Wherever you are be all there.

Go to http://www.heatherroseschaffner.wordpress.com

2007-11-09T20:45:00.000-08:00

Hello all! I just wanted to let you know that I have moved from blogger to wordpress, if you would like to visit me in my new place please go to www.heatherroseschaffner.wordpress.com

Halloween and Leaving the Light On

2007-10-31T10:46:00.001-07:00

I received this today in an e-mail and found it to be very convicting of us as Christians and how we portray our "light". I hope you are encouraged and convicted as well.

"This is part of a very helpful post Tim Challies did on how to love your neighbors on Halloween:
I am guessing my neighbourhood is all-too-typical in that people typically arrive home from work and immediately drive their cars into the garage. More often than not they do not emerge again until the next morning when they leave for work once more. We are private, reclusive people who delight in our privacy. We rarely see our neighbors and rarely communicate with them. . . . In the six years we have been living in this area, we have never once had a neighbor come to the door to ask for anything. . . . Yet on Halloween these barriers all come down. I have the opportunity to greet every person in the neighbourhood. I have the opportunity to introduce myself to the family who moved in just down the row a few weeks ago and to greet some other people I have not seen for weeks or months. At the same time, those people's children will come knocking on my door. We have two possible responses. We can turn the lights out and sit inside, seeking to shelter ourselves from the pagan influence of the little Harry Potters, Batmans and ballerinas, or we can greet them, gush over them, and make them feel welcome. We can prove ourselves to be the family who genuinely cares about our neighbours, or we can be the family who shows that we want to interact with them only on our terms. Most of our neighbors know of our faith and of our supposed concern for them. This is a chance to prove our love for them.
The same contributor to the email list concluded his defense of participating in Halloween with these words: "One night does not a neighbor make (and one night does not a pagan make), but Halloween is the one night of the year where the good neighborliness that flows from being in Christ is communicated and reinforced. We are citizens of another Kingdom where The Light is always on."

The truth is that I have several convictions regarding Halloween. I despise the pagan aspects of it. I am convicted that my children should not dress as little devils or ghosts or monsters. But I am also convicted that there could be no worse witness to the neighbours than having a dark house, especially in a neighbourhood like ours which is small and where every person and every home is highly-visible. We know that, if we choose not to participate, the neighbors will notice and will smile knowingly, supposing that we feel too good to participate.
. . . Our door will be open and the light will be on. And we trust that the Light will shine brightly.
My encouragement to you today is to think and pray about this issue. I do not see Halloween as a great evangelistic occasion. I do not foresee it as a time when the people coming to your door are likely to be saved. But I do think it is a time that you can prove to your neighbors that you care about them, that you care about their children, and that you are glad to be in this world and this culture, even if you are not of this world or this culture. Halloween may serve as a bridge to the hearts of those who live around you who so desperately need a Savior."

::Joshua Tree-Kaleo 2007::

2007-10-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

View Album

Get your own

A few weekends ago I went camping out in Joshua Tree with Kaleo. It was such an amazing time to build friendships and have great fellowship. These are just some of the pictures from hiking, climbing and traveling with the gnome.....

Fire!

2007-10-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

So on Saturday as we were trying to figure out why there was no water coming out of the faucets in our house, we walked outside and saw that there was a fire. I got a few pics of some of the planes that were flying over head. I thought that they were pretty cool. They look a lot further away then they actually were. I felt like I could have reached up and touched them! Mom was a little bit worried at the fact that our water pump had gone out in the well(that was why there was no water coming out of the faucets) and there was a fire so close to the house. But it all worked out and the fire dept. had the fire out within an hour!

No More Payments

2007-10-08T09:53:00.001-07:00

I just have to say that I will now have $500 a month back from my paycheck due to the lovely fact that my car is now paid off!!!!!! Such a HUGE bill lifted off my shoulders. I love this feeling and I told my mom I never want to have a car payment again. Honda Civics last forever anyways, so I shouldn't have to get a new car for quite some time :)

The battles faced at work

2007-09-24T23:34:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks, God has really been working on my heart towards the people that I work with. He has been stretching me and testing me in ways that I never really had put much thought into. We recently hired some new people in my department, one of which is a christian. I have been in a few situations where I see how this person reacts or responds to different things that have to do with training for his job. The reaction that i saw in this person was a bit shocking and I started to take offense to it, the other people in the office were also a bit shocked. It bothered me because in my mind I thought he should react one way and he didn't. I felt that I was right and he was in the wrong. It's something that I have truly struggled with over the past few weeks, but then someone brought up a good point and it really hit home. They said Heather don't let his sin cause you to sin also. By him reacting the way that he did, it caused me to be bitter and basically have not held him in high regards. I know that is not healthy or the way that God wants us to treat others around us, especially someone who is a brother or sister in the Lord. It was rather convicting because I wonder how many times I have been in that same situation and never thought twice about it. It also helped soften my heart towards him and to realize that no matter what that person says or does, or whether they are christians or not that we are called to love one another. God showed me a verse that I have heard many a times....But seemed to hit me more then ever before.

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

It was challenging to me because I don't know that I was showing love towards this person. And that is a clear way that God tells us they will know we are his disciples...if we love.

Growing

2007-09-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

Over the past month or so I have been visiting a church that I have come to really enjoy and love! I had been praying about where God wanted me to be fellowshipping and also where he wanted me serving. I have been going to Calvary Chapel Murrieta since the middle of third grade, so it is difficult moving churches when you have gone to the same place for over 16 years! It also makes it a bit harder when the rest of my family is still going to CCM. But God has led me to Faith Bible Church in the Temecula/Murrieta area. It is a much smaller church then I am used to though and will take a bit of adjusting but it is where God has led me and I have been blessed beyond belief! The first Sunday that I visited this lady came up to me and started talking with me and just getting to know me, she was real and genuine and wanted to know about me and what led me there. I told her that I had been praying about moving churches and so I decided to visit here, but that one of the things that was holding me back from moving was the serving aspect. I know that when you move churches a lot of people end up being disconnected from serving and I really didn't want that to happen but usually you have to be going to church for a certain amount of time before you can start serving. Anyways, this woman (Jean is her name) was just such a blessing to me and an encouragement. She told me that if God wants me somewhere that He would work all of that out. Come to find out she was actually was going to be teaching the kindergartners along with a girl that I know from Kaleo. This was perfect because I have been teaching Kindergarten for about 5 years and taught 4 year olds before that. She said that I could help them with serving there! So I have officially made the switch and I start serving in Children's ministry next Sunday! It's been really neat because a lot of the people that go to the college group on Sunday Nights go there, and it has been such a blessing to have fellowship with people after church and just hang out. I cannot wait to see all that God does in this switch! I'm sure there will be a lot of changes and growth in my life from it and I just pray that He will use me and guide me in a mighty way!

Retreat Time

2007-08-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

So I need some ideas. I'm in charge of games at the Kaleo Retreat that is coming up and I need some really good unique team building games to do with College age people. Any ideas? I would love to hear some :) any help is good....

Good Friends, Great Fellowship!

2007-08-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

So last Saturday we went over to the Petrich's house for dinner. Just to get together, hang out and fellowship. It also happened to be Tony's 25th birthday. We had great Ice cream cake!!!! I really enjoy this family!

Grace Children's Home: Mexico

2007-08-13T09:01:00.001-07:00

So this past Saturday I was able to go with a group from Kaleo down to Grace Children's home which is a orphanage, but more like a home that a couple started down in Mexico. I had such a blast just hanging out with the kids and playing with them. Giving them piggy back rides and riding bikes with them. I've wanted to go for quiet a while now, but it never worked out. Well it finally happened. And I was blessed beyond belief! We also got to meet the little boy that through Faith Bible Church and Kaleo we were able to raise enough money for him to go to the Private school down there. I would love to do it again sometime! One thing that I thought was pretty neat was when we went to the procery store to buy some food for the orphanage, there was this security guard who kept on asking us if everything was alright. A very polite man, but you could tell he was trying to figure out why a group of americans were buying 10 flats of eggs and 6 pineapples, along with 50 bags of pasta etc. Well when we went to checkout he came over and started talking to Lauren and asking if we were having a party? we told him no, and that we were buying food for the orphanage down the street. We told him that we come down there once a month and just kinda play with the kids and help out in any way that we can. He just looked at us and said in the most sincere voice, thank you so so much for coming down here and helping the mexican people. He was honestly a very sweet man and I was blessed to hear that even someone that we were not serving directly was so blessed by it. God can work in mighty ways. Who knows what kind of seeds are being planted down there. These are some pictures from the trip.

Work Conference

2007-08-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from my work away from work. And no there aren't any really good ones of me in a grass skirt. Thankfully!

Time off from work but not really

2007-08-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

So the next two days I will not have to work. Well, not work work. Like not in my cubicle sitting in front of a computer doing things that any normal purchasing agent would do. Instead I will be attending a conference that our school puts on each year at Pechanga. I will get to do fun things like sit in classes, sell school shirts, and best of all get a free room at Pechanga. Which is pretty sweet if you ask me.

Not only will I be enjoying things but I also have a feeling that there will be one night where I make a complete fool of myself. See, each dept has to either sing a song or do a skit or something that goes along with the theme of the conference, which is Hawaiian. I guess it's not too bad. It could be worse, they could have made me sing a solo, which would have been death not only for me but anyone that would have to listen to it. They also could have made me dance, which unless it's formal ballroom dancing I would have completely sucked at. (but I'm thinking Hawaiians aren't known for their ballroom dancing) No instead we have to sing ( I think around 10 of us total) a song that we have changed the lyrics but sing it to the tune of "Wish they all could be California girls" which may be fun minus the fact that I have to wear a grass skirt and play the ukulele.

Oh don't worry I'm sure there will be pictures. But until then. I'm off to enjoy my work away from work!

