Beautifully Wonderful Weekend!!!

It has been awhile since I have had a wonderful, amazing weekend. Don't get me wrong... I love my job (yes I do love it) and I love hanging out with the kids and stuff, but nothing compares to a weekend off!

Friday I had to work (I was on LAX sleepovers so I had to stay with the kids that were going down to LAX Saturday morning). Work was surprisingly pleasant. I had about 8 girls (maybe 7 boys in the boys dorm) so my mom offered to drive the kids to our house to watch a movie. It was so nice to get off campus and just hangout with the kids at my house! I got to chat with a couple of kids that I don't normally get to talk to which was super neat! The kids went to bed around 10 (I let them stay up... don't tell anyone... haha) and I was going to try and stay up. I had two girls who were getting picked up at 1:30am so I figured pulling an all nighter might be ok... I was exhausted and actually tried to sleep but it didn't work out for me... so it pretty much was an all nighter. I woke the rest of the kids up at 5:30am so they could head out in the vans at 6:15 and I was off for the rest of the week!

After getting home at 6:30am, I was already wide awake so I watched a movie before starting Crepes. Sarah came home this weekend with two of her friends from school and she begged me to make Crepes. They actually turned out pretty good (the girls really liked them so I guess that was good). After a very filling breakfast of crepes my mom and I drove down to Ventura to do a little shopping (I bought a new hat... Yay for payday and buying new hats!). We decided to stop by Real Cheap Sports to check out some camping gear for my mom (Our school has an amazing outdoor education program and all of the middle-schoolers go on a backpacking trip in the spring... my mom has gone on two trips so far and has finally decided to break down and start buying her own gear). I love Real Cheap Sports because I always liked earthy, granola people (my mom thought that calling them granola people was pretty funny... but whatever). The store just makes me happy! We did some recruiting while we were there too which was pretty fun (we invited the cute camping guys who work there to apply for our summer camping director position... The position really needs to be filled and it would be rad if we got some new, young blood in there! - not to mention cute!).

After our Real Cheap Sports adventure my mom and I went to pick up Ruby from Villanova (Ruby was one of my mom's students from Taiwan the last few years who now goes to Villanova... she comes over on occasion to get away from school). Ruby had been gone on Spring Break for a bit and wanted to come over and make us dinner. She actually had never cooked before so she was a little nervous, but she did an amazing job! She started us out with some tasty BOBA, accompanied with some garlic Cucumbers, Some great egg dish, and Taiwanese fried rice. We barbecued some chicken and cooked up some asparagus which made for a really great dinner! Hanging out with Ruby was super fun! She is such a sweet girl and a great addition to the family!

Sunday was another AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL day! I got to go to Community which is always a blessing! It was cool to be there on a day when we were starting a new study (we just got done with Colossians and are now moving onto Acts). After church, Janae and I headed home for the afternoon. My parents and I tag-teamed washing our cars which was actually pretty fun. Later in the afternoon, Holly, Carl, and I drove up to Santa Barbara for Emy's concert. We went up early to hang out with one of their Forest Home friends, Elissa. Elissa lives in this amazing house that looks over all of SB! The view was incredible and the company was just as wonderful! Emy's concert was AMAZING, as always which made for a lovely end to a beautiful weekend!!! Thank you God for a beautiful weekend, for new and old friends, and incredible music!!!

Mono?

I don't think I have mono but I have been SUPER tired lately... I have been sleeping great, but not getting too much, but I still wake up feeling tired and sort of achy. Don't really know what's going on with that... Maybe I will freak myself out enough again to go back to the doctors...

Other than being super tired, this week has been fun! I went for a nice bike ride down to Foster Park and was pleasantly surprise how nice it is down there. I actually have never visited Foster Park but had this image in my head of something really gross and dirty and just ghetto. But it was really pretty and well kept... and the river was nice to look at too. There is a good amount of water in it and I am thinking about going creek hopping sometime next week if anyone wants to join me.

