11.6 Saturday at Starskies and More with Becks

I started a blog post earlier today and then realized that I didn't have enough time to articulate what I really wanted too. So here I am writing at almost 2 am. But really it's only 1am because of the time change. :)

Today was actually really fun. Sometimes I am convinced that my Saturdays are totally lame because I always wake up knowing I will be spending the majority of my day doing homework and all my plans revolve around this. However, today turned out to be a rather lovely day. I really enjoyed quality time with my bestie becka becuase we haven't really had anytime lately to connect. So today was really fun. We wrote our papers together at Starbucks and then we hopped over to her parents' house for dinner. I love sitting around a dinner table with family. It makes me feel normal when I eat a home cooked meal with the Lohmans. They are like my adopted family in Riverside. They feed me and invite me to holidays. It's super great. Then we went on a mall excursion to get some necessary items (cheetah VS boyfriend cut sweat pants) and then decided to also indulge ourselves in some Red Velvet cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory. So we got it to go and ate it with a freshly brewed cup of coffee to kick start our second writing sesh.

Today I am thankful for Becka. She is my best friend and there are very few people in this world that I feel as loved, accepted, and myself around. She is my favorite person to spend my Saturdays with and to be experiencing this season in life with. People tease all the time (and quite frankly we tease ourselves) that we are spousal. It's pretty much a true accusation. But I am so thankful to have someone to share life with on such a deep and spiritual level. So tonight I am just thankful for my witty, ridiculous, ghetto, intelligent, and oh so wonderful Bestie Becka.

11.5: Missing Texas

During my ten minute break today, I checked my phone to see a voicemail and text message from my mom saying that my dad was having an emergency surgery to take out his appendix. He is out of surgery and supposedly it did rupture, but his intestines became the gatekeeper and kept the poison from spreading to his body. God is good! The surgery was successful and they will be keeping him to Sunday.

It's nights like tonight that I wish that I could've gotten off work and headed to the hospital to be there with my mom and to kiss my daddy on the cheek. I just got off the phone with my mom and she is spending the night at the hospital tonight and all weekend. I would give my appendix to right now to spend the weekend with my parents.

It is nights like tonight that I am CLEARLY reminded of my Texas roots and how I wish I didn't have to observe my family from a distance. I have also made the decision not to come home this holiday season. So tonight, I am just a little homesick missing the parentals and a little bit of Texas.

11.4: 9 Days and Counting

In 9 short days, I will be finished with attending ALL four of my graduate classes for the fall semester! Tonight I had my last class for "Foundations of Educational Leadership" that ended with a round table discussion at Starbucks about culture! Yippee. Skippee. Last weekend, we ended my "Creative Expression Across Cultures" with a day in the city visiting 2 museums. This coming Monday is my last class for "Faith and Worship in the Faith Community". Which will be shortly followed by... my last drive to SF to do our final presentation on the Bedouin!!!

So in 9 short days, I will be one step closer to finishing out the semester! If only all my assignments would be complete...I unfortunately still have several papers to right for the rest of the semester.

There is nothing greater than the feeling I had tonight when I left class knowing that I won't have to meet again! Another seminary class: CHECK!

PS. Today I made my very first Late, Mocha, and Americano coffee.

11.3: Learning Curve

So I have officially taken on two different jobs in about a six week period of time. They are both in a job field that I have NO real experience in. Therefore, my learning curve is HUGE. The only thing that I have going for me are my people skills. I have never been so thankful not to be social awkward. It's really paying off these days.

For example, earlier today I was learning the art of making the perfect cup of coffee and then came home to learning how to do online marketing. And then I thought to myself, "What the heck was I thinking?!"

So I have recently immersed myself in two different corporate worlds learning new lingo, systems, philosophy's, and trying to gain a vision for both. And the funniest thing about this scenario is that I am leading people in both jobs.

I have lots of Starbucks partners who's eyes widen when they find out I came in as their Lead Shift Supervisor. I still have yet to determine if this is them feeling sorry for my learning curve OR a little annoyed that they weren't promoted to shift lead.

And then with Melaleuca, because of my success and growing my team, I am currently training and leading several individuals! YIKES. Its like the blind leading the blind.

Despite this huge learning curve, I am LOVING all the new experiences in non-ministry jobs. I have a whole other blog post about my philosophy of work that I will save for another day. But I am excited to get some new skills and tools under my belt and to learn!

So kind of a random post today, but kind of all I was thinking about today!

11.2: Starbucks

Anyone that knows me knows of my addiction/obsession with Starbucks. It is a known fact that I spend more on Starbucks than I probably should. However, as a single female that doesn't "get any" and doesn't really spend my money on shopping or alcohol- I feel that it is my one pleasure and indulgence. I realize the logic in this is flawed, but it's my logic, and I am chained to it because it's all just so delicious.

My love for Starbucks grew in college. There were two main catalyst: a crush and being a student. Yep. It's true. My love for coffee slowly formed from drinking caramel fraps and has evolved from there. My love for coffee shops started with a guy that I had a huge crush on that also equally loved Starbucks and would frequent the same Starbucks OFTEN. I would "conveniently" study there in hopes to run into him. Lets just say back in the day, I used to have a Starbucks "fling". It was during this time of spending hours studying both my books and the boy that I began to form a community of people. I had great friendships that were made and developed overtime so that Starbucks did become my community and a place of hopeful romance. I remember being suprised at how many ministry opportunities I had because I grew a community of friends young and old at this place. My love for Starbucks and coffee was solidified in college

Over the years, my love for Starbucks has grown. It became a little bit of "home" in many of the countries that I have traveled to and even have a country mug to prove it. Starbucks in different countries have special spiritual meaning to me. My favorite Starbucks is in Chiang Mai. It is 3 stories and I was there the opening night on New Years 2006. In the time that I lost my passport and got stranded in Thailand, Starbucks is where I spent many hours journaling and praying about God's plan for my life when I returned. Since then, journaling in Starbucks is one of my favorite past times and a way that I connect with the Father.

All this to say, Starbucks is more than just a store to me. In fact, Becka and I consecrate most of our grad school Saturdays and call it "Saturday at Starskies." I have probabaly become smarter in-between those walls because of all the intellectual genius work that I have produced while sipping coffee. I also have awesome Christmas roomies with the ladies of 611 of getting our holiday drinks on our way to cut down our Christmas tree. That place is just full of memories of sharing life with friends.

So now I am an actual "Starbucks Partner". Yep. It's official. I am a Shift Lead Supervisor as of last week. I am only hired to work part-time on weekends, but here are the benefits....

1. I get BENEFITS. Thank the Lord. My new consulting job doesn't have any so it's a nice compliment.

2. It actually keeps me connected to other people. I love the convenience of working from home, but who am I kidding, I need to be around people. It keeps me connected to my Riverside community.

3. THE FREE COFFEE. I already confessed most of my "fun" money goes to this place- so think of all the money I will save?!

4. It's only like 3 minutes away from my new house.

5. I get to have supervisory experience.

6. It's an international company...maybe it can be a platform overseas one day.

So far I like the partners I work with and the cool perks that come with it. They are out of aprons right now, but once I get my apron, I will post pictures of me as a Starbucks Barrista!