Fellowship

2007-07-30T11:56:00.000-07:00

It seems that word is hard to come by sometimes in our everyday lives,we become so consumed with our jobs, family, errands, and simply just life. All of those things are wonderful things in and of themselves, but sometimes you have to slow down and just enjoy fellowship with other people.

As many of you know, I go to a Sunday Night college Bible study that has just been blessing my socks off! From the teaching to the worship and of course the wonderful fellowship that I have with other believers.

These past few weeks have truly been sweet time spent with brothers and sisters in the Lord. From our prayer groups where we are able to here of blessings that God has so graciously given us over the prior week to then lifting one another up in prayer. I think that through this God is creating incredible friendships. Friendships that have grown deeper with people I thought I knew really well and considered to be good friends all the way down to the people I just met that night. God is truly a God of diversity and it is incredible to see in this group. I don't believe that I have laughed as much as I have in the past few weeks at this study. I left with my face hurting from smiling and my stomach hurting from laughing so much. (Cortney, hats off to you for thinking that Napolean Dynamite was a great world leader. I just don't think that can be beat)

All in all, I thank God daily for such a wonderful group of people who are honest and sincere about their relationship with the Lord and their relationship with other people. It is something that I think God has brought into my life at the perfect time. Just when you need something the most is exactly when God just drops it in your lap.

So to all of you, thanks for being those friends and i can't wait to see all that God does in your lives. We serve a great GOD!!!!

Chemo & Chili's

2007-07-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

You might ask what chemo and Chili's have in common...well I am here to tell you. Yesterday my mom went in for her dcotor's appointment and much to our surprise he told us that today would be her last chemo treatment!!!! It was really good news as she has been going for treatments once a week for the past year. We were all very excited and decided to take mom out for dinner to celebrate. We ended up going to Chili's and when we got our food we prayed for it as always and then our waiter just came out and asked us what church we went to. We told him C alvary Chapel Murrieta, and continued the conversation throughout our dinner. Come to find out he is originally from Riverside and harvest is his home church, he moved down here to go to Calvary Chapel Bible College, So we started talking about different classes and which teachers to take classes from and which ones not to. He was sharing about how he didn't have a car for a long time and would get rides home from people at work and just be able to start up conversation's about the Lord and all that He was doing in his life. So towards the end of dinner we told him we wanted to order dessert because we were celebrating my moms last day of chemo treatments, when he brought back our dessert he asked if he could pray for my mom. Now last time that I checked being on the clock and sitting down praying for someone was not exactly what I'm thinking your boss would want you doing. But he didn't care, because there was something that was so much more important to him. It was so encouraging and at the same time convicting. This man (oh sorry his name was Larry) was so on fire and so sincere in his faith and in everything that he said and did it opened my eyes to say, is that the way that people view me? would I be able to be so vocal about my relationship with the Lord to someone who is almost a complete stranger? I look and I would have to say that my answer would be a no. Sadly enough... But encouraging to me in the fact that anyone can get to that point. Because God calls each and everyone of us to be that.

Who knew that eating at Chili's could be such a blessing!

Air Conditioning= A thing of the past no longer

2007-07-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

For about the past 3 weeks we have had no air conditioning. Which is not all that fun during summer in Southern California. Now granted I think it could have been worse, My brother is in Tunisia with no air conditioning. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. However, the landlord called us at work yesterday and told us that he finally had a guy coming out to take a look at it. The ironic part is that the landlord is a guy who works at UCLA on air conditioning units, so we thought that it would be a quick fix. It wasn't, until yesterday. So anyways, the guy gets there takes a look at everything fixes what needs to be fixed and then bam the air works again!!!! thank goodness

The funny part was that the past couple of days have been overcast and gloomy so not that hot. of course that's how it works. it's hot= the air doesn't work then it cool= the air finally works.

So as my mom and I are driving home from work we call my dad who is at home. And we ask if the air conditioning man has left yet. he says yes and that the air is working great. My mom says " what temperature do you have the air set at?" he says 69 degrees. we both start laughing because it's probably all of 70-72 degrees outside and the air isn't really all that necessary. But he was enjoying it. So we get home expecting it to be warm when we walk in and much to our surprise it's freezing in there. Anyway, it's nice to have the luxury of air conditioning, and I was definitly taking it for granted. :)

Jury Duty

2007-07-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

Last month I received a letter stating that I had been summoned for Jury Duty.... YUCK! is what I thought upon receiving this. So anyways, I completly forgot about calling the weekend before to see if I actually had to go ( last time I didn't have to) so I remembered on Sunday night. Well, to my dismay I had to go in. It wouldn't have been that bad if I hadn't had the whole week off of work starting that Monday, or for the fact that my sister was flying in from Colorado to soend the week with us. So I drive down to the South West Justice Center and wait in line to go through the security check point in which the man in front of me is questioning the security guard about going through explaining " But sir, I already went through this security check point once this morning, I don't see why I would have to go through it again?" Sometimes I wonder if people think before they speak.... So the security guard has to explain to him that no matter how many times he has been through security already, the moment he steps out that door and wants back in, he has to go through it. He finally gets it and the line starts moving again.

I walk down to what they call "the lower floor" (aka the basement) and check in there and sit, and sit and sit some more. Then watch a lovely video of all of these testamonials of how jury duty changed people's lives... blah blah blah... Then this lady sits down next to me and starts talking to me and I had no idea she was even talking to me because I had my ipod in listening to chuck tracks. Anyways, when I finally realize it, I turn to her and she just keeps on talking, she was actually pretty funny. I found out that she did all of the hair and make up for the river dancers and a few sitcoms and also american idol. so that passed by some of the time. and then I ended up seeing 3 people that I knew which is pretty random if you ask me. But it was cool.

They ended up taking everyone that came that day upstairs for a case. Then there are about more then half of them who can't stay due to "financial hardships" so anyways, I was sworn into the court and then found out what the case was about and I will just leave it as, It was a case about a dirty old man, who did dirty old man things. ( my theory on this is that dirty old men all have mustaches, drive vans with no windows and wear sweatpants) all that to say I'm not sure if he had the van and the sweatpants, but he did have the mustache. He failed to register as a sex offender when he moved and he was pleading not guilty. I just kind of sat there trying to figure out how this could even go to court. I mean either the guy registered or he didn't. But that was just my opinion.

So we sit through the interview process and they start with the first 18 people. While in the process of the interviewing this lady gets up and starts walking out of the courtroom, when the deputy starts yelling at the lady to sit back down, she isn't listening and he keeps shouting ( all the while the judge just keeps on talking) then the lady finally gets it and sits back down and in a loud voice states " But I just had to go to the bathroom" that's when the judge decided to recess. So we go out and they say to come back in 15 minutes, which ends up being about 45 minutes. well, when we get back in the man who was pleading not guilty was gone and then we were informed that he had decided to plead guilty. imagine that, it took the guy 8 1/2 hours to decide that. all in all it was a pretty good day, I was actually kind of bummed when I found out that the man pleaded guilty just because I think it would have been fun to be on a trial. It was a good first experiance though. And it wasn't all that bad having to be there on my first day of vacation because they at least had air conditioning which our house has not had in the past three weeks! So that was my Summons for Jury Duty in a nutshell!

Pictures from my trip

2007-06-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

Courtney, me, mom and Dad in downtown Littleton

Courtney's Peony's in her backyard
Ryan and Owen playing Ball

Sidewalk chalk with the kids!
Owen on the Vespa

I didn't take too many pictures, but these were some of the few that I did have. Can't wait to go back. Hopefully I will get to go with the rest of the fam in September. I mean, I can't really pass up a road trip with Ryan....

Things I have learned while on vacation

2007-06-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

I really miss having all my family near me.
People from Colorado put honey on the crust of their pizza. ( it sits in a bottle like ketchup on the table)
They have quite a few prarie dogs that I saw for the very first time in all of my 20 years of being alive.
I really think that Colorado is a place that I could live ( I like the city more then the country though)
I love Colorado rainstorms. They come in the afternoon and leave the air smelling like wet pavement, love that smell.
Desi & Rose have thee cutest kids I know of. And I miss having friends at home with little ones to play with.
Contrary to popular belief you can REALLY live without a cell phone for a week. I did it!
Vacations are a must!!!
Colorado has the largest dandelions that I have ever seen. Some the size of baseballs!
My allergies hit me like a ton of bricks while being there. Between all that was blowing around in the air and riding in a car for 16 hours with a cat that I'm allergic to, I knew I was doomed
As much as I had planned on doing at least half of my Chuck Tracks, I only got three of them done.
No matter what, I will always pack more clothes then what is needed when I go.

Ryan (schaffner) has now decided that he would be funny and start reffering to Colorado as the "CO" I think it might catch on.

Colorado

2007-05-31T08:52:00.000-07:00

Over this past week me and my mom got to go and visit my sister and brother in law out in parker. We drove back there to take them there dog but realized after leaving him alone for 8 hours one day and him digging out of the backyard and hanging out in the neighborhood, he was getting lonely. So we actually ended up taking the dog back with us. Just a side note: Dogs on roadtrips are not a good idea. What should be a 14-15 hour drive for 2 adults now becomes 17-18. Anyways, we had a blast and I actually got to see more of Colorado this time then I did last time. We drove up to Golden and Breckenridge, we walked around downtown Denver and went to church there, then we also went to Boulder for the BolderBoulder 10k (which is 6.2 miles) I actually finished the race (I was kind of shocked, i've never ran for that long before and I wasn't sure if I would be able to with the altitude) but I finished and it was a blast! I would love to do it again next year. Overall, this trip was a good time to see family and just enjoy our time together. We are actually planning on going back in mid June with my dad. So that should be fun! And we are leaving the dog at home. Here are a few pics. These ones are from my digital camera, I haven't developed the ones from my 35mm. So when I get those I will post them.

