See Jane Run

Absence and the Heart

2009-09-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

Well hello Bloggers!
It's been quite a while, hasn't it? There are many excuses I could use to explain why I haven't written, but the reason I have chosen is priority.

Praise the Lord....I GOT A JOB! After 8 months of searching, God brought one to me! Since August I have been working at an accessory store called Pink Biju in Ontario Mills. I like it alright. Honestly, it's a little slow for my taste. Okay, it's very slow for my taste! I tend to get everything done super early and then there's nothing to do for four hours, so I'm learning how to pace myself. But even though it's not fast-paced like I would prefer, I'm so grateful for the work! I work a lot, 9:30 to 3:30, Mon-Sat. But I have every Sunday off and nights off, too so I have never missed a church service which is a huge answer to prayer! I really am grateful for the work! But, with working all day, I only have a couple hours before dinner, and church activities Wed. through Fri., church all day Sunday....I'm finding I don't have a ton of free time on my hands! The time I do have is usually designated for reading, or time with family or friends. Things like blogging have been put on the side. I miss reading everyone's blogs, I miss writing blogs, but when it comes down to it, I would much rather submerge myself into the writings of Tozer, or Tennyson, etc. But I got an email tonight saying I need to update my blog, haha, too true! So here I am! The question now is, does absence really make the heart grow fonder??? I don't know if these entries will become again a regular occurrence, but I'll try to keep blogging in mind for next time I'm looking for a simple activity.

Time to reflect a little...This year has been amazing! Filled with many new people and experiences and places and I have grown so much and been greatly blessed! But, it's also been the hardest year of my life and I don't see a break in the storm. I've been tried with a lot, and I'm ashamed to say that I have failed in many areas. Just a few weeks ago, I looked at my life and my family got our own apartment, I have a full time job, for which I never have to sacrifice church, I have a great, loving family, wonderful, uplifting friends, food, clothing, everything I need and so much beyond that. I allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief. But then something else came. Another trial, and a painful one at that. Then another one immediately following. I couldn't understand. Things had been going so good. I examined my life and although I didn't see perfection, God didn't bring anything to mind that would explain the recent hardships. In a conversation with my mom, I expressed to her that I'm tired. I wish I were tougher, and none of this were phasing me. I wish I always did the right thing and never felt the affects of hardship. But it seems the whole year it's been trial after trial after trial, and at times I feel so worn out! Mom joked that I'm just a spiritual giant, right up there with Job! Haha, we had a good laugh at that! But then I thought about it. I look at people who've dealt with real trials, Job, and Paul in the Bible, what about Corrie Ten Boon, and all the Christian missionaries and martyrs of current times? No, I'm certainly not like those people. I'm no Job. But then it dawned on me. Maybe the reason God is allowing these struggles in my life is not because I'm like Job, but to make me like Job. So simple, but it took me so long to really see it in those simple terms. I must admit that I have not dealt with every situation correctly right away. God has taught me many lessons this year, and many of them I have not done right until after I've done wrong. I confess, I say I want to do better, but then another trial comes along and I fail Him again. I guess until I learn how to do right right away, God will have to keep teaching me, which may very well mean more struggle, more trials allowed in my life. But now that I see this truth, the hard times give me some hope. Hope because I know God promises to get me THROUGH the valley. Hope because He will NEVER forsake me. Hope because His grace is sufficient for me. And hope because maybe at the end, I can not only be a little more like Job, but I can be a little more like Him.

4 Book Medallion!

2009-06-02T23:36:00.000-07:00

So many great things have happened this past week! I spent Sunday with my extended family, and I don't know them much, but it was a really great time fellowshipping and getting to know them. Then Monday my family and I drove to Vegas and spent the day with my sisters, bro-in-law and adorable nephew, Austin. Now that was a great day! Today, Tuesday, was interesting as well. I had a good day monitoring at LBA, found out I have 2 twin daughters (don't ask =D), got into a fight with a Wal-Mart employee, and went to the LBA sports banquet. I also house-sat for the Harveys last week. So, it was very hard to figure out what I want to write about tonight...since I don't feel like going to bed just yet! I could've written about a good deal of those things, but some I just didn't feel like there would be a way to do the stories justice without plenty of sound effects, facial expressions and hand motions. Especially the Wal-Mart fight. If you want to know about that one, ask me when you see me next, it's pretty crazy! I thought about it for a while, and decided on a topic. Oddly, it's not one of the many options I listed above. Tonight, I feel like giving a shout-out to my RU Kidz!

I know I've written a little about RU Kidz on here before, but honestly, I just cannot say enough about this class! I've been teaching the class for about 5 months I think, and it's still not old! I still love it! Recently, the program has been going longer....by about 20 minutes! 2 hours and 20 minutes may not seem like a long time to you. But, as it gets later at night, the kids are tired and restless, they've had a long school day and the younger kids want to be with their mommy and go to bed, whereas the older kids are anxious to go have some snacks then hang out with their friends outside. I'm trying to find ways to stretch the program and not make it seem so long. One way, is by making song time longer. This has been an adjustment that I really enjoy! We sing first, and it is my favorite time of the night! Two new songs we've started singing are The Little Green Frog, and Black Socks. Oh yes, we're a very spiritual bunch! :) We sing for the first half hour or so of class and everyone seems to really enjoy the time! Then we have prayer/praise time, game time, challenge time, break time, and lesson time, after which we join the adults for awards and then close the night up in the fellowship hall with some snacks. The kids can, at times, be a pretty rowdy bunch, but overall they do a really good job! I am very impressed with how well most of the kids do! I have some that just don't care about the rules and want to talk and goof off all night. But others really get into the program! They pay attention, sing out, play all the games, do challenges every week and their daily journal, etc. We have 3 groups of kids in that class. The rotten's....I think that's pretty self-explanatory. The floaters.....you know, the kids who show up and behave alright, but are not huge participator's. Then, the star students. I have a few kids in there that work very hard on their challenge books, sing all the songs, play all the games, help out by being a leader to the other kids, on and on. Don't get me wrong, I don't think kids are rotten (exactly) and I don't think they're mediocre. In fact, I love the bad kids! I know they're badly behaved, but there's something endearing about them, anyways! And the "floaters" are still great kids, just maybe lacking some motivation. I don't even have a favorite group of kids. They're all great and help to make up the program. But, this last week, I was especially proud of 3 of my students. Some of these kids, I confess, work waaay harder than I do in their challenge book! They fly through them and get awards every week! One of the awards is the Four Book Medallion (if you can't figure out what you do to earn that...yikes!) and last week, *tear* I had 3 kids go up to the front of the room and receive their medallion! I was so proud of them!! They stood proudly as Brother Godinez draped the medals over their necks and the crowd cheered! Great moment!

Who Says Big Girls Don't Cry??? :'(

2009-05-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

Right now I am again house-sitting/pet-watching for the Harvey's. This time my younger brother, Robb, is with me and we are having a pretty good time. The animals are, well, interesting as usual and I always seem to come away with some entertaining if not odd story! But that is a post for another time, which I promise will be coming! For now, I have something else on my mind!

Today, I had to go to the doctor's office! Don't worry, nothing serious, just a physical for college. Not everyone knows this, so for those of you who don't, going to the dr.'s is a very big deal for me! Not in a good way. The doctor's office and the hospital cause me overwhelming amounts of stress. Stress that can be mostly attributed to my paralyzing, panic-inducing fear of needles! Now don't get me wrong, it's not the pain. I am not afraid it's going to hurt, because I've had shots and I know that it doesn't hurt. It's this psychological fear that I cannot get over! I know it's unnecessary, immature, and even ridiculous, but I cannot get over it. I harbor real fear for very few things, and those other things I am able to challenge myself and confront them, temporarily overcoming those fears that I view as silly. But this fear, I cannot get over it. I cannot move past, I cannot even function! But for this physical I had today, I was opting out of vaccinations-I don't like the idea of infecting myself to try and teach my body how to fight a disease. Sorry, but that doesn't sound smart to me. But to each his own! I don't care whether you are a firm believer in them, opinion-less, or like me. That's just my personal belief. But because of that belief, I knew I had nothing to worry about at the doctors. I didn't have to get a shot and even though I would be uncomfortable, I would be fine! I was doing so good. I was relaxed and even making small talk with the doctor!

But then the nurse came in and said started asking me questions. She asked if I had been out of the country in the last 5 years. The answer was yes, I went to Mexico on a missions trip last year. Then she said that's fine, I would just need a TB test. Fine by me!....I had no idea how they tested for TB. So my mom, there for moral support, waited in the room while I was escorted into another patient room to have my hearing tested. After which, she opened a fridge and pulled out some supplies, then grabbed a syringe. I asked what that was for and she said the TB test. "Wait," I said, "that has a needle?" And she said yes, but all they had to do was place it in the surface of the skin and put in a little solution. Wow, my heart started racing, my hands were trembling and my knees shaking! My head was spinning and my thoughts going 100 mph! What am I going to do? I, I have to get out of here NOW! So I began, "Actually, you see, I need to..." Then I paused, looked around, found the door and ran out of the room. I ran into the hallway and tried to find the room my mom was in, but since I am very directionally challenged, I had no idea where I had come from, got lost, and had to be led back by a nice male nurse who talked to himself. Once I got in the room I was very panicked and my mom, who had heard me in the hallway, was looking concerned, but I could tell she wasn't too surprised and was ready to talk me out of running away. "We have to go right now! Hurry and get the stuff, we're leaving!" I said. The nurse came in and explained the situation, saying that it was the school's rule, not theirs, and if I did not get the TB test..... I could not go to college. Both Mom and Nurse looked at me, expecting that to settle the matter. Instead, my panicked self said "Oh, that's too bad. I just can't go to that school! I'll just find a different college to go to!". But, Mom is used to dealing with my drama, and she knows how terrified I am and how this fear takes me over like nothing else. So she tried to talk me out of it and got me to sit down because I was quickly growing very pale. The nurse then tried to talk me into laying down so I wouldn't pass out and I'd be more relaxed. I don't know why I did it, is was as if I was in a haze and I couldn't help but do as they said. I was terrified out of my mind and I wanted to run, but deep down I knew that was stupid and I knew I had to be try and act like a big girl and let the nurse do her job. So, I did as they said and laid down and let the nurse swab some alcohol on my arm. Pretty ridiculous, but I couldn't help crying. My mom held my hand and I cried like a really big baby, but I was so scared! I felt the needle, it hardly pierced me! It didn't hurt, but I knew going into it that it wouldn't. That wasn't the issue.

After it was done Mom, Nurse, and Nurse #2, who had come in just in case they needed help holding me down or catching me should I faint, all told me I was very brave, but I just laid there and cried like a little kid for a while. haha, then it got worse! Nurse #2 came in with another box of needles. This time I needed checking for anaemia. This one was on the finger tip and it actually hurt. But this time I didn't fight it. I sat up and let her do it. Then they made me lie down and relax a bit. I talked to the doctor about some other health concerns, got a paper that I think of as a permission slip to go and get an x-ray on my neck next week, then we started to leave. Pretty traumatic. But, I think this is the best I've ever done at the doctors! I made it out of the building without passing out! Although it was very close for a second. So this may seem like a really bad appointment to you, (it was pretty awful for me, too!) but considering my track record, this was very impressive! Maybe next time I'll be even better! Wait, next time? Ugh, there will have to be a next time, won't there? My mom has demanded that I do not allow my fear of needles to keep me from giving her grandchildren! haha! She is so sympathetic! :) Just kidding, my mom is great! If she hadn't been there, I would've run out of the office like a crazy person and then my parents would've had to drag me back a second time! That's why I needed to bring her with me! So yes, I am amost 19 years old and I still have to have my mommy go to the doctor's with me, hold my hand, and dry my tears! But you know what the worst part is? I didn't even get a sticker for being so brave!

Comfort and Contentment

2009-05-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

There are some pleasures in life that I group in a specific category. I guess the theme could be comfort and contentment loves! One pleasure in there, a nice cup of hot tea. Ah, the Irish influence in our family has made all of us women very avid tea drinkers. In colder weather, I will have many cups of tea a day. Not iced tea. Piping hot tea with sugar and milk. Mmm, just wonderful! Another thing, rainy days. Maybe to some, rain is not a comfort, but to me it is. Normally, I hate any sort of weather besides hot and sunny. But occasionally, if I have nowhere to go, I really enjoy a rainy day! If I'm not playing in the rain, I like to sit on my deck under the canopy and read a book and even write some poetry. The rain always inspires me so much. Of course, that is when I have quite a few cups of hot tea, further increasing my comfort and contentment! Another comfort love, the color gray. Yes, maybe that one sounds odd, too. But for some reason I have always associated gray with comfort. It's a cozy color to me. On rainy days, I like to put on my cozy, baggy gray sweatshirt and sip a cup of tea. Wow, seems like my picture of comfort is almost complete here, but it is missing a very key element! We have hot tea, rain, gray, and next, a book! Of course comfort and contentment cannot be had without a good book! And my favorite kind of book is an aged book! I hope you all know what I'm talking about, if not you have been tragically deprived, my friends! A book with a hard cover, and worn, frayed binding. Old, classic writing on the cover that is fading with the years. The pages are slightly frayed on the edges, and have for some time now been yellowed with age. Books like that have a certain feel as you crack open the cover. The pages feel a certain way as you turn them. And the smell! I confess, I am a book-sniffer, and proud of it! I unashamedly walk through a book-store or library with my nose in an open book, inhaling deeply and wearing a face of sheer contentment! I stopped noticing the looks a long time ago! A book like that is a treasure! My mom had a few books like that when I was growing up. I read a few of them. The Sun Also Rises, Jane Eyre, Root Out Of Dry Ground, and others. As I read some of those books at a young age, they went slightly over my head. But that was no matter to me because reading a book like that was utter joy! I love old books! My mom has books like that, my grandmother does, but I have none of my own. And for quite some time now I have been wanting to start building my library of classic literature and those book treasures. Today, I officially began my aged book library!

