Retreat Time

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. I really miss having all my family near me.
2. People from Colorado put honey on the crust of their pizza. ( it sits in a bottle like ketchup on the table)
3. They have quite a few prarie dogs that I saw for the very first time in all of my 20 years of being alive.
4. I really think that Colorado is a place that I could live ( I like the city more then the country though)
5. I love Colorado rainstorms. They come in the afternoon and leave the air smelling like wet pavement, love that smell.
6. Desi & Rose have thee cutest kids I know of. And I miss having friends at home with little ones to play with.
7. Contrary to popular belief you can REALLY live without a cell phone for a week. I did it!
8. Vacations are a must!!!
9. Colorado has the largest dandelions that I have ever seen. Some the size of baseballs!
10. 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
11. As much as I had planned on doing at least half of my Chuck Tracks, I only got three of them done.
12. 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

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

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.