2013 Year in Review

2013 was certainly an eventful year!

January

We got to meet sweet Ruth.

And we went to Gatlinburg for a weekend getaway with friends.

February

Jason had his accident.

March

Jason and I went with my parents to Nashville to sight see and visit family.

And we got to meet Smokey X!

Jason turned 30, and I gave him a surprise birthday party!

April

We went to the Orange and White game in Knoxville.

May

We took a trip to the beach with my parents.

We celebrated 2 years of marriage!

June

Sweet Scarlett joined our family.

July

We celebrated my birthday with family.

August

Ramsey visited us from North Carolina, and Scarlett went to the lake for the first time.

My mom and I hosted a baby shower for MC.

September

We spent a week at Disney World with some of Jason's family!

October

Probably the most eventful month of the year!

We celebrated Charles's birthday and went to Tennessee for a family baby shower.

Jason performed the wedding ceremony for a cousin and his new bride.

We took a weekend trip to Pigeon Forge and while we were gone our nephew was born!

We also had our family photo for our Christmas card made.

November

We had a full house of friends visit for Thanksgiving and hosted Jason's family meal at our house.

We went to the Georgia vs Georgia Tech game.

December

We visited the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and Brasstown Bald.

We celebrated Christmas with our families.

We are thankful for all the blessings of 2013 and look forward to what 2014 has in store!

Happy New Year!

Christmas 2013

This year I had Christmas week off.

We started the week off with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate MC's birthday.

Jason and Baby C, MC opening gifts, delicious cheesecake

On Christmas Eve I baked cookies and wrapped gifts while Jason worked on his truck. That evening we went to Jason's aunt's house for Christmas Eve dinner with family. 

Christmas morning Jason and I opened our gifts to each other before eating breakfast at my parent's house. After breakfast we got ready and went to Jason's parent's house for Christmas dinner.  We had a delicious dinner, played bingo, opened gifts, and exchanged white elephant gifts.

the tree

It's a tradition to take photos in front of the fireplace every year.

Jason's mom and dad, Sparky, and Bella

Us with our pups!

We had Christmas dinner with my family the day after Christmas. 

the tree

Stockings on the mantle

Baby C's first Christmas; He slept through opening the gifts

Hanging out with baby C

A little smile

Family photo- only missing Scarlett!

We had a chill weekend and I got a lot done around the house. Now we have a clean house and all of the Christmas decorations are put away until next year.  

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2013

Jason and I had a very busy Thanksgiving week!
Our friends from North Carolina were supposed to come down on Wednesday but bad weather in the forecast forced them to come down a little early. Ramsey arrived on Tuesday afternoon and was able to have dinner with us that night. Brandon and Jenny and the kids didn't arrive until late Tuesday night. On Wednesday we split up- the boys went to do their own thing and the girls did some shopping. We came back together for a lasagna dinner. 

This was our first Thanksgiving in our house, so we hosted Jason's family on Thanksgiving this year. Everyone came over around lunch time. We had all kinds of delicious food! We were all stuffed. Jason set up a hayride in our backyard for the kids which was a lot of fun. After a full day of family and friends, we got comfy and watched a movie. 

Snuggling pups!

On Friday we all did some shopping. We didn't get up really early or anything though. We got to Bass Pro Shops around 8 or 8:30. Then the boys and the girls split up again! The boys went to Harbor Freight and Northern Tool while the girls were at Target and Petsmart. We met back up for a pizza lunch. After lunch the girls headed back home to do cooking for the Kinamon Thanksgiving. Around four we all headed over to my parent's house to have Thanksgiving number two! We had more delicious food and ended up stuffed again. After dinner we all headed back to our house to make this year's family portrait. It took a few tries. We added two dogs and a baby since last year!

Family photo 2013

Saturday morning Brandon and Jenny and the kids headed home. That afternoon Jason, Ramsey, David, and I went to Atlanta for the the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech game. We tailgated with some friends before the game started and some of the band stopped by to play a song.

Ga Tech band

It was interesting to be back at my old stomping grounds and see how much the campus has changed in the last few years! The game was at 3:30, so we were able to see the sunset over Atlanta from our seats.