Honoring Mom

2007-05-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

In celebration of Mother's day I decided that it would be a good thing to write about well, mom!

Looking back over this past year, my mom along with my family have gone through an incredible journey. As many of you know, last year she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I remember hearing those words and having that insecurity of what was going to happen. Over this past year mom has gone through several surgeries, Chemo and is still having treatments once a week that last until the end of summer sometime. But one thing that did not alter was her strength and willingness to endure that which God was putting her through. No matter what she had to go through she proved to be what I believe as one of the strongest women I have ever known. Me and my sister were asked continually how my mom was taking everything that she was going through. Our answer was always, She has the best attitude I have ever seen! Because she truly did. We both agreed that we weren't sure we could have kept the kind of attitude that she did through this whole thing. So now that she is done with almost all her surgeries and treatments, overall this past year has brought a lot of new challenges but it has also brought a lot of strength to our family. I know that God had a purpose for bringing this into our lives and I know that he will continue to use my mom to encourage other women around her that are going through what she has gone through. I thank God every day for giving me another day, month or year with my mom. I realize now more than ever how much I took her for granted. I pray that God would give her strength as another year lies ahead of her. Mom, I love you with all of my heart! Here are a few pictures from over the past year.

Tag! I'm it now.

2007-05-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

So apparently I have been tagged by Rose Starr, and this is what I have to do:
I write 10 facts and/or habits about me.-
I’ll tag 10 people (well less than that because Rose tagged everyone that I know on Blogger )
If you’ve been tagged, you do your own list and tag 10 more people(or whatever you can).
And no tag backs allowed. Enjoy and have fun with it!

1) I pretty much wear flip flops (rainbows to be exact) all year long. It's the benefit of living in southern California. Shoes and socks are a pet peeve of mine and I can't stand them. It makes my feet feel like they can't breath.

2)My family is the best thing in the whole entire world! I treasure them like nothing else. They are my best friends, give the best advice, I laugh the most when I am with them, and they don't come and go as they please. They stick by you. They are who I am most relaxed with and I can be myself. There's nothing greater than a wonderful family!

3)I was born at home on accident in Lake Elsinore in the grove (I know you all can be jealous of me) I came so quick that nobody had planned this one. My dad delivered me and then the fire dept. came. ( i actually didn't have a birth cert. until I was 16 and needed to get a passport to go on a mission trip to Ukraine.) I'm now legally born just so you know. :)

4)The thing that I have wanted to do for the longest time is go to the Bible College in York England. Don't know if it will ever happen but it has been what I want to do for a really long time! It would be wonderful!

5)One of my BIGGEST pet peeves is when people leave their blinkers on even after they have turned or have already changed lanes like 5 minutes ago. It drives me nuts!

6)I once almost lost my index finger when I was about 5. We were supposed to go white water rafting in OR. and I went to use the outhouse before we left, and I stuck my finger where the hinges are on the door and it sliced it almost off. I had to have stitches to get it put back on. Fun times!

7)I absolutley love road trips to anywhere! and having them not planned at all. Have a destination and just start driving. We did a lot of these growing up. Mostly trips to OR. and WA. the best ones were when we had our OLD ugly green and white 70's chevy van. Good memories with the fam!

8)One thing that you will NEVER catch me doing is changing lanes in the middle of an intersection. That's one thing that I learned in behind the wheel and Drivers Ed. that will stick with me for the rest of my life.

9)All growing up we had cats all the time. At least three or four of them. And we always named them very interesting names, Such as Mama Kitty, Yoda, Mr. Hoppity (aka Fatso) Casanova. But anyways, I could be around cats and have no problem, now I'm allergic to them. Don't know what happened.

10)I love traveling! I haven't gone very many places but I hope that changes. I've only been out of the country to Ukraine, Mexico and Canada (except when you live in the states the last 2 don't really count) and I have been to Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Tennessee. I think that's it. My dream places to go would be anywhere in Europe and Someday New York!

Well, that was fun! Now it's your turn. I tag the following people:

Cortney Salagi
Ashley VandenRaadt
Shannon Starr
Ryan
I think that's all I can come up with....Well have fun!

I love deals....

2007-05-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

I was recently out shopping with my mom, not really planning on buying anything but then I came across a treasure and I just couldn't resist. It was a t-shirt at Old Navy for $5...Not only was it five dollars but this is what was on the front of it. How can you pass up an oppurtunity to buy a shirt with 2 ladies from the 1800's boxing??? You can't. Ryan this ones for you!

blogging....and beyond.

2007-04-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

So I know that I've been a slacker in the area of blogging, it's just that I feel I have no time. That or the fact that I hate sitting at a uncomfortable desk in the back of the house to post a blog. It's so bad that I have even come to the point where I would type people an e-mail in my word documents and then go back plug the interent in, copy and paste the e-mail and then send it. All so I could sit on the couch or on my bed to write it. Gosh I'm lame. So I guess it's kind of an excuse for not blogging. Not much has been going on here. The new job is fabulous and really busy! which is good cause it makes the time go by faster. School is AMAZING!!! I love my class this semester. God has shown me so much through it. I'm taking 1 & 2 Kings with Jason Cunningham. Other than that. Life is normal....I'll try to start posting more... My bad :/

Adventures in Tennesee

2007-04-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

Over spring break I was able to go to Tennesee for about a week. It was absolutley beautiful and a ton of fun. It was the first time I had ever been there and never expected it to look like it did! It's so green! It actually fluurried a couple times while we were there! God's creation is so amazing! Here are a few pictures that I took.

Kaleo Camping

2007-03-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I know it's been a while since I last posted (which I have been reminded of by Des tonight at church) so I decided I would post some pictures from the camping trip that I went on with the college group I go to. It was out in Anza Borrego. Now I'm not a big fan of the desert, I mean dirt and bushes aren't exactly what I consider beautiful. ( i know others might find this beautiful, I'm just simply not one of those people.) anyways, It was still enjoyable because we were able to hang out as fellow believers and spend time in the word, prayer and worship...Here are some of the pics.

All in favor say "I"

2007-02-08T08:08:00.000-08:00

It has recently been brought to my attention that my Brother Ryan who is the blogging king in my eyes, has not been posting. You might ask why? Well, although I don't know the answer to that question I might be able to come up with some pretty lame excuses for him. Maybe it's because he's busy with school studying. I mean honestly though Ryan how hard can it be? Your only learning Arabic and German at the same time. And taking classes on top of that. Or maybe he's just feeling like he is too good and too smart to blog for people like us. If that's the case, he's going to be getting a good kick in the pants from me! Overall though I think he could spare a few extra minutes a few days a week to keep us laughing and updated on his life at Oxford.

So any of you that feel Ryan should be posting more often than he is, please leave a comment and I will make sure he gets blogging again!

Is this a new "do" for kitty haircuts?

2007-02-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

Our lovely little kitty Tinker (well actually it's courtney's cat but he's staying with us till he moves to Colorado) Anyways, this week he came home limping and wasn't really able to walk on his back leg. So we took him to the vet and Tinker had to have surgery, apparently he broke his hip. They went in and did kitty surgery. He has quite a few staples and a very handsome new haircut! I just wanted to show you all his new "do" in case your kitties might want a new "do" also!

Today was a good day!

2007-01-29T17:39:00.000-08:00

So today I found out that I get to go to Tenessee with some friends...I'm way excited and I think it's gonna be a blast. I'm not going until the end of March but I'm really looking forward to it. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get the time off because I just started a new job and all but My boss had no problem with it, and the best part we get one of the days off as a paid holiday. So I'm really only taking 4 days off which I can still get paid for with vacation time!

The other thing that made it a great day (and fellow bloggers alike will find joy in this) that Ashley VandenRaadt (Russey) has joined the world of blogging! It's only taken her about a year to finally brave the world of blogging but i ask that you give her a warm welcome and check out her blog here

Why is waiting so difficult?

2007-01-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

God has really been pressing upon my heart recently the area of waiting. Not just waiting in general but waiting upon HIM... Something that may come easy to some, but that "some" does not include me. I had been given this book by my brother a couple of years ago that I read and loved but couldn't find it for a while. The book? Waiting on God by Rev. Andrew Murray. I found it recently when going through some stuff in my room and God just kind of encouraged me through this book by this quote from it.

"Let us resolve at once that it shall be the one characteristic of our life and worship, a continual, humble, truthful waiting upon God. We may rest assured that He who made us for Himself, that He might give Himself to us and in us, that He will never dissapoint us. In waiting on Him we shall find rest and joy and strength, and the supply of every need."

I was just toally blessed by this so I wanted to share so that you might be encouraged and blessed also. And if you want a good read. Pick up Waiting on God, it's challenging.

My day off...

2007-01-15T15:35:00.000-08:00

So with this new job and all working for the school district I got today (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) off paid!!!! Which is way cool. But I kinda just hung out at home this is what my day consisted of: Noticing that the dog had obviously gone digging to bury something and come back in the house with her feet and face covered in mud. And then coloring mom's hair. That was what I did with my day off. But it was quite enjoyable really.

My Sunday School lil' ones.

2007-01-08T20:27:00.000-08:00

I sure do love this little kids! They are such incredible, amazing, trouble makers who always make me laugh and it never ceases that I have a great time every Sunday morning. Even if it is at 7:30 am!

New Year's Eve Thrift Store Dance Party!

2007-01-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve we had a kickin' party at the Mason Lodge in Sun City. With a disco ball and all. That's right, go ahead and be jeolous...

