Angel and Izaah

I posted a while back about the Amachi Program. It is a mentor program for children who have one (or more) parent who is incarcerated. 5 months ago we started this process, and this past Saturday we were finally matched :).

We met Angel and Izaah this past weekend. Andy and I were both really nervous ... but like the excited nervous kind. We met at their house. They live with their grandparents in Halls.

Izaah is 9 years old. He is in the fourth grade. He loves sports, especially golf. He is very outgoing and will say whatever is on his mind. Monopoly is his favorite board game. He got in trouble at school last year for sticking another kids head in the toilet (oops!).

Angel is 11 years old. She is in the fifth grade. She is more reserved. She loves art and fashion! Horses are her favorite animal.  If she could do any adventure she would want to learn more about the Titanic.

Here we are at our first match meeting ...

They have a garden. A huge garden! Grandpa came up while we were talking with the kids and asked me if I like sweet potatoes. I replied YES I love them. He went outside and came back with a bag full of the BIGGEST sweet potatoes I have ever seen. Seriously.

So naturally I made a lot of Yummy sweet potato things :)

We will now hang out with Angel and Izaah for atleast one hour a week for a year. We hope to show them how much their heavenly father loves them since their earthly father is in jail. We hope to form a friendship with them. We want to love them, and show them how to love others well. Please please please join us in praying for Angel and Izaah and the relationship we will have with them.

Marriage Retreat

Y'all. Cedar Springs Marraige Retreat this past weekend. So refreshing!

Bottom Line Michael Durso and Maria Durso are the bomb. They were our speakers. They have the neatest story! They pastor a church in NY called Christ Tabernacle.The Retreat started Saturday at 10:00am and ended Sunday at 11:00am. It was in a beautiful spot in the mountains and was full of rich teaching. I'm so glad we got to go.  

On Saturday night they played a "Newlywed Game" before Session 3. Sure enough ... Andy and I were selected out of 84 people. 4 couples total participated in the game. It wasn't easy questions we would have known like what size shoe does he wear? Or what food does he eat the most? They were odd questions. The boys went out of the room first, and the girls were asked to write down answers to questions. The girl questions were:

1. What is the strangest gift your husband has ever gotten you?

2. Who Kissed Who First?

3. If your husband died and came back as a dog ... What kind of dog would he be?

The boy questions were:

1. If you had to change one thing about your husband what would it be?

2. If your husband were a candy bar what would he be?

3. What first attracted you to your mate?

WE WON! And got a free night :)

All in all a great weekend!

Lil' Vinnies

Friday night I was able to participate in a celebration of my sweet friend Becca Cox. We went to Lil' Vinnies Restaurant in the old city. A fun time was had by all!

She so deserves to be celebrated :) She is so thoughtful and kind. I'm glad I can call her my friend!

READ MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

If you haven't read this article yet .... do! What a great reminder of how we should treat people.

Go Chick-fil-a!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shane-l-windmeyer/dan-cathy-chick-fil-a_b_2564379.html

Finding Robin Hood

I don't think telling this story can do it justice ... but I am going to try anyway.

Last Thursday night Andy had to close Chick-fil-a and do month end. So I knew it was going to be a late night for him. I decided to go to a workout class after work, and then to see my parents. I drive home, pull in the garage, and walk in the house like any other night. Our house was dark, and it was dark outside so I was already scared entering the house alone. I had like 4 bags I was holding (literally ... I come with a lot of baggage), and so I struggled getting the door open. I open the door and our alarm goes off but not like the siren alarm, just the friendly you have 1 min. to get to the alarm and enter the code. I had to kinda slam the door shut because I couldn't close the door with all the stuff I had in my hands. I take a couple more steps into our kitchen and decide I need to set my bags down. As I am setting my bags down I hear the loudest glass shattering sound I have EVER heard. At the same time I hear the sound our siren alarm starts going off. It is SO loud! My heart starts beating soooo fast but even still my first though was "OH CRAP! Our mirror fell off the wall and broke!" So with all the lights still off I walk over to the edge of the room to look at where the mirror had fallen.

The mirror was still on the wall. WHAT! So now I am thinking ... what made that noise?!?!?!?

At that moment I look down at the floor under the mirror and see this (remember it is still pitch black and I can barely see anything anyway. This picture is from later last night after I turned the lights on. Obviously)...

So I see the arrow on the ground and then look to my left and see this ...

So naturally my first thougth is: SOMEONE JUST TRIED TO KILL ME WITH A BOW AND ARROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I run and get our dog and sprint to my car as fast as I can (thinking someone is going to be after me). I called the police and drove to the gas station down the road.

Well it turns out our neighbor was doing target practice earlier that day. When I came in and shut the door it caused the glass to fall through. I think our neighbor needs some more practice!

3 people who know me best!

This past weekend I was able to see three of my very best friends. Laine. Lauren. and Rob.

I have missed them dearly. It was such a treat to all be together again. We hadn't all been together in 8 months. Thats a looooong time. I think it is safe to say I had a great time. I think I was so excited I forgot to take pictures. I stole this first one from Lauren's instagram, and the second one is a self timer early morning we look sleepy shot (Minus Lauren ... we missed you). But I have lots of memories in my head. And that is what really counts.

So thankful for these friends.

Back to yesteryear

Yesterday someone asked me: "If you could go back 5 years in time what would you tell yourself?" 5 years ago I was 18 years old. A senior at Bearden High School.

I didn't have a very good answer for them ...but I have now had time to think about it! So if that were to happen I would tell myself ...

Self. You are being a drama queen. The world is not ending just because you and Andy broke up. You will be ok, and stop being such a psycho! Oh yeah and don't cut him out of pictures in the yearbook just because you are on annual staff and can edit yearbook pages. You will regret it one day. Oops.
Self. You will figure out where you want to go to College. I know it seems like you will never make the right decision, but you will!
Self. Enjoy having plans every Friday night! That is not reality in the working world.
Self. High School is Awesome! Soak up every last second of it.
Self. Enjoy High School sports. 
Self. Enjoy your friends. They will still be your best friends in 5 years, and most likely throughout life. They rock. Treasure them dearly.
Self. Enjoy living at home with your parents. You will miss it one day.
Self. Put more thought into what you want to be one day. Oh and what you want to major in.
Self. Enjoy not having to pay bills. You are blessed.
Self. Laugh more. Worry Less.