bearcats forever

when i was a kid i always thought it made adults sound so old when they would talk about how they couldn't believe how long it had been since they had done/been in/been to ______. i would roll my eyes and think how i would never be like that. but guess what...it's happening.

seriously though...ten years? i haven't been an sbu student in ten years. my high school reunion was one thing, but this is another thing entirely. wasn't i just living in the dorm like two semesters ago? a couple of weeks ago i was filling out a reunion questionnaire for homecoming and decided it was time for a little trip down memory lane. i pulled out the scrapbook and found some great stuff. memories came rushing back as i looked at the faces and thought of the people i came to know and love during my four years as a bearcat. the funny thing is that when i think about the fact that these memories are from ten years ago [which actually means fourteen, since that's when i started college] i think, no way. but then i look at these pictures and they seem to be from the dark ages. when did those clothes and hairstyles become so outdated? there's the c.k.g., the crazy ladies of leslie third south, hours of sand volleyball, the killer bees and the 'group'. mission trips, card games, spring break road trips, late night chats, lifelong friends and a whole lot of pranks...which i mostly participated in as an 'innocent observer'. in an effort to preserve these memories in cyberspace, and share a bit of the love, here's a little timeline of some of the important people and places of my college career.

. the ckg .

we were almost inseparable the first few years...these were my homies

zach . stacey . justin . christina . chris

. the rock hoppin' sandal mommas .

croatia: the first of many mission trips...and the beginning of a life long friendship

julie . shelly . jana . nicky . tara

. the killer bees .

flag football champions...two years in a row

winkle . shelly . miriam . leann . pistol . tara . katie . stacey . megan . rene

. the group .

the discipleship group val started...i learned a lot in the two years we were together

becca . shelly . jackie . brian . josh . kristen . erin
val . sarah . candace . gabe . chris . kevin

. midnight breakfast .

my last meal at meller's

winkle . cline . jackie . shelly . ali . kris . connie . shannon . matthew

. the girls of maple tree lane .

emily . tonya . heather . ami . holly . kris . shelly . jackie . kim . kim

. tp road trip .

technically this one is after i graduated...but it still counts!

ali . nicole . lindsey . shelly

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bayou bound

it's been six years since hurricane katrina swept through new orleans, but the recovery effort still marches on. in some areas of the city there are no obvious signs of the destruction caused by the storm, but in other spots the scars are still very evident. in the span of a block you will see many well cared for homes with fresh coats of paint, but sprinkled between are abandoned homes with overgrown lawns that have yet to be salvaged from the storm. the large X's that search crews used to mark the homes when checking for survivors are still visible all across the city. there is still work to be done.

my mom and i went down to louisiana with a team from calvary to work with an organization called touch global. they have been there since the beginning and are committed to continue serving the community, long after most of the other relief agencies have moved out. the majority of the people still needing assistance have similar stories. they hired contractors to rebuild their homes with the money received from insurance settlements, government assistance, etc., but instead of completing the needed repairs on the homes these contractors skipped town, money in hand. touch global has a waiting list of people still needing help so we headed down to serve wherever we were needed.

our team of seven ladies spent the week working at jj's house. the overall goal was to make some progress on scraping, sanding and priming the house...but we also caulked, weeded and removed a chain link fence. since our touch global site supervisor was in charge of multiple work sites, i put my habitat skills to work and became our job foreman. while we did get some work accomplished, my favorite part of this trip by far was our team. we had a ton of fun listening to heidi's stories, dancing on the sidewalk and enjoying each others company. it was a 24-7 laugh fest.

after our work week was over my mom, heidi and i stayed an extra day to explore new orleans and soak up the cajun culture. we had beignets at cafe du monde, walked along the riverfront, rode the streetcars, strolled through tulane university, listened to live music and experienced a night on bourbon street.

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college game day

thanks to some family friends of the twogoods, kim and i scored some great tickets to the ku homecoming football game. though i'm not a dedicated, die-hard jayhawk fan like kim, i was pretty excited at the prospect of a real college game...real being a synonym for "not sbu". but i wasn't just looking for a game, i was looking for the entire college football experience. thankfully joy, one of my bible study buddies and lawrence native, invited us to join her for some classic tailgating festivities. their tent boasted ladder ball, corn hole, lots of food and jayhawk plastic ware. it was top notch.

after i dominated corn hole, we headed into memorial stadium with time to spare...mostly because i didn't want to miss the dancing girls. [the pre-game and halftime shows tend to be the highlight for me] not only did we get free jayhawk flags, we were delighted to find that our bleacher seats had been equipped with those comfy chair backs. it was like we were royalty.

the first quarter was super fun. we were sitting near the ku end zone and they scored three unanswered touchdowns. just minutes before the first quarter ended the score was 20-0. we were waving the wheat and even made it on tv. but we won't talk about what happened the rest of the game.

while this wasn't the specific school listed when i made my goal to attend a college football game, and though i don't bleed crimson and blue, i did have a great day with the jayhawks. rock chalk.

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