Sunset sky at half time

It ended up being a close game and going into overtime, but Georgia finally took the win!

Sunday morning we took Ramsey to Passion City Church in Atlanta. Jason's mom went with us too! Then after lunch we celebrated our niece's 14th birthday with cookie cake.

Batman cookie cake

And that was our Thanksgiving week. It was busy but fun. We are thankful to have spent so much time with our family and friends.

Thankful

I took this picture outside Charles's apartment. It is perfect for my 2013 thankful list.

Here are 30 things I am thankful for this year:

1. God and His love and mercy

2. Salvation through Christ

3. Jason

4. Daisy Duke snuggles

5. Scarlett's sweet personality

6. close relationship with my parents and Jason's parents

7. our house

8. having friends and family with us for Thanksgiving

9. my job

10. having every other week off

11. having Thanksgiving and Christmas off this year!

12. comfy pajamas

13. freedom

14. our small group

15. a healthy baby nephew

16. colorful leaves in the fall

17. gorgeous sunrises on my way home from work

18. beach sunsets

19. date nights with Jason

20. good health

21. Jason's arm healing well

22. my phone/computer

23. appliances that make life easier- washer/dryer, dishwasher, fridge, etc.

24. running water

25. electricity

26. dark chocolate

27. new glasses

28. mountain views

29. warm blankets on chilly nights

30. a new family photo of us with our pups

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

iServe Update

A lot has changed since my original post about iServe, which can be found here.

Our backpack ministry is still going strong. We were able to do boxes for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Breaks which allowed for more food than the backpacks. The backpacks will pick back up in a few weeks when school starts back.

In February of this year we began our Food Truck ministry. Through our local food bank, we are able to purchase a semi truck of food for $800. This food is then distributed to families in the community who need it. The semi truck holds 40,000 pounds of grocery store overstock. Each truck holds different items, but it is usually a variety of canned goods, produce, juice, snacks, bread, and meat. We have asked local churches, businesses, and individuals to sponsor a truck. We are hosting our Food Truck once a month at a local flea market. There are already sponsors for each truck for the year 2013 which is a huge blessing!

On the third Tuesday of every month, the food truck delivers to our local flea market. Right now we are using Jason's bobcat to help unload all the pallets off the truck. Then we use hand trucks to set up the pallets down an assembly line of tables. The assembly line starts with empty milk boxes that one of our volunteers picks up from Ingles. Heavier items like bottles of juice and canned goods are next along the assembly line. Then the lighter or more fragile items (i.e. produce, bagged snacks, etc.) are put on top of the heavier items. Volunteers are stationed all along our table assembly line to put the items into the boxes. At the end of the tables an information sheet about iServe and the truck sponsor are also put into the box before the boxes are loaded into a buggy. Bigger items that will not fit into our boxes are also at the end of our assembly line so they can just be put into the buggy before the buggy is taken by one of our volunteers to someone's car. 

The top picture is the food truck and some volunteers helping with the hand trucks to move the pallets.

The bottom left picture is our assembly line. The pallets are set up on either side of a long line of tables with a volunteer for each item that needs to be placed in the box or buggy. We also have extra volunteers along the line to help push the boxes down and keep things moving.

The bottom right picture is a full buggy ready to be taken and loaded into someone's car.

This is a better picture of the assembly line.
The Georgia tent in the far right of the picture is where the line starts for those in need of food. We also have volunteers here taking information. Before we can give anyone food, we have to verify that they live in the county we are serving (using their ID) and they have to sign verifying their income per month is below a certain amount. This amount is based on the number of members in their family.

Things have grown considerably over the last months. At our first truck in February we served 116 families. This month we served 357 families! 

All of this is possible because of the amazing God we serve!
He has provided incredible volunteers and sponsors.
We are blessed to work with them and blessed to be able to serve so many people in need.

We have also recently launched a website for iServe (iserveministries.com). The website is also linked under the ministry tab at the top of this blog.
On the website you can find information about both our backpack and food truck ministries plus ways to support us and get involved with what we are doing.

