Autumn Bliss

October is my FAVORITE month of the year! Maybe because it's my birthday month but I really do love the fall, and the changing leaves, and apple cider and all the other goodies that come with the fall season :) It has been an incredible fall so far! At the end of September my mom surprised me by flying in my best friend and kindred spirit, Laura Talton, into Fayetteville for an early B-day present! Laura is from Selma, AL and goes to school at Wake Forest so I only get to see her about once a year at Kanakuk. I was so shocked when she jumped out of the trunk of my mom's car! It was such a sweet moment! We got to spend the weekend together and download with each other. Ahhhh it was wonderful! I had a great 20th birthday and the Razorbacks even won for me on the 8th :) Sorry 'boutcha Aurburn! We also got our first Fall Break at Arkansas which was so fun! About TWENTY (yep count 'em) Kappas came and stayed with us over the break! It was such a blast! I love showing off Kansas City to people who only think of the Wizard of Oz when they hear "Kansas". Here are some pictures of my fall adventures :)

I was surprised to say the least!

The Mustache Shop in Fayetteville is a MUST(ache) hehe

I don't even know where to begin explaining this picture.... Megan Phillips everyone.

(**No animals were harmed in the making of this picture)

Rachel, Jenny Hayes and I made bows when we were in KC :)

Throwin' the key at the Louisburg Cider Mill

Phillips and Trott sistas rockin that Arkansas Red!

Morgan and I went to the Farmers Market to get flowers for the room

Kappas carving pumpkins.... the owl, the key and the Batman sign! Love you Rach :)

The Gospel is all I have...

The Lord has been teaching and stretching me in amazing ways this semester. This incredible Godly gal, Hayley Holmgren, has been discipling me and it has been transforming my life through scripture memory, prayer, and evangelism. I've learned so much!! I've been studying John as of recently and it has become so fresh to me! I love it! I've been amazed by Jesus' teachings that are shared in this book! I was reading John 5 last night and got so fascinated by what Jesus explained in his witness to others. He was explaining that his testimony was not valid if He was the only one testifying that He was the Son of God; basically saying He's not some loon that has no authority and is claiming to be something He's not. He goes on to say that his testimony is valid because John the Baptist came before him and told everyone that He (The Son of God) was coming. I love that Jesus appeals to human logic for our sake of understanding salvation in Him. He does not NEED human logic for his testimony to be true but by his grace He appeals to our finite minds and shares his testimony in a way that we can understand and trust. This is so cool to me for several reasons. One is that he simply conveys the importance of knowing who He is. Knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is a life changing truth that seems so basic but is SO vital to our salvation. Second is that he explains his witness to us in a way that we can trust Him with our finite minds. And lastly, He shows us that He WANTS us to know him. I have been so encouraged by the Good News of the gospel and I hope that you are spurred on to share how the gospel has changed your life.

Sparknotes through pictures

So I really never gave the low down on kamp, or the rest of my summer, or Kappa Bid day, or school... so I thought I'd just blow up my blog with pictures of the last several weeks of my life. I always liked the picture books anyway. Holla atcha visual learners!!

My first group of kampers were 16 and such a stellar group of girls! It was so encouraging to see their hearts be transformed by Christ!

My second group of kampers were 15 years old and were SO much fun!! They all bonded as a kabin so well and were an amazing group of leaders for the kingdom!

My story made the Kappa National Magazine, The Key!! That was pretty exciting!

Had a hand-full of "crafternoons" as Jami Nato would say :) I aspire to be the Crafting guru that she is.

The girls and I had to say goodbye to the sweet Lindquist family before we all headed off to college. www.deepinthehart.blogspot.com

During work week of recruitment, nothing bonds girls more than dancing while drinking Route 44's out the back of Poe's SUV in the Sonic Drive-In!!

jumping pics. classic.

What a SURPRISE! Meg went Kappa :) Sisters through blood, sisters in Christ, sisters in KKG!!!

Throwin' the key with our new baby KAPPA'S :) :) :)

(Megan Phillips, MoMo Trott, and Allie White)

The first function of the year was Opposites Attract. We say go ballsy or go home. Yep... it happened.

