Fantastic

The most exciting times, the most flavorful moments. The ones that make you say "fantatastic" and "brilliant" (oh wait, that's the Doctor...), they will almost never be captured on camera by me. I'm too busy enjoying and living in the moment. So sorry. You'll just have to take my word for it. I used to be consumed by taking pictures so I could "capture it all." I ended up missing most of it and yet had 500 plus pictures. Not good. So while anyone who reads my blog may think, man she has a boring life, I am happy to say that I don't. I just don't write every little thing down... which unfortunately leaves me with the not so interesting stuff to write about... Oh, well nevermind that... When you are enjoying a flavor of life, whether it be a food, a place, a person or thing,  or any moment really, don't get caught up it what you have to show for it later, what you are going to tell people about it. Just live in it, and if you just so happen to snag a few pictures, or steal someone else's, yay, if not. your brain will remember it just fine. For example, tonight I went rollerskating. It was incredibly fun. However, instead of taking ten paragraphs to describe the night that would never do it justice anyways, I'll just tell you to go too. It's worth all the screaming children. especially those last 15 minutes before close.

 

empty rink = pure freedom. 

 

 

p.s. It helps to have friends who love to take pictures, friends who enjoy the moment more by taking pictures. Also search engines. They all usually have great stuff to steal.  Thank you bing, google, facebook and twitter. and Anna thompson.

Coincidence...

I don't think it's a coincidence that my favorite color and food are both green.

 My aunt came over for Christmas this year from the wonderful state of Florida where all things delicious grow. She brought with her a ton of...... AVOCADOS! And then, the next day, my neighbor said his son came up from florida and brought THEM a ton, so many that they gave us some. Our fridge was FULL of them. It was a happy day for me. A happy two weeks really, I ate so many forms of avocado I can't even remember them all. The two best ways are sliced up, salted and eaten with soup, and then the other is of course, GUACAMOLE! It was a happy Christmas vacation indeed.

Remember this kid?

Well he FINALLY has a brother.  only TEN days late. >:P  

Here he is in all his preciousness! Alexander, born Jan. 5th. 2013! (what a noob, literally)

Now keep an open mind, doesn't he kind of look like Gollum mixed with Yoda? In the cutest sense of both of them. I call him Goda now. :) At least till he grows out of it. And for the record, Julian looked like a straight up alien when he was born and now he is the cutest kid I've ever seen, so there is hope.

Let's see... Oh I finally joined the smart phone world! now you guys will NEVER miss anything delicious I eat. ;) Don't worry, I'll try and keep em' short.

Christmas was fun. This year it was technically the same as last year, same events, same people, same food, though I think everyone grew up/changed quite a lot last year so there were actually quite a lot of differences. It was still great, reminds me that life keeps moving on and God is always in control

I also went to the Passion Conference! more on that later.
I know it's late, but Hope you all had a good Christmas and a fantastic first month of the year.



P.S. I realized after posting this that I put avocados BEFORE my new nephew... I think I've got my priorities mixed up.

a day late

Happy birthday to my wonderful mom!

even though it was yesterday.

I know many of you may not realize just how amazing my mother is, or rather how amazing YOUR mothers are. I have only just discovered it. This year it seemed like my brain finally matured just enough to realize just how much my mom does, and APPRECIATE IT. Sometimes I can't even believe it.

 Sometimes my family and others try to stop her. I suppose we do that to other people too, when we think they are giving too much. Why do we do this? Is it really our place to try and prevent someone from giving all they have for Christ's sake? Simply because we don't understand how they possibly could be willing to do so? This brings me to another point I've recently been challenged by in various ways. To be actively living out my faith.

Sure, I could write all day long on how I'm growing or how I see changes, but where is the proof? Where is my involvement in the Word, in my church, in the people around me? Are my actions demonstrating the amazing love of Christ that I talk about? My mom is definitely one of the best examples for Christ that I have, and for that I'm thankful. My one and only resolution for this coming year is that by God's grace, I will stop talking the talk, and start walking the walk. 

