What does the mouse say?

// H A P P Y  H A L L O W E E N //   Usually I'm not too excited for Halloween because it's just another day for me. At home we live too far out in the country to have any trick or treaters and I've never been to a Halloween party other than the ones we used to have a school. (I promise I'm not too lame) And last year I had class. While everyone was out having fun I was learning about the history or theatre and he kept us the whole time. Crazy y'all just crazy!!   Well after 21 years ya girl is going to her first ever Halloween/costume party!!!! I am just so excited I can't even stand it!! I have been looking on Pinterest searching for the perfect couples costumes probably since August. Back in August when I talked to Matthew about what we wanted to be he straight up laughed for a good 5 minutes and thought I was joking but then he realized I was being serious and looked with me a little bit. LOL bless his heart. I don't know how he puts up with me and my crazy ideas sometimes but I couldn't think of anyone else who could!! LOVE you bear!   I can't tell you what we decided on being tonight until tomorrow or Friday but if you are following me on Instagram you will find out tonight :)   But I will share with you what I dressed up as for work today but first let me give you a little back story on this...I found out yesterday afternoon about 4 o'clock that we can dress up at work as long as it's appropriate. I immediately thought of being a cat. I just wanted something simple because of my headset and because it was already 4 o'clock and we had dinner plans. church and our guys intramural soccer championship game for when I got off. So I text a few girls and asked if they had cat ears. No one had any. Zero. Awesome. So I told Matthew after the soccer game I needed to run to Wal-Mart to find cat ears. Y'all the look on his face when I told him that was like I just smashed his PS3 with a sledgehammer. HE. HATES. WAL-MART. with every fiber of his being, hates it. So I told him I would just drop him off at his apartment or he could just sit in the car but he said he didn't want me going by myself so late at night. So we ran to Wal-Mart and of course the Halloween section was destroyed and everyone had the same idea as I did. I found one last cat kit. Except it wasn't just a cat kit it was a leopard cat kit and it came with a leopard mask, tail and collar. I wasn't too happy with it but I got it anyways.   Well after really hatin on that kit I got my roommate told me that our other roommate had mouse ears. So I borrowed those from her and that is how I became...     Avery the Averitt mouse.

Presh I know. Picture taken in the bathroom at work.  Keepin it classy y'all   I drove to work like this, ears and all. It was great comic relief for all the cars stopped next to me at red lights I'm sure. I have decided work is better when you get to dress up. P.S. I did my hair and makeup in 45 minutes this morning. I am kicking this Thursday in the butt. Be safe tonight!                                      

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

What does the mouse say?

before it's too late

That was our theme and topic this past weekend and what a great weekend it was!!   Everything from the classes, lesson, singing, bonding, fellowship to the food was great! Retreats are my favorite and this one did not disappoint.   We went to Short Mountain which is about an hour away from Cookeville. The narrow and bumpy road going up the hill can be pretty scary and of course I looked out the window right when the guard rail ended but obviously we made it in one piece. I was told it gets very cold up there at night so I felt like I was packing to go to Alaska

 

 

    We had an AWESOME speaker who just hit the nail on the head with everything he said. The topic was a great one I think. We talked about different things we need to do before it's too late, how to be better Christians and not to care so much what people think. He said that one of the main things holding us back on sharing our faith and talking to others about our faith is the fear of what others think. One of my favorite things our speaker said was "We will never be able to do anything as well as serve God because that is what we are called to do" and I couldn't agree more.  
Short Mountain is one of the prettiest places and the views off the mountain are incredible during the day and during the night.

  Here is the view when you walked out of our cabin.

 

 

and here is the view up to our cabin. It was like going on a hike every time we went to and from the cabins.

 

There are a few small caves and we decided to check one out during free time

 

 

 



 

The guys always like to play football and Jenny and I cheered on our men!

 

 

The view from behind their house is absolutely amazing! It's actually that 1st picture up there ^

 

 

twinning

 

Brotherly lovin

 

Most of the girls that were in our cabin!

