Before and After

I wanted to share with you guys my "Before" and "After" pictures of my new office. The old artwork is gone and replaced with bright, cheerful yellow walls and other fun-ness. The sunset portrait on the wall was painted by grandfather Pop-Pop (the one who passed away this winter). He was a painter as well as many other things, and he knew I loved that painting, so he left it to me. Very special. It is a sunset he painted in Lake Tahoe (one of his favorite places).

I love my new office!

Dance Dance Revolution

This past week the roomates and I headed to the Boardwalk for "cheap night". (All rides are only 65 cents) After going on the Giant Dipper rollercoaster (and our car stopping on the way up the ramp-scary!), Fireball, and eating lots of cotton candy and ice cream, we headed to the nearby arcade because the ladies really wanted to see Dance Dance Revolution. Dude, do you guys realize how hard-core some people are about that thing? We were watching these guys and they were SO INTO IT. They have obviously spent many quarters and hours perfecting their moves.

And then this one guy got up and put them all to shame. He was amazing. He had every move DOWN. (his picture is above) And after awhile I stopped watching the screen and just looked down at his feet. For a game that is supposed to teach you to dance, you actually look quite silly. If I were to get on a dance floor and bust out the moves I learned from DDR, I would probably get laughed right off the stage. You're honestly just moving your feet in robotic ways while your arms stay at your sides. And there's those weird, awkward pauses while you're waiting for the next arrow to go up the screen. Where's the fun in that!?!

The whole situation struck me as awesomely funny.

(And for those of you who haven't discovered "Ask A Ninja", my new favorite website, click on this link and hear the ninja's thoughts on Dance Dance Revolution. Have fun!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56vcMhVv_WM&mode=related&search=

Summer movies

Ahhh, the mindless popcorn flicks that are so enjoyable on a hot summer's day. So far I have seen The Da Vinci Code (it was ok), X-Men 3 (disappointing for me), and Cars (pretty cute). The next three on my list are Superman Returns, The Devil Wears Prada, and Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

Paintin' the office

Imagine the color of a green M&M. Now imagine the color of the bright blue M&M. Well, that was what our office looked like BEFORE. The top half was bright green, the bottom half blue. When you walked in, it was actually quite offensive to the eyes.

But no longer! We have done a extreme makeover: office edition. Some of our summer interns stepped up to the plate and helped us tackle the job. I also have moved from the office, into my own office with a DOOR. (OOooooooooooo!) Here are some pixs from our painting days. I will show a "before" and "after" picture of my office once I get it all fixed up.

What I am learning in life right now...

THE ARMOR OF GOD

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests."

(Ephesians 6:10-18)

They're everywhere!

It's funny, but before I got Johnny, I never saw Toyota Corollas. And now I seriously see them EVERYWHERE. And not just any Corollas...."phantom grey pearl" Corollas, just like mine. It's really funny to me. Maybe I'm just more aware of them now that I have one. And by the way, can I just take this opportunity to say that the Corolla horn is the LEAST intimidating horn on the market?? Every time I use it, I cringe then laugh. It's like the chihuahua dog bark (or yip) of car horns.

Roomate Day

Saturday was Roomate Day at the Gordon House. And by golly, what a great day it was. Things started out with me making special pancakes for everyone in the morning. I make pancakes every Saturday (a little tradition I have), but usually just for me or one other person. But Saturday was a day for celebrating. Everyone in the house had something fun to celebrate:

Laurel and Jessica - finished with teaching for the year!
Jen N. and Jen Cope - turned (or are about to turn) 30!
Joanna - has officially lived in the Gordon House a year! (yeah!)
me - my first week as College Director!

So we feasted on banana, walnut, chocolate chip pancakes with whatever toppings people wanted plus lots of juice and coffee. While we ate we watched the World Cup on TV. (Viva Brasil!...in 3 days)

Then, at 1 pm, all 6 of us piled into Copey's car and took off to the nearby high school pool where we swim. A) I love swimming, especially when it's sunny. B) I don't love getting badly burnt on my back (ouch!) I usually swim at night so I'm not used to putting on sunscreen. Oh well, live and learn.

