Sophie's Sweet 16

Sophie turned 16 yesterday!
So we had a party!

Even Chloe showed up for the party...
Here we are recreating a picture that was taken on her 2nd birthday (the part of Loye Don Williams III was played by Amanda Tate)
My mom sat down once...here it is...
Sophie is such a blessing to our family and to her friends, I think she had fun!

Happy Birthday Sofa Girl!

Light of the World

Tonight was one of my favorite College Life services, the candlelight one. And then this morning at church they also had a candlelight service. I always get choked up and candle light services, I usually think it's because I'm home for Christmas and I'm just emotional. But this year I've have felt different about advent and these services today helped me make some sense of it I think. I have always loved advent, I like the anticipation that builds when we light candles one by one and wait for Christmas day and ultimately wait for the coming of Christ. There has always been something inside of me that just loved that feeling but this year I think I'm starting to understand that I don't fully get what Christ's birth means to the world. I wait for Christmas because it is such a joyful time for me to be home and such. But I'm realizing that our world longs for Christmas because they long for Christ, they long for Hope.

In a staff mtg that I was in last week we all reflected on the line from O Little town of Bethlehem that say "The hopes and fears of all the years, are met in they tonight". Do I really get what it means for all of my hopes and all of my fears to be met in Christ? I can honestly say that I have never felt completely hopeless but I am aware of many people around me who are hopeless and who need to anticipate the birth of Christ.

Another line that has been in my head this week is from O Holy Night and says " Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the souls felt its worth. A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn." There are people everywhere who are weary in the depth of their souls, not just a weariness that a week on the beach would cure. But a weariness that only Christ can break into. I think that I just feel overwhelmed by all of the hopeless and weary things that I know of in people's lives today but in the midst of that I can't help but feel the weight of what it means that the light of Christ broke into a dark world. This Christmas is no different, we still desperately need the light of Christ to break into situations and people.

So I think I'm starting to get it, I think I understand why something in me is always stirred by the visual sight of a congregation lighting each others candles and singing "Light of the world, Light of the world, Light of the world you shine upon us..."

Thanksgiving and more

Well I haven't been doing to well at keeping things up to date on here so sorry about that. Things are going well and I'm looking at just one more full week of classes and then finals left to this semester...yea! That said I have also officially switched my degree from a MACF (Masters of Christian Formation) to an MDIV (Masters of Divinity). What this means is that I will not be graduating this may but instead I will be wearing that lovely hat in May of '09. There are several things that led to this switch for me but I feel pretty good about it. I will be able to have my same internship working with the undergrad students here next year and the thought of being with the same students 2 years in a row is really exciting. And it will be pretty sweet to be able to have my MDIV! Now I'm just praying that they extend my scholarship!

I was also able to be home for Thanksgiving a few weeks ago and got some pretty relaxing (maybe to relaxing) time with the Fam. My Aunt from Louisiana and Cousin from Texas came out to and it was great to see them as well. Here are some pics from the weekend...

The Whole Fam (minus Tate who is taking the picture)

The Wysocki Clan...including the most doted on dog ever

The Gerber clan... chloe is not cooperating

Kristen, Laura, Tate, and I on our downtown Christmas light adventure

Nothing says Merry Christmas like some free Salvation Army hot chocolate!

A glimpse of restoration

In 10th grade I transfered schools and making friends didn't happen overnight. But a few weeks into school I auditioned for and got a part doing a duet with this girl named Lori. That was 12 years ago and Lori and I have been friends ever since. Our friendship has seen some pretty rough things but it has been so great to grow up together and to watch each other learn how to do life. Last week I had the honor of standing for her at her wedding. This event held so much significance because she and Andy were engaged 2 years ago and their wedding got called off. The easy thing would have been for them run but I'm proud of the way that they worked hard to make their relationship work and worked hard to learn new things about themselves. They fought to restore their relationships and I'm so proud of them. All of these things combined with the absolute beautiful setting of Cancun made it such a wonderful day. It was so moving to see them finally take their vows and be finally be Andy and Lori Plucker...

A few tears at the sight of it all

Here comes the bride

Finally...

Lori, Andy, wedding party, and parents

We love Andy and Lori!

Fall Break in Cali

Last week was my fall break so Sheri took work off and we headed to northern California. The idea was to have a fun trip (obviously) and Sheri had never been to San Fran. But we also have people that we both really love who now live in that area. So this trip ended up being a perfect combination of amazing sights and refreshing adventures exploring the area and the chance to be with some amazing people and have great conversations. We stayed with the Mazzariello's in Marin for a few nights, had dinner with the Greco's, and got one night with the Josephson's in Sacramento. Couldn't really have asked for anything better for a fall "break". We took way to many pictures but some of our favorites are below.

Our Adventures in San Fran included...

