We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! It's been awhile since I have blogged last (well, today's and yesterday's don't count). We have been having trouble with our internet lately and I have had to concede the use of wireless on my laptop to allow everyone to use internet on the desktop. Not using my laptop has been alright, but the last few days (ok, so the last week) have been hard. It's so convenient having all of my favorites and bookmarks right there in front of me. When I get on this computer I forget to check things that I normally check (including my friend's blogs so I am sorry if I have been slacking on the comments... I have been trying to catch up on reading them here and there but I haven't gotten around to commenting yet). And now the power chord for my laptop is broken and my battery is dead so I have to run down to Fry's tomorrow to pick one up. Then I get to attempt to back up all of my music and photos on my new external hard drive.

Things have been alright as you can tell from my last two posts. I have been trying to stay busy during this Christmas break. What I didn't get to post about yet was the awesome Christmas Cookie Decorating Party (wow what a mouthful!) that I had with Stephanie last week. Ok, so it wasn't really a "party" because it was only me and Steph. Pretty much what happened was we went to lunch (she had just gotten back from a trip to New York and was getting ready for a trip to Africa - she left today) and went back to her house to chill and have some Peppermint Ice Cream. We were both so full from lunch, we opted out of Ice Cream. After about 20 mins of hanging out Stephanie blurted out that she wanted to make and decorate Christmas cookies... Well, the rest you can probably figure out from the pictures I took.

Well, it is Christmas day and I hope you all had a fabulous time with your families. Christmas was alright this year. We went to my uncle's house last night for Christmas dinner. I guess it's just that we are getting older, but Christmas isn't the same as it used to be. It was nice but there wasn't any joy or real happiness and it sort of bummed me out. Anyway, this year I was attempting to be less of a Scrooge and I think I did better than years past. In an attempt to spend less this Christmas I made a few of my Christmas gifts. There is always a little bit of risk in making presents for people and I definitely felt the brunt of that this morning. The first four people who opened gifts that I had made loved them (or at least were really good at pretending and that made me happy at least). The last person didn't like the fabric I chose and let me know it by saying that what I made would probably not get used. That broke me down! I can be a very emotional person at times (understatement of the century) and this morning I lost it, but I am doing better. After breakfast with the family we drove down to Carpinteria beach and took Toby for a walk along the beach. It was a beautiful day and Toby loved being able to run and play at the beach. You gotta love a California Christmas!

I hope you all had a beautiful day full of love and compassion! Please pray for my friend Stephanie as she is currently on a plane to London and tomorrow to Africa (she is going on this Adventure Safari thing and she is super nervous about it). Please pray that she will have a great time and come back safely this February (yes... her Safari is about 40 days long and she won't be back to Ojai until February... She'll be back here for two weeks and then head back to Australia for school). Again Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm Gettin Nuttin' For Christmas...

Sunday, Community had the wonderful pleasure of riding on a horse drawn carriage (well, the truck had horse power so we called it our horse...) through town, singing carols at Convalescent homes around town. I have gone caroling around town before, usually visiting the convalescent homes, but I had never had the opportunity to drive 5 mph through town and wave at people wishing them a Merry Christmas. The only other times I have ridden on a trailer at 5 mph was probably on the 4th of July Parade, but that is a whole different story. Anyway, it was such a blessing to go to the homes and show compassion for those who are sometimes forgotten around the holidays. The kids were great and brought giant smiles to everyone's faces. Check out the pictures and they might even bring a smile to your face!

PS: as far as the title goes, it seemed to be a popular song on the trailer so I thought it would be funny.

Como La Flor

Most of the time I find myself identifying with my "American" half but there are a few times in the year that I take great pride in being a Mexican. The other day was definately one of those times. In Mexican culture, traditionally families will make tamales to celebrate the Christmas season. I have great memories of helping my mom and my abuela and now I find myself looking forward to making them every year. The only problem with making tamales is it can be rather time consuming and, if you are not careful, sort of expensive. Many of my friends have expressed interest in making tamales the last few years and this year I was able to invite Amber and Katie over to join in the fun. The day started out early when my mom and I drove down to Oxnard to buy the masa and other supplies for tamales making. Once we got home, I turned on some of the only Latin music I have (man you gotta love Selena and Jaci Velasquez) and started getting things ready for my friends to arrive. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I guess I got caught up and forgot. In addition to making tamales, my mom and I were busy in the kitchen making nopales, frijoles, and cutting up jícama and pepinos to put in some jugo de límon con sal y chile... So tasty!!! I am very proud of my Mexican heritage and I hope to explore that side of me more in the future. For now I am happy with dancing around the kitchen to Como La Flor and attempting to do the "washing machine."

Where Is The Love?

My first weekend off for this Christmas vacation is over and I have to say it was a lovely weekend. Saturday morning my mother and I had ambitious plans of going on a super long hike. Unfortunately once 11 am rolled around and we were still sitting by the fire in our PJs, we figured we should rain-check that idea. Janae was playing in the JV tournament (my Dad coaches the JV girl's soccer team at Nordhoff; Janae is on Varsity, but my Dad borrowed a couple of players for the Buena tournament) this weekend and had a game in Ventura at 3:30. The game was really aggressive and Janae fought hard (she learned from the best... just kidding, she's a great player without any of my help). The girls had to win to put them through to another game at 6:30. By the end of the second half the game was tied 1-1 and was sent to PKs (penalty kicks not pastors kids...). I have been helping my dad train his goalkeeper so I went over before the kicks and gave her a little pep-talk. She rocked the PKs and long story short we ended up winning. It was already freezing by the time this game was over (seriously the days have been amazingly beautiful and the skies have been so clear, but as soon as that sun goes down... it must drop like 15 to 20 degrees). By the second game you could tell the girls were tired. They played Oak Park (they are actually in their league and will be playing them two more times this season so it was good they got a chance to meet up with them before the season) and lost 2-0. The game was SUPER physical and Janae and her friend ended up getting yellow cards out of it (even though the other team was dishing it out much worse... we were the only ones being called for it so it sort of sucked... but what can you do? External factors are bummers in games like this...).

