Surveying Hurricane Sandy Damage - 1 Year Later

A year ago Sandy struck. And it wasn't pretty.

Last week, I had the opportunity to survey Sandy damage in Long Beach and the Rockaways alongside other funders and nonprofits. 

As expected, I saw recovery still in progress. I saw neighborhoods still wrecked. Lives not fully back in swing. I heard communities desperate for more funding, answers and guidance. But thankful for so many, especially in their own communities. 

I have a new understanding for what local nonprofits are going through, not just inside of their office, but their own lives. 

I will always have the image in my head of the program manager's house that has been condemned, after losing everything. He shared that the night Sandy hit in Long Beach he had been all over the neighborhood checking on those that couldn't leave. Literally carrying neighbors from their homes. And then he took shelter in his home with his parents and they waited. 

Water began quickly pushing through the front doors and toward the couch where the family of three began to pray. And as they prayed, the water receded. Unexplained. 

In the Rockaways, another nonprofit leader said it best in one sentence. "Sandy pulled back the covers on a community that had desperately been seeking help, direction and support." 

As we walked through neighborhoods in Long Beach, residents began peeping out their windows. And one by one, they came up to our group to share their stories. Their children are still being bussed over 2 hours to school, community programs are still shut down and families are living in homes masked by mold. While certain resources are available, there are simply not enough, and education / income levels are low. 

I also saw the power in community foundations. I better understand their ability to secure larger funding streams while intertwining funding and help with local nonprofits. 

I heard a constant echo throughout the communities - nonprofits, local government, residents. Stories of faith. 

Sometimes it takes a disaster to unite a community (albeit painfully). It takes a disaster to highlight issues. And it takes a disaster to experience faith at its fullest. 

This local community center for kids is one of the highlights of this community today...

Houses being rebuilt …. sign says "Until Everyone Comes Home"

This homeowner was disabled and could not leave…
he was literally carried out one hour before the water took over his home.

Long Beach

National Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Something I am very passionate about is educating others on domestic violence. There are so many root causes of domestic violence and so many rippling effects that last for so very long. Domestic violence also takes on a variety of forms, in a variety of degrees and in a variety of socioeconomic statuses. For the most part, women and children are victims - but that is not to discount men that have experienced domestic abuse. Domestic violence is emotional, physical, financial, verbal, psychological and unwanted. And it's often undetected or if it is, not addressed for fear of the unknown or what to do. A lack of understanding makes victims to blame when they stay in their situation, causing anger, fear and hurt. Domestic violence is a problem without a perfect solution. I heard these statistics this week and found them heartbreaking...

According to the March of Dimes, domestic violence is the #1 cause of birth defects - more than all other medical causes combined. 

On average, 3 women die at the hands of a current or former intimate partner each day. 

Financial abuse is one of the least commonly known but one of the most powerful tactics of entrapping a victim in a relationship.

Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States, more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. ("Violence Against Women, A Majority Staff Report," Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 102nd Congress)

Three to four million women in the United States are beaten in their homes each year by their husbands, ex-husbands, or male lovers. ("Women and Violence," Hearings before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee)

One woman is beaten by her husband or partner every 15 seconds in the United States. (Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation).

Domestic violence should not happen to anyone... anywhere... ever... period. 

But here's the good news. People are noticing, and becoming educated, and spreading the word. It's a movement that has made small strides for a very, very long time. October is a great month for many reasons and Domestic Violence Awareness Month is one of them! So become educated, because knowledge is the best power of all. And it only takes one knowledgeable person to help. 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread from Dani!

I am very excited to share this wonderful recipe. And this is just the beginning of my pumpkin chatter. But this is good... really, really good.

Our good friend Dani introduced us to the most amazing chocolate chip pumpkin bread. It's so good that we ate it with dinner every night last week. Tacos for dinner? Sure, let's have some pumpkin bread on the side! 

It's super easy and bakes in just 1 hour! Eat up, on top of and beside your favorite dish. It's only pumpkin season once a year!

For extra yum, add pumpkin butter on top!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

INGREDIENTS

3 c flour

2 c sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2/3 c canola oil

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin

3 eggs- lightly beaten

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl

Mix wet ingredients in medium bowl

Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients

Add chocolate chips or raisins

Spoon into 2 (9x5) loaf pans

Bake one hour- Cool ten minutes then remove and let cool on a cooling rack

OVEN TEMPERATURE 350° F

Ronald McDonald House - Our Introduction

I love to share our volunteer experiences. There are so many causes, needs and nonprofits that I often find it quite overwhelming to develop our volunteer journey. And this is coming from someone whose day-job focuses on nonprofits. There are just so many! Finding a great volunteer opportunity can be like finding the perfect pair of jeans. Difficult and frustrating. You want to make a difference and feel needed with a cause that lines up with your passion and skill set. It's a tricky match-up. But I've learned over the years that when passions align, amazing things can happen. And when they don't, it's okay to move on and keep looking. I was so excited that our dear friends, Drea and Robby, shared their volunteer passion with us at the Ronald McDonald House.

The Ronald McDonald House provides a temporary "home-away-from-home" for pediatric cancer patients and their family. 

Our volunteer experience was simple - we made dinner, served dinner, cleaned up and then enjoyed dessert and art with some amazing kiddos and their parents. Three things stick out in my mind from our volunteer experience on Saturday.

We made Greek food!

1. Words of thanks from a mother and daughter. 

2. Meeting a dad and his two kids from Bolivia.

3. An energetic football-loving kid named Carter who instantly lit up a room. 

The NYC RMH is amazing!

It was humbling meeting parents who have literally turned their lives upside down to find the best care for their kids. In addition to the emotional and financial rollercoaster, these parents have put their careers on hold and left all sense of routine. 

