Welcome to the Madness!

This past Saturday was Auburn's Best Buddies fundraiser called Midnight Madness. We signed up to form/join teams that went around all day saturday on a scavenger hunt. Above is a picture of my team minus 4 buddies that had to go home early. The theme of the hunt was pirates. We had a treasure box to collect some things in and took pictures of ourselves doing other things. The day ended with awards and an after party at a local bar. The fundraiser was such a success; we raised over $12,000 dollars! This money will go toward getting a Best Buddies state office in Alabama. My team didn't win a prize but the best prize of all was to hear the buddies say that even if we don't win it will be ok because they had fun.

Sally walking across the street on her hands and me trying to hold onto her feet and 2 bags.

Our whole team in the boys bathroom. This was one of our first assignments. It was funny beacuse one of our younger buddies covered her eyes as we walked in and kept saying "gross" and "mommy said no".

Blessings

So, this semester has been long and strenuous with all of my projects and my first practicum. Most of the things that have come out of my mouth have been words of complaining, discontent, and frustration. I'm in over my head with all of my projects and Best Buddies events and planning. Some of the extracurricular things I am involved with are Reformed University Fellowship, my church's special needs nursery, Best Buddies, Friends for Life, and the Autism support group.



These past few weeks I have been trying to focus on the blessings that God has placed in my life. Just recently God has blessed me with a new friend. She lost her brother and 3 of his friends in a car accident over spring break. Not only did God provide the time in my busy schedule to meet with her, but he also provided me encouragement through her. The week that I met with her I had 8 projects due and by God's grace I had 7 of them finished the night before we were supposed to meet. When she was sharing about her experience it was neat to hear where she is after her brother's death and see the similarities and differences from what I experienced after losing my sister. She has taken this tragedy and used it to make her life more meaningful. What can she do to ease the pain of the driver that hit the car or her parents or the parents of the other 3 kids? How can she be a better witness to God's goodness? She amazes me by her joyful spirit. Please pray for her family and the other 2 families as they continue to grieve.



Another blessing happened today while I was walking at Town Creek park. I had to escape our apartment because our air conditioner has been broken for a month and it was currently 81 degrees in our apartment. I thought that going for a walk would get me nice and hot so I could come home to a cold shower. Going on a walk would also let me avoid writing lesson plans. Ugh! So I am walking at the park for about 20 minutes and am beginning to get bored because no one was with me and I forgot my ipod. Then, I look up and I see a friend from Moody that goes to Auburn but I haven't seen or talked to in a long time, Elizabeth McFarling. We were able to talk and encourage each other as we walked for over an hour. We didn't talk about anything special but throughout our conversation we were able to remind each other of things that we can be thankful for.

I am WEAK! BUT He is STRONG!

My "nephew"

waiting on a bottle

The rare occasion, Landon awake and alert.

I'm bringing in the new year with one of my best friends, christi hamblin, her husband and the newest edition to their family, Baby Landon. Landon is 2 weeks old and the closest thing I have to a nephew. I'm so glad to be able to catch up with an old friend and enjoy her brand new baby.
Please pray for the Hamblin family and for my cousin as both adjust to life with a baby.
Happy 2008!

Blitz Build

This week I have been at Lagniappe working on their first attempt at blitz building a house. I arrived Wednesday and settled in. Thursday I spent 3 hours at Lowes picking up lumber for the house we were going to work on and watched a crew pour the foundation. Friday I helped build the subfloor on top of the foundation (from 9am to almost 11pm) our teams also arrived friday afternoon. Saturday our teams helped build the frame and start sheeting the sides of the house. Sunday I rested. Monday we began sheeting the roof, I built a deck, and we passed inspection. Tuesday we wrapped the house, put on shingles and siding, and installed windows and doors. All of the exterior of the house is complete in only 4 days!

The teams were composed of college students who are all involved with RUF(reformed university fellowship) on different campuses. I supervised the painting of siding and other things, screwed in boards for the deck, but mostly ran around getting stuff/supplies that were needed on the worksite-even meals.

My favorite thing about this week was seeing how we had an impact on the community. The house we built is on one of the main streets in town and people were constantly driving by and cheering us on. The fire trucks would drive by, honk, and turn on their sirens for us. The local paper and news station came out to do a piece on our work (I was interviewed for the paper). The community is so encouraged to see people still coming and caring about them and in turn want to do what they can for us. Many people stopped by to check out our work. Some construction workers even stopped by to tell us what a great job we were doing! Other people stopped by to bring us donuts, coffee, homemade bread, snacks, etc. My favorite part of it all, was being able to talk to the sweet neighbors who came out when we were working late into the night to tell us to keep hammering away and don't worry about disturbing them because they just wanted this family to have a home.

This week has been wonderful, but I can't wait to be home with my family and get some much needed rest.

Foy on the Today Show

For those who check on my website, sorry I haven't posted anything since Lagniappe. I am planning on posting about my summer over the holidays when life is a little slower paced(hopefully). In the mean time...
This was aired on the Today Show on November 27, 2007. I thought it was neat that Foy student union is famous. Foy was also featured in Oprah's magazine.

Trying to beat the Heat

Today is my last day to work at Lagniappe! I head out tomorrow morning for Tupelo, MS to visit a friend and then I am headed to Auburn on Tuesday. I am sad to leave because I know I will come back to Lagniappe throughout the year but it will never be exactly like it was this summer. Even though I'm sad to leave, I am glad that I am headed back to Auburn and will be taking classes for my major. No more core classes! I'll write a more detailed summary of my summer on sunday.
Today is so hot! The heat this week has been helping me want to leave because it is so unbearable! It is 9am right now and partly cloudy. The heat index is 100 degrees plus intense humidity! A sweet older friend from the community (his name is Jules) came to the church this morning to warn us about the heat and then started walking around the facilities telling our volunteers that they shouldn't work. Haha! Our social worker jokingly told him to go next door to the high school and tell them and don't talk to the volunteers. :) Not that we want our volunteers dropping like flies, but this week is our last big week of the summer and it would be nice to get some things completed. Please be praying that everyone will take time to drink plenty of water and that we will all stay safe in these working conditions.

Just for Andrew

Tonight's blog is a special blog just for Andrew McGinnis who is 3 years old(maybe 4?). He reads my blog everyday with his mom and I cannot wait to go visit the whole McGinnis family when I get back to Auburn.
Andrew, I hope you are enjoying your new baby sister and are having a fun summer. Thank you for praying for me and for the birthday card! When I come visit we will have to make a trip to the park. I love you and can't wait to see you!!