Beach Trip 2013

I am playing major catch up on the blog.

I know it's hard to believe, but I love blogging.  I enjoy writing. 

However, I allow the smallest little thing distract me from my commitment to stay current. 

 

Most of the time, I get too much on my plate, which is completely self-inflicted, and blogging quickly becomes "just something else to do". 

 

It is, though, important to me to have a record of our lives.

So... for the 148th time, I am trying to renew my commitment to blog. 

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In August, a couple weeks before the school year began, Brandon and I had a chance to spend a week in our favorite beach spot, Destin, FL. 

I cannot even begin to express how needed this time was. 

 

The chance to get away for a bit came in the midst of an extremely dark season and I was thankful for the chance to spend uninterrupted time with Brandon.

 

The first night we were there, Brandon gave me a gift.  He told me to close my eyes and wait.  When I opened my eyes, he was holding a new wedding ring set.  I have talked about the "antique-y looking rings" for years.  I actually feel strange saying that it wasn't our anniversary, there wasn't anything wrong with my original set, but Brandon giving me this set of rings demonstrates his heart for our marriage - they are "to celebrate our marriage".

 

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Brandon's aunt and uncle, Jim and Kathy, along with their family, were in Destin the same week as we were.  Actually, we were all staying at the same place. 

We enjoyed spending the days on the beach with them and eating dinner a couple times throughout the week. 

 

There were two other families from our town in the Fort Walton/Destin area as well.  We were able to catch up with them, eat dinner, and watch fireworks.  We had such a great time!

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When we were not eating out or sitting on the beach, we were taking walks, reading, resting, and talking to Jesus. 

 

We were thankful for the time we had to spend together. I am thankful for the thought and love that Brandon intentionally puts into our marriage. 

 

I am blessed.

 

 

World Changers 2013

This summer, Franklin hosted two weeks of World Changers.  For those of you that may not know, World Changers is a one week hands-on mission experience made available to youth groups across the nation.  World Changers is a program of LifeWay Christian Ministries.

Though World Changers is for middle school - college age students, LifeWay employs some college students to travel throughout the summer on specific teams, in order to help lead World Changers projects.  Each year, a team of 4 college students travel to Franklin to help our project. 
This year, because Franklin was hosting two project weeks, the college students, "summer staff", stayed in Franklin for a total of three weeks. 
Brandon & I truly bonded with these students and they quickly became, "our children".  :) 

*Background Information*
I served on Summer Staff in 2004 and 2005.  I learned so much about who God was, how to serve Him, how to serve those around me, and much about myself.  I met people during those summers that still make my heart smile when I think of them.  It was an amazing experience and opportunity.   During those two summers, there were people that took us in.  They knew we were away from home, they knew that in order to have clean clothes, we had to go to the laundry mat, they knew that we had not had a home cooked meal in weeks, if not longer.
There were some people that volunteered to do our laundry, there were people that invited us into their homes so we could shower somewhere other than a school locker room, folks extended an invitation to join them at their family cookouts.  It was those people that enhanced my experience.  I learned from those people. 

*2013*
The Summer Staff, all from cities, were in Franklin, NC for three weeks and then, would go on to Cherokee, NC for another two.  Therefore, when we were not in a Franklin project and if they had a break from their Cherokee project, we spent our time together. 
We did laundry together.
Went White-Water Rafting (my first time!)
Watched movies
Took naps
Ate dinner
Went to the King's house for a cookout and corn hole
Saw Cinderella the Musical at a local theatre
Tried to watch fireworks on the 4th of July (it rained)

Brandon was able to spend time with us as we were hosting the project in Franklin.  He, too, served as coordinator, along with myself and my dad.  Rarely, is Brandon willing to be silly and allow me to catch it on camera, so I had to take advantage of this photo op.

Labor Provided By: World Changers

Throughout the entire first project in Franklin, the girls and I were so looking forward to the musical!  Paul, however, made sure Brandon was going before he committed to it. :) What troopers!

At the Breedlove home hanging out and watching movies.  If pictures had sound, I'm sure we could hear the washer and dryer running.

I have never gone white water rafting!  We decided this was just the thing to do on the 4th of July.  I was a bit nervous at first, because it had RAINED. ALL. WEEK., but I was assured that it would be ok and they were right!  We had a blast.  I'm looking forward to going again.

The Kings invited us over for a cookout.  It was fun just getting to hangout and play corn hole, which was something else I had never done before. "The boys" stuck together most of the time.

As I mentioned, my dad was a coordinator for the World Changers projects too.  It was an honor and joy to serve along side of the one that had taught me to serve to begin with.

Currently in January

I often read teaching blogs and on one specific blog I read, is written by a super fun and outgoing teacher named, Farley.  At the beginning of each month, she posts a CURRENTLY page.  This is like a "fill in the blank"-type page, that you complete and post on your own blog - it's a way for others to know what's CURRENTLY going on with you.... assuming they care. :)

I usually only post this on my teaching blog, but I thought I would see how it went on my personal blog. 

I am posting the blank page so that you can do this too.  Save the blank page on your computer.  Then open it in an editing site.  I use www.pixlr.com/express. It's free. :) Open the blank page, and then use the "text" option to fill in each space.  Then post!  Below your post of the CURRENTLY page, give a little "blurb" of each space you wrote about. 

I think this will be fun.

To see the entire page, click on the image.... I can't figure out how to adjust my widths on the blog. ugh.

Sometimes, I get a little frustrated with the home-buying prospects on HGTV's, House Hunters.  However, overall, I am a HGTV junkie.  Our TV is on this channel 95% of the time. 

Oh so soon, I will be seeing my friend, Julie a lot more often.  We are going to be workout partners at the gym.  I am super excited to get to do this with her: an encourager and friend.

Though I will spend the rest of the week at school, students won't come until Monday.  There is, however, a whole heck of a lot to get completed before I see their smiling (or not so smiling) faces.

I am CURRENTLY reading, Orphanology by Tony Merida.  It is a great book, paralleling adoption and the Gospel. When I finish it, I want to begin, actually, two books.  One I heard of just recently, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp and the other is Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo.

Since I will be beginning my gym days (once again), I am in need of a new pair of tennis shoes.  They probably need to be lime green?

My OLW (one little word) is incredibly powerful: redemption.  How beautiful this one word is.  How grateful I am of this one word.  I am thankful for the gift of redemption that Christ has freely offered me.  A chance to be redeemed - forgiven of the dark and ugly so that I can step into His presence, His holiness.  Through the redemption of Christ, brokeness is traded for hope, for His Glory, alone.

Tell me.... What are you up to CURRENTLY?

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2013!
The New Year allows us to ponder the last 12 months as well as prepare for the next.  Instead of declaring a resolution, I am choosing to claim a collection of hopes & prayers. 

Here's to a New Year and the next 365 opportunities to Overflow with Hope! Romans 15:13