Lindsay & Henry's Amazing Beach Decor :)

Driftwood +

Jealous. That was the first word that popped into my mind when I walked into my friend, Lindsay's, room. Followed by Beautiful. Creative. Useful. Awesome. So Cool! But was I able to say any of those? No. I just stood there, with my mouth open, staring at the beauty. 

Driftwood Shelf!

It was so breath-taking that I decided to make a blog post about to show everyone how creative Lindsay and Henry are with the things they found on our beach! 

Driftwood Necklace Holder with Pink Seawhip (coral)

Hope you enjoy the decor as much as I do :)

One Blessing

One blessing about living here on Seabrook Island is that it is only 3 hours from Lani, Brian and my new perfect nephew, Kai! A few weeks ago Brian had to work with a client here in Charleston and I had the afternoon off (6 hours free of middle schoolers!!! best ever), so Lani, Kai and I walked around downtown Charleston, had lunch, grabbed some gelato and hung out by their hotel. It was a PERFECT break to my work week and that little chubby-cheeked-cutie-pie brought me so much joy. I am so happy and so blessed to be this close to my family after being 7 plus hours away by plane all of last year (not that I didn't love being abroad and even now I am itching to travel overseas again), but it is just nice to be so close during this season of life and I hope to never take it for granted :)

Check out those chubby checks :) :) :) 

Fall Party

Last year when Taylor and I were in Ecuador together and weren't sure if we both would be in Charleston this year, we would have little planning sessions about what we would do if we did live close to each other again. And as it turned out God led both of us here to Charleston- so we had a whole list of things to do together already! One main thing we decided was that we needed to throw parties for our friends. We both love organizing parties and through some that we had in Ecuador, we knew we wanted to continue our party hosting tradition! So last month we threw a Fall Party for our friends and co-workers :). Taylor works over on Kiawah Island and invited her co-workers, while I work on Seabrook Island and invited all the other naturalists and staff here at St. Christophers. The Fall party was obviously autumn inspired (with some help from my new obsession Pinterest), with cute little acorn snacks, s'more pops and even a Fall Quiz! There was a lot of prep but people definitely helped out and brought some of their favorite dishes and as a result we had TONS of food :)  It was a great time to hang out and to meet new friends through games like 'Bags' - if you're from the Midwest or 'Cornholes' if you're from the South… (all this new terminology from living down here, ie. 'cut on the lights' instead of 'turn on the lights'- who knew?? ) But I have to say that the most popular toy at the party was our Photo booth with our friend Scarecrow Stacey. We had a bin of dress up clothes and people let their imaginations go with their Photo Booth pics… 

In the end our first party was a success - people had fun- games were played, good food was eaten and the weather was perfect! Hopefully the next parties will be a success too!! Thanks to all of you that helped out and came to our party! Can't wait for the next one with you all :)

Meet SCarecrow Stacey

Mulled Apple Cider- YUM!

Little Abby and Bindi 

Bindi- Taylor and Drew's beautiful husky 

 : : Just a few pics from our Photo Booth : :

"And I'm Back in the Game!"

Finally after a 5 month hiatus, I am back in the blogging game :) Sometimes I don't know how to feel about blogging. I am caught between a battle of self righteousness and wanting to inform my followers. I don't want blogging to be a "look at me, look at me" sort of thing, but rather I hope it is a fun, informative and encouraging update on my life with its struggles and successes. But through it all I hope that my posts boil down to the basics- Christ and His grace and faithfulness in the midst of life.

Now- how to catch you all up on the last few months… my last post announced baby Kai's arrival. A lot has happened since then. First off, wedding season (7 total weddings) is over for this year. It was a great way to come back to the states since I got to see all of my friends. But it did make my schedule a little nuts- all summer I was jumping from state to state. Two weeks was the longest amount of time I was in one place. After a crazy but awesome summer, I moved down to Seabrook Island, about 45 minutes outside of Charleston, for my job- and I am loving it!

Here on Seabrook, I work as a naturalist for an Environmental Education Center called St. Christopher's. Myself and 13 other naturalists teach students that come throughout the week for classes. Usually schools stay 2 nights and 3 days. So our work week is broken into 2 sessions, the Monday-Wednesday session and the Wednesday - Friday session. On Wednesdays we have both session 1 schools and session 2 schools and as you can imagine it is a bit psycho as one group leave and another whole group comes all ready to go for camp. 

