A 'BIG' Anniversary

This past week I celebrated a very special anniversary. It marked my 4-year match with Sky - my "little" through Big Brothers/Big Sisters. =) I had known for a long time that someday I wanted to be a Big Sister. After I finally dove in and filled out the paper work and was interviewed (you know to make sure I wasn't a creeper and to see who'd be a good fit for me), I was given two folders to look through. The folders had the names of two little girls... both around 8 years old who were on the waiting list for a Big. I've heard stories of some people taking weeks to decide on a Little... but I had mine picked in less than 20 minutes.

To be honest, there were times when I doubted my ability to connect with her and make a difference. Now, I still worry about not making a big enough impact, but I have no doubts that our match really was meant to be. I'm so glad I've gotten the chance to get to know her! She's stuck with me now. =)

Let's look at some pictures back from 2007. Sky was 8, I was a newlywed, and had just started my job, oh and was living in our little rental house with "vintage" shag carpet. (I figure if I put vintage in front of it, which is certainly accurate, it makes it seem less hideous and more trendy).

The picture in this frame is from Spring Break just a couple weeks after we were matched. We made the frames (and had a mini pom pon fight) a couple months later.

So ignore my scary face and look how little Sky looks!!!!
Now, before we move on to some pictures from this week's celebration, I'd like to take the chance to talk more about Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Not only am I a Big, I'm also on the BBBS Board of Directors. I'm a big believer in the program because I have witnessed time and time again the difference it can make in a child's (and a Big's) life. I frequently hear two main questions, so I'm going to answer those here! =) If you have any other questions about how to get involved, just let me know!


1 - What do you guys do together? I think there's a lot of a concern about this... I had these same concerns. It's really been pretty easy though! We've done all sorts of things... we've gone to movies, played arcade games, gone to the park (a lot), gone out to eat, made lots of crafts, gone on a Sonic Coke date, had a slumber party, baked cookies, played lots of Guess Who, went to Exploration Place, rented movies, carved pumpkins, went to the Renaissance Festival, rode bikes, planned a meal and went grocery shopping for it, went bowling, volunteered, watched funny YouTube videos, did homework, jammed out, and the list goes on and on. BBBS suggests not spending a lot of money on outings and I've followed that. Occasionally we'll do something a little "bigger" but for the most part our time together is fairly inexpensive. By far the thing we do the most is just hang out. Sky makes herself at home at my house... most weeks she comes in, grabs herself a pop (recently I was deemed really cool b/c we happened to have Mountain Dew... haha), pets on Peety for a little bit, then does homework at our kitchen table. It's that simple.

2 - How much time does it take? Sky and I are what's considered a "community match". This means I had to commit to spending 2-4 hours with her a week and that she could come to my house and we could do things out in the community together... as opposed to just in school, but more on that in a minute. Now that we've been matched for so long, things are a little more flexible and we get together every other week. While a "Community Match" is obviously the most flexible option, it's also a more time-consuming commitment. If someone doesn't have a few hours a week, they can still participate by being in a "School-Based Match". These matches require 30 minutes a week and typically involve the Big eating lunch with the Little at school, reading with them, participating in a project, etc...

Now then, here's how we celebrated Wednesday. I knew Sky would probably have homework so I wanted to allow time for that. So, we headed to College Hill Coffee in Winfield for a snack while she finished up homework, then we played Garfield Go Fish. =) Hey, you're never to old for Go Fish.

Here you'll see ALL of Sky's matches... and my two. Yeah, she stomped me.

Here was my snack: a sugar free/caffeine free Vanilla Chi Tea and a Morning Glory muffin (kind carrot cake-ish.) Both were really good!

Here's Sky having fun and humoring me by letting me take a picture. After seeing the pictures above... can you believe how much she's grown and changed in four years!?!? Holy smokes!!

And her snack: a salty caramel cupcake with caramel filling and a tall glass of milk! She assured me it was real good too.

Happy anniversary to us! =)

PS - I want to give a shout out to Sky. She has really made some awesome improvements over the years. Her attitude is lots better, she has more confidence and it shows in how she takes care of herself, her grades are MUCH improved (she's even student of the month in science right now!!!!! YES!) and she really has a good head on her shoulders. I hope she continues to believe in herself because I know she can do anything she sets her mind to.

That's that... I'll be back soon with an update on the rest of the week's fun activities.