The results are in...

There are so many people out there who don't believe they can make a difference, who think problems are too big to tackle. They think to themselves "Someone should do something about that." I feel so blessed to be a part of a community who doesn't sit back and watch things happen, they run after city change, after world change. My church community ate cheaply for ONE WEEK, and donated their extra cash to change the world, we raised $497,975.77. One week of sacrifice. This is what God can do. This is what His church can do. This is just ONE church community. Thirty other churches joined us this year, their results are not in yet, I canNOT wait to hear the total amount raised. I get so excited about what the church could do if it didn't stand divided. If all Christians decided to set their interpretations of the bible aside and they worked together to show EVERYONE God's love and the message of Christ. Just look what we can do...

Where does the money go?

The initiatives are in for Beans and Rice week!

Poverty: CityLink Center surrounds Cincinnati’s unemployed and working poor with a team of expert, integrated services and holistic care. It’s a bold organization taking on poverty in our city. Learn more at citylinkcenter.org.

Heroin: This drug is ravaging our local communities. And that is not okay. We’re investing in great local organizations that are doing anti-heroin work in the backyards of each of our sites.  For more information on the epidemic click here.

Youth Programs: We will help provide meals, education and recreational programming for low-income youth during summer vacation. This is a time when many students lose knowledge and skills, and don’t have access to healthy meals and safe environments. Learn more at whole-again.org.

Job Creation: The Ocean Accelerator is a business incubator program to help launch sustainable, job-creating companies. Its mentor-ship program is built on biblical wisdom and principles, helping entrepreneurs start successful Kingdom-focused businesses.

Finders keepers

Thank you Kitty's coffee for getting me through every morning.  Who would have thought that I would actually be drinking anything but Chai Tea from a coffee shop. 

My headphones also get me through the day.  I listed to a lot of sermon and a lot of Jesus music yesterday.  Andy Stanley and Ascend the Hill are pretty much always coming out of those.

This is my view from the printer at work.  I've been copying docs for 62 new accounts.  Mind blowing stuff.

I realized today how much I do not know what is going on in the world.  I have absolutely no idea why this is flying at half mass.  I think I might like it that way, the news is absolutely depressing. 

It has been so long since I've been able to enjoy some sushi.  Well....

Steak rolls!!  With cream cheese, avocado, asparagus, tempura, and spicy mayo.  Soooo good

Abby Girl Sweets Cupcakery has done it AGAIN.  Root Beer Float Cupcake.  So friggin good.

I confiscated these from the ground at the Jason Aldean concert.  Don't judge me.  Finders keepers!  And their Michael Kors too.  I think those are expensive.  Maybe.

I haven't been in this building for over a week and a half!  So happy to be back...

It was one of my small group member's birthday Friday so we had a yummy ice cream cake to celebrate.  So blessed to be in this group!

Jason Aldean!

Wore my favorite cowgirls for Jason Aldean!

Tailgating is always a good time and great people watching

Peace and astroturf y'all

Sold out.

Mmmm free beer

Put your lighters up

Second best concert I've ever been to.  Zac Brown Band still wins.

Overgrown

Biggest cucumbers on Earth.

I took this photo while exploring the Cincinnati Art Museum a few weeks back

This picture is from Savannah, looks like someone was trying to recreate the lock bridges in Paris.

This is the absolute truth. 

it's amazing what a new do can do

So needed this.  There has been no time for proper rest lately.

Such a yummy sandwich shop on 7th street in downtown Cincinnati

Went for a long walk through the city at lunch today. 

My hair had gotten severely out of control.  I could really only wear it up or curly to hide the 14 different colors in it and the stray greys that were running wild.  I went to Salon Concepts in Florence to see Dawn and she made my hair beautiful again!  Dawn and I went to high school together but fully admit only remembering each other's names and vaguely each other's faces.  We met again at Crossroads Church where she is part of the Welcome team.  We had a great talk last night about what direction I should take my future and what God might have planned for me.  She is extremely encouraging and wonderful at making hair pretty. 