Then, to cap off Roomate Day, we came home, made the hugest salad ever, and sat on the front porch in the sun, eating and sharing stories. Yeah for the sun. Yeah for the Gordon House. And yeah for my roomies. What a great day.

Disneyland and fishing and Hairspray, Oh My!

Preface: it is SO weird to be back. I am still in "vacation-mode". I was so out of it at work today. But anyway, my vacay was so fun! Nowhere near long enough, but wonderful just the same.

Monday was my travel day to So. Cal along with lots of hugs and talking with my BFF, Elissa and her hubby, Mike. Tuesday was a mini-reunion with another close friend/roomate from college, Melanie. Mel had flown out from Texas, so we spent the day together. We went shopping and then drove to the ol' alma mater. The first picture is of Elissa, Mel, and I in front of our old dorm. We walked inside and it still smells the same. Awesome. We met Mike for dinner and then went to see The Da Vinci Code. I couldn't stop looking at Tom Hanks' hair. It's the closest thing to a mullet one can get. Come on, Tom.

On Wednesday we visited the Mouse House. Ok, can I just say Space Mountain is AMAZING?!?! They put in a new track and so it just flies. We were in the front car and tears were literally flying off my face because my eyes were watering like crazy. I had a perma-grin the whole ride. Go to D-land just to go on Space! So fun! (Pirates of the Caribbean was closed because they are adding Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa to the ride. That should be interesting) It was a great day.

We drove to San Diego that night. Elissa's parents live down there and her dad took us fishing on Thursday. I caught 6 fish! Woohoo! The picture is of the fifth one I caught - a bass. I hadn't been fishing in ten years...when Elissa's dad took me out for the first time our freshmen year in college. We caught 17 fish altogether but only took home 3. They were delicious!

Friday we just relaxed and then that night we went to see Hairspray, the musical. We are huge theater fans, so we go whenever I am down. Two years ago we saw Les Miserables, last year we saw Wicked, and this year it was Hairspray. I went not knowing anything about it and it was fantastic! Such fun dancing and singing. I wanted to jump on stage and join them. It kind of had the same feel as Bye Bye Birdie. Lots of energy and humor. I think I might have to go out and buy the soundtrack. I added the link to Hairspray on Broadway under "websites", if you want to check it out!

The hard part about vacations (maybe you can relate) is it takes a couple days to finally relax and start enjoying yourself. And then just when you're geting used to being away from work and life...you have to go back. Yowsahs. I think vacations should be a minimum of 7 or 8 days. =) Who's with me!?!?!

What a great week. Just what I needed. Maybe not as much rest as I had thought I would get, but definitely lots of fun. Hopefully all of you have vacation time coming to you soon. Bring it on!

VACAY!

Well my friends, I am taking off tomorrow (Monday) for a much-needed vacation. I am tired and in dire need of some rest, relaxation, rejuvenation, and many other "r" words. It will feel so good to get away for a week and not think about ANYTHING. Just having fun. And then I'll come home feeling refreshed (there's another "r" word for ya). Bring on the sun!!!

Last TOS for the spring

Oh my word, last night was so much fun! It was our last college meeting (The Other Side) for the spring semester. It was a night of reflection of the past nine months. We played games from the whole year, looked at pictures, shared our favorite memories, encouraged each other, and shared what God has taught us this year.

It was such a special night for me, because these past nine months have been my FIRST nine months with these students. At times last night I just looked around at their faces and was in AWE. Awe of God's soverignty and how He knew I would be here, at this church, with these students, experiencing all these things.

It's been a rich year. There have been many good times. There have been hard times. Times of growth and frustration and joy and sadness and challenges and laughter and tears and love and uncertainty and peace and doubts and contentment.I wouldn't trade it for anything.

And just when I thought the night couldn't get any better...DANCE PARTY!!! Someone had set up a disco ball and we danced the night away. Could we have had more fun?!?! I don't think so. We danced for two hours and it was so fun to see the college students letting loose and going nuts. =)

What an amazing night. What an amazing year.