Guys are the worst back seat drivers

2006-12-29T11:11:00.000-08:00

This is the conclusion that I came to after last night. Last night we had to drive down to Escondido and I was just with my brothers and Dad. Nobody wanted to drive so I offered I really do enjoy driving. (well at least I thought I did) Anyways, I printed up directions but Ryan was like "no I know where we are going don't follow those stupid mapquest directions." so I did as he requested and listened to his directions. Might I add that they were exactly the same as mapquest. That's right. those stupid directions ended up being the same as his. Then they make fun of the way that I park, where i choose to park, how close I am to the lines in the parking space. Then they want me to pull out of a parking lot and go left across traffic on a major road. I said no I'm gonna go right and just do a u-turn. So then they make fun of me for that. So all that to say, I had three back seat drivers and they were all men. And they say that women are bad back seat drivers. I have 3 words for that statement. I THINK NOT!

New adventures

2006-12-27T09:02:00.000-08:00

I just got a new job! I will be starting on January 8th. I will now be the purchasing agent for Eagles Peak Charter School. I'm excited, nervous, scared and happy all at the same time! I know that God has opened up this oppurtunity for me and I see it as a blessing. I think it will be a great oppurtunity to grow my office skills , I have learned so much at the job I am currently at seeing as I came in knowing nothing. God has truly blessed me with the job that I have had over the past year with a wonderful christian boss that has been really flexible with giving me time off just with everything that went on with my mom this year and time off to help my sis move. He also has been a great source of encouragment to me. I will miss a lot of things about this job, but am excited about what God has in store for me on this new adventure that He has given me! Please pray for me as I will be learning a lot of new stuff that I would be quick to learn and be a blessing to the people that I will be working for!

I look the most like a man? That's just great...

2006-12-26T22:10:00.000-08:00

My mom always makes me laugh!

2006-12-22T09:18:00.000-08:00

My mom is a never ending source of enjoyment. She always comes up with the most witty things to say or the most interesting way to put something. Anyways, yesterday we were at the gas station (obviously getting gas) and so I get out pump the gas and then ask her if she would also like a car wash, seeing as we live down a dirt road we could wash Durango the Dinasour at least 4 times a week. So, she says yeah why not. I get all done pumping the gas and we go into the drive through part for the carwash where you enter your code. So we have to wait a few minutes to go through because there was someone already in the wash, so we are sitting there listening to music and just talking away when all of a sudden my mom looks at the front window and goes "oh no my windows getting all wet from the car wash Heather" I just sat there and looked at her for a minute and then procedeed to kinda giggle and then it finally dawned on her that we had not yet gone through the carwash and that it didn't matter if the window got water on it or not. It just made me laugh.. I love my mom.

This is my new camera! (digital by the way. I finally crossed over!)

2006-12-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

Well, the time had finally come to go from 35mm to digital. I wasn't sure that the day would ever come. But with the help of a little christmas money, I decided it was time! I'm so excited. So you should be seeing pictures posted a heck of a lot faster than before!

Triple Espresso

2006-12-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

Last week a group of us from my Sunday night Bible study Kaleo got all dressed up and went down to downtown San Diego at the gas lamp district. We went to dinner first at the Star of India ( I've decided that I can live without Indian food) and then went to a comedy show called Triple Espresso. We had a blast and we all look forward to doing it again soon hopefully!

Colorado Pics

2006-12-18T09:24:00.000-08:00

Foothills
The Rockies
Smokey Mountain Rockies
Nevada Sky

Courtney Driving...
Mirrored image in New Mexico
Some Street in Greenwod Village
The Starr little ones...
Fort Collins

These are the pictures of our trip to Colorado!

What is classified as "sleeper" music?

2006-12-14T13:00:00.000-08:00

So I have had this question in my mind for quite a while now "what is sleeper music?" The reason for this question is because whenever we go anywhere in the car I'm usually the one that brings the music and the fact that I'm the only one with the ipod hook-up in the car...:) anyways, Whenever I go to put on music everyone says "no don't put on heather's music, it's sleeper music and it'll put us out." So my question is: What is sleeper music? I think I listen to good music such as.... Lifehouse, Ben Lee, Jars of clay, Gavin DeGraw, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, Josh Kelly, Jeniffer Knapp, Nickel Creek etc... I don't like screaming music or hard music or music that you can't understand. I like music that tells a story. Is that such a bad thing? So you tell me, is that music sleeper music? If it is, please tell me what constitues not sleeper music. Your help is much appreciated...And I happen to like all my music too. So there.

I'm home

2006-12-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

This past week me and my sister had driven out to Colorado to take her stuff back there and to visit with Ryan. We had a blast driving out there, although it's tough driving a u-haul up major hills it was worth all the time that I got to spend with my sister. We had a lot of fun just talking, hanging out, singing/dancing (scary I know) It took us like 2 days just to get there because we drove through Arizona and New Mexico (yuck, i do not like the desert. Especially when you are in it for like 600 miles...) anyways, once we got there we just drove around and got to be familiar with wear my sis and brother in law are going to be living, went downtown. While we were in downtown we got to visit with some friends the Starr's who had moved down there a while back. Anyways, we had a blast playing with their kids, playing hide n seek, sitting in their "secret room", eating dinner and reading with them! I really think they are the cutest kids I know! We were only in Colorado until Saturday, so we took off early in the mornign and drove home through the rockies. Which is a much more beautiful drive then AZ. and NM. we got to stop in Glenwood Springs and sit in the hot springs for a little while and then take off again. Anyways, it was a great trip and I really enjoyed the time spent with my sister since we wont get too much off that once they move. I will be posting some pictures once I get them developed.

Just in case.

2006-11-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

If you were ever thinking about becoming a turf manager I just wanted you to know that you can now take a class at MSJC titled "turf managment." this could be interesting. I mean there are many types of grass. Real, fake, spray on grass and you can't forget good ol' astro turf. Maybe this would be a good job. Who knows, but if you had the need to know about turf managment but could never find where to find the class so that you could fullfill your life long dream, have no worries and look no further then the MSJC catalog of classes.

Why?

2006-11-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

Why is it that whomever or whenver I e-mail people they never feel the need to e-mail back. It's not like I'm writing just a bunch of statements. I know that there are sentences with question marks on the end of them, which in my mind requires a response. I don't know, maybe I'm going crazy and this is how it works now. I just would like to know that they are still alive and breathing. Is that too much to ask? All I know is that most of my friends that I e-mail don't respond, however I beleive that if I had a myspace they would be more than happy to respond. Because they check their myspace every five minutes. But since I strongly dislike myspace and have vowed never to have one this problem will never be solved. I guess I will continue to e-mail and get no responses. It's kinda like talking to myself, I guess that could be fun...

What are you thankful for this year

2006-11-27T12:35:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post some of the things that I am thankful for in my life this year. God has blessed me above and beyond what I ever could deserve but becuase He is a loving and gracious God He pours out his blessings upon each of us in so many ways. Her are just a few of mine.

I'm Thankful this year for:

My relationship with the Lord
My Family
My health
My Sunday night Bible study
The friends that God has blessed me with
The trials that He has put in my life (they make us who we are today)
another day of life
my job
a roof over my head

and so, so so, many more. if you want to share some of the things that you are thankful for this year go ahead and leave them in the comments so we can all celebrate a thankful heart to our loving Heavenly Father!

Don't forget to call your mama...

2006-11-22T08:11:00.000-08:00

This is a piece of advice you should always remember if you are a girl and still living at home. This is why: On Sunday nights I have the college group that I go to Kaleo, after study there is usually a small group of people that go out to Denny's to hang out and eat. I like to go and fellowship so I usually call mama and ask if it's ok if I can go. She always says yes but that I have to call her when I leave because that way she knows how long it should be before I get home. And I always do that even though I wake her up when I call and sometimes she's not the happiest when I wake her up, but I know that if I don't call I would be in big trouble. And I usually leave Denny's to be home by 11:30pm because I have to work the next morning. Well, this past Sunday we didn't even get to Denny's until about 10:15 so I wasn't really watching the clock. Well by about 11:40 i finally hear my phone ringing and it's good ol' mama (really mad) and she asks where I am? I tell her I'm at Denny's and she says I'm out on the freeway because you never called me at 11:30 and I thought something happened. So she says you need to leave soon. I'm truning around and going home. I beg for forgivness and ask for my check so I can pay and go. Needless to say about 2 minutes later I see a silver Dodge Durango slowly pass by Denny's and I was like "I am so dead it's not even funny." In the end everything worked out and I just begged for forgivness and told mama it would never ever happen again. And by the time we went to bed we had worked everything out. The moral of this story "Call your mama she worries"

Colorado or bust!

2006-11-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited I get to go on a road trip starting the first week of Decmeber! Me and my sis are driving out to Colorado together and we are going to find her and Ryan an apartment. I'm just so excited because I haven't been on a road trip in a long time. And the fact that I'm going to be able to see beautiful CO. for the first time and see where they are going to be living. Can't wait!!!!

strange i know

2006-11-20T12:29:00.000-08:00

So I have decided to start a log of all the fun words that I hear people make up as they are talking. The first word of the oh so many more that are to come-

Laterwards= a combination of later and afterwards.

And if any of you can't guess who said this, yes it was none other then Aubrey Brown.

Thanks for all the great laughs girl.

3 days 60 miles: here is our journey

2006-11-15T09:59:00.000-08:00

These are just some of the pictures that we took this weekend. Pretty much the highlights of the weekend

Pardon my French

2006-11-15T07:15:00.000-08:00

My great grandma lives here in Murrieta and no longer is able to drive (thank goodness for that though!) So either Tony, Courtney or I usually take her out once a week to go to the bank do some grocery shopping and pick up medicine from Target. Monday was my day to have the honor of doing this. Well, as we are driving first of all she tells you exactly what way to get to the bank and which lane to drive in and when to turn on your blinker but it's ok because that's kind of her way of being able to drive and I figure if that makes her happy then why not allow that. So anyways, she doesn't like traffic AT ALL. As we are driving she's looking at all the cars and looks at me with a little grin on her face and says "Heather, I hate all these cars, all I want to do is go to the bank and we have to go through all this (pardon my french) CRAP!"I don't know why I find this so funny, but there is something entertaining about a 80 something year old grandma saying "crap".... Love you Grandma!