Last night I went for a walk up on Shelf with Amber and the girls. It's always super nice to hang out with Amber and the girls made for a super fun walk. Sage must have run about 3/4 of the trail... I was amazed!

And now I find myself sitting at the coffee shop with Holly. Today is a beautiful day so go out and enjoy yourselves!

Pobre Niños Emos

In honor of going up to 2 gauges in my ears (they hurt SOOO bad! I put them in yesterday morning and they still are killing me!!! I am probably going to stay at 2s for a little while), I thought I would share a super interesting article that Ryan sent me about the crazy Emo Riots in Mexico. Apparently all the Punk kids and the Hard Core kids have gotten together and decided that Emo kids suck and are all gay so they want to beat them all up... Definitely read the article because it is really sad! Also check out this awesome video that completely describes what Emo is.

Work this weekend was good. Basically a normal weekend. I sort of have the next two weekends off (I have to work Friday night for sleepover LAX kids) so that should be really nice! Have a beautiful day!

Family Time

My cousin Kristen was in town this week with her son Ash. They came over for a couple hours yesterday so Ash could get his first haircut. My other cousin Lyndsey (Kristen's sister) just had a baby about 6 weeks ago and she also came over for us to meet the new little guy. My mom fell in love with him and absolutely can't wait to be a grandmother... too bad for her, she is going to have to wait awhile. They are super cute though!

Living In Tune

There are a lot of things that people try to live in "tune" with: mother nature, stars, planets... The last few weeks at youth group we have been talking about Religion vs Relationships pertaining to Christianity. Last night at youth group we watched another Nooma (The kids seem to actually pay attention with them so we use them when they apply) called Rhythm (011) which talked about being in a relationship with God and living in tune with Him. Rob Bell related Christianity as a religion/relationship with playing music. There are people who know everything there is to know about music (pitch, resonance, overtones...). This knowledge is a beautiful thing, but it also can become a burden that doesn't allow them to really hear something truly beautiful and inspiring. They miss what is really incredible about the song. While others who may not know as much about music as others aren't burdened by an overabundance of knowledge and can really hear the beauty of a true pure song. Likewise there are people who have so much knowledge about Christianity that they miss the beauty of living in a relationship with God. I'm not saying don't read your Bible because that is super important, I just think that when we put so much emphasis on the knowledge of being a child of God instead of actually living in a relationship with Christ.

This week I actually got the cool opportunity to begin to develop a new friendship. During the week, I spend a lot of time hanging out at Coffee Connection in Ojai (the only fair trade coffee bar in town). The people who work there (John, Brennah, and Amber... among others) are super fun and great people! We usually chat a little here and there which has been fun and is probably why I keep coming back. At small group on Tuesday, to my surprise, Amber from the Coffee Shop came. It was so nice to see a fresh face and a new perspective at small group and it actually is giving me more motivation to go. The next day at the coffee shop, Amber was working and she came over and chatted with me a bit during her breaks. Later, she was heading out for her lunch break and came out to invite me to go with her. It was super neat to share a meal with her and just get to know a new friend. Thank you God for new friends and old ones. Thank You that we are relational people and thank you for inviting us into a relationship with You!

Side Note: New gauges are in. 4G's so take a look!

He Has Risen Indeed!

Ok, so I am a couple of days late on this one, but better late than never I suppose. This weekend was crazy for me! Not only was it Easter weekend and I was sort of irritated that I had to work, it was also Parent weekend which is sort of a pointless weekend for me to be working because all of the other staff members are on duty to talk to parents. I tried to keep the best attitude I could the whole weekend (which was probably setting myself up for failure to begin with). I had to remind myself several times why I took this job in the first place: that I am there to love on some kids who are sent away from their parents to live at some random school with a ton of random people. Parent weekends are especially sad to me for the kids who's parents/guardians/friends of the family don't come to visit. So in that sense I get excited to family to those kids on those weekends. Saturday we took a few of the kids who had no commitments and no one visiting to Ventura for a few hours. We went down to the Pier and walked around for about an hour (it was so beautiful!!!). After that we went to lunch then the mall. It was nice to get away and not have to sit in the dorm and be bored all day long!

