One thousand gifts challenge

So if you haven't read One Thousand Gifts, you really should. It's a NY Times Bestseller, an Amazon bestseller, and USA Today bestseller — but most importantly, the author is a Christian woman who clearly really loves Jesus and is committed to sharing joy, despite life's hardships. (And this book isn't all lovey-dovey — she's gone through some REALLY hard things in her life.) She has a great blog, and she's issued a challenge to her readers to list their blessings via blog once a week — totaling 1,000 for the year.

Obviously, I'm a little behind on the challenge (but apparently, you can start whenever, so I'm not really that behind) ... but better late than never, right? She has these great little banners that you're supposed to put on your site, but I can't get the image to show up on my blog — oh well. So, 1,000 blessings in a year means listing 20 per week ... wish me luck! Here's the list for this past two weeks:

1. Thankful for the ministry of NightLight Atlanta (and many other groups) working to end human trafficking in Atlanta, & glad I get to partner with them in a 40 Day Fast (I gave up sugar/sweets and fried food!)
2. Three of the Kennesaw RUF ladies are joining me in that fast — it is much easier to fast knowing that others are keeping you accountable!
3. Glad to be writing again — freelancing at World on Campus a little bit
4. The Green at Kennesaw's campus. We had an absolutely gorgeous day last week, and it brought hundreds of students outside to play.
5. Sweet friends who call and text to say hi
6. A precious note from Adam's sweet mom
7. Lots of blessings to write about in my spring RUF newsletter
8. E-mails from the office reminding me that summer conference is just around the corner (doesn't the beach and sunshine and good teaching sound wonderful?)
9. Getting to share about RUF with my church here in Kennesaw
10. Running twice without my knees hurting
11. Running a couple of times with my knees hurting — thankful that I have knees that still allow me to be active!
12. Fruit being on sale at Kroger (especially since I've given up desserts)
13. Finding my favorite gloves that have been missing for two weeks
14. E-mail. It's just a great invention.
15. Reduced fat Cheeze-Its. (They're still not good for you, but I am thankful for their deliciousness.)
16. The fact that mold hasn't come back to our apartment (after a long saga of deep cleaning, cutting holes in the walls and ceilings, finding the leak/problem, putting in new drywall, and repainting)_
17. The fact that I live in a nice complex with great repairmen who did all the work listed above. It would have been really bad if I had to do all that on my own.
18. StrangeBrew coffee (and the fact that they ship so I can have it every morning)
19. A weekend away in Townsend with Stephen and his mom
20. Valentines from Jake & Cole, and my parents

Dear Reflector crew (and anyone else who saw my Facebook profile picture today)

Photo credit: CJ LeMaster

Today marks the second year that I'm without a dear friend and college coworker, Adam. If you saw my Facebook profile picture change to the Radiohead bear today, this letter (see below) will help explain why. (You can read what I've previously written about Adam here, or read April's two blog posts here, or read Hannah's blogpost here. You can also read the editorial Kyle wrote the week that everything happened here.)

Today, The Reflector crew is celebrating Adam in Starkville by reading Dr. Seuss's "Oh The Places You'll Go!" in their staff meeting. They're also eating cupcakes from the State Fountain Bakery. (April and I thought it wouldn't be a proper reading or celebration without some delicious bakery sweets.) Most of them are younger, so they never had the chance to know Adam. April and I crafted this letter to help them understand why they're celebrating. 

To my family and friends — I love y'all dearly and am so thankful for each one of you. The Lord has used y'all mightily in my life, and I am a better person for knowing each of you. 

Today is my personal reminder to love others well and love them out loud. Don't ever forget to tell each other how grateful and thankful you are for each other, and be quick to encourage one another. 

Dear Reflector crew,

            We hope today is a little bit of a celebration. (Hope the delivery helps y’all celebrate since we can’t be there in person to help!) After talking about it, we realized most of y’all never knew Adam, and that’s a shame. Adam was one of those people who you love to have in the office. He was a hard worker, and went above and beyond his job description to make our lives easier. He was great at his job, and continually looked to make The Reflector better. There were so many little things he did behind the scenes simply because he wanted us to be better — he saved us so many times by catching little embarrassing errors. He always wanted the finished product to be the very best we could do.

