Mullet, Tantrums, and Orphans

I'd like to preface this post with the following: The Mullet Festival is not a festival about the hairstyle...it's a festival about the fish. And while I live in a town that celebrates Mullet...I do not celebrate Mullet nor have I ever eaten Mullet and I recognize how weird and southern this festival sounds.

Every year around this time, the traffic gets crazy, the country music blares, and the smell of all things fried and bad for you fills the air and you know it's here: the Mullet Festival. Usually, I avoid the Mullet Festival like the plague...It's almost always super hot, you're pretty much guaranteed to spend $50 on foods that are gonna put you up and over close to 10,000 calories in an afternoon people and I'm not in the slightest a country music fan *gasp!* Yes I know, you can stop reading my blog now and dismiss me as crazy. But seriously, the extent of the country music I may listen to would be Taylor Swift and really, country? I highly doubt a country music fan counts her as country. So, this year, Andrew and I were pretty much okay with skipping the festival completely this year. Now a county fair, we'd totally hit that up. But the Mullet Festival, we're were kinda done with it.

"It's only for a few hours" my mom tried her best not to beg. And seriously internet, I wanted to throw a tantrum right there. I wanted to stomp my foot and pout and cry "I don't wanna" and then cross my arms across my chest. But, being that I'm not five anymore, that's not exactly an acceptable response. Instead, I agreed to, along with my mom, go. to. the. mullet. festival.

You see, my mom works with Heart of the Bride Ministries, an organization dedicated to helping the needs of orphans around the world. At the moment, they are currently focused in Haiti, Kenya, Ukraine, Zambia and Uganda. Part of how they raise support for the orphanages in those areas is through the sales of their Back to Africa handmade jewelry. The story of the jewelry can be found on the Back to Africa website because a short version just doesn't do the story justice. At the Mullet Festival, local businesses, farmers, and other vendors get to set up booths to sell whatever it is they sell or get the word out about their product. Seriously people, some of these booths are hysterical. So, despite how much I hate country music, I knew that if I compared it to supporting my mom for a few hours at the Back to Africa booth, I'd be there in a heart beat. Even if it meant listening to really bad music, get covered in dust and smoke, and eat way too many calories in one sitting, I'd be there.

The Mullet Festival ends today {alcohol free day if you're interested} so stop by the Back to Africa booth and tell them I sent you. Pick up a few beads and get to know a bit about the orphanages you're helping to support. And if you cant make it out there today, you can contact my mom {Amy} at Heart of the Bride and she'll give you directions to their store front in Niceville.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie