A New Year!

So, its 2009. Gosh, time flies by these days! I am excited to see what this year has in store. I am ready for the move to Nashville. There are so many uncertainties involved but I am okay with that. I need this move in my life right now. I need to start a life somewhere else. I hope to stay there for a while. I want to start the process of establishing my non-profit in Nashville so I am really hoping that those details get worked out soon and things start progressing. I hope the new year is great for y'all! I have a feeling there will be a lot of changes!! Change is good..right?

love y'all,

Breanne

Thanksgiving

This week was nice. I went home to Mississippi and spent a few days with family and friends. I honestly think one of my favorite things is to get to go home. Spending time with family is something that can't be replaced, no matter how crazy they may be! We ate a lot and watched a lot of football!! Ole Miss beat the mess out of MS State!! Can't really think of a better way to spend the week! I did go shopping on friday. We didn't wake up real early but it was early enough to think I might not ever do it again!! It was so much crazier than last year. It just put me in a bad mood more than anything!!! People were so rude and crazy about sales. I was kind of in disbelief about the whole situation. It is kind of sad that this is really what Christmas is about now. I am not going to get on a soapbox about missing the meaning but it was truly eye opening yesterday. Everyone knows the meaning is lost but I saw it first hand yesterday.

I do love the holiday season though. Everyone seems to be a little happier. (excluding Black Friday) I love the lights, music, and family time. I know I take it for granted so often but I have been truly blessed. I had a long talk on the way back to the house last night with my aunt about this very thing. I haven't really experienced great tragedy. My parents are still together and love each other very much. I have amazing siblings and even more amazing friends. I was lucky enough to be raised in a home where God was the focus. God has really blessed my life and its hard to find the reasons why He does it. My aunt said she was given some great advice from her pastor's wife when she married my uncle. (who is a pastor) She told my aunt that the good times in ministry will far out weigh the bad. I think that applies to my life. Crappy things have happened but I have had some pretty great times. Its easy to get wrapped up in the drama of life and take for granted all the blessings. So, my goal is to focus more on the blessings of life and try to forget all the craziness. I hope everyone is doing well!! love y'all!

Breanne

Fresh Start

So, its almost 6 am here and this is kind of the story of my life right now!! I sleep at random times and currently do not do a lot of it! I really tried to keep this updated this summer but as the days got busier this thing was forgotten! So, here is to new beginnings. Which kind of symbolizes where I am right now. This is the beginning of life after college. Its was kind of a strange feeling to not go back to school this past August. I think school pretty much defines our life for so long and then its over. Its such a weird transition. I feel like this could be hardest time to find some sort of balance between becoming an adult and not really feeling like I am one.

Turning 25 was supposed to be a big deal I guess but I don't feel any different. I don't feel like I thought I would. I remember my siblings turning 25 and thinking how mature they were and so "adult" but I don't feel that. Its kind of funny to think about being 13 or 14 and thinking about how life would be at 25. According to the teenage version of me, I would have been married and probably had kids by now. WOW!! What the heck was I thinking? I am nowhere near ready to have a family. I feel like there is so much to do and explore. I don't want to have any regrets. I have the rest of my life to be married and I am excited for that season of my life but not ready for it.

Its also been a weird transition because I have no idea what the heck I am supposed to be doing right now!! I have all these ideas and dreams that I want to accomplish. I think that is why I don't sleep a lot. My mind is running like a crazy person! I hope and pray that I can follow through with them all. I would love to start planning for my non profit soon. I just need some people to buy into the idea and when I say "buy" into it, I mean...I need your money! :) So, for all two of that might read this, if you have any extra cash laying around or happen to win the lottery and don't know what to do with it...Look a girl up!! I know God will take care of it. I just have to trust and be patient. Patience is such a dreaded word to me! God likes to do things His way and I guess that is okay but sometimes I feel like I could really help Him out!! Okay, I am done for now. Hopefully, I can become a true blogger and keep this thing updated.

love y'all, Breanne

Half-way Mark

I cannot believe that it has been seven weeks. It does not feel like it at all. We did not have an anchor site this week so that was kind of different for me. We have been to Project C.U.R.E. It is a huge warehouse that receives medical equipment and medical supplies that are still good but that a hospital might throw out and they repackage them to send to third world countries. It is such an amazing cause and it has become on of my favorite sites. We help fill boxes and go through stuff that can be used. We have also been to East Nashville Co-op this week. It is an organization that has been started by over 20 churches in east Nashville to help the people in the surrounding area. They have a food bank, clothing store, and a garden so they have a chance to get fresh produce. I got to take the kids back to Samaritan so that is always a great time! Tomorrow we are going to do Picnic in the Park at the park across from the Library downtown. We will take lunches down there with us but also take extra so we can ask people to have lunch with us. It should be a good time.

