Winter Camp Already?

Yes, I'm still alive. :) No, this isn't the promised continued update. Yes, I'll try to do that sometime, however it's been a crazy January! How on earth does life get so busy? I don't understand it...

Well, it's that time again, yes, Winter camp!!!!! Bro. Kidri Diggs is going to be our minister again this year, and we are all in great anticipation of the amazing things God is going to do for us this weekend. We'd appreciate your prayers! God bless you! Hope your weekend is as good as mine is going to be! :)

Out With the Old Year, In With the New

Every year I say this, and every year it's true, this past year, 2010, has flown by! It's funny too, because I can distinctly remember things from a year ago, and it feels like they happened just a few moments ago. It's totally crazy. Before I get into a little recap of last year though, I'd like to share this Scripture:

II Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (KJV)

Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! (Amplified)

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (NLT)

This Scripture means a lot to me this year. I already posted about some life-changing services in November, and I'm still holding on, or rather, God's still holding onto me. It's amazing. All things really have become new for me. I really liked those 3 translations and wanted to share them. The Bible really is powerful, especially when you look a little deeper at the words.

Looking back at 2010, I see how much I've changed, and all for the better. Actually, a little of 2009 too has shown some drastic changes in my life. The end of 2009 held some horrific, life-changing events for me that really shook me. It was traumatic, but it made me take a deeper look at my spiritual walk and realize how much I was depending on man instead of on God. It's not right to lean too much on man, even if they are spiritually stable, man will fail you, but God never will. I'm so thankful for all God did through that tough time, and how He used the ministry at my church to keep pressing on. They never gave in or took defeat, they have been amazingly encouraging and strong. I know it's God in them, and for that I'm so thankful.

Here's my post from last year on New Year's Eve. Onto my recap of 2010:

• In January 2010, I had a breakthrough in some of my ways of thinking, and that's when a lot of other things started falling into place. I still struggled spiritually, but God was so faithful. I had to apply to grad schools and that was crazy! I was volunteering at the hospital, working at the SO, working at the library, volunteering at the Camp, and going to school full time. I'm not really sure how I survived it all. I know I was crazy. :) A friend got married, and that is about all I can remember from then. Nothing much to speak of in the way of pictures.

• February 2010 was also busy. I wrote a little bit about it here. My cousin's 16th birthday happened, and that was a lot of fun. That's all I can remember from then also.

• March 2010 was Winter camp! Also, the end of Winter Quarter. It was also the month I finally got rid of my Facebook! I decided in December to do it, but was too busy to actually do so. The first day before going up to camp, I deleted it and haven't looked back. :) I do miss seeing pics and keeping up with people, but overall, it's been a blessing. Less to worry about and less to take up my time. I don't know how I had the time to even check it.I was averaging about 3.5 hours of sleep a night for a while. I honestly don't know how I survived Winter Quarter. Spring Break was much needed for me! Also, Winter camp is when God really started to move on me. I gave up some things and was filled with the Holy Ghost. I had such a peace about it, and God was continuing the work.
  

• April was beautiful, awesome weather! Actually, we had a very mild winter last year, and a very early spring. I got beautiful pics of the Tulip Festival and fun with friends. Spring quarter was much better than Winter quarter. I was almost also done with school! I had heard back from the grad schools I applied to, and was on the waiting list for one of them. I remember praying a lot and fully expecting to be going to school in the fall for OT. Funny, I'm in the same place this year. Some things haven't quite changed, although I'm ready for them to!

• May was busy! My "little" brother was getting ready to graduate from high school. He had his last concert and some other lasts. I was wrapping up classes and getting ready for sunshine!

• June was busy. Am I repeating myself? Probably. Life is busy! My brother graduated, I finished my last Spring Quarter at WWU, and started my final quarter there. I have pictures from all these events, but we shall see if I post them. I did post a few throughout the year, so you can go back and look if you feel led. I also wrapped up my first year of helping with Sunday school. That was a lot of fun! I love the kids and I had a great time getting to know them and help out in an area that needed it. I had a further spiritual breakthrough that I posted about here. That was kind of a theme last year for me, the year of spiritual breakthroughs. It was definitely the most memorable part. I had one class in June-July and volunteered at the camp and at the hospital. I also had my last day working at the SO. That was a bit sad. I wrote a bit of an update here.
  

