I don't have time to blog in 3 places

I was asked to share about Christian activities at the law school, to go on a blog for prospective students, and since I'm way too busy to write unique posts for that, this blog and the school's Faith Blog, I've copied and pasted it here for you :) But I promise a unique fun post just for you soon. I've been busy doing mostly fun things, so I have lots of good stuff to write about!
All my love,
Kelli

The original post is available here. If you go the original post, there's a pretty cute picture of me (because that would evidently entice potential students to want to come here).

I have had a wonderful experience here at St. Thomas, especially with opportunities to deepen my faith and stay connected with God’s calling. I’m delighted to share with you!
I’m a 3rd year (3L) here at St. Thomas, so I’m almost done with law school, which seems crazy! I was excited coming here after learning about the daily Reflection Period, from 12:00-12:30, where time is set aside for worship, prayer, meditation, even yoga. There are no student group meetings and no professors or staff hold office hours; it is a time set completely aside. Daily Mass is offered in the chapel, and there are also several other opportunities to use that time for centering yourself.
When I first started at St. Thomas, I attended a gathering called Weekly Manna during orientation week, and have stuck with it ever since. The group gathers each Wednesday during the law school’s designated Reflection Period. I always compare it to an adult forum or adult Sunday school. We have lunch, then usually open with a reading, feature a speaker reflection (often a member of the faculty), and close with communal prayer. It’s a great chance to connect with other Christians and get free lunch!
As a 1L, I wanted to have more frequent opportunities for Christian worship, so I worked with a few other students and faculty to set aside a room for quiet prayer and reflection each day, as well as start a weekly Bible study, and a weekly Christian worship. Earlier this year, two 1L students wanted to start a prayer group. I helped them get organized, and they now meet every Thursday morning from 8:15-8:45 for breakfast and communal prayer for our community and the world. It has been wonderful to have the administration and faculty be so supportive of students who want to start new activities for spiritual nourishment.
The Bible study has since grown, and Christian Legal Society is working on launching a daily Discipleship group that would gather every day during the Reflection Period for scripture, prayer and fellowship. So, coming soon, there will be not just a quiet space, but actual activities each weekday during the Reflection Period for Christian faith enrichment.
And there’s even more: Prof. Susan Stabile leads several series throughout each semester called “Retreats in Daily Living” that gather weekly, and provide prayer material for each day of the week during the 4-8 week sessions. There are also several Mid-Day Reflections. While she comes from a Catholic perspective, I find it easy as a Protestant to connect with the material. It’s another great community to plug into. She and other faculty also lead Vocation Retreats at the beginning of every semester that help students to focus on God’s calling in their vocation as law students and future lawyers. I have benefited greatly from both the Vocation Retreats (I’ve attended 4) and the Retreats in Daily Living. Her blog contains most of the info on these, http://susanjoan.wordpress.com/, including podcasts of recent sessions.
As I said, St. Thomas has been more than a wonderful place to attend law school; it’s been a nurturing environment for my faith and focus on God’s calling for me.

Owl always love you

I made this owl card after seeing someone's post on Pinterest, which is the American woman's new obsession.

I think it came out so cute! I got it all finished, but something was just missing, so then I added the little pink feet and voila! It wasn't quite as easy as it would have been if I could have used a cricuit, like the original pattern, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. One of my friend's is a Big Sister, and we're making Valentines again this year with her Little Sister and these will be perfect!

I was perusing the books at Target, and something caught my eye. Ok, you've busted me, I'm obsessed with owls. They are so cute, and they are everywhere! I saw a whole book of cake pops, with owl cake pops on the cover. I quickly paged through it and thought "I can do that!" I think I'll need more practice, and I can definitely see the advantage of dipping the pops on sticks instead of my method, which had some "special" results. I was also too lazy to go out and buy the right stuff to decorate them, so they could be a lot cuter. I'm going to make these again this weekend and play around with them more.

For those of you not on the cake pop/cake truffles bandwagon already, here's what I did:

Cake mix & ingredients to make it according to directions

1 can frosting

Chocolate chips

Almond bark

Bake a boxed cake mix according to directions. Doesn't matter what pan since you're going to crumble it up later. I did dark chocolate cake. Let it cool about 30 minutes (don't wait too long, or the next part won't work well). Cut it into hunks, then carefully crumble each hunk into a large mixing bowl. I say carefully because my cake was still really toasty, so don't burn yourself. I crumbled it as fine as I could by hand, then I used a metal spatula to short of chop it up more. You want it to be pretty small crumbs so you don't get lumpy truffles. While the cake crumbs are still warm, stir in one can of frosting (16 oz.), flavor of your choice. I did chocolate because I had it on hand. Since the cake is warm, the frosting sort of melts into it pretty easily, but keep stirring until you get a relatively smooth mixture, about the consistency of raw cookie dough. I used a cookie scoop to make even portions and then rolled each portion into a ball, about walnut size. I flattened the bottom a bit when I put them on the cookie sheet so they wouldn't roll all over. You might need two cookie sheets to fit them all, getting about 40-45 balls. Once they are all rolled, pop them in the freezer at least 30 minutes. I did about an hour, then set them out for a couple minutes before I dipped them. Melt about 6 oz. chocolate almond bark (could do regular white or the candy melts) over low heat. In fact, do it as low as possible to keep it melty and smooth, turning off the heat once it gets melty enough. Some of mine came out goofy because the chocolate was too hot (or not hot enough.) Carefully dip the bottom of each chocolate chip in the melted chocolate to use as a "glue" to stick it the cake ball. There's probably an easier way to do this-maybe use a spoon to dab it on? You need two for each owl, placing them for ears on top. Since the cake balls are really cold, the chocolate sets pretty fast. By the time I got all these done, the first ones were all set. Using a fork to rest the ball on, ears up, use a spoon to drizzle the melted chocolate over the whole ball, tapping gently to get excess off. Slide the covered cake ball onto a wax-paper lined cookie sheet. While the chocolate is still warm, decorate. I would recommend M & Ms for the eyes. I had lots of almonds around, so I used sliced almonds for the wings and slivered almonds for the beaks. I had spinkles in Christmas colors, so I did white and green eyes. Like I said, room for improvement. I'll have to post pictures once I improve :)

Winter Fun

I can't count how many blog posts I've started with "I'm still alive!" This is the worst I think it's been since coming to law school, and I have no excuse because I haven't been all that busy, considering. Oh well, I'm back. And I have pictures!

Andy and I went to an art display of Ice Shanties on frozen Medicine Lake. People here fish year round, and in the winter, at least they have the common sense to take a little hut with them to keep warm in out on the frozen lake. Some artists banded together to create artsy ice shanties and invite people out to visit them. They were really neat! However, out on the frozen lake, there's nothing to break the wind, so it felt like about 5 or 10 degrees, even though on land, it was closer to 25 degrees.

The one of me with the green moustache and goatee is from one of the interactive art projects. There was a daily newspaper, all done with hand-set metal type on a letter press; a dance hall, complete with disco balls and DJ; and a vacation get away, with headphones playing beach sounds! There were lots of other neat things, but those were my favorites. The photo of Andy wearing the walrus hat was part of the ice bicycle area (not sure what the hats had to do with it other than to be silly, but still fun). You can see a pair riding the tandem walleye bicycle above.

All in all, we're hanging in here, with both Andy and I in our LAST semester of school! It's been pretty bearable since the weather has been very mild for winter, and we actually have some free time again.