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.