Miami

Tomorrow Dustin, Jamie, and I are off to Miami to chaperon and lead our churches youth Mission Trip! Keep us in your prayers please!

Gifts for our donors

Skinny Brown and purple
Awesome warm super soft scarf
Get your Aggie gear here!


This one is my favorite!
I also have one that is solid white/cream but just like this one.


For those of you who received our newsletter you know that we are working on fundraising this month and next. We want to give our new donors something in return. Actually we want to give new donors to our roommates fund something in return. Jamie and I have recently taken up loom knitting and have made awesome hats and scarves. If you are able to donate $75 you will receive a handmade hat and if you are able to donate $100 you will receive a handmade scarf. I am going to post the pictures of what we have made so far, but keep checking back. We are making more as time allows.

To donate, please write 09-0012 in the memo line of your check and send it to:

Mission Year

PO Box 17628

Atlanta, GA 30316

Or go online at:

www.missionyear.org/donate/?name=White&support_id=09-0012

Softball pics

Softball night

Our neighborhood made it into the paper again! This time it was an article about the softball league we created! The softball games have been so much fun! We started off with three teams but last night we added a fourth team, the green team! Ben found a group of kids ages 12-16 that were interested in playing so we created the fourth team! The majority of the kids on this team while being very atheltic, had not played softball or baseball before. Even though we lost last night the team did an awesome job! Everyone was encouraging and cheering their teammates on! We also had an awesome fan section! There were moms, dads, wives, siblings, and friends who came out to cheer for their team! There are awesome things happening in Hillside, I am excited to be a part of it!
I have a ton pictures! I will post some when I have a chance.

Green smoothies

Lately we have had an enormous amount of spinach and other leafy greens from the garden. Right now we even have strawberries! We recently acquired a blender and Margareta made a spinach and Swiss chard drink. I was a little hesitant to try the pea green drink, but it actually was awesome! It did smell a bit like weeds, but it tasted great! I been making myself spinach smoothies lately. Spinach, banana, and strawberry is my current favorite! I don't think we would ever use up all the spinach if we didn't make smoothies! Having a abundance of leafy greens isn't so bad after all! I'm not saying I am ready to become a gardener myself, I don't exactly have a green thumb, (but the smoothies do give me green lips!) Maybe one day though!

Dia del Nino

Our after school program has been going a little bit better. The last couple times we have had about 10 - 12 kids show up which is huge number for our small space. Because CRCT was this week and last week they didn't have any homework, plus I knew they were probably sick of worksheet after worksheet. I used last week to try to do some gardening and planting with the group. It was fun, but boy are they a handful and oh so easily distracted! Even though it can be frustrating at times I think what we are doing is good. The kids have an opportunity to interact with children of various cultures, languages, and ages. Today we are going to have a party to celebrate Dia del Nino, the Day of the Child which is a Mexican holiday. The holiday is actually tomorrow. Yesterday Gabi, Norma, and I made a pinata! I hope this will be a good opportunity for the kids to learn to accept and appreciate what friends from other places can bring to their own lives. In light of whats going on in Arizona this is fitting. I hope that we can teach this generation of children how to love their neighbors, whether they live in the house or the country next door.

Gardening is Dangerous.

Gardening can be dangerous. I have been trying to do some gardening with the neighborhood kids after school. Yesterday after watering the plants on the way to turn the hose off I had an unfortunate encounter with the fence. I walked right into the steel door of the fence and somehow gashed my forehead. Almost instantly my hands were covered in blood, right in front of all the kids. After I clean myself up had actually looked at the cut I saw it wasn't really that bad, but man on man it hurt like you know what. Today I wore a big band-aid on my head and and looked really cool. I had to keep telling the story of my clumsiness over and over. I kinda have a feeling my head is gonna turn purple and bruise. I just hope I don't have a huge scar. This wasn't really the tattoo I hoped to get this year!

Even though gardening can be dangerous, it can also be delicious. We planted strawberries several months ago and they are now ready to eat. MMMMM good!

Softball fun

Besides the insane amount of pollen in the air (and on my car) I absolutely love spring. Flowers, beautiful weather, everything about it just lifts my spirits. I have come to really love my little neighborhood in Georgia. Last night we had our second neighborhood softball game. Dustin, the biggest baseball fan I have EVER met, came up with the idea to incorporate sports with neighborhood ministry. Many kids in our neighborhood don't have a chance to play team sports because they are too expensive. Why not start a league of our own! We were curious what the interest would be and we were blown away. It seems like every day there is a new kid at our house telling us he wants to play of the softball team!

We wanted to create softball teams as a way to mentor youth in our neighborhood. I think it's working! But the coolest thing is that our house of six are not the only adults involved in this ministry. We have become friends with other neighbors, just like us in that they want to share God's love with our neighborhood. Each softball team is made up of about half kids half adults. These kids are being surround by Godly positive role models. LaGrange College is letting us use on of their practice fields ( which is about a mile from our house) for our games. Yesterday we even had a group of parents and other neighbors in the stands cheering us on. It was awesome!

We had a group of boys and a few girls hang out at our house from almost the time we got home from church to the time we left for softball. We were in the middle of house cleaning and mowing. I had some of the helping me inside and Ben had some of the boys help him mow our yard! They not only wanted to help out, the offered!

I am blown away by how God is not only working in our neighborhood, but in my life as well. I am beginning to realize it's not all about me. God's plan for my life is more than to be happy and financially successful. God created me so I could share his love with others. God created me so I could share what I have with those who have none. This year I don't have much extra money. But I can share my time and my friendship.

Ben has news!

Ben has good news too! He has a job for after Mission Year. He is officially going to stay at DASH! I can't believe I am excited to be staying in a little bity town, but I am! Hooray for jobs!!!!

