Turkey Day!!

I know Thanksgiving was a few days ago but things have been so busy lately that I'm just now getting around to telling you all about it. Thanksgiving was soooo much fun! We had the opportunity to be in the parade with Right Moves for Youth which is an organization that my team works with. We had to meet them early so we had to get on the 6:42am bus and I overslept and woke up at 6:30...oops! We ran to the bus stop but we made it! The parade didn't start til 10am so there was a lot of chillin and wandering the behind the scenes of the parade. We took pictures with all kinds of fun characters and there were so many fun floats! We were holding/carrying the huge blow up turkey and it was having some issues so we weren't able to go when we were supposed to. After some tlc on the turkey it was up and ready to role...and off we went into the parade! I was pretty much having the time of my life....thousands of people lined the streets and we got to throw candy, wave and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!! Did I mention that we followed The McDonald's float and were dancing down the street with the music from their float-it was soooo much fun!!

When we got home the dinner making begun! I was in charge of the turkey, mac and cheese and peanut butter pie and I did a pretty great job if I do say so myself! :) We decided to get all dressed up for dinner-so fun! I missed being in IN with my fam but I am really glad I was here in Charlotte with my team. Here are some pictures from the day:

Atlanta pics

I wasn't able to add pics on my last blog because I wrote so much!!! oops!

The Best of Both Worlds

Yes, my blog title is the Hannah Montana theme song but it's also how I'm feeling right now. Currently I am in Atlanta sitting on a comfy blue couch at Ashlee and Caleb's house. All other friends have left for the evening and I am sitting here eating key lime pie with Ashlee and soaking in the wonderfulness of being in Atlanta. Oh how I love Atlanta and the wonderful people that live here! But then there's Charlotte, my new home. I've come to love Charlotte and am beginning to feel connected there. I am enjoying life there and the adventures that each day brings.

Atlanta and Charlotte.....the best of both worlds.

I started writing this a few nights ago while in Atlanta. My time there was beyond amazing...it was a break that was definitely needed. I came back today feeling refreshed and recharged. I want to share some of the amazingness from my weekend so here are a few highlights and fun facts about my time in the A!

*Hannah Montana, Rascal Flatts and Christmas music kept me company on my trip

*I got to see all the Atlanta Mission Year teams at the Phone-A-thon Thursday night!

*went to FCS and hung out with all my old co-workers!! I miss them!

*Thai food with the ladies

*game night at the Starrs after Ashlee fixing my favorite meal :)

*watching Beauty and the Beast and cuddling with Ava Friday morning

*$10 puffy vest from Old Navy....everyone got one!!!

*Ava and I were bff all weekend long....i just love hearing her say my name :)

*I ate at Doc Greens for the 1st time-yum!

*Mike hugs!!!

*tree lighting at Atlantic Station

*playing with the girls in the fake snow at Atlantic Station...they had snow machines-it was awesome!

*walking around Atlantic Station looking at all the beautiful lights and singing Christmas songs

*if i could make a living out of dressing up and singing Christmas carols I totally would!

*dance parties in the van

*watching Home Alone while Ashlee does Anniiayah's hair...and it looks sooo good!

*going to Park Ave Sunday morning. I can't tell you how much i love that church and the people in it! They are doing great things and I'm excited to see what God does there.

*Anniiayah's bday party on Sunday.....yummy cake, fun friends and games

*Sunday was Deck the Starr Halls!! I LOVE to decorate for Christmas! It was a wonderful combination of decorating, listening to Mariah sing us some holiday favorites and football in the back ground :)

*hanging out at the coffee shop

*seeing old neighbors and roomies!

*All Christmas all the time radio station on the way home....magical!

*the Colts won!

*bed time stories and prayer time with Anniiayah and Makayla

*I realized this will probably be the last time I see the girls before they go to live with their mom. I don't like thinking about it...it makes me want to cry. I love them.

