A Time For Changes

Well this past week or so has been pretty nonstop. It has involved some adventures though including failed attempts to go to the snow. i've continued to spend lots of time with caitlyn and the ibanez's which has been fun and they've definitely been pushing me further in the whole social aspect as well as the nocturnal arena. between that time i have also managed to finally get a job again, which is amazing. it took forever! i have started training and it seems like a pretty straight forward kinda thing. i am now a student advisor, all the work is done over the phone though. i have also started school back up, cue the homework and boredom. the good news is though, i like all of my professors, which helps a lot. lastly, me and caitlyn have decided we're going to NY this summer to visit danielle and everybody, as well as CO to visit her grandparents. should be a good time. overall i'd say this last week or so has been very busy and full of change. i definitely think this is a new chapter in my life. we shall see what all it involves. Praise Him Always!

Bike Rides are the Hott New Thing

Well, this week has been a little bit mellower than last week, thankfully. Thursday we did celebrate my sister's birthday. We went and saw gulliver's travels and then headed over to the smith's for dinner and cake. friday nick and bre came over and we wandered around the mall and old town for a while. We also,finally, got new tubes for my bike and went for a bike ride. we stopped by josh's and carissa's houses on our route and said hello as well. saturday, i was back up in south bay for marcely and jeff's wedding. it was an awesome ceremony, pastor steve did a wonderful job. when i got home my aunt and cousins were down to finally celebrate christmas with us. sunday we had the smiths over for football again and me and bre went on the longest and hardest bike ride ever! i wanted to die! haha. monday morning, i had to drag my body out of bed at 4am and drive back up to woodland hills and watch my cousins +2 for the day. made a good chunk of money though and got home about 9 last night. i ended up crashing almost immediately after as well. This morning was nice, i went for a walk/ bike ride with jackie and hung out with her for a while. getting ready to hangout with caitlin and go on another bike ride with her. its just too nice of a day to pass it up! :) Praise Him Always!

You've Never Been To Coronado!?

it has definitely been a full week. caitlyn has continued to kidnap me and take me on adventures. we were able to hangout with sarah and josh for a while at the mall on saturday and work on josh's closet. afterwards, i went to britney's 16th birthday party. i can't believe she's 16 already. so crazy! she had a dj'd party, which was fun and i had alot of time with breanna finally. sunday brought a service that i wasn't working on anything. it was unusual but nice. the smith's and compton's came over to watch the playoffs and we all hungout for the day. we finally got some stuff figured out as well. monday brought rest after constant motion the days before. i got alot done though that morning and met with carrie for our study. college group was awesome and refreshing, i was so glad to be back. we went and hung out at tgif for a while after as well. tuesday brought a trip to grossmont to pay for the upcoming semester. afterwards i went to grandma toni's and i finally saw coronado island for the first time. headed back to temecula when we were done and went to melissa's to teach her how to knit. she totally ended up making a scarf that looked more like a bikini but she's learning. then off to caitlyn's house to spend the night. tuesday brought an early start as we went to the ice skating rink with josh and caleb. it was a total blast skating around and goofing off. josh knocked me down twice, so i'm sore and bruised now but it was worth it. of course, since we went ice skating we had to get chipotle. after stuffing our faces, we all headed home. i got some rest and then headed to church. it was small last night but nice. i spent some time catching up with sophie afterwards at barnes & noble, a great time of fellowship if you ask me. now today brings my sister's 20th birthday. she is officially out of the teens. later tonight we'll go bowling and out to dinner before youth group. hopefully she has a good time. happy birthday, nana. Praise Him Always!

Kidnappings and Nerf Bullets

Well once again i have slacked on my blogging duties. it has been a busy couple of weeks. i have been spending a lot of time with caitlyn lately as she seems to believe i am depressed and must be distracted. my and my friend have, once again stopped talking, this time it may be permanent. i don't know. the decision is entirely up to him and God. we have finally come to realize that the "just friends" title no longer works for us and apparently now its all or nothing. unfortunately, this point in time its nothing. the hope is to one day return to speaking again but i have no guarantees of such a thing ever happening. thus caitlyn believes i am depressed and need to be out of the house. it has been fun to be kidnapped and taken on random adventures with her though, so i definitely can't complain. i managed to experience some drug deals in murrieta and a naked man with carrie and carissa, this vacation has been eventful to say the least. we also celebrated christmas and new years since i last updated. christmas was good, we spent time down in SD with my grandma and the rest of my mom's family minus crappy uncle. it was nice to be able to hangout with everyone, watch football and movies, and make fun of each other. (this is a loving tradition on that side of the family) new years also went well. i spent alot of the day taking care of things at home but afterward i was able to spend some time at mikael's house before their party. i left the taylor's house and went to a swing dancing party. me and caitlyn didn't stay long but it was fun while we were there. then off to carol's house where we watched the kids, movies, and stuffed our faces with carol's delicious snacks. overall i think it went rather well. now life is once again starting to mellow back out before school starts back up. i am currently up in LA for a couple days watching Joey and Gino while their parents work. so in between blowing up army men and shooting each other with nerf bullets, i have managed a spare minute to update this thing. 2 more weeks before school starts, just enough time to freshen up on my russian and figure out what i'm gonna do about that stupid math class i took. wth!? hope all has been well with the rest of you. Praise Him Always.

