Long Days

The days seem too long when you're cooped up inside a dreary building with depressing walls. Don't get me wrong, I thank God for His perfect provisions. There are a few things I need to spruce up. Pictures? Flowers? I need to see some color! I need to see some faces with smiles! I need happy!

Enough of the boring. Well, there's not much else. When I come home, I'm hungry, tired, and in need of some kind of outlet to make me feel alive. I'm too young to be livin' so old! Kidding. How's your summer? I'd really like to catch up sometime. Looks like email and text are the best ways right now, unless you'd like to schedule an appointment?

Ha. An appointment. "Do you have an appointment?" I think I'm going to watch that movie tomorrow; that's if I have it!

Summer Time

Summer started on Monday, and I missed it! How did that happen? Finals are over, school is done; how did I miss the beginning of summer? I don't want to miss one bit of it anymore. Unfortunately, life isn't that easy.

I'd love to be young and care-free again, to watch t.v. 'til the break of dawn. I dream of driving off in the early morn for who-knows-what to come home in the evenings for an impromptu pool party. I want to spend a lazy day at home in my jammies, prepared for a marathon of movies and a series of shows to watch. I just want free time to do stuff. I don't care what that stuff is, as long as it has nothing to do with an eight hour obligation.

Oh, the taste of the real world, it is bittersweet. I don't enjoy the toil, but I do love the reward. This summer's plans aren't what I want, but it's God wants for me. This summer is for learning, for growing, for attempting to understand God's plan for my life. Let's see where this summer takes me; hopefully, I'll update more!

Everyday Grace

God gives grace like no other!

I most totally do not deserve the grades, but God has blessed and kept me by His grace--including all other aspects of my life for the past two months.

God has just showered me with His blessing with a job, supportive family and friends, and wisdom to name a few. This isn't a joke. I asked, and He gave. There was so much to learn and be grateful for. One thing that God continually reminds me to do, is to live out 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. It's by His grace that I will.

Let's get together for some stories. I'd love to share with you!

Hangin'

Remember my Surf City Half Marathon? The toes took a beating. Now my toenail is hangin' by a skin. Just thought you should know.

P.S. The other two are still too gruesome to look at, but I do it anyway. Scratch that. I don't look; I ogle over it. Haha! Ew.

Still Here

The summer is still here for me. I have two weeks left, but everyone--I mean Mitch--is back in school. Oh, what to do! I haven't knocked off much from my tiny list of things I wanted to accomplish. Let's make these last, two weeks count for something!

1. Day Trips or Mini Vacay
2. More DLand Time
3. LA County Fair
4. Beach Days
5. Important Errands

As always, there are so many other things I want to do before school starts! Once this quarter begins, I won't have time for much, if anything. However, God has mos def blessed me with a wonderful summer. A phrase that would have to sum it up would be relational growth--pictures portray it better.

The Baby

The Older Baby

The Shoppes

The Newport Beach

The Newport Beach, too

The Parents

There was so much fun to be had, that I honestly forgot to take pictures. What a lame excuse to not have taken any, but it is the honest truth!

Crazy Good

Oh what a day! Here's how it went down:

4:00A - Awoke in the quiet hours of the morning to watch the spectacular star show (meteor shower) God has so wonderfully blessed our eyes to see. Back to bed by 5:50A

9:00A - Wake up call for the cuzzo for bike rides and pool time.

12:00P - Errands on the bike, TGIFriday for lunch, pool time.

6:00P - Dinner, evening bike ride

And that's about it! Ceaseless praises to God for our bicycles and keeping us safe. As the week goes on, my plans are to work, work, work. God is teaching me to have a thankful heart for the job I still have. Thankful I shall be to You, O Lord!

Summer Days

Pool parties after having some bbqs, watermelons, shakes, and movies. Maybe we should throw in some Taylor Swift for more fun.

I still have a month and a half left of vacation before school starts. So let's share some of that fun time together! I miss your faces, yous know who yous are--so give a shout! By the way, this coming week, Wednesday is my only day off. Oh, can't forget about Sunday, then again I never work Sundays. The good Lord has mos def blessed me with that, for sure!

There are loads more to share about knowing and growing this summer. I am about to burst at the seams for keeping these bits of golden blessings to myself--well, they kinda are for myself.