Sunday was another amazing day because I got to go to Community!!! Darren brought two guys from River Haven to share how they are doing and what needs they have for this winter and coming spring. For those of you who don't know, River Haven is a self-governing community of homeless men and women here in Ventura County trying to better their situations. The group started over 3 years ago in the River bottom (hence River Haven) and has been in their semi-permanent location in Ventura. I wish I could tell you their whole story, but that would take about ten entries. Instead here are a couple of articles about this group (Ventura County Star and the VC Repoter) of amazing individuals. Please keep them in your prayers during this cold and wet winter season.

Sunday evening we invited Melvin (Sarah's friend from High School) over for dinner. Melvin is currently attending UCLA and just finished his first quarter. Melvin is an amazing young man who has been through so much! He told us about some of the things he is getting involved in at school; one of which is the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act will allow qualified undocumented, high school students who wish to attend college or serve in the armed forces, an opportunity to obtain a documented status necessary to pursue these goals. Melvin, who is in this same situation, is not given any financial aid and must find a way to pay for his college. After graduating, he could be the top of his class, will not be able to use his degree or apply for medical school here in the US. This is a problem in the US that I am growing more and more uneasy with. Please pray for Melvin as he attends school. Pray for him and others as they continue to work hard to bring about change.

As far as the title goes, my sisters and I made cookies yesterday and we were rockin out to some music. In case you haven't noticed, most of my more recent blog entries have been song titles. I am of the belief that our lives are a musical and have incredible soundtracks. I am glad I get to share mine with all of you!

Deck The Halls... or Something Like That

Tonight was my work's Christmas Party and I have to say I don't think I have laughed so hard since my life-guard training last year. The evening started out with an astounding dinner of prime rib, salmon, potatoes, salad, and some funny goat cheese-vegetable bread looking thing. I sat with my parents, Rosa and her husband (Rosa used to work at Meiner's Oaks with my mom; they are good friends and she just came on this year as the Elementary Spanish teacher), April (one of the girl dorm parents and a killer soccer player), Beatrice (the newest girl's dorm parent and a super cool person I might add), and Morgan (one of the boy's dorm parents and a really nice guy). I bounced between conversations (I was in the middle of the two groups so I would pop in on both sides here and there) during dinner and then made my way into the library for the evening's festivities.

As I said in my previous post, this last week I participated in Secret Santa game with all of the staff members. I was given some lovely gifts and some funny hints throughout the week, but by Thursday's hint I was able to guess. My Secret Santa had no clue who I was all week (well, until today at lunch when my mom gave it all away... One of my clues was "I have survived traveling through Europe with no money and no clothes" and he asked my mom "Has your daughter been to Europe... being the terrible lier that she is, she said "I don't know where my daughter has been".... thanks mom!) and it turns out he really liked the gifts and said I did a great job with the clues (I guess that freak-out last Sunday was a real waste...). The rest of the night was hilarious! It's one thing to see coworkers with the kids and everything but it is a completely different ballgame when all the kids are gone and there are buckets and buckets of alcohol...

Anyway, it would be too much to recount all of the hilariousness of the night (one lady in particular kept cracking jokes about Mexicans while my Mom, Rosa, another Hispanic lady, and myself were sitting right next to her... she was joking of course but they kept on coming and anyone who didn't know her well enough would have thought she was the biggest racist alive) but I don't think I have laughed so hard since my life-guard training last April (this same lady that was cracking the Mexican jokes did the life-guard training with me and I seriously almost drowned because I was laughing so hard from all of her jokes and sarcastic remarks). The party was fun (even though it got a little tense at some moments... we were playing this trivia game with questions about the school and they wanted super specific answers... if someone gave a different answer that was correct but not the one on the paper, their answer was counted as wrong and they lost a point... it was supposed to be a fun thing, but some people got way too competitive... I thought there were going to be some blows thrown... I haven't heard the *F* word so many times in a row since High School) but I am so glad to be on vacation!!!

You're a Mean One, Mr (Ms?) Grinch

Anyone who knows me well enough knows how I get around Christmas time. I love the compassion behind Christmas and the enormous amount of love that God showed us by sending His Son. However... and this might sound ridiculously redundant to Ryan's blog, I hate how Christmas has turned into this huge drive for consumerism. The past few years my parents have deemed me the "Scrooge" in our family, but this year I have been trying to focus more on Jesus and compassion for others. Well like any new adventure, I was bound to have my moments and Sunday night was no exception. This is the last week at school (the school I work at... and my school) for the kids before Christmas break and every year the staff participate in a Secret Santa game. This game can be fun under certain condition (ie: you know the person you pick); unfortunately I was not blessed with these conditions.

Now, my secret Santa is a great person and I have had a good time working with him the last few months, but I still don't know what to get him for Christmas gifts (we have to give a small gift every day of the week with little hints as to who we are and then one final big gift at the Christmas party this Friday). So Sunday night I had a bit of a melt-down (if you ask my mom she will tell you I was acting like a two year old but whatever...). I wish I could recount the melt-down but it might be to painful. Pretty much I hated the gifts that I bought (I thought they were really stupid gifts and that I would look like a jerk for being such a crappy gift giver) and I started complaining and saying how much I hate this game... it went on for about an hour.

I have no idea where this came from and I am super embarrassed that it happened, but here's my point (maybe... I hope it makes sense): I got caught up in the gifts and not being good enough for other people and completely forgot what Christmas is all about. It took me until Monday afternoon to finally be reminded (unfortunately by a singing Christmas card...) of what Christmas is really about. It was a Charlie Brown Christmas Card with the part where Linus says what Christmas is really about. It was one of those "Crap! How incredibly stupid was I yesterday. This game isn't that big of a deal and it's not what Christmas is really about" moments. It's sort of a bummer (well, it's actually sort of lame and stupid on my part, but very creative on God's part) that it took a card to get me back on track to celebrating what Christmas is really about. God sure does have a sense of humor...

