calm my anxious heart

1 hall camping trip to organize

3 books to read before Saturday

3 papers to write before Friday

3 presentations to finish before the end of the semester

4 projects to finish before the end of the semester

5 days until spring break

6 papers to write before the end of the semester

14 days until Easter

30 days until I turn 21

37 days until I am DONE with this semester

44 days until I am off contract as an RA

52 days until I leave for Brazil!

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat of what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or "What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient of the day is its own trouble." Matthe 6:25-34

Sometimes the Lord calms the storm...other times He calms His child.  

Engstrom Bowling Night

On Monday night, we had an all-Engstrom bowling event!  The theme was "Neon" so we all dressed in bright colors.  I rocked my crazy tights, my Engstrom shades and my "Choose Joy" foam finger.
That's right.

It was a fun night of laughter, healthy competition and hanging with some rad people.

p.s. post to come soon about my best night so far as an RA.  To sum it up in one sentence, my residents are incredible and my God is sovereign.

Kid time

If you know me, you know I adore kids.  I'm pretty sure I would rather spend my time will silly little ones than with adults most of the time  :)  One of my favorite things about being in Rezlife is getting to know the RDs and their families.  Kelly is an RD here and he and his wife have three beautiful/handsome children.  I get the blessing of hanging with them occasionally and I love it!  On Sunday, we got to spend some time together while their parents were out.  So. Much. Fun.

Kyler and I worked on a puzzle for a little while.

Brayden loves the Bible.  Like really loves it.  

So...Brayden and I built the Temple in Jerusalem out of blocks  :)

Right now, they are fostering five kittens until they are old enough to be weened and given away.  They are so funny to watch...they are just now starting to play with each other!  Haha.

We had breakfast for dinner (my personal favorite): breakfast potatoes, eggs and turkey bacon.

This is sweet Naiya.  She was lovin her applesauce and sweet potatoes.

This is the second time building the Temple. (I'm telling you...he really loves the Bible.)

"But Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me.  Don't stop them! For the kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.'" Matthew 19:14

A little reminder of Walkabout

I suppose it's about time for another post  :)  This weekend was filled with time with my girls.  On Saturday a bunch of us went into LA on the metro/train system.  It was a blast navigating everything on our own and finding our way around.  We went to Pershing Square, the Bradbury building, the market downtown and then stopped for some down time in Pasadena before heading back to Azusa.

Yesterday was a day off from school and a few of us girls wanted to go do something active instead of sitting around all day doing nothing.  We decided to hike to The Bridge to Nowhere!  I had heard about it from a couple people and it sounded neat.  It was incredible because it's only about thirty minutes North of Azusa but it feels like you are out in the backcountry!  It's a ten-mile hike roundtrip and well worth it!  It wasn't an incredibly hard hike, just long.  The whole hike runs along a river in the middle of a canyon.  It's simply stunning.  I kept saying, "I feel like I'm in the middle of a video game" because we got to jump on rocks to cross the river, rock climb and scale down the sides of cliffs in order to reach our final destination. SO. MUCH. FUN!  Here are some pictures of our hike  :)

Victoria, Jessica and me before we started the hike.

All of us girls at a pretty little waterfall along the way.

Amazing beauty!

Looking down from The Bridge to Nowhere

We reached our final destination!  It was a little chilly at the top.  

We ate lunch here and then headed back down

All done!  After ten miles of hiking and 5 hours total, 

our feet were very ready for a break :)

These ladies bring me so much joy.  It was a blast getting to spend the day with them in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone reception.  We laughed a lot, had good conversation and enjoyed each other's company.  It's days like this when the Lord reminds me over and over that His mercies are great and He knows our every need.  He knew that I needed yesterday.  Love you girls lots.

it's been a while...

Well, I'm back.

I took a short [read: long] hiatus from blogging toward the end of last semester because it was just too much to juggle.  Between school, my girls and the anticipation of break, I simply didn't have time.  Praise the Lord, the semester ended well and my Christmas break at home was wonderful.  It was such an incredible blessing to be with my family an see my friends from home.  They bring joy to my life and they calm my spirit.

