Updates to 101 list...

I have a few updates for you from my 101 list plus a few other exciting things that have happened over the last couple of weeks!

1. Have not completed a blog post for each week this year, but I'm close!

11. I am this <----->; much closer to becoming a Team Leader in MK thanks to two lovely ladies joining my team in one week! Welcome Crystal (my cousin) and Katie (a friend from Hiawatha)! I cannot wait to see where your work and dreams take you in this company!

32. It wasn't exactly a production at the Robidoux Resident Theatre but I thought it was supposed to be there, so I'll let it count. Robin and I went to watch our friend Kasey in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang this weekend at the historic Missouri Theatre. It was a great production and so funny!


44. I am proud to say we now have four months of my salary built up in savings and have not even filed our taxes yet! I am more than excited to use our tax refund to pay off some student loans!

49. I contributed to the K-State Telefund this year and supported the College of Ag!

53. I did visit Derek and Christina last weekend while making a road trip to my best friend's wedding in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It was amazing to see Joplin nine months after the tornado and still see the damage left. There has been a lot of progress, and they are just starting to break ground for the new hospital where Christina will work. I can't wait to go back in May to run the half marathon in honor of the day the tornado took 162 people from their families and friends. It will be an amazing day I'm sure! It was also nice to go down to visit Derek and Christina and have a little bonding time since we do not get to see each other all too often. The trip was a short getaway and fun to witness a new marriage full of second chances and new hope! So glad I could be a part of Julie and Nic's big day!


65. I also met with my one mentor here in St. Joseph for lunch last week and was so thankful to bounce ideas off of her related to our new campaign and event we are getting ready to launch here at work. I know the stress and work leading up to the events will pay off! I am also glad I have a friend who is that much more ahead of me in our line of work so I can ask her questions and get feedback on what I should do next.

68. I also am so thankful for how well my MK business has been going this year. I cannot wait to see where the end of the MK year goes, but I will be in Dallas celebrating another amazing year because of some very inspiring and lovely customers who make it all happen! I am so incredible thankful!

I think that is all for updates so far! I have a long ways to go...I'll be sure to keep you updated!

*Sorry there are no photos in this post for some reason blogger is not liking my photos today!

Being Sick is Not Cool...

I have no idea why I have had an on again-off again series of mini colds this winter. It hasn't been anything too serious to keep me at home much, but it does wear me out and makes me think twice about things after work, which if you know me is not my usual way of doing things.  I am 100% busy all the time, and I thrive on it.

I have not had this much sickness since my freshman year at K-State when I had a bout of bronchitis in the fall and a sinus infection that lasted for months in the spring. I chalked all that up to living with a bunch of people in the dorms and in our sorority house. This year, I don't know if it's the weather not getting cold enough, or if I just have finally succumbed to the germs from all of our kiddos in the Head Start classrooms. I don't spend as much time in there as a teacher, but I'm in a classroom at least once a week.

This past week and a half has been the worst of it yet. I went home early last Wednesday with a major migraine and getting sick to my stomach. I pulled myself out of bed that night to go to my MK meeting and felt okay the rest of the week until Friday night after work as I was preparing some decorations and goodies for my bff's bachelorette the next day, I could feel my whole body shudder in pain and exhaustion. I thought I was getting the flu. I didn't get sick until Saturday at the actual party, which I am sad to say I left early. I hated that. I got sick on myself in my car on a 2.5 hour ride home. It was not pretty. Then I felt okay the rest of the weekend/early part of the week. I have been trucking along taking cold medicine religiously for a week. On Wednesday I went to Lincoln to meet with my cousin at a super fun party for a new director, Whitney James, who is a daughter of MK National Sales Director Stacy James. Such a great night...then Thursday hit. I  finally felt exhausted enough to not run, which rarely happens any more. I did get two small runs in the for the week already. Todd told me to try the netti pot, and it worked to clear a lot of nasty looking junk from my sinuses, but I still felt horrible. I went to work but knew I had to get to the doctor if there was any hope of making the trip to Arkansas this weekend for my bff's wedding.  I waited, waited and waited at the doctor's office. Got my scrip, took it around noon, and got sick from it. Ughhhhh....so I went home and just slept. I took it again around dinner time after I made some chicken tortilla soup, and got sick again. I'm really trying to keep it all down so this darn medicine will work. I am still exhausted but here at work today. I hope I get some work done, a school paper written and packed to leave bright and early in the am for Arkansas. Pray I get some energy and health back. I need it the next couple of weeks.

On the bright side (kind of), we are getting rain! Finally!

Genuine concern...

