Fall semester catch up: Part 2

As promised, here's part 2 of our fall semester at KSU RUF ... photo edition.

Here are just a few of the lovely ladies in our weekly Wednesday night Bible study. We've got through Tim Keller's "The Prodigal God," and it has been excellent. I'm so thankful for the discussion, conversation, and transparency in this group. I look forward to Wednesday nights just as much as I do Tuesday nights! (large group night)

This photo is what happened when I asked for their best awkward family beach pose. (Side note: We have girls from every class — freshman, sophomore, junior, senior — in this picture!)

Over the summer, my intern friends at Emory introduced me to a fun event called "Snap, Crackle, Pop Culture Night." You have people bring a box of cereal, and you provide the milk, spoons, and bowls. (And in our case: coffee and OJ.) Everyone gets the chance to try lots of types of cereal (thus the "snap, crackle, pop," and then you sit down to eat while watching a movie (thus the "pop culture"). We did one at my house and it was a hit — I just need a bigger den and a bigger TV. I think we crammed 24 into my tiny den to watch "The Hunger Games." Shout out to Rachael and Jake for letting KSU RUF shamelessly steal y'alls idea. We loved it, and we're definitely doing it again!

Joel (senior), Chelsea (senior), and Lucy (sophomore) going for the cereal — this was maybe half of the selection. Note to self: have a bigger kitchen table for the next "Snap, Crackle, Pop Culture" night.

In October, we headed to fall conference in Temple, Georgia with other area schools: UGA, Emory, GA Tech, Alabama A&M, Samford, UAB, and Mercer. (Sorry if I forgot anyone.) Rev. Les Newsom (former RUF campus minister at Memphis, then Ole Miss; now the RUF area coordinator for RUF Midsouth) spoke to us about faith. This is definitely a topic that I've talked about with students, and the weekend talks helped us continue some great conversations. Les, thank you for speaking and bringing the Word!

Our fall conference group — 26 students! We loved spending the weekend with them.

If you're friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that my hair was pink for the weekend. We challenged Emory's RUF to see who could get the most students to the conference. The prize: the winning school's intern had to dye her pink for the weekend. We beat Emory by 8, so my hair went pink for the weekend!

Taylor (one of our seniors) prepping my hair on Saturday morning. 

Candice (junior) took the photos and Taylor did my hair. Thanks, ladies! Now I 

know I can pull off the Katy Perry/Sydney Bristow look for Halloween next year.

"Winning" intern (me) and "losing" intern (Rachael). You decide who 

looks like she ended up winning for the weekend ...

Thankful that I didn't have to sport a mohawk like Justin (UGA's campus minister). UGA got 100 students to fall conference, so Justin had to do a mohawk. Look out, Bowen — you're totally doing this for SuCo!

We do a weekly Thursday lunch in the Commons. (The Commons is Kennesaw's state of the art "cafeteria" — I use that term loosely because it's way better than any college cafeteria I've ever had. It's actually ranked in Newsweek and "The Daily Meal" for best college food.) It's a lot of fun, and I love hanging out there every Thursday. One week, the new and improved Scrappy (KSU's mascot) stopped by our table.

David (senior) and Joel (senior) talking basketball with Scrappy.

Some of y'all know that I've tried to start running somewhat consistently. I've learned that if I pay money for it (a gym membership or 5Ks), I'm more likely to actually run and train. In October, I jogged a 5K with Chelsea, who graciously stuck with me, even though she totally could have run the whole thing and made great time. Thanks, Chelsea!

The run was at night, so we had glowstick bracelets and leg/arm bands. And yes, we're sporting RUF SuCo airbrush t-shirts. Pretty sure we were the only two running in airbrush tanks!

Three of our girls hosted an epic Halloween party at their apartment. We had a great time with the photobooth that Taylor (one of our seniors) set up. If you want to see more photos, check out the album on Facebook.

I went as Sleeping Beauty (hello recycled college costume) and Laura Kate (freshman) went as '80s workout Barbie!

I'm the one in the back wearing the helmet (that was part of Kevin's Tron costume). We've also got Poison Ivy (Lexi), Supergirl (Anna), flapper dancer (Mallory), Wonder Woman (Chelsea), tiger (Hannah), and Batgirl (Taylor).

Georgia Tech's RUF hosted the second annual fall semiformal in November. This year's theme was Hollywood. We weren't exactly sure what to do with that, so basically we just put on nice clothes and hit the dance floor. Thanks, GA Tech for having us!

