A Little Arizona Sunshine

Fair warning: This is a long post. Take two days to read it if you're overwhelmed. If you're procrastinating, definitely take some time to read it now. :) Wednesday morning started out just like any other day at Weimar. But at lunchtime, we got a surprise!!! An Obermiller visit!! Accompanied by Kasee, Ipo, and... and... Oh no. I forgot his name. I know his last name is Hyde! After eating and socializing, we went outside and saw..... THIS! Okay maybe we didn't see this particularly. This was just across the street. But we did see this: Smoke was billowing, "Prepare to evacuate!" was ringing across campus. Mothers were scooping up crying children and running to their homes to pack their most important things (Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories--true story) and college students jumping in the air rejoicing their good fortune (Psychology class isn't a favorite I guess...?) at classes being cancelled. Animals are being loaded into their cages a

Dun! Dun! Dun! Dun! Stayin' Alive! Stayin' Alive! Thaaaaat's right! Today I'm going to teach you how to do CPR! Just kidding. I'm just going to update you on a truly fantastic class we took to become CPR Certified. The day included: - Overdramatic Video Clips with Love triangles, - Bald Dummies - Child Rearing - Impromptu Lion King Soundtrack Live singing - Babies doing CPR All in all it was quite a fun CPR class that was educational. :)

FED UP. I'm am FED UP. Okay so that sounds like I'm actually angry about something, but it's actually a documentary that I am endorsing with my full approval. It's AMAZING and informative and eye-opening. Ya'll should watch it. It's about Obesity (especially in children) in America and a lot of its causes. Watch it and let me know what you think. It's definitely highlighting the extortion and politics behind this, but at the same time, it helps to see why we are the way we are today in our nation.

A little reminiscing today! #1. I'm sitting shotgun with Chris S. when he pulls over to look at his map and the following is our conversation: Me: (Reading a poster) Awe... a very shy dog is missing... that's sad. Chris: How can you tell? Me: That he's lost?? Chris: No, that he's shy. Can you tell by the picture? Me: No... the Poster says, "Very Shy Dog".... Best. #2. I was thinking about how awesome it was to work with the floaters this summer (not that I was there the whole time, but when I was I'm convinced there was a lot more laughing.) These guys are great. :D:D #3. Usually, whenever we see classes having a reunion... it's just Ricky and I around. lol. Almost always. Sometimes Areli will be there on a special occasion, but usually it's just us. But not this year! We a bunch show up! Not all at once, but we had Myself, Ricky, Eugene, Izraias, Areli, April, Hulda, Israel, and there might have been one more but it&

Let's be honest... Who doesn't like popcorn? How many of you reading this post has had smoothies and popcorn on a Friday or Saturday night? Since most of the people that read my blogs are of the canvassing world or are related to the canvassing world, I'm assuming that's e'erbody. So a friend of mine had me try this recipe.... and I'm in love. Literally. I'll never get married because I love this recipe with too much of my heart. Ok maybe not that much love, but I'm definitely loving this recipe! Try it sometime! (And either use it the same day or refrigerate) 2 1/2 c popcorn unpopped 1 c oil 1/4 c yeast flakes 2 cloves fresh garlic 2 t dill Step 1: Wash your hands. Gross. Why would you think of cooking anything without washing your hands? Sicko. Step 2: Pop the popcorn. I use an air popper you can get from almost any store. Because I'm an idiot when it comes to the stove and not burning stuff. Step 3: Blend oil, yeast flakes, and garli

___________ will help you to: (Try to figure out what goes in the blank! ( Even if you don't want to guess keep reading. Don't be a negative Nancy and stop reading just because I asked you to think for 5 minutes. )) - recall more information and strengthen your brain in addition to promoting your neuronal plasticity in the aging brain. - save brain power that can be used for other things - improve your focus - learn more things in life - become more creative - delay typical cognitive decline by 7-14 years What is it?!?!? What is it!?!? It's memorizing ! It's really good for your brain! Not just memorizing scripture, but committing ANYthing to memory is so beneficial for preserving your mental health and plasticity. But Memorizing Scripture is even more beneficial for: - improving self control - battling temptation - dwelling on the character of Christ - Plus a million other things Henry said in class today. :) I started memorizing the book of James

