The Bailey Bunch Blog

Not a Sitcom, Real Life

Habitat For Humanity

Just before Christmas, Patrick and I met a woman at a White Elephant Party who just so happened to work for Habitat For Humanity. This woman was so enthusiastic about her job that her excitement was contagious and Patrick and I couldn’t help but ask how we could get involved. She gave us her card and told us building would start up again in the spring. We put her card in our desk drawer for safe keeping but soon forgot about it. It wasn’t until we were doing some spring cleaning that we stumbled upon that business card again. After a few e-mails and a quick visit to her office, Patrick and I found ourselves on a job site helping to build a house today! What a cool experience! 
Habitat houses go up in 4 weeks…amazing right?! This particular house was in it’s second week of building so the base of the house was already up when we got there. Today we worked to put up all the siding, put in the front and back doors, put up the the ceiling of the roof, and the inside of the home was cocked and insulated. Here is a picture of some of the work taking place early on in the morning…you can see the siding going up…
Patrick and I were first put to work finding all the studs and marking them evenly. This had to be done so that the siding could go up. This was time consuming because the studs were in different places in the top of the house. After, we were told to tape all the seams…including the top of the house…so you see that blue line going down the front of the house?! Yeah, I put that 2nd one up there! It was a long ways up there on a ladder for someone who is terrified of heights! Patrick was then recruited to do some heavy hammering…he was hammering away for hours!

While he did that I got recruited to again go high up on a ladder and weatherproof the front of the house by applying Typar House Wrap. This stuff supposedly reduces the risk of moisture damage and mold growth. My partner measured it while I cut it out with a razor then we both worked together to nail it up there…

By chance, our friend Tim had also met someone from Habitat and had planned to get involved, so we requested to be on the same site as him. We also brought along Patrick’s brother, Andrew, who is in town visiting us while on his Spring Break. These two got partnered up and got to work with a bunch of power tools…something Patrick was very envious of as we found studs together lol.

After lunch the 4 of us got to work together on the siding which was fun!

I won’t lie, the guys did more of the work there…I was more of a helping hand, while they did the heavy lifting AKA using the nail gun!

While I didn’t use the nail gun, I did however use a miter saw!

Yeah buddy! I also used a circular saw which was scary as all getup…today I faced a load of fears!

The new homeowner, Rose, was there helping with the build…what a sweetheart! She works in a nursing home and has two little girls…I was so humbled to be helping her build their new home!

Patrick and I enjoyed Rose and Habitat For Humanity so much that we plan on going back to continue with the building of this home next weekend! I also plan on getting involved with the Ladies Build next month, which has only women on the work site! If you are looking for a great way to get involved in the community and a great organization to get involved with, check out Habitat For Humanity! It was such an awesome experience for us! 🙂 

PAO Conference

The last weekend in February Patrick and I were in Orlando, Florida for the Professional Athletes Outreach Conference. Patrick and I had first heard of PAO 2 years ago, way back when he was still with the Steelers. We opted to not go to the conference then because we were just dating and didn’t know if it were appropriate to go if we weren’t married. Only now do I know it totally would have been, and so badly wish we would have went! Last year we were singing a far different tune and couldn’t attend because we were so busy with our wedding being just three weeks away. In reality, we could have really used an extra dose of Jesus in our lives then with all the stress going on with the wedding. But bygones are bygones…what matters most now is that we finally made it and we will do everything in our power to never miss again! WOW! What a weekend! Patrick and I learned so much about how to live out our lives as Christians…it was awesome! 
The weekend consisted of a series of preachings from some pretty big time preachers. I didn’t know who they were prior, but I know who they are now and their words will forever resonate in me. The most influential speaker to me was Dr. Tony Evans. This man has the ability to take one small verse (Psalm 128) from the Bible and bring so much truth out of it and literally open the eyes and hearts of all those listening. He spoke on this one verse not once, not twice but three times and each time I learned more and more. It was like he was peeling back the layers of an onion. Never was it repetitive, but always revealing more and more truth.