Sunday morning I got up early and went out to Sunrise Service at the lake which was incredibly gorgeous! The weather lately has been amazing (despite it sucking for my allergies)!!! Sunrise was great and it was nice to be with my family (both immediate and Church family) for Easter. After that I went strait to work for the day. We were able to convince Dave (my boss, the Weekend Coordinator) to let us take the kids to Easter service in the Park. The kids had to stay for the worship portion of the service, but most went to Farmer's Market during the sermon. Once we got back to school we did an Easter egg hunt (not my favorite thing in the world but the kids liked it... especially since many of them had never experienced a "traditional" Easter Sunday). Later in the day we decorated some Easter Eggs which the kids really seemed to enjoy. Over all, the weekend was fun and I was happy to be there for the kids who essentially had no one else. I took some pictures of the weekend so you should check them out!

Out Of My Mind

Basically Emy Reynolds is amazing! Bottom line!

Last night, Sammy and I met up with Cory, Carl, and Cookie (talk about alliteration) for Emy's show in Santa Barbara. Emy rocked the place out with some incredible songs (many of which I have never heard before)! The other wannabes couldn't begin to compare to the incredibly beautiful sounds of Emy! If you get a chance you should for sure check her out and hear her play sometime (or check out her MySpace to listen to some of her songs). The drive up and back chatting with Sammy was super special and I am so thankful for her friendship. After the concert, Sammy, Cory, Carl, Emy, and I went down to the Wharf and hung out for a bit before heading back to Ojai. The night was beautiful and the company was equally beautiful!

Plugged Up

Man, two posts in one day! This hasn't happened in ages! I don't know if many of you know, but I HATE doctors!!! Ok, I don't hate doctors in general (I know a lot of people who are doctors or who want to be doctors), but I hate going to the doctor's office! I hate being told that something is wrong with me... It's way easier to ignore things that are wrong than to go to the doctor and have them tell you that you are dying... I already know I am dying I don't need someone to tell me... Way weird thought process but it's actually pretty common among many Mexicans...

All this to say, I went to the doctors today because I have had persistent pain in my ears for the last two months (the pain has nothing to do with the gauges... the doctor actually thought they were cool). I get sharp pains down in my inner ear and I always feel like I am underwater and that they need to be popped. So, I made the appointment because I actually got sort of scared that they were infected and that I would go deaf if I didn't get them taken care of. It turns out that my allergies are really bad and one of the tubes inside my inner ear (on both of my ears) has been swollen shut causing pain and a strange underwater feeling. They also weaseled me into scheduling a physical so I am not looking forward to that at all! I am glad to know that I am not going deaf. I can't imagine what my life would be like if I couldn't hear... To open them up, they have me on a ton of allergy medicine so hopefully I will be able to hear better in a few days...

A Fresh Look

I realized today that I have not yet updated you all on my current church situation. As you know (because I seem to type it every time I blog), I can't go to my normal church (Community) because of my work schedule. Three weeks ago, I finally got the courage to try something different. I went out to Simi Valley for Axis (it's Cornerstone Christian's college service on Sunday nights). It was a good service. I had never heard Francis Chan speak before so that was really cool. I totally felt comfortable there because it was all kids my age, but it didn't feel like home to me. No one said hi to me or welcomed me which doesn't seem very typical of people my age. So that one was alright, but I was still looking. About a week later, Danielle Sloneker called me to let me know about a new bible study starting up for college students in town. Eric Olson, the new youth intern at OPC wanted to start up something in town for the few college kids to get together and encourage each other through studying the bible. The study is cool and Eric is totally rad! The only problem is the group is super small (like two other people other than me). I am trying to give it a fair shot, but it's something that I am really struggling with.

