Serve Weekend

Serve Weekend was this last weekend. What "Serve Weekend" is, is a weekend where we don't have church services, and we all go out and serve in our community. This year we had 133 projects centered in Whittier and surrounding cities (and even a couple in L.A.). Every project has a project leader and then everyone signs up for whatever project(s) they want to do. 1,200 people participated. It's so awesome to show God's love in a tangible way to those in our community.

Scott and I chose to be on the photography team this year. So, we got to go to 10 different projects to photograph what they were doing there and document it. Then those pictures would be for the slide show and subsequent photo album for serve weekend.

The projects that we photographed were;
Murphy Ranch Elementary School- gardening and replanting roses
La Habra House- Fixing up a backyard for this lady. Putting in sprinklers, pavers, and a lot of other projects.
Rancho Starbuck Junior High- School beautification (front of school)
Deep Clean House- For someone in Whittier who can't do it herself
SPIRITT Family Services offices- Repainting 3 rooms Ocean View Elementary- Fixing cabinets, repainting
Christopher Wahl Youth Center/AIDS Project (2 projects there)- Cleaning
Feed the Firefighters at Station #59
Bring Sonrise to Sunrise- Singing to those in the center And then we added an extra one that we wanted to visit on Sunday at the Whittwood where they were making care packages for the troops. So, we traded off taking pictures of all of the different places and trying to encourage those who were doing the work. On Sunday we went to the Sunrise Living Center to take photos and couldn't find parking. So, Scott and the kids drove around while I went in to cover the event. I took pictures and got roped into singing with them. It happened to be Sarah and Stephen who I am sang with for years. So I ended up singing with them for a few songs. It was fun. I almost picked that project anyway. So, now I got to be a part of it in 2 ways.

Then after that we went to the Whittwood Town Center to see the projects set up there. We ended up writing letters for the troops. The kids were making pictures for them too. It was so cute. And they needed so many letters that we ended up staying there for an hour and a half. Crazy. But it was fun to be a part of that project too.

Later that night we had the celebration dinner. It's always so encouraging to see all of the projects and everything that was accomplished during the weekend. Several members of the community that we served were there as well. And the Mayor of Whittier too (Joe Vinatierre). Not sure if I spelled that right. This is our 4th year doing Serve Weekend. The mayor was very excited about it all and let us know that we were encouraging other congregations to do the same thing. This year 20 different churches in Whittier are doing a serve weekend of some sort. I couldn't believe it. So awesome to see God's people in action. May God get all of the glory!!

Here are some of the pictures we took.

Care Packages for the troops

Courtney drawing pictures for the troops. One of them will get the first ever dog she drew. She saw the girl next to her drawing one and she drew it too.

A BIG thank you to Sears who let us be outside their store. Otherwise we would have been forced to be by VONS per the new Whitwood Town Center regulations. But since this area is in the Sears lease, they were allowed to do it. The manager's family was even out there helping too. We went in to Sears to support them after that for helping out. We got the girls' Easter dresses there.

Writing letters to the troops

Skyler drawing pictures for the troops

Ocean View Elementary

Christopher Wahl Youth Center/AIDS Project

SPIRITT Family Services

Sunrise Living Center

Rancho Starbuck Junior High

Deep Cleaning a house in Whittier

It was cool because they decided to help the lady's neighbor too who needed some stuff done but wasn't able to get on the list as a project in time. So here one guy is taking off her Christmas lights.

Feed the Firefighters at Station #59 (Scott Ave.) This one was cool cuz I workout with a lot of these guys every week. They're always there in the mornings. See, more reasons to go to the gym. Hot Firemen! :)

Murphy Ranch Elementary School

La Habra Home Clean Up

Weekend Review

A totally stolen idea from my friend, Mary. She rocks at it so I thought I would try.

Weekend Review

Serving in the community
Taking pictures of 10 projects
Amazing Renovations
Hearts filled with Joy
Nap time on Saturday
Exhaustion
Singing to the Sunrise Senior living center
Hour and a half writing letters for the troops
Picking our Easter dresses
Making CD full of pictures that never were seen :(
Pinata time for Josh's 5th
Celebrating at WACC
Too much pizza and ice cream

Amazing Day

I have had an amazing day. I have been wanting to get some new pants because the ones I have aren't fitting so well anymore. I freshly washed them and they were falling off (as I walk) the same day. That's just not going to work. So, I finally went to Old Navy today. I was nervous because I didn't want to have to buy the same size. Worried that it was just the wear and tear that made them looser. Well, I was sooooo extatic. I LOST 2 SIZES!!!! It felt amazing. And now I have pants that fit and won't fall off as I'm walking around at church. LOL This is just more motivation to keep going. Thank you to everyone who has posted comments here and facebook. It really means a lot to me. You are also giving me more motivation. It helps knowing that I'm going to be posting my progress. Ahh..what a good feeling!!

24 pounds GONE

I'm so excited!! 24 pounds gone. Gone for good. Don't get me wrong, I have a long way to go. But I'm doing good and on my way. I've been steadily loosing at least 1-3 pounds every week. I really didn't have a starting picture, so I took one from where I was approximately my heaviest (August 08). The rest are comparisons from when I took pics at my 14 pound loss point (1/27/09). I'm hoping you can see some differences. I can feel it, but it's hard for me to see it. That is until I took pictures today.

This one makes me laugh because I feel like I look bigger in the second one. lol It's just taken a little closer.

My butt looks smaller! Woho!

Anyway....this was really helpful for me to see my actual progress. I have to thank April and Diane who gave me the inspiration to do before and after shots. If no one else, it helps me to know I'm doing all of this for a reason. I have a million of reasons to lose weight. I even created a word doc with them. Every time I think of a new thing I try to add it. Some of them are very personal, so I might not share it here. All of those trips to the gym are working and it feels great!!