Sunday Success Story!

Friends and fam, Sunday was my final day in the CCU Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program!!  Am I being extra to take this celebratory pic after submitting my last discussion post response?  Sure.  Do I regret it?  Not even a little bit! lol

Pub W lunch with Michelle and Amy one year ago today!  In visible and invisible ways -- physically, mentally, and spiritually -- I have come a long way over the past year, and I'm very grateful!!

Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Garner (I still call CHA teachers by their teacher name, but her first name is Laura) had us over for cookies and hot chocolate and to see her house... Mom and T-man both came over and helped her decorate, and it all looked fantastic! ❤

Homemade hot chocolate (Kyndal was a big fan!!) with marshmallows and whipped cream... yes, please!  There was also delicious apple cider with cinnamon sticks on the stove, so her kitchen smelled fantastic (to everyone but Chettles). lol

An array of cookies + apple cider syrup she made for each of us - so nice!  We had a good talk, and she mentioned a course on learning disabilities and a couple other resources that I want to look into moving forward!

Mom and I in front of Mrs. Garner's tree... love the black and white ribbon mixed into all the red!

Pretty much our motto. lol  Subtle is not our strong suit. ;-)

Rach by her fantastic Scripture sign!  It has so many great details you can see close up!!

We were there from around 2:30 to 3:45, then I helped Mom with Google Photos stuff, then came home and Kristin and her fam stopped by to see me!  Yay for a 2024 Christmas tree pic with the Whitakers!!

Love this note and the card being signed by all the boys!! ❤ Without thinking, I read Kristin and Frankie's signatures as "Kristin Foster" and was very confused for a minute. lol

They also brought lovely flowers and some of my fav candies, which I was happy to eat on my last night before Marathon-training season!  So grateful for Kristin's friendship and support through this 2.5 year school journey and all the ups and downs of the potential motherhood journey!  I've included my final discussion post response in the collage below - I was happy about ending it all with that verse, and I wanted to save it somewhere!

In between seeing the Whitakers and submitting my final post, I met Triston for dinner at Tucker's, where the cookie butter shakes are in season!  We had a great talk about future goals and plans and "Purpose" being his word for 2025.  We discussed him and Carter putting up the permanent Christmas lights for Rach - they did a very impressive job!  And we talked about the value of getting out of our comfort zones and trying new things - I'm proud of him and excited to help as he moves into college application season and stepping toward his dreams!

I had a great session with Emily last night where we talked about how my story is unfolding and God opening unexpected doors as we pray and cultivate good relationships.  God is at work, and I'm grateful for the connections He's placed in my life and the way I see Him weaving things together lately.  Thankful for the people who love, value, inspire, encourage, motivate, challenge, and help me to never feel alone as I work to learn and grow and do my best to stay on the path God has marked out for me!!

Speaking of, it made me so happy to see this pic of 2014 Chet Lee this morning.  I love being surrounded by loyal Christian friends who live with purpose and drive and heart.  It matters!

I feel like being extra one more time, so in closing...

For reals.  Congratulations, Class of 2024...

* * * * * * *

It definitely was, but "the hard is what makes it great!"
Okay, friends and fam - thanks for supporting me through this journey and for indulging my celebratory pics and posts lately.  I love you and believe in you, and I believe in your ability to face and conquer hard things and live the life God created you to live!!

❤ ❤ ❤

Bougie Charcuterie!

Saturday night was Chet's 4th Annual Bougie Charcuterie Board Party, a Christmas season favorite!!

Classic pic with the Wilsons & Fultons!

Leaning in for an important conversation over pre-party coffee (and hot chocolate) with Sarah Elizabeth!

Three impressive charcuterie boards... the Wilsons go all out for this annual party, providing all this food + puppy chow, rosemary focaccia bread, cranberry cream cheese dip, crockpot hot chocolate, cranberry punch, McAlister's tea, chips + spinach and artichoke dip, a sushi platter, and probably more that I'm forgetting!

I was thankful to catch up with Mark Anthony and Jeffrey Edward, two of my favorite guys!  Mark is entrepreneurial and ready for me to start my own counseling business... (and I'm very ready to partner with him and Rachel on that a couple years from now)!  JEM and I talked about his latest Vegas trip along with future goals and plans!
*Thanks again to Rach for my cute Christmas tree sweater!

Karli Marie with her festive Christmas bows and flashing Christmas light earrings!

Chettles invites the whole world for this one, so he gave us nametags in case everyone wanted to mingle and get to know each other.  Definitely stuck with people I already knew, but that was a thoughtful idea! lol

Our second year of Christmas carols around the piano did not disappoint - fun times laughing and singing along with JEM and Sarah, our lead vocalists!

