Another Beautiful Bundle......

Amber Knight gave birth to Kayleigh Danielle Knight Wednesday at 9 PM. Jules sent a picture in and I thought I would share it with everyone. Amber worked for us until she became an expectant mom and now she will stay at home with little Kayleigh. Congratulations to Mitchell and Amber!!

Yvonne

Words to Live By

"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves, they have the first secret of success." — Norman Vincent Peale: Author, The Power of Positive Thinking.

Introducing Gavin Lee Ross

Special Delivery

The stork made a special delivery to Demika and her husband Joey last night. They now have a baby boy named Gavin Lee Ross. He was born by C-Section around 8:00 last night. He weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 19 inches long. Congratulations to Demika and Joey!!

Bridget

In our next Area Manager's meeting Relay for Life is going to be a topic on our agenda. We have 2 offices that are VERY excited to get started on next year's event. Last year Janna, Bridget, and I spent a lot of time trying to get everything together. We want to start early so we do not have such a hetic time this year. Our goal last year was $10,000, which we did hit! We have not set a goal for this year but I sure hope it is WAAAAAAAY over $10,000. We have a great team and I think if we ALL pull together it can be done. Put on your thinking caps and send in some fundraising ideas! We have a competition in the making but we needs so ideas before we announce it. Please E-MAIL ALL ideas to me (Kim)! Area Managers

The Newest to Reach the Goal.....

Congratulations to our latest office to reach their goal....SOUTHAVEN. This office is the first office up north to reach their goal for the 3rd quarter!! They have had a tough time with two brand new ladies taking over and making it work! Kudos to Angela and Danielle for their hard work and dedication to the growth of that store. Good luck to all of you who are still trying and those who are still maintaining!!!! Have a fantastic week. It looks like we may have a few more to announce by week's end! Yvonne

Reform and Macon

Macon Office

Reform Office

Good Afternoon!

I thought it would be neat to share pictures of some of our offices from time to time. That way everyone who reads the blog will know what these offices look like. Today I am posting a picture of the Reform, Alabama office and the Macon, Mississippi office! I took the picture of the Macon store on the 3rd so their parking lot is a little crowded. Julie and Wendy (and myself) were doing some business that day!! :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Bridget

Do you hear WEDDING BELLS ...

Congratulations to Lekeitha Leverson (formly Lekeitha Ramsey). She just said I do!! We wish lots of great memories and a wonderful honey moon for Lekeitha and Rodney!

Area Managers

Great Job Sailors!

Mrs. Delois and I frequently look over reports for each company. Tuesday, we looked at comparison reports to show how well we are doing this year versus next year. We did VERY well in the Return Checks category. We have increased the income for Return Checks by more than 40%! As I sat back grinning over my "pet project", I thought of sail boats. I know, it's a stretch, but hear me out. While the captain of the boat may point it in a certain direction, the wind carries it to it's destination. While Luke or I or the Area Managers may point the company in a certain direction, it is ALL of the Managers and Assistant Managers who put wind in the sails. We could not do any of this without you and it is your hard work and dedication that has brought us this increase and you deserve the praise!! Thanks so much for picking up the phone, sending out letters and carrying checks to the bank!!!!!!! You certainly are the heart and soul of the organization. Have a great rest of the week! Yvonne

And The Winner Is.........

Luke and Ashley's daughter Andie won 2008 Tiny Miss Itawamba this weekend. She also won Most Photogenic for the pageant. Doesn't she look sweet?????

THANK YOU...

to everyone who helped with the meetings. These meetings took a lot of time and preperation to get ready. We could have not done it if we did not have such a great team. We had several people who filled in a long way from home and we appreciate it so much. Thanks to Stefanie and Belinda for taking care of the food and getting their back office ready for the meeting. If you have any comments or suggestions about the meetings please lets us know. Thanks again for everyone pulling together to make these meeting possible. Thanks Area Managers

Look Around But Never Down

Sometimes we think that we are the only ones ever wronged and we can tend to complain, but if we look around we can always find folks who deserve the best of life but never seem to get it. I ran across this story of a lady who did right just because it was right to do. Sure, she got punished for it and never received due recognition, but because of it more than 2500 children got to live! Hope ya'll enjoy the story and what we can all learn from it... Have you heard the story about the runner-up for the Nobel Peace Prize? Irena Sendlerowa (1910-2008). May 12 marked the death of a 98-year-old lady named Irena.During WWII, Irena received permission from the Nazis to work in the Warsaw ghetto as a plumbing/sewer specialist.She had an ulterior motive...Being German, she knew the Nazis' plans for the Jews and smuggled infants out in the bottom of the large tool box she carried. Larger children were placed in a burlap sack in the back of her truck. Also in the back was a dog that she had trained to bark each time the Nazi guards allowed her out of the ghetto and back in.The soldiers, of course, wanted nothing to do with the dog, and its barking covered any noise made by the infants and small children Irena managed to smuggle out approximately 2,500 children before she was finally caught. When she was captured, the Nazis beat her severely, breaking both her arms and her legs.Irena kept a record of the names of all the children she smuggled out of that Warsaw ghetto and kept them in a glass jar buried under a tree in her back yard.After the war, she tried to locate any parents who may have survived so she might reunite the child with its family. Most, of course, did not survive the Holocaust, and the vast majority of the surviving children were placed in foster homes or adopted.Last year Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but she lost to Al Gore, who won the award for presenting a slide show on Global Warming. I'm sure she didn't care...she had already saved the lives of 2500 children!! Have a great Friday and wonderful weekend! Remember to look around for the silver lining!! Yvonne

