"Among the greatest of all services..."

"Among the greatest of all services that can possibly be rendered by man to Almighty God is the education and training of children..."
Yesterday we took our Character Class/Junior Youth group to Okaheelee Park to do a little bit of service, combined with a field trip for them to learn a little about how to take care of nature and some of the creatures around them. It was so amazing to watch these kids strengthen their bonds of friendship through a simple service project. Some of them hadn't been friends before and had even had some "issues" with each other, and by the end of the day, they were the best of friends...all because they were working together on a common goal. One of them even expressed to me how he could understand now how his father (who works in construction) comes home exhausted at the end of the day...he now respected how hard his father works. After their hard work, we got to pet a baby alligator and a black snake, which they loved! By the end of the day, they were exhausted, but they were begging to come back to the Institute and be together a little bit longer. At that point...I even wished they didn't have to leave just yet! I would encourage anyone who is able to work with children in any way that you can...it's the most rewarding experience you will ever have and you will learn so much from the children!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Chase is so sweet...maybe I should marry him! Hmmm...I think I will!!

F for Frustration!!

My body loves carbs...it loves them so much that without many of them in my body, my brain tried to tell me that fate lies in whether I eat a cookie or not. This is my story of the battle against weakness...
I am currently two days into my "pre-wedding diet", which is a good combination of Atkins and South Beach. I have done the South Beach Diet in the past, and seen wonderful results and have also felt great...AFTER the first two weeks of course. The point of the first few weeks is to completely rid your body of the "bad carbs" and get your metabolism set at a regular pace. While in this phase, though, my body likes to try to trick me by rationalizing how "one cookie won't hurt" or that "surely there aren't alot of carbs in ice cream". As my body frantically tries to remember where I might have hidden those Girl Scout cookies...I remember...I must look FABULOUS on my wedding day. So, a cucumber will have to do for now...

Also, my car just broke down today...inevitably forcing me to start riding my bike to work again...God works in mysterious ways my friends!

Busy, busy, busy!

So, here I am again on another Friday night, blogging when everyone else is probably out at any number of "social gatherings"...but you know what, I LIKE IT! Now that that is out of the way...I shall begin...hahaha!

It has been way too long since I have written anything, and so much has been going on! The past two weekends have been crazy busy which I love. On the weekend of January 20-22, we had the area coordinators come from all over 5 different states (Florida, Miss., Louisiana, Tennessee, and Alabama), which made up about 30 adults that were at the Institute for the weekend. I was soooo happy to see Alison and Riaz from Nashville and hear about the amazing things that are happening there. Also, it was nice to finally put faces with these "names" that I had been communicating with for the last 4 months!

The next weekend was mainly full of "busy" stuff. I spent most of the weekend preparing for the Bahai Cluster Reflection Gathering that we had on Sunday, which, I must say, was FABULOUS! Lots of spirit, lots of energy...lots of craziness! But, I also found time to have a devotional in my home and had some of the wonderful members of my community over to my house for the first time! In the picture are (left to right) Mercedes, Andy, Chia, Aqdas, Jim, and Nasreen. After a long weekend, I finally got to hang out with my buddy Munib (pictured above), his sister May, and also, a new volunteer that we have at the Mag Carney Institute, Talieh! She is going to be here until the end of July and she has already easily blended in with the amazing "woman posse" we have at work! (I would have a picture of our "girl's night out" -also, it was Carolyn's birthday- at the Indian restaurant, Saffron, but I am waiting for Gianni to send it...haha)

I would write more...but I don't want this blog to be mega-long like some of the others have been! Ciao!