San Luis Obsipo

This past weekend I drove to San Luis and spent two fun days with my youngest sister, Emily - she's a junior at Cal Poly. We had such a fun time! On Friday night we went to PCF (Poly Christian Fellowship) on campus. It was so awesome to see so many college students wanting to be there and learn more about God.

About halfway through the talk, Em accidentally knocked her water bottle over. It made a huge crashing sound and all the water went into my lap, chair, and shoes. The speaker actually stopped speaking and then it was the typical all-heads-turned-to-look-at-us. I decided not to move and attract more attention, so I just sat there, nodding like I was totally into what the speaker was saying and pretending like I was NOT sitting in a pool of water. I ended up looking like I wet my pants the rest of the night. SWEET! =)

We spent Saturday at the beach then shopping downtown, getting pedicures (I love being a girl), eating at Firestone (best fries EVER!), talking, etc. It was a blast. I love you, Em! (The pix is of us downtown...it's a little blurry, but check out the street sign)

Two fires

A friend and I were talking the other day about spiritual disciplines (like silence & solitude, reading the Word, praying, etc) They shared something that I like alot:

It's like we each have two fires in our soul. One fire is for the world and the things of this world. The other fire is of God and the things of God. Which fire will burn brighter? The one that is given more fuel. If we throw logs on the fire of this world, that one will burn more. But if we throw logs on the fire of God and the things of God...that fire will be the one to consume us.

I like it! Consuming fire. Very cool thought.

I finished my book!

After months of reading it off and on, I finally finished The Brothers K by David James Duncan. So good! I came home from work and read on the couch on our front porch. It was sunny and breezy and beautiful. It was such a good book - now I know why everyone loves it.

Next up: Blue Like Jazz!

P.S. How amazing is it that it's still light out until 8:00 at night. Yesssss...

Comedy Sportz

Last night I took some college students to Comedy Sportz in San Jose. Such a fun night! If you've never been, it's an interactive improv show like Whose Line Is It Anyway but we get to be the ones in the audience shouting out stuff. There were two teams (blue and red) playing different rounds and competing for points. If they said anything inappropriate, they had to wear a paper bag on their head for the rest of their scene.

My two proud contributions to the evening were "MULLET!" and "CHUCK NORRIS!"

My talk, Survivor, and Tom Cruise

Three things happened in the last 24 hours that I just felt like writing about. They have nothing to do with each other. Just random life occurrances and observations.

1) My talk. Last night I continued in our series we've been doing on "The 4 Loves". Two weeks ago I spoke on the first love: Child and Parent. Last night we talked about two more loves: the love between friends and the love between guy/girl relationships. There is one girl who came to the college group with a friend and I KNOW she didn't want to be there. She has been avoiding church and the college group and doing her own thing. I have totally been praying for her and I was so excited she came last night. So, I'm in the middle of my talk and I happen to look up...and see her text messaging someone!

Are you serious?? Yep, right in the middle of the talk.

She fully had her head down, phone out, looking at stuff, and texting. For like 15 minutes! My first instinct was to feel angry. As I think about it now, I still feel a little upset because I have never experienced anything like that (I felt kind of disrespected). And to make it harder, the girl who brought her to the group told me her friend had leaned over at one point when I was speaking and said, "This is bullsh--."

Man, it really bummed me out. But I keep thinking: she did not want to be there. She had no interest in hearing what was being said. She is really struggling in life right now and church was probably the last place she wanted to be. She was just there because her friend brought her. As soon as the talk was over, she took off out the back door.

I've been doing some thinking about this ever since last night. Amongst all the things I've thought, I know that I will keep praying for her.

2) Survivor 12 - Exile Island. Survivor is one of my favorite shows. The roomates and I are faithful watchers every Thursday night. I missed last week's episode because I went down to the lake for Wildlower but we had it taped. So this morning I watched it before I went to work. Ok, um, so I cried. Every Survivor, there is always an episode where they bring loved ones out. Like a spouse, or a mom or a dad, etc. If a suvivor wins a challenge, they get to spend time with their loved one.