Anyone want to guess what my drink of choice is?

11.1: Month of Return

It's 11:34 pm and I have a little less than 30 minutes to make my first November post. I have been thinking about blogging and what to blog about all day. I have a lot of high hopes for this month. I am calling this a month of return because I need to return to things that make me feel like Alicia and things that are just GOOD for me even if I hate them in the moment.

I have been telling my roommate Becka for over a year now that I used to be a different person and that I don't necessarily like who I am all the time these days. And then one day, when I was recently sharing this again she called me out. She said you've been saying this long enough that maybe this is who you really are. Ouch. As hard as that was to hear, it is the truth.

So this is a month of an attempt at returning. I am not naive enough to think that I will be the same, but I do hope to bring back some redemptive things about myself that make me tick. So here are some things I am trying to be consistent with this month. And by consistent I mean daily.

1. I want to go running every day. Today I ran 2 miles. I loved running, but I am OUT OF SHAPE which means that I am not so much on the "enjoying running" side of the spectrum. So I am hoping to start small at 2 miles every day and go from there. And I am training for another half-marathon. So at this point, I need to start running consistently.

2. I want to spend adequate time STUDYING Scripture and spending time with the Lord DAILY. I have an Inductive Study on the Book of 1 Samuel that I picked up today. So I will start the first day tomorrow.

3. I need to trim down a bit. The reasons for this could be a completely separate blog post. But my plan is that you will see LESS of me in November. :)

My spiritual and physical health are my focus this month. These are both linked to discipline. I feel like these are the baby steps to starting to deal with a lot of bigger steps in the near future. So this is where I am at the first part of this month and where I hope to go. Feel free to ask me how it's going. :) Oh and your prayers would be much appreciated.

November Blogging

November is HERE. CRAZY.

I have decided to take on a challenge from my friend Dave from this blog post.

So I am taking on the challenge to write a post every day this month. So it will be a month of blog, blog, blogging.

Things to take place this month:

1. My big professional presentation of the Bedouin People

2. My training and new part-time employment with Starbucks as a shift lead supervisor/barrista.

3. Thanksgiving

4. Training for my half.

5. Personal goals for this month (running and dieting)

Here's to hearing me write a lot this month.

Is Your Home Safe?

A Wake-Up Story from Healthy Child Healthy World on Vimeo.

For More information click: http://www.betterhealthinfo.net/start-now

Going Green Employment

As promised, I am going to tell you a little bit more about my new employment. I technically am self-employed and I do consultant work for a pharmaceutical company called Melaleuca. I have decided to build my own home business through doing referral marketing to find customers AND also provide opportunity for others to build their own business with me. I am kind of like a job-fairy these days. It is really awesome to help people find income in these difficult economical times. The best part is most of the people I am able to help is stay-at-home moms who would like to bring in supplemental income for their families. So this is what I do these days.

Melaleuca is a company that has been around for the past 25 years and has won several awards with the BBB. and they specialize in all green/natural products. In fact, melaleuca is the scientific term for tea tree oil. One of their tag lines is "We went green before it was popular to go green."

As most of you know, I am the least green person you know. I don't even really enjoy recycling. Yes, I just admitted that. I've kind of thought it was just another fad for people to make money and a way for people that are organic to just have an excuse to be high maintenance. However, over the past year, I have slowly been exposed to how much chemicals are in things such as cleaning products, detergent, etc... and THAT it is harming our bodies and can be linked to cancer and autism (yes, I am a little slow!). I have also had several family members and friends who have been emphasizing the importance of organic foods. I have also seen the huge physical benefits of friends who have gone organic or gone green. They are losing weight and gaining necessary energy. Maybe there really is something to this whole going green thing? So I am going to do some green soul searching and see what I find out.

All this to say, I am going to slowly start transitioning myself into going green both with what I put in my body and what I surround myself with.

Step #1- I just purchased all GREEN cleaning products. I am moving into a new house this weekend and I am starting it out CHEMICAL/TOXIC free!

Step #2- I also purchased some deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc... that is all green.

Step #3- I am going to start doing research on how to start eating all organic foods and start rotating the other stuff out. I am thankful that I am moving closer to Trader Joes AND the Farmers Market in downtown Riverside!

This is where I am at now. It is just the beginning of a journey. So as I begin to learn and become green I will share my thoughts of the process. I am also going to use this blog as a forum for going green and posting interesting articles or research that I find.

October and Life Update

October is upon us all! At the beginning of the semester, I knew this would just be a crazy busy month! It is proving to be true! Here's my crazy month in bullet-points.

• I am moving on October 23rd about 5 miles down the road from an apartment to a house! The thing I am most excited about is the fact that I will finally have my own bedroom!
• ALL of my assignments for ALL 4 of my graduate classes are pretty much do in the month of October including one VERY Large 100 pages paper my cohort is writing together AND about 3 12 page papers, along with various other treashures of reading and writing assignments.

Ok I guess that is all. In my mind it is sooo much more!

In other news, I have a new job. I actually started a tele-commute position from home that makes great money! So I now work from home with hours that are a little more than part-time but not full-time. Working from home is a little bit of a stretch for me because I love being around people BUT making my own schedule is awesome and makes up for it! Soon I will write a post specifically about this...so stay tuned.

I feel like there has been a TON of change. A new house, a new job, and a new community. I love how quickly life can change and I love love love even more to see God's faithfulness through it all!!

Shout out to BZuni

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Brian. I recently went to a large social event and saw a bunch of people I had not seen in a long time. So when I saw Brian at this shin-dig, before I could even say "how are you?", he BLURTED out "I read your blog." It threw me off-guard, but it then made me laugh and I appreciated it. I felt like he knew so much more of how and what I had been up to, so it really did change the mode of our conversation.

I love social media. So here's to Brian and all you other people who stop periodically and care about know about my life. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know who you are!

10 random things

1. I am completely blessed by the body of Christ in my life. I am blessed by how many people have emailed, called, facebooked, and PRAYED for me through a seemingly difficult transition in my life. I have felt prayer in such a powerful way this month that it makes me thankful for the difficulty.

2. I have about 3-4 random different jobs that are potential possibilities for employment and none of them require flipping a burger or minimum wage! Thank the Lord. I might have to actually choose which job to take.

3. I have the awesome opportunity to mentor a college student who is starting her Senior year. I feel so honored to share life with her this semester. She is so fun and has an awesome heart for the Lord AND somehow I am funnier, more sarcastic and definitely more witty when she is around. Oh and the icing on the cake is she also loves India.

4. I babysat a 2 month old baby today. He basically stole my heart and he fell asleep on me! It was the best little bit of TLC and cuddle time a single like me needed. I really really want one of my own sometime soon or I just hope that God has children as part of his future plans for me. I am just working on the husband part. Or should I say, the Lord is working on the husband part.

5. I randomly took a test today at a temp agency that proved I can do basic arithmetic, spell, edit, and follow directions. Who knew? Supposedly I scored really high. Which is good because if not I would be embarrassed as a graduate level student.

6. I also learned I am a huge fan of temp agencies, specifically Riverside Personnel Services Inc. If you live in the Inland Empire, can do office work, and need a job, I would DEFINITELY recommend you try them out.

