December

I thought November was busy...December is about twice as bad! It's been nice though, no time to think about the weather, which hasn't been all that bad.

Updates since last time:

• Went Black Friday shopping. Got great deals, not quite sure if it was worth the lack of sleep though.
  
• Had 4 days of training over 2 weekends. Wasn't the funnest, but at least I got it done.
• Taught myself how to knit! And successfully finished one scarf. I will try to post pictures sometime soon. I've been too busy to take and upload pictures. It's been something I've wanted to do for about 10 years, so I finally sat down and taught myself how to do it.
  

For the most part, I've been enjoying getting together with friends, working, enjoying amazing services, and getting deeper in the Word, which has been amazing for me. Bro. Tim Dodds spoke some services a few weekends ago, I think I mentioned them, but maybe not. The series was called "The Man Within the Man, Within the Man." I've been struggling with some things for a few years, and since winter camp, the devil's been questioning my walk with the Lord. During these meetings, God met me in such a real way that I know I've been changed, and filled with the Holy Ghost, and the things that bound me for so many years are almost a distant memory. I've said words to that effect before, after some powerful meetings, but every time, satan comes back stronger, and I've given in. But this time, I've been feeding myself and I came to the realization that God loves me. That realization, during the after-service in one of the meetings was such a powerful revelation that I cannot, no matter how low I get, go back to where I was before. It's amazing. My life has been changed. :) Everything's different, and this Christmas means more to me than ever. It's almost like becoming a Christian for the first time. I guess it kind of is. Really amazing. :)

My family's been going through some tough times. My dad has a semi-serious health problem that we've all been dealing with, and it's been troubling. My brother was in a car accident a few weeks ago, totaled my dad's car (which didn't make him very happy), but thankfully was not injured. So, on top of his health troubles, he's been looking for a new car. Also, my brother's car died around the same time, after he foolishly went through a giant pool of water. This week could have been traumatic for me, but thankfully was not. I was driving home from the church, during rush hour, and decided to take a shortcut by taking a side road and cutting over to another street. It was dusk, and rainy, and while driving down this 2-lane road, there was a van turning right, into the lane going the opposite direction as I was. There would be no reason for me to really notice or care, because they were signaling to turn right, not crossing any lanes. However, I could see as they were pulling out, that their wheels were not turning. I was going about 45 mph, and kept watching. The van kept pulling out, straight towards my vehicle. I could see they were going to hit me, so I swerved a bit, towards the ditch, and hit my brakes. I think I honked my horn as well, I'm not sure. But I braced myself for the impact I knew was going to happen, but it never came. I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw the van stop on the road behind me. What I didn't realize was that the van hit the car behind me instead. I don't even really know how it happened, but I was so thankful it wasn't me. I could hardly believe it, I knew the van was going to at least smash into the back of my car, especially because I braked, but due to God's guiding hand, it missed me. I stayed as a witness for the other lady, and thankfully it wasn't terrible damage. God knows how to keep us.

I think that's about it for now. Maybe I'll get some pictures posted later. Hope you are having a great Christmas season!

November Weather

(Photo courtesy of www.kgmi.com)

The typical NW November weather has hit. We had snow this weekend and are now experiencing ghastly NE winds that have caused power outages and below freezing temperatures! Thankfully, we still have power where I live, but in the nearby town, many residents are without power. The current temperature is 22 degrees Fahrenheit, but with the wind chill, it's about 1 degree Fahrenheit. Scary, eh? I took a few pics of the snow, but not too many. I froze today walking around campus. Time to get out all my wool clothes!

Weddings and Birthdays

November has been a very busy month as well! Two of my friends got married, to each other. :) And I turned the ghastly 23! :( I am getting old, nearly dying... Ok, ok, I'm really not that old but I've been kind of dissatisfied with what I'm doing. I didn't get into Grad school and it's been really bugging me what to do. I'm re-applying right now, but I don't know if I want to follow through with it. If not, I have nothing else I'd really like to be doing, but I don't want to keep doing what I'm doing now forever. I need an answer, Lord! :S It's really driving me crazy. I don't want to re-apply and get rejected again, but if I do, then I have absolutely no idea what else I want to do. I've looked at nursing and parts of it sound fun, but the majority of it doesn't really, although I don't honestly know. Teaching is pretty much for sure out, although I love working with kids, it's not for me. What I'm doing now as an aide is fun, but I'd want a more permanent position with a more set schedule, and I don't know if I want to do administration, I want to do more hands on, with the medical field.

