A good book to read

Information by word of month is still heavily used. I know most of the world uses social media, which can lesson the time between receiving information and dispersing it, but word of mouth is still a large part of how information travel.


Let me dive into my topic of books. There are many good books and then there are great books. One in particular I heard by word of mouth (and now see in the move theatre and on social media outlets) is The Help.

What a incredible story about the 1960's from the perspective of African American maids and the women who employ them. I haven't even finished and I feel as though I have gotten to glimpse in a time where buses and water fountains were segregated, where Martin Luther King and the KKK were present and the world was changing. I have talked several time on the phone to my Mom about this era she grew up in, and the stories she remembers and what she saw in Mobile. I highly recommend this book!

As for some other books on my to read list:
Anything by Kristin Hannah (Firefly Lane, Night Road, Magic Hour, Home Again), The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, books by Emily Griffin and whatever the library holds that will be intriguing.

Birmingham just got a 2nd and Charles-basically a used book store where you can turn in old books for money and purchase previously owned ones for very cheap - like a $1.00! I think I will be visiting there after work today. Also, all those books are on Kindle too!

Of course, there are many other books out there that are worth of a read, but I will dive into those another day....

Quiche, why haven't I tried you before

So yesterday (Monday) I went to our Atlanta office for work. I loved seeing our other branches and getting to put names and faces together.

But besides that, when I was riding back to Birmingham my co-workers and I began to talk about easy and yummy meals to make for dinner. So, quiche came up. I have hardly ever eaten quiche (any type) but hearing how simple they are to make and all the different ways you can make them, I decided to give it a try. So, I ran to Publix, bought spinach, eggs, cheese, milk and frozen pie crusts. I didn't quite know how to measure out portions, but I figured I would throw it all in and see how it worked out.

I used 2 frozen pie crusts, 2 cups of cheese, 1 frozen bag of chopped spinach, a cup of milk and 4 eggs. Mixed it all up, and put in the 2 pies for an hour on 350 in the oven and bam! Yummy quiche! I was super happy with the way they turned out-now I just have to eat it all:) Hopefully it can freeze!

I looked up online ways to make quiche-basically you can make it as healthy or unhealthy as possible. The longest wait was it cooking but very worth waiting!

Happy baking!

Bristol to London and back

WOW! What an incredible blessing the last week has been. We arrived home Monday night from London after almost 10 hours of flying and it was good to touch down in Birmingham.

I have so much to share, so please abre with me as I go through it all. As for Adventures, I'm not going to really say anything about the children to protect their information, but if you want to hear more let's meet up and I can tell somemore and definately share specific prayer requests for those wonderful kids I got to live life with for a week. To see pictures from the week in England click here.

To begin, the team left Birmingham on Saturday, July 23rd (Happy bday Sarah Higg) and flew to Detriot, MI. I am officially adding Michigan to my list of places been. We left that night around 7:00pm and flew overnight to Heathrow airport in London on July 24th (Happy bday Kristina). The flight was long and exhausting (I don't think anyone slept) and waited a hour to get through customs. NIGHTMARE. Nothing like almost being thrown out of the country. I won't go into detail, but let's just say worst experience ever for the team and especially Stephen.

However, we all made it into the country (only by the grace of God) and waited for Headley Park Church memebers to come pick us up from the airport. Once they arrived, we headed on the 2 hour car journey to Bristol. I had gotten a little sick so I didn't take too much notice yet of us driving on the opposite side of the road or the cute British accents.

Once we arrived at the church, our host families came and got us. My wonderful family were the Pountney's-Becca and Matt. We drove home where I was promptly put to bed and slept for a couple of hours. Once I woke up, got to chat with Matt a bit about him and Becca, and Becca joined us shortly (I slept through the church meeting and church service).

The next morning we headed back to begin Adventures (VBS). I had a total of 6 kids that week-all 11 years old. The theme was Holly wood and each day the lesson was on someone famous from the bible-Moses, Jonah, Noah , Jesus and Saul (who became Paul). We would have a lesson, play games/go somewhere for a trip out (Lazer Quest, the park, Crazy Golf, Ice skating, Scavenger hunt in Cabot Circus-outdoor mall) and come back to finish some games, the lesson and send them home around 3:30. All the American leaders and the English leaders would get together and talk about the day and pray together for specific needs and children.

Each night would be something fun for the Americans. We went to Bath to see the roman baths, to the highest suspension bridge in the world, a BBQ night with our host families, Meet the Americans night at church, take an American home for dinner, and dinner at Cosmo's and walk to the Harbour Festival.

All the Americans (and Simon, the churches intern) went to London On Saturday. It was so fun to be back there again and see places I had visited before and go to new ones as well. The group got off the Tube and headed to Buckingham for the changing of the guards and then to Westimister Abbey. I toured Westminster Abbey with most of the group. I had been in there once before for the Evensong service, but not fo a tour. So much history-it took my breathe away. I saw Issac Newton, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, many kings and queens, famous poets, etc graves.

Once out, Morgan, Julie and me headed to Hyde Park to Kensington Palace-the line was long to get into the Orangerie for tea so we headed to The Tower of London to meet the rest of the group for dinner.

We headed back to Bristol for the night and to church the next morning and a picnic to say goodbye to everyone.

Once back in London and at our hotel, we headed once more back on the Tube to London for a ride on the London Eye and dinner in the city. Then, home the next day.

I am so thankful for the Lord allowing me this opportunity to walk alongside my fellow brother and sisters in Christ to share about Jesus to these kids and their families. I am still processing it all in my mind and missing those children, my English and America team, my sweet Becca and Matt, and all the laughs and the jouyous moments we had together.

American team-tea at my house in September.

Becca and Matt-miss yall-come visit soon!