Tuesday February 2, Fort Lauderdale First Baptist Church was involved with a project called “Love Bags.”

Love Bags are one gallon Ziplock bags filled with necessities such as, socks, deodorant, a toothbrush, soap, lotion, etc. ,and handed out to the homeless.

Participants met at Brew Urban Café in Fort Lauderdale where they discuss what to do for the event.

“The Brew is our meeting location where we learn from the Love Bag leaders about what to do and what to expect before heading out to Holiday Park where we meet up with the homeless. We want to go out there and recognize equality,” said Tom Faw event sponsor.

The opportunity to participate in Love Bags is opened to everybody who is willing to go out and help other people.

“I just wanted to get out there and help people, not because I’m forced to do it, but because it shows what kind of people we are,” said Matthew Parkin, sophomore. “Rather than sitting back and playing with our friends or playing our X-Box, we could be going out of our comfort zone and help those in need with one or two Love Bags.”

Love Bags was started four years ago in Fort Lauderdale by Ryan Alexander, one of the sponsors. It takes place every Tuesday night, 52 weeks a year.

Love Bags are created to show compassion and generosity. Every Tuesday night a different church would also come out and serve dinner, to the homeless people. Those who come for the Love Bags are usually already there for dinner.

Love Bags is a volunteer based project. Without volunteers they would not be able to go out and assist the homeless.

“I believe it is our lifelong project to strive, to be ever-presently involved in the true meaning of Love Bags. Do unto others as you would have done on you,” said Faw.

Many of the volunteers sit down and have conversations with the homeless about what has been going on in their lives. The volunteers do their best to listen intently and be an encouragement, hoping to bring light and joy into their life.

“This not only helps the homeless people but it really makes you feel good about yourself. What a lot of people fail to see is that even though they are homeless, we are all the same. They are just less fortunate than us,” said Parkin.
Felicia Fish, one of the volunteers, believes in order to bridge any ideas of an “us” and “them” gap, they [people] have to see them [homeless] as an equal first.

Fish’s life has been changed drastically after participating with Love Bags for the past two years. “Love Bags has been such a monumental step in the right direction in my life,” said Fish.

The Love Baggers who come out every Tuesday have become a second family to her. She no longer feels any disgust, disgrace or fear towards a homeless person, but instead has been given a feeling of love and compassion and mercy that conquers over the bad judgment that she used to have.

“We have conversations. We give deeply to people to change their lives. We need to break away from everything and recognize what is going on in the world. I believe that Jesus gave us everything so why can’t we try to give something back. We really should fight away negative thoughts. God is not okay with people sleeping on the streets. Why should we be?,” said Alexander.

New Begginning!

People say at the start of a new year they are starting a fresh but all that happens is they get dragged back to the same old trouble.  Why does that always happen?

Nobody knows and most of the time they don’t even care. They say it’s karma, some say it’s bad luck but it happens you can’t change it, only to look forward not back is my opinion.

Thank you for reading!!!! :)

Choosing what style you want to approach the new school year with can be a tough decision. Do you wanna have a laid back style with the plain old tee, blue denim jeans, and sneakers? Or would you prefer the new style that will grab everyone’s attention like a bright yellow top with sequins, shredded green pants, and stunning red heels?  Or maybe a mix of the two? It can be confusing and a hard decision, but what’s most important is that your style fits you & your personality. Make sure that you feel confident and comfortable in the clothes you wear. If you wanna girly up your look, try putting your hair in a high pony, or maybe even get a new hair cut that goes with your style, or add some exciting highlights. Another important thing to remember if you want to glamour up your look is to accessorise with handbags, scarfs, jewelry, and backpacks that compliment what you’re wearing.  If your a plain jane who only buys plain graphic tees and denim jeans, try shopping with a friend who’s style is different, and then maybe you can explore other styles outside of your normal. Sometimes when you shop the clothes on the hangers and mannequins can look intimidating, and look like they wouldn’t look good on you. But actually you should grab it, try it on, then make up your mind; you’d be surprised how things look on you instead of on the hanger! I know that summer time can sometimes be a crunch on money, because you wanna go out to shop, eat, go out to the movies, and hang out with friends.  So that by the end of summer, your money might be tight; but if you’re not a picky person, you should try going to a store that buys and resells clothes. That way you can sell clothes that you don’t like or don’t fit anymore to get extra money to shop with. But if you’re skeptical about shopping there, ask a friend to go with you! At little shops like those, you can find good name brand clothes for under $20, and their clearance clothes are like 50%-70% off! But remember that whatever you decide will be your style, should be easy & comfortable for you to wear. And never ever worry about what other people think, what you wear is up to you!

