the MAZE update

I mentioned in my last post that we were having a huge evangelistic outreach called the MAZE. We prayed and prayed and prayed that our Theater on campus that holds 986 students would be filled so that lots of people could hear the Gospel message and get a chance to respond. The event started at 8pm and by 7:15 there were hundreds of people lined up outside the theater doors waiting to get in. It was hard to tell how many people were in the massive crowd, but once the doors open we were SO excited to see that every seat was full and there were people who STOOD in the back and on the side aisle for 2 hours while watching the show! There were 1000 + students who attended.

The LORD is SO good in blessing the efforts of our staff team and student leaders who helped promote this event. It was so encouraging to see how many of our students were stunned and pleasantly surprised by the amount of people who showed up. And what is even better is that 146 students indicated that they made a decision to follow Christ!

Please pray for our student leaders who are now helping in the follow-up process of all these new brothers and sisters in Christ!

Kim

good weekend + birthday week!

This past weekend our staff team took a trip down to Midland for our annual Fellowship Dinner. This is a time where we raise money for Tech Campus Crusade and the Lord showed up in powerful ways...we raised above and beyond what we had been praying for!

Before this dinner though, me and some of my besties went to the lovely Megan Reed's wedding shower. It was so much fun to see her interact with Steven (her fiancee). I had never interacted with Steven much. In fact, I don't believe I had ever met him before. She took him to my wedding, but I didn't actually meet him that night. Actually, when I looked back at pictures, I thought he was a creeper who crashed the wedding since I didn't know who this guy in the background of my picture was! Haha...well it was Steven and I think he is GREAT for Megan. SO excited for their wedding in a few short weeks. Here are some pictures from the shower.

Megan (Cotter), Kelli, Megan (the Bride to be), Lori, and me

It was a couples shower, so Brett came too!

AND one of my best friends from college, Ash, is Megan's Maid of Honor, so she was there too!

Brett and I were exhausted by the time we got back on Saturday night, but it was a good day! Yesterday I started celebrating my birthday week. My birthday is on Friday, but Brett made a surprise dessert for me yesterday....Red Velvet Cake Balls!!! Seriously...I love my husband first and foremost, but these were a CLOSE second. I didn't take a picture of them, but they have BOY written ALL over them. Brett kept complaining that the picture looked so perfect and his didn't look that way, but man oh man did they taste amazing. He put so much effort into them all afternoon and did a fabulous job!

Tomorrow we have a HUGE evangelistic outreach on our campus. We are bringing in the MAZE - a Christian illusionist who will present the gospel to lots of people in a unique way. This attracts people who would maybe never step foot in a church or bible study on their own. Pray that it goes well, that we have 1,000 + people come, and that LOTS of students trust Christ tomorrow night! Check out more about the MAZE at: www.whatisthemaze.com.

Until next time,

Kim

Brett's Birthday

So this past Wed. (March 23) was Brett's birthday! This was a special birthday for several reasons. First, it was his GOLDEN birthday! For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, it means that he turned the same age as the day of the month his birthday is on (he turned 23 on the 23rd). Second, it was his MJ Bday. This one probably isn't as well known as some, but ever since I first met Brett he always talked about the term "MJ Bday". For a basketball lover...this simply means that he turned the same age as the # of Michael Jordan's (MJ) jersey. I am not sure that anyone else really celebrates this but Brett and his friend Luke, but it was special for that. Lastly (and this one happens with ALL of Brett's birthdays), it is the time of the year where Brett and I are the SAME AGE. It only lasts 10 days out of the whole year, but it's fun nonetheless.

For Brett's special day I made him breakfast in the morning, we were able to have lunch together (which never happens on Wednesday's), and then we had a lot of friends meet us at Rosa's for dinner. He felt very loved and special on this day :)

Here is a picture of us on the way to his bday celebration dinner :). Doesn't he look older?

Until next time,

Kim

french dressing chicken

As promised, here is the recipe for the Silverman family favorite: French Dressing Chicken.

Ingredients:
1-2 lb of boneless chicken breasts or tenders
1 cup of French Dressing
6 oz. of Apricot preserves
1 pkg of dry onion (or french onion) soup mix

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Mix dressing, apricot preserves, and dry soup mix in a bowl
Place raw chicken in baking dish and pour the dressing mix over the chicken
Bake in oven for 1 hour (if chicken breasts) or 45 min. (for chicken tenders)

Brett and I made this and served it over egg noodles (the sauce is really good mixed in with it). You can also serve it over rice (whichever you desire). It is good with mixed veggies or salad as a side!

 

Very tasty and SO easy. Virtually no prep time at all. Hope you enjoy :)

Kim

shopping

Something that most of you probably don't know about me is that I LOVE to shop. I don't usually do this with friends that often (sorry) which is why many of you who know me well might not even know this about me. I think one reason I don't go with friends is because I'm REALLY indecisive when it comes to spending money on clothes, and I take forever. So I like to be alone when shopping...OR with Brett. It's something I really like to do together...probably more so than he likes it :). BUT, a tradition that we have every time we go to Houston is to hit up the outlet mall there. AND since both of our birthdays are coming up, we received some gifts and some cash to spend! Another thing to note about me is that I really don't mind knowing what all my gifts are. Surprises usually don't go over THAT well with me, so getting to pick out my own clothes as my b-day gifts from my parents was great! So with the help of lots of sales, coupons, birthday money, and a great eye for a good deal, we came away with some great stuff! Take a look at all of our findings over the past week...

