God's Blessing

On Friday night I was in a car accident on my way home from Albuquerque. Me and 3 of my guy friends went to a christian concert (great by the way) and on the way home we flipped the car... I woke up when we hit the rumble strip and saw us fishtail on the little bit of gravel on the side of the interstate, lose control and hit the guard rail and then flip the car. We skidded on the roof for about 40-50 feet before the SUV finally stopped moving. A few other scary things happened but all of us made it out of the 4runner. We rolled on my side of the vehicle and the driver and I were the only ones to recieve any injuries at all and mine were simply a few cuts on my hands and swollen fingers. The driver cut up his head and was taken to the hospital to get cleaned up. According to all of the evidence though, we should all be dead. God had a hand on us and there is no other way to explain what happened. All of us are christians which helps when the little "what if questions" pop into my head (they are inevitable)

It was a wake up call. I am not angry at God, I am thankful in a way. I have been trying so hard to control my life when really He is in control. It gave me a whole new appreciation for living for the day and helps me realize that my life is fragile, yet very important. I am going to tell people I love them more often, hug more often, be real, work hard, and do my best to tell my story. God saved me for a reason. I can't wait to find out the wonderful things He will do through this experience.

The only injury I have. Not pretty but yet amazing!

The bend at the far end of the guard rail is where we hit and the mark on the road (to the right) is where the SUV finally stopped

The guard rail

This picture has actually been rotated so you can tell how far the roof came down. The real picture is upside down.

The SUV ..not the best quality but it's the best a cell phone can do.

Changes

Graduation..I know this is old but I just found this picture and was so excited to see all of us together... that was such a crazy day =)
This is my new "home" if you want to call it that. The dorms feel kind of like a hotel. My room is this door on the end.
This was girls night out. =) Most of these girls are my new neighbors and are the sweetest girls ever!
Uhm my not so graceful face after Sam shoved a nasty pepper/chile thing down my throat. Not so yummy needless to say.
Not sure what was really happening here. All I know is that somehow Claudia ended up in our arms in front of Si Senors.



So school has been going pretty good. I have discovered that for the most part college is just like High School except you have to pay. I was doing pretty good with the whole missing the family thing until last weekend. I finally broke down. I ended up staying the weekend at Dave and Natalie's place just to get away from the crazy loneliness of the dorms.

Classes are pretty boring for the most part. I have fallen asleep numerous times in my Computer Science class and am wondering how I'm going to survive taking it until Christmas =)

The weather here is HOT! It's still in the 90's almost everyday. I can't wait to see a big fluffy cloud and 60 degree weather =) Jeans and hoodies are very welcome in my book.

I am going on a fall retreat with my college church down here and am really excited. It's in a place called Glorieta and supposedly it's going to be beautiful and the speaker is supposed to be great... I really need a weekend with God so I'm looking forward to it.

Other than that I am still trying to figure out what God has for me, and it's a struggle but I'll get it. I miss home but I'm used to missing things and people so I still have a smile on my face most of the time. Christmas will come soon and then I'll have my fill of snow, and a heart full of happiness since I get to see my friends and family.

So until then... I love you all and hope you are doing wonderfully.

July-August

When Dave and Nat come home they tend to bring a game called "how to host a murder" it's played over dinner and everybody plays a character. They are given clues about who murdered somebody and have to figure out through this process who that actual murderer is. We played with Mom, Dad, Dave, Nat, Mike Chris, Keith and I. Mom was a woman who's 13 sons had been killed by the Sheriff, played by my father. Christy was the town...dance hall girl shall I say? Mike was an indian chief. Nat was a 3 time widower. Dave was the new handsome sherriff. Keith was the new mysterious man in town, and I was a female outlaw who killed men for fun... hmm weird I know, but it was so fun. My sister ended up being the murderer =)
Keith by the New Mexico sign. We went to a water park in Texas and took this on the way home... we missed the sign coming in on our actual first entrance to the state.
This is one of the beautiful buildings in Santa Fe. We kind of took a little detour to old downtown to see the old buildings and it was really beautiful.
My nephew Mitchell went to a birthday party and the theme was pirates. He wanted to take a picture since he figured out that my computer had a webcam on it. =) I sent it to grandma nana (my mom)
This is miss brooke. She is the cutest thing but is very tempermental about who holds her. She's also the biggest eater I have ever seen. She eats as much as some girls my age. She seriously ate 2 pieces of pizza by herself one night. Then she ate pork chops and an entire ear of corn. =)