*lots of wonderful and encouraging conversations-i have great friends :)

There was much more about my weekend I could share. I am so blessed to have the friends and support system that I do. It was so nice to just "be" with them and not having to explain anything...they know me. There were moments when I felt like I had never left....wonderful. It's weird how I still feel so connected with my Atlanta world and yet I feel connected and at home in Charlotte. God is such a cool kid....can I call Him a kid? Anywho....He is totally in control and knows what is best for me. He knew that (after time) I would love Charlotte and I would do well here, I just had to trust Him. Crazy what can happen when you just let God take control.....

lunch buddy

One of the organizations my team volunteers for is A Child's Place. They work to erase the impact of homelessness on children and their education. They provide snack bags, tutors, uniforms, hygiene and anything else that may help the child have more of a normal school experience. I volunteer with them throughout the week as a lunch buddy. My lil lunch buddys name is Queen and she is the sweetest lil 1st grader you will ever meet. She loves, pineapple, doritos, ice cream cake, reading, art and the class bunny. She doesn't like green beans, ants, white milk or math. She's very quiet and a bit shy but she is starting to get more chatty as each week goes by. I try to get there early so I can hang out in the classroom for a little while before lunch. She has an amazing teacher who is creative and really loves the kids. I wish I would have had him for a teacher! Last week we stayed in the classroom and had lunch while reading books and talking. I kinda liked that better than sitting in the cafeteria because there are always a million kids trying to compete for my attention and it's a bit more difficult to talk to Queen.

Today we had some really wonderful chats. She asked me if we were friends and I told her of course we were! She told me that we should promise each other that we will be friends so we shook on it and did this fun lil hand clap diddy to confirm our friendship-it was the cutest thing! I was wearing a necklace today that was made by kids in India and I bought it from a friend who is trying to raise money for an orphanage there and Queen kept talking about how much she liked it so before I left I gave her the necklace. She got the biggest smile on her cute lil face and then reached out and hugged me so tight. She told me that she would wear it all the time so she could remember me being her friend and eating lunch with her. I love this little girl.

Waffle House

It's 1am we are hungry. What do we do? Go to Waffle House! It was Samantha's first Waffle House experience, Jaimee's favorite place, Barak's birthday and I was just really hungry-everyone was excited! It was sooooooo yummy! We are all now stuffed, full of energy and smell like a combination of smoke and batter....aren't you jealous? Here's a lil sneak peak of our experience.

randomness

The past 48 hours have been extremely busy...actually this past week has been a crazy whirlwind of events. It's too much to write so I'm just going to focus on the past two days. Here are some highlights and random things that I want to share...

*we(Elevation and Mission Year) had an outreach event yesterday at the elementary school in our neighborhood. We did landscaping, coloring a mural, decorating classrooms and installing white boards.

*afterwards we had a cookout/festivalish thing at the park right by my house.

*we had popcorn and cotton candy machines!!!

*there's no outlets at the park so we had to make the stuff at my house and then bring it to the park

*we set out the smoke alarm in my house by making the cotton candy

*we had face painting-and the kids loved it!! (adults too!!!)

*I was reminded that being in charge of an event may mean not getting to do all the fun stuff that everyone else is doing...and I had to check my attitude a few times throughout the day

*we served 300 hot dogs to neighbors and friends!

*we gave away a 'Thanksgiving in a basket' and the family that won it were so excited!

*we made lots of new friends

*i wrote my lil lunch buddy's name on the mural...I can't wait to show her!

*after the party we went to a bday party at a neighbors house

*i helped make fried chicken at the party-i HATE fried chicken!

*we went to a fancy thank you dinner at a Country Club last night

*we did the electric slide

*we danced to Boon Boom Pow with a local Charlotte celebrity

*Jaimee, Samantha and myself danced in front of everyone....it was awesome!

*woke up at 6:30 this morning to help at church

*bus was late....and was standing room only....and stopped at EVERY stop from our house to the church which made us late-oops!

*had a bad attitude about going to church so early. I was so tired and annoyed that there was nowhere to sit on the bus. Then it hit me....the bus was full of homeless guys that just left the shelter by our house....i woke up in my own bed, took a shower and ate breakfast at my house. They woke up on a cot (or floor) in a huge room with hundreds of other guys, didn't shower and probably haven't for a few days and more than likely haven't had anything to eat since yesterday and have to roam around and find somewhere for food and to hang out until they can go back to the shelter tonight.

*I am on the VIP team at church. I am one of the first people that visitors see when they come to church-aren't they lucky?

*this old man fell up the stairs when I was showing him in the building....

*then the greeting crew cheered for him when he walked in and he asked me if they were clapping because he fell....

