The Helen Wright Center - Laundry Day!

I like to reread my blogs and I realized before I left for Brazil that I mentioned I would post an entry about the ladies at the Helen Wright Center. About a month or so ago, while my church family was doing the second phase of updaes to the Helen Wright Center we spent some time with the ladies.

So a little background..

The Helen Wright Center (HWC) is downtown Raleigh, it is a trasitional home for woman who are homeless to help them get on their feet and into a home. They have a great program there. LWFC - my church has been doing some updates to the HWC. Last year we were unscrooged and we updated the bathrooms..well not me exactly..i did volunteer one day, but I digress.. we fixed a leak and some ceiling tiles so they could open up an extra bed that wasn't able to be occupied because of the leak. During a renovation day, we took some of the ladies out on a spa day. That was fun, although I only participated for the brunch, I heard they had a BALL!

If you are interested here is some info on this..

http://www.growingourcommunity.blogspot.com/

So we are in phase 2 now and we had another day with the ladies.. that reminds me I need to find my memory card from my phone because I took pic..ugh..i hope I didn't leave it in brazil.. I swapped out phones because my phone was grey and they came out with a new snazzy red model..I hope I took out the memory card..ok back to the story..ANYWAY.. we took the ladies on this day to the laundry mat in Wake Forest and paid for them to do their laundry. While we were there, I had a chance to sit and chat it up with some of the ladies. Some of them are really trying to make a difference in their life and using this opportunity to the fullest. My heart was warmed by their testimonies. I really bonded with a couple of the ladies.

THen we went for pizza.. I have gone back there since because between it and a place in RTP it is the closest to reminding me of pizza from NY..yum.. They enjoyed the pizza. Then we went to see Meet the Browns. We had sooo much fun at the movies, cutting up. In the lobby of the movie there was a cardboard cutout from the movie Made of Honor with Patrick Dempsy, any it was him and he had his arm wrapped around a woman, but thhe face was cut out, so you could stick you face in there and they said on a sign somewhere to take a picture. I didn't have my camera, but I had my handy dandy phone with pretty good camera in it - I love my job! So I decided to do a little testing on the camera. Some of the ladies acted all "No I don't want to take a picture" initially, but by the end, EVERYONE was trying to make sure they got their photos..please pray with me that I can find that memory card. I have like 3 in my desk, plus I think one in my phone. Hope the pics are on one of them.

Anyway..Sunday several of the ladies came to church..I was soo excited to see them and that they had a desire to hear God's word!! I pray that they get plugged in somewhere at a bible-based church - it doesn't necessarily have to be LWFC.. of course we would love to have them. Anwyay, I didn't get to go back with them to the HWC after the movies because I had some errands and then I had to serve at Sat night service. WHen they got back to the HWC they were presented with some nice toiletry type gifts, towels, lotion body wash, etc.. I was sorry I missed that.

The ladies were so appreciative but God really gets all the Glory in this..it felt SO good to be a part of that. I am looking forward to a time when my full time job is community focused. One day..in God's timing.

Off topic..I was also going to talk about this conversation my girls and I were having about men and relationships in another blog but not 100% sure about that. Ehh..I am going to do that one next.. stay tuned.. oh and I met this guy i like..but I am not sure how much of that is blog fodder. I will have to give that a think, in case some how or another he stumbles on this..

Here is a picture of me with the ladies..

(sigh) Ya know, I came into my rec room to check my email and then I was supposed to start reading this book. Then i got caught up on this computer... I am getting offline.. now..

Brazil.. A photo essay..Day 3

LOTs of pics from Day 3..where to begin.. walked to the office.. morning meetings went well. then off to authentic BRAZILLIAN BBQ!! Here is me and the team outside the restaurant..

The restaurant was calles Ciaxo grill (or something like that.. I will have it together tomorrow.) It was really nice inside..

Then the festivities began.. it all started here...

then I hit the salad bar.. Which I had NO business eating all the lettuce and veggies that had water dripping off of them.. I think I may have mentioned in a previous blog that it was probably the water/ice that did me in.. but i could not resist!

Here just double click on this image below.. you will see..

..and it was good too..OK then the meat started coming out.. I only have two pics, because I was really involved in eating.. one of some meat ...

(he was really posing..and was serious about his job) and the other of this delicious grilled pineapple that was covered in cinnamon..that was good eating..

enough said..

After work we drove around Campinas a little with our hosts and the project manager took us to the BEST ice cream place ever..

You can't see the sign here, so when we were in the mall, I took a picture of the same establishment with the sign being visible..

Anyway, they had a zillion different flavors and all manner of toppings..it was an ice cream buffet! So..I tried 4 different kinds of ice cream..it was self serv..

O-M-G..they were sooo good, I had 4 small scoops - 1 macadamia nut (with real nuts in it), passion fruit, guava-something or other, and lime (which had flecks of lime rinds in it).. I took this pic was right before I demolished it..

