Happy 4th!

Note: Despite the less than thrilled faces in this picture we all enjoyed the Redbirds fireworks on Saturday night. (When you sit on the Bluff it is hard to pay much attention to the game.)

Note to self: Get some sun on those legs!

Sprucing up the Schoolyard

Last weekend Neighborhood Church had our second Weekender, which is one of three weekends a year that we spend together learning, worshiping, praying, eating, serving, etc. Neighborhood Church has been an adopter of Peabody Elementary, especially the playground. We spent Saturday afternoon raking mulch, pulling weeds, and giving the playground a new face before school starts again.

I spent most of my time working on this sign... my cup of tea for sure. (Note: a few families left before we hung the sign because all the kids were hot and dirty to say the least!)

Outdoor Fun

Although it's HOT, summer means drinking lots of water with outdoor activities on the side in Memphis. The  2nd annual Lonnaroo was held on the Georgian Woods lawn. Per tradition, the dress code is "Sexy Casual" which I translated to "No sleeves." We didn't have quite 100% participation, but many attendees showed up without sleeves:

Also a summertime favorite: Concerts at the Levitt Shell

The last show of the season brought out friends from many parts of my life: Arkansas, MTR, and Neighborhood Church. 

Pardin Weddin'

Kristi and Nathaniel got married two weeks ago tonight! Before the wedding we had a fun girls night out eating sushi, taking a belly-dancing class, and celebrating St. Patrick's Day on Beale Street. The belly-dancing  was really fun. I'm not any good at it, so don't ask to see my moves...

Friday night we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at the wonderful McEwen's. I took a break from my diet and really enjoyed some carbs and some wine. Everything was perfect, especially the company.

The big day finally arrived and all the details were amazing. I love all the textures! Kristi walked down the aisle to Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are" and we all walked out to Michael Franti's "Say Hey." The ceremony was sweet, especially when Kristi and Nate stood in a circle and prayed with their parents in the middle of the ceremony. That is when my tears escaped.

Kristi and I are kindred creative spirits. Together we put lots of our creative juices into this adorable cake-topper. 

Honeymoon Shower

In honor of the wedding tomorrow, I thought I should finally post about the shower we threw for Kristi and Nate a couple of weeks ago. They are headed to Cozumel for their honeymoon, so our theme was tropical/mexican. 

The decorations were really fun to get together and the food was really good. We played a couple of fun games and enjoyed the afternoon together.

The fruit kabobs made perfect flower arrangements!

I am really looking forward to celebrating with these guys and gals tomorrow!

Cooper Young for Clean Water

The most meaningful part of Christmas this year for me was the amazing way that God provided so that Neighborhood Church could lead our community to raise $5,000 to build a well in Peru. I have not spent as much time sharing and reflecting about this project as I hope to do.

Again this year NC participated in Advent Conspiracy. Our pastor raised the bar this year by setting a goal that seemed impossible by human standards. The past two years we have raised $500 for clean water at our Clean Water Party. This year our goal was to raise $5,000 to build a well for a specific village in Northern Peru, similar to the village in this video:


Christmas [is] changing the world from Living Water International on Vimeo.


This article in The Lampligher shared the challenged with the neighborhood. I asked some family members to donate toward our well instead of buying me a gift and I was really excited that my teaching coach donated money after I shared the challenge with her. A week before Christmas we had $5,600, surpassing our goal. Every time I think about that I get tears in my eyes. God not only met our goal, but dominated it ahead of time.

Our pastor Robert posted this on facebook Christmas Day. Adam is 5 years old:

Today Adam was updating our family on our clean water project: "And in 2 wks we raised $500,000." Should be $5000, but who's counting?

Work on the well will begin in January. Reaching this goal gives me hope for all my personal goals this year, goals for my current students, and goals that education will no longer be an injustice.

Community Group Holiday Meal(s)

I like to call our community group the "no kids" group since none of us have any children (yet!). We do get to keep the kids on rotation, which is  I love meeting weekly to share a meal and life with all of these wonderful folks! Kristi and Nate hosted both our Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings. 

