Tread on Trafficking

"There is a road we keep running on until we reach our goal, but LOVE gives us strength to continue our journey." -Survivor in the LOVE146 Round Home

Some of you may know of an organization called LOVE146. A friend of mine and I hosted a Valentine's event this year to raise money for this organization. It is an organization that is fighting to end human trafficking and child sex slavery. It is a great organization whose goal is to see the abolition of child sex slavery in our lifetime. Ever since learning about Human Trafficking in college and the efforts of Love146, I have kept an eye out for anything that I may be able to do to help this organization. First, was the Valentine's event which was actually a great success (thank you to everyone who supported it!). Next on the list, Tread on Trafficking.

Starting May 1st I will be participating in Love146's Tread on Trafficking campaign. During the 8 week period of May 1-June 30, I will be running/biking/swimming/hiking to help end child sex slavery. During this time I recruit sponsors to donate money or pledge $ per mile. I have set a Treading goal of 120 miles! I am nervous on meeting that goal, considering it is going to be HOT those 8 weeks and I have 2 vacations I will be going on, but I am definitely up for the challenge. I am excited to be able to be running for something more meaningful than just running :) haha. This will definitely be more motivation for me to get off the coach and do something. I am also excited because it will push me to try some other types of exercise because let's face it, I can cover more miles in a shorter amount of time biking than running!

If you would like to help support me in my Treading efforts, visit my personal page at http://Love146.kintera.org/tread/kaceyratcliff. And check back on my blog often as I count down my miles starting May 1st!

Happy Trails!

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First Monday-Canton, TX

On Friday, us girls skipped town on the boys for a weekend of shopping in Canton, TX. Me, my 2 sisters, my sister's friend Sarah, Addison, and my mom (aka, Gigi the babysitter for the weekend:)) spent the weekend at my Aunt's house in Canton. If you have never been to Trade Days, aka First Monday, in Canton, it is a MUST!! It is basically a huge flee market with EVERYTHING imaginable, and the best part is that you can find some really great deals. I went shopping specifically looking for some kind of bench for the entry way to our house. We have a really wide entry way and nothing in it, so it is just kinda dull. Something I do NOT want to portray to our guests as they walk in the front door. I can't wait to share what I found...

We all took off work Friday (which may have been the best part!) and headed straight to First Monday. We shopped for about 2 hours just kind of browsing and getting a feel for what was out there so we could hit the vendors hard the next day! I found a small gift for a friend of mine, so I was already feeling accomplished at the end of day 1 :) We spent the night with my Aunt and her family who just opened a food booth at First Monday called Double Bubba's Fried Food Emporium. It's amazing, but I will get there in a bit. We enjoy hanging out and catching up with family; my grandma and her husband also made the trip to see us (I think they really wanted to see Addison).

Here is Addison with my Aunt Jana posing for the camera. She has taken so many pictures in her short life that all you have to do is say "Addison, smile, cheese!" and she will turn and smile at the camera...priceless!



Day 2- We woke up, and thanks to Gigi who babysat Addison, we were able to get an early start to the shopping. We browsed some more, finding some cute little things here and there, but no BIG items that we were looking for. However, my mom did give us each a little extra spending money (THANKS MOM!) and I was able to get one of these pots that I wanted for our front yard. I LOVE IT! Reagan's first comment to seeing it was "It has a longhorn"...I corrected him that it was a Texas steer! I just love the western flare, it fits our house so well.



We met up with Gigi, Addison, my grandma Bebo and her husband Charles for some Double Bubba's fried food. We all got something different and shared. Our lunch consisted of fried pickles, fried avocado slices, fried PB&J, fried Jalapeno poppers, and my favorite, fried macaroni and cheese balls! YUM! It was all soo delicious, and yes I had a pretty big tummy ache afterwards! I also got to visit with my best friend Stephanie and her family who came down from Dallas for the day to shop (I wish I had brought my camera with me shopping for some group photos).

After lunch, we went back out shopping and that is where we hit the JACK POT! I wish I could remember the name of the store, but I know it is there each First Monday, so I can't wait to go again one day. I could have bought everything in it! I was able to find my bench, with an extra piece that goes on top, a beautiful wall hanging, and my sister found a table she wanted to go against one of her living room walls. It was AWESOME. I was so excited when we found everything that I was literally jumping up and down.

Here is the bench with the hanging that goes above it (I will try to give an updated picture when it gets hung and everything organized, kind of hard to get the idea from two different pics).




Here is the wall hanging. We have a skinny wall dividing our living room and kitchen that you can see from the front door, that's where this is going to hang...SOO excited about this piece.



It has all the Fruits of the Spirit written on it. What a beautiful piece and a daily reminder of what our lives should be filled with each day :)

We had such a great time with our friends and family, and came back with everything that we went to find. It was a great success, and a great weekend. On the way home we stopped by to visit with my MeeMaw and PawPaw in Huntsville. Here is a picture of Kelly and Addison on the tractor. We all LOVED going on tractor rides as little girls in the pastor with my PawPaw and Dad. It made me think about all the great times we spent at my grandparents and how I can't wait to make memories with all of our kids, picking blackberries, fishing, feeding the cows, and just playing in the dirt like we loved to do when we were young!

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