Change for CHANGE

My sister is the best.
(and my grandparents....whom also have started a change jar for me! =D)

This is a shadow box given to me for Christmas filled with change to start a change for change jar of my own to fund my trip to St. Lucia.

I mean, I'm a penny pincher anyways and I LOVE change (just ask Richard!)....so this was the PERFECT gift for me.  She knows me too well =D

So well actually that we bought each other the same Christmas gift!

Which, by the way, I was in love with when I bought it for her.

With brave wings she flies.

Love this.

Christmas isn't always perfect, actually most of the time it's far from it.

It's hectic, emotional, draining....

BUT I love the time spent with my loved ones showing them how much I love them.

It's an excuse to get together.

To share memories.

To make each other laugh with silly gifts.

Or cry with serious ones.

And for this, I am thankful.

Small, life-changing, moments

It all started with the iPhone iOS update (seriously).

Yesterday evening I was updating my iPhone.  When the update was complete I noticed all my contacts and pictures were gone (no thanks to the Apple store it did, however, save my angry birds app).  I started freaking out, researching Apple blogs to see how people recovered their contacts; but nothing worked. 

After about 30 minutes of attempting to recover my contacts I started crying.  For those of you who know me I have had bad luck with technology lately.  I mean, I was literally crying.  I text my love Richard (after getting his number from my sister) and he text me back with an app from Verizon that has all your contacts saved in case you lose them.

My HERO!  He saved the day.  I retrieved all my contacts (minus of few recent ones)!

And then I thought to myself....was I seriously crying over losing phone numbers???  I had lost sight of everything and focused merely on something, in the scheme of things, miniscule; phone numbers.  I had lost sight of the fact that I'm lucky enough to be able to AFFORD an iPhone, or the new computer that I was updating it on, or the sandwich I was shoving in my mouth to help curb my girly hormones from kicking it into high gear.  I immediately started counting my blessings.  I thought to myself, especially during the holiday season, life can be much worse.

This sounds stupid, but I promise if you look at things you have cried over you will see, more often than not, that you lost sight of a bigger picture.

I encourage you to reflect on past troubles, small or large, and recover what you lost sight of and be thankful that you still have time to change the ending of that chapter to your life story.  All it takes are those small, life-changing, moments to force you to re-evaluate your priorities in life.

AFRICA UPDATE:

My Grandma Sharkey donated yesterday!!  Whoop Whoop  =D  We are on our way to making a difference people! <3 

"Those" days

We've all had those days..........you know which ones I'm talking about! You wake up on the wrong side of the bed and then you day just seems to spiral from there.  Welcome to my day today.  Due to my contract at work I'm limited to the masters program I can apply to till August of next year.  Georgetown was a really good web-based option for me.  At this time it is the only program I have applied to.  Today I woke up and read my e-mails to find I was not accepted into their masters program.  Sad right?!  I shed a tear or two (or ten) and I realized something...it's okay!  Everything happens for a REASON!  Sure, it would have been great to get accepted but I'm fully content with where my life is and is going.  In the past I would get SO upset over things like this.  When really, if you look at your past, you will find you have met greater challenges that led you to greater rewards.  Is there a moral to my story?  YES.  Keep on swimming (swimming, swimming).  That's what I intend to do! Keep swimming!!  It's times like this that make you put on your big girl panties and try harder!  The greater the risk, the greater the reward.

Thanks to my mother and Richard I have raised $200 to AFRICA!  Yay :)  I'm starting to think of ways to really get this fundraising going.  So if anyone has any ideas or has done fundraisers before please email me!  I open to pretty much anything! 

One final thought....

I'm so blessed to be surrounded by so many understanding, motivating friends and family!  Last night we had a mini high school reunion Christmas party!  It made me realize how fortunate I am to have so many amazing women in my life!

Novice

Yeah, you could call me that.....

Hi! My name is Meagan and I'm new to the blogging world! I recently decided to take a leap of faith and follow my dreams. What are my dreams? I'm not quite sure yet.......

BUT for starters, I applied to grad school (whoop whoop)! I've been a nurse for two and a half years and decided I want more. Not that nursing isn't a completely and utterly fulfilling job; because trust me, it is! I feel like I can really make a difference with this job, but something kept nagging at my heart telling me "I want more." So graduate programs started jumping out at me (cough cough FACEBOOK) every time I got on the internet. So I applied *fingers crossed* to a family nurse practitioner program in hopes of making a difference out in the community instead of hospital-based care.

Second, I decided to follow one of my childhood dreams and volunteer in AFRICA (yes, I said Africa).  Don't ask me why I've always had an obsession with Africa for I don't have an answer to that question. Something nags at my heart and I follow :) I'll be going to St. Lucia, South Africa in May of 2012 to teach HIV/AIDS awareness in a small community and work in an orphanage for children who have been affected by HIV in one way or another.

That led me to this blog. I hope to keep my friends and family (and whoever else stumbles upon this blog) in the loop of where I am fund-raising wise and to educate you on just exactly (as I find out more details) what I will be doing in Africa!

"Do more than just exist" <3