Reminder on why I'm pro-life

The link that I've posted below is hard, horrible, and graphic (descriptively, not visually) read on the sobering reality of abortion in the United States, but one that I want you to read anyway (if you're over age 13). Obviously abortion is something very real to me, and I'm grateful to the Lord for keeping me from being one of those aborted babies!

Thank you Ada Moore for posting this via Facebook, and thank you Kelly Clinger for sharing your story. May the Lord continue to use your story and life for His glory, and may He continue to give you boldness!

"We Can't Handle the Truth About Abortion" - Kelly Clinger

One thousand gifts challenge, week 6

86. Hunger Games premiere (at midnight) — yes, that was a couple weeks ago, but I forgot to put it on the list

87. Being with family (immediate and extended) for Easter — and my aunt looking great and feeling well enough to be with us and eat!

88. Finding an old gift card that still has money on it

89. The home button working (somewhat consistently) on my iPhone

90. Stephen sweetly cleaning out my iPhone and case after I mentioned that it still had colored powder in it from the Color Run

91. OH! Being able to eat sweets/sugar/desserts again because the 40 day fast is over!

92. Part of Poplar Pike/Park being repaved in Memphis — a lovely unexpected surprise

93. Homemade food (thanks for cooking, Mom)

94. Pineapple (Mom send me home to Kennesaw with a whole one — yum)

95. Good discussion at last week's Bible study, even with a small turn out

96. Being reminded that good discussion and "success" isn't dependent upon the number of students at Bible study

97. Summer conference filling up quickly — so glad to see students excited about a week of fellowship and teaching

98. Mindless TV. Sometimes you just need to turn your brain off for a bit.

99. Not having to get my windshield replaced (I have a couple new cracks in it — but no new windshield yet)

100. Jerry's Sno Cones in Memphis with my brother and cousins

101. Being home with my family this past weekend

102. My campus minister graciously encouraging me to read my Bible this past week

103. The tankini that I needed being on sale at Target (hello summer conference!)

104. Friends and family who are good listeners and graciously put up with me

105. Gas not being $4/gallon yet

106. Pash getting to enjoy Scotland and England this week with our cousin Mary Ellen

107. My mom doing incredibly sweet things for me this past weekend — like just being at home and sitting with me and doing my laundry (even washing my dirty Color Run shoes!)

108. My dad doing incredibly sweet things for me this past weekend — like filling up my tank with gas and making sure I had enough oil in my car

109. Beautiful photography — like these wonderful photos from Annalissa and Rob's wedding (http://www.sullyclemmer.com/2012/04/mississippi-wedding-annalissa-rob/)

110. Coming home to Kennesaw today to find a package and kind note from Adam's dear parents. They have no idea, but it was exactly what I needed.

111. Safety in traveling home to Memphis for Easter (and traveling back to Kennesaw)

112. My iPod — helps keep me company on long car trips

113. Podcasts and sermons — I listened to Brian Habig, Nathan Tircuit, & Brian Sorgenfrei this weekend thanks to iTunes/iPod/technology. Wonderful.

114. Smiling at my reflection in the mirror when I see the stray strands of pink in my hair left over from the Color Run (although to be completely honest, I'm a little ready for it to go away)

115. Chocolate

116. Being home at Riveroaks for Easter and Good Friday services

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.

One thousand gifts

Three weeks in a row — woohoo!

44. My parents celebrated 29 years of marriage this week. I don't think I have to say anything else — that's pretty impressive. I'm thankful for them and for the godly example that they've been.