So here in the “sunshine state”, we’ve had dreadful weather since what seems like 1901. Wearing our thermals until spring, going through countless numbers of broken brollies and suffering those dreaded winter coughs and snivels. While we’re feeling the chill, the little island of Carriacou is chillin’ in the summer sun.
Located just 20 miles north of the artistic island of Grenada, Carriacou has the culture, the music and the views. At just 13 square miles and with a population of roughly 5,000 people, it is the biggest island in the Grenadines – where some of the most exclusive and star studded island destinations in the world can be found.
Take a walk to Windward – an old Scottish fishing village where the reefs of Watering Bay still challenge the global yacht charter community, opening its harbour almost exclusively to West Indian cargo schooners and engineless fishing sloops plying their trade.
Two very different atmospheres engulf the gem that is Carriacou. A heads turn to the left, and you see broken down streets, shops being nothing more than charming wooden shacks, the laughing of children as they flow through the street, the smell of the freshly caught fish wafting through the air tempting the town to stop at the local market. While a heads turn to the right gives you million dollar views that we only see on television with the bright, crystal-clear, Caribbean waters lying on a bed of glowing, white sand, soaring palm trees over head swaying in balmy tropical breezes and not a cloud in the sky. It’s the intoxicating infusion of the two worlds that create this dizzying cocktail that is Carriacou.
To meet the colourful characters of the island, just settle down on a bar stool at any one of the innumerable rum shops or bars, gabber to a Rasta and sample the best flying fish in the West Indies, but beware of the legendary Carriacou jack iron, one sip and you’ll be sloshed.
Carriacou is the ultimate island get away, with next to no tourists that visit. It remains to be one of the only Caribbean islands to be undisturbed by the burnt British holiday-makers.
The Grenadines is a paradise for sailing fanatics, take a serene trip to The Tobago Quays, and snorkel in the Little Tobago Island reserve and see if you can catch a glimpse of the many sea turtles whirling through the true Pirates of the Caribbean waters. I’m not joking! (This is where Johnny Depp himself sailed the infamous Black Pearl)
Inland, all one can do is absorb the breathtaking views, listen to cultured calypso music and “Be Limin’” This is the activity that beats all, it is simply the Caribbean at its finest. When one gets fully engrossed in this activity you needn’t ask if we “be limin” all you need is a spectacular sunset, a hammock and an ice cold bottle of beer.

I’ve got 3 minutes to make this pitch and sell the concept so here goes. The idea isn’t “Rocket Science” and I call it “I-Power.” The I stands for “Independent Power.” What I want is a way to take individuals off the grid and to supply them with alternatives that are eco-friendly, inexpensive and easy to use with a flip of a switch. Am I dreaming or is that sand under my feet?

“I-Power” is a short-term alternative to the electric company used for emergencies and or used to combat “Peak Hours.” The power company is a monopoly. The consumer has little or no option to defeat this powerful force in our lives. “I-Power” is an option that takes us off the grid when we want. By flipping a switch, the home is able to A) Produce electricity through an exercise bike, B) Tap into a rechargable battery, or C) Hook up to a gas generator. Say goodbye to the power monopoly and embrace an eco-friendly future?

In short, “I-Power” is just a dream that begins with an “Off Switch.” The consumer is empowered to produce their own short-term electricity and to control outrageous electric bills as they see fit. In the words of Martha Stewart, “Competition is a good thing.” As I see it, every home on Earth would love to have the “I-Power” system. Imagine how good it would feel to take back control from the electric company? Picture yourself exercising your body and rights to say “No” to “Peak Power.” That’s my 3 minutes and I’m certain anyone can see the benefits of this concept. Will someone read the Citizen’s Journal and make my dreams come true? Someday, I may see you on the beach. I loved “Gilligan’s Isle.”

So a few days ago I was driving my Mercedes Benz A Class and it got me thinking on how much of a car it really is.

The A class is a nice car to own on a budget mine cost me £2250 for a car that is 10 years old and only had 46000 miles on the clock which is low for a car that age obviously I have had a few problems driving it which cost me £1000 to repair but enough of the wallet breaking repair.

The first thing first the car looks rather girly with the frog looking lights and curves and when your partner likes the colour pink things get a little weird if you understand me.

The interior and dashboard is simple but useful. it has Traction Control (ASR) which can be Turned off if needs be.
It also has a really good gearbox system (ACS) which means Auto Clutch System.. Basically it has a Five Speed Manual Gearbox but without the clutch. As a automatic driver I found that daunting when I was test driving the car but it came to me like a duck to water and I love every minute of driving the car the one I own is the A140 Elegance with the 1.4ltr petrol engine and 82bhp.