This summer has been an incredible time of growth for me. I have had some time to reflect on the past few years and deal with some stuff that I have tried to forget. It has not been easy but it has been a very healing time for me. This past Sunday when I was sitting in church, the girl leading worship told a story about how she has been having health problems. She and her husband have really been searching for answers from God and been praying for healing. In the midst of all the praying, she felt God telling her that He has heard her prayers but there was not a time that she just seek after Him just to be in His presence. I felt like she was speaking straight to me! I have been doing this for a long time. I feel like I only go to God when I am struggling with something or I need something. I have forgotten to seek Him just because He is. I find myself no longer desiring to just be still and let God speak to me.

I have so many decisions to make in the next few months and I am trying not to stress out about it. I honestly have no idea what I am going to do at the end of the summer and I am learning to be okay with that. God is showing me that I do not have to have it figured out and I do not have to be on this 40 year plan so that my life is laid out. It is kind of scary to think about because it is not the normal way that I do things but it is also making me rely so much more on God now. Which is where I need to be anyway.

I just wanted to thank everyone that has been praying for us this summer. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we begin to grow weary and try to make sure this does not become routine. We want to have a fresh start every week because we owe the new groups that but it gets hard sometimes to be excited when days are long and exhausting. My parents are coming tomorrow and I am so excited about that! I cannot wait to see them and spend three days with them! This is a much needed trip for me. I miss them so much! It will be a nice break for me to get away from the housing site and spend time with them. I hope everyone is doing great. I miss and love y'all so much!!

Week Seven

I cant believe that this is the seventh week! Time is flying by so fast. I also did not realize I haven't written in two weeks! My last two groups have been really great. I cant even really write all about two groups in one post. It would be forever long! I am having a great time though and I really like it here! The family is coming this week so that is exciting and I get the 4th off. It will be a good time. My group this week is from FL so I will write more about them throughout the week!! I hope all is well! love y'all!!

Breanne

Happy Father's Day!!

Hey everyone!! I hope y'all had a great weekend. I enjoyed the time off. It was nice. Today was kind of hard. I really missed not being able to be with my family this weekend for father's day. It is pretty rare to miss a holiday with the family. So, I hope everyone had a great day with their daddy today! I know I miss mine along with everyone else in my family!!!

We got our third group today. Mine is from Illinois. They are in junior high and it is an all girl group . I am pretty excited about it. They love to talk so that will make things go pretty great! Our anchor site is Andrew Jackson Boys and Girls Club so it should be a lot of fun!!! I hope everyone has a great week. Y'all need to start coming to visit this summer!! Please keep praying for us as a staff! Thanks for all the praying so far. We truly appreciate it! love y'all!

Breanne

Week Two

My group this week was pretty incredible! I had so much fun with them. Our schedule consisted of going to Y-Cap which is a summer program kind of like the Boys and Girls Club. We also went to Campus for Human Development where we served dinner to the men that lived there. We went to Welcome Home which is a halfway house for men that are trying to be get reintroduced to society. We did several things there for them. We cleaned the house, worked in the flower beds, and the boys got to use sledge hammers to break up concrete for a drain. Something about high school boys with sledge hammers made me a little nervous!! They did great though. We also went to the Next Door. It is a place for women that are coming out of prison or crisis situations to come and begin to rehabilitate their life. We did some office work for them and we also got to cook them dinner so that was a real neat experience.

This group was so hilarious. It was a really great week. They had some bumps a long the way but it did not phase them one bit! Two leaders got sick, one of which ended up having to get her appendix out, and one of their vans broke down!! It was one thing after the other but they took everything in stride and let us handle all the details so it did not make things stressful at all. They handled everything very well. I was so impressed and it will be a group I remember for a long time! The kids were so responsive and had no problem jumping right in to work and help out at all the sites. I felt like a lot of them were getting it so I feel like it was a very successful week! I hope everyone is doing great. I love y'all!!

Breanne