 

Love our new shirts we got for the retreat!

 

 

 

roommates!!

 

 

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

before it's too late

Retreat.

Spring Retreat. Fall Retreat. 2 things that I look forward to every single year. This coming weekend we are loading up for our fall retreat and I am SO excited! I have had my packing list for about a week now.   I have talked about this before but I can't stress enough on how important retreats with your college ministry are. Maybe you haven't ever been on one and you are curious to what all goes on during the weekend. So I am going to share with you what we usually do and I am assuming (I could be wrong) this is somewhat similar to most college ministry retreats.   **Before you even get on the bus do this...log out of all of your social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even your email) I have made this mistake in the past and it is something I am definitely going to do this weekend. You are going on this retreat to get away and focus on God and sorry sista friend but you can't do that refreshing your Instagram feed every hour. Lesson learned.**   Okay where were we... Friday: You load up on a church bus with everyone else and depending on how far away you are going usually depends on the time you leave and the length of time you are on the bus. Some might think the bus is the most awkward part but my thoughts on this...it's only awkward if you make awkward!!!! Just make small talk with the person you are sitting beside. you get there and y'all unload and you head to your cabin to put your bags away...walk to the cabin with someone and talk to them...this is building relationships with your sisters in Christ and just remember if this isn't their first retreat then they too have been on a retreat where it was their first time and they were probably just as nervous as you. After you unload y'all might eat dinner or if you stopped on the way then you will probably play games of go straight into your first devotional (devo) and singing for the night. Enjoy this time, enjoy the singing, most importantly enjoy the lesson. Really listen and pay attention. Oh and go to bed late. Don't be a granny like I was on the last retreat and go to bed early because you have to wake up early...you are YOUNG enjoy yourself while you can. So stay up later than you usually do and play those games with everyone else.   Saturday: Wake up and head to breakfast. Sit with someone you know at breakfast so you can talk with them and the people they are talking to. This will get you better aquainted with other people on the retreat. Again building relationships. After breakfast you will probably have your second lesson of the retreat. Y'all might even break up into girls and guy classes. This is a great way for you to be able to open up and hopefully feel a little more comfortable with just the girls. Lunch should be coming up soon, try and sit with someone new so you can get to know more people. Usually after lunch there is free time to do whatever, play Frisbee, talk with the girls, take a shower if you didn't get to that morning. Remember stay off your phone..unless you are using your Bible app :) After a few hours of free time it's around dinner time, again eat with someone new. and then after dinner you will have your third or fourth devo and singing and usually some more games.   Sunday: Wake up and head to breakfast. Are you sitting with someone new? Or maybe you have made some friends that you want to sit with again. You should have your regular church service....just not at church, ha! After that, depending on how far away you are from home, you might load up and leave soon after the service.   The bus ride at home shouldn't be as bad because you have built relationships with different people. and there you have it! Seriously if you are thinking about going on the fall retreat with you college group, just go!! Maybe you have been attending a few events with your college group but you just don't feel like it's clicking or you don't feel apart of the group well this is THE perfect weekend to get to know everyone!! You are usually miles away from your dorm/apartment/home. I guarantee you, you won't regret it. If you do you can blame me but I am almost positive you will have a great time!!   and in honor of fall retreat coming up this weekend... Fall retreat last year- 2012- Camp Discovery



 

Spring retreat last year- 2012- Mississippi 

The girls cabin

         

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Retreat.

Servant Of Christ

Servants Of Christ  or you have probably seen me refer to it as the SOC on here and I realized I have never told y'all what it really is or what we really do.  