My library has a little used book store. I have visited there a couple times before, but did not find anything I liked. But today, their "Aged Books" section was stocked!! YAY! I got 3 beautiful books! The Feather Merchants by Max Shulman, Woollcott's Second Reader, and a 1964 edition of Roget's Thesaurus in Dictionary Form, first copyrighted in '31. And the best part...I only spent $1. 75!!!! I found such amazing treasures, and it didn't even cost me $2! I felt like I was robbing the two, little old ladies running the store, but I was not tackled by a security guard on my way out, and God hasn't struck me dead for stealing from old ladies, so I think I'm okay. But wow, I feel like I've hit the jackpot here, folks! I absolutely adore these books! You have no idea how much having these three books has made my day! No, my week! I am in love! I keep rubbing the covers and opening the pages to smell that classic, old book smell! Mmmm! Yay! I am in book heaven right now! And I'm sure you are all a tad bit creeped out, but you know what, I have my books, and I don't care!!!! :)

Once Upon A Hair Dye

2009-05-26T17:10:00.000-07:00

I realize that over the past week, most of you have seen me a few times. And each of those times, I was sporting a different hair color. I have not been able to escape raised eyebrows, open jaws, laughter, and questions such as "Jane, are you hiding from someone?", "WOW! What'd you do to your hair?", "Wait, didn't you have black hair last time I saw you?", and my favorite: "Hi! Are you new to the choir? I don't think I've seen you before." Furthermore, I was almost marked "Absent" in Sunday School because Charlene didn't recognize me while taking roll. Yes, in a week's time I have gone from red to brown, from brown to blue/black, from blue/black to dark brown/black, and from dark brown/black to, well, orange/yellow. But no, I am not hiding from anyone. And no, I am not new to the choir, or Sunday school. Additionally, I am not going through a rebellion, I am not "hiding from myself" as Keiffer put it, nor am I looking for attention. My intentions have been as innocent as you can expect from a wacky 19 year old girl. Allow me to tell you a little story for your enlightenment, and hopefully your entertainment.

Once upon a time there was a young woman named Jane of the Golden State. Jane loved living in the Golden State. She loved her family, her friends, and her church, as well as all the fantastic people there. Jane was artistic, a regular free-spirit, if you can label a free-spirit as "regular". She was very, well, different, as she had been recently called. Many had described Jane as wacky, zany, out-there, eclectic, insane, eccentric, stellar...well, that may be beside the point, but stellar she most assuredly was! :) In fact, Jane was all of those adjectives listed above. In fact, many people may be slightly frightened if they could see how wacky and crazy she was! She embraced that, and enjoyed opportunities to express her "creative side", as she put it. Jane painted and wrote poetry and songs and enjoyed that as a creative outlet. But then moved on to expressing herself with her wardrobe, which she had loads of fun with. Eventually, she moved on to her hair. Not anything so wild as blue or green hair, which she often thought of with a chuckle. Simply blond highlights, or dying it to a redish brown. Then one day, Jane and a friend Samantha helped Jay (check out his blog), youth director and BBQ extraordinaire, with a youth activity, wandering around under the alias' of "The Window Shoppers". During said activity, Jane and Sam wore disguises with black wigs. The two girls decided that black was a good hair color on Jane, so the next day, Jane decided to dye her hair black. However, she did not think about tones and shades. Instead, she grabbed the first black she saw, which happened to be a most unflattering and unnatural Blue/Black. Jane's parents did not care for, okay, they hated the new hair color! Jane pretty much felt the same way, but as her hair was now a deeply saturated black and there was nothing she could presently do about it, she tried to keep an optimistic attitude. Her parents demanded she rid herself of the dreadful shade, so they set an appointment with her hairstylist, Myrna, for the next day. Jane thought the situation over very carefully. Her parents, Dad actually, had been suggesting for quite some time that she move on to a lighter color such as blond. She now took that into consideration. And if she could not have extreme dark hair, she decided it could be fun to have extreme light hair. Yes, she made the choice to go platinum. She expressed such to Myrna. However, Myrna also asked what Jane wanted when she had first dyed her hair black. The answer being that Jane wanted the black hair, but had imagined something softer and more natural looking. Myrna tragically got the past desire switched with the present, and after stripping all of the color from Jane's hair, dyed it about 2 shades lighter than the black they'd just finished ridding her of. Needless to say, the expectant parents and girl were quite disappointed and bewildered. After some questioning, they all realized the miscommunication. So Myrna, being the great hair-dresser she is, said that Jane could come back in a few days and redo the process at no extra charge. So come back she did. Jane arrived at the hair salon at 11 o'clock and wearily exited at 3:40 in the afternoon. 2 hours of stripping the color, the rest of the time spent dyeing and rinsing. When the color was finally rinsed from her hair, Myrna began to blow-dry it. As the hair dried, the color started to become more clear. Oh my! Jane's face sank as instead of seeing the beautiful platinum blond she had envisioned, she saw an orange top running into yellow, with the ends of her hair becoming a sandy color. So, she went home and styled it, wishing that she could hide until the color became , well, anything besides orange. But she remembered she had RU that night. Oh well. She figured God was just keeping her humble. So she put on her brave face and marched out the door, orange hair and all...secretly wanting to crawl under a rug as soon as she saw the first puzzled face. She spent the next day at a lake in the mountains with her family and was out on the boat all day. God mercifully toned the orange down quite a bit. Days after, it continued to have an odd tone, but Jane was learning to accept, if still not like, the new hair, and was very grateful that after all the trauma, she still had hair to hate! Jane also found solace in the fact that in a few days, after giving her hair a week of rest as advised, she would try lightening her hair up to a more natural blond, and then leave it alone. So yes, her family and friends would soon see her hair in another shade, but she vowed that it would not be a shocking one, but one that would hopefully be less offensive.

Check back, or just look for Jane at church, to see what happens with her hair, and what crazy thing she'll do next! =D

Ant Hill Tunnel

2009-05-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was talking to Jenna, and I realized I have not blogged in a really really long time, so I decided to write a quick blog since I am home sick and have nothing better to do! =D No, I just wanted to write something really quick to bring me back into the blogging world which I have been so out of for quite some time now. I feel so out of touch with everyone because I have not even read another blog for about a month!
On Monday I had my first day of monitoring for Mrs. Wilson's classroom, 5th and 6th grade. It was so much fun! I am going to start doing it every Monday! I had such a good time with those kids and it was cool to be in the classroom! I really like the way the LBA classrooms run because of the ACE curriculum. Working with the kids one-on-one really brought me back to my days of being a tutor, which I realized I greatly miss! It is slightly odd to be addressed as Miss Pardon!
Tuesday I went on the field trip to Kids Space with the elementary school. Now that was fun!!! I really enjoyed it! I was the leader for Jenna, Skylynn (spelling?), and Eileen. We ran all over that place! At first Sky was pretty scared in the rain drop tower, and forget getting her into the ant hill tunnel! But she held my hand and braved her fears and got over it! We climbed up the 41 ft. rain drop tower singing "Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens....." at the top of our lungs, and after going up and then climbing back down, she decided these things weren't all that scary after all and by the time the day was through, she was dragging the three of us through the towers a second time and climbing through the dark and little ant hill tunnel again and again to help Cheyenne look for her lost money! I couldn't believe this little girl had been terrified of all of these exhibits at the beginning of the day, to now be leading the way through the same things! But, I guess that is what the fear of the unknown does for us!
Things are always so much scarier when we are looking ahead into a dark tunnel! We are just sure there is going to be something scary in there to grab us or eat us alive, or we will get lost in the dark and be trapped in there forever, never making it through! But then we brave our fear and climb into the little hole and keep going forward to come out in the bright and happy daylight on the second floor and be congratulated by all our friends! Just now as I am writing this, I am realizing that I do the same thing in my life! Right now, my future is really unsure! I am not at all sure even what state I am going to be in next month! And college? I don't even know if I will be there this fall! I have no idea what God is doing and I feel like I am looking into my life as an unsure, dark tunnel! It's scary! I don't know what's in there! What if I don't make it through? What if I get lost? But deep down I know that when I trust God and head into the "tunnel", He will guide me and get me safely through, and then I will come out on the other side safely, just like He promises, and just like I did in the scary ant hill tunnel yesterday! But I can't let this fear of the unknown paralyze me and keep me from trusting God and moving forward!

Happy Earth Day to You!

2009-04-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

Until about a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea that Earth Day is on April 22! Wow, how perfect does that get? God has quite the sense of humor! Let's see, you're thinking, your mind is scanning all your mental data-bases, trying to figure out what is so funny about today being Earth Day, but you are still left wondering why I am so tickled about this! Let me explain.....

My lil' bro and I are very different. Robb is the athletic child, while I am more artistic. He is a jock, I am a (so-called) hippie. Now come on, people. As much as I love nature and nothing compares with the great out-doors, I am not chaining myself to an endangered historical building or to a condemned tree. I do not go by the name of Sunshine (okay, actually Autumn/Star and Jess call me that), or Butterfly (okay, Alli calls me that), Bambi (wait, no, that's what Steph calls me), okay so I do have a lot of hippie nick-names, but I'm not getting high in my tye-dye VW van or going to Wood-Stock! I just love nature and I am upset by littering! But, Robb has always made fun of me for that! He calls me a hippie, an environmentalist, usually he puts dork or nerd on the end of those words, he kind of just throws out whatever name he can think of! :) So, when I found out that his birthday, he who has always given me crud for the little hippie I am, was born on Earth Day!!! Hahahahahah! Does anyone else find that extremely ironic and hilarious?! In his birthday card, I couldn't resist drawing a tree and him hugging it with a caption saying "I love you, Tree!" and I drew the recycle sign, Earth, the peace sign, hearts, flowers, and smiley faces. It was awesome!!! So, happy 16th birthday to my little brother! Love ya, bud! :)

The Way Jane Learns

2009-04-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

I finished reading The Way They Learn by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias. It was very interesting. I don't have any children to apply it to, but it has been interesting to read about different learning styles and see signs of those styles in myself and my close friends and family. By combining all the different topics discussed, Mind Styles, Environmental Preferences, Modalities, Analytic/Global Information Processing, and Multiple Intelligences, I have determined that I am a
Dominant Abstract Random Visual/Kinesthetic Global Linguistic Bodily-Kinesthetic Interpersonal Learner!

July 19

2009-04-15T13:19:00.001-07:00

I am sitting here at my computer, supposed to be getting things getting ready for this upcoming college semester, but instead I am listening to some blues, sipping a big cup of hot tea, thinking about how hungry I am, blogging, looking up things that happened on my birthday....the list goes on and on! My birthday is July 19, 1990 and as I was sitting here, I was wondering if anything exciting (other than my birth...does it get more exciting?!) happened on that hot, summer day. Here are just a few interesting things I found:

~Flitch Day. Oh yeah, turns out my Bay is a "Bizarre July Holiday". Upon looking it up, I found Flitch Day to be an old custom developed from yesteryear into the holiday of Flitch Day. Bacon was given to any couple who could prove they had lived in harmony and fidelity for one year. Apparently, very few took home the bacon!

~The first Woman's Rights Convention in the United States

met at Seneca Falls, N.Y., July 19, 1848

~National Raspberry Cake Day

Still Just a Kid! :P

2009-04-14T14:37:00.001-07:00

I thought I had finally reached that dreaded adulthood when I punched my voting ballot for the first time. However, when I walked out, I was handed an "I Voted" sticker. The sticker was the most exciting part and I put it on my forehead and walked out with a proud smile! That showed me that, praise the Lord, I am still just a kid!!!

A Few of My Favorite EASTER Things!~

2009-04-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had an AMAZING Easter Sunday! Here are a few things about Easter that represent the reason for the holiday, make up my traditions, or just make me smile!

Happy Resurrection Sunday!!!

~Camodes, Coffee, and Children's Class~

2009-04-11T01:57:00.000-07:00

Today was an amazing day! I woke up this morning and took my dogs for a short walk. After that I came back and put some more hair dye in and tried to lighten my hair up some more. I think it worked a bit. Not the light brown I wanted, but at least it's a little bit different. Besides, with the sun becoming stronger, it is going to get much lighter soon anyways. I spent the largest portion of my morning cleaning both bathrooms and my grandma's bedroom (for which I got paid). Unfortunately, Grandma has a very particular way she likes the bathroom cleaned, and it takes so much longer. Much longer than I feel necessary! But alas, I was forced to clean it that way. But, her money, her way I suppose!

After spending the morning sticking my bare hand into the toilet bowl, I got to take my lil' sis Lauren out for a couple of hours! That was the best in the west! We have never hung out just the two of us girls. I don't know why we didn't ditch the boys sooner, it was so nice to go out and have some girl time! We went to Starbucks where I of course had a hot venti Apple Chai latte! Gotta be venti, baby! It's too good for anything smaller! Lauren had a Caramel Mocha Frappuchino, I think. We hung out there for a while then met Mrs. Wright at the mall. We talked about everything under the sun and were able to indulge in some girl talk which we have never been able to do since we're always with our brothers....so sorry guys, but we decided we like this girl time thing and are going to do it more often! We had a really great time together!

RU Kidz was good tonight. Matt was sick, which kind of stinks since he splits half of the program with me, but thankfully Raphael was there as usual, and Sarahjane was there tonight and offered to help so that was a blessing. A few of my kids were missing but we had four visitors so that was a treat and hopefully they will be back next week! I know at least two of them will be. We had 16 kids as it was, and that was missing 5 regulars! I realized that I have not given out any awards for attendance and the kids are supposed to get a star pin for when they are there 10/12 weeks and again when they have attended 20/26 weeks, but I have not given even one out. So tonight I realized that and made up for it. I had so many kids up there at the front receiving their back pay on the attendance awards and getting the ones due to them now, but it was pretty cool. I love it when the kids get awards in RU. I am so proud of them! Not that I had anything to do with them getting an award, mind you. Those kids work hard to complete the challenges they do and they do it without me, so I am not taking any credit for it. But it's very rewarding. I see my work paying off when I see some of them proudly, some with embarrassment walk up to Jodie and get their award. But I also see the look of excitement and pleasure on their faces, even if they wish they were not standing in front of people, and it makes the whole night worth it! It's so cool to their hard work paying off like that and to see how excited they are! Almost all of these kids come up to me during the week and tell me they're working on doing some challenges, or they've been writing their devotions down in their Walkie Talkie Journal, or those crazy over-achiever Nepomuceno kids are always telling me "I am almost done with my book!" haha! They do a good job! I guess what I am getting at is that I love RU Kidz!!!!