Chet:  "I think people worry it'll be awkward, then everyone gets into it!"

Rachel:  "Yeah, it feels wholesome and goofy in the best way!"

My new fav pic of the guys. lol

Me (grabbing the cute sign by their front door):  Here, hold this up!

JEM:  Is this some kind of an inside joke or something?? lol

Me:  No, I just think the sign is fun and wanted a pic with it!

Worth it!! lol

Snapshots that make me happy...

Sarah Elizabeth had everyone sign a card for me finishing grad school - love it!

Kerri and Rachel by the Disney tree!

Me and Rachel Elizabeth - she was really encouraging in our talk about future career options!

Girls pic with the fun photo props!!

Sixteen years ago today, I met Chet and Sarah at a Christmas party - so huge thanks to Bobbi for inviting Chettles to that event and for pairing me with them at my NYE scavenger hunt a couple weeks later! lol

Piano duet with Parker Elizabeth! ❤❤

Thankful for the wonderful Wilson fam and their very festive nine-outdoor wreaths and four-indoor-Christmas-trees home!! ❤

Okaaay, three posts down, one to go. lol  It was a very busy weekend! ❤

Club Volleyball!

And so it begins again... a Saturday tournament in Stillwater kicked off a new season of OK Charge club volleyball for Miss Kyndal Faith, who is once again the libero for her team (always in a different color uniform than her teammates - I love that bc it makes them so much easier to find)!

I'm proud to see her hard work paying off - she got 11 points in a row for her team doing her fancy jump-serve! ❤

(As we were hanging out in her car before she helped curl my hair in the Stillwater High School gym bathroom between games...)
Rach: "Want some Cheez-Its!?"

Me:  "Gracious, I was not expecting that big a box!!"

Rach:  "Yeah... I just always keep this in the car in case I need a snacky snack." lol

Taylor and Kyn are teammates again - yay!  And we saw several of her old teammates on other club teams this year!

Christmas candy boxes Rach made for all the girls... Mom and I shared some of Coach PJs who missed this tournament. lol  

The parents joked that we need to break the candy out before the first game next time, as the girls lost every game before the candy break and won their 3 final games afterward!! =)

The ladies of the fam!!  (Dad was taking Jaceman to a bday party!)

Jump serve queen... get it, Miss K!!

I love that in addition to being a girly girl, she's feisty and athletic and confident and competitive! #maximumeffort

After years of being the team manager in high school, I love the atmosphere at volleyball tournaments!  Like all sporting events, I'm not too deeply invested in the score or what's happening on the court, but I enjoy the team chants and the pre-game high fives and laughing at Mom and Rach and Kyndal's  fiercely competitive spirit whilst calmly telling them, "You learn more from losing than winning!" ;-)

Team huddle... see how easy it is to spot Kyndal!?  I'll learn everyone's names by the end of this season!

Mother/daughter pic! ❤

I left before their final match to meet Sarah for coffee, but Kyndal played great, and I'm glad I got to be there for 3/4ths of it!!  Sadly, I'll miss the Redlands tournament whilst I'm in NYC, but there'll be plenty more to come, including at least 3 more tournaments in Tulsa! #getexcited

❤ ❤ ❤

Classic Christmas!

Rach invited me to join her and J&K at the Coca-Cola Classic Christmas event at Remington Park last Friday!  Here's our lovely group pic with Santa (which we paid freaking $30 for bc they wouldn't take one with my phone - I'm so glad Disney doesn't make that so difficult).

Full photo:

The Miss K wanted a caricature sketch... Rach watched closely as she's trying to learn how to do these.  This guy got this done and colored in about 7-8 minutes! #impressive

Jace (always a little too loud):  Bro, her hair is blonde and he's using brown!

Annoyed Rach:  She changed her hair color!!!

Me:  Yeah, it's definitely brown now.

Jace (literally looking at Kyndal this whole time):  Oh yeah, I forgot! lolol

* * *

Rach:  "The polar bear is animatronic, like the Chuck E. Cheese band."

Jace (after watching for a minute):  "Dude, that's a person in a costume!!"

(...Bear proceeds to do multiple fun poses with people...)

Me:  Yeah, pretty sure Jace is right on this one!

Rach:  Hmm, it seems animatronic as hell to me! lol

(She actually asked the photographer working there and he looked at her like she was insane. lolol)

We got three rounds on this ice slide... really fun and kinda tame compared to what I expected after signing an online waiver that covered paralysis and death. #yikes

K and Rach ready for round 2 on the slide!  Carrying our tubes up the stairs brought back memories of White Water Bay for me and Rach!

