Thankful Thursday {UCI CRU}

Happy Thankful Thursday to you!

Today, 

I am thankful for another year with Cru at UCI.

Because lets be honest,

I have completely fallen for this campus and for the students.

I've fallen hard.

I am thankful for my teammates who love me for me.

I am thankful for our student leaders who have hearts for the Lord and the world.

I am thankful for each student I met this week,

and all the students I will meet in the future.
I am thankful for the ways in which God has changed lives,
and drawn students into closer relationship with Himself.

I am thankful that I get to watch the girls from my freshman bible study last year,
grow in their faith, become passionate about the Gospel and
step into challenging roles as leaders this year.

Meet Shanelle, Lindsey and Lindsay.
a few of the girls from my freshman bible study last year
who I have grown to absolutely adore.

The thought of not being at UCI after this year

literally makes my heart ache.

But, I have a whole year ahead of me.

And I am so thankful that I get to be a part of
what God is doing on this campus

and in the lives of the students here.
I am so thankful that we can expect nothing but great things 

because we serve a great God!

What are you thankful for today?...

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thankful Thursday!

Is it seriously Thursday again?

Sheesh.

Today I am thankful for...

my job

the opportunity to work with international students this year

strong coffee

each of my teammates

amazing students that I get the privilege to work with

last minute house guests
conversations over a glass of wine

morning chats at the dinning table with my roommate

Trader Joe's

my iphone

technologically savvy friends

closed doors

God's sovereignty
going to church with a couple of my favorite newlyweds

peanut butter & jelly on toasted sourdough bread

 watching sunday afternoon soccer
spending quality time with my niece
learning to not be fearful of the future
my journal
waking up without an alarm clock
text messages from sweet friends

wedding invitations
prayer 
mountains 
jumping off docks and swimming in lakes 
canoeing 
and spending the past few days here...

What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday (Friday)

Happy Thankful Thursday Friday to you!

It's been a busy week folks.

Yesterday as I was bouncing around from one thing to another,

I took a few minutes to sit outside on my front porch.

I sat there, closed my eyes
and began to think about everything that has happened the past few months.

Then it hit me.

I just had one of the best summer's of my life.

Things were rough, hard and even quite ugly at times,

but it was a great big adventure

and God used certain people and situations

 to greatly impact my life.

And because of this...

today I am thankful for:

this sweet summer season

raising and finishing support
my awesome ministry partners

playing in the sierra's
exploring
&
adventures

loving parents who welcome me home with open arms

time spent my three wonderful siblings
watching my baby niece grow up

trips to Utah

weddings

opened doors and new opportunities
closed doors and growing pains
brokenness
God's perfect plan

discovering passions and desires

{each and every person I met}

beginning new relationships

God's faithfulness

flowers

father daughter fishing dates

hiking 

{dancing under the stars}

answered prayers

God's absolute, perfect timing
precious letters
plants

skype

google hang outs

sleepovers

drinking sweet tea out of mason jars
God's provisions

good books

coffee dates
learning, learning, and more learning

God's undeniable handiwork

discovering more of who God is and how much He loves us
God pursuing people

friends who love me and encourage me
my sweet, loving and gracious roommates
our little apartment and our cute & quaint front porch
where I can sit with a cup of coffee,
journal and catch up on my snail mail.

There is just so much to be thankful for.

What are things from this summer season

that you are thankful for?...

Staff Planning Day 3

All I can say

is that after today's staff planning meeting...

Leadership Retreat is going to be freaking awesome.

Only 5 days until we are retreating in Lake Arrowhead 

with our Cru students leaders.

I can't stinking wait to see them all.

Staff Planning Day 2

Coffee

laptops

google docs

spreadsheets

Coffee

bible study curriculum

scheduling

evaluating

praying and giving it all up to God

and of course more Coffee

all followed by a very unintentional hour and a half nap when arriving home.

day 2 down.

Staff Planning Day 1

6:30am

drag my butt out of bed

bake coffee cake

brew an insanely large pot of coffee

9 am 

staff meeting

and coffee drinking commence...

plan plan plan

pray pray pray

(drink more coffee)

dream big

cast vision

then plan and pray some more.

2:30pm

we begin to look like this.

3pm

staff meeting ends

(an hour early!)

4pm

lay face down on the couch

and pass out.

I would say it was a very successful first day of work.

A Very Thankful Thursday

A very  Happy Thankful Thursday to you!

Today I am thankful that I can say

 I am officially 100% supported!

Boom.

Done.

I was praying even before I started raising support back in June

that it would some how be different than last year.

{last year was horrible

 and I DID NOT want to experience that again}

And when I say pray I mean I was pleading with God

that He would bring in all I need before my 

September 1st deadline.

In fact to make things interesting,

 I decided I wanted to finish the day before my deadline.

On August 31st.

I look back on how He brought in all my support last year

when things were looking nothing but grim 

and I know God is more than capable.

He can to this.

About a week ago

I only had a little more left to raise.

But at the rate things were happening

it was looking more and more like 

I would probably finish a few days after my deadline.

I decided to be happy about that

because even though it wasn't the 31st,

at least I would be finishing before campus stuff started.

Last Thursday night I couldn't sleep.

{pretty standard when raising support}

so naturally I got up and worked on support.

I checked my email and went over my numbers.

I redid some of my math and ended up changing a couple things.

I then added in some new support I saw come in when I went through my email

and then literally out of no where I was staring at this...

 I knew I had to have made a mistake somewhere.

{numbers are not my thing}

I went back and did the math 3, 4, 5 more times

but I kept getting the same result.

And just like that I was done with support.

I looked at the time and it was 1:47am

Friday, August 31st. 

The day before my deadline.

{I'm thinking God was laughing right along with me at this point}

By 1:48am this is precisely what was happening,

tears of joy.

Today,

I am thankful for each and every prayer 

that God answered so specifically.

{there are too many to count}

I am thankful for all God has taught me

through having to raise support this summer.

I am thankful that He has used this time

 to prepare me for what He has in store this coming year.

{in life & in ministry}

 I am thankful that God has been

 {and continues to be}

 extremely faithful and gracious 

and though I don't deserve any of it,

He once again brought in every cent that I needed.

I am extremely thankful

for each and every person on my support team.

I am thankful for your steps of faith to partner with me

and walk alongside me through this next year.

You each mean the world to me

and I can't wait to see how the Lord is going to use you and your support

to change lives.

And I am so stinking thankful that I can finally say...

peace out, so long, sayonara to support,

and hello to full time campus ministry!

What are you thankful for today?....