Super Awkward Fake Date with Leattle

Lea seems to believe that this story deserves to be told in my blog, therefore, it is getting its own entry. so, true to the theme in my life, i have ended up in yet another awkward situation. yesterday, i went to layne and claudette's house as usual (the youth pastor and his wife) to workout with claudette. layne had decided that he wanted to go to see the latest narnia movie that's currently out in theaters. so, he sent out a message on facebook and invited people to come see it with us. after running home and washing up, i blasted over to the theater since layne had said it would be crowded. i got there at 7, like i was told, and only lea and ryan were there. so i went to hangout with them and once layne and claudette arrived, ryan took off. all was fine and dandy until a certain understanding came upon me and lea, this looked alot like a double date... hmm... the situation quickly became awkward and me and lea continued to have huge fits of laughter. we had heard that our head pastor, Gary, would be coming and were relieved there would be an odd number of people. much to our dismay, Gary brought his wife and it turned into a triple date. now, you would think it wouldn't be all that bad since there's now six people all together, however, Gary has a history of trying to set us up. cue another layer of awkward. we now have 2 pastors and their wives looking at us with curiousity and making comments about how we're still in our first date awkward phase. shoot. me. now. a mother and son from our church arrived as well and helped difuse a small portion of the awkwardness, until the mom started making sound effects as she reacted to the entire movie. Overall it was a highly entertaining, highly awkward situation. would i ever want to relive this situation? probably not. Will me and lea have laughs about this one for a while? definitely. lea, ultimately i think our first date was a fail. and yet it was a win at the same time... hmmmm. now to mess with Gary's mind... Praise Him Always, leattle!

Candy Canes and Other High Priorities

Well, quite a few things have changed since i last updated this blog. I choose to believe that i haven't updated for a while becauase i have been busy with excitement in my life as opposed to the laziness (which is the reality) take it as you will. Well, the church split has pretty much blown over and those that insist on causing problems are no longer members of our church. once again, God has gardened our church and removed the weeds if you will. me and my friend have once again returned to talking, praise the Lord. We have taken our alotted time apart and have been able to return to a friendship that is no longer spiritually distracting. Sometimes we have to let go of the things that are most important to us, because they become more important than God. that's when we can no longer have them. we shall have no other gods before Him. We also had our Christmas play last weekend. while it was extremely frustrating at times, including learning our lines the day of the performance; it was a blast. The performances went smoothly, praise God, there were a couple of screw ups but it was good overall. I did manage to start laughing during my solo, which was embarrassing but i think it provided some entertainment for the audience. I am officially finishing my first semester at grossmont on tuesday and i am so happy. i am done with math! i can't help but feel like this semester went extremely quickly and that my russian class should be going longer but such is life. on to the next chapter! russian 2 and biology! I'm a little concerned about taking those two at the same time but i know its possible. getting ready for an action packed christmas break and i can't wait for it to start on tuesday. finals that morning, then off to grandma's in SD and then back to temecula for girls night with melissa. as cliche as it sounds, remember the true reason for this season. while candy canes and presents tend to be high on my list of favorites, its not the most important thing. Remember Jesus Christ made all of this possible. Praise Him always!

Spiritual Attack Is Never Pleasant

Well today, we have officially experienced another church split. While these happen periodically within the church, it doesn't get any easier. In fact, they seem to get harder. Maybe its the fact that i have now lived through 4 church splits and the whole experience is starting to get extremely frustrating. Although it might be the fact that this time my family was personally involved. While our head pastor was the primary person being attacked, my parents and our worship leader's wife were also lost in the mix. It is hard to show strength, love, and forgiveness for the rest of the church when you feel that the things being said are a personal attack on your family. Yes, i do feel that some of the people involved were deliberately stirring up strife (which btw isn't biblical) and i believe some others were just mislead by the gossip. I cannot deny the feeling this past year, that our family has been under complete and total attack. This church split is no exception. Our family is dealing with alot of crap that other people don't know about, and i'm sure many other families can say the same. So why are we expected to maintain an image of strength and courage when really we want to crumble under the wait? My dad is currently up in his room, sick to his stomach with the amount of stress and pressure this is putting on him. So of course, i went to the meeting and showed my support of him. God comes first, yes, and then comes family. Only after both of these comes friends. My family comes before any false relationships i may have believed i had within the church. Am i deeply offended and disturbed by the way some people have acted? yes. Will i forgive and forget? with time. But for now, i think i need some more time away from some of this body. I cannot continue to show support to people who i do not believe are following God. A walk with Christ doesn't always provide alot of friends and support, apparently this is one of those times. However, God is faithful and He's brought me through this year; He'll continue to do so, this i know for sure. Praise Him always.