My Weekend In Words & Pictures...

This last weekend Mike and I were in Orange County. Mike was asked to speak at a retreat for students at Shoreline in Fountain Valley. On Friday we drove to Orange County early to go to Disneyland. It was a much less crowded day than on my birthday. We went on Pirates, Haunted Mansion, The Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer's Island, Indiana Jones, It's a Small World and Roger Rabbit. It was a pretty good time! Mike spoke on Friday night at the church and on Saturday afternoon and Saturday night. We drove some junior high girls around for an Amazing Race Scavenger Hunt. It was fun for us, but a disadvantage for them with two people who don't know the area. I think the still had a good time. We had church on Sunday and our student leaders came over last night for some enchiladas. Our weekend was super busy, so today we decided to relax. We did some Christmas shopping, ate some free Chick-Fil-A and saw the movie "Dan in Real Life" this afternoon. It is a very, very good movie! All in all it was a very nice weekend. Enjoy the Disneyland pictures below.

Long Time, No Blog...

I know it's been a few since I last blogged. Here's what's happening in my life right now:

• I am still plugging along in my photoshop class. I have about 6 t/2 weeks left.
• I just threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law and I'm about to become an aunt in less than 2 months! Pretty exciting!
• I was asked to be in the dance group for our church's Christmas production again this year! I'm still thinking about it after it just about killed me last year! :-)
• I'm reading a book right now called Girls Ministry 101. It's okay so far, but it seems like I would get more out of it if I was a girl youth minister. I'll give you a full review when I'm done.
• I'm supposed to start designing a banner for the junior high ministry at our church, but I haven't been able to have access to Photoshop in the recent past.

That's pretty much my life right now! Not super exciting, but that's good because for once I'm not crazy busy!! I posted a few pictures above from our church's Trunk or Treat. I was Batgirl for our superhero themed trunk!

I am doing good...

I just realized a few minutes ago that I haven't yet posted about my results from my surgery. In case you need to be updated, here's the short version:

I found a lump on my breast about two months ago and the doctors suggested I have it removed. It was removed a little over two weeks ago (actually there were two) and I got the results at the end of last week. The results said that the lumps were fibroadenomas (I believe that means cysts).The biopsy was negative for everything. I am doing well and only have a small scar.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support during this extremely rough time in my life. I truly appreciate it all.

Happy, Happy Birthday...

In California Adventure holding my freshly made tortillas

The "N" is for Nicole

Today I turned 27. It started off with me going to my class, which I was late to, so my seat was taken. This prompted the professor to talk for 5 minutes about people making sure to sit in the same seat every time. When I got home Mike gave me my gift from him. It is a book that I am looking forward to beginning tonight. We then headed out to Disneyland. We got about 5 minutes down the freeway and turned back to get the camera. We went to Sonic for lunch before heading into Disneyland. We went to California Adventure and here is what we did:

• We got me my button that says Happy Birthday
• The Animation place
  
• The Monster's Inc. ride.

After this we headed over to the Boudin Sourdough bread place and the Tortilla place. I got a package of freshly made tortillas for free for my birthday. We left California Adventure and headed into the Magic Kingdom. We rode the monorail and Winnie-the-Pooh. The lines for everything were about 40 minutes to an hour long. We even tried to ride the cars at Autopia (which we usually don't go on) but they closed it down right as we walked up. We decided to head home after only two hours at the park. When we got back to Riverside we went to Best Buy were I bought the Across the Universe soundtrack with birthday money and then we went to Sees Candy were I picked out a half pound box of chocolates.

Overall, my birthday was pretty good. Although, I still haven't received a call from my own mom. The woman who birthed me. Maybe I should call her, she is the one that did all the work 27 years ago! :-)

27 Things...

I know I have been writing a lot about goals I have for my life and everything, but I saw a friends post about the 25 things she is going to do this year (because she is turning 25) and decided that I am going to list my 27 goals for this next year (since I'm turning 27).

1. Read 27 Books (Fiction & Non Fiction)
2. Be a better leader
3. Visit at least one new state
4. Run a half marathon
5. Write an article for a youth journal or something similar
6. Write at least 10 scripts for youth ministry
7. Take at least 4 more graphic design classes
8. Work out three times a week
9. Play the keyboard/piano more
10. Finish my wedding and college scrapbooks
11. Be an awesome wife
12. Buy my first house
13. Take a cooking class
14. Start a discipleship group with teenage girls
15. Buy a Mac computer
16. Be an awesome aunt
17. See a TV show taping in L.A.
18. Go back to London
19. Go camping
20. Go on a week long vacation with my husband
21. Start designing stuff for people & churches
22. Eat healthier
23. Volunteer somewhere other than at church
24. Connect better with friends
25. Work on be less stressed
26. Ride Space Mountain at Disneyland
27. Be more faithful in my quiet times with God

So, those are my 27 goals to accomplish before I turn 28. I'm going now so I can get a start on these things.

I'm turning the big 2-7...

In just a few short days (4 to be exact) I will be 27 years old!