7. I have lost about 5 lbs in the last 2 weeks and already feeling so much better about myself.

8. Despite the forced new situation, I find beauty in God's promises, His goodness, and His all around awesomeness, It has kept me more joyful and happy than I have been all year. Funny how God works sometimes.

9. The Pumpkin Spice Late is rockin' my world this week.

10. I secretly like that it got to be 102 degrees in Riverside today.

Beach

I went to the beach today with my roomies. Not many things on this earth that make me more happy than the beach and my two besties.

A Little Sunshine

After two recent depressing posts, I thought it would be appropriate for me to post how great and awesome my day was today!

1. I interfaced with lots of people today starting with my awesome notorious cohort this morning at 8 am! It was nice to have something to wake up for this morning.
2. I got an interview through a temp agency on Tuesday at 9:00 AM.
3. I had lunch with my friend Kim who is two weeks from delivering her second baby!
4. I had FREE Chick-fil-a for lunch with Kim because of coupons.
5. I stopped by my favorite little indian market/store in Riverside. I took it upon myself to try to network to find a job in the Indian community.
6. I got to share the gospel today and have lots of spiritual conversations with the sweet Indian couple.
7. In the process of the conversation, the Indian man asked me if I was experiencing financial hardship, he then gave me $40 in cash from his register. I cried.
8. My sweet friend Natalie came over and we laid by the pool for a little bit. We went to India this summer together and I am going to be mentoring her this semester!! I am somehow funnier and wittier when she is around.
9. I had a club status dance party with my roommate Becka and Natalie to end the evening...there were great tunes, heals, and free-flowing hair. Our apartment might never been the same.

Today was sunshine in the midst of a really stormy and rainy week. God gave me opportunity to share His truth, to invest in a girl i love dearly, and to just have some normal interaction with people!!

I was also completely blessed by the Indian man who gave me $40 for a tank of gas. He's not even in the family of God and he extended to me such kindness. This man doesn't really have any more money than I do. He was so generous and I feel so undeserving. I was just plain blessed by the goodness of God today!!

When It Rains it Pours

This week was the first week where I have actually had the time to deal with my unemployment and lack of cash flow. These are all the things that happened this week to make this week a week that I never want to come back to again.

1. My car got towed and it cost me $275 to get it back.
2. I found out I might not qualify for unemployment after all because I am a graduate student. For the past 3 weeks thought I was collecting and getting some cash flow. I still don't know if get it UI.
3. I realized that even if I get a job at Starbucks at $8 an hour and work full-time I won't make enough money to pay my bills monthly.
4. I got a traffic ticket in the mail.
5. I have less than $200 in my bank account and I have all my bills due in the next two weeks.
6. I have had NO leads on a job WHATSOEVER. I have even sent out tons of Nanny interest and NOTHING.
7. I am becoming socially awkward as I have no social interaction all day long with the actual real world.
8. I officially can't afford Starbucks Coffee.

So that was my week. Yes. Please call me Debbie Downer, I will own up to it. But this week was seriously such a bad week filled with close to mental break-downs and lots of tears. I am not sure what God is doing or what he is teaching me.... this could be a long semester.

The Break-Up

I have somewhat recent news to the world of blogging- I AM UNEMPLOYED. The best metaphor that describes how I feel could be equated with a break-up. The situation of why my employer and I broke-up is complicated at best, as are most relationships. My first reaction was complete peace and acceptance. As a follower of Christ, I know that all things are purposeful- He gives and takes away. But soon followed anger, confusion, and discontentment with the way things ended. All of my love, energy, and passion was in this relationship and community for the past three years that now it's gone. I find myself quite displaced and struggle to understand my own identity in my new context outside of this relationship. After all, it is this relationship that brought me to California. I have left friends and family and everything to serve and to love this employer. All this to say, I am just plain heartbroken and my dream job is gone.

Despite my broken heart, I have hope. I have hope because I serve a God that is bigger than unemployment, failures, and monetary needs. As with all major changes in life, it means that God is at work and HE IS ON THE MOVE IN MY LIFE. Now I get to trust.

Day 3 of 30 of Ramadan- Join me in Praying for Muslims

30-Days of Prayer for the Muslim World
Ramadan 2010 / 1431: August 11 - September 09

The Call of the Muezzin - Friday Prayer Focus For Friday 13 August, Ramadan 2010. "Loving Muslims Through Prayer". Each day across the entire Islamic world, the 'muezzin' call the men to prayer five times per day over a loudspeaker located on a minaret (tower) attached to the mosque: at dawn (fajr), noon (dhuhr), in the afternoon (asr), at sunset (maghrib) and nightfall (isha’a). On Fridays (like today) all male Muslims are supposed to attend the noontime prayers which are usually accompanied by a sermon. Sometimes recordings are used but most people prefer a live voice. In Western and non-Islamic countries muezzin often cannot make the call to prayer except on the radio or in the courtyards of local mosques because of laws restricting loud and intrusive sounds. Their own honour and prestige are temptations, as with any public figures like pastors and politicians.

Prayer Starters:
Pray for the muezzin in your own country and around the world today to have a personal encounter with the living God, through Jesus Christ.
Pray that in the midst of many 'voices' and messages, Muslims will hear the voice of God through the working of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes muezzin become very centred on their role in society. As with any public figures like pastors and politicians some muezzin are tempted to place their own honour and prestige very high on their list of priorities. Pray that all muezzin would be brought to humility before God and truly confounded by His majesty in order that they may truly say "God is great."
Complete article, video and comments: http://www.30-days.net/muslims/featured/the-call-of-the-muezzin/

Flattered or Annoyed?

I am sitting in the San Antonio airport after my 3:00 AM wake-up call this morning waiting to board my plane to Phoenix and something happened this morning that ALWAYS happens. No matter what I am wearing or how my hair is fixed, people always assume that I am a college student barely over twenty. Today is the third time in the past week that people have asked me what college I go to and what I am studying. I realize that I should be flattered and thankful for the fact that I apparently have awesome genes for aging. But every time, I find myself annoyed wishing I looked more distinguished and a "woman of maturity" in my late twenties. Fat chance that is going to happen. I mean what are the perks of being in your late twenties if people always assume you are still a free spirited college student with little real life experience? Now that I recently crossed over into my late-twenties, I feel the need to embrace it fully and benefit from some of the awesome perks worthy of the faces of shock made at me when they find out I am actually "old".

Maybe I should start wearing cardigans and pearls instead of my boyfriend cut VS sweatpants.

Just a little 5AM rant for your enjoyment.
PS. I think my unemployment is allowing me the actual time to write all the posts that I write in my head that never usually would make it on the blog. Yay. ME. and. Lucky. YOU.

Introducing Sultan Qaboos

I bought a purple car in 2007 as most of you know. I also have a love for naming things, something most of you might not know. However, in my two years of owning this little pride and joy, I have been rather unsuccessful in naming him. The crux of the issue really is that he is purple yet very masculine, which is quite the juxtaposition. So I have struggled to find a name that encompasses both of these characteristics of my car. Several people have tried including two different Rebecca's (although different spellings) and Trent. And we have all been unsuccessful. Yes, there has been some creative stabs at naming him, but nothing I knew would stick.