Dr. Evans taught us all something that is so crucial, and that is the fact that a change starts with each and every one of us as an individual. If I’m in the right place and living a God centered life then Patrick will be more likely to be doing the same, and vice versa. When we have children, they will see this example we have set for them and learn from us and carry that out in their lives and continue this chain onto their mates and children. If we all made the decision to change and put God at the center, just think of the kind of world we would be living in. Pretty awesome thought right?! One of the lines of the verse says “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, and your children like olive plants around your table. ” Dr. Evans explained that an olive plant becomes an olive tree over the course of 15 years and if that plant/tree is nurtured correctly it will produce olives for over 2,000 years. Relate this to us and our children and think about the legacy you could be leaving behind…pretty amazing right?!

The conference wasn’t all heavy though, there were a lot of light moments that brought laughter to all and one of those moments was when Christian comedian Marcus D. Wiley took the stage. I found this one clip on youtube that got us all laughing pretty hard…

During the afternoons there were breakout sessions where attendees could choose which lecture they wanted to go to. There were sessions on reading the bible effectively, managing finances, touchy subjects in parenting exc. On the first day Patrick and I split up and he went to one on tackling conflict in a relationship while I learned about how to forgive in life. We then shared our newly gained info with each other. On the second day we opted to stick together and went to the workshop on different personality types. We learned that we aren’t exactly polar opposites…but are different enough…It was interesting!

There was also an awesome group of singers at the conference, one of which was William McDowell. He is currently up for a Dove Award for his hit song “I Give Myself Away”…Do yourself a favor and listen to this beautiful song and let it challenge you to live out the words! We are all so guilty of saying “This is mine” in life, but really it’s all HIS! We are all His! We are all so guilty of living a “Me Centered Life” instead of a God Centered Life…admit it, you know it’s true. I loved hearing this song each day…beautiful message and truly inspiring…

At the end of the weekend the sacrament of Baptism was offered as a public sign of fellowship and three of Patrick’s teammates and their wives/fiancee received the sacrament. It was awesome to watch and be a part of!

The entire weekend was just such a blessing. I feel so renewed in my faith and so close to the Lord. I know it will take effort to sustain the closeness, and I’m prepared to do so. A relationship with the Lord is like any other relationship in life, it takes effort to keep strengthening it, and it takes time spent together to grow closer. Cherry on top is that He always forgives 🙂 How sweet is that?! I’m so excited and proud to have “given myself away” and I can’t wait to see how He uses me in His works! 

Bakey

As many of you know, this past week I lost one of my close friends. It’s been a difficult time, and I found it fitting to blog about her. I hope you enjoy learning about my wonderful friend who we lovingly called “Bakey”.
 
Bakey and I met 8 years ago while working together at Dairy Queen. It’s amazing, after all these years (10 to be exact!) that I am still friends with the “DQ Crew” despite the fact that four of us have since moved away. Below is a picture of us post-DQ when all of us were in town for the 4th of July in 2007.