But the car has a little trick. the Backseats and front passenger seat can be removed to make more space in the boot so it goes from a hatchback to a minivan in 10minutes.

The Car is economical at 38mpg and when your 22 and driving a Mercedes people think you have money in your wallet but when you realise that second hand A Classes prices can vary from £1700 to £3000 which also includes the A160 AndA170 diesel which can do up to 62MPG.

Overall if you want to own a Mercedes Benz at a young age then the A Class is for you when people see the badge then thats all they need to know.

What do you get when you take a classic sneaker look and combine it with creativity that’s limitless? You get Sticky Kicks®!! The shoe that lets YOU be the designer. The creative minds behind sticky kicks understand that everyone has their individual style, and their shoe helps to enhance personal uniqueness.

I have always loved shopping, but didn’t realize just how fun expressing my uniqueness could be. During my Sticky Kicks® purchase, I was overwhelmed by the selection of “sickers” available. It took me 30 mins. to come up with the look that expressed who I am, and I tell you getting lost in time is a strong possibility ( I had to get the assistance from one of the creators of Sticky Kicks®!). Just think of it as having two canvasses… on your feet. Are you a advocate for the planet? Do you like rock & roll? What about skateboarding? From fire trucks to little angel wings- No matter what your liking is, there is a “sickers” that makes it visible to everyone!

Get your Sticky Kicks® and let your creativity flow!
Visit the website at www.stickykicks.com

When my mother was a young teenager, she began experimenting with
drugs. She abused street drugs such as crank, and was known to steal prescription pads to fill fake prescriptions of painkillers. When she became pregnant, nothing changed. She continued to fulfill her desire to maintain a constant high, and received very little prenatal care.I was born five weeks early and had to be sent to a hospital that could handle intensive care neonates. I weighed only four pounds seven ounces, and had a severe case of jaundice. I stayed at the hospital for four weeks before I could go home. At the time, the only clothes small enough to fit me were Cabbage Patch Doll clothes, and I had to have special formula and bottles ordered from the hospital.

My mother moved in with my grandmother when I came home from the hospital. She rarely changed a diaper or fed me, and soon thereafter, met a drug dealer that she thought she was in love with. I stayed with my grandmother. My grandmother loved me and took good care of me, but she had two other children at home and was forced to work a lot. I started staying with a baby-sitter that lived out in the country. I remember her yard was filled with red mud and I had to have a bath every night to get it all off of me.

About that time, my great-grandparents retired, and they were able to keep me while my grandmother was working. After a while, I didn’t want to leave them. I wanted to live with them. My mother gave Mamaw and Papaw permission to adopt me, and at four years old, I finally had parents. After I was grown, and my Papaw was already in Heaven, I found out that Papaw had never been able to have children, (Mamaw had remarried after her first husband passed away related to injuries he acquired in World War II), and he had always prayed for a little baby girl. God answered his prayers, and I received a better life than I would have ever known otherwise.

After this brief background, I want to share a story of a little
client I had recently while working as a student nurse. It was my
rotation on OB, and I dreaded it. I had never been around babies and was quite frankly, scared to death. The first couple of days in OB I was on the Post Partum unit, and it was pretty uneventful. I would bring babies to their mothers, and I was actually warming up to these new experiences. I loved to see the warmth that a mother had for her baby the first time she held it, and how the baby quit crying as soon as she picked it up.

Soon came time for my rotation in the nursery. Again, I was nervous, but feeling a little better. The first day in the nursery, I had a great RN showing me the ropes. She guided me every step of the way, and didn’t make me feel insufficient for having such scant knowledge of newborns. At the end of the day I was so excited that I actually wanted to have a baby of my own, far from what I had always wanted before. I was actually looking forward to my second day in the nursery, which would also be my last.

When I arrived that second morning, I was informed that we were going to have a “drug baby.” After further inquiry, I learned that the mother had tested positive for Valium, Vicodin, and had admitted to taking Goody pills like candy. She was also a known alcohol user. I didn’t think much more about the situation except for the prescribed medications that I currently take. I take Lexapro and Klonopin for anxiety everyday and the thought that crossed my mind was that God wanted me to have this experience so that when he blesses me with a child that I would have a basic knowledge of newborns and that I would see firsthand what could happen if I became pregnant while on these medications.

When the “drug baby” arrived she was very small; five pounds, five
and a half ounces, to be exact. Other than her size, she looked
normal. She was pink, had all of her reflexes, a good cry, and full of energy. After she was all cleaned up, the nurse went to make her ID bands and I tried to comfort her as she was crying. I tried to rub her check to calm her down and she reached over with her tiny hand and pulled my finger into her mouth. As she suckled my finger she still held it in her hand. I instantly fell in love with this baby. The nurse came and took her to place her in the warmer as is customary with all new lives.

