I started the year off right this year, with a road trip to Atlanta, GA with 4 of my best girl friends! On January 1, Maegan, Callie, Ali, Andrea and I piled int0 Maegan's SUV and began the 900 mile trek to Atlanta. We listened to
It's My Wedding, WTH???, a CD of clips from one of the local radio morning shows and laughed a lot. We played "My Daddy Runs the Grocery Store," a game where one person thinks of an item in the grocery store and says "My daddy runs the grocery store and he sells the letter... B (or whatever letter the item they are thinking of starts with)" and everyone starts guessing items in a grocery store that start with that letter. The person who guesses correctly gets to think of the next letter. We also played that game where someone says a celebrity's name and the next person has to say a celebrity name that starts with the first letter of the last name of the celebrity name that was just said. For example, I say
Faith Hill, and the next person says
Hugh Grant, the next person says
Gerard Butler,
Beyonce Knowles, etc. you get the picture. If you repeat a name that's already been said, you're out. We didn't get any flat tires, no one got punched in the face, and we laughed a lot. Success. Why Atlanta? We went to
Passion 2010 to refocus on our true priority in life, the glory of God. The conference was amazing; 25,000 young adults, ages 18-25, praising God and lifting His name high. Speakers like
John Piper,
Francis Chan,
Beth Moore,
Louie Giglio and bands like
David Crowder Band,
Chris Tomlin and
Hillsong. There were three main things that my eyes were opened to at Passion: 1. My pride is digusting and needs to be dealt with. 2. We are guaranteed suffering in this life. 3. Our greatest joy is found in the glory of God. At Passion, they had a center called "
Do Something Now." The goal was to raise $500,000 for 12 different non-profit organizations pushing back the darkness in the world. That's a steep goal for poor college students and post-college students with loans to pay back. Through God, the goal was met and far exceeded. Over 4 days, we gave (not pledged, gave) $668,597.95. A married couple who were guests at the conference were overwhelmed by the outpouring of money from "kids" that they wrote a check on the spot and matched the donations dollar for dollar. Praise God! We teach our kids in Little Village that God is in charge of everything and only he can perform miracles and it was awesome to be able to experience one first hand. I was blown away and in awe. The trip was great and I came back refocused, rejuvinated and refreshed.
Here are some pictures from our travels. We stopped in Birmingham, AL on our way there and ate dinner at Mellow Mushroom - the best pizza I've ever eaten, no lie. We took a self-guided tour of Alabama's campus and got an indepth look at their Christmas tree. Enjoy!
One of these things is not like the others...
You have a baby... in a kareoke bar...
The original pine cone.
We always get nervous that the caramel sauce for our sweet potatoes isn't going to come together... we have little faith in the power of butter, sugar and heat. 
Let the annual card making contest begin...
Evan wins first place in the International division - "Chritma"
Katelyn wins first place in the my little Pepaw division
Mom wins first place for the best use of ribbon.
Kristen wins first place in the ready to hang division. 
Jessica wins first place for the most decorative.
Eddie (the dog) wins first place in the K-9 division.
I win first place for the "holiest" card. 
Dave wins first place in the "already in the bag" division.
My dad is so cute. 
He's in his outdated "TAC by Schneider Electric" branded apparel. 
It was a long day...
