It's been a busy week. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we interviewed new perspective members for searchCRU. "What is this searchCRU that you speak of Jared?" you may be asking yourself. Well my reader friend, searchCRU is a student organization devoted to brining in the next generation of Crusaders. If you've visited our beautiful campus, you may have seen us. We're the students walking around in the purple Polo shirts. I am fortunate enough to be the president of this group, and so I got to be part of the interviewing process. It was great to see so many students have so many reasons why they love UMHB.

On Friday, we had our second Sader Day. If you are looking into UMHB, then you should also look into Sader Days. These are great. You get to come into campus for a day, visit classes, attend the chapel service (on Fridays), eat at Hardy Hall... and all sorts of other stuff.  

Also this week, UMHB celebrated its 163rd birthday on a day known around here as Charter Day.  You see, in 1845 the Republic of Texas chartered a Baptist college. That day launched what would become two of the best universities in our state.

Anyway, a busy week is my point. I hope you're week is going well and that it is not too busy... Just remember, in only 5 weeks I'll be on spring break... there, don't you feel better?

 Til next time,

Jared

Now for something completely different...

This semester is crazy! I have never been so busy in my entire life. I am taking 18 hours (6 classes), and working 2 jobs. I am a staff writer for The Bells, (UMHB's Newspaper), president of searchCRU, and the worship leader for our chapel services. I say this not to garner your pity, but to say that life always presents new opportunities. It amazes me the things that God provides. I'm getting to experience things that I would not have gotten to experience if I had been led down a different path. It is so easy to get involved with different things here at UMHB.

The best opportunity that I didn't mention is being engaged. On October 3 of last year I got engaged to Jessa (a senior Journalism student here at UMHB) and October 4 of this year I will be getting married! Very, very exciting stuff and I owe it all to UMHB. We met in the Sub over some Chic-Fil-A. At least thats what I think I was eating. I hope so because if it wasn't, I'm going to be in trouble.

While I haven't historically been a huge fan of weddings, I do have a vested interest in this one. Wedding planning is no easy task. We started basically the day after we got engaged, and though we both feel like we are off to a great start, there is still a lot to do. We've taken engagement pictures like this one....

This weekend we're doing all sorts of wedding stuff. Here and a few friends are going to look at bridesmaid dresses. Luckily, I will be sleeping through this. They are going to a shop in Salado, a town about 10 minutes from Belton. Salado is a pretty cool town. They have shops all up and down Main Street... as well as some pretty good bbq. Anywho, after that we're going to look at napkins and invitations. Should be pretty fun.

In other news, I am a year away from graduation. This is very exciting for me. Though there is a lot to do before then, I know this year will be fun. God provides great opportunities and experiences that will help prepare us for the rest of our lives. Well, I hope you enjoy your stay here at umhb.edu. Anything and everything you need to know about UMHB is around here somewhere.

Til next time,
Jared