Me, Jess, Bakey, Ang, Beth, Hope and Allison is in the front
I grew up with these girls! We always said we would remain friends, and people (our mothers, our boss…) said it would never happen…we proved them all wrong!
Bakey was a special individual. She was ALWAYS in a good mood…I know this is cliche’ to say once someone has passed away, but it’s the honest to goodness truth! This girl always had a smile on her face, and was always up for a good time. When there was a party, she was the life of it. She was constantly making us laugh with the crazy stuff she did. She’d never bat an eyelash to “taking one for the team” all for the sake of a laugh and a story in the morning. To sum it up, Bakey was good times! Every “Bakey Story” I have makes me laugh or smile 🙂
Bakey and I were a part of a group called the “SLF”, which stood for “Sad Life Friends”…lol! It’s not what you think, we were anything but sad when together, in fact, quite the contrary. In high school we were the girls who didn’t have cars and needed our parents to cart us around, didn’t have cell phones while all the other kids did, and most definitely didn’t have boyfriends – lol. Instead of feeling bad for ourselves, we poked fun of our situations and instead made it a competition to see who had the saddest life. Writing this I can already hear people thinking, “Okay, these girls are weird!” but we had the understanding of it and it was fun for us. I may have gotten the boot when I got married…lol…but we got a great picture of the 5 of us, which I will forever cherish 🙂
I was actually with Bakey the night before her untimely death in a car crash, which made things a bit more difficult to handle. It was hard to see this girl, so full of life one night, and then realize that she’s gone the next. When I step back and think of it though, I thank God that I had the last night with her, because I will treasure it in my heart and mind forever.
Our last night together kicked off with my car battery dying, and me almost canceling our plans…that is until our friend Jamie (who was also involved in the accident) insisted she would come and pick me up. Bakey and Jamie were already at the restaurant and went out of their way to come and get me so I could join. Over dinner I remember reminiscing about old times, planning their upcoming trip to visit me in Nashville, and making plans together for Labor Day. I knew they both felt bad they would be missing my going-away party the following night, since they had gotten backstage passes to the Toby Keith concert. I knew I’d miss them being there, but was ultimately happy to be having dinner with them, and also excited for our Labor Day cookout plans! I’m so happy we had that night together, but I do have one regret…I didn’t hug Bakey goodbye. I instead just said “I’ll see you on Monday, have fun at the concert tomorrow night!” If I could go back I’d hug that girl so tight!
I found out the news of the accident as my going-away party was winding down. Thank God I had some of my other friends there to help pull me through. It was shocking and heart-wrenching. Jamie and Bakey were in the car together when they hit a pickup truck head-on. Jamie survived it, but Bakey didn’t. A woman who saw the crash wrote on the Obituary Website that Bakey didn’t die alone, and she didn’t suffer.
My heart breaks for Bakey’s family, but it also aches for Jamie. I went to see her at the hospital before I left for Nashville and she is doing well. She had to have back surgery (which went well) and also has to have surgery on her foot. Her other foot is broken, as are a bunch of her ribs. She’s got a long road to recovery in front of her, but thankfully she’s going to okay. Please keep her in your prayers! She has such a sweet heart and doesn’t deserve to be hurting.
Typically funerals aren’t very beautiful, but Bakey’s funeral was an exception. The songs, the readings, everything was so well said. The priest couldn’t have had a better message for us mourning Bakey’s untimely death. I think it’s safe to say he made all of us smile through his tears as he said “Many wrote on Becky’s Facebook wall “Rest In Peace”, which is a great thing to say when someone passes away, but Becky, rest??? She’s not resting! She’s dancing! She’s “Dancing In Peace” – I absolutely loved his message, and I know it’s so true. Bakey never rested, and she’s not resting now. She’s living it up in heaven reunited with her dad!
I will forever miss Bakey. A part of my heart went up to heaven with her. Dance In Peace Bakey 0:-) I’ll forever cherish all of our fun times and memories…
Cheers!



Before a Pirate game
Reunion while Hope was in town



My Bridal Shower



Povertyneck Hillbillies Concert!



After we got to meet the lead singer, Abby!



Cake fight during a visit to RMU



SLF Presidency night – lol!



“Our Horse” and Us 🙂



Fourth of July

SLF 🙂

 

Relay For Life

“We see love in every flame, like a never ending chain, and we know that every candle has a name.”

This past weekend I took part in the American Cancer Society’s “Relay For Life”. I did it in honor of my Uncle Rob who passed away this past year from Lung Cancer. I was a part of team “Family Ties” and so far we have raised a total of $8,500.00 to help find a cure for cancer! To raise that amount we had an array of fundraisers leading up to the event such as happy hour events, a car wash, a cheesecake sale and of course generous donations. We also made a good chuck of that amount at the relay event itself.