I used to be in an hurry to grow up. To accomplish all the goals I had. Go to college, get married, live in a little house with a white picket fence and have those 2.5 kids. Yes, I went to college and now I'm back in college. Yes, I got married, but who knew I was only going to be 20 and still in college. Yes, I live in a little house, but it doesn't have a white picket fence. No, I don't have those 2.5 kids, but hopefully someday soon.

It's funny to me the things we dream about as a kid and how different a path God leads us down. I am thankful that I have had (almost) 27 awesome years on this earth, but I have to have some better, non stereotypical goals for the next 27!

I Did It!!!

Today was the day of my minor outpatient surgery to remove the cyst from my body. At this current time my husband is out of the state so my mom came with me for moral support. They wouldn't let her stay in the room while they did, so she had to wait about an hour in the waiting room. I know my mom was nervous for me and didn't want to sit out there and just wait, but she ended up talking with the people out there.

Side Note: Something to know about my mom is that she can pretty much strike up a conversation with just about anybody, anywhere, at anytime. It's amazing to me because I am sooooo not like that.

The surgery took about 45 minutes. At first both the doctor and I couldn't find the cyst which was a little surprising cuz I've felt that it was gigantic for the last few months. After a few minutes it was found and I laid down on the table as the prepping began. The nurse held my hand which I think I squeezed pretty hard, but she just kept standing there. The worst part (note: stop reading now if you get queasy with medical things) was the numbing shot and the sounds of the doctor cutting the skin and then the actual cutting out of the cyst. It really didn't hurt just pressure and pulling. They said I did a really good job and I kept thanking the doctor for taking it out and being so patient with me.

I always think that I am the worst patient when in reality I'm probably not that bad. I didn't even cry, my eyes just welled up with tears a little bit, but nothing came out. Thank you so much for the support I've gotten from everyone through this difficult time. The last step in this whole process is just waiting about 2 weeks for the results of the biopsy. I hope that everything comes out negative!

A Pastor's Wife...

I have been involved in youth ministry for about 7 years now and the wife of a youth pastor for a little over 6 years. I never wanted to be a pastor's wife (or PW as some lady once told me), but never say never because it always happens anyway. I have no wisdom about youth ministry. I have no wisdom about being a pastor's wife. What I do have is 6 years of experience and this is my "advice":

A few months ago Mike was teaching a class on youth ministry and he had me come in and talk with his class about being a pastors wife. Below is my outline from this class:

Frustrations in ministry (being the wife):

· Always being watched

o How do I deal with it? I try living a life that pleases God and no one else.

o Example: “Inappropriate Clothing”

· Church members always wanting you to volunteer for everything

o I learned this early on. You need to know when to say “No”

o Example: People ask me a lot of times to do things that don’t fit in with my “sweet spot” (Girl Student Leaders, Video/Technology)

· People always assuming that you know everything that is going on in the youth ministry

o In a small church and youth ministry you probably will know what’s going on all the time, but any time you get over a ministry of thirty or more most likely you can’t know everything

o Example: Guys Game Night (not going to know what’s going on at this)

Positives in Ministry:

• My Involvement
• How lucky that God knew exactly where I would be in ministry 8 years ago when He told me I was going to work with students?
• Being married to a pastor helps me to be involved on a deeper level in youth ministry then a lot of other volunteers (I get to be in the know before a lot of other people)

Things to make sure to ask when interviewing at a church:

· What do you see as the responsibility of the youth pastor’s wife?

· What are your expectations?

· Am I required to be a volunteer in youth ministry? (The answer should be: No! You need to find the place God has in mind for you!)

Balancing Marriage and Ministry (What Do We Do?):

• Date Night
• Day Off
• Your day off is your day off, whether it’s Monday or Wednesday or any other day of the week. You need to take time to relax and NOT deal with anything at church, unless it’s absolutely necessary (ie. the church is on fire)
• Boundaries
• There have to be boundaries in ministry. You need to take the time to put God first and then your family. Your ministry is Important, but not so important that you neglect other areas of your life

Conclusion: Being the wife of a youth pastor (or a pastor) can be difficult, stressful and hard at times but doing ministry together is what counts and who better to do ministry with than someone you love and who gets you?

I don't know if any pastors wives read this, but if you do I hope this can be helpful to you, especially if you are just starting out in your marriage. If any pastors read this always encourage your wife in what they do in ministry whether it's with youth, children or singing in the praise band and show them this to let them know they aren't alone.

I love youth ministry!

Taking Time to Rest...

My life is constantly in the fast lane of the freeway! I am constantly on the run from one thing to the other. I tell people I have been super busy and then wonder if they think I'm making it up because they are usually the people I don't see all the time. I also sometimes wonder why I am so stressed when I don't work outside the home and I have no kids to take care of. This is why I have made the decision to cut back. I don't typically have a problem saying no to things, but sometimes I have trouble saying no to my husband. That is, until this morning. I have been talking about not volunteering with our Wednesday night program at church. I feel it's not the place for me right now and I'm not excited about it. This morning Mike told me I should just stop volunteering there starting now, so I said okay and he asked if I could at least go next Wednesday. That is when it happened I said no! Flat out no, I'm not going to. I think Mike was shocked by my response, but he is totally on board with my decision. SO as of 10am this morning I will no longer be volunteering on Wednesday nights.

