Fun for the Birthday

Well, I can't say I feel any different now that I am 24 but I guess it's hard for that to happen in just one day. Drew and I had a combined birthday party this year which consisted of cake (made by my roomie Ali), crowns, and bowling. We had a lot of fun with a total of about 15 people, both students and staff attending the big event. One of my favorite parts of the night was when I looked at the score board and realized that not only had I broke a score of 100 but I had beat Drew. Very fun!

As far as Lifelines goes, these days I am getting pretty discouraged about money. I really hate how big of an issue it is and how we can't really live in this life without money. But I'm trying to tell myself not to worry and that God has everything under control. It's just much less convincing when I am saying that to myself as opposed to one of my students.

But to end on a happy note, I hope that you all enjoy these pictures from the big night of bowling and please write me soon because I love hearing from you!

Sledding and Cake!

It's sledding season here in Maine. Ali, Jaime and I went to Essex street hill the other day with a large Tupperware lid, a dry bag, and a red sled to see if we could use these tools to get down the vary large and daunting hill. Turns out the sled worked the best. We did pretty well in the beginning but then after a while, we would sled down the hill and the sled would be ripped out from under us. After a few runs like this, there was a lady who watched us go down and judge the performance. She told us that the problem was we were all holding onto eachother and not holding onto the sled so when we went over a bump, we would all fall off the sled but end up staying together. It was pretty great.
After the great sledding trip, Ali and I came back to the apartment to bake a cake for Michaela's birthday. This was the first of three cakes to be baked by Ali this week! Lots of birthdays mean lots of cake. As you can see, the first cake was a cookie monster creation. The second was a soccer ball cake for Drew and the third is going to be entitled "Tessa-hontas" (aka a Pocahontas cake for my birthday). Yay for sledding and cake.

So many journeys, so little time. I just got back from going home to surprise my family in Minnesota. It was so great. I have never seen my mom cry with happiness so much or be so surprised. This was only possible because my great bosses, Joe and Angie, suggested that I could go to Minnesota if I helped out with a conference that was there called TCX. It was a great time and great timing because I was able to celebrate the Berg family Christmas at home (see the picture for how Adrianna made-over some of the family). I was also able to help out by sharing what Lifelines is with the Midwest. I know that there are people like me who are looking for something that is "outdoorsy" and "God-filled" at the same time. So after a great time surprising my family and talking with old and new friends about Lifelines, I went straight to Boston for the Boston Winter Conference. This conference was a great time to learn how to step up and lead some small talks and an outreach. It was also a great time to get to know more of the students at UMaine. We have some awesome people
within crusade and some great leaders. I'm excited to see what they will do for UMaine in the years to come. Here is a picture of our UMaine grouop along with some other students from within Maine. We had just finished going on an outreach to a neighborhood in Boston to ask the community what they felt the need was and to talk to them about God. It was pretty amazing. So after all that, I'm now back at home trying to organize all my belongings. Thanks for reading.