"The Four Seasons"

So seeing that it's still summer here in San Diego in the middle of November, while everyone else is all bundled up getting ready for the winter season that is fast approaching, we San Diegan's have to be creative and make up our "own version" of the four seasons. So, to do this, my friends and I decided to be the four seasons for Halloween. I embraced the one and only San Diego season (summer of course), while the others clung on to the seasons we forget exist. Above from left to right is Bekah (spring)- Merrilee (winter) - Heather (fall). That, my friends, is how desparate we are for a change in the weather... (but, while everyone else is freezing across the U.S., we're still in our little summer dresses going to the beach, so i can't complain too much ;-) Cheers!

Below: My lovely small group girls!

Below: My roommate Heather and I

Autumn in Colorado

There's nothing that I love more than waking up early to a hot cup of coffee and going on a hike in the gorgeous fall season with the vibrant leaf colors all around. It's the best form of therapy out there in my opinion. I couldn't have asked for a more relaxing weekend flying from San Diego and meeting up with my mom to go visit our relatives in the southwest corner of Colorado (Dove Creek to be specific, population 50 ;-) From hiking every day in the mountains to visiting the local truck stops to getting eggs from the chicken coop to eat for our breakfast, it was everything that I had hoped for in my time away from the busy life of San Diego. It was like entering an entirely different world. Now I am back in San Diego, clinging on to any fall leaf that I see fall on the ground and claiming that it's the fall season...while it's 80 degrees outside :)

Happy Birthday- To Me!

La Jolla with Valerie, celebrating my birthday a little early. Valerie Paige helped me set up this new blog to show off my photography portfolio. Professional looking pictures to come asap!

He is the Vine, I am the Branches

Since the beginning of November, I've been working in a group home with abused and neglected children ages 6-12. It is the job that i have dreamed of working at since I was a kid. I've always thought 'If I live in the states, I want do that job, but if i live in Haiti, I want to work with the orphans.' God provided such a great opportunity for me while living here in gorgeous San Diego. However, by all means my job is far from being easy. These 6 kids that I am a "mother figure" to are sexually abused, physically abused, and not cared for properly. Only a couple of them are even wanted back by their real parents. The rest are left to live in group homes and foster homes until age 18. They try to push every limit and test every staff to see how much they can get away with. They punch holes in walls, break windows, scream bloody murder, say "make me" when we tell them to do something, and call us and their peers every name in the book. It's no surprise that they're so messed up though. They have reason to be. So it is with God's strength alone (in all honesty!) that I am still working with them and showing them Christ through my actions. It's hard not having any other people who love the Lord on my side (it's hard going it alone), but I know that God is making me stronger and giving me wisdom in dealing with these children. I pray that I will be able to give them a glimpse of God and of hope so that they will be able to conquer their pasts and make a difference in the world (for the good :) He is the Vine and I am the Branches. I couldn't be doing what I am doing if He were not leading me every step of the way.

San Diego- My Home!!

From karaoke to line dancing to running 10k's along the beach to go-carting to Sea World to laying out at the beach to Matisyahu and 311 concerts, I've done it all here in San Diego. And I LOVE it. It's one of the most perfectest places I've ever been to. It has the warm weather (because cold weather makes me grumpy), an amazing church (The San Diego Church) that I absolutely love and feel more at home there than ever before because it's small and the people are so welcoming and include everyone. I'm currently living with my cousins Tilly and Nate (who are so much fun!) until I actually find a job that I love and that will pay the bills. After trying out previous jobs here for awhile, I've decided to pursue doing random jobs (have you ever seen "Monster-in-Law?") to make some money while continuing to pursue finding a job working with abused and neglected children or with the homeless. I have faith that God will show me exactly what He wants...He's already shown me so much while I've been down here about what direction He wants to lead me in. I'm excited to see what He has in store. The people here are amazing...I have gained so much wisdom through being with my cousins and my good friend Heather (the picture at the top), who all love the Lord so much and love to seize the day just as much as I do :) I feel so blessed. So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it ;)

Dublin!!

