A Busy Week

This off week was certainly a busy one.

We had something going on every single day!

Monday night we had an iServe meeting. We were able to talk about what's been going on and what is coming up. Our backpack ministry will be ramping back up in a couple of weeks when school starts back!

Tuesday Scarlett got spayed. I dropped her off early in the morning. While she was gone, I took the opportunity to get some cleaning done around the house. I was able to pick her up at 3:30. She was so pitiful when she got home. She could barely keep her eyes open!

Pitiful pup

On Wednesday I had a doctor's appointment and then spent most of the afternoon at the pool. While I was gone, Scarlett was licking at her incision site. When we checked it before going to bed we noticed the top of it was open! I freaked out, of course. It wasn't bleeding or anything, so we decided I would take her in to the vet the next morning.

Thursday morning Scarlett got a staple and a special collar to keep her from continuing to mess with her incision. They didn't have the usual "cone of shame" in her size, so she got an inflatable one more like a neck pillow! She's not a big fan of it, but it does seem more comfortable than the alternative.

Scarlett's special collar

Friday I got to have lunch with my parents. Then, Mom and I worked on the invitations for the baby shower we are throwing for MC next month. After I came back home, I made a blackberry cobbler. Jason and I took dessert to dinner at his cousin's house. We had a delicious dinner and lots of good talk!

Saturday morning we had breakfast with Jason's parents at Golden Corral. In the afternoon we went to the lake for a friend's birthday. It was overcast most of the day, but the sun finally came out after we had our dinner and birthday cake! We did get to see an amazingly beautiful sunset on the way back in. Jason stopped twice for us to take pictures!

Sunday morning we went to church. Then we had lunch and dinner plans with friends. We did take some time in the afternoon just to chill at the house with our pups. It was much needed after going so much this week.

It's back to work this week.

Hope y'all have a great week!

Birthday Celebration

Last week was my birthday. We did a couple of things to celebrate last weekend. Mom and I got our nails done, and Jason and I did some birthday shopping.

The real celebrating started on Monday though. Jason's parents and one of his nieces came up Monday. They made me a special birthday dinner along with some strawberry shortcake dessert. After dinner, we took Big Red for a spin on the lake. It was a really nice evening for a ride. We even took Daisy and Bella (Jason's mom's dog) along for the ride!

Daisy and the sunset

Tuesday was my actual birthday. We started the day off with the iServe food truck. Then we grabbed some breakfast and headed home. Our plan was to get ready and go to Athens for lunch and go to the Botanical Gardens. When we got ready to leave my car wouldn't start. Jason finally got it to start after doing some tinkering under the hood, but it made for a late start to our trip. 

We had a late lunch at Ted's Most Best. We had never been there before but had heard it was good. I even saw a blurb about it in Southern Living Magazine! We had a meatball slider appetizer, Caesar salad, and arugula pizza. Everything was delicious. It was such a beautiful day that we ate on their patio. 

On the patio

After lunch we walked over to GiGi's Cupcakes for dessert. I love those cupcakes! They were having a special so we ended up with 3 cupcakes. Yum!

Chocolate, Red Velvet, and Wedding Cake

Since we got a late start and had to be back home for dinner, we decided to skip the Botanical Gardens and come back another time. We did have time for a quick stop at The Loft, and I got some new clothes as part of my birthday gift from Jason. 

That night we had dinner with my family at a local restaurant called Antebellum. The restaurant has a really cool atmosphere and the food was delicious too. I had the shrimp and grits.

Outside the restaurant

Shrimp and grits

We didn't get dessert because we had cake waiting for us at home, but I definitely want to go back for dessert. The dessert menu looked great!

Mom and Charles made me a hummingbird cake which was delicious! Charles took the time to put 26 candles on the cake. I tried to blow them all out but only got 22. Must mean I'm still just 22 instead of 26! :) 

Birthday cake

It took all 3 of us to cut the cake!

After cake I opened my gifts and we took a new family photo. Only one is missing- sweet Scarlett. Hopefully, she will be able to visit my parents soon. She has been doing very well with her potty training!!

Family

It was a great birthday! I'm very thankful to have spent it with the ones I love!

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." 

Thankful Thursday

Happy 4th of July!

I think this July 4th is the perfect Thursday to list somethings for which I am very thankful.

1. I am thankful for a loving and merciful God!

Titus 3:5 (NLT) "He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

2. I am thankful for the freedom we have in America and all of those protecting our freedoms.

3. I am thankful for Jason.

I could not ask for a more hard working and loving husband.

4. I am thankful for family.

Jason and I are so blessed to have such wonderful families. We love spending time with them.

5. I am thankful for our pups- Daisy Duke and Scarlett.

6. I am thankful for my job.

7. I am thankful for sweet friends.

8. I am thankful for the time Jason and I were able to spend at Whisper Mountain last week. It was a fun time in the mountains of North Carolina!