Our world is very broken. Sometimes I wonder why God doesn't swoop us up into Heaven, so peaceful and perfect. Then I'm reminded by scripture that He leaves us here, in this broken world, to fulfill His purpose. 

We are called to service in this broken world.

Eph 4:14, Rom. 1:6-7; 8:28-30; 1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 26; 7:17; Phil 3:14; 1 Peter 2:9; 2 Peter 1:3

Traveling 50 States - An Overview

Richard and I met in 2004. You can read more about that here. From 2006 - 2008, we began to ramp up our travels. And something crazy fun shot through our minds in 2010! "Hey, how about we travel all 50 states?! I mean...How hard can it be? We've already hit a few..." 

San Fran

Why 50 States? Some people have asked why we didn't start country-hopping. Why the 50? Well, that's a great question. Maybe it's because I still couldn't draw an accurate map of the United States by memory, or maybe it's because we just really like flying with Southwest Airlines. We were also on a pretty strict budget ... college loans will do that to ya. So the 50 just seemed to work for us. Besides, it is our country - we should know all parts of it! Yes, even North Dakota. Even. North. Dakota. 

Rock climbing in Alaska

Timing and Sequence To be honest, we really didn't have a strict plan. And that worked great for us! Some of our travels were mapped to friends and family living in different states, and others were strategically planned with the time of year and how much vacation time we had. And others were tacked on to work trips! However, we did know one thing. We wanted to save the Northeast for last because we had already decided (you all just thought we were talking), that we were moving to NYC. We didn't know when or how, but we did know that we would, and it made the most sense financially and geographically to explore the Northeast while living in it! The only trip we would have changed would have been the Grand Canyon - we should have coupled it with Vegas. Because we drove...from Texas...and you know how large Texas is. 

Seattle

Rules We only had 2 rules with our 50. We had to visit the state together and do something in the state. Anything. But something. Since we had to travel to all 50 together, that meant that sometimes we would "double dip" a state (and of course, we've been to several states multiple times). Our activities during our travels included everything from swimming in Hawaiian waterfalls, enjoying the wine and cheese festival at Disney World and climbing Alaskan mountains to eating our way through Chicagoland and playing checkers on the state line of North Dakota (Montana versus North Dakota). Again...Even. North. Dakota.

On the beach in The Hamptons!

Planning and Process Typically, each trip would start with me having a grand idea for our new adventure and Richard saying, "I'm not sure we can hit that many states this year"... and then us finding a way together to make it happen. We made our vacation days count, created a monthly savings specifically to fund our travels and stuck to a strict budget. We also always created a detailed travel itinerary that tracked our adventure by the hour and cost by the day. Travel websites and blogs were fantastic and helped us plan every single trip and we now have quite the collection of photos thanks to our love of photography! I also love that some trips were together, some with others, and a few were to visit friends and family in other states - it was quite the variety. 

That big ole' White House...

Pickle and Sundae Travels The traveling doxie-duo. Our little Texan Pickle (aka Muggins, Pickle-Jean, Picky, Pickle Pants)  and Oklahoman Sundae (aka Roo, Sunder-buns, Reuben, Rooster) have quite the impressive footprint. They have each been to 21 states! They have been to: Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Rhode Island, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Arkansas, Nashville, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, New Jersey and Massachusetts! Fun fact: They have never been on a plane... we drove when we moved to NYC. I know, that's just crazy. 

New Port, RI - Cliffwalk 

Would We Do It Again? In a heartbeat. I learned more traveling through the 50 than any history book ever taught me. It was so fun planning adventures with Richard, eating our way through so many different flavors, meeting quite the array of personalities, feeling the difference in seasons and understanding how different and rich in culture the United States truly are. We live in a pretty amazing place. Praise God for allowing us to have this crazy, amazing, and unforgettable adventure. I never thought I would be able to tell you why I like Portland on the East Coast and the West Coast, what fall looks like in the Northeast, just how proud Idaho is of their potatoes, and how undeniably thick the accents are in Alabama. 

Surfing in Hawaii 

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” -Terry Pratchett 

Our 50 State Travel Collage...
...now hanging on our wall!

A guy named Neil.

My husband is funny. He is a man of adventure, but also a man of routine. Something that I realized the  first Christmas we spent together. For the past year, he has met two other guys from our church, Apostles NYC, at a little coffee shop tucked into the east side of Manhattan on Thursday morning before the hustle and bustle of the city begins. Neil's Coffee Shop. Menus are no longer needed as their waiter, who they can only assume is named Neil, brings them the usual.

They make small talk with Neil. They enjoy their crappy cup of coffee. They get caught up on sports, each other's lives, more sports and the Bible. And then they part ways, onto the busy streets of Manhattan.

It's funny how a simple routine, a crappy cup of coffee and a familiar face can center you and encourage you with your faith. In this very busy city, with a whole lot of noise, excitement and dreams.

"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine". Mike Murdock 

No-Bake Energy Bites

Just like almost every other girl out there, I love Pinterest! I recently reorganized my Pinterest boards so that I could easily grab and find recipes. I was starting to get overwhelmed with all of my pins (I know, such a hard life)...and just like everything else in my life, I needed it organized in a way that made sense to me! I stumbled upon the no-bake energy bites I pinned almost a year ago. This reminded me how much I love these simple, quick and yummy treats! We are on week three of leading our Community Group (yeah, people have returned for three solid weeks...win!) and I served these at our last gathering. They were a hit and didn't last long! 

No-Bake Energy Bites 

(makes 18-20 bites)

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup ground flaxseed (optional)

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated.  Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour.  Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy!  Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.