Needless to say, I am now back at school and writing this from my dorm sweet dorm  :)  The A/C unit in the hallway is humming, the smell of burnt toast is wafting down the hall and into my room and the sunlight is beaming through my window announcing the start of a new day, new year, new semester.

The Lord has given me great anticipation of what is to come in these next few months.  I am so excited to see Him show up.  To see Him reach down and intervene supernaturally in the natural course of life.  I'm so excited to tell of His mighty deeds and sing of His works--to give Him the praise that He alone is due.  God is faithfully teaching me so much.  As I look forward to this semester, I am reminded to not overlook the power of the present.  The Lord is HERE.  Now.

So, for now, I am going to be faithful with little.  As I go about my day to day tasks, my moment to moment thoughts, I am going to seek to glorify my Creator.  Lord, help me to bring You glory.

"If you want to stay close to Me and do things My way, ask Me to show you the path forward moment by moment.  Instead of dashing headlong toward your goal, let Me set the pace.  Slow down, and enjoy the journey in my Presence."  ~Jesus Calling

Just that kind of day

Yesterday was a pretty lazy day.  Abbie studied lots, I had a couple classes in the morning, a Mexico Outreach leader interview and a one-on-one with one of my lovely residents in the afternoon.  When I came home, this is what I saw...

Abbs was so tuckered out, crashed on the couch  :)

Yesterday afternoon, the cloud cover moved in and settled against the hills.  

I could smell the rain coming.

My heart leaped with joy when I woke up to see wet sidewalks, 

flooded parking lots and lawns turned into marshes.  It was like a little piece of home that I so desperately needed.  

When it rains in California, it pours. APU quickly begins to resemble a ghost town.  I kinda like the quiet.  It gives me time to think and pray and listen to the sound of the rain.

And what would a rainy California day be without boots?!  

These lovelies are getting worn for the first time this school year.  

Today I am thanking the Lord for little things in life: a zonked-out roomie who brought a smile to my face, a solid sleep last night, beautiful brown cowgirl-esque boots, the sound of cars driving through the flooded streets of Azusa and the smell of rain that will always remind me of home.  It's in these little things that I see my big God.  And my God is very, very, good.

fruit.

I'm thoroughly impressed with the caf's selection of fruit this week: nectarines, bananas, kiwis, TWO different kinds of apples AND oranges?!

What is this world coming to?

Happy Tuesday  :)

Good Times.

Well...this is my 100th blog post!!!  Pretty darn cool if you ask me  :)

This last week has just been one huge blessing altogether.  I've spent some quality time with my staff, and that has been amazing.  They are all wonderful and full of energy and such servants at heart.  We work well together, which is something that I have been praying for since I found out I was going to be an RA.  God is so faithful to answer prayers.  

This week has also been insanely busy!  We were preparing for move-in weekend and that involved lots of planning, decorating and sacrificing sleep.  Needless to say, it was all worth it and I would do it 100 times over.  Our residents started to arrive on Friday!  It was so much fun to finally put faces to names that I have been praying over for weeks now.  Friday and Saturday were both longggggg days.  We rotated between being in the lobby selling t-shirts, birthday cakes and sunglasses and being on our halls meeting residents and parents.  Saturday was our first football game and that was a blast!  We lost, but it was a good game and it was fun to be with 6,000+ people cheering on our guys.

Yesterday was much more of a "chill" day and last night was Good Times, an event put on by the Alpha Leaders on campus.  It's out on Adams field and it's just a bunch of hilarious skits back to back.  It's a great way to start off the year and a needed distraction for many freshmen as they said goodbye to their families yesterday.  After Good Times, I had a bunch of girls over to my room for a girlie movie: "A Cinderella Story."  I was blessed with lots of sweet girls in my room.  I cannot wait to get to know each and every one of them better.  

On Friday, our mascot, Freddy Cougar was walking the halls...so Abbs and I took a picture with him  :)

A glorious sunset before Good Times.  This was followed by a midwest style thunder and lightning storm.

Some of my residents! 

...more residents!

Eryn and me--Eryn is the other 4th floor RA.

One of my residents, Caitlin.  She's such a sweetheart.

Courtney and Katie (roomies on our hall).

Hangin out before Good Times!

This picture is blurry, but I really love it!