45. Veggies at the school cafeteria that aren't soaked in salt

46. Strawberries AND blueberries on sale this week at Kroger (side note: blueberries were my favorite snack as a kid. Mom used to stick a big bowl on them on the kitchen table and I'd finish them off — but oddly enough, I named my favorite doll "Strawberry," not "Blueberry")

47. Aloe (I got sunburned last week!)

48. Daffodils blooming on campus

50. Trees, flowers, grass, etc. blooming everywhere

51. Allergy medicine to help with all that blooming (today's pollen count is over 9,000! yuck!)

52. Ladies Bible study — the insight, encouragement, and fellowship it provides for me

53. A lit and safe pathway at the park for early evening runs

54. Grace (and a little bit of wisdom) in listening and participating in some hard conversations

55. Growing relationships with my girls

56. Not just knowing but seeing God at work in the lives of students

57. Hymns — thankful for them for lots of reasons, but here's two thoughts: 1. Glad I grew up in a church and a family where we sang them all the time 2. Glad my church, family, voice teacher, and choir teachers taught me the importance of memorizing the words — which all came back to me this weekend while singing a baby to sleep!

58. A long hike with good conversations, fellowship, and rain (and safety during the last two miles where we hiked back on the road to our car!)

59. The marriage conference at Midway Pres last weekend

60. Home cooked food at that conference — it's been a big fruit, oatmeal, cafeteria food, and cereal week, so it was especially exciting to get good food

61. The book of Deuteronomy — it's part of the RUF Bible reading program this month, and Chris is preaching through the Ten Commandments this semester. I haven't read it in a while ... and it's nice to be "rediscovering" it.

62. Finding a knee brace for my 90 year-old knees — and I can run (pretty well) while wearing it!

63. Red Gatorade (the not so sugary kind. I forgot the actual name)

64. Lots of glorious sunshine last week and this week

One Thousand Gifts Challenge, week 2

The One Thousand Gifts challenge continues:

21. My supporters. I got to send out newsletters this past week, and it's a joy and blessing to be able to thank God for each one of them as I fold, sign, and seal their letters. Words cannot express how incredibly grateful I am for each one of them.

22. Sharpie pens. My fav. I always keep a couple on hand, and I used them a lot this week for newsletter duty.

23. Friends who are kind enough to proofread my personal statement (for grad school) on super short notice and give me good feedback. (Thanks, Kyle, April, and Hannah!)

24. My alma mater — for many reason, but here's one unique one: Mississippi State plants a tree for every student (and faculty member) who dies before they finish school/while working at school. (They get permission from the family to do so, but the university pays for it and puts a plaque up under the tree.) I always thought that was really special, and it just adds to the beauty of the campus. Last week, my journalism adviser posted a photo of the one they planted for my friend Adam. It will look absolutely gorgeous in the fall.

The tree looks a little scrawny without leaves, so here's the plaque.

25. Yogurt. Yep, that simple.

26. Good conversations with friends — specifically Rebekah, Katy, April, & Amy in the last two weeks.

27. Being able to share a former struggle/hardship with someone (and trusting that part of the reason the Lord put me through it is to help and share with others).

28. Spring break. Being able to take a break.

29. Seeing Stephen for a whole weekend.

Final UT home game this season — and they won!

30. Traveling mercies while driving to Knoxville. The weather was pretty nasty, and I missed all of it.

31. Stephen fixing the messed up screws on my MacBook. (They weren't put in properly after I had my battery replaced, and it had been bothering me for months.)

32. A great church service in Knoxville last Sunday with a challenging message on forgiveness.

33. New brakes for my car, and the Goodyear guys who looked out for me and my safety.

34. RUF for doing such a wonderful job of loving its employees and taking great care of us. They have really displayed the love and character of Christ to me, and are incredibly patient and gracious.

35. Pandora while I work, cook, clean, and study.

36. Reading the chain e-mails in my intern class and seeing how the Lord is blessing our crew with jobs, entering seminary, marriages, and a call to a third year of the internship.

37. On that note, especially thankful for my crew of third year RUF interns. There's going to be a good number of us, and I'm really excited about serving with them for another year.

38. This sweet kid:

Don't worry — she's not mine.

39. The Gospel Coalition, specifically, its wonderful website with blogs, resources, and much more.

40. Having my parents and sister in town for a weekend, getting to hang out, eat, and explore.

41. Finding another ticket to The Color Run 5K so that Jen can join us.

42. The promise of 80 degree weather this week.

43. Sandals/flipflops — and being able to wear them again!

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)