This past month or so has been one of the hardest times ever. I guess I've been trying to figure life out which is not something I can really control. It's hard to let God do it though and I'm still struggling for now. I am not home anymore and I know that eventually New Mexico will feel like home, but I'm not feeling it right now. I miss all the people who have been with me all my life and as much as I am excited for what is to come, it's so hard to say goodbye and not be able to just phone them up and ask them to meet me somwhere. I'm going to make it and will all be fine, but just pray for encouragement if you would.

Blessings

I just had an overwhelming feeling of complete happiness. I am so blessed and it just hit me. Sometimes that happens and I can't wipe the smile off my face but right now I am crying. I am constantly surrounded by so many people who love me unconditionally and what more could I ask for? It is scary to think I'm leaving this place and my closest friends, but I will make it and they will always be here for me.
A few minutes ago I was sitting on the floor with my niece (spelling?) Brooke and she just looked so... perfect? So untainted and happy to just sit there with her toy and me and it just hit me that I am so wonderfully blessed by God. No life is not perfect but things are going to be okay.. better than that actually. They are going to be wonderful. Thank you God for this life you have given me and the world you have surrounded me with.

Working

My darling kallen =)

Becca and I laying in the hallway.. we were bored seniors.. so =)
Getting ready for prom.. notice the lovely curlers under the hat?? =)
Sammy, Becca and I and the famous garter picture at prom... I think I missed the blue memo
Post prom =) pirates and hawaii was the theme
Becca and i after post prom.. we were so tired, we crashed on Tim and Beth's trampoline

Just thought I'd put some pictures on here and update you on the fact that all I've been doing is working and cleaning the house. I'm also packing up my bedroom and preparing to leave in a month. It's so crazy how fast this summer is going!

Washington

I miss Mike.. so much. Did I mention that already babe? Hmm.. I'm sitting in a beautiful hotel in Seattle about 2 blocks from the space needle and the city is amazing at night. I'm heading home tomorrow and I wish more than anything that I wasn't. This weekend has been so wonderful that words cannot describe. I'm so thankful I was allowed to come. With everything going on, life has seemed so crazy.. it was nice to come and relax and just spend time with Mike and a little with Kent =). You two both put huge smiles on my face.. and yes, tears. Thank you for everything.. I love you.

Last Day of School

Today is my last official day of school and I have been crying... a lot. Sobbing in fact. =) the girls are so hard to say goodbye to. Tomorrow we're all grilling out at Cody's but it's still hard to face that this is the last day we're all going to be together, and the last time we'll be in this building as a class. I am excited for everything that's coming, but these people are my family... I wish this didn't hurt so much.

Today

Today is a great day. I'm wearing sweatpants, I'm comfy and I get to skip half a day of school. =) Prom is tomorrow and since I'm a student council person I get to decorate the memorial hall for post prom. That means no Computer Aps. and no Chemistry. Wahooo! My cough is still unnamed and has the doctors stumped so that's still hanging on. Uhhh okay I have to leave now. I thought i had about five minutes to write but I was mistaken. So I will update in a few days. Puff and I have plans to put pictures on here as soon as prom is done. Sunday maybe? Anywho Okay.. cao

Bah

I'm coughing up a lung and copying a million papers for my T.A. assignment.. school is fabulous. I need a hobby.

