I like the message in this song....it is good :)

COSTA RICA

HELLLLLLLOOOOO amigos! As many of you know I am heading to Costa Rica to do a Youth With A Mission DTS starting January 6^th to May 28^th. The first three months we will be in San Jose, Costa Rica doing our training, work projects, and local ministry. I believe for the last three months during our outreach phase we will either be traveling through Costa Rica or traveling internationally in Central America. To my understanding we might be considering going to Guatemala which would be amazing because I spent 4 months there and it is where my passion for Spanish began.

For a long time I have been interested in doing cross-cultural ministry but have never actually stepped out of my comfort zone to experience it. I have had a passion for Spanish, cultures, people and most of all, Jesus. The Lord has been putting on my heart what it really means to have a “crazy love”. I want to seek God and the things that break his heart. Kind of scary to say because who knows what I am getting myself into. YIKES! But…it gets me so excited to see what the Lord has in store for me as I take this crazy crazy CRAZY journey.

As I will be abroad I will be updating my blog. I would ABSOLUTELY love your prayers. Prayers specifically for health (sleep especially and my immune system isn’t always the strongest, boooo), new challenges and ways to grow, and a continual humble spirit. I only know partially what I am getting myself into….the rest is just large leap of faith…wahoo, love that! Definitely keep me in your prayers and stay updated. OH, and please send me an email to keep me updated on your lives and if you are on skype, call me!!!

Buck and Bethany Engagement photos

Having just purchased my new camera that I will use on my Costa Rica trip I basically nominated my good friends, Buck and Bethany to be my guinea pigs for the day. It also was bonus points since they just got engaged. So...I am stoked about these and wanted to show you all. Here are just a few of the goodies!! ENJOY!

This one is my favorite.....check out the reflection in the window!!

Display of the Lord's splendor

So today was the finishing of a 10 week bible study I have been doing these past months. It has been one of the most joyous studies I have ever been involved with. A testament on how the Lord can ordain a study with some amazing women. It was the study called, "Breaking Free" by Beth Moore. Going through this study has given an idea on how rich God's word can be and it brings a joy to me when studying in depth his truths. Soooo....continuing on....today when finishing the last day (which was supposed to be finished like 2 days ago...shhhhh...don't tell)....I feel like the Lord gave me a picture of what he desire for me. A picture of my walk with Him.

Picture for me: a dad playing with his little daughter and the daughter clinging onto his leg as he walks with her dangling alongside with him.

This is the image.

Random I know....but this is who I want to be. I want to be that little girl who is twisting myself around the Lord. Who is clinging, playing, laughing, dragging at times, and twisting myself around his truth and word. I truly believe in all my heart that that is where life is lived to its fullest. At times I might be fully swaying along to the same rhythm as my Dad....and at times I might be grasping his ankle dragging along behind. No matter which it is....I want to be holding onto my Dad.

Anywho, I wanted to share that picture I had today. I loved it!!!

Campaigners

Friday night we had a campaigner sleepover......oh it was fun. We had a goodnight of pizza, games, bible study, movie, and scares :) Let me build the scenario for this first picture....it's quite funny hence their faces of horror. At approximately 7 pm I called out, "picture time!!"...pointing the girls towards the table which faces the window. Here I am with my back facing the window and as I snap this picture...I planned to have Josie Savage and company run up behind me at prime timing. And.............here is the result. They were slightly freaked out :)

Josie and company (Lizzy) and the girls calmed down slightly

And finishing touches......right before watching Hokus Pokus.....a great Halloween flick!! SO FUN!

7th Grade Vball

I present to you.......my 7th grade 'B1 & B2' teams. These actually aren't all of them. There were 22 girls just on the B teams and then 13 on the A team. Altogether making 36 girls...and at times in ONE gym. Those weren't my most favorite days........but we still had fun. It was definitely a challenge for me to coach two different teams. 1) when playing matches my team changed at every match 2) seeing different girls on different days 3) not getting to have as much 1 on 1 time as I would want. However big the challenge, I still managed to have a blast and actually teach them something. Who would have thought? This year I felt so much more prepared and confident in coaching these girls which was a huge blessing....from the Lord!! Sometimes it was just me sitting in my car, with my head against the steering wheel before practice, saying "Ok, Lord...this is where you come in"....and I somehow made it through coming out actually enjoying myself. Thank you Jesus!

WEDDING!

ROOMMATES.........oh how I miss the friendships that come from roommates. This last weekend it was quite a reunion when all of my senior year roommates came together to celebrate one of their weddings. I had the opportunity to have 11.5 (Bonnie Drake for 2 months :) ) roommates throughout my college career and each of them have a secret place in my heart. Erica Johnson...is now Erica Johnston (HUGE change!) It was a great wedding and a blast to see my old roommates.

SENIOR ROOMMATES (minus Ginger) Andrea, Me, Erica (the bride), Caitlin, Monica, and Ginger.

