A Few Highlights

WOW! I really can't believe that it's already the end of the school year! I feel like we were JUST planning out welcome week or the first week in August and now we're planning out an end-of-the-year pool party. I feel so behind in updating here. The truth is that (as silly as it sounds) I lost our camera for a good chunk of the semester and what good is a blog post without pictures to go with it? ;)

So many really incredible things have happened throughout the year. There are several hearts and lives that will never be the same; the LORD has been so faithful to be with us every step of the way.

Here are a few of my favorite highlights from the semester:

1. In the beginning of March, I took most of the girls out to a friend's lakehouse for a weekend retreat. We had so, so, so much fun and were really challenged by our 2 sweet interns who've been coming down every week from SHSU Chi Alpha. Hannah and Kimberly are such incredibly wise and beautiful women who have given all of themselves to this precious group of girls. They are each a strand of thread forever woven into the tapestry of this ministry here at UH. I could not be more thankful for them. I did, thankfully, have my camera for this wonderful time together.

2. We took the first ever Communion at UHXA the Thursday evening before Easter. It was such a sweet time with our students. Eric, one of the student leaders, preached about the Cross and about what it truly means to honor the significance of it in our daily lives. He did such a an amazing job! And afterward, we participated in Communion together.

3. We have had the privilege to see the fruit of some of the seeds that were sewn back in the fall. We fought hard through the long, cold winter where everything seemed to be frozen over and, in some, maybe even dead. But with the warmth of the spring sun and the melting of the ice came the warmth of the grace of GOD to melt the hearts of our friends. And sure enough, up comes little shoots of green...signs of life!

4. This last Monday was the final evening of the school year for the Girls' Small Group. We had such a sweet time together, even though we were all emotional about it being the last time we would all be together in one place. Nicole (the other leader) and I had the house candle-lit with sweet worship music playing when they got here. She read the passage of Scripture where JESUS washes the feet of the disciples and then we washed their feet one-by-one and prayed over them. Afterwards, we all went out to dinner, all dressed up. I still can't believe all the different beautiful women the LORD has brought into my life just in the last year. I so enjoy looking back at who they each were when I first met them and then thinking about what their lives look like now. Transformation is such a beautiful thing.

I'm sure some pretty amazing things also happened with the guys, but they don't really tell me anything and I can't get Matt to post on here for anything. Ha! We sure do enjoy what we do and are just in awe of what the LORD has done in such a short time. We eagerly look ahead to what's brewing for the summer and are in anticipation for what's coming next fall. Keep your eye out for more awesome stories...there's always something going on here.

Pancake Dinner Outreach 2010

I slightly alluded to our Pancake Dinner Outreach via photo in the previous post. It was such a FUN and successful night. We've been talking a lot in small groups and on Thursday nights lately about being outward-minded and about sharing their faith and the gospel with those around them. Because we really believe that there should always be a practical application to everything we talk about, we try to have occasional opportunities for the students to invite some of their friends and classmates to events.

This is how we came up with Pancake Dinner Outreach 2010. We're still (and probably will always be) in the stage of "trial and error." We just kinda brainstorm and come up with ideas. Then we try them out. Sometimes they totally flop. This one was seemingly pretty successful.

We just made up a bunch of fliers for the students to pass out in classes, dorms, etc. the week before. Then we made TONS of pancakes (super cheap!) and coffee and had lots of games going. There was a pretty good turn-out and we even met several new faces. Maybe we'll do it again next year?

Here are some photos from our fun night:

Pancakes taste better when made by these 3 beauties.

Liz making sure her pancakes are perfect...they were. :)

Mmmm...pancakes.

A Quick (and long over-due) Update

My, my, my! It sure has been quite some time since I last posted. I've started about four or five different new posts for this thing in the last couple months, but it seems that the task just proves to be too overwhelming. With so much constantly going on in our super busy lives, there just seems to always be something new to post about.

So here is my post just to check in to the blogging world. We are alive. We are somewhat well and healthy (besides the typical colds and allergies, etc.). We are overwhelmed by the grace of GOD in our personal lives as well as in our ministry. Too many AMAZING things are going on here at the University of Houston in Chi Alpha. We have been finding ourselves saying a lot lately, "WHAT is the LORD doing???" And of course, it's always said in a good way. Growth, as far as in numbers, is exploding! The new semester has brought on many, many new faces...mostly girls...THANK THE LORD!!!! :)

Growth, as far as spiritual maturity, is also exploding! We've been praying quite a bit lately that the LORD would supernaturally speed up the maturing process in the lives of the students we already know. It truly is not a cliche thing when I say, we have been, and are continuing to be, utterly, completely BLESSED!!!

