The Road to Brussels...

That's right! I'm heading to Brussels this summer!!! I've mentioned my friends the Doyles to you, that I met at Connect in Hungary two years ago. Well this summer I'm traveling back over to Europe with 5 others for Serve the City Brussels. Serve the City is all about serving people in need in practical ways. Every need has a name, and every name has a story. Serve the City wants to know people by their names and stories rather than by their needs.




June 25th I will board a plane with Andrea, Trevin, Robyn, John, and Chad and head to Brussels to serve until July 8th. We are hoping to learn and experience STC and bring it home with us to replicate it within our surrounding communities.

To tackle the high cost of this trip we are doing several fundraisers. Andrea and I did some yard work for money. We learned how to thatch a yard. It was hard work, but we had a lot of fun!!

 

The lawn bags were HUGE!

I had some trouble getting out of the bag! 

All our hard work!

Please pray with me for our trip. Pray for unity among the 6 of us, for safety in our travels, for our fundraising, and for the people who we will be serving.

Showering my dear friend Rachael...

My dear friend Rachael and I have been friends since high school. She is so near and dear to my heart...we even have the same birthday!! Rachael is pregnant with her first child, Brooke, due June 4th. Friends of her mom threw her a baby shower the other week. It was so great to see her and some other friends from high school. The shower was during the few days of our summer like weather...so it was a hot one!!

 

Mommy to be!

Tiauna and I...we were the only ones there from high school who weren't pregnant!

This was Rach's favorite book/song growing up. Now she can read it to Brooke.

I knitted a baby blanket for Brooke...my first one ever!! 

Me and and the preggo girls...Jen, Rachael, and Becka

Grandma and Mommy to be

They are going to make wonderful parents! 

Hip and Purple 

(our high school nicknames for each other...don't ask)

Learning when to say no...

Saying "No" is something that I am constantly learning to do. I love to help people and do things for them...but too many times I have said yes to things that I really shouldn't have. I read this blog post today by Mark Batterson, the paster at National Community Church and author of the book In a Pit With A Lion on a Snowy Day. If you haven't read it yet...do it! Its a great read!!!

Friends and the Wii...

I have been blessed with some amazing friends. Whenever we get together there is always fun and laughter. Bryan bought Rock Band the other week...so we ecided to try it out! I learned quickly that I am not a Rock star! It was a great night! Here are some pics to enjoy...

 

Bryan Rockin out on the guitar!

I gave the drums a try with Jeff's help...I was PATHETIC! 

Steve-O giving the guitar a go!

Brian looking like a Rock Star! 

Leslie and I gave singing a go...she was much better than I was!

Jeff, Bryan, and Brian...Rock n Roll! 

I was much better with the guitar...and Les was good on the drums! 

Meghan loved her man's singing! 

A Weekend of Extreme Relaxtion...

S and O's family bought a "Mountain House" 3 hours west from here. For Christmas they gave me a weekend at the house which I took last weekend. Five of my friends and I packed up and headed west. The weather wasn't that great, but it aided in the extreme relaxation. We didn't have any plans for the weekend, so we just hung out, read books, played games, slept, and soaked in the hot tub!!! I honestly cannot think of anything that could've made the weekend better.

Here are a few pics:

Mike and I stopped at a "scenic overlook" on the way. After he pulled the car over and started driving the WRONG WAY until I decided what we were going to do for dinner. 

 

The living room while standing in the kitchen

The dining room

The kitchen

The HOT TUB!

This was the GLORIOUS bed I slept in. Mike made sure that I kept the "Princess room" (Master Bedroom) instead of giving it to one of the married couples. 

S and O have built a tee pee in the backyard. Its soooo cool!!! Complete with moss carpeting! 

 

The boys playing Golf Putters Pool

 

The house is at the top of the double black diamond ski slope. We decided to check out the slopes!

 The boys threw an airplane off the Mountain...

  

Wolf helping Mary and Rex up the mountain

Everyone joined in! 

We came back to relax...and the snuggies helps that!

This was the best weekend! I'm so thankful for my friends!

Pics in the Park...

We have had some summer like weather recently...which is a big tease! O and I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and play at the park. I also loved having an excuse to act like a kid again!! We ran around and played hide and seek...though he wanted to be the all time seeker. It was a lot of fun...and he is a great seeker! Then O wanted to take pictures. He would do something and I would take his picture, then he wanted me to do the same thing and take my picture.

 

My favorite picture from the day!

The real us!

Standing in the walkway

Climbing through the tunnel

Catching our breath after O chased me for a long time!

One last trip down the slide before we left...and a final picture together! 

Still slacking...

So here are my resolution updates...

Spiritual Health - I think I have given up with reading through the Bible this year. When I get behind I get stressed out, and instead of just trying to catch up a little each day I get so overwhelmed that I just give up. With that said, I think I'm done with the Bible in a year. April was not so great spiritually. I did buy two new devotionals that I'm excited about. I started one, its Experiencing Words of Jesus by Max Lucado. Its a workbook that gets you into scripture. I'm hoping that this will help me get back on track!!

Physical Health - I'm getting much better with this. The first half of the month I was slacking, but I'm getting back on track. Mary and I text each other Monday-Thursday at 6:30 to make sure we're up to workout. This past week I worked out 4 out of 5 days! Woo hoo! My goal is to get back to working out 5-6 days a week.

Healthy Schedule - Getting up early each morning is helping me go to bed earlier. So let's hope that this will continue!

Eating Healthy - I've been ok at this. I could definitely take it up a notch. A lot of my friends are also trying to eat healthier which is a good incentive for me to stay on track. Having friends trying to be healthier is definitely encouraging.

So now that I'm building momentum I'm hoping May will be a much better month! I've written a bunch of posts already...so hopefully you'll hear from me a lot more now that I'm caught up with all the back logs!

Opening Day...

I was invited to go to Opening Day of the Orioles this year. I'm not a huge baseball fan...but going to games is always fun...and it was free!! It was a rainy day...but luckily it cleared up in time of the game. We had club level tickets, so when the skies decided to open up right before the game we could run for cover. It was a great game...the O's beat the Yankees!! Woo hoo! Here are some pics...

 

The view from our seats...pretty nice!

 

  

Here come the O's! 

 

  

This is Birdland!!

 

Joe Biden threw the first pitch! The crowd booed him...I was surprised.