$641.46

This morning I felt motivated to check the mail even though checks have stopped coming in and a still have quite a bit of money to raise. In the mail I found a random check from the county (what seems to be a pay check) from last month. weird. How did I survive on my tight college kid budget while not picking up a pay check? The check is for $640 something dollars- more than a regular check because that pay period was Spring Break! The $20 bill is from one of my favorite coworkers whose husband got laid off. He is still looking for work, have two kids and they still managed to give. What selflessness! Miss Emily- thanks for being such a rad example of a giving heart! Mr. County pay man... thanks for mailing me a check that should have just sat in the Polinsky safe until I realized I was missing a paycheck!





This is my crazy room. I'm totally ashamed of it but it fully describes my life right now. Dawn (our roommate that owns our condo) is putting it up on the market. For every day this last week we have had to move in and out of our room and move our furniture around so she could have new floorboards and carpet installed- chaos. I've been dealing with that on top working 8 consecutive 10 hr shifts. LOVE IT! Craziness but Sarah (my roommate/best friend) has been amazing doing all the grunt work while I'm at work. Thanks Sar!




Speaking of how precious Sarah is- i found this note and these movies on my computer after work tonight! She rented some movies for us to watch together! I love her. I also enjoy that right now as I'm writing this blog Sarah peeked out the window (at 11:15pm) and said, "hi stan!" apparently she named the critter (raccoon or whatever) that lives outside our window. That's why we're friends.



Last but not least here is my Africa bag! I'm beginning to pack! Mom took me shopping last weekend and we got almost all my clothes and the stuff I need at Walmart! Moms are the best! I have a huge stash of snacks, all the toiletries and fun things medicines I'll hopefully never use! So fun! It's for real! I'm going to Africa!

I'm off to watch the movie with Sarah! Love you guys!

It happened!

Finally! I graduated from college on Saturday! It was so fun! I had an awesome weekend with my family! We spent time at the beach, ate good food, hung out with friends and celebrated! Mom and I went shopping and got TONS of stuff for Africa! I have most of the things I'll need over there! How exciting! I'm actually going to go wash it all... I just wanted to post the only pictures (from Andrew's phone) that I have so far because I haven't posted in a while... sorry!


Remember! My party is in a week and a half! Hooray! See you guys June 2nd!

Look at that! A pretty folder with a nice letter in it... don't be fooled. My diploma is in the mail. How anti-climactic.


This is me and my super favorite professor Dr. Hokoda!

mostly pictures

Tonight I scheduled my last hours working at Polinsky before I leave for Africa. It was exciting but actually pretty sad. I've loved working there. I'm applying for permanent positions there and a social worker position for when I get back. Pray that it all goes smoothly would be GREAT!
My supervisor Miss Edma gave me lots of pointers about applying and the whole county process is general. It was super helpful and so encouraging to know that she's doing her best to help me get hired. She's an awesome supervisor and is totally supportive of my trip! She even sponsored me! Two of my other coworkers have too and they were actually insulted they didn't get their letters sooner. Polinsky has been such a blessing! People ask me about africa every day I'm at work. Residents and staff. I love being able to share the little I know about what's going on there. Half the battle is awareness. Plus (actually not plus... the most exciting thing) is it gives me an opportunity to share about how God lead me there! I get to tell them that I'm not just going to do a good thing but because God loves the people of africa! Don't you love when God comes up in every day conversation. It's like He's totally relevant or something! LOVE IT!

Here are some pictures from Bryan house warming party (he bought it... in san diego... nuts) and our last growth group dinner!


Me, Britt, Dan (africa friend) and bryan... not sure why this was funny... we're ninjas.

Here are Kendra Stacey and I at BJ's for our last dinner. Each of us made one of these to kind of wrap up what God has been teaching us this year. They turned out crazy creative and were a lot of fun to make. It was awesome to listen to each girl describe how they saw God in their lives all year.

Me, Erica, Jill and creepy Kendra outside BJ's waiting for our table.

This the whole group! erica, edge, me, sarah, nsh ("nicole" or whatever her parents named her), jaime, jill, kendra, stacy and sarah in neither row. this is the only picture of all of us we have. these girls have been so encouraging! I've loved being stretched and challenged by them! They are awesome women of the Lord and I'm so stoked to see how they continue to grow!

Brittni and I have been practicing making mean faces since we went to the haunted trail at balboa park. curt showed us up without even trying. dang.

party anyone? hair cut? death by otter pop?

In case you haven't heard from the million other ways I've been trying to get the word out...

