To Do

I have always been a fan of To Do Lists. But these last few months in particular, I have been a HUGE fan of To Do Lists. Here is my To Do list for this week:

• Clean/Organize my room: I started this one but there is still a lot to do. It's amazing how unorganized a room can get when you don't live in it for several months...
• Sew a lunch Bag: This one is for my grandma. She started going to Little House, an adult day care center here in Ojai, four days a week and we pack her a lunch everyday. So we (my mom) thought it might be nice for her to have her own, homemade lunch bag. Which is great because I am always looking for new sewing projects.
• Get a Quote on my Car/Get Car Fixed/Get Car Smogged/Pay Car Registration: This is a big one... Several months ago, I got my car checked out because the check engine light was on. Turns out my car has low compression in one of the cylinders and potentially needs a new head (whatever that means...). I didn't take care of it at the time because I didn't have the money and still haven't taken care of it because I still don't have the money. Unfortunately my car registration is due on Sept 9th and I have to get my car smogged which means the check engine light can't be on which means, I have to get my car fixed. I could use some major prayer on this one because, like I said, I don't have the money for this and don't know how this all is going to work. But I know that God is Big and He will provide a way. If you know anyone who knows Dodge Neons and could do some work on it for me, let me know...
• Wash my Car: on top of my car not running well, I have majorly dropped the ball on keeping my car clean. I blame camp mostly. It's just so dusty. What's the point you know?
• Transfer Info from Old Computer to New: Our home desktop was on it's way out very quickly so my parents got a new computer. But all of our old stuff, including files and itunes are all on the old computer. So I have to transfer all of that old info onto my external hard-drive onto the new computer.

That's all I can think of right now. Let's be honest, the car thing is what's weighing on me right now. Please pray.

The End/The Beginning

Camp is over.

It's been over for several weeks now but I have been hosting full time and I am just getting around to sitting at a computer long enough to type up my thoughts. Camp was amazing and I can't even begin to list all of the amazing things God showed me and taught me this summer. I am sad that camp is done and my friends are gone, but I am excited to hear about what God has in store for them this year. I am also excited to still be a part of Forest Home with hosting on the weekends. This last weekend we had Camp Reach for the Stars which is a camp put on by the American Cancer Society for families affected by pediatric cancer. It was such an amazing thing to be a part of and it really made me thankful for my family and friends around me.

School started today. My schedule isn't totally crazy yet which is nice. Tutoring and my two Math labs don't start until next week so I only had two classes today with a very long break in between. I ended up having lunch at Panera (so glad we have one in Camarillo now!) and then taking care of my parking permit stuff. Tomorrow I have one class from 4:30-5:45. Wednesday I have 3 classes in the span of 9-5:45 so if anyone is in the Camarillo area between 1:15 and 4, let me know and then we could maybe hang out. Thursday is like Tuesday so I am hoping to get a ton of stuff done at my house that will allow me to dive into my more crazy schedule next week (which includes tutoring which will have me at school Mon-Wed 9-5:45 and Thur from 11-5:45).

I was starting to get a little freaked out last week about the craziness of my life and my schedule. Thursday I had the day off of work and Friday morning I had a meeting in the Learning Resource Center (where I tutor at school). The meeting was pretty boring and ran late and I still had to talk to the Financial Aid office before getting to work by 1:30. I hurried out of the library (the LRC is in the library) and came across a group of elderly people huddled around an elderly man on the ground. Despite just being in a huge hurry, I knew I had to stop and make sure everything was ok. I stopped and said, "Hi, my name is Michaela, I am First Aid trained. Can I help you with anything?" The group immediately said yes and I just started an initial assessment of the man on the ground. His name was Gordan and he is 91 years old. He tripped on the curb and twisted his ankle. He had some minor bleeding on his hand but as far as I could tell had no other serious injuries. Someone had already called the police who were on their way. I wanted to get someone to get a first aid kit from the library but didn't want to leave Gordan, and no one else really wanted to leave either. The police officer was there pretty quickly and took over the situation and called for paramedics. The whole thing maybe took 5 minutes of my time, but it was a nice reminder to stop and slow down and not miss what God has in store for me this semester. I am excited for my classes and I am excited to see my school friends. It was nice to see familiar faces in my Linear Algebra class. And it's always nice to see friends when you are walking around campus. As crazy as my schedule seems, I feel peace about it. I know I'm not alone at school and that's a nice feeling to have.

Bounce

Have you ever seen someone with an actual bounce in their step? I was walking behind this girl at school today who literally had a bounce in her step. Everything she stepped over was a little hop... Very interesting. Random, I know. But I haven't really seen someone with an actual bounce in their step. It caught my attention today.

