WOW!

Well, USF's "Week of Welcome," aka, WOW, is coming to a close. Sort of. (There will be extra things going on till mid September, I'd wager!) It has been a packed week for me, and one thing I can say for certain: I love my job. Here's a slice of what I've been up to.

Helping freshmen move in (and meeting Rocky the Bull, of course!)

 This year, since the Lees already met quite a few freshmen through summer RUF, we got to help students we already knew move in, rather than just adding to the jumble of strangers that offer to help. Apart from the driving rain that persisted most of the day, it was a great success. I'm afraid I moved just as much rainwater into the dorms as I did room stuffs! Oops.

Two days later, on Friday, we had a welcome back pancake party at the Lee's house, in Mr. Alan T's honor. ;) We had a great crowd and I got to meet and talk to many current and new students.

Sunday after a refreshing morning at church, I went out to lunch with a few students (to cracker barrel), several of whom had never experienced the most wide-spread chain of southern food restaurants. It was  so fantastic to explain to a Japanese exchange student what a "dumplin" was and then watch her try one. :) Sunday was also our welcome back BBQ.

Playing giant Jenga at our welcome week BBQ

Here's the story of the BBQ: I decided to make banana pudding in honor of Nicole and her wonderful family. (All of this goes to show how much I appreciate all the wonderful things and ideas you've shared with me over the years, friends!) Great idea. Until I realized that I didn't have nearly enough time to do so and to actually be on time. I barely snuck in before the event got started, in the end, and even then with FAR too little banana pudding. It was gone in 20 minutes! I'm making it for after large group next week, and I'm tripling that recipe!

But I digress. The interesting part of the story is this: yet again, it was raining. And when Jeff went to pick up the BBQ (40 lbs of it!), they had no record of our order. And thus no BBQ for us. Panic set in. We considered getting a bajillion tacos from taco bell or ordering a truckload of pizza, but mostly we just hoped that the BBQ folks would be able to keep their promise to have it ready by 6 (the beginning time of the BBQ). We called several current students to be there early so we could run and fetch the food while they appeased the hungry masses, but lo and behold. They delivered at least 80 lbs of BBQ by 5:45. Can you believe that? In the end, we served over 250 BBQ sandwiches, even in the rain. What a great turn out!

One, two skip a few, and it was Tuesday: time for our first large group. I'm sad to say that we don't meet in the manatee room. We're next door. (In the "oak room." How can that even compare? Not cool.) I'm working on moving us to the manatee room. But luckily, that's not relevant at all. Here's the "Katie goes to her first RUF at USF" picture, taken by one of my lovely hosts here in Tampa:

Making yummy treats and sporting my RUF T on the way to the first large group of the semester

We had a great turn out, including lots of folks who seemed to be new to the whole concept of worship and bible study. That's always encouraging! I'm praying that God opened their hearts to be intrigued by what they saw and heard. We played games and ate snowflakes (aka "puppy chow," to some, yuck) afterwards until quite late.

Yesterday I went to the first "Bull Market," where organizations and businesses set up a tables and hope to talk to some of the interested students perusing about. Tonight I have a similar event known as "Roundup." I could tell you so much more, but this is already quite a bit longer than I ever intended it to be, so I'll leave it for another day. I'll leave you with this video of the welcome back bash last Wednesday: fun stuff.