I Picked A Future.

Well the moment everyone has been waiting for has FINALLY arrived....I HAVE PICKED A FUTURE! I don't know if everyone was actually waiting for that, but I know I was (my parents were too). 

There have been several factors that have lead me to actually being able to make this decision: 

1. The first and most important has been The Lord. It's been absolutely incredible how He's been working things out over the past 21+ years...but particularly in the last year or two. He's just so good!

2. Perspectives! 

A lot of alumni say that Perspectives changed their life, and that's great! But I don't think I can say that it "changed my life," rather it solidified it. I took it in the fall at The Bridge and am in it again right now, and it's just crazy how The Lord reveals Himself isn't it! I would HIGHLY recommend EVERYONE to take Perspectives, sooner rather than later, it'll open your eyes to a whole new world. 

3. Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung 

I had to read this book as part of the IT Project this summer, and I LOVED IT. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who has a decision to make, especially those near graduation ; )

4. Lots of prayer and wise counsel

Never underestimate the power of diligent prayer and a very wise mother. 

So now that you know the decision making factors, do you want to actually know the decision?!?

Okay, okay I'll tell you! 

After this summer I am going to move back to Lake Charles and live with my parents! 

Impressed yet?

Don't fret there's more. 

I'm planning to be there for about a year or so while I am applying to go overseas with Journeyman through the IMB. (you can look on their website if you would like more info, imb.org)

I'm really excited about this decision! I'm mostly just excited I made a decision! But I am excited to live at home again! I'll be able to work and save money and spend some quality time with the fam before I ship off for two years. 

I don't know where I might want to serve or what I might want to be doing yet, so don't ask unless you're okay with me saying, "I dunno." My first priority will be getting my application submitted and I'll let The Lord take care of the rest; He knows where to put me far better than I do anyway. So I'll just let Him handle it. 

I'm ready for the next step! I know it's going to be great!

Creativity Week.

It's been a really good week! The Lord has been so generous and creative! 

So Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal days here...Perspectives in the morning and reading in the afternoon. Wednesday we had class in the morning and worked on homework in the afternoon, but Wednesday night was our first Rendezvous night! A Rendezvous is when a girl's small group is paired up with a guy's small group and they go do something fun together! Basically a group date! 

I think we got spoiled....it really was such a fun night! I've gotta give these guys some props because it was just so unique and fun! 

We started out at Galco's Soda, which is this old school soda shop in Pasadena. The owner just LOVES soda. I mean he like really LOVES it. He's got all these super obscure and random sodas from all over the world in there! (He did have Abita root beer what what!) So we all picked out some sodas to take with us, I tried a Hippo Sized Root Beer and this rose petal soda...it's made with real roses, it was a different flavor...but a good kind of different. They were both really good!! 

Next, we went to Trader Joes (a grocery store). We got in groups of two or three and bought different food stuffs for a picnic! We had everything from hummus to blueberry pie! And it was all good!!

Then we drove up to Mt. Wilson and had a picnic and watched the sun set on Los Angeles. It was beautiful! 

It was such a fun night! And so creative! All of us ladies were rather impressed with these fellas.

Wednesday was great, but Thursday was even better because I got to have breakfast with this family 

  

Kirk, Kim, Brett and Nate were in town on vacation and were able to come to Pasadena before heading up to San Francisco! It was such a wonderful treat to get to spend some time with them...even if it was just an hour! It was such a unique and creative gift from The Lord and I am so very thankful that He gave it to me! 

And to top this wonderful week off...this weekend was Small Group Weekend!! 

Each small group got together and went away for the weekend! Our group was fortunate enough to get to go to Seal Beach, California...basically the most adorable town ever! It was just so cute! 

Our group leader knew someone in the area, and so we were able to stay with them for the weekend! That was such a blessing! The family we stayed with was so sweet and fun! We had a candy bouquet waiting for us in our room, fresh baked cookies and a delicious breakfast and dinner. It was awesome! And to top it all off....we were a block from the beach!! IT WAS SO GREAT!

Isn't it just too cute?

Saturday morning we got to sleep in and then we went to the beach for a little while. Then we went and had some lunch and did a little shopping, got our nails done, did a little more shopping, ate dinner, did a little more shopping, and then passed out. It was awesome!

Today we went to L.A. and did some cool stuff. This morning we went to The Getty Art Museum. It was really cool! I LOVED it! I could have spent the entire day there...but I don't think everyone else felt the same way :) I think my favorite exhibit was the Impressionist room, it was so great. They had Renoir, Degas, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh. There weren't many really famous paintings but it was still just so incredible being inches away from these canvases. I think I could have sat in front of this one for hours

That was my absolute favorite thing this weekend, seeing Van Gogh's Irises. It was stunning. 

That's a Renoir on the left and a Monet on the right. 

This is a better picture of the Renoir.

And this isn't impressionist but still a famous painter that I like a lot, Edvard Munch, so it was neat to see some of his work. 

After the museum we went out to West Hollywood and met up with one of the guys groups and ate lunch and then did some shopping at an outdoor market. 

All in all it was a great weekend and has been a really great week! 

All week I've been reminded of God's wonderful creativity. He's just been showing it in such creative ways...the boys ability to think outside the box for Rendezvous night, my sweet gift of breakfast with the Woods, and a museum and market filled with works of art coming straight out of the creativity of someone's mind. What a cool gift God's given us in our ability to create. I guess that's just another way He's made us in His image...He did create creativity after all. 