Between our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals together we collected money and bought gifts for a family that Amanda works with who are in need. The pile of gifts that was delivered was huge. We had a Dirty Santa gift exchange at our Christmas gathering. I'm going to do a post on my holiday crafts where I'll share more about the gift I brought. This series of photos shows the journey of the blender that I began with and did eventually take home with me. 

Since we didn't get a group shot, this is how I make up for it:

I adore each of these people. We can have real discussions and talk through our differences. We laugh at each other and with each other. The last six months have been crazy for me and it is important to have friends that will let me talk about education when I need to (most often) and who I can get a break from talking about education when I need to.

Kingdom Assignment Update

Last time I blogged about Scott and Debbi was way back in February. There are so many updates. God has been so present in all of our lives in the last few months. 
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When I was asking for donations and advertising for the Craft Sale, I just told people I was going to use the money to help some needy families that I had met volunteering. I didn't know exactly what it would go towards, but prayed God would show me.
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About two weeks after the Sale, I was home one Sunday morning when Debbi called me to ask for help in getting groceries that week. Scott had been taken to the ER by ambulance and they had to use their grocery money for the week to be seen at the hospital. I packed up some sandwiches for Debbi to have to eat while she was waiting at the hospital and I spent the day with them as Scott was diagnosed with appendicitis and had an emergency surgery to remove his appendix. I shared with them about the Kingdom Assignment and was able to buy them groceries for the week along with emotional support for Debbi as she anxiously waited through Scott's surgery. We had such good conversations and I knew that I was experiencing the kingdom of God that day. 
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Thankfully Scott recovered quickly and was released the next day. I gained insight into both Scott and Debbi's health issues during the hospital stay, and I knew I wanted to use some  more of the Kingdom Assignment money to help them be seen at Christ Community Health Clinic, where my sweet friend Meredith is a nurse. They were able to receive affordable healthcare and prescriptions to get them both back on track and feeling better than they had in at least a year. I had not considered that the medications they each need were on the long list of things they couldn't afford.
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Scott was able to get back to work after about a week off, and that time without pay put them in an even tighter spot for groceries. As I had these opportunities to help Scott and Debbi with groceries, money, and rides, I shared with some of my coworkers that the money raised at the Craft Sale was helping to provide for some important needs. One lady told me about an organization called Angel Food Ministries that provides a box of groceries at a very reasonable price once a month to anybody. She also brought some extra laundry detergent for me to share with Scott and Debbi. I have helped Scott and Debbi get some of their groceries through Angel Food the last couple of months and it is a great way to help their money go further.
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Debbi and Scott have been incredibly grateful toward me and God for they ways they have been helped. Debbi has offered to pay me back on multiple occasions, and I have explained that the money was raised to help them, not straight from my checking account. I have encouraged them to help someone else when they have the stability to give. 
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One day after we had this conversation Debbi called me and she was very excited. One of her neighbors had broken apart a wooden table for the metal pieces to exchange them for some money and Debbi overheard his wife say, "Well now where are we going to get food." So Debbi went outside and asked if he was looking for metal and when he said yes, she invited him to the back of their house where she had two crates full of about $10 worth of metal scraps. She told me, "It felt SO good to help them! Now I know how you feel when you help others."
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My last day of work before I move and start MTR was a couple of weeks ago. My coworkers surprised me with a potluck (breakfast and lunch!) and a group of ladies got together to get me a Hobby Lobby Gift Card for $100 to continue my Kingdom Assignment. Their thoughtfulness is such an encouragement to me. I already have some new craft projects up my sleeve... but that is another post.
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There have been more answered prayers in the last couple of weeks for Scott and Debbi. Their utilities had been turned off again this spring, and last Monday they were turned back on because Scott's boss gave them a personal loan. The weather was so HOT and humid last week... I know that was such a relief for them. Also, Debbi has had some answered prayers in getting a job. She had one at a fast food restaurant that didn't work out, but this is her second week at another job with a dollar store. It is a much better fit for her, and has been a boost to her morale. I remember how hard it was for me last summer to be without a job. 
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I have seen God move in my life in increasing my passion to do something bigger than help Scott and Debbi have healthcare and enough to eat for a few months. These experiences have shown me first hand how important it is to him to dramatically improve education in the worst neighborhoods of Memphis. Money is not a long term fix to help people like Scott and Debbi, but education and relationships are. I have also learned from Scott and Debbi how little they really need to survive and I am very humbled when I start to compare their standards with my own "needs."

