This is why I am Pro Life

About 7 months ago a young girl walked into the pregnancy center. She was scared, sad, and mad. She was pregnant, and that was the last thing that she wanted to be. She informed me that she could not even pay her rent for the next month, so she was sure not going to pay for another baby. She was planning on having an abortion, but before she did, she wanted a sonogram to see how far along she was. She knew that different stages in the pregnancy cost different amounts at the abortion clinic, and she wanted to know how much this abortion was going to cost her.
















After talking with her, reading Psalm 139 (she is a Christian), and praying with her, (I have never prayed so hard in my life) I took her into the sonogram room so that the nurse could start the sonogram. "D" was able to see her little baby up there on the sonogram machine. She was about 8 weeks and 2 days old, and she was putting on a show for her mom.

After more talking and more prayer, "D" told me that she was planning on keeping her baby. I was thrilled, but I was still worried. It is so easy to make a decision like that when you are around people that support you and when you are not thinking about the two kids you have at home and the bills that you have to pay. I was worried that she would get home and change her mind. I prayed and prayed and prayed for this girl. She was on my heart so much. I did not think that I would see her again, but because of donors, we were able to pay her electricity bill and her next months rent. "D" then started coming in for our program called Parenting Perks. She was able to earn all kinds of baby items and diapers. It has been awesome to see "D" grow in the last seven months. I loved getting to know her and her family. I have had the pleasure of being invited to her baby showers. It has been an awesome experience, but none of it compares to what I got to experience today.















Today I got the opportunity to see this little baby girl. I got to see a baby that would not be here today if "D" had chosen to end this little life that was inside of her. It was honestly breathtaking to hold this baby in my arms and it brought me to tears when I thought about how great our God is. He is the giver of life and today I got to see that life.















"D" is going to continue coming to the pregnancy center for parenting perks, which means that I am going to be able to see this little baby girl grow up. I am honored that I was able to meet this little princess today, and I am thankful for God's constant grace and mercy.















We serve a good God.

2 Years Down, Hoping for at least another 60

So today around this time 2 years ago I was up at Northwest Bible Church with my fabulous sister in law Erin, and my friend Catherine, setting up the candles for our wedding that was going to happen that night. Looking back, it is hard to remember everything that happened that day. I know it was an amazing day, but it stinks that I cannot remember every single detail.



After setting everything up at the church, I went home and we had my bridal luncheon. YUMM it was Cafe Max...not fancy, but delicious!



Then I went to get my hair done. I did not enjoy that. I went all by myself and the lady that did my hair was a freak. She looked like a transvestite. That is not comforting when she is supposed to make you look elegant on your wedding day.



After that it was off to the church and I got to marry the most amazing man ever! Then we got to go to our reception at the Brookhaven Country Club. I honestly don't remember much of that at all. I remember meeting a bunch of people that I could care less about, I remember dancing (not cool... I cannot dance), I remember a pasta bar that I did not get to partake in, I remember not seeing John for very much of that time at all, and I remember my favorite toast of the night done by my sister in law. It all just went by so quickly. I wish I could have stopped time and taken everything in. I know it was fabulous. I am so grateful to my parents for giving me such an amazing wedding, and I am so happy that we have it all on video to watch.

I'm blessed that God had John planned for me. He is an amazing husband and I am so lucky to have him as the man that will lead me for the rest of my life. I could not ask for anyone better!


Happy Two Years Poopface!!! (That's right...that's what I call him)

MAKEUP for some fabulous Guatemalan women!

Hello all! How are you guys doing today. I hope everyone is fabulous. So, every year we go down to Guatemala, we take toiletries. This last year that I went, I decided to take some makeup that I had collected over the year and some jewelry that I never wear (I know I'm so generous by giving the stuff I never wear...horrible). You know when you get the gift bags and the colors are crazy and you would never wear them? Well, the people over in Guatemala will not only wear them, but they LOVE them. So, I wanted to ask y'all if you have any extra makeup sitting around that you are not going to wear. If you do have some, and you would be interested in donating it, I can promise you that it will be very very appreciated! Also, if you have any old jewelry or costume jewelry, they love that stuff too. So please feel free to call me or facebook me or post here. I would love to take more stuff down this year. Last year there was one lady that I was not able to give any makeup to and I felt horrible about it. I gave out about 6 bags worth last year and she came up to me on the last day and asked for hers. SO SAD! Needless to say, this year she will be getting a fabulous bag of makeup.

So thanks for considering this! Also, perfume would be great too! you know those little samples they give out.... OK I'm finished talking.

Shout out to my brother!!

I want to give a shout out and a congratulations to my brother Scot on his new job!!! I have no idea where he is actually working, but I know it is an awesome job, and I know that he will do absolutely fabulous at it! He ROCKS! And, look how sweet he is....

Congratulations Scot! I know you will do great! Love you!

Drug Related Shootout Kills 11 in Zacapa Guatemala....?!

So, as some of you know, we had to have an emergency meeting last night with our planning committee for the Guatemala trip that we go on every year. We knew that something had gone down, but we didn't really think that it was going to be such a big deal. So we get to the meeting last night and Amado (fabulous Guatemalan man) fills us in. CRAZY.

