Being sassy!!! This is another one of my roommates, Laura, from junior year.

PRECIOUS friends. The ceremony was beautiful and we had a blast seeing people again.

EVERYTHING

I love this song because this is my deepest prayer and desire for my life. That God be my everything, be my fulfillment, be my first love, and be my hope in all. A good good song.

Everything by Tim Hughes

God in my living

There in my breathing

God in my waking

God in my sleeping

God in my resting

There in my working

God in my thinking

God in my speaking

Be my everything

Be my everything

Be my everything

Be my everything

God in my hoping

There in my dreaming

God in my watching

God in my waiting

God in my laughing

There in my weeping

God in my hurting

God in my healing

Christ in me, Christ in me,

Christ in my the hope of glory

Be my everything

PHOTOGRAPHY

Currently I am sitting in my classroom for the next 2 weeks. My first 2 periods are shop class (I'm WAY qualified for this :) ) in the morning...I literally just sit there and make sure there is no fooling around and make sure everyone is wearing their safety glasses. We had a kid puke yesterday (AWESOME!) and we had a kid draw blood today (YIKES)..............good thing I have an aid in those classes. BONUS: Then for the other 3 periods I get to do photography which just happened to be one of my favorite classes in high school. Thus leading to my next point.......as ya know....I'm going to Costa Rica in January.......well.....there is a WAY cool opportunity to be a part of the a photography program offered in Costa Rica. SOOOOO...meaning I get the opportunity to have 1 on 1 training with a professional photographer, take amazing trips (national parks, volcanoes, villages) through Costa Rica to take pictures and interview people. Some of the people we will be interviewing on one trip to a village will be prostitutes, 'johns' aka prostitute users, and taxi drivers. It will be something just a tad bit out of my comfort zone but am interested to see how the Lord will move and work. Photography has always been something that moves me and gets me excited............so you can tell my enthusiasm for being a substitute teacher in photography for 2 weeks!! Praise the Lord for work!!

CHANGE is in the air!

OH MAN......I am literally cracking up right now because of the experience I just had. Selling a car................................HATE IT! But, it is sold. My little 2000 Yellow VW Beetle is a goner. And man, that was a doozy. I sold it to a Chinese girl and her gang of friends.....I have never been haggled so much in my life. AHHH....so ridiculous, wow! But honestly, all I can do is laugh at the situation. When you see me, ask me about it because it's quite hilarous.

ANYWHO, that is one step (selling the car) towards my ulimate goal...COSTA RICA. I was accepted and am leaving for Costa Rica in January of 2011 to do 5-6 months of YWAM training. SUPER CRAZY! The Lord has been crazy faithful (like always) in providing work, selling my car, being accepted, and everything else really :). It is so fun to be a part of the Lord's plan.......what a great place to be! My next step is to buy the ticket to Costa Rica which will make it official...yikes! Big steps in my life.............who am I? However, these big steps become little ones because I'm doing them with good ole Jesus. It takes the pressure off knowing it's Him that is at work!!

I am super uber excited for what the Lord has in store. He has a wonderful plan and I get to be a part of it. What a fun little adventure! SOOOOOOOOOOOOO............your prayers are always appreciated!!!

SMELL

My saturday = sleep in, wish the padre Happy Bday, wash Tess, good QT, clean room, hang out with DK, and spend the afternoon at a used bookstore (quite thrilling :) ).......and to end the day...why not take Tess for a nice walk. So as dusk hit (my all time favorite time of day)...off Tess and I went on a little stroll. The first thing that I noticed was the incredibly strong smells. As I walked I closed my eyes and literally every couple steps a new smell came about. So I made a game...in my head (always fun!!) I started naming the smells as I walked....the difference between every new flower, the small stream trickling nearby, the smell of the horses, the horses manure, the pine, newly cut lawn, wet grass, the smell of the recently hot cement, the crisp night air, the rain waiting to fall, the smell of night, wet cement...my game was soon ended by the awakening sound of my newly cleaned dog splashing in that once nice smelling stream.........no good. However, as I continued my walk with Tess....I thought..."holy cow, what an imagination our God has!" What an imagination to create distinct smells...to create trees, seasons, dogs, yards, humans......the complexity of it all is overwhelming and at the same time spellbounding because the One who has such a ginormous amount of imagination....has a ginormous amount of love and compassion for me. Kind of humbling to show how small I am and how much I need my Creator. HELLLOOOOOOOO.....AWESOME!!! My walk ended with a nice little sprinkle on the forehead along with small side order of peace.

