Why Poverty

I found this interesting animated (though not exactly for kiddos) video by Why Poverty?, covering the history of poverty and outlook for the future. It was published this January, so very recent, too. If you have an hour, it's an interesting watch. Warning- it's not particularly cheerful or hopeful, in fact when the credits started rolling I just said "That sucks." But, often with these topics, that is the unfortunate reality of our current situation. So, better to learn about it than ignore it, I think!



- From the desk of Mrs. M

Reenlistment Ceremony

On Wednesday, Kyle re-signed his life away to the Army for another two years. So, yes folks, that means we'll be in Texas until at least April 2015. It also means we will likely experience a long separation starting sometime this summer. There was a cute little ceremony and nice words were said about Kyle; I also got an appreciation award (well, Sarah T. McPhearson did), and awkwardly took pictures while the soldiers were doing their soldier thing. Kyle perfectly planned his reenlistment so that he'd have basically a five day weekend (since you get the rest of the day and the next day off when you reenlist, and he already had Friday off). Smart guy, my soldier. 

After getting our names on the papers fixed, we celebrated with lunch at Mooyah, a burger place Kyle recently discovered and wanted to take me to.

- From the desk of Mrs. M

The Best Chai

Today I had the best chai I've had in a long time. My teacher let us out early from class (also gave us donuts and said we only have to do 2 of the 5 remaining weekly logs; so nice), and my friend Brittney asked me if I'd like to grab a coffee! It sounded like a great idea to me, and I think I needed it more than I knew I did. We hopped over to Outdoor Waco, which I haven't been to before. We had a nice chat with the barista man about social work and he asked what the one thing I want to do as a social worker is. Thursdays we are in class from 8 am to 5:35 pm, so it was nice to get out of the building briefly. And now I know where to go when I want a chai break!

Also, this is what we entered the building to- Melody, Olivia and Brooke passed out asleep. Such is grad school, I suppose. :) 

- From the desk of Mrs. M

The Week in Photos

my jam/ she has a good taste in shoes/ last to leave the building/ oops

stir fry/ dinner date/ Hobbit!/ JJ

springy skirt (also doubles as a fall skirt)/ Library time again/ blue for the weekend/ mm cider

look into the light/ "we did our taxes!" yogurt/ important/ bird watching

stocking up on cat things/ weekend lunch with Kyle/ study and tea time/ Kyle's planned our lives until we're 30 ;)

Huxley paws/ delicious grilled chicken salad/ love this cutting board/ take the pledge

haven't looked at my Facbook "favorite quotes" in a while/ actually made breakfast/ ready for the day/ talkin' about hunger

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Going Back to DC!

I can now announce I will officially be going on a Baylor/THI trip to Washington, DC in May, focusing on hunger in America! 

Stops Include:

The White House

Michelle Obama's Garden

The Capitol

Share our Strength, No Kid Hungry

Bread for the World

the Monuments

and a whole bunch more.

Oh, and maybe meeting Michelle herself. #FLOTUS. No big deal. She said as she nearly cried when she found this out. 

I'm going to start a blog series about it. Sarah Does DC: Hunger in America, or something (got any good, catchy name suggestions?). I will document all stops on the trip, lessons learned, people met, monuments gazed at, as well as some events and info leading up to the trip and reflection afterwards. I've learned quite a lot already just from working for THI for a month now, and I've got a couple hunger-related projects in various stages of planning, including a viewing and discussion of A Place at the Table at Baylor. 

Technically it is a "mission" trip, and my reasons for doing social work and trying to be a good person and helping people and all that draw no motivation from the writings in an old book or any God but rather the simple fact that we are all human, so I'm not sure what that aspect of the trip will look like for me, but how could I not go on this trip. :) I'm so excited to learn more about hunger hands-on, advocate for those experiencing food insecurity in our country, and return to a city I'm rather fond of.

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Week in Photos

Boston!/ downtown from Erica's place/ seagulls on the beach/ State house

trash barrels/ flowers for sale/ Marimekko/ Harvard

Granary burial grounds/ Callie/ Bertie/ Emma loves famines!

tasty Boston foods/ Park Street Church

tea in Chinatown/ back to TX/ cards to send/ first Firehouse sub

Kyle's new favorite shop/ looking at Jeeps/ kittens/ historical document shot glass

shoemint/ back to the usual/ Darwin/ Huxley

bread baking/ Kyle's St. Patricks' day dinner/ salmon and salad/ oh the life of the kitty...

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Bloglovin

Apparently to sign up or whatever I have to "claim this blog," so here we go with that. Follow along if you like!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Sunday Cats

Darwin

Huxley

The cats are super cute when they're really tired after running around outside in the sun for a while.

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Spring Break in Boston: Day Four Part II

Continued from yesterday, this post includes:

Walking through the Public Gardens and Boston Common

Paul Revere House in the North End

Faneul Hill/Quincy Market and Downtown

Granary Burying Ground

Park Street Church

Bar Lola

Pho in Chinatown

I imagine this is all very nice with water, rather than a muddy mess. 

In the afternoon I also walked over to Paul Revere's House in the North End, which appears to be the very Italian part of town. I got a little lost/wasn't using a map so I wandered around a bit and eventually came upon the house, the oldest in downtown Boston. I didn't go in; maybe next time.

I walked back across the way to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market on my way back to the Commons to meet up with Emma after her class (I don't know if Boston folks call it the Commons, but I do).

I really love these trash barrels. 

Along the way I also stopped at the Granary Burial Ground, where a lot of Important folks are buried. Such as Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock (along with some 5,000 other folks). This was one of my favorite things, actually. The gravestones were really cool: simple, old, scattered about. 

 I dunno about you but this looks a lot like Harry Potter font to me.

Oh, there's a random couple of shots of the Park Street Church. 

After meeting up with Emma, we went to Newbury Street, had a drink at Stephanie's, stopped at H&M, and met up with Allie for tapas at Bar Lola. It was amazing; the bacon wrapped dates were my favorite, and the white sangria was awesome, too.

I said goodbye to friends and finished up reading The Silver Lining Playbook at Georgetown Cupcake while waiting for the shop to close and Erica to finish up. We then walked over to Chinatown for some pho; Erica ordered for me as I know nothing about pho, but it was good and spicy. 

I might do another Boston post, to share what was my favorite, what I liked/didn't like (mostly liked), and such, but this is the last of the recap posts. I had an awesome time with friends and loved the city. It's a little bit depressing being back in Texas, but my feet are happy to be out of socks and boots and back into flip-flops and flats.

See the rest of my trip to Boston posts here: one / two / three / four part I.

- From the desk of Mrs. M