One of the funnest things that came from my summer in Oman was the naming of my car. Only the eleven members of my Notorious Nine cohort will truly appreciate the name, but I don't care. A little history lesson, there are only two Sultans in the world. One in Oman and the other in Brunei. Everyone in Oman LOVES Sultan Qaboos because he basically brought civilization, education, healthcare, jobs, and an easier life to Oman. I mean who wouldn't love the Sultan?

After Trent's brilliant suggestion and three years of namelessness, I have decided to name my car "Sultan Qaboos". Because the Sultan is royalty (hence the purple) and Qaboos (pronounced caboose) is a super fun pronunciation and I might also add... an incredibly masculine name (humor me).

Secondly, if I could be any Disney princess I would want to be Jasmine because let's just be honest, she is a middle eastern hottie of pure exoticness. And who doesn't want to be that? So all of my time in Oman this summer I kept teasing my cohort how I wanted to have a "fling" with the Sultan (after all he is still single and in Oman it is appropriate to have multiple wives). Then I could become the REAL Jasmine and have my own palace. Sadly and shockingly enough, we never met. But now that I named my car, I guess I get to take a ride with the Sultan whenever I want.

In the near future you might find me saying... "Lets take the Sultan", or "put it in the Qaboos", or "shake your Qaboos", or other such awesome phrases. I love that the Sultan finally has a name. It makes the ride oh so much better.

SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT.

Damage Control

A very common phrase in the apartment of 611 over the past couple of years has been "damage control." I have received this phrase via text messaging or phone calls from either roommate, Becka or Sarah, which means that whatever plans I had for the night are rescheduled and I am theirs for the night. Breakups, bad news, job losses, last day of jobs, or any type of emotional stress usually results in in the need for damage control. Some of the most common damage control outings involve Target, Chick-fil-a, and Old Navy. Exreme measures and free schedules do indeed call for the beach. Over the years, we have gotten pretty good at determing what each other needs.

On Monday, I resigned from my position at CBU. Despite the fact that I had a peace about it, I was still a complete wreck. I came home to my roommates who had already collaborated the damage control for the evening. At 7 pm, I come home to them telling me to grab a sweat shirt and that we were headed on a road trip. I of course know that we are headed to the beach and I am relieved to know that we are getting out of Riverside. I love the beach more than most things, but I especially love the beach at night. We of course jammed to all our favorite hip hop music cd's we always make for road trips and headed to Laguna Beach. So we put in our names at BJ's and enjoyed all that BJ's has to offer including their amazing Spinach Artichoke Dip and Pizookie's. We were thankful for the dark and handsome waiter but even more thankful for the ridiculous females next to us that were such ridiculous "California Gurls" as snoop dog and perry would say. After filling our bellies, we traveled across the street to the beach where we plopped our bottoms in the sand and talked. The damage control was initially for me, but God is doing big things in all of our lives and I think we all needed the beach. It was just refreshing to be with sisters that loved me unconditionally and know my heart and where I am. The evening ended with us sharing our hearts through prayer requests and then getting the privilege to actually pray for each other right there on the beach for the next half hour or more. We walked away blessed and refreshed. Some of my best memories in Southern California are the ones praying in crazy places of nature with these ladies.

And yes we were all three wearing the Boyfriend Cut Sweat pants.....

I'm Back

As you can see, I have been quite abscent from the world of blogging due to my travels to India and Oman this summer. I honestly have a lot of stuff floating around in my head that I am looking forward to blogging about. The next several posts will probably not be in chronological order, so you will just have to deal.

Oman Update

***here is an email update that I sent out if you are interested in reading it.

Hello Again!

Well I have survived the desert and the village! I have been in Oman now for right at one week. We have done so much in this first week, it feels like we have been here for so long. I will try to tell you a little bit about what we have been up to.

First, our housing in the village is so wonderful! We have great air conditioning, large rooms, and a great big kitchen to cook in. Omani houses, even in villages, apparently are huge. The only sad thing is that what we had planned for internet is NOT working at all. So I am sending this from an internet café. The only internet we will have is when we go back to the capitol for day trips and random trips. So receiving replies from you will just make my day that much more!!

The food has been delicious. We have been eating lots of Schwarma (a Turkish sandwich- a note to be small group- be jealous). And we have been cooking inside our house. I am surprised at how many American types of food are available in local supermarkets. We have also been enjoying Omani style meals of chicken and rice and I am definitely learning to eat with my hands.

As most of you know, the purpose of this trip is research. So a typical day is that we go to a local market in the morning for the purpose of meeting people. We basically try to go to the side of the market where all the women are selling things. We try to strike up conversations with those that either speak English or are willing to have a conversation with us. Then we ask them basic questions about their lives. Once we finish talking to the people that the Father brings in our path, we jot it down in our notebook and then type it up later. We are specifically seeking out information about the Bedouin people. They are the desert nomads of the middle east. They are clearly distinguished by a mask they wear to cover their faces (it looks like a batman mask) and then a specific type of Omani Bedouin dress. In the early afternoon, we have been able to go to remote places and meet in Bedouin homes and we are able to interview the head of the home. The process of interviewing has been really natural and fun. We are basically just talking to people and getting to know about their lives, their culture, and their traditions. The Omani people are very friendly and hospitable and so proud to be Omani!

One thing I have learned about the Bedouin people in that the camel is one of the most important things in their culture! I have seen soo many camels everywhere, even in the back of pick-up trucks! We even had the opportunity to go off-roading into the desert where there was a Bedouin family who raises camels. There we actually all got to ride camels!!

Tomorrow we are leaving for another town that is several hours away where we will be camping in the desert. Yes, I will be sleeping in a sleeping back fully covered camping in the desert! I haven’t decided yet if I am excited or dreading it. Either way, I am sure it will make for some GREAT stories later. J We will leave Saturday and come back on Tuesday.

Between kayaking in the ocean, riding camels in the desert, and meeting in homes of the Bedouin people I am doing fantastic. I feel so honored to be know these people and this country in such a unique way!!

I hope all is well, I would love to hear updates if you have time to share them!!

Adios

I am out. Headed home to the place where my heart....South Asia. I will be leading a team of college students with my good friend Kyle and Mical. Here is a prayer guide of how you can be praying for our team. Sorry to those I didn't get to connect with before I left.

Week One:
May 25- Pray for last minute preparations and rest before we get on the plane.
May 26- Pray for travel safety and for ALL of our luggage to arrive in-country with us.
May 27- We arrive to our city at 6 AM. We have a LONG day to stay awake and to engage. Pray for unity and close bond with our field workers and for our cultural adjustment.
May 28- Pray that we would be LEARNERS as we go through orientation and learn our country, city, and people. Pray for a great love for the people we will be serving. Pray for an adjustment to the intense heat.
May 29- We are a Bible Storying team and will be spending a lot of time learning the art of storytelling. Pray for a love for storytelling and a love for sharing stories with the people we meet.
May 30- We will be worshipping today with local believers. Pray for God to give us a love for the global church and a better understanding of Revelation 7.
May 31- Today will be our first day of teaching ESL storying. Our team will be split for the first time in our trip. Half of the team will go to one location and the other half will go to another location. Please pray for the unity of our team. Pray for immediate connections with our students. Pray for boldness to have spiritual conversations.
June 1- Pray for endurance, strength, and adjustment to the INTENSE HEAT and long days. Pray for brokenness.
June 2- Pray for unity as a team as we are spending most of the day separate from half of our group. Pray for good debriefing and team time in the mornings and evenings. Pray for our spiritual growth and to be refined.

