May
End Of Year Party /Parking Lot Graduation
This year flew by! Here's some snapshots of our summer themed end of the year party and Parking Lot Graduation (which btw is a tradition that we started during COVID! Since graduation was cancelled, they decided to get people together in a Walmart parking lot and let the students walk!).
We said goodbye to our seniors and our transitioning staff. While we are glad that we get to send people out into the world with all that they have learned and gained from their time in UTD FOCUS, we are saddened by each person's absence because of the unique thing they each brought to our community. What a bittersweet ending to the year.
Honorable Mention
This is my good friend Rhett. You can tell a lot about the kind of person he is based on the fact that he grabs peoples phones, unbeknownst to them, and takes pictures like this one here. I have gotten to work with him on the UTD staff team for the past 2 years and he is one of the first people to make me feel safe and seen as a black woman on our majority white staff team. When I would make jokes or references to obscure things about black culture (well, at least what would be obscure to most white people), he would know the reference! In moments of insecurity and shock at the huge change I had made in my life, on 2 or more occasions I have gotten a very timely text from him of encouragement saying, "So glad you're here, sister." He has continued to empathize with and seek to understand black culture as well as take the time to hear from me and about my experience and make sure I was ok. While he wasn't the only person on our staff team to make me feel safe and accepted in my time in FOCUS so far, he has been the most endeared to me. there are a hundred other things I could say about him, but I will leave you with that.
He is now relocating from UTD's campus, 40 minutes away to UT Arlington's campus to help lead the men's ministry over there. While its not all that far, and though I will see him at least once a month at our all staff meeting, I will miss him deeply. He is an incredibly talented, musical individual, deep thinker, artful illustrator of ideas and images, and just an all around blessing to everyone he meets. We will definitely feel the loss of him on our team, but I am just so glad that I got to have him as a co worker first starting out. Love you Rhett!
This is a photo of Cathryn (my first small group co-leader), and members of my very first small group, Hannah, Caroline, and Ashlie. This is one of many Friday nights that we stayed up together in Cathryn's room until 3 am laughing, talking, and speaking God's truth into each other's lives. It is only by the grace of God and the unity of his Kingdom that a group of very different personalities and backgrounds could come together and be this close of friends. It does not make sense that we are all this close and actually like each other despite our very different differences. Thank you Christ for the deep unity that is found in you!
This is the apartment where I got my first experience in being a small group leader with these very girls. Cathryn and Ashlie are both graduating now and moving to new places. My girls. Definitely bittersweet.
How can I be praying for you?
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