God's Intent

This excerpt (which is not the same as "Footprints" that we so often see everywhere :) is from Beth Moore's "Breaking Free," and it really resonated with me, because so often we think of Christ joining us in our walk, but really, we're the ones that decide whether or not we want to walk beside him.  This created one of the best mental pictures for me, and I hope it'll do the same for you!

Imagine going to heaven and standing by God as He lovingly shows you His plan for your life. It begins with the day you are born. Once you received Christ as Savior, every day that follows is outlined in red. You see footprints walking through each day of your life. On many of the days, two sets of footprints appear. You inquire: "Father, are those my footprints every day, and is the second set of prints when You joined me?"

He answers, "No, My precious Child. The consistent footprints are Mine. The second set of footprints are when you joined Me."

"Where were You going, Father?"

"To the destiny I planned for you, hoping you'd follow."

"But, Father, where are my footprints all those times?"

"Sometimes you went back to look at the old resentments and habits. Sometimes, you chose your own path. Other times, your footprints appear on a another person's calendar because you liked their plan better. Sometimes, you simply stopped because you would not let go of something you could not take with you"

"But, Father, we ended up OK even if I didn't walk with You every day, didn't we."

He holds you close and smiles, "Yes, Child we ended up OK. But, you see, OK was never what I had in mind for you." 

When you're happy like a fool, let it take you over!

The beginning of our hunt for the perfect pumpkins...

Okay so i REALLY want to be better about posting on my blog.  I think of things so often that i want to randomly write about, but then i think too much about all of the other things i haven't blogged about, and then i end up not writing anything!  So i want to thank my cousin Tilly for encouraging me to write about anything and everything.  So here it goes...

When you're happy like a fool, let it take you over 

                                      -One Republic "Good Life"

This is by far my new favorite quote, and i feel like it describes these past few months for me so well. 

There are so many little moments of happiness that I never want to forget.  My good friend Renee's dad told me once that we should stop and think every day of at least 3 moments that were the highlight of our day.

So my favorite moments recently are..

• Laughing so hard with Heather that tears stream down our faces
• Discovering my new favorite sport: paddleboarding (or Stand Up Paddle if we want to get technical!)
• Spending the weekend in Tahoe jet skiing, mini-golfing, and laying out on the lake
• Acting on what i know the Lord is urging me to do, and reaping the benefits of whatever that may be, whether that be praying for someone or asking someone for forgiveness...all of those little things that really are the best moments ever because it's in those moments that God can do some incredible things...
• Sitting in the hot tub under the stars with my roommates, wine, and our favorite show that we're completely and utterly addicted to (even though we're still a little ashamed to admit sometimes), Desperate Housewives (and yes, Rob, this includes you too ;)
• Praying with friends when life gets hard

  

  She thinks she's sneaky but we all know the truth

  
  

  
  

• Celebrating the fall season with Heather while watching Elf and eating homemade pumpkin muffins (believe it or not, we really can bake!)
• Discovering my new favorite restaurant right on the bay that is only four minutes away from my house, Barefoot Bar & Restaurant
• Saying the dumbest things that make you laugh so hard your stomach hurts
• Deep conversations with some of my dearest friends 



What could be better than a pumpkin spice latte at a pumpkin patch?

• And acting like fools with Rachel (a.k.a. my twin) as we took 1000 photos at the pumpkin patch before carving our pumpkins!  

  

  It's a grandma pumpkin!
  

  

  My finished pumpkin all lit up!

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

Photo Shoot at the Harbor & Balboa Park!

My absolute favorite photo

We're feeling distressed from already forgetting our photography knowledge that we learned just days before in our photography class!