But look how cute my banner turned out :)

I love my Keds on a beautiful September afternoon :)

Bless your heart if you made it through that entire post. It was a marathon but you MADE IT! That deserves a double fist pound** In the words of Amanda Bynes.... Word to ya motha!

"Beautiful Things"

It's been a while since I've posted because every time I try to blog I am just overwhelmed. Sometimes its better to just put it to a song. This is my anthem right now.

1kidneykate REDESIGNED!!

Ahhhh! FINALLY!! It only took forever, but I finally redesigned the blog! My dear friend, Laura Rayburn, did an AMAZING job designing my original page :) thanks again Laura!! I finally mustered up all my tech savvy (HA) and gave the blog a new look. Oh my word this process ate my lunch AND dinner! After a "how to" video tutorial and sev-er-al hours later I (somehow by the grace of God) finished it! Let me know what y'all think :) Have an awesome weekend and be looking for a post coming soon on my summer at Kanakuk!

MO of MO

I took some more senior pictures of Morgan at the beginning of summer and forgot to post them! haha! Thought it would just be fun to post them even though she's graduated already! enjoy :)

update

Ok so I havn't posted anything in two months! OH MY WORD!! Being at kamp without internet access will do that to ya! Well I have like ten minutes left in my night off so I thought I'd whip out a speedy update! I was a counselor for 2 weeks and had the most stellar group of 16 year girls I could ever hope for! It was so incredible to see the Lord work in their lives in just two weeks! God is SO good! Now I am working in the office! YAY! So if you call the K-2 office you might hear "K-2 office, this is Kate! How can I serve you?!" Our customer service competes with Chic-fil-a :) haha! It's beens AMAZING! I've loved getting to know the girls I work with! In a couple days I'll go back to being a counselor for two weeks and then I'm headed back to KC!! I miss my family like crazy! The Lord is teaching me so much!! Mostly how to die to myself and pick up my cross DAILY.... sometimes hourly! Well gotta roll out! Expect another update soon! peace. love. and free wifi at mickey d's :)

end of the year! PTL

Oh my word I can't believe I'm moving home on Saturday!! My last final is in the morning and then I'm driving back with my dad! What a crazy school year it has been! It's been amazing and hard and eye-opening and long and just a crazy mixture of experiences. I have learned so much this year about myself, life, and God. I am so thankful for this year but I definitely wouldn't do it again. I am exhausted. I am leaving my freshman year with so many wonderful memories and friendships but I am ready to move on to summer. Every end of the school year I have been so excited and ready for summer but this is the first year that I feel DESPERATE for summer. I mean last year, summer came early for me... I was out of school at spring break when I was diagnosed. It was no vacation but I wasn't being pressed with studying or essays or STUDIO! I will be home for about two weeks and then I will be working at Kanakuk Kamps for 2 months! AHHH I am so pumped. It is definitely not the most "relaxing" way to spend your summer but Kamp is a haven for me. I am so ready to share Jesus with high school girls and invest in their summers. I have been praying all year for my kampers and I am getting so anxious now that it is just around the corner. Be praying for me and my kampers this summer.... Pray for energy, strength, wisdom, discernment, love, and transformed hearts for Jesus. Over my 2-4's I will post prayer requests and updates on what is going on in the Kamp bubble. BLAH but I keep remembering that I still have a final I need to ace on Saturday so I can't get too sucked into thinking about kamp right now. Otherwise I will risk the temptation of blowing off this test.... no maam... not an option!! Well praise Jesus for Dead Day tomorrow! Have a lovely Friday :) I'm praying for some sunshine!

"In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." -Psalm 5:3

(I took this picture last week at 6 am after pulling an all-nighter in studio... couldn't help but stop and awe at Him)

18 reasons why i look up to my little sister

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET 18 YEAR OLD SISTER! Mom's freaking out that all her kids are "adults" now!! This time last year I was home from the hospital recovering and was stealing all the attention. I actually was getting presents from people on HER birthday! She was such a champ about it though! But this is her day today :) There are so many reasons I admire Megan so to honor her today I decided to sum up with 18 reasons why I look up to her:

1) Megan is such an amazing leader and people are drawn to follow her even though she demands no authority.

