Conversations and Canning

11/04/12

Frequently the following happens as we're driving down the road (this has happened with Kates and Tami in the car too).

[A normal conversation might go something like this with Trav driving]

S: I LOOOOOOOVE this song! {singing along to whatever is playing on the radio and looking out the window}
T: Oh! Yes, that's a good song. {pause} Where do you want to eat?
S: I don't care. {still looking out the window and singing along}
T: We could go to....
S: CANNNNNNNNNN! Stop! Pull over! We have to get it!

Now, Trav doesn't always stop because of traffic or because we can't slow down fast enough {especially on I75!!!}.... but sometimes he quickly pulls off the road, and I jump out to go canning. 

This particular time, we were headed home from eating with his Mom. So the conversation was more about what we wanted to do that night or next day:) 

If I'm in the car with you, I can guarantee that I will yell out "CAN" and expect you to stop!!! LOL! 

More Surprises and an Explanation

11/04/12

We cannot thank you enough for all your help with Cans4Christ! We are so thankful for your donations, prayers, and support as we gather and collect cans for our building campaign!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

We have to clarify a couple of things... THIS post describes what we "CAN" and "CANNOT" collect in the C4C trailer. 

Items that we CANNOT recycle: 

• cat food cans
• soup or vegetable cans
• tuna cans
• aluminum foil (although it's "aluminum", it cannot be recycled)
• aluminum/tin cooking containers
• newspapers
• food wrappers, etc.
• juice boxes

So what do we, Cans4Christ, collect??? ALUMINUM CANS! Any aluminum can--soda, pop, beer, tea, etc. We don't care what brand or what liquid it once had inside....we just need CANS:) 

photo credit

Explanation: There was a sign on the C4C trailer stating that we only accept SODA cans--this is NOT TRUE!!! More Surprises: We keep getting cat food tins and soup cans....we cannot take these and they leave a mess in the trailer (bees, bugs, and a smell). 

So please only drop off ALUMINUM cans!!! 

Again, we are so thankful that you are giving to our can ministry--and we are thankful that you want to help! So please keep collecting and donating aluminum cans for the First Alliance Church of Port Charlotte, FL building campaign.

If you would like to donate weekly--you can find our Cans4Christ trailer at the FAC campus. Or email us {cans4christ at gmail dot com} to set up a donation pick-up!!! 

Another Amendment

11/05/12 with a 10/28/12 Amendment

We've had to amend only one of the Cans4Christ blog posts (click HERE) because of an injury to my front bike basket. Well, we need to amend a bit of last Wednesday's post {HERE}. 

In this particular post, I said that we had a GREAT time on our ride....and while we did enjoy ourselves (and collect 3 bags of cans!!!).... we went a little too far in the woods! Below is a picture of what I got on this ride: a bunch of "sand burs" (be sure to read THIS post for an explanation of this "funny"). 

And here's a picture of Trav in the woods (and I might add that he constantly goes further in the woods than this pic shows!! Usually down on his knees.... crawling around...."going to the ends of the Earth for cans"!).

So what is the amendment??? We didn't go 5.53 miles with only scratches and itches from sand spurs/burs....Trav got a nasty infection from POISON IVY/OAK!!!! The picture below shows what it looked like after a couple of days. I told him he HAD to get some medicine.... three days later, he finally got some Calamine lotion for it. 

But look at it NOW-- about a week later!!! SOOOOOOO gross!! We think we might have to make an amendment to the Cans4Christ motto (or favorite saying) "We go to the ends of the Earth for cans!!"

Sorry for the horrible pics! This is the largest area on his leg--it's bubbled and HUGE! Sooooo gross!

You can kind of see the other large area on his ankle. EWWWW! 

I feel horrible for Trav:( 

10/28/12
Miles: 5.53
Injuries: only scratches and itches from sand spurs/burs **AMENDMENT- and a BAD case of Poison Ivy/Oak
Bags: three

Canning, 5K, and a Concert

11/03/12

This has been a BUSY day! **NOTE: This post has TONS of pictures:)

The festivities actually started last night at our church-- Seventh Day Slumber came to do a quick concert at Celebrate Recovery. SOOOOO fun! I even got to meet them and get a pic! I told them that if they needed a female singer to call me;) 

So this morning was FAC's Run For A Reason 5k. I signed up and was going to go at the regular time with Olsen (who walked it with me last year)...but I got a text from the Canning President Kates at 5:30am!!! She had a BRILLIANT idea-- putting C4C flyers in the participants' goodie bags! LOVE it! **NOTE: That's why she's the President! So we got dressed and headed off to church an hour before we actually had to be there! 