PS: If you are a fan of Scrubs (Ryan) then you might enjoy this video of Charlie Brown Christmas.

Hallelujah

After a long morning of studying for my Anatomy final tonight, I took a short break to get the mail out of the mailbox. I was more than pleasantly surprised to finally find a check in my name from Austrian Airlines! I only have two things to say: Finally and Thank God!!! For reals though, God is so good and totally faithful and I am glad that this whole deal is finally over.

As far as everything else goes, I am doing alright. I think am catching a cold so I am loading up on Emergen-C and Zicam to try and knock it out before it gets too bad. This semester's classes are officially over but I still have some finals to finish up. I have my Anatomy lab final tonight, my Physics final Tuesday morning, and my Anatomy lecture final Wednesday morning. My two online class finals are both due next Thursday so I probably should start those this weekend. Speaking of this weekend, it is my last one at work before a 3 week (4 weekend) break!!! Hallelujah!!

As far as next semester goes, I registered for my classes yesterday. Unfortunately I have class Monday-Friday morning. My calculus class is 5 units and every day of the week. My other classes will be on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8am to noon. A bummer of a schedule, but I am super excited about some of the classes I am taking and even more excited to be able to get into some math again (I am a nerd... I know).

Anyway, wish me luck on my finals. Right now I am off to the bank...

I'm Beginning to See the Light

I never thought it would come, but it has... this semester is almost over! This semester has really been a tough one for me. It hasn't been hard or overwhelming like other semesters I have had and probably will have. It's really been bothersome and somewhat irksome. I took a super light load (only 12 units; I started out with 18 but I dropped the classes that I really didn't need) of classes that were super interesting, but all stuff that I have taken before. It is so hard to get excited about a class that 1) you have learned all the material before and 2) the professor doesn't care if you are there or not. But all this complaining and apathetic behavior (how's that for Jr High reading level...) must come to an end as of Wednesday (well a week from tomorrow Wednesday). This will mark my last final exam of this ghastly semester (ok I'm done with the big words... they aren't even big words... and they don't make me look smart... they just make me look like a idiot).

I also have only one more weekend at work before a three week (four weekends for me) break! Last weekend we went ice skating and I was pretty hesitant to get out on the ice. It's been years since I broke my arms (oh, for those of you who didn't know, when I was younger, I broke both my arms and they are still pretty weak - I didn't break them at the same time, even though I heard a really funny question the other day about picking your nose and breaking both of your arms... it was so funny! Anyway I broke my left arm when I was 8 roller skating at church, and my right arm when I was 10 roller blading at Skating Plus) but I still get super nervous about skating. But I overcame my fears and strapped on some giant hockey skates (I never realized how big my feet are) and skated around to non-stop Christmas music. It was fun, but I am looking forward to a nice long vacation from work and, come next week, from school!

Hello, McFly!?

Ok, so Ryan did this on his blog and I was a little scared to try it with my blog, but here you are. Here is my blog readability level:

I think this might be a bad thing, but I will be the first to admit my vocabulary skills are somewhat non-existant these days. At least you don't have to think too much when you read my blog (again, that might be a bad thing, so I guess I will try and up the reading level to maybe High School level). Try it out on your blog and see what happens (PS, I plugged in some of your blogs and I must say I roll with some pretty smart people... why you are friends with me I have no idea...)

Family Time

Last weekend we took some family portraits. Now, as much as I have been super excited about taking pictures lately, I was not so excited about taking family portraits. I sort of get annoyed with super posey pictures and the idea of taking a ton of them with my family (whom I love very much) wasn't my idea of a good time. But, to be honest, they turned out alright. I don't love them, but there are some good pictures. I picked out some of the better ones and put them online (about 70 out of 300... not too bad). Please have a look and let me know which ones you like best.

Funny Story: After taking the pictures last Sunday evening, we all went home and ate enchiladas and sort of hung out and relaxed. After a few hours of relaxing, I decided it was time to take the makeup off my face (I rarely put make-up on because it is sort of annoying sometimes...). I washed my face but the eye make-up didn't come all the way off (darn water-proof mascara... I buy it so it wont run when I start randomly crying as I often do... but then sucks when I really want to take it off). Janae said to use make-up remover, but we didn't have any (I think Sarah has it...). So she said that I should use lotion to take it off... Ok, I am the biggest clutz in the world so I should have known not to try and use lotion to take off my make-up, but I did it anyway... and well, you can probably guess what happened... Check out the pictures of me crying my eyes out...

Why do we Dream?

Today after Community, Janae and I were invited to go over to Martha's house for lunch. It was so cool to hang out with everyone again (thanks again for inviting us over Martha! The food was excellent and I always LOVE the company), but what really made the morning for me was a conversation I had with Sage. As I was sitting there listening to everyone's conversations, Sage walked in and asked me a very deep question: "Michaela, Why do we dream?" I froze for a second and looked over to Janae to see if she heard the same thing I heard (she did and gave me the "did she really just say that" look). "I don't know why we dream Sage" I responded.

"And sometimes we have dreams that are Nightmares. But they are not real"

"That's right. Nightmares are scary sometimes, huh? But they aren't real are they Sage?"

"No, Daddy says they aren't real."

A couple minutes later: "Michaela, what are Nightmares?"

"Nightmares are scary dreams. But they are just pretend."

"Yeah, and sometimes they have dragons in them. Dragons that breathe fire on you. But it's just pretend"

"That's right Sage. Just pretend."

"Or sometimes they have Dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are big and scary."

"Well, dinosaurs aren't real... well not anymore anyway."

"But sometimes we have good dreams like playing with Robert. I want to have dreams of me and Robert."

"That would be a very good dream Sage."

"I am drawing all of my dreams."

And well, I guess you get the idea. From there it went to talking about Darren's funny dream and then to "What is a nightmare?" again. How cool though that a 3 year old can ponder questions that I wish I knew the answer to. She is a pretty smart little kid (good job Amber and Ryan... and Ryan I think she totally won best dressed today... I thought she looked pretty darn cute in her skirt...)

