Hands, Voices, and Hearts

    What better way is there to start a Saturday than by joining some bubbly little kids and hearing a story about that oh-so-wonderful groundhog who predicted an early spring? Getting to experience sign language while starting my day!
    One Saturday each month, Hands and Voices Nebraska hosts a Social Saturday in which they read and sign a story and then hang out for awhile. Considering how much I love to read, I was incredibly excited for this event! It just so happens that this months social combined the regular story-time at the library with the hands and voices event and it ended up being perfect! Having the combined event allowed children to develop a richer love for literacy, but it also exposed them to sign language and people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing at a young age.

     After the story, the kids even got to learn some sign language. It was great because I saw several parents trying to learn too! All we need to do is spread the message and make people aware and this seemed like a wonderful place to begin doing just that!
     I would encourage any individual to attend the next Social Saturday story-time on Saturday March 2nd at Swanson Library at 10A.M.!
    Saturday only got better too! Saturday night I had the honor to attend the 25th Annual Heart Ball for the American Heart Association. And let me tell you - this is what being Miss Kool-Aid Days is all about to me. Not only did I get to help an amazing cause (heart disease), but I also got to spend the evening with several of my Stepperette sisters as we helped bring in more funds. This is what being Miss Kool-Aid means to me - it means helping others in important causes and spending time with truly amazing people, including some phenomenal and giving friends!

My amazing teammates including Ashley Christenson - the woman who made all of this possible for us!

 

    After meeting my fellow sister queens and teammates, Rachel Foehlinger (Miss Lake McConaughy) and Aleah Peters (Miss Douglas County), we were able to take our places at bid boards that we would run for the night. Rachel and I shared a board for the evening, and she took over the first shift as Vanna, writing numbers across the board, while I took the mic and rallied the crowd to our deals.

    I have to admit that I was nervous at first and wasn't sure what to say, but it ended up being a lot of fun and I enjoyed having to stretch my creativity to talk up the items we had for bid! It felt like such an accomplishment when I would advertise a package and someone would bid on it because of that! Rachel and I made a great team and I was proud to see her really drive up and sell some of our big packages!

 

Aleah worked the girly table (shopping, fashion, fitness) and apparently got into the spirit, enjoying a little shopping spree! ;)

     After the bidding stopped, we got to join some of our other Stepperette teammates for dinner before handing out small prizes to those who donated to the America Heart Association outright.

 

    The excitement didn't end there however - Rachel , Aleah, and I found ourselves at the photobooth very soon and we had a blast taking silly pictures in large sunglasses and feather boas! It was so fun that we went twice and felt no shame in making silly faces at the camera!

    Finally, it was nearly time for us to retire for the evening, but we absolutely couldn't leave without meeting the Heart Ball King! Ian had visited our bid board earlier in the night, hoping to win tickets to the College World Series, but he ended up leaving that night with a new Ipad instead - and boy was he happy about that! Like any young boy, Ian was looking forward to playing video games on his new iPad and we guessed he would be up all night! I'm sure he must have gotten some sleep though because he was due to be at a basketball game early Sunday morning! Despite having a serious heart condition, Ian loves playing basketball and hopes to play in the NBA one day. It truly was an honor meeting him and having our picture taken with him!