So, it's like 9 in the morning and I'm watching the tape of these dirty, tired, grimy survivors who have been on their island for over 30 days, away from all the people they love. And from around the corner, their love ones start walking out. The looks on their faces seriously brought me to tears! I am such a sucker for things like that. I think I cry everytime I see that certain episode. I not only cried when they walked out, but I cried when the winners got to go forward and hug their loved one. You could see how much they loved them and it was a beautiful thing.

And then I had to wipe away my tears and just laugh at myself.

3) Tom Cruise. So every Thursday I go to lunch at my favorite Chinese food place in Aptos. The food is so delicious! And super inexpensive. The waiters all know me because I'm there every week and I'm always bringing friends. So I am eating my yummy food and reading the Good Times paper and there's an article on Mission Impossible III. My waiter, Eric (obviously not his Chinese name-his American name)comes by and sees the article.

Eric: "Oooh, have you seen it yet?"
Me: "What? Oh...no."
Eric: "Are you going to?"
Me: "No, probably not."
Eric: "I saw it last weekend. Very good!"
Me: "Really?"
Eric: "Yes. Lots of shooting." *makes gun with hands and shooting noises*
*I laughed*
Eric: "Do you like Tom Cruise?"
Me: "Actually, no."
Eric: (raises eyebrows) "No?? Tom Cruise...handsome man!!!"

He clapped twice to make his point and then walked away. It was such a random conversation and again I just had to laugh. Good times.

Wildflower 2006

Last weekend was my third Wildflower triathlon at Lake San Antonio! I just spent 30 minutes sharing the glory in a blog when it all got erased. *sigh* Instead of re-typing it all again, I will just sum up: it was awesome! My race was Saturday and I had a blast. My friends told me that since this was my third triathlon, I can now call myself a "Tri-Triathlete". =)

My distance: 1/4 mile lake swim, 10 mile bike ride, and 2 mile run.

The first picture is roomates Laurel, Copey, friend Cynthia, and I the morning of our race. The pix was taken at 7:30 am and we are not real morning people, as you can tell. Ha ha. The second picture was taken of me on my bike by a friend who had my camera. That was seriously my face the whole time. I just LOVE this race. It is a thrill to participate with so many other people. And crossing the finish line is such a great feeling.

Can't wait till next year!

Switchfoot concert

Last night I went to a Switchfoot concert. When I first walked in, I felt SO OLD. There were junior high, high school, and college students everywhere. I felt so old and so tall. I had no idea the crowd would be that young. As the night went on, I saw more of an age range, but it still seemed quite young.

The concert was AWESOME!! I loved every minute of it. Those guys are so gifted. They rocked out for an hour and a half. I loved hearing the songs off their new album and they played some songs from their last one, too. At one point, the lead singer Jon Foreman whipped out a harmonica to play a new song and the crowd went nuts!

My highlight of the night: one of my favorite songs of theirs is called "This Is Your Life." At one point, Jon stopped singing and held the microphone out to the audience so everyone could sing the words. And sing they did! People were singing their little hearts out. And here is the line we all sang -

"This is your life. Are you who you want to be?"

LOVE it. Suddenly, I was so glad the room was filled with junior high and high school kids. I was listening to their voices sing that line and wondering, "Are they thinking about what they're singing?" They are at that age when they are being formed into who they are. Are they who they want to be?

Are we?

It's official

Starting June 1st, by God's grace, I will officially become the College Director at my church!! Ahhhh...

This was a huge decision for me, including weeks of prayer and seeking counsel. It's been amazing to see how the Lord has turned my heart around during this process. I have a real peace that this is what He has in store for me next. It is of course, very scary to think that I will be in charge of a whole ministry, but I had a revelation a few weeks ago that has been so awesome.

When I was co-leading the college ministry with my boss Charlie, I didn't need to rely on God. I relied on Charlie. Charlie has been in ministry for years and he knows what's going on. So I always went to him when I should have been going to God. Now that Charlie will not be there anymore, I'm left alone. But I'm NOT alone. This is going to give me the opportunity to run to God when I am nervous or feel inadequate. When I have doubts or feel scared. I will be depending on Him so much more. I should have been doing that since the beginning. But now it will really come into play.

