"a Reflection"...

our end of the year banquet was a sweet success.

it was a night of reflection as we looked back on the year and remembered what God has done on our campus and in our lives through outreaches, discipleship groups, our grads, and our staff. it was both a celebration and a farewell. both an end to an era and the start of a new one for everyone.

i was so surprised by how smoothly everything went, and the fact that we actually stayed on time. sometimes we were even early, much to my chagrin. i was still sitting in the lobby madly scribbling thank you cards in my regular clothes when the bus pulled up to the front doors of Calvary Baptist. my heart just about dropped then. i was caught off my guard.

it was such an amazing feeling of accomplishment to see everything come together after two months of planning with jill and hours upon hours of preparation. this was especially true for the decorations. we were having a bit of a difficult time trying to decorate such a big room while accomodating the set for my church's easter play. the budget was slightly bigger than last year, but we also didn't have the use of margot's mom's wedding props.

when i got back from one of my random errands on friday to see the room set up and the tables laid out i teared up. (and got made fun of. whatevs alex wong whatevs. :P) the purple tissue screens didn't tear apart. (and they didn't fall down on the grads during the dinner for which i am thankful.) the simply decorated tables were breathtaking. we had only spent around $3 per table. the sheer relief of everything working out so beautifully (and within budget!) just moved me. (take that martha stewart!) i joked that day that i wish that it was my wedding day so that, that could have been my reception. (note: if anyone's getting married soon, jill, amanda, and i can plan a reception for around $10 a guest, but the food's all no-name brand though and the room has to be free.)

another perk about organizing these things is that you get to know people that you otherwise would have not gotten to know. i don't usually get to chill with second years and first years all that much, but in planning i got to know jill really well. what a sweeet sweeet girl. then in the 12 hours that we were madly setting up i got to bond with all the people that helped out. oh the random, silly jokes that flew around to lessen the stress and loosen the tension. it was such a pleasure to work with everyone.

to top it all off, heather rush came and told me at the end of the night that as a fellow task-oriented person whose tendency was to boss people around, she saw that i was trying to relate to people in getting them to do things instead of treating them like objects even though there were still some moments of tyranny. score! an improvement! i was so scared that i was going to get so stressed and bite people's heads off like last year, but i didn't! i was praying the whole day that i wouldn't. thank God. next step; eradicate those "some moments of tyranny".

it was a fun night. there was a time where i held on to rebecca and cried my heart out because she was leaving, but i still had tons of fun.
we had square-dancing and two-stepping afterwards with a real fiddler for the square-dancing part. pat called for us and taught everyone square-dancing moves. it was a riot to watch everyone try to figure it out. i was lucky in that i had "previous training" and that our set had tyler to teach us.

the dress i borrowed from meredith was a dream to wear. it was PERFECT for square-dancing and two-stepping. the skirt would just billow out every time i spun, and the shoes that i got really topped it off. whenever i got the chance i would just stand in the middle of the room and spin. the last dance, my dance partner, matt asked me how long i wanted to spin, and i said for a long time, and he just ran circles around me spinning me. hahaha. i felt like a princess in that dress.

what a night!



here is the "boys" grad table. disclaimer: the segregation was not planned on my part.












here is the "girls" grad table.











all of our beloved grads. you guys are going to be sorely missed.










the good lookin' square-dancin' set next to ours.







the "before" shot.












the "after" shot. this is why i teared up. can you blame me?