Gone to Texas

Hello? Anybody out there? Remember me? It's me, Alyssa. Your friendly sporadic blogger.

Man, it's been a CRAZY past few months. Most of you who read this are also Facebook friends, so you probably already know that Marcus and I are once again residents of the great state of Texas. It is a very bittersweet time for me. I am SO proud of Marcus, who finished seminary at Vanderbilt and accepted a position at Grace Avenue United Methodist Church. We are so excited to make our new home in Frisco and be closer to family. But I was devastated to leave my amazing job at Blood:Water Mission and all the wonderful friends and places we loved in Nashville. To be honest, I don't really feel like I was "done" with Nashville. It feels so surreal to be back in Texas and not have a job or a place of our own (yet!). But I am so confident that God has called us here and feel very blessed for His provision in our lives.

I suppose this little blog will need a makeover eventually. Hopefully I will get back to blogging on a more regular basis that warrants a new design! I have several things I want to post about in the next month, and while I'm on the hunt for a new job, I should have plenty of time for that! To hold myself accountable, I'm listing them here.

-Completion of my Nashville Bucket List
-Books I read in 2012
-Review and Resolutions for 2013
-Progress on decorating our new house

Yes, we bought a house! I could not be more thankful for such an easy house buying experience and I can't wait to share pictures with you. Praying everything goes smoothly until we close at the end of January!

And finally, to celebrate my return to blogging, I want to invite you to join me in a Valentine's Day blogging party! I'm a big fan of The Crowley Party and Alycia has joined with four other bloggers to host this swap. It should be fun!

It's good to be back, blog world! I hope you'll stick around!

Blissdom 2012

Have you heard of the Blissdom Conference? Until very recently, I hadn't. Blissdom is a conference for female bloggers to connect with each other, learn skills and tips to build their business and their blog, and encourage each other. Blissdom is in it's 5th year and is held in Nashville every year.

My co-worker Kellie and I had the opportunity to go to the conference this year to meet people and share Blood:Water Mission with them.  I'll admit that we were both a little skeptical that the whole thing would be a giant girl fest-- a little too much for us! And unfortunately, we weren't able to go to most of the conference.  But we did get to hear the opening keynote session and meet some wonderful people and I was so impressed by how the conference was run, especially for one that is no older than it is.  Blissdom took place at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and when we arrived, we were greeted by friendly staff and handed this ginormous bag of goodies!

Whoa!! (Blissdom has awesome sponsors!!)

After we registered, we grabbed some breakfast and found a seat for the keynote session.  I am so glad we got the chance to hear from Jon Acuff.  You may know him as the guy behind Stuff Christians Like.  He has also worked with Dave Ramsey and he is an author, speaker, and social media guru.  The guy is hilarious. I loved what he had to say- I thought that it was extremely relevant for people.  That's right- not just mothers, bloggers, women, but anyone who works, or has a family, or has ever tweeted or been on Facebook.  That's most of us, right?

Bad iPhone pic. :(

Here are some of my takeaways from his talk:

• Figure out your dream.  You're not the only one who hasn't figured it out yet.
• Never compare your beginning to someone else's middle.
• Instead of asking, "What do I want to do with my life," ask, "What have I done that I loved?" Instead of discovery, think of it as recovery.
• Make time for things that matter.  Use time that others in your family don't need (aka when they're not in the house or asleep).
• You will disappoint people. Learn to disappoint the right people.
• Ignore the voices: both external and internal.
• 90% perfect and shared with the world reaches more people than 100% perfect and stuck in your head.

I can't say enough good things about this guy and all the wisdom he had to share. Go read his blog. Follow his tweets. Buy his books. That is all.

After hearing from Jon, we watched video messages from Zac Efron and Oprah. Yes, OPRAH! Then it was time to mingle and meet some lovely ladies before we had to head back to the office.

My co-worker Kellie and me!

I wish I could share more, but all I can say is that if you ever have a chance to go to Blissdom, you should! Also, big thanks to Alli Worthington for the opportunity to attend Blissdom and share Blood:Water Mission with our new friends. Alli is one of the amazing Bliss Chicks behind Blissdom and she is one talented lady!

