New York Continued...

 Christmas dinner included: Homemade stuffed artichokes, calzones, and mexican pasta!

 Christmas pictures with my bro and sis (I thought I looked like Katie in this one haha)

 Santa and his elf.

 In a taxi and on our way to the Empire State Building

 Taking the elevator up!

 The spectacular view!

 This is where the Twin Towers used to be

 The Statue of Liberty

 The Empire State Building made of candy

 New York Pizza! Mmmmm!

 The Subway to...Ground Zero

 Ground Zero: The "Freedom Tower" that they are building

 The NY fire dept.

 I waved to a fireman inside and he let us in!!!

 No joke!

 The Freedom Tower close-up

 Grand Central Station

 The Broadway show that we saw: Memphis

 It was amazing! We were in the center of the 4th row!

The stage is right behind us!

More to come...it's time to rest! :)

A Magical Christmas in NY

I arrived to New York on Friday and here are some pictures of my trip so far (I will keep updating them as days go by):

 My nephew, Kobe and I at the airport.

The Trump Tower

 New York City

 FAO Schwarz

 The Harry Potter sorting hat & Dumbledore's hat

 Barbie Foosball Table: $25,000

 A Jeweled Etch-A-Sketch

 Mom! Your dream house!

 Columbus Circle

 Central Park

 The King of Chocolate

 Times Square

 Times Square

 The New Years ball will drop in a few days from this building

 Rockefeller Center!!!

 The tree with my sis, Angie. :)

 Massive Lego man.

A Poinsettia Christmas tree (for mom)

More to come!!! 

Merry Christmas!

A Very Tuba Christmas.

Yesterday I spent some time with Amber & Paige in downtown Portland at Pioneer Square. Why? I was watching and listening to 200 tubas play Christmas music. 

It was magical.

Take a peek:

Growing Pains

For the last 90 mornings, I have been reading 90 Days of God’s Goodness by Randy Alcorn. Each day included scripture, a small story, and a prayer. During this time, I was able to redirect my focus in the morning onto God. The focus of the book was to show that God is good in the midst of suffering. To be honest, it was hard to believe that God was with me during these pains, but I know he was, still is and will always be. 

I’ve been learning a lot about God and his grace for me. He’s been teaching me a lot, even if it is extremely painful (i.e. growing pains) and I really have been growing. I’ve been growing in my relationship with him and it’s new-ish. My world was rocked and shaken…I have been made new and I’m learning to live this "newness" out. I don’t like it because it hurts...because it doesn’t feel good. But I have a feeling that I will appreciate it later…and now I know that feelings don’t always align with truth. God is still real and here with me and loves me even when:

1.     I mess up

2.     I mess up real bad

3.     I’m human

4.     I don’t feel him

5.     I don’t see him

6.     I’m mad at him

7.     I want to “take a break” from him

8.     I think he’s like my earthly dad

9.     I think he’s being mean

10.  I don’t deserve his love

There’s nothing I can do to make God love me less. There’s nothing I can do to make God love me more. Now that’s comforting.

New Glasses.

Do these glasses make my face look BIG???

...the doc (i.e. my uncle) says I gotta wear them all the time now. I don't mind, especially if they make me look this hot and see this clearly. Mmmhmm.

Waiting for Jesus...

I typed in "When will Jesus return?" into the Google search engine to see what I would find.

People think they know when he will return, but I don't believe them. Nope, not even one.

I am waiting every second of every day for Jesus to come back. He knows that I don't like surprises, so why is he keeping me in such anticipation?!?! That's the great thing about him, though... He knows us all well enough to see that we aren't responsible humans to know the time or day that he will return. I'm assuming he is withholding this information from me for a good reason. haha ;)

But seriously, Jesus, pleeeeeeease come back soon. It is not easy to live for you in this world. 

Save us.

Come back now.

Pleeeeeeease!?!?!?!?!

Amen.


Food for our souls:

Acts 1:6-8

⁶ Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? ⁷ He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Matthew 24:36

³⁶ “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^[f] but only the Father. 

Matthew 24:42

⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

  

Giving Thanks.

"...give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."   1Thessalonians 5:18

 The world would be so completely different if we gave thanks in ALL things... If we just try to be a little bit more thankful, maybe we could bring a bit more joy into our lives as well as others. It's in the Bible for a reason, right?

 Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

 

 Family, thanks for Skyping with me. I felt like I was home. :) 

I love you!!!

Psalm 15

Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?

Who may live on your holy hill?

He whose walk is blameless

and he who does what is righteous,

who speaks the truth from his heart

and has no slander on his tongue,

who does his neighbor no wrong

and casts no slur on his fellowman,

who despises a vile man

but honors those who fear the Lord,

who keeps his oath

even when it hurts,

who lends his money without usury

and does not accept a bribe against 

the innocent.

He who does these things will never be shaken.

Massive Fail.

As someone eloquently stated, "People Magazine made the biggest mistake in their entire magazine's history by picking Bradley Cooper as this year's “Sexiest Man Alive.” Words cannot express how massive of a failure this year's list is. I'm pretty sure everyone that picked it is BLIND."

A friend sent me this link and if you're like me and you "like" Ryan Gosling, you should take a look here if you want:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/reasons-why-bradley-cooper-is-definitely-not-the-s

It's funny.

Here's a sneak peek:

Shallow? Maybe. But I would love to be his friend, soooo it can't be that shallow, right? ;) hahaha

T-Swift!

Taylor Swift says everything I want to say and better. Seriously, we have the same mind or something...

I know, cheeseball stuff. But let a girl be a girl. ;) haha

Veteran's Day

Thank you for what you did and are doing to protect us.

Thank you a million times over.

I pray for you.

When a Woman is Free…

From School… she dreams.

That’s me. I cannot wait until graduation on April 27^th, 2012!!! I cannot believe it will be here so soon…I mostly can’t believe how quickly it is coming because I see all of the work that needs to be done prior to that day, but you know what? It’ll get done. It always does. 

So, like I said…”she dreams.” I’ve been dreaming a lot about what I will do after graduation. I know for a fact that I want to take a break from school, from going straight into a job counseling full-time, and from normal things. I can do anything…ANYTHING…that I want (or what God wants).

So, please pray for direction in my life. I applied to work at a National Park this summer in a far away state. I may apply to other jobs like that. I want to be in nature…It's not that random...haha. This summer while in Yellowstone and at Glacier, I thought how awesome it would be to work at a place like that. You can see wildlife ALL the time. Plus, it feels like me.

Also, God has provided a few ideas/opportunities/thoughts for me to participate in some missions work. I haven’t looked into it as much as I have looked at the National Park options, BUT, I want to stay open-minded to what God wants.

Ultimately, I feel tired of making choices that aren’t God’s choices. I know that I need a break to take care of myself and figure out what life will be like without having homework, without being in school, and without being a counselor for a period of time. Our professors tell us that "Self-care" is extremely important. This is me taking care of myself. :)

So, please join me in prayer for this. I appreciate it and I will keep you updated. 

 Maybe I will get to see my favorite animal...?!?!!