I think so many times in our lives we get caught up in dong too many things. WE go from one task or activity to the next I know there are times that I "forget" to spend time with God because I've got to get to the next thing on my list. I forget to stop and listen to what God wants me to do. That is why I'm going to take the time to stop doing everything under the sun and just... rest.

You Stay Classy, San Diego!

On Friday Mike and I went down to San Diego for the night. Mike was teaching a conference down there at this thing called Leadership Training Institute. We made it down to San Diego at about 2pm and we shopped around, got some Baskin Robins and checked into our hotel. Our friend Josh picked us up to go have a meal with him at this place called Point Loma Seafood. He told us it would change our taste of fresh seafood and he was absolutely right. I had some of the most delicious shrimp I've ever had! Thanks for taking us Josh! The next day we went to the conference. Mike had two people at his conference and I read the whole day. It was awesome!! I had my camera, but I forgot to take any pictures. Sorry. You'll just have to imagine what it looked like.

The Office: Jim as Dwight vs Dwight as Jim

The Office... An Amazing Show!

I love to watch The Office. If you asked me about a year and a half ago if I liked this show I would have made a face and said, "No Way! It's horrible!" That was until I watched it again after having only seen about 3 minutes of the show the first time. I used to work in an office when I was in college and when we first moved to the O.C. I worked in another office. My experiences were nothing like those of the characters on TV, but I can always pull out a hint of a situation I had while working in that environment. So, to show you how much I love The Office and to share with you how excited I am for the fourth season I have a little video for you to watch above! This is my favorite scene from last season.

***I just added this video stuff to my blog so the video actually shows up as a different post. I'm working on figuring out how to get it into my actual post and not separate. So for now enjoy the video meant for this blog post in the post right above!

****And I am totally a blogging machine today! I have never posted this many times in a day, let alone in a week! Well, maybe a week.

The Computer Lab

I had time today to go to the lab for my class and catch up on my classwork and "homework". For the most part I was able to work in a classroom alone with just the humming of the computer modems. This was until about 40 minutes later when two guys walked into the room. Now I want you to know that there are probably a good 20 to 25 computers in this classroom. All which are not being used at the moment except the one I am on. But, of course, the two guys decided to choose the computer right next to me to work on. They were extremely loud and rude and talked the entire 15 minutes they were there and it took me about 1o of those minutes to read about two pages of work (out of about 25 pages). It was not good! I just don't understand. Why do I always find myself in these strange situations?

My College Professor...

This past friday CBU lost a wonderful professor, Melodie Yocum. She passed away from cancer. Melodie was the very first professor I ever had contact with at CBU and for the most part taught a lot of the classes I took for my degree. She gave me the opportunity of a theater scholarship without having ever seen my acting ability. She also gave me my first role at CBU by basically making up a part of a fairy not in the script. Melodie was my professor, director, actor and friend. In the last few years I did not talk with her much. Mainly because our paths didn't seem to cross as often. I had the privilege of being directed by Melodie in two plays at CBU and a multitude of scenes. I also had the opportunity to direct Melodie a few years ago in a play about the life of Ruth Bell Graham (wife of Billy Graham). I have also had the opportunity of acting alongside her teenage son. My heart goes out to him right now as I can not even imagine what the feelings must be like to lose a parent at such a young age.
Please keep the Yocum family in your prayers as I am sure this is a difficult time for Melodie's husband and children.

And the Diagnosis is...

I went to see the doctor at the Breast Clinic this morning and all is well in the life of Nicole. At least in that area. I do have two.. yes two... lumps in my left breast and the doctor I saw recommended that I have them removed. He said that they are fibrocysistic or something like that. So on October 5th at 8:30 in the morning I will be having a local shot in that region and they will remove the two cysts leaving only a small scar and I will be awake the entire time. I am not looking forward to the being awake part during the procedure, but I will deal with anything if it means not having the lumps anymore. The doctor said he likes to do this so if it happens again in say, ten years, I will be just as scared about it and get it checked out.

I am extremely relieved that the diagnosis was good and I thank everyone who reads this blog for your prayers. Please continue to pray that everything else in this process goes well.

Words, words, words...

I have a lot on my mind right now, but the thing that's driving me crazy the most is the fact that I have to come up with video ideas for about 8 videos that I know of plus a few more that I have yet to know the topic of.

Let me start at the beginning for those who may be confused:

Last year I began a ministry with students at church that makes videos for our high school ministry. Last year went fairly well, but it could have always been better. There aren't exactly a lot (none) of scripts out there to use with making videos. Therefore, I have had to write a lot of the scripts and adapt some other things. This year I have decided to hold auditions. Not to cut any students, but to place them in parts that suit them. I am ready for the auditions this weekend, but I am having some trouble coming up with scripts for announcement videos. I want to be able to give them some scripts to take home and memorize. I have A LOT of thoughts in my head, but I almost can't get them out of my head fast enough and sometimes when I do they don't come off as well on paper. I feel as though I am gong insane!!!

To quote Shakespeare in Hamlet: "Words, words, words."

I don't know what I'm gonna do!

I'm still in school and I'm still smilin'... barely...

Warning: Extremely lengthy post ahead!

