What a Goat Can Do

A few months ago, I posted about a video that my friend, Martijn, had sent me. It was about the exact place that forever changed me. As Christmas draws near and countless charities fill up the advertising slots on television, I can't help but go back. I put a sweet face and name to that child on TV, humbling me to my core; reminding me that millions need basic items, ones in which I take for granted on a daily basis.


I am consistently challenged at the fact that I have a responsibility is to give, and give freely. Not only our finances but also our time. God is forever showing me that I can make a difference, from right where I am. I ache to dig my toes into African soil once again, but even if that day never comes, I know that I don't have to go there to greatly change someone's life.

We are blessed with material things that make our lives easier and even a bit more enjoyable. It's not something we should feel guilty about, but it should call us to action. After all, everything we have is a gift from the Lord, who are we to keep to ourselves? It's too easy to get caught up in our norm and forget about how the majority of the world defines 'normal'.

There are many who would love to give, but do not know where to start or what organizations to trust.
I've put together a few links for anyone who is interested. I encourage you to browse through some of the websites, holiday catalogs and giving options. Even if you can't give one penny, maybe it will provide you with a better understanding of the needs around the world, maybe it will draw you to pray for complete strangers, or perhaps it will spark an interest. You may be amazed at the need, and how little it costs to fill it.

Oprah perked people's interest when she decided to donate goats a few years back. They generate income, provide milk, food and can help support an entire village. When I was in Uganda, they slaughtered a goat and used it to help feed the entire camp. I'll spare you the visuals. A goat is one simple thing that can help save a life, quite literally. Check out all of the others:

Below are just some of the national and international organizations that together, millions of people depend on to survive. Click on their logo to view what each organization is doing to serve others & what you can do to help.

Locally, there are numerous food banks, homeless shelters, children agencies and nursing homes that depend on people's generousity. You don't need to look far to find someone to love.

"Freely you have received, freely give."

Matthew 8:36

Holiday Cheer !

We are headed off for  more of Kyle's interviews later this week. Feels like we just walked in the door, and we are out again. Story of our lives lately.
None the less, I was adamant about getting our Christmas decorations up. Coming home to a gorgeous Christmas tree, stockings and the smell of cinnamon just makes everything better.

Since our refrigerator is empty, we ordered Chinese and spent the night putting up our tree. It doesn't look much different than last year's, but thinking about spending our second Christmas as husband and wife seemed to make it that much sweeter. Putting up the decorations is one of my favorite traditions each year.   I can't wait to have a real tree next year! (I'm hoping, at least ;)

 

It's not difficult two entertain to sleep deprived people. We spent a good twenty minutes playing with reflections.

Maizy was not amused. 

Hello hubby!

Stay tuned. Ways to spread Christmas cheer & a heart felt personal post coming at you on the blog next!

Michigan Road Trip: The East Side

Time to wrap things up on our week in Michigan. We are back home in Charlottesville, and I can't tell you how much I enjoyed sleeping in our own bed. We love traveling, especially to see family, but there is nothing like being in our own home (if only for a few days...)

After our thanksgiving feast in Traverse City, we packed up the truck and headed back downstate.  We spent the last two days with my mom's side of the family. Surrounded by siblings, kidlet,s and of course, the one and only Hannah banana.

Pat had the idea that we should all go bowling. I thought I'd be fun to do boys vs. girls. What wasn't fun is losing that bet. Grandpa is showing Mimi how to bowl, and let me tell you, that girl has endurance. She got one pin in 10 frames, and just kept going. Precious isn't even the word.
(Excuse the huge water stain on my shirt, I was tired and spilled water a total of 10 times during an hour period. I'm hopeless.)

There is a bit of a friendly rivalry at mom's house. Her husband, Pat, went to Michigan State, as did his daughter and son in law. The split Michigan and State flag that hangs on the porch in the spring perfectly exhibits our competition. Both games happened to be on at the same time on Saturday, so we took over both living rooms and spent the afternoon cheering louder than the other. So happy that our wolverine's finally beat OSU. It's been way too long.
Then we lost our voices, again.

I recorded this on my phone at the Michigan vs. Nebraska game and it echos our household on Saturday.

After we could breath again, my favorite person came over!
No, not Kyle or grandma (even though they are some of my favorites ;)

You guessed it. My darling niece.

Emily & I needed to try this hat on her. She wasn't a fan at a first, but then she put her hands up in surrender.

"What are you doing to me?"
Does anyone else play the game, "what is baby thinking." It can entertain for hours.

So there you have it, 2,000 miles of road trippin' throughout the mitten and back home to Charlottesville. I've never actually taken the time to figure out mileage, but I'm quickly regretting that finally did. Realizing that we spent around 30 hours in a car throughout a 7 day period is not the most comforting of thoughts (especially when you have Maizy trying to steal my seat the whole time)


I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family & friends!

Michigan Road Trip: Traverse City Thanksgiving

Each year we venture up north Michigan to Traverse City. We spend a few days sleeping in, fishing on the shore, eating way too much food, taking naps, and having no set agenda. It's a small oasis of pure relaxation. This year, we had our new favorite person join us:

Which means that the most of the time, we did this:

Kyle finally got to meet his niece, she was wide awake but still wasn't ready to go fishing. He and my dad are holding out hope that by Christmas she can hold a fishing pole.