My God Made That

Junior High camp has come to a close and I am amazed at the things God has been doing in the lives of these students, counselors, staff, and me. One staff guy has this one saying that always makes me stop and think. He looks at the stars and says, in all seriousness, "My God made that!" He looks at the mountains and says, "My God made that!" He watches the sunset at the beach and says, "My God made that!" It sounds so simple and it's something I have always known and loved, but to hear it out loud gives new meaning to it. If becomes real and true and it really gives me joy!

This last week, the pastor of Reality Carpenteria was speaking at Reality San Fransisco when he got the call that his daughter Daisy Love was sick. If you remember any of my previous posts, Daisy Love had a Wilm's tumor the size of a Nerf football about last September and was declared free of cancer (remission) as of April of this year. She has been in remission for a few months but this last week, the doctor's found a new, inoperable tumor the size of a grapefruit. She had a biopsy this week where they were able to remove about a 1/3 of the tumor and are now looking for a Wilm's tumor specialist.

I know that my God, who made the mountains, the stars, and the beach sunsets is bigger then Daisy's tumor. I know that He can remove that tumor and heal her little body. I also know that God has a bigger plan then we could ever imagine or begin to understand. Please keep Dasiy Love and the Merrick family in your prayers. God has been using this young girl and this family in amazing ways and I know He is not done yet. Pray for healing and peace and for God's glory to be seen through the life of this brave little girl!

Here's a link to get updates on Daisy Love and the Merrick family!

The Backyard Project

We are two weeks into program and I have to say, I am really excited about the staff team that we have this year. The first week of program went so well that it didn't even seem like it was our first week. So many wonderful things happened that I can't even begin to describe. God moved in some great ways in campers, counselors, and staff members lives. I can say, however, that I am very excited about these next three weeks of program.

This last week was unique in the fact that we didn't have anyone in camp. So we started out the week with an extended 4th of July weekend. I got to share my town and all of its craziness with some of my staff family which is one of my favorite things to do. After a weekend full of parade, BBQs, hangouts, Beach houses, and Fireworks we got to start what Holly called the Backyard Project. All of the staff got the opportunity to serve the community in a few different ways. One group helped out at the Ojai Baptist church VBS while the two other groups alternated between service projects at the beach and the Oak View Boys and Girls club, and Operation Embrace. I was in charge of the Operation Embrace group so I got to hang out there all week.

If you aren't familiar with Operation Embrace, you should be. Operation Embrace is an outreach program started by a very small church in Ventura called Harbor Community Church. This church started out with only about 20 members and felt led to start a Homeless outreach program. So they listened to that call and started Operation Embrace. 5 days a week, their doors are opened for homeless throughout Ventura and Oxnard to come and eat, shower, do laundry, use computers to look for jobs, get clothes, meet with counselors, get legal help, and so much more. They serve two meals, breakfast at 8 and lunch at 12. I can't even begin to describe the amazing things God is doing at this church but maybe their description will make things more clear:

Everyday members of The Harbor family go out to the parks and river bottom and "reach the people no body wants inside the walls of a church" . We go to embrace them, befriend them and share the good news and teachings of Jesus Christ. Our goal is to go where they are, and love them and hang out with them where ever they call home and bring church to them. Once trust is developed and they feel there is hope to change their situation, we bring them to the church for help through our MCM Ministry Case Management services. At The Harbor we provide case management services designed to collaborate with the many surrounding city agencies and local city social services operations that can provide services for those addicted through substance abuse, or homeless pregnant woman in need of housing and medical care, etc. plus for those that want to further their education we help them with schooling and Job search services available right at the church. Most importantly we begin a one on one mentoring and discipleship program for each one that chooses to have some one come along side them and teach them more about Jesus and our Christian faith. Our goal is to help every one that comes to our church family for help and help them find value and love and walk along side them with hope and solutions to their addictions and homeless living situations.

It was such a blessing to see a church that actually gets it. To see a church who understands what it means to live a life like Jesus lived. A church that cares for "the least of these." I'm not trying to bash anyone's church. I am sure there are several churches that get it and are living out God's Word in great ways. Even my church I feel doesn't always get it but I see them working towards it everyday and I love that. But to spend a week at this church and watch people interacting with one another and just loving each other, no questions asked was honestly one of the best weeks of my life. This church also started something called the Kingdom Center which is a transitional living center that provides food, clothing, shelter, and over all care for the homeless, poor, widows and orphans in Jesus Name. Their goal is for many churches to come together to provide transitional living situations for those Jesus told us to care for. I pray that I can continue to be a part of this ministry and I hope and pray that others will join with the Harbor to further God's Kingdom.

There were many moments throughout the week that I will remember, but I might have to share them in another blog since this one is quickly turning into a novel. Thank you God for an amazing week of serving You and the community! Thank you that I got to be a part of a community of believers who love You and love others. Thank you that I got to experience a church that gets it so that I can share it with others! Amen!

