4 Generations

I headed to Burlington on Friday afternoon to spend the weekend at home.  While going home just to go home is perfectly acceptable, this was not one of those times.  My grandmother celebrated her 94th birthday on Sunday.  I spent most of the weekend either coughing from the massive amounts of pollen I seem to be inhaling or helping my mom pull together a big family gathering to celebrate. My grandmother has 3 children, 14 grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren (with several marriages added into that mix) so she has a pretty substantial family.  We tried to gather everyone together but I’m sure you can imagine how difficult getting that many people together on the same day could be! We did have a really great turn out and it was a lot of crazy, chaotic fun.  My wonderful grandmother told us, “I am turning 94 years old today. You can’t tell me I’m not getting old.” I hope to have that view when I’m 94, that I am just starting to get old. And I hope when I have that realization I will be surrounding by a whole ton of family who love and care about me.  It was awesome to see everyone and get to spend time with my family but Sunday night came quickly and it was time to come back to Raleigh.  I love my family but I missed my roommates, friends, and my beautiful, quiet campus.

Mission: Outer Space

Every year, Meredith Recreation Association hosts a Lil Friends Weekend.  This is basically every chicld between the ages of 4 and 12′s dream.  It is a fun packed event that is completely focused around giving your lil friend attention at all times.  It’s absolutely crazy!  This year’s theme was Mission: Outer Space.  I get kind of a unique persepctive on the event because not only do I help plan and prepare for it as a part of Meredith Recreation Association, I also always bring my niece: Kaelyn.  My mother got into town around 4:30 on Friday and we ran a fun errands and grabbed dinner and around 7 Kae and I were waving her off.  We procceeded to the dance party to dance and eat lots of snacks.  We then decided to skip the movie that they were showing because Kaelyn was not interested in Space Jam so we went back to my apartment and watched A Cinderella Story instead.  Kaelyn and the other little girl staying with us, Hadley.  Finally fell asleep around 10 which is good because we had a long day ahead of us.  Saturday, started off with doughnuts for breakfast followed by a performance by the Aqua Angels.  The age groups then rotated between swimming, arts&crafts, a secret mission to the moon, and lunch.  I was not only a “big friend” but a group leader for the older kids.  After the first set of rotations, we had a second set of rotations which were a bouncy obstacle course, face painting, and field games.  The day concluded at 3:45 and boy was I exhausted.  Kaelyn and all the other lil friends had a fabulous time and Kae was not ready to go home.  We went and got some ice cream and then she left with my mom.  I sure could have fallen asleep right then but who sleeps in college, right? I had a birthday dinner and babysitting to attend to after she left.  What a busy fun packed weekend. 

Nobody Belize You Anyway…

Last week was Spring Break at Meredith College so what a better way to spend it than teaching in Belize! The Chaplain, Stacy, took a group of ten (including herself) to Cahal Pech, Belize for a week.  We left very early Saturday morning, I was at the airport by 5:30, and we arrived in Belize around 1pm local time.  It was an amazing experience.  Sunday, we started off our trip with a little hike through the rain forest and some cave tubing (oh you know, no big deal!).  It was BEAUTIFUL!!! and so much fun! We also went to a church service that night done by a local pastor and his family.  It was done in Spanish but was translated by the pastor’s oldest daughter.  Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday were spent working at Faith Nazarene School.  I worked with Standard Five.  They were ages 11-15, but mostly 13 years old.  I worked with them on multiplication facts, writing, grammar, and reading comprehension.  It was really cool to see how a classroom in a different country works.  I definitely experienced culture shock inside of the classroom.  I was able to teach a lesson, grade a bunch of papers, work one on one with some students, and help host a writing workshop.  So cool! It was hard to leave on Friday!  What about Wednesday? you might be wondering, Well, Wednesday was the presidential election in Belize which means it was a holiday and no school or work.  (I most definitely think election day should be a holiday in the states!) So, we traveled to Guatemala and toured Tikal, an ancient Mayan ruin site.  SO COOL! The temples were terrifying to be on but the view was gorgeous! We spent our nights debriefing, relaxing, planning, hanging out, or at the church.  It was such a great trip and opportunity.  I could have spent my break relaxing on my couch but getting to go serve in another country will be much more memorable.  It was unBELIZEable.