#6. Hold a newborn baby in the hospital. Since moving to Murfreesboro, I have gotten involved in a community of low income housing called Spring Valley/Rolling Acres. It's made up of plain brick apartment buildings with kids running around unsupervised and the smell of cigarettes in the air, splashed with the occasional porch full of plants or yard full of decorations for whatever holiday is nearest. My vision for this place is to see a body of women united together for the purpose of helping each other, loving themselves and their neighbors, doing everything they can to give their kids the life they want for them, and doing it all with Jesus in their hearts. We're a long way off from that, but hey, a girl can dream right?
Anyway... pretty frequently me and a few other individuals go out in the community and go door to door inviting people to events or just checking in on people who may need prayer. This is generally how it goes: I go to a door and knock. Shuffling around inside, then someone yells "WHO IS IT?" through the door. I yell back "CHELSEY." They look through the peep hole and see a white girl they've never seen, decide I'm not a threat I guess, and open the door. I'm a little puzzled as to why they ask who it is if they are just going to open the door anyway, but whatever.
So a few weeks ago we had our first event... a cooking class for ladies, taught by yours truly. I'm not really a cook, so we went with a crockpot soup [who can't open some cans and pour them in a pot?]. We had about 6 ladies show up... I was so excited! I wasn't sure anyone would come. Anyway... during the inviting process of going door to door, I met a young lady [19 yrs old] who was 9 months pregnant. She really wanted to come to the cooking class, but realized it was the same morning she was set to be induced at the hospital. Obvs, she couldn't do both. I had to work a few days after the class, and so I mosied on down to the labor and delivery floor on my lunch break and found my new friend in her room holding her tiny precious new baby girl. She was a little puzzled when I came in, seeing as she had only met me once on her doorstep, but I explained who I was and we were able to sit and talk for a few minutes, and I got to hold the baby!! We never know who God will put in our lives and when or why, but it's so cool to see how He orchestrates relationship.
#32. Get gel nails. The day before Thanksgiving, my sweet extended family in Murfreesboro took me under their wing and let me celebrate with them. We got manicures/pedicures and then painted fun Christmas canvases at Painting with a Twist. My Nanny treated me to an early birthday present and we got gel nails!
#51. Have a real Christmas tree. At my apartment complex, there are specific rules against having a real Christmas tree, I assume because it can be a fire hazard. But this is on the 101 list, so I had to find a way. This year, for the first time, I bought a live Spruce tree from Walmart. It's about 3 feet tall, and I'm not going to put lights on it so as to eliminate the fire hazard. I also made the ornaments sparklie with modpodge and glitter! Love it!
#56. Go to a concert. I did this back in September when Kelly Pickler came to the county fair. This is me, 2 sisters, and my mom at the concert!
#70. Watch the sunrise. I worked Thanksgiving Day and the following Saturday/Sunday. But you know us... we had to find time to do a picture for our annual Christmas card, and the Friday after Thanksgiving was the only day everyone would be home. So I made the 1 1/2 hour drive home on Thursday night with full intentions of coming back Friday afternoon so as to be ready and rested for a weekend of work. However, once I got home and all my siblings were there I couldn't bring myself to leave a moment before I absolutely had to. So we stood around talking and laughing for hours, and then broke out the Wii and played that for a while, and then played cards together plus a few guests, then the Wii some more until waaaayyy too late... I made the decision to stay home Friday night too and drive back Saturday morning early. That meant I had to leave home at 4am. Needless to say, I watched the sun rise, from pitch black dark to rosey pink to orange to yellow and then to a light blue sky. It was beautiful. That was about the only beautiful thing about Saturday... after getting 2 hrs of sleep and then working 13 hrs, I was absolutely exhausted. It was worth it for more time with my best friends... wouldn't have it any other way.
Oh, and I did one more thing on my list on 11/14, but I'll save it for another post at a later time. What spontaneous or intentional thing have you done lately?
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