            Adam was a great friend. You know how y’all pull those crazy long hours and don’t get any decent food? (not to mention sleep, social time outside of the office, weekends off, etc.) Adam was quick to go grab Abner’s, Zaxby’s, etc. (in other words, good, off campus food) — and he did so night after night, and would even buy you food if you couldn’t pay him back right away.

            He was really thoughtful and looked out for us. During his final year at the paper, several of us on staff couldn’t drive to campus — we walked or carpooled with roommates every day. On late nights or rainy afternoons, Adam willingly took all of us to our houses and apartments. He wouldn’t hear of us walking home alone in the dark.

            Losing Adam was devastating. He was an incredible asset to our team, and brought lots of laughter, hard work, diligence and talent to our group. When we lost him, we lost a family member. But instead of dwelling on how hard it was to lose him, we’ve chosen to remember a dear friend who loved us well and encouraged us to do our best at work. While most of you never knew him, we hope you can get a glimpse of just how special he was. You would have loved to be on staff with him.

            We could go on and on about how great Adam was, but we would need a whole ream of paper from Ms. Denise. :) So please ask Hannah, Julia, or Mrs. McDavid for some of their stories — and listen to them. In honor of Adam, enjoy the reading (as Hannah will tell you, the book is courtesy of Adam’s sweet parents) and the bakery treats. (They were some of Adam’s favorites … but then again, he liked almost everything from the bakery!) Feel free to blare Radiohead in your car, dance to Lady Gaga, ride a Bully Bike through the office, change your InDesign language to Russian, wear a cheap plastic ring on your finger all day, steal Julia’s scarf and dress up with it, re-hide the “Sword of Truth” somewhere in the office, write each other funny notes on yellow Post-Its and paste them all over the Macs, go take random photos, fall out of your chair at the office, come up with hilarious headlines and cutlines, make a ReflectorCat house ad … you get the idea.

            Most importantly, remember to tell each other that you’re thankful for one another and be grateful you get to spend time with each other. Rally around each other and encourage one another. (And this doesn’t just apply to your coworkers. Tell your friends, your family, those who you care about and those who care about you.) Don’t let people forget that you love them and are thankful for them. We know it sounds cheesy, but we mean it — don’t regret never taking the time to tell someone how grateful and appreciative you are for them, and how much they mean to you.

            We’re thankful for y’all and love y’all. We hope you celebrate Adam, friendship, good work, laughter and memories today.

Love,

April (Editor in Chief, class of 2011) and 

 Aubra (Managing Editor, class of 2010)

Why I didn't pull a Liz Lemon for jury duty

"I don't really think it's fair for me to be on a jury because I can read thoughts."

- 30 Rock's Liz Lemon (Tina Fey)

Fair warning: this is a little long. Several of my friends and students asked me to blog about my experience, and I promised to do so. (Y'all should comment so that I actually believe you read my blog!)

Back in November, I blogged about getting a summons for jury duty. It wasn't my most favorite Memphis experience ever, but it wasn't awful. I was thankful to be able to "choose" my time slot (they give you a chance to sign up for certain weeks, and I got my second preference), and was thankful that I had a friend serving the same week as me.

In December, I decided it would be wise and way cheaper to use Megabus instead of driving myself to Memphis and spending $100+ on gas. I booked a round-trip ticket for $15.50. (That's right: Atlanta to Memphis, Memphis to Atlanta for $15.50. If you travel, you really should check them out — they're legit, not sketchy, and the buses are clean and have outlets & free WiFi.) I worked it out to park at my friend Erin's house for the week, and she was graciously going to take me to the bus stop (you can't park your car there). Mom would pick me up Monday night, and was going to let me drive her car all week. She would take me back to the bus stop on Saturday morning, and Rachael would pick me up in Atlanta that afternoon, then I'd head back to Kennesaw. Simple.

