A year ago today...

A year ago today, I woke up in a dorm room at our 6 week New Staff Training for Crusade . It was really strange since I had not slept in one for 4 years. Not to mention that Vince was there with me, and in my days in the dorm, that just didn't happen. Little did I know that having all your best friends in one hall for 6 weeks- even when you are grownup, out of college, and married was one of the highlights of my summer.

A year ago today, I was feeling insecure as we were meeting 150 other people that were joining Crusade staff with us. I wasn't sure if I was going to find good friends, or get along with people there. I was convinced that everyone else was infinitely cooler than me. Little did I know that I would find people more like sisters, amazing binds that cross the country and globe, and friends I looks forward to seeing every year, and wish I could see more.

A year ago today Vince and I committed officially to be full time staff, and to give the next few years of our lives to ministry. We filled out and signed paperwork, picked up our books for our seminary classes, and prayed hard that God would fill us and keep us for the years to come. Little did we know that the calling we felt, and the commitment we made would only deepen over the first year, and we would be thrilled with where God was leading us.

A year ago today was the start of a summer filled with growing in the Lord, drinking boba tea, taking seminary classes, eating cafeteria food, loving and learning jazzercise, pulling all-nighters, huddling under umbrellas, using community bathrooms, laughing until I cried and doing it again, doodling all over papers, enjoying sweet friendships, and learning what it means to really enjoy a new place in life.

It is hard to believe we have already been on staff for a year, and that it has been a year since we went through our NST. Here in a few weeks we will get a mini-reunion as all staff gather together for a few days in Colorado, and I know that it will be a time of sweet memories all it's own.