Holy Moly - guacamole?!?!

Holy Moly describes how I feel just about every evening for the past 2 weeks. I've been going to bed with so much on my mind that I can't help say "holy moly, what did I even accomplish today if I have that much to do tomorrow?" And then I look back over some word "vomit" that's in my journal and realize that what I've been song each day is helping further the kingdom of heaven. I may have just answered phone calls all day or emails but it's all for the glory of God. "whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"
Here is a pic of journal entry this morning. Thought I'd share it so you can see what God is doing in my life right now :)

Photo update

The last couple of weeks have left me feeling overwhelmed!! so here is a photo dump of what life has been looking like lately.

Confession time

I am addicted to reading blogs!! I love reading what's on other people's hearts. I love reading about the adventures my friends are going on. I love reading about what God is doing and has done around the world through ordinary people.
One of my favorite blogs is written by a lady named Kristen Howerton. She has some incredibly inspiring post about every day life, but my favorite section of her blog is the "What I want You to Know" section. It is here that guest get to write post about real life struggles and how the outsider can help. This week I read the following post and it hit home for one reason in particular. It is a post about online sex and porn. In HSM we have a LOT of students struggling with this addiction and it breaks my heart. Read the link below;

http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com/2012/02/what-i-want-you-to-know-getting.html

I love the honesty of the writer! I love the reality that cybersex is happening all around us and in people we might not ever expect. However those people are people. They are our friends, coworkers, and even family members. They need just as much love and support as someone that is caught up in the sin of lying. We all fall short and are in need of a Savior!!

HSM Boy Band

I love my job for several reasons. Here is just one more:

For those of you who don't know what the heck this is all about...here is a brief catch up for you. Our teens are in LOVE with a band called One Direction. They are kind of the Backstreet Boys of 2012. They have this music video all about their song that has hit the charts and makes teenage girls go crazy. HSM decided to use their lyrics and make a video of our own. Totally the One Direction song, but our staff, our dance moves, and our crazy, silly antics.
These are the guys I work with =)

Third World vs First World

This is my favorite wall in my room. The only things on it, besides a headboard, are these two pictures. They are a constant reminder of the gap between third world countries and our country.
The picture on the left is of a place that stole my heart several years ago. A place that feels so much like home when I'm there, that I miss it often. It is a picture of homes that surround the garbage dump of Guatemala City, Guatemala. A neighborhood known as the squatters area. Many people don't want to go hang out there, but for me it brings so much joy to hang out with kids and teens that live around the dump. Sure they smell, have little to no education, search for food in the dump and probably have lice, however they have faith like no one in the US. Little kids still run around with grins like the Cheshire cat and laugh those deep belly laughs that are super contagious. Everyone that lives in the squatters area just wants to hang out. They want to be heard. They want to share their story, and teach you as much as you might want to teach them and share Jesus. Run and play soccer with them for 10 minutes and they become your best friend. There are teens that are so jaded by what love is, that it has to be hard for them to understand the love of Christ, and yet they are so willing to sit and read the bible with you or sing worship songs. Just writing about this place makes me want to leave the comfort of my home and go visit again. And that is just part of why I love this picture. It is also a reminder to love the orphans and widows. To be the hands and feet of Jesus. To go where no one else is willing to go. To love the unlovable. To do all of it because Jesus loved us first!
The second picture, on the right, is from the top of the Empire State Building in New York. It reminds me daily that I live in a place of many blessings. Roof over my head, food in the refrigerator, new clothes in my closet, and clean air to breath. I know who my parents are and I love them. But despite all those blessings, I find myself sometimes wanting more. Wanting to be something more, do more, and have more. After all more is best right? NOT. The words on the picture say, Hope, Peace, Integrity. The more I have the less I need Hope, because the less I think I need God. I also think the more we have the harder it is to have Peace, since everyone wants what their neighbor has and will always be at war with ourselves and jealousy. Also the more we have/want the harder it is to keep your Integrity. But this is all possible when you realize how blessed you are to be living in this first world country. So this picture reminds me to Hope in the promises of Christ, to keep Peace with friends, neighbors, family and even enemies, and to keep Integrity amongst a society that definitely doesn't value it.

Favorite things in my room =)

Life Giving Relationships

I have always taken extreme pride over the friendships that I have. I'm kind of picky when it comes to whom I spend my free time with and who I share lifes ups and downs with. If you know me well, you know that I'm pretty introverted and love small group or one-on-one relationships. I'm not the life of the party. I'm not the person that loves large crowds and environments where I know no one. I would rather have a small dinner party and game night with close friends then a large, crazy Friday night party. 

