silly weather

Sooooo, I went to bed SUPER late last night (I'm still in Indiana, by the way). Late, like 500am. Yikes! I was watching The Office episodes and had the television on...it took me a while before turning it off because being alone in a silent hotel room is kind of scary. Anywho, I woke up around 1000am and heard crazy pounding against the window. I opened the curtains and couldn't see further than several feet out because the rain was CRAZY. I was still a little disoriented because I had just woken up, but my heart was pounding from anxiousness. I turned on the news to see what exactly was going on. Tornado warning.

I looked through the peephole in my door, wondering if anyone else knew what was going on. I started to calm down when I didn't see people frantically running down the hallway.

Hm, maybe this isn't as bad as my mind is making it out to be.

I kept an eye on the news until the rain died down and the tornado warning turned into a thunderstorm warning. Thunderstorms I can handle (mostly).

What I saw out my window, though not nearly as crazy as when I first woke up


I go home tomorrow to the wonderful city that is Chino, California. Back to work, back to real life, back to a place where the trees will NEVER look as gorgeous as they do during fall in the Midwest. Here are some pictures of my short, but sweet vaca.

One of the things I love about Indiana


Enjoying Incredible Yogurt...well, I enjoyed it. Allie's strawberry shortcake looked like throw-up after she stirred it all up and I guess it was hard to eat after I verbalized that observation.


In the DC - our cafeteria at school


Seeing Darcy(!) for the first time in almost two years...SO good to catch up.

partaaay!

I'm in Indiana!



I haven't been getting much sleep, but it has been wonderful catching up with friends :)

mmmbop

I'm in Starbucks on a rainy day. There is an extremely happy little boy laughing and screaming excitedly with his mom. He's a little on the loud side, but I don't mind because he's just so happy. There is a man in his late thirties playing an intense computer game, with the big headphones and all. I wonder how long he's been here and how much longer he'll stay, though I guess it's none of my business. A father and his two children came in to get some drinks. He had a protective hand on his daughter's shoulder as they walked out and it made my heart happy. I love seeing dads with their kids. And then there are all the other people like me, reading and studying. I love Starbucks.

This morning I went to my first physical therapy session. I was in a bad mood and had an awful attitude on my way there, but was pleasantly surprised by the happy greeting of the receptionist. She seemed a little confused that I had a PT appointment today because the physical therapist doesn't come in on Tuesdays. Go figure...I blame that mistake on US Healthworks. I filled out the BUTTloads of paperwork and was then escorted to my room by the happy receptionist/nurse lady. The doctor came in shortly afterwards and did some tests. I was also thankful for her kindness and genuine interest in my injury.

She did X-rays and then took me in another room to start the physical therapy via electrical stimulation. I was a pro, thanks to my back injury back in high school. She put the little sticky things on my shoulder and I lay there for 15 minutes while my shoulder tingled. It was actually quite relaxing. She rubbed some muscle relaxant on my shoulder (which was NOT relaxing, haha) and then I was done. Whew, my first session wasn't so bad after all.

And now, I'm on vacation for the next nine days. On Friday, I'm off to Indiana to see...

Ellen Degeneres


Christopher Anderson


Joe


Kempy


And roommate!



ALSO, Erin and I are hoping to have a fall day tomorrow! I love the rain, but it would be nice to have a rainless fall day, so we can enjoy being outside. Fall is definitely the best season!

oh...

Ooooh, what a difference a few years can make.


Erin, my friend of 12 years (!!) in the summer of 2005 at Yosemite


Four years later in 2009, celebrating my birthday at Disneyland


JBizzle and I at the Christmas Banquet in 2008


World-class travelers taking a vacation in the Bahamas two years later in August of 2010...right before meeting the dolphins!


Oh roommate, I love you. Spring of 2008


Roommates in 2009 hanging out during my vacation back to Indiana


Our diverse dorm room trio Junior year of December 2007


Days off of exactly one year later...some things never change


Within my first week arriving at Taylor in 2005...seems like forever ago!


Four years later...Days before leaving Taylor and heading back to California for my "real world" job


Sisters! Baby faces on the beach...not exactly sure about our ages


Years and years later in 2010, headed to the mountains to try (and semi-succeed at) snowboarding!


Oh the Sammie statues...only months within arriving at TU in 2005


Four years later in 2009, during graduation week



Where does the time go?

a messy reflection

I try to keep my room clean, I really do. But somehow, it gets messy so fast. It seems like what takes an hour to clean up takes only five minutes to undo. It's kind of ridiculous. When I was talking about this predicament with a friend, he told me that if it takes two minutes or less to put away, then I should take the quick two minutes or less to do so. However (and we always have excuses, right?) I find that sometimes I don't have two minutes to put my clothes back on the hanger, like when I'm rushing back to work or hurrying through my room to find a sweatshirt before taking the kids off-campus. So. In a fraction of the time it took to make my room a warm and welcoming place for me, it already looks like a tornado has cut through and strewn pants, shirts, jackets, and shoes everywhere inconvenient.