40 Days

As a kid growing up in a United Methodist church, Lent was the time of year where you spent Sunday evenings making crafts to get ready for Easter. As an adolescent, teenager, and college student attending a Baptist church, Lent was all but non-existent to me.  Now that I'm the wife of a soon-to-be Methodist minister, I am learning what Lent really is.

For the past two years, I participated in Blood:Water Mission's 40 Days of Water campaign.  I drank only water for 40 days and it was a challenge, but I felt like my main motivation for participating was guilt. I figured if I worked for Blood:Water, I should probably take part, and then I didn't have to come up with something else to sacrifice.  *Disclaimer: 40 Days is an awesome, life-changing thing. It made a difference in my life and makes a huge impact on the lives of those in Africa. If you have never observed Lent before, or are still thinking about a way to participate, 40 Days of Water is a great way to start.

This year, however, I wanted to give up something that was truly a sacrifice for me, because the Easter season is about the sacrifice God made for my life.  So, I've given up TV.  Now, I have to be honest.  There are a few shows that are "in season" right now and I'm going to watch them weekly on my iPad. So to clarify, I'm giving up EXCESS TV.  This means no more Today Show in the morning, no more cooking shows at lunch, no more "whatever is on is better than anything else I could be doing when I get home from work," and no more Saturday marathons of "Real Housewives of Wherever They're From." I'd estimate that I spend at least 20 hours every week actively and non-actively watching the tube.  For at least 40 days, I'll only watch 4-5 hours each week. In the mornings, I'll be actually getting ready and making it to work on time. I'll spend my lunch break taking Max to the dog park and reading my Lenten devotional. My evenings will be full of spending quality time with Marcus, reading, quilting, and blogging! I'm looking forward to cutting out the mindless laziness and spending more time with God and doing really productive things.

I'm sorry if this post is a little boring, but I needed to write this for my own accountability. Feel free to ask me how it's going, or if you're observing Lent, I'd love to hear what you're giving up/taking on.  And stay tuned for updates- I'll hopefully be blogging more regularly now that I won't be watching any more Tabitha's Salon Takeover...man I'm gonna miss that show!

Review and Resolutions

As 2011 rolled in, it was hard to believe that it would be able to top 2010, the year Marcus and I got married.  To be honest, I'm not sure any day can top our wedding day (until we have kids) but I do know that every year with Marcus just keeps getting better and better!

Our year started off with my transition into full-time employment. What a blessing! I love where I work and I'm so privileged to be a part of the Blood:Water Mission family.

Then...

We returned to the scene of our engagement...

Alki Beach in Seattle

 And welcomed our beautiful niece, Clare Isabella!

We also welcomed a new addition to our little family!

Maximus Womack 

Look how much I've grown!

Marcus finished his second year of seminary and started his third, with a trip to England in between.

High Five, John Wesley!

 We celebrated lots of weddings...

The Pitcocks!

The Litzlers! 

The Rigdons!

The Robinsons!

The Zeisigs!

...and the first anniversary of our own wedding!

One year!

We went to Disney World...

...and marked U2 and Martina McBride off our concert bucket lists!

I made my first quilt...

...and my second!

All these things are just wonderful reminders of the blessings God has given us, and as I look ahead to 2012, I know it will bring many more blessings.  I can't wait to see how our story continues to unfold.  I'm usually pretty bad at coming up with resolutions, but I do have a few things I'd like to accomplish this year.

1. Get back into the routine of exercising at the Y. This was a resolution last year, and it lasted for a solid nine months. I was pretty proud of us! I want to do better this year, and that may mean I have to give up some things to be better disciplined about staying active!

2. Start a routine of cleaning and maintaining our house. I'm SO bad at this right now. I rarely have any motivation to clean the house, yet I constantly feel frustrated at the state it's usually in.  I really want to be better about this and if you have any suggestions, I'll gladly take them!