In the last two years I have had to become a little more extroverted as I work with high school students in ministry. But to be honest by Sunday night, after working 6 days and pouring into students, parents and volunteers, I'm exhausted. The introverted side of me wants to crawl into bed and be by myself for 24 hours. Resting, thinking, and processing the week that just passed. I can be pretty selfish by the time Sunday night and Monday morning roll around. I don't really want to spend time pouring into others, I want to spend time being poured into. I want to hang out with people that are easy going, low maintenance, no drama. With people that understand how a true relationship works, give and take type of things. And that is where Life Giving Relationships play in. 

I have 6 friends that are life giving! They are incredible women who love the Lord. We have all had our fair share of ups and downs and we have definitely seen the ugly side of each other. Despite the messiness of friendship, we love each other. And this last week I was blessed to spend time with each of them separately. Disneyland, lunch, sno-on-the go, 2 hour phone convos, all so refreshing. By the end of the week I felt like a new breath of life had been breathed in me. As silly as that sounds, I felt that the advice, laughs, and intentional conversations I had through out the week, had left me feeling loved, valued, and blessed. Blessed that I can walk through life alongside of these friends! 

I think it is obviously so important to have friendships that give and take. For me, it is better to have a small group of friends that can walk the storms of life with you then a large group of acquaintances. Life isn't meant to be done alone. We are meant to live in community. This is my community. 6 friends and a loving sister! All living for the Lord. All challenging each other to grow physically, mentally and spiritually.

40 Days is over

40 days of no Facebook has reached its end! I have to say it has been a long 40 days but so good. Yesterday marked a day in history that has forever changed my life and hopefully yours too.
Jesus conquered the grave!!!!

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what Christ did in the 40 days of let and what He teaches us through that. Some of my older post have better summaries of what've learned but below is a picture of what has been going on. 6 words for 6 weeks of reflection. All on my mirror as a constant reminder.
I'm so not ready to jump all in on Facebook again so I've decided the fb app will never go on my phone again. I spend way too much time on my phone without having Facebook to distract me.

Featured Music: Enough

This week's featured music is an oldie but a goodie! "Enough: by Christ Tomlin use to be one of my favorite worship songs when I was in high school. It is so simple but so great. God will always be enough!
(bear with the cheesy images)

re:Deemed & re:Joice

Lent Learnings:

Week 3 re:Deemed:

• I am a redeemed child of God
• God set us free as he was nailed to a cross with arms stretched out wide. Those arms reach down now to comfort, protect, and teach us that we are his beloved. We are his redeemed which means he has paid our debt, he has bought us. How cool is that?!?!? Christ hung on that cross to purchase you and me. Who would do that? I don't deserve to be bought at that price. The price of one's life. Yet Christ did it and I am forever thankful for that kind of love.
• Ephesians 1:7- "we have redemption in Him through His blood, for the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace."

Week 4 re:Joice:

• I am to rejoice in all circumstances. To have a joyful heart
• In the bible we see distruction, war, devestation, people walking away from the Lord, God's disciples thrown in prison and so much more that would cause the normal person to be angry, sad, hopeless and for sure not joyful. Yet Paul rejoices while in prison. The people of the Old Testament find joy in God's delieverance. So why is it so hard to find joy in the midst of our pain? Our society focuses so much on harvesting our depression and anger instead of finding something to be joyful about. 
• I am normally a pretty positive person and have learned to "rejoice in the Lord always" (phil 4:4) but this week I found it a little hard to rejoice and had to get a reality check from my mom. One of my good friends is about to loose her mom to cancer and it is devestating. Yesterday I went home to my mom's after a conversation with my friend and melted in my mom's arms. I couldn't understand (and won't ever), how such a great lady could be suffering so much. And more than ever my heart is so broken for my friend. My mom had to help me remember all the good times my friend has shared with her mom in recent years and all the cool things my friend has done that has brought her mom such joy. It was a moment that made that verse above come alive. We are to rejoice ALWAYS, which means even in pain and even when we don't understand, we are called to rejoice in what God is doing and what He has done.
• I found this verse this week during a quiet time and loved it!! Isaiah 29:19 "The humble will have joy after joy in the Lord, and the poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel."

I have learned that God relentlessly pursues me, I need to constantly repent, I have been redeemed, and I am called to rejoice always!