Today was my second day of school and it was okay. I feel a bit lost in the class, but I assume it's normal for it only being the second day. I sat down at the same computer I had last Wednesday (we are sooo creatures of habit) and next to the same guy. I said "hi", he sort of nodded then we went back to our computer screens. Mine decided to freeze on me and I felt like an idiot when I raised my hand to have the professor help me. (To clarify I would usually just reboot the computer, but our syllabus tells us if there is a problem to leave it to the professor. I like to follow rules.) I asked if I should reboot, she said "No!" She pushed some keys and couldn't seem to fix it so she decided to reboot (go figure!) As soon as she walked away the computer came back on and was in the same freeze position as before. I again raised my hand for her only to tell me to share with the guy next to me. He did not look amused and neither did I. You see, I am a kinesthetic learner and therefore must do things as I am being taught. I rolled over about three inches to sit next to "random guy" (I was not paying attention when role was taken in order to hear his name) and as the professor showed us things about Adobe he was like 3 minutes behind everything she did. I again, was not amused. We were then given a 15 minute break. I called Mike, used the facilities and then went back to sit down at my still frozen computer. There was about 5 minutes left so I watched as "random guy" used his already (I believe) advanced photoshop skills to tweak a pretty amazing picture. Apparently he works as a photographer for some design company. After a little more of the professor showing us some basic work space stuff she told us to do Lesson 1 in our books. "Random guy" was very nice and told me I could take his computer since he didn't have the book yet. He then proceeded to reboot the computer and of course it actually turned off and came back on... unfrozen! He basically grunted to me to use my disk and share my book with me. I obliged even though I was thinking "I really don't want to share and he already knows more than half the class anyway." He then was obviously going faster than me and I kept apologizing to him for being slow. I think about it now and I'm really not sure why I was apologizing for my being slow when I was letting him use my book but, whatever! Overall, it was a pretty strange second class, but I'm still sticking it out!

Back to School...

Today I went back to school for the first time in 4 years!

In case you are lost and don't know me or talk with me personally I am going back to school to obtain a graphic design certificate so I can hopefully do some free lance design for churches and companies and whoever else will want to higher me. The following is my first day at Riverside City College:

I was a bit nervous because I didn't have a clue where my classroom was and I heard it was hard to park at RCC. My class began at 8am and I had no trouble finding it, which was a relief. I took a seat at a computer (which are Macs, by the way, so that was awesome) and the professor was a lady which I was not expecting, but still cool. Turns out the lady was only subbing for the real professor because she is at a conference. Our actual professor is also a lady, which is still cool with me. We were then given a syllabus that has the wrong class dates for everything so that's a bit frustrating. The final project is worth half my grade! As the sub was reading the syllabus she told us we need a 1GB USB drive and then asked if anyone had one to show. Of course being the nerd I am brought one with me so I had to be the one who showed the class what it looked like. That was bit goofy because by the looks of my class I'm pretty sure we all know what that is.We then began to watch videos on something call Bridge, which from the 4 videos we watched I can only decipher that it is a storage spot for all the other Adobe applications. That took about an hour and then we had a break. After the break we opened up Adobe Photoshop and took the next hour and fifteen minutes to make a flier about a lost animal using shapes and tools on the tool bar. I proceeded to make a very crudely drawn lost chicken. I can't wait until the actual professor comes back so I can learn things a little better. Overall today has been an interesting first day back to school.

I am not sure why I have such a goofy expression on my face becasue it was too early in the morning for me to look that excited!

What I did on Labor Day...

Today we decided to go to Disneyland to watch our friend Eric "Puddles" Putman run in the Disneyland Half Marathon. He finished in about 3 and a half hours and we were able to see him right after he crossed the finish line. Great Job Eric!! We went on four rides today (I went on 3). They were all inside rides because it was like 235 degrees outside, in Anaheim, at about 10am. We went on Space Mountain, Pirates, Soarin' Over California and Grizzly Rapids. On the last one I ended up getting the most wet (which usually happens on those types of rides) and my pants and half my shirt were soaked for about 2 hours. It was fun... can you hear the sarcasm. Overall the day was pretty fun, yet exhausting due to the heat. Below are some pics from the day.

Eric right after he finished

Mike and my brother, Eric, right before the rapids begin

Right after the rapids. My whole left and back side was soaked.

It actually rained in Riverside as we were driving home! Amazing!!!

Goals for Me! Part Two!

The other day I posted what some of my goals are. Below is a list of the things I want to do throughout my whole life. I have done a few and have a lot more to accomplish, but this would be most of them. (I saw someone else post something like this and found it interesting, so I hope you enjoy!)