Out for more sun and water. 'Til then my Friend.

P.S. God has blessed me some funds for fun! A new pair of sunglasses because the barely-year-old pair was washed away at the beach (with a thankful heart to Ate HoneyBee). A new bicycle, with beach status (that I may ride out with the good, ol' Cuzzo).

Summer Nights

Oh, these summer nights include much fam love and togetherness! I love it! What else do you need? Maybe some pictures, but I forget all the time. Don't judge me. Here are a few:

Hang Outs

Beach Bums

Monrovia Street Market

And those are the most decent pictures I have scrambled to find. A few more things to praise God for: There is that one summer night I came home and found my mom looking intensely at her phone. I asked her, "Ma, what are you doing?" She simply replied, "I'm texting." Another summer night as I came home, Philip, Nicole, and Mitch were swimming out in our hardly-used pool! Marco! Polo! One last summer night to share--recently, Mitch and I have been renting movies like mad men. Netflix? I wish, but it doesn't seem reasonable to me to have two accounts for one household. That's besides the point; the point is Hollywood Video is ridiculously out of budget; thank God for choices. United Video reminds me of Videos2DVD, but not quite at the same price. Nonetheless, three dvds tonight is the same price as one dvd any night at HV.

So Many

There are so many blessings to share! God has been so gracious--as He always is--to open my eyes to His glories in this life and the life to come. Some snippets...

Grama is praising God, in His Presence, with her husband and my Lola. I traded some--okay, a lot of--work time for encouragement time with my family. Mitch is a growing boy, and celebrated his 14th birthday. Jigger and Besties time. Harvey and Janet are married now. The Barrett's and their new addition to the fam. Mama Josie and fam time. Chloe, girls, and Mitch breakfast time.

More to come!

Day One

Today was the first day I've seen my Grandma in a week. She looks so different, but it's still her. I don't think I can ever get over the way she looks--or anyone else for that matter--like she's sleeping. My Grandma's skin a bit darker than what I remembered, but I noticed that a bit of that cakey make up is on her hair. It makes me want to take some baby wipes to clean it up. While my Grandma lies there, she's surrounded by a whole bunch of red floras in different shades, her fave. Even her red lipstick is in place the way that she puts it.

The two, tiny boys saw her the first time in about a year; the first thing that Nathaniel said, in hushed voice, was, "Oh! Grama's sleeping." Adam just took a peek with no words or sounds.

Seeing my Grandma today reminds me of my Grandpa and my Lola. I miss them from time to time, but that's normal. Praise God for the comfort that He gives through His Word and through His people.

Break and Brake

Brakes are good, and so are breaks. On Saturday, my auntie decided to make a quick change in plans. The overcast morning made it such an easy decision to change from the beach to Disneyland. It was a full day with two, tiny boys; the smallest didn't even enjoy Astro Blaster, but here are some pictures anyway. You can't really see the boys, but they're there.

Yeah, you saw right. Our cousin, Karina, isn't really playing because she was busy sending a text message.

No Words

What words can I use to describe the start of the summer? None. I cannot explain what my heart feels, how my mind thinks, or what my spirit leads. I am glad that my hope does not come from me, but from my God and His words. Praise the Lord.

Scratch That

You can scratch my plans of taking classes during the Summer because God has other plans. I told several of you, but if you didn't know, Summer session at Cal Poly and Mt. SAC have been scratched!

When I first heard the news from my accounting group member, I was devastated. You read it right, devastated. I was lost for words to express my feelings and thoughts because so much depended on this Summer for the Fall. It did not help me one bit that I struggled through this quarter with managerial accounting, statistics, and economics. I had Plan A, then if that did not work out, then Plan B would begin. So what's a girl to do?

How do I praise God through this situation? How do enjoy Him in this busyness? I thought about my financial situation--loans and such--and realized that God knows what my needs are. God knows how much effort I put into this quarter, and maybe He is giving me rest. God knows--I do not know how He does, He just does. PtL for His omniscience!

There are so many other ways to see God moving in this situation, but that is just a little that I would like to share. So if you want to know more, let's get together after Thursday--my last final at 9:10a. YAY!