*people at Elevation cheer for you as you come in as a way to welcome you....i kinda think it's awkward and a bit weird

*i got to see my small group-they are wonderful!

*the sermon was wonderful

*there's no future in the past...I need to be reminded of that

*i had yummy leftovers from last night for lunch-i love free food!

*laundry day!!

*bought a new rug for my bathroom

*made mass amounts of cotton candy

*played frisbee at the park

* kids came over tonight and we made popcorn and cotton candy...lots of cotton candy

*we wanted to take an adventure to the post office but the bus we were going to take doesn't run on Sundays-lame

*we rode the bus into downtown and walked about 6 blocks to find a post office

*we were and still are on a sugar high from the ridiculous amount of cotton candy we consumed in the past 24 hours

*some man was mocking jaimee's laugh on the bus....it was HA-larious!

*as he was getting off he yelled some not nice words and directed them to sam and jaimee

*i decided he needed Jesus and cotton candy and that would make his life better

*the bus was early so we had to sit 21/2 minutes at a stop-random

*i got to talk to my momma tonight :)

*i just looked in our pantry and we have 6 bags of cotton candy

*I feel like Charlotte is becoming more and more like home everyday

Ugly Jar

We are in the middle of a sermon series at Elevation called "The Joy Genome" and I am enjoying it a lot. Pastor Foo has said many things that have caused me to think about my attitude in my life and how to have true joy no matter what I'm going through. One of the statements he makes every week is 'My joy is not determined by what happens to me but what Christ is doing in me and through me'. Ponder it. Repeat it. It's good stuff.

Life is crazy and can throw us situations that are hard and painful. How do you have joy in the midst of sadness and tears? How do you find joy when you feel like everything around you is falling apart? How do I find joy when there are so many people that I love hurting? What if you were homeless and starving, how do you become joyful? What if your mom is dying of cancer, you lost your job or your 15 year old is pregnant...where's the joy? Isn't it awesome that because we have God in our lives that we can also have true joy? He loves each of us so much and we are all fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. He knows the plans for our lives so we have no reason not to be full of joy. God, the creator of everything, has our back and is there for us every step of the way. That's just so wonderful to me. I'm so glad that he knows the plans for my life because I would totally screw things up if I were in charge.

Philippians 2:14 says 'You should do everything without complaining or arguing' but what does that look like and how do I really live that out? They passed out these jars after service Saturday night and called them Ugly Jars. The idea is when you complain or argue about something you put a dollar in the ugly jar. Next week we are supposed to bring the jars back and the money in them is going to be given to a local ministry that we partner with. I think its a good way to make you stop and think about how much we complain about things. I have so much that I take for granted everyday and not only material things but relationships as well. I have a wonderful family who loves and supports me and a job that I absolutely love-not many people can say those things. In case you were wondering I haven't had to put in money in the jar yet, but it is only Monday. :)

There's much more I could say on the subject of joy but I'll save it for another time. Goodnight all!

halloween

Halloween wasn't a holiday my family really celebrated, at least not in the traditional way.I don't really remember dressing up that often and going trick or treating. I do remember dressing up as a Bible character and going to church to attend a festival of some sort. There were usually about 25 Marys walking around holding their baby Jesus and about a handful of boys dressed like Moses. I also remember dressing up like Data from Star Trek-yes, I am THAT cool! I'm pretty sure sister dressed at Data one year as well....we are our father's children! When asking the kids in our neighborhood what they do for Halloween most of the said that they go to the rich neighborhoods and trick or treat. Such a smart idea! If I still went trick or treating I would totally go where the rich people live and get the good candy-they pass out king size candy bars!!!

Last night we went to the Matthews campus of Elevation and helped out at a fall/halloween festival they were having. It was so much fun seeing all the kids ( and some adults too!) dress up in cute lil outfits! After the service we passed out hot cider, popcorn and candy. It was a fun time to do something together as a team as well as meet other people from Elevation.

We had dinner before the service with all the volunteers at church and had this yummy bbq. There was a ton left over so Chris told us to take it all home. There was at least 15 pounds of meat left-no joke. As we were driving down our road we saw a few of the kids out walking in the rain. We invited them over to have some bbq and to hang out. Darius also came over and enjoyed the yumminess. It was wonderful having them all over hanging out and playing games.

Here are some pictures from church last night...enjoy!