Have 2 Children

Run a half marathon

Adopt 1 Child

See U2 & John Mayer in concert (probably not at the same venue)

X See Delirious in concert (thank you, Mike)

Get a certificate in Graphic Design

Go to Paris, France

Go to Italy (visit the city my grandma was born in and other places)

Go to Germany (visit the town my ancestors are from)

Buy a home

Visit all 50 states (I have 13 Down, 37 more to go)

X Go to England

Read all Charles Dickens Novels (I’m close)

Begin free lance graphic design from home

Be in the musicals Oklahoma, Sound of Music and My Fair Lady

Hike up some mountain (I don’t care which one, just one that will get me over my acrophobia)

Wake board

X Sailing (Large boat and I captained my own small boat)

Get on one roller coaster (Again to overcome my acrophobia)

Write a fiction book (I have many thoughts, but no significant direction yet)

Write some articles for something in youth ministry (I have no thoughts on this yet)

X Buy a car (with the help of a loan)

Donate my hair to Locks of Love 5 Times (I have 2 down and am working on #3)

Go on a camping trip (just Mike and I, to see if I can really “rough it”)

Go on a cruise (somewhere, anywhere it doesn’t matter)

Go to Canada (especially British Columbia and Nova Scotia)

X Go to Washington DC

X Go to New York City (thanks for getting married there Brian & Kalee)

Go to Australia & New Zealand

Some obviously require more than others, but I think it's a pretty reasonable list. Just thought I would share what's inside my head. :-)

Goals for Me!

I have always had goals in my life and about 63.2% of the time I follow through with those goals. These are some goals I am making for myself right now...
1. Take a graphic design class at RCC
2. Obtain a certificate in graphic design so I can possibly free lance from home
3. Buy a program that allows me to be able to free lance from home (after or before obtaining the certificate)
4. Step out of my comfort zone when it comes to talking with my neighbors and others I am in contact with
5. Take out the 10 girls in my Bible Study (one at a time) for coffee... or non coffee
6. Run at least 2-3 times a week in my beautiful neighborhood
7. Start lifting weights (small ones) to get rid of the inflammation in my chest (seems like it would have the opposite effect, but it's doctors orders)
8. Eat more healthy (I think I do this now, but I can always do better)
9. And finally (not because it's the least important, but more because it's the most important) I'm going to start trusting God more with the plans He has for me and try really hard not to think about worst case scenarios with my health

I know that number 9 doesn't really sound like a goal, I just need to have it written somewhere that I said it.

I don't know what to say...

I have a multitude of thoughts going through my head right now and I'm not sure where to begin.

First, I want to say that my costochondritis is still here and may not go away until I work it out through exercise. My doctor didn't seem real concerned.

Secondly, I'm trying to find the words to say my next thought without be too vague, yet not super descriptive. Here goes...

I found a lump in that upper girl region on my body. My doctor verified it today and referred me to a specialist. They are supposed to call me within a few weeks. I am extremely scared, anxious, angry and so much more right now. My doctor tells me there is a 90% chance that it is just a cyst that needs to be drained and if it had been a little bigger he would have done it himself (with a needle... oh... yay). The nurse was trying to be a comfort and told me that "we all have them." I'm not sure if that was comforting or just made me think if we all have them how come it's such a big deal. I'm not sure what to feel right now. I know that God is taking me through this time for a reason, but I still want to know why.
So, for now I just wait and pray and wait and pray until I am given more answers.

Connections...

I am trying to make a point of connecting with high school girls in my Bible Study more this year. My goal is to take them out for coffee or lunch or something at least once. There are ten girls in my Bible Study and I figure that's one a month with 2 months to spare. I've said it here so hopefully I will accomplish this goal and can share my experiences on this blog. Now for a story...

For about the last seven months I have been going to coffee (or non coffee as we call it) with a girl named Sarah. We have connected so well and I believe we have a wonderful friendship going on. She wrote about Mike and I on a blog on her myspace so I was thinking I wanted to share with anyone reading how amazing just one connection can be.

Sarah will be entering college this fall and I know that she is anxious, nervous, unsure, and undecided about things, but I also know that she is finding comfort in God even through this next step in life. I look at Sarah and she says she learns a lot from me, but I have learned so much from her also. She has shown me what it's like to trust God with things even when you are unsure. She is someone that I know I will be friends with for a long time and I hope we will keep on meeting in person together for many years (at least while we live close by). She has this calmness about her and this wisdom about things that I sometimes don't understand and then I realize it's her love for God. She is concerned for others, loves hanging out with teenage girls and she really thinks and prays through big, tough decisions. She is a true friend to those she is closest to and you would be lucky to know this girl if you ever meet her.

Connecting with students is an important part of ministry and there is no way I could connect on the same level with every student. I think the most important thing to remember is that after making that connection you can't just leave them when they leave high school, try to continue to connect with them after they leave your ministry and beyond. You can't do that with every student, but you can do it with a few and maybe you will make a little bit of a difference in someone's life.

Ministry...

I don't talk a lot about my ministry on my blog, but something sparked me into thinking about sharing my thoughts on the ministry I do.

I am a high school ministry volunteer at my church. When I was 18 years old I made the decision to be involved in youth ministry somehow, someway after high school. Little did I know that God would put me on the path to doing ministry early on. I have now been doing youth ministry for 7 years. 5 years with junior high and 2 years with high school. If you had asked me 2 1/2 years ago if I would ever volunteer with high schoolers I would have told you flat out... No! Now I can't even imagine going back to junior high students (as much as a I love them).

I was the girl in high school who did everything. I played sports, I wrote for the school newspaper, I was in theater and I was extremely involved at my church. I would not recommend that for any high school student that I come in contact with, but it definitely shaped me into the person I am today and the person I continue to become. This has also helped me to say no to a lot of things because I had the tendency to get burnt out in high school.