Balboa Museum

Collapsed tents and other camping excursions

The view from our awesome campsite

 This past weekend my friends and I went camping at San Elijo State Beach, and thankfully we didn't get rained out like the forecast predicted! We got the most perfect spot right on the ocean, which was ideal for half of the people there who got up at the crack of dawn to go surfing (yet another reason why i don't surf: option a) stay in the tent and sleep for 3 more hours in the early a.m.? or b) get up in the freezing cold and get into the ice cold water just to drown in the water? i think i'll take the first option)
 

Even though i absolutely love everything about camping (i.e. the smores, sleeping bags, talking for hours about nothing and everything by the fire, sleeping in tents, never really getting totally warm, eating camp breakfast food), my most favorite moment from this past weekend was when my good friend Rachel (who we swear we're twins separated at birth) and i got into our tent and started trying to find out the latest Hollywood gossip in my People magazines because Rachel claimed that Brad and Emily from the Bachelor show broke up this past week, according to "3 sources," which i believe are the Enquirer, Hollywoodgossip.com, and other tabloids that she apparently thinks are true facts ;-), and were laughing so hard for so long about who knows what. Those are definitely my favorite moments, when you can't even put your finger on what was so great about it, but you know that it was just pure awesome.

So right after we were done looking at our magazines, the rest of our friends came into go to bed, and as we were all trying to fall asleep, i started feeling the tent walls encompass me, and sure enough, the whole tent was collapsing on us.  The tent became totally lopsided because our friend (who didn't want to admit that she was the real culprit :) was basically lying on the poles that were supposed to make it stay upright. So there we all were, in the dark, in our sleeping bags, with the tent roof that had fallen right on top of us, awesome ;-)

Alisha & Rachel

Are we playing pac man?

A very proud hamburger maker!

So purty :)

Kristi, Alisha & me

She's too adorable!

Twins!!

My Latest Shinanigans!

So I'm sure that many of you have just been on the edge of your seats, dying for me to update my blog and find out all about what's going in my life.  So please forgive me for making you wait so incredibly long and making you suffer ;-) 

So here's what I've been up to these past few months...

Our 6th Annual Camping Trip at San Clemente State Park

Trying to make shadow pictures...

A visit to Haiti to see all of my kidies!

A day that just wasn't long enough with my wonderful friend Valerie

We all had to say goodbye to Pami as she moved to the Philippines as a missionary

Beautiful Torrey Pines Beach

On an "intense" hike at Torrey Pines

Kai was so excited for our walk at Torrey Pines

Dana visited me from Florida a few weeks ago, and did everything from karaoke, walks along the beach, breakfast and coffee along the ocean, to shopping and dancing!  It was the absolute perfect weekend with her!

Dana and I in at Hotel del Coronado drinking mimosa's & mojito's as we watched the gorgeous sunset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remembering January 12, 2010

I can hardly believe it's already been a year since the earthquake hit us in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on January 12, 2010.  It all seems so surreal, even now.  I still feel like I can't fully wrap my mind around all that I saw and experienced last year.  I can't imagine what the people are experiencing who lost a loved one during the tragedy.  My heart is breaking for them, and all i know to do is pray for them (which is really the best thing anyone can do).  I hope that all of you who read this and remember last year, will pray for everyone who is hurting over what happened last year. 

Enjoying each moment

     I have realized recently that i have been putting my life on hold for the past few months.  And that is no way to live.  I don't think that life is meant to be waited on.  There will always be unknowns in my life, but i don't want to put off what i could be doing right now.  Life will pass me by without me even realizing it, and i don't want to miss out on it. 
     So with that said, i have decided to really enjoy each moment more as it comes. One of those moments was the other night, when my good friend and i were sitting next to a large window in a little coffee shop called Lestats, and were reading our books while we watched the rain pour down on the street outside.  It was perfect.  And i never wanted it to end.
     Or laughing so hard with my entire family trying not to let tears run down our faces as we opened some of the most obnoxious gifts of wrestling suits, books on "This is Why You're Fat," handerpants (yes, it's true, whitey tighties for the hands), and an oversized white camel for the centerpiece.
     Or watching a woman get out of her car in the pouring down rain in San Diego, and walk up the hill to a homeless man sitting under the overpass to see how she could help him out. 
      Or sitting for hours with a good friend. 
      It's moments like those that are priceless, and i'm not going to let them pass me by any longer.  I would encourage you to do the same.