Community was pretty cool today. We talked about being a non-conformist/rebel. We also sang a song that I haven't sung in awhile (well, I haven't sung any worship songs in awhile because I haven't been to church in awhile). It was nice to sit back and think about the lyrics:

Jesus Lord of Heaven
I do not deserve
The grace that You have given
And the promise of Your Word

Lord I stand in wonder
Of the sacrifice You've made
With mercy beyond measure
My debt you freely paid

Your love is deeper than the oceans
Higher than the heavens
Reaches beyond the stars in the sky

Jesus, Your love has no bounds
Jesus, Your love has no bounds

Isn't it amazing how huge Jesus' love for us is? What's even more amazing is that I have done nothing to deserve any of it!

It's Begining to Look a lot Like...

That's right, Thanksgiving is officially over which (in my house at least) means it's time to set up for Christmas. Yesterday my parents climbed up into the attic and pulled down all of the Christmas boxes including our very fake Christmas tree! After moving around a couple of tables (thanks mom for not moving my couch! I love you!!!), they set up the tree and set out some of the other Christmas decorations. Normally I get really irritated that we set up the day after Thanksgiving, but this year I am attempting to be less of a Scrooge (wish me luck with that one...) so it was sort of fun... I turned on some Christmas music (compliments of Last.fm) and we all decorated to tree together. And of course I had to take some pictures so you should go check them out.

Thanksgiving was nice. We did our traditional morning movie with the family (we saw Enchanted... Yeah Idina Menzel!!!) and then went to my cousin's for dinner. The evening was very nice (not too many people there but it was fun). We ended up playing Apples to Apples the rest of the evening which brought some much needed laughter to the evening. Here are some more pictures to prove it.

World Spins Madly On

Well I have been back from my "mommy weekend" for a full day now and I am BEAT!!! I don't know how you moms do it! I went over on Thursday night and came home this morning. Four nights of 1 am feedings (well, Thursday night it was 1am and 3:30am, Friday night was 1:30am and 5:30am, Saturday was only 3am but he was then up for an hour and a half, and then last night was 3:30am for an hour...) is not super easy. You moms reading this blog really are awesome for doing this for months on end without a break! I hope to get the opportunity to be as good a mom as you all are! Other than the late night feedings, the weekend went really well. I tag-teamed with their grandma throughout the weekend (she took Mason - 16 months old now and doing really well!!- and I took Caden - 4 months old and wearing 9 month clothing... those Icelandics are just giant people I guess...). They seemed to not miss mom too much (Mason seemed to miss her more than Caden...) and were pretty well behaved most of the weekend.

I am glad to be back in the "real world" now. What have I done today? I took a two hour nap this morning after I got home (I crawled into bed in my freezing cold room and was too lazy to plug in the space heater... so I froze!). I cleaned the living room and the kitchen (very productive for me in one day!). I went to lunch with Stephanie (Dude, if you still read this blog thanks for going to lunch with me... Coffee should be fun tomorrow!). And then I went to a spin class with my mom (Nordhoff got a PE grant and bought 40 Spin bikes and holds free -well, it's a suggested $5 donation but not required - spin class for whomever wants to attend on Mondays and Wednesdays at 4 pm). The Spin class really kicked my butt, but I will probably go back so you all should join me in my misery (it's really not THAT bad I guess...). After Spinning, we went shopping (Target, Trader Joes, Joannes...) and now I find myself updating my blog with my feet up (drinking a homemade chai and watching Robin Hood Men in Tights). As for the title of this blog, it's the title of one of my favorite songs right now by the Weepies. I thought it was sort of ironic because I went to a Spin class today and my World is Spinning Madly On after a long but fun weekend!

Orthodoxy vs. Orthopraxis

Well, if your read my previous post you already know that today I got the wonderful opportunity to return to Community. I hadn't been in almost three months (work doesn't allow me to go... but the kids are on vacation so I don't have to work this weekend or next) and I really REALLY missed it. I missed being around everyone, but I also missed the questions and discussions that seem to spark and spur me on to have more questions and conversations later throughout the week.

Today (Ryan has been doing a study on Colossians based off of the book Colossians Remixed) the study brought us to Colossians 1:9 (For this reason [because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all his people], since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.) and we debated whether sole orthodoxy (a true belief) or sole orthopraxis (a true practice/action) is better. It's hard to summarize the whole morning in blog form so I am hoping I will get a chance to continue this conversations this week with those of you who weren't there... (hey Deece, this is a hint... I sort of leave these throughout alot of my blogs entries...). Long story short, I was so happy to be able to go to church today and am glad I get to go again! (PS, Kate if you still read this blog, Thank you SOOOO much for the massage! It was so good to see you and talk to you again and again CONGRATULATIONS!!!)

Tonight is my last night with the boys which means it is back to the real world tomorrow. Have a great week everyone. If you are traveling, have fun, be safe and Happy early Thanksgiving!

Undying Love

Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I LOVE music! I don't have a particular type that I enjoy more than another, I just sort of like whatever seems to speak to me at the time (wow! that sounds sort of Emo...). I love lyrics of songs because they really seem to send out incredible messages from the artist. Today I actually got to go to church (more on that probably later tonight...), and we sang a song that I had never heard before but fell in love with it's lyrics:

Undying Love
by Mark Altrogge

Grace, grace to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ
With an undying Love.

Grace, grace to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ
With an Undying Love.

Give me an undying love for You.
Lord, won't You set my heart aflame,
With passion for Your name.
Give me an undying love for You.
Lord, won't You take me to the cross.
I count it all as loss, please burn away the dross,
So that nothing else remains,
But an undying love for You, an undying love.

What an awesome prayer. Lord please give me an undying love for You each and every day! Take all the waste and extra stuff away so that all that remains is an undying love for You! Amen!

This is Fall?

