Aubrey's mission

Hi everyone!


I'm taking a break from sharing my life with you guys today.


Well, kind of...


See, I know this amazing woman, Aubrey, who has such a humongous heart and loves to serve!
For a year now, Aubrey has been serving with me and B (and Miss T too!) in an inner city youth ministry.  She has been such a light to us and the kids we serve.


Well, that's not all.  Aubrey also has a dream to share the love of God with the people of Ecuador, serving in college campuses and an orphanage this summer!  She is also an incredible artist!  And, she has a plan to fund her mission trip using her God-given talents. 


Well, that's enough from me, I should let Aubrey tell the rest.

Hello!! (:
My name is Aubrey and as Melissa said, I’m currently preparing to go
on a mission trip to Ecuador this summer! Over the past several
years, God has continued to capture my heart through art and children
to lead me to this place!

In my high school years, I used painting as a therapy to enable me to
talk about the things I’d been through in my childhood. I was abruptly
blessed with the talent of drawing and painting immediately upon
pursuing them, a gift that could only have been from God! This talent
allowed me to cope through the difficult things I was going through,
open up family members and friends about what was really going on in
my life, and connect with peers that were experiencing similar
feelings and situations. The best part about discovering this talent
though, was that it led me to the cross!

After my first semester of majoring in Art Education, I decided I
wanted to do something different with my life than just teaching in a
public school system; I wanted to start an organization that provided
the same artistic outlet I experienced in high school to other
children and young adults that had been overlooked just as I was. I
realized that if my main goal in life was to serve, help, and enable
people coming from burdensome past or present situations, I needed to
start getting involved in their lives immediately.

That’s when I started serving with my beautiful friends, Melissa, B
(and little Miss T!) in an inner city ministry. My heart was stolen
by the amazing children and their stories and I’d never felt more
called to pursue my dream! After almost a year of working in the city,
my heart began to be pulled toward international missions. I began
praying about my desire and several weeks later, I was presented with
the opportunity to attend a 5 week mission’s trip to Ecuador! This
summer, I will be in a team of 10 college students and 4 staff members
with the privilege of working on college campuses and with a local
orphanage! I am soo excited to serve the community and to share the
love of Jesus in a place so much different than home.

I have currently raised almost $2,000 for this trip, but I still have
a long way to go! In the next 6 weeks, I must raise approximately
$2,700.00 in order to attend. To raise this money, I’m selling almost
all of the paintings and drawings I’ve done since I’ve been blessed
with this talent. ALL proceeds will go toward my trip toward Ecuador!
I am so excited for this amazing opportunity and I hope that you will
consider helping me accomplish my dream :)

What did I tell ya?  Isn't she amazing?  I don't know about you, but when I was 19, I was busy trying to plan my life about what I wanted rather than about how I could serve others.

So Aubrey needs some getting to Ecuador to serve college kids and orphans, are you willing to help her out?  You can take a look at her etsy shop.  You can also take a look at her blog if you'd like to know a little bit more about her.  If you'd like to just make a donation towards her trip, you can do that from her blog too!

Here's a sampling of what you'll find in her shop...

And for my personal favorite:

I'd also like to send a little more support Aubrey's way.  I've decided to list this item in my shop for Aubrey's trip.  All proceeds from purchasing this item will go directly toward funding Aubrey's trip.

So, my bloggy friends, let's get Aubrey to Ecuador, shall we?  Even if you can't contribute, I hope that you would pray for Aubrey and share her story with your cirlce of friends.  I know I can count on you!

Compliments of the Shine Challenge

Everyone has "that" person at work.
C'mon, you know who I'm talking about.
The person that no matter what you do, it isn't good enough.
The person that is always so quick to point out your faults and mistakes
    (and yet can never admit their own).
The person that you have just accepted that you cannot get along with -
     and you've grown comfortable with that strained relationship.

I came upon a blog today by the lovely Ashley.
She beautiful - isn't she?
Even better is that she's even more beautiful inside! 
She dreams of changing the world and has started The Shine Project.
She's encouraging us all to step out of our comfort zones
and bring light,
love
and hope to the world.
It's a small sacrifice for us to make a huge difference in the world!
She's even come up with some amazing weekly challenges!
This week's challenge is
A compliment a day keeps low confidence away!
I love this idea!  I'm in!