I've never felt the urge to cut off my feet before....

2006-11-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

But this weekend I did feel that urge, quite a few times actually. See, like I had said before I along with my sister were walking in the 3 day 60 mile walk to help fund research for breast cancer. So that's what we did this past weekend. The first day was great! 20 miles? No big thing right? well by day two each step we took felt like a mile long. day two and three we took our sweet time. No rush to get these miles finished, we had all day to get it done. We slept in tents at the most beautiful place in San Diego right on the water Crown Point. It was absolutley gorgeous when the sun rose each morning. I believe I went to bed the earliest I ever have this weekend. I think it was around 7:15! It felt so nice though. Overall it was a great weekend with my sister. I'm still in pain today I have blisters the size of my toes and my ankle is twice the size is should be (AKA cankles) and my knees are creaking... But every step was worth it! There were about 5600 people that walked it and in total with everyones pledges combined we raised 11.3 million dollars! Thanks for all the prayers and support this past weekend!Pictures to come when they are developed...

The 3 day starts

2006-11-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

Please remember to pray for me and my sister as this weekend we will be walking a total of 60 miles! We have to be down in San Diego tommorrow morning at 4:30 am. We walk about 20 miles each day. It's a long walk but goes to support a great cause. Helping support funding for reasearch and treatements for breast cancer! Thank you to all who have helped support us financially! It has been a total blessing! Have a great weekend!

Cute shoes= pain to the feet

2006-11-08T08:29:00.000-08:00

<------COMFORT UNCOMFOTABLE------>

On Monday I had an event that I was going to where I needed some shoes to wear with the new outfit that I had bought to wear, well I had my eye on these shoes for quite some time and decided that this would be the perfect time to purchase them because I actually had a reason to buy them and somwhere to wear them to. So I go in and purchase these shoes ( they were black peek-a-boo toe wedges) get in the car and put them on so I can get going to the event. Then as i'm getting out of the car to walk in. I realize these shoes aren't so comfortable, ouch, they are pinching my toes in the front, and my heel keeps on popping out of the back of them. But I just keep telling myself "they are cute though, they are cute though." Needless to say that by the end of the day the circulation in my toes was being cut off and my big toe was turning blue. ( not a good thing by the way) So I have come to the conclusion that I have inherited a disease from my mother that I have entitled " My feet can only wear birkenstocks or rainbow sandals." But I think I'm ok with it because i enjoy walking more when you can feel your feet and you have blood flow to them. I feel sorry for all those girls who daily wear uncomfortable shoes for the sake of having their feet "look cute.". It's just not worth it to me.

This guy is amazing!

2006-11-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to a Jars of Clay concert and this guy opened for them. He's great! You should listen to his music at www.mattwertz.com

Sad day or happy day? You decide....

2006-11-03T07:59:00.000-08:00

So yesterday we got the news. What news you ask? Well, the news that your brother in law just got a job offer in Denver and he is leaving on Nov. 27th and that your sister is obviously leaving with him... I'm Extremely excited for them and that God has opened up the door for them to go. But also incredibly sad for the fact that my family are my best friends. And my best friends are leaving me. What do you do when your best friends move away? I don't know yet. It will be fun to go visit them, that is unless of course we don't end up moving out there( which in time I'm sure will happen) Anyways, that's my news. You tell me If that's a sad day or a happy day.. Starr's looks like your gonna have some new neighbors!

The things kids say

2006-10-31T08:06:00.000-08:00

So on Sunday mornings I teach a Kindergarten class of about 10 kids. I have for the past 5 years and I absolutley love it! These kids are so amazing. The things that they say I think would have to be the best part though... Here are just a few things:

I had this one girl Alexandra in my class and she says to me " Teacher I'm almost the star of the day." I ask her "What does that mean?" "well, that means it's almost my birthday." "when is your birthday?" " it's right after thankspatricks day" what do you do on thankspatricks day?" "you wear red silly."

The next one was a little boy by the name of Garett. We had learned about jehosaphat the week before and I always try to kinda re-cap what we had learned the previous week because it is generally a theme for the whole month. Well, when I asked the kids if they remembered who we learned about the week before. Garett proudly raised his hand and said "Jubba Jubba Phat." Tell me that doesn't bring a smile to your face?

This one happened this week. We had these two boys in our class Corey and Ethan. They are cousins and so they know eachother pretty good. They both seriously look like little men. Anyways, They are both just standing there doing something and out of no where Ethan looks at Corey, becomes silent and simply says "Hey Corey do you think I'm handsome?" Corey then looks at Ethan and says "your not allowed to ask me that."

The last one is a boy by the name of Blake. We are sitting there coloring and all of a sudden he sticks his hand in his armpit and starts making loevely noises. So me and Shannon (the girl that I teach with) are asking him where he learned how to do that. He sits silently, we say did your brother show you? "no." did your dad show you? "no" well then who showed you? "My brother and dad don't even know how to do this, It was my mom who showed me."

All that to say there is never a dull moment when you hang out with 5 year olds. They bring such a different element to life in general...

Camping (Part 2)

2006-10-25T07:51:00.000-07:00

Here are my pics from camping. We had a blast!

Camping

2006-10-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went camping up at Hurkey Creek with the Kaleo group. There were about 40 of us and it was an amazing time of just seeking God in a beautiful place with people who are truly seeking to let God take every aspect of their lives. There was GREAT teachings and we were able to hang out around the camp fire and laugh and have a good time. We played ( well should I say I watched while others played) Big Booty, Mafia and also some team games. We went on a 4 mile hike. It was really an enjoyable time. Here are just a few of the pics from other people's flickr photos because mine aren't developed yet. There will be more coming though!

Oh Brother.

2006-10-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

So the reason I started this blog was mainly due to my brother Ryan. He has a blog and I would always read his. Although his is much more entertaining to read than mine I thought I would give it a try. Anyways, pretty much all I knew how to do on this thing was post. So post away I did. But then I wanted to add links to other peoples blogs on here, and I didn't have any idea how to get the html code or where to add it in that mess of letters symbols and numbers. So I did what every little sister would do. I asked the big brother who knew how to do to just do it for me. So seeing as he is in England I just gave him my user name and password so he could just get in there and change it. So He does, which was a big help but funny thing is. He linked his "blog" to some website that is about Israel or something. If you click on the link on the sidebar entitled "basically, the coolest person i know. he's older than me, but still cool. he's a nerd, but still cool. and did i mention, he's just cool. cool huh? " so yeah go ahead and click on it and you will see this is clearly NOT my brothers blog.

Flickr Photos

2006-10-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody! just wanted to let you know that I have a flickr account that has all of my pics on there. They are in the process of being posted so there are just a few on there right now. I still have a 35mm camera so I have to wait to develop my film and get in on a disc and then upload the pics onto flickr. So be patient with me. Here is the site check it out http://www.flickr.com/photos/54042289@N00

Times they are a changin'

2006-10-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

So life is kinda wierd nowadays. About two weeks ago or so my brother (Ryan) Left for Oxford. And although I'm way impressed and proud that he is there, It's strange knowing that I can't just get in a car and go visit him. Or pick up the phone and just call him because you have to figure out the time difference. It's just an unusual feeling knowing that the best way to communicate with your brother is over the e-mail. Love the guy and miss him tons. Miss him making fun of me and miss laughing so hard and so much that my stomach hurts.
Then this past week my other brother (Tony) decided that he is going to be moving out. Yes Tony is now moving out of the Schaffner household. For the next 10 days he is house sitting for a family from church and then he is going to be moving out as soon as he gets done with that. This also is a strange feeling knowing that your brother isn't going to be living in the same house with us. It's kinda a wierd thing to have someone there for my whole life and then to be moving out and living one city down.
All this to say that I am now the only Schaffner child living at home. And although I'm not there all that much between School, church and 2 jobs. It's wierd to go home and know that there are only going to be 3 of us eating dinner. I don't even think me or my mom are able to cook for 3 people because we are so used to cooking for a 6-7 person family. Or the fact of how light the laundry load is going to be now. It's going to be a strange thing but I guess this is just what happens when everyone starts growing up. It's funny though because I still feel like we should all be in Jr. High and Highschool. My encouragment to everyone out there with brothers and sisters still living at home. Enjoy the time that they are there because one day your gonna wake up and they will be moving out getting married or leaving the country. LOVE YOUR FAMILY, THEY WILL BE YOUR LIFETIME FRIENDS!

So after 5 years I finally did it!

2006-10-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

So after 5 years of wanting to peirce my nose I finally did it on Monday! I went back and forth on weather or not to do it but I decided that since I had wanted to since I was 15 I was determined to do it. I went to three different places, the first one was a 2 hour wait the second one was closed on Mondays and the last one was called 1st ammendment tattoo( which is where I ended up going). I went in they made me sign something then stuck me in the chair and stuck these plier things up my nose and shoved a needle through it. OUCH! It did hurt a little bit not as much as I thought it would. But it's kinda funny because it just automaticlly makes your eye on whichever side your nose was pierced on start to pour down tears. It was fun, painful and the guys that worked there were very interesting. They told me that I was only allowed to clean it with hot water and soap and that there was to be no alcohol on my nose but that I could put as much as I wanted on my lips ( obviously I will not be taking the last part of that advice.) anyways, all that to say that I do not regret doing it. You do get some interesting responses to it though. I think my favorite was "hey I think you have a shiny booger on your nose." I think it's really funny when people are rude about it though like this comment " i don't know why anyone would want to put a hole in their face like that." It's kind of fun hearing how people react to it though.

Moral of this story...drive with your headlights on at night.