Week Two:
June 3- Pray that God would break the hearts of the people and make their hearts ready for the gospel. Ask that HE would also break our hearts for lostness among the nations.
June 4- Pray for good health and perseverance. Today is our last day of teaching in this location. Pray for good closure and good conversations with our new friends as we say good-bye to the students.
June 5- We will be site-seeing in a city about three hours away. Please pray for smooth logistics, great unity between our team, hydration, and lots of laughter.
June 6- Pray for physical rest today after a long-day of site-seeing. Pray also for spiritual rest as we worship with believers.
June 7- We are in our second and final week of teaching. Pray for new relationships, strength, endurance, and unity. Pray for good health for the team. Pray for salvation for those we meet this week.
June 8- Pray for boldness to share the gospel and for the hearts of our students to be prepared for the gospel.
June 9- Ezekiel 11:19-20 “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.” Pray for perseverance, that we would keep our eyes fixed on the goal, and that we would finish strong as a team.

Week Three:
June 10- Pray for REST for our team and for us to connect and share with those we have not yet been able to. For divine opportunities to share and boldness to do it!
June 11- Today is our last day of teaching. Pray again for good closure and good-byes and we leave the location we have been serving this week.
June 12- Pray for our team as we debrief our experiences in the next couple of days. Pray that God would teach us what we need to learn as we learn from our experiences.
June 13- Pray for good goodbye’s with our new national friends and our field workers.
June 14- Romans 15:20-21 “And thus make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation but as it is written, ‘those who have never been told of him will see and those who have never heard will understand.”
June 15- Pray for safety as we travel back. Also pray… “And he said to them, ‘the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Luke 10:23.

TOP: (left to right) Kyle, Brenton, Chris, Sarah, and Erik
BOTTOM: (left to right) Alicia, Mical, Nicole, and Natalie

May 25-26: Traveling
May 27-30: Orienting
May 31 – June 4: Teaching our first week of ESL Storying
June 5–6: Site-seeing and Resting
June 7-11: Teaching our second week of ESL Storying
June 12-14: Debriefing, Shopping, Resting, and saying Good-bye
June 15: My team leaves and I stay in India a few days longer.

You can read LIVE UPDATES at www.calbaptist.edu/ISP

Click on South Asia Storying Team

An Ode To Pink

My roommate Becka teaches poetry to her sophomore this time each year. Each sophomore writes their own poetry (odes, sonnets, figurative language, onomatopoeia, etc...) and makes a book. Becka chooses to do write poetry alongside her sophomores every year. Last year, I wrote an Ode to my Spurs and this year the roomies and I collectively wrote an ode to our sweatpants. Here it is in all it's glory....

PS. Amanda, I think this will make your English heart, pink heart, and VS heart happy.

Ode to PINK TM

All roomies hail to Victoria
And all her many, saucy secrets.
You make us sing gloria,
5 pairs later, and still no regrets.

Cut like a boyfriend,
Sweatpants so soft you’ve captured our love,
We salute your cotton blend,
You give us sweet TLC like from above.

All the girly colors of the rainbow,
Pink, purple, gray, and black,
You give off that sexy glow,
Cause you always cuddle back.

Like good news, we tell of your wonder
On facebook and twitter, both far and wide,
No other sweatpants could tear us asunder,
We’ll wear you this summer wherever we ride.

We’ve learned we must stagger our swagger,
Cause we wanna wear you all the time,
Hotter and better than Keysha’s Mick Jagger,
The Trifecta together, you ARE that sublime.

Corporate Prayer

Yes, you are getting two posts in one evening. Tonight I was blessed to be a part of the body of Christ working together. There is nothing more powerful to me than corporate prayer. In fact, it is the one thing in my life that is completely absent, which is slightly ridiculous because of the amazing community that I am surrounded with. However, tonight some dear friends asked for prayer for their family and for those that could to come to their house and pray. I JUMPED at the opportunity to go and was honestly just spiritually blessed to get to pray in with other believers. Man how I wish this happened on a weekly basis. I am thankful to the Cordi for asking their communit for prayer. There are some days when all I wish was that someone would offer to pray for me. Maybe I need to be more intentional to ask for it. But today, I was thankful that someone had the guts to ask for the community of God to pray together for a specific need. I am honestly an idiot in my own life for not asking of the same.

SOS

Right now, I am so stressed I can feel the rocks in my shoulders and back. I have 8 days to hold it together before I leave. And yes, I did specifically choose the words "hold it together". It's going to be a rough 8 days. I will be so thankful just to get on the plane and GO. But I am also not going to get any type of physical or spiritual rest before I go. So please pray for me.
#bitter/stressed rant

To the ends of the earth....

Acts 1:8 "...but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

This picture has my mind spinning. My seniors graduated last Friday and these represented in this picture are 1/3 of the California Baptist University population that served on a missions trip during their college experience. The beauty of this picture is the physical representation of the gospel of Jesus Christ lived out among the nations. Many won't stop at graduation and will continue to be the LIGHT to a dark world.

May God continue to send workers from CBU...the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. God give us hearts of obedience to go the corners of the world proclaiming the GOOD NEWS!

***students get to where the Great Comission white stoles at graduation if they participate in an International Service Project while at CBU.

My India Heart

God has given me such a sweet reminder of my heart for India these past couple of weeks. I got the opportunity to host a dozen college girls in my apartment for an evening of Indian festivities. I ordered Indian snacks from a local Indian market, hired a henna wallah, had the Bollywood movie playing, and the chai ready. I can honestly say I haven't been in my element, as much in that moment, for longer than I can remember. I was overwhelmed with emotion getting share a place that has meant so much to me with people in my community here. I love it when people love India, the traditions, and the people.

I was however blessed when God gave me opportunity to share the gospel with "Uncle Ji" at the party. I, of course, had been engaging him in conversation, making him chai, and telling him some of my crazy stories about living in India. We engaged each other in spiritual conversation which at some point involved me sharing the FULL gospel with him. He asked about the purpose of the church, convictions, sin, heaven, and worship. I was reminded how easy it is to have spiritual conversations with Hindu's and how it easily leads to the gospel. The highlight of my evening was when I played Yeshu Bagans (Jesus worship music in Hindu style) and he went on and on about how wonderful they were and even asked for a copy!! I walked away from this evening with a huge part of my heart that had died revived with a new spark and excitement for my upcoming adventures in India again this summer and the Indian people.