Recap

2009-04-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

It's only Thursday, but so far I am having a very enjoyable week. Of course there have been a few not so groovy moments, but overall: "glorious"! Here is a recap of my week thus far:

~Monday: Hung out with Tim, Robb, and SJ. We ate lunch here and goofed off for a wee bit. Then we went to a pretty park in Rancho and played on the play ground, and saw some scary ducks and a cute turtle in the lake (which turned out to be more of a large pond). But then, tragedy struck! Tim was thrusting his knife into the tree to see how far he could get it in and I was trying to pull it out. I just could not seem to yank it out from this poor, suffering tree so Tim said "Let me do it" and tried to grab the hilt. At that exact moment, I wiggled the knife and successfully pulled the blade out of the trunk! But Tim had tried to grab it and did not have a firm grasp on the hilt, so the blade swept right through his hand, slicing his finger on the way! AH! He dropped to his knees, gripping his hand as he stifled a moan, or perhaps a loud yell, and grimaced in pain, all the while saying he was okay. He held it under water at the drinking fountain and we got a shirt from his car and tore it up to wrap around his hand. Once we got to my house we bandaged it up. It was very deep. He needs stitches but refuses! Fine! It's all fun and games until someone loses a.....finger? Then Monday night was Lord's supper. I have not been involved in this for so long! Last time was April 08, so a whole year! But that was in Utah, then they had it again in July, but I was working at Treasure Mountain at that time so wasn't around for it. Then I went to college and we didn't have it there, and this is the first time LBC has had it since I've been a member. So it was really good to partake in the service again. So good to dedicate a service to remembering the blood and body Christ sacrificed for us.

~Tuesday: Hung out with Tim, Robb, Ashleigh, and SJ. Went to Victoria Gardens, In & Out, and then Ontario Mills. It was a jolly good time! "Paper cut, I think I'm bleeding!!" hehe

~Wednesday: Went to a job fair that turned out to be more of a career fair since it was more colleges advertising than jobs. But that's okay....I guess it wasn't a complete waste of my morning....right? Prayerfully God will bless my effort! Wednesday night.....the highlight of my week thus far!! Met a group over at Raphael's house and got pizza (praise the Lord because I was starving!!!) and watched some......drum roll please!...... INVADER ZIM!!!!! YAY! Ah, I
doubt most of you (if any) have ever heard of this show! And I am sure some of you would not like it if you had, but to me.....I love it! It's a cartoon about an alien named Zim that is always messing up things back on his planet, so they send him to earth on a pretend mission just to get rid of him. He thinks he is scoping Earth out for destruction, but it's all a big scam! Meanwhile, his neighbor Dib knows he is an alien and is trying to reveal that fact to the world, but alas, his plans are always foiled! But they have many exciting wars and adventures, and largely due to his messed up robot, Gir, the show has many funny moments! I die laughing! In between episodes and eating, we stopped to go door-knocking at the church then went back to his house and finished up the night with some more food for some, more Invader Zim, and The Village. It was pretty legit and our group (Raphael, Renae, Andrew, Ashleigh, Matt, Ricky, Sarahjane and I) was a rad one, so that helped make the night awesome!

~Thursday: I have a new best friend.....skinny jeans!!! I have never worn them because I didn't think I would be able to pull them off, but today as I was leaving the house I was thinking how uncomfortable my jeans are and so I never wear them. At Aeropostale they are having some pretty awesome sales right now and they had a couple racks full of jeans 70% off! They had one pair I liked in my size so I tried them on, not realizing they were skinny jeans. But they are super comfy, and I surprisingly like the fit! Not sure why I am running on about them, I guess I just really like them! Besides....I got them on sale for $13 from $45......doesn't get much better!!! After that I ran to Wal-Mart and got some hair dye. I like my red hair, but I am tired of the up-keep and what happens to red when it fades....an odd pinkish tone. Not what I am goin' for with my hair, so I decided to go brown instead this time. I was going to dye it a dark brown, but my parents convinced me to go back to lighter hair, so I picked up a light brown. I even left it in early, but to no avail! After taking about an hour to dye, rinse and blow-dry, I looked in my mirror and saw the same color I have been seeing for the past 4 months!!! Ugh! Kind of disappointing after I was expecting brown. The red was hardly penetrated! I still have dye left so I am going to try again tomorrow. If it doesn't work I will either go for a dark brown, or I will go to a salon and ask them to take out the red and make it lighter brown. We'll see!

Then of course church was very good tonight. Pastor preached about prayer. Stressing the point that although we need to be praying for our own requests, we need to stop focusing on self and pray for other people. It was very good! So that has been my week. Tomorrow I have to do some cleaning around my house, and prepare for RU Kidz, and I absolutely can't forget to pick SJ up for RU! haha! Really looking forward to tomorrow! Saturday is soul-winning and I don't have anything else going on (anybody got any ideas?! :D) then Sunday I have church all day! Yay!!! I love Sundays! Then the Harvey's house, which is always super fun on Sunday nights! Then.....Monday.....at least, isn't that what usually follows Sunday? Does anyone know if that's the order for this next week? Hopefully.....

My Currently Reading's

2009-04-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

I always have a long list of books on my "To-Read" list. At times it seems endless and is frequently added to by the recommendations of friends, the library, and websites. I am never reading just one book at a time. I read many, and they are usually from completely different genres...keeps it interesting.
These are the books that I am currently reading and I am thoroughly enjoying them all:
(in order that I started them)
*******

*This is a book that I bought at college, but being a full-time student did not have time to read.
Now that I am out of school I finally have time to read it!
It's a book for teenage girls and young women about preparing for adult-hood. It is packed full of strong Biblical truth and has taught me so much, and really helped me grow through some very difficult times in my life.*

*This book was so strongly recommended to me that I was practically commanded to read it! I have had it for quite a few weeks now but am only in part 2 because I just found it after it was lost for so long (which would stink since it's from the library!). Turns out it was in my car the whole time! But I have picked it up again and it's really good! Really big....but intensely good!*

*This was one of the books I had for college but did not end up taking the class it was required for. The other day I was looking through my books and this one really interested me when I saw it so decided to read it and it has been really good so far! I am learning a lot from it, even though I don't have any children to apply it to, I find it comes to mind when I am dealing with children, or even adults. The book is about the 4 different learning styles people have and how we all learn. I really like it. I am an Abstract Random Global learner.*

*Wow, a simple classic like this needs no introduction. Lately I have just had this strong hankerin' to read Montague vs. Capulet. :) Most definitely one of the best love stories ever written. The passion, the drama, the music, the hatred, the love, all the fiery components that come together to keep the reader (me!) on the edge of their seat! Need I say anymore?*

*******
What are you all reading right now?
Anyone have any more stellar To-Read's for me?

Fondly Remember Dan, Dan the Bandage Man

2009-04-02T21:50:00.001-07:00

This was one of my fave books to read (or have read to me) as a young girl! Dan was so good at helping his friends, pets, and toys feel better! And I have a thing for band-aids even still when I am hurt!

El Matador

2009-03-31T17:03:00.001-07:00

As I promised, here are some pics of the beautiful El Matador Beach! Enjoy!!!

The path down to the beach from the parking lot

A pool in between some rocks

One of the many large rocks on the beach

Under one of the rocks

*Stellar Photographs are Courtesy of Matthew Wright :)*

!!!crAzY LA DaY!!!!

2009-03-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

Well, life is back to normal.....DRAT!!! :)
Last week was so much fun! My best friend from West Coast, Kayla Stone, was visiting me for Spring Break! Aw man I have missed her so much! We were inseparable last semester! Everyone thought we were sisters or that we at least had been friends before school. We met at work, WCBC Kitchen Crew. In my life, I have found 3 friends that I automatically clicked with. Where it didn't take much work at all to get to know the person, and an immediate bond was formed! Kayla was like that! One of the people I know I will be friends with all through my adult life. It was so great to have her here for a whole week. We had many adventures and funny moments! Too many to share, and I doubt anyone else would find them quite so hilarious as we did! Much of the time we were just hanging out at home, trying to work on the tan! But we were also able to take some really nice, long walks; go to the mall and try on crazy outfits and beautiful formal dresses that we would never be able to wear; walk around town; and on Saturday go to LA!

Ah, Saturday was THE COOLEST DAY!!!. . .maybe ever?! We went to China Town which was so neat! Haha, Asians are so.....unique! LOL! Some of the stuff they sell in the markets, pretty funny! But we had some good times! Went down to Malibu and got lunch at a really good place called Malibu Seafood (really original!). It was pretty yummy, and we jay-walked across the PCH and ate down at the beach.. Haha, we finished eating and turned our back on our little picnic for about two seconds and then turned back to find every Seagull in Malibu sitting on our blanket pillaging our picnic! Kayla and I had finished our food but Matt still had about half of his (ginormous) tuna burger left! Oh well!

I officially have a new favorite beach! After we ate, we drove a few minutes further down the PCH and went to El Matador beach! Oh my word!!! Oh my stinkin' word! I will have to post some photos of it for you all! It was absolutely incredibly beautiful! It's pretty deprived of facilities (although there is a charming porter potty at the top, haha!) so it's not where you want to go if you are looking to be pampered. There is a path that leads down to the beach and a bunch of stairs and the first thing you see is this HUGE rock! GINORMOUS!!! There are rocks all along the beach and in the water! Smaller ones that you can climb over to get to other parts of the beach, and then bigger ones that you can walk under, or explore the caves in them! There are also some caves in the sides of the cliff! We walked along it for such a long time and nothing was left unexplored or unpoked! LOL! We saw so many starfish and mollusc's and other creatures that I have no idea how to spell! And Matt found some hermit crabs so was carrying one around for a while! Wow, it was so neat! So secluded, too. I love the beach, it's my favorite treat but one thing I hate is the other visitors! It's like they are all entered in a competition to see who can where the least amount of clothing without getting arrested for indecent exposure (which is pretty darn naked these days!). It's offensive so if I happen to be at the beach with my family or any other guys, it's all strategy...finding a spot to set up camp where everyone seems to be the most clothed and walking back on paths that avoid the skanky females. But there wasn't any of that at this beach. . .well at least not for Matt to worry about. Although Kayla and I did turn a corner around a large rock to be face-to-face with an old skinny man in a very little speedo! And he just smiled and said hi. Our reaction may have been deemed rude by the friendly nearly-naked man. Kayla quickly turned her face and I accidentally let out a loud gasp before looking down! Ah, it was so awkward!!! But other than that, everyone was fully clothed! There were photographers (Matt was one among a few), and a painter and couples sitting and having a picnic! We saw people as we walked along but they were few and far between! It was so nice! And the beach was beautiful!

After that we drove to Santa Monica, where we went down to the Promenade. That was pretty fun. Matt and I got our hands stamped with a free peace sign stamp and we are now part of the Peace Club!! haha, thanks to a couple of old hippie men! They were high!! :) We had parked pretty far away and so on the way back it was pretty scary as it was now dark and we had to walk past many dark corners and many homeless people getting their beds ready! Kayla was especially freaked and I was scared, too and Matt was making jokes! Ugh, in case of an ambush we were going to throw him towards our attacker and make a run for it! He's buff, he can fend for himself!! But praise the Lord (and no thanks to Matt, our "protector") we made it safely back to the car!

We finished off the night by a search for an Olive Garden back in downtown LA but to no avail so settled for California Pizza Kitchen which is not one of my fave's but was still pretty yummy! I give a shout-out "thank you" to our benefactor for that meal! :) haha. Then we had the long drive home which was pretty quiet as we all started to settle down now that our belly's were full and our tired bodies were out of the cold wind and in the warm car. Overall, it was the best day of my whole year!!! =D

~I Don't Get It~

2009-03-12T20:17:00.000-07:00

Things I just don't get:

~Soap Opera's. Even if you are lame and trashy enough to want to sink lower than anyone with the slightest bit of morals.....where's the embarrassment? No shame? I would no sooner turn my TV to As the World Turns than I would pick up a paper-back book.....or dine on my spleen for that matter!!!

~Why Goofy gets to enjoy all the luxuries of a respectable canine, whilst poor Pluto is doomed to walk on all 4's wearing nothing but a collar, eat dog food by plunging his face into a dish sitting on the ground, live in a dog house, poop in the yard, can't even speak besides *Ruff!*...the list goes on and on. Honestly....I neither see the logic nor the justice in this!!!

~Why dogs are man's best friend, and even though we take care of them....cats couldn't be more anti-social.

~Why anyone would actually like cold weather.

~Condiments. Ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard.....revoltingly disgusting! Why???

~Why the film industry insists on ruining what could be a good movie by pelting us with profanity and other offensive content.

~Horror and slasher films. Since when are the mentally disturbed THAT disturbed?! I mean, have you seen previews for some of these films? Demonic and terrifying!

~Why boys are so stupid!.......Need I say anymore??

Museum, 7-Seater and Banana Slurpee's!!!

2009-03-07T23:40:00.000-08:00

It's getting late, but I still have energy from a super fun day and super delicious Samoans (thanks, Grandma!!!). I guess Robb was looking at blogs tonight and remarked that I hadn't blogged in a long time, which I really haven't. So I decided to try and burn a bit more energy before going to bed by blogging now. After all, today was stellar to the max, why not write about it!

First up was the church workday. Matt and Lauren picked Robb and I up at about 8, which was nice and early on a chilly Saturday morning. We did random stuff: washing walls, cleaning windows, mopping floors, vacuuming, taking out trash (YAY trash, Lauren!!!), and such of the like. Went to 7-11 and got a Slurpee which really snazzed up my day! I have not been to 7-11 in so long. And I remember when I was a kid we would go and I always got a banana Slurpee. The stores I have been to over the years have not had them, but this one did! Oh!! I was so thrilled! So utterly astounded and excited to see this flavor greeting me! It was like a warm hug from an old friend! So many childhood memories came flooding back to me as I happily grabbed a cup and filled it up! But then Matt so graciously pointed out that for 20 cents more, we could get really big ones! Honestly, why didn't I think of thinkin' of that?? So he grabbed a big cup for me and I took the lid off of my small one, which caused the sticky, runny, cold contents to poor out the side of the cup! Matt then jerked the cup he was holding up which caused it to spill more so I dumped the icy drink into the cup as best I could, but 'twas too late. Thankfully, no major damage was done besides sticky hands and saturated carpet!! Nothing like team-work!!!