SOOOO many people came out for Good Times this year!

More lovely ladies  :)

Abbs and me.  I adore her.

You can see the sheets of rain if you look closely!  It was amazing.

After Good Times a handful of girls crashed my place for a movie--my favorite moment of being an RA so far  :)

Needless to say, I LOVE my residents.  They are simply the best.  I'm sure there will be lots more pictures to come.  

This week I would love it if you could be praying for a few things:

1. Lots of opportunities to connect with my residents.

2. My health.  I'm pretty under the weather right now.

3. Our all hall meeting tonight--that we would communicate effectively.

4. The hearts of my residents--that they would be full of joy and open to what God might be teaching them.

5. Rest for me.  In the midst of all this craziness, I really need to find time for me and usually that's the first thing to get tossed out the window  ;)

6.  For God to be glorified in me.  Really, at the end of the day, that's all I want.

"My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast!  I will sing and make melody!  Awake, my glory!  Awake, O harp and lyre!  I will awake the dawn!  I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.  For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!  

Let your glory be over all the earth!"

~Psalm 57:7-11

prep, packs and bears??? WHAT?!

I realized that I haven't posted a picture of my staff here in Engstrom.  They are absolutely WONDERFUL.  I'm so looking forward to working with each and every one of them.  This picture is missing one staff member who gets here today (Paul Cook), so I'll post an updated staff pic once we're all here  :)

L to R: Katie, Paul Jackson, Margaret, me, Natalie, Carissa, Eryn, Anneke

 So yesterday was a big day of Walk-about prep!  We met our teams, got a little briefing on different skills we are going to need in the wilderness and just got to know some new people!

I like how this picture is blurred.  It kinda captures my brain about now  ;)

This is us getting fitted for our packs.  They are HUGE.

This is one of the RDs teaching us all about how to come up with 

creative ways to cook our food.  This table is food for 14 people for 

8 days in the wilderness...crazy, huh?

These?  These are bear cans.  Yes people...BEAR CANS.  These house our food so that we don't get attacked.  Hmmmm.

We had a rotation where we learned about orienteering!  It was so cool to learn how to use a map and compass and find exactly where we are on the map and how to get to anywhere else on the map.

These are some of my Walk-about team members.

 L to R: Christina, Christopher, Sean

And this?  This is what happens in RezLife.  Someone took my camera and took pictures of random people.  I don't know this guy, but I'm sure I'll meet him at some point.  Hahaha.

I hope you have a blessed Sunday--the Lord's day!  

I'm off to chapel with the other RezLife staff and then we are packing our packs today!

Remember that this is the day the Lord has made--rejoice and be glad in it  :)

Everything from A to Z in the USA (aka azusa)

Man, God has blessed me so much these last few days.  I have been so busy, but I'm so thankful for that.  Busyness helps make this transition easier for me.  Right now, I'm working on unpacking (only a little more left), trying to rest when I can, packing for Walk-about (we leave Monday at 4am), and spending time getting to know my staff.  I will post pictures tomorrow of Walk-about preparations, my staff and anything else that I decide is blog-worthy  :)  For now, I'll recap the last few days:

Once we got to Azusa, Dad and I had lots to accomplish; it's amazing how good attitudes can influence productivity :)  Dad was such a help and we really enjoyed our last few days together--just us.  Here is a little glimpse into what Thursday and Friday looked like!

This is how each of my mornings started.  I love starting out this way.  

The Lord is faithful to fill me up each and every day.

 Gotta love California toesies  :)

Ready to go!  Lots of Target, Wal-mart and storage unit runs!

Only in Southern California!  This was at the airport (when we went to pick up the rental car).  Apparently there are enough electric cars here that it's necessary 

to have charging stations in the parking lot!

Daddy and I ate at The Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch one day.  Gotta love a gluten-free menu!

I absolutely LOVE the flags inside!  The colors make me happy :)

The fabric bracelet is my latest crafty project!  I got bored one day and started messing around with some fabric and ended up with an adorable hand-sewn bracelet.  I adore it  :)

Also, notice the speedometer is steady at "0."  Welcome to L.A.

This is my "I'm so happy to be cleaning this place before I move in" face.  Haha.