We made 200 copies and highlighted our website/email on each flyer. 

Then we stuffed each bag (with the help of several friends)!

Finally the race started! It was FREEZING out {good thing Kates helped make some scarves/head wraps with me- read about it HERE!}. 

We began our walk with our other friends, The Nunez family and their mom, Tina. Kates was so good with the kids! She would explain to them where we would find the most cans (on the corners and in the woods), as well as what to look for. The group found our first can only a short way in on the 5k! 

We continued our walk but quickly ended up in last place with only one child! Everyone else was WAY ahead of us. The oldest Reese child found several more cans for us! 

A little ways into the 5k, some of the kids that we started out with, ended right back up with us! LOL! They were slowing down:) So the oldest Reese child told the other kids all about canning! **NOTE: She literally was quoting everything Kates told her! LOVE it!!! It was fun canning with this group of kids- we had TONS of fun! Here are some pics of us messing around. 

The oldest Reese child said to go "up" because the sign was pointing up for the 5k (it means to go straight but she didn't know). So Kates jumped up! And then all the other kids joined in the fun! LOL! 

Right after our "fun jump", the cop that was following the 5k participants drove up to us and asked the kids if they wanted to "race". This was code for HURRY UP! So we all ran trying to catch up to our original group of walkers.  

The next can was crushed by the oldest Nunez child.

After an hour, we finished our 5k!!! I was DEAD LAST (just like last year!)!!!! But I have to say that I had the MOST fun! It was a blast hanging with this group and canning! We found a total of 6 cans!! HOOOOOORAY:) 

Kates and I went home but it wasn't long before the Canning Crew was back together! Around 2pm, Kates, Tami, Trav, and I headed to the Charlotte Sports Park for the FAC's Freedom Fest (a huge concert!!)! We signed up to be "ushers" and volunteers for this event. The concert didn't start until 6/6:30pm but we had to be there early to get our shirts and assignments. We arrived at the time given to us only to find out we had an hour to spare before the big meeting. So what did we do???? We set up our chairs/blankets and then played some ultimate frisbee! 

We even did some "crab" dancing on the field!!! LOVE it!

After our meeting, we continued the frisbee game. But not for long (yes, we were asked to stop our game!). 

We sat down to enjoy some sound checks and friendship/fellowship. 

Jared joined the group after work--we saved him a good seat:)

The concert was AWESOME! It might have been cold out, but we had a GREAT time dancing and giggling! 

I just couldn't stop "crab" dancing! 

Needless to say, I went to bed immediately when I got home! Good thing we did because we had to get up early to sing the next day! LOL! 

TOOOOO Cold

11/02/12

Today is Friday...which means I will go canning around our neighborhood. However, it's TOOOOOOO COLD out to go canning! This is a problem!!! Look at the temperatures this morning (this is from my iPhone). **NOTE:: I know that 63* isn't really that cold for our northern friends...but it's FREEZING to me!! 

The good news is that I ended up going canning:) I couldn't let C4C or our friends/church down!! 

Later in the evening, Canning President Kates came over to help create a solution to our weather problem!! We decided to make some neck and head wraps! These literally take 10 minutes to make!! ***NOTE:: Ok...it took us a bit longer because we were laughing and Kates is left-handed-- all of my scissors/rotary cutters are for right-handed people! LOL!

Bring on the cold weather...well, not really!

Big Finds and a Fun Ride

10/28/12

Another "crisp canning" day (see THIS post for the Canning Crew member who gave me this fabulous saying to use for C4C posts).... and we cannot let it go to waste! So Trav and I suited up and went for a bike ride. 

We didn't get more than 0.37 miles from our house and we found 45 cans!!! In one spot! I saw one or two and when Trav went to investigate....he found WAY more! 

Not only did we get 45 cans...but we got LOTS of sand spurs/burs! **NOTE:: Trav laughs at me because I've always called these little prickly things SAND BURS. He says it's SAND SPURS. Either way--they HURT! 

This pic shows different prickly things that get attached to our clothes, shoes, etc. 

You can see several sand spurs/burs on my pants in this pic--OUCH! 

We decided to leave our large bag of 45 crushed cans hidden under a tree/branch while we finished our ride. Although these cans are crushed and empty, they are still very heavy to carry on the bike! And I only have so much room in my front basket:) 

We continued around our neighborhood finding some here and some there. And then we came across a nice man who complimented us on our efforts. We told him about C4C and what we do, and the next thing we know he is giving us cans he's collected up/down his street! We gave him a flyer and asked him to email us when he gets a full bin of cans!!