OK after ice cream... then we went on to a happy hour celebration at this place (they were celebrating a successfully completed project and we tagged along)..

they had some type of buffet (I only ate nuts and bread because the food didn't seem that great) - no pics of that, and they had some random live band, that i was advised wasn't very good. But my Brazillian hosts were so much fun - part of the time though they were talking in Portuguese and I was completely lost, then they started talking in English and they proved to be quite entertaining..

..good times!

Then we went back to the hotel..and well I didn't feel quite AS bad..my stomach seemed to have been tryint to adapt..I appreciated that, because the food was soooo good almost everywhere we went, I was eating regardless!

Now it is late and I am going to bed.. I will post day four pics hopefully tomorrow. It wasn't as eventful.. just went to the office, the mall, then back to the airport. But I have some pics, I will share.

Brazil.. A photo essay..Day 2

So not many pictures of Day 2..not sure what happened..well actually not a lot happened outside of work. We went to the office..had lunch at an italian place with our Brazillian colleagues (I will ask them tomorrow for the name and update this blog with a pic of the place (if they have one on the internet)..well at least with the name.. ANYWAY..when the work day was over we headed back to the hotel and I just lounged..

until my team lead was ready to eat and then we went to another restaurant in the hotel the food was OUTSTANDING..but....

need I say more..

went to bed almost immediately after I got back to my room..

Brazil.. A photo essay..Day 1

After, oh I don't know 16+ hours of traveling...started at RDU airport @ 1:30pm Sun, arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil @ 7:30ish AM on Monday...

...we finally arrived in Sao Paulo...

We then had a driver take us for another hour and a half to Campinas..

We finally arrived at our hotel..

(update..i found a more impressive pic on the web..)

which was really quite nice ..

(udpate..i also found a lobby pic off the web)

My team lead (who I was traveling with - but didn't get his permission to post his pic..so no pics of him) and I both settled in our seperate rooms. We then walked down the street to see where the office we would be working with was..it was on the same street as the hotel just a few blocks away..

It was only safe to walk in the daytime and my team lead carried my laptop bag, because crime is a BIG problem there..but thats day 2..moving on... We ate one of the hotel's restaurants...


I ate alot and got sick and went to bed early..slept for like 16 hours or so..

That was pretty much it for day 1..

Well I tried...

I tried to use email posting, but it doesn't appear to have worked, or I am just impatient.. so that is what I emailed..if it gets posted more than once, I will delete one.. But I will be happy it worked!



I am posting this from my email to try this out. But today was fabulous - I took some great pics, but I will update and write a blog about them when I am able to post my pics :D.

So two things I have been thinking about.. now after you read this, you may say.."This girl is in Brazil, why is she talking about this nonsense?" Well because I feel like it! ;-D

First I have been starting to think my blogs aren't deep enough. I am talking about all these trivial things. I am struggling with this a bit...but i like my blogs..so I guess they will stay the way they are. I read a lot of blogs that are filled with all wonderful and spiritual comments and scriptures, relevant scriptures, etc.. Mine is a bunch of rantings about the goings on in my life...but oh well. I have talked it (well really typed it out) and I have decided this blog is therapy for me, and hopefully it will help someone else..so the ravings will continue...

So topic #2... A friend of mine met this guy a couple of weeks ago and he approached her. Then a couple weeks later he approached her again at the same place.. now she was debating whether the first approach was really any interest in her, or just him being friendly, but she is pretty sure that he is interested.

However, this guy mentions during their second conversation something about her finding a husband when she goes to her hometown (or something like that) for a visit, then he looks her in the eye with what she describes is a ton of inuendo and says "Cause you never know where you will find your husband"... so I am telling her that this is a display of interest, but I am interested in hearing any commentary on this. But OMG if he isn't...what sane man would say that to a single woman today anyway.. my friends and I have joked that this is basically the equivalent to a marriage proposal, but I figured I would put it out there..

Let me know what you think.

Trying something new

I am posting this from my email to try this out. But today was fabulous - I took some great pics, but I will update and write a blog about them when I am able to post my pics :D.

 

So two things I have been thinking about.. now after you read this, you may say.."This girl is in Brazil, why is she talking about this nonsense?" Well because I feel like it! ;-D

 

First I have been starting to think my blogs aren't deep enough. I am talking about all these trivial things. I am struggling with this a bit...but i like my blogs..so I guess they will stay the way they are.  I read a lot of blogs that are filled with all wonderful and spiritual comments and scriptures, relevant scriptures, etc.. Mine is a bunch of rantings about the goings on in my life...but oh well. I have talked it (well really typed it out) and I have decided this blog is therapy for me, and hopefully it will help someone else..so the ravings will continue...

 

So topic #2... A friend of mine met this guy a couple of weeks ago and he approached her. Then a couple weeks later he approached her again at the same place.. now she was debating whether the first approach was really any interest in her, or just him being friendly, but she is pretty sure that he is interested.

 

However, this guy mentions during their second conversation something about her finding a husband when she goes to her hometown (or something like that) for a visit, then he looks her in the eye with what she describes is a ton of inuendo and says "Cause you never know where you will find your husband"... so I am telling her that this is a display of interest, but I am interested in hearing any commentary on this. But OMG if he isn't...what sane man would say that to a single woman today anyway.. my friends and I have joked that this is basically the equivalent to a marriage proposal, but I figured I would put it out there..