After that exciting day at the church, a group of us went to the History and Art Museum in Ontario! If any of you are looking to be delighted with an enlightening and educational museum....don't go here! However, if you are looking for a fun outing that is free and interesting and wholesome (except for the picture of that chubby man in swim trunks.....shouldn't that be illegal, guys? Really!)....than this place is perfect! We had a jolly good time. 12 of us went and they had fireman suits and gear to try on. A bunch of photographs for their current exhibit which follows the modern day trail of Lewis and Clark. Then permanent exhibits on Route 66 and Earth. Over-all not the coolest museum I have ever been to, but we had a good time! And no! We did not try to open the big chest with a dead body in it, look in the well that turned out not to be a well, and go past the rope to see if the dark door was unlocked!!! :)

After that we went to the mall. Just wandered around, got ice cream, it was yummy! At one point, Samantha and I were walking slightly ahead of the group, and we got to a store we wanted to go into and turned around to tell the group that had disappeared!! AH! We had no idea where they were! We determined that they had been kidnapped, but didn't know they had been so it was up to us to warn them! However, that was slightly difficult because I didn't have my cell with me and Sam's phone had died! Drat! So we ran back to where we last remembered seeing them where a kiosk lady offered a lotion tester. Sam was laughing at me because I said yes, I wanted some! I didn't listen to any of her offers, I just mooched off her lotion but my hands were really dry!!! What's a girl to do, seriously?! :) So we ran back down to the end of the mall, and waited there for a few minutes. Finally, behold! There they be, blessed little lads and lasses!!! Phew! I thought we'd be lost forever! We were considering going to customer service and telling them we were lost, but decided to be brave and stick it out for as long as we could!

Raphael (5-seater car) and Matt (7-seater mini van) drove everyone up to the mall. But Raf had to leave for work before 5, so we could either send 4 people back to the church with him, or we could all pile into the van! We left the choice up to Matt since he was driving...his rules! He didn't care! Since he was driving, he was guaranteed his own, comfy seat and didn't care what we did! So sadly Raf had to leave for work and the rest of us hung out for about another hour before we went out to the car and piled in!!! Wow, 11 people in a mini-van! It was awesome!!! I think the only time I've beat it was in Mexico on missions trips! :) Matt and Lauren up front, Ashleigh and Chris each in a pilot seat in the middle. Robb on the floor between them and Ricky on the floor in front of Ash and John smashed down in front of Chris which left Samantha, Sandra, Chloe and I to sit in back! haha! We must have been quite a comical picture.....car sagging and everything! But it was fun! The day wouldn't have been complete without something totally weird but stellar like that (well, that and the amazing dance moves Matt was showing off with in the Earth exhibit!!!) :)

Shattered Glass, Mercy and Over-Sleeping

2009-02-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

Not sure if this is an allowed activity, but as I am writing this Titus is noisily gnawing on the table leg. Wow, he is really going at it, grunting and everything as he chews. I told him to stop, but he just stared at me for a moment, and I swear he rolled his eyes before he turned back and again preceded his enjoyed act of attacking the leg with his huge mouth!

Today is my last day house-sitting for the Harvey's. I am kind of sad. Am I going to miss the cat....certainly not! Will I miss the dogs? Doubt it (I do have two dogs of my own at home). Am I going to miss being alone...so very alone? No, the house does feel pretty empty sometimes. But I am going to miss this freedom. I feel like an adult. Like I'm a little kid playing house! I get to be responsible to take care of myself and animals! I feed the dogs and the cat, and myself. I run the house....I feel so grown up! And tomorrow I go back to being a kid. At home I still feed myself, I clean up around the house, I feed the dogs and take them for daily walks and am even privileged enough to clean up their dung! But it's different, and I like being on my own. One day. . . .

I don't have my own car here. Mom and Dad (and Robb, don't wanna leave you out) said they would pick me up at 9:15 for church, since Dad needs to be there by 9:20. No problemo, right? I showered last night and put my hair in braids so no work necessary with it in the morning, and I planned to get up at 7:30 to give myself plenty of time to get ready, take care of the animals, do my devotions, and dog-proof the house before heading out for church. But I had the space heater on pretty high right next to me (I like to be really warm), and I think I got a little too cozy because when my alarm went off at 7:20, I tried to hit the snooze but couldn't find it (not my clock), and so turned it off and was back asleep instantaneously!!! Yea, I was out pretty hard, so was confused when Titus was barking. I was wondering why he was barking so early in the morning, and couldn't seem to remember what day it was. Oh, right. Saturday, work day today. Wait, no. That sounds too familiar, oh that's because I already lived that day! Today is Sunday! Sunday. . . .I have to get ready. What time is it? I fell back asleep. . . . .AAAAHHHHH! It's 9:35!!! Drat! So I realized that Titus was barking because my ride was knocking on the door! Gasp.....why did I have to oversleep! Ugh! I sprang out of bed and bolted for the door to find Robb there with his jaw hanging open when he saw that I was adorned in striped pj's, messy hair, and sleeping mask pushed up on forehead! I tried to speak, but my voice was gone and upon opening the door, it was all I could do to utter the words "oh no! Go get Mom! I need Mom!!!" So Mom comes to the door and is likewise puzzled and taken aback by my new look. No, I am not trying to start a "just-out-of-bed" trend. I JUST WOKE UP!!! And yet surprisingly, panic does not grip me. I remain calm...I don't know how....yes I do....God's grace! So I ran into the bathroom, put toothpaste on my toothbrush on began brushing while I ran into the kitchen and pulled down the dogs medicine so I could feed them. Titus takes a couple pills in his food, Calvin is older thus needs more (I mean a LOT more pills with each of his two meals) and so his pills must be stuffed into a marshmallow and thrown into his food dish. So I turn 'round and go to the jar that holds the marshmallows and grab the top to take the lid off. I give it a tug, but the lid stays in place and the front of the glass jar breaks and goes flying at me and across the floor! Ugh, not what I need at this hurried moment! So I bend over and start to pick up the fragments of jar, but Mom takes over for me while I finish getting the dogs food and she also helps by getting them water! Phew! Two down, one animal to go! I grab the cat food out of the fridge and throw some onto the plate and send Robb into the closet to lay it out for him. There is no way I would be able to jump the baby-gate that is in the doorway in my pencil skirt (I did change somewhere in there, no I don't sleep in a pencil skirt!). So I grab my makeup bag and the rest of my affects and scurry out the door, leaving the slobbery canines and hissy feline behind! Thankfully, God has blessed me with merciful parents and they were understanding and forgiving....I honestly think it helps that my voice was gone! People are so much more merciful when you sound like you're dying!~

Really Big Slide!!!

2009-02-19T23:17:00.000-08:00

Well tonight I am on my own.....in an empty house in Pomona. Yep. But it's okay, the doors are locked and the doggy door is blocked off, but I honestly don't think those are necessary precautions. I think I may feel secure in this unfamiliar house all by myself in the middle of the night not because I have 2 amazingly humongous guard-dogs...no! Because I have the cat from, well, not heaven, that's for sure! For serious folks, this cat is not to be messed with! It is a hissing, innocent-house-sitter-mauling beast! Goes by the name of Fletch, but I think it's really Legion.

I am house sitting for the Harveys from this afternoon (Thursday) until Sunday night. Yep, 'tis pretty exciting. I have the place all to myself, and I am enjoying that so far, I guess. It does feel slightly empty, even with their 2 huge and overly friendly dogs Calvin and Titus, but it is kind of fun. And tomorrow night my lil' sis' and I are having a girls night, and I'm pretty stoked for that! Candy, soda, girl movie, games, the works! It'll be stellar!
And wow, these are the biggest dogs I have ever seen. Calvin looks more like a big, dopey bear than a dog, and supposedly he is quite small for his breed. And Titus is an American Bulldog, and is likewise HUGE, but I guess he is large for his breed. I don't know about all that, I just know I have never seen a bigger dog, well, not with my own eyes at least.

Hm, so last night some friends and I finger-painted, which was so cool! I haven't finger painted for about a year, and so it was fun to paint again! Oh and then we drove on the wild side and got lost, and then were really dangerously cool and went through the Jack-In-the-Box drive-through backwards, and covered in paint (how'd that happen?). Oh yea, we're bad. Then we watched Lady in the Water, and honestly I was disappointed. I've seen it before, and for some reason was remembering it as being scary. But I was not scared at all last night! And I only jumped once during the movie! It was still good, just not as thrilling as I remembered. It's like going back to your elementary school playground to see the "Really Big Slide", and the "Super High Fire-Man Pole" that everyone was scared to slide down, it was so high. But you go back and the slide lasts about 1 second, and you get no rush from it at all, and you have to scoot your way down it because you don't slide all the way to the bottom. Then you run over to the pole, and it's not all that high. In fact, by simply reaching your hand up (and maybe standing a little on tip-toe for some of us, including me!), you can touch the top! You try sliding down it, but your feet touch the bottom before you can even think about enjoying it! It's not that this visit to your old playground has ruined all of your child-hood memories there, but they are maybe not so exciting and adventurous as they were before. That is how it was watching the movie last night. I still enjoyed the movie, I still like it. But is it as cool as I thought? No, it's not. I am left slightly disappointed. Some things are better left remembered. . . .

Swords, Cookies, and ADHD

2009-02-12T22:40:00.000-08:00

So I just took a quiz to see if I have ADHD. Just something random that Matt told me to take. And here is my result!!!

Pretty funny, I guess I can kind of see it. I mean I have a lot of trouble focusing sometimes, mostly with my train of thought. I always thought that I was just lazy and unmotivated, but that actually makes sense! It's a real quiz, too, from a psych care place! I scored 23, which is really high, since 16 and up is considered possibly serious ADHD, I am on the high end of serious! Haha! So according to them I could have a sever condition, but I have lived with it for 19 years and it's no big deal to me, so I think I can continue to cope. And it's not a diagnosis, just a fun quiz! I pretty much don't care! I would never put myself through the trauma of going to the doctors evil lair, just so they can stress me out with tests, and put me on some pills....as if I need another addiction!!!

So last night was super fun! Robb and I hung out with Matt and Lauren, and that was colossal as always!! They came to our house and we ate dinner then went to Montclair Plaza. We wanted to got to Victoria Gardens, but it was waaaay too cold! So we opted for an indoor mall. While there, we went to the Disney Store, and it was so exciting!!! We found THE PERFECT wedding dress for Lauren. It was a Giselle dress, from Enchanted, the wedding dress she has from cartoon world. It looked beautiful on her! And we found a really cute HSM cheer leading costume for Matt. Then we went to the back of the store where this lovely and huge mound of stuffed animals was piled high greeting us and screaming JUMP ON ME!!! I thought about it, but decided against the jump. Matt however couldn't help it, and leaped onto the mound, only to land on a hard surface and find out it was not a mound of animals, they were just one layer of them stacked on a platform, ouch! Haha!
Then we went into Elements of Earth, and that was pretty cool! I love those stores, they're so much fun! The swords are so cool, and I love the fountains, the aroma therapy, the odd figurines, and the random wigs and tassles! So much fun! The girl working there had quite the mouth on her and was hitting on Matt, although I don't know if he noticed, but it was pretty funny! Fun!!
When we first walked past Hollister, we were very abrubtly flashed by the male mannequins that had been, uh, de-pantsed!!! Yep, just standing there, modeling tops-only since the pants had been yanked down to the knees. Pretty awkward, but also hilarious! So our immature selves had a good chuckle at it! Then when we walked past it a second time, there was a teenage guy out front and he was pulling down the rest of the pants, including the female mannequins. So I stopped the group and went over to the kid and said in a mad voice, "Come here!" "What?" He said, and tried to look innocent. I kept telling him and motioning for him to come follow me into the store. "I saw what you did! I'm telling. That's not cool, let's go!". He just kept saying "What?" He was so scared, so finally I told him I was kidding! The relief that flooded over the poor saps face! So funny!! He said he was waiting for me to walk into the store so he could run away! The kid will never undress a statue again, at least not without looking over his shoulder! LOL!
So, that is my excitement! Tomorrow I am helping Lauren make cookies for the rescue mission-our parents Sunday School class is going Saturday night. I am not good in the kitchen, I have been known to cause many accidents and much harm, and my food isn't all that good. But I told her I could measure stuff and stir and clean up, and cheer her on!!! Haha!
That's my contribution!

If

2009-02-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

These are some lyrics that I wrote Feb 9, '09. They don't have a tune quite yet, but I am working on it! It's not completely true, but most def inspired by and contrived from a true story!

~IF~

You said that we were best friends, and someday maybe more.
You made my heart come alive like no one had before.
But that was all pretending, you put on such a play!
The things that drew me to you once, now drive me away!

If you had a car, I'd roll it off a cliff!
If you had a house, I'd graffiti my name all over it!
If you sent me flowers, I'd smile as they lit!!!
Even though we're moving on,
I can't let you forget!

I can't believe I fell for that! All your dirty tricks!
I fell under all your spells with a simple finger prick!
But now the magic's over, the truth so hard to miss!
Our love story came crashing down
With Reality's first kiss!

If you'd written me letters, I'd throw them all away!
If you had best friends, that is who I'd date!
If anyone cared, I'd tell them all you're gay!!!
But all I can do is walk away!

Why'd you have to do this? Is it just your way?
You took an awesome friendship,
You had to have it your way! What'd you think I'd say?
Push, and Push,
But in the end you just pushed me far away!
Why me? Why now? Why us?
How could you betray my trust?
But now I'm moving on, moving on,
And I'm not turning around!

If you come back, the answer is NO!
If you ask me to stay, I'm still gonna go!
If you want a second chance, I will leave you alone!
I'm moving on, and I won't turn around!