And you know what? That excites me. Relying on God like I never have before. It's going to be hard and I'm going to learn alot. But I feel like my life has been leading me up to this point, so I am feeling ready for it.

Oh college students....we have more good times ahead of us.

Drama

So, I guess this is the week for drama in the college group. I am doing a lot of listening and a LOT of praying. I'm a bit drained but hanging in there. It's crazy that there is so much happening at once. And I'm speaking tomorrow night and I NEED to go finish my talk. We are starting a new series - The 4 Loves. Tomorrow night is the 1st love: between child and parent. (Don't ya love the picture?) I am really looking forward to it.

Sleepy sleepy

A bunch of friends and I are doing a triathlon in two weekends. So it's crunch time for training. I just went on a long swim tonight and really pushed myself. It felt really good. I came home and inhaled my dinner. I was so hungry! And now I am so pooped. I can't wait to go to bed. G'night!

He-e-e-e-e-e-e-r-e's JOHNNY!!!

Hello friends. Big news this week...I got a new car! He is 2006 Toyota Corolla LE. It's been a month or so without a car and I am so thankful to finally have one again. No more trying to find rides or taking the bus. =)

His name is Johnny. Let me share how he got his name. To start off, his color is described by Toyota as "phantom grey pearl". Don't you just LOVE how they make normal colors sound so amazing? So anyway, the roomates were saying I should name my car after someone in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie (one of my favs) because the ship is called the Black Pearl. We decided to take the car out for a spin and head downtown for a celebratory ice cream at Coldstone Creamery. On our way there, we were trying out names: Orlando (no), Captain (no), Jack Sparrow (no), Barbossa (no), and on and on. Finally someone said "Johnny" after Johnny Depp and hmmmm...that wasn't too bad for a car name.

So we go into Coldstone and were greeted by a friendly male worker. Probably 19 or 20, Coldstone hat with a l-o-n-g ponytail in the back, a black shirt that said "Friends don't let friends buy grocery store ice cream", and SUPER chatty. He was talking and talking with us. So nice and eager to serve. He and the other workers sang for us when we tipped them. We sat down with our ice cream and were still trying to think of a name. (Johnny was still high on the list) Finally, one roomate said we should go out on a limb and just name my car whatever our 19 year old server's name was! I was like, "No way! What if his name is Skippy?!"

Then we went into this whole tirade of guys' names he might be: Hank, Stuart, Rodney, and more. We were cracking ourselves up. Then we had to figure out how to find out his name because he didn't have a nametag on. So boldly I just went, "OK! I'm going to go ask him!!" I walk over while he's ringing someone up for their ice cream and say, "Thanks so much for your help tonight....what was your name?" He looked at me, smiled, and said, "Johnny."

I KID YOU NOT!!!

Out of ALL the hundreds and hundreds of guys' names in the world...his name was Johnny. Not even John. Johnny. It was too perfect. We HAD to name my car that. It was meant to be.

On the ride home we came up with fun ways to use the name Johnny. The "Johnny Rocket!" or "Johnny Angel" and "Johnny Be Goode" (old songs from the 50's) Or our favorite was when I pull up to people's houses I can shout out, "He-e-e-e-e-e-r-e's Johnny!!!" The possibilities are endless.

So there's the story. I've had him for four days so far and I love him already! He drives so smooth! It is quite comparable to how my poor Saturn was driving. And Toyotas last forever, so it will be nice knowing I don't have to worry much about him. When I brought Johnny home, we prayed a prayer of safety and protection around him. That was really cool. It's also cool to think how this car is part of my ministry, too. I drive college students around in my car all the time. On trips, out to lunches or coffee, to meetings, etc. I've had some great talks with students inside my car, too. I am excited for that to continue.

Anyone wanna go for a drive???

We're home!