I'm having a graduation/africa party! Here's the info...

Saturday June 2nd

Open House 11-4pm

We will be BBQing and swimming (among other exciting things)

It's at my moms house (that's in Sac San Diego kids)

6800 Lonicera dr.

Orangevale, Ca. 95662

R.S.V.P. to my mommy (Nancy) or the grama (myrtle) at 916 721 8035

... but let's be honest if you don't r.s.v.p. it's no big deal just don't eat ;)

Come! I'd love to see you all! Some of my wonderful Growth Group girls are coming from the bay area, old friends, old Bible study leaders (can't wait to see you Amy!), family... it's gonna be insane!

On to more pressing news... i got my hairs cut (yes dad, all of them). i know... thrilling.

These are some pictures from our last community group :( We just hung out and ate otter pops and cookie dough. Everyone wrote in rad journals that Kelly made us and then prayed for us. It was an awesome time to see everyone before they all leave for the summer (um... sad). I've been so encouraged and blessed by being a part of this college ministry. I've learned the meaning of community like never before! This group is seriously my little (or 65 member) San Diego family. Without further blabbing here are the pictures...

This is Jill, me, Erica and EJ at community group "africa night". They are some of my "babies" as we've dubbed them. That means they're in my growth group I lead- they call me momma. sometimes momma man p. I love em. Erica will spend the summer in Chicago doing urban missions and EJ will be in Costa Rica on summer project! They make a momma proud. We had a fantastic end of the year dinner tonight... pictures to come.

I just like this picture of me and EJ "edge"... mostly i like the otter pop. mmm. blue.

Here we have Matt, Brittni, Jeremiah, Mark, Justin, me and Kelly in the front. This is the our community group leadership team. "The Fam" as we affectionately refer to ourselves. Brittni is one of my best friends down here and a future rommie. Mark is... well... they're all great friends and Jeremiah will sit next to me on a plane for 36 hours. Yes ladies and gentlemen... we're going to africa together... again, thank you uncle roger for the mp3 player!

This is my journal! Love it!

Kelly brought us (J-my, Dave who is going to uganda for 3 weeks and me) up to talk about our trips. This is a regular face of Jeremiahs and I was choking on my otter pop (the second or third one... i lost count) promise I wasn't moved to tears although that is not unusual for me.

Brittni voted the seniors (brittni me and mark) make a wow face. mark didn't get it at first and i had problems not laughing.

Last thing I have to say is I'm about $900-1,000 away from my goal still. I'm still praying God will provide like He has in CRAZY ways already!

I love you guys!

I've never seen a U-haul behind a hearse

Last night at Flood Matt gave a sweet sermon called "Turn or Burn: Is Hell Real?" *hint: blog title* We're in a series called (Know) Doubt. We've been tackling intense issues that are important but rarely talked about it the church. If you're interested check out the mp3s on our website!
The message titles are...
"Buddha to Jesus: Aren't All Religions the Same?"
"Good God!: Does God Cause Pain?"
"Fact or Fiction: Can I Trust the Bible?"
and in a few weeks we have, "Wars and Women: Is Christianity Oppressive?"
"Straight and Narrow: Is Jesus the Only Way?"
I love it! I can't wait! I have really enjoyed the message series... just wanted to share! What hit me most last night was when Matt was explaining how Hell is an example of God's love for us. Sounds weird, right? Some people say if God was such a loving God He would make everyone go to heaven. But here's Matt question... how much does love mean if there's no cost? If God paid no price for us to spend eternity with Him then cool, whatever, everything is hunky dory. BUT! I love this part! He didn't! He paid hell for us! How do you know love it true? When it has been tested and proved true. God paid Hell for us because He longs for us to be with Him that much! Love it! Fear of fire doesn't bring about the kind of heart change that God's all about- experiencing His immense love does! I want to be a person moved by His love!

Woo... I get all excited thinking about that but I'll try to calm down and give you an update...
We had an Africa meeting last night. We talked about our strengths and reviewed a couple devotionals about servant hood. Next week we're washing each others feet- intense servant hood! I'm stoked! I've never done it before! (I give lots of baths at work but this is quite different)
Checks have pretty much stopped coming in and I still need a little over $1,000. That's not a lot compared to what I've been blessed with already but daunting considering how much I have in my bank account. Provisions will come! He's been faithful so far!
That's about all for now... I'm going to go do a little work on my huge 590 paper (a research paper on autism and sensory integration... sounds like a blast huh?) before I have lunch shop for a graduation dress with maile... ill let you know how things turn out ;)