A quick summary because I love to share good deals and fun clothes (from left to right):

• Brett's striped polo for 70% off
• A Banana Republic button down for $12
• The next two are Gap Outlet finds
• The next two after that are regular Gap. I had a text coupon for $50 worth of clothes for $25!
• $5 Old Navy striped T
• The skirt was a b-day gift from my sister...she picked it out all on her own!

And now...for the shoes! Another fact that you probably don't know unless your my mom or sister is that I used to REALLY want to be a shoe salesman. This was back in the day where shoe salesmen at department stores would sit down with you, size your foot, help you lace the shoes, place them on your feet, ask you how you liked them, and felt the tip of your shoe with their thumb to see how much room you had...aaah. So fun. Well that never happened and I don't remember a shoe salesman doing that since I was about 8...but here are the shoe findings!

• Brett's new Sperry's! He has been wanting these for a while but not wanting to spend the money on them. Well we found an awesome deal AND it is a birthday gift :)
• My yellow Target flats. Thank you gift card and Brett for dealing with this way-too-long-to-make decision. I used the phrase "every girl needs a pair of yellow shoes" to justify this one. I don't think that is actually true, but I love them!
• Brett's new Bass dress shoes. These were 60% off! He bought some shoes very similar 2 years ago in Italy for 14 euro. He found out a year later that they weren't even real Italian leather. This was found out due to the "made in Bangladesh" tag. Then, this year the thread has come undone and started to fray...so it was time for some new ones.

I also got a new purse (my early b-day present from Brett) but I don't have a picture. I am proud of our loot and am excited about the warmer weather so I can bust out my new spring clothes!

Tune back in tomorrow for a family favorite recipe that I just learned how to make: French Dressing Chicken

Kim

pictures

It's been a while since I did a post with actual pictures. Probably because I forget to take my camera everywhere I go...including forgetting it on our trip to Fort Worth and Houston. So here are some pictures courtesy of my cell phone and Kelli. (click on her name if you want to get hooked on another fun blog).

First, Here is my niece Braelyn. She is walking all over the place, and apparently climbing on our bricks too. She has never done this before and we all watched her do it in plain sight (it literally took like .5 seconds and she was up there. We were laughing hysterically before we realized it was pretty dangerous.

 This is some of the girls at Josh and Katie's wedding reception. From left to right: me, Kelli, Lori, Emma, Kinsey, and Brooke!

Sweet picture that Kelli took during the wedding. I liked how they stood up there on the gazebo and the pastor (her dad) stood below so you could actually see them the whole time!

We are back in Lubbock now after the long drive from Houston yesterday. Glad to be back, but LOVED my time in Ft. Worth and Houston.

Until next time,

Kim

spring break!

Sorry it's been forever since I've posted! Currently, I am enjoying a wonderful evening at home with my family in Houston. It is so fun to be with Brett, my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, and my sweet niece Braelyn. Braelyn is 13 months old and I haven't seen her since Christmas. She has changed A TON since then. She no longer looks like a baby, but a full out toddler! She is walking and talking and has more energy than ever. I love it :)

The beauty of working with college students is that we often get to enjoy many of the same holidays/time off that they get. Our spring break started on Friday afternoon with a short (compared to driving to Houston) drive to Fort Worth for our good friend Josh's wedding. We enjoyed the rehearsal dinner on Friday evening and then the wedding last night. It was one of the most enjoyable weddings I've ever been to...and there wasn't even dancing! That should tell you how great it was :). Josh and Katie are so obviously loved by so many and have such a strong love for the Lord which I know will sustain their marriage. It is always fun going to weddings since I've been married, but I definitely teared up at this wedding WAY more times than my own! I've known Josh since my freshman year of college...we were in the same bible study. We remained friends throughout college, but it is Brett who is actually closer to Josh. They became great friends toward the end of college and it's so fun to see boys grow into men and get married :)

From Fort Worth, we drove to Houston this morning and have enjoyed a really nice day here at my parents house. While we are here visiting we plan to see Brett's sisters, go shopping for birthdays (hint hint...Brett's is March 23 and mine is April 1), spend lots of time with our niece, read a lot, relax a lot, work some, and be thankful we don't live in humidity at all times during the year. We plan to head back to Lubbock on Thursday to enjoy a few days to ourselves, recover from the traveling, and work at a slower pace until everything picks pack up again next Monday!

Hopefully I'll remember to update more often...but until then...I'll leave you with two things. 1. I've realized my token phrase is "so fun". I say it often and apparently after re-reading this blog, I write it often too. At this point in life, I'm not annoyed by it...but I can see that changing soon. 2. The N'Sync Pandora station is incredible. Brett and I spent good quality time jamming to that in the car today. I suggest you put it on, and let your memory take you back to whatever age you were at when N'Sync was popular.

Kim