Lamplighter Article

About a month ago, we finally reported back to Neighborhood Church about how we completed our Kingdom Assignments. It was so wonderful to hear the stories and see that the impact the assignment made is continuing to expand. I was asked to write an article for the Lamplighter, the Cooper Young newspaper, to share about the assignment and it came out this week. The article has Mandy's name as the author, but I did indeed write it:)

Enjoy!

[Coming soon is an update on Scott and Debbi and the stories that I didn't cover in the article.]


The $100 Challenge

On a cold January night, ten people at Neighborhood Church were each given $100 and an assignment. They were instructed to manage, multiply, and invest the money in some way that advances God's Kingdom in the world. And they were to report back in three months. Pastor of the church and Philadelphia Avenue resident Robert Grisham had heard about other churches undertaking a similar challenge as they studied the Parable of the Ten Minas (or Parable of the Talents), so during his sermon series on "God's Economy", he asked these ten people to be creative and follow God's lead in serving others with the money. In the parable, a group of servants is given an amount of money to steward. Some invest and multiply their gifts while others hoard it away. In the end, those who invested and multiplied were rewarded abundantly, but those who had essentially stashed it under the mattress had it taken away. So, the question was, how would members of Neighborhood Church do with the same challenge?

Nelson Avenue resident Josh Spickler, a lawyer, knew from experience in the public defender's office that the minimum bond to get a person released from jail is $100. And more importantly, he knew that if no one had shown up with that small sum to get you released, you were truly at rock bottom. Using his knowledge of the court system and his professional skills he chose to use his money to bond out a complete stranger who'd been sitting at 201 Poplar for a little too long on a minor charge. Josh's plan was to represent the person in court and engage them in a relational way to help them get back on their feet. Because of Josh's deft legal wrangling, the man was actually released without having to pay the bond. Although he ended up spending the money on a charity instead of on his client, the $100 challenge inspired this Neighborhood Church member to reach out and help someone no one else would.

Virginia Boyd used her money on supplies for crafts to sell at a bake sale her company was hosting. After advertising that the funds raised were going to help some families she had met volunteering with Idlewild Presbyterian's More Than A Meal, some of her coworkers donated their own crafts to sell. Not only was Virginia was able to triple her money, but she also engaged her coworkers in helping beyond the craft sale. Together, they gathered donations of laundry detergent and researched organizations that could help the families further. Some of her coworkers even became interested in volunteering at More Than A Meal.

Not everyone decided to go it alone. Kristi Vickers and Paula Peyton, two friends who work together at a photography studio, decided to continue their relationship with a shelter for victims of domestic violence for which the studio had conducted donation drives in the past. Instead of having a traditional drive, this time they wanted to do something personal for the families at the shelter. Kristi and Paula invited them to come be photographed at the studio. They visited with a few mothers and their children and not only took their photographs, but also gave each child an Easter basket overflowing with goodies. While most of the $100 went toward treats for the Easter baskets, it was clear that having a family portrait was the most valuable part of this ministry for the moms that were served.

Not all of the money stayed in the Memphis area, though. A few people were led to use their money to reach across the world. Amy Smith put up her money for a small business loan in Afghanistan through Kiva (www.kiva.org). Kiva connects individual lenders with low income people across the world who need a small loan to start or improve their business. The loans, which have an extraordinarily high repayment rate, are typically repaid within a year, meaning that Amy will be able to continue to use her Kingdom Assignment money to invest for years to come.

Everyone was amazed by the unique and wonderful ways this assignment enabled them to give. The most important part of each of the ten stories was not the money, but the relationships that were built and strengthened because people stepped out to help. Some of the money was invested in neighbors and organizations right here in Midtown and some was sent across the world to India, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and China. Some people invested in old relationships and some in brand new. Some people used their skills and talents and others invested in other people. Some people know exactly what their money helped to do and others have entrusted someone else to use the money. Though each aspect of the giving process was different, one thing was the same - everyone was changed and challenged to do more with their resources of time, talents, and money after this experience. They hope their experiences encourage the entire community to give what they have to share.

