Dear Friends,

On June 18th and 19th I will join with hundreds of other participants at Titusville’s Carter Field, to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society through their signature event, Relay For Life.

At local Relay For Life events all over the country, participants form teams and Relay for 24 hours. Each team will be represented on the track at all times by at least one team member. We walk, day and night, to Celebrate family members and friends who are cancer survivors, to Remember those who have lost their fight, and to Fight Back against a disease that has taken too much.

The American Cancer Society is helping people right here in my neighborhood, as well as throughout Pennsylvania and across the country, to fight back against cancer.They can only continue their mission with donations from great people such as yourselves. If you already participate in your local Relay For Life event – Thank You! Let me know when your event is, I’d love to hear about it. If you don’t already participate – consider it. It is a great event, raising money for a great organization.

If it is within your means to do so, please consider supporting me in my quest to raise $500 (or beyond) to support the life saving mission of the American Cancer Society. You can do this by clicking the ‘Support Me’ icon at the bottom left of my Facebook page; by visiting the event website (the link is at the bottom of this post) and searching for my name (Kellie Kunz, team name- The Purple Slippers); or by mailing a check to my home address (If this is your choice, please message me and I will send you my address).

I would appreciate any amount. No amount is too small. I’m sending this message to over 300 people, if each one just sent me $1 – yep, just a little over $300! Small donations do add up.

Thank you for considering donating to this great cause!

Be blessed,

Kellie

www.relayforlife.org/patitusville

Thirty-One

In a previous post, I mentioned that I am now a Thirty-One Gifts Consultant. Great purses, tote bags, stationary, thermal totes and other great stuff. I've been running into a lot of people who have never heard of the company and so I thought I would do an open house. So, if you are reading this, you are invited.

This Friday, March 26th
My house - let me know if you need an address or directions - kelliek31@gmail.com
7:00 p.m.

No pressure to buy, just come, have a good time, see the product and fellowship with other women. It will be a fun Girls Night Out.

I hope you'll consider joining us.

25 years ago or so...

...I went to 4-H camp, alone.

At that time NW PA summer 4-H camp was held at a Boy Scout camp near Cochranton. Custaloga Town, was this beautiful place with big pines and a stream you had to cross to enter into the camp. I loved it. But the sleeping arrangements left a lot to be desired....canvas tents that held two cots. It was ideal that you came to camp with a friend that you could tent with for the three or four days. But that year, I went alone. I was nervous, but looking forward to the fun that camp had to offer. As we got to the campsite I wondered who the counselors would 'tent' me with.

I'm so glad that I chose to go to camp alone that year. Why, because if I hadn't, I may never have had the great friendship I have had with the girl the counselors teamed me up with that year. I don't remember much from that year. I can't even tell you really, what year it was. All I know is that, in that one week, a bond was formed that has carried us through almost 25 years.

We camped together several years after that. Not always as roommates, but we were never far away from each other. As we grew into older teens we even had the pleasure of counseling together at that very same camp. That friendship has seen us go through 4-H; boyfriends; break-ups; college at Penn State, sorta...KUDOS to her for being the one that graduated (of course I was there to witness that occasion at the Bryce Jordan Center!); career paths that took me south and her to the mid-west and back again; boyfriends, again; break-ups, again; to her original, but OMG, hot (as in weather hot, it was the hottest, muggiest day EVER!) beautiful wedding to one of the last great guys out there, and has been one of the greatest friendships of my life.

Every once in awhile (not near as often as I wish) I head to her house and spend the day...and I do mean day, we couldn't possibly visit in anything less than that...I have dinner with her family and we discuss life as we know it. So many moments that her and I have spent together. We've helped each other through so much. I'm so blessed that she is also a christian and her insight is so amazing. We may go months without sharing anything but the quickest of emails, but the minute I need her wisdom, she's right there with it.

I write all this because Sunday was her birthday. We chatted for what seemed like hours that day. She's been on my mind a lot and so I thought I would write about how great of a friend and mom she is versus the many moms out there who aren't. She is this amazing woman who is raising her two sons (OK, her husband :) gets credit too! ) to be productive, responsible citizens. They are still little boys, but you just know that they have such greatness inside of them. They are not swayed by all the things in this society that takes away the innocence of little children. They are playing in the country-side around their home, growing and selling pumpkins, doing craft projects, raising money for their church and non-profit organizations and being just genuinely great kids. KUDOS to her for being the mom so many others should be. Unfortunately, she's not the norm. If this world had a few more moms like her, wow, what a different place we'd be living in.

Instead, we have moms...and dads, who let their children be raised by others, whether it's by well meaning relatives, teachers or heaven forbid, the neighbor kids. When did parents stop being responsible for their own children? When did they stop taking the responsibility. It's not someone else's job to help their kids with their homework. It's the parents'! It's not someone else's job to fix them their meals. It's the parents'! It's not someone else's job to teach them morals. It's the parents'! And if everyone that was a parent would take the responsibility for their own children, this world would be a whole new place. At least, in my opinion. I know that there are so many that do, but they are becoming fewer and fewer and I hope that I have not offended some of you, but I bet everyone of us could name a couple of people who could stand to learn this lesson.

Well, this post definitely turned into something completely different than what I first intended. But apparently those are my thoughts today.

