It's Cru Formal Time!

At the end of January, Campus Crusade for Christ had their annual formal event. This is a really fun evening where everybody in Cru dresses up in their most formal attire for dancing, pictures, and food!  It’s a really great night to meet other members of Cru, make new friends, and have a good time with your friends.

Each year, I attend with my Bible study. We always spend a while choosing our dresses, doing our hair and nails, and hanging out. It’s a great chance to become closer with your small group, like my Bible study. Here are some photos from the night!

The beautiful ladies of my b'stud (photo by Ashley Lentz)

My handsome date and I (photo by Ashley Lentz)

Cru is just one of the many religious organizations on campus. Check out one of my previous posts for more about these groups!

Greater Than Me

It’s hard to believe Winter Break is completely over, everyone’s moved back into the dorms, and classes have begun already!  It seems like just yesterday I was excitedly packing my car to head home.  Where does the time go?

Well, mine went into a roller coaster of a break!  I spent most of the first week at my job – working retail during the holiday season is stressful!  It was a great learning experience though and now I can proudly say I’ve survived the holiday shopping rush!

Christmas arrived before I knew it and our family was together exchanging gifts.  The best part of the holidays is spending time with family, I think.  And friends too!  It was really nice to get together and catch up with some friends from back home over winter break.  I especially enjoyed spending time with my boyfriend and his family and then having him visit with mine.

I have to say, though, a truly great experience from Winter Break was the Indianapolis Christmas Conference.  It’s a gathering of all the Great Lake Campus Crusade (CRU) groups, which included over 2,000 students!  The days were filled with excellent speakers, inspirational breakout sessions, incredible worship, moving outreach time, and fun fellowship!

Over four days I made a lot of new friends from my school and others, all the while learning so much about what God is Greater Than (that was the theme of the conference!). It was amazing how much valuable information was given to us in such a short period of time. For me personally, I found a new understanding of my identity in Christ, expanded my idea of love by miles, and so much more that I can apply to my walk with the Lord.  IndyCC was a time of fellowship, worship, learning, and growth.  And it was definitely an experience I will never forget!  I’m already looking forward to next year!

[caption id="attachment_248" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Photo by Ashley Lentz"][/caption]

Many of my friends also went to another national conference called Passion. I hear it was amazing too. Keep an eye on my fellow blogger Nicole B’s posts – I have a feeling we’ll be seeing something from her soon!

I’m really looking forward to a great semester here at Ball State!  Second day of classes begins bright and early!  Check back soon for an update on all my classes!

Stuck.

A couple Fridays ago, I ventured out to the Stadium parking lot to get my car to head home for the weekend. Now, if you’ll remember, there was still a LOT of snow and ice on the ground at the time. My car, too, was covered in ice and snow. Some of the windows were clear, but the windshield and the hood had about 3 inches of ice. The tires were also buried in several inches of snow and ice. I spent awhile trying to get the car out on my own, before I realized the gravity of my situation. My car was stuck.

I had heard about some other students who had gotten help from BSU’s free charter service the weekend before. So I got out my phone and called Charlie’s Charter. After a few minutes, an older gentleman pulled up in a Charlie’s Charter van. He had shovels, picks, and rock salt. Still, he was unable to push the car or to really dig it out. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite receive the assistance from Charlie’s Charter as the students had the week before. While I was waiting for him, a nice guy stopped and offered to give me a push, but it just wasn’t going anywhere.

For those of you who don’t already know, my family is originally from Muncie. So I am lucky enough to have grandparents and family friends in town. One of my dad’s friends (the same one who moved our futon in, actually) brought one of his coworkers and came to my rescue. When they came pulling into the stadium lot in their big trucks, I was overjoyed to see them. My heroes! It took them about 20 minutes, a gallon of washer fluid with de-icer, and some serious pushing to get me out. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without them.

All in all, that day I spent about an hour and a half at the Stadium getting my car out. I know this isn’t very reassuring for those of you wanting to come to BSU without strong family friends in town. However, the way I see it, the storm we had produced a cruel and unusual amount of ice. Yes, the snow in Muncie can get bad. I feel like that much ice doesn’t happen very often though. Even if it does, I would have been able to gather some guys to help me out, I’m sure.

Nevertheless, I was on my way by mid-afternoon and spent a wonderful weekend at home with my family.

Let it snow...

Yesterday was the first measurable snowfall on campus this year (it actually snowed the first weekend of November, but didn’t stick very long). It snowed all day, from flurries to big flakes. We got about half an inch or somewhere around there. Last night, the sidewalks were icy enough to slide our feet along – ramps being the most fun, of course.

Today, the sun is shining and slowly melting away the snow. Ball State seems to do a good job of keeping salt on the sidewalks when classes are in session. There is quite a bit out there today.

It’s definitely getting cold in Muncie. Since I’m not a huge fan of winter weather, I made sure to bring LOTS of things to keep me warm. I’ll share my list with you.

Winter Checklist:
-parka (or just a winter coat)
-snow boots (the kind that actually keep your feet warm - not Uggs)
-gloves (invest in Isotoners)
-scarves (nice, warm ones)
-ear muffs (I haven't gotten any yet, but I feel like they would be really nice...)
-hat (I want one with fur)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the dorms...especially in Becca and Nicole's room!