• July was my last month of volunteering at the hospital, and most importantly the last day of school!!!! I had a lot of fun last summer. I was busy, but still had time for fun. It was much needed! I posted some good pics here from last summer. July led right into August, which was...

• August 2010!!!! Summer camp!!!! One of the best parts of the whole year, at least for me. :) I thoroughly enjoyed camp! I got to be a camper again and helped out at Junior camp. Great times with friends, family and fellow believers. God moved amazingly during the services, did a lot for our whole congregation. We also had a witnessing booth at the local county fair, which was an amazing thing for me and all who got to participate. I graduated too!!! That was fun. :) My grandma passed away then too. It was tough. :( I really miss her. She used to call every day and I so miss talking to her.

• By September, I had found out I was not going to be starting grad school. I was highly disappointed and not sure what to do. I needed money and a job. I was praying about it, and not really sure what to do. I started helping out at church with the witnessing projects, Message hub projects, and volunteering at the church school. I was so busy I didn't take a single photo! Plus, I had lost my camera in August. :( I still haven't gotten it back, but I did get one for my birthday in November. Anyways, I had been talking to a friend one day about what to do about my life at that moment. As I was walking away from her, I got a phone call with a job offer. I prayed about it and felt it was totally the Lord answering my prayer. It might not be a permanent job, but definitely an answer to prayer! I posted about it here. I started school with my buddy in September and continued through December. Lord willing, I'll be starting again in a few days. I've really enjoyed it, and feel I'm where God wants me at the moment. I've so enjoyed volunteering at the school too. I love the kids and love helping out. One of my friends is a teacher there, and I help mostly in her classroom. It's a highlight of my week each week.

• October 2010 was yet again, extremely busy! I went to baseball game, volunteered, our refrigerator broke and we got a new one, and went on a very fun trip with a bunch of girls in Seattle. We had a fun time on Halloween after service at a lovely couple's house. I didn't get pics or anything, but it was a great time together. :)

• November was eventful. :) Some friends got married, I had my birthday, went witnessing in downtown Vancouver, experienced bitterly cold weather, had a lovely Thanksgiving with friends and family, and enjoyed a rebirth. Oh, we had a concert fundraiser with the LaFontaines too. Super fun month! It's hard to believe it's over. I feel like it's still November! I updated about November in December, so here's that post.

• December was crazy! I didn't have as much work, but every day was nearly jam-packed with fun and craziness. :) Some of it I talked about here too. The rest I supposed I'll post about in a separate post, as this one is way too long already!
  

Looking at 2010, it was an awesome year! The best parts were the amazing spiritual happenings. What was also awesome about last year was that our YP really got close. Starting around March, after Winter camp, we really connected and starting hanging out, and watching out for each other. I have so loved that about this past year. Actually, our whole congregation has grown closer. It's been amazing. Everything has worked out for the good. I've fallen in love with God all over again and have so enjoyed how fresh life is. :)


I don't make resolutions, but I do make goals.

Some goals for 2011:

• Read through the entire Bible this year, following the Daily Devotion book Bro. Tim Dodd put together.
• Find out what to do with my life!
• Keep working on my knitting. :)
• Others I'll remember later. :P

Well, I hope this post was interesting. If not for you, it was for me. I wish you all the best in 2011! May God richly bless you and keep you!

Quick Update

Yet another pictureless update, but this one's not my fault! My camera card somehow got corrupted so I had to recover the photos. They are still enroute to my computer. But, I wanted to give a quick update, mostly a request for prayer for my dad and my family. He's going for his surgery on Wednesday, and we are all going down about 6 hours away, for 2 days, for the surgery. Please pray that all goes well. It's a potentially dangerous surgery, and we are praying for God's will to be done. We all appreciate your prayers! Thank you and God bless!

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!