Some scenes from our time at Whisper Mountain

We are truly blessed.

Hope everyone has a great 4th!

The Story of Scarlett

If you know Jason and I at all, you probably know that we love dogs. We had been talking about getting another puppy since we got married. We considered getting another dachshund but decided on a  bigger dog. Jason always had big dogs when he was growing up. He used to have a Walker Hound, so he was on board when I said I wanted a Blue Tick Hound. We started looking for a breeder around the time we moved into our house and put a deposit on a puppy that was due in March. Unfortunately, this puppy never came to be. After the loss of another litter of puppies due in May, we decided to look for another breeder. We just couldn't find any puppies that would be available before the fall. Then, a friend suggested we look on Craigslist.

We found an ad on a Sunday night for a 4 month old Walker Hound and Blue Tick Hound mix. Jason called about her on Monday morning, and we had an appointment to visit her that same afternoon. It was pretty much love at first sight. She is beautiful and was very friendly and sweet to us. They called her Scarlett, and we decided to keep that name. My mom says we have two southern belles, Miss Daisy and Miss Scarlett.

First Picture

It has been an interesting couple of weeks with Scarlett at our house. We are very used to Daisy, who is already trained. It's been seven years since I've had a puppy. I forgot how high maintenance puppies can be! If I had a dollar for every time I've said "no" to her since she's been home with us, I would have a lot of cash!!

She is a very smart pup though, and she is learning. She has not had very many accidents house, and she almost knows "sit". The biggest problem we've had is her standing up on our kitchen table and countertops! We are trying to teach her that "down" is good!

Jason and Scarlett

Most people have asked us what Daisy thinks of Scarlett. Really, it depends on the day. Scarlett wants to play with Daisy, but Daisy isn't really interested. Daisy is interested in Scarlett's toys though. Daisy has a small chew bone, so we got Scarlett the same one but bigger. Daisy only wants to chew the big one! They have also been fighting over the Kong toy. Jason put peanut butter in it once, and they still fight over it even though all the peanut butter is gone.

Scarlett wants the Kong, but Daisy won't give it up.

We're still getting to know our new pup, but we love her sweet personality.

Here are a few things Scarlett loves:

- her stuffed duck

- treats

- snuggling

- playing outside

- chew bones

On a ride with Jason.

Memorial Day Weekend

Our Memorial Day weekend started on Friday afternoon. We headed out on the lake for a friend's birthday. It was a gorgeous day, but a little breezy. It made for some rough waters and a little bit of a chilly ride. It was still fun though! We rode in the boat to a local restaurant for dinner and caught the sunset as we headed back to the dock.

Saturday was another gorgeous day. We went to a graduation party and enjoyed the weather. Jason and I are starting to feel old because kids we met when they were in middle school are graduating high school and going off to college! 

After the party, we loaded up Daisy and headed to The River to camp with Jason's parents. Saturday night we had s'mores by the camp fire before heading to bed. Sunday morning I went fishing with Jason and his dad. Daisy decided to come along too. She loves riding in the boat! Unfortunately the fish were not really biting. Jason and his dad each caught one fish. Daisy wasn't too sure what to think about the fish flapping around!

We spent the rest of our time at The River riding four wheelers, grilling, and hanging out together. It was good family time. 

Monday night we had my parents over for hamburgers and watermelon. I am thankful that we were able to spend time with both of our families and thankful to all of those who have sacrificed to make our freedom possible. 

Destin 2013

We took our first trip of the summer to Destin, Florida. 

We went with my parents, and we did all of our usual vacation things plus a few new things!

After dinner at The Crab Trap our first night.

The weather was pretty fabulous all week. The only cloudy day was the first day. Since it was cloudy, we drove down 30A and checked out Seaside. We had lunch and walked around all the cool shops.

The beach at Seaside.

Dinner view from The Backporch.

We have to go to our favorite restaurants in Destin including The Crab Trap and The Donut Hole.

While waiting for our table.

Dad and I love TCBY's white chocolate mousse yogurt. We don't have a TCBY close to us, so we always go several times while at the beach!

Yummy!

Dad, Jason, and I played golf one day. Jason could only play a little bit because the wrap he's wearing to protect his arm made it hard. Dad obviously did the best, but we all had a good time!

At the last hole.

We all played putt putt a couple of times and also saw Iron Man 3 and the new Star Trek movie- both were great!

Beautiful flower

Feeding the fish at the putt putt course.

We also walked on the beach a few of the nights, and got to see some beautiful skies.

Walking on the beach our last night.

Jason and I also celebrated two years of marriage while in Destin, which I posted about here.

It was a much needed, relaxing vacation!