Day 169 and Fundraiser at Chick-fil-A

We've blogged about Jen Bacak and Meredith Gilbert and their advocacy of Compassion International before, but it's worthy cause to blog about again. The Lord has been really pressing on Bailey and me the importance of using the blessings He has given us to bless others. This organization and fundraiser allows us do to just that. In a nutshell, this is what the organization is all about:

Compassion International exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.

Founded by the Rev. Everett Swanson in 1952, Compassion began providing Korean War orphans with food, shelter, education and health care, as well as Christian training.

Today, Compassion helps more than 1 million children in 25 countries.
(http://www.compassion.com/about/aboutus.htm)

Jen started a fundraiser in town called Run for Compassion that is taking place here in College Station on April 10th. In an effort to help these lovely ladies raise money for the event, many of the members of New Life and the community ate dinner Chick-fil-A and turned our receipts, so that part of the profits would go towards the Run. What a fun night of making new friends and hanging out with old ones!

Day 168 and Head Wraps

Friday, March 26, 2010

We wear these head wraps every time we wash our hair. Both were gifts from our grandmothers. I walk into the living room most mornings to find Bailey sitting on the couch reading her Bible with a cup of coffee, wearing her white wrap. She is usually greeted by a groggy "good morning" from me, with my wet hair all bundled up in this handy purple wrap. It was only a matter of time before they made their way into our project. After this picture Bailey asked, "Remember when we used to care about how we looked in these pictures?" Haha I guess it shows how much we've grown to care less about what is on the outside and more about what our hearts look like on the inside. Though I should clarify that I am in no way saying that this photo represents how we are trying to beautify our insides... haha
This is us. Just as we are. :)

Day 167 and Our "Steel Magnolias" Picture

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Dara and Macie came over Thursday to discuss plans for their Aggie Ring party coming up in April. Of course we started talking about wedding details, which somehow led to quoting Steel Magnolias.

Shelby: My culahs are blush and bashful.
M'lynn: Your culahs are pink and pink.

This was us pretending to pose like we were having a Truvy's Beauty Shop conversation. (But we were really laughing at Macie.) During our conversation, we decided that Bailey can be Shelby, I can M'lynn, Macie is Clairee, and Dara is Weezer. Haha just kidding. I don't know how well we fit these characters, but it was a fun picture to take; it has a movie still shot look to it doesn't it?
Love you girls!

Day 166 and Living Hope Lord's Supper

Wednesday, March 24, 2010New Life is a sister church to Living Hope Baptist and New Life Bryan. All three churches met last night to partake in the Lord's Supper as a family of believers, and then listen to testimonies of various people who participated in mission trips over Spring Break. We sat next to our good friend, Michelle in the very crowded sanctuary. Thank you Ashley for taking this picture, next time you'll have to be in it!

Day 165 and Enjoying the New Season

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.

Song of Solomon 2: 11-12

These verses are probably taken out of context, but when winter turns to spring and flowers burst from the ground and blossom from the trees, I want to sing and dance, and enjoy the warmth of the new season.

Day 164 and DeFacebooking

Sunday, March 22, 2010 I thought about getting rid of my facebook back in January... but felt that was a bit drastic. A lot of communication goes on in the facebook world and I didn't want to be completely cut off. However, I did log on less and stopped facebook chat altogether. Then Bailey began to hate the "false sense of community" that she was beginning to develop through this social network. School work gets avoided because of this tricky site, and phone calls are dismissed because it's easier to write on a person's wall.
So we decided to do something drastic without completely closing our accounts. We made up passwords for each other so that we can only log in if we ask the other person to type in the password for us. No more mindless hours staring at a screen full of news feeds, status, updates, etc... And guess what? It's freeing, the world moves on without facebook, and it's great!

Day 163 and "Say Yes to the Dress"

Jessie finally made the trip to East Texas to my hometown. This trip had a special purpose....wedding dress shopping, and we meant business. My mom, Abbey, Jessie, and Macie all joined me on my quest for the dress.

We finally found it at Brides and Belles in Tyler and it is beautiful! Jo-Ann (the owner of the store), made it such a wonderful experience as she patiently waited on me. I can't wait until January 8th to actually get to wear it!

Day 162 and Sister Time

Jessie and I are both the older sister, can you tell?

Day 161 and Spring Break 2010

Spring Break 2010 included a trip to Arkansas and family time in Mineola for me, and a week at home in Conroe for Jessie. (She was trying to recover from mono).

In this picture, Jeff and I went with several friends at Ouachita swing dancing in Hot Springs at the Arlington Hotel. I didn't have "safety shorts" on under my dress so I didn't get to do all of the flips but still had so much fun cuttin' a rug.

Jessie got to spend some time with two dear friends from home, Lacey and Jaclyn, they had dinner and then coffee at Lake Conroe (hence the "Marina" sign).

Day 160 and Chasing After the Sunset

It was such a beautiful spring day; a perfect day for a picture.
Bailey and I got home from class and work, ate dinner quickly, hopped in the car on the way to LIFE group, and began to pursue a nice landscape backdrop before the sunset.
We found this little opening on the road leading to the Askew's house, pulled over into a driveway and quickly captured this lovely picture before the sun completely sank out of view.

Funny story. People from our LIFE group drove by and saw us taking this shot. One of them called me to check on us, another friend drove back to see if we were okay, and another drove by wondering who those crazy girls in dresses were trying to climb on the fence. *Blushes*

Day 159 and Friends, Fun Lighting, & Fire Places

Friday, March 5, 2010


In case you were wondering what in the world happened to our project, when a girl gets sick with mono, she's just too tired to do much of anything, much less keep up with Project 365.

Since I haven't been out much, Kristin and Rachel came to visit Bailey and me on Friday. It was so good to just sit on the couch, catch up, and watch the movie Hitch with them. Before they left we asked them to take a picture using a flood light my cousin let me borrow. Yay for friends and fun lighting and fireplaces!

Day 158 and Jazz Hands

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Thursday night = Her Hands night.

We've talked about it before, but Her Hands is Bible Study dedicated to teach us how to live as young women who love and honor the Lord. It's been so challenging and wonderful and humbling and fun meeting each week with so many amazing young women who want to let go of the world's propaganda for women and learn how submit to God's plans for our lives.
Before class started last, some of us, (Ashlee, Kristin, Bailey, Me, and Heather, who leads the study) snapped a jazz hands shot for kicks.

Day 157 and Our Tervis Tumblers

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

They don't sweat and they keep your ice colder longer.
Jeff's mom, Mrs. Green, gave one to Bailey for Christmas... and so shortly after I had to get one for myself at Bed Bath and Beyond. We drink from them ALL the time and you should too! haha

Day 156 and "Whatcha Makin'!?

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Apparently a whole lot.
Not only was Bailey making dessert for LIFE Group, she was also preparing breakfast food for her morning Muster meeting.
...and I was being so helpful. haha

Day 155 and Sweet Eugene's with Jenny

Friday, February 26, 2009

Jenny was how Bailey and I met.
Well, Aggie Sisters for Christ Prayer Team in the spring semester of 2009 was, but Jenny was Prayer Chair. Every Wednesday night at 10pm we'd meet at her house and talk about life, God, our joys and concerns, and pray over the girls of ASC.
Honestly, I'm not sure what I would've done my freshman year without these weekly late night pow-wows.
Anyway, Jenny is awesome, but she moved away to Spain and then to Dallas after Spring '09. We love when she comes back to share meaningful (and sometimes just silly) conversations with us over a cup of coffee in College Station.