Have you ever come upon a car accident and wondered if you should stop or help or anything even though you may be the 10th car offering help? I guess that's the "dolphin" nature in me as I learned from my Leadership St. Joseph class two weeks ago. I always want to offer help to others. Funny thing about personality is I think it is set in stone at an early age. I always wanted to help with our Christmas Bureau growing up and did several projects of community service in 4-H and was one of the first Big Sisters in the BB/BS in Brown County. I even received a pretty awesome quote card from our Theta president when I was initiated into the fraternity at K-State and it still sits in front of me each day at work. It says," After the verb to love, to help is the most beautiful verb in the world,".

On with the reason I am writing this post as I started talking about the car accident. I left work last Friday and was just pulling out of our parking lot and glanced out my back window to see two large vehicles crash right in behind me. One car completely missed stopping at a stop sign and T-boned the other car. They were both only going around 30 mph, the speed limit, but it was pretty horrible. The truck that missed the stop sign had a family of four in it, and the Durango that was hit had a husband, wife and 6-month old baby inside. The family was fine, but really shaken up. The man in the Durango was pinned in the driver's side and his wife I think was in such severe shock that she got out of the car and collapsed on the side of the road.

I didn't really k now what to do as they had already started calling the police. I went around to the Durango and noticed the young woman on the side of the road and was almost paralyzed for not knowing what to do, then I looked into the car and saw the baby in the car seat. The dad who was still pinned in the car was bleeding and asked if I could check the baby. That's when real fear set in. I didn't know if she was hurt or not, and I wasn't sure if I really should have taken her out of the car seat for fear of doing something far worse, but it was 20 degrees outside and the windows were blown out of the car. It was so cold for a baby to just wait there for who knows how long before an ambulance would have gotten there. When I had my car wreck almost a year ago this month, it took the police 45 minutes to get there. I wasn't chancing the baby being that cold so I asked if it was alright to take her out and hold her in my car. The baby appeared fine and wasn't crying.

The police did come within 15 minutes with an ambulance. They took mom, dad and baby to the hospital. I just went on with my day, but was shaken up a bit to think how in an instant all things can change, and it wasn't what you expected your day to go like. I wasn't really expecting to come upon an accident. I am thankful it wasn't any worse. I just knew I had to get out and at least make sure everyone was okay, and help if I needed to. I wanted to keep the baby safe and warm.

On Monday morning when I came back from an early meeting, I saw the mom and dad and baby outside of our work building. They had come inside our office to tell me "thank you", and I was so moved that they would do that. They didn't have to, but I am glad they did. I just said I was really glad they were all okay and it was just something I hope anyone would have done if they saw the accident happen.

It had me thinking over the weekend of how I like to help people, and I am glad I have a job where I feel I can do that each day but also when random things like the accident occur I feel I can also step in and help.

Have you all had a moment where you just knew no matter what the outcome you had to step in and help?

Have you ever had a real "raw" moment?

I am so thankful for Facebook. I feel like I am now closer to my family whom I rarely see. My great aunt Lois and her family live in Minnesota. I have only gone there once to visit them when I was in 5th grade, and I can still remember most of our vacation. It was wonderful, but one of my most favorite parts of the trip was visiting my cousins, Lori, Alan, Kendra and Kristin. We played soccer in their backyard and had a cookout. Lori is Lois and Maynard's daughter who married a professional soccer player, Alan. I remember thinking how cool is that, a professional athlete in our family?!

Fast forward a number of years, and the last time I saw all of them was at my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary in Nebraska. I was so so so happy to see them all in addition to their new addition, Sam. What I didn't know was how much they were all going through at that time.

Fast forward a couple more years until late 2011, and again insert Facebook, I knew Lori had written a book called the "Story of Glory". I am so glad Lois sent me a copy. I put it one my list of nine books to read as part of my 101 in 505 challenge. It was the first book I read. I just finished it last night. I could have easily read it in a day if it not had been for the tears flowing down my face from parts of the book and realizing how little I knew of what as going on within my own family.

I am saddened from all the heartache and hurt that filled their family a few years ago from infidelity. It was truly one of the few "raw" moments of shock and pure emotion for me. Lori and Alan have always been such a beautiful, loving, funny couple and I just broke when I read Lori's story. Thank God for her faith and unrelenting pursuit of understanding His will, purpose and mercy for her life. As I start my own marriage, I pray that Todd grows to know God, seek Him and we can grow together. Alan and Lori's story fills my heart with such joy that they have overcome what seemingly would be the end of any marriage and on the other side triumphed to walk together in Christ. I pray that Todd and I can also do some of the same things such as attend bible study together, pray together and not just attend church and wonder if he really believes in the power of God. This book came at a good time for us, and I cannot wait to share the story with him.

Oh, and if you get the book, wait for the "chill factor" at the very end! What an awesome and mysterious God we have!

The Story of Glory is an amazing read for anyone struggling with a relationship, marriage or a walk in faith. My cousin Lori wrote the book, and I am so glad she was willing to put it all out there to help others.