So I've been here for an entire month! In that month I have: Walked at least 98.4 miles Eaten at 7 AM and 1 PM everyday and only eaten a dinner maybe 4 or 5 times Helped at a Free Dental Clinic in the bay area Helped put on a Health Expo and gave free massages to the community Become certified in:      CHIP Facilitation      Depression Recovery      CPR      First Aid Set up Personal Health Coaching with 3 People from the community Played in Weimar's Hydrotherapy lab It's been a fun month. :) As for my progress... well, I checked a week or two ago and I had gained weight. Whaaa?? Right? I'm like, what happened? But I'm going to post my progress tomorrow and here are my beginning measurements (Blood Work will only be updated at the end of the 4 months.) 8/17/14 Height: 5'5" (Hopefully that doesn't change...) Weight: 172.2 lb Waist GIRTH (BTW, I LOVE THAT WORD. GIRTH. Ew.): 41" BMI: 28.7 % Body Fat: 41.2 Blood Pressure: 102/

Just sitting in class and hearing where all my classmates were when it happened made me think and appreciate who everyone is and where they come from. Some from other countries said where they were. One girl said, "Well I didn't know what a terrorist was or what the twin towers were so I didn't really care." Ignorance. Initially it made me a little angry because how can someone disregard the loss of life so flippantly? But some people can't feel anything if it's not directly related to them. We're all different. Where were you when it happened? I was getting ready for school and was pulled aside by my mom. We didn't have TV or the news. Just the radio that we seldom listened to. My dad was on his way home from work (night shift) and heard it on the radio so he called my mom and told her to turn on the radio. It didn't impact me initially. It didn't seem real. In class all we did was watch news updates and reviewed things we'd alread

Yup. I signed back up. Why you may ask? 1. It's the EASIEST way to network. 2. You were expecting more than one good reason? 3. Well it will be nice to just post my blog link on my site and more people will read it now!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! 4. That's pretty much all the reasons. Some interesting observations... - I'm more annoyed with notifications than excited now lol - I feel like I betrayed Janelle :( - I have 234 friends and I opened it about 19 hours ago... - We'll see how this turns out. I may just delete it again. LOL. BAHAHAHA That would honestly be so funny... "HEY! I'm BACK!" ... 2 days later... "Whatever. I'm done. See ya." AND NO ONE WOULD NOTICE! Facebook. No one cares about anything. Living in the dorm life... So... I'm having some struggles living in the dorm here. Everyone is so nice. (<<not my problem...) but I feel like I'm being smothered. I have to sign out whenever I leave campus.

Something I've decided to do (as of last night) is to let you follow in my Health adventure. While we're learning how to help other people to reach their health goals, we ourselves are encouraged to reach our health goals. I'm going to post my original stats and then at week 8 I'll post an update. In the meantime, I'll let you know what exactly I've been doing to reach those goals. If you would prefer me to tell funny stories to make reading this new train of thought easier and more enjoyable, then I shall. Today we walked 3 miles from 6-7 AM and ate a hearty breakfast with lots of fruit and beans. Yup. Beans. They put beans in everything here. The gravy, Sloppy Joes, the oatmeal... just kidding. Not the oatmeal. But they sure do love the beans here! While on the walk, I felt it would be easier to roll down the trail as opposed to just walking. Didn't turn out so well. -_- In addition to breakfast, we eat once more at 1:00 PM and that's it for the

HEALTH. Amazing. I'm enjoying my classes, my classmates, the trails on Weimar Campus, and the outreach! We are blessed to have the class with: 1. Extremely cute kids 2. THE cutest dogs 3. Funny people 4. Annoying people who may turn out to be funny later... 5. And good teachers. See my priorities? Yes. They're in the correct order. lol. We went to Elmshaven as a class yesterday and was guided through the home by Dave Fiedler (author of Hindsight, D'sozo, and Tremble) and ate yummy food provided by the Hamiltons. Great day. Great times. As there was an earthquake to arrive in the area, we decided to leave and be back at Weimar before 3:30 AM. Just kidding. We didn't know it was coming. But CRAZY right??? The epicenter wasn't far at all from Napa Valley.

What do all of these things have in common? They're all incredibly sweet things? Maybe. They're all in Spokane Washington? Yes! I flew up to Spokane Washington on Wednesday for an interview at Upper Columbia Academy for the Evangelism Director/Chaplain for the school. After interviewing on Thursday I was offered the job and said yes! So I'm moving up here in January! It may seem like a huge "what just happened?" to many of you, but I have definitely been praying about this for weeks and I see a good fit here for me to work and minister at this academy. I like the faculty and (right now) I like the area really well too. We'll see how I feel when the snow makes an appearance. Before Washington, I was in Texas for a week for my good friend Mary Jo's Wedding! It was quite a fun event with all the Warrens and Houghtons and their families there. I enjoyed reconnecting with old family friends and making some new ones! (Shout out to Bonnie and family... n