Since I've been home, people have been asking me , "So how was Mexico?" If you've been in my shoes before, you know how difficult it is to sum up all your feelings about a trip into one sentence. Saying, "It was great!" just doesn't seem to do it justice. But since this is my lovely blog, I will do my best to share about this amazing trip without typing a hundred pages. =)

To start off, I have to say that I have NEVER been on a trip that ran as smooth as this one did. I mean, we're talking smooth. No major problems. Last year there was so much wind, the tents got flown away and people's stuff got lost all over. No wind this year. It was supposed to rain all week down there. It didn't rain until the day we left (right AFTER we crossed the border). Last year over half the group became violently ill from bad water. NO ONE got sick this year. With over 80 people buiding houses at 5 different sites, there were no injuries (besides your basic scrapes, blisters, et). Last year the sites were an hour and a half away and they were all in separate villages. This year the drive was only a half hour from where we camped and the sites were all near each other (which helped with the cohesiveness of the group). I felt like all of these things were little gifts from God.

Beyond all the logistical stuff, it was so amazing to see the Lord at work down in Mexico. The students came ALIVE. It was incredible to watch. They would come home after a long, hot, hard day of making cement, setting up walls, chicken wire, or stucco and they were praising God! They were encouraging each other and lifting one another up! I never heard any grumbling or complaining the whole week. They were so positive, it blew my mind. And they were always giving glory to God.

We'd have campfire every night after dinner with singing and sharing time. The students were very aware of God being with them and helping them when they were struggling throughout the week. By the end of the week, many students had made some awesome revelations that they shared. Some were seeing their need for Christ all the time (not just when it suited them). Some wanted to pursue more mission work in the future. Some talked about wanting to change their lives once they got back to Santa Cruz. -- Campfires were by far my favorite part of every day. --

I wouldn't say the trip was perfect. I have never been a leader on a trip like this before, so I definitely saw our issues and problems (that I probably wouldn't have seen if I wasn't a leader). But God used them all. I really got to see that first hand.

It was very strange to come home. To go from Mexico where people sleep on the floor in tiny shacks to CA were we are bombarded with things we take for granted: running water, flushing toilets, clean streets and hills, matresses to sleep on with warm blankets, TV, internet, showers, homes that won't topple over in a storm. It's quite sobering. And then there's the weirdness of being with the same people for 8 days 24/7 and then waking up the next morning and you're not surrounded by them anymore. It's like we became a family and that is sort of gone. I am adjusting to what people might call the "camp high".

So as I'm sleeping 13 hours a night (I'm so exhausted) and cleaning all my clothes and trying to get some "Me-time" after being with lots of people for over a week...I'm taking time to reflect. Process all my feelings and memories from the trip. Think about what God showed and taught me and what I am taking away from this amazing experience. It was an honor to serve Him down there, that's for sure. And serving Him doesn't stop now that we're back.

Thanks for reading my rambling thoughts. And hey, enjoy the pictures. They are just a few out of the 150 I took. (Yes, I am a picture fanatic) They are of:

- the students who rode in my van on the way down (Lynnea, Kyle, Jillian, Garret, Tyler, and Brian)
- our nightime campfire
- a group of students building their house
- myself, Eduardo, and Rosa (two kids I fell in love with the first day)
- the girls who drove in my van on the way home (Courtney, Tanya, little Laura-daughter of an adult leader, Kayla, and Lila)

Yeah for Mexico 2006! "We can. We will. We did."

Viva Mexico!!

Ok friends, I am off to Mexico on a mission trip with 90 high school and college students. We will be building 5 homes during the week we are down there. I am really excited to spend some quality time with these peeps. We get back the day before Easter so I won't be posting again till after that. Keep us in your prayers!

Some pixs

I realized I havent posted any pixs lately, so I found some recent ones with myself and my college students. There is one of me and the student leaders out for a Bowling Night. Another one is a crew of us in our Children's building at church. For a service project (we do one a month) we helped paint the climbing wall behind us, organized skit clothes and props, built shelves, cleaned rooms, and other fun stuff. The last picture is a group of us at Malibu Grand Prix, about the drive the race cars. That was so fun! I had the need for speed...

