Merry and Bright!! (January update!)

 

Hello! 

Happy Holidays! The semester is over, and I just can’t believe time has gone by so quickly. This year has been such a good year, of so many new things for me! Getting married, a major house renovation, a new school year, etc. So many things to praise God for! And sorry for the late update, things got away with me in the midst of the holiday season :-)

December goes by pretty quickly, but is jam packed in terms of ministry. The students have their finals within the first couple weeks of school immediately following their Thanksgiving break. So, they are having their final cores for the semester and trying to finish their classes well! 

Christmas Party

At the end of the semester, we have a Christmas party! This year’s theme was “North Pole Christmas”. We had “Santa’s Workshop” where they could paint ornaments and make Christmas crafts. “Reindeer Games” with inflatable antlers that you wear on your head, and then a partner tries to get the rings on the antlers! Another “Reindeer Game” we did was Christmas trivia, and it was a BLAST!! Our students loved it. We sang some Christmas songs and even read them “The Night Before Christmas”, which I think really brought out their inter child. We always end those parties singing, “We WHOOSH You a Merry Christmas” (Because we are the Comets and our thing is WHOOSH.. instead of “Wish”… get it??) and they get really into that! 

Setting up for the party! You can see me with the Reindeer inflatable antlers, and Lindsey and Andrea setting up our gingerbread photo booth! 

This was the main room at the party, during one of our students singing Karaoke! It was so beautiful and Christmas-y!! (The decor, not necessarily the Karaoke ;))

My friend, Stephanie, who is a freshman this year! 

Our UTD FOCUS staff team! 

Some girls playing a “Reindeer Game” of Candycane Spoons! 

All Staff Christmas Dinner

We also have an all-staff Christmas dinner where all of our staff from the different campuses come together and celebrate Christmas/the end of the semester! We have a 3 course dinner, and each course, we sit with different people and answer some questions about the semester. It’s neat to get to hear from people that I don’t usually spend time with! We end with a time of encouragement to each other, or encouraging stories from the semester. 

A WHOLE Staff SELFIE?? It’s a Christmas miracle we all fit! 

During our encouragement time :)

I also got to go to my friend Acacia’s graduation party! She has been a student at UTD the last several years, and I’ve met one-on-one with her for the last 3 years or so. She was in my core and we studied the Bible together. She has a sweet heart and a hard -working spirit! Graduating is such a huge accomplishment for her, and I am so proud! This is us at her grad party :)

The grad girl! 

I also got to go to the Dallas Arboretum with Perri and Rachel, who lead core together and are in my peer team. We meet up every week to talk about their core girls and how ministry is going for them, as well as anything personal they want help thinking through or just want prayer for. They are such sweet friends, and it was so fun to do this with them! 

Perri (L) and Rachel (R) at the Arboretum with a cute gingerbread man :)

Then we got a nice 2 week break, which was spent with family and friends celebrating our sweet Jesus. I was really pondering the incarnation this Christmas, and just thinking about how truly incredible it is that Jesus came as a baby. So reliant on those around to take care of them just to survive, so dependent, so weak and fragile… THAT is the form in which Jesus came to live among us. It was really special for me to get to think about that this Christmas… I hope that you had a great Christmas and Holiday season! Until next time! 

Love you all, and so very thankful for you! 

Love, 

Kylie <3