 

Let me know what you think.

Live..from Brazil!

Well here I am in Sunny Brazil..its a fantastic day 23Degrees Celsius..whatever that means, but I like it! The people from the project are great here, foods great so far. Well let me just say that on previous vacations abroad I have had a stomach of steel...However..not so this time.

Every time I eat, I get sick..at least for a little while.. a friend told me to stop using ice, then i went and had a diet coke with ice..ugh.. Anyway tomorrow the team is taking us to a famous Brazilian BBQ place, I will try to be careful..

Last night the food made me really nauseous, today my stomach was doing somersaults after lunch.. We are eating at a Japanese place for dinner..I am starving! I will try to be careful.

Oh tomorrow night we are going to happy hour after work with my Brazilian colleagues.. I don't drink but I am going to be social, since they invited us to a celebration.. The team we are working with is celebrating their last project being delivered on time/budget. Since they are going to be doing work for us, i feel like that is worthy of celebration!

Anyway, I am going to take a nap.. I am very happy!

SS

I love my job

I haven't been able so say that about many of my jobs. I have enjoyed this, but I really love this job. But its more than the job, its going into the office, working for great people who care, with whom I have favor, working with interesting people who keep the day fun, meeting new people every day. It's fantastic, great decision - I am thankful to God.

I have been off of blogging lately because I have been soo busy with work and working out and hanging out that I haven't wanted to be bothered. I decided to move around some furniture and I move my computer upstairs and I think it being up here is more condusive to me actually using it.

I have so much to be grateful for..God has been so good. I got a FANTASTIC new car, one of my dreams I have been wanting for almost 7 years. It was pricey but I really love it and I am happy that i got it.

I am debating discussing my "experiment" that I have going now, but I think I will in another blog discuss a hot topic of my girlfriends..men and relationships.

Oh heading to Brazil Sunday..yay..I have been asking everyone and their mother to pray for me..its like 16 hours of travel time. Flight leaves at 3pm and we get to Sau Paulo at 7am the next day..they are either an hour or so behind or a head..not sure. It is fall there and it looks like the weather is similair, which is good, because our weather these last two days has been great.

Finally, I have some vacation lined up for this year - Carribean cruise, but I am seriously thinking of going on a missions trip to Costa Rica with my church. Speaking of which..I have been having those nagging "everyone has family but me" feelings again, I even went crying on Pastor Connie's shoulder, which I might add was NOT my intention..just wanted to share my feelings as I was led by the Lord, then out of nowhere BAM..the waterworks. But you know its all good, I have been really good about being friendly, but I am going to work harder and forming relationships beyond ministry work with some of my church family because its important.

I didn't do such a good job about that today, I went to a ministry social and totally didn't socialize..I got there (late)..brought some cake, ate a slice of pizza, finished watching the movie, helped stack up a chair, grabbed the rest of my cake - that was uneaten and bounced. I think I only even said hi to one person. I'll do better next time.

I will see if time permits blogging in Brazil, but when I get back, I can discuss the "men" topic, Brazil, a fantastic time I had with the ladies from the Helen Wright Center (i absolutely LOVE them - i had the Best time with them last week), and the thorn in my side about not feeling a real sense of family here -although my friends are great (and I love you)!

Life is Good!

So I am sitting waiting for my computer to finishing searching through these files, I thought I would write a little.

I am still not blogging a lot. This mostly has to do with me being super busy and not having a laptop. So first superbusy... work is GREAT..lots to do and its quite interesting. I love technology and I love cell phones, so getting to play around with them and writing automation to test them is like a dream com true. I currently have 7 on my desk..I am not working with them all at the same time but each has their purpose. The people I work with are really great. I met some really cool new people. (Oh on a side note as you can see I am on the upswing from my last blog.) I started Salsa dancing.. a favorite pastime of some of the new girls from the job. It is not easy (I don't care what anyone says), so I mostly watch, its fascinating.

So anyway, I also have been going to the gym some nights too - plus I am still going strong with the personal training 2x a week at the crack of dawn..oh I am down one dress size..totally excited and thankful to God about that one. I have lost a total of 27 pounds so far..slow but sure..so its all good. So when I get home, I walk Buddy, do a little here and there in the house, watch 15-30 min of TV and go to sleep, talk on the phone until I fall asleep on the person who is at that point talking to me.

So the laptop thing is an issue because I only hang out in my family room on the weekends and in the morning whne I iron my clothes. That is where the computer is. I am kind of glad I don't have a laptop, its just one more distraction for me to have when I am trying to go to sleep.

Anyway today i am excited because (and this is in no particular order)
- I finally unlocked the secret of this whole prayer language thing - and i am loving it
- work is great
- great church family - great Word
- great friends to hang with
- mom's coming down in a couple of weeks
- going to Brazil in a couple of weeks
- oh and I would be remiss if I didnt mention that the last Season of Battlestar Galactica starts on the Sci-Fi Channel this week

OK going to lunch.