2) Megan is creative. She is the most crafty person I know. She would make BANK if she sold all the adorable headbands, frames, and darling nic nacs she makes!

3) Megan is free-spirited and fun loving. Whenever I'm being a sour puss she always turns my attitude around.

4) Megan is funny. Any guy would even admit that the whole "girls are not funny" stereotype doesn't apply to her. She is quick and witty and could make you laugh at anything she said!

5) Megan is talented. I'm totally jealous of Meg's mad skills on the guitar. I wish she would play more for an audience because she's really impressive.

6) Megan is self disciplined. She literally can accomplish ANYTHING she sets her mind to.

7) Megan is tidy. I wish I had her neatness skills. Lets just say at the end of the week our rooms look completely different.

8) Megan is photogenic. Just LOOK AT HER!!

9) Megan is a friend. This is one of her most admirable qualities to me! She is not only kind to everyone but she is so infectious that she could befriend anyone!

10) Megan is confident in everything she does. Not in a prideful way at all. She is a role model to so many girls, including me, because of the way she holds herself.

11) Megan loves Jesus. She not only loves Him but she lives her life out for Him.

12) Megan is a list-maker. Silly but its true. She gets joy out of crossing things off her to-do list and therefore never wastes a day. She got the "organized genes"!

13) Megan is genuine. She never says anything she doesn't mean or contradicts her words with her actions.

14) Megan is a cutie pie! She is sweet and caring and stylish. Da fellas be linin' up ;)

15) Megan has a corrective spirit. I look up to her so much because of this. She is quick to listen and show humility whenever corrected.

16) Megan is a goof. nuff said.

17) Megan is loving. Her first instinct is to love people. Not to judge or condemn.

18) Megan is the best sister a one-kidneyed girl could ask for! LOVE YA BABA SEESTER :) I hope you have an amazing day!!!

you can find me at the KAPPA HOUSE in room 207!!!

So yesterday was room picks for the girls that are living in the Kappa House next semester! It was super hectic and everything kept switching around with who was rooming with who! Everyone was antsy because we all just wanted to know how it was gonna end up! But everyone kept saying that it will work out the way it is supposed to! So yesterday my friend Maggie Jo and I decided that we would for sure room together but we'd try to get a 3 or 4 girl room with any other girls that wanted to. Morgan Newton, a senior, got a hold of Maggie Jo somehow and said that she was interested in living with 2 sophomores next year in a 3 girl room! Maggie Jo and I look up to Morgan so much and so we immediately got so excited about it and decided to all room together! We got to pick the exact room we wanted because Morgan is a senior and gets one of the first picks! Ahhh the Lord is SO faithful and constantly reminds me that He has a FAR better plan for me than I could ever imagine! So stinkin' blessed to be rooming with Maggie Jo and Morgan next year! Love you girls! Watch out world because here comes ROOM 207!!!!!!

PEACHY KEEN!!

So this is my attempt to be Pioneer Woman so don't judge to harsh if I'm not as legit (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ is my favorite blog EVER)! When I was in Tucson over spring break Louie and I experimented with something he saw in a cooking magazine! It ended up being a total success! SO YUMMY!! we had it for breakfast but its kind of like a dessert too :) aka the best kind of breakfast! This is the "not exact measurement" recipe!

What you need:

-2 ripe peaches

-1 package of Pillbury crescent rolls

-Brie cheese

-Brown sugar

-Cinnamon sugar

-Cream

-butter :)

**FIRST preheat oven to 375

1) Cut the peaches in half and scoop out the pit and a little of the center to make room for the brie.

2) Pack the brie in both sides of the peach

3) Put the peach back together with the Brie now in the center and wrap (approx 3) triangles of the crescent dough around it until the whole peach is covered.

4) Roll it in a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon sugar

5) Place on greased cookie sheet. TIP** we had extra dough so we made a little base so they wouldn't roll around :)

6) Pop those babies in the oven for for 10-12 minutes at 375

7) While that is baking we made this DELICIOUS sauce! Throw in some cream, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon.

8) YAY they're done baking :) golden brown goodness! But hold up... we're not done yet!