Jeans Jeans Jeans

I had one of my favorite tasks to accomplish today and that is making cupcakes!  Strawberry ones!  For a birthday party.  My friend Ney'Shawne's daughter turned 10 and had a luau themed birthrday party.  So here is what I came up with!  They were a hit!

This is what happens when I try to get ready to go out.  Maddness

A very rare selfie, before going out to dinner with Kelly!

The view from Yard House at the Banks



Let me see your grill...

This is what I wake up to most morning.  Lucky me.

I love when Kitty's Coffee has my favorite coffee Highlander Grogg!

I should probably be marketing for the cupcake makers of Abby Girl Sweets Cupcakery.  They make such amazing cupcakes and I tell everyone about them.  My dear friend Ney'Shawne wanted to surprise her boyfriend with some strawberry cupcakes so I picked them up for her so she could share them with him!  It was hard to resist biting into one!

Downtown Skywalk Walnut St.

Seriously how did I cook my food before I had a grill? Yum...

Quite time to do my bible study called Dwell.  Excited about small group tomorrow.  I had been having a rough time working through a few issues and this quite time helped me work through it.  Feeling so much better.  Remembering this is the right path...

Go Cincinnati Update

Yesterday I got the privilege to meet with the organization I will be serving for Go Cincinnati. I was looking over the paperwork that I needed to, to be prepared for the visit and noticed that I was allowed to bring a wingman (score!) So I asked my mom if she wanted to be my wingman and we made the journey an hour south to Falmouth Kentucky. We will be working with an organization called Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission or NKCAC.


NKCAC serves the community by helping people find jobs and the skills they need to become self-sufficient. It reminded me of a much smaller scale citylink center (with less funding.) This location clearly didn’t have a lot in the way of resources. We were greeted by a very sweet woman, she is the only employee that the Falmouth branch has. Due to budget cuts her only co-worker was laid off a couple months ago. She occasionally gets the help of volunteers, which is great but you can tell she absolutely runs the whole place herself. There were 4 or 5 rooms in the building and we are going to be tasked to move their food bank from one room to another. Luckily they’re food stock is growing and they need more room!

I was really impressed and inspired by what they do. It’s basically a place that anyone in Falmouth to go to for food if they’re going through a rough time. They have no income requirement and it really seems that the people of Falmouth really don’t abuse that fact. You could make enough money to support yourself and if you have any kind of financial difficulties (medical, home, any type of unexpected bills) and go to this community center for a few can goods, baby supplies, cleaning, personal care items, etc if you needed to.

A few years back there were some tornados and flooding in the area and NKCAC made care packages for people and sent them where they were needed. It’s such a small outfit in Falmouth but it has done so much good for its community and communities surrounding them that are in need. I’m so excited to work with them because you could tell how sincere they were and how much they cared about helping people in need. I asked them if they needed anything since I do have a budget to work with for this project and all they wanted was food to stock their shelves to be a blessing to others. I feel like if I donated money myself to NKCAC that money would truly go and help families 100%.

I can’t wait until May 18th! I was so nervous about leading a team having never done this before. I am so happy I went with it, I feel like God is showing me what it can be like to be love, to be a blessing and there’s really not a better feeling. There’s really no reason not to. It will be great to help such a sweet woman, a great organization so that they can continue to be a blessing to their community!

Go Cincinnati

I’m really excited this year for GoCincinnati!  an event that takes place on Saturday May 18th 2013. As described on Crossroads’ website:

“Each year, an army of volunteers impacts our area through service projects in a one-day blitz of compassion. Working with our families and friends from Crossroads and other churches, we show love to hundreds of community and faith-based organizations throughout our region.”


I have never been in town to even be a part of the volunteer initiative but this year I will be in town and I’m excited to be a part of the team! I’ve signed up to lead a team and have been assigned to a Community Center about 40 minutes south of the city.  The team and I will be cleaning and organizing their food pantry and stocking it full of food.  I get to meet with them in a couple weeks to go everything they need.  This is the first time I’ve ever led anything like this so it’s exciting and a little bit nerve wracking at the same time!  The day I received all of my paperwork for the project I was completely overwhelmed but luckily I got a smaller project to start out with.  More to come!