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This week has flown by! So much has been going on. It's been a really wonderful week! We started off the week by going to a baby shower for a couple in our care group at church on Sunday afternoon. It was so much fun spending time with other couples and people in our group, enjoying fellowship together and the excitement of the upcoming baby.

Then Tuesday, on my day off, I met up with a new friend who is in our care group as well. Her baby and I have similar allergies so we enjoyed exchanging recipes, food ideas, etc... all the while getting to know each other better. She was a great encouragement to me as I listened to her, watched her with her two little girls, and talked of various topics together. I greatly respect her and I'm so excited to get to know her better this semester.

Tuesday night I went to Pendergraph up at the Seminary. Pendergraph is basically the women's ministry for women connected to Southern. It's one night a month that women from Southern (seminary wives, students, faculty wives) can come together and enjoy spending time in fellowship together. I always leave so encouraged by the people I have met and talked with!

Wednesday I worked all day and Thursday I worked all day, but then Thursday night my Seminary Wives Class started. I was SO excited to be going and sitting in on class. I've begun to really miss being in class as I've seen a number of my friends up here start back to school. So being able to be apart of SWI has been such an exciting blessing! Last night was wonderful! Mrs. Mohler taught the first session and she was so fun to watch. She has a great personality, is very down to earth; sweet and kind. She spoke on our calling as wives to men who feel called to ministry. It was so encouraging and convicting all at the same time. As wives we hold such an important role in our husbands ministries. Also, God has uniquely gifted each of us wives to be the perfect mate and helper for our husbands and their particular ministry. We also get the joy of taking that ministry on as our own ministry with him. It's not just his that we watch from the sidelines... it becomes our ministry together. It is our job as wives to encourage, uplift, and strengthen our husband's ministries by being the godly wife that God has called us to be. I look forward to all that I will be learning this semester. I'm sure I'll be sharing more over the next weeks!

This morning I had the joy of going to Starbucks with a friend from Boyce, Sarah. She and another mutual friend of ours (also named Sarah) moved into the apartment beneath Kyle and I so we are now neighbors as well! It was so good to catch up on life with her! She has such a sweet and enthusiastic personality and spirit. I'm looking forward to spending more time with her in the future and getting to know each other better! Yay for having friends as neighbors!

Sarah and I

This evening, Friday night, is our weekly date night. I get the privilege of planning it this week so I'm trying to think of creative (free) things to do that are fun and different. I'll try to post pictures soon of what we end up with!

Hey everyone!

I had a great time tonight with everyone at our Progressive Dinner. What fun! For those of ya'll who weren't there, we started off the night with everyone meeting at the church and loading up in the buss. Then, everyone drove over to the Joslin's house for soups as our appetizer. Next, we went to the Cook's home for the main course of tacos and mexican casserole. Yummy!!! Then finally, we went to Rose's home for dessert of homemade coconut and vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and mexican cinnamon cheesecake. Ohhh... what a night! Bring on the calories!!! Yum-o! Every single one was worth it!!! :-)


Several people were asking for the recipes from the desserts so I thought I'd post them. Enjoy!

Mexican Cinnamon Cheesecake
(by Brandi Lockwood)

2 pkgs. Crescent Rolls
2 bricks of Cream Cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon Vanilla
Cinnamon
1 stick butter

Line 9x13 pan with one can of rolls. Mix together cream cheese, one cup of sugar, and vanilla. Spread over layer of rolls. Line second can of rolls on top of cream cheese mixture. Melt butter and pour over top. Mix 1/2 cup of sugar and cinnamon then sprinkle on top layer.

Bake at 350 until golden brown (20-30 minutes).

Hot Fudge Sauce
(Food Network)

1 cup of sugar
3 cups of cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Put everything except the vanilla in a pot and bring it to a boil. Continue cooking until it looks like it's broken and separating (usually about 20+ minutes). WARNING: do not over cook! Take it off the heat, whisk in the vanilla; then blend it with a hand blender to smooth it out. Chill until ready to serve; then heat it up. Pour over scoops of ice cream, topped with whipped cream and chopped peanuts.

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
(by Tracy Vaughn)

1 gallon whole milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
2 cups sugar
Splash of vanilla (approx. 1 tbs.)

Coconut (optional)

Place in ice cream churn... enjoy!

This weekend Boyce College had their first ever Fall Student Retreat. It's usually held in the spring but this past spring it got snowed out so they switched it to this fall. However, we almost didn't have it at all due to the Hurricane destruction and power outage! The retreat center we were supposed to go to in Indiana had to cancel on us due to damage from the storm so we had to switch last minute to have the retreat at a church nearby the school. It was so much fun! We crammed three speaker sessions into last night... our speaker was Aaron Coe from New York. He is a church planter who grew up in Louisville and recently moved to NY to plant a church.

