bet you thought you'd never see one of these again, did you?

Bet you thought you’d never see one of these again, did you?  It’s funny how when I’m at school any free second I have (which is very rare) is used to just sit and breathe.  School is so go, go, go that when I get home, all I want to do is just collapse and not think about anything at all. whatsoever.  Right now, I’m driving down 64 with Sarah and Ali passing all of the bare, leafless trees.  Last time I was on this road the trees were full of bright green leaves and it was warm.  Weird.  This will be my first time going home since mid-August (well except when we went to Sandbridge in September for a YL leader retreat, but I didn’t go home-home) and all I want to do is lay by my fireplace, catch up on all the TV shows my sister has recorded, cook dinner, shower without shower shoes, sleep in my bed for hours upon hours, make crafts from Pinterest, and I guess I should spend time with my family and friends. :)    


With 10 weeks under my belt, and only 3 more after Thanksgiving break, I thought I would reflect over this semester so far- the good things, funny stories, the bad things, things I’ve learned in my walk with the Lord, highlights of the semester- just anything, really.  I feel like I have to do this in order to process everything that’s happened so far, so here it goes:

·      going to the Julie’s lake house on Lake Anna with a bunch of girlfriends for Labor Day

·      living with 6 of my best friends in a suite on campus has been so awesome and has taught me so much about living with other people

This is our suite decorated at the beginning of the year. Now there is an actual bed with the mattress.

·      with that, communication/confrontation has been huge this semester and I’ve learned how important it is to keep short accounts and not let things build up and to also go to the person before going to anyone else

·      our Young Life leaders retreat in Sandbridge in September was awesome and allowed us to get to know our new Area Director, Justin Ryder and his wife Libby better and we were able to dive deep into learning about the Holy Spirit

·      leading Wyldlife at Montevideo M.S. has been incredible and I have seen the Lord so at work there and in our team.  can't wait to see everything He has in store for us there.

Team Montevideo. The best, obviously.

·      our first Wyldlife club since last fall happened in October and the Lord totally blew us away with how well it went and how it’s gone since then- He’s doing great things at Montevideo!!

Last week after we had neon club.  so. much. fun

·      with things going so well with Wyldlife, I’ve learned that it’s completely the Lord- not myself at all.  All I’ve had to do is show up and He uses and works through me. That has been so key to learn.

·      my parents coming up for every. single. football. game.  I’m kidding, it’s been great having them up here so much.  Especially because at every tailgate there’s been such good food. 

·      Dance parties, bonfires, fall parties, etc. are always so fun

·      small group has been really great this semester.  it’s taken most of the semester just to learn how to be vulnerable with each other, but I think we’re finally there.  we’ve been going through spiritual disciplines and then putting the spiritual discipline we learned that week into practice the week following it.   

·      one of my favorite weekends was when rob and stacey and my boyfriend came up from the beach and our friend erin came from tech.  we spent the weekend catching up on life, going to a farm and getting pumpkins, and eating at Dave’s for dinner.  it was so sad to see them go, but I get to see them so soon!!

·      having my first cup of coffee- I know, I’m finally a true college student

·      finding a house for next year was a pain in the butt, but the house we found is absolutely amazing and we are so excited to live in it!  we signed the lease yesterday and felt so grown up.

·      taking my first Communications class.  it’s a lot different than math, but I really like it.

·      my granddad was in the hospital in October for a couple weeks and not doing well at all, but the Lord has healed him and he is on the road to recovery…Love you granddad!

·      celebrating 20^th birthdays!  we’re growing up…weird.

Sarah turned 20 a couple weeks ago!!

·      training for a 5k.  don’t laugh.  Ali, Julie, and I are not runners AT ALL, so this has been a pretty big feat for us.  we run it in Williamsburg tomorrow!!

After our race today.  Sarah was our cheerleader/nutritionist/trainer.  

·      going to Rockbridge the last weekend of October was a blast and I was able to meet and know the awesome freshmen.
·      my roommate, Kayla, got a new brother and no her mom did not give birth to a son, but they adopted Stas from Ukraine!! He is such a blessing to their family and their story is amazing and you can read about it here.

·      this semester I decided to go through Hebrews 11, commonly known as the “Hall of Faith,” and have learned a lot.  I just finished it yesterday (don’t you love when you finish something you wanted to accomplish?) and so I’m still trying to reflect and process everything I learned.  It was great because I feel like so often I neglect to read the Old Testament and focus on the New Testament mostly, so I would read about someone in the “Hall of Faith” and then flip back to read the full story in the Old Testament.  Doing this has allowed me to learn so much about who God is and how He is the same all the way back then as He is today.  So many of the stories I read are the stories anyone would know, but there is so much more to them than meets the eye.  Read Hebrews 11 and about the people in them…it’s pretty awesome.

·      celebrating Dad’s 50^th birthday!

·      adding really fun things to my boards on Pinterest (a must get if you don’t have one)
·      a lot of loved ones have passed away this semester, but as a result God has been glorified so much
·      Hikes on Skyline Drive (hate the hiking part, but love when I get to the destination)

·      my suitemate, Laura, will be running her very first marathon on Sunday- she’s trained hard and is more than ready…GO LAURA!  our little no-meat eater also broke her vegetarianism (made that word up I think) a couple weeks ago after 6 years of being a vegetarian…big deal.

This list turned out to be a lot longer (and more random) than I thought it would be and I’m pretty sure that’s not even half of everything that happened/I learned.  It’s been a whirlwind of a semester and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the rest of it.  Hoping to blog more while home this week...

xoxo,

erin with a p and a double r