Maizy also met her cousin. Maiz had a hard time understanding that she was no longer the cutest in the household.

Tough life.

Once we decided to look half way appropriate and get ready, we had Cari snap a few pictures of us. Now that she knows where the shutter button is located, she is a regular photographer ;)

Of course, those were all taken before we consumed too much food.

Afterwards we were back to this:

I hope you were all able to spend Thanksgiving with people you love!
My heart is overflowing with gratefulness. Thank you, Lord, for our countless, undeserved blessings.




I'll be back later to share a wedding shower that I had the honor of helping to host, but right now I watching my mom and Kyle make homemade pies for our second Thanksgiving feast. I need to grab my apron  and show them how it's done ;)

Michigan Road Trip: The West Side

Well, we've made it from Detroit, to Ann Arbor, from Grand Rapids to Traverse City and now to Davison. Whew. Allow me to backtrack a bit to give you a little taste of our few days on the West Side.


Let's start from way back when on day one: Kyle met Griffin in 6th grade when he moved to Rockford and sat at the same lunch table as him. Kyle still remembers his "funny looking haircut." Nonetheless, these two opposites became best friends, and to this day are still like brothers. Griffin was Kyle's best man in our wedding, and come April, Kyle will "give Griffin away," as he likes to say.

We were so happy when Griffin got on one knee and asked Stephanie to marry him. We've had some fun times over the past few years, but I'm looking forward to so many more memories together as two families.

Kyle's mom, sister, and I had the honor of hosting Stephanie's first wedding shower last Sunday. (You may recognize her from this post).


The details:
A gorgeous cake made by a local bakery. It was as large as it appears, most people took some home :)

Centerpieces:
Pink & White roses.
They were so simple & elegant! The vases were all the same size, the perfect height to make a statement but short enough that they were not in the way of people conversing over the table.

We measured the height of the vases and cut the stems one half inch taller, forcing all of the blooms to sit right on top of the vase with no stems showing.

But most importantly- The Bride to be:

I love seeing these girls! We last reunited in August to celebrate another wedding, and now we get to spoil Stephanie. It was pretty neat to be in a room with all of these girls, and our mother in laws. It's so rare that after all of these years, all of our husbands are still best friends.

We spent the night trying to make Ali laugh hard enough to put her into labor. Fail. We are still waiting for baby boy Blackmore to arrive!

I wish I had more pictures of us introducing Kyle's family to hibachi, but our cook cheated us by not throwing shrimp in our mouths. The nerve ;)


This sums up the rest of our few days. Kyle's parents falling head over heals for Maizy. She even had Christmas gifts to unwrap.

Michigan Road Trip: Part 1

I apologize for my recent absence. I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, getting energy from coffee and an occasional nap in the car.  If it were any other way, any visit back to Michigan wouldn't be worth it. Getting to spend so much time with family & friends is good for my soul.  Right now, I'm sitting in front of a fire place, in my pajamas at 9:30 pm. Glorious life, this is. I call this recovery mode. 

Let's walk through the last few days, shall we. 

Well, hello mitten state.

Maizy, Kyle and I set off on Maiz' first road trip. After sticking her head out of the window multiple times, within an hour she was passed out. This was what most of the rest of the trip consisted of:

Our first stop was at Kyle's family Christmas. Christmas before Thanksgiving??!! It's really common for us northerns grandparents' to spend the winters in Florida to avoid the chilling temperatures. Grams & Pop's were leaving early this year to take advantage of the sunshine, so we had our family Christmas a bit early. 

Early the next morning, we awoke before the sun rose to make our way to Ann Arbor. Since we've been in Charlottesville, we've tried to make it to at least one football game at the Big House each year. It becomes a reunion of friends and we look forward to it for months ! This game did not disappoint! Michigan beat Nebraska - causing our voice boxes to be used to the max and assisted in us sounding like frogs for another 48 hours.

Kyle had packed 20 lbs of venison for the tailgate. Who doesn't want venison burgers at 9 am? On our way to Ann Arbor, we realized that all of the venison was frozen solid. Solution:

Yes, venison packets sitting on the vents while the defrost is cranked to high is exactly what is taking place here. My job was to make sure they didn't fly all over the car once the brakes were hit, and to rotate the packets as they began to thaw. Wonderful activity for 7:00 am.

But look, it worked! Warm food also helped compensate for the 40 degree weather that I definitely didn't prepare for. 

So glad that Ben & Lynn drove up from Cinci! 

My hands were so cold that I bought $10.00 Michigan gloves from some man wandering the golf course. They may have been a bit too large and made me look like a clown, but I was more than happy when I could feel my fingers again

(More to come in next post about this girl's wedding shower on Sunday... ;)

Oh Big House, we've missed you. It helps that we had ridiculously good seats 4 rows up. Thanks Griffin, Stephanie & administrative mistakes in the ticket office :)

Thankfully, it started to get warmer as the afternoon progressed. That, or jumping up & down and getting thrown in the air for each touchdown helped get the blood flowing. It looked like it was about to storm throughout the entire game.

Saturday night was defined by consuming mexican food and plenty of girl talk over margaritas. Then, my in-laws and I stayed up until 1:00 am giggling nonstop while attempting to finish planning for the wedding shower the following day. Sleep deprivation makes everything funny. 

Then we woke up to this sun rise, a chilly run, and nanna's homemade cinnamon rolls. 

The perfect way to begin our week.