Youth Villages 5K

This weekend I completed my first official 5K, the Youth Villages 5K. My New Year's Goal has been accomplished and it is only April! There is plenty of time for a few more races this year. [maybe even one of the 15 flyers for races in the next 2 months left on my winshield]

This is the before shot:

And after with the FINISH LINE behind us:

I did run the whole 3.1 miles through a course with many more hills than my training routes. The two mile mark is always a struggle for me, and I was encouraged that the Collierville Middle School band was playing "We are the Champions" as I passed that point.

My official time was 48:46, which is 30 seconds faster per mile than I have run before!

[Thanks to Amy for the pictures!]

Lou's Pizza

Neighborhood Church's Community Groups invaded Lou's pizza again a couple of weeks ago for some pizza and Karaoke.

Some of the singers made Patrick want to drink:

But mostly we just rocked the joint...
And Lucy just looked cute:

Check out the air on that hair!

This video includes my premier Karaoke performance. I'm taking requests for next time so I can practice ahead of time (as if that might help)

Co-op Kitchen

Earlier this month we had another Co-op Kitchen. Amy and I planned and shopped for this one, and it was a success yet again! There was lots of great fellowship as we made Lasagna, Chicken Tortilla Soup, and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. And even better everything was under $2 per serving!

Rebecca and Kristi were queens of the Lasagna: Amanda whipped up all the cookie dough with that pretty Kitchen-Aid Mixer: Paula chopped all the chicken for the soup, bless her heart!

Poor Micah's pants kept falling down and his face was from his first pickle, not that I was taking his picture: LaTasha and Ellie engineered Cookie Dough burritos to be frozen: Teamwork to clean and finish dividing all the soup!

Grizzlies vs Lakers

Almost two weeks ago, I got to to to the Memphis Grizzlies vs LA Lakers game with Amanda, Jonathan, and Kristi (friends from Neighborhood Church). I was excited to be at my first Grizzlies game and didn't care that we were rows away from the top of the Forum. The most annoying thing is all the Memphis people who are Lakers fans. I took the top picture for them and ask that unless you have personal ties to the Lakers that you root for the Grizzlies if you live in Grizz Country!

The Grizzlies lost 98-99 in the final seconds. It was heartbreaking. But we sure did have fun watching such a tight game! I hope to go again soon.

Community Groups at Lou's Pizza

This week we combined Community Groups at Lou's Pizza, and to our luck Wednesday night is Karaoke Night. It was a fun and crazy evening. I wanted to put the video clips together, so here is my first attempt at video editing:

And some of my favorite pictures. Most were taken by Shelley:)

Bake Sale, Craft Sale, & A Birthday Party

The Valentine's Bake Sale/Craft Sale/Raffle/Silent Auction were a great success. Combined we collected over $1000. These are some of the Silent Auction and Raffle Items. Danielle made the vanilla almond cupcakes with the almond hearts. Such a cute idea! And that heart cake, AMAZING. In fact, so amazing that I ended up with it. More about that at the end of this post. I work with some wonderful people who volunteered to decorate, bake, sell, ask for donations and organize to make this project a success. The Craft Sale money all went toward my Kingdom Assignment, and I am so thankful for the items that were donated by some girls I work with. The beaded crosses, handmade soap, framed verses, and ceramics they donated pretty much sold out. The heart crayons and activity books we made sold quickly, so the only thing left were some letters which I will be putting up for sale in my Etsy Store soon. I also have about 25 orders for more letters. My $100 has turned into $225 and is continuing to multiply!
My mom surprised me by baking about 6 dozen Cherry Mini Cakes which were a hit! She also ran errands for me since I had a lot on my plate to coordinate everything. I am so blessed to have such a loving a supportive family. Yes, I want to get my own apartment when I can, but my parents are still doing a lot for me and don't always appreciate it enough!

So, that Heart Cake. After we had set the minimun bid and it had gone all morning without any bids, I started talking about how that cake was too awesome for just one family and needed to be taken to an event. Then I realized that Neighborhood Church was celebrating our two year birthday on Valentine's Day. I was involved in the planning and knew we had some money to spend on a cake, but though I would need to make up the difference to pay for the cake. Well, God meant for that cake to be at the party because the budget was exactly how much I paid for it! And, all the money we paid goes toward Youth Villages, the charity Kele sponsors. So, by paying for the cake we were able to further the Kingdom. God is oh SO good!