I'm so blessed to have this friend. I hope you are blessed with one just like her!

Be blessed!

Thirty-One

To make ends meet I've started selling Thirty-One.  A super cute line of purses, bags and organizers with so many possibilities.  Want to learn more, visit  www.mythirtyone.com/15128.  I'd love to come to your house and have a 'Girls Night Out' with some of your best friends!

Yesterday...

...was the third anniversary of the passing on of a great man, Dave Rynd. His daughter posted on her Facebook yesterday a status, asking for memories of him, that she could share with her daughters and her niece and nephew. I could only post a small portion of the story there, so decided that I could post the whole story here.

I was in my mid-20's and helping at the records table in the show arena at the Northwest Pennsylvania 4-H District Dairy Show with all the other record keepers, announcers, volunteers and staff. One of the parents came to the table and was complaining about one of the rules at the State 4-H Show that would take place three weeks later. There are a lot of rules, mostly made up by well-meaning adults, to keep the competition as fair as possible... (I could write a whole other post about this...maybe I will one of these days). This particular parent was complaining about the rule that if a substitute showman is needed for any reason, it must be pre-approved and the substitute must be the same age or younger than the 4-H'er.

I had never given it much thought, you find a younger sibling or 4-H'er and you get them to show the animal. For my family it had always been easy to find a younger person, apparently for this family it was not as easy. This led to a very intense, but respectful, discussion around the table. I don't remember who said it, but someone said a sentence to the extent of if the 4-H'er can't go to states then maybe the animal should stay home too. I didn't agree and stated that if the 4-H'er had worked with the animal all year and the animal qualified for the State Show then it should have the opportunity to be shown even if the 4-H'er had a college class clear across the state.

It was at that point that Dave Rynd looked at me and asked 'Which is more important the 4-H'er or the project animal?' Our conversation got interrupted at that point and I never had the chance to finish it with Dave. I would have loved to have heard even more of his opinion on that topic. That one small statement has stayed with me since.

While it's great to see a 4-H'er who truly puts THEIR heart and soul into a project (and thats a whole post of its own as well) come out a winner, the real lesson is what the 4-H'er learns from the project, not the ribbons and trophies that come with it. I am ashamed to admit that it took me as long as it did to figure that out. All thanks to Dave and that brief encounter we had one Labor Day weekend.

Dave passed away from cancer. A disease that takes so much. He is one of the MANY people I Relay for. I Relay to Celebrate the lives of those who have or have passed on from cancer. To Remember them. And to Fight Back against a disease that has taken too much from too many. You can visit my Relay For Life event page at www.relayforlife.org/patitusville to learn more about Relay For Life and why I participate.

Dave Rynd was a legend and I held a deep respect for such a great man. This year I will light a Luminaria in his memory and remember the man who taught me a great lesson with one simple question.

I quit my job

Yep...I quit one of my jobs this weekend. There was just way too much that I couldn't handle with it... the problem...I don't have another one. So unless I find another part time job by December 31st, I'm in even more trouble financially that I was already. :( I know I made the right choice for myself emotionally, it's the financially part that I'm most scared about.

I wonder what God is trying to tell me through all of this. This is a major life changing event for me and has the potential to throw me into a tailspin, just like previous life changing events have done in the past and I don't want that to happen again.

I often think maybe it's time for me to pick up and start someplace new, but I don't want to leave my family behind. I know that they'll always be here and they would always welcome me home but I've gotten so used to seeing Abagail and Andrew so frequently that I'm not sure I'm ready to not see them so much. Abby came over today and helped me decorate my tree. The place looks awesome, I love my tiny living room lit with the Christmas tree, it has such magic and sparkle. If I moved somewhere new I wouldn't have those moments with her and soon with Andrew as he gets older. I also think of what the farm would have done if I had been living in another city during this period of time that Dad has been off his feet. I don't by any means, think that I am irreplaceable, but it really would have made things much more difficult.

I don't know what I'm going to do, but I know that God will guide my path and He'll be there with me every step of the way. I have to lean on that.

Are we doing enough?

I got to thinking the other day about how much I give compared to how much I do for others? It's easy to write a check and give to a worthwhile cause and many of us have no problem giving to causes all over the world...but what are we doing right here in our own communities? Not, what is our money doing, but what are WE doing?

Are we going to visit the shut-ins, injured or sick? Are we taking food to the hungry? Are we giving money to those who are on their last dollar and don't know where the mortgage, rent or utility money is coming from? Are we helping a family who can't afford to fix their roof?

Most of us can afford to go buy an extra loaf of bread or gallon of milk for a family that can't afford it. Most of us could afford an hour to go visit someone who can't leave their houses for whatever reason. Most of us can afford to go without a few cups of Starbucks to give an extra ten bucks to someone we know who is currently down on their luck. Most of us could give a few hours to swing a hammer or turn a wrench. But are we?

I think that answer is no. I think we get caught up in our own problems, in our own needs and we as a society have forgotten that God commanded us to love one another. I think it's easy to write a check and let it become other peoples' problem. I think we've become accustom to letting the government help them. Why do we think its the governments problem? Why do we think it is not our responsibility?

Aren't all people God's children? Shouldn't we be doing for them what we would do if Jesus was walking among us?

That's my thought for today.