Freedom Writer's

I just wanted to say GO SEE IT. It is very good. Somewhat unpredictable. Inspiring. Well written. Funny. Sad. And one of the best all around movies that I have seen in a long time.

The Maintenance Men Came Through!

We have wonderful maintenance men at our apartment complex. They are regulars at the Starbucks where I work...and by regular I mean 4x's a day. One of them has talked to my roommate Julie a few times about Campus Crusade and even set her up with a guy who could support her. Well last week on one of their trips in the guy asks me if I am "in on the stuff Julie does" I tell him I am not but my other roommate is. Then he whispers...."well I mean are you like....are you a Christian?" I tell him yes and then he starts talking about meat. He was still whispering so I didn't really catch all of what he said but what I heard was him ask if we had room in our freezer. I informed him that we always have room. Well a couple days later there is a knock on the door and there he is with an ice chest. He wasn't kidding. So if you look at the picture below...pretty much everything in there minus the 3 pizzas and 2 ice cream containers is from our wonderful maintenance men!!!!!
I think that what they do is get grocery stores to make donations and they pass it out to certain needy families and then they gave us what they had left over!!!! Hooray for lots of frozen chicken breasts, hot dogs, sausage, pot roast and turkey!

PLEASE WATCH THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my favorite clip from the Ellen DeGeneres show from last Wednesday! I forget how to get it to show on here so just click the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1lDBx1gBww

Winter!

So winter decided to stop by this morning! I had a feeling when I got off work last night and it was 28 degrees that we might just get our first "snow." So as soon as my alarm went off I peeked out the window to see this beautiful snow ha ha...OK we could have used a few more inches but this will do. Actually most of it is gone now after 2 hours of misty rain. I am not too concerned about this cold though since about 3 days ago we were at 75 degrees...I'm sure it will be back!

Celebrate Recovery

About a month ago I went and hung out with the family of Julie Goodale, a girl I played soccer with at Western Baptist. It was her aunt and uncle and their two kids. Well, we got to talking about things and I mentioned that I had a real passion for working with kids struggling with addiction. Turns out the next day at church the couple was asked to help start a "Celebrate Recovery" group at their church in Cary, NC. A few days later I got an email asking if I was interested and I jumped on the opportunity. So tonight I had my first meeting about the possibility of helping out and it turns out that I will be co-leading the women's group with Julie's aunt.

So keep us in your prayers this next month and a half - Feb. 1st will begin a sort of 30 days of prayer, which will be followed by 30 days of leaders training where we will meet together and go through the material once a week or so. Then its promoting and getting it all started. Eventually as the group grows and becomes consistant we will get people through the program who can then become leaders themselves. Eventually when it gets big enough there will not just be a men's and women's group but under those heading you will have a small group for many different addictions.

This recovery idea was started by John Baker of Saddleback church in California (Rick Warren is the head pastor there). Rick says in a quote from the website,
"What we need is a biblical and balanced program to help people overcome their hurts, habits and hang-ups. Celebrate Recovery is that program. Based on the actual words of Jesus rather than psychological theory, our recovery program is unique, and more effective in helping people change than anything else I've seen or heard of. Over the years I've witnessed how the Holy Spirit has used this program to transform literally thousands of lives at Saddleback Church and help people grow toward full Christlike maturity."

http://www.celebraterecovery.com

I Have Roommates!

Hooray! I don't think I ever wrote about how they were gone so Ill explain. Julie and Michelle left around December 15th for a conference or something in Virginia. From there Julie went home to Detroit. Michelle came back here to Raleigh for a couple of days before heading home for Christmas (the 17th and 18th). Julie came back to Raleigh on the 27th to re-pack before heading to a student retreat on the 28th (I was in California at this time so I didn't see her). Michelle went straight to this retreat. Julie came home last night after spending a few days in Virginia Beach with a friend. I took her to the airport this morning so she could fly to Seattle until Monday night. Michelle came back this evening but will be gone all day tomorrow.

They both say they aren't going anywhere until the spring. I just smile and nod. You know its not that bad having a 1500 square foot place to myself for $340 a month. As long as they keep paying Ill keep dealing. Although one of these days they may just find a new dog here!

Anger. Sadness. Confusion.

"HOLLYWOOD - Beloved teen soap The O.C. has been cancelled due to falling ratings following actress Mischa Barton's decision to quit the show. The final episode of the series will air on Feb. 22."

Anger: How could they! Sadness: What will I watch on Thursday nights/Friday mornings to remind me of home and fulfill my need for teenage drama? Confusion: Why?

Ha ha ha....so long OC.

Starbucks deals for my mom

Ok mom here is the best of what we had left today. Hooray for my 30% discount on top of markdowns after Christmas. The cactus mug (its not really that's just what I call it because at first glance the green snowman/tree of mugs looks like a cactus) = 2.09 The stocking mug = free because we dropped it and chipped the bottom (you can kinda see it). The tall red one = $2.09 and the kids to go mug on the right = $1.42!

Yay for the V-day stuff coming out tomorrow!

Success!

I had a great day of shopping! I knew it was going to be fantastic when I made it out of Target spending under $10! I got only the essential surge protector I needed for my TV and stuff, some hangers (in hopes of future success at the mall), and .69 cent Hershey's kisses - peanut butter filled! (I was hoping to find the yummy mint white chocolate ones my mom had at the house but they were out...boo). Anyway after Target I stopped at my Starbucks in dire need of a coffee (I woke up with a bad head cold - Starbucks is like Windex it fixes everything). While getting my coffee I noticed we did our last markdown of Christmas stuff so I grabbed the red mug you see in the picture for 3.75! Sorry mom all the really good stuff was gone already. I am quite upset about that. If only I had worked this morning like I wanted to! I also grabbed my tips and then headed to the mall.

Once I got there I went straight to American eagle where I picked out the hoodie and shirt on the left. After waiting in line for a few I opened my wallet to pay and realized the day before I had taken out my gift cards just to be safe and not carry around so much money! oops. Thank goodness I live 5min from the mall so I had them put the items on hold while I ran home and grabbed them. Good thing I did because next came Hollister and some amazing sales! Almost everything in the place was on sale. I had been wanting the pink shirt for quite some time so I was excited to say the least when I was able to grab it for around 40% off.