2006-09-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I was supposed to work at Gap from 3-9:30. But I didn't know that so they called me and said "where are you." So I was out in Temecula with my mom and so she just dropped me off at work, thus leaving me with no car to get home. So my brother was gonna pick me up. So anyways, we just got a new car (2006 dodge durango) so he drove that to pick me up. Well were turning onto Winchester from the mall and all of a sudden we see those lovely red and blue lights flashing in the window. So my brother pulls over and Mr policeman gets out of his cruiser and shines that oh so wonderful flashlight in your face and very sternly asks for your license, registration and insurance. So me and Tony are franticlly searching for all this paperwork in this brand new car and we don't know where anything is. So we finally find it and Mr. Policeman is back at his car writing down all the info and me and Tony are left in the car trying to figure out exactly why he got pulled over. I mean Tony is Mr.rule follower. So then Mr. policman walks over to the window and says "Well, Anthony I just want you to know that you are getting a ticket because it is against the law to drive without your headlights on at night." We both just kinda gave out a lil chuckle because what kind of person drives at 9:30 at night without their headlights on? I've decided it could only be a stupid person that would be able to pull that one off. So I want this to go down on the record that the first time that Tony Schaffner was pulled over and his very first ticket was due to the fact that he was driving without his headlights on when it was dark.

Disneyland

2006-09-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to Disneyland with my 2 brothers. Ryan is getting ready to leave for Oxford tonight so he wanted to go one last time before he left. It was a blast and no too crowded for a Saturday! The longest line that we waited in was under an hour. I have decided however that the prices of food there is outrageous! But definitly worth the time that I got to spend with my brothers. Here's a picture of me and Ryan in the buzz lightyear ride. Obviously as you can see, he whooped my butt in this one! There will be more pictures to come.

The changing of seasons.

2006-09-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

Although I live in sunny southern California, I myself would like to think that we have season changes. However I have also come to the realization that we really usually only have 2 seasons. Stinkin' hot and then we have kinda cold with some rain. Don't get me wrong, I love the hot weather and swimming and spending time at the beach and I also love the cold weather, and rain. Having to use umbrella's and dodging puddles. But, leave it to me to absolutely love the only season that we don't really get here in southern California: Fall. I love the feel of the air, that crisp, clean, fresh air. And I absolutley love wearing sweaters! I remember living in Washington for a few months in Jr High and we would go into Spokane and into the border if Idaho and all the trees that lined the streets would be changing colors. It was amazing to see God's creation and how it changes from month to month. God is an amazing God! All that to say, that today when I woke up I looked outside and it was cloudy and overcast. And it reminded me of fall weather. Who knows maybe today will be the only day that we get that is remotely close to fall! But I will surely enjoy it while I can.

Trivia Impossible??

2006-09-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

Q :According to glamour magazine what is one gift that men secretly want?
A: A leather jacket

That was the trivia impossible question for the morning that I answered correctly ( thanks to the pure goodness of google) to win tickets to see Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo and George Thorogood. That was my excitment for the day!

I do not like being sick.

2006-09-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

I do not like being sick that's right it's true
I do not like being sick and laying bed
I do not like being sick because then I feel like I could be dead
I do not like being sick when it's hot
I do not like being sick because I just would rather not.

So I had three days off this past week not because I was doing something fun or even adventerous but because I could hold nothing down. Not even water. It wasn't fun at all, at those moments I feel like I would rather shoot myself in the head then throw up one more time. Needless to say, I'm better now and hope that the next time I get to take time off from work it's because I'm doing something fun, not being sick!

oh the joys of the fair.

2006-09-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I had the joy of going to the fair in LA with Bryan Thrane and his family. I had never been to the fair before so there was oh so much to see and do. When we first got there it was a wee bit warm so we decided to head for the indoor shopping area. Which was perfect because it was nice and cool in there. In one of the buildings there was a ice skating rink! It was so cool. Then we headed over to the baby animal barn. Seeing the little piglets and baby lambs was so much fun, they were so tiny and cute.

Then Bryan told me that you cannot go to the fair and not try a deep fried snickers or deep fried twinkie. For those of you have never seen or tried this amazing creation it looks like a corn dog with powdered sugar on it, but way better tasting then a corndog. It's crazy sweet though. But I would reccomend to anyone that ever goes to the fair to try one because the truth is, you can't say that you have been to the fair and had a true fair experiance unless you have tried one of these. Don't you ever wonder who it was that thought of deep frying a twinkie or snickers?

We also went on a few rides, which was fun but kinda scary all at the same time. Not scary because they were too fast or went up to high. But more because it's never a good feeling when your about 3 stories in the air hanging upside down to hear the ride that you're on creaking and making noises. Just not real re-assuring. But as you can tell I made it off alive!

Then at night we went to a Montgomery Gentry concert. Which was also fun and very entertaining. I don't really know how to put it any other way besides very entertaining!

So that was my first fair experiance. I would have to say, it was a lot of fun. And would definitly go to the fair again. Just remember about that deep fried snickers!

Good News from friends

2006-09-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

I love hearing about different stuff that goes on in my friends lives. Especially when it's potentialy really really good news. I got an e-mail from one of my friends last night and it had some good news in it! I just have the biggest smile on my face right now that my face is starting to hurt. It brings me such joy when you see something unfold that someone has waited a long time for! I was blessed to hear of the news and can't wait to see all that God does in her life!

Earnestly Seek Him.

2006-09-06T11:43:00.001-07:00

As I was reading this morning God led me to this verse.

"O God you are my God; Earnestly I seek you; My soul thists for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So have I looked upon you in the sanctuary. Beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; In your name I will lift up my hands."

Psalm 63:1-4

When I read this verse God just really spoke to me, to really think about if this was true and evident in my life. I mean do I really earnestly seek Him. I looked up earnestly and this is what I found:
1.
serious in intention, purpose, or effort; sincerely zealous: an earnest worker.
2.
showing depth and sincerity of feeling: earnest words; an earnest entreaty.
3.
seriously important; demanding or receiving serious attention.

Is that really and truly how I view my relationship with Him? It was just an eye opener and a encouragment to pursue to have that and to take my relationship with my Savior as a serious thing.

my past three days...

2006-09-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

So these past three days I was up at camp for CCCS. I was helping out with the Jr Highers. That age is very interesting, although they can be loud and abnoxious at times, they generally are pretty cool. All I can say is that the boys needed to shower more and the girls needed to quit putting layers upon layers of makeup without ever washing any of it off of their faces. But I really did have a blast with them! I mean besides of course the time that we lost one girl from my cabin and another girl from Jaqueline's cabin for a couple of hours. But they were found that's all that matters... Right??? Anyways , It is definitly something I would love to do again!
There was also a huge fire pretty close to where the camp was so they weren't letting anyone up or down the mountain. So we ended up having to have a police escort down the hill. How exciting is that?

But then when I finally get down the mountain I have this message from my brother and he tells me that he went out and bought a new mac laptop so I get his old one (which in reality isn't really all that old.) and not only that but I got a free ipod nano! Yeah that's right. I kept telling myself I would never buy one of those because it was so expensive, but I ended up getting it for free! So I now have obtained a mac laptop and an ipod all in the same day and didn't have to pay for any of it! That's the kind of shopping I like.

God's timing is perfect (Psalm 143:8)

2006-08-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

So I usually take my Bible to wrok with me everyday but today when I went to go get my Bible I couldn't find it anywhere. The wierd part was that I had it the night before for Kaleo. But it was just nowehere to be found. So I found my old Bible off of my book shelf and took that one. Well when I got to work I started going through all of the stuff that I had in my Bible. Notes that had been written from studies in High School, notes written between me Ashley and Mical during church (not that we weren't paying attention in church) And then pictures of me with friends. (friends that I still have and friends that are no longer around) Anyways, I noticed this little hot pink sticky note with a heart and my name written on it sticking out of the top of my Bible so I opened up to that page and wanted to know what was on the note. As I opened the pages it was stuck on Psalm 143:8. and that was the verse that was written on the sticky note. upon looking at the note I realized it had been written by kelly when I was in the Ukraine on my mission trip. When she had first given me that verse, I found it encouraging and was blessed that she had given that verse to me. But at that time in my life I felt like everything was going smoothly and just the way I had wanted. I was walking strong with the Lord, I had great friends, and I was on a mission trip that God had blessed me with and provided the funds for me to go. And everything was going just the way that I WANTED. Little did I know that things would change big time over the next year. And change to the way that GOD WANTED. Although there have been times over this past year that I questioned why God was allowing things I knew that he had a plan through all of it. And I think more now then ever I have needed to trust and rely on Christ for my future. When I opened my Bible to this verse I knew it was exactly the right time for me to hear it. The verse reads.
" Cause me to hear your lovingkindness in the morning, for in you do I trust. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my sould to you." Psalm 143:8

So I pray that I would be lead by God in the way that I should walk because in Him do I trust!

All this to say that God knew I wouldn't find my Bible this morning and He knew that I needed to read that verse again. He knew that I would leave that sticky note in my other bible so that 2 years after that trip he would speak to me thorugh it. God's timing is perfect.

Dream Like New York

2006-08-25T10:33:00.000-07:00

Dream Like New York
by Tyrone Wells
album: Hold On (2006)
So many dreams come and go
We blink our eyes
Time flies by we don’t know
What ever happened to those childhood years?
When we thought we could fly
We got to keep those dreams alive
And dream like New York
As high as the skyline
Aim for the stars above those city lights
I want to dream like New York
I’m running down Broadway
I got to catch the next train
I’m making my way
Race to work again today
From nine to five
I only strive to stay awake
But the child inside me
Dares to believe I still can fly
Can’t let those dreams just die
I got to dream like New York
As high as the skyline
Aim for the stars above those city lights
I want to dream like New York
I’m running down Broadway
I got to catch the next train
I’m making my way
How many times have u tried and failed?
Have you watched your dreams slip away?
Well every hero falls and every soldier crawls.
And every dreamer dreams again
Got to dream again
Go on and dream like New York
As high as the skylines
Aim for the stars above those city lights
Go on and dream like New York
Run on down Broadway
Catch the next train
Go make your way
Go on and dream like NY
As high as the skylines
Aim for the stars above those city lights
You got to dream like NY
Run on down Broadway
Catch the next train
Go make your way
Go make your way
Go make your way

I love this song. And the artist is an amzing musician!

dirt, dirt and some more dirt.