I currently teach a Bible Study class on Sunday mornings, I lead the video ministry (it's pretty infrequent) and I volunteer on Wednesday Nights (which I may cut back on this year). This may sound like a lot and I could be doing a lot more. The only downside to this is that it makes me a bit more visible to parents and students and they tend to think i know everything about every event coming up.

I love my ministry and I love high school students. I hope that I am able to volunteer with this age for a long time. At least until God has me move on to another area of ministry!

Tension...

I know that most of my posts are about my health and how many times I have taken xrays and gone to the doctors, but here's one more for you.
If you have been reading my blog you may know that I had/have this thing called Costochondritis (look it up). I am still taking pain medicine for it (which I';m not sure it I still should be) and the pain has lessened in my chest a little bit, but has now moved to another part of my body... my arm. I am working really hard on not being a worrisome person, but this just adds to all my worry. My arm hurts and has been off and on numb/tingly for the last few days and it also seems to be connected to my shoulder. I told my mom about this (I pretty much tell her everything) and she told me it's probably tension. I truly hope it's just tension and not something worse, but I sure would like to have one day without any pain in my body... anywhere! So... I am still debating making an appointment with my doctor, but I continue to pray that it will just go away. So, if you do read my boring medical stories please take a little bit of time to pray that I will make the right decision to either get it checked out (again) or that God will just take it away because I know He is the Ultimate Healer! Thanks for reading!

I'm back from across the pond...

We made it back to California from London on Tuesday and we are just trying to recover from jet lag. It was worse coming back then going there. If you want to read about our trip and see pictures from it then you can go to mine and Mike's joint blog. I hope you enjoy our stories.

Trusting God in every aspect of life...

I've been sitting here for the past few minutes pondering what I want to write about. I know what I want to say I just don't know how to say it...

In this moment in time in my life things have been extremely hard for me. I feel like I am in a time of battle and I don't know what to do. I don't mean to sound cryptic in my writing, but I don't think everyone needs to know the specifics of my life, just that I am in need of prayer BIG time. I know that God has my best interest in mind and that He is taking me down the path He has set out for me and that most of all, He loves me. Please just pray that I will have a peace about all the things going on in my life right now, good and bad.

I apologize for being such a downer in my blog. I'll try making the next one funny or at least not so cryptic. :-)

I have been commissioned...

Yesterday at church our London Team was commissioned. I have never actually been commissioned before and I always thought of it as sort of nerve-wracking. And let me tell you it was... at first. I really dislike getting up in front of a bunch of people I don't know, who don't know me and that are all staring at me. Now I know that they are not only looking at me, but also looking at the 12 other people standing up there, but it's still intimidating. One of my fears going into it was that when our pastor asked people to come down and pray for us that no one was going to come over to me. My fears came true a bit, but it turned out better than I suspected.
Let me tell you what happened:

• First Service (The Scary One) People began coming up to pray. Lot's of people were heading for Mike on my right and whoever was on my left. Finally after what felt like an hour (it was probably about 10 seconds) Anthony Lammons (he works at CBU) and his daughter and a student from my Bible Study came up to pray for me. Relief washed over me.

• Second Service (The Awkward One) Again people begin coming up to pray. Again lot's of people were heading for Mike on my right and whoever was on my left. Finally a lady comes up and it looks as if she wants to pray for Mike but there are too many in front of Mike so she suggests everyone links hands, which I do, awkwardly take her hand because some other lady takes Mike's hand as I went to reach for it, and she prays. This was probably the most awkward of all of them because the lady didn't know my name so when she prayed for me she called me, "This young one here." This makes me think she assumed I was one of the high school students going.

• Third Service (The Awesome One and maybe a bit awkward): This time when our pastor asked people to come up I could pick out the people coming towards me. Mainly because this is the service with many of our students and they know who we are. The funniest or maybe a most awkward moment of the whole thing was that when Jon McWhorter came up to us he put his hands on mine and Mike's shoulders and I reached up and patted his hand. Now my whole meaning behind this was to say thank you nonverbally. I am hoping that's the way Jon took it (Jon- hopefully you will read this so you know my meaning behind it) and I hope there will not be an awkwardness between us now. I told Mike and he thought it was funny. As I write this I think I am thinking I need to write a post about how awkward I can be (that will be for another day). Anyway, this one was very cool having our students support us in prayer, even if it was a bit awkward too.

I looked up commission on dictionary.com and this was one of about 20 definitions:

to authorize; send on a mission.

I think this is a great definition for what we are a about to do! We are being sent to do a a mission for God and we may only come back with a few results, but we are doing what Jesus commanded us all to do in Acts 1:8. This time next week we will be done with our first day of ministry and I'm sure tired, but I believe it will comfort me to know that our church will be praying for us and especially that we have students who are praying and supporting us too. So, even though I was dreading my first commissioning experience it turned out to be pretty sweet!

Remember to check out our London Blog: lovatosinlondon.blogspot.com

A Case of Mistaken Identity...

Over a month or two ago I wrote about how Casey Angulo links me on her blog, which I'm not gonna lie, made me extremely excited! Needless to say, I told you I would give you the funny story of the first time we met.