God was gracious to me TODAY again in reminding me of my love for India. I went in to the shop where Uncle Ji works to get my eyebrows threaded. And the minute I walked in, Uncle Ji shook my hand and hugged me. I might also add it was a little awkward. An Indian male has never given me a frontal hug before! But it was totally the hug you would give a family member. Then he was quickly on the phone with his wife telling her I was in the shop! He soon mentioned too that He left the Yeshu Bagan CD at my apartment and that I needed to bring it ASAP because he wanted to play it in his shop. I was of course invited to come to his home and eat indian food and to bring my pictures to the shop.

I am most excited that the gospel through song will soon be playing in his shop once I give him the CD.

So today my Indian heart is full, yet again. Full because God sent me there over 5 years ago to fall in love with it's people and it's culture, but more importantly because I have the life giving gospel to share with them. I am so thankful that God connected me with this family. I pray this will be the beginning my ministry to Indians in Southern California!

May 19, 2011

This is the date of my graduation from graduate school.


Just one year and 35 days till I get hooded, but who's counting??

Parental Unit

After 2.5 years, my parents are coming to R-town! I AM STOKED. They will be here for 8 awesome and full days. I even took vacation this Thursday and Friday. I am actually using my vacation for fun and not taking graduate classes. Wahoo!

storms

Today something extraordinary happened.

I experienced a rain storm complete with thunder and lightning.

In my 2 years and 3 months of residence in California this is the FIRST rain storm that I have been apart of! I even went for a run in the rain it is so glorious.

I am truly thankful for the power of God displayed through weather.

As I write this, I am reminded of sleeping Jesus who awoke to a boat full of friends who were scared out their minds because of a crazy rain storm.

Then Jesus simply spoke and immediately the winds and the skies obeyed.

PEACE immediately followed.

The past couple of days, my soul has been in turmoil as I think about this upcoming semester. I have already determined that I CANNOT have another semester like I had last semester. It was a rough one, but last semester I trusted in my own abilities. I did it in my own strength. This semester I am praying that God would strip away my independence and give me a heart that dependent on Him FULLY. So God speak your peace into my life. If you can command the seas, then I know you can command the storm in my soul. You are trustyworthy, increase my trust.

Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy this storm by drinking coffee, snuggled under a warm blanket, listening to the water pour down and pretending that I am reading a great romance novel instead of a boring research textbook.

.

round two

Below you will find my brand-spanking new running shoes! Aren't they some hot looking asics? I personally find there to be something very attractive about running shoes. I bought them to commemorate the training of my second half-marathon. The first time I ran, I ran with the community of Lancers at CBU. This time I am running with my Sandals community. We have all decided to attend the 8:15 service (we lovingly/sarcastically call it the Sunrise service). Then we run our long runs after church! This morning we kicked off the first "long" run of 4 miles....

We will be running the La Jolla Half-marathon on April 25th...

Week one of training down....14 to go!

Another Decade down....

Another decade down..... 2000-2010

• graduated high school
• got my first boyfriend
• moved to Dallas and gained my true independence
• became a college student
• got my first professional job at Buckner
• gained an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies and Sociology
• became a member of First Baptist Church Irving which was the beginning of my future for all things SBC
• gained a strong foundation through my church and amazing mentors like Jennifer and Amanda and Beverly
• learned ebonics while working at Wynnewood and learning how to play hood ball
• established friendship that are now life long friend
• moved overseas to India
• learned how to live, survive, and enjoy India
• traveled the world with some of my best friends in the world to Singapore, Thailand, North South Korea, Bali, Malaysia, Germany, China, Honduras, Austria, and Mexico
• moved to Sunny Southern California
• lived on a college campus for a second time
• became an employee of California Baptist University
• joined the community and life of Sandals Church
• moved in with ladies that our now my family and best friends
• started two Masters degrees
• lost a high school friend to cancer and saw another survive cancer
• discovered a new passion for collegiate ministry and mobilization
• led two teams of college students to Germany and East Asia

It is crazy to think of all the life changes that happen in a decade! 10 years from now I will be close to 36 years old!! I am excited about the joys and struggles of the next ten years! I feel like these last 10 years were crucial and foundation to who I will be in the next 10. I am guaranteed a full life in Christ. I am thankful for Christ who is enough. Here's to the next 10 years as God continues to give me a heart for obedience....oh the places I will go...

Ways to Encourage Missionaries on the Field

I received this link from one of the many field workers that I am blessed to work with. This is not my list but compiled by Mark Rogers. Having been a field worker myself, being a lover of encouragement, and wanting to be a good resourcer I wanted to post this. So enjoy.

10 Ways to Encourage a Missionary
In an effort to learn how we can best encourage missionaries, I emailed some and asked how they would most like to be served and encouraged. This list is drawn from their responses, including many direct quotes.

1. Pray for them and let them know that you are doing so frequently.

“One of the most encouraging/inspiring things we receive from people is a quick note via email to say that they are ‘thinking’ of us.”

2. Send “real mail.”

“Send a small care package. Some little fun food items that we can’t get where we serve is a good idea.”

“One idea is to send a special package before an American holiday (like Thanksgiving) filled with things that we can use to decorate for that holiday.”

“Send us a birthday card. This doesn’t have to be some long handwritten note, just a little card – maybe even printed at home.”

“Real mail is always special. Really, the thing with real mail is more than just getting some nice stuff from home (which is nice), but it seems a more tangible reminder that the people I love and miss love and miss me too and are thinking of me.”

3. Pray for the people the missionaries serve and not only for the missionaries and their families.

4. Recruit others to pray for the missionary’s area of service (city, people group, etc.) or for the missionaries themselves.

“This can be an amazing thing to have a person or group of people actively supporting the work that we are doing overseas – becoming an advocate for our city/work. It really encourages us to know that there are people going to bat for us and raising more prayer support for the work.”

“Become an arm of our work in the United States. Some ideas include handling our newsletter distribution, website hosting (i.e., hosting a virtual website for the city), logistical arrangements, or short term team orientation.”

5. Go visit them with the purpose of serving and encouraging them in their work.

“Have a group of your people come to minister to us as we are seeking to pour out our lives to others. This could be hosting a small retreat in country for our team or something similar, or coming to prayer walk the city we live in.”

6. Send them updates and pictures of you and your family (by mail or email).

“It would especially be nice to receive end of the year updates or Christmas card pics. We want to stay connected to you! We love hearing from friends and family and enjoy keeping up to date on what’s happening in your life!”

“If you have a friend overseas, stay in touch with them. Don’t let cautions about being careful with spiritual language keep you from talking about the day to day “un-spiritual” things you would talk about if you met up for lunch one day. Sometimes the least spiritual emails are the most helpful, because somehow I feel less distant when friends talk to me like they always did before I left. Share updates on family, school, work, life, sports—whatever it is that you used to talk about with them.”

7. Ask questions about their work.

“Ask not only how we are doing, but ask about our work and try to learn all you can about the people or city where we are serving.”

“I know that this has been said, but truly CARING about the work is the best way to encourage us.”

8. Continue to be a Christian friend and continue to minister to them.

“Don’t stop being the church to us when we leave. Whenever security allows, spiritual conversations are good for our hearts. Missionaries struggle with the same sinful attitudes that plague Christians everywhere. Leaving home to live among unreached peoples, may be a step of faith in the process of sanctification, but it is not a step that roots out all sin. It is likely to lead to and expose all kinds of previously unnoticed and unexpected sin. Having friends that know me, are patient with me, and expect me to be the same struggling sinner I was when I left helps me stay humble when tempted toward arrogance, and hopeful when tempted toward despair.”