2006-08-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

So as most of you know I live down a dirt road. And I had come to the conclusion many months ago that it is absolutley pointless to wash my car when I know for a fact that the moment I pull out of the driveway it is going to be dirty again. Although my family has decided that there is clean dirt (which is just dust on your car) and dirty dirt( which is when you leave in the morning and your car is wet and the dirt sticks to it) But recently I saw on the news this guy who does something amazing with dirty car windows! check this site out and you will no longer want to wash your car either.... www.dirtycarart.com enjoy!

Just starting

2006-08-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

So I just started school this past week. Well, I don't know if you can really consider it school. What I started was Old Testament Survey 1, which for those of you who don't know what that is, it is listening to the man pictured teach through the Old Testament but it's on a MP3 which makes it nice due to the fact that I don't have to "go to class" I listen any time I want and fill in 1 work page and then write 1 page of notes on it. Quite easy, I know. But anyways, the other day I was listening to it and thought "gee, this sounds kinda funny, maybe something is wrong with my speakers why does it sound so much like a chipmunk?" But then upon further examination I read on the back of the MP3 case that it is the "acclerated version~65% faster then normal speed." I don't know why I found that so entertaning but I did. So I thought I would share.

Stupid Joke Friday.

2006-08-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

Q:Why do chicken coupe's have 2 doors?

A: Because if they had 4 doors it would be a chicken sedan!

I heard this joke and I thought to myself "this is so stupid I'm not sure whether to laugh or just stare off into space with that look of - you have seriously got to be kidding me-"

Matchy Matchy plaid plaid

2006-08-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

So, apparently Gap has a new uniform. I had purchased the shirt shown above with my oh so wonderful Gap employee discount. But much to my surprise when I showed up at work last night there were 3 girls wearing the same shirt! We had several people ask if Gap had a new uniform or if we had worn the same shirt to take pictures in. But no, we all just happend to really love the flannel plaid shirt! We also were told who we reminded them of. Two of those reminders were that if we just had suspenders we could look like the people that work at Knott's Berry Farm. Another was that we were competition for the Brawny Man. Well, needless to say I found it pretty entertaining. I'm not one of those girls that gets all upset when I'm matching someone. But we all tried to stay far apart from eachother and in different sections of the store. Just for the sake of not making people dizzy with all that plaid.

Serious stuff, please read on...

2006-08-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

Last year over 200,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. This past December our mom became one of those women. With no family history of breast cancer we were all shocked with this news. Breast cancer is something that you think will never happen to you or someone that you love and care about. But as we all see it does and it will continue to happen.

The impact that having breast cancer can have on that person and the people around you is incredible. When our mom was diagnosed with breast cancer God really opened up our eyes to see what matters most in life. You don’t realize how much you rely on someone until you have had to face the fact that you could lose them. Seeing our mom go through a lumpectomy, double mastectomy and then through her chemo treatments was not easy. She still has a long haul ahead of her with treatments every week for the next year. But God has truly blessed us with an incredible Mother and role model that I will, by the grace of God continue to have for many more years to come!

This November I along with my sister will be walking in the 60 mile Breast Cancer 3 day walk. This is not just a walk for breast cancer, but rather a walk to help fight and find a cure for breast cancer. And to help support those who have battled cancer and lost the fight and for those like my Mom who will continue to fight it. My sister and I must raise $2,200 each before we are able to participate in this walk. All donations go to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund.

Any donation that you are able to contribute would be a step towards the goal. You can donate directly on our website at www.the3day.org/sandiego06/mamasgirls or directly on our personal web pages at www.the3day.org/sandiego06/hschaffner www.the3day.org/sandiego06/cwiley or you can also send a donation along with the enclosed donation form to the address listed.

If you are unable to donate but know someone that has breast cancer and is battling it, someone who has overcome it or lost the fight to breast cancer, and would like to add their name to the list of people that we will be walking for, please go ahead and send that to us. We would love to know that we are walking to make a difference for many people’s lives.

Please help us in raising support to find a cure for a cancer that is killing 1 woman every 13 minutes!

Ready with our walking shoes on,
Heather Schaffner & Courtney Wiley

today I smiled.

2006-08-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Not because of something really all that big, or something all that important. No, today I smiled because I heard the sound of something that every child in America loves the sound of: The Ice Cream Truck. But I didn't hear this sound at my house or one of my friends house for that matter. I was sitting in my office at work and realized the ice cream man is going from building to building hoping that some adult would come running out and with pure joy on their face sing out " I SCREAM YOU SCREAM WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM!" ok maybe that's not what the ice cream man was hoping for but you know that's what's going through everyones mind. So today that is why I smiled because the ice cream man came into my place of work and wanted to sell ice cream. It brought back so many memories of what I used to get from him( rarely it was ice cream) mainly thess little candies that when you suck on them would fizz up in your mouth, warheads, lucas sour powder, and one of the big brothers favorites poppers!

interesting experiances....

2006-08-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

So this past friday night I went to a Tyrone Wells concert. If you haven't heard of him, you simply have yet to actually live. Anyways....Me and Aubrey drove down a bit earlier then everyone else so that way we could get some din din and maybe just walk around for a bit. Well, first off, where we were at there was seriously like no food places. Unless of course you wanted some candle lit romantic dinner. Which would have been fine if I would have been with someone that I wanted a romantic dinner with. But me and Aubrey just wanted something quick. so we drive around for a good half hour get complelty off of the road we are supposed to be and finally spot a 7 eleven, domino's and a subway. So we decide "hey pizza sounds good. " so we go in and order a pizza to share. But then we have a problem. Drinks, Domino's only sells liters of soda and there is no way we could finish one of those. So we go next door to subway to order drinks. Well, this was truly a life changing experiance. The first thing you see when you walk in is glass around the counter. From the floor to ceiling then to get your food there is this little trap door that you have to open. i felt like I was in prison. seriously. So then we go get our pizza and realize domino's isn't a dien in restaraunt. So we go next door and ask if we can eat our pizza inside subway. There was one guy ( Robert, who is from michigan and just moved out here to go to the Paul Mitchell cosmotolegy school. We couldn't decide if he was gay or not.) we got to know pretty good. He was so funny, me and Aubrey almost peed our pants. So that was the start of our evening. Eating domino's inside subway. But Robert did give us free chocolate chip cookies. And we gave the last of our pizza to a homeless guy that got the biggest smile on his face!!! So then we drive over to the concert, and we can't find anywhere to park. It's all pretty much parallel parking and Aubrey has never done that in her life let alone in a stick shift. But finally we find a spot and park. walk another 10 minutes. needless to say that by the time we got there the concert was full and everyone that was supposed to get there after us was already there! But it was all worth it to hear Micah Delberhg, Annie Bethancourt and the all so famous Tyrone Wells ( no he is not black) It was truly amazing!!! And that was my little adventure of the weekend!

YIPPEEE!!!

2006-08-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

I now have comments posted on my blog! I'm so happy.... I get so bored at work that now I can read people's comments and see what they have to say even if they have nothing that remotley relates to what I write!!! I love this it's so entertaining.... Well, talk to you all soon! Oh yeah and I get to go to a Tyrone Wells concert tmrw night! I can't wait.....

Six Flags

2006-08-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to 6 flags with a bunch of friends. It was a blast! I just had to share one experiance that will forever be etched in my mind. As we were trying to find somewhere to eat, we had been walking around for a long time and I hadn't eaten since 7am (mind you now the time is 3:45pm long time for my lil tummy to be without any food) so anyways we were in this one place and me Alex and Aubrey wanted to go see if there was somewhere else we could eat. So I try to walk out the door and I go to push it, well...the door was locked. I kinda pulled one of those walk and push the door things so there was no stopping. well, needless to say I kept going and my forehead hit the glass. At that moment you can not feel like any more of an idiot then can be imagined. I know from this point on I will forever be reminded of that glorious moment in my life!

* I will be posting pics from 6 flags soon hopefully* stay tuned!

This is kinda funny

2006-08-07T12:09:00.000-07:00

So I had a recent blog stating that I was "oh so sad because nobody ever commented on my page." But to my idiotic surprise I had the comment button blocked. So there was no way for anyone to ever leave a comment. Well peoples of the world who read this. Heather Rose Schaffner's Blog is now open for commenting.

*thanks to Ashley Russey/VandenRaadt ( you will always be a Russey even after you have been married for over a year) who was the only person who responded to my sad plea for comments when she told me to check and see if it was blocked. Applause all around for the great and wonderful Ashley

I can't wait

2006-08-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

I get to go to 6 flags on sunday! I get to go to 6 flags on sunday!

God's creation is amazing!

2006-07-31T09:57:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend I went down to oceanside and as I sat on the beach and enjoyed the beautiful view, I began to think about what an incredible God I love and serve! I mean just look at the ocean and think of how God doesn't allow it to overflow and drown us all. He did promise never to flood the earth again, but still. Isn't that incredible!?! And then I think of all the things that live in the ocean, I mean just as I was sitting there I saw a whole school of dolphins swim by! and then I think of the sky and how he doesn't allow the sun to get to close so that it will melt us but that it is the perfect distance away so that we can have light during the day and the moon by night!!! Think about how amazing this God is.. Then God totally led me to this verse and it kinda in a way convicted me but yet it was encouraging at the same time. Psalm 16:11 says " You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." The thing that stuck out to me was that in His presesnce is fullness of joy. If that is the case, aren't we always in the presence of the Lord? so why aren't we always joyful? I mean I know we are human and can't be but the creation around us should be a reminder of His presence everywhere in our lives. My encouragment to any that read this? Know that you are in the presence of the Lord every moment of every day and continue to be joyful because of who He is!

this makes me sad...

