rooted in Him

one more post [for now] about Alpha Gam.  I'm sorry, but I'm just on a AGD high after this weekend.  & I miss it a lot.

this is my family on bid day.  

picture stolen from my gg-niece, Katie, who I'm proud to say seems to have taken over the picture-taking.

when I joined Alpha Gam, my family was me, Jessi (my big) & Cristi (my g-big).  

now: us + Brandi, Rachel, Laurel, Kirstie, Casey, Caitlin, Sara, Brittany, Katie, Blakney, Chrissy, Alison, Keri, & Chelsea.  um...wow.

Colossians 2:6-7 has been my prayer for our little Lambda family for a long time now.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted & built up in Him & established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

in my college years, my faith became my own.  I felt love & heartbreak.  God turned my life upside down.  I felt peace in the confusion & hope in the knowledge that He is sovereign.  I came face-to-face with my own unforgiveness & learned to deal with that.  He put my heart back together again & taught me how to allow Him to guard it.  He gave me a desire for His Word that I never knew I was missing.  He provided not just friends but a family.  & now that I've graduated & left all that physically behind, He's shown me that the friendships He's created will not end.  in the job confusion I feel now, there's still an underlying peace.  He continually tells me, "be still."  

I just know that college was such a growing time for me & I long for it to be for these girls as well.  

dear God, 

please use Alpha Gam to bring Your light to that campus & raise up a generation that longs to serve you & bring glory to Your name.  create in these girls a love for you & a passion to give their lives to glorify You.

#98. my Lambda family.

#99. placing verses on our hearts for certain times or situations.

weekend recap: part 1

I feel so behind!  this weekend has been crazy busy, so it may take me a little bit to catch up.  first off...I left Friday morning for Dahlonega for Rush weekend.  this was one of the most tiring absolutely exhausting weekends of my life each of my college years, but oh so wonderful.  each year as we met new girls & attempted to tell them how great Alpha Gam is, it was a reminder of what it was for me.  joining a sorority at all was such a God thing for me...I wanted the opportunity to connect with girls, be a light for Him, but also be encouraged by those around me...& I found all of that in Alpha Gamma Delta.  my college years produced the most spiritual growth of any in my life so far, & Alpha Gam is a HUGE part of that.  

on to details...

Friday morning/afternoon consisted of Just Dance with Cait, time with my sweet little & some other friends, &...that's about it.  which was lovely :)

Friday night we went to campus & helped set up for the 1st round of parties.  & then Case & I worked on invitations for the 2nd round until the wee hours before we went back to Cait's & slept what felt like five minutes.

every year, the Saturday of recruitment weekend, the alumnae provide lunch for the collegians, so Case & I spent that morning getting ready & making food to take.

proof that Theta Delta has something good going on: this is how many alum were there just on Saturday...there were others throughout the weekend.

we stayed to see the run-through of that night's skits & then Case, Beth, Katie, & I headed to Athens to meet up with Em for a girls' night.

& the rest will just have to wait since their may be a LOT of pictures to edit before that post...

#90. sisterhood even after graduation.

#91. such a lovely little college town to go back to.

#92. God in the Greek community.

#93. the God-given convictions for me to throw away the stereotypes I held pre-freshman year & see that I needed to be a part of AGD.

30 Day Blog Challenge: day 6

day 6

a picture of something that makes you happy

This picture makes me happy...& sad.  Gold Rush is one of my all-time favorite times of the year in Dahlonega.  Sisters, rock-a-thon, sweet potato biscuits, cooler weather, pretty leaves, sweet potato biscuits, caramel apples, cute pictures, alum sisters, &...did I mention the sweet potato biscuits...oh, & you can't forget the buck dancing competitions (which I formerly thought was butt dancing)...not even going to try to explain those.

And...it's not looking like I'm going to make it this year.

Alpha Gam, miss you girls more than you can possibly know!  Love you & pray for you daily & the impact that you can make on that campus.

"Let your roots grow down into Him, & let your lives be built on Him.  Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught & you will overflow with thankfulness."
Colossians 2:7

for the love of autumn

This is the time of year when I start craving fall.

Like I've already said...I love pumpkin anything.

Cheesecake.  Latte.  Bread.  Pie.

I love the leaves & little children (& us "grown ups" too) playing in them.

I love that time we went to Burt's Pumpkin Patch.  That should happen again.

I love that it means Thanksgiving is coming!

And the weather is perfect...not too hot, not too cold.  This reminds me of the beginning of You've Got Mail when Meg Ryan (sweet, adorable Kathleen Kelly) is talking about how much she loves New York in the fall.  Love New York.  Want to go in the fall.  With a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils.

 

Dear loooong hair, please come back to me.

P.S. Pray for this sweet girl as she just headed off to China today to teach for a year!

And it's the perfect weather for a little hike.  I always loved the 1st time I got to break out that AGD sweatshirt.  Actually, who am I kidding?  I wore it year round...

Also, my dad's standing downhill...he's not that short & I, obviously, am not that tall.

And, oh the colors! B-E-A-utiful!

And it's the time when my Case is near giddy about Jasper's Marble Festival. :)

We look too good to fool anyone.  We ran mostly walked, skipped, frolicked, galloped the fun run.  But fun, it was!

AND...GOLD RUSH!  My first time as an alum this year, I plan on eating several sweet potato biscuits & taking many pictures of some cute Alpha Gam's rocking to raise money for the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation for diabetes research.

 

 Our 1st Gold Rush as Alpha Gams...we were such babies!  :)

Seeing as how almost every single one of these pictures is in Dahlonega, think I miss it just a little bit?  Especially this time of year?  Can't wait for a visit!  :)

It's my heart.

Last Chapter

Well, the day that I've been dreading all year finally came - my last chapter.  Alpha Gam is, without a doubt, what I will miss most about college.  These girls have been the ones that filled my days for the past 5 years & I can't imagine life without them.  Ok, actually I can...I transferred for awhile a few years ago &, while I still believe God had called me to do so (though I may never understand why), living without sisters around me every single day was one of the most difficult things I've ever done.  Good news is, I lived & love Alpha Gam even more because of that time without it.

So, the last few chapters every year are filled with "Senior Spotlights."  Each senior's family makes a slide show, talks a little about the senior, etc.  Well, seeing as how I have the best family there is, I had one great senior spotlight.  Since it was a powerpoint, I couldn't upload it, so I just took screenshots of each slide (why the writing is a little fuzzy).  Cait & Brandi did a great job on it!

*disclaimer: the fonts were way cuter on Cait's computer.

And...I got all of this!  It was like my birthday!

  

{almost} the whole family!

left to right, top: Caitlin, Sara, Keri, Katie, Brittany; 

bottom: Jessi, Alison, me, Brandi, Rachel

Missed you, Case!

me & Jess :)

And each senior got a basket with cards from lots of sisters...something I'll always love.

I can't even put into words what an incredible role Alpha Gamma Delta has played & will continue to play in my life.  Theta Delta has greatly impacted the person I am today.

P.S. I got to cross one more thing off my bucket list when, at the end of chapter, Brandi stood up & said "three nuts for pledge class Lindsey!"