“Even for us with strong member care, it is helpful to receive pastoral care from the stateside church’s pastor who many times will know the missionary personally and have the history with them to be able to invest and mentor them and their family and marriage.”

“Ask us those hard questions. Do a little pastoral counseling with us.”

“Please don’t elevate us onto some false pedestal. We are normal people too who have been forgiven much and for some reason God called to live and minister overseas.”

9. Support them financially.

“Finding out if we have any specific needs and meeting those needs is great.”

10. Seek to encourage them when they are on stateside assignment.

“Let us talk to you and your congregations, and small groups. We want to share what God has been doing and would love the opportunity to talk about it, raise awareness and hopefully gain more prayer support.”

“Invite us out to lunch or dinner. Nothing fancy is needed. Remember we’ve just been in places where we may not have been able to even enjoy a little Mexican food.”

No missionary mentioned this to me in emails, but I know it is a blessing when someone shares their summer home or cabin for a missionary family to get away and relax for a few days.

“Let us know about any good books that are must reads. Tell us about any good resources that may benefit our personal growth or ministry work: things like conferences, training for ministry/leadership, and so forth.”

Mark Rogers is a Ph.D. student in historical theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL.

Debriefing 2009

I love the New Year! I am one of those weird people out there that love goals and challenges. So it is always a chance for me to reflect on the past year, the good, the bad, and the ugly. There is something refreshing about starting new and having a clean slate. I always look forward to this post... Here is my 2008 and 2009 New Year's Post.


Here is a question I like to ask as I debrief my previous year, "What is the single best thing that happened in 2009?"


There were lots of great things that happened in 2009:

• My college pastor came to speak to So Cal to speak in chapel
• Completed my first half-marathon.
• I joined a boxing gym!
• I got a guythat was mine in 2009 (however, I didn't get him to stay ;) ).
• I led a team of college students to East Asia.
• I experienced first hand what it means to reach and work among an unreached people group and reminded clearly how ruined I am for the ordinary.
• I got to spend three weeks in Texas visiting family.
• I started working on my second masters degree.
• I helped to train, plan, equip and send over 350 college students serve overseas. Many of these gained a heart for the nations for the first time!
• I completed my first year as staff at California Baptist University.
• Deepend relationships with my two roommates who have become my family.

But I think the greatest thing that happened to me in 2009 was becoming an official member at Sandals Church. It has been a HUGE blessing to be a part of such an amazing community and people who genuinely love me. It has also been wonderful because both of my roommates go to church together and it feels like family. I had forgotten how important it is to be a part of the church, after all Christ died for the church. Sandals is not perfect, but I respect my pastor and am excited to follow his leadership.

These are some of very super Sandals people!

The Boys or our lunch crew (plus Kyle who is not pictured sadly)

My Small Group


Overall, I would say this was a good year. It definitely wasn't my favorite. It definitely had it ups and downs and disappointments, BUT God is faithful and He sustained me. I struggled this past year in my own spiritual growth. This is something that is a gaping regret of 2009. I would say that God and I went to the mattresses this year and it has been a struggle. But thankfully He is faithful when I am not. I am looking forward to that clean slate in 2010.

My 2010 New Year's Resolutions to follow...STAY TUNED!

A Dear Old Friend

Today, I was reconnected with my good friend Michael Pueppke. Mike and I first met when I was in third grade and he was one of the thirteen people that I graduated with in 2001. Recently, I found out that he was diagnosed with Leukemia. This is the second person in our graduating class to be diagnosed with cancer. Lana Beth Fisher, at the young age of 26, passed away from skin cancer three months ago. She left a beautiful legacy of faith and courage, my regret is that I never got a chance to say goodbye.

Mike and I have an interesting past. Even though there were only 13 people in our class we were not friends. I was not COOL enough back in my nerdy days of high school. He was definitely the cool kid, he always has been. After high school graduation, Mike and I went our separate ways, he went off to a state school and I headed off to Dallas Baptist University. I am not sure the depths of darkness he experienced that first year, but what I do know is that through the gracious hand of God, he sent Mike my way to attend DBU our sophomore year. God began to weave our friendship and he oddly became one of my dearest and closest friends in my college career. One of my favorite things about our friendship has always been the depth of the places we have gone in conversation. We both had a love for philosophy and a love for truth. I am not exactly sure how God used me in his life, but I always somehow knew that our friendship in college was quite intentional. We both needed something from each other and since my college days, Mike has always had a special place in my heart.

Unfortunately after college, we lost touch. I guess moving to a foreign country will do that to a friendship. Mike is now married, has a son on the way, and is working on his PhD in British Literature. Oh how time flies.

I was blessed tonight to talk to him. I am thankful for all that God is teaching him and his wife through this trial. I love to see the people of God respond to tragedy and glorify God, it is honestly the most beautiful thing on this earth.

Tonight, I am thankful for Mike's 27 years of life and how God is working in his life. I am also thankful friends of the past that still bless me today in the present!

I wish I had a picture of Mike and I in our college days, to post, but those were days before digital cameras were invented. Don't I sound old?

If anyone is interested in reading his story and his journals, you can read them here.

I'm Free

Tonight something glorious happened! I completed my last assignment for the semester which means that I am officially free from my grad school shackles for about 5 weeks! It's scary how free I feel now that I am no longer oppressed by papers, reading, and looming assignments.

My pastor today also gave a fantastic gospel presentation and reminded my of the freedom I have in Christ!

So thank you Jesus for the freedom I have in you and the small amount of school freedom I have for the next month!

ps- can you tell I am less busy based on the amounts of blogging I am doing???

YES!!!

South Asia Bound

I have some exciting news for my few readers out there that care....
I am hitting up South Asia again this summer May 25-June 15th.
This time, I get to take a team of Cal Baptist students- 7 to be exact.
I also get to lead with one my favorite students and a close friend from Sandals.
Could life get any better this summer?!

Blog world, I am going back home to the land I love so much!!
And this make my little Alicia heart so happy!

Roommate Christmas Photos

Last year on a spontaneous jaunt to Target, me and the roomies picked up the onesie footed pajamas pictured below. We thought they would be silly to take pictures in them and so we did. Soon after their debut on facebook much mockery occurred from some of our favorite people. But, we the roomies, didn't care because we LOOOVED them.

This year, we thought it would be fun to start a tradition of "Christmas Roomie Photos". We wanted this year's photos to be equally as ridiculous and cheezy. We decided to be Christmas presents. What we didn't take into account was how awesome our photographer was. And instead of being really ridiculous they turned out to be incredibly artsy and legit.

Yes, we are a bunch of Christmas presents among a bunch of Christmas trees!

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

Some youth pastors wanted to teach their students about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

Fun so they made this little diddy. I am not gonna lie, I laughed my head off along with my roomie. Please enjoy and pass along if you want to educate people on good ol' Lottie Moon.

