#SONRISEPANAMA2015

Okay folks, here it is: My Panama Missions kick-off for April of next year!

Let me unpack this for you in the most condensed way possible:

Rob and I have committed ourselves to the missions field for just one week, next year at the beginning of April, for the simple purpose of loving on people and aiding in the establishment of a church system that they are in the process of forming. I am elated to head into this side by side with five other members of our church, who are also investing themselves into this wholly.

There is a beautiful native people group in Panama - the Ngobe Indians, who reside in the lush mountainsides of Panama, removed from the churn of the city life below them in the valleys. They are a self-sustaining tribe who live off the land and approach daily life with the unfiltered appreciation we so often forget. They have decided to begin exploring the love of Christ, adding to their already fruitful culture, and our purpose is simply to provide the resources, material and coaching they need to build onto this dream long after we're gone.

The first step on this side of the process is funding that mission. We are each pouring 100% into this; there are costs of all kinds involved - time, resources and of course financial costs. For the first time in my life, I set up a Fundly account in hopes of fundraising for this mission. If you have a moment to check it out, please do! I know that's it's a tricky time of the year to be seeking donations, so if you're unable to give at this time, I would ask for your prayers at this point - we will need them! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! :)

See Cori's CampaignPowered by Fundly

Aside from my actual launch of my Panama fundraising efforts, I had the opportunity to scoot out of the office today with Elisa for a quick lunch break. We kept it simple, and it was perfect. Nothing speaks to my inner child quite like a good old fashioned grilled cheese.

Well, with a grown-up spin on it, of course ;)

tom+chee! 

love this little dig :) 

 And helloooooo pesto grilled cheese! 

pesto grilled cheese! ♥♥nommmm! 

Happy Tuesday, everyone! 

xo | cmd 

Towerview Relay Update!

In case you were wondering, Towerview Baptist is kickin' tail and takin' names in the fundraising battle against cancer. I took a gander at our progress today, and according to what's been entered on the ACS website, this is us:

oh hey towerview! look at us go! :) :)

TAKE THAT, CANCER.
*We're not done yet, either - not even close! I am so proud of my church family and that I'm a part of that family. We are flying right along, and the best part of it all [well, one of the best parts] is that our original fundraising goal as a team was set at $1500. Clearly, we're past that and not looking back - time to up the anty!

I'm floored.
- Had to share :)

Happy midweek!

xo | cmd

*TIRED OF CANCER!* [Towerview Style]

As we dig deeper and deeper into our fundraising efforts as a church whole, I have to say that I'm quite proud of my Towerview family.

* I am this year's appointed team captain for the First [hopefully annual!] Towerview Baptist organized team for the American Cancer Society's trademark event: Relay for Life 2012. I feel almost sheepish sometimes holding such a prestigious sounding title, since the team Co-Captain, Lara, is really the superstar here; she drives so much of this that it kinda makes my head spin. I would be at a loss without everything she's contributed and the time she's invested into tracking down the right people, creating fliers, and just overall proliferation of response and enthusiasm from everyone we need, when we need it. Thanksxmillions, LB :).

Anyway, last night at the church, a small group of us rallied together to discuss current progression of our team in all areas: fundraising, fundraising ideas, event decorations, even utilization of the ACS-provided web tools. During that time, we decided and set in motion two of the handful of fundraising opportunities we dreamt up in the earlier stages of planning:

1. Sunday morning breakfast at the church, pre-Sunday School. [May 20th!!!, fellowship hall.. free plug yeah!]
2. The 400-lb tire that Alex, Joe, and now Jason play with like it's a toy, flipping it around the track on base like it's no big deal. Our thought was to paint that puppy up and drop it off in someone's yard. That person or those people then donate $25 to get it removed asap and sent off to another yard of their bidding.

We brought that idea to fruition with mad quickness after the meeting; the Babots went home and Alex proceeded to paint it up in the token RFL [Relay for Lif--c'mon, you know...] purple, with huge white letters exclaiming the ironic phase: TIRED OF CANCER.

Can't visualize that? Let me help you:

team towerview: the tire....
- makin' a pitstop at the woods' :) 

A W E S O M E . I love everything about it, and I'm almost a little excited about this puppy making its way to our house for a day or two. Should be fun. Team Towerview is an absolute blast. These are the things we love :)

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So the rest of today was pretty tame; it marked the end of our first full week sans Meagan; I realized I need to do some serious adjustment on something: time management, shortened lunches, ruthless increase of speed.. something to balance out the work. Hah. It's a good thing with the burst of business we're seeing, but man alive, we are swamped. I love it.

joe & josh: windshield maniacs

Joe's store manager from Atlanta is in town for the insane influx of business they've had in St. Louis post-hail storm; since he's out of his element here, we were more than willing to open up the Dills' hotel once again for an out of town visitor :). He's staying for a couple nights before he heads back to GA. It wouldn't be a real party with the glass boys unless we got to observe them in their natural habitat: They transformed our garage into a temporary bay for Mo & Jimmy's car; it was a seamless operation that ended just about as quickly as it started.

Cooooool. That's a wrap on Friday, folks....

Heeeeeey, it's the freakin' weekend.....

xo | cmd