That Monday was MLK Day. I had RUF staff meeting that morning, and was on the interstate just before noon. Typically, it takes me about 30-40 minutes to get to the bus stop, and my bus was leaving at 1:30. Assuming I didn't hit major traffic, I was going to be fine. But after five months of living this close to Atlanta, I should have known — never ever ever assume you're not going to hit major traffic. Leave way earlier than you need to — not just 45 minutes.

At 12:40, I exited the interstate and had three miles to drive to get to Erin's. I sat in traffic for 20 minutes because I had to drive right by an MLK center, and it was clearly having a program or something. When I got to Erin's, it was 1 p.m. We parked my car and headed out. We only had to go 2.3 miles to get to the stop, and Google Maps said there wasn't any traffic.

(Sometimes, Google Maps lies. I'm sure it's an accident, but it still happens.)

Low and behold, downtown Atlanta was packed. There was an MLK 5K that day, which caused lots of streets to be blocked off. Since the 5K was there, the Occupy Atlanta movement (still going strong here) had been moved a bit, causing more streets to be blocked off. (And no, Google Maps was still not showing any blinking red lines on the traffic maps. I checked.)

Erin was awesome, and kept driving until we found a way to get to the bus stop. Only problem — it was now 1:28. I jumped out of her car and ran up the first attendant I saw: "Is this the bus to Memphis?" The woman looked at me like I was nuts. "Nope." She pointed way down the street. "That one was."

Fail. I could still see the bus as it drove down the street. Fail.

Erin drove me back to her house, and I promptly got back into my car and drove myself to Memphis. So much for saving money on gas. (Don't worry about me spending money — see the end of this post.)

I arrived in Memphis that evening with no problems — just tired and not super happy with myself for missing the bus. Oh well. It was nice to see my parents, eat home cooked food, and watch TV on the couch before going to bed.

The next morning, I had to report at 8:30. I got up at 6:45 (ouch), ate, and had pulled out of my driveway by 7:35 — a little later than I had planned, but still good to go. I knew where I was going, and I knew where I wanted to park.

According to the radio, there were not one, not two, but THREE major accidents within a span of four miles from my house. My little easy 30 minutes-tops-straight-shot down Poplar turned into a nightmare. It took me 30 minutes to go about four miles — but after that, it was smooth sailing.

Almost.

So I'm literally a block from the Justice Center. I can see the building, I can see the expensive parking areas — I'm sitting at a red light at Danny Thomas and Poplar, and it's 8:12. I've cut it a little close, but I'm totally going to make it.

And then the light turns green. And then I hit the gas. And then ... my car won't go.

I almost burst into tears. For those of you who don't know me well — I am not a crier. (If you've ever seen me cry, it's because: 1. You're family. 2. You've seen me at a funeral. 3. You're a former roommate. 4. You worked with me at The Reflector during the 2010 spring semester. 5. You're someone I really love and trust. 6. A combination of the previous five statements.)

What did I do? Exactly what any girl does when something goes wrong — called Mom, then called Dad. Hands shaking, hazard lights flashing, wordlessly apologizing to everyone at the intersection, eyes watering uncontrollably, voice shaking over the phone — Mom graciously agreed to come meet me, but told me to call Dad to ask what to do with the car.

It's 8:21 and all I can think is, "They're totally putting out a bench warrant for me. They're filing contempt of court, and there's going to be a warrant for my arrest." Ridiculous, huh? (In all honesty, yes, they do this, but not if you're 15 minutes late. Duh.)

I called the justice department's secretary and informed her that my car had died, but I would be there as soon as I possibly could. Then I had the presence of mind to turn my car off and try restarting it.

Praise Jesus — it started right up, and I promptly pulled into the closest (and most expensive) parking lot I could find. There was $5 parking around the corner, but I didn't care — my car had made it into a parking lot, and I was not going to risk it dying again just to save $7.

I jogged past 201 Poplar (that's the infamous jail/criminal courthouse for all you non-Memphians, and good gracious, it is a sight to behold on a Tuesday morning after a long holiday weekend!) and jumped straight into a room of 400 other jurors. Not a seat to be found — oh well, no worries. That's what I get for being late.