The Secret of What You Do to Me~

2009-02-09T13:28:00.001-08:00

Alright, so yesterday was a super great day at church! We had another split session for Sunday school, and Miriam finished teaching us about Worry from Matthew 6:21-34. It was really good. We do that, especially females. I am really not into profiling or stereo-typing like that, but it's true. As women, we do seem to worry a lot more than men! So the lesson was really helpful!! Always a great challenge! The evening service was moved up to 3 because Pastor and many others were leaving that evening for the Philippines. After the service, we had the LBA cafe and watched a cheesy BJU movie. Well, watched is such a loose term! We talked to whole time! But it was really fun! Then after that, a bunch of us stood around talking for the longest time, even though we'd been kicked out of the building and it was freezing outside! So Matt, Lauren, Sandra, Ricky, Robb and I all went to In & Out, then Barnes and Noble. When we walked in, we walked past those security scanners that are at most places now, but for some reason, I set the alarms crazy! Kind of weird, so just shrugged and walked past. Then we walked into the back section, and through more scanners, and again, alarms go nuts! They asked if we had been shopping at Old Navy or had any Old Navy on. The answer was no. I guess Old Navy has a security thing in their clothing that sets off their alarms, but I had none of that brand on. So again, just shrugged. Then I was about to go look at some books, and had to walk past again. This was the first time I had walked through alone, so I thought maybe it would turn out I was not the cause of the alarms, but no! They go crazy again! Then a while later when we left, they again go insane! We died laughing! I still have no idea why, but Ricky suggested that maybe it was the braces! LOL!!!
After that, we still had time to kill, so we went to Wal-Mart, oh yes. Major hot-spot! So we hung out in there, and found some stellar glasses for Matt (he thought they were too big, though, but I think he liked the pink sparkles), and a really stellar pink pandora for Ricky! They looked so cool! Yea, so that was my day! It was really fun!

So I have decided to post some poetry! I wrote this poem December 3rd of '08. I hadn't let people read it, but have decided it's okay to share. I wrote it at school, it's the only thing I wrote all semester, besides homework, that is! Haha!

~The Secret of What You Do to Me~

Deep, dark, hidden inside.
Secrets kept even from my own eyes.
In my heart of hearts, I held onto this truth.
But it never reached the surface of my conscious mind.

When you keep secrets as long as I, you become a pro, a wiz, a master of disguise!
I turned the lock, and threw away the key,
But over time, it's whereabouts where even hidden to me!

Oh which way did my heart go? Which road did it take?
I was content with my resolve, then you jolted me awake!
What happened to the wall that took so long to build?
What I thought was made up firmly of bricks,
You blew over like a house of sticks.

Not sure how, but with the clocks slow ticking hand,
You've disarmed me as tide to the sand.
Afraid to trust again, I knew I couldn't let you in.
No! I wouldn't be hurt again!
But as the tide insistently, relentlessly crashes on the sand,
And washes away the tired, outer layers,
So you came into my life, nad pushed your way into my inner soul.
You waltzed right in, unbeknownst to me,
Bringing my false, naive security crashing down to it's knees!
(Never to be fully restored)

Do you even know? Would it matter at all?
Or did I scare you away with my untrusting wall?
Look down at what you're holding, in your hands.
Do you see it? It's small, nothing great or grand.
But it's my heart, nad you're holding it,
And to be honest, it hurts!!!
My heart bleeds everytime you leave me to go flirt!
I know I say I don't care, but you see,
I still have to hide.
The secret of what you do to me must stay locked up inside.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I am Going to Marry Batman!!!

2009-02-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

Soul winning was this morning. It went really good, but was pretty cold outside! But praise the Lord it was not raining this morning! The sun was even out! It's been pouring rain since Thursday, and was supposed to be today as well, but it was not as cold as it has been, and no rain! It was such a blessing, because there is no way we would have been able to be door-knocking in the weather we've had for the past couple of days. And an hour or so after door-knocking, the rain started coming down again, so God was sooooo merciful to give us good weather! I love the rain, but am not super thrilled about the idea of spending a couple hours of the morning walking around while it pours!!! But I must say, that although it didn't have the same rain smell as usual, the air smelled so nice and fresh, and I could smell all the flowers and grass!! Blue skies, smiling at me.....nothing but blue skies, do I see.......

After soulwinning, Robb and I went over to my twins house. We had such a great time! We made some lunch, and had some ice cream, it was so good! Then Matt and I got into a slipper war! But let the record show, Matt started it, as always! :) I was in the kitchen, when a slipper whizzed past my head! It almost took my head off!! LOL!!! So then we were fighting over the slippers and then tossing them at each other. It was fun! He's just lucky he didn't break anything though, he kept throwing the slipper in really bad places, and there were repeated BANG's and CRASHes! But good times! We watched the Dark Knight, and I am the only one of us who has not seen it! I know, you may think I am not a good Batman fan, but it's not my fault! I spent last summer working at a camp in CO where I didn't even have cell reception, let alone access to the summer flicks! Then I went to Bible College, need I say anymore? Haha! So I was not able to see it before now, and I have to say.......STELLAR!!! I loved it! Absolutely superb, in my opinion! After that, we just hung out and goofed around. Robb and Matt wrestled, Matt got to point his gun at us, and show off all his knives and his toy-box, I tormented Lauren with my camera, good times! We had a really great time, and will hopefully be getting together next week, right Twin 1???

Then, I got back home and my parents, I just have to say, are wonderful! There is a plate of Chinese food (my favorite in the whole galaxy), and a cuppa tea sitting there just waiting for me to gulp it all up! And they rented Prince Caspian for us to watch together tonight! And until this afternoon, I have not watched a movie for uh, a really long time! When I watch something, it's always a TV show, not a whole movie! So I think the last movie I watched was in early January! It was so weird to watch a program that lasted for over an hour! And this movie was especially long! But so worth it, of course!!!
So, I think we will leave it at that! I had a super great day, and now get to spend a fun evening with my family! So goodnight all!

2009-02-07T00:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I must say that today has been pretty stellar!!!

It is pouring rain outside, and because of that, I was feeling kind of lazy. But I got up this morning, exercised, did my devotions and some other work, played on my computer. I really didn't have much to do for the day, and since I got up super early---in vain---yesterday, I decided to take it slow and easy today and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! I did not accomplish much other than the rest of my planning and preparation for RU Kidz tonight, but sometimes we all just need a day to kick back and take things slowly. And it was very nice! It was only Mom and I here, and so the TV was off, there were no loud men, no trash, no clutter, no empty soda cans on the coffee table. Everything was so peaceful, and everything was so neat and clean, just the way we like it! Very nice!

I came to a decision today. A resolve. I am filled with determination! I feel like I can't get into too many details, but there was a relationship in my life, that had taken a very disappointing turn. As I had written in here already, someone I thought was my friend has hardly been one. Come to think of it, the only worse friends I've had were 3 "friends" that were in my youth group in high school and they made fun of me and lied about me behind my back! And this person has not been that bad, but for someone that is supposed to be my friend, no worst, best friend, there has been so much gunk! And even though I will still be a friend to this person, that's all I can be. I am filled with resolve that if I ever hear from this person again, I will respond as a friend, nothing more! Because this is not the kind of relationship that is healthy, for serious! I don't want to go into details, I am not even sure why I am posting this! But it's 1 in the morning and I have been with kids all night, and maybe I had a soda and candy and ice cream and cake too late into the night, who's to say??? But the point is, that me and this person and are not me and this person anymore! I am filled with resolve and determination, and through much prayer and counsel from my mom and grandma (who's counsel I greatly value), am sure this is the right decision and God has given me peace about it! Even when I told my dad, he agreed that it was the right choice! This person has been treating me badly, and I have finally awakened and become aware of it. Took me long enough, but I got the picture eventually! Ignorance is bliss, and I almost preferred it before I knew who this one really was. This is someone I have spent countless hours with, and really care about, and who said they cared about me as well, and yet, the proof is in the pudding, and lately there hasn't even been any pudding to proof (what? Go to bed, Jane!). And it does hurt a little bit that I am the only loyal one in dumb thing, and that the care I feel for this one is not felt by and for both parties. But that's what happens with self-absorbed people. I have a knack for finding the self-absorbed ones! This person cares for self more than they ever could care for me! So this is good. This is healthy, and necessary, and I am glad to be moving on with my life! Yep! I am, truly! And I am not really upset about it, these are facts, and it's been coming for a while. I am woman, hear me roar! You can't phase me I'm the Ginger.....wait, no, wrong story! Okay, and maybe that is not entirely true. If I think about it, this makes me very sad. To lose a dear friend and realize I bought right into a pack of lies. That does hurt a lot, so I dont' think about it that way. I instead think of the cankur I am ridding myself of! LOL!!! But this is good. Extremely good. And very healthy! Yep!

RU Kidz was tubular tonight! Raphael, Matt and I each wore all black, and we looked really cool! It showed our authority and uniformity and stellarority!!! Yea, it was far-out for sure! I was so nervous for tonight! I was bracing myself for a really rough night, but our night-mare children were not there tonight! God is so Good! I feel really bad saying that, because I want them to come. But when this one child in particular is there, no one gets anything out of the night, because he creates havoc and we can't even play a game because there is pandemonium! But he wasn't there tonight, so the night went by so smoothly! I couldn't believe it. The kids were so well-behaved, the 3 of us were an amazing team of leaders (all in black), and it was a ton of fun! And I am starting some specified rules, written by yours-truly, just for them! Tonight I came up with 3, right on the spot. #1: "Thou shalt not complain when thou art singing." They always complain about the songs I pick, at least one person will complain about each one, I can't please every one, even though I have been trying hard to. So I just made that rule up, and it worked, and I am wondering why I didn't make it sooner! #2: "Thou shalt not complain when thou breathest!". Then we moved on with the program, and one little kid in particular was still complainging a lot, and I realized, Jane, if you can make a rule that says no complaining during songs, can't you make one that eliminates complaining for ever? Which I could, I did, and it was the best rule yet! #3: "Thou shalt be silent when thou are summoned to be so!". And yes, I know summoned means called. But I really like that word, and in trying to speak in Ye Old English Terms, I used that word, Hannah wrote it down as a commandment, and so "summoned" stays! But these rules worked beautifully, and so I am going to finish writing the Sacred Commandments of RU Kidz this week, and put them on a neon poster-board and hang it in class every Friday! It's stellar! Or at least it will be! Oh, and it was so cute! We were playing Fruit Basket Mix Up, and little Joy was in the middle. For those of you who don't know this little sweetie, she is 5, and just the cutest, funniest little thing! So it's her turn, and we tell her to call out a fruit name. So she enthusiastically begins pointing to people and saying "Apple, Banana, Orange, Apple, Banana....." just as she had seen me done a few minutes before. But we say, no Joy, just say ONE! So she nods, and again does the same thing! So I tell her, No Joy! Just say "APPLE" and I yell it out! So she smiles big and is so excited, and says, yelling now, "APPLE, BANANA, ORANGE, APPLE....." and still continues to point to people! Oh, it was the cutest thing I have seen in a long time! I think the only thing that's topped it so far is Ethan, her little brother, counting to ten last week, now that was cute! So finally everyone just decided that since she was calling off all the fruit, it must be a fruit basket upset! So everyone ran around, found a seat, and applauded the now-seated Joy for doing the best job in the middle!! So great!

So that is my exciting night! It was very fun! I have soul-winning in the morning, and then I am hanging out with my twin and our two siblings (that are not related to each other in any way besides the Family of God). So I am pretty stoked for the day which now starts in a few hours, so I really should go to sleep! Goodnight everyone and thanks for reading!

Lions, Pirates, and Bats OH MY!!!!

2009-02-05T15:52:00.001-08:00

Well today has been really stellar, and it's only half-way through! Of course, my day started early this morning, much earlier than it had to! The LBA Lions had a basketball tournament in Long Beach all day today, so my family and I were driving down there. We had to be at the church at 7, which meant leaving at the blessed hour of 6:30, which of course would be more blessed if still asleep, rather than up and about! But we piled into the car and went off down the 210! We were driving along, when dad suggests to Robb that he call someone to let Coach know that we may be there a little bit after 7, and not to leave without us! So Robb calls Ryan, who is still asleep at Tommy's house, and he informs Robb that they are not meeting at the church until 9. So Robb calls Coach and as it turns out, the tournament has been cancelled and they only have one game in Long Beach today, which we do not have to leave for until 9 from the church. At this point, we are at Fruit St, which is our exit for La Verne. So we just make a U-turn (after exiting the free-way of course!) and head home. Oh well! So I got some extra time in my Bible, which was a blessing, and then was able to watch a couple minutes of the Office before heading back out into the rain and over in La Verne for Round 2!!! Robb got out and hopped onto the Magic School Bus (did anyone else watch that show growing up???) and Matt Wright came and rode down with us. I had convinced him and Raphael to go so we could have a very important RU Kidz staff meeting.
Last week in RU Kidz was very very rough, so we really needed to get together and sort things out, since we are all new to this! And Matt and I have gotten to know each other a little bit on Facebook, but have not really talked in person much yet, so it was fun to hang out today. And I know this may not come as much of a suprise to some of you since we look a lot alike, but in contemplation of the matter, Matt and I have come to the great realization that we are related! We are not sure how yet, but there is a definite family connection. And he and even Lauren have so sweetly welcomed me into the family! It is so nice to get some family connections in the church, I always knew I was Filipino deep down inside!!! But we had a great time exchanging near-death experiences and funny stories on the way down to Long Beach, and it made the trip very enjoyable! We watched the first half of the game, which honestly was not going too well.

Then at half-time, Raphael, Matt and I went outside to have our first very important grown up business-like top-priority RU Kidz meeting. Last week was so rough. It was the first week we were all in there together, and we had some new kids, and honestly, the night left us feeling beat up. We are lucky to make it through alive! I believe that during the week, some of the children may have been planning a mutany. So, to make sure nothing of the sort happens, the 3 of us devised a plan to conquer the galaxy!!!! Muhahahahahahaha! Okay, so the plan is not completed yet, but we're in Phase 1 of the devising! It is going to be super stellar, but we're not quite there yet. But it's coming along, and one day soon, the 3 of us will truly be an unstoppable force of leaders and rule the world (or at least RU Kidz!) :)!!! The meeting left me very excited!!! We talked outside for a while....all the way through half-time and made it back inside with a minute left of the 4th quarter, and we were forced inside by the rain. It took all that time to accomplish what we did because, and I am serious when I say this, I believe we all have ADD. One of us has been diagnosed with it, and the other two have not, but by the symptons, it's a pretty safe bet. But we are going to be an awesome team of leaders! Unstoppable! Like the 3 pirates, or 3 ninja's, or 3 muskateers, or wait, no....better!!.......Batman, Robin, and Batgirl! Whoo Hoo!!! Yes, there we go! I guess that would make me Batman, lol! So I am very excited because we have great plans in the works, and I think, with God's help, we are going to put together a great program! We are very excited and I think we will work great together! God has a way of bringing people together, and we all work good together, so I am super psyched! This is going to be psychadelic!!!