A Ferry Ride
Amazing views
Cable Cars...is there any other way?
China Town and $4 t-shirts
And shopping

The next day found us in Sonoma and Napa Valley exploring some vineyards, eating an amazing lunch of brie and bread, and ending up in some tasting rooms that were for members only...oops! How were we to know?

Poetry in a bottle, huh?

The colors were beautiful

Grapes don't smell...don't know why I was tryingThe cellars at Schug Winery
Robert Mondavi Vineyards...pretty ugly huh
At V. Sattui Winery...pretty sure that the people who took this picture had been wine tasting for a few hours already, it's amazing it turned out really!

This trip also marked my first visit to Lake Tahoe and my first visit to a Casino.

Lake Tahoe
So cold but loving the view

Our tour guides
And the beginning of my addiction (just kidding, I walked away)

So a few more days around here in classes and such and then I head to Mexico for Lori and Andy's wedding and then on to St. Louis for part of the Youth Specialties conference and to see my Colorado peeps. I Can't wait! I'm just wondering when I'm supposed to do homework this month...?

Marit and Benj's wedding...

On Saturday Marit and Benj got married! Marit was one of my roommates last year and Benj went to seminary last year with me but graduates last may. They are fun and the wedding was really great. Here are some pics from the event.


The Happy couple
Trying to cross Foster as they led all the guests to their reception
Don't worry, they made it in one piece!
The wonderful candy buffet
The Angie's
Sheri, me, and Kristi

Marit and I
Jamie, Sheri, and Lindsey trying to eat the massive cupcakes

5 weeks already?

So I had a latte at 7pm, then went to an awesome North Park Homecoming soccer game, then watch "Blades of Glory" and now I'm not even remotely tired. So what better than to catch you up on life around here these past 5 weeks. Yes, it has been 5 weeks already. My weeks go by so fast but so far they have been challenging and really rich. I feel such a freshness this semester and I feel like God has just given me a new perspective on myself and on my life right now. I'm loving working with the undergrads and so far I have remembered most of the names of people I've met...really there are a lot to remember. So it's been good. Here are some of my highlights from these past weeks...

HEATHER'S WEDDING...My first weekend back I went to my college roommate's wedding. It was one of those weddings that everyone went to so it was great to see some old friends. I have to say that it was one of the most laid back weddings I have ever been to. The ceremony was maybe 5 minutes long and it was in this cool garden center. But it's totally what Heather and Jack wanted and we all had a blast. If this picture looks blurry that's because it was so fast! Caleb and Sharon stuck around for a few days and so we threw in a day at the zoo too.

UMIN RETREAT...The next weekend we went on a retreat to Lake Geneva with all of the student leaders that are involved with University Ministries this year. I really love the way that the UMIN staff casts a vision for the year and they way that they raise the bar for their student leaders. It's really just a great group and they aren't afraid to lay it all out for them. I feel like there is a new energy around this group this year and I'm excited to see what God is going to do through them. (sorry there is no picture...I was to busy killing mosquitoes to take any pictures)

MUSKEGON...This year there is a high concentration of my friends living in Muskegon, MI. The Ciccone's are still there, Dave Nagel is still there, Alicia Vela (friend from Colorado) moved there to be an intern, and Laurey Kiehne (former student of mine from MN...and one of my favorites!) moved there are well to live with Tim and Maria and be there nanny. So I went up there for a weekend and it was good as always. Visiting the Ciccone's is so great because I feel so at home with them. They are those friends that you can visit and just hang out all Saturday and it's great. And of course it's always good to play with Caleb and Josiah. Caleb and I tried to play Wii on night but I'm not good and I think that frustrated him so we just pretended that the sticks were microphones...see picture below...
APPLE ORCHARD...Yep, went to an apple orchard because that's what you do around here in the fall. Funny how the day we went though it was like 85...didn't matter, we went to an apple orchard. I went with Jen Zerby, her sister -in-law Amber, and Amber's boys Caden and Tage. We had a blast, not so sure that Amber did (because she doesn't like being outside or walking in grass so she was set up for failure). There were cider donuts and really cool little tractors that I tried to ride. What more could you want really?
BOAT TOUR...This past week we took some of the students from our chapel planning team on the architecture boat tour of Chicago. This was my 3rd tour and as always it was great. I just like that I can go do something fun on a Wednesday night and not feel guilty...yea for less homework and fun students!

And now you are pretty caught up, if you made it through this whole thing. It's ok if you just looked at pictures because sometimes that's all that I do on people's blogs (Cav...use some pics!). This weekend is homecoming around here and it's all pretty fun. So again, not much homework will get done for me. Tomorrow is the bloc party and they are expecting 4, 000 people...hm, if that works well it will be a homecoming miracle. All that said I should try to sleep as I have to run the snow cone machine tomorrow for those 4,000 people...if you're lucky you might get to see a picture of that...!