Side note and slight rant here — not one man offered to give me his seat. In all honesty, I didn't mind; I'm 24 years old, healthy, and perfectly able to stand. (Good thing — those of us who were late ended up standing for almost three hours!) The thing that killed me was that many women came in right after me, and they were all older than me. One woman was on oxygen — and still not one man offered her his seat. To every healthy guy I know: If I ever see you do this, I'm revoking every single one of your man cards and you will not get them back. Ever. I'm serious. I know chivalry is not dead. I just spent five days in New York and (on several occasions) watched men offer their seats to women on crowded subways. Seriously guys — be a gentleman and offer the woman your seat, especially if she's over age 50 and especially if she's on oxygen!

OK, back to the jury duty tale. After three hours of listening to the commissioner, the rules, a judge thanking us for serving, lots of dumb questions (never ceases to amaze me what people want to know), and a roll call that took 20 minutes (it was hilarious to see adults trying to re-master this elementary skill), they started calling us for juries.

Guess who got called in the last round for criminal court, circuit 9?

"Oh, it's a criminal case, but it's probably just something little," I remember thinking as I followed the deputy.

After getting escorting upstairs and waiting for 30 minutes, the woman next to let out a low gasp. "Do you know who that is?" she whispered, pointing to a lawyer who had just exited our courtroom.

"No ma'am — I'm guessing a well-known lawyer?"

She whispered a name, looked at my confused face, and said, "He was one of Mary Winkler's lawyers!"

Uh oh. I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that this case I was about to serve on wasn't going to be something little. (And if you're not familiar with Mary Winkler, in a nutshell: she shot & killed her husband, served a little time, and now has her three children back with her. I never cite Wikipedia, but in this cases, just read the Wikipedia entry for further details. It made national news, but I knew about it mainly because of all the Memphis/local attention.)

Three hours later (they gave us two hours for lunch, and we had to wait another hour), the deputy announced to our group of 40 that 14 of us had been randomly selected by the computer as the first potential jurors (12 jurors, 2 alternates).

Guess who was juror #7?

My juror badge. It's now serving me as a bookmark.

I filed into the courtroom and took my seat in the jury box. Besides one young man sitting behind two lawyers (I figured he was the accused, and it turns out that he was), I looked like I was the only one in my twenties. I tried not to fidget under the bright spotlights and tried to be still in the wooden swivel chair as the judge began to talk to all of us. (But hey, I had been in a car for 6.5 hours the day before, then spent 3 hours standing that morning. I don't think I was very still. Oh well.)

His voice took a deeper turn as he said the charges were very serious.

I had joked with people about what I would do if I found out it was a murder trial. Personally, I think it would be hilarious to pull a Liz Lemon — minus the whole "everything you say is under oath, so don't lie because we'll send you to jail." Yeah. I was not about to do that ... but good grief, I did not want to get sequestered! (30 Rock fans — the full 30 second video of Tina Fey is here.)

The case wasn't murder. It was rape, which, as the judge said, "Rape is next worse thing to murder. In some cases, it might even be worse."

Yikes. This is not what I wanted for my first jury duty.

The judge talked to us for about 20 minutes, and then the prosecution got up and talked to us. The prosecution was two female lawyers from the state — persuasive, pretty, and poised. (Like my cheesy alliteration? I couldn't resist. It was all true. I love the classiness and poise of female lawyers — ignore my sweeping generalization.) Two men made up the defense — and yes, one of those lawyers is a well-known Memphian who was one of Mary Winkler's lawyers! (He wasn't the one who had walked out earlier, but they're partners in the same firm.) The men weren't quite as charming — in fact, it was really hard to hear the main one when he spoke to us, and he looked really tired.

