Fall in Review.

Oh HEY blog,

It's been quite a while since I've posted here. The last time I opened my blog dashboard I was in Nolensville interning and it was probably 90 degrees outside. In contrast, I'm sitting on my bed in my parent's home in Birmingham listening to the sound of snow/sleet out in the chilly 25 degree weather.

But enough about weather. I have challenged myself to get back into the habit of blogging because in a little over 2 weeks I will be boarding a plane headed for Morocco where I will be spending this semester.

Fall 2010 brought many good and new challenges. Apparently getting older means your classes get harder, relationships are more difficult to hold onto and maintain, and the Lord brings more and more challenging lessons.

For starters, I moved into a house on campus and lived with 3 girl friends of mine plus 8 new faces. The Rotary House (or RoHo as it was affectionately named) is a living-learning community of sorts located in an old fraternity house on frat row (holla) that is designed for international students and American students to live together and share life in this house. I shared a room with my sweet friend Emily and we shared a bathroom and shower with two precious girls from China- Lily from Hongkong and Jessiey from Beijing.

For the second year, I served on leadership at Calvary and was blessed by the privilege to lead an upperclassmen girl's bible study with two girls who I became very close with throughout the semester. Meredith M and Rebekah taught me so much through our preparation for leading every week but also through their friendship and the sisterhood of accountability that we shared. After leading a freshman group my sophomore year of school, I was excited to be given the opportunity to lead a group of older girls, but I was a little concerned with who I would be leading with. God is so faithful to put us in situations with people that we once called strangers and by running to the cross together, we were able to develop an incredibly strong bond. I count these girls and the rest of our group close to my heart and will be praying for them as they continue to meet and grow this semester.

August's Potluck Dinner at House 23 kicked off a rousing semester of parties at the home of my favorite 5 boys. Soon to follow was the Anti-Penn State Rally, the Music Symposium, the Red-Neck Meltdown, and the Christmas Semi-Formal. Needless to say, I have some of the coolest friends around. I'm not sure of many other places where 200+ people parties can be held, ridiculous dancing and fun occur, and everybody remembers what happened! This is one example of the LOVING community that I am a part of at Calvary in Tuscaloosa. God's hand on our college ministry blows me away and I am overwhelmed by the love that the church, staff, students and friends of this church has for the Lord and creating community and fellowship where new people are welcome. It's such an encouraging atmosphere to be in.

September I got to work at Disciple Now for the Valleydale Church in Birmingham and get the chance to pour into a group of High School senior girls as well as work downtown at the Race for the Cure.

October I pulled my first ever work-related all nighter of college in the edit lab in Reese-Phifer working on a film project for Documenting Justice. Doc Justice is a year-long interdisciplinary program where UA students learn about film-making, ethics of film, interviewing, etc and make a documentary about a social issue in Alabama. I am in the International Documenting Justice Program which is for students studying abroad. I will be filming in Morocco and next fall will come back and edit my film and screen it in Tuscaloosa (stay tuned...) I also got to attend a banquet in Birmingham for the United Nations Assocation, Birmingham Chapter and meet Susan Dulin. Susan works to head up JUNA (Junior United Nations Association) which is the first Model UN conference I ever attended back in the 7th grade. I was pretty much a teenage girl when I met her and stumbled over myself thanking her for the opportunity to attend and how it has influenced what I'm studying in college now. end nerd rant.

November was busy with a visit to Jackson, TN to visit my best friend Rachael at Union University. We also got to swoon over Dave Barnes and Ben Rector who performed a homecoming concert at her school!
Jessiey also came home with me over Thanksgiving and was introduced to her very first American Thanksgiving with the Wildes-Bryant families and let's just say- that was an experience.

Among other interesting experiences in November, I had the first of my close friends get married. Megan, Kellie, Shelby, Sydney and I road-tripped to the small town of Wallis, Texas and got to be with my friend Katie Truitt as she stepped into a very exciting life as the wife to Tanner Coleman. It was a sweet weekend filled with desserts and blue skies and Love.

My housemate Jessiey also came home with me for Thanksgiving and the Wildes family introduced her to American Thanksgiving in appropriate fashion. I hope my family makes this a tradition for Thanksgivings to come. I love bringing in new people and sitting around making conversations and learning about what being thankful is and to whom we are thankful.

December rounded out with dead week and finals and packing up all of my stuff and moving out of RoHo back home for about a month and a half.

This break has been so wonderful so far and I've had the opportunity to reconnect with my close group of friends from High School who are in college all over the country. Now that they are packing up and leaving to go to class, this semester is really being put into perspective for me.

I'm beyond excited not just for the upcoming stamps in my passport and photos I'll get to take, but for the change that I'm anticipating this semester to hold for me. People always say you come back from any time abroad changed, but for the first time in my life I will be challenged with what it's like to live abroad- to make home and community in a completely foreign land with only the Lord as my sustenance and strength.

So as we continue on in January I would ask that you would pray for me in preparation for this semester.
-That my eyes would be focused on how to enjoy the Lord and seek His face first before anything else.
- For the final plans to be finished diligently on my part and also on the part of my study abroad program
-For the other students joining me in this journey, that God would set aside a friend for me to encourage me and build me up in a Godly manner, that we will help walk through this semester together in the Word
-For my parents as they prepare to see me off for 4 months in a foreign country speaking two languages that they do not know.