I have lived here in Southern California my whole life (born in the Ojai Hospital... that's right, I've been here all my life...), yet it never ceases to amaze me that it can be mid-80s in the middle of November... Either God has really blessed us here with amazing weather or global warming is really taking it's toll (maybe a little of both). If you don't know already, I have been driving to Santa Barbara two days a week to pick up McKenna (Samantha's step-daughter... she comes over Tuesdays and Wednesdays and ever other weekend) from school. The last time I drove up there I snapped a few shots of my beautiful drive (dangerous I know but so worth it!!!). It was so clear you could see clear to the ocean from the top of the 150.

Authority

Have you ever noticed how the younger generations have zero respect for authority (man I sound like I am 80 years old... forgive me)? Last night at youth group we talked about authority and it couldn't have come at a better time. Ryan put up pictures of different people who have authority over us: parents (it was a picture of the Simpsons and I thought he meant Simpsons instead of parents... apparently my girls had a huge respect for the Simpsons though... kinda sad), George Bush (the President), a Pastor, a Teacher, and Police Officers. We asked the kids to rank the amount of authority these people had over them ( 0 being the least amount and 5 being the greatest). The majority of my group rated them as follows: the Simpsons (before we knew it was supposed to be parents) got a 5, George Bush got a 5, the pastor got a 3, the teacher got a 1, and the police got a 0... What? A 0 for the police? Hello kids, they protect you and can send you to jail!!!

We talked about why these people have authority over us (God has given them authority over us) and it seemed to go pretty well with some of the kids. Madison came by to hang out with me (I haven't seen her in a couple months) and it was so AMAZING to see how much she has grown and how much work God has been doing in her life. Two years ago, she would have rated these authority figures almost identically to the girls last night, but instead she totally defended all of these figures and tried to encourage these girls to respect people... Now, Madison still has a ways to go with honoring God and believing that He is the creator of all things, but last night I saw a totally different kid than I have seen the last few years. God is so AMAZING and it was so encouraging to see Him working in the lives of these kids (especially Madison!)!

In other news, I am babysitting this weekend (Samantha is going out of town with her husband and I am going to stay with grandma and the boys for the weekend!) Please pray that eveything goes well and that Caden doesn't have a meltdown (he usually has one around bedtime and only mom's smell can console him; I'm gonna ask her to leave one of her shirts out so he can still smell her...). For now I am on vacation from work so I get to go to Community this weekend and next weekend! Yay!

Burnt Out

It's so easy to get burnt out on stuff. Usually I find myself burnt out physically (just from going and going) but I have been getting a lot of rest and have been feeling ok. Tonight I sort of realized that I am feeling really spiritually burnt out. I guess just not going to church in about 2 and a half months (I can't go because of my work schedule...) and week after week helping out at youth group, I am just finding myself running out of patience and love for some of my more "difficult" kids. I got so used to my "routine" of going to school and working during the week, helping at youth group on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and going to Community of Sundays. Not that I ever went to church to be "fed," but I went to church to have discussions with people and explore what it really means to understand, believe, and follow Jesus' teachings. Now my routine is all messed up with going to class four days a week (just in the morning three days and at night the other day), not working on weekdays but on weekends, giving what I can at Youth group, and then not going to church on Sundays.

I hope that makes sense, it probably doesn't. That's the best way I could explain how I am feeling right now. I mean, mentally I am great. Physically I am great, getting good rest during the week despite my long hours on the weekends. Emotionally I am ok, still kinda missing having a good support system of friends around me, but I am kinda getting used to it and just trying to be content and happy with the couple friends that I do have. Spiritually I guess I just don't feel like there is anything there... There's no fire there and that kinda bothers me. I know we don't always feel it (Everybodyduck said it pretty well in Because You Are: "I can't feel you like others around. I don't feel like kneeling or closing my eyes. Is there something wrong with my heart that I can't see or do you feel love still when nobody cries..."). I guess I just have to think a little more about the rest of the song ("So I'll praise you if I never feel you. And I'll love you because I know you're there. And if you should choose I'm sure one day I'll feel it, but feeling good is never the reason I cared").

Praise God!!!

Well, God never ceases to amaze me! Many of you remember my whole luggage fiasco... well, after about three months of waiting, I am finally being reimbursed for my luggage!!! I got the letter today saying that they were going to be sending me a check so hopefully within the next week or so I will have that. Anyway... that's it for now. I just wanted to share how God has blessed me lately... Thanks for all your prayers!

Happy Halloween???

Growing up I never celebrated Halloween. My mom didn't like the holiday so we never really participated in it. It was sort of a bummer to hear about all of my friend's costumes and stuff, but it didn't bother me too much. Now that my mom doesn't care what we do, I have been trying to bring myself to like Halloween. I sort of decided these last few days that I really don't like Halloween here in the United States!

It really comes down to the following reasons:

• Halloween is a time when kids (and adults) dress up in scary costumes (like clowns... Ryan!). I am not a scary movie person. I don't like Haunted Houses. I don't find any thrill and fun in being scared. So a holiday devoted to being scared... Not so cool...
• On Halloween night, teens think it's cool to play pranks on people... egging houses, smashing pumpkins... That's not cool...
• Halloween is also a major excuse for girls to dress up like slooters and get away with it (well, sort of get away with it... I still make fun of them...). There is nothing fun about girls dressing like slooters...

Now, the history of Halloween is pretty cool and in a lot of countries it has remained a fun holiday. However after exploring what Halloween looks like here in the US, I decided I really don't like it. I might have to stick with teaching my kids (if I have any...) traditions of Dia de los Muertos instead of Halloween... So anyway, Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you had a good night!

Future Plans...