OK, so we go to this hotel in Zacapa called the hotel Longarone. It is a fabulous hotel (as fabulous as you can get in a third world country, but hey, it has a water slide at the pool) We stay there almost every year. We are planning on staying there this year.







Here are two pics of our hotel.




I know the water slide doesn't look fabulous, but after you work with 200 kids at camp all day long, the pool rocks when you get back!







OK so anyway, this is where we stay basically every year. We love it. It is our home away from home when we are there.







So let me get back to the point. We found out last night that right across the street from the Longarone, there was a big drug shoot out about a week ago. It was crazy stuff like in a movie....let me explain.







There are two main drug lords that transfer money and drugs from Columbia to America. One of the drug lords handles the coast on the Gulf of Mexico and the other drug lord is in charge of the coast along the pacific.


So before, to get from Columbia to America, they were both going along their coasts. But apparently recently they realized that Guatemala would be a nice place to do some of their drug trafficking, and the little farming town of Zacapa seemed like a great place to do it.



So, longer story short, both groups met up at the hotel across the street from the hotel longarone and killed each other. There were lots of guns and grenades involved. One of the drug lords was killed and the other is missing. 11 total were killed. There is still a big war going on between the two groups because they are fighting for this territory and now because they have all decided to be at war with each other.


Basically, that's what our meeting was about. Do we cancel? Of course not. I am so excited to see what God is going to do there. The people in the village are already asking if we are coming because they don't think that we will after all of this. What a testimony it will be to them of God's love when we still go. It's really cool because so many changes are going on there. The people are changing and getting closer to God. This is Satan trying to screw stuff up, but we aren't going to let him.

We are going to tell all of the families that have signed up for the trip about this because we don't want anyone to feel obligated to go. I know it would be scary taking your children. But, I do think it will be a very powerful trip when the ones that decide to go, go. It is a different feeling when you know you are going into something dangerous, but you go anyway because you know that that is where God is calling you to go.

I'm not some great person for going. I just HAVE to see my kids! I miss them SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much. Plus, what a better way to die than on a mission trip. right?

Ryann Cate Turns One!

Friday was my little niece's 1st birthday! I cannot believe that she is already one year old. I hate how quickly she is growing up, but at the same time, she gets cuter and cuter every day! Ryann Cate had a birthday party on Saturday, and I will say that she is a popular girl. She had at least 30 people at her party! That is way more than I had on my 25th. While it was fun to see her playing with all of the little kids there, the most fun part was watching her eat her red velvet cupcake. It was fabulous. This is a great picture of it, but I don't even think it does her cuteness justice.

It was so funny. Erin took her top off, strapped her into the highchair, and then placed her in the middle of the room with everyone staring at her. At first she looked a little nervous and kind of upset, but then I think she enjoyed everyone staring at her. I told her not to get used to it.

Happy Birthday Ryann Cate! We love you!!

Policies and Procedures My Butt

So I work for a non profit. I love it. It is a pro life organization, and I could not be happier to have it. I know this is exactly where God wants me to be, and I know that I am so blessed to have this job. I get to work with women all day long who need Jesus, need to be loved and comforted, and need some help. It is an honor that God has chosen me to do something like this. I often wonder why I was so blessed with this job.

OK, so now that I am done saying nice things about it...I will say this. I'm pissed. Strong word, but it's true. I work 4 days a week. When I signed up for my job, I signed up for it because I knew I only worked 4 days a week and I knew that I got two weeks paid vacation off at Christmas and two weeks paid time off whenever I wanted it. I took that into account when they informed me of what my salary would be (not much). So, I assume that if I work overtime, I will be compensated for that, either with hours off or paid overtime. It is in our policies and procedures manual that we are allowed comp time off if it is approved. Well, apparently it never gets approved.....

I have to go to a mandatory conference called Heart Beat International. It will be super interesting, but it is on Thursday from 9-9 at night, Friday from 8:30-2:00, and Saturday, from 8:30-5:30. We will get Monday off. So, lets do the math. That is about 25 hours. Based on my normal work hours on Thursday and my Monday off, that equals 17 hours. There are still 8 more hours left in the day that I will be working overtime.

So, I email my boss and ask her nicely what she would like us to do with these extra hours. Would she like us to use them as comp time, or does she have a different way that she would like us to use them. Apparently I was not supposed to ask this. I got a very unfriendly email back saying that I should be happy that I am going to this conference and that we already get two weeks off at Christmas, so I am already very lucky to have these other days off. But, if you will remember I was told at the beginning before I decided to start working here, that I would get those two weeks off at Christmas, so how does that apply to this? It doesn't. And, if you are going to put in the policies and procedures manual that, "There may be times when a staff member will be requested or required to work beyond her regularly scheduled hours. (Our non profit's) policy for salaried employees is to provide comp time for additional hours worked. Comp time is accrued at the equal rate of over time hours worked."then you should probably actually man up to it when that time comes around.

All I'm saying is I took this as a job. I am SOO lucky to also have it be a ministry, but this is a business and you have to treat it like a business.

So in conclusion...I'm a little miffed.