Barn Party
RUF had a square dance party on friday night with a real "caller" and everything. Mike and I really enjoyed dancing as it reminded us of when we were at Clemson. The students also seemed to really enjoy getting out there and doing something new. We had just the right amount of people there so that it wasnt too crowded but yet people felt included and one student told me it was one of the best socials we had ever done. We also did smores and had a hayride which was fun except that it was 30 degrees outside, needless to say I (Elizabeth) took one HOT bath when we got home.
The students have been pretty busy this week as they are preparing for finals so they have been hard to get in touch with so please be praying for them (especially the freshman) and that they would not get too stressed out.
Mike and I are going to a Christmas chorus production that UK puts on tonight. A couple of our students are in it and one of the girls that I have gotten to know really well has a solo. We have heard it is really good and I am very excited about it.

Happy Halloween....well its a little late but I am finally getting our halloween pictures up. We still had RUF tues night even though it was Halloween but Brad spoke about where Halloween came from and the Reformation. It was a good reminder of what really went on during the Reformation and the truths of the Bible that were rediscovered. It seems like lately it has always been good to hear about God's grace and how God loved me enough to pursue me and still continues to do that today no matter if I "feel" like I am living perfectly or not. There was a Halloween party afterward at some of the sophomore girls house. It was alot of fun and we got to meet some of their friends that do not come out to RUF. Mike and I dressed up like a cowboy and cowgirl, I know it is not very creative, but most of our good costume materials we had still left in SC. The girls had talked to me earlier that day and were soo afraid they were not going to have enough good but they had plenty.

Mike and I went to Frankfurt (the state capital) on Saturday for Pumpkin Fest. We thought we were going to get into a museum for free but it turned out to just be an old house that was open for kids to do old timey activities. Mike and I still enjoyed seeing the houses and the kids dressed up, but we decided to walk down town and see what else was going on. We walked into several of the stores and alot of the vendors were out on the streets doing things or giving away stuff. It was funny that the state capital was so such a small town, but it was fun to be in. It was really neat because alot of the houses and buildings were from the 1800s and had stories behind them about past American fathers who loved or did things in the buildings. We also found this really cool table at an antique store that was going out of business. I was very excited about it and I am hoping to paint it black and put it on a porch one day with some really cute chairs.

This past Friday night RUF had a dinner party at one of our students parents house. It was a beautiful historic house that evidently Mary Todd Lincoln used to come and spend her summers at, and is also the home to the oldest toilet in Kentucky (Southern Living did an article on it). We had chili and cornbread and played some games. We had planned to do alot outside but because of the rain we had to keep everything inside but it ended up being a lot of fun and the house was huge so we had plenty of space.
It was a really neat house to see because all of the furniture was antiques in really good condition and the house and beautiful woodworking details

Mike and I went to Nashville this past weekend to babysit and visit my cousins. We had such a fun visit and enjoyed playing hide and go seek, running around the neighborhood, or going to the park. I felt like a kid again in some ways. Fortunately, the trip was not near as exhausting as everyone said it would be. The kids are old enough now where they basically take care of themselves and the oldest is very good with the younger siblings. We also got to go to Bills soccer game which I was glad we got to see him play, he may be a future soccer star like Robert.
About 6 weeks ago they had gone on vacation only to come back and see a pipe had burst in their kitchen and it had basically been like that for 5 days while they were gone, so the damage was pretty extensive. The picture with no one in it is the kitchen they are using (it is just in the play room) Everything else in their kitchen had to be packed away so they have to eat out alot which gets old even from us just being there a weekend.
The other good news from the weekend was I got to go shopping and found an outfit for my brothers rehearsal dinnerso that was exciting

St. Louis


Mike and I went to St Louis this past weekend with Brad and Rachel for a conference about eating disorders at Covenant Seminary. We drove up on thursday night so that we could actually get to see some of the city on friday before we had our friday night meeting. Mike and I stayed with some friends from CLemson that are at Covenant right now. Covenant was pretty but much smaller than I had thought it to be because of the huge reputation it has in PCA circles, I guess that is what makes the community so great at it.
We got in late on thursday night so Mike and I both slept in on friday. Later Brad showed us around and we got to see some extremely beautiful neighborhoods and all of the fun free activities you can do there. (Rachel was hanging out with one of her good girlfriends and Addie spent the first full weekend with her grandparents) We went to the zoo and of course we went to the Arch. There is a park in downtown St Louis that is bigger than the Central Park and has million things to do for free and this was where the zoo was. Unfortunaly we didnt get to go to the Science, Art, or history museum which would have been interesting I think. There is also a huge amphitheatre that has plays every weekend in the summer with some of the best broadway shows. The trip seemed really quick as we left Saturday afternoon after the conference, but it is nice to have Sunday to recoperate before this next week gets started.

