Servant

Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve You as You deserve;
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to ask for reward,
save that of knowing that I do Your will.

~St. Ignatius' Prayer for Generosity

I recently found out that I'll be going to New Orleans for a service immersion trip over Christmas break...I'm SO EXCITED! I've wanted to go on one of the service trips here since freshmen year, but just haven't been able to. This year, though, it's finally the right time. I was actually really nervous after the interview, and my letter took forever to get here since I live in a house and not in a dorm so I was freaking out when everyone else got their's. But it finally came and I got the trip I wanted so badly.

I love doing service. I love working with people and helping people...I just cannot wait!!!

A Beautiful and Blessed Day

This past weekend I came home for a wedding, my cousin Kara's. It was a beautiful day in and of itself, weddings always are, but this particular one was especially wonderful. When Kara was young she was diagnosed with Leukemia. I, and I'm pretty sure the rest of my family, never really dared to imagine this day would come. But it did, it was our own little miracle. Kara was absolutely gorgeous and she and Johnny looked so happy. It was a day that not only celebrated these two people's love and commitment to each other, but also the gift of Kara's life and the memory of those who lived and died.

More than this though, the wedding was a triumph for my dad. He's a deacon and hasn't been able to carry out his ministry since he became sick. But he returned to the alter for this beautiful day. It was emotional and nerve racking and wonderful. It was a day truly blessed by God.

It was full of surprises, too, including a visit from FredBird! (probably the most tame of the surprises)

And of course loads of pictures...

(the girls)

Love and prayers

An Incredible Weekend

Last weekend was a big one for Rockhurst...as least as far as my friends and I are concerned. Friday night was the ADG's annual Toga party and Saturday was Homecoming. We love to dance, maybe that's a part of the reason our friendships work, we all have the same love of dressing up and cutting loose on the floor. Most of us anyway...Annie is sort of an oddball. We had all been talking about these two days for weeks! Not exaggerating. The boys, of course, we're all consumed with Toga (since it is their fraternity), and the girls, well, we're girls.

At the beginning of the week I got a text that only made my excitement for the weekend and the weekend itself all the more incredible...Jenny was coming to visit!!! I can't begin to explain how excited I was. It's unfathomably difficult for us to be apart. We know that we're where we need to be at this point in our lives, but still, we just want that place to be the same.

So Jenny came in on Friday evening and we all scrambled to get ready for Toga in time. It was a fantastic night. The boys threw a great party and did pretty well with the dance (considering the new choreographers).

Saturday afternoon Jenny and I sat on our porch swing for a couple of hours just talking. It was lovely. I miss sitting with Jenny (and Emily) talking about everything and nothing. Then we walked to Go Chicken Go for lunch. It was our first experience and well worth it!

Then came the mad rush to get ready for Homecoming! It really wasn't that mad, and I, for a change, was ready early! Which is good because when we got to the buses I realized I had left our tickets at home and had to run for it. ResLife took us out for a DELICIOUS dinner with a gorgeous dessert, and I won an iPod Touch!!! It was a wonderful start to the night. The dance itself was a blast and afterwards a bunch of us made a Sonic run for limeades. We just hung out at my house for a while and eventually Casablanca was put in.




It was just another crazy, incredible weekend at the Rock

Love and prayers