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January 2024

It was my friend Nicole's birthday (in the middle)! Me and Steph went over to have some homemade spring rolls and play Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. It was my first time and it was pretty fun! You know those people that you've known for a while and have interacted with a little bit, but then one day y'all discover that y'all could be better friends? (That seems hyper specific but also like a universal experience?) That's Nicole! She was a part of UTD FOCUS and graduated recently and it wasn't until she graduated that we started hanging in the same circles more. I'm so thankful for unexpected friends! :-)

We had our Winter Staff Retreat the first week of January. What a sweet time to reset, reconnect, and prepare ourselves for the upcoming semester. Each Winter Staff Retreat, we read a book as a whole team and reflect on its message. This year, we read To Love As God Loves which takes you through the history of how we have thought through loving people as a (big C) Church—and what we could learn from the early church. This is a picture during some free time of us playing Mysterium.

This is one of the only photos I took at Winter Retreat (FKA Winter Camp). It was my first time doing Winter Retreat at this retreat center (if you remember, last year would've been my first time if not for that eye injury), so I felt a little in the dark heading into it. But praise God, it went smoothly (for the most part, you can't expect everything to work right at any of these camps). Our speaker, Dr. Daniel Lee, spoke about DISRUPTIVE GRACE. Which, if you are at all curious about what that means, I highly encourage you to listen to his talks on Spotify! You can listen to the first one by clicking here. I wouldn't be exaggerating to say that he is one of my favorite speakers we've had!

Jacob, one of my best friends, got married recently!! WHOOO!! Here is a picture of us during the rehearsal. So excited for him and Siena (one of our pastors at SMU) and the next stage of their lives together.

Our dishwasher broke! Or, at least it wouldn't drain. THANK GOD FOR WILLING AND HANDY FRIENDS. 😭🙏 Jeremy came over and we unplugged the dishwasher, took it apart a little, then put it back together and plugged it back in and it started working again. Not sure what we did (and when I say we, I mean he), but it was enough heat that the dishwasher started behaving again.

The theme this month (and honestly for the past few months of my life) is friendship. I've been thinking a lot about friendships: how they fit in my life, the priority they take, and how to be a good friend. If you remember his picture from last month, Daijon loves to laugh and smile. Here we are forcing him to celebrate his birthday with us. :-) Everything I said last month is still the same, he is a great friend to me and an inspiration of how to be more thoughtful of my friends!

Lol.

 

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