The judge and both sides asked us questions for at least an hour. We were all required to give our names, our occupations, if we had a significant other (spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend), what our significant other's occupation was, and how long we had been together. Both sides took turns asking us questions — some personal like, "Have you ever been directly affected by a sexual crime?" and "Have you had any significant trauma in your life? If so, please elaborate" and some not as personal like, "So, Ms. Whitten, you work with college-aged girls? Does your job involve a lot of listening and meeting with girls?"

Yeah, after answering that question with a definitive "yes," I figured I was getting kicked off the jury. Excellent.

The deputy gave each side a slip of paper to write down names for preemptory challenges. (This means that both sides get the chance to kick of jurors without saying why.) It took the defense a while to decide, but the prosecution was quick. The judge read out five names — and mine wasn't one of them.

Rats.

Then it got quiet again, and those of us still left on the stand tried to figure out what was going on ... oh, both sides had another piece of paper ... so there's a round two.

Apparently the prosecution wrote a big "0" because they were finished in all of five seconds. The defense took forever. That's when my curious/journalist brain started going: I looked at those of us left and noticed that I was the only woman left on the jury who had said, "Yes, I have a boyfriend." Hmm. That made me think it was a boyfriend/girlfriend case. Three of the five kicked off admitted to knowing the "famous" defense lawyer and/or had a family member who he had represented. A fourth juror who said she was probably going to sympathize with the victim was kicked off. (That's one foolproof way to get yourself kicked off a trial!) The fifth juror seemed visibly tired and her job involved lab reports/tox screens at a hospital — though she said she never worked with rape kits.

Then the judge called out my name and another woman's name.

Yesssssssss!

The prosecution lawyers looked at the two of us sadly as we walked out (I think they thought we would have been sympathetic to their client) and whispered, "Sorry. Thanks, ladies."

We waited outside the courtroom, and the deputy came back outside. "Good news. Y'all are good to go home. See you in ten years and thanks for doing your civic duty."

As I walked back to my car (which started right up!), I should have found myself pretty irritated over the fact that I paid $15.50 for a bus I missed, spent $65 on gas (so far — that was just one-way), had my car die, pay $12 for parking and $7 for lunch in the rain (jurors only get paid $11/day in Memphis), stood for three hours because I was late, get assigned to criminal court, and then almost get placed on a rape trial. Instead, I found myself laughing at the craziness of all of it and thanking Jesus that my car had died in Memphis that day and not the day before in the middle of nowhere Alabama or Mississippi.

Thanks to my car woes, I stayed in Memphis for a few days getting it repaired. $495 later, it is running great! (It had been revving occasionally for months ... it doesn't do that anymore. Excellent.) And don't worry about the money for the repair and gas— my RUF account is healthy and has an emergency fund, so we are good to go. I will not be forced to eat ramen and crackers for the next month. (Have I mentioned RUF takes really good care of us? They do.)

Moral of this story? If you move states (or move somewhere else in your state), change your address, but also change your car tags and driver's license. If you don't, you are legally bound to show up for jury duty! (I didn't change mine because I'm trying to keep Tennessee residency — so yes, I totally deserved having to serve this time.)

There you have it — my jury duty epic novel. Here's to hoping I don't get summoned for federal court anytime soon.

New York update

This is my last "I'm super late updating the blog" post. And I'm going to excuse it a little bit because I started it over Christmas break in Memphis, but the Internet at my parents was just too slow to handle all the photos ... then I just got lazy and didn't update it once I got back to Kennesaw.

Way back in September, I realized I had a flight credit (thanks to a canceled flight this past summer) with Southwest that I needed to use fairly soon. I had planned on using it towards my May 2012 summer conference trip, but long story short, that just wasn't going to work. I told Stephen the dilemma, and he said, "You should go to New York for Christmas."

Um, yes of course. Why didn't I think of that?

So, I booked my trip in September and got a deal on tickets. I flew out of Nashville (because Atlanta doesn't get Southwest until February), but that was no big deal. I went a day earlier and stayed with my friend Hannah and her husband Caleb, who graciously watched over my car for the time I was gone. Despite it being 30 degrees, we hit up my favorite Nashville ice cream place — Jeni's. I miss that place! Then when I flew back into New York, I got to spend the night with my Murfreesboro roomie Tara, and visited with Mallory, the Vandy intern. Nashville was a nice bonus in the New York trip.