1 Month!!!

One Month! Wow one month away from facebook and I can honestly say I DO NOT miss it. Okay so technically it will be one month on Thursday but I know I won't have time to blog this week so I'm getting ahead =) After a month of being "disconnected" to the facebook world I have realized just how much our current culture relays on it. Students, parents, my family, friends, coworkers, everyone is guilty of using facebook as a HUGE source of information. I can't tell you how many times a day I hear "did you see on facebook ______." No I haven't because I've been working, exercising, talking on the phone or just plain hanging out with people. It isn't all bad but it has opened my eyes to a whole world that I knew depended on the social media but never realized how much. Because of this reliance I have had some frustrations while away. It has been hard to connect with students for serve projects, weekend services, office help and just plain hanging out. It was most frustrating when I couldn't communicate to our El Toro Owns the Weekend Kids. I know I have missed some birthday parties and other events because I forgot to put them on my calendar before signing off facebook (sorry if i missed your party). I miss writing notes on students walls and celebrating them in status' so everyone can see. Here is some honesty for you; I hate that two of my small group girls have new boyfriends, and I can't get online to "stock" them and make sure they are good, God loving, boys. I hate that a friend from college had a baby and I'm not going to see pictures until he is over a month old (I love baby pics). And yet I love that I have to trust my girls when they tell me the facts about these boys. I love that after the facebook hype over my friends baby pics, I'll be able to look at them and bring some new joy and hype back to her pics. With all that said I also have to admit that I have had people help me stay a little up to date on what life is like on facebook. My mom has kept me up to date on what family status updates are out there and what some of my old friends are doing. My Life Group girls have updated me on all student drama, including sending my some screen shoot pics. So I'm a little in the loop =)
While feeling a bit disconnected, I have also felt a huge relief. I am involved in less drama. I am less consumed by looking at peoples pictures. I don't lay in bed at midnight looking through status' on my phone. Most importantly I am connecting with the people most important to me and not worrying about the people who aren't truly in my life. It is not that I don't care about the people that I would call acquaintances, it is just that in the small amount of time I have outside of work and pouring into students, I would rather catch up with people that are near and dear to me. And that is exactly what I have done. I have spent hours on the phone. Hours reading books. Time writing cards and sending emails to family and distant friends. I spend less time looking at my phone and more time looking across the table with my family. Needless to say I am really enjoying not having facebook!! I may even dare to say that when I go back to it, I will check it occasionally but not use it anywhere close to how I use to.

10 Day Review

Here is a 10 Day Review in Pictures:

 Spent last weekend in Havasu remembering my cousin and her daughter. These crosses are at my grandma's church and it was so neat to just sit at the foot of the cross and remember all that God has done for my family through our pain.

 I LOVE sports! So it has been so nice to spend some evenings watching my girls play their favorite sports.

 This weekend was ET Owns the Weekend at HSM! We did a pancake breakfast for dinner on Sat night and pancake breakfast on Sunday.

ETHS students rocked it this weekend! So proud of them and what they are doing for the Lord. It is great to see amazing things coming out of my Alma Mater =)

Featured Music

This is the first of a bi-weekly post that will feature some type of music. It may be random. It may have some explanation attached. No matter what, I promise it will be good!

This weeks featured music is "Never Once" by Matt Redman. It has been about a two weeks since I first heard it and let me just say, I'm a little obsessed. My life hasn't always been the most glamorous and I have definitely had my fair share of struggles. Struggles and life situations that have really caused me to question God and question his purpose and timing of certain things. "Never Once" is a great reminder of God's faithfulness even when we think we are walking alone. Check it out:

Life in Pics

Mom and I went to the LA fashion district for great fabric finds. 

 Spent the weekend in Murrieta w/a great college friend, Ashlee Martin

 Went to Louisville, Ky for a conference. Got to tour the slugger factory!!

 while in Ky the tornados hit the surrounding area. a couple of us went out and bought supplies and then took them to Henryville, which was only 20 minutes from our hotel.

 I went and "hair modeled" at a salon called "Dry Bar". So cool and fun! loved this lamp!

In honor of National Women's day, the HSM girls went to LA together. Love them so much!

Two Week Mark

Two weeks have flown by since giving up facebook and it has honestly been the most freeing two weeks I have felt in a while. I didn't realize how much drama comes with being connected to facebook and how many conversations start with "did you see _______ on facebook?" Having real life conversations with people over the phone or at a coffee shop is so satisfying verse over online chat! Here are some things I've spent the last two weeks thinking about and doing.

1). The first week of lent I dedicated to the word re:Lent. I spent my times with God focusing on this word and how it was used in the bible and how I can apply it now. I learned that God is relentless. He never gives up. He doesn't chose the easy way out. I learned that relent means to soften in feeling, temper or determination. In the Old Testament God relents towards his people often! His people do things day in and day out that don't honor him and only bring more harm to themselves, but God chooses to soften the blow by showing grace and favor upon them (Isaiah 57:6 is a good example). I learned at the end of the week that I need to soften (relent) my determination and self motivation for some compassion and grace. I get too wrapped up in power through stuff that I forget to let others come along side me so that I can teach them.

