!

My how the time has flown.  I've thought many times that I really want to update this blog, but the reality is that I haven't had any time!  I have lots of events and pictures to share with you all and I'm going to do my best to cover a few of those over the next few days.

First of all, Stephen and I celebrated our 1 Year Anniversary on September 1st!  I can't believe how quickly our first year of marriage has gone by.  At the same time, I feel like we've been married for a long time because it feels so right and natural to be with Stephen.  We definitely belong together and it's hard to even imagine life any different than it is today.

For our anniversary, we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants - The Melting Pot! Mmmmm, so good and fun!  It's a fondue restaurant and every course is served fondue style, meaning you skewer the food and actually cook it at the table.  Here's some pictures of the fun:

And the absolute best part...DESSERT!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Fondue anyone?

I can taste the goodness just by looking at that picture.

We also went to a movie and then drove out to the lake and spent some time talking about our favorite things from our first year of marriage and things we're looking forward to in year 2.  Here are a few of our favorites from yr 1: honeymoon in Maui, weekend getaways in San Diego and Pasadena, serving together in Jr High ministry at Grace Community Church, Saturday morning waffles, and moving to Sylacauga.  It was definitely an exciting year with lots of new adventures.  And greater than all those things, I'm thankful for the time we got to spend learning, serving, laughing, and living as husband and wife.  What an incredible blessing marriage is!

Weekend Fun

While there may not be quite as many things to do in Sylacauga, Alabama as there was in Los Angeles, Stephen and I have still found plenty to keep up busy.  Last weekend we got to experience our first GrapeStomp at Morgan Creek Vineyards, which is just 25 minutes down the road.  

Neither one of us had been to a GrapeStomp before and Stephen kept asking what we would be doing, so I got online and did a little investigating.  This is what I saw:

  After reading a few details, I discovered that there would be a Lucille Ball look-alike contest, along with opportunities to stomp on grapes and tour the vineyards.  I know the Lucy look-alike contest got me hooked :-)  So Saturday we drove out into the country and found Morgan Creek Vineyards.  It's actually a very pretty vineyard and winery house.  I could definitely see people getting married on the front lawns.  But I think my favorite thing of all was actually getting to walk along the actual vineyard with grapevines heavy with grapes.  Technically they were muscadines, which Stephen says is different from a grape, but they looked pretty much like grapes to me...just a bigger version.  Heres a few pictures for you guys:

The Lucille Ball look-alike contest:

It was a fun experience...gotta take advantage of everything that's offered!  In a few weeks there's a pumpkin festival at the local pumpkin patch!  Hopefully I can talk Stephen into that one too. :-)

Daisy Festival

Last weekend my mom flew in from Kansas City and we drove to Atlanta to go to the Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain. We stayed with family and had a great time hanging out with them and my friend, Vicki. Here's some pictures from the weekend:
According to the bags they gave out at the entrance, the Daisy Festival is "The Nation's #1 Arts and Crafts Festival." It was definitely the largest one I have ever been to. We were there for 2 days and I really don't know if we even saw all of the booths.

Our group: Me, Mom, Aunt Yvonne, Cousin Taylor, and Karen.

Yummm...turkey leg!

We also did a little backyard fishing before dinner one night. This is on the dock in my uncle's backyard. The lake was newly stocked about 2 yrs ago and we caught a fish almost every time we threw in the line!

Cousin Taylor and her awesome fish that tried to attack right before we took this picture.

My proud catch. Look at the size of that thing! ;-)

Even as adults they still pick on each other...


A big highlight of the weekend was getting to hang out with Vicki!!! She's a good friend of mine from childhood. We grew up together in a culdesac in GA and have stayed friends over all these years. It was great seeing her and her family.

Hooray for a fun weekend! Stephen didn't come because he wasn't thrilled by the idea of walking around a hot and crowded craft fair all weekend, but he had plenty of fun on his own. Football watching, poker & movie boys night, etc. Even though he says he missed me, I know he had a fun weekend too. Now it's back to work...Hooray for a job with Servant Life!