Jaceman came in a t-shirt assuming he'd be totally fine, then promptly had Rach buy him a Coca-Cola hoodie when they got there!  Mess! lol

In line to meet Santa... we decided Jace and Rach should have a gangsta vibe on the naughty side whilst me and Kyndal Faith look angelic and happy on the Nice side! lol

Me:  Ugh, my phone's at 17 percent- this makes me so mad!

Rach:  Do you have a car charger??

Me:  Yes... otherwise, I wouldn't know how to get home!

Rach (who has a fantastic sense of direction):  Oh wow, that must be scary!

Me:  Nooo, that's just... my whole life.  Navigation is my friend! lol
(Fortunately, I sat in the parking lot making a slideshow until it was back up to 63 percent! lol)

Jace (randomly excited about all the light displays):  Look at this over here!

Kyndal (making fun of him):  Oh, yay roooomance!

...then she immediately walks under it and does a snappy heart-hands pose! lolol

I adore her!  They're at really fun ages right now!

I didn't think we were seeable enough sitting back, so I made us lean into the windows! lol  I love it!!

Yay for fun Christmas lights and Christmas music and Christmas clothes... and $7 hot chocolates that the kids both had one drink of and decided they didn't like. lol  I need a warm winter hat for my NYC trip - I have my eye on one at Amber Marie, but if that doesn't work out, I'll be borrowing yet another thing from Rach! lol

Warming up by the fire... although I stayed pretty warm all night in my coat and Christmas scarf! 

Thanks to Rach for the invite - a fun way to kick of the Christmas season and celebrate T-Swift's bday on Friday the 13th! lol  It was a festive night full of Christmas cheer and fun times with Rach and the niece and nephew!! ❤

Slideshow recap... (this is the shortened version bc Youtube blocks this song on any video longer than 60 seconds - lame).

At least 2 more posts coming today... Christmas season is the freaking best!

❤ ❤ ❤

Marathon Monday #1

Marathon Monday has arrived!  As promised, I'll be posting a weekly video update here and on Facebook.  I am more likely to give up when I feel alone in hard things, so I'm learning from the past and creating a sense of community and momentum this time around!  (Brace up for five months of great metaphors! lol)

In life and in marathon training, we have the capacity to LEAN IN to what feels hard/intimidating, trusting that ALL HILLS END and WE CONQUER HILLS ONE STEP AT A TIME!*  As 2025 approaches, I am moving into a new season with some potential life and career transitions, new challenges, and big learning curves ahead.  I could view myself as small in comparison to these challenges and shrink back and feel paralyzed by fear... or I can view myself as strong in Christ and lean into them, knowing it will be hard but believing I can do hard things.  By the grace of God, I am learning to adapt well, put my best foot forward, and believe that I'm capable of growth and change.  That perspective is everything!  It means intentionally taking action and moving forward, leaning into what feels difficult and intimidating, trusting that it's a temporary hill or hurdle that I will eventually master.  (*Things I'll remember to actually say more coherently in a future video. lol  Whatever, it was around 1:00am and I'm happy enough with it for my first recording!)

❤ Speaking of mastering things, let's take a quick moment to celebrate that I now have my Master's Degree... which is great evidence for my new marathon training motto:  Start Strong - Finish Stronger!

Colorado Christian First Day 7-21-22

Final Day 12-15-24 ❤

Graduation Ceremony in Loveland, Colorado 5-9-25

Current Screensaver.  I am beginning with a strong mindset, determined to keep moving forward and press through the Finish Line next April!  I also know the beginning and end are the glowing fun parts, and there's a lot of messy, monotonous middle in between... the rigorous weekend runs, the daily training plan, the food tracking, and a five-month COMMITMENT that will weave through some unexpected surprises and some expected stressful life and career transitions!  In all of the above, I will do my best to lean in and believe I have what it takes to move through stressful things and reach the other side!!  

In big and small ways, God is with us and for us, directing our steps and keeping us from falling!  I feel more in tune with the Holy Spirit lately, more aware of ways He is actively working in my life and my family and friends' lives... but even when we are obtuse or oblivious to it, God is always at work in the details behind the scenes!

So here's to trusting in God's protective strength and guidance!

Here's to meaningful goals and beginning again, not giving fear the microphone.
Here's to truly believing in ourselves from day one.

Here's to knowing we all matter and drawing strength and inspiration from others!
Here's to starting strong... and finishing even STRONGER!

Cheers!! ;-)  Thanks for your support!

❤ ❤ ❤