2). Week two was re:Pent. This was been the toughest week. It was the toughest to be away from facebook and it was the toughest to be honest with God. We always hear the need to repent and be forgiven of our sins but I often times do not truly repent of everything that is on my heart and in my mind. I try to talk myself out of things that I did that are not pleasing to the Lord. So as I struggled with not logging into facebook as every talked about what students were doing, or pictures posted by friends, I also struggled with fully being honest about things of the past, hurts, healing, and current struggles. I learned that I am selfish about my time and activities to an extent that could be preventing me from things that God desires in my life. I came to face to face with what my desires in life are verse what God's desires for my life are. It was a healing week that I ended up loving by Tuesday night.

3). This week is re:deemed!! excited to share about that later =)

4). Since giving up facebook I have had the best phone conversations with friends. I have sent a couple of letters to people that live out of state! I have read more blogs and finished 2 books (I started them over 6 months ago). I feel more productive and accomplish then I have in a while. It really has been a freeing experience. I also have been involved in way less drama!! I'm not a dramatic person at all...I try to avoid drama at all circumstances, but it seems like knowing every one's business over facebook lends itself to getting involved in unwanted pressures of life =/ But it has been awesome to not be a part of that!!

That's the update for the last 2 weeks!
love ya all
A

Goodbye Facebook. Hello Phone Convos.

Today marks the first day in the 40 days of Lent. I know there are some of you out there that have no idea what the heck I'm talking about, so here is a brief, I mean really brief, summary of what Lent is before I get to the point of this entry;

lent is 40 days of fasting just as Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness after his baptism (Matt 4:2)

It's a season in the church of simplicity

practiced in most tradiational, orthodox churches

a time of prayer, fasting, and service

from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday

Typically we now see the season of lent being celebrated traditionally by the Catholic and Lutheran churches around the country. Every wednesday from Ash Wednesday (which is today), until Easter, people gather to celebrate and remember the events that took place leading up to the death and ressurection of our Savior. However it is recognized by all denominations. 

It is also extremely common for Christians to give something up during the 40 days. Normally you hear of the child giving up their favorite toy, or someone giving up sweets or soda. However you often don't hear the heart behind their giving. And sometimes they don't even know why they are giving it up.

This lent season I have been inspired by a local church's "theme" to spend the next 40 days focusing on what Christ does for me through lent by using "re:" in front of a certain word each week. Example this week the word is re:lent. God is re:lentless in the way he persues me, invests in me, and loves me. I also have decided to give something up. I normally don't give anything up. My heart is never fully in it, which usually means I'm too selfish and posessive to give up something for that long. I've been really convicted lately though to check my heart and desires about what I'm doing vs what is pleasing to God. So in a flash of a moment God reminded me that it is not about the thing I surrender/give up, it is about my heart behind it. With that said I am giving up....drum roll please....

FACEBOOK!!

Yes that is right, 40 days without facebook. If you know me at all, you know this will be hard. I use facebook for ministry with students (my job). To connect with distant friends and family. I use it to schedule hang out times with friends. Check in and see what my immediate family is doing (they only live 10 minutes away so this is actually aweful when I think about it). I even use it to check up on people that I work with, live with and love to death. It is really sad though that I chose facebook instead of picking up the phone and calling. It is sad that I have to look at someone's status to see that they've had a bad day or that they just made the soccer team. So for the next 40 days I'm going to use the time I spend on facebook to send cards to friends via snailmail. I'll use it to call/text students to see how their day is going. In the wee hours of the night my time will now be spent reading books instead of "news feeds".  Maybe I'll even update this blog more often with some good meaty material and not just random life updates.

If you need me then call, text, email or tweet but don't facebook me.

Love ya all,

A

7 Wonders of the World!

I have always been fasinated by the 7 Wonders of the World. Yesterday I decided to make it a goal of mine to visit each of the 7 Wonders within the next 10 years knowing that I have already been to two of them, Nigara Falls and the Grand Canyon. So last night I did some research to see just how obtainable this goal was. Well I learned A LOT....there are now three different list of wonders. There are 7 natural wonders, 7 ancient and 7 "new" wonders of the world. WOW 21 wonders of the world in ten years, not sure I can do it. With that said here is a list of the ones I will visit within the next ten years along with what list they are on.

1) The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt (ancient list)

2). Christ the Redeemer Statue (new list)

3). The Great Wall of China (new list)

4). Macha Picchu, Peru (new list)

5). Taj Mahal (new list)

6). The Lighthouse in Egypt (old list)

7). The Great Barrier Reef (natural)

8). Northern Lights (natural)

9). Mt Everest (natural)

Looks like I have some major travel plans to start making and start saving for =)