Dragon Boat Race

Each year the local hospital holds the Dragon Boat Festival, a fundraiser for the future children's hospital. This is a HUGE event in Johnson City. I didn't realize how big until I saw it this year. Well, Boys to Men had a boat in the race this year and we WON!! May not seem like a big deal, but this was the first year we have done this and we beat out 60 other teams. This was my first time ever to be in a "rowing" race and I LOVED it. It was a ton of fun and great publicity for our work at BTM!

The final race...we're boat #2. It was an exciting and close race. We won by a tenth of a second!

That's Hope and I in the water after we won the final race. We got so excited we just had to jump in!

The winning team! Yeah!!!!

(You can see more pics from the day right here.)

a little behind on life...

life is crazy and busy right now. i've gotten a little behind on the blog....here come a few posts to try and play catch up.....

i wish....

....i could afford a great lawyer to get custody of three amazing kids

....the system wasn't broken

....DCS would actually do something to protect children

....people who had children understood what it means to have children before they make the decision to do so

....i was married so i could adopt those three amazing kids

....the judicial system took child abuse and neglect as seriously as they do meth abuse

....all the kids i work with will understand God's incredible love for them

....i could wish all their troubles away.....

but, instead of wishing, i should pray. pray long and hard for these things to be truth and not just wishes.

summer fun

well, the summer has been BUSY! a lot of fun and a lot of difficult work. God has been so gracious in giving me fun adventures to help ease some of the pain that i've been dealing with concerning some really hard circumstances with several of our families. i have really enjoyed some great time at the beach, well several beaches. had some fun visits with friends and family. here are a few pics from some of my adventures....you can see the rest at Kelly's Shots. i am excited to say that i have one more fun trip coming up this weekend before reality really sets in with the start of the school year. if you will, please pray for one of our families. i'll call them the T family for the sake of confidentiality. the five children of this family have endured horrible circumstances this summer and DCS can't seem to see the need to get these children in a safe environment. please pray for God's gracious hand to protect their precious lives and to move on their behalf.

A visit to Miami and the Keys....

beautiful bougainvillea....i love this stuff!!

enjoying a fun visit in Key West with Jewels...thanks for a great trip, girl!

leslie and i enjoying the beautiful waters and incredible life under the sea on a snorkeling adventure

Only 90 Miles from Cuba!

On to Garden City Beach, SC....

some of our Girlfriends enjoying the beach for the first time!

sailboats

On to Savannah for fun with the family!

mom, debbie, paula deen and sharon

Mom and I enjoying Savannah

tornado

the last couple of weeks have been like a tornado. i feel like i have been standing still while a tornado has been spinning madly about me. all of our students have finished the school year, so there have been lots of end of the year activites and we just returned from a trip to Washington DC with our junior high and high school girls. it was such a neat opportunity to see these girls experience Washington DC for the first time. we had a great trip! i am definitely exhausted, but it was well worth it. we were blessed with AMAZING weather and some fun experiences. we got to see the Rolling Thunder motorcycle ride, which was really cool. AND i got to go up into the Washington Monument for the first time out of all my many trips to DC.

our crew outside the national archives

kierra (my mentee) and i outside the capitol

me, isis, leslie and francis waitng to get tickets for the monument at 7am

the world war II memorial at night....it's my new favorite spot in DC

where's the whoop?

ok, so i've said it before, but i've been attending either a baby shower, wedding shower or a wedding every weekend for past couple of months. kind of crazy, i know, but so fun to celebrate these blessed times in friend's lives. so, being the aggie that i am, i can't help but notice the very clear absence of the celebratory "WHOOP" when the preacher announces, "You may now kiss your bride". for the first time in my life i have experienced this phenonmenon living outside of the usual aggie realm and i must say that it's just not the same without that "WHOOP". so, this weekend at tracey's wedding, i gave a good whoop when the groom kissed the bride and it was great and totally appropriate for tracey! i feel better! a few pics from the wedding...

me and tracey

kierra, tracey, latonya, latesha

several of the ladies from work

on another note, i would like to introduce you to my wednesday group. i spend each wednesday afternoon at northside elementary school with a beautiful group of girls. i must say that they are my most energetic group and i never know what i'm going to get each week! i absolutely love it! i love this school, this group of girls and the time i get to spend with them. i know you're not supposed to have favorites, but this group, without a doubt will be greatly missed from my summer as we take a break from school!

emani, tytiania, mashanda

courtney & tenecia

my wonderful wednesdays!

a glimpse into my work...

i spend my days working with kiddos and facilitating ways for volunteers to do the same. a.k.a. mentoring. we have many volunteer mentors who are sharing Christ with many children who are in need of His love and grace in their lives! i personally mentor one-on-one, but mostly in group settings. each day of the week i work with a different group of students. on thursdays, i travel up to mountain city to work with a group of girl's from mountain city elementary. last week we had our princess and manner's celebration at this fabulous restaurant, Suba's. they absolutely, without question, have the BEST desserts that i've ever put in my mouth! our Girlfriend's group received what i thought was the best compliment they could have received....our server told them that they behaved better and had better manners than the high school students who dine there for prom in their fancy dresses and tuxes. i love this group of girls and am thankful for God allowing me this season in their lives. here are a few pics of our crew....

beth, haley, ms. paula, destiny, brandy, & katie

keiley, samantha, alisha, eden & kirsty

Ms. Paula & I, my mtn. city partner in crime

spring fever

I have Spring fever! All I want to do these days is play outside, sleep late and eat popsicles! For one summer, I wish that I could revert back to childhood. I would love for that to happen this summer. You know, when you stay outside all day....sleep in, watch cartoons, eat a popsicle, play outside, eat a popsicle, swim, eat a popsicle, play on the swing set, eat a popsicle, chase your pets around the yard, eat a popsicle, help your mom pick veggies from the garden, eat a pospsicle, play outside some more, eat a popsicle, hope you don't have to go inside to eat dinner and take a bath. You finally give into your mom's urging you to get in the house to eat dinner and take a bath. So, you drag in and eat dinner. Ask if you can have popsicle so you can prolong not taking a bath. Then finally you get in the bath tub and then you don't want to get out because you know you'll have to go to bed. Maybe you can manage one more popsicle before bed time. If only I could have a summer like that!! That will probably never happen again in my life, but a girl can dream can't she? For now, I will settle for as many trips to the beach that I can get and a diet full of popsicles :)