I love these students SO much.

Oh. My. Word.

Sorry to keep talking about my car, but I feel like I have been on some crazy roller coaster these past few weeks. Guess what? My engine DOESN'T have a recall on it. The shop that worked on Mitchell gave me false information. It's a whole long story of what I've been through the last couple days, but I can sum it up: I am going to have a to buy a new car.

Mitchell - R.I.P. good buddy. You gave me some great years but it's time to let you go.

So, now I am starting this new process of looking into cars, payments, etc and I'm tired. It's been up and down up and down and I'm tired. But the Lord is good and He will be faithful, like He always is.

I really like being an adult, but man oh man....sometimes it's hard. Thanks for reading, everyone. I'm ok.

I both like and dislike the Saturn company

Remember two weeks ago when I posted about taking my Saturn to the shop to get a new alternator? After I got it back, it started acting REAL weird. It was making the WORST noises (drawing looks from everyone I passed), it started sputtering and shaking, and couldn't even accelerate up tiny hills. At one point I could only go to 40 on the freeway. The other drivers loved me, I'm sure.

I couldn't ignore my problem and hope it would go away anymore. So yesterday I took it back to the shop and had them look at it again. My roomie Jen Cope taught me how to drive stick shift in a high school parking lot last night (good times!) and then let me take her to work so I could use her car. The car place called me around 4 this afternoon. Here was our convo:

Dude: "So, hey, I have good news and bad news."
Me: "Um...ok."
Dude: "The problem is your engine. It's in real bad shape. You're going to need a new one."
Me: *fainting in shock at my desk*

(Crazy thoughts running through my head. Ack! I can't afford a whole new engine. What am I going to do? etc etc)

Dude: "Here's the good news...Saturn has recalled it. They will replace it once you take it to their dealership."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!

I whipped myself back into a sitting position and emitted a tiny shriek of joy right into his ear. No way!! What are the chances??? Oh my gosh, thank you Lord!!

So basically all I have to do is tow Mitchell to the nearest Saturn dealership and they will give me a new engine. Yesssssssss. Then my car will have a few more years in it. Yesssssssss. When I sell it, I can get more money because the engine will be newer. Yessssssss. Oh Saturn. Why have you put me through this turmoil? I was going kind of nuts these past few weeks over my car and the alternator and then all the problems after that. I had some naughty words in my mind to describe what I thought about their cars and their company. And now, GLORY BE, they have redeemed themselves to the highest degree by recalling my make and model's engine. How amazing.

The rest of my day I was giddy and blabbing my good news to anyone who would listen. This is such a huge answer to prayer!

What I am learning

I am always learning. That's it. What am I learning? That I am always learning. This is something I am coming to grips with at my job. I am going to make mistakes all the time. And instead of dwelling on them and wishing they never happened, I should be focusing on how I can learn from them and how to change things in the future.

If I never made mistakes, if I always did everything right...how would I grow? I learn the most from my mistakes and that keeps me learning every single day. Although I will gladly admit I wish there were days that I could sail through (the daily learning is super exhausting), I know it is helping me grow and be even better at my job.

I am not sure if that makes any sense, but to me it does. I need to be ok with making mistakes. I need to give myself grace in this area. Do any of you deal with this same sort of thing?

Buckstars

In the county I live in, it is very trendy to boycott all major corporations and support the little independent places. It's our way of "stickin' it to the man!!" And for the most part I do. However, there is one major exception. I cannot boycott Starbucks. I just love it too much. Sometimes I just want to sink into one of their couches, listen to the obligatory Norah Jones CD, "people-watch" to my heart's content, and drink my delicious peppermint mocha frappaccino. Sometimes I'll go with a book, sometimes I'll bring my journal, and sometimes I'll go with a friend (or friends) and have fun conversations. Yesterday was such a day. My good friend Jenna and I walked to Buckstars from my house and we sat for HOURS on the comfy couch, laughing our heads off. It was amazing. I had kind of a stressful week, including working three nights in a row (I usually only work one night per week) so I was in deperate need for some sort of release. And that was it for me. We were laughing so hard we were wiping away tears. It completely made my day and my week. Not to say we couldn't have laughed hysterically like that in Coffee Cat, but C.C. doesn't make my yummy frap. Does that mean I'm a coffee snob? So be it. I love Starbucks.