Isn't it funny how we make all of these plans for the future... vacations, jobs, whatever... and isn't it funny how God is so good to remind us that He is God (one of my favorite quotes comes from Diary of a Mad Black Woman: "God has a remarkable way of showing us who's God") and can change our plans whenever He wants? Kinda random because none of my plans have been changed for a little while now (nothing since my trip to Australia was canceled and my mom got cancer). Since then I have really been trying to not plan ahead as much, but I am finding that it is next to impossible to not plan ahead (for me anyway... I don't know about anyone else?). So I have decided to stop preventing myself from planning for the future, but instead focusing on the present and giving whatever I have planned to God and seeing what happens from there. So here's what I have for God these days:

• 2 more weekends at work until a two weekend vacation. I am planning, God willing, to attend Community for the first time in a LONG time.
• Seeing that I am paid hourly and I won't be working for two weekends, I will be out of luck a little. Thankfully, I am supposed to (again God willing) babysit Mason and Caden for a long weekend (hopefully earning some much needed cash!!)
• Still in the process of changing majors (oops I don't know if I mentioned this before... well, after this summer I sort of decided I didn't want to major in Kinesiology anymore... I am in the process of changing to get my BA in Math). So I am praying that I can tie up all of the loose ends to this change.
• I am also hoping to take a vacation this February during the kid's winter break. I've been talking to my friend Delice a lot lately and I am hoping to take a trip out to Kandern, Germany to visit her and some of the GEM-Ks at BFA. It's something I am still praying about, but we shall see what God has in store.

Anyway, This is sort of a random entry. I just thought I would write down (ok fine, type) some of the things I am thinking and praying about and see what God does with them over the next few months... We shall see. For now, I am off to sewing class! Have a nice week!

OJAI DAY!!!

First I would like to say that if any of you missed Ojai Day... Shame on You!!!! Just Kidding! Ojai Day was great fun, but I know people get busy. So let me try and fill you in on some of my favorite moments from these annual festivities...

1) Oak Grove School had a booth selling really neat bags made out of braided/recycled plastic grocery bags. They were pretty rad and I thought about buying one, but decided against spending money this weekend.

2)Emy Reynolds!!! Yeah, Emily preformed and it was awesome!!! Instead of having backup singers (which I didn't really like) she had a cellist accompanying her which gave her music an even more unique and amazing sound!

3) Local Hippies! I love Ojai Day because all of the hippies come out in all their glory!

4) Seeing EVERYONE!!! That's enough right?

So much more went on at Ojai Day and I am very sorry if you missed it! Have a great rest of the week!

Anger Management

This morning was definitely a rough one for me. I got into an argument and I lost my temper. Long story short I ended up in my room pacing and punched the wall a few times. It was really stupid (the argument and me punching the wall), but I can't figure out a healthy way of dealing with anger that is pleasing to God. I know that my response this morning was not at all pleasing to God (and for that I am really sorry)... but I have yet to figure out a way to release my feelings slowly without blowing up and losing it.

Anyway, this morning was dumb and my hand/arm really hurts from punching the wall (serves me right; I should know better than to punch a wall with how jacked up my arms are). Please pray that I will figure out how to manage my emotions in a way that is more pleasing to God and doesn't make me nauseous the rest of the day.

Walks and Talks

These last few days have been full of great conversations with people whom I haven't really been able to connect with in awhile. The week started with a great chat with Amber on our way to sewing. I have really enjoyed our sewing class, but I have definitely enjoyed the conversations that Amber and I have had much more (Thanks Amber... I love you!).

The next came Tuesday evening with my mom. I know you are probably thinking, "you live with your mom. How can you not connect with her?" Well, due to my crazy schedule of being home most of the day (she is at work) and running around doing everything at night (she is at home sleeping), we haven't been able to say anything past "Hi, how are you? Love you! Bye!" So Tuesday my mom and I both had an optometry appointment (yes I wear glasses - for reading - and it's been awhile since we have been in - maybe around 3 or 4 years for me). After our appointment (they dilated my eyes which really REALLY sucked!!!) we decided to take my dog Toby out for a walk. We drove up to our favorite place to go for a walk (Shelf Road) and went for it. Of course, due to my current obsession with photography, (I seriously NEVER leave the house without my camera) I took lots of pictures of our BEAUTIFUL town at sunset (ps: please excuse any bad pictures... remember my eyes were dilated at the time of our walk so I really couldn't see what the pictures looked like). My mom and I had a great time catching up and I think we are going to try and make this a more regular event (I love Shelf Road, but I wouldn't go up there by myself).

My next AMAZING talk came on Wednesday morning in the form of a Skype call from Delice (I am not sure if Delice actually reads this, but if you do, I love you and thanks for the chat!!!). After some fruitless attempts, Delice and I were finally able to connect and talk to each other for almost 2 HOURS!!! I met Delice at the GEMK conference about two months ago. We have kept in contact via Facebook and email, but it was so amazing to hear her voice after almost two months! I also got to hear all of the amazing people in her life singing and playing music in the background... Her brother Merritt was hanging out in their study/office room that the computer was in and played a song about his day for me... It was SOOOOO GOOD!!! I also got to say hi to Eliza (one of the GEMKs from conference). She was over at Delice's house doing homework and she needed some help with Math... so I ended up helping her over Skype with her math homework... It was super weird and random, but so incredibly cool and fun! The conversation was pretty scattered (it's hard to fit in everything in only two hours...) but it was exactly what I needed to raise my spirits and make me instantly happy (I am still super excited about it!!!)!!!

My last talk of this week (so far anyway) was this morning with my BEAUTIFUL friend Katie! It's been awhile since Katie and I have hung out (we are both crazy busy with our schedules). SO this morning we went out for breakfast and tried to catch up on the recent happenings of our lives. It made me all "Happy and Fuzzy" inside (that was for you Katie! I love you!!! Thanks for going to breakfast with me!!!).

Anyway, this week has been great and I am so thankful that God has given me such great friends and family!!! I have to head out and finish some more homework before I go down to school... I love you all!!! Thanks for reading!!!

God is SOOOO GOOD!!!

Ok, I have to confess I have been planning this blog entry probably for the last week or so. So what makes this blog entry so special? This is my 100th blog entry (and almost the anniversary of my very first blog entry)!!! In honor of this monumental blog entry, I thought it was time for a new look (for the blog). I also thought I would take a look back on some of my favorite blog entries.