Which is why I'm procrastinating and blogging about it instead of actually packing. lol 24 hours from right now I need to be boarding a plane in Los Angeles for Spokane Washington. In that 24 hours I must: -Complete the process of unpacking from Texas (Blog about this last week to follow soon! Here's a sneak peak) -Laundry -Re-pack for the week in Spokane plus iShare and Souls graduation -Write a song -Just kidding about that song -Pack for the 4 months at HEALTH -Sleep.... -Drive 9+ hours to LAX and get there in time to catch my flight You're jealous of my exciting life. I'm jealous of the fact that you're sitting here reading this because you have that much time on your hands. We're even. ;)

You can do a LOT in 50 years. Here are fifty things you can do in 50 years: 1. Learn to ride a unicycle 2. Live in a different country 3. Host an annual 4th of July Barbecue 4. Teach someone how to drive 5. Donate Blood 6. Own a Fish 7. Jump in the car and take a random road trip 8. Live in West Virginia 9. Learn to bake bread 10. Go furniture shopping. And not buy anything. 11. Buy flowers once a week to send to a stranger from the phonebook 12. Write a song 13. Quit drinking soda 14. Do an Ironman Triathlon 15. Renovate your kitchen 16. Create a training school to teach others how to have common sense 17. Be sad that no one thought they needed your training school 18. Lead at least one person to Jesus and teach them how to do the same thing. 19. Rebuild an engine 20. Volunteer 21. Switch up careers 22. Go skydiving 23. Travel to all 50 states and visit a historic Museum in each state to learn about the country 24. Save $1 each day in a coffee can 25. Figure

ATTENTION ALL SOULS TRACK 1 STUDENTS IN THE HEALTH PROGRAM!!! Okay, now that I have EVERYONE's attention (because really, who didn't want to keep reading after that intro?) I'd like to disclose some information. Remember that line in the canvass about your friend who has followed the principles in these books and has only been sick once in the last 15 years?? ... then that said friend got sick during the practicum...? ... and that said friend said it was "allergies".... IT'S TRUE!! When I got home to Bisbee recently, I started feeling sick. Sore throat, coughing, congestion, headache, etc. It didn't get better after a few days and I was resting and drinking lots of water and doing all those awesome things that should make me feel better but it wasn't working. So my beautiful mother suggested I go visit her at work when Dr. P was in so he could check out my illness. After going and telling him my symptoms and him observing the insides of m

Helloooooo Friends! Wow, I'm a horrible Blogger. :( BUT! Here is an update on my life! 1. I am sick. 2. I am home in Bisbee. 3. I am not home-sick. . . lol. To make this easier to read, I'll break it into 3 sections! 1. What I've been doing ( including a FANtastic testimony towards the end ) (80%) 2. What I've been reading (15%) 3. What I'm about to do (5%) * The above percentages are to encourage you to not give up reading just because you get to the "What I've been reading" section and you've already been reading for 10 minutes. haha What I have been up to since you last read an update: I was in Central California helping with the Youth Rush teams for 5 or so weeks. BUT! Before I started work, I went on an epic backpacking trip in Yosemite with some good friends! In this picture (going clockwise from my face...) Ranela, Kasee, Amber, David, Shama, and Hope! (I think this is while we all had our own packs on in the beginni

Long awaited Update! I have so much to update you on so I shall update you briefly on everything in Pictures and captions!! This here is my French Breakfast Club. We made lunches and Green Smoothies every morning at 7:00 AM. In addition to this, we all speak French. Oui. ;) And all know how to "trow up a shaka" as they say in Hawaii. I don't know if Josh really knows how to... He's from Chad Africa.... This is Gabi! She's my friend now. :)  Here are the Female Leaders of the Health Practicum. White, Mexican, and Japanese. We're so cool. The Day after the Practicum ended I decided I needed a change... so I had my hair completely CHOPPED OFF. I donated it to Locks of Love.  This is a Picture of me after Bonnie finished cutting and styling.  After I cut my hair, it was time for Spring Break. YAY! So I stayed with my best friend Heidi and her husband and he took us surfing! *Thanks Amy for letting me borrow the wetsuit!*

This is a blog update. This is to appease all nagging, questioning, hate mail, etc that has come my way for not posting in so long. I cut my hair. I'm in Arizona. I have Baby Pictures! I love dogs more than cats. I have a breakfast club. I have to go, because Chris is here to practice his speech for class on me. :)

Sabbath Pictures! Some friends and I decided to head over to San Marcos for church yesterday and I got to see a good friend that wasn't expecting to see me! Afterwards we all hung out at the beach to enjoy nature for a while. Happy New Week!