Lacey!

So I know it's been too long since i blogged. Now I will be doing new friend interviews, and we can learn about people I meet in the booming BCS metropolis! I got a new computer over the break and I can even take photos of my interviewee!!!! The first interview is Miss Lacey Craig, Lacey is a student at Texas A&M, class of '09, from Longview, TX. She went to high school we just discovered with my second cousins, and they live a block away from her. The same second cousins that roomed with one of best friends growing up at Baylor...How fun is that? She is terrified of whales and they wrote an article about her in all Aggie students main news source, the Battalion. She is facing the ever frustrating dilemma of registering for next semester's classes at 5:30 am tomorrow. What can I say? In the 2 minutes I've known her, she is a woman of strong character, facing the real battles of a college student. And our last mind numbing fact is that Lacey has a staple in her head from a car accident she was in last Wednesday where she hit her head on the seat belt. I am extremely glad she is able to be sitting here with me at Tuscany's fine gelato establishment unharmed, as I hang out with Josh Owen while he works, as well as my other new friend Leslie Bryant! Look for an update on moving within the next day or two. Thanks and gig em!

One month!

Yep, get excited! The adorable laura nutter comes home one month from today!!!! I move out of F3 in 9 days and am in charge of followup for this ministry that came last week called AFTERdark...so my life is consumed with packing and typing up quotes on notecards and calling around to get people plugged in. Pretty tight. When I move to Crepe Myrtle, yall need to come visit me and my roommate Elizabeth! Lo, our beloved couch will be in my room so you can come sleep. YAY! Sadly though, my walls are beginning to get really blank...This weekend has been so fun, getting to see graduated friends pass through (thanks miss mckenty and mr ivey!) and watching theta and byx win songfest! way exciting! back to packing! I'm working on that whole job thing for 2nd semester...it shall be revealed in time! And there are some of favorite people left in this town!

Done.

Yep, it's true. I am done with student teaching. Officially all I have to do now is walk the stage...and I don't even have to do that! It was a great experience overall with some ups and downs mixed in but I love all the people I know because of it and it was exactly where I was supposed to be this semester. What now you may ask??? Well, I don't have an exact answer on that but here are a few of my rambling ideas in my head right now... I have to move out of F3 by November 28th...very sad, bye green and purple walls (tear). But my dear friend Elizabeth, who was supposed to be freshmen year roomie (but went to SMU instead) is here at grad school and has graciously allowed me to live in her house in a spare room as long as I need! Originally that was til Dec 15th (graduation), but after further investigation, it's going to be until May! That's right. I am staying in the Station til May, at least. Nope, it's not the most thrilling, exciting thing to do post-college, but it's exactly what I'm supposed to do. What will I do you may ask? I'm working on that right now...But I do know two things: I want to work with my J Lo kids and A&M college students, sharing what I've learned. And the best place to do those two things is right here. As much as I'd love to move to Colorado or something like that, the Lord is teaching me about long-term investment in people's lives right now. All too often we invest in people's lives until it gets hard and then we peace out. Things like distance, or possible awkwardness of not having talked in a while get in the way. No we're not supposed to be best friends with everyone we come into contact with but the Lord does put us in certain people's lives for a reason. To echo Isaiah, I want to be an "oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor (61:3)." I want to invest deep roots in these people I have developed relationships with and for me a lot of those people happen to be younger. The Lord also used a wonderful friend of mine to show me to pray Philippians 2 over the situation (putting others' interests before my own). The idea of moving somewhere else to invest in more people when I know God's not done using me investing in these people's lives is just plain...i don't know...silly? Yes, we're called to move on at some point, but the point in being is that I'm supposed to stay and I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm excited to learn why. It is going to be completely different and I have some other ideas for further down the road, but for now I'm along for the ride...so come see me in the station!

J Lo B-ball!

So last week at Jane Long, we had a staff versus student basketball game! Needless to say, it was so much fun. I had been wanting to play all week but didn't want to overstep my boundaries as a lowly student teacher, but then one of the coaches asked if I would be interested in playing...my answer... HECK YES! For those of you who may not know this, I LOVE the game of basketball. I love to watch it, play it, strategize it, everything. So Friday afternoon, several Wyldlife leaders, coaches, and myself suited up to play about 30 eighth graders in a game I love dearly. Now the boys that were playing have been all hyped up because they were undefeated last year...not to mention most of them were my students last year:) The staff team at first was a little concerning since none of us had played in a while but we were determined to win! Game starts off and we totally dominate! The score was like 42-20 at the end of the game! YES! Two highlights for me most definitely...one, i made a 3 pointer from the top of the key! WHOOP! When I used to actually play, I never made a 3 in a game! I was so excited about that one! And what's hilarious is, that made for highlight #2. Somehow by making my three-pointer, I became a mini celebrity with my kids. They heard me talk about how much I love basketball, but it's like that shot got me street credit. Hilarious! Their season starts up next week and I'm way excited about hitting up the games! I only have 2 days left of student teaching and then I'm finished! Still not sure what's up for next semester...we'll find out!
And here's one of my kids! He's pretty great!