James 1:22-25

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵ But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

christmas blessings

can I just say that this Christmas has been so filled with blessings that it brings tears to my eyes if I think about it too long. God is so merciful! The year was a rough one, from a car crash early in the year to not having enough money for school at the end. But God has been merciful through it all and blessed me and my family. The obvious ways, since I already mentioned them were that I got a new car at an incredible price that didn't break my parents or my bank, and help and parental wisdom with the school fees. In between all that, our youth went on our best mission trip to the Dominican republic yet. That trip was led by God I tell ya, the entire thing went smoothly and a lot of families were reached. I also had a GREAT fall smester, both in school and all THREE jobs (yes three). Christmas this year was awesome. He provided so that all of us could get eachother great gifts this year. Despite our almost bare pockets we were able to think of others. Blessings keep coming as meylin is about to pop ( give birth) any second now and the passion conference coming up in January! Me, Leslie and three other friends are stay in a hotel those days and we'll get to listen to awesome God given wisdom filled men like John Piper, Louie Giglio, and Francis Chan. oh, Chris Tomlin will be there too as one of the worship leaders, in case those other guys aren't awesome enough. I hope to do a lot of growing! Well I'll post some Christmas pictures soon. Hope you all have had an amazingly blessed year and Christmas too!

BRACE YOURSELVES

This week is going to be completely  crazy. The Lord has blessed me so much!
I'm bracing myself fooooooor....

1. BECOMING AND AUNT AGAIN! the little guy will be here any day.
2. White elephant part-ay at mi casa
3. My favorite (shhhh don't tell anyone) aunt coming!!!!!

 and of course, christmas shopping, food prep, house prep, and other Christmas crazy good madness.

IT"S GONNA BE AWESOME

I'll blog about them as they come of course ;)

on long hair...

Long hair, it's fun. Except when it tries to attack you.

I think my hair has finally reached the "long" stage. I've been waiting forever. How can I tell? Well when your hair gets tangled in what your eating... or when it gets tangled in a heavy bag on its way down and tries to bring you down WITH it..... then I think you know its long. (that happened to me yesterday) I'd say tangled comes up a lot when it comes to long hair, hence the perfectly titled movie "tangled" about Rapunzel.

Long hair is a part of you, it's like a creature that you'll always have by your side (or behind you). Its pretty unruly, but when it finally decides to behave it looks great. It feel good on your shoulders, like a permanent comfort blanket. And there so much you can DO with it. So many styles its overwhelming,  but it's still just as great hanging down free. Yesterday I took the bottom section of my hair, wrapped it around the rest of my hair, stuck a pin in it and BAM, ponytail without the ponytail holder.

It's a blessing and a pain that my hair is thick and curly, which is one of the reasons it gets everywhere. Long straight hair stays down. That just won't do for curly hair. And, when I try to run my fingers through it, they get lost. Curly hair has a mind of its own. But its nice when it comes to ponytails with just one pin. Yeah, its fun too. Like yesterday, when it tried to pull me down, thats a great story I can tell my grand children some day... Sure I'm afraid it'll catch on fire some day, but I wouldn't trade my wild curly hair for anything.

five minutes

So I've been inspired by this blog to do a five minute post. here goes.

Right now I'm standing in front of my computer which is connected to my stereo while playing my keith and kristyn getty station on pandora. I've been home a one all morning,and actually started the day right with my precious Lord and Savior. Something I realized this morning while reading matthew is that Jesus hardly ever stopped. He rose early and spoke/traveled/worked all day. He would still wake up even earlier to make sure He could spend quiet time with His Father. JESUS! He was God's Son and still took out time to spend with God. How much more do we need to do so? Well I'm praying He'll keep me faithful in spending time with Him. This getty station is one of the best I've heard. I don't think I've heard one song I don't. Today looks like it's going to be a good day. Especially if I keep taking time to savor the biggest flavor in my life. Jesus.Welp, I'm almost at five minutes, I suppose I should take some time to spell check. Have a great day!