And The Winners Are....

Sometimes it takes a while to tally the results but we wanted to be absolutely sure of the winners of the monthly competition and now we are! Active Write Offs: Hernando won with 13 vehicles Return Check Total Collected: Baldwyn won with $3923.12 Return Check Net: Fayette won with $-1530.75 Names will be drawn from each office for those winners. Congratulations to Belinda, Lekeitha, Michelle Storey, Bethany Elrod and Christy Allen. Ya'll have a great Friday! Yvonne

Life is Full of Firsts

Whether it's first day of school or first day back, life is full of first time situations. Bridget and Heather both sent their babies off to the very first day of school and I suspect they are a little emotional about it. I was when I sent my brand new middle school student yesterday. Here's a look at Aubrey Adams' first day and Garrett Swader's first day.

Hope all of you who have them are having a great time getting your children back to school. Send us some pictures so we can share with everyone! Have a great rest of the week.

Yvonne

A Good Reminder!!!!

life is too short grudges are a waste of perfect happiness laugh when you can apologize when you should and let go of what you can’t change. Love deeply and forgive quickly take chances… give everything and have no regrets life is too short to be unhappy you have to take the good with the bad

smile when you’re sad love what you got and always remember what you had always forgive and try to forget learn from your mistakes But never regret people change and things go wrong but always remember Life goes on!!!!!!!

Please do not forget that I need your Santa list. I will try to have everyone's SECRET SANTA name before the end of the month.

It's a GIRL!!!

Congratulation to Bethany Elrod!! She just found out that she and Josh are having a baby girl!

Choices

Tarsha from the Holly Springs Office sent me this email. I had read it before but I always like to remember that we have a choice every morning!! Jerry is the manager of a restaurant. He is always in a good mood. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would always reply: 'If I were any better, I would be twins!' Many of the waiters at his restaurant quit their jobs when he changed jobs, so they could follow him around from restaurant to restaurant Why? Because Jerry was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was always there, telling him how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him 'I don't get it! No one can be a positive person all of the time.. How do you do it?' Jerry replied, 'Each morning I wake up and say to myself, I have two choices today. I can choose to be in a good mood or I can choose to be in a bad mood. I always choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be victim or I can choose to learn from it. I always choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I always choose the positive side of life.' 'But it's not always that easy,' I protested. 'Yes it is,' Jerry said. 'Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations.. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.. It's your choice how you live your life..' Several years later, I heard that Jerry accidentally did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business. He left the back door of his restaurant open And then in the morning, he was robbed by three armed men. While Jerry trying to open the safe box, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the hospital. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, 'If I were any better, I'd be twins. Want to see my scars?' I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. 'The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,' Jerry replied. 'Then, after they shot me, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or could choose to die. I chose to live.' 'Weren't you scared' I asked? Jerry continued, 'The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine.. But when they wheeled me into the Emergency Room and I saw the expression on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'He's a dead man.. I knew I needed to take action.' 'What did you do?' I asked. 'Well, there was a big nurse shouting questions at me,' said Jerry. 'She asked if I was allergic to anything.' 'Yes,' to bullets, I replied. Over their laughter, I told them: 'I am choosing to live. Please operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.' 'Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day you have the choice to either enjoy your life or to hate it. The only thing that is truly yours - that no one can control or take from you is your attitude, so if you can take care of that, everything else in life becomes much easier.

Way to go Okolona!!

By now everyone should know how important goals are to Luke and the company. We set quarterly goals to encourage everyone to set their own personal goals. Crystal Dabbs set her own goal of having $100,000 loaned out in Okolona. With Crystal's hard work and the help of Nicole and Bea she met this goal. Way to go ladies! Keep up the hard work!!

Vernon CAD !!!

It was hot outside, but it was fun!! We served 200 hotdogs with smiles. We had a great crowd. We even had an officer stop by for a couple of hotdogs and he visited with us for about 30 minutes.

Charlon please tell your mother, Delores, thank you for helping us. Despite the heat, she greeted customers and helped keep everything clean. We enjoyed her company.

Janna