His messages were excellent! He was really encouraging us to pursue the vision for ministry that God has given us here and now; to not just wait till we graduate from seminary, but rather fulfill that calling and vision now!

I posted some pictures from the night on my facebook. Here is a link to them:

Uprising 2008 Pictures

Hey everyone!!! It's so exciting up here in Louisville because we finally HAVE POWER!!!! YEA!!!! Southern's Campus was without power from Sunday till Tuesday... so we are all rejoicing!!! However, not everyone off campus has power yet; a number of my friends' apartments are still without electricity.

Praise the Lord that the Seminary's campus remainded unharmed, with the exception of losing power and fallen tree limbs! We have much to be thankful for!

It was really fun though to be without power because it drew everyone out of their dorms and into the JBowl so people were outside throwing balls, eating together (the seminary grilled out for everyone) and just enjoying fellowship that we normally don't have. The most exciting part of the whole event was that classes were canceled for the Seminary and Boyce all week!!! Many people went home... but a number of us stayed around.

Yesterday as I was out running I saw a lot of the destruction that took place on Sunday. Here are some pictures of fallen trees along my running route... there was also a house that had a fallen tree on it, but I wasn't able to get a picture!

This tree fell over the running trail at Seneca Park. People were out there trying to dodge it!This tree fell onto the parking spots at Seneca.

I was talking with a friend last night about how it's amazing that man, in his strength, cannot touch these trees. He can push and pull with all his might yet never budge a tree. Yet God can blow a wind and bring break these trees in two! How mighty and powerful our God is!!!

Have you ever experienced a time when you felt that your eyes were suddenly opened to the utter despair and hopelessness that is in this world? Have you been shocked at the darkness around you? Have you ever talked with someone who completely does not care about truth and you are speechless? Have you ever been around people who need Christ so badly... yet you don't know how to open their eyes to that need?

What do you say when your heart longs for the person you are talking with to finally catch a glimpse of hope in Christ... to finally "get it"... yet your words are going in one ear and out the other?

It's like this futile world is spinning around, decaying under the grip of sin... yet how can we as Christians bring the HOPE to this world? How do you talk with someone who won't make a statement about who God is because god is defined in different terms to him; there is no absolute truth about god in his mind. God is relative to him... How can you just say "but you must believe" when they want evidence and reasoning...

How do you prove to someone that God is indeed in control, He is sovereign, He is holy, He is wonderful, He is just, He is omniscient, He is divine, He is beautiful, He is praiseworthy, He is completely consuming, He is I AM.... He is my God!!!

"Father, open the minds of these people and show them their need for You! You are the only One who can draw them to Yourself. Use us as Your instruments... cause us to be faithful to proclaim Your goodness and righteousness to this lost and dying world. Give us the words to say... give us the ears to listen... give us the minds to comprehend... give us the hearts to grieve for the dying... may our actions draw attention to Your name... may we be set apart... yet humbled by Your mercy poured out on us... the sinners... our goodness is nothing but filthy rags to You!!! Praise you for the Cross!!! Thank you for Your sacrifice... on my behalf! May I never move on from the gospel... may I never lose sight of Calvary!"

Hey everyone! This past week has flown by!!! It's been amazing to me up here when I hit the end of another week, realizing how fast time is evaporating. It helps me to remember to not take anything for granted while I'm here at Boyce. :-)

For a quick update on life, classes are going really well and homework is managable, not too overwhelming at present. However, I do have three papers due within the next couple of weeks so I am reading, studying, and typing away, trying to get them all completed.

God has been SO faithful in providing me with great friendships up here, not only just on campus, but now also at the church I have been visiting the last couple of weeks. The last time I updated on my church situation, I was attending a church about 30 minutes away from the campus. While the church was great and the people were very gracious, I felt that I should seek out a church closer to the campus so that I could be more easily involved. So for the last two Sundays I have visited a church called 9th and O Baptist Church. My first Sunday I was surrounded by friendly faces as people came up to greet and welcome me! Since then I have done several events with their college ministry and have fallen in love with the leaders as well as attendees of that ministry. I could blog on and on about how welcome they made me feel and how I can already see their examples of Christian living and ministering encouraging me in my own walk and ministry, however, for lack of time, I must leave it at this. :-/ Thank you for all your prayers that God would lead me to the perfect church. At this point and time, I believe 9th and O is where I am to be. :-)

As to what I am learning, this last week in our chapel services we were blessed to have a man named David Platt come from his church in Alabama to speak to us on the need for missions. He preached Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and every single one of his sermons were amazing!!! The final sermon he preached was on the Authority of Christ in Missions. He began his message asking the question: "What if we were a people who responded in worship to the Word of God like we do to sing praises?" Why don't we raise our hands, stand to our feet, and shout "hallelujah" when the word is spoken, like we do when hymns are sung? In that sermon he preached from Romans 9:1-5, but stated that in order for us to understand those verses, we needed to have a firm grasp of Romans chapters 1-8. From there he preceded, without warning, to quote those first eight chapters, word perfect, without once looking for help.