I've got news!

Ben and I have been trying to discern our plans for next year. For me I knew I really wanted to teach again. Today not only did I find out that my Texas certificate transfers over to Georgia, I also found I have a job for the fall. I am going to be teaching 2nd grade at the school where I have been volunteering all year.

I can't even tell you how happy I am. I didn't think I could ever find a school I would like as much as St. Gregory or teachers that were as wonderful as the ones I used to work with. I am just so happy to not only have a job, but to have a job at a school I already love!

Hooray!!!!!

Spring Break Pics

Spring Break makes me jump for joy!!!

Best friends.

Got new hairdo!

Watched the Easter Parade.

Best seat in the house!
Stayed at Mimi's house.



I want this tree.

Cherry blossoms!

Family.

Made a new friend.

Went scalloping!

Got a a bit lost in St. Petersburg!

Saw A Rod






And ended up at Tropicana Field and the the Yankees/Rays game!

We had a such a fun week!

I'm back

Spring break was awesome! This was definitely the longest and busiest spring break I have ever had. We took a tour of the Gulf Coast this past week! Here's a synopsis. New Orleans - birthday party weekend, Mobile -visited family had another birthday dinner, Mexico Beach - 1 day vacation for just Ben and I, Steinhachee - visit Ben's family, Tampa - day of fun with Dustin and Jamie and we ened our fun with a Yankee/Tampa Bay baseball game!!!!! We took a ridiculous amount of pictures this weekend. I'll post some when I have a chance!

Birthday party

Cake face.

Guess what!

Spring Break starts NOW! We are leaving for New Orleans today and will stay through Sunday. Then we are heading to Mobile, Perry, and finally Tampa! I can't wait. This is going to be the best spring break EVER!!!!

Double birthday day!

It's my birthday, which means 2 days till Spring Break, which means 2 days till my birthday party in New Orleans!!!!!! I can hardly wait!!!

I got 31 birthday spankings with a giant blue clown shoe in front of a bunch of third graders! They got a good laugh!

Perspective

I was going to write about this being the last day of my twenties. About how hard it can be to get older. And then I heard from Ben that one of our closest friends here just got arrested. This the second friend to get arrested this month. Sounds like I might need to rethink who these friends of mine are. Maybe I am hanging out with the wrong crowd. Oh yeah, his crime, being Latino and driving without a license. Kinda makes my whoas about turning 30 seem very petty.

This just makes me so mad. Why does this have to happen? Why haven't our laws changed? Over the course of this year I've had my eyes opened to just how wrong our immigration policies are. If life was good in Mexico, if they could have been able to provide for their families, they wouldn't have left. But they had to, you could say they were pushed out of their country.

Our country has plenty. Our country is not only wealthy, we are wasteful. We have so much we can afford to get rid of the extra. Just yesterday I was thinking I might need to pack up some of my things and take them to Goodwill. There are millions of people who would gladly take my extra, the things that aren't good enough for me anymore. And yet what do we do to those who already have so much less then us. Fine them and throw them into jail.

Two weekends ago Dustin, Jamie, and about 8 others, all Latino, from LaGrange took a 17+ hour bus trip to DC to participate in an immigration rally/march. They said about 500,000 marched to the Capitol. I wish I would have gone. People like me need to be at these rallies, people like me who can have a voice for the voiceless. This week Anton is leading a Holy Week Pilgrimage for Immigrants through Atlanta and the surrounding areas.

Sometimes I forget about the hardships our friends here face. This month we have celebrated birthday's, shared meals, hung out.. things you do with your friends and family. This is a sobering reminder of why I am here. We are here to build relationships and share Christ, but we are also here to be a voice for those who aren't being heard. I hope Arturo is bonded out soon. He has to be there for my party tomorrow. It wouldn't be right if he wasn't.

Shiny Pans

I think I romanticized what it would be like to live in Christian community before Mission Year. I first thought about living in community because it would be economical. Living with people means you don’t have to spend as much money on stuff because you share what you have. I don’t think I realized how hard it actually can be to share your things. A while back I noticed that my pans were getting really dirty. I would always put foil on them to keep them clean. It was just what I did. I noticed that some of my housemates did not put foil on the pans and they started getting really stained. I was kinda mad, because these were after all my pans. I like shiny things! Well, I guess I’m not that good at sharing after all! Shiny pan or stained pan, it’s still a pan and it still helps bake my cookies. If you really share what you have you have to, in a way deny your ownership. Or at least realize that is just stuff!

Figuring out how to share, my things, my space, my time, has been much more challenging than I ever thought, but most of the time it’s so worth it. I am so thankful for my roommates. We have so much fun together. Zach and Margareta have a huge 84 Caprice. This car has to be the greatest Mission Year car ever! A couple weeks ago we all piled in the Caprice and made the short trip to Alabama for a night of wings and bowling! For some reason the guy that worked at Wing Stop gave us 50 free wings which brought our total wing consumption to 100 wings!!! Wings, black light bowling ,and old country music made the night fun, really fun.

In a few months when this year is over I know the thing I will miss the most about this year is living in our home. After about a month or two the excitement of community wore off. I wasn’t sure if we would ever really function as a family. But now, most of the time, it’s one the best parts of my year. The community we have in our house is real. The friendships we have made with kids in our neighborhood are real. Even though I sometimes get tired of answering the doorbell, I am lucky to live in a place where my doorbell constantly rings. It’s good to be needed, and loved.

The Great Outdoors

Georgia is really pretty. We have recently had a chance to do some hiking in the mountains, well the foothills of the mountains! It was wonderful to experience and explore God great outdoors! Makes me think back to being a kid when my favorite place to be was in the woods and my favorite thing to do was hike and climb mountains.