The Kingdom Assignment

Sunday night at Neighborhood Church Robert talked about the Parable of the Ten Minas in Luke 19. He chose 10 people and gave each of us an envelope with a $100 bill in it and gave us these instructions:

1. You must understand and agree that this is not your money. It is the Master's money and He has entrusted it to you.
2. You are to manage, multiply, and invest this money as a steward in some way that advances God's Kingdom agenda in the world.
3. In three months, you will come back and share what happened to the initial investment.

We discussed our initial thoughts at community group tonight, and my friend Meredith suggested asking a poor person what they would do with the money. A hundred dollars means a lot less to me that it would someone who is homeless.

She is right, and I'm curious. So my goal is to ask some people what they would do if they were given $100 while I'm serving dinner at More than a Meal on Thursday nights over the next couple of weeks. I'm going to share their responses here. I know I have a lot to learn.

A few weeks ago, we had a guest preacher and he said that the problem between the rich and the poor is not that they don't love each other, but that they don't know each other. I hope that I can get to know a lot of poor people through this assignment.

Think Globally, Party Locally

The weekend before Christmas, the Spickler's hosted an Advent Conspiracy party to raise money for Living Water International. We were thinking globally but partying locally, right in the heart of Cooper Young.



Their house was filled with conversations, food, drinks, and more food.

Their front rooms are even painted red and (lime) green for the party.
What dedicated hosts they are!



The fun went into the night. These photos are all from the first 30 minutes before my camera batteries died! Thanks to Paula for taking all of them!

Cofer and the Chicken Strut

This morning my parents and I drove downtown to strut our stuff in the Chicken Strut, a fundraiser for the Neighborhood Christian Center.

We hung out with the NCC Chicken and friends from Neighborhood Church:


In other news, Coferface came to see me Thursday evening. It was so good for me to see her, even just for a few hours. I don't think we had seen each other since May! That's WAY too long!

I think she approves of the Cofer function on my camera....

QUACK QUACK

Despite the title of this post, none of our recipes at the Co-op Kitchen this month contained duck. We just had a little duck to keep us company...

We made some taco soup...

Cooked some chicken for our Artichoke, Chicken Alfredo Sauce...

Chopped garlic for the soup, sauce, and hummus...
Cracked up over some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins...

Skated with paper towels on a PAM sprayed floor:)

And packed up all of our orders...
We also had fun wearing aprons my parents have had since I was born.

I spent a large part of my evening playing with this little animal...


We wanted him to be a duck, but his sure does make a cute lion!

A Weekend Worth Looking Forward To:

Since this past week was my first full week and my job* I was certainly looking forward to the weekend. I made a quick trip to Arkansas on Saturday to officially say goodbye to Callie before she heads to London next week to Study Abroad. We had a great Italian lunch and lots of good conversations that made me anxious to travel abroad again. She is keeping a blog here if you are interested in following her travels.


I have been going to a new church here in Memphis, the Neighborhood Church, and I have loved getting involved and building relationships there. After church the past few Sunday nights a group from church has been going to the Levitt Shell which is an outdoor amphitheater where Elvis and Johnny Cash performed before they were stars. Last week Tibetan Monks performed and tonight it was Hawaiian music. Arkansas friends think the Greek Theater with grass instead of the concrete seating.

And last night, the Neighborhood Church hosted the Co-op Kitchen. A group of us got together to make single servings of meals that we could all take home and freeze. The meals are ideal for single people, so that we can eat healthier and cheaper. And we had a BLAST preparing all the food last night. I also learned a few new cooking tips, so watch out!

This last picture is the whole group at an awkward angle, but we were being resourceful with the self-timer so we could include everyone. And, although there is no photographic proof that I did any work, rest assured that I worked on preparing the chicken enchilada casserole, and my group finished early, just for the record.

*For those of you who don't know, I have a temporary job right that I am so thankful to have. It will only last maybe 8 weeks, so I am still pursuing other opportunities.