Weekend Recap

Our busy weekend has come to an end.

Friday morning I made pancakes for breakfast before Ramsey headed back to North Carolina.

After Ramsey left, Jason and I took Daisy and Scarlett to the vet to get their nails clipped. Jason took our picture before we left. Daisy was in my lap, and Scarlett decided she wanted to be in my lap too!

Jason and I ran some more errands in the afternoon, then we got ready for dinner. I made corn casserole and another blackberry cobbler (my fourth of the summer!). We had dinner at my parents' house with Charles, MC, Aunt Pat, and Uncle Wayne. 

Saturday morning we had MC's baby shower. I didn't get many pictures, but fortunately one of MC's friends is a photographer and she took lots of photos for us!

MC and baby C got all kinds of goodies!

I had to get a picture of these petit fours also. They were so cute with the blue booties on top!

Aunt Pat and Uncle Wayne headed back home Saturday afternoon, but we were able to spend some time with them after the shower. After a little break we headed to baby shower number 2 of the day. My friend, April (who I have known since preschool!), is having a baby girl. She and her baby also got lots of goodies! I have to say, baby girl things are just so cute! I was definitely exhausted by the time a got home.

Sunday morning, Jason and I went to church then had lunch together. It was a gorgeous day, not super hot and with a nice breeze, so we decided to go out on the lake. We also took the pups with us. Daisy loves going out on the boat, but this was Scarlett's first trip. She did really well riding in the boat, but she did not want to go swimming. When we tried to put her in the water she would immediately try to climb back out. She was terrified! Daisy did a little swimming though. She will swim to Jason and then swim back to the boat.

Scarlett hanging out on the boat.

There were lots of sail boats out today!

Sunday evening, Jason's cousin and his fiancé came over for dinner. Jason is marrying them in October, so we worked on their ceremony order and also did a little budgeting exercise.

Monday is here, so it's back to work for both of us. It was really nice having Jason off last week while I was off! Hope y'all have a great week!

Sweet Summer

Well, it's been another busy off week so far.

This summer has certainly flown by, but it has been a good one.

Our friend, Ramsey, has been in town this week from North Carolina. Monday night some friends invited us all over for dinner. We had some delicious food cooked on the Big Green Egg, and then had dessert at a place called Spoonful of Heaven. We had fried Oreos and fried cheesecake!

Tuesday morning we were up bright and early for this months mobile food bank with iServe. It was a rainy morning, but we still had a good turn out for volunteers. Jason's parents always come up to help us out, so we were able to have lunch with them afterwards. 

I made a lasagna with salad for dinner on Tuesday night. My parents and our friend, David, came over and we all ate together. 

After all the kitchen clean up, I looked out the back to see this wonderful view.

A gorgeous summer sunset sky!

On Wednesday Jason, Ramsey, and David went four-wheeling. I took the day to get the house cleaned up and run a few errands.

This morning we got up and headed down to Jason's parent's house. His mom cooked us a big breakfast, then Jason and Ramsey helped Jason's dad with an old truck he's been working on. Daisy and Scarlett had a good time playing with their dogs, Bella and Sparky. We had two tired pups on our way back home.

Tonight we had a big family dinner at our favorite BBQ place. My Aunt Pat and Uncle Wayne are in town this weekend for MC's baby shower. They were able to come over after dinner to see our house and get the big tour.

The week isn't slowing down from here. We are supposed to go check out Baby C's nursery tomorrow and have dinner at my parent's house. Then Saturday is baby shower day. One for MC and one for my friend, April. A busy, but fun weekend ahead!

Quality Time

It was another busy off week, but I did get to spend lots of quality time with friends and family.

Jason and I were able to have a couple of dates this week. 

Monday night we had an iServe meeting in a town nearby, so we had dinner and dessert there after our meeting. It was italian and frozen yogurt- so delicious!

Later in the week, Jason only worked half a day, so we had lunch together and did a little shopping at the mall. Sometimes I feel like I don't get to see Jason very often because our schedules are so different, so I was really excited to have these "dates" this week!

On Thursday, my dad and I played golf together. I'm not very good, but it was still fun. I probably hit the ball at least five times for every one time Dad hit the ball! We only played nine holes because the chance of rain was pretty high for the afternoon. It was definitely smart thinking because we hadn't been gone from the golf course five minutes when it started pouring down rain! Hopefully next time we will be able to play the full 18 holes.

Friday morning Mom and I went to the outlets to get some baby clothes. We have two baby showers coming up in a couple of weeks, so we were looking to get part of our gifts. I always have a good time shopping with my mom! After our shopping trip I had lunch with a good friend who I have known since preschool! We had a great time catching up.

Saturday we went to Tennessee with Mom and Dad. They are planning on moving there after they retire, so we went with them to check out a potential house. It was a longer trip than we expected, but we had a good time and got eat at one of our favorite restaurants up there.

It was a great week, but now it's back to work!

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!