Pictures

Cody, Kacie, Brandi, Jeff and I hanging out on the stage.
Becca and I in chemistry.. the teacher was gone that day =) of course we behaved for the sub.
Dancing off some backstage stress.
Cody and I in the play.. I had to check him out.. not so discreetly.
Cody and I for some annual staff thingy ma bob

Procrastinating again..

I need to be finishing up a chem. lab notebook right now. Obviously I'm not. I'm so good at this procrastination thing =) It's wonderful. My senioritis has completely set in as I am only a month away from putting on the huge gown and crazy cap and walking down the aisle to the nutty song we all love and cherish. Graduation is coming so quickly though. I finally set up a "to do list". It has about 20 items on it... I wonder how long I'll wait to do all of them... =) The next few weeks are going to be relatively stress free. I think. I qualified for state 5 times so that will take up my last weekend in April but up to then I am a free girl. Finally!
Oh, in some entertaining news, I have to wear a bright "golden" shirt at work now instead of my nice red one. George thought we needed a change. I blind people now. If you tell him the shirt is yellow, he gets angry. So.. we have beautiful golden shirts. Oye.
Did I mention I have chemistry? bah. I don't really care all that much about the solubility of potassium nitrate in water and the dependancey of the solubility on the temperature of the solution. It's not going to help me that much when I am teaching english in a foreign country is it? Maybe, but I'd like to think that I'm right in saying it's useless to me to know about it.
Okay this is enough rambling. I am going to try to post some pictures on here again later today. We'll see if it actually works this time. Take care everybody. Smile and have a superb dia.

Procrastinating again..

Hi all

I know it's been 3 months since I have updated this... it's also been about three months since I have had time to breathe. Life is INSANELY BUSY!!! (multiply those 3 exclamation marks by about 100 and you get the amount of emphasis I put on that phrase) It seems like the moment I got home from Haiti things started going and they haven't slowed down yet. I'm looking forward to April, March is already booked except for about 4 days. Oofta.

School is going...fast?Sometimes it doesn't seem fast enough, and other times it seems too fast. I graduate in 2.5 months.. 48 days of school left to be exact. My mom decided to work on a scrapbook for me since I would be leaving in the fall. She came to my room after working on it for a few hours and told me she couldn't do it, it was too depressing. :(

Speech is what is keeping me on my toes so often. Almost every Saturday for the last two months, I have been going to meets and giving around 9 speeches every day.. one day I gave 12. I qualified for state in Minot for Radio which was exciting.

Work is going decent. I'm getting more hours in since one of the girls quit. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Good for money to help me out next year when I'm a starving college student, and bad for the fact that I'm exhausted all the time. All the craziness will end eventually, right?

As for college, I got a scholarship to University of Minnesota Morris. It made me happy, yet sad. I wish it was a little closer to Washington, and I wish it was cheaper. The only other college I'm looking at at this point is New Mexico State College.

The senior play takes up 4 mornings every week, and 2 week nights every week. I've got one of the leading roles; I play both a bimbo blonde, and a kind of.... hmm what would be the word... a seductive hick? Sounds worse than it is, promise. The play is at the end of the month. After that I am free to sleep for an extra hour =)

Singing contest is sometime this month. The song I'm singing is rather... annoying? =) but difficult. It makes me think of a woman in the 1800's dancing around in a big pink ruffly dress. Someday, ask me to sing it and you will completely understand.

In English we're reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. If you have ever read it you know how angry you can get at characters who are completely fictional. It's a book about slavery and I swear, through half of the book I would like wring this one chicks neck. However, I will make it through the book without violently beating the pages... I promise.

To add to the complete randomness of this post.. I love Frank Sinatra. Becca Jean gave me his CD last night, and I absolutely love his music. It's something I could listen to while soaking in a tub for hours.. very relaxing.

Hmm I'm supposed to be doing Chemistry right now.. but I really don't want to. We have a huge project due on Monday... guess what, I haven't started yet. Hmmm why does this not surprise me?

Alrighty, I'm done chattering away. I think I'll put some pictures on here. =) Enjoy