Oh, yea, and by the time we got back into the gym, the game had a minute left. The game ended 62-48, Long Beach won. But, you have to give our team props! They did a good job against this team. It's not like these are little pansies we're up against. They are Cambodian (which must count for something, right?), and they also have the fact that their coach is Hitler! I mean, these kids don't play any sports besides basketball, and they live and breathe it! As soon as the game was up and their post-game-meeting was over, they were running laps and practicing! Now that's intense!!! No wonder they're so good! Man alive! But our boys did good, and had a good attitude! I am proud of them!!!!

Well, I think that is about it. I have a few things to do before church tonight. I am helping in Kings Kids tonight and am excited about that. I really love working with kids and teens, so I am really thankful for every opportunity I get to help out in these areas!!!

Relationships for Dummies

2009-02-04T21:01:00.001-08:00

Oh wait, I looked it up on Google (my fave toy!), and look what I found (this only makes sense if you read my last blog)!!!

Brain Boggler

2009-02-04T19:16:00.000-08:00

People boggle my mind. My thoughts are jumbled and confused. My reality got stuffed into a blender and then poured back into my brain, making a big, confusing mess!

The problem with being a girl, is that I think with my emotions. It's true. Girls, you know exactly what I'm talking about! I know, you guys are probably thinking, "No way! I have never met an emotional female! All the girls I know are calm, realistic, and never run on emotions or have a single mood-swing!". But, no, it's true. I know we females hide it so very well, but I must admit, that we are emotional! And in this case, I am not talking about crying, or being sad. I am talking about having flip-flopping feelings. Which of course, my feelings on a situation are different today than yesterday, the problem lies in decision making. When I, as a female, act impulsively. Which I do not want to stereo-type this, but it's true, women just act impulsively based on present emotion, and most men I know do not! So although I usually resent stereo-types, in this case it is true. A situation was brought to the fore-front of my attention yesterday, and when I realized it, I was so angry!!! But today, my feelings have calmed down a lot. I am frustrated, but my feelings are turning into independence and a look at the possibility of cutting off the source of my emotional stress. I am just so thankful that this time, I have NOT acted on any of the emotions that have been buzzing through my confused brain! Which in the past, with this same person that is currently causing me grief, I have acted impulsively twice. One time it was okay, and the other time......not so okay, actually. But that's a different story that will not be shared on this blog! But, my issue: oh, so difficult. I have a friend that is hardly being a friend at all. And I am confused! We saw each other last Monday, and it's been over a week, and still no word! I was told by this person that we would be emailing as we had before we saw each other, but no contact has been made, and because of complicated reasons, I cannot email this person, but must first be emailed, then may respond! Ugh! Why am I even putting this on here? Well, I'm not sure. But I am venting, so just nod your head and smile, if you are confused! How could you not be? I am confused! All my other school friends have called, texted, emailed, talked online, anything! This person is one of my very best friends, but lately has not been acting like a friend at all. Makes me wonder how close we actually were. If out of sight means out of mind, how close could we actually be? Even before we saw each other last Monday, the emails were few and far between, and it'd been 5 weeks since we'd seen each other. So is it distraction? Or does this person not care as much when I am not around? Or, is there something/someone keeping this person's attention occupied? Some of you may think I am over-reacting, that I am reading into things. But were I not choosing to remain aloof about this, you would understand, furthermore, you would agree and be cheering me on should I decide to send hate-mail or egg this person's house! Which as of right now I am not planning on doing, but you never know! This person has aggravated me by, how do I put this, irresponsible?, selfish?, immature?, hm, maybe just stupid behavior, and I get upset of course, but then there are apologies, and I can't help but forgive, because as I said above, this person is one of my very closest friends, and I deeply care for this one! I just can't stay mad! I would much rather pretend nothing is wrong than start a fight, but sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Wow, if this makes no sense, I am sorry, it's just because I am thinking out loud, rather thinking onto my blog! Writing helps me sort through things. But I don't think I am any less confused. The issue is still in existence, and I still have no idea how I really feel about it, what I am going to do, or what the long-term results of this decision may be. Oh, it's so complicated!!

Man, I wish there were a Relationships-for-Dummies 101!!!

The Poet's Mind

2009-02-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

I am not a man-hater....I just think this is funny!!!

Vex not thou the poet's mind with thy shallow wit
For thou canst not fathom it
Clear and bright it should be ever Flowing like a crystal river
Clear as light And bright as day
-excerpt from "The Poet's Mind" by Lord Alfred Lloyd Tennyson

I have fallen in love all over again! A love that I had long abandoned by necessity while at college! A strong love, that caused pain when abandoned. But now, being back at home, having more time on my hands and no homework or academic schedule, I am once again a library frequenter!!! This is my second time at the Rancho Cucamonga Archibald library in one week! And it is amazing! At school, I would often go to the library to use the large dictionary, or for a quiet studying sanctum. But it just wasn't the same. The library here is amazing. They have such beautiful organizing. Their rows are so even, their books so broad in genre, so well-kept, so smartly arranged, so many books to choose from! I love it!

This evening my mom and I walked down. From Hermosa to Archibald is only about 3 blocks, not bad at all. It was quite a pleasant walk, very enjoyable. We walked back in the dark, and decided that next time we make this journey, a flash light would be in order! The path was lined by bushes on both sides for a short length of time, and we were quite afraid that there would be a rise in the pavement, and our bare toes would be stubbed on the rough concrete! That is quite painful. Walking along, unsuspecting, minding your own business, when suddenly your toe is smashed against a rise in the sidewalk. Pain starts at your foot and shoots like a screaming banshee out of a cannon up your leg and all the way to the top of your head as you bend at the waist and cry out in pain! Frustration adds to the anger as you question why something so small and seemingly insignificent as a toe can cause such grief, and bring such a breach into your current activity! The top of your toe is skinned, maybe a little blood, and that brings more frustration, now pointed at the concrete slab under your feet. Who put that there! What kind of moron lays concrete uneven like that? Are they purposefully bringing pain on the community? Is the creator of such evil sitting behind some nearby bush, quietly snickering as unnsuspecting passers-by go about their day in a merry manner to have their pleasant life come crashing down as you enter the world of pain and frustration---all from your toe (and of course that stupid side-walk!). But thankfully, both mom and I were saved from so dreadful an experience-although I am sure you have caught on that I am no stranger to this tragedy!

The poem I quoted above is one that I read in a book I checked out last week. It is a collection of poems by my current most beloved poet, Tennyson. I so enjoy his dry wit, thought-provoking topics, and point of view. He can write from so many perspectives. Tennyson has one poem called, All Things Must Die, and another called Nothing Shall Die (I believe that is the title). The words are very similiar, but speak from different perspectives. One in a positive light, the other speaking from a sadder, more cynical view. He has the ability to write from many different sides, can understand the soul of other people that have beliefs and views completely opposite of his own and make his reader understand the character or view as well. A very talented man. I do so enjoy reading his classic works! But I am also reading Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Burns, Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, John Donne, and Langston Hughes. And that is just the poetry. I am also reading the Old Testament, and a teaching book called Ready or Not by Sara Carlson (which I am so highly recommending for single young ladies of any age. This book is getting me through some hard times!). I have such a huge to-read list, yet I continue to borrow books that are not on my list. But I will get to them all eventually. It will just be a slow crawl! But one that I enjoy! I love reading! My ultimate favorite past-time!

I am really wishing I were at school, but things here are great. I really enjoy the church. My class on Friday nights is amazingly great. I love teaching RU Kidz. The college/career group is unbelievably stellar! Beyond compare! I am making some great friends in there, and really enjoy the activities that we do, hanging out every Sunday night, and just fellowshipping with them before and after (not during ;) ) services.

But thankfully I am also able to talk some to my friends at school. Jesse and I have been able to chat a few times this weekend, which always puts a smile on my face, and I have even heard from Kayla pretty frequently, and that is the bees knees! And I have been able to keep in touch with Stephanie, who is more sister than friend we're so close, and that is a blessing! But in a way the internet is cool. Via facebook I am getting to know a ton of people, some that I have never even met in person, or at least we were never close! I am making more friends, it is fun to branch out. Get me out of my comfort zone.

I did some job-searching today. Kohls is supposed to start interviewing next week, so today I brought by my resume and filled out an application. That would be a great job! I went back to Corky's they are frustrating me. I believe that hostessing position is lost to me....actually, I am lost to them! Ha! I went to Montclair Plaza on Friday and handed my resume out to 4 people, 2 of which actually used the rarely heard term "We're Hiring", and one of which would be hiring soon and was so excited about my resume, she said she would pass it up to her general manager pronto! So I am excited and encouraged about what the Lord is going to do. I just know He is going to provide me with a job soon! All in His time......I really pray His time is now! But I am trusting Him. We had a great Sunday school lesson taught just to us girls by Miriam from Matt. 6:22-28 (?) about not worrying! It was a blessing, and a needed reminder and challenge. I need to stop worrying and give it all to God! Truer words were never spoken! Well, maybe not never, but rarely, at least! I think that is it for now. But I do enjoy blogging when I work up the motivation to spend this much time on one activity at once, so I believe I will make it a priority to do it more often.

Love, peace and chicken grease to all!

P.S. Last Saturday, I found out that my favorite flower, being a yellow carnation, means disdain. Obviously, my ears did not enjoy receiving that news. Well, at least Daisies, my second favorite, mean Innocence. And that is pleasant. But I am still disappointed at such an unhappy definition for the former.

Walls

2009-01-16T15:26:00.000-08:00

People, friends, family, acquaintances,
Those who stay, those who go,
Help to make or break the circumstances.

Everybody needs somebody,
That fact is true for all.
And yet we hide and live behind
Our impenetrable walls!

I do it, too. We all do.
And that's what makes it worse!
A relationship isn't a play you can
Perfect or Rehearse!

You're dealing with people
That have feelings just like you.
Don't you think it hurts when
Your wall won't let them through?

Maybe you're like me.
You've spent years building up
That Wall of Security.

Your trust brought you grief.
Sick of giving people power
To make you grieve,
To make you weak!

Tired of betrayal,
That abuse of your trust,
Wiped your tears so dry,
Emotions died, becoming dust.

So we walk around like zombies,
A real friendship has no chance.
That wall won't allow for more
Than a glance.

And yet sorrow still comes,
Just not from an outside source.
The only one who makes you cry
Is YOU
And your chosen course.

We're supposed to have companions,
To have a trusted friend.
To cry, laugh and joke!
Help you make it to the end.

And yea, you might get hurt,
But guess what--LIFE'S TOUGH!!
But I can promise you,
the Lonely Path
Is the life that is more rough.

So break down the wall
That ties and binds!
You're not free, you're trapped!
As in your freedom you will find.

Life is a Risk, and a Chance,
A Step of Faith.
So learn how to cope!
It's a step you need to take!

By: Sarahjane Elizabeth Pardon

Cotton-Headed-Ninny-Muggins!!!

2009-01-14T18:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Mom and I drove to school to get my stuff from my dorm. It was really sad. I didn't cry, but I did think about it. Mom cried, but I didn't feel like it. So I sucked it up, and moved on. Didn't take too long to pack up all my stuff. I wrote notes for my roommates on everything I knew wouldn't matter. You know, "I love you", "Don't forget me", "Jane loves you and is praying for you", and such and so forth. I felt so homesick. I remember there was a time while at school that I did not feel at home there at all. I had been hanging out with that may not be bad to some, but they pretty much didn't care at all for anything important, enjoyed breaking minor laws, and one was even an ex-druggy/dealer, so, not really the type of people that you should label as your "inner circle". I realized this, and stopped hanging out with these people. However, I really didn't know anyone else. We were almost a month into school, and I didn't have any other friends! So, I hung out with three awesome people-me, myself, and I! As pitiful as that may sound to some, it worked...for a while! But as time wore on, my self-fulfillment wore off, and I really needed someone! Being so far away from my family, as exciting of course as that was, I really needed someone there to spend time with and be close to. That's when I met Kayla Stone. She and I worked together, and we totally clicked. Went together like 2 peas in a pod, or maybe PB&J, except there were only two of us. But maybe salt and pepper, or sugar and spice-everything nice! We bonded quickly and had a great time terrorizing the computer lab with our quick wit! A couple weeks after that (which felt like an eternity), we started hanging out with a long-time friend of Kayla, Jesse Jones, and his roommate Matt Hodge. I must confess, at the start, I thought Jesse was, well, slightly off his rocker, and I must also be honest and admit that I thought Matt was bossy and annoying. However, for some reason, my desperation for friends, kept me hanging out with them, and very quickly, the above mentioned gentlemen became good friends, and soon we were an un-stoppable foursome! Again, we bonded quickly. Sometimes you just find those people you click with, and these three people have been added to my small list of best friends! I learned that a home is not about where you live, or even what you have there, it's about being with people you care about. I did not feel at home at school until I felt at home with the people there. The people I was close to made it home for me. So as I am sure you cannot imagine, making the trip to school yesterday, going to the dean's office, seeing Mrs. Weaver, Bro. and Mrs. Blehm, then heading across the eerliy empty campus, and going into my empty dorm and gathering up my stuff, it was really hard! Overwhelmingly so. But I have been coping with these emotions for quite a while now, and as they are nothing new, I have already cried my tears. So, I was strong and did not cry, but my mom did a little bit!

So, with all my stuff, and our already confined space, we were quite out of room.
So we spent the middle of the afternoon organizing and rearranging the bedroom and so on. So, for tomorrow, all we have to do is unload my suitcases. All of my odds and ends, and I have a lot, are put away, so now it's mostly just clothes, which we made mucho room for this afternoon! Kudos to us! Mostly mom, though. As my attention span was suffering today, I fear that I was not as much help as I should have been. But I know I will be better tomorrow!

