awkward is awesome

This lovely artwork was done by a little 1st grader at my work.
I love it for so many reasons.
"Hi I am my mom" cracks me up.
And I love my job.

"Never be lacking in zeal,
but keep your spiritual fervor,
serving the LORD.
Be joyful in hope,
patient in affliction,
faithful in prayer."
-Romans 12:11-12

Coming home from the lightrail on Tues:
I was physically touching 4 people the whole way home.
With every bump, someone smooshed into someone else.
It was exceedingly awkward for everyone.
I thought it was hilarious.

Last night I was leaving the hospital late (after visiting hours).
The exit that was near my car was closed and would not open (even though I was jumping and waiving at the sensor).
All the sudden I heard a loud noise coming down the hallway.
This lovely guy (pictured above) kindly showed me a different exit.
Down the hall, through the creepy church, down a stairway, and out the back door.
haha, slightly sketch.
but awkward is awesome.

Week 1 of School: The Revival

*Deep Breath*

Stuck in a room with gross, smelly people, with their nasty food. Or sitting in a stuffy city, with weird smells surrounding you. All you want is a breath of fresh air. You know the moment. You step outside, or you get out to the country with no one around. And you take that deep breath you've been longing for. There is something AMAZING about it. It feels like your body is being revived.

This week was my first week back at school. I felt SO unprepared to go back. I didn't get any of my books, I was unorganized, and the thought of being back on campus made me want to puke. I just got this feeling of "I can't do this."

The first day of school was (slightly) miserable. I don't really know why, but I got this huge burden of "I don't want to be here." and "I won't be able to do all this." When I got home that night I was so exhausted - emotionally and physically. I was reading my Bible and talking to God and it felt like I went from a smelly factory to the top of a 14,000ft mountain top. He gave me the breath of fresh air I needed. He filled my heart with so much revival. It was amazing! Only God can take a crappy day and make it do a 180. He said to me:

"Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."
~Isaiah 40:30-31

God showed me that it was Satan that was feeding me the lies that "I can't do it." But indeed, I CAN! I can do anything with God on my side. He is my revival, my breath of fresh air.

On a funnier note:
--I saw an overweight red-head run across campus. He looked like a Freshman, running to class because he thought he was going to be late. It was awesome.

--A guy was walking next to me and decided to sing the song he was listening to on his iPOD. So all the sudden he was saying some rap next to me, "I'm not gonna. I'll be young foreva...." And on it went.

--On the lightrail, two guys (my age) were right next to an open seat, but they offered it to me. Ah, chivalry still lives! Gloria a Dios, todavilla hay caballeros en el mundo!! :D

This has been one icy weekend!

I Am Currently:
---Listening to
Jimmy Needham's song "Dearly Loved" (go listen to it. it's amazing)
---Wearing
2 shirts
2 sweatshirts
1 pair of leggings
1 pair of sweat pants
1 pair of fuzzy, thick socks
1 warm hat
---AND I AM FREEZING!

Due to the fact that the padres are off on some beach, I had the joy (I'm not being sarcastic) of taking the little bro to school. I say "joy" because it was beautiful to see the golden sun come up and shine it's warm light on the gorgeous white snow that seems to cover every surface area in town. However...it is so flippin cold. The inside and outside of ALL my car windows had a thick layer of ice. I made Brice get the inside while to scraped the outside. My lovely scrapers are pretty worthless. It looks like I used my nails to scrape the ice. Gotta love the quality, right? Oh...and my heater doesn't work. LOVE IT!

Anywhooooo, this weekend has been stellar. Went rappelling with some friends:
Went sledding in DTC (Denver's mini-downtown) after dark, while it was still snowing. We had loads of fun and no one got seriously injured!! (although Aulani was traumatized after one ride down the hill with me)

My favorite ride of the night was our last one. We got other sledders to join our train and all ten of us rode down the hill...with our eyes closed. Listening to the boys' grunts and laughing (which sounded like they were getting punched in the stomach), and the girls' continuous and inflectional giggles was hilarious.

I LOVE sledding here at night. With the Christmas lights still up and the buildings' lights on...it is magical.

Also, I started teaching a class at work: hip-hop dancing! My co-worker took a video of the class and let me tell you...I was crying. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Kids are so ridiculously awesome. They just danced however they wanted. It made me think of this song and how God dances over us:

You dance over me while I am unaware
You sing all around but I never hear the sound

Lord I'm amazed by You
Lord I'm amazed by You
Lord I'm amazed by You
How You love me

How deep, how wide
How great is Your love for me

(In my personal opinion, I don't think he would be doing the waltz above us...I think instead he would be dancing like a child, however he felt like).

What I've realized:

*today is 1-11-11. awesome.
*when it is below zero, it is a lot harder to get the cold out of your bones.
*I love staying up late.
*in order to keep the sink clean, I'd have to do dishes at least 6 times a day. no gracias.
*working out is the most efficient way to get warm.
*I need to buy a new scraper...or two.

childhood contentment

Have you ever met those people who are just always...happy?
They're always content.
What's up with that? I always think, "How can they consistently be content in ANY situation?!"

Answer: they LEARNED

Paul the apostle wrote (while living in a dungeon):

Not that I speak from want;
for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity;
in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry,
both of having abundance and suffering need.
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (Phil. 4:11-13).

I always thought that you either ARE or are NOT content. However, I am coming to the great epiphany that we choose to learn this lesson or we choose not to. Everyday we have the choice, right? We can decide daily to rely on Jesus to give us that happiness.

"Lack of contentment is the result of the terrible burden of wanting life on your terms."

A terrible burden. Wow. We want things our way, and we want them now. That's what it comes down to, doesn't it? There are sooo many things we try to control: our job, our money, our marital status, our family, our friends, our weight, our social status. BUT...there was a time when we didn't have to think about any of that...

Childhood.

The one thing everyone desires once they reach "adulthood." The desire to be care-free again. The desire to not have to make any decisions. Well, guess what?! God still wants to do that for US! We can decide to let our Heavenly Father take all those decisions, all the control, and that huge burden away from us. We can still be HIS kiddos! His care-free, joyful, content, blissful little babes. How amazing does that sound?! Personally, I think it sounds pretty ideal.

So put on a smile!
Let's learn to be content.
One baby-step at a time.

Learning to give my Daddy God all the control so I can learn to be content.

c'est la vie, 2010

Goodbye. Farewell. Peace Out. 2010.

Looking back on 2010 the thought of, "Did all that REALLY happen?!" keeps on coming to mind. Every year has it's ups and downs, it's highs and lows. I guess that's true for all of life.

C'est La Vie: French for "That's Life"

The New Year always gets me so pumped. It's the one time out of the year when you can look back over the last 12 months of your life, evaluate what happened, and try to figure out how to do it better in the coming 12 months. Who wouldn't want to improve their life? I think most people would love to fix things, tweak them, and make them all better. However, the majority of people "don't have time" or "don't feel like it".

I am not one of those people...

For 2011 I have compiled a list of 15 things I want to accomplish (one of which was to make a blog...success!). Surprisingly, I'm slightly daunted this year by the things I put on my list. Instead of putting "Be a better person" or "Grow closer to God" I'm striving to "Seek God's advice, 1st" and "Be content & happy in every situation." I think it is so easy to coast through life and just try to get through the day. I mean, let's be honest, who really wants to go through their junk and try to fix it? NO ONE!

But at least we can try.
We can strive.
And if we don't...C'est La Vie.