Well, who could forget my very first blog entry (if you were reading that long ago). I started this blog after some encouragement from some friends (well... Ryan...). At the time, I was watching Dalton (you all remember him right? the kid with an extra thumb? Well, he is all grown up now... and has a normal amount of fingers!) Who knew that such a great job with such a great little boy wouldn't last (well... God knew). Well, as you all know, God had a different plan for me that no longer involved Dalton. It is so cool to see how God is so faithful in taking care and providing me what I need. After the job with Dalton ended God handed me another amazing job with another AMAZING little boy! Who knew that this new job was going to be such a growing experience for me and for Mason (and his new little brother).

This last year God has been so faithful, not only with my jobs but with my family also. You all probably remember my mom's cancer scare. I am happy to say that her health is still holding up with regular doctor visits and regular monitoring of any recent changes.

Let's see, what else has changed this last year:

• I got a new car
• I got a new job (another one after Mason and Caden)
• My sister graduated High School
• Caden was born
• I went to Hungary to hang out with GEMKs
• The airline lost my luggage on the way to Hungary (which I never got back)
• among so much more...

God really has been SOOOO GOOD to me this last year and I am so glad I have gotten to share all of the ups and downs with all of you!

Another Hair Cut???

That's right! My Hair ADD monster got the best of me again! Well... what really happened is my friend Chad called me two days ago saying that he was in town and wanted to cut my hair. My last hair cut was about 6 weeks ago by Chad's friend in Santa Monica. It wasn't a bad haircut, but it wasn't the way Chad does it and it needed a few adjustments... Anyway, here is the new due (how do you spell this type of due... is it due, do, doo, dew??? I am SOOO bad at spelling...).

ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM!!!

Today I went to Santa Clarita with Ryan and some kids from the youth group to go miniature golfing and go-cart racing. It was such a fun day and it was nice to get to spend time with two of the girls from my group (Kate and Colleen). It was also lots of fun to spend time with my sister Janae. I uploaded some new pictures to flickr so please enjoy a slideshow from today's festivities.

A-???

Well, as you can probably tell by the pictures that Amber and I finished our tote bags (btw in case you can't tell Ambers is the pink one)! Amber actually finished two weeks ago and I just finished this last Monday. I am not sure what Amber got on her bag, but I got an A -. Normally I am stoked by A -es, but I was kinda disappointed by this A -. Because my fabric was so tin, Ms Dress (yes that is really her name... she's cooky) suggested I not only line the inside of my bag with the same material, but that I uses a fusible interfacing on the outside layer of the bag. I also made the straps two times (I think I am going to use the other ones as headbands) and had to figure out how to sew together the inside to the outside. Long story short, it took a LONG time to finish the bag and it was a little disappointing to only get an A - (she actually almost gave me a B +... I would have been REALLY disappointed for that one). But Amber did a great job on her bag and next week we should be starting our pajama pants.

Look at my Guys!!!

WOW!!! What a week this has been!! It's been pretty busy, but I thought I would show you all a few pictures of my growing boys!

Friday I got to go over and see my boys (Caden had his 2 month check up and Sam had to take him to SB) Caden is doing SO well and is growing SO fast!! It's so good to see how well he is doing in comparison to how many problems Mason had. Caden is in the 95% for height (I think he's around 25" long now... I really don't remember what Sam said... remember... he is 2 MONTHS OLD!!!) and the 90% for weight (um... I think she said he's around 14 lbs now!!). He is such a cutie and is pretty happy MOST of the the time (he still has at least one Colic spell a day... usually around bedtime...)

And now for the update on Mason. Look at those BEAUTIFUL eyes of his!! They are healing so well and he is in such great spirits! He is crawling all over the place and learning signs (well... they are kinda like signs... we take what we can get) and trying to communicate with us as best as he knows how. He just got into the STAR program (I think that's what it is called... it's a 5-day-a-week Behavioral Therapy program... they come over for an hour 5 days a week and do... therapy I guess with him). Last week she came every day for two hours to just play with him and get him used to her. The poor guy has been SUPER clingy lately (to Mom and to me)! I think it's partly due to the age and a lot due to all of the new people that have been in the house lately.

But those are my guys and I just wanted to share some pictures with you all. Thank you for all of your prayers. Have a GREAT week!!!

Wasted Time

Do you ever feel like you are wasting time? I have felt that way most of this semester; between classes that I hate and schedules that suck, I have felt like I have been wasting my time driving back a forth between school and home. Tonight was one of those nights were I especially felt like I was wasting my time. I drove down to class around 3 (I had to get some stuff done in Ventura before I headed down to school) and got there around 5. My class didn't start until 7 so I sat on the quad and did some homework and people watching. I went into class only to find out that the cats had not arrived for our class dissections (oh yeah... we were supposed to start our cat dissections tonight and that was the ONLY reason I even bothered driving down there). So instead of doing cat dissections that were supposed to take at least 2 hours, I spent 20 mins picking up my test from last week and glancing at the one cat in class that had been dissected... All this to say, I HATE wasting time!!!

In other news, this week has been pretty mellow. I actually went to class this week which was a nice change. Tuesday I actually got to spend some time with my family for once. We went to dinner. If you can't tell by the photo, we went out for Chinese...

The rest of the week was pretty normal (other that a crazy Crossroads with some WILD kids). I have sleep overs this weekend which should be interesting, but we shall see what happens!

BIG 20!!!

So, this post is a little on the conceded side... but it was my birthday and I figured I should take some fun pictures.

The day started with a wonderful breakfast that my dad cooked for me!!! And then it was off to work! The day was pretty relaxed with some computer lab and a little bit of town time.

I ended up taking the middle school students down to Alpine in Ventura for one of our day student's Bar Mitzvah. It was a killer party and the kids had a GREAT time!!!

And just a quick update for all of you who have been praying for Mason. This was him on Friday. He is doing so well and I am so happy to be watching him on occasion.

Look at those BEAUTIFUL EYES!!!!