Semiformal with Frances (sophomore)

All three of these ladies (Sally, Aubri, and Christa) are new to RUF this year!

I have a few more photos to add (and lots to write), but this will do it for now. More to come later ...

One thousand gifts challenge, weeks 4 & 5

Well, I had it going for three weeks in a row ... oh well.

65. More amazing weather. It really does seem like spring (well, summer) is here to stay. I hate cold weather, so this makes me incredibly happy.

66. Kennesaw RUF started ministry team interest meetings, and we've got students coming! Praise Jesus.

67. Being reminded of the basics of RUF/thankful for what it stands for.

66. Kennesaw's SABAC (Student Activities & Budget Advisory Committee) awarded RUF money so that we can scholarship students for RUF summer conference! (How amazing is that?! I've never heard of a school that does this.) We had one of our students go present to the committee and tell them about summer conference, why we go, what we learn, why it's good to take students, how it builds community, etc., and then we were awarded money.) This money greatly enables RUF to take more students and offer a reduced price to an awesome conference. We currently have 19 students signed up (and 2 more have said they're coming — they just have to register). I'm amazed and super excited.

67. On that note, it's less than 40 days until summer conference. Get me to the beach.

Our logo/t-shirt design for this year. I like it.

68. My grandmother celebrated another birthday this month! I am so thankful for her kindness, graciousness, and caring spirit.

69. Safety for our students over their spring break. Yes, it was a couple of weeks ago, and yeah, we had not one but two students end up with broken ankles (separate trips, separate incidents!), but it made me realize how fortunate we are to have all of them return back safely to Kennesaw.

70. Kiefer Sutherland being back on TV. (Is that shallow? Oh well. Anyone else watching Touch? I'm intrigued. And Jack Bauer is the man.)

71. Celebrating lots of birthdays this past month — not just my grandmother, but several of my students AND my boyfriend!

72. Traveling mercies to Birmingham (with bad weather), then to Jackson, then back to Birmingham, then back to Kennesaw — all in one weekend.

73. The reason I did all that traveling — to be part of one of my dear roommate's wedding! Two of my favorite people got married and I was incredibly blessed to be part of their wedding. Rob and Annalissa, it was a joy to be with y'all and to celebrate the Lord bringing y'all together.

The four of us lived together at State our senior year. I love y'all dearly!

74. Seeing and catching up with lots of dear friends at the wedding. Y'all are an incredible encouragement and blessing to me, and I miss y'all!

75. Having a free place to stay in Jackson — thanks Amy!

76. Being back in Mississippi for a bit. (It's not home, and I don't want to move back, but I do miss it and enjoy visiting.)

77. Stephen getting interviews/applications in with several companies. (Add him to your prayer list for jobs please!)

Team RUF Runners ready for the Atlanta Color Run: Jessie, Mallory, Lexi, me, Chelsea, Anna, Jen, & Kayla.

78. Getting to run in the Atlanta Color Run with some of Bible study girls and Jen! SO FUN. Memphis and Nashville friends — y'all gotta do the ones there in October. (And side note, those of who know me should realize that me agreeing to do a 5K is huge. Granted, I didn't get to run the whole thing due to lots of walkers/it being super crowded/strollers/a super narrow path for running, etc., but I found myself wanting to run more of it! What? Who am I?!) On another note — I'm still trying to wash the pink and blue out of my hair (six washes and it's still there!), so please forgive the random color streaks in my hair.

Jen, Kayla, me, Lexi, and Anna after the race!

79. The Lord watching over my aunt who had surgery to remove cancer this weekend. (Add her to prayer list too, please.)

80. Catching up with a couple of people via phone this week. (Thank y'all for bearing with me and my terrible phone skills.)

81. Spicy salsa (like "clear out your sinus cavities" spicy). Hit the spot this week.

82. Baking (Specifically this week, baking a cake for birthdays. Don't you love how it makes the house smell so good? Mmm.)

83. The fact that my fast from sweets/desserts is almost over. I'm so tempted to cave. I've forgotten what chocolate tastes like.

84. The apartment pool area staying open — as you can see from the photo, we can't swim in it yet (not that I'm big on that anyway), but catching the sunshine rays and getting some much-needed vitamin D? Yes please.

No water = they do not want us swimming yet

85. My not-so-little Honda Passport hit 189,000 miles today. Thankful that it's still running and doing well.