I shall leave you with a few pictures:

the (huge) crowd of college students who gathered together for worship at the annual Salt Conference at the beginning of the year

a few beautiful women I am super privileged to love
Kristin, Liz and Nicole

showing my competitive (yet, fun-loving) side in a game of spoons at our Outreach Pancake Dinner last weekend...we had such a great turn-out and met several new people!

fun times in houston

here's a photographic peek into the last few weeks of our life:

BREAKAWAY 2009

group shot
we had about 15 students come with us!

this is "big chris" being baptized by eric and matt
this guy hasn't stopped witnessing to everyone he meets since he got saved in august.

kristin being baptized by nicole
she has also been set on fire for the LORD. i've NEVER seen someone so hungry to know more about the WORD and to do the right thing.

Chili Cook-Off and Costume Party

mary poppins with bert the chimney sweep :)

strawberry shortcake, a 50's girl and a ladybug

swine flu

spring, summer, autumn and winter

an exciting (and competitive) time of games

* so, here's a cool story about the costume party. we made up about 400 fliers and matt passed them out on campus 2 days before the party. we never know just how effective it's gonna be, but we're always hopeful, right? well, turns out that out of the 400 or so fliers that were passed out, one girl in particular grabbed one. she stuffed it into her one of her books and never gave it another thought...until saturday afternoon (the day of the party). she was at work and had a bit of time to study during her break and she noticed the flier. she decided it sounded like fun and much better than all the other alternatives for halloween parties that night. so, she randomly showed up...with 4 of her friends!! they were super sweet and highly interested in getting involved with a Christian group on campus.

the moral of the story? every little thing we do, even when it seems pointless, is never in vain.
Galatians 6:9 "And let us not grow weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

good news/bad news

how 'bout the good news first, then the bad?

good news: matt and i had a jam-packed, fun-filled weekend. (i'm about to tell you all about it.)

bad news: i have zero pictures to prove it, so you'll just have to use your imagination, okay?

we had such a GREAT time hanging out with the hoogendoorn side of matt's family at a combination family reunion and celebration of his granny's birthday. can i just say how precious his granny is? she really is the kind of woman that makes it obvious why my husband and his family walk so closely with the LORD. i wish we could spend more time with her.

we had to leave jacksonville (where the reunion was) early because we had a church service in houston sunday morning. i'm gonna be honest...i had never experienced multiple church services before this, not to mention a church as large as this one, and i was actually a little hesitant about it (mainly because we got back into town SUPER late saturday night and had to get up SUPER early the next morning for a full day of services.) IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! the people at Braeswood AG are so down to earth and so welcoming. i felt right at home.

we get to meet so many truly amazing people doing what we do. i love our job! :)

who can we trust?

we, as a society or culture, never seem to "do business" on a handshake or by word of promise anymore. and when i say, "anymore" i must clarify that i've never known a time when life was honest, but i've heard about an age, long ago, when there was no reason not to trust that somebody was gonna do what they said they were gonna do.

it's sad to me, sometimes, that we seem to not even trust the word of our friends and family anymore. even sadder that our friends and family sometimes can't trust what we say. but why? maybe because we're fallen and sinful. probably. okay, definitely.

looking throughout Scripture, we see that GOD has made lots and lots of promises to us as His children. He's promised to never leave us; He's promised that if we lift Him up, He'll draw all men to Himself; He's promised to never flood the earth again; He's promised to provide for our every need; He's promised to clothe us in robes of righteousness even though we deserve filthy rags of sin; He's promised us a hope of a brilliant eternity. Some of us claim the promises that He's made that our loved ones will come to know Him, that we will be healed, that we will have a husband/wife and that we will have a family. that's only the beginning of His promises to us.

and why can we trust His promises when we can't seem to trust the word of others? because of HIS character. He is good. and He is true. He has not sinned and is not fallen. so, it's not necessarily that we can trust in His promises, but that we can trust in who He is.

"My faith does not rest on God's promises. My faith rests on God's character..." - A.W.Tozer

welcome week 2009

here's a little visual glimpse into the very busy week at the beginning of the school year called, "welcome week." for us, this first week of school is a PERFECT opportunity to meet new students and get them involved before the semester gets thick. welcome week involves many activities and events to invite students to...and of course, FREE FOOD. we've met so many new people...friends for life. here are some pictures:

we had a table on campus during the day and passed out candy and fliers.

kickball

free pizza after a campus-wide scavenger hunt

bowling
(this is melissa...one of the new students we met! LOVE her!)

free ice cream and coffee after our first fall meeting