You know that person I mentioned earlier,
the one that I've grown comfortable not liking?
I don't like that about me, that I can be comfortable with that.
I decided that for day one of my compliment week, I would make it a good one.
Sure, I could tell L that I love her shoe collection.
I could tell K that I love her accent.
 - but those are only surface things.
The small effort on my part would only share a little joy.
I figured I would make this first compliment a doozy.
I went up to that person that I "love to hate".
(eww, I don't like that word, but I have to be honest, right?)
I told him that I really liked his presentation today (true),
that he gave me a lot of things to think about (also true),
and that we should work together in the future (yep, this one is true too).
I don't think I breathed until after our conversation.
Just approaching him, my stomach was full of butterflies.
After though? I felt GREAT!
And, I could tell he appreciated my compliment.
I know this project is to bring hope and joy to others,
  but this time, I was filled with hope!
While we may never be BFFs,
I hope we can grow into a relationship of mutual respect
 and maybe it all started with just one step out in faith.

BTW, I'm pretty sure God has a sense of humor.
My boss approached me and told me that the three of us
(me, him, and the above)
need to meet next week to discuss a project together. 
Thanks God. ;D
 
 
-Melissa

Can I get a hand please?

Yes, it's halfway through January and I'm just getting around to my resolutions.
(I'm famous for procrastinating!) 
Here's the thing, I have a very big year planned for me regarding school, Miss T, a new business, among other things.  I've spent the last couple of days making plans for the year. And I've found myself sinking into a downward spiral of panic.  Here's what I've got planned:
Graduate by the end of December,
launch my Etsy shop,
find new daycare place/provider for Miss T by June. 
Any one of these things would be a huge undertaking, put them all together and it's a perfect storm for
"Everything has to be perfect"-Me. 
However, none of these things is my actual resolution.  My resolution is
(I'm being really brave here because it's hard for me to share this stuff sometimes, all the time)
to grow my relationship with God.
Ok, deep breath, it's out there. 
Growing up as Holiday Catholics (you know, Christmas and Easter, baptized but not confirmed), we didn't talk about God, He wasn't an every day presence in our lives, and we certainly didn't turn to Him for help. 
My husband will tell you that I am
Miss Independent-I-can-do-it-ALL-BY-MYSELF
(thank-you-very-much).
Well, I can't.  Just admitting that I can't is hard enough for me, but now I really need to turn to God,
because,
well,
I just can't do all of this without Him.  I know that He can see me through, and that by growing closer to Him, I will be a better wife, Mom, and student/scientist.  He is the center of all of this and so I'm making Him the center of my resolution. 

So with that, I'm leaving you with my favorite verse of all time. 
This verse saw me through my recovery (physical and emotional) after our miscarriage. 
If it could carry me then, it can certainly carry me now.

Jeremiah 29:11
""For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Mashed Goodness

Hubs and I are sort of known for being, well... clean.  We tend to have more rules about cleanliness than most surgical suites do!  For illustrative purposes, if we find out someone that has been to our house succumbed to a stomach illness shortly thereafter, we will go around our house disinfecting every door knob, handle and commonly touched surface in order to prevent contracting the dreaded virus or bacteria ourselves.  We are even more "particular" than that. We each have our own toothpaste and have NEVER shared a toothbrush (I know, it doesn't have to make sense to any one but us), drinking glasses are only handled by the sides and never the top, and food is never shared between us.

Well, God has to have a sense of humor, and if he does, he must be rolling with laughter right about now.  He matched us well when he put the two of us together, but Miss T is about to break our rules and our sterile spirits.  Tonight, we let Miss T feed her dinner to herself! 

Gasp!  I know!  All of you must be in the same panic we were!  OK, maybe you weren't, but we were absolutely twitching.  Let it be clear that this was done with the premeditated plan of dropping her in the tub as soon as she was done and we conducted this torture treatment (to us, not her) in the dining room at Grammy's house.  Dinner consisted of roast beef, mashed potatoes and butternut squash. 

This was about half way into our meal.  Hubs and I are nearly losing it by this point!  Take a closer look at those hands, they are filled with potatoes and squash.  Miss T is quite simply enjoying her handy little lollipop as she brings the fistful of mashed goodness back and forth between her mouth and the tray.

We knew she was done when she started painting her tray.  It was lovely.  The girl has a natural talent for texture and color.  Once I saw those hands wandering near her head/hair, dinner time was officially over.  The good news is that my darling husband and I survived without hyperventilating or collapsing into the fetal position on the floor while rocking and repeating the soothing mantra "Lysol and bleach, Lysol and bleach".  Miss T thoroughly enjoyed her meal and the ensuing bath (complete with new squirting bath toys).  It was quite the exciting evening and probably one of many to come.  That poor little girl is just going to have to live in the tub I think.  I'm having visions of installing a garbage disposal into our bath tub and giving her meals in there (thanks Seinfeld)!

Here are more of my favorite pictures:

Just look at those hands!

I want to eat those cheeks!

Eyes that melt my heart!