Our “Family Ties” booth was a jumping one! We were the only booth to sell balloons for the memorial balloon launch. People could purchase a colored balloon for $1.00 and write a personal message on it. Also one of our teammates is a photographer and took and printed out old-time photos for children. In addition we also sold raffle tickets for themed baskets, and had another separate raffle for a signed Mario Lemieux hockey puck, an NFL football signed by 15 different Pittsburgh Steelers and a signed Lance Armstrong book. We also sold hot shredded beef sandwiches and Italian hoagies in addition to different drinks. Brewster’s Ice Cream also teamed up with us and provided a scoop of ice cream for a donation. Team “Family Ties” made over $1,200.00 on the day of the relay alone!! Woohoo!

Activities were going on all day at the different booths. Some had games while others had crafts. One team had a manicurist on site doing nail art while another team had a local artist come and paint live portraits (more on him later!!) but the American Cancer Society also had some events taking place at different hours. One that was pretty funny was the “Minute To Win It” game, a spin-off of the actual show. Man, I wish I would have signed up to do it because I think it would have been so much fun! Another event was the “Mr. Relay Pageant”…lol! Check out Mr. Family Ties…

Each contestant had a half hour to collect as much money as possible and whichever contestant raised the most money was the winner. Our queen came in 2nd place!
The theme of this year’s relay was “More Birthdays” so of course there had to be cake…
The cake eating contest was pretty funny…I didn’t know anyone in it but it was still enjoyable to watch. You can’t see him, but an adorable little 2-year-old took part in this contest…he was too cute!
So more about the painter I had mentioned…I forget him name, but he is the artist that is in the KDKA commercial and paints the pictures of Art Rooney and Troy Polamalu UPSIDE DOWN! He did that same technique live with these three paintings…

Super cool to see! This team raised a ton of money on these paintings…I heard the Troy Polamalu one went for $250.00! It’s great to see people with such amazing talents giving back for good causes 🙂

As I mentioned before, our team sponsored a Balloon Launch. My cousin Beth manned this part of our booth all day long with the help of her fiancee, Andy.

I snapped this picture of the balloons being let go as each of the teams walked together around the track…

As the sun went down everyone gathered around a separate field where luminaries were being set up all day. Each luminary had a name on it in memory of someone whose health was affected by cancer. We had bags to memorialize my Uncle…

Rob and Beth with one of their Dad’s Bag
Aunt Sharon with her husbands bag.
And we also had a bag to commemorate the survival of our Aunt Donna…
Each bag was lit up to honor the name upon it. I didn’t get too many good pictures of the bags all lit up. My camera just didn’t agree with all the candlelight. But I took a snapshot in my mind and it really was something else. I mean there had to have been thousands of bags! They spelt out “More Birthdays” across the giant field. I took a video, but I’ll warn the quality isn’t what I would have hoped it would be…

So many times throughout the day I found myself saying silent prayers thanking God for my own personal health and the health of my immediate family. I saw so many names on those bags – most of whom were taken away by some form of cancer. It really made me realize how lucky I truely am.

One of the most empowering things I saw all day were the people wearing purple shirts…those people are the survivors who fought back and won the battle against cancer. There were children my nieces and nephews age wearing those shirts. There were people my age wearing those shirts. And there were people my parents age wearing those shirts. I just felt so thankful that it was none of us wearing them. It’s kind of bittersweet really. A part of me feels so sad for them and all they’ve been through but another part of me feels so happy for them that they won the fight and were able to be there that day. I had to keep in mind all the people who were there wishing their loved ones could be there wearing those purple shirts…

My day spent at the Relay was a real eye-opener into how blessed my life has been. I know that any second of any day it could easily be me being diagnosed with a form of cancer. Hopefully this post will make you realize how blessed you’ve been with good health…:-)

Two Hands

“God blessed us with two hands. The first is to help ourselves, the second is to help others.”

