Christmas party.

monday night we had a Christmas party for people to bring their international friends. many of these students studying in the states haven't been in an american home, so we try to open our home to them often!

just the girls!

justin shared the story of Christmas and that we give gifts to one another because Jesus was God's gift to the world!

then we played charades. i'm still laughing....

[...can't remember what mami was doing]

[stephanie driving a car]

[catherine was being a basketball player]

[kelsey, catherine, sol, audrey, me]

[sara and i]

sara and audrey lead a Bible study for international girls. it has been a huge blessing to hear what God is doing through them in the lives of these girls!

tornado clean up

this past weekend we volunteered with students involved in our ministry to clean up leftover storm debris. it's crazy to think that it's been almost 8 months since the tornado. here is our story on how the tornadoes hugely impacted us.
most of the town is cleaned up and bulldozed flat, we went to alberta where there is still a large amount of debris. we had a really fun time and cleared so much from this house!

woah, look at how big this stump is!

manly men. but seriously that tree/log was insanely huge.

just one of the piles we cleared out.

so thankful we had the opportunity to do this.

if you are in tuscaloosa go to this website to find out how you can help our town recover from the tornadoes.

some of my favs.

there are so many incredible resources to help you in your relationship with God.
i can't keep track of all the book or article recommendations.
but here are a few things that i really enjoy:

1. my bible. i choose to read the english standard version [ESV] which is great and my ESV study bible helps deeply.

2. jesus calling devotional book. i am not great about reading this every day, but when i do it touches me. which means i should probably read it every morning :) most of my friends here feel the same way about this little gem!

3. my favorite book ever is francine river's redeeming love. if you haven't read it yet...do it now. it changed my view of God and our relationship.

4. a couple of websites i love and use often are www.everystudent.com and www.theresurgence.com. both are fantastic. every student is a campus crusade website that helps with lots of questions and has other resources available.

i've got lots of other books on my reading list, but am always open to more. so what are your favorite devotionals/books/resources? kelly is linking up, so check out her site with other people's recommendations as well!

national staff conference.

the main reason we went out to colorado was our biannual staff conference with Campus Crusade for Christ.

during our trip we got to hear from our leadership on various topics, mainly CCC's name change. if you haven't heard, Campus Crusade for Christ is going to be re-named "Cru" in the US. justin and i are both truly excited about this new name as Campus Crusade had negative connotations and no longer accurately described the ministry...we have ministries for families, military, professionals and many other contexts around the nation.

as i mentioned before, we were also blessed to hear from francis chan, david platt and other Christian leaders. if you are interested you can watch some of the videos on the US Staff Conference website.
Campus Crusade celebrated it's 60th anniversary while we were out there, it was truly a blessing to see how God has used the ministry during those years.

there is something special to be surrounded by 5000 people that have the same mission as you, to bring glory to God and introduce others to Jesus in their ministry focus.

during the conference we had a few sessions with everyone who does campus ministry, including professors, college ministry [like justin and i] as well as high school ministry. one segment was dedicated to real stories, ones that were tough and hurt to tell. justin did a great job sharing about our story and what God has brought us through these past three months.

[sorry the picture isn't the best, i still haven't mastered my camera...]

we loved our time in colorado and are excited to get everything started back up in the fall!

ice skating/broom ball adventures.

last week we took some students to go ice skating in pelham. we also arranged it so that we could play broom ball [which is essentially hockey with out the ice skates and a ball instead of a puck].

i forgot how terrible i am on ice skates. i didn't fall [praise the Lord], but i also didn't do much skating away from the outside railing...

then we played broom ball, which is an intense game. especially if you are playing with girls and guys.
aside from justin getting a concussion [no joke, at least it was a small one] and lots of bumps and bruises, everyone had so much fun.

i think the most embarrassing part about ice skating and playing broom ball is that i was painfully sore for the next 3 or 4 days. ouch.

luo

my friend lindsay and her husband gavin started a ministry called luo. luo means to set free or destroy...and their mission is to set children free from poverty. through sponsors, they are able to provide education (both biblical and academic) and meet the needs of the orphaned children. they partner with existing Christian orphanages, one in South Africa and the other in Nicaragua. I know I included a lot, but seriously check out the LUO site for more info and pictures.

[source: LUO]

The way they support the children in the houses is by getting them to paint canvases. The children adore doing this and when we purchase a canvas, 100% of the proceeds goes to supporting a child for a year in all of their needs. Justin and I were so blessed to buy a canvas. Our canvas was made by Shawn, a 4 year old precious little guy.

check out their site and see how you can partner with their mission!!

i'm a proud wife :)

Justin got his first opportunity to teach at Bama Crusade's weekly meeting. He did such a fantastic job and I am so proud of him!!

We were going through a series on the book of Hosea. This was the 3rd (of 4 messages) on the book...so we are flying through the book.

The Lord has really used this series in my life, as well as in the students' lives. I encourage you to listen to Justin's message on the Bama Crusade podcast!!

fall retreat

We, along with the other Crusade staff team, organized our Fall Retreat this weekend. We went to Lake Forest Ranch in Mississippi. It was so beautiful...I can see the Lord best in nature and scenery. Seriously, how amazing is our Lord?

The weekend was so refreshing, even though it was a lot of work! We got to hear from Ryan Akers, director of  Campus Outreach at Samford in Birmingham, AL. It was amazing to hear from him as he spoke about the Kingdom of God--how it differs from the world and how we should be eagerly anticipating His return. 


We also had lots of time to spend exploring the property. Justin got to fish--which he LOVES to do. He convinced me to canoe on the lake with him. I ended up really enjoying the canoe (even though I was sore the next day, how sad is that??)

We got some great time hanging out with students and getting to know new ones! All in all, we had a fun and exciting weekend, saw many students grow in their relationship with the Lord and some hear about Him for the first time!!