Mason Update

Wow! Two posts in one day? This has been one of the MOST productive days I have had in awhile! Despite not going to class this morning (yes I know I am a slacker... but listen to what I did the rest of the day). So after waking up around 7 and working on some homework, I headed over to the coffee shop to hang out with Cory. I was surprised to see Danielle and Christine there with their youngsters. It was nice to see them especially since I have been working weekends and am not able to go to Community. After spending a couple hours at the coffee shop with Cory, I headed home to try and get some stuff done. As soon as I got home I turned on some music and started washing my car (for the first time in a couple of months... oops!). After washing my car I spent about 2 hours cleaning my room (again, I haven't really done ANY cleaning in about two months... it was not so good...). After a deep clean of my room, I hopped on our stationary bike for a nice ride and even did a core workout (I was on it today). In between all of this I did about 4 loads of laundry (my clothes and my sheets...). Once my Dad got home he even changed the oil in my car (so nice...).

Around 4 hour later I took Janae to soccer practice and decided to head over to see how Mason was doing (remember, he had surgery yesterday!). Mason was doing so well it actually kinda brought me to tears (yes I am a nerd... whatever...). Here is a picture of Mason's BEAUTIFUL blue eyes one day after surgery. Apparently they looked really REALLY bad yesterday.

Not only were Mason's eyes healing very well (we have to watch him like a hawk because he is not allowed to rub his eyes because of the stitches), he has also grown so much over the 10 days that I haven't seen him. He is so alert and interactive now. His mom also said (after me only being there for 15 mins) that short time I was there was the happiest he had been in the last few days (talk about a tear jerker... that really made me cry...).

Not only is Mason so much more interactive, he is also officially crawling!!! He has been scooting (or more army crawling) for a few weeks now, but now he is up with his knees under him and his arms fully extended. It is so amazing to see all of the therapy and exercises (and those hot spandex pants) come full circle.



He is such a handsome boy and I am so happy that I got to be a part of his life and his development. Sam is still in the process of finding a full time nanny (the lady she had was going to work out until she got a job offer teaching or something like that). But I have a feeling I will be seeing less and less of Mason and Caden.


Speaking of Caden... Holy Crap!!! He has grown so much in the 10 days since I have seen him (obviously taking after his brother). Caden will be 2 months old on the 24th and he has already outgrown his 3 month clothing. Tonight, after I put Mason to bed (I love putting him to sleep and I seem to be the only one who can cause he hasn't taken a nap in about 10 days) I got to give Caden a bottle (man all that kid does is EAT!!!). After the bottle and a little burping action, he too fell asleep.


I couldn't resist taking a picture of this beautiful baby boy while he was still asleep (and not screaming... he still is kinda colicy and has resorted to SCREAMING instead of crying... it's really sad). But that is the update on my boys (whom I am now starting to accept that they are not my boys). Thank you for all of your prayers. Please continue to pray for Mason's eyes to heal. Pray for Caden to get over his Colic. Pray that Sam can find someone (she is interviewing someone this Friday I believe) who can meet her and the boys' needs as best as possible.

Ode to Sewing

It has come to my attention that I have yet to post about my amazing sewing class that I have been taking for the last 5 weeks. About two months ago, a good friend of mine (Hey Amber!!!) approached me about possibly taking an intro to sewing class at the esteemed Ventura College. Seeing how I had been reading up on fair trade and sweat shops, I thought it would be a really cool idea to learn how to sew my own clothes. Well, let me tell you something... it's a lot harder than it looks.

Well, it's really not THAT hard. It's something I could potentially do on a more regular basis with lots of practice. Last night we learned how to hem jeans (which is awesome because I am short and always have to hem my jeans and would rather not pay $15 for someone else to hem my jeans). We also started on our tote bags. To help document our (Amber and my) journey through sewing class, I brought my camera last night to take pictures of the festivities.

The first picture (top) is of Amber (obviously) driving us down to VC (Amber, if you ever want me to drive I am more than happy to... let me know). The second is of my beloved sewing machine (it's not mine, it's VC's but I get to use it... We also learned how to thread the machine... for the second time this semester). Like I said before, we learned how to hem jeans last night. One thing Ms. Dress (yeah... that's our instructor's name... um... she's a little COOKY!!!) said about heming jeans was to be very careful because you could break your needle. As you can probably tell, Amber didn't really believe her and broke her first needle... It was really funny.

After a few poses by Amber (notice the pink army print... yeah that is for Amber's bag... SOOOO GOOD!!!) we went home for the night. I have that despite passive aggressive teacher and the super late night (not really that late, it's just late when I have other things to do after the class is over) I have really enjoyed spending this quality time with such a good friend. It's been tough going to college but still having this life back here in Ojai. Most of last year was kinda lonely watching the rest of my friends take off to different places. I am so thankful for God bringing people into my life to share things with. God is so good and definitely meets my needs every time... So, that was my Ode to Sewing! It was really an Ode to Friends... but sewing sounded better...

Prayer Requests

I am sure I have posted this picture before, but for now it will have to do. Just a quick post for now with one very important prayer request (I have some stuff to post about OVS weekends and my super AMAZING SEWING CLASS!!! but I have to save those posts for tomorrow or later this week). Tomorrow morning around 9am, Mason is scheduled to have eyelid surgery. He has very lazy eyelids and his doctors believe that has to do with why he is a little behind. So to help him later on in life, he will be having plastic surgery tomorrow morning (it's the surgery that older women usually get to tighten up the eyelid muscles and reduce wrinkles... funny how they use it for babies too...). I haven't gotten to see Mason for a week and it might be for good. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but I have a feeling that it is gonna work out with that new lady that was "trying out" the job last week. Which means I will not get to go over and see Mason and Caden as often as before. Nothing is set in stone and I really haven't gotten to talk to Sam about it, but I knew it was coming and I am bummed, but ok with it. So, please pray for Mason tonight, tomorrow, and the rest of this week (I don't know the whole recovery process for the surgery but I imagine for an infant, it is not too good). This is also the second time in a week that Mason has been put under anesthetics (he had an MRI of his brain last week... the report came back with no irregularities but his doctor wants him to see yet another specialist... this time it's something about genetics... scary stuff) and it will definitely be a tough few days for Sam and her family. Please be in prayer for them this week. Have a beautiful week!