I went on lunch break with a couple of other student nurses and I
told them I had decided I liked OB, and that I wanted a baby of my
own. I told them how the baby had suckled my finger and I loved it so much I wanted to adopt it. We laughed and went back to the OB unit. When I went back in the nursery I was shocked to see that my little baby had been placed in the emergency incubator. Her oxygen level had dropped very low to 78, and her pulse was running 80-85 as opposed to a normal 120-160 for newborns. She had a heart murmur so loud that her heartbeat could barely be heard. She had all kinds of monitors hooked up to her and an Oxygen mask placed over her. Doctors and nurses were running around like crazy trying to help this little baby. I asked the doctor if she had a normal murmur that would go away. He said, “No,
this baby has a major heart defect that will not heal itself.” It was decided that she would have to be sent to a hospital that could handle her situation. As a matter of fact, she was going to be transported to the same hospital that took care of me when I was born.

The transport team arrived and I watched helplessly as tubes of blood were drawn, and IV’s were inserted. The little baby did not even cry when stuck with a needle because it was so sick. After getting her ready for transport we took her to meet her mother. This would be the first time that the two would meet. Inside I was so mad at this woman who would do this to her unborn child, who didn’t ask to be conceived, let alone be born with this horrific burden. However, when we arrived in the room, God’s love must have come over me. I saw this mother, who in her own way was visibly distraught over the situation of her baby. I saw her baby lying in the incubator with the needles, wires, tubes and monitors, and realized that this whole situation was very similar to the one I had been in 22 years earlier.

As the mother told us that this baby was named Madeline I began to
cry. I felt sympathy for this mother, knowing that she would probably never know her daughter, and I wondered what would become of this tiny baby. Would she have a good home like I did? I at least had had my health. She had an incurable major heart defect. About that time, the flight nurse informed Madeline’s mother that Madeline would not be able to eat for 12-24 hours because she was going to go through withdrawal from all of the drugs that she had tested positive for. She would be so sick, and in pain, that she would cry until she vomited. If she ate, she would aspirate on her stomach contents. The mother wanted to kiss her goodbye and they had to open a tiny port hole on the side of the incubator. I was so sad that this was the first time they had touched each other and it was in this manner. I continued to cry.

I was allowed to go downstairs to help the flight team load Madeline on the helicopter. I told them I wanted to adopt her, and they told me, “You don’t want this one. It’s defective.” I think they were half joking, but I didn’t care. A baby is a blessing from God, even if it’s not what we would perceive as perfect. By the time I got back upstairs, the rest of the students were already gone for the day, but I went back to the mother’s room. When I got in there I couldn’t say anything, but another nurse was there thankfully, and I just nodded at the mother to let her know Madeline had gotten off safely.

It was unbelievable how Madeline’s mother reminded me of my own
mother. Her mannerisms, speech, intellectual level all seemed very
similar. Although Madeline was sicker than I had been, she still
reminded me of myself when I was born. I walked out to the parking lot to go home and found that another student had waited for me. We drove home and she made me eat lunch with her. I cried the entire way to the restaurant and then all the way home. Every time I thought about Madeline for the rest of the day, I cried. That night, I called the hospital and they said she was in the same condition with no improvement. I was so upset that I called one of my teachers, and cried as I spoke with her about the situation. She talked to me on the phone for 20 minutes. I really needed to talk to someone who’d understand, and I was blessed to have great teachers who had been in similar situations.

That night, I got down on my knees and prayed for Madeline. “Dear
God, I know that when I was born, I didn’t really make a sacrifice, because I had my health, and you blessed me with Mamaw and Papaw who loved and cared for me very much. They raised me with morals, and integrity. They also raised me to know You, and I don’t know where I would have ended up if You hadn’t sent me to them. But, as a child, it still hurt me to think about why my mother didn’t want me. I still wanted to know her, and have her in my life. It hurt me when I saw other children with their biological parents and not have parents that could do the same things with me that they could do with theirs. Now that I’m older, I realize that those things didn’t matter, and I received many other blessings and lessons that they never got to receive, but I still know that that’s how I felt as a child. Dear Lord, please, let me make this sacrifice for Madeline. Even though I was blessed more than I deserve and had wonderful parents, please let her have her health, and let her mom turn her life around so that they
may have a wonderful life together. Let her mom quit using drugs, and provide a decent home for her daughter, and please heal Madeline. I was fortunate to have my health, and at this point, she doesn’t. Please, do this for me Lord, since I couldn’t live with my mother, and do this for her mother, so that she doesn’t have the regrets that I’m sure my mother has. Please Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