I get annoyed with my inability to keep a clean room. Well, I guess I'm able...but perhaps not willing? This sounds like too much talk about a silly little issue, but as I ponder the complexities of life and think back to my days as a psychology student, I wonder if maybe the state of my room reflects the chaos inside my head...and also the craziness of my job. It's funny that I am more than capable of taking care of ten children (with the help of co-workers, of course)...making sure they're fed, that they have clean laundry, that they've gotten all the appropriate medication, that they aren't assaulting any of the other children, but then somehow I am slightly neglectful when it comes to taking care of myself.

At work, my mind is constantly on overdrive. I'm always multi-tasking and some child is always in need of something. When I go back to my room after ten to fifteen hours of work, the last thing I want to do is clean up. Instead, I throw on some comfortable lounging clothes and lay down on my futon to watch television for an hour or two before realizing that sleep is probably important if I'm going to be a productive houseparent tomorrow. My room is a visible picture of what I feel my brain looks like...all jumbled, with thoughts and emotions scattered all over the place, a mess intimidating because it appears too big to sort out and organize.

I hate having a chaotic room, almost as much as I hate having a chaotic mind.


I leave you with some good memories I have of my girls...

good stuff

I love Donald Miller - the way he writes and what he writes about. I feel as though he is talking to me, writing as if we were sitting together and having a conversation. It makes his books more enjoyable and easier to understand, for me at least. I read Blue Like Jazz years ago and LOVED it. I knew there were mixed reactions about the book, but I was quickly engrossed and eager to read more of Miller's books. I've been wanting to read that book again, but instead picked up Searching for God Knows What. I've only read the first chapter of this book and already know that it will live up to the expectations I had of Miller after reading his first book.

Miller talks of our desire for formulas...looking in the Bible for an equation telling us, "Do this and this, and you will get THIS." We do so out of a desire for control, rather than acknowledging that Christianity is based on a relationship with a Being who has a will of His own. Though having a dynamic relationship with God is something that is unique and exciting about the Christian faith, it is also something scary and unpredictable. Miller writes: "I have come to believe the sooner we find this truth beautiful, the sooner we will fall in love with a God who keeps shaking things up, keeps changing the path, keeps rocking the boat to test our faith in Him, teaching us to not rely on easy answers, bullet points, magic mantras, or genies in lamps, but rather His guidance, His existence, His mercy, and His love."

Whew, that was long-winded, but definitely a quote worth remembering. Having a relationship with our Creator is so much more meaningful and rewarding than God giving us a list of steps and procedures that must be fulfilled. The invitation of salvation through faith, that Christ offers, takes the burden off of us - the burden that Christ has already taken upon Himself. I am one who likes to be in control, but I find it a relief to know that God goes before me.

Before I peace out, I also wanted to say that I have a bad habit of replacing the Bible with books like these...books that I seem to find so much more interesting and thought-provoking and applicable. I want to find joy in reading the Bible and in prayer. Dang, I've already been found guilty of what Miller is writing about...trying to take the easy way out. It's so much easier to read about what others have been learning, rather than discovering, myself, the truths God wants me to hear! Sigh.

I need to start reading the Bible regularly again, and not just alongside these books, but prioritizing the Bible above these books...such an obvious and simple concept, but something I will have to be intentional about doing. I do highly, HIGHLY recommend Donald Miller's books, though! I'm excited to continue reading this book...a nice break from the tragic and emotional Jodi Picoult books I've been reading lately.

ridiculousness

After work this morning, I went to the doctor's office for a follow-up about my shoulder. I was surprised to get called into a room after waiting only ten minutes past my appointment time. I was even more surprised that the doctor came to my room within the next fifteen minutes. But that's pretty much the only good thing I might ever have to say about US Healthworks. I let the doctor know that my arm felt 70% better than it did since my first appointment. I have a better range of motion and the pain during certain movements is lessening. This doctor (who wasn't even the same person that saw me the first time) spent NO LONGER than 2 minutes with me and said he was going to have me start physical therapy.

Physical therapy? Really?? What a waste of my time. I looked at my paperwork after leaving and it said I will have physical therapy three times a week for two weeks. I am SO annoyed. These doctors are ridiculous and useless. I can't wait to see what physical therapy is going to look like.

So then I was driving back to Hillview and saw a huge digital sign from the freeway that said, "Chino has been recognized as one of the 100 Best Communities in America for Young People in 2008." Haha. I laughed to myself. There are cities worse than Chino, but top 100 in America?! Hmmmm, I think that is quite debatable.

And lastly, here is a picture of the dumpster on campus that is right outside the cottage where I live. Number 1: Why did someone throw away two rooms worth of furniture? Number 2: Could we look any more ghetto?

There is just something about GH (for all the non-houseparents out there - "group home") life that makes you shake your head and laugh.

hello fall

I canNOT believe it's October already! Time has flown by and the holiday season is here again...again so soon. I love the changes fall brings, the thunderstorms we've been having, the (kind of) dropping temperatures. However, I think about the holiday season with mixed emotions and wonder where I'll be within the next few months. Hmmm.

I just finished reading Jodi Picoult's book My Sister's Keeper, which is now also a movie. I put off reading that particular book because I knew it was going to be sad. And I haven't seen the movie because I wanted to read the book first. Well let me tell you...it was sooo incredibly sad. The tragic ending caught me by surprise and really brought tears to my eyes. I can't imagine watching the movie without falling apart. I need to read something happy.

Here are some pictures of a sweet rainbow from yesterday. I love the sky.