During the day, we teach classes such as Sharks, Marine Mammals, Woods, Claws (all about crabs), Seining (a style of fishing), Ponds, Skinks (the reptile and amphibian class) and our most popular class- Let's Sea- which takes about 4 of the 5 major ecosystems found on Barrier Islands such as Seabrook. This is the most popular class because at the end of class we are in the famous Mudpit where our kids get ridiculously muddy from head to toe with Pluff Mud- a type of mud found in Salt Marshes that is rich in nutrients and therefore can be incredibly smelly… 

At night we switch our jobs and do Evening Activity with the kids and lead activities such as games, fire, dance, challenge, night walk and so on… If we are teaching a class we also are required to be at the meal with the kids before class, so when you add it all up our days are quite long with random 30 minute breaks here and there. 

It has been almost been 2 months here teaching the kids and I think I finally have a swing of things. The schedule for instance is crazy and as the type A person that I am I had a little bit of culture shock with it since it changes frequently. But as with any new experience, flexibility is a must (thanks for teaching me that mom!) and so we just have to roll with the punches as things change :)

One thing that I have realized is that I love teaching science/ natural science. Especially to 5th graders since they aren't "too cool for school" as some 7th graders can be. The 5th graders are still excited to learn but as capable of understanding and grasping scientific concepts and connecting ideas from one class to another.

It is great to see them understand something new or see something in a new way. I love that :) Another thing I love is connecting science and Faith when we have Christian schools that request a Christian curriculum. Science and Faith are not at odds with one another and being able to show kids how they work together, even in a small way, is great. 

I feel so blessed to be here at this job since this is exactly what I am passionate about- the environment, education and kids. I just wish we offered some classes in Spanish- but then it would be perfect and since when do we get a perfect life? :) But not only am I blessed by my job but by the people and community that is here. God is so faithful and has provided all I have ever needed. I am in awe of his forethought and provisions. 

Three quick examples: 1- Taylor (yes, the same one Wheatie who went to Ecuador with me last year) lives about 20 minutes from camp and we are just starting up our own Zumba business this week!! We will be renting a dance studio in Charleston and offering 3 classes of heart-pumping, carb-burning Zumba a week.  2- Lindsay (another Wheatie) is also working here at St. Christopher's. While we both were Enviro majors at Wheaton our paths didn't really cross til we worked together in CO the summer after graduation where we became great friends and now are working and living together again- what a blessing! 3- I have new friends :) yay for new friends! It has been so good to get to know other people that are also passionate about the same things I am passionate about. But not only that, it is even better when they know how to relax/decompress the same way you do- a group of us have sometimes been able to go play ultimate frisbee, pick-up soccer, get massages, go to consignment shops, make jewelry, do coffee dates for sanity and get this, I even convinced some of them to go out salsa dancing with me :) They are such great friends! 

Life, as of now, is… good, crazy, ridiculous (I have to share a kitchen and laundry room with 13 other people…) lol but basically it is good because God is good.

(and I pray that I will be able to say the same thing with the same sincerity when life has its struggles since He is steadfast and always good regardless of my situations) 

Here are some pictures from around Camp:

                                

This is our house. 

It is surrounded by Live Oaks and Palmetto Trees 

(definition of being in SC)

This is one of the ponds where we teach class and 

where some alligators like to hang out :) 

Spanish Moss 

The second pond, which is the one that has the bigger gator: 

Check it out!

                            

The Naturalists are divided up into work teams to take care of camp and our animals. I am on the aquarium team and get to clean, feed and take care of our fish :)

Here are some of our Fish!

Atlantic Bumper 

Black Drum

A Sea Star and a File Fish

Sea Urchin

Hermit Crab

Sea Robin

This is a Star Gazer because it lives on the bottom so its eyes are on the top of its head so it looks as though it is always star gazing- it has a really cool way of burying itself and it is very well camouflaged as you can see…

Can you see its eyes still?

It feels good to back in the blogging game- check back soon for posts on Taylor and my Fall Party and Cooking & knitting lessons 

;  

lea