Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27
Hey y'all! I hope all is well with you on this lovely Sunday afternoon. I am very excited to announce that today, after much thought and prayer, I officially committed to serving on the National Community Church mission trip to Honduras this summer!!! I am SO excited! This will be the first mission trip I have taken, and my first real travel outside of the country. While in Pena Blanca, Honduras, our team will help build an orphanage for girls without homes. Not sure how great of a builder I will be but I pray that God will use our team for His will. Please pray for our team as we prepare to embark upon this journey. Thanks in advance for your support! Will post updates on the process. Yay missions! :) For team information and online giving, please visit http://www.razoo.com/users/min07f. For more information on the A One: Eight movement, please visit http://www.aoneeight.org/. Have a wonderful week everyone!
Ordinary people, empowered by God’s Spirit, doing what Jesus did, together, wherever they are. (A1:8 purpose)  “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”- Acts 1:8
 
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Hey y'all. Writing to you from the comfort of my neighborhood (well, close as I can get) Starbucks. I thought it would be fun to shake things up and have a change of scenery to write. That and the fact that I am often quite distracted at home! This has been an exciting past couple of weeks with my mom's visit during spring break, viewing the Central Park Five movie, my coasters being featured in a giveaway, and exciting events at work!  

My mom came to see me during my spring break week and we had such a fun time that she extended her trip another day. We slept in, we dined, and we attempted to shop. We attended the Tenebrae Good Friday service at NCC and enjoyed a free screening of The Place Beyond the Pines. She has been to visit before, so I wanted us to do something new that neither of us had done before. I found a groupon for a cruise around the harbor and I knew that it was meant to be! If you haven't taken a cruise around the harbor, then you do not know what you are missing! For the first time, my mom and I enjoyed a 90 minute cruise with DC Harbor Cruises. At that time, only one cherry blossom tree was in full bloom (see pic above). Now, most of the trees are in bloom so you would be in for a treat! Take 60 or 90 minutes to cruise on the waters, learn new facts about buildings in DC, and leave your cares behind. The music was lively, and the cruise director was humorous, which made the trip all the more enjoyable.

In addition to the cruise, mom and I went to see The Central Park Five at Georgetown University Law Center. The viewing is part of a series with the Equal Justice Film Festival in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Gideon vs. Wainwright and the 125th anniversary of the Georgetown Law Library. The film details how five African-American and Latino youth were railroaded into giving false confessions, serving time for a crime that they did not commit, and later, their exoneration. After the film, there was a Q & A session with the film director and one of the defendants, Yusef Salaam. It was a truly a moving experience. If you haven't seen this powerful film, you can catch it this Tuesday on PBS. For details and more information, visit http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/centralparkfive/. You definitely don't want to miss this and the dialogue that ensues! Watch it with your children. Discuss it with them. Share it with your students. Let us talk collective action to prevent innocent people, especially our children, from serving time for crimes that they did not commit! For information on the last two films in the festival, visit http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/about/125/filmfestival.cfm.

Another exciting highlight from the week: Cornell University's band performed at the high school where I work. It was a neat experience! I really enjoyed listening to "Requiem for a Hummingbird" composed by Marc Mellits. After the concert, the band invited our school band to join them on stage to play a piece. They also stayed to work with our band students on their techniques, how cool is that?!  I hope the band students benefited from the lessons and enjoyed the concert as much as I did! Pic below.

So as you can see I have been a busy bee--but I look forward to blogging more in this upcoming week. Don't forget to check out www.faketillyoumake.typepad.com to enter the two set coaster giveaway featuring coasters made by me. There will be two winners! Thanks to my good friend Sara for hosting this giveaway. Stay tuned for some exciting updates this week that you won't want to miss!!!

 
 Exciting news!! Two of my handmade coaster sets (not the ones pictured) are being featured in a blog giveaway by my good friend Sara over at Fake It Till You Make It: Turning Sense Into Dollars. Please check out her awesome blog for career advice and tips on frugal living. And don't forget to enter the coaster set giveaway!! This one will have TWO winners!