In New York, I stayed with one of my best friends — Madeline — from high school. She just got her master's from Christie's (you know, the place that just auctioned off all the Elizabeth Taylor collection? Yeah, no big deal), and she's staying in New York job hunting. She is a fabulous hostess, and graciously took me all around the city to do the not-so-touristy things. We ate lots of good food, saw lots of interesting art, did some shopping, did some more eating, you get the idea. I also got to catch up with two friends from journalism school — so great to see them and catch up.

I did take a ton of photos. I don't want this post to be forever long, so here are some highlights:

We saw lots of art. Here's just one of many pieces.

Some galleries were better than others. Yes, those are trash bags filled with aluminum cans. 

Madi said it's a critique of our society, talking about waste and consumption. I get that ... but still.

Madi & her boyfriend threw a fabulous Christmas party. Tacky Christmas 

wear was encouraged — thus my ridiculous fleece hat. 

Us at the Museum of Natural History — origami tree!

Madi had a department Christmas party one night, so I went exploring. 

And this series of photos is what happened that night.

These soldiers were everywhere at Rockefeller Plaza

The light show area at Rockefeller Plaza. 

Rockefeller Center — the ice rink is right below this.

Rockefeller Center in the background — huge!

The most touristy thing I did was visiting Top of the Rock (top of the Rockefeller Center). 

I was SO cold, but it was totally worth it. Best view of the city ... in my humble opinion.

My last night in the city, we went to the New York City Ballet's Nutcracker. 

(This is outside the theater — you can't take photos inside.) It was so wonderful! Plus, a guy 

proposed to his girlfriend during intermission (so sweet to see hundreds of strangers 

cheering and clapping), and Kelly Ripa walked right by us in the lobby after the 

performance. (She's cute and really tiny!)

That's not everything ... but I don't want to bore y'all. So fun to visit Madi (thanks for being a wonderful hostess!), and such a great way to start Christmas break. If you ever get the chance to visit New York at Christmas, do it!

Fall semester part 2 - photo edition

As promised, here's part two of the semester at Kennesaw! (Next up is the New York update ...)

In November, Georgia Tech hosted the first-ever semiformal for all the Georgia schools with RUF: GA Tech, UGA, Kennesaw, Mercer, Emory, Georgia Southern, and SCAD. The theme was the 1920's, and Kennesaw absolutely rocked it. It was so fun to get dressed up, visit with other RUF students, and dance the night away at the Georgia Tech's Alumni House.

The Kennesaw crew

Interns at the semiformal: Jake (Southern Miss) came to visit Rachael (Emory)

Thanks to Emily C (who works for RUF's main office in Atlanta), our girls Bible study was able to help NightLight Atlanta with their Christmas project — wrapping 100 Jesus Storybook Bibles and 100 giftbags for children who live in at-risk areas. NightLight Atlanta is "a faith-based, grassroots movement that addresses the complex issues of commercial sexual exploitation through prevention, intervention, restoration, and education. NightLight Atlanta seeks to mobilize the Body of Christ to loose the chains of injustice, while partnering with local law enforcement and service providers to set the captives free." (from NightLight Atlanta's website) Emily invited us to come help write notes in the Bibles, wrap them, and fix gift bags for the kids. Two of our girls who live in the area were able to attend the Christmas party and meet some of the kids. 

The girls writing notes in each Bible before wrapping them.

The girls who wrote, wrapped, and tied ribbons — thanks for hosting us, Emily!

Part of the fun of Kennesaw and Atlanta is trying all the yummy food places around the area. One of said places is Big Pie in the Sky, which has been featured on Man vs. Food. (The challenge: 11 pounds of carnivore pizza — two people have one hour to eat it all and not throw up. Sick dog. It's $50 to try, but if you win, you get $250.) The pizza slices are as large as a baby, and they're cheap. We visited Big Pie in the Sky right before exams — pizza is brain food, right?