 

Pasadena Week Two.

Oh geez what a week it has been! 

Perspectives has been good...especially since I just get to listen to the lectures and don't have to do any of the homework :) 

Friday we learned all about Mormons. It was rather interesting...they believe some strange stuff. That night we went to the Mormon temple here and had a tour. 

We weren't allowed to go inside the actual temple because we aren't members of the church. But we were allowed to go through the visitors center and around the grounds. We broke up into groups and each group got two young Mormon ladies to show us around the visitors center, which was basically a Mormon museum. 

It was really interesting, and we were able to ask a lot of good questions and learn a lot. 

Saturday we had more evangelism training. We learned how to incorporate our testimony into the bridge illustration. It was really cool, but I was pretty nervous. 

That afternoon we went to Santa Monica to practice! I was paired with a girl named Holly and we worked really well together! I really enjoyed spending the day with her! We got quite a few 'no's' before someone finally said yes. Most people were on their lunch break or a 10 minute break from work so that was understandable. There were two ladies who tried to play the "I don't speak English" routine, but they picked the wrong language! They were both French ladies...OH UH UN!! So I started talking to them in French and they would talk to me until I said "Bible," then they were out. But hey I got to practice! 

We did talk to about 4 women and were able to share the gospel with them. Two said that they were already believers, and we had a good conversation with them. Then we talked to one lady, and she seemed pretty interested in what we had to say. She had a lot of good questions. The Spirit is working in her life. And the last girl we talked to had been raised Seventh Day Adventist, but had seen a lot of hypocrisy in the church and that drove her away from The Lord. That made me sad, stupid Christians. But she was really nice and let me stumble through the illustration. 

But all in all it was a good day!! 

This morning we went to Saddleback Church! That's the church that Rick Warren, the author of Purpose Driven Life, is the pastor. He wasn't preaching this morning though, Doug Fields preached instead. It was a great service! I really enjoyed it, but I don't know if I could go there every Sunday. 

It was HUGE! I heard a rumor that they have almost 20,00 people on any given Sunday. I felt like I was at Six Flags or something! The campus was enormous!

We had to ride a little trolley from the cars to the campus. This is my friend Sally and I on the trolley!

All-in-all it was a great day! I really enjoyed it! Saddleback is a really unique community and it was a privilege to get to visit.

Jordan + Thailand Pictures!

They're here!!

I have finally had a chance to sit down and go through my pictures from our trip!

And I've selected some to share with all of you! 

Yippee!! 

So here they are! 

So these are both from our first few hours in Amman, Jordan. The top is the Roman columns and the bottom is the Roman Amphitheater in Amman.

This is our second day in Jordan! 

Petra! 

This is the walk to get to the walk 

that gets you to the walk 

that gets you to the stairs 

that get you to the hike...

..it was a really long day. 

On the right is The Treasury, it was in Indiana Jones. On the left, you can see The Treasury through the rocks. The rocks are what's called the Siq it's basically a 2 mile long trench that you have to walk through, it's really cool in there! I blogged more in depth about it a few weeks ago. 

It wouldn't be a trip without Guillaume! 

All the caves are tombs, there are over 300 surviving tombs! There used to be houses and such but they've all been destroyed by earthquakes. 

This is The Monastery. It was quite a challenge getting to, OVER 800 STEPS! 

But it was well worth it! 

Camel Rides!! 

So fun!! 

The Camel Man, 

he was a little sketch. 

 Now we're on to day 3 of Jordan! Mt. Nebo and the Dead Sea! This was taken from Mt. Nebo, the mountain believe to be where Moses was allowed to look out onto The Promised Land.

Isn't it just crazy that that's essentially the same view that Moses had!?! 

I mean I'm sure the scenery has changed in 4,000 years, 

but you know what I mean!

We had such a good time that day!

The Dead Sea!

You really do float!! It's so strange feeling!

And I will say that the mud really does wonders for the skin!

Am I right Halley Claudel??

Our last day in Jordan :(

We visited the ancient citadel in Amman, it was really neat! So many old ruins that have been there for centuries, it's kind of a weird thought to process.

The citadel did afford us with some pretty breathtaking views of Amman! In the picture just above you can see the Roman Amphitheater we visited on the first day!

Our sweet party bus driver, Joe (top), and tour guide, Na (bottom). They were both precious and made our day in Bangkok so very fun!! 

We were able to visit the Floating Market outside of Bangkok, 

that was an interesting experience. 

We then went from the Floating Market to have lunch and to see the Bridge on the River Kwai. I think it's really only famous because there was a movie about it, but it was still pretty.

Next, we went to the Elephant Park! 

That was definitely the HIGHLIGHT of our trip! 

We got to ride on their backs without a basket or anything! 

It was AWESOME! 

And then we got to play with them in the water! 

It was so INCREDIBLE! 

I would highly recommend adding that to the bucket list!

This video was too long to upload straight to the blog so I had to put it on YouTube. 

So if you would like to watch, 

and I recommend that you do,

CLICK HERE

Our time in Bangkok came to a close and we headed to Pattaya to spend some time with Monica. The first night she took us to a traditional Thai restaurant that even had Thai music and dancing! 

The next day we had our zip line adventure through the Thai jungle! 

It was also AWESOME! 

We happened upon a temple on our last day in Pattaya. 

Yes that is a monk feeding a stray dog. 

The last day in Thailand we spent some time just relaxing, we got massages and went to the beach! It was a perfect end to our vacation!