2006-07-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

Why doesn't anyone leave comments on my posts? guys you can leave a comment without even having a blog. Really you should try it. Oh yeah but wait, hardly anybody even knows that I have a blog so why would anyone ever post a comment on it??? It's ok my life will continue to go on even if I never have a single comment on the page.....( as I'm crawling to the corner to cry, nobody loves me.)

Hume Lake

2006-07-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

Was amazing! It was really nice to just enjoy life for a short period of time and enjoy God's creation. Although the drive up there was 8 hrs and I was cramped in the back of my friend Ian's truck, It was well worth the wait. I got to visit with one of my best friends and just see how God was using and working through her up there! It was really just a sweet time of fellowship with her and with the True Love of my Life, Jesus Christ! I think the thing I will take back with me was the night that we went to Look Out Point. It's this HUGE rock off the side of a cliff that you take blankets to, and lay back on the rock and enjoy the stars and the wonderful beauty of the creation of God! It was truly incredible.... So that was my long weekend get away that I will never forget

I'm so excited!

2006-07-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

That i just can't hide it, I'm about to lose my mind and I think I like it... No seriously, I get to go visit one of my best friends this weekend up at Hume Lake. She's working up there for the summer so me, her sis and her friend Ian are all driving up there on Friday and staying till Monday!!! Can't wait to see her....

Uh-Oh!

2006-07-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

My brother also got accepted to Oxford. Desicions desicions... What to do. Either way it's way cool!

YIPEEEEE!!!!

2006-07-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

My brother (boy genius) Got accepted into University Of London. He leaves sometime in September!!

Girls are like apples.

2006-07-06T06:45:00.000-07:00

I read this and really thought about it, and to be honest with you this lil' poem is generally very true. But I began to question....Why is it true? And you know what my answer was? I have no idea. Maybe it's just because boys are stupid and they just haven't figured it all out yet. Yes, yes, that's the answer.

"Girls are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. The boys don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they just get the rotten apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy. So the apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality they are amazing. They just have to wait for the right boy to come along, The one who's brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree."

Simply stated but oh so true. Hold out for that boy who will climb for you girls!

Fireworks!!!!

2006-07-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

Fireworks are the most amazing thing ever created! I wish we had them on every holiday not just 4th of July. But I guess they wouldn't be as special if I saw them all the time right? I've decided that if fireworks were candy they would probably be the best tasting candy in the whole wide world. At the same time though they were kinda depressing this year. See me and my friend both decided that fireworks are better when you have a boyfriend to share them with. Since neither of us have that it was kinda sad :( Instead of sitting with some boy that I would have been totally in love with I was laying on a blanket inbetween my girlfriend Emily and one of my really good friends John. It's just not the same if you know what I mean? I can't wait till I do have that moment with the guy of my dreams and then I can fully enjoy and appreciate fireworks in all of their glory.

Seek Him with your whole heart.

2006-06-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

"Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their WHOLE heart." Psalm 119:1-2

This morning while doing my devotions, I was just sitting there kinda just thinking over all that God has allowed in my life right now and just being kinda confused and frustrated and He led me to the above verse. As I was sitting quietly before the feet of my LORD He made the words jump out of the page"who seek Him with their WHOLE heart." not just part of it but ALL of it. I struggle so much with that. Because I want part of my own heart for myself I don't want to just hand it over to God and do whatever He wants with it. That's where I got convicted. God just spoke to me so clear and said "how can I comfort you and speak to you if I don't have all of your heart?"See, I was trying to understand why God allowed these things in my life and yet how can I fully understand why He put them there if I'm not trusting Him? Simple answer: I can't. So this morning I prayed.I asked the Lord to lead and guide my every thought my every passion my every move and my every love. I'm standing fast in the fact that HE has a much better plan for my life then I do. I want to be used by Him in whatever capacity and I want to fully trust Him. And to trust Him with my WHOLE heart. Those of you who read this, I ask for your help in keeping me accountable in this and to encourage me in it. I know it won't come easy for me but I also know that the imposssible can be done with the help of my one True Love.

encouraging words.

2006-06-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

This morning when I got to work I had an e-mail in my inbox that was such an encouragment to me. Here it is:
Heather, Someone you know very well wanted me to send this to you:
Heather my daughter,
The depth of my love for you is beyond human comprehension. The sacrifice that was made for you was done from a heart of love for you. There never was and never will be a greater sacrifice made than was made by My son for you. The pain, sorrow, suffering, agony and blood that was shed was done with you on My mind. You my daughter are a part of Me, My family, the family of God. Ho how I love you and how I love to spend time with you. As you continue to seek My face and follow after my percepts and ways, you will see My hand in all you do.You will have no need to fear your future, because I your God have promised that I would never leave you or forsake you. I am the author and finisher of your faith. The owrk that I have started in you I will complete. This does not mean that trials and difficulties are there for your benefit. They develop character and godliness. During these trying times you may wonder where I am. I am right there working all things for your good. My daughter, what I desire from you is for you to trust me completly. As you do, you will see My wonders in your life. The future I have for you is beyond your wildest dream. For I have said " Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand." Go in my peace and experiance life's very best!

I love you,
Your Heavenly Father

That encouraged me so much and blessed my morning.

"quote"

2006-06-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

"I hope that my acheivments in life shall be these: That I will have fought for what is right and fair, that I will have risked for that which mattered, and that I will have given help to those who were in need, that I will have left the earth a better place for what I've done and who I've been."
C. Hoppe

I want a celebration...

2006-06-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday I went to my great grampa's funeral. It was sad and kinda strange all at the same time. Sad because I don't know where he is now and because when talking with my great gramma she just broke down and said " I just thought he would never die" but wierd because the ceremony was done by a lady who knew nothing about this man or his family. The whole ceremony was only like 15 minutes long. But I have decided that when I die and I have a funeral, I want everyone to be happy! I mean really happy. I want it to be the biggest celebration ever. The reason being because I know where I'm going after I die. And my journey is just beginning. I have all of eternity to sit at the feet of my Father! I can't wait for that day!!!!!

the old ones are the best!

2006-06-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

do you ever have those people in your life that you may not talk to for 8 months out of the year and then one day you're talking and hanging out with them again? well, I've decided I love that! The kind of freinds that just pick up where they left off. It's the greatest to know that you can be that comfortable with someone and it doesn't bother either one of you. This only happens with the old ones though. You can't have new friends and not talk for weeks on end and pick back up because they don't know you as well. So I've decided I love the old ones the best!!!!!

passing away

2006-06-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months my great grandpa's health has been slowly going in a downward spiral. He has lung cancer. Although I have only met this man once in my 19 years of being related to him, when you know someone could be gone at any moment it hits pretty hard. We went to visit him yesterday after we had received a call saying that he could pass away now at any moment. When we got there he was laying in a hospital bed in his living room,unconcious and gasping every 4 breaths for more air. You never want to see anyone like this. I think it really puts life into perspective, I don't know if he was saved or not (my guess is no.) as he is laying there he has a gold necklace that is an ace of spades. I look and think to myself, " what was this mans life goal? what was it that he lived for? what were his passions? what were his fears?" I wish I could have known this man better and share with him the love of Christ. So my plug to all who read this...stay in touch with your family, no matter what. Grampa passed away this morning around 9am. I pray for my Gramma that she would be comforted through this really rough time. She cried a lot yesterday saying " how do you deal with something like this? This man is my husband, my best freind and I have been with him for 65+ years?" Honestly I don't know how anyone could handle that. But through God's strength you can acheive the impossible.

I know a genius!

2006-05-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

yeah that's right, I personally know a genius! I know you are all jealous, but hey what can I say. It's truly an amazing privelage. This genius is someone that I'm very close to, someone that I'm very proud of these past 4 years. He graduated from Biola this past week with every honor possible! He was inducted into the honors society Epsilon Kappa Epsilon, He graduated from Torrey Honors institute, He graduated from Biola Suma cam Lada (i think that's how you spell it) and he graduated with a double degree in History and intercultural studies! let me just tell you this kid is amazing! If I could only have half the brains he does I would be happy. No, I'm truly proud of him, he not only is a genius but he has a social life too, and loves his family and above all is the greatest brothers anyone could ask for. His name "Ryan Schaffner" My brother, boy genius!!!!! top that one somebody....

It's the little things in life.

2006-05-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

My week just got better as of yesterday. See, I have wanted a down comforter since forever! So on Monday I finally got one. yeah it was $172.98 but hey it was totally worth it. Well, yesterday when I was on my lunch break from Gap I decided to go up to Robinsons May to look at there bedroom stuff. To my great delight I found that all of their bedding went to 75% off!!!!! So I asked if they did price adjustments and they do... So I ended up getting the down comforter for only $92.65 And I saved $80.33. I was overcome with joy! I tell you it's the little things in life!

Traffic is disgusting.

2006-05-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

Have any of you ever driven in Temecula? Well, if you haven't let me just tell you a little bit about what it's like. I drive there Mon- Fri. and of course I have to get off on one of the worst exits -winchester- Yes the one that backs up all the way to Riverside, the one that everyone tries to cut past the line and get in the front. Well, today on my lunch break I had to get gas and wash the car. And I have 30 min. for lunch. I thought to myself. " I will just jump over the freeway and go to the gas station. No It didn't happen quite that smoothly. First it took me 15 min just to get over the freeway because everyone runs the red lights and stops right smack dab in the middle of the intersection so that you can't go when it's your turn. I truly love it! And just a side note. It doesn't help if you honk at the people that block the intersection because then they look at you like " what did you expect me to do?" AAAAHHHHH.... Please someone save me from this madness......