See what I mean about the slice?

To close out the semester, we had a Christmas party at my apartment. We wore tacky Christmas sweaters, ate tons of delicious food, had a gingerbread house competition (the guys beat the girls), sang some Christmas carols, played Christmas charades, and watched "A Christmas Story." It was wonderful to have everyone over — I'm very glad to have an apartment big enough to host people!

Singing Christmas songs — we had a full house!

The crew — so so so thankful for them!

That is our fall semester in a photographic nutshell. Thank you again for your prayers and support!

Fall semester part I — the photo edition

I figured since it's now January and we're into our spring semester, I should give a brief update on last semester! (As a side note, one of my New Year's resolutions was to blog more. We'll see how that goes.) Here's part one:

In September, Kennesaw RUF joined with UGA, Georgia Tech, Alabama A&M, Samford, Emory, and Mercer for fall conference in Temple, Georgia. We had a great time of fellowship and teaching, and the weather was wonderful.

Most of the Kennesaw crew at fall conference

One of the fun things about transferring has been exploring a new city — mainly Atlanta, but Kennesaw and surrounding areas are fun, too. Jennifer and I hit up an apple festival in Ellijay — who knew that Georgia was famous for apples as well as peaches?

This is what happens when you ask a random guy to take a picture — dark, but hey, we got one!

More fun things about Atlanta — when friends come to visit you for a weekend, you get to go all over town doing things! Two of my college roommates came for a weekend, and we hit up IKEA, Flip Burger, and the Atlanta Aquarium. 

Starfish at the aquarium

I went to visit Stephen in Knoxville for a weekend in October, and he surprised me by taking me to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville! It is absolutely beautiful, and we definitely want to go back. 

Stephen has all the photos of us together — he took this one outside the house. HUGE.

RUF had staff training in Atlanta for four days at the end of October. A group of us met up in Chattanooga the weekend beforehand to hang out — and celebrate three of our birthdays. Great way to spend my 24th!

The intern crew after church in Chattanooga. Thankful for them!

I got back from staff training and rushed over to campus for what I thought was our weekly girls Bible study ... instead, my sweet students completely caught me off guard by throwing me a surprise party!

Can you tell that the theme they picked was "White Trash Bash"?

To close out October, we did pumpkin carving. I think we did pretty well, don't you?

Mine is the one with the goofy face

The gift of life

It was January 2007. I was just starting my second semester as a freshman at Mississippi State, and was enrolled in a public speaking class. During one of the first classes, my teacher spoke to us about topic selection, and how to choose a proper topic for your audience. She explained that polarizing issues like abortion, gay marriage, and politics caused disputes, and some of those issues could really be quite personal for some audience members.

She then brought up the topic of organ donation.

"Organ donation?" I remember thinking. "People are opposed to that?"

While I've learned some people are opposed to it, that wasn't the point my teacher was trying to make. She told our class that sometimes certain topics would strike closer to home for audience members; and for her, organ donation was one of those topics.

I don't remember all the details, but long story short, her first child was sick and needed a transplant as the only option for getting better. He didn't get one. If I remember correctly, he wasn't even two years old yet.

That year, when I went home to update my driver's license, I made sure to register as an organ and tissue donor. I had always thought about it, and had even mentioned it to my family, but never made it official. Now, my Tennessee license is signed on the back and I've got a heart stamped on my license photo.

Today, The Commercial Appeal ran a beautiful story by David Waters on how one young man's tragic death resulted in life for five people. While his death is sad, the story is a beautiful picture of redemption — God bringing life and second chances for people close to death. You can read the story about Michael Gilmore here.

If you're not registered as a organ or tissue donor and are not sure how to register, you can visit Donate Life America and select your state for registration information. (Be sure to tell your family members about your plans.) It's easy, and it's quick. As of October 2011, 112,178 people were waiting for an transplant. 1,746 of those are children.

I'm thankful my public speaking teacher shared her story that day. I'm also thankful for people like Michael Gilmore who register their donation wishes and for families like the Gilmores who honor those wishes.