Welcome to the Madness!

This past Saturday was Auburn's Best Buddies fundraiser called Midnight Madness. We signed up to form/join teams that went around all day saturday on a scavenger hunt. Above is a picture of my team minus 4 buddies that had to go home early. The theme of the hunt was pirates. We had a treasure box to collect some things in and took pictures of ourselves doing other things. The day ended with awards and an after party at a local bar. The fundraiser was such a success; we raised over $12,000 dollars! This money will go toward getting a Best Buddies state office in Alabama. My team didn't win a prize but the best prize of all was to hear the buddies say that even if we don't win it will be ok because they had fun.

Sally walking across the street on her hands and me trying to hold onto her feet and 2 bags.

Our whole team in the boys bathroom. This was one of our first assignments. It was funny beacuse one of our younger buddies covered her eyes as we walked in and kept saying "gross" and "mommy said no".

Blessings

So, this semester has been long and strenuous with all of my projects and my first practicum. Most of the things that have come out of my mouth have been words of complaining, discontent, and frustration. I'm in over my head with all of my projects and Best Buddies events and planning. Some of the extracurricular things I am involved with are Reformed University Fellowship, my church's special needs nursery, Best Buddies, Friends for Life, and the Autism support group.



These past few weeks I have been trying to focus on the blessings that God has placed in my life. Just recently God has blessed me with a new friend. She lost her brother and 3 of his friends in a car accident over spring break. Not only did God provide the time in my busy schedule to meet with her, but he also provided me encouragement through her. The week that I met with her I had 8 projects due and by God's grace I had 7 of them finished the night before we were supposed to meet. When she was sharing about her experience it was neat to hear where she is after her brother's death and see the similarities and differences from what I experienced after losing my sister. She has taken this tragedy and used it to make her life more meaningful. What can she do to ease the pain of the driver that hit the car or her parents or the parents of the other 3 kids? How can she be a better witness to God's goodness? She amazes me by her joyful spirit. Please pray for her family and the other 2 families as they continue to grieve.



Another blessing happened today while I was walking at Town Creek park. I had to escape our apartment because our air conditioner has been broken for a month and it was currently 81 degrees in our apartment. I thought that going for a walk would get me nice and hot so I could come home to a cold shower. Going on a walk would also let me avoid writing lesson plans. Ugh! So I am walking at the park for about 20 minutes and am beginning to get bored because no one was with me and I forgot my ipod. Then, I look up and I see a friend from Moody that goes to Auburn but I haven't seen or talked to in a long time, Elizabeth McFarling. We were able to talk and encourage each other as we walked for over an hour. We didn't talk about anything special but throughout our conversation we were able to remind each other of things that we can be thankful for.

I am WEAK! BUT He is STRONG!