Road Trip - Sigma Sigma Wamma

This morning we took it slow and left Jacksonville, FL around 10:45. We said our goodbyes to the Lockards and Belle, then hit the road for Savannah, GA. We arrived in Savannah around 1:30 and grabbed a late lunch to go and sat on the riverfront looking out into the water. We met a strange, hippy who did some advertising and tried to convince us to live free off of the land. Maybe later dude. We took a stroll along the river and then stopped in a couple stores before heading out onto the open once again. We left Savannah around 3:30 and arrived in Charlotte, NC at about 7:30… Not too shabby, then the four of us went out for pizza and salad at a cute little town center and arrived at the Smartt house (Julie’s brother and his wife) which was right nearby. We’re sleeping here for the night and headed for our last interview tomorrow. Goodnight all!

PS- The theme song for the week is definitely Love Song. Which we have heard through cell phone rings, ipods, and radios at least twice a day.

Tuesday morning we woke up and after only a short drive to the beach we were there! Taking in the sun (and not even knowing it because it was so cloudy). But truthfully the beach was beautiful. It was a little chilly and we were mostly tucked into the fetal position with sweatshirts but then we got used to it and danced around for a while. Have no fear, its all on video tape. Additionally, Jackie and Juliette thought it would be good fun to let their lone sea gull friend snack on Becca and Julie with sprinkled bread while they were sleeping. However, there is a secret to birds that we cannot understand. They can track a crumb from a 5 mile radius. Therefore the number multiplied quite fast. It was pretty funny actually. : ) Juliette and Jackie did take a plunge into the ocean while Becca and Julie went looking for a bathroom for almost an hour. In order to keep things simple for future matters, Juliette graciously dug a very large hole in the sand. You couldn’t see her when she was standing up it was fantastic. All in all, it was a wonderful day at the beach with no one there and we came back to the Lockard residence to make them a scrumptous dinner creation that was topped off with bananna smoothies and juliette’s homemade chocolate covered strawberries.  

Wednesday- Today we woke up and got ready to meet for several interviews. The first interview included a woman named Annalise who works in Graphic Design. Juliette, Julie, and Jackie went to Panera to meet with her while Becca scrambled to finish her application to Mechanicsburg school district. We loved talking and getting to know her job and talk to her about life in general. Next, we came back to pick up Becca and went on our way to Christ Church where we met up with two women that work there in Children’s Ministry. We actually were invited to the one woman’s house to do the interview and we ate lunch and sat by her pool talking with them for a few hours. It was great!! Then, we came back and Juliette rested her sunburned body and took a power nap while the rest of our Sigma team went to the private neighborhood pool. Then when Helen (Julie’s sister) came home we took the dog for an exotic walk through the park across the street and watched the sunset over the bay. After that, we came home and Julie’s sister’s husband (Brendan) made us steak and salad. Oh what a hard life we live. We might just feel guilty getting paid to do this. After all, we are having the time of our life! 

The Plan: Tomorrow we are planning to head out around 10am and walk around Savannah, GA for a while then head to Charlotte, NC or Blacksburg, VA to spend the night (depending how far we get). Keep us in your prayers as we hear the weather is going to be pretty bad.

Until then! Sigma J signing out. Goodnight friends!! 

Hey all!  Today was just fabulous.  We slept in this morning (Sleeping in being 9-9:30 for Becca, 9:30 for me, 10:00 Jackie, and 11 for Juliette : )  Pretty typical for our sleep patterns haha).  We all bummed around in our PJ’s, read, relaxed, ate breakfast, and Jackie made her special baked oatmeal.  It was glorious.  Becca and Jackie inspired us all to run in the early afternoon and we took Belle, the cute boxer with us.  After deciding what our future houses were going to look like after running through the neighborhood, we took our time cleaning up and then headed to St. Augustine. 

We walked around a bit in the old city, oohing and ahhing over the old buildings that Flagston College dwelled in.  We were all tacky tourists today with our cameras and our SWEET video camera : )  We crawled all over the fort in St. Augustine and while that was fascinating, we then discovered this amazing tree to climb on.  We all managed to climb up (or be hoisted/pushed and pulled up) and acted about 7 years old.  Again, it was glorious.  Then we “arghhhhed” at a pirate, ate some candy, and saw a man in a kilt- fitting for St. Patty’s Day eh?  We ventured off over the bridge, saw a lighthouse, climbed another amazing oak, got a little lost, and with Helen and the GPS (Luna) we found our way back to the Lockard abode. 

After waiting until ten to eat Corned Beef, potatos, salad, and cookies, we relaxed, watched some tv, and listened to some sleeping wonders in the group snore (those parties will remain nameless).  Apparently it takes 3 hours to cook corned beef, so don’t start at 7 pm or you’ll be waiting for a while. 

The day was packed with leisure, adventure, castle hopping, and Irish eating.  Thank you Messiah for spring break!

- the Sigs

Today was B-E-A-utiful! There were no clouds in the sky as we woke up and got going this morning. The high was about 76 degrees and we loved every minute of it. Juliette and Jackie went to Christ Church and spoke with the ministry director, Rachel Hale who we are going to interview later on in the week. The parking lot alone was something to be in awe over as volunteers drive church goers to the door with a golf cart service. They were incredibly impressed with the huge arrangement of the chuch site and we all can’t wait to see more of it! Becca and Julie went with Julie’s sister and brother in law to their church in Jacksonville and then we met up at yummy P.F. Chang’s for some asian food. We walked through an outdoor shopping center and then watched Julie’s sister’s soccer game. And now Becca and Juliette are sleeping on the couch, still catching up on much needed sleep. Good night all and we’ll be in touch soon!

 After leaving Messiah at 6:45am we started our journey which lasted us until 10:30pm. We took 15 South towards I 95 and traveled around Washington DC and Richmond very easily. We stopped in North Carolina for lunch at the famous Gardner’s BBQ (in honor of our most loved roommate Laura who could not make the trip because she is happily boarding in Utah). We got stopped in traffic in North Carolina and made some trucker friends. To pass the time we listened to practically every song in our ipods and cd mixes. We also played catch phrase and rush hour. After seeing numerous hilarious billboards, we stopped at South of the Border in South Carolina. It was a fabulous experience full of arcades, beach shops, and various random paper mache animals, including a life sized weiner dog (a personal favorite). We filled up for gas before leaving and only had to stop two times! Although, we did explore many state line welcome centers. Upon arrival in Florida, we kissed ground in front of the welcome center. Relieved to have survived the journey!   

Hello to everyone that is following our journey southward! We are all so excited and blessed to be able to take this trip together. A very special thank you to Messiah College for providing this A-Mazing opportunity!!! We are all set with a course that we have mapped out on randmcnally.com. We have also set-up our interviews along the coast. We will be meeting with an urban YoungLife leader, a CEO of economic development, a christian school teacher, and several large children’s ministry directors. Bear with us as we try to navigate through the blog page and figure out how to upload links and pictures. Keep us in your prayers as we get through this rough week of classes and preparing. We plan to leave extra early on Saturday and hopefully have a wicked awesome drive through the Blue Ridge Parkway!

Love,

The Girls

PS- Feel free to leave us comments and let us know how your Spring Break is going!!