Then I went on errands with mom and grandma. Lemme tell ya, though. Having three generations of opinionated, sassy Irish women out together is great, but throw in some testy circumstances, and things can get a little bizarre. Or just flat out insane. Whatever floats your boat. While they were grocery shopping (which would be a very boring task if not for the adorable baggers employed at our grocery store!), I hit all the businesses and asked the dreaded question, "Are you hiring?". I have filled out so many applications, mostly online. But yesterday and today I actually went out and asked people in person. I gotta say, THIS IS BAD for my self esteem! I feel like a loser! Or, as Elf so eloquently says it, a "Cotton-Headed-Ninny'Muggins"! Yep, that pretty much labels it spot on! Walking into a store and asking that dreaded question time and time again, and getting turned down time and time again, is simply not good for morale! In fact, I would definitely call it a negative influence. Oh yes, I would go that far! Believe it or not! But, I finally talked to one little diner that is hiring a hostess, so I filled out an application and tomorrow I will bring by my impressive (as I like to think) resume, and talk to the manager. I pray this is it. I simply do not understand how one can survive as a cotton headed ninny muggins for a long amount of time! Seems purty darn difficult to me! And I am new at this!

So, that was my day. 24 and American Idol have been keeping me busy at night. Thank goodness for those shows. I read so much, that sometimes it is so enjoyable to turn my brain off in front of some pointless entertainment. I quite enjoy it occasinally. A pleasant past-time when not enjoyed too frequently!

I am very excited for church tomorrow. Sad though, Jaclyn is gone. But I still have friends here. Sure I do! MAN ALIVE! I really miss my school! Drat! WHY? Ugh! Such frustration!
But I do love church. And being used to chapel everyday, I miss having church so often. Then Friday night I have my first full night of teaching RU Kids, and am super thrilled for that! I already love that ministry, and am so thankful for the great opportunity! Then Sat is soul-winning, and Sunday I go bar-hopping with the girls. haha! Just kidding, making sure you weren't falling asleep! But bear with me, I am falling asleep myself! I need to go to bed! So goodnight! I wrote a poem today. I will probably post it tomorrow. Depends on if I'm in the sharing mood or not.

The Wounds of a Friend

2009-01-09T15:02:00.000-08:00

You know what's really sad? Getting hurt. But more than getting hurt, getting hurt by a friend. I guess it makes sense, those who are closest to us have the ability, the power to hurt us more. Those trusted few, the people who catch a glimpse of who you really are. You know, the ones you trust with your life. The whole you laugh, I laugh, you cry, I cry with you and wipe your tears thing. All that jazzy stuff. It makes sense, that those are the ones who could hurt us the most, after all, friends like that become part of you, so it seems. It's just sad is all. I wish our friends and our enemies could stay in two separate groups. Instead, some in the friend group hurt us more than those in the enemy group. If it came from an expected source, it may hurt, but it's a blow from an outsider. But when it's from a friend, it's different. Since they are closer, they injure so much more. It's not just a distant attack, it's a deep stab in the back. Whether done intentionally or not, those are the wounds that hurt. The wounds that do more than sting and scab, these are the wounds that bleed and bleed, and never completely heal. And at the slightest pressure, could easily burst open, bleeding and hurting again. The wound that leaves scars. Those are the wounds of a friend.

I Love Smoothies!!!

2009-01-07T17:45:00.000-08:00

I have actually gotten out of the house a lot these past two days! It has been pretty awesome! With not having a job-still, much to my frustration, but certainly not from lack of trying!-I don't seem to get out much. I mean, I take my dogs out for walks, and I spend time outside, I prefer sunlight to dim lamp light, you know what I'm saying?! ;) Even so, a girl has to get out more often than that, at least this girl does! I die with nothing to do and no where to go. I have even started creating homework for myself! Haha! Nothing major, but I have all these books that I am reading, or want to read, so I have created a list, and I have my own deadlines, book studies to write, and so on. It helps keep my mind busy!
Yesterday, I got out of the house though! My dad had to go run errands, so I went with him. We left in the morning, and I thought we would be gone for an hour, maybe a little more, but we were out until 2:30! So, I hurried and got home and left right away to go to the school to bring Robby to basketball practice! While he did that, I played piano and chatted with some girls in the youth group, who are really cool and so funny! And, I am officially accepted by the girls there now, because after I left to drop my dad off at work (although I had to drive back to the campus to pick Robb up), but while I was gone, they played MASH, and they did one for me. So Robb delivered a paper to me from the girls that told me who I would marry, that we'd have 9 kids, live in a mansion, have a limo, and my occupation would be a bum! haha! But, that means I have been welcomed into their little hearts! YES!!! Once you are accepted by the youth group, you are totally in! ;) At least, the teens like to think so! :)

I got out today also! Again, accompanying errands. This time, I went with Grandma. We had to go to a coffee shop in Chino to pick up her latte pot thingy-majigger, which is about a 20 minute drive. Then we stopped for lunch at Panera, which was heavenly, I must say!!! We went to target, and to Henry's, and It's a Grind, at which I got a Berry and Green Tea Smoothy, and it was delicous!!! Seriously, YUMMO!!!! So, that was my exciting day. Pretty much rocked my socks.

OK, so, random subject change, but I am very, very upset with our culture today. Honestly! I don't mean to sound like an old-timer, but WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO???? OK, so first off, I hear that a man kidnaps and murders his 2 year old son, because he didn't want to pay child-support. He said that if forced to pay child-support, he would either kill his wife or his son. So the wretch murders his little boy. What heart break! How sick!
Second, the news comes that 2 homosexual "partners" adopt a little girl. I mean, they can't have children so of course they adopt, right? I mean, if I gave my child up for adoption, I would definately want her to be taken care of by two grown men, you with me? NO! Of course not! Uno, there is a very good reason why the two men cannot have children together! Honestly, we shouldn't even need to make that point! Ugh! Number two, how perverted does that sound, in today's world, we allow a male couple to bring an innocent, helpless little girl into their home! What is wrong here? The whole situation makes my stomach churn!!! AAAHHH!
Then today, my dad calls me over to check out this video on Fox news. In Fort Lauderdale, there are of course rally's and protests, and this video is highlighting a muslim rally on the street. Just right there in the open, they are yelling and screaming and waving signs in protest of Israel. They are cursing at the Jews, while they are of course, in our country, adorned in Muslim garb, and they are screaming GO BACK TO THE OVEN!!! I mean, what??? WHAT??? You know, I really have no problem with the Muslim people. I feel no anger or bitterness towards them as a people. I mean, the religion is a cult, but my heart breaks for the people trapped and blinded by it. Just like any other cult. Sure, it was Muslims, and middle-easterners that have terrorized our country, but that was not every Muslim. We can't put the evil of few on every person from that country or religion. So, my issue is not with the religion, or the people. My anger comes in when they stand on the streets of our country and scream murderous, and hateful things to another people. If you hate our country, why are you here? If you are going to stand on our streets and curse Americans, then leave! The great thing about America, is that it's the melting pot! This is a country where people from all over the world can come and start over! We have enough hateful people and racists here as it is already, don't bring your new hates and your new nasty protests and slanders to us! We don't need that! And why was this allowed to continue? HUH? I want to know why they were not all arrested for a hate crime! "Go back to the oven!" What? That is terrible! To hear that, breaks my heart! Brings tears to my eyes! How could someone ever bring themself to say something like that? What strong level of hate must you feel to say that? I can't even comprehend. So if you want to come to our country, great! Start over! And I don't even think you have to become an American clone. Bring your culture! It's what makes America so unique and amazing! But one thing you must leave behind is your hate and your cruelty! We don't need that nor do we want that! And why is our governement so fearful of offending others? So what, because they are Muslim, we can't arrest them? What, it's not a hate crime if it's against Jews, or Christians, or Conservatists, right? But God forbid one of those groups say something against the different groups, right? No! People are people. Hate is hate. Furthermore, a hate crime is a hate crime no matter who it's pointed at or who committed it! It sickens me! It absolutely sickens me! Will we ever be able to over come our hate for those that are different?

Tournament of Roses, Why Not Just SImply:Rose Parade?

2009-01-01T20:14:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! I can't believe it is actually 2009. I say that every year, but it's true each time I say it! When I looked ahead, I imagined my life to be a certain way, and it is so different than what I had imagined. My family lives in California, I am not in school, I am not doing any of the things I wanted to be doing at this point in my life. And yet, I am trusting God more than I ever have. I just had this conversation with a friend this afternoon (no, not an imaginary friend like the ones who read my blog, someone who talks all his own). If I am living my plan, then I am going to miss God's will for my life, so instead of allowing me to miss His will, His plan for me, God has totally knocked me off my feet, sent me flying off in a new direction, disarming me of my plans and my securities. You're right, not exactly fun. But still great! I am learning so much right now, about God, about myself, and life in general. I am really growing up in this time. Let's hope it sticks! As I come into 2009, I hope that God shows me what His will for me is soon, and that He gives me the strength to follow it. I am going to work more at surrendering to Him, and trusting Him as He leads. I hope He gives me wisdom and extra grace, because I really need it!!! So, in celebration of the New Year, I went to the Rose Parade this morning. It was very exciting! My parents and I went when I was about 4, which was 14 years ago, and I hope I don't need to express that I do not remember it at all. They did the whole insane camp out on the cold sidewalk bit, and were so cold and miserable they vowed never to go again. But, I have no recollection of what for them was a terrible, and forever life-scarring experience, so I decided to go today! Since I went and decorated floats with my (non-imaginary) friends on Monday, some of us went together today. It was fun! I got up at quarter to 6 on a holiday, and I got ready in the dark, and savagely kicked both of my dogs as I ran into them and almost flew over the top of their formerly sleeping bodies. They jumped awake, and gave me a mournful look, wondering why I was mad, and emotionally injured that I would kick them. So, I had to stop to pet and comfort my pitiful pooches! :) I left my house at 6:30 and met Jenny, Jackie, and Melinda at 7. We got to the parade at 7:30, and found parking and seats, and then walked around for a while. That was interesting. People are weird, and all of the strange people seem to be magically drawn to big, public, free-of-charge events such as the Tournament of Roses. After that, we just went back and sat down. I read, Jenny talked, and Jackie fell asleep. At this point, some church people, the Starman's had joined us. They have three kids, and then Sarah Archer was with them as well. Finally, after what seemed like years and years and years and so on, the first float made its way slowly to us! The floats kept coming and they were all very grand! It was so cool to see them! Especially after being part of it, and seeing how they are made, and knowing the insane amount of work that goes into them, I was more impressed with the floats! The crowds were insane, the party favors obnoxious, the weather went from very cold to very hot (which caused wardrobe malfunction), and it was long and eventually boring, and I could point out other idiosyncrasies of the event, but the bottom line is: IT WAS FUN!!! I had a really great time! I mean, I don't think I would have enjoyed it much by myself, but going and being with my friends was really fun!

Uneventful

2008-12-30T17:12:00.000-08:00

Well, my day has been pretty much pathetic! I have hardly done anything with myself all day. I got up at 8 o'clock this morning. Lazed around for a while I waited in line for the shower. But I did do some extra reading in my Bible, so that of course was very nice. But I took my time, which I suppose could be considered a nice morning for some.
At about 1:30, I went down to the church with my family. Tomorrow night, we are singing at the church for the New Years Eve service. They are trying to recruit a bunch of families to sing, just as a nice feature for the service. Last I heard, though, they only had four families signed up, so either the church is seriously in lack when it comes to talent, r they are a very shy congregation. :)
So, that is what I did this afternoon. Then, we were down at the church for about another hour. Mom had volunteered to help some ladies in the kitchen in preparation for tomorrow night's service, and would be there until 4. So, the guys shot some baskets, and I read. I am reading a really good book right now, called "Only the River Runs Free". It is a novel about Ireland by Brock and Bodie Thoene. I would highly recommend it. I really don't think anyone reads this blog, I mostly just write for myself. But, I like to imagine that I have many fans out there, somewere, who thrive on my every word and crave another blog as soon as they are done reading my last entry! I know that is a silly dream, but let me have my fun, ok! Who am I talking to? But, to all my "friends" out there. I strongly endorse the above mentioned book.

Now, I am blogging. Not because I have anything of importance to say, just because I enjoy blogging. There was about a week, where after two entries, I did not write anything. But when I get up the motivation to do it, within a paragraph or so, I greatly enjoy typing out my thoughts and the events of my life. I am getting ready to work on my Bible study. James is my favorite book of the Bible, and I am planning on writing a study on it. I will probably post it on here, in a new blog. So, for all of you imaginary people, I will imagine you reading that blog as well, just so you know! I am also waiting for an email. Not that one is coming, I just hope it is. I emailed someone on Friday, and have not yet received a reply. I hope I hear something soon. I am dying to hear from this person!

Well, I think that is about all I have to say right now. This is without a doubt, the most random and pointless post I have written thus far, and yet I am going to post it up, just because I can.