Which brings me to last Sunday. Our church had a Saturday night service that was switched to Sunday nights at 5 (but apparently they talk and hang out for the first 30 mins so I actually can shoot over there after work and be ok). It's a super small group (like 6 people that I have never met before), but it's a really neat community of people and I am actually kinda excited about it! So that's where I am at as far as church and the bible and community...

As far as the fresh new look goes, at Church on Sunday, Paul (out pastor) challenged us all to really think about this Holy week and what it really meant for Jesus to die for us. A lot of people look at Holy Week with the end being a happy ending of Jesus rising from the dead. It's happy for us because we know the ending, but what was it like for His disciples? Was Good Friday really that Good for them? Paul challenged us to read through the gospels this week but to stop before the resurrection to try and bring us to a place of brokenness and pain that Jesus was brutally murdered for us. It's actually sort of depressing (in a good way) to read through the gospels and to only focus on Jesus's life and death and I would totally recommend it to anyone reading this blog.

Yesterday I went to the Labyrinth at church and was literally face to face with the death of Christ. Whoever is in town should try and get there tonight or Friday because it really opens your eyes to what it really meant for Jesus to die for us. Without giving it all away, there is one part in the labyrinth where you are getting your mug shot taken (the second half is like you are being arrested and walking down death row). On the podium was Galatians 2:20 (I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.) and as you looked up to the big screen, there was an image of you on the cross. I can honestly say that broke me to pieces. I have thought about verses like Gal 2:20 and Matt 16:24-25 about being crucified with Christ and taking up your cross, but I have honestly never visually put myself up on that cross as Jesus died. The truth is that's what I deserve and He did it for me... My mind is truly boggled and perplexed...

A Bad Case of the Grumps

This weekend was a rough one for me. Normally I go into work and have a fairly good time with the kids and make it out tired but alright. This was not the case this weekend. I guess it all sort of fed off of Thursday night. I went to youth group excited to hang out with some of our teens, when I came across some kids doing some not so OK stuff. Unfortunately this was one of my girls which really left me feeling really hurt, betrayed, heart-broken, and empty all at the same time... making for not the best night at youth group and an even worse night of sleep that night. Then an early morning for school mixed with heading to work that afternoon left me not so excited about entering a weekend of work where I was stuck on sleepover duty (when I am on sleepovers I get to sleep on the couch and not leave the school until Sunday night... if I am brave enough I get to take a shower in the kid's showers while they are sleeping... not fun!). The afternoon went well, but all of the kids could tell I was in a grumpy mood. I even knew I was in a grumpy mood. Does that ever happen to you? You know you are grumpy and you know why you're grumpy but you can't figure out how to turn the grumpiness off? Well, that was me on Friday night. On top of all of that I had to sleep on the couch at work and I just wasn't super happy.

Saturday we had an early wake-up call in order to leave for our trip down to LA's Asia towns. We were supposed to leave at 8:30am, but due to some unknown bus problems we didn't get off until 10. We actually only had time for Little Tokyo and Korea Town, but it was pretty fun and I took lots of pictures. Luckily I was able to come home last night and sleep in my own bed and take a shower in my own shower which put me in a much better mood for today. I think I was just looking forward to going to The Farmer's Market and picking up some tasty tangelos and blood orange juice. We had fun finding goodies at the market and then spent the afternoon in the park. There were moments of joy through the grumpiness which I am trying to focus on: Another dorm parent was around on Saturday morning and made me a cup of coffee (that actually helped alot). My boss Dave came to do our nightly check-in (we make sure we both know how many kids we have for the night) and saw that I looked tired. I told him I had a really bad headache and he went over to the infirmary to get me some ibprofin (like I couldn't do it myself but still it was really kind). Saturday my sisters brought me cookies and milk and hung out with me for a bit which raised my spirits and Janae came and spent the day with me at work on Sunday. Thinking about the joyful moments makes the weekend seem much less of a drag. Thank You God for helping me find joy despite my grumpiness.

PS: I went up to 6 gauges last Thursday and there are new photos up on my Flickr. I will give you the link for those who are interested, but those of you who don't like them should not look!