From St. Patricks Cathedral to bonding with the locals in the Irish Pub and trying a Guinness and White Russian to wandering all over Dublin in the rain to sleeping in a hostel, we did it all. Dublin was amazing and I hope to go back to Ireland sooner rather than later. It was nothing but fabulous, and now we're back in London and just finished celebrating Valerie's 23rd birthday today! And tomorrow I fly back home to San Diego, which I'm excited for. I miss America and I miss spending only $2 on an iced americano instead of $4 on the same one here in London. Europe was amazing with my bff and this was the perfect time for me to go visit her but it's time to go home and buckle down now and get a solid income :)

To look at my pictures of Scotland and Ireland, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/danaverburg

Living a Nightmare...

Have you ever watched those movies that just get worse and worse and the problems just never seem to end? I got the privilege of living one of those movies. Lucky me.
I bought a flight to Scotland from London (I've been living with my bff Valerie and her sister Jade and her sister's friend Rebecca for the last two weeks in their flat and going around with them to Bath and Notting Hill and all over London) and was just going to meet the girls in Glasgow, Scotland because they already had their rail passes and we were going to fly out the following night to Dublin from Scotland. So I decided that, instead of going to sleep, I'd just leave at 2:30am and have plenty of time to make it to the airport at 6:40am. Little did I know that what should have taken about an hour and a half took 4 hours and I still missed my flight. So like I said, I left at 2:30am and walked to the bus station that this supposedly "correct" website told me to go to, only to find out from the bus driver that i was supposed to be at another one across the street. He told me he'd just "loop around" and drop me off at the other one, but instead he took me on his whole route through London! He told me he was just dropping me off at the other coach bus station that would take me directly to the airport. He dropped me off at the coach bus stop and told me the bus would be coming any minute. I looked at the sign and there was not even any mention of any airport drop-off and not any mention of any of those buses even running at that wretched hour of the night (it was 4am by now). So there I was, unsure of what to do next after waiting for at least 45 minutes for the bus. After asking a few clueless bus drivers, I finally decided to leave and go find someone who actually knew some right information. I happened to see a police car in the park, so I went up to them and asked them if the coach buses even ran at this hour of the night. The buses didn't, of course. Just my luck. They told me what bus to catch and what train to catch to get to the airport, but I had no clue where this bus stop was, so even though they said they could get in a lot of trouble, they had me hop in and turned on their lights and drove me to the stop and made sure it was the right bus for me to get on. Riding in the London police car was definitely the biggest perk in that 24-hour period... After getting on the right bus (finally), we were once again stopped multiple times because a drunk guy kept pushing the "stop" button and yelling who knows what and kept prying the bus doors open. Finally someone had to physically hurt him to get him off the bus. I couldn't help but almost laugh at how much bad luck I could have in one night. I was pretty confident that I was already going to be too late to get on my flight. Then I missed my bus stop because the signs weren't readable and the bus driver wasn't clear about when i was supposed to get off, so I had to get on another bus and travel 15 minutes back and catch the train to the airport. It was 5:55am by this time...the exact time that i had to be checking in for my flight before it was too late. I decided to just take the train anyway...I had hope that maybe my flight was delayed (which it wasn't of course). I got to the airport at 6:40am, the exact time that my flight was taking off. So there I was, not sure whether to laugh or cry. I booked the next flight out, which cost another $100 because I missed my flight (policy), which was more than my actual flight had cost! Then I headed straight to security and got searched and had to go back out of security and come back in again only to be searched again. Unbelievable. Then I got to my gate and was one of the last people to board! I almost missed that flight as well!! Finally I got to Glasgow, Scotland and it was rainy and dreary and not the greatest city to be alone and cold and tired in. But I made the most of it and went on a double decker bus through the city. I had to take a train from the airport to the actual city (I had to meet the girls there) and I passed a lot of cute Scottish towns but wasn't able to go to them. Next time. Then because of the rail system and a whole 'nother ordeal, Val barely made it on our flight that night out from Scotland to Dublin, Ireland. She made it with about 5 minutes to spare but had to take a $170 taxi ride to make it to our flight on time.
When we finally made it to Dublin, we had to sleep in the Dublin airport because there was absolutely NO accomodation anywhere in Dublin because it was the biggest weekend ever for the Irish because there was a soccer event going on. So we slept in the airport cafeteria and had the pleasure of waking up to people eating all around us. What more could we want?