Looking to make a Donation?

It's that time of the year when our hearts are full and we want to do something for our fellow man. Sometimes we are running around so much we don't know where to even look to make a great donation. Sure, I always drop my change in the Santa bucket but there has to be more.

 My oldest daughter attends Western Illinois University and she is part of an amazing fundraising project.

 "Dear Friends,

I hope you will consider supporting my participation in WIU Dance Marathon. All contributions will benefit and be divided among the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals of Greater St. Louis, St. Louis Children's Hospital and SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center. Any contribution will help, and all donations are tax deductible.

I am on WIU's first E-Board as the Finance Chair, this money we raise doesn't just help the families financially but it helps lift some stress from these families and gives the kids a comfortable environment to be in, this event and organization is very dear to my heart, any amount will help me get to my goal by Feb 1st.

 Donating online is safe and easy! To make an online donation please click the "Support Me!" button on this page. Thank you for visiting my fundraising page! For The Kids!"

You can link to her fundraising page HERE.. this donation will go directly into a fund sponsored by WIU, not into my daughter's hands.. So if you are looking for a way to share your good fortune, give a thought to this noble cause..

 Shauni

Merry Christmas to All

Peterson Farm Bros

My daughter, Word Girl, shared this video on her Facebook page. It is funny, clever and yes as far as I am concerned a Joyful Noise to The Lord..

A Chance of a Lifetime

Such an exciting opportunity! Word Girl has been given the opportunity to spend her summer in Peru. Yes Eight entire weeks discovering the mysteries of the rainforest! She will be traveling with Operation Wallacea




Where she will be PP101 Biodiversity Monitoring in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

Research Assistants on this project will be based on the research ship and will need to be prepared for the hot and humid conditions of the Amazonian rainforest. Whilst some respite can be found on the boat where the fan-cooled cabins, showers and food provide a retreat from the tough working conditions, the main reward is the opportunity to see and work with such a huge range of birds and animals, including the larger, and more rare, animals such as pumas, primates and tapirs.

 There is a large team of mainly Peruvian researchers based on the research ship with nine different research programmes running. Research Assistants signing up for the various projects will help on all the projects over the course of their stay. There is a strong research atmosphere on the boat with teams coming and going at all times of day and night on various research tasks.

 Research tasks which require volunteer manpower include:, spotlight surveys for caimans and diet studies of this species (which necessitates capture of the caimans through noosing), transect surveys for the abundant Pink and Grey River Dolphins and an elusive population of manatees at this site, mist netting surveys of the bird communities utilising the forest understory, transect counts of wading birds, point counts of macaws as indicators of forest fruiting, gill net surveys of

fish communities, standardised searching surveys to characterise the amphibian communities, land based transect counts of primates, large mammals and game birds as indicators of levels of exploitation, checking 20 camera traps run at a variety of habitats and depending on water level. In addition to these surveys there are dissertation studies where assistance may also be required - for example assisting with behavioural data observations on the primate species.

After her "official" trip is over she will be stopping in Machu Picchu to explore the ancient ruins..

Does this sound like the most fantastic of trips? Well I am sure it will be.. Of course there are expenses involved and we have started a fund raising push to help her cover those expenses. If anyone is interested in donating.. please click on our donating button.. It will show here in this post as well as on the side.. Thanks for all your support whether it be verbal or financial

Shauni

So Word Girl and I were off to orientation this week. I must admit it was an arduous journey but we did manage to have some fun...

The adventure started on Wednesday when we realized that I needed an ID as mine had been expired I obvious needed a new one. Fortunately a good friend managed to find the time to fit me into her incredibly busy schedule and drop me off at the DMV then pick me up an hour later. Who knew going to the DMV could be fun? Somehow I managed to get the lady behind the counter with my sense of humour and we managed to laugh through the entire event. Can you believe I had a good time at the DMV? Ok that is an altogether different story. Of course I had not realized that fees had gone up and Drivers licenses were now $30.00 not a huge biggee but I had this trip planned to the penny and that was eating into my pennies..

Bright and early Thursday morning we were up for our taxi to get to the train station to get downtown. We arrived at our local station early which of course means we were able to get the earlier train.. only problem there we were rushed buying our tickets and instead of buying round trip we bought one way.. oh well we could get them coming back. Upon arrival at Union Station Word Girl started to stress about how we would miss our train or not get seats together or whatever.. so we bought a quick breakfast and went immediately to the Amtrak station needless to say we were way early, they hadn't even started to board the train that left before us. So we waited.. Finally we got on board and of course there were plenty of seats. It was a lovely ride just short of 4 hours and no hassles I really enjoyed this part.

When we got to Macomb we decided to walk to school, I had tried to find out bus info but it was too confusing online (not too much later I would find myself wishing I had done better research). The walk to the school was pleasant and not too far BUT once we reached the campus was an entirely different story. The campus is lovely it is placed upon rolling hills.. not mountains and not huge climbs but hills none the less. I thought I was gonna die.. it was HOT, HUMID and Hilly... of course the fact that I am ridiculously out of shape and overweight didn't help. By the time we were about 1/3 of the way I knew I was in trouble so I decided to mortify my daughter and ask a school employee for help. The lovely woman gave us a ride AND a mini tour of the campus. Then dropped us off at our location. Once checked in I met a family that had found the bus route.. believe me I remembered them later.. lol

The day was long.. lots of informative meetings by the last one though a migraine was setting in.. long day, no sleep, almost collapsing in the heat and not eating for one reason or another and my head was about to explode.. fortunately dinner started and we could take a break.. there were more meetings in the evening but Word Girl sweetly (and yes she was actually sweet) told me to rest and then come downstairs when they had the end of the evening fun.. I did so had a fun time, enjoyed watching my daughter interact, she is so like me.. the girls like her but she just automatically seems to connect with the males of the species.. not romantically but in friendship..

Then next morning, breakfast then more sessions.. Finally ending around 4. We waited for our bus at 5:30 which took us to the train and met our train at 6:18.. Of course during the wait more drama ensued.. ooops Word Girl hadnt realized that some of the money I had put on her card was for the trip so she had spent it. We had enough left for the metra ride home from Union Station IF they accepted debit cards.. of course by the time we found out it would be too late a phone call home got the ball rolling and a friend dropped 30 in her account (not that we knew this part as we were on the train with out good cell service).

When we reached Union Station we heard an announcement saying the train that was supposed to leave BEFORE we got in was leaving in 5 minutes we ran.. First towards the ticket station. Now since we weren't sure what they would accept and or if the money was in her account I stopped a man explained the situation and he gave us 10.00. So either way we were fine. Of course they took Visa and all of Word Girls worries were nothing but drama for the event.. but hey such is life. We made the train which involved me running Word Girl says I didn't run I waddled but hey my feet and knees thought I was running.

Our taxi was waiting at the train station another woman needed a ride to a place more or less on the way. She asked if we would share.. hello, nice lady at Western, Friend who deposits in account and Nice Stranger who gives us 10.00? OF COURSE we would share.. Got home and crashed.. It was a long two days.

ALL I can say about this trip really is..

1.Western does a nice job with their orientations sometimes they repeat themselves in different sessions but I would rather hear it twice than not at all.

2. Make sure you find out all transportation issues before embarking..

3. and this should be 1. Praise God for taking care of me.. I can be an airhead at times but God ALWAYS manages to make sure I am cared for..

4. Be sure and pay it forward.. there are many people out there who need a simple and often easily accomplished helping hand.