Foggy California Nights

Current location: Hotel Room in Anaheim, California. Across the street from Disney Land.

INSANITY.

No, I'm not here to visit the land of Disney.
Although that would be fun.
I'm here surprising my great friend, Kelsi and watch her play violin at her senior recital. She will be graduating with a BA in Violin Performance from BIOLA this semester.
Your final recital is a big deal. I remember mine. It's an emotional thing. It's nice to have family and friends there.

It kinda sucks though because this is my first time ever in California and it's cloudy and pouring down rain the entire time. It's alright though... I've still had a really great time. Nothing like sitting in a hotel room all day in your PJs, eating pizza and watching Maury.

The weather was ridiculous on the way up here. Since we left Tucson the rain has been coming down heavy and the fog was so thick while driving through the mountains. My friend Logan was driving and it was really hard for him to drive through that stuff because he's from Tucson where it never rains and fog is a mystical thing that has yet to be seen in southern arizona.

This whole "no meat" thing has been kinda hard. Last time I did this I freaked out on a turkey sandwich.
A turkey sandwich.
Of all things.....

Anyway, the recital is tonight and we will be all dolled up so I'm sure there will be photos.

Stay tuned.

But in the meantime, here is an awesome picture of Landon and Emma. This is a favorite family pastime of ours. When you fight with a sibling, you sit on the couch and hold hands. My parents/grandparents did this with us. I find it highly effective and will do this with my children. Unless I just have one child. And in that case, they will hold hands with me.

The hustle and the bustle

Oh, the madness has begun.
This is currently what my dining room table looks like due to Christmas present making. I'll be home in just a little over a week. I'm completely stoked, to say the least.

So I'm absolutely in love with www.etsy.com thanks to Shannon and Kim. It's simply amazing. I've gotten so many gift ideas from this place. Why would I buy their stuff when they tell me how they make it?
Honestly, I'm just cheap. But even if I had money, I think I would make the stuff. I love making Christmas gifts for people. It's way more fun that buying things.
I'm stumped about what to get Jeff(brother) and Brandon(brother-in-law) for Christmas.
They are so difficult.
Well, actually they're easy.
If I wanted to buy them a beanie or a shirt or something... that would be easy.
But if I want to be creative and make them something... ugh... good luck pleasing them.
I'll probably give in and go with a shirt. It's about them anyway right? haha

So the church I work for is planting a second campus on the University of Arizona campus at the end of January. I'm very excited about this. At first I was nervous and had many questions. But that's how I get about things. I have to really process things. I usually do this out loud with my best friend, Kim.
She's the best listener. Really.
Anyway, now I'm really excited about this second campus. The more time I spend down at the university, the more I realize the huge need for a culturally relevant church on campus. There are a couple christian clubs on campus which have about a hundred students that attend their "meetings", but other than that... there is nothing.
Nothing.
and there are what? like 40,000 students there? holy cow.... we've got our work cut out for us.

I am currently very burdened. God is speaking to me and telling me to be bold and to speak truth into people's lives.
My insecurities are really getting in the way. Here's the deal: I'm a verrrrrry opinionated person... as most of you know. And I just really want to be able to separate my opinion from the what God is telling me to tell others. Make sense? So if you want to pray for me, that's how you can do it. Pray for wisdom and discernment. Pray I become less like Bailey and more like Jesus. That should cover it.

I really miss my dad these days... well every day really. Here's some really cute pictures of him.

This is him with baby Greysen. How sweet is this?

Hahaha. I love this photo. I am such a dork. I'm blaming that really awesome sweatshirt on the fact that it was a gift after my house burned down. Don't judge.
And here is my ultimate favorite. This is my dad and I 19 years ago on Christmas morning. I have no idea what I got that year for Christmas, but I bet you anything I played in that box more than I played with my new presents.

God Made My Fingers and God Made My Toes.

So i'm filling out this paper work for school next semester. It's crazy. Basically, I'm your typical middle-class American college student that makes enough money to not qualify for any grants, but not enough money to actually pay $25,000 to go to school. 

Beautiful.

So about this paperwork. Basically here's what it is. It's called a professional judgement form. Since my Dad has been gone, my Mom's income has dropped drastically. But that doesn't show on my FAFSA. So I have to send in all of this stuff and if it's approved, I may get my school paid for. Which would be awesome. If it isn't approved... well... we'll figure out plan B later. 

Financial Aid has never been an easy-breezy process for me. I think those people were horribly damaged at some point in their life. They aren't good people. 

There's something you should know: I'm currently not eating meat. I've done this before... but it didn't last as long as I had intended. I always thought this would be easier because I only eat chicken, fish and turkey... but those are hard for me to give up. But ya know, Jesus died for me. I can go without meat. So if you have an vegetarian recipes... pass them on over. 

I'm "babysitting" at my friend/boss's house because he is in the emergency room. 

Around 7 AM tomorrow morning he will be appendix-less.

Here's what I walked into this evening:

I about peed my pants. This is the weirdest dog on the planet. 

shh... don't tell Bill. He's very partial.

And here is what is in their front lawn:

This is much funnier in person. Up close you can tell that it's pewter or whatever. But from the inside of your car it looks like a black Jesus. 

It wasn't expected at all. 

It's late and I'm bored. We don't have television at our home so when I'm at Billy and Ami's.... I binge. It's bad. 

I just watched 2 hours of Dawson's Creek.(I'm pretty sure I've never seen a full episode of that show until now.)

ugh... I must go to bed. I'm going to go lay down with this guy.

So many thoughts...

I haven't blogged in a week and a half. That's ridiculous. I don't even know what to write about because there is so much....
I'll manage.

Today we had two baptisms at CEC. It was awesome. We dunked them in our hot tub at my house. It was so much fun. I love my friends.

So God is teaching me a lot right now and it's super overwhelming. But in a good way.... know what I mean?
I want so bad to be a person of humility. and integrity. and justice.
Ya know, I pray for these things all the time but boy... apparently God is aware of the fact that I'm a "hands-on" type of learner because I am in the middle of situations where I'm constantly challenged with exuding the things of which I pray for.
It's rough.

Thanksgiving was good. It's always different spending holidays away from family... especially because my family is so tight.

So, many of you know this, but my sister recently got a breast reduction. Things went awesomely. here's an lovely picture of her drugged self just out of surgery.
She's going to love me for this:
bah.

So I went to Costco today. If you don't know what this is, it's basically a west coast Sam's but bigger and "better".
Or worse.
Depending on how you look at it.
I tell ya what, I was disgusted there today.(dont get me wrong... I had a ton of fun because I love my friends and they make me laugh really hard.)
But my heart was broken.

It was crammed packed with people shopping for ridiculous amounts of crap. At one point in time, I voiced my opinion rather loudly and got a few bad looks from a couple ladies around me.
shrug. Whatever.
I looked at my friend Billy and said, "I feel so American. Look at this place. It's disgusting. People are starving all over the world and we are surrounded by all this stuff. We can get whatever we want whenever we want it."
I was quickly sooshed because people around me didn't like what I had to say.

Get this:

An estimated 923 million people in the world go hungry.

In developing countries nearly 16 million children die every year from preventable and treatable causes. Sixty percent of these deaths are from hunger and malnutrition.

In the United States, 11.7 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet. That means one in ten households in the U.S. are living with hunger or are at risk of hunger.

sad.

I want so bad to be more like Jesus and less like Bailey. Careful. When you start praying for these things, it's a hurtful process. You have to become very vulnerable.

Good luck.