Badnews Beard.

So if you have been friends with Michael Oakley at all in the last year, you have encountered ....Mr. Beard.

Our friend Beard started earlier in 2010, and had reached it's pinnacle on January 31st.  Ahhhh the memories.

Hey Beard, do you remember that during the summer, and it was so hot and muggy, and that bug flew in, and never came out?

Head Beard, do you remember when Michael got his wisdom teeth out, and no one noticed the swelling, thanks to you?

Hey Beard, do you remember that time when Beka thought Michael was going to kiss her on the back of the neck, and all she got was you rubbed on her?

Yeah, it has bee good times with Team Oakley and Beard. You have been a good friend to us. These photos are to remember you, in all of your fullness. Enjoy my friends.

Here is the beginning of the end, my friend Beard. 

And alas, you are gone, and all that remains, is face.

A new year, a new look. We thank thee, oh Beard, for all the fun times, and sweet photos. You are a legend that we will tell for ages.

Until the next time we meet,

Team Oakley

Franklin Christmas Parade

Michael's Mom works at Mercy Children's in Franklin TN, and every year they have a float in the annual Franklin Christmas Parade. Team Oakley is lucky enough to have been on the float two years in a row! It is so fun and very exciting way to feel the Christmas spirit. This year we rode on top of an old fire truck while it pulled the kids of the staff and some kids who were helped my Mercy Children's clinic! The staff stocks up on candy when it goes super on sale after Halloween, and we get to throw it to the people watching the parade!

 Here is Michael the beard Oakley driving us to the parade.

Beka is all warm and ready for the TN winter wind outside. 

When it is cold out, starbucks is a great comfort.

This is the fire engine that we got to ride on! We felt like gitty little kids being able to do this!

There is many more floats behind us to share in the excitement!

Like I said, the little kid in us came out very quickly. 

All the kids behind us were so excited! They never stopped waving and yelling "Marry Christmas!!!"

Team Oakley had the greatest time waving, throwing candy, and wishing Christmas cheer to all the folks who came out to see the parade! We can't wait to do it next year too!

It was a fantastic time, and we are so glad that you took time to share it with us!

Love,

Team Oakley

Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas is a wonderful organization that spreads the joy of Christmas all over the world. What happens is a sponsor gets a shoe box, and puts gifts, educational supplies, and hygiene items in it for a specific gender and age. Then you pay for shipping, drop the box of at your local donation center, then they take care of the rest! They ship them all over the world for boys and girls that otherwise would not have gifts on Christmas.

Our church gets behind this each year, and this year the college bible study that Team Oakley hosts in our home sponsored two boxes. One for a little boy, and one for a little girl. We go our broke college kids to pitch in a few bucks each, then Michael and Beka headed to target to load up on on the goodies!

We chose to buy 1$ plastic shoe boxes so that the child that receives the git could use it for durable storage later. 

Michael was filled with the Christmas Spirit as he was shopping for the shoe boxes!

Here are the finished gifts! Lots of fun things for some special kids. 

So we got home, and we all prayed for the boy and the girl who would be getting these gifts, and then sent them off. A cool thing that Operation Christmas Child offers is if you pay for the postage online, then they track your box, and you can find out exactly where in the world your gift went! Our gift boxes got to bring smiles to the faces of Children in Uganda, and Botswana!

It was an easy, inexpensive way to remember how blessed we are here in the states, to give back, and to remember what Christmas is ultimately about; Love.

Thanks for sharing our adventure with us!

Love,

Team Oakley

For more information on Operation Christmas Child, please visit their website at www.samaritanspurse.org

Project Thankful Nov 2010

Hello friends!

I know that we are MONTHS behind on your blog, so we have some catching up to do!

Last Thanksgiving (2009) we started a tradition here in Spring Hill TN where Beka bakes loads of cookies, packages them up, and her and Michael go around to local friends and businesses to give them out and let people know how thankful we are for them. It has turned into something really fun that we look forward to doing for years to come.

So Beka set out to baking! She made sugar, lemon cake, and peanut butter cookies by the dozen! The Oakley Kitchen was in full swing.

Beka has these containers that she keeps most of her baking goods in, and they were all open for business that day. 

Here she is in her favorite apron, baking away.

After the baking, she put about 5 cookies each into little parcels, and attached a note saying how thankful Team Oakley was for the recipient of the goodies. We had a list of who we were going to give them to, so Beka got to think about each person as she was making notes and tying ribbons, and reflect on how fortunate and blessed her and Michael are for knowing and being loved by all the people these cookies were going to. 

After they were all packaged and ready to go, Beka and Michael jumped in their car, and drove all over our tiny little city of Spring Hill giving these cookies away. We hit local restaurants that we love, businesses, and of course local heros such as fire departments and police stations. We also dropped some off at our friends' houses. We tried to be as sneaky as possible, and doorbell ditched many of the ones we love. They opened the door to some cookies, a note, and us spying at their confused faces from around the corner :)

It was a great time of realizing how blessed we are, and being able to show that to those we love and greatly appreciate. We cannot wait to do it again next year! Beka is going to have to start baking in August now. Our list keeps growing and growing (as if that was a bad thing).

Thanks for sharing this adventure with us!

Love,

Team Oakley