Thanksgiving with the Gathercoal’s…
For the past three years now I haven’t been home for Thanksgiving because of the many miles that separates us. So this year was no different. My close friend Melissa and her family offered their home to me during Thanksgiving and graciously offered to cook certain foods so that it would feel more like home. One of my requests was green bean casserole and when I got there I found out they had made some for me. Not only did they make it for me and it was amazing, I found out that they had never made green bean casserole before and almost everyone in the family never had it before. This was so funny to me because my mom makes this every Thanksgiving and it’s one of my favorite dishes.
The day after Thanksgiving we decided to go shopping, but not at your typical stores like Walmart or Best Buy for great Black Friday deals… we went to the salvation army and to Ross’s. We ended up goofing off and trying on lots of dresses. Melissa’s little sister is on the left and of course Melissa is in the middle. We’re actually in the dressing room taking this picture it was so fun.
One of my favorite parts about the Gathercoal’s house is their heart for animals. The Gathercoal’s are actually foster parents for animals. They do animal rescue and have so many animals in their house at one time. They had about 8 dogs and 17 cats, this is just an estimate but it’s not far off. You would think it was a zoo but they do so well at keeping all the animals in their place and all the animals are so loving. Above is a picture with me and two of their own pets, Nitro and Darla. Nitro became one of my favorites while I was there.
On Saturday we decided to go ballroom dancing and the above picture is from that. Andy was the only guy that was able to make it and then 7 girls! What a time he had dancing with us plus the ladies that were at the studio. There were lots of laughs that night and many memories made.
The community of “The Edge” staff
The first week of December we had our second staff conference for the short term missions department called “The Edge.” What a busy week it was! With my boss out on maternity leave, My co-worker Sarah, Rosie and I worked together to make the staff conference go as smoothly as possible. But, boy was that a busy week. There was lots of cleaning, picking up food, multiple grocery store runs… it could have been a mission trip in and of itself. It was so crazy.
Above is Rosie, she is the short term missions intern this year and I’ve actually had the opportunity of building a relationship with her because she stays in my cubicle until the recronstruction is finished. So, we get a handful of opportunities to work along side of each other. My favorite is singing and praising our Lord and Savior with her in the cubicle to our music and distracting the others around us.
The staff conference was a success, after 12 meals later, a lot of meetings, a lot of prayer, and a lot of laughs later it was time to go our separate ways. We had about 38 staff come in just for the short term missions conference and they came from Mexico, New Orleans, Phili, TX, CA and etc… It’s great to be able to get together every once in a while and share what’s happening in all the different locations and be able to support and encourage one another because some are on their own out on the field. As for me, I’m around people everyday at the international headquarters so I get to interact with employees daily. Our goal is to have three small staff conferences spread throughout the year so that we can keep each other accountable to certain decisions, visions, and keep the relationships growing.
Christmas Ball Benefit a Success
After an awesome weekend of Thanksgiving with the Gathercoals and going straight into staff conference, one day later I had the Christmas ball benefit planned. What a long week and then day that was, the ZZZzzzz’s just kept slipping away. Melissa and I got up early to go grocery shopping, cooked for four hours, and then decorated for a few hours all by ourselves. There is no words to express my appreciation to Melissa and how she helped me that day. There is no way I would have been able to finish everything in time.
Melissa is the cookie cutting QUEEN!! We made over 100 ginger bread men and lots of other food that I never want to see again.
This is Melissa and I all dressed up and thankful for each other right at the beginning of the ball!
This is my friend and co-worker Alex from the aquatic center. We had a good time doing a waltz and my friends stopped to take a picture. Everyone seems to laugh at this picture because we’re so happy and silly.
The week before I went out dancing and my friend Janelle was talking to this guy that I’m dancing with in this picture about the ball that I was hosting. I gave him my contact information so that he could e-mail me any questions. Well he e-mailed me and actually showed up. Not only did he show up, he was such a blessing because I was so tired from setting up everything that day he was willing to teach the Waltz II class. I found out a little later after asking that he had taught a four hour waltz workshop. He was such a good dancer a lot of the girls were so happy he was there so he could teach some more stuff to the guys and so that they could dance with him.
The ball went well like I said. You will read in my newsletter more details about how much we raised since it was an actual benefit. Praise the Lord for how he’s working! Thank you all for your prayers and continued support. I will be heading to NY on Dec. 19-30th and I can’t wait to see you.
What a great summary of the past few weeks! We’ve had some amazingly fun (and insanly busy) times!! I love you bunches, my dear.
I love you Christy!!! You are AWESOME, thanks for sharing fun times with me 🙂
C,
It is sooo cool to see your “post-graduation world” unfold. I’m glad that the Toccoa connection continues. It was really good to see you at our house last Friday night.