Christmas List

It's that time of year when the tree is up and the presents start to appear. Let me first just say, I LOVE Christmas!! The older I get the more I love this holiday and the crazy thing is it's not because I get bigger and better gifts (I actually get fewer and smaller gifts). I'm pretty sure I love this holiday because it's all about Jesus! It's all about celebrating the gifts we get because Jesus came into the world on that fabulous Christmas so long ago.
Well with Christmas celebrations come a Christmas list...which my family has asked me for more times than I can count (we send list to the extend family too). This was the list I sent them:

Dear Family,

This year I want gifts that give back. Christmas isn't about me, its about giving, so I want the gifts I receive to be gifts that also give. Here it is:

1). TOMS- I LOVE TOMS!! I have 4 pairs already but they have so many different colors that I would greatly recieve new pairs

2). Sponsorship money- I support a little girl in Guatemala and would love for you to partner with me to provide school, food, clothes and the gospel to her for yet another year =)

3). A Camera- I am looking to upgrade my camera...which isn't neccessarily a giving-back gift...but its my selfish gift of the year. so money towards this would be great

4). 31Bits- my new favorite jewelry. Women in africa make these beautiful yet simple pieces of jewelry

Thanks in advance =)

Love,

BigOne

(blog friends...thats my family nickname...don't ask)

My grown up Christmas list is ever evolving and honestly not about me anymore...I would rather give gifts and watch people open them than recieve a bunch of gifts. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Fun Friday #3

WOW!! Fun Friday #3 was filled with LOTS of laughs, smiles and joy. Here is a recap of the day:

1). Saddleback Student Ministries Christmas Party= 30 coworkers, 2 train rides, 2 metro rides, lunch at The Hard Rock Cafe on Hollywood Blvd, and an afternoon viewing of Tron. It was great to hang out with coworkers that do different parts of ministry and celebrate Christmas =)

2). Hanging out w/Jessica and Hope= a Costco shopping spree, dinner, getting lost on the way to Green Earth Coffee, hanging out at Green Earth Coffee and then a fun evening at my house, for which Phil joined us. I LOVED hanging out with these girls!! They are my coworkers and friends and nothing brings me greater joy than deepening friendships and quality conversations =)

Welp there you have the shortest recap possible =)

Monday Mayham =)

Sunday afternoon I decided to finish decorating our family Christmas tree by myself. I was a little tired of waiting for my sister to come home and do it next week. And if I'm honest, one of my small group girls started it last week during "hang out" time, so it looked a little funny only being half-way decorated.  Anyways I found this precious ornament and thought I would share a piece of my past with you all:

Made with love for my parents (I was in preschool)

Fun Friday #2

Well Fun Friday #2 has crept up on me and left me with some friday "to do" list instead of friday "fun" list.

The "To Do" list went a little like this:

Work for a couple hours 

Finish cleaning out my room

Wrap Christmas presents

Run errands

Well have about 3 hours at work and 2 hours home/apartment looking, my room is still not cleaned out or organized and I have no presents wrapped. My room not being organized is driving me crazy!!!! I am tempted to stay up tonight and finish just to save me the stress of having a messy room all weekend. My errand running is halfway completed...I just need to find an ugly Christmas sweater (or make one) and get some secret santa gifts. So its 10pm and I realize that most of my "To Do" list didn't really get finished and my friday wasn't as "fun" as it could have been but I did get to see an awesome Christmas play tonight.

Saddleback Church put on a play called "The Gift" this week and tonight I got to experience it. There was incredible dancing, beautiful singing and a joyful message of hope, peace and love. The audience was told the Christmas story in a fun and light way which I have to admit brought tears to my eyes (i'm not normally a big crier). I loved every minute of it and was in awe of the talent we have at Saddleback. God has blessed us immensely!

Welp that wraps up friday...a little boring...but i'll be honest I LOVED today! Maybe because organizing and cleaning are my gifts, or maybe because I was reminded just how incredible the story of Christmas is...whatever the reason today was a "fun friday" after all =)

Monday Mayham

Mondays are officially Monday Mayham which means mondays I will be posting some randomness...maybe a picture or two...maybe a favorite song...maybe some life stories...who knows what will show up =)

Today is a picture. This one is me and my little sister on our summer vacation to Palm Springs. Sometimes my mom makes us take pictures with the randomest items...this one however was all our doing and concluded with a water fight. 

Fun Friday

It's been a while since I've sat down to share my life journey, so here's the update:

November I went to see my sister at Sonoma State (see last post). It was an incredible trip filled with laughs, new adventures, sleeping on deflated air mattresses, and of course some happy tears. I loved every minute of this trip...and I'm a little bummed that it was my last trip up there. Danyale graduates in just 2 weeks so i'll never have a reason to go "live the college life" for a weekend =(

Thanksgiving left me pondering life and just how incredibly lucky I am. I know thats a phrase I say often but this Thanksgiving season truly revealed to me some incredible things to be thankful for. It really hit me that God CALLS us to be thankful in all things. He doesn't just suggest it, or say maybe you should be thankful he CALLS, or should I say demands that if we are followers of Christ we are to be thankful. So I spent a lot of time th past couple of weeks observing my surroundings and the little things I can be thankful for besides my friends, family, and a great job.

Now on to the fun stuff. I have officially assigned fridays to be FUN FRIDAYS!!! Today I enjoyed a day off by heading to Mt High (the local ski resort) with some friends for a couple hours of snowboarding. It was exercise, and it was incredible! I think there are weeks that I forget to take time to just have some fun. So Fridays will be my "Fun" days. If you have any suggestions on activities for me to do...give me a holler =)