Here are some ways we would love for you to pray for us:
- We would ideally like to have a fork lift to unload the truck, but they are expensive. We are hoping for a donation or funding from grants.
- Next year we would like to do a second food truck each month. Our location now is at one end of the county. Ideally our second truck would be closer to the other end of the county. We need prayer about the logistics, sponsors for the additional trucks, and a location. 
- Pray for those receiving the food! We pray that they would see Jesus through us and what we are doing.

1 John 3:18 (NLT)
"Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions." 

Healing is a Process

It has been exactly 8 weeks since Jason's accident.

He is not completely healed, but he is getting there. 

He now has a thin layer of skin back over the entire area!

After several trips to the doctor and a couple of therapy sessions, he has been released from both. He has all the feeling back in this hand and fingers. There is no sign of long term nerve damage or tendon/ligament damage. He also has complete range of motion. He has to continue to keep the area covered, and his injury is not to see the sun at all this summer. The new skin could become discolored if it gets burned. It is really amazing to have seen how awful it looked that first day and how much better it looks now.

God is Healer, and we are so very thankful for His healing of Jason's wounds.

We are also thankful for everyone who has been praying for Jason!

Psalm 103:2-3 (NLT)

"Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things He does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases."

Protection

On Thursday afternoon about 1 o' clock, I got a call that Jason and his friend, C, had been in a car accident in North Carolina. Jason told me the explorer had rolled onto his side and that he had some punctures on his hand. He told me that they were okay, but he was bleeding and had called 911. I was concerned because he was injured and it was going to take me a couple of hours to get up there to him. My mom didn't want me to go alone, so I was waiting on her to get home when I got another call. The call was from C. He told me that Jason was going to be air lifted to Erlanger in Chattanooga. It was at this point that I lost it. The fact that Jason was being air lifted somewhere was incredibly scary and sounded really serious. I asked if it was more serious than they originally told me. C told me that Jason's hand was injured badly and there was concern of nerve damage because his fingers were numb. In Chattanooga he would be able to see a specialist. 

Even though C told me that Jason was okay except for his hand, I was terrified. I couldn't see him, I didn't know how severe his injury was, and I couldn't talk to him either because he was in so much pain. I had to pull myself together to call Jason's mom to let her know what was happening. I let her know that Mom and I were about to leave and would be by to pick her up.

The drive to Chattanooga was a long one. My stomach was in knots, and I was very much on edge. Jason called when he was getting on the helicopter. I was very happy to hear his voice!

When we finally made it to the emergency room at Erlanger, Jason was being stitched up, and the doctor didn't want us to come back until he was finished. After some convincing that none of us would pass out from seeing Jason's injuries, we were finally allowed to see him! I was so relieved to finally see his face and know that he truly was okay except for his hand. We were also able to finally here the whole story of what happened.

Jason and C were headed down the mountain in our explorer pulling a small trailer with their four wheelers on it. It's not a paved road, so it was slick because things were wet. They were coming down slowly, but the trailer was pushing them forward some too. The passenger tire on the explorer went up onto a tree root causing the truck to fall over onto the driver's side. As the truck was falling, Jason put his hand up to brace himself on the ceiling. His hand slipped out his open window and ended up between the explorer and the road. As the explorer was sliding, Jason was able to pull his hand out from under the car. 

Jason's forearm and hand is not pretty right now. He has a lot of road rash, some cuts and scrapes, and a  few deep lacerations. He has a "crush" injury to his wrist- not that the bones are crushed but that nerves and tendons were compressed. Right now the main concern is getting the exterior wounds healed up without infection. Only after he is healed will we know for sure that there is no nerve, tendon, or ligament damage. 

I tell you all of this to tell you that God's hand was in this from the beginning. First of all, Jason was not alone up on his property. The explorer only fell to the side- it did not continue to roll. There are some very steep areas on that property. It is an incredible blessing that this did not occur in a steeper area where the explorer could have turned over multiple times. Jason was able to pull his hand out from under the truck and was not stuck under it. God's hand of protection was over Jason and C that day. My mom had also finished everything that she had to do that day in the morning. When I called, she was able to leave work without leaving anything unfinished. Jason's mom was running late to pick up our nephew when I called her. If she had been on time, she would have already had him with her and his dad would have had to come back to get him.