Answers

Are you ever dying to find out answers to things? And then you find the answer and you are disappointed or even saddened by it? Or maybe you already knew the answer, but you were hoping it wasn't true? Then you find out the truth and it all starts to sink in?

Last week we got the word from my grandma's new doctor that she does in fact have Alzheimer's. Now what? We knew she probably had it, but sometimes it's just really hard to hear it and to have it actually be final. She is doing ok. She's on new Alzheimer's meds and is finally on some anti-depressants which seems to be helping with her overall attitude towards things. Please continue to pray for my family this summer as I am not around to help out as much as I used to. Pray for my grandma and pray that these meds can help slow the process down as much as possible.

This Ain't No Masquerade!

Tomorrow starts our first week of program camp at Forest Home Ojai Valley and I couldn't be more excited! The last two weeks have been filled with meetings and training and planning and programing and getting to know the staff... It's been exhausting but so much fun and I can't wait to put everything that we have been putting so much time and effort on into practice. The staff this summer is great (not that they haven't been great in the past... every year is different) and I can't wait to see them all in action! The churches we have coming up this week are some of our favs (they are all our favs but these are just some of them)! Pray for a great smooth first week of camp not only for us as a staff but for the students, leaders, and youth pastors who will be joining us this week. Pray for our speaker Josh Pease and our worship leader Mat Weddle. And pray for our staff to not get in the way of what God has planned for these campers, leaders, and us this week and this summer.

Moving Day

Moving Day has come and gone and I am now officially moved into FHOV. I'm living it up in Leo Carrillo A for the next two weeks before the rest of the staff move in on June 11th. It's been nice having some quiet time (even though I have been working a lot this last week) but I am very excited to meet my new roommates, Jesi and Lianna. I have actually met Jesi before but I am still very excited for her to move in!

DREAMS

Have you ever had your dreams crushed by someone? Have you ever felt like everything you ever hoped for had just been crushed? Have you ever seen the look on someone's face when their dreams have just been crushed? Have you ever been the one to crush someone else's dreams? It turns out that I have now joined the later of those two groups. This last weekend we had a social at work and the kids put on a variety show which was terrible. The whole thing was super unorganized and there was zero supervision other then me and I was getting pretty pissed off. Now there are different levels of Michaela being pissed off... There's upset, annoyed, pissed, ticked off, and Panic Attack... Friday I was bordering the last one. We have had trouble with socials at work because they want to let the kids run them but the music is always terrible and no one dances which is frustrating so it was really no surprise that non of the kids were dancing at this one. What was surprising was watching every single kid walk outside during the dance because they didn't like the music being played. When the DJ (who was a student) came outside to ask everyone why they weren't dancing, I simply responded, "It's because everyone hates your music..." As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I wanted to vomit. How on earth could something so cruel and hurtful come out of me and be directed at a student? The look on her face seriously made me want to die. I apologized several times later that night but that is definitely one moment I would like to take back if I could...

Anticipation

Anticipation is a funny thing. It can make you a little crazy about things sometimes if you let it get out of hand. My uncle and his wife are having a baby today (or they already had it... we haven't heard yet) and grandma is very anxious about that happening. I don't think that I am really anxious about anything right now, but there are a few things that I am very excited about:

1. School's out for the summer! I finished my first year at CSUCI and I have to say I feel really good about it. I actually made friends and got involved this year which is kinda a big deal for a hermit like me.
2. Grades: I am not sure on some of my grades, though I can guess what I got. I am however very excited that I got a B in Logic and Mathematical Reasoning. Seriously one of the more difficult classes I have taken. Not necessarily because of the content but more the professor. What a jerk!
3. Two more weekends at OVS. This weekend we are going to a Dodger's game and next weekend we are going on an Asia town trip in LA. These could potentially be my last two weekends at OVS for a very long time seeing that I don't have a contract for next year. But I am surprisingly ok with that. I know that God has a plan for it all and if OVS is no longer a part of that plan, I trust that He will provide.
4. Moving Day! A week from today I will be moving into FHOV. I'll be living in the good old Leo Carrillo for a few weeks alone before the rest of the staff move in. We have two weeks of ExPed and then a week of a guest group and then staff training begins.
5. Glee! I know. It's silly. But I really like this show. Mainly I like the music but the show is super funny! And these last 4 episodes will feature Idina Menzel (one of my favorite actors of all time!)! Even better, she will be singing in these episodes ("I Dreamed a Dream", some Barbara Streisand song that they won't release yet, and an Acoustic version of "Poker Face" with Lea Michele (another one of my favs!)!)!

Lots to look forward to and much to be thankful for! Tomorrow we go down to UCLA to find out the results from the NueroPsychological exam.