On friday night Mike and I went over to our new friends, Chelsea and Wehan's (pronounced Vion, he is South African) house. They had a pasta maker and Mike and I had so much fun. I unfortunately did not take my camera but Chelsea took some pictures and she is supposed to be sending them to me. Like always, I had flour all over me. The guys thought they were the best pasta makers ever and kept correcting me until Chelsea and I just let them take over and they were quite amused for some itme. We decided that this would be a great activity to do with other couples or when we had students over, so we are going to keep a lookout for one at the thrift stores.
Mike and I are leaving tom (thurs) to go to St Louis for the weekend for a conference at Covenant that all the RUF campus ministers and interns were invited to. We are riding down there with Brad and Rachel and we are excited about getting to spend some time with them that is not completely consummed by RUF stuff. We are staying with 2 Clemson alums (Will and Christy Spink) and are so excited about getting to see them and the city. I will be sure to take some pictures and will probable post them some time Sunday.

My parents came this past weekend for the first stop on their quick trip to visit all of my siblings and move my sister back to Florence. We had a great time and really appreciated all they did. We hung lots of pictures and they helped us decide where things looked the best and what pictures to put where. As you can tell it looks alot more homey (sp?) now that it has pictures on the wall. They also brought us our beautiful monogrammed pillows on our bed and our curtains, I am still looking for something to pull the curtains back with but who knows when I will have time to do that, and the pillows that are on the bench in the kitchen. I meant to take more pictures of us together but as you know I am terrible at taking them. We went out friday night to a local restuarant here with Brad and Rachel and it was really neat because it was in an old church turned into an Italian restuarant.
Since I am not posting this til tuesday I also have to say Happy Birthday to my mom and I wish I could have been there to celebrate with everybody in Birmingham unfortunately KY is not that close though. Thanks again for everything.
Thanks also to the Caldwells for sending up the rest of our stuff and the chocolate chips, they will definately come in handy.

Float Trip....After only getting 5 hours of sleep I had to get moving along with alot of the girls and head to the student center to go on the float trip. We went down to the KY TENN border on a river and got tubes to float down. It took abnout 2 1/1 hours to get there and was ab a 2 hour float. Needless to say Mike and I did not get back home until 6 o'clock on Saturday. It was a very long weekend for both of us (he had a poker tournament with some of the guys on friday night while I was at the sleepover- dont worry there wasn't any gambling invovled) and we were so glad to finally be home. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun on the river though and we had a good mixture of age and new and old students.

Slumber party!!! Friday night was so much fun and I was so excited. We had about 25- 30 girls show up throughout the night. Everyone seemed to have a good time and many of the new girls got to know each other and some of the other RUF girls. We basically just talked and ate the whole night but we did spend an hour going around and telling what our family dinners were like growing up. It was amazing how much you really get to know about someone by hearing this. You knew how many family members they had, what their parents personalities were like and what their personality was like, and a little bit of what made them what they are like today. The girls seemed to really enjoy it and I was so thankful how much fund everyone had and all the new friends they made.

Alright so we had our 3rd RUF of the semester last night and yet again I was overwhelmed by the new freshman girls that showed up, but I am very excited about it. We have had ab 60 students the past couple of weeks which is great for an RUF only in its 3rd year. The girl in the pic with me is Laura she is a soph and lives in the house we are having the girls sleepover at on friday night. She is alot of fun as are the other 9 girls that live in the house. Pray for Mike and I as we continue to try to reach out to the new students but are feelling a little overwhelmed by it.

So I am already discovering that I am terrible at remembering to take pictures at things Mike and I go to...and I dont like to post anything unless I have a picture to go with it but I will try and get better at remembering to take pictures. Mike and I joined a fantasy football league on Sunday with 8 other couples in our church. It was a lot of fun because we were invited by the host couple (Chelsea and Wehan) but didnt know any of the others so we enjoyed making some new friends in Lexington. It was alot of fun to see how the guys were all into it but the girls ended up having the better teams by the end of the draft because most of us just asked our husbands who to pick and they gave us the better players. We have become good friends with Chelsea and Wehan (he is from South Africa) and are really enjoying when we get to hang out with them. Chelsea is also very crafty so I am trying to learn some things from her in the decorating area. Alright well here are a few pictures of our apartment and the curtains my mom maid for the kitchen I think they look really cute and I was very excited about them. I also got this tray to put my makeup on at a second hand store for a great deal the other day.

Rachel and Addie (sorry no pics of Brad quite yet)
Alright so here are a few pictures of our campus minister's wife, Rachel, and their little girl, Addie. These were taken when we first came to visit Lexington. Addie is the most adorable little 2 year old in the world and Mike and I have fallen in love with her. She is so energetic, she has already basically stopped taking naps because she will just talk to herself the whole 2 hours she is supposed to be sleeping. We have gotten to keep her a couple of times and she always has us laughing because of her funny comments or actions

Hey everyone so Mike and I are finally trying out this whole blog thing. My sis told me that it would be a great way to keep up with family but I dont know if we will be near as interesting as her blog because it has my *adorable* nephew on it and we just cant compete with that. Anyways I am going to give it a shot though and see if I can keep it updated with how we are doing and whats going with RUF here. Here is a picture with me and that welcome to Ky sign because I was super excited to be here. I will post more pics of our apartment later.