Jason has recovering to do, but I am so thankful for God's hand in this situation and his protection over Jason and C. I am also thankful for all of the prayers and support of our family and friends. Jason and I would appreciate continued prayers that his arm and hand will heal up properly and that there will be no nerve, tendon, or ligament damage.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'"

The Plan

2 Timothy 1:9 (NLT)

"For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time- to show us his grace through Christ Jesus."

There is so much truth in this one verse! 

God saves us- not because we are deserving (no one is!). It was his plan from the beginning! He knew before creation that we would fall short, but He had a plan. A perfect plan- to show us His amazing grace and unfailing love through Christ. 

God's love is so incredible. Even in our sin (which He cannot stand because He is Holy), He sent Christ as a sacrifice for us, so we can be reconciled to Him.

Romans 5:8 (NLT)

"But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."

Thank you, Lord, for your great love and plan for our redemption!

Sunrise

One of the positives about working the night shift is that I'm often driving home as the sun rises. I have seen so many gorgeous skies over the last year. On Monday I had a dentist appointment after work, so I got some breakfast before I left the hospital. As I was walking down a hallway lined with windows, I happened to look out and see the sky. I was mesmerized. The sun was just coming up over the horizon, so it was still pretty dark higher up in the sky. The colors were amazing, such vivid reds and oranges. It was gorgeous! I had to go outside and try to make a picture. Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took with my iPhone even remotely captured the colors and amazing beauty. 

Panoramic Picture

The beautiful sunrise reminds me of these verses: 

Psalm 19:1 (NLT)

"The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship."

God is an incredible artist! The sky on Monday morning was just one of His masterpieces!

Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

Just like the sun comes up every morning to begin a new day, the Lord's mercy is new every morning. Each day a fresh start to give Him all the glory.

I am so thankful for the beauty of creation that reflects God's glory and for His new mercies and continued faithfulness.

2012 Year in Review

Happy New Year!

We are settled in our new home and finally got internet over the weekend.

Looking back on 2012, Jason and I made a lot of wonderful memories!

January:

I finished up my training at the hospital and officially started my night shift position.

Jason and I spent a week in  Nicaragua on a medical mission trip.

I counseled patients using a translator.

Jason played games with the kids.

Charles and MC got engaged shortly after we returned home!

February:

Jason and I went on a weekend getaway to Asheville, NC with friends. We got to visit the Bilmore Estate, and it snowed!

March:

Jason and I spent a day together in Athens and checked out the zoo and the Botanical Gardens. We also celebrated Jason's 29th birthday!

April:

Jason and I went on a Spring Break trip with our friends to Florida.

Mom and I hosted a bridal shower for MC.

May:

We went to Milledgeville for Charles's graduation.

Jason and I celebrated one year of marriage with a trip to Jamaica. We climbed Dunn's River Falls, snorkeled, and enjoyed the beautiful ocean.

On Memorial Day weekend, we celebrated the marriage of Charles and MC!

June:

We went to Athens for a wedding, and I got to catch up with pharmacy friends!

We spent time on the lake and went camping in North Carolina.

At the very end of June, we signed the contract to build our first house.

July:

We celebrated my birthday.

We went on a road trip to Kentucky to visit Charles and MC.

Visiting Charles's school

August:

Daisy took a trip to the lake for swimming in her new life jacket!

We picked out all the tile and finishings for our house.

We road tripped to Maryland to visit family.

Construction on the house started!

September:

We went to Destin, Fl for vacation with my parents. It was a very relaxing trip!

Destin 2012

October:

We went to Gatlinburg with Jason’s parent’s to celebrate their anniversary. We got to see all the beautiful fall leaves and go to Dollywood.

Great Smokey Mountains

November:

We voted.

At the Tennessee Homecoming game, Jason and I had our picture made with Smokey IX.

We took another camping trip in North Carolina. This time Daisy went too!

We went to the Georgia vs. Georgia Southern game in Athens.

Charles and MC came down for Thanksgiving.

We closed on our new house November 30th!

December:

We moved into our first house.

We decorated the house for Christmas and celebrated our new home with family.

We were able to spend Christmas with both of our families!

2012 Christmas Card Photo

2012 Family Photo

2012 has been full of new beginnings and great memories.

I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us in 2013!