Mitchell

So, my dark blue Saturn (Mitchell) had a little "episode" Saturday. I was at the mall and he just wouldn't start up. I had him towed and worked on for two days. It was very strange to not have a car Saturday-Tuesday. I never realized how dependent I am on my car. If I lived closer to where I work, I could just bike there. But I work too far away. So I was literally stranded Monday and Tuesday, with no way to get to church. Monday I ended up staying home all day to work on my talk for last night and then Tuesday I took the bus. THAT was an experience all in itself. All I can say is that there are some sketchy people who take the bus, but it was all good fun. One of my co-workers drove me home that evening, which was so sweet because it was completely out of her way. But now I finally have my car back....450 bucks later. Yowzahs. Mitchell needed a new alternator. So, here's hoping I really DO get a fatty tax return this year! =)

Snow?!?

This past weekend was NUTS. It was so cold that it actually SNOWED here. There was snow on the sides of the road, snow downtown, even snow on the beach! Incredible. This picture is in the parking lot of my church. It looks so beautiful-I love it!

lightning and thunder

Hi everyone. While I am typing this, there is an awesome thunder and lightning storm going on. I'll see a flash light up the sky and quickly run outside to hear the thunder boom. It's like the dark clouds are fighting and ramming into each other. I love storms like this!

So, here are some thoughts that have been running through my head this week:

- As of August/September, I might possibly become the College Director at my church. How do I feel about that? Do I want that much responsibility? A whole minstry on my shoulders when I still feel quite new to ministry in general? Can I do it? Am I excited about this?

- Two of the students in our college group just got engaged. They are 19 and 20 and have dated for three and a half months. Ack! I feel like they are so young, but it is totally their decision. Her parents are NOT stoked...

- I am speaking next Wednesday night and I have NO idea how to do this talk. I don't fully understand the topic myself. How am I supposed to explain it to students? And I don't feel like it really fits with our current series. Strange.

- The high school and college group leave for Mexico in a month!

- I sent my tax stuff in the mail and they were SUPER slow arriving, so I thought they got lost. But luckily, they were found. I would LOVE to get a fatty tax return this year.

- Thank goodness for my roomates. I think we help keep each other sane. They make me excited to come home.

Ok, I'm off to go watch some more lightning and listen to more thunder. (One boom just made our windows rattle. Whoa.) Lates!

Looking up

Things are better, thank the Lord. I got to get away this past weekend and I think that really helped. I drove up to Placerville with two roomates to help celebrate the wedding day of a special friend, Kim. I got to see some old friends (don't you just love that about weddings? They are like mini-reunions) which was awesome. We tore up the dance floor and got to chat with the bride and meet her new hubby. It was just nice to focus on other things and enjoy laughter with good friends. I came into work this morning with brightened spirits and a more positive outlook on things. I have been praying alot about all of my work stuff and I will for sure continue to do so. It's easy to trust God when everything is going great. It's a lot harder to trust him when it feels like your world is going crazy.

I wish I didn't think all the time

Man, this week blew. Sorry to put it so bluntly, but it's the truth. This week has been the hardest I've had in a long time. I've been through so much in just the past 6 days. I've made mistakes at work with my student leaders, two of my college girls got hurt Wesdnesday night (falling out the back of a pickup truck as it drove forward, one girl had to go to the ER for a concussion - I was with her till 2 in the morning), there are going to be some MAJOR changes going on with my job that I am not happy about right now (and I feel like I got blindsided and I'm upset with how things went down), I have not been sleeping, I feel like I cry every day, and my mind is constantly in overdrive. Just stop, brain! I seriously just need to get away to rest and sleep for a week and NOT THINK. It's too much for my poor little mind to deal with all at once.