As I looked around the auditorium while he continued to quote those chapters, people were standing in the pews with bibles in hand while following along, people were raising their hands, they were bowing their heads, they were shouting praises, and they were driven to tears. Oh that we would be a people who, upon hearing the word of God, not only sang praises to His name but bowed our faces to the ground out of humility, giving Him the glory that He deserves!!!

I was so impressed by the power of the spoken word of God. What a ministry it is to others when we put to memory the truths of God's word and then use that to share His grace with a lost and dying world!

I encourage you to listen to David Platt's sermon... it is listed on Southern's Website. Click here and when you are on the webpage, scroll down to find Dr. David Platt - "The Authority of Christ in the Great Commission" from September 4th, 2008.

Kristin's House Of Pancakes... Last night, Kristin Yeldell invited all the girls from Boyce College over to her house for a pancake night. We had 65 girls show up and the evening was a blast!!!

This is Eric and Kristin Yeldell. Kristin is my Women's Ministry Professor and our Student Life Director. She is an amazing woman and I've already learned so much from her in class, watching her serve, observing as she keeps things in line and going for student life, etc... she has such an amazing passion for ministry to girls also! God has really gifted her to communicate with them!


Eric was our amazing pancake chef for the night... We mixed them up and he flipped them. I hear they were great!!! (I brought my little gluten free waffles... they were good too... haha!)

L-R Me, Charlotte, Ginny Lou, and Tricia... Ginny Lou and Tricia were the minds behind this ladies event. They did a fabulous job pulling everything together. It ran so smoothly girls!!!

Here is Tricia spreading the nutella on pancakes... she was the official spreader of that wholesome goodness! It was so funny watching girls walk out with chocolate on their pancakes... I'd never really thought of that before... its sounds pretty good!
All the girls spread out over Kristin and Eric's backyard to eat and fellowship.

Girls having fun...

Say "cheese" girls!!! haha... In the middle is Sarah Temple. She is one of my "Howdy Group" leaders. At orientation they split all the incoming students into Howdy Groups so that we could get connected to each other. She and Nate did a great job leading ours!!!

This is my sweet friend and running buddy, Tricia. We have spent SO much time together in the last two weeks, primarily running together, but also just around school, at a coffee shop, and hanging out. I love her... she is so much fun!!! We've had so many good talks about life and the Lord... it's been awesome!

Here is Tricia giving out marching orders to the girls... she and Ginny Lou had created a really fun scavenger hunt for the girls to go on. They had to go all around Louisville and do the steps, taking pictures of each one, then come back and give a pictoral review... it was so much fun seeing each team's pictures!

A lot of the girls got really into the hunt. One girl from each team had to go inside and put their clothes on inside out and backwards... these are the girls... some had to wear bright pink lipstick on their lips and/or faces...

Here is Kristin watching and enjoying the girls as she works on organizing the table...

Here's Kristin again with her little girl Mary Grace... are they sweet together??? Kristin is also expecting another little baby... they just found out last week that it is a girl too.

Kristin and Ginny Lou tried on the paper bags that some of the girls would have to wear on the scavenger hunt... haha...

Here they are as Egyptian goddess'... haha... love it!!!

When the teams left for the scavenger hunt, Tracy and I stayed back to help Tricia, Ginny Lou, and Kristin get ready for the girl's return and to tidy up the kitchen. Here's Kristin and Tricia making yummy brownies for the girls...

Tricia... the wonder baker woman... haha...

Eric gave Mary Grace a taste of the Nutella...

She wasn't quite sure what to think about it... haha... her puckered up face is SO cute!!!

When all the girls returned, they all gathered into the living room and kitchen to watch the pictures on their tv. The team that finished the most directions in time won a prize...

After reviewing the pictures... Kristin held a devotional time that was excellent. She spoke on obedience to God. She used the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. Abraham was willing to give full obedience to the Lord, not a partial and half-hearted kind. (Which, as she pointed out, partial or unhappy obedience is disobedience.) We need to obey the Lord in every area of our lives...

Here are a few girls after the devo time...

Kristin and I...

And here's the cutest picture of the whole night... sweet little Mary Grace...