2011

The dawning of a New Year is just hours away. 2010 has been a blur for me. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

As I reflect upon the last year a few things stand out to me. My passion for Africa was sparked, I sponsored my first Compassion child. I'll never forget the day I was looking at her family's information and I read that her family lives on roughly 25 dollars a month. A month. I am so rich and I forget that so easily.

I went to Ireland in April...it seems such a very long time ago now. A very neat exerience, even if the volcano tried to keep us there longer than we were supposed to! A wonderful time spent with Shannon, one that I will not quickly forget.

I participated in two weddings, Thom and Marlene's in March and Elizabeth and Ian's in June. The joining of two people into a beautiful partnership. I am so glad to have been able to share in their joy. A christian wedding is the best event...it really embodies the verse that says, "taste and see that the Lord is good."

My sweet boyfriend and I shared our third year anniversary of dating in May. I went camping with my church over Memorial Day as I always do. My boyfriend and I always take a night to go out to eat alone at a particular resteraunt and I remember the drive back to our campsite...how the hills were bathed in pale golden sunlight on my left and how the ocean sparkled with the setting sun on my right.

I continued my list of 1,000 gifts, being more faithful in writing them down in my little journal than posting here online. I love the way it has opened my eyes, made me aware of beauty, aware of HIM and how very much He loves me. I'm just shy of 700 and it amazes me that even though I have written down almost 700 gifts I know exactly what it was that I had written about when I re-read them. I am eagerly anticipating Ann's book, One Thousand Gifts, which will be released in January.

Completed my first quarter at a four year school. I ended my quarter with good grades and just a little more confidence than when I first went in. Just the push I needed to know that I can do it. One step closer to being done with school, one step closer to being able to become a wife.

Through all the highs there were the lows. The biggest being the loss of my sweet boyfriend's wonderful Great Grandma. A beautiful and kind woman who was gentle and caring. She had the best stories of growing up in the early 1900s and had a mind as sharp as a tack. When you're in your 90's and you fall and break your hip time is not usually on your side. Her presence is dearly missed. I am thankful that my boyfriend and I were able to spend the time with her that we could. We will see her again in heaven, she is with her Jesus and the love of her life. It is still hard though.

My second loss this year was the moving of my sweet friend Marlene to Arkansas. I was able to spend some much needed time with her at Christmas and after and it was a great blessing. I miss our time together, being able to just drop by and talk to her. Her kids are growing up and I miss not being able to share in their milestones. Our visit was beautiful and I know that we will continue to stay close, no matter what the distance.

Only God knows what 2011 will hold for my life. Highs, I am sure, but lows as well. It is during those highs and lows where I will make the conscious decision of how I choose to respond to God in each situation. I am striving to be pleasing to Him and each new day, hour, minute, is the chance to seek Him, draw closer, love more, live more fully. And that is my prayer for 2011, that I will be an active participant in my own life, not an observer from the side lines.

Arkansas!

My trip here to the Ozarks is coming to a close and at one o'clock tomorrow I'll be boarding a plane headed for home.

It's been a nice, but difficult, trip. I'm so glad my sweet boyfriend got to meet my Great Grandma, but again, I struggled with the changes occuring in what I will always view my Grandma's house. My mom ended up coming with me as a surprise to everyone here, she too wanted to see my Great Grandma before it was to late, and she was a great source of comfort. I'm really glad she came.

Despite the changes inside the house the yard was full of cardinals, nut hatchers, chickadees, and wood peckers as always. We went walking several days and saw an armadillo more than once! A first in all the years I have come to Arkansas. Not exceptionally bright animals from what I have gathered but they have the cutest little faces!

There is something about this state, all the trees and wide expanse that has remained untouched that does my soul good. It is so refreshing to drive for hours on a long country highway with only trees and a couple of houses and cattle scattered about. My sweet boyfriend can't stand the cold...but I could very easily see myself settled in a rural state like this.

I am currently at my girlfriend's house enjoying her and her sweet babies. It's so nice to just sit and visit. She moved in April of last year and her presence has been sorely missed in my life. We've got lots of plans for today, sugar cookies with the kids, library visit, going to a hobby lobby (cause we don't have those in California!) and then preparing a delicious meal of beef pot roast, potatoes, veggies, salad, cornbread, and shortbread for dessert. Lots of laughing, picture taking, and catching up going on. :) It will end to soon but I know that I'll be back and she'll be coming to California to visit.

My girlfriend and her family came up to my Grandpa's on Christmas Eve and stayed and then left until the 26th. It was fun to see the excitment of a little one on Christmas morning break up the monotony of all the older folks. We got some flurries of snow but nothing that stuck.

I'm going to go enjoy the time I have left with my girlfiend and her sweet babies. One o'clock tomorrow will be here before I know it...back to home and work and school and life begins to pick up again.

One Solitary Life

"Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty and then for three years was an itinerant preacher. He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never traveled more than two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of those things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself….


While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed on a cross between two thieves. While he was dying his executors gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth - His coat. When he was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.


Nineteen long centuries have come and gone and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever were built, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life."
- Excerted from the book "One Solitary Life"