Much needed lovin'!

This weekend was a lot of fun and SO needed! Luke came up on Friday and stayed until this afternoon (Sunday). My aunt, Amy, and her boyfriend, Shane, came up to Waco from Houston for the Baylor/Texas football game on Saturday. AND Becca came up from Hallettsville for the weekend!

Luke and I went to BRH Formal on Friday night, went to the football game with everyone on Saturday, and slept in this morning:) We also did a little shopping, rented and watched "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," and just spent some "Luke and Sara" time, as Luke likes to call it:)

Since this weekend was the last home football game of the season and of my senior year, my roommates, friends, and I ran the Baylor Line with Claire and her friends. This was the third year in a row that Baylor has let the seniors run the line with the freshman one last time before they graduate. It was SO much fun and we were all really glad we did it together. It was also really special that Claire and I got to run it together and that Becca and Luke were there to watch:)

Seeing all of these people that I love has really made me ready for Thanksgiving break! Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

My Senior Letter

Last Monday, at our weekly Tri Delta meeting, my senior letter was read.

Every year, the parents of the seniors write a "senior letter" to their daughter, talking about all of her accomplishments, how much she has grown, and how proud they are of her. Whoever's turn it is to have her senior letter read out loud during meeting each week stays seated in her chair, while the chapter all stands up to listen to the sweet letter and support their sister.

In the past, this process could take what felt like FOREVER because parents would write extremely long letters and we'd read three or four at a time. As much as we love each other, by the end the girls would get distracted because these letters would get so ridiculously long. So this year, Tri Delta has set a limit of 300 words per letter. This made it really hard for my (wordy) mother to write my senior letter, but she did a GREAT job!

Here is the letter! I love it so much, I wanted to post it on my blog:)


Once upon a time, there was a little girl whose pre-school teacher told her that her class was having a cattle drive to celebrate Western Week. The preschoolers got to be cows, the kindergartners got to be cowboys and brand them, and the teacher said it would be fun! The little girl didn’t think it sounded fun, because she knew that brands got hot, and she didn’t want to be burned. She spent the morning hiding behind the teacher’s skirts, determined that no one would make her participate in anything so scary again...

Dear Sara,

I can still see that little face from the cattle drive every time you conquer another goal, because she reminds me of how much God is attracted to our weakness. He is always ready to show Himself strong on our behalf, and He has done so in your life these past few years too many times to count. From your first day at Baylor, I have never doubted you were in the center of His will for your life. But I know that once in a while, that first semester, you did…just a bit. The phone calls came regularly, and so did the tears, and the second semester arrived…

The next tear-filled call I got was one that began, “Mom, I’m a Tri-Delt!” Soon you had more friends and sisters (like you really needed more sisters!) than you could count. I was invited to join you for Mother-Daughter Teas and Homecoming Breakfasts, Dad got to come for Father-Daughter Days, and most of all, we loved to see you “Sing!” When you belted out your solo in “Down the Produce Aisle”, I knew that shy, scared little girl had finally made it down the cattle chute as well…and would never be found hiding behind anyone else again!

Love you, Sara-Bear!

Mom

Thanks Momma! Love you!!

He makes me smile:)

This is just a picture that Luke's mom took of he and I dancing at his cousin Randi's wedding in August. She just put it on Facebook today, but I love it! I love dancing with him and the way I'm smiling so big in this picture. He does that to me:)

Blessings Through Coffee

My 11:15 a.m. class got out about ten minutes early today, so I decided to stop by the Shell off of 5th street for a cheap cup of the infamous (to college students) "gas station coffee." I went to pay for my 16 oz. cup and the cashier said "That will be $1.07." I had two $1 bills, but instead of making me break one dollar for seven cents, the cashier just grabbed the few pennies in the jar next to the cash register and said, "This will work. Have a great day!" Wow. Cool. I know that this story is talking about a mere seven cents, but even the smallest acts of kindness can have huge effects on people. This guy's small act of kindness made me immediately think to myself, "What can I do now to share this kindness with someone else?"

This little run-in at the Shell gas station made me remember back to another coffee-based occasion where I was blessed by a giver. On the second morning of Youth Minister's Conclave, a conference I went to for work, I stopped by the Starbucks in the hotel to grab a quick cup of joe. A tall, older man was working at the coffee shop and singing to himself. I guess because I was wearing my name tag, he asked me how the conference was going. We got into a pretty cool conversation about the conference and singing when he said something very astute.

He said, "You know, I just realized not long ago that the words that King David wrote, those poems are like songs written to God. When we read Psalms, its like we're reading or singing these lyrics to God. You know, I bet if the whole world just started singing right now, the heavens would open up and this would please God's heart. We don't all sing very well, but that doesn't matter. God just wants to hear from us. "

Whoa. This convo. At Starbucks. With someone I don't know. It was so refreshing!

After we stopped talking, I went to pay him $5 for my coffee. He wouldn't take it. I begged him to take it. He wouldn't budge. He said, "Haven't you ever been blessed before? Have you ever had someone just give you something for free because they just wanted to?"

I thought, well, yes. I guess so. This does not happen often. At least, not with coffee. But maybe I just don't recognize the little blessings in my life. Maybe this happens more than I notice because I'm too busy to just stop and realize that God is blessing me all the time. Whoa again. Thank you God for not only blessing me by letting me meet and converse with this sweet man, but for teaching me a lesson through this encounter.

I love coffee and that God used something I love to get through to me.

I smile when I think about God's blessings through coffee:)

My Last Fall Parties!

Today was my last Fall Parties as a senior! Falls parties is a chance for all of the freshman girls that will go through formal recruitment in the spring to meet the girls from each of the Panhellenic sorority chapters at Baylor. Fall Parties started early Friday evening and ended today (Saturday) at 2 p.m. Today was special because it was the first official part of recruitment that my baby sister, Claire, got to be a part of. It was so good to see her in our chapter room and she had a great time getting to meet girls from all of the different sororities. After Fall Parties was over, our group of friends kept with tradition and had lunch at Chilis. Every year our group goes there for lunch after Fall Parties. This was especially a must this year, since we're seniors. Overall, it was a great last Fall Parties!