As the race is starting to come to a close, I’m finding myself incredibly emotional and I’m actually starting to grasp how much love I’m surrounded with. I have been living with 6 girls for the past 8 months, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. These girls have held me while I was in the deepest darkest valley and have also carried me to the highest mountain peak. I have never been in a room with 6 girls without playing the comparison game until I was joined with these people. We are not perfect, no family is. When we started out we weren’t all best friends and I would even say some of us weren’t that fond of one another. It took hard work, time, and quite a bit of effort to choose each other. Eventually we learned to communicate and function in a way that enabled all 7 different personalities and backgrounds to be unified, we became one unit. I am incredibly thankful for every single one of my girls. I want to tell you a little bit about them. I never did a “meet my team” blog at the beginning of the race like many racers did. So I chose month 9 to do mine. Here we go people.
Brittany Carson
Okay everyone, let me just tell you that Brittany will make friends with anyone she comes into contact with. She genuinely loves everyone she meets and every person loves her back. How could you say no to those cute black curls and big green eyes? You can’t. Brittany is not one for physical touch, however sometimes she will give you a hug and it will be the sweetest because you know that she means it. She reads scripture like her life depends on it (her favorite book is Acts) and she has an unwavering love for her family, us, and all of humanity honestly.
Likes: Pumpkin seeds, oreos, the Bible, her tattoos, her sisters (biological and us), and hoop earrings.
Dislikes: the sun, mega beds, touching, and germs
Kenzi johnson
Alright… Kenzo is a genius. She is called to Turkey long term and is gonna for real change the world. She is a woman after God’s own heart. She knows *everything* about the Bible. I have never met someone so on fire for the Word. She’s an 8 on the enneagram, we always say she’s the fire to my water. The ying to my yang baby. I admire this human with every part of me. She is a small girl with the fluffiest curls and even though she says she’s an edgy skater girl, she is actually the softest sweetest little cotton ball, in the best way possible. Funny story, we didn’t like each other at training camp, fast forward 8 months and she without a doubt will be in my future wedding.
Likes: the enneagram, every book ever, skating, coffee, me, podcasts, and cute dresses
Dislikes: injustice, mean people, and turkeys
Acacia Sachs
Acacia is very much like the actual Acacia tree. I googled some meanings and symbols behind an acacia tree and found that the tree can represent renewal and endurance. This is cool because acacia is our team leader; she enables us to push through tough times with her wisdom and renewed spirit, she truly is a breath of fresh air. Acacia is a nature girl, she is constantly wearing a forest green color which matches her personality. She is deeply rooted both in who she is and more importantly who God is. She is a constant reflection of Jesus to me, overflowing with grace and joy. She has held my heart in the purest way. We tease her quite a bit because it’s really funny and she usually replies with her 3 typical clapbacks, but underneath all the jokes and tough love she is probably one of the strongest humans I know.
Likes: Nature, earthly colors, animals (all of them pretty much), Cambodia, thai tea and saving money
Dislikes: Being called amish, spending money, and the city
Cierra Cordak
Just the most bright shining star in the sky! Cierra is a creator. She is constantly bringing newness to the world. She is artistic and intelligent, essentially unstoppable. Cierra has showed me time and time again the beautiful parts of the Lord I can never stop exploring. Ever since the day I met Cierra I have admired her. Her light will never go out, she is constantly pouring her heart out for those in need, stretching and growing in her faith not only for her sake but for others’. This is someone who is not confined by barriers of culture and the mundane. 10/10 human all around.
Likes: Doodling & writing, clothes, crackers (the Rosy kind), salt, everything original flavored, UGA, rings
Dislikes: Spicy foods, scary movies, country music, and being quiet
Katie (Katherine) Ericks
Sweet Katherine! Her name is not actually Katherine, it’s Katelyn, but I named her Katherine in Costa Rica month one. Now our whole team calls her this, I feel like a proud mom. Katherine is a gentle girl. She leads with a quiet and soft spirit but is just as powerful as the loudest voice in the room. She has an amazing singing voice, she was our worship coordinator, and let me tell you about how mountains moved when she worshipped the Lord. Sadly our sweet girl went home at the end of month 6 for personal reasons. But she is still apart of our little family no matter how far away she is from us. I love her dearly. I miss her every single day.
Likes: worship, musicals, art (SHE’S AMAZING), her brothers, and Samantha
Dislikes: Girly things, rom coms, and school
Alexandria Hope West
If soulmates are real she’s mine, our team typically refers to us as the old married couple. Alex truly keeps me in check and is one heck of a accountability partner. She and I were best friends in elementary school, she moved away and we reunited when we both found out we were doing the race. We knew it couldn’t have been a coincidence that we ended up on the same team. Now she is one of my best friends, honestly, “best friend” doesn’t even describe it, It’s much deeper than that. Alex fearlessly pursues the Lord and fearlessly loves people. She is honest, brave, and confident. It is incredible the way she extends grace and love to everyone around and is unafraid to share the gospel through not only her words but actions. She IS a woman.
Likes: singing the intro to Zoey 101 acapella with me, icecream, aesthetic ears, cuddling, adam, spicy things and country music
Dislikes: chewing noises, weird textures, grammar mistakes, and saying the word “like” after every sentence
These are my people, There are things I wish I could put on here about them that are too “inappropriate” as some would say, or that would result in me probably getting punched. We aren’t perfect but we are pretty freakin’ fantastic 🙂 Thank you for reading my blog. If you wanna see some funny videos of them feel free to ask. Thank you and goodnight!