This weekend was a busy one that’s for sure, and next weekend is set to follow suit (You’ll have to wait to hear about that!). On Friday night my boyfriend Patrick and I were invited to attend a charity event at the Kean Theatre in Gibsonia, PA. The night benefited research for Pancreatic Cancer and was held to honor the memory of Randy Pausch. Randy was a long-time professor here in Pittsburgh at Carnegie Mellon University. You may know his story if you read “The Last Lecture”. The co-author of the book, Jeffrey Zaslow of the ‘New York Times’ was at the event and spoke on the memory of his late friend. Prior to Friday I had known a little bit about Randy’s story because of his ties to Pittsburgh but I had not read his book. I purchased it and look forward to reading it as soon as I finish my current read (“Something Borrowed” by Emily Griffin).
I got the opportunity to meet Jeffrey and he was so nice. The things he said about Randy were so touching. There is no doubt in my mind that Randy must have been a remarkable person. He made this special inscription inside of my book…

Now that’s what it’s all about! I’m going to live those words that’s for sure! Another guest also appeared and spoke on the memory of Randy…Guess Who?!

I guess I should preface a bit and share that the conclusion of the eveing was a sketch-comedy play. Mr. Jeff Reed got into some of the props. Don’t be fooled, Patrick did as well but he wasn’t as willing to pose for pictures in his garb!

Jeff got to meet Randy when he came to the Steelers facility. He shared that Randy’s dream in life was to become a professional football player. The Steelers organization made that dream as much as a reality as they could and Jeff was one of the players that got to help coach him. He told us that Randy made a field-goal on his first attempt at it wearing street clothes and sneekers haha! He must have missed his calling.

As I said before, the night was capped off with a play. It was called “Horray For Hollywood”. It was written and directed by my friend Tom Madden and it was HILARIOUS! Get this, he used all of AFI’s top 100 movie lines throughout the play. It poked fun from all area’s and it really was enjoyable! It was especially fun for me because I’ve done some acting at this theatre and many of my former castmates were featured in this play. A big “Bravo!” goes out to each and every one of them involved 🙂

Patrick’s youngest brother Andrew came in for the weekend and shared the packed weekend with us so I had to share this studly picture of the Bailey Brothers…they just look so handsome!

In all this event raised $7,000 for Pancreatic Cancer research…Awesome!
On Saturday Patrick, Andrew and I went to see Shreck 4 and then helped celebrate their cousin Carissa’s 15th Birthday. We went to eat at Sawa Hibachi Steakhouse…It was so yummy! After we watched Carissa open her gifts and got to have some of Carissa’s TWO Birthday cakes, a Dairy Queen ice cream cake, and a Mrs. Field’s cookie cake (Really are there any better cakes to have?!)

After church on Sunday I spent the morning with my mom, her friend Kathy and my sister Katie. We went on the Brighton Heights House Tour. I had never done anything like that before but it really was neat! About a dozen houses in the neighorhood were on display for anyone who had a ticket to tour though. Let me just say there were some BEAUTIFUL homes and I now have a lot of good ideas for after the closing of my house. (I’m buying a house in case you didn’t know…)

Directly after the tour I had to hurry up and get to Fate Lounge in the Strip District for an event called “Glitzburgh”. It was a fashion show and concert to raise funds for Children’s Hospital. Patrick was asked to be one of the male models and after one of the females backed out they asked if I could step in. A ton of local celebrities were there including Patrick (of course!) and his teammate James Harrison, Miss Pennsylvania: Gina Cerilli (just finished in the top 15 at Miss USA!), Miss Teen Pennsylvania: Elena LaQuatra (will compete at Miss Teen USA this summer), Erin Elmore (The Apprentice) and Ashley Elmore (Jake’s season of the Bachelor!). I unfortunately don’t have many pictures of this event…I don’t know where my brain was because I didn’t even get one picture of me and PB all dressed up at the event! His brother Andrew did snap these few pics of us on stage and one after the show…



This event raised over $13,000 for Children’s Hospital! Amazing! So this crazy weekend has come to an end and another one is right around the corner! Next weekend my friend Miss Colleen Conneeley will become Mrs. Colleen Cooper 🙂 I can’t wait to share Coll and Scott’s special day with ya’ll (yes, Patrick’s southerness has rubbed off on me! I’m a “ya’ll” sayer!) Let me just take the suspense out for you…she is going to be the most beautiful bride ever!! Beautiful memories are to be made so stay tuned!! 🙂

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