We continued down the street and Trav and I took turns taking pics of each other. 

***NOTE: I told Trav that I wanted to put my picture on the blog and ask if anyone notices a "spring in my step". He replied, "You're not walking in the picture!" DUH! I wanted to see if anyone could tell I had my orthotics in:) LOL! But of course, you can't....but now you know since I told you! LOL!
***NOTE: Yes, I'm wearing a scarf! It was CRISP out:)

We continued our ride past the home of one of our Pastors. And right across from his house was a BOX of cans! We found 16 in this spot!! And TONS of ants! 

When Trav and I decide to head back to our house, we tend to take the same route because we can ride as fast as we want since we've already searched for cans. Well, when we turned around on this ride, we noticed that there were NEW cans alongside the road! Can you believe that??? Between the time of us riding by and turning around, someone had already thrown a can out of their vehicle (or dropped it as they walked down the sidewalk)!!! 

Before we finished our ride, we had to find and collect our hidden bag of cans! Can you see the bag in the pic below???

It was behind that big leaf/branch!! 

Miles: 5.53
Injuries: only scratches and itches from sand spurs/burs :}
Bags: three

Happy Thanksgiving from the Canning Crew

On behalf of the Canning Crew..... we would like to say HAPPY THAKNSGIVING to all!!! 

I have to say that Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday. I have so much to be thankful for--my Savior, my relationship with Jesus, being forgiven, God's blessings, my husband, my family and friends, our house, our church, our country and so so soooooo much more! Even Olsen:) 

C4C and the Canning Crew are so thankful for all who have donated to our canning ministry--we cannot believe how many pounds we have collected (which is 1,996 lbs of aluminum cans which is about $1,200!!!)!!! 

We pray that this ministry would continue to grow and bless our church members, the building fund, and our county!! We also pray that we would be able to share God's Word--through prayer, conversations when we stop at houses, and more!

We also pray that you would praise the Lord for His blessings as you reflect and celebrate Thanksgiving. I've been seeing lots of Thanksgiving quotes and scriptures on Pinterest, and I just had to share some with you! Many blessing to you today and always!! 

Photo credits HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

THANKS for donating your cans, following us, checking out our posts, and praying for Cans4Christ and First Alliance Church!!! Happy Thanksgiving:) 

Afterwards Treat

10/26/12 continued x2

The last two posts {HERE and HERE} were about our large recycling trip that took us to 1,996 pounds!!! Afterwards we decided to go out to eat. This is a treat for all!  

We went to Steak-n-Shake and enjoyed a great meal and time with family (we asked Poppie lots of questions about his experience in the military). We all got shakes for dessert....but the real treat was waiting for us outside! 

When we walked out to our vehicles, Trav and I saw a can sitting on the ground!! Crushed!!! I love when that happens:) What a TREAT!!!! 

Again with a Newbie {part2}

10/26/12 continued

Yesterday's post {HERE} was our first trip of the day to the recycling center (with an interruption and side stop to the Doctor's office for my orthotics). After that trip we headed back to the FAC church parking lot, where we keep our C4C trailer, to load up again. 

We had a NEW canning member waiting for us at the church--POPPIE!!! Trav's grandpa decided to join in the fun today! When we arrived, he had already started to unload the trailer but couldn't get far because he didn't have a key to the lock. **NOTE to self: I need to get some extra keys! Looks like the trailer is full--good thing Poppie showed up to help!

Trav and Poppie started to get to work while I took some pictures. Gotta love the extra hands!! 

Poppie even found several unopened cans!! Hidden treasures:) Well...that is until you open them, which is what Poppie did (since Trav's collection was ruined [read about it HERE] and he isn't collecting them anymore). Needless to say....liquid sprayed EVERYWHERE! 

I didn't catch the spray-- it was too fast and my iphone was too slow! LOL!

Since this was Poppie's first time to the recycling center, I let him ride up front in the truck. Plus, I wanted to get a pic of the two of them talking:) 

Unloading went faster since Poppie helped-- maybe he should come more often! LOL!  And you won't believe how many pounds we have NOW!!!!!

Total pounds recycled this trip: 62

Total pounds recycled for C4C as of 10/26: 1,996 pounds!!!!! Sooooo close to 2,000 lbs! 

Keep turning in your cans! And keep sending in your random metals too!!!