I didn’t hear anything more about Madeline until the following week when I went back to clinical. I was met by the nurse who had worked with me in the nursery when Madeline had been born. She was the bearer of good news. The day after Madeline was sent to the other hospital, the day after I had gotten down on my knees and prayed, she had been sent back to the original hospital. They couldn’t find anything wrong with her. She still had a small heart murmur, but it was the kind that all babies have when they’re born, and the doctors said it would go away. To top everything off, she never went through withdrawal from the drugs, despite testing positive for them. I went and held her in the nursery. Her oxygen and pulse were normal, and she truly was a healthy baby. Her mother was renting a room at the hospital and had made a remarkable turn around. She was breast-feeding Madeline and
bonding as well with her as any other mom, if not better. I had a
feeling of warmth over me, and knew that God had answered my prayer.

Madeline was healed and her mom was on her way to recovery.
When Madeline went home, she was not allowed to go with her mother, but went with a staff member of the hospital. Social Services was trying to work with her to get visitation rights until she was able to provide complete care. This little baby truly touched my heart, and showed me that miracles really do happen. It also made me question my ability to be a nurse and see situations such as this one. However, I believe God had me encounter Madeline for several reasons. It taught me to take better care of myself so that I could have healthy children
one day, and that even if I can’t help someone physically, I can be a spiritual nurse as well. I realized that I truly feel that this is the profession God is calling me to be in. He wants me to help people. I think I’m overly sensitive sometimes, but maybe that will make me a better nurse. Also, God will always take care of His own, so I shouldn’t worry about things I can’t control. He showed me the power of prayer, and that when doctor’s say something is impossible, as the ultimate physician, He can show them that it’s not impossible. I also received some closure from my own situation with my mother. I understood that Madeline’s mother really did love her, and for whatever reason, she hadn’t made the right decisions during her pregnancy. Maybe one day, I will meet Madeline when she is older and see that she has had a healthy life and relationship with her mother. I probably won’t, but I will always remember Madeline’s miracle.

Before I spell out this idea, I want President Obama to know, “I want full credit for this idea and my Nobel Prize.” With that said, I think “Rebates” are the answer. To guarantee access to care, we all could pay $1,000 per year for insurance. This access would grant us one free physical and the opportunity to join a collective network. If after a year, we don’t use the system we would get a rebate of 90%. That’s our reward for being healthy and limiting healthcare costs.

Rewarding health must be the goal of any cost reduction program. Access to care would be granted with an incentive of a 90% rebate on the table to motivate healthy lifestyles. This is the first phase of this system. If healthcare access is required, the full cost for access would be lost. The $1,000 would be paid and for each visit a reasonable co-pay ($50) is charged. Drug costs would also be controlled by charging the issuing Physician. This proceedure could promote more accountability and reduce over perscription. Operations and chronic care could be addressed by simply doubling the access fee.

In short, Healthcare Rebates would address the issue of “Paying Something for Nothing.” Patients would be in charge of their care and treatment. Patients would be rewarded for healthy lifestyles and or self-treatment. Costs could be limited to $2,000 per year plus reasonable co-pays for each use. Doctors would be responsible for lowering perscription costs and overuse by charging the Physician. That cost could be monitored and passed on to the patient pool. Healthy lifestyles would be rewarded with 90% of their access fee returned and used the next year. Every healthy American would have guaranteed access to care for 10 years for only $1,000. The Rebate would force the system to cut costs in responsible ways. Patients would be in charge and Congress could move on to other issues like jobs. Yes, We Can work together and a healthcare rebate is my answer.

If you are the around the age of 20-40 and you are going for an evning look, a good option to whare is a brown dress that had a seam or belt right above the widest part of you and the rest of the dress should flow away from the rest of the body. Acsessory wise, a good idea might be a blue neckalace and for a splash of color, a red hand bag and maching heals would be sure to get some atention! If you are not the dressy type, then a shirt with a nice print on it say brown, red, blue, and yellow with a brown jacket that is narow at the waist would be a great idea. Also, a dark wash jean that is close to the uper leg and flows away from the leg near the lower leg would make your legs look longer, and for something more comfterbal a dark wash trowser jean would do just as good. And don’t forget to acsessorise! Any kind of jewlry would be good to whare and a red, yellow,or blue hand bag or over the sholder bag ( wich ever you perfer.) and a maching heal or flat would look great! Remember, these are just options and you do not have to whare this exact outfit to look great ether. And if your not going for an evning look, keep in mind that I do have other articals that would work for you.