It was probably about 4 or 5 years ago now and we were at some kind of youth rally (I think at Woodcrest. Sorry, but I'm bad with the specifics). Anyway, at the end of the night there was this time for prayer and I ended up being in a group with Mike (my husband), a random student (I think) and another girl (Casey) who I thought was a student of ours named Katie. While we were praying I prayed for Katie (or Casey in this case) by name. Not the most embarrassing moment of my life ever but I didn't even realize what I had done until a few moments later when we were done praying and Mike introduced me to Casey.

In my defense it was quite dark inside and in my opinion Casey and this other girl Katie look a lot alike, other than the fact that they are probably about 7 to 10 years apart in age. For some reason this case of mistaken identity has always remained a memory of mine. Now every time I am going to pray with a student I make sure I look at them first to make sure I say the right name.

I now have Casey linked in my "Blogs I Read" section! Go read her blog, it's pretty sweet!

Makin' Some Changes

I am trying to give my blog a different look, so if there are some weird names or titles on it for a few days do not be alarmed. I didn't change the name of my blog, hopefully just the look!

Just a Few Words...

Today was a lazy day. This is a day I haven't had in a long time. It was good for me and also not so good for me. For those of you who know me well, know that I'm a worrier (is that word?) and it is always something I am working hard not to be. Some people also may know that I struggle with anxiety, so this does not help me along. I tend to be in these states of anxiety and worry mostly when I am doing nothing. So, today was a particularly hard day for that! It is something that I am working on trusting God with and it's getting better, but I guess we all have our days! The good part of my day is the fact that I actually took the day to do nothing but sit on the couch and read (except for the hour we went out to do London stuff). I am now more than halfway through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I am pretty sure I will have it read by the end of the week if not in a couple of days. Well, there are my few words for you, not words of wisdom, but just some thoughts from my head.

My S.H.A.P.E.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about where I fit in ministry in the church. For the last 7 years I have been involved in youth ministry and while I love it I have been thinking lately if this is where I'm really supposed to be ministering... until this week. At our church this week is a little thing we like to call VBS (Vacation Bible School). I have been teaching second grade all week and let's just say...whew! I am exhausted. I am pretty sure that I have found my shape and it's not children's ministry. I love the kids, I love that they love me already even though they barely know me and I especially love that they have this joy about loving God at such a young age. The things I don't love is constantly having to count and make sure we have ten kids, singing and doing hand motions for a total of 45 minutes a day and the fact that our theme is sports and all they want to do is play baseball in the classroom. At one point this week I actually thought, "I do not want kids!", but then I came to my senses and realized that there is no way I would have ten kids at once or even ten kids total, so I felt a little better. Only two more nights of what I call pure chaos and then I can get back to what I do best... loving on high school students!

Oh! Check out my other blog about Mike and I going to London.

Well, we just got back from camp last Friday and it was awesome! It was probably one of the best camps I've been to and if you know me that's saying a lot. Below are some pictures from Hume in San Diego. WE are leaving today to go to the Student Leadership Conference at Saddleback. I will post more about both this weekend or next week!

Ingimar... What! Our large rec team won!

What are Mike and Ben pointing at?

We went to a church and fed some homeless people! It was amazing!

Inviting some people to the meal at the church!

I'll post more pics later!

I'm not a hypochondriac! Yea!!

For the last few months I have been experiencing what I like to call "pressure" on the left side of my chest. I was not overly concerned at first because I feel like I'm always finding something wrong with myself medically. But... this morning I woke up and I had the pain in my chest. I usually don't wake up with it, so that was a little weird, then this afternoon my left arm started to hurt and I began to freak out just a little. I called Mike and he came by the house and picked me up and off to Kaiser we went again. Now, I must preface all this with the fact that I believe that I'm a pretty healthy person (other than my sprains and breaks). I run (I will begin again soon, when my ankle is healed) and I make sure that we eat pretty healthy at home, I don't smoke, drink and I don't even have caffeine that often.
Now getting back to my chest pain. We arrived at Kaiser and I must say that they get you in to urgent care very quickly when you tell them that you have pain in your chest. I had a very nice nurse and then the doctor came in. He asked me a few questions and then he listened to my breathing and heart. Then he preceded to put pressure on my different parts of my chest. When he touched the left side it hurt a bit and then he moved away, looked at me with no doubt in his mind and told me I have something called Costochondritis. This has nothing to do with my heart and basically means I did something to strain my rib cage and and that the cartilage between my rib cage and breastbone is inflamed. His prescription: 2 Advil three times a day for 12 days. I just kept thanking him and saying I'm glad it's not my heart! I'm also glad that I finally went to the doctor and I'm especially glad that this makes me feel like I'm not a hypochondriac.

My Best Friend...

I don't have a whole lot of close friends, but I do have one best friend who has been with me through a lot in the last six years we've been married and the last eight years that we've known each other. I love my husband more today than I did the day he asked me to marry him, more than the day we got married, and my love has continued to get stronger for him. I couldn't ever imagine my life without him and his calmness, his seriousness, his goofiness, and most of all his love for God. He has such a calming affect on me at times which is great since I'm a very high strung individual. He is serious about his job and affecting the lives of teenagers in a fun, yet positive way. He is a highly funny individual which I don't give him enough credit for. His love for God is what I love most about him. He strives to learn more about God and works constantly on his own relationship with Him. He lets me vent to him and talk his head off when he gets home from work and best of all he lets me be myself and the person God made me to be. I don't know how many people read this, but I know Mike does, so I just want to say thank you for loving me. Thank you for letting me be me.

