I made a map of us.

I like making maps, so I made a map of where we are. If you aren't on it, it's because you never added yourself to the Contacts List. There's also a full-sized version. You can double-click to zoom. Zoom in to Kristen's village and turn-on the Aerial imagery for a glimpse at Ethiopian life.

So

I miss everyone of ya'll.

Wow!

So, I'm sitting here in my basement with more exams to be studying for than I know what to do with, and I just looked at the clock and realized I've been reading blog notes for the past hour and a half!!! Where have I been? I remember the original email coming out announcing this blog...and sadly after signing on and reading the first post, that's all I knew of the blog. I sat here reading through all that has been happening in all of your lives and tears came to my eyes! I feel like even at Samford (and especially since graduation) I hung out with you guys (the "thirty travelers" :) a good bit, but due to some bad timing and missing some 'key' events (yes....such as the 'thirty travelers' trip!) I haven't always maintained contact. Anyway, I know it's not something anyone would notice, but I just wanted to let you guys know I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your lives through these blogs - and all the other blogs linked to this one. Wow - y'all have some exciting lives! I wish I had some amazing update with what life is like for me, but I know it won't be of much surprise to any of you to find out that i spend a lot of my time here in Nashville studying :( But I still manage to spend a pretty substantial amount of time with Grady :) and I have gotten to know some amazing girls in my nursing program as well as have incredible roommates - I think it's a much more balanced life than I had at Samford (Matt...you'd be proud :) I sometimes wish I had realized that earlier and had more time at Samford to spend with you guys!

Hopefully see some of you soon! I stumbled upon some pictures earlier from the tacky christmas party at the girls' house last year and it sure made me smile :) Merry (early) Christmas!

officialityness

for anyone who doesn't know already... i'm officially moving back to birmingham and starting at uab in january. i'm hoping to move down on december 14th-- so anyone who's gonna be around and feels like helping me unload that day... i'll buy you a coke (or beer, if that's what you're into). kindof broke right now or i'd offer everyone 2 cokes (or beers). housing is as-of-yet undetermined. i may try and make a trip this friday/saturday to look for some different options. that's about it for now-- gotta go resign my post as barrista-extraordinaire and cram for a calculus test. hope you're all doing well. later.

Rice for Vocab

I stole this from a friend's blog, who actually stole it from someone else's, but it's cool none-the-less.

It's a vocab quiz, and every time you get a work correct, they will donate the equivalent of 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

So... learn some new words and help end world hunger!

Jamie is a dork

I just gave Jamie a bottle of beer and a bottle opener. She took the corkscrew and tried to open the beer with it. What a dork.
[aside] Left Hand Brewing Company's "Milk Stout" is delicious.

Remember remember the 7th of November

ok so apparently I have the most amazing friends and family in the world, but I will get back to that, first let me go and fill you in on some of the awesome 5th of November things. Many of you received a message from me to commemorate that amazing day. I wrote that at about 1 am right before I headed to work... ( oh yeh I now work as an associate producer part time from 2-5 am, 5 days a week) During this job, later that fay I was able to pick the trivia question for the day, which was something like "what movie is loosely based off an event on this day back in 1605, where a man tried to blow up parliament" The answer of course was V fr Vendetta.

So everyone knows, I did not spray paint anything on Samford's campus, but I do think those people are awesome! I hear somebody already tried to turn me in though, so we'll see what happens.

Then that night of course I watched that most amazing of movies, and was impressed as ever... I may have cried with joy... just a little.

The next morning (or afternoon) when I woke up, I walked out of my room, and my dad had taken my phone out of my room. I asked him about it, and he said he had needed to get the number of a family friend. So I went to work (because I had awoken late) and was not getting back til 10:30 I instead returned at 9, because it was slow that day, and my parents made me a plate for supper, and had some presents for me. They also had a cake and we're waiting for me to get done eating before we ate that. Well about 15 minutes into my meal, Daniel Mills and his fiancee Katie, came to the door, and I thought, oh that's really nice of Daniel to come by and wish me a happy birthday. a few minutes later Jamie and Matt came in... which is when I thought.... "wait a minute here... " And so yeah people kept coming, and all of you are awesome! I wish everyone could have been there.