  As you know Matthew has been at Tech since his freshmen year. When he and his twin brother got up here they went to church with their older brother and were apart of another student ministry. After awhile some things changed and they didn't agree with some things there so they changed churches and found the SOC.   I remember Matthew telling me how much he liked it and all the different things they did. I was still living at home about an hour away and we didn't have very many college ministries in our hometown. To be honest I was a little jealous or all the stuff he got to do and participate in. I really just wanted a group of people around my age that shared the same faith to do things with and to help me grow spiritually.   The SOC goes on two main retreats a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. I remember going on my first retreat with them. Matthew came all the way home and picked me up and we met them there. Talk about nervous, I was a nervous wreck the whole ride. I was about to go on a retreat for a whole weekend with over 50 people I didn't even know let alone stay in a cabin full of girls I didn't even know...nervous is probably an understatement. We get there (late, because I had gotten off work later...adding to the nerves) and I was welcomed like I had been apart of them for years. After the first night there I knew this was somewhere I wanted to be and something I wanted to be apart of.   I went on retreats with them until I finally moved up here this past summer and now I attend SOC events regularly. My two roommates, are two of the girls I met on that first retreat. I have such a close group of friends of the same faith and I love it.   We usually have something going on every single night and it's great, Every other Monday we have small group meetings...the boys have their group and the girls have their group. Tuesday's we have $3 Tuesday at the SOC house. Some of the ladies from our church volunteer and cook a ton of food and it's open to the public. Seriously some of the best home cooked food and it's only $3!! Wednesday nights, we of course have church and we usually stay after and talk and sometimes people go to the SOC house to talk and hangout. Thursday nights we have refuel. An hour to come and just "refuel". We have singing and a devotional. We usually play a couple of games before we get started. It's a great time and there are always great speakers. Halloween falls on Thursday this year so we are having a Halloween party and having a costume contest...Matthew and I FINALLY decided on our costumes are I am SO stinkin excited to share with y'all what we are going to be!!!! Friday's there is usually a movie playing at the SOC for anyone that wants to come. Some Fridays they switch it up and play disc golf (Matthew's fav) or they go bowling.   The SOC house, you might be wondering what it is. Well it is just a small one story house that we all hang out at! It is right off of campus so most people just park their cars there and walk to class so they don't have to fight to get a parking spot. A lot of people also hangout there in between their classes.   . Here are some pictures over the past year or so... Last year on the fall retreat  

 

      This past July 4th

 

 

 

Retreat this past spring in Mississippi

 

 

 

 

Girls night back in September  

 

I love being apart of this group.  Are you apart of a campus ministry?? I'd love to hear about it!! If you are not and you have been thinking about joining one on your campus I definitely recommend it!!   Let man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. - 1 Corinthians 4:1

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Servant Of Christ

Spontaneous date nights are THE best

Lately Matthew has been into disc golf. If it's not raining and he isn't studying or at work he wants to be playing disc golf. Personally I think it's cute :) I am usually at work when he goes to play but a couple of Saturdays ago we had the whole day to do whatever so we went! Honestly I really enjoyed it, I was awful and hit every tree in the park I think but it was fun and I loved watching him play something he enjoys. Matthew is REALLY good at disc golf and beat me by a lot!   I had never played before so he had to teach me everything step by step, it's not hard at all but I had to work on it.   Here is Matthew going for a throw

  and here I am going for one

 

 

 

After we played the first 9 we decided to try the paddle boats out! We have been to Cane Creek plenty of times and always said we would do it another time and we really wanted to try them out so we did!!

 

 

 

It was a little bit of work actually paddling the boat so we added in cardio to My Fitness Pal :)

 

Here are some of the pictures I took...the view was BEAUTIFUL as the sun was setting

 

Next time we go we are going to have a picnic on the water in this area! It was so pretty and once the leaves change a little more it will be even better! 

 

After that we were driving back to Matthew's apartment and he suggested we grab dinner and go to a movie. We rarely go to the movies because we can't justify paying that much and usually settle on watching something on Netflix or grabbing a Redbox movie with a promo code so we were both excited to go to the movies.

We went to our FAVORITE burger place here in Cookeville, Flippin Burger. Seriously the best burger I've ever had and you can get unlimited toppings...nacho cheese?

Yes PUH-LEASE.

We saw Runner Runner with Justin Timberlake and it was a good movie,

I LOVE spontaneous date nights.

 

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Spontaneous date nights are THE best