I just want to thank all the little people, who helped me make my

2008-12-30T00:03:00.000-08:00

I had a great time today! I went with Jennifer Dunlop, Jackie Ong, Heather Starman, Renee and Sarah Archer, Melinda, and 3 of Jennifer's old co-workers to decorate floats for the Rose Parade. I have never done anything like that, none of us had actually, but it was really fun! There were ten of us, and when we got there, we split up into two groups of five, and hoped to get on the decorating committee of a float, instead of stuck outside, cutting flowers and trying to look busy! Jenny, Heather, and her 3 friends went to work on the Jack in the Box float, while Melinda, Renee, Sarah, Jackie and I worked hard for China Airways. And, this is the best part: I was on TV! We were the only float that had TV camera's around it. There were pretty Chinese dancers and such, and they were recording us working. So, I am a star! In China, but a star still! No one can take that away from me! I would like to thank everyone who let savagely step on them as rungs on a ladder so I could climb and push my way up to this position. I had to climb many a scaffold and glue many a seed to a lantern to get to this point, but here I am! Thank you Mom and Dad, for birthing and feeding me. Thank you Bro. Goetsch, my speech teacher who gave me knowledge about acting and charisma. Thank you Lighthouse girls that I went with today. You helped me with my work, you helped me on the jobs, you shared the limelight. You are amazing! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA But, we did work very hard and had a great time! Then, we went to In&Out, which pretty much rocks my socks, and it was basically delisc! After that, we parted ways with Jenny's friends, and the seven of us drove down to Santa Monica, which is my favorite beach! We hung out there for a while! Then, we almost got killed by this HUGE pelican named Hannibal! His beak was six feet long and was razor sharp, and he weighed a supposed total of 200 pounds! My, my! This was a honkin' big bird! There was a large gathering of seagulls, so I ran around them screaming, scaring them away. Why? You may ask. . .because I am the greater species, and I can!!! But Hannibal would not be bothered, and just stood there, quite comfortable in the cool sand where he was standing. At this point, I was deeply bothered by this web-footed bird, and quickly growing frightened. This is retarded, and I am not afraid of most birds, however. . .when I was little, I got attacked by geese. To this day, at 18 years old, I am afraid of ducks, geese, pelicans, and sometimes of seagulls, as well. Needless to say, I was very afraid that Hannibal was going to go crazy and attack all of us, stabbing everyone's eye out with his long, pointy beak! Finally, he flew away, but after much provoking and polite entreaties on our part! We had fun down at the beach! Chasing each other and having races. Wading in the freezing cold ocean, playing under the pier, pulling barnacles off pillars, and seeing who could sink their feet deeper into the wet sand, and shrieking as the tide came up and froze our legs that looked like footless stubs (with our feet buried in the sand)! I had a great day! It was so nice to go and get to know the girls from church. Since I am not going back to school on the 24th, it is important to me obviously, that I have friends here. But having just moved, the only people I know are my family, and I really desire more than that. But I think the girls here are very sweet, so hopefully I can continue to get to know them, they are really cool! Well, good to be back here blogging again! Thanks for reading!

My Amazing Weekend

2008-12-21T15:01:00.000-08:00

I am continually amazed at how the Lord works! What I view as a bad thing, He uses for good! This weekend was awesome!
On Thursday night, we had the mid-week service at Lighthouse. It was really nice! They were having a Christmas special with Danny Thomas, A KeyBoard Christmas! It was nice, great music and nice to be back at the church. My parents have been going there for a couple of months and they really like it! I went there on a Sunday during Thanksgiving break, and really enjoyed it. It's nice, they even have a College and Career age group with about 15 faithful young adults, which is something they didn't have at Faith, so I was looking forward to visiting that class. Thursday I met some new people, and saw the Pastor and one guy there whom I had met before, and it was nice to see them again. The program was fun! As much as I love Lancaster Baptist Church, it is sooo big! Being from a church of 80 people, I really have been longing for that church family feel again, and just can't feel that way at LBC. But even though Lighthouse runs about 400, they have that family feel, and it was so nice! At one point in his program, Bro. Thomas called all the kids 6th grade and under onto the platform, with their parents keys and did Gospel Bells, it was cheesy, but so cute! I really enjoyed it!

Then Friday, Pastor Dunlop had a Christmas party at his home. We went over there at about 8:40 (after Dad got off work). Mom was sick, and couldn't come, which made me a little bit nervous. At this point, I still didn't know too many people there, especially not people my age. And even if I saw them, I probably wouldn't recognize them! Particuarly with the Fillipino's, they all look alike! :) But, I had a really nice time! At first I just followed Dad around, since Robb ran around with all of his friends as soon as we got there. But then a girl in the youth group, Heather, asked if I wanted to go outside with them. I went out there, and saw someone my age, so we talked for a while. I didn't know anyone else, so it was nice to see a familiar face, since I think I was cramping my brothers style!

The next night, we went to my Uncle George's house for a family Christmas party. It was really nice. Honestly, I am often intimidated when I go to see all my family. I don't even know what to do with myself, they are all such good friends, but I don't really know them, and don't know what to say or who to hang out with. But I ended up having a great time and tasting some really yummy desserts! As I was leaving, my family was so sweet! God really used them to provide for some needs, and to really touch my heart! I had a great time with them, and I love them very much.

Umbrella's, Ginger Snap, and Bison

2008-12-17T19:02:00.000-08:00

My second day home is quickly drawing to a close. Today it rained and rained.
At about eight-thirty this morning, I slowly started to stir at the sound of my parents soft voices
while my dad prepared to leave for work, as he had just received a call to come in that morning.
As I laid in bed, my brain started to catch up with my body which was starting to wake up, even though my eyes were still closed and hidden behind my sleeping mask.
A small smile grew on my tired face as I heard the sound of the rain beating on our roof. I could hear the water slapping the pavement outside, running into the gutters and washing into the storm drains at the end of the down-ward sloping street.
Back at school, I dread all things wet and cold, such as rain and strong wind, which of course we are no stranger to in Lancaster, CA. But here at home, I welcome the sound, smell, and sensation that comes with the falling rain.
So, I took my time getting ready this morning. Taking full advantage of the opportunity to procrastinate. I took a nice, long time with my devotions, and praise the Lord, was able to write down some answers to prayer which got replaced with more prayer requests and hopefully soon I will be able to cross those out and again write down some more.
Little things like emailing my friend and taking the dogs for a walk (in the blessed rain) took up the rest of my morning.
Wow! I sit here calmly typing on my laptop, lounging in the chair next to the tree, enjoying the colored lights from the Christmas tree, enjoying the sweet aroma of pine.
My brother is sitting next to me, and in the matter of a moment, Robb lets out a quite girlish shriek and jumps from his seat and starts to repeatedly beat the couch with book. He then proceeds to kick the chair with his humongous sneakers. After that attention grabbing act, my mom looks up and takes notice of the amusing scene unfolding right beside me and gently reminds my frazzled sibling that he is kicking the tan suede couch with his very large and rather filthy shoes. He subsides his irresponsible actions and catches his breath to explain that, horror above all other horrors, a HUGE spider savagely attacked his thigh!
Then, he has a terrifying realization:
the spider may very well still be making residence on his leg!
This results in a spastic dance to make sure that any residing creatures are flung onto the floor to be trampled underfoot. But alas, no such critter is to be found, and we are all left to wonder where it is making its new home. My mother and grandmother show a slight level of concern for my well-being and suggest a location change for me, as I am sitting in the next seat over from where the ambush took place just minutes before, but as I am quite comfy, I see no reason to move over something so trivial as a spider.

Continuing on with my only slightly eventful day:
Late in the afternoon, my frustrated papa is restless and bored, feeling rather cooped-up,
and suggests that he takes Robb and I out for coffee. Well, what soul in his right mind would say no to a trip to a coffee shop? Even for those of us individuals (and as of yet I still have not decided whether this is a blessing or a curse)
who detest or maybe slightly dislike coffee, finding it to be bitter, gross, vile, and sickly addicting for those who do like it, the trip would be appealing for there are always non-coffee drinks, even if one is forced to have a simple cup of Hot Chocolate (which in my opinion is delightful).
So, I put on my cute tan, suede winter boots that lace-up and are graced with cream-colored fur at the top, I basically live in these during the winter season.
The three of us headed out the door and I ran and slipped into the passenger seat of my grandparents burgundy Buick.
We drove down to Victoria Gardens and walked down the slick, rain stained pavement.

I am not a huge fan of umbrella's, so of course my preference is not walking under the cover of one. But, my grandpa seemed to be going out of his way to be a gentleman, making sure that the little lady (that being me) was well taken care of. So, I put on a smile and walked under the safe cover of the large black umbrella, almost being blown straight up into the dark cloudy gray sky when a strong gust of wind decided to attack me with all it's might! What a hard choice, save the umbrella and possibly my life, or try not to flash the two cute guys passing me on the sidewalk. Oh, decisions are so hard!

We continued on past the shocked pedestrians and darted into the wondrous sanctum of Starbucks. Out of the pouring rain and into the down-pour of sweet aroma and warm drinks topped in fluffy whipped cream. Times like this, I am reminded that Jesus loves me. ;)
So many choices. . .new Christmas drinks advertised on creatively decorated chalk boards all offered such strong temptation. After a strong internal battle, not necessarily between good and evil, nor the good, the bad and the ugly. But a battle between good better and best.
Which reminds me of one of my favorite sayings:
Good, Better, Best, never let it rest
Until your good is better
And your better best.
Well, my best was a Gingersnap Latte. I do not like coffee, so I am not sure why I ordered it.
Sometimes I am amazingly battled at my own thought process.
But even with my dislike of coffee, the latte won the battle of scrumptious sounding titles, so order and drink it I did. Over all I enjoyed the drink. The flavor was pleasant enough while I was drinking it, but in Starbucks fashion the taste grew bitter immediately after swallowing.

We then drove over to Pro Bass Shop, at least I think that is the name of the place.
Now you have to understand two very different characters in this story.

First: my grandfather is a hick and has a love for hunting and killing and shooting.
Second: I have to fight back tears when I see a stuffed deer or unrecognizable road-kill.
My brother is the third and final character in this scene, and as he is a city-boy, but still a boy, he is enjoying the guns and dead bison, bears, snakes, fish, elk and so forth that serve as the only decor on the floor, walls, and even the ceiling.

We walked around there for far too long in my opinion, and then finally left.

My thoughts on the store: to each his own.

This is basically the conclusion of my day.
Now I just sit here, energy from my too bitter latte dwindling.
I am warm and cosy on my couch, in my favorite seat,
while my mom chats and chuckles on the phone with a life-long friend
and my brother watches some odd crime show on TV.
Oh, I hope bed-time comes quickly!

Stay Tuned!

First Day at Home

2008-12-16T23:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I just got home today! I felt sad to leave. One part of me was happy to be going home, spending time with my family, but the other part of me was sad. I am leaving all of my friends behind, and it's hard not knowing if I am coming back next semester. Since my family just moved from Spanish Fork, UT (yea, there's a good reason you haven't heard of it) to Alta Loma/Rancho Cucamonga, CA, all of my friends are in Utah or at school. And I am in neither place. But, I have my family, and I really do need to spend some time with them. The church they go to is a really good place, too. Lighthouse Baptist Church in La Verne. I visited there on Thanksgiving break, and the people there were very friendly. They seem to have a lot of kids my age, so maybe I will find some friends there. Besides, it is good for me to get away from the campus. I am tired, desperately needing a rest at this point. Things are great with my roommates, but I know that even though we are going to miss each other, the time away from the other four roomies is a needed blessing for all five girls. But, we did have fun together this weekend. We were just hanging out in the room and goofing off and taking stupid pictures and so on and so forth. As a result, we all grew closer together and I have some great material for future blackmail!!! So, a re-cap of the events that filled my life for the past week or so. . .WOW! Was that really only a week? It feels like so much larger of a time slot! But, no, it's been less than a week. Thursday was the start of finals, which would last until Tuesday, and since I was not taking finals yet, I didn't have to go to anymore classes following Wednesday, which was really fun. Although I did continue to panic at about 6 in the morning, feeling as if I should be getting ready to head out the door for breakfast and leave for class, but then I would calm down at the realization that my laziness and procrastination could last all morning, for I had no activities until chapel at 10:30.
Thursday night was a Caribbean Christmas, our banquet. It was so much fun! Without a doubt it was my best date ever, although I have only been on two, and the first one was so lame that I hardly count it as a date! But, Matt and I had a really great time together and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Kayla and Brittany and Rachel came with us, and it was fun to have a big group! We joked that Matt had four dates, which I think embarrassed him a little. Oh well, we got a kick out of it! ;) I worked like a dog Thurs. night through Sat., I felt as if I lived in the kitchen! It was fun though, and a blessing to get the extra hours. And since I didn't have class or finals, I could work until midnight and sleep in the next morning. So, it really didn't hurt me at all, in fact, I enjoyed working late at night. Not that I would want to make graveyard shifts a regular occurrence throughout the school year, but it is fun when it doesn't cost any sleep or energy! Saturday and Sunday night the church choir sang the Hallelujah chorus along with the church choir and accompanied by the church orchestra at the end of their Christmas musical. That was awesome! It was amazing to be a part of 300 other voices singing Handel's Messiah! Knowing it was our last Sat. and Sun. there, it seemed like the perfect ending! Monday night there was a basketball game. It was, for some un-known reason, the "White-Out" and everyone wore white. It was really neat! We won! We almost had 100, I think we ended at 97, which was about 15 (give or take a little) points ahead of Multnomah. After that, every dorm/floor had a Christmas party. The party for Sisk 2 was in the Cafe. We had a talent show, which Caroline and I won, with our song "My Fat Abides With Me". Our audience/dormies even demanded an enchor. It was really fun, especially when we got up there and saw that among our audience was our beloved Mrs. Blehm, which made it hilarious for me and very embarrassing for Caroline, which again, made it hilarious for me! ;) But, over-all, it was a great experience! Today I got up at 7, feeling very sick, hardly able to talk. The roommates were very stressed, no, strike that, FREAKING OUT! The room was mucho trashed and they were running around as chickens with their heads cut off, trying to get everything packed and out the door. I still hadn't talked to my parents, and I had no idea if the free-way was weather safe for travel, so at this point, I still had no idea when I was going to be picked up that day, or if even at all. Oh, the drama that plagues my humble existence, even so early in the morning! ;) But, my voice gradually came to me, the roommates left, along with their trash and bags, and I talked to my dad (and found out when this day I would be picked up). So, before long every problem was solved and I was able to have a carefree, even relatively lazy morning (which I do so enjoy in moderation). AMEN! So, now I am home. Growing very tired, but as I am sleeping on the pull=out couch and my family is still wide awake (seeing as how there is a Laker game on, although thankfully it is the fourth quarter, so the party will be over soon), I will not be going to sleep for a while. Oh well, it is only quarter to ten and I am not accustomed to hitting the hay until 11 each night. So, I am sure I will be able to make it longer! That is my story. I think my first blog ever is now drawn to a happy close. Hopefully, I will be able to keep up on this throughout the break, keeping myself, or my family and friends, or whoever may stumble upon and wish to read my lowly blog updated and maybe even entertained, as I am sure to either do something so embarrassing and dim-witted that merely imagining the act in one's head will bring a smile upon the face of both the easily-pleased soul and the most hardened person, or I will witness an act so humiliating and hilarious that I will view it as my civic duty to share it with the rest of the world by any means at my finger-tips, i.e. mass emails, text-messages, phone calls and emails, blogs such as this, and maybe even You-Tube if I am so lucky as to have a camera on hand. So, stay tuned and live peacably among all men in this joyful Christmas season!