Another X-Ray...

About a year a go I had my first post about my broken finger. I'm happy to say that my finger is doing well and bends just as nicely as it did before it broke. I tell you this because yesterday I once again had to have an x-ray. Not on my finger this time, but on my ankle. Oh yes boys and girls I hurt myself once again. Luckily this time it is just a very painful sprain. I wish I could share with you a daring and amazing story of how I hurt my ankle, but alas, I can only say that I am highly embarrassed by this true story.

This weekend Mike and I moved his grandma from Yucaipa, CA out here to Riverside. Yesterday morning we decided to get bagels before heading out to Yucaipa to help with the estate sale for her home. As I was walking out of Panera Bread with a bag of bagels in one hand and hot chocolate in the other (I don't drink coffee) I stepped off the curb between my car and a small white car and that is when it happened. I fell, or tripped or maybe I was catapulted off the curb. I don't know how it happened I just know one minute I was enjoying my hot chocolate and the next I was on the ground with the bag of bagels two feet in front of me, the hot chocolate tipped over next to my turned in ankle and hot chocolate "juice" splattered all over the clean white car next to my head. My first thought was my pants are ruined and my pinky toe looks gross. About two seconds later I started to bawl like a baby and my ankle started to shoot with a whole lot of pain. Mike was a few feet behind me and only heard me fall (apparently I made a loud noise when I fell). He ran in to get me some ice and then off we drove to Kaiser.

One nice thing about yesterday was that There was not one single person in the waiting room of the ER and I got right in. We were in and out of the ER in a little over an hour. My final question that I leave you with is: Is it really okay that I have gotten 5 x-rays in the last year? That can't be good!

I'm Linked...

Okay, I know it has been a month since my last post and I would have posted sooner, but I have an excuse. I couldn't get into my blogger account because I am somehow computer illiterate and it wasn't working, but now it is. End of story.

My actual reason for writing this post is that I read a lot of blogs, mostly linked from my husbands blog and today I was reading Casey Angulo's blog and noticed that I am on her list of blogging friends. This was very exciting to me because I saw the name Nicole on her list and decided to click on it to see what other Nicole's write about and there I was staring at a my own blog! So, thank you Casey for showing me some "link love" and as soon as I figure out how to do it I will one day soon return the favor to you. I may also share my awkward and embarrassing first meeting with Casey. :-)

TGIF...

Remember when you were a kid (or a teenager, or maybe an adult) and you would watch TGIF on Friday's on ABC. Maybe it was the highlight of your week or maybe you weren't allowed to watch it, but either way it meant that it was Friday. Today I can actually say thank goodness it's Friday. Here are the highlights of my week (and lowlights, I guess).

• Monday- I wake up with a headache (not a good sign that this will be the best week ever). I pick up Mike's Grandma at her Doctor appointment and proceed to take her to her home about 15 miles away and it takes 40 minutes. I go to bed with a headache.
  
• Tuesday- I again wake up with a headache (the same one, that lasted all day the day before). I proofread book reviews from Mike's class he is teaching and a few other boring house chores. I also drove all the way to Corona to drop off our applications for a house we want to rent. There was traffic. It was not fun.
  
• Wednesday- I again wake up with a headache for the third day in a row. I look up headaches on Web MD and decide that I must have a tension headache (which can last up to several days and are most likely brought on by stress). Yeah!! Or Not! Mike informs me that we were approved for the house we want to rent. Yeah!! I attend our Wednesday night program at church and am not sure if I can make it through with a pounding headache. I surprisingly make it through and not only that, but I really enjoyed it. Mike spent the night at his Grandma's house so he could take her to another appointment the next morning. I took a Tylenol PM for my head.
• Thursday- For the fourth day in a row I wake up with an aching head and it's 6:45am. I drive to Highland to pick up Mike's Grandma from her medical procedure she is having done. They call me in to sit with her as she wakes up and then the doctor(who has horrible bedside manner) tells us he is admitting her to the hospital because she has fluid in her stomach. This is actually AWESOME news because they have actually found something so we can get to the bottom of her sickness. Anyway, I then had to drive her to the hospital, get her checked in and then settled in her room and then I had to drive about 20 minutes back to her place to get a bag of things together for her and then go 20 minutes back to the hospital. I was doing this while calling about 15 people to let them know about Mike's grandma being in the hospital. As I was driving home I called Mike and then took him and some other youth guys some food for lunch. Then I went home and did some household things and made dinner and then went to bed with a headache and some Tylenol PM.
• Friday- I woke up this morning for the first time without a headache, but it decided to come back a few minutes later. I now have to pack for this weekend (we are going to Junior High Winter Camp).
  

All I can say (or sing) after this very stress filled week is...
"Gonna have some fun,
Show you how it's done,
T.G. I. F...."

(I'm going to try to update more often, but no guarantees!)