9) Drizzle on yummy sauce! Is your mouth watering yet?!

HOW ABOUT NOW?!?!!? Gooey-sweet-peachy-make ya black out for a sec-delicious masterpiece!!!

aaaaand 5 seconds later.

A special thanks to Louie Christensen's for his outstanding hand-modeling in this photo shoot.

Have an lovely Sunday! Go share some Jesus :)

happy.diagnosis.anniversary.farewell.kidney.birthday

Wow I don't even know where to start on this post.... its crazy to think that a year ago I was in the doctors office finding out that I had a cancerous tumor in my left kidney. I can't believe it's been a year! Part of me feels like it was an eternity ago but the other part of me feels like it was just yesterday that my diagnosis was this scary news that I didn't know how to deal with. Last night I went back and read my very first blog post (you should read it too). It was such a crazy flashback to know exactly what I was feeling, fearing, and praying when I was writing it and now I'm on the outside of that trial looking back. When I was in that deep it was hard to see an end to it all. It's amazing to reflect on how the Lord has strengthened and grown me in the past year. It's definitely been a year of change and growth!

One of the ways that I've grown is through prayer. I've learned how important it is.... how powerful it is.... how it changes your walk with God. My mentor from KC, Stephanie Donyes, gave me the journal, Praying God's Word by Beth Moore. It is still apart of my quiet time and has transformed my prayer life! I've learned how important it is to be in constant communication with God; not only for the sake of talking with Him, but it also keeps your eyes focused on Him constantly. I believe that God healed me through the power of prayer. It wasn't the power of "people keeping me in their thoughts", but it was the power of people keeping me in their PRAYERS! I am so thankful for every single prayer that mentioned my name to God because He listened and answered!

Another huge thing that I learned was the real presence of the Holy Spirit. So often we focus on the characteristics of God the Father and Jesus Christ but I feel like we forget sometimes the movement of the Holy Spirit. I can account almost everyday when I was sick how the Holy Spirit moved in someway and provided me with the exact hope, encouragement, strength, or grace that I needed that very moment! You can't help but be in awe of God when those things happen.

Fellowship is another way that God changed my life a year ago. I was blessed with an awesome group of girlfriends that I studied scripture with and prayed with and walked with. That was as far as my view of fellowship went. But when I got sick, God rallied His people around me. People that I had nothing in common with and didn't know personally at ALL joined in fellowship with me because of our bond in Jesus Christ together and encouraged and strengthened me. AHH so cool how God can bring together people like that!

I know this post is a little heavier than my more recent ones but I feel like it was an awesome opportunity to reflect on how God has moved in my life in the past year!

And thats the way the cookie crumbles :)

Hey look I actually blogged today!

Son of a gun!! I was doing so good at blogging regularly! I have fallen back into the pit of bad bloggers! GRR! I would like to take a moment to make a formal apology to my readers (which probably don't even exist anymore haha). Alright, well now that we have established that my blogging consistency BLOWS I think we can move onto more exciting topics!

Well after having 9 DAYS off of school (thats right... COUNT EM) due to a major dumpage of snow in Fay-town it is kinda nice to have a consistent schedule again. Last weekend I went home to KC because Louie was coming to visit, Dalton and his gf Emily were in town, aaaaand sweet little Meggles got her wisdom teeth out! Yep, it was a parTAY at the Phillips house!!

Louie showing off his mad drawing skillz on the iPad... and mama phillips gettin her leafy greens for the day!

Grandma and Grandpa approved of me and Louie's quiche!

Miss Meggy P lookin' rockin I-C-E

Louie and I made din-din for the fam-jam saturday night! Mahi mahi with homemade mango salsa, asparagus, berries with mint, and kraft mac and cheese (that was megan's addition) haha!

and now I'm back at school eating pad thai from a box... mmm this is culinary art of a college student! I am also currently accepting care packages ;)

peace.love.simply asia.

***sNoW dAy***

Last week we had two snow days on campus so a bunch of Kappas went to my friend Courtney's house to sled! I lugged my new camera around which I was beginning to regret at first but I ended up getting some cute pictures! Thought I'd just share a few :)