YOUNGLIFE CAMP (WaFaRa)

OH MAN.......in one word.....the best week of camp ever (I couldn't think of one word to describe the amazingness of it all). I had never led at a camp before and this was one humbling experience. I had the sweetest cabin of girls and I had a blast getting to know them, be crazy with them, and to speak truth into them. What I love about YL camp is that it is a place where you are free to be 100% intentional (should be an everyday thing) and it is such a joy to talk about Jesus to them. Leading at camp is a whole different ball game....you literally have to die to yourself and give 100% to these girls. It's awesome! and.............tiring at the same time. The great thing about YoungLife is the breakdown of the story of Jesus. They have it set up in such an awesome way where the kids understand who Jesus is and his sacrifice. I LOVE IT! Here are some pictures from camp!!!

First night....obstacle course type thingy.....basically running around in the dark trying to find where to go next.......all of that = a ton of crazy fun!

SUPER NERDS!!! That's right...there is a theme activity day and I made some sweet shirts for my girls. I spray painted the shirts, wrote Super Nerds on it, sewed capes on the back...AND Hannah Greene helped me make the masks. They loved it and it was worth the effort!

WESTERN NIGHT!!! My girls showed everyone else what western really meant....I mean...come on, we are from Ellensburg!! This was an awesome night of carnival, getting dunked, pied in the face, and then a pool party with clothes on!!

Seconds before getting pied!! This is Marissa, she was a junior leader for the week....she's kind of amazing!

THE SWING....kind of scary but behind us is basically a large swing that we are about to go on...yikes!

The most amazing girl leaders ever....the two on the left were our junior leaders and they were awesome in every way!!
Representing classic E'burg
......be proud, be proud!

Parents in Zambia

Quick post about my parents...they are headed tomorrow to Zambia for 2 weeks for a Vision trip with World Vision. They will be seeing communities with water wells and seeing the differences a well in a community can make. They also get the chance to meet their sponsor child which is once in a lifetime opportunity. So...prayers for safety, health, cultural awareness....but also that their hearts might be broken by what breaks God's heart.

NBC VBALL CAMP

Me: READY????............Campers: BOOOYAH!!! (with a fist pump...my added addition)Yep, I taught them that one...pretty influential huh? I spent the 23rd - 27th over at Whitworth U. in Spokane getting to master coach at NBC vball camp. It was an amazing week of intense intense intense. Daily schedule (more or less): specialized skills: 6:15 - camper wake up: 6:45 - staff meeting: 6:55 - Breakfast/jump training: 7:15 - 8:30 - practice 1: 8:45 - 11:45 - lunch - practice 2: 1:30 - 4:45 - dinner - random event: 6:15 - evening program: 7:30 - camper bed time: 10:00 - staff meeting 10:15....actual bed time: 11:15ish................all of this = crazy time....................but also crazy "amazing" time. Normally at the end of the week...all coaches are missing a slight portion of their voice. I got the opportunity to Master Teach which was new to me...but what made it the best was having an amazing coaching staff to back me up. THANK YOU!!! All together...a successful week to minister and coach these young girls. If you don't know NBC camps...they are Christian based...so they teach awesome sports/character/life skills but also the message of Jesus. That was my favorite part was getting to bring the message to my girls in day to day language....it's an amazing feeling seeing things click in their mind. Here are some pics from the week.

My crazy team: ZIMBABWE...

We did some Minute to Win it games...this was a hula hoop contest

INTENSITY NIGHT - is all about intensity...here the coaches are standing on the center line as the campers slowly come in. From here we did about 24 stations for a minute each with our teams....intense! This is normally the highlight of the week for the girls.

This is just a taste of intensity night...this coach walked across the girls as they did their wall sits....INTENSE.

Every time I have been a part of NBC I dread going into it but come out loving every second of it. It reminds my why I love to coach so much and what fun it is to have awesome community working for the same purpose. What a feeling!

ROAD TRIP!!

2 weeks ago two friends and I decided to take a road trip from Seattle to California. On our way to San Diego we spent a night in Salem and than San Jose. On their way to San Diego they dropped me off in Newport Beach and I got to stay with two of my good friends. It was an awesome time for great community and getting to see some amazing old friends while getting to spend quality time in a car with some new friends.

This is what happens when you've been in a car for an extended amount of time.

First legit stop in Cali...Newport Beach...enjoying just being able to move our legs.

Loving the cool waters.

Evidence....I DID see (spend 2 nights with..) Leah...it really happened!

And...I got to spend one night with Mon and Bean in Laguna (who recently moved there)

AND....Angie!!! Ang is going to be my future roommate...it was so good to see them.

TREASURE IRELAND.....notice: redheads!!

Alcatraz

Jess, Rach, and I on Pier 39 in San Fransisco

I got to drive through San Fran and down Lambard St (steepest street ever that it has to curve)

Cart wheel in the Redwood Forest....huge trees

BIG

Having a little fun in the forest....a good/needed break on our 16 hour drive back.

AND...final stop to have dinner with Ashley (YL friend) in Salem before heading home.

Altogether...an AWESOME trip to Cali. It was so fun to spend it with good friends.