Agh...sorry, this turned into a "Help me, I can't figure out my life" post.

Back to November... Here are some pics of the lovely couple and some special people who helped me celebrate my birth! I got a new camera! I'm still waiting for my old one to turn up...

We also celebrated my uncle's birthday. His is a few days before mine.

My dad and my uncle, oh and the dog.

Some of my lovely family

One of my gorgeous friends and one of her lovely daughters.

My adopted sister and my lovely little friend B. :)

Oh, I almost forgot! We went witnessing in Vancouver, BC on the 6th, which is also the day of my family birthday, and the day before my actual birthday. It has been a very eventful November! It was an awesome time! My friend D and I walked around together, handing out books and talking to people about Bro. Branham and Jesus. It was amazing. Funny stories and not so funny stories. I got my second proposal and got my car broken into, all in a day's work!

My friend D :)

Some of the group as we were getting ready to go home. (These photos were from my cell, which is why they aren't so great.)

Fun With Photos

I've been playing around with some photos I've taken and thought I'd post them for your viewing pleasure. :) I did have quite a few more I was nearly done with, but my computer crashed and I lost the changes I made to them. I'll just have to redo them some other time.

Hope you enjoy!

Weekend In Seattle

Last weekend I went to Seattle with some friends to help celebrate a birthday! It was a fun-filled weekend! I was able to borrow my brother's camera, only to discover it had a tiny memory card which only held 90 photos. So, I had to take some pics on my cell phone, which you all know is pretty terrible quality and to beg some photos off the other girls who went. I still have yet to do the latter.

We stayed Friday night in a lovely hotel and then headed down to Pioneer Square Saturday morning to visit the Underground. Sounds scary, I know, but don't worry, we didn't see any ghosts or get kidnapped. We did see lots of junk and learn lots about Seattle's history. I was going to link to their website, but unfortunately, the website and the brochures made it sound somewhat sketchy, although the tour actually wasn't. So, if you happen to visit their website and see sketchy stuff, believe me, it wasn't on the tour, and excuse their poor taste.

(the above photos are all from the tour)

After the amazing Underground tour, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory! I've never been there before as the line has always been out the door, but was very pleased with my lunch and delicious Dulce de Leche Caramel cheesecake.


After gorging ourselves on a late lunch and delicious cheesecake, we headed down to our beloved Pike St. Market. The birthday girl had heard about the infamous gum wall and wanted to find it. After looking around on the top level at all the amazing sights and stands, we decided to venture down below. I arbitrarily pointed to a slope and suggested taking it. When we got to the bottom, lo and behold...



That's right! The gum wall! Why my fascination, you may ask? Well, for those of you who don't know me well, I had a gum collection on my headboard when I was little. I know, I know, disgusting and unsanitary and so unlike the new and improved me you all know and love, but what can I say, I was 12! :P And yes, I did add my gum to the wall that day. I need to get the picture so you can see it.

We did eventually find our way to the real lower level and met a hilarious bookstore owner. He read love poems to our birthday girl.

We were accosted by a poor homeless man who "just wanted a sandwich" on our way back to the car, but he left us alone pretty quickly.

A very eventful weekend indeed! We shall say nothing of Tom or the 1-way street incident. Some things are best left unsaid...

The 1800s Have Come to an End!!!

Saturday, we were blessed with our new fridge! It's not the model we wanted, but it's pretty good and it works! I'm quite excited. :) I will never take a fridge for granted again!

This weekend was a blast! I had a wonderful time, took not too many pics (the memory card in the camera I was using was tiny!), and was sooo blessed at church. It was awesome. Totally amazing day on Sunday. :) I have some pics coming, so I'll do a Seattle trip weekend post sometime this week. Hope you have a blessed week!

The 1800s Continue

Apparently there was some mix-up with the people at Sears...they weren't going to deliver our new refrigerator until November 11th! Which is a holiday, of course, so you can bet it wouldn't be until November 12th. My mom called them and is apparently a bit of a wimp because she let them give her a smaller, cheaper one and they aren't delivering until Saturday. We'll have gone a week without a fridge! Totally ridiculous. And yes, I'm telling everyone to never shop at Sears. They have terrible customer service and rip you off. Don't go there!

On a better note, I'm going on a weekend birthday celebration with some friends this weekend! I'm very excited about it! :) I'll try to take some photos to share. Should be fun! :)