3. Spend more time in prayer. Starting this one now with Stormie O'Martian's "The Power of a Praying Wife" devotional.  I can't wait to go through this book and hopefully share it with you!

4. Create a bucket list for Nashville.  Knowing that there is a chance that we'll move back to Texas at some point after Marcus graduates, our time in Nashville is likely becoming more limited. There are several places to go and things to do here, as well as places to visit nearby. Time to write them all down and start checking them off!

I could probably go on, but I think this is a good start. Don't want to get overwhelmed before I even start!

Thanks for letting me share our life with you!

Wish you were here!

The Womacks

Turn It Red

Today is World AIDS Day. Most of you have probably heard me talk about my job at Blood:Water Mission and how we work to empower Africans to have clean water in their communities. What you don't hear about as often is the equally important work we do in the fight against the HIV/AIDS crisis.

For the past month, we've shared stories of our friends who are living with HIV/AIDS and inspire us and others in their communities to join in the fight against this horrible disease.  And today, on World AIDS Day, you can join us as we Turn It Red. Learn more here.  You can also see how the ONE Campaign is joining in these efforts against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Maybe you know someone who has HIV/AIDS. If you don't, or even if you do, I encourage you to watch this video of Leah, who is living positively with HIV/AIDS.

Today, I'm wearing red for Leah and countless others who have been affected by this disease.  Will you join me?

Thankful Thursday

Remember the time I said I was going to join up with Megan for Thankful Thursdays and then I totally flaked? Well here I am this week, with a whole hour (eight minutes by the time I finished this) to spare!

Today I am thankful for this little piggy:

My co-worker, Kellie, stumbled upon this little guy at a cute boutique in Chattanooga. You can't tell by the picture but he only has three legs! He is a good-luck pig, an old tradition from Chile. Kellie and I shared an office for a while, and bonded over our love of cheesy 80's love jams and bacon. It didn't take long for my (not-so)-secret affinity of pigs to come out.  I've been collecting pigs since about 7th grade- it's seriously embarrassing to walk into my room and see all the pigs everywhere.  I took a few really special ones with me to college and now I only have some favorites in our house. It's fun to add some new ones to the collection every once in a while that I can incorporate into our home decor. Like this little vintage pot holder that I snagged at a garage sale last week.

You're probably wondering what any of this has to do with Thankful Thursday. I'll get to the point now. Yes, I'm thankful for these little piggies, but more importantly, I'm thankful for the stories behind them. I'm incredibly blessed to work with such fun, smart, and thoughtful people.  Aside from the little surprises, I'm thankful that I can truly consider my co-workers friends. We teach each other to quilt, and baby-sit each others' kids, and watch Conan together, and go to happy hour.  We are more than just employees of Blood:Water Mission, we are a family. And wherever I go from here, three-legged good luck pig will always remind me of my first job and the amazing people I was blessed to work with.

Other things I'm thankful for: my patient hubby who lets me drag him to garage sales and the like to find little treasures like the aforementioned pot holder. And this guy:

Don't let him fool you- he's only like this 30% of the time.

What are you thankful for today?

Steps

Two years ago today, I stepped on a plane bound for Africa. It was a step that changed my life.  As I look back on that day, I’m amazed at how that one step had such a powerful and direct impact on the steps I take today.

When I walked into training for my upcoming Africa trip, I had just finished my final presentation for my bachelor’s degree in Public Relations.  I spent three days meeting my teammates, learning about Africa, and preparing for a month in rural Kenya.  In the month between that training and the actual trip, I returned to Austin to walk across the stage and receive my diploma, walked down the aisle at four weddings of close friends, and walked along the beach as my now husband asked for my hand in marriage.  No doubt, these were all pretty big steps in my life.  But I had no idea that stepping onto that plane to another continent would be equally as big.

I spent the next month in Kenya hosting summer camp for hundreds of kids in a rural village close to the Tanzanian border.  Many mornings, I went for a walk with a friend, watching the sunrise over the Chyulu Hills.  I walked down many dirt roads visiting schools and homes of the people in the community. I ran (ok, I jogged) up and down the fields attempting to play soccer with the Africans- not an easy task. I had the profound privilege of walking alongside these people I hardly knew and I fell I love. I walked away with a desire to know more. More walking, more steps toward a life I never imagined for myself.