Apparently when my dad had taken my phone that morning, he had actually taken it to call the people on my phone list, and ask them to call other people to come to this party. I asked how my dad had gotten my phone with out waking me, and he said he crawled into the room on his belly. :) Though this would have raised some serious questions, if I had woken up and seen him crawling on his belly in my room, he got away with it, and I was quite suprised. Thanks to all of you for being awesome friends! I love you all, and thanks for all the calls and messages that have made this a comepletely stupendous birthday.

Kris has become "that girl," and it's all your fault

i'm pretty sure all of you are aware that i sent a package with notes from a whole bunch of kristen's friends (you guys) a while back. well, mail being speedy as it is, kris apparently got the package on monday and wanted me to share these words with the 30 travelers:

"i wish i had words. you guys are incredible. we went into addis today and got mail for the first time in about a week and a half. when i opened it and realized what you all had done... tears. lots of tears. everyone agreed that i had the most amazing friends in the world. through the sobs i was like, 'they're not fr-fr-friends. they're family!' i've become that girl. the emotional one. what's going on?

i don't have a lot of time right now, but i wanted to say thank you. so much. you can't know how much good that did my heart. know that i savored your words, read them slowly, more than once. and i'll probably fall asleep reading them tonight. i'm going tomorrow to buy the post office out of stamps... I freakin' love you guys."

it's (un)official

all morning i've had the theme song from "family matters" stuck in my head. that's fine-- it's a happy enough song. the problem is that i have a song called "facade" from jekyll & hyde stuck in my head simultaneously... so i keep randomly singing bits from one and then pieces from the other. it's miserable.

and matt... i don't wanna suffer alone... so "that's me in the corner." there, now i'm not alone. let me know when that song gets out of your head.

now that that's out of the way...

yesterday i got a call from UAB telling me to "start looking for housing for the spring semester," but "don't sign a lease until you've received our official letter, which we're still preparing." the words "accepted" and "admitted" were not used during the phone call... but it seems like an acceptance. not sure why else they'd bother to call and tell me to look for housing and that they're preparing an official letter for me.

so-- barring extreme circumstances, i'll hopefully be accepted officially sometime soon. and i'll keep you posted.

thanks for the prayers.

For Now We See Through Glass Darkly, But Then...

I never cease to be amazed at the goodness of God or how little I know about Him and His ways.

We (the illustrious members of the unfortunately named "Big Time Ministries") held our bi-annual retreat for the junior high students, the fifth installment was dubbed Bravehearts, this past weekend, and I, more than a week later, have still not quite found the ability to articulate the ways in which God moved or all that He showed me. First, it was simply unreal- we had 130 boys from Mountain Brook Junior High School, plus 30 of mine and Coach Skip's high school guys come as leaders. Something only explainable as supernatural happened at Camp Mac, and thirty-one of those students said that they, that very weekend, had finally understood what it truly meant that Jesus died for them.

These high school guys were so pivotal; we held a meeting four days before we left and cast a vision for them- essentially letting them lead (with some guidance) and explaining to them how they could have such a tremendous impact for the Kingdom. They caught it, and it was incredible. They loved on the kids, mixed up with them during lunch, team times, stayed in their cabins, worshipped alongside them, asked them the hard questions, and, most importantly, portrayed Christ to them. That, more than anything else, was the most striking difference about last weekend. Two of my eleventh graders, including Alex, a student I mentioned in a previous blog who became a Christian a mere two months ago, shared their testimonies, and the j-high students are still talking about them...

It also got me thinking- wait, wait, have I so often overlooked one of my primary roles as a Christian? To cast a vision for others about how they can make an impact for Christ in this life? Isn't that what disciple-making is all about? Simply saying: The light of Christ is in you, now here's how to best let it shine that you might ignite a spark in others? And so often I am foolish enough to believe that I have been saved merely for my own sake, instead of catching a glimpse of God's greater plans at work...

Apologizing for my inability to be anything other than either ultra-serious or utterly inane- Matt