Tweet Cloud

Yes, I am a tweeter! There is this tweet cloud that generates the main words that I use when I tweet. So here is my cloud.

And as my roomie @shortyloh says... "i guess I really am in the clouds..."

Risky

Today, I did something I have never done before.
I invested money.
We will see how this works out.
It might be the stupidist or smartest thing I have done all year.

Time
Will
Tell.

Contentment STRUGGLE

I have been struggling with contentment in my singleness.
I have no idea what God is doing with my life, yet I know He is faithful and worthy of my trust.
I know that God is training me for the next step, and I daily take another step with blind faith.
But if I were to be completely honest, I can say that I am barely hanging on by a thread.
Some days I have random freak-out moments and wonder if I will be another one of those 30 year old single females faithfully serving the Lord.
Who is going to take care of me when I am older? Will I ever have kiddoes? Will I always be relocating and making new people in my city my family? Will God ever provide a family that is mine? I know God is faithful but man I am struggling with it.
This week, I found out the man I was dating just 8 short months is now engaged. I can't help but wish that was me and wondering why it didn't work out. It's weird to think that could've been me, but God wants me to be single right now. UGH! The only thing that has kept me sane this week is praying for them and their lives together. I know that God will be glorified through their relationship because of the man my ex-boyfriend is. And honestly, I am excited for them and what God has in store for their lives. However, I can't help but question why God didn't let it finally be my turn. Why? This has been my struggle for the past 8 months. It's not that I am struggling with being with a specific person, more just positionally regarding singleness.
So here I am, 26, single, and married to my grad programs and hoping for a glimpse of what is ahead, but in a lot of ways scared that what is ahead is a lonely path because of my obedience and commitment to the Lord.
I have seen God's hand always in the decisions and paths in my life and therefore, I put my faith in him completely. I mean really this is the only thing I can do. And to be completely honest, I have seen God's hand in my singleness in that He is faithful to answer my prayers to give and take-away. So I know He is at work despite the season of life. Some days it's just hard being that 26 year old independent female and that is what is wieghing heavy on my heart this evening that I can't concentrate to do my LARGE homework assignment that is due tomorrow.

God, I long for contentment that is only in YOU. I ask that my heart would be transformed to yours and that you would take my desires and replace them with yours because you are WORTHY.

Blessed

This past week of work was CRAZY, yet filled with so much joy. We delivered acceptance letters to over 400 students at CBU inviting them to take part in our 2010 overseas teams. There was such great excitement and energy in the treehouse. I was also reminded what a huge step of faith it is for many of our students to go on overseas teams. There was a girl who I watched walk down the hall after receiving her letter, walking slowly, taking deep breaths, and preparing herself for the news if she would be selected to serve on an International Service Projects team. It was a great personal reminder of what huge steps of faith students are taking to be obedient and to share their faith. And I wonder how radically God is going to shake this girls worldview of who He is and reveal to her the heart He has for the nations He created. Her world is never going to be the same after this summer. I am constantly being challenged with the philosophy of what I do and why I do it. I currently am dedicating my life to training, equipping, mobilizing, and sending students all over the globe on short-term missions teams. Many people argue that sending short-term teams are a waste of time and resources, and the work accomplished is not always effective. Tonight, I was reminded why it IS worth it. I sat with 5 students tonight who have committed to going overseas long-term within the next two years. It was because of their short-term experience that they are going again and choosing to live a life of missional living. That is the end goal of why I do what I do. I am starting my third year of working in mobilization and have had the privilege of seeing many students go and serve.
Just to name of few....

Aimee is serving currently in South Korea teaching English
Ryan is serving in Suriname as a j-man
Brie is serving in Belgium as a j-man
Stephanie is teaching English in China
Aimee is serving in Cambodia
Jenny is serving a semester in Chile
Krista is serving in West Africa
Charlie and Corrie are teaching English in the Middle East
Aaron is serving in the Middle East
A different Aaron served in South Korea as an English teacher and recently came back after getting married (see you can serve overseas and not be stuck single!)
Kimberlee is the process to serve as a j-man and several more like her in the pipeline!!!

I will never know what kind of eternal impact these students are having for the Kingdom, but I am just thankful that in God's graciousness towards me that He let me have a role in these students' lives. I am truly blessed to be a part of such a great work in the lives of college students!! GOD IS GOOD.

Thankful

Tonight, I backed into a truck in the parking-lot. Not my most glorious moment. I am fine but my car now has a little bit more character and personality then it had before. I walked away annoyed with myself, but oddly enough pretty thankful. I was thankful for two reasons. First for the body of Christ because my friend Dave came to the rescue. Dave is my California dad who bails me out or protects me when I need a male presence. Since I met him in India over three years ago, his family has always been a blessing to me in so many ways. I also found myself really thankful for the police. This semester, I have spent a lot of time studying different countries and their infrastructure and systems. And one of the most important thing needed for a countries success as a state is for the people to feel safe and the ability to force law. I know that the US police system can be corrupt; however, I was not at all afraid to call the police. I knew that they would not ask for a bribe, that they would deliver the necessary service, and that I would be dealt with in a respectable manner. This is not true for the majority of the world. Most of the world would do everything they could to not involve the police because they are corrupt, abuse their power, and instill fear in the people. So the fact that I was relieved to know that he called the police to deal with our situation is a unique privilege I hold as an American citizen. So I walked away thankful.

Top 3% of the World

My professor kept repeating over and over again this weekend, "You are in the the top 3% of the most educated people in the WORLD because you are pursuing your masters degree." Top 3%. She always said this with so much weight and responsibility. I can't quite wrap my mind around this statistic...still processing the implications this statistic has for my life.

Behold, I Make All Things New

I just completed my first graduate class for my Intercultural Studies degree called "Organizational Systems Of Society." It is one of my top favorite 3 classes that I have had thus far in my academic career. The class was about the reality of the world in which we live and how utterly screwed up (I wish i could insert much stronger language here) the world (especially Africa) really is. It is the most depressing class, without competition, I have ever taken. We grappled with realities of the world, that as an American are not my reality, such as: human trafficking, world hunger, child soldiers, failed states, the bottom billion, conflict, war, genocide, and many other things that plague the world. I am now informed and bothered by the horrific things happening in the world that seem to have no easy or hopeful solutions. The depressing fact is that there really aren't any quick-solutions for the human family. Peace is something that is sought after but very rarely ever found. My rose-colored glasses are removed and I am left with a lot of cynicism. However, after this class, I have a new longing for REDEMPTION that ONLY Jesus Christ can provide. All day today, I was plagued by the phrase in Revelation, "I have come to make all things new..." This is the hope that I cling to tonight, that one day Jesus Christ will RESTORE and REDEEM His creation! I have a deepened understanding of the immense beauty and necessity of restoration and redemption. Christ is the only Hope for the world. My hope can be found in no other, and for HIM I give my life, my time, and my devotion.

The passage below is BEAUTIFUL and gives me hope...

Revelation 21:1-8
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold I make all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment. He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death."

I hope to post more of my thoughts about this class in the upcoming weeks. I have been grappling with things such as war, the US' role in the world, and many other things that I hope to share as I begin to really process what I really did learn and take-away from this class.