I got back to the states, went to one more wedding, and spent the next day driving to Nashville to pursue a career in the music business.  A few months later, I found myself walking into Blood:Water Mission, not as a publicist, but as a finance assistant. I know it doesn’t make much sense, but here I am, still walking alongside some incredible people, both here in America, and across the world in Africa.  We are all walking together toward the same goal and it’s a beautiful thing.

So I continue to take steps, not always knowing where I’m going or what lies in front of me. But I know I can’t stop, because wherever I go, I have to believe there is a reason, not only for the destination, but for the journey itself.

Long Overdue Post

My goodness, it has been a while!  I've been meaning to get on here and post for a long time now, but as I warned in one of my first posts, I'm not terribly great at consistency when it comes to these.

Our first Christmas as the Womack Family was nothing short of wonderful.  We had our first real Christmas tree, I witnessed the beautiful marriage of Sam and Lauren Battershell, and we were fortunate to spend the holidays with both our families.  What an amazing reminder of the many ways we have been blessed!

It is a new year, and we are excited for all it holds for us.  I started 2011 with a transition into full-time employment!  I love my job so much and what a blessing to be able to increase my work at Blood:Water Mission.  In February (or early March) we will greet a new niece into the world!  We can't wait to meet her and spend some time with Matt & Melissa, Abby & Lucy in Seattle for Marcus' spring break.  Marcus will travel to England for a Wesleyan Immersion trip with some Divinity School students and professors in May.  Shortly after, we gear up for wedding season!  Looking forward to celebrating the marriages of Jared & Karron, John & Stefanie, Michael & Phoebe, and Tony & Sarah.

Whew! We can't wait to see what else happens this year and hope to share it with all of you (anyone still reading this?)

I'll leave you with a couple of photos from Christmas- although if you're on facebook, you've likely seen these!

 Our mini Hook 'Em tree!

ICE!

Blog Action Day 2010

Today is Blog Action Day 2010.  Bloggers all over the world are dedicating their posts today to one world issue.  This year, the focus is WATER.


A little over a year ago, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to a tiny rural village in Kenya near the Tanzanian border.  I spent four weeks bringing Sky Ranch Summer Camp to kids in the area.  It was hands down the most wonderful experience of my life (aside from getting married- but can you really compare the two?)  Anyway, I fell in love with these people and when I got back, I knew I wanted to find a way to continue serving and loving these people.  Little did I know I would soon find a job that lets me do that every day.

If you read this blog, you probably know that I work for a non-profit organization called Blood:Water Mission. Our mission is to empower communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS and water crises in Africa.


Water- clean water- is a human right.  The fact that MILLIONS of people lack access to this basic necessity is an injustice.  Children can't go to school because they spend their days walking to the nearest water source (which really isn't near at all) to get water that usually isn't clean.  They drink the water and then contract diseases that are easily preventable and curable with clean water.  Their lives are cut short because they don't have water.  Can you imagine?  I can't.  Even when I was in Africa, the school we stayed at had two rain catchment tanks.  Water was never in short supply despite the record-breaking drought in Kenya. That school was one in a very small minority. 

I recently read a book called The Fabric of Faithfulness by Steven Garber.  In the introduction, he quotes the late Erik Erikson, a Harvard professor emeritus.


"In clinical work (as in economics and politics) crisis has increasingly taken on half of its meaning, the catastrophic half, while in medicine a crisis once meant a turning point for better or for worse, a crucial period in which a decisive turn one way or another is unavoidable."

We have a crisis here.  We have reached a turning point.  A decisive turn one way or another is unavoidable.  Let's decide to turn to the BETTER.  If you blog, join